2018 June | Hoops Rumors

Central Rumors: LeBron, Bucks, Stephenson, Pistons

June 26th, 2018 at 3:17pm CST by Luke Adams

LeBron James‘ player-option decision is due this Friday, and he’s “widely expected” to turn down that option, writes Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. According to Vardon, James is close to making a decision and the Cavaliers are “generally aware of his thinking.”

If James does opt out, it would significantly hamstring the ability of several over-the-cap suitors to make a serious run at him. If LeBron reaches free agency, teams with cap room like the Lakers and Sixers would be his most viable landing spots, along with the Cavaliers.

For what it’s worth, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com has heard within the last week from two members of the 2017/18 Cavaliers – a player and a team official – that they believe the Cavs have the best chance of any team to sign James. Within his article, McMenamin explains why a return to Cleveland could make some sense for the future Hall-of-Famer.

Here’s more from around the Central division:

Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times hears from NBA sources and officials that Eric Bledsoe, Matthew Dellavedova, and D.J. Wilson are among the players the Bucks have been willing to discuss in trades this summer.
After declining Lance Stephenson‘s team option, the Pacers could still bring him back later in free agency. However, league sources tell Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com (Twitter link) not to rule out the Bulls as a potential suitor for Stephenson.
The Pistons lack the cap space to be a major player in free agency, but the team could be in the mix for certain affordable targets. As Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes, Dwane Casey‘s presence and the Pistons’ roster stability could be selling points as the club recruits free agents.
Frank Urbina of HoopsHype.com identifies a few potential landing spots for Cavaliers guard Rodney Hood, suggesting the Heat, Pacers, and Bulls could be decent fits for the restricted free agent.

Lakers Rumors: Magic Johnson, Free Agency, George

June 26th, 2018 at 2:20pm CST by Luke Adams

No NBA team projects to have more cap room next week than the Lakers, who have long been considered the club most likely to make a splash during the 2018 free agent period. Speaking today to reporters though, Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson dismissed the idea that he’s stressing his ability to deliver star free agents to Los Angeles in the coming days.

“I’m Magic Johnson,” Johnson said, per Bill Oram of The Athletic (Twitter link). “You know how many Finals I’ve been in? So you think I’m worried about this? I played against Larry Bird in the Finals. I played in nine Finals.”

As Johnson explains, he feels “no pressure” to land a marquee free agent or two next week, since he and the Lakers’ front office don’t consider 2018 the team’s only chance to make a major free agent addition. According to Johnson, the Lakers will remain “disciplined” and are prepared to retain their cap room for 2019 if free agency doesn’t play out like they hope this time around.

“We’re excited about free agency,” Johnson said, according to Mike Bresnahan of Spectrum SportsNet (Twitter link). “We know we had two summers to deal with. We have the cap space and flexibility. We’re looking forward to July but we’re not putting all our marbles into one summer.”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Johnson may not be putting any pressure on himself during 2018’s free agent period, but he sounds like he fully expects the Lakers to make impact moves in at least one of the next two summers. Speaking to reporters today, the Lakers legend suggested he may even resign if the Lakers strike out in back-to-back summers in 2018 and 2019. “It’s going to be a two-summer thing for the Lakers,” Johnson said, per Oram (Twitter link). “This summer and next summer. That’s it. If I can’t deliver, I’m going to step down myself. [Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss] won’t have to fire me, I’ll step away from it, because I can’t do this job.”
Buss said on Monday that she has “complete faith” in Johnson and GM Rob Pelinka as free agency nears, adding that she’d “really like” to see the Lakers in the playoffs next season. Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com has the story, including more quotes from Buss.
Robin Lundberg of Sports Illustrated obtained a portion of an apparent Lakers recruiting pitch to Paul George. The leak includes a script for a voice-over that will seemingly be used in a video presentation to a free agent from Palmdale, George’s hometown.

