Southeast Notes: Wizards, Gallinari, Ball, Heat, Oladipo
The NBA still doesn’t know how the Wizards‘ COVID-19 outbreak started, with six players testing positive and four games recently being postponed, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports writes.
The outbreak, which is considered to be the worst of the season to date, has left the Wizards unable to produce the league-required eight players needed to play. As Hughes notes, the team is still unsure of how it started despite an extensive contract tracing process.
“We have players that are out on the floor unmasked during the games,” general manager Tommy Sheppard said. “That’s an obvious thing. They have exposure to each other. Sometimes on the bench, players will pull their masks down and talk to each other, things like that. The contact tracing is very necessary, but it’s also difficult because it could have been anywhere at any time. The fact it hasn’t jumped the wall and it hasn’t extended past players kind of makes you, at least common sense-wise, would make you believe it’s happening in contact out on the court.”
The Wizards’ games against the Cavaliers on Sunday and Monday have also been postponed because of the virus.
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- The Hawks are listing Danilo Gallinari as doubtful to play in Monday’s game against the Wolves, with the veteran forward last seeing action on Dec. 30 due to a right ankle sprain. Gallinari has progressed to half-court individual activities and is now being re-introduced to contact activity, the team announced (Twitter link).
- Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer examines how much the Hornets truly trust LaMelo Ball and what the team is currently missing. Ball, drafted third overall by the team in the fall, is currently averaging 11.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game off the bench.
- Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel explores whether the Rockets could still entice the Heat with a potential trade, only this time with Victor Oladipo. Oladipo and Miami have long been linked to one another, with the 28-year-old set to enter unrestricted free agency at season’s end.
Texas Notes: New Rockets Backcourt, Doncic, McLemore, Stone
With the James Harden drama now in their rearview, the Rockets have a backcourt featuring two former All-Stars in John Wall and Victor Oladipo, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. That guard tandem, plus well-paid reserve Eric Gordon, will need to develop chemistry and coordinate how they divvy up shooting and ball-handling duties.
Feigen notes that Wall and Oladipo could be a better defensive pair than their predecessor duos of Harden and Russell Westbrook and Harden and Chris Paul, though injuries could be an impediment to that. Both Wall and Oladipo have lengthy injury histories, and Wall is currently out with knee issues.
There’s more out of the Lone Star State:
- Mavericks All-Star Luka Doncic and longtime head coach Rick Carlisle will have to move past the former’s noticeable frustration that the latter did not employ an available timeout during a pivotal late-game possession in Dallas’s eventual 112-109 defeat to the Bucks last Friday, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN details.
- Backup Rockets guard Ben McLemore realizes that expectations for Houston may be lower than they were with Harden, but contends that the team has more than enough to compete, per Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (Twitter video link). “We got guys that are gonna fight, that’s gonna compete, that’s dogs,” McLemore said.
- Rockets GM Rafael Stone discussed the new-look club during a virtual media conference call today, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Stone explained his interest in ultimately making a trade with the Nets for James Harden. “What’s super exciting about this deal is that it gives us flexibility,” Stone said. “In the NBA, picks are the best currency. Everybody likes them, everybody values them.” Stone also mentioned that the club “will aggressively be trying to use” the $10.6MM trade exception it acquired in the transaction ahead of the 2020/21 season’s trade deadline in late March.
Oladipo-LeVert Deal Complete; Pacers Get Additional Compensation
The Rockets and Pacers have officially completed their swap of high-scoring guards, with Caris LeVert going to Indiana and Victor Oladipo heading to Houston, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
It’s part of the four-team blockbuster that sent former Most Valuable Player James Harden to Brooklyn, even though all other aspects were officially announced earlier this week. LeVert was acquired by the Rockets in that trade.
The part of the deal flipping LeVert to Indiana initially looked like it would be completed as a separate transaction, which would’ve allowed the Rockets to maximize the value of a trade exception created in the original trade.
However, an additional second-round pick and cash are being sent to Indiana due to an issue discovered in LeVert’s physical, per Charania, requiring the trade to be formally completed as a four-teamer.
[UPDATE: LeVert Out Indefinitely Due To Small Mass On Left Kidney]
In addition to Oladipo and a 2023 second-round pick (from the Rockets), the Pacers are also receiving cash and a 2024 second-round pick, says Charania. That additional pick, which is coming from Cleveland, was originally supposed to land with the Nets.
