Celtics Willing To Trade Rajon Rondo
10:19pm: The Celtics are also talking to the Knicks and the Kings, though the discussions with the Mavs are the most serious, Stein reports. The Mavs would most likely send Wright and at least one first round draft pick to Boston for Rondo, Stein adds.
9:15pm: The Mavericks are serious suitors for Rondo, Wojnarowski reports (Twitter link). Brandan Wright and Monta Ellis are among the players being mentioned who could potentially head to Boston, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com notes (Twitter links). The Rockets have also discussed a potential deal for the point guard with Boston as well, Wojnarowski adds.
4:29pm: According to Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link), word around the league is that the Celtics are the ones making preliminary calls to teams about Rondo. Mannix also notes that the Kings are the team to watch in regards to acquiring Rondo.
4:12pm: The Celtics are showing a renewed willingness to pursue trade packages that include point guard Rajon Rondo, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. According to Wojnarowski, Boston’s front office has left a strong impression with rival organizations around the league that it is prepared to make a deal that includes the veteran guard. Boston has been engaged in discussions described as “serious” in recent days, but no trade agreement is imminent, the Yahoo! scribe adds.
Trade discussions involving Rondo have been focused more toward Western Conference teams than with those in the East, Wojnarowski notes. The Celtics’ asking price for the 28-year-old remains “pretty high, probably higher than most want to pay,” one league official told Wojnarowski. Rondo is averaging 8.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 10.6 assists in 31.8 minutes per games this season.
Celtics GM Danny Ainge has been consistently shopping forward Jeff Green, in an attempt to secure a trade package that includes a first-round draft pick, Wojnarowski notes. With Boston now seemingly willing to trade Rondo, this would suggest that Ainge is prepared to embark on a full rebuild of the franchise, and perhaps attempt to guide the team toward a much higher spot in June’s NBA draft, Wojnarowski writes.
With Rondo set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and 2014 first-rounder Marcus Smart showing quite a bit of promise, trading Rondo instead of running the risk of losing him for nothing would seem like a wise move on the organization’s part. The Celtics have been hesitant to to commit to the idea of a maximum-salary deal for Rondo, something he will likely be seeking in free agency.
If Ainge is indeed looking at Western Conference teams, the two most likely suitors would probably be the Kings, who were previously said to be interested in acquiring Rondo, and the Lakers, another franchise also known to have significant interest in the point guard’s services. If Boston decides to try and deal with an Eastern team, the Knicks and the Pistons would immediately come to mind as potential suitors, though that is just my speculation.
Western Notes: Allen, Kuzmic, Crawford
One of the Warriors’ few weaknesses this season is the backup shooting guard spot, a void that free agent Ray Allen would fill perfectly, Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group opines. Golden State has been having internal discussions about making a run at adding Allen to its roster, should he decide to play this season. With Corey Brewer once again being made available by Minnesota, he could also become a potential trade target, though that is just my speculation.
Here’s more from out west:
- The Warriors have assigned Ognjen Kuzmic to the Santa Cruz Warriors, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Kuzmic’s second trek to the D-League this season.
- Sources close to the Kings have denied reports that team owner Vivek Ranadive tried to dictate who ex-coach Mike Malone played, Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). Although, one known instance of Ranadive suggesting whom to play was this past Saturday when Ranadive suggested that Ryan Hollins start after the death of his father, a move that Malone reportedly agreed with, Broussard adds.
- The Clippers‘ Jamal Crawford has parted ways with agent Andy Miller, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group reports (Twitter link).
- Crawford has said that the trade rumors regarding himself don’t bother him, and though he would prefer to stay with the Clippers, Crawford intimated that he could play “wherever,” Dan Woike of The Orange County Register tweets.
- Most league executives unsurprisingly believe Brook Lopez will pick up his $16.744MM player option for next season with the Nets, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes amid a broader look at the Warriors and possible trade fits for David Lee.
