Knicks management was “stunned and depressed” that marquee free agents Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant chose the Nets, a team source told Frank Isola of The Athletic. The Knicks have tried to convince outsiders they didn’t want meetings with them or another top free agent, Kawhi Leonard, but in actuality they desperately wanted those big-ticket free agents, Isola continues. However, it may work out for them in the long run considering Durant’s Achilles injury and Irving’s injury history, Isola adds.
We have more from around the Eastern Conference:
- It makes sense for the Pacers to move Domantas Sabonis if he doesn’t mesh well with Myles Turner in the Pacers’ starting lineup, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic opines. Indiana is reportedly shopping Sabonis because extension talks have gone nowhere. The team should see if they can play together but if it doesn’t work, there’s no need to tie up a chunk of the team’s cap space on two centers, Vecenie continues, especially since it drafted another center in June.
- Sabonis expressed his disappointment about the extension negotiations and subsequent trade rumors on Saturday, Forbes’ Tony East tweets. “Theres not really much to talk about. I know exactly how the Pacers feel about me now,” Sabonis said. “They know how I feel about that. There’s not much more to say. I’ll let my agents do the rest of it, we’ll see what happens.”
- Wizards first-round selection Rui Hachimura is likely to be in the starting lineup for the season opener, Candace Buckner of the Washington Post tweets. Coach Scott Brooks said he was “leaning the way.” Hachimura averaged 10.3 PPG and 6.5 RPG in 21.9 MPG during the preseason.
- Heat forward James Johnson believes he’ll suit up for the opener, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes. Johnson has returned for workouts after a team-imposed suspension when he failed to meet their conditioning standards. Johnson said he just needs to get his body fat percentage down a little more. “You know, body fat takes a long time to drop. So I’m just waiting for that to get down,” he said. “I know my numbers. My weight is good, my conditioning is good, I’m just waiting for my numbers to drop.”
- Center John Henson‘s injury woes have continually frustrated the Cavaliers, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Henson has been sidelined most of the preseason with groin and ankle injuries. A wrist injury that required surgery made last season a virtual washout for the former Bucks big man. Coach John Beilein was hoping Henson could challenge for a rotation or even starting spot. ““I’ve seen him so limited this year because he’s basically been injured almost every day that I’ve known him,” Beilein said.
Wendell Carter and Kris Dunn for Sabonis and Indiana’s first round pick.
I’d rather have Sabino’s and the pick.
Henson has lost the will to play as he cashed those fat paychecks.
He never was particularly motivated in Milwaukee. He was dogged by questions about his desire to improve for years, and his minute load reflected it. He’ll get a minimum contract next year and ride someone’s bench.
Cavs swap T Thompson and C Sexton for A Drummond K Thomas and a first
Cavs then swap J Clarkson and J Henson for A Wiggins
1. Garland. Knight
2. Delly. Porter. Thomas
3. Wiggins. Osman. Windler
4. Love. Nance
5. Drummond. Zizic
Detroit gets its young PG, TWolves get rid of Wiggins and in some nice role players.
Garland gets to be the creator, Drummond is the paint beast, K Love gets to play inside and outside doing his thing. Wiggins chips in with his usual 18 points. Off the bench you have good role players in Nance and Osman plus young rookies Windler and Porter.
Ummm no
Two awful, awful trades that make all three teams (Cavs, Pistons, and T-Wolves) worse. That Cleveland team would be saddled with 2 more awful contracts and not win over 30 games for years.
How? Drummond is an improvement over Thompson. Pistons get its future PG in Sexton and take back Thompson who starts at centre. The other deal the TWolves let wiggins go but get back Clarkson a really solid 6th man to led the second unit and Henson who covers Pf and C.
If the Cavs wanted to they would then let Drummond and Knight walk and clear 30 mil and 15 mil from those two. Then start Love and Nance and have that 45 mil to spend at SG. Love gets to led the team but Garland Wiggins and Nance are the future building blocks.
Pistons have a good future with Sexton and Kennard in the backcourt and Griffin at PF. Jackson and Thompson both on expiring deals clear almost 40 mil for them to spend. Plus they still have younsters Brown, Doumbouya and Maker.
TWolves get rid of Wiggins enormous deal for 2 expiring deals plus Teagues expiring deal. Clarkson and Henson give the team good depth and clears more minutes to Culver and Okogie. They have a strong young core of Culver Covington KAT and have Layman and Bell for back ups.
Henson was out all of last year too after the first 14 games with the Bucks, and injury was not really given as an explanation… My impression was that he was just salary filler in the trade and the Cavs were not interested in him. The Bucks were not either despite generally efficient numbers.
The trade for the Cavs at its core was George Hill for a 1st, with other stuff involved.
Henson is good defensively. He was 11 for 31, 36% from 3, in those 14 games, the first year he made an effort there.