Per RealGM’s list of traded picks, the two picks headed to Indiana will technically be the least favorable of Houston’s, Dallas’, and Miami’s 2023 second-rounders; and the least favorable of Cleveland’s and Utah’s 2024 second-rounders.
With all aspects of the deal now completed, Harden is available to play Saturday for the Nets. Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press tweets.
Oladipo will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and the Pacers feared they wouldn’t be able to re-sign him. In contrast, LeVert is in the first year of a three-year, $52.5MM contract. Both players have missed time in recent years due to injuries, but are healthy and playing well this season.
“We want to thank Victor for what he gave to the Pacers through his play, his diligence in rehab coming back from a serious injury, and his community efforts,” Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said in a statement confirming today’s deal. “These decisions are obviously never easy and this one in particular was hard because of our relationship.
“Caris is a high-quality person who will fit in with what we as an organization are doing, on and off the floor. He’s a versatile young talent who we think will be a great fit with the direction our team is taking. He can play multiple positions and affect the game at both ends of the floor.”
The Rockets, meanwhile, could retain Oladipo and attempt to re-sign him beyond 2021 or could explore flipping him at the March 25 trade deadline. Houston can trade him immediately but would have to wait until after March 7 to move him in a deal that aggregates his salary for matching purposes. For now, the Rockets will probably want to see how Oladipo looks in their revamped lineup.
Because of the amended structure of the trade, the trade exception generated by the Rockets will be worth approximately $10.65MM instead of $15.45MM.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this story.
Eastern Notes: Oladipo, Celtics, Heat, Beal, Cavs
Victor Oladipo turned down a contract extension offer from the Pacers that started at over $25MM, league sources tell former NBA executive Ryan McDonough of Radio.com (Twitter link). NBA rules would have allowed Indiana to go up to a starting salary of $25.2MM on an extension for Oladipo, and it sounds like the team was willing to go that high, based on McDonough’s report.
With Oladipo seeking a more lucrative contract in free agency, where he’ll be eligible for a starting salary worth up to $33.7MM, the Pacers realized they would likely lose him during the summer of 2021, McDonough explains. That’s why Indiana was willing to move him in a deal for Caris LeVert this week. That trade between the Rockets and Pacers – which was separated from the rest of the James Harden blockbuster – isn’t yet official, but should be soon.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- After dealing with a roster shortage for much of the week, the Celtics will have some reinforcements for Friday night’s contest vs. Orlando, their first game since last Friday. Jaylen Brown, Daniel Theis, Semi Ojeleye, and Javonte Green are all out of the NBA’s health and safety protocols and are available tonight, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe.
- With Harden off the market, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald revisits the Heat‘s potential trade options if they want to make a splash before the March 25 deadline. As Jackson has mentioned multiple times in the past, Miami would be very interested in Bradley Beal if the Wizards were to make him available.
- The Cavaliers will carry approximately $309K in dead money for Thon Maker after waiving his non-guaranteed contract to accommodate their Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince acquisitions, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. Maker was paid about $11.9K per day for 26 days of service.
Rockets Notes: Harden, Wall, Oladipo, Gordon
The tensions that boiled over in Houston this week between James Harden and his teammates have been building for weeks, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. League sources tell O’Connor that there was animosity between Harden and John Wall from the time Wall was traded to the Rockets in early December. Wall still views himself as a franchise player and he believed Harden was sabotaging the team with his efforts to get traded.
Hard feelings continued to grow as Harden reported late for training camp and the team struggled to a 3-6 start. After a second consecutive blowout loss to the Lakers Tuesday night, Harden declared the Rockets weren’t “good enough” to compete with the league’s top teams, and Wall and DeMarcus Cousins fired back angry responses.
Those two players are the leaders in Houston now, but they both have checkered pasts regarding team chemistry and are coming off major injuries, O’Connor notes. Wall’s future with the Rockets seems secure as he’s under contract for more than $91MM over the next two seasons. However, Cousins – who is playing only 13.4 minutes per night and shooting just 35.6% from the field – is on a veteran’s minimum deal that doesn’t become fully guaranteed until February 27.
There’s more from Houston:
- Victor Oladipo may not have a long-term future with the team, O’Connor writes in the same story. Sources tell O’Connor that Oladipo, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, would prefer to end up with the Heat. The Rockets can trade their new guard at any time, but he cannot be aggregated with other salaries until March 5, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. This year’s trade deadline is March 25.
