The season is just two days old, but we may already have seen its most surprising result. The Sixers pulled off a stunning victory against Heat tonight — not too shabby for a team that’s still about $5MM shy of the minimum team salary, as HoopsWorld’s Eric Pincus notes in his look at teams with cap space remaining. Here’s more from a busy 14-game night:
- The Jazz remain in talks with Gordon Hayward about an extension, with just one day left before the deadline for him to sign one, writes Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune.
- Mark Cuban doesn’t intend to replace former Mavs GM Gersson Rosas, who resigned yesterday, reports Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com.
- On “David Stern Day” in Sacramento, the commissioner weighed in on the NBA’s approval of the Kings‘ new ownership group instead of Seattle’s bid for the franchise, as Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com shares via Twitter. “… The owners did the right thing. They had a vote to cast and they cast it in favor of Sacramento,” Stern said.
- Marc Berman of the New York Post hears from a source who says too much was made out of a report earlier today that said owner James Dolan expects the Knicks to win the title this season. Dolan was merely attempting to express his confidence in the team’s players, the source tells Berman.
- Knicks GM Steve Mills isn’t looking to hire any more people to work under him in the team’s front office, but he does intend to restructure some of the roles of his existing staff, as Berman passes along in the same piece.
- Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com points to Spurs second-round pick Deshaun Thomas as an example of why the NCAA need not allow early draft entrants back on their college teams if they don’t make an NBA roster. The agent for Thomas says he’ll make $150K on his contract with JSF Nanterre in France this season, Parrish notes.