- Pops Mensah-Bonsu is set to be released by Hapoel Jerusalem, David Pick of Eurobasket.com reports (Twitter link). Mensah-Bonsu, who was briefly in training camp with the Nuggets this fall, was brought in by Hapoel on a month-to-month deal for the EuroCup competition, and is no longer needed since the team has been eliminated from the tournament, Pick adds.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Pistons Rumors: Monroe, Hawks, Smith, Kings
The Pistons are 5-20 with three frontcourt pieces that don’t appear to fit, making them a ripe contender to pull a trade this season. There’s been plenty of chatter in recent days, and we’ll round up the latest here:
- Falk made it clear to Zillgitt, who writes in a full story, that Monroe doesn’t want a trade in part because he wants to honor a commitment he made to Pistons coach/president of basketball ops Stan Van Gundy. Teams have been calling the Pistons about Monroe, but the fifth-year big man continues to stonewall the idea of leaving Detroit. “He made a commitment to Stan (Van Gundy) when he took the qualifying offer that he would work as hard as he could and help the team as best that he could and he would keep his mind open and at the end of the season, he would evaluate all of his options,” Falk said. “That was his plan in July, and that’s his plan in December and that will probably be his plan in February and will be his plan when the season ends.”
- Monroe will be seeking the best fit and not necessarily the highest payday in free agency this coming summer, as he and Falk have said, Zillgitt writes.
Earlier updates:
- The Pistons are “shopping” Josh Smith and willing to trade him for the right return, writes Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News. The Kings remain interested in Smith, a source tells Goodwill, and Kings owner Vivek Ranadive was behind Sacramento’s pursuit from the start, Goodwill adds. Yet while the Kings are still thinking about trying to trade for Smith, they’ve been gradually moving past that idea, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (video link).
- Greg Monroe says the Pistons would have to initiate discussions about a trade, since he wouldn’t ask for one, as Goodwill notes in the same piece, writing that it’s likely that Pistons GM Jeff Bower asked agent David Falk about his willingness to approve one. Monroe has a de facto no-trade clause this year because he signed his qualifying offer in the summer, and he’d lose his Bird rights if he gave the OK to a trade. Monroe prefers to play out the season as a Piston, agent David Falk told Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today, who passes along his report in the same video with Amick.
- Detroit asked the Hawks for Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver in exchange for Monroe this summer, but Atlanta wasn’t willing to go along with the sign-and-trade idea, Goodwill writes. The Hawks are reportedly set to pursue Monroe in unrestricted free agency this coming summer.
- The Pistons never believed that Monroe would ultimately sign the qualifying offer, according to Goodwill.
Pacific Notes: Morris Twins, Thomas, Thompson
The Suns gave Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris the chance to decide how to split $52MM in extension cash this fall, and Marcus tells Rolling Stone’s Jeff Allen that has no qualms about the uneven split that sets him up to make $5MM per year while his twin brother gets $8MM.
“Keef played really well last year. Coming off the bench he was a potential Sixth Man of the Year candidate. So I think he deserved for his number to be higher than mine,” Marcus said. “He’s one of the great power forwards in the league. If he was by himself he would’ve gotten way more than that. I just wanted personally for his number to be higher. We look at it as a number for the household, you know? $13MM a year for our family. Whatever it broke it down to, we didn’t really care.”
The brothers took the long-term deals rather than go for a chance to hit free agency in 2016, when the salary cap is expected to shoot up, to give themselves a better chance to continue to play together, Allen writes. There’s more on the Suns amid the latest from the Pacific Division:
- Isaiah Thomas insists his decision to change agents isn’t an indication that he wants to be traded, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Many executives reportedly expect the Suns will deal one of Thomas, Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic.
- Rudy Gay calls the pair of trades that he was a part of in 2013 “a shock to my system” that spurred him to make drastic changes on and off the court, as he says to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report. The Kings have been the beneficiaries of a player who’s become a bargain, Beck argues.
- Steve Kerr‘s coaching has helped Klay Thompson continue to improve even after the shooting guard signed his extension with the Warriors in October, as Chris Mannix of SI.com explores.