Jazz Extend Qualifying Offers To Exum, Neto, Niang

June 26th, 2018 at 1:41pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have tendered qualifying offers to three players eligible for restricted free agency, according to RealGM’s official NBA transactions log. Dante Exum, Raul Neto, and Georges Niang have received qualifying offers from the club.

Exum and Neto will now enter standard NBA restricted free agency. Exum, who failed to meet the starter criteria, will have a qualifying offer worth $4,333,932 as a result. As for Neto, the former second-round pick will have a QO of $1,839,228.

Either player could sign his qualifying offer and play out the 2018/19 season on a one-year deal before becoming eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2019, but RFAs rarely take that route. If Utah wants to keep both players, I’d expect the team to attempt to negotiate multiyear agreements with them. It’s also possible that either Exum or Neto could sign an offer sheet from another team.

Meanwhile, Niang was a two-way contract in 2017/18, so his QO will be more modest — for two-way players who remain eligible to sign another two-way deal, the QO is simply a two-way offer with a $50K guarantee.

RealGM’s transactions log doesn’t list a qualifying offer for Erik McCree, Utah’s other two-way player. The club will have until the end of the month to issue a QO to McCree, but if he doesn’t receive one, it’s a sign that the Jazz have other plans for their second two-way contract slot.

Rockets Remain ‘All In’ On Pursuing LeBron James

June 26th, 2018 at 12:59pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets are still “all in” on the idea of pursuing LeBron James this summer, a person with knowledge of the situation tells Sam Amick of USA Today. Amick suggests Houston may be a long shot for James, but makes it clear that the team hasn’t given up on the idea by any means.

The Lakers and Cavaliers have increasingly been cited as the most likely landing spots for James, with at least one report suggesting that Houston might not be a great fit for LeBron from a family perspective. For his part, the four-time MVP has been mum on his decision, so it remains unclear which teams have a realistic shot to land him.

From an on-court perspective, the Rockets make a lot of sense as a potential LeBron destination. His good friend Chris Paul is considered very likely to re-sign in Houston, and the team came within one win of knocking off the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Additionally, GM Daryl Morey is known for trying to find creative ways to acquire any star he can, as he did a year ago with CP3.

However, it wouldn’t be easy for the Rockets to land James. If LeBron exercises his player option for 2018/19, a trade to Houston is a possibility. If he turns down that option though, the Rockets won’t have the cap space to sign him outright, and landing him a sign-and-trade would only be plausible if team salary remains below the tax apron all year long, which would be extremely tricky for a club that wants to re-sign Paul and Clint Capela.

June 29 will be the next date to watch for James — that’s the deadline for him to pick up or decline his option.

Rockets Propose Flipping Draft, Free Agency On NBA Calendar

June 26th, 2018 at 12:26pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA draft took place last Thursday night, with free agency set to open this coming Sunday. However, a proposal put forth by the Rockets to the league’s competition committee in April suggests that the NBA should consider flipping those two big events on its offseason calendar in the future.

As Zach Lowe of ESPN.com details, the idea of having free agency open before the draft takes place – which the NFL already does – has the support of a number of executives around the NBA, including several prominent general managers. However, it had never been formally put on the table until the Rockets proposed it this spring.

“As a staff, we have been kicking this around for a couple of summers now,” said Rockets executive VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, who presented the idea to the league’s competition committee. “Is there a better way?”

Lowe’s piece, which is worth checking out in full, lays out a handful of reasons why it might make sense to flip the order of free agency and the draft. For one, teams could be better positioned to address positional needs in free agency and then draft the best player available.

A new-look calendar also might help stimulate trade activity during the draft — under the current system, clubs are often hesitant to complete deals in June that compromise their cap outlook prior to the start of free agency.

Additionally, under the current format, teams that miss out on top free agent targets often panic and give big contracts to lesser players in order to use their cap space. If the draft took place after free agency, teams who don’t sign their top targets could preserve cap room for potential draft-night trades.