- Eric Gordon doesn’t believe Harden intended to insult his teammates with his comments after Tuesday’s game, according to Mark Berman of KRIV in Houston (video link). “For me knowing him personally I don’t think he really meant it as far as to really disrespect the team,” Gordon said. “That’s just from me. He wanted a different situation. He’s kind of shown that and he said it. I don’t think he really meant to disrespect the players.”
- With Harden’s salary off the books, the Rockets could choose to operate below the cap next season, suggests John Hollinger of The Athletic. He notes that the team can easily get to $20MM under next year’s cap number, and possibly more if Gordon is traded too.
Rockets Trade James Harden To Nets
JANUARY 16: The Pacers/Rockets part of the trade is now official and has been folded back into the initial deal, formally making it a four-team trade once again. Details can be found right here.
JANUARY 14: The trade is now official, the Nets announced in a press release.
“Adding an All-NBA player such as James to our roster better positions our team to compete against the league’s best,” Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks said. “James is one of the most prolific scorers and playmakers in our game, and we are thrilled to bring his special talents to Brooklyn.
“While we are excited to welcome James and his family to the Nets, we also want to thank the players who are departing. Caris, Jarrett, Rodions and Taurean were instrumental to the team’s success and have made an enormous impact on our organization. It has been a pleasure watching them grow both as players and as people and they will always be part of our Nets family. We wish each of them and their families all the best in the future.”
In their press release announcing the deal, the Cavs noted that they also acquired the draft rights to 2017 second-round pick Aleksandar Vezenkov from the Nets. Vezenkov has remained overseas since being drafted.
Interestingly, the Nets, Cavs, and Rockets opted to complete this trade as a three-team deal, meaning the trade sending LeVert and a second-round pick to Indiana for Oladipo will be a separate move.
Separating the two trades will allow the Rockets to generate a larger trade exception in this initial deal — that exception will be worth $15,451,216.
JANUARY 13: The Nets will acquire star guard James Harden in a trade with the Rockets, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne (Twitter link). Shams Charania of The Athletic confirms (via Twitter) that Harden will head to Brooklyn.
According to Wojnarowski and Shelburne (via Twitter) and Charania (Twitter link), it will be a multi-team trade that also involves the Cavaliers and Pacers, with the Rockets receiving Indiana guard Victor Oladipo in the deal.
The Rockets will acquire Oladipo from the Pacers; Rodions Kurucs, three first-round picks, and four pick swaps from the Nets; and Dante Exum and the Bucks’ unprotected 2022 first-round selection from the Cavs, per ESPN and The Athletic.
Cleveland will receive Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince from Brooklyn, while the Pacers acquire Caris LeVert.
Charania reports (via Twitter) that the Pacers will also receive a second-round pick in the trade. That second-rounder is a 2023 selection from the Rockets, tweets Wojnarowski.
In addition to Harden, the Nets will receive a 2024 second-round pick from Cleveland, says Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The Cavaliers have traded away the more favorable of their own second-rounder and the Jazz’s second-rounder, so Brooklyn will presumably get the less favorable of those two picks.
This is a massive trade with a ton of moving parts to break down. Let’s start with the Nets’ side of the deal.
Nets’ perspective:
The draft picks the Nets are sending to Houston are their unprotected first-rounders in 2022, 2024, and 2026, according to Wojnarowski, who tweets that the Rockets will have the ability to swap first-round picks with the Nets in 2021, 2023, 2025, and 2027 (without protections, tweets Zach Lowe of ESPN).
That means the Nets won’t control any of their own first-round picks through 2027, making this a massive bet on the star trio of Harden, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving. Irving is currently away from the team on personal leave and is something of a question mark for the time being, but with Durant and Harden leading the offense, the Nets should have more than enough offensive firepower to get by until he returns.
The move, which makes Brooklyn an immediate championship contender, reunites Harden with his former Thunder teammate and fellow former MVP Durant. Harden will also team up once again with ex-Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni, who is now a Nets assistant.
As a result of trading four players for one, the Nets will have three open roster spots to fill, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Minimum-salary signings seem likely, since Brooklyn’s projected luxury tax bill will further increase as a result of taking on Harden’s $41MM+ salary.
However, the team also still has its $5.72MM taxpayer mid-level exception available and will likely be granted a disabled player exception worth about the same amount following Spencer Dinwiddie‘s ACL tear. As such, Brooklyn has the flexibility to sign players to deals worth more than the minimum.