Latest On Kings Coaching Search
Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro, advisor to the chairman Chris Mullin, DeMarcus Cousins and rumored coaching candidate Mark Jackson visited in private for more than an hour and a half late Tuesday, USA Today’s Sam Amick reports. D’Alessandro downplayed any significance to the affair, insisting that “it was not a meeting,” instead calling it a reunion of old friends and reiterating that Tyrone Corbin is the team’s head coach, as the GM said to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Jackson was in Sacramento to broadcast Tuesday’s Kings-Thunder game for ESPN. D’Alessandro, Mullin and Jackson have longstanding connections to each other, but Cousins doesn’t share much history with the group, and he had expressed a desire to meet with Jackson prior to the visit, Amick writes.
The connection between Mullin, another apparent Kings coaching target who’s reportedly reluctant to take over head coaching duties at midseason, and Jackson dates back to their high school days, and they were teammates in college and the NBA, Amick notes. D’Alessandro was a video coordinator at St. John’s after Mullin had left but while Jackson was still there, and the three always meet when they have the chance, according to Amick. Jackson also has ties to owner Vivek Ranadive, who owned a minority stake in the Warriors while Jackson was coaching at Golden State.
Ranadive said D’Alessandro and Mullin had given full-throated support to Corbin when they suggested that Michael Malone be let go, though the owner left the door open for another change at any time as he spoke with Sean Cunningham of News10 in Sacramento (video link; hat tip to Spears).
“I sat down with Pete D’Alessandro and Chris Mullin when they recommended that we make this change at this time,” Ranadive said. “I asked them, ‘What are all the options?’ and “Who should we consider?’ and while we’re always looking at options, they were very emphatic that Tyrone Corbin had earned the right to be the head coach of the Sacramento Kings at this time, and that we all needed to get behind him and support him. So we’re going to put all the wood behind the Ty Corbin arrow, and we’re going to support him to our fullest.”
Ranadive also made a tangential reference to Ray Allen in his chat with Cunningham, saying that, “Just because you win 16 games in a row, it doesn’t mean that you don’t try to get Ray Allen on your team to make your team even better.” However, that appears to be a reference to the Warriors, who had their 16-game winning streak snapped Tuesday and have recently been identified as a suitor for the free agent shooting guard, and not an indication that Sacramento is making any sort of push to sign Allen.
And-Ones: Lopez, Matthews, Kings
Though there don’t appear to be any deals currently imminent, there is a tremendous amount of trade discussions going on amongst teams currently, far beyond the traditional mid-December volume, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter links). According to Wojnarowski, the most active franchises in terms of discussions are the Celtics, Pistons, Suns, Timberwolves, Hornets, Clippers, Pacers, Nets, Nuggets, and Rockets.
Here’s the latest from around the league:
- Robin Lopez‘s broken right hand will likely keep him out longer than expected. While the initial prognostication was that the Blazers big man would miss four weeks, Lopez tweeted (hat tip to The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman) that it would be six to seven weeks before he would be back on the hardwood again.
- The Cavs have made numerous attempts to work out a trade with the Blazers for Wesley Matthews, but barring an unexpected free fall in the standings, Portland isn’t expected to deal the swingman, Chris Haynes of The Northwest Ohio Media Group writes. Matthews will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, but the Blazers have every intention of re-signing him, Haynes adds.
- The Kings‘ firing of Mike Malone may provide an unexpected benefit to the franchise, Nate Duncan of Basketball Insiders writes. Many expect the Kings to regress under interim coach Tyrone Corbin, and if that occurs the team should be able to hold onto its 2015 first-rounder. Sacramento’s 2015 first round draft pick is owed to the Bulls if it falls outside of the top 10.
Western Notes: Crawford, Moreland, Brewer
Clippers guard Jamal Crawford is being mentioned quite a bit in exploratory trade talks, Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio reports (Twitter link). According to Amico, the Kings, Nuggets, and Thunder may take a run at acquiring the veteran guard, though no serious discussions are talking place just yet. In 23 appearances this season, Crawford is averaging 16.0 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 26.7 minutes per game.