According to Lowe, it’s not clear exactly what Houston’s proposal looks like. It may involve opening free agency in late June, with a draft around July 10 and the start of Summer League about a week after that. Lowe suggests that people around the NBA are worried about pushing events back into August, which is typically a quiet period on the league’s calendar — however, he notes that the Rockets’ proposal addresses that issue by including a two-week window in late August and early September in which no team would be allowed to complete any transactions. In other words, execs would still get a little vacation time.

While it’s unlikely that the NBA will make any significant changes to its offseason calendar anytime soon, Houston’s proposal is one worth keeping an eye on in the long term.

DeAndre Jordan Mulling Opt-In To Facilitate Trade?

June 26th, 2018 at 11:31am CST by Luke Adams

Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, one of several players who has yet to decide on his 2018/19 option, is weighing a number of options in advance of Friday’s deadline, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times (via Twitter). According to Stein, one option Jordan is considering involves exercising his option in order to facilitate a trade to another team.

Opting in to accommodate a trade is what Jordan’s former teammate Chris Paul did a year ago, when the Rockets lacked the cap room to sign CP3 outright. If Jordan is interested in joining an over-the-cap team, he could negotiate an agreement with the Clippers that would see him traded to that new team. However, as was the case last year with the Clippers, Rockets, and Paul, all three parties would have to be on board with the arrangement.

The Mavericks are among the teams with potential trade interest in Jordan, according to Stein, though he adds (via Twitter) that one source describes a Jordan-to-Dallas trade as a “long shot.” As we heard earlier this week, the Mavs appear ready to let bygones be bygones in regard to Jordan’s 2015 free agency debacle. A free agent that summer, Jordan committed to Dallas, then backed out of the agreement to re-sign with the Clippers.

Jordan’s player option for 2018/19 is worth $24,119,025, so if he opts in, that figure would need to be taken into account in trade negotiations — a trade partner would have to either match salaries or have the cap room to accommodate that amount.

If Jordan decides to opt out, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

JaVale McGee Hopes To Remain With Warriors

June 26th, 2018 at 10:58am CST by Arthur Hill

JaVale McGee will be a free agent for the third straight summer, but the Warriors’ center said he doesn’t want to play anywhere else, relays Chris Haynes of ESPN. The 30-year-old has collected a pair of rings during his two seasons with Golden State and he would like to come back for more.

“I haven’t thought about [another team] mainly because, hopefully, in my mind, I’m a Warrior for the rest of my career,” he said. “If that happens, it would be a blessing.”

McGee’s numbers this season weren’t impressive — 4.8 PPG and 2.6RPG in 9.5 minutes — but his production increased when coach Steve Kerr made him a starter after the All-Star break. McGee held that job on and off throughout the playoffs, but turned out to be a difference maker in the Finals. He was 14 of 17 from the field against the Cavaliers, turning in a 12-point performance in Game 2 and a 10-point outing in Game 3.

McGee played on a veteran’s minimum contract worth $2.1MM this season and can expect a similar deal if he returns. The Warriors will be well into luxury tax territory after re-signing Kevin Durant and will take a severe hit with any contract above the minimum.

Golden State has other free agents to address in David West, Zaza Pachulia, Kevon Looney, Patrick McCaw and Nick Young. Kerr has also expressed a desire for a younger and more versatile bench, so there’s no guarantee that re-signing McGee is part of the Warriors’ plans.

“I don’t know how [free agency] is going to turn out, but it’s going to obviously be a long one, especially with everybody waiting for LeBron [James] and Kawhi [Leonard],” McGee said. “So, you never know what pieces will fall and who needs who. But I want to be back with the Warriors. This is where I want to be.”

Bucks To Hire Josh Longstaff As Assistant Coach

June 26th, 2018 at 10:13am CST by Arthur Hill

Josh Longstaff is nearing a deal to become an assistant with the Bucks under new head coach Mike Budenholzer, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Longstaff, who is currently head coach of the Hawks’ G League affiliate in Erie, has served as a player development coach with the Knicks and Thunder. He also took a position with the Latvian national team last summer so he could work with Kristaps Porzingis.