Harden had a 15% trade kicker in his contract, but it will be voided since he’s already making the maximum salary.
While this blockbuster trade is probably a safe bet to work out better than the last time the Nets mortgaged their future by surrendering a series of first-round selections and pick swaps (for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce), it’s worth noting that Harden is 31 years old and Durant is 32 — the Nets’ picks for the next couple years figure to fall near the end of the first round, but there’s no guarantee that will still be the case by 2025, 2026, or 2027.
Rockets’ perspective:
The Rockets are clearly betting that some of those draft assets will become valuable, opting for a package heavy on picks rather than pushing to complete a trade with the Sixers for Ben Simmons, as was rumored earlier today. Although Simmons was said to be on the table in talks with Philadelphia, it’s not clear what the rest of that deal might have looked like.
By choosing to trade with the Nets and Pacers, the Rockets landed a two-time All-Star (Oladipo) in addition to four draft picks and four draft swaps. Oladipo will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, so there’s no guarantee he’ll be a long-term Rocket. Houston will hold his Bird rights and could re-sign him in the offseason, but acquiring him this early in the season also gives the club the option of extracting further value by flipping him at the March 25 trade deadline.
Today’s trade agreement marks the end of a saga that began in November, when word first broke that Harden had turned down a two-year, $103MM extension offer and had requested a trade out of Houston. The Rockets didn’t move him in the offseason, prompting the superstar guard to express his displeasure by reporting late to training camp.
On Tuesday night, he accelerated his departure by telling reporters after a blowout loss that the Rockets were “just not good enough” and that he didn’t believe the situation could be fixed. Houston decided to keep Harden away from the team until a trade agreement could be reached, and ultimately took less than 24 hours to finalize a deal.
[RELATED: Rockets’ Players, Silas Discuss Harden Situation]
Barring any additional imminent changes, the Rockets will have a fascinating roster in the short term, headlined by a trio of former stars who are coming back from major injuries. Oladipo, who missed a year from 2019-20 with a quad issue, joins John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, who have looked good this season after long-term injury absences of their own.
With Christian Wood and P.J. Tucker in the frontcourt, Houston should be a competitive team this season, albeit probably not a legit contender. Today’s trade is more about the future. Having previously traded away a handful of their own future first-round picks and given up a pair of pick swaps in 2021 and 2025, the Rockets have replenished their stash of draft picks in recent months, first by trading Robert Covington and Russell Westbrook and now by moving Harden.
Houston, which had one open roster spot entering the day, will have to waive a player to complete the trade. The club will also generate an eight-figure trade exception in the deal.
All three of the players acquired in today’s trade by the Rockets – Oladipo, Kurucs, and Exum – can become free agents at season’s end (Kurucs has a team option for 2021/22).
It also shouldn’t be overlooked that moving Harden for three less expensive players will take the Rockets $3.65MM below the luxury tax line and $9.95MM below their hard cap, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Entering the day, Houston was over the tax and only about $1MM from the hard cap — the club should now have added financial and cap flexibility for the rest of the season.
Pacers’ perspective:
Oladipo has been the subject of trade rumors for the last year, since he has at times seemed lukewarm about the idea of remaining in Indiana after his current contract expires in 2021. While the Pacers had insisted they were comfortable hanging onto him and addressing his contract situation when free agency arrived, moving him for LeVert makes sense for the franchise.
While Oladipo is a stronger defender, LeVert is a talented scorer who is two years younger than Oladipo and is on a more favorable contract. LeVert is earning $16.2MM this season and is under contract for two additional years beyond 2020/21, at an affordable rate of $18.1MM per year.
As Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report observes (via Twitter), re-signing Oladipo at the price he was seeking would’ve been a challenge for the Pacers, who are already on the hook for lucrative multiyear contracts for Malcolm Brogdon, Domantas Sabonis, and Myles Turner. Locking in LeVert through 2022/23 should be much more financially manageable for Indiana.
In the short term, the Pacers will also slip under the luxury tax line as a result of swapping Oladipo ($21MM) for LeVert, tweets Marks.
Cavaliers’ perspective:
The Cavs are acquiring Prince and will send out Exum and a future second-round pick, but this trade is mostly about sending out the Bucks’ 2022 first-rounder in exchange for Allen, a promising young center who will be a restricted free agent during the coming offseason.