Here’s the latest out of the West:
- The Kings have once again recalled Eric Moreland from the Reno Bighorns, their D-League affiliate, the team has announced. This was Moreland’s fifth sojourn of the season to Reno, and in seven appearances for the Bighorns he has averaged 13.7 points and 1.4 assists per contest.
- For the second time this season the Rockets have assigned Clint Capela to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s D-League affiliate, the team announced. The 6’10” rookie has made four appearances for the Rockets this season, recording a total of six rebounds, one assist, a steal and a block in 12 total minutes of playing time. In his first stint with the Vipers, Capela played in six games averaging 9.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.2 blocks in 14.1 minutes per contest.
- The Rockets‘ coaching staff is enamored with Corey Brewer and are still pursing a trade with the Wolves for the swingman, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets. No deal is imminent, Wolfson adds.
- Kevin Durant refuted the notion that players around the league don’t want to play with Kobe Bryant, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. When asked if this perception is why the Lakers have been unable to make a splash in in free agency lately, Durant said, “Excuse my language, but that’s [expletive]. I want to play with a winner every single night, especially somebody who wants to win that bad, who works that hard, who demands a lot, who raises up your level. I’d want to play with a guy like that every day. His style may make people uncomfortable, how he acts and just how he approaches the game, but I love that type of stuff. I think [the accusation] is BS.”
Mullin Not Planning To Coach Kings This Year
6:00pm: The Kings have contacted Vinny Del Negro about their head coaching vacancy, Chris Mannix of SI.com reports (Twitter link). If Sacramento is indeed still searching for candidates to take the reigns of the team it would conflict with the earlier report that Corbin would likely finish out the season as head coach. Del Negro’s last stint as a head coach was during the 2012/13 season with the Clippers. His career coaching record is 210-184.
1:44pm: Corbin would have to “fall on his face” not to survive the season as coach, Amick tweets, adding that Karl is not in the team’s plans. Mullin will take a more active role in practices, planning and other duties as he works to enhance Sacramento’s offense, but he has no plans to coach the team, Amick also reports (Twitter link).
1:30pm: Mullin won’t coach the Kings this season, sources tell Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). If he does become Kings coach, he would start at the beginning of 2015/16, Broussard adds. Corbin will likely remain in the position for the balance of this season.
11:12pm: Mullin has expressed interest in coaching someday, but the Kings are concerned that it will be difficult to convince him to jump into coaching in the middle of the season, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Karl, too, said it would be difficult to come in midseason when he spoke Monday to Tom Byrne on SiriusXM Radio, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee transcribes.
9:01am: The notion of Chris Mullin taking over as Kings coach continues to grow on owner Vivek Ranadive, leaving one-time front-runner George Karl as a secondary candidate at this point, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Mullin, who serves the Kings in a consultant’s role as advisor to the chairman, is far from sold on the idea of coaching, but he’d have the backing of ownership and GM Pete D’Alessandro if he chose to move to the bench, Wojnarowski hears. D’Alessandro and assistant GM Mike Bratz like Karl, but D’Alessandro would be on board with Mullin, sources tell Wojnarowski.
Some in the Kings organization consider Mark Jackson a compelling candidate, too, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick. It’s unclear if the Kings have reached out to Jackson, but they haven’t reached out to Karl, Amick hears, adding that Sacramento doesn’t appear interested in doing so at this point.
The action comes after the Kings formally dismissed Michael Malone on Monday, replacing him, at least for now, with Tyrone Corbin. The Kings front office was weary of Malone’s resistance on several matters, Amick writes. Malone was hesistant to support extensions for DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay and wanted the team to re-sign Isaiah Thomas, according to Amick.