Longstaff is currently serving as an assistant to Jeff Van Gundy with USA Basketball.

Southeast Notes: Hawks, Schroder, T. Johnson, Magic

June 26th, 2018 at 9:56am CST by Arthur Hill

With about $20MM in available cap space, the Hawks are in position to be aggressive on the free agent market, but that’s not the path GM Travis Schlenk plans to pursue, relays Charles Odum of The Associated Press. Speaking at Monday’s press conference to introduce the team’s draft picks, Schlenk said the Hawks will take a wait-and-see approach when free agency kicks off Sunday.

“We will not be quickly out of the gate looking to sign guys,” he said. “We’ll kind of sit back and see what the market dictates. … We’ll kind of play a waiting game and see how the market plays out.”

The Hawks‘ need for frontline help has diminished with Dewayne Dedmon and Mike Muscala both opting in for another season. Guards Malcolm Delaney and Damion Lee will be restricted free agents if they receive qualifying offers worth $3.125MM and $1.538MM, respectively.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

Hawks point guard Dennis Schroder claimed to be taken out of context in comments at a German press conference that made it sound like he wanted to be traded, Odum adds in the same story. Schlenk said he discussed the situation with Schroder, who claimed the news source just used “snippets” of his answer. New coach Lloyd Pierce is confident that Schroder is committed to the Hawks’ plans to rebuild, and he will remain with the team and share time with first-round pick Trae Young.
The best strategy for the Heat may be to let Tyler Johnson play out his contract rather than trying to work out a trade, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Johnson’s contract rises from $5.88MM this season to $19.6MM in each of the next two years under the offer sheet from the Nets that Miami matched in 2016. Winderman notes that the four-year deal averages $12.5MM per season, which is reasonable for a player with Johnson’s production.
The Magic have officially hired the coaching staff that will work under Steve Clifford, the team announced this morning in a pair of tweets. As expected, the assistant coaches are Mike Batiste, Pat Delany, Steve Hetzel and Bruce Kreutzer, who all worked with Clifford in Charlotte, along with Tyrone Corbin, who spent the past two seasons in Phoenix.

Enes Kanter Claims Interest From 4-5 Teams

June 26th, 2018 at 8:53am CST by Arthur Hill

Knicks center Enes Kanter plans to save his opt-out decision for Friday’s deadline, but he tells Marc Berman of The New York Post “there could be four, five teams” ready to contact him if he chooses free agency.

Kanter has three more days to determine whether to give up an $18.6MM salary for next season and try to better that figure on the open market. He put up solid numbers in his first year in New York, averaging a double-double for the second time in his career with 14.1 points and 11.0 rebounds per night. However, there are only a handful of teams with enough cap room to offer him a significant raise, and the demand is uncertain for a traditional center.

“My thing is, if I can, I’d just want to stay with the Knicks,” Kanter said. “I played here last year and I loved it, loved the people here. It’s not just about the money. It’s about the whole organization. But that’s the decision I’m going to make the last day. It’s not 100 percent. I just keeping talking to my agent. There’s a lot of teams out there if I opt out, they’re already interested in me. That’s why I’m taking my time.”

Kanter adds that his interest in remaining with the Knicks increased when David Fizdale was hired as the new head coach. Fizdale held a two-hour meeting with Kanter at the draft combine last month and encouraged him to work on his 3-point shot. Kanter has gotten help from former Knicks developmental coach Chris Brickley and has posted videos of his long-range shot.

“With Coach Fizdale, I want to stay more,’’ Kanter added. “I know his mentality, I know how much freedom he gives to his players. It’s going to help my decision for sure. I think he’s going to change a lot of things. He seems like a relationship with him is like a friendship relationship. It’s not a player-coach relationship. I talked to him for two hours and it gives you so much confidence.’’

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