Cleveland already has a number of veteran options at the four and five, including Andre Drummond, Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr., and JaVale McGee, so acquiring Allen will create more of a logjam in the short term.
In the long term though, you could make the case that none of the Cavs’ incumbent big men have more upside than Allen, who is averaging a double-double (11.2 PPG, 10.4 RPG) in a part-time role (26.7 MPG) so far this season.
If Allen starts at least five games for the Cavs during the rest of the 2020/21 season, he’ll meet the starter criteria and his qualifying offer in restricted free agency will be worth $7.7MM. He’d have the option of accepting that one-year offer, negotiating a longer-term deal with Cleveland, or signing an offer sheet with another team, which the Cavs could match.
In a pair of corresponding roster moves, the Cavs will waive Thon Maker and will end Yogi Ferrell‘s 10-day contract early, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Central Notes: Dellavedova, Bey, Oladipo, Hankins
Matthew Dellavedova’s return from a concussion has taken longer than expected because of his concussion history, according to Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Cavaliers guard, who has yet to make his season debut, is progressing slowly and there’s no definitive timetable for his return. Dellavedova was re-signed on a one-year, veteran’s minimum deal in November.
We have more from the Central Division:
- The Pistons didn’t line up a pre-draft workout and interview with forward Saddiq Bey because they figured he wouldn’t slide out of the lottery, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Bey dropped to the No. 19 pick and was acquired in a draft-night trade. “We were shocked,” coach Dwane Casey said. “He’s one player we did not meet with because we didn’t think he was going to be there later where we were trying to get the pick. Luckily he was and we jumped on it. “
- Victor Oladipo becomes a free agent after the season but the Pacers aren’t in a hurry to resolve that situation, Michael Pina of Sports Illustrated reports. According to Pacers GM Chad Buchanan, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but in the meantime we want to try and help this team hit its fullest potential this season.” Oladipo is averaging 19.9 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 4.2 APG this season.
- Tom Hankins has been hired as the head coach of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the G League affiliate of the Pacers, according to a team press release. The 54-year-old Hankins was the head coach at the University of Central Oklahoma from 2015-19. He was then hired by the Pacers as assistant player development coach. The Mad Ants are one of the 18 teams participating in the league’s “bubble season” in Orlando.
Central Notes: Oladipo, Holiday, P. Williams
The trade rumors surrounding Victor Oladipo died down to some extent as the 2020 offseason progressed. Reports suggested that he had hit it off with new Pacers head coach Nate Bjorkgren, while Oladipo himself said he had never told the team he wanted to be elsewhere.
Still, that doesn’t mean everyone is convinced that he’ll play out his full contract year with the Pacers. One NBA executive recently predicted to Bob Kravitz of The Athletic that Indiana will trade the two-time All-Star by the March 25 trade deadline: “He’s gone. They’ll move him.”
Kravitz isn’t ruling out the possibility of Oladipo thriving under Bjorkgren and deciding that he wants to remain the Pacers long-term, but predicts a deadline deal. No matter what happens, it’d be a win-win situation for Oladipo and the Pacers if the 28-year-old has a strong bounceback season in 2020/21 — it would make Indiana competitive on the court, increase Oladipo’s trade value, and increase the likelihood of signing a lucrative long-term contract when he becomes a free agent in 2021.
Here’s more from around the Central:
- The Bucks‘ suffered a heartbreaking opening-night loss to Boston on Wednesday, but they got a good look at what newly-acquired guard Jrue Holiday brings to the team, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Holiday commands respect as a shot creator, giving Milwaukee an added option on offense and taking some of the pressure off Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, as Nehm observes.
- Fourth overall pick Patrick Williams was immediately thrust into the Bulls‘ starting lineup in his first game as a pro on Wednesday. K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago provides a few reasons for why it makes sense for Williams to be a starter, noting that his strengths and weaknesses are a better fit for the first unit.
- In case you missed it, a report on Thursday indicated that Cavaliers swingman Dylan Windler, a first-round pick in 2019, suffered a fractured hand on opening night. Windler missed his full rookie season in 2019/20 due to a leg injury.
More On Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Extension, Bucks
Following the Bucks‘ second-round postseason loss to Miami, reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo made a conscious decision to play a more vocal role in upgrading the team’s roster, according to a report from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Kevin Arnovitz.