“I don’t know if there was a point in time when you could say, ‘Yeah this isn’t [working],'” D’Alessandro said to Amick. “The respect always was there, but I just think we both knew that the vision for how to play wasn’t the same. … You start to see it evolve, and then you say, ‘Let’s just be honest about it then. Let’s just be honest, and agree to disagree.’ But then something has to happen. That’s the league we’re in.”
Latest On Pistons, Josh Smith, Jennings, Monroe
TUESDAY, 1:54pm: Smith is the only player the Pistons have talked about trading, and those discussions have merely been preliminary, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
MONDAY, 9:20pm: Monroe refuted Deveney’s report and said he would never initiate trade talk on his own, writes David Mayo of the MLive Media Group. Van Gundy also brushed aside the idea that the team is actively looking to move Monroe and is asking for a first round pick in return, reports Keith Langlois of Pistons.com (via Twitter). “I don’t know where that stuff comes from,” he said. “We haven’t talked to anybody about trading Greg Monroe. We know there are teams with interest and that’s it.”
2:47pm: A source tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that Monroe would approve almost any deal, conflicting with Zillgitt’s report that Monroe is putting the kibosh on trades. The Pistons are seeking a first-rounder in return for Monroe, Deveney hears. Monroe and agent David Falk had sign-and-trade deals in place for Monroe this summer, but the Pistons didn’t want to take back too much salary, according to Deveney.
2:09pm: The Pistons are looking to move Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith, executives from teams around the league tell Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck. Teams have been calling Detroit about Greg Monroe, but the soon-to-be free agent has made it known that he’s not interested in waiving the de facto no-trade clause he received when he signed his qualifying offer in the summer, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt tweets. Monroe would lose his Bird rights if he approved a trade, meaning whichever team that acquires him would need ample cap room to re-sign him in the offseason, and that’s dissuading the big man from giving the OK to a move, Zillgitt notes. There are no such restrictions on Jennings or Smith, both of whom are on contracts that cover next season.
Sacramento’s front office targeted Smith this summer over the objections of soon-to-be former coach Michael Malone, though Detroit reportedly had no interest in Sacramento’s proposals, none of which appeared to offer the Pistons much in return. Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press surmised today that the Pistons would probably need to attach a first-round pick to Smith to find a trade partner, making a deal unlikely, though that appeared to be educated speculation. Smith makes $13.5MM this season and each year through 2016/17. His 13.7 points per game this season are his fewest since 2005/06.
Jennings is on a cheaper contract and is only signed through 2015/16. He’ll make $8MM this season and more than $8.344MM next year. He, like Smith, has experienced a dip in scoring production this season, as Jennings is putting up 12.7 PPG, a career low. The Pistons are 5-19 in their first season under coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, who’s pointed to a four-day stretch of off days next week as a time when he’ll assess the direction of the club.
And-Ones: Pelicans, Lucious, Kings, Raduljica
There’s plenty going on tonight thanks to Lance Stephenson and Greg Monroe. But with over half the league in action, let’s take a look at what else is abuzz around the league:
- A source within the Pelicans‘ organization refutes this afternoon’s report that the team is willing to move some of its core pieces, reports Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck. According to the source, New Orleans has received inquiries on Tyreke Evans but doesn’t want to move the sixth-year forward. Beck adds that the Pelicans, confident in their core with flexibility under the cap, aren’t in a rush to move anyone right now (Twitter links here).
- Korie Lucious, who has played in Poland and Hungary since going undrafted in 2013, has entered the D-League player pool making him eligible to be added to a roster, according to the D-League Digest (via Twitter).
- Given the Kings‘ decision to part ways with coach Michael Malone, it’s worth noting that putting an exciting product on the court is just as valuable to some owners as winning championships, writes Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.
- Miroslav Raduljica is expected to reach a buyout settlement with the Shandong Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association and become available to NBA teams in the next few weeks, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. Charania adds that Raduljica has already received some interest from NBA teams, but he is unlikely to sign before the league’s January 10th deadline for contract guarantees. Raduljica apparently became expendable when Shandong recently added ex-NBAer Earl Clark.