We have an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap or the NBA draft? Drop us a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com.
Will my Wizards target DeAndre Jordan to bolster our frontcourt to give us the athletic big we need to compete in the East? — Jermaine, via Twitter
If Jordan opts out of his $24.1MM salary for next season and becomes a free agent, the Wizards won’t have a chance. They are already over the cap for next year and have no realistic way of opening up enough space to make a near-max offer. However, if Jordan opts in and the Clippers want to shake up their roster, the Wizards might be in the running. Kelly Oubre and Tomas Satoransky both have bright futures, but they will be due for extensions soon and Washington has to be careful about adding any expensive long-term contracts to John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter. The Wizards could match salaries by offering both players and Ian Mahinmi, who is owed nearly $31.5MM over the next two seasons. When Marcin Gortat‘s deal expires next summer, they would be in position to re-sign Jordan.
Would there be any chance the Pacers make a big grab in the offseason? — Adam Harris, via Twitter
Not only has Indiana assembled one of the NBA’s best young rosters, there aren’t any bad contracts to restrict the team from being aggressive in free agency. The Pacers won’t know how much cap room they have until Thaddeus Young [$13,764,045] and Cory Joseph [$7,945,000] decide on their player options for next season, and choices have to be made on non-guaranteed contracts for Bojan Bogdanovic [$10.5MM], Darren Collison and Al Jefferson [$10MM each]. Indiana could be in position to upgrade its front court with a nice offer to a restricted free agent like Aaron Gordon or Julius Randle.
With the hiring of David Fizdale, do you agree this is the Knicks’ best coaching hire in quite some time? Because I do! — Deven Parikh
It’s not an especially high bar to clear, considering that the franchise has been through 11 coaches in 14 seasons, but Fizdale feels like the next step in a new era in New York. There’s a reason he was on the interview list for nearly every head coaching slot that opened. Fizdale was a highly respected assistant for years, he has a rapport with many star players and there was a feeling that he got a raw deal in Memphis. He was due to get another chance soon and he seems like the right man to lead the Knicks back to the playoffs, if team president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry can stick to their pledge to remain patient.
Mills and Perry must remain patient. They have a good opportunity to stay patient next season because KP will likely be out until February or later. That allows them to continue to develop Ntilikina, Burke, Hardaway, Dotson and the 2018 Draft picks before KP comes back.