During a fall lunch with Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry, GM Jon Horst, and Giannis’ agent Alex Saratsis, Antetokounmpo named a number of players whom he thought would be good offseason targets for Milwaukee, including Bradley Beal, Victor Oladipo, and Bogdan Bogdanovic, per Windhorst and Arnovitz.
Beal wasn’t available, the Bucks never got close to a deal for Oladipo, and their efforts to sign-and-trade for Bogdanovic fell through. However, Milwaukee zeroed in on another player on Giannis’ list, Jrue Holiday, believing he’d be a natural fit in the team’s lineup.
According to ESPN’s duo, the Nuggets and Celtics were aggressive in attempting to acquire a top-10 pick in last month’s draft to flip for Holiday. The Hawks were also interested in moving the No. 6 pick in a deal for the Pelicans guard, but ultimately abandoned that plan due to uncertainty over whether he’d want to remain in Atlanta beyond 2021.
The Bucks didn’t have a top-10 pick in 2020 to offer for Holiday, but were willing to put plenty of future first-rounders on the table. According to Windhorst and Arnovitz, Milwaukee initially offered Eric Bledsoe, two first-round picks, and a pick swap (plus salary filler), then “reluctantly” added George Hill to the offer. The Pelicans countered by asking for one more first-rounder and one more pick swap.
Sources tell ESPN that the Bucks’ decision-makers knew that giving up two rotation players, three first-round picks, and two pick swaps was an overpay, especially since an extension for Holiday may cost in the neighborhood of $30MM per year.
However, the club badly wanted to upgrade its roster and to send a message to Antetokounmpo and decided to pull the trigger. If that deal ultimately helped convince Giannis to sign his super-max extension, the front office presumably feels the cost was worth it.
Here’s more on the Bucks and the Antetokounmpo extension:
- The report from ESPN’s Windhorst and Arnovitz is worth checking out in full, as it’s packed with interesting nuggets about the process of extending Antetokounmpo. According to the ESPN duo, when the Lakers acquired Dennis Schroder from Oklahoma City, Giannis wanted reassurance that Milwaukee had made a “valiant effort” to land Schroder.
- As a trio of writers from The Athletic reported on Tuesday, Windhorst and Arnovitz confirm that the Bucks first formally made their extension pitch to Antetokounmpo on December 5. During that meeting, team ownership and management focused on the team’s commitment to building a champion, pointing to its aggressive pursuit of Holiday and its willingness to pay future luxury tax bills, per ESPN.
- David Aldridge of The Athletic argues that the Antetokounmpo extension is good for the NBA, since it’s hard for fans in non-glamor markets to fully invest in their teams if they believe star players always have one foot out the door.
- Joe Vardon of The Athletic throws some cold water on the news of Antetokounmpo’s extension, writing that the new deal offers the Bucks a temporary reprieve, but doesn’t guarantee the superstar forward will be with the franchise for the next five years. Jobs will be “on the line” in Milwaukee if the team doesn’t make the NBA Finals and win a title within the next couple years, says Vardon.
Central Notes: Markkanen, Oladipo, Antetokounmpo, Buckner, Bulls
Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen is eager to get a rookie scale extension done before the December 21 deadline, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago tweets. Markkanen said on Tuesday he’s pushing his agent, Michael (Boris) Lelchitski, to reach an agreement. “I really want to be here long-term so I’m putting some pressure on (my agent) to get (an extension) done,” he said. De’Aaron Fox, Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo are the other members of Markkanen’s draft class who have already reached extension agreements.
We have more from the Central Division:
- Pacers guard Victor Oladipo has been the subject of trade rumors but he insists he didn’t ask to be dealt, according to Eric Woodyard of ESPN (Twitter link). “I never came out and said that I didn’t want to play for the Pacers or be in this organization,” he said. Oladipo, who said he think he’s much healthier than he was last season, added that he feels pressure to prove that he’s still an All-Star caliber player. “It feels like the world (is) on my back and I’ve got to make sure I hold it up,” he said.
- Giannis Antetokounmpo is expected to meet with the Bucks this week, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN (video link). The two-time MVP’s decision whether to sign a super-max extension or test the free agent market next offseason looms as the biggest story of the preseason.
- The Cavaliers have hired Greg Buckner as an assistant coach, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Buckner has a history with head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, as they worked together on the Rockets and Grizzlies coaching staffs.
- New coach Billy Donovan’s plans for Markkanen, Zach LaVine and Wendell Carter Jr. are among the questions looming over the Bulls as they open training camp, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic writes.