2020 July | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Maker, Lawson, Mills, Zion

July 10th, 2020 at 6:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Makur Maker spurned traditional college powerhouses to attend Howard University, but he may not be there long, Adam Zagoria of Forbes.com relays. The 6’11” Maker, cousin of Pistons center Thon Maker, admitted on ESPN’s First Take talk show that he may only be there one season.

“We’ll see how the future goes but if you’re a one-and-done talent, why not leave? That’s how I look at,” he said. “My ultimate goal is to play in the NBA and if that’s going to take me a year, I’m definitely all for it. If it’s going to take me two years, I’m definitely all for it. I know I’m an NBA lottery talent.”

We have more from around the basketball world:

Duke is closing in on Celtics assistant coach Kara Lawson as its new women’s basketball head coach, according to The News & Observer’s Steve Wiseman. Lawson, a former WNBA star and ESPN analyst, traveled with the Celtics to the Orlando campus this week. She would replace Joanne P. McCallie, who resigned this month after 13 years with the Blue Devils.
Spurs guard Patty Mills plans to donate his game checks during the league’s restart to social justice organizations, Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News writes. “I’m playing in Orlando because I don’t want to leave any money on the table that could be going directly to Black communities,” Mills said.
According to a federal court filing, Zion Williamson‘s stepfather allegedly solicited and accepted a $400K payment from a marketing agent in October 2018 prior to his season at Duke, according to ESPN’s Mark Schlabach. If true, Williamson would have been ineligible to play for the Blue Devils. The court motion and sworn affidavit was filed by his former marketing representative’s attorneys. Prime Sports Marketing sued Williamson and Creative Artists Agency for $100MM in state court in Florida for Williamson’s alleged breaching of their marketing agreement and signing with CAA.

Financial, Logistical Uncertainty Looms Over 2020/21 NBA Season

July 10th, 2020 at 5:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Now that the NBA has finalized its plan for the summer restart and teams have reported to Orlando, we have a pretty clear idea of what the rest of the 2019/20 season will look like, assuming it can be completed. However, uncertainty looms over the ’20/21 campaign, which doesn’t yet have an official start date.

According to Alex Silverman of Morning Consult, the NBA’s Global Innovation Group recently sent out an internal planning document outlining four possible scenarios for the 2020/21 season. Three of the proposed scenarios would feature a December start date and a July end date, but the fourth would see the season start in March 2021 and run through October, Silverman writes.

As Silverman explains, that fourth scenario is one that could be considered if there’s a pathway in early 2021 to a coronavirus vaccine or therapeutic treatment for COVID-19 that would allow teams to host fans in their home arenas for a full season. Under that proposal, the league would consider breaking for the Tokyo Olympics in the summer and would execute a “rolling schedule” rather than releasing the full-season schedule at once, Silverman writes.

It seems more likely that the NBA will opt for one of the December-to-July scenarios (the league has tentatively proposed a December 1 start date), but that will mean making contingency plans and preparing for a wide variety of complications related to the state of the coronavirus pandemic across North America.

According to Silverman, the NBA may still have to consider rolling schedule releases if the season starts in December, as well as “increasing game density, building in buffers for canceled or rescheduled games, and potentially using alternate sites like neutral markets or practice and G League facilities.” Regionally restricting matchups to reduce travel is also a possibility, Silverman adds.

Determining how to safely play in a world with the coronavirus will be a crucial question for the NBA to answer as it weighs its options for next season, but there are other important factors to consider, per Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Notably, the NBA’s owners and players will have to agree to a deal on how to financially operate, and 30 teams facing different restrictions and market conditions will have to figure out the best way to share revenues.

As Windhorst and Bontemps explain, the NBA salvaged its lucrative television deals in 2019/20 and had played about 75% of its regular season before the coronavirus pandemic forced a stoppage, so the financial losses were significant but not debilitating.

During the 2020/21 season, however, teams might not be able to fill their arenas with fans at all from opening night through the playoffs, which would significantly cut into the league’s earnings — commissioner Adam Silver has estimated that about 40% of the NBA’s revenues come from ticket sales and other arena-related revenues.

“The truth is, things are changing so fast that, when it comes to next season, the best we can do is put a stake in the ground and make a guess,” an Eastern Conference team president told ESPN. “The reality is nobody is probably going to operate in the black next season. The only question is how much each of us are going to lose.”

According to Windhorst and Bontemps, the league’s financial situation will become even cloudier if – due to local health restrictions and regulations – some teams can’t get fans into their arenas while others can. In a typical season, massive revenues for teams like the Lakers and Warriors help support smaller-market clubs. But if those smaller-market teams can host fans while big-market teams can’t, “traditional revenue sharing becomes distorted,” Windhorst and Bontemps write.

Sources tell ESPN that NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum recently told team presidents that the league’s plan for now is to allow local governments to regulate crowds at games. That means franchises around the NBA could be at the mercy of the policy views of local governors and mayors.

The salary cap for the 2020/21 season will be another important detail to resolve. While there’s a widespread desire to artificially smooth the cap based on this year’s $109MM rather than allowing a substantial dip, that will require negotiations between owners and players. Additionally, as Windhorst and Bontemps note, since owners and players share the NBA’s revenues, there will have to be some sort of system in place to ensure a split near 50/50 is maintained, even as revenues decrease.

According to the ESPN duo, one option would be to increase the amount of players’ salaries that are held in escrow from 10% to 20%. Another option would be for the excess player salaries needed to balance the revenue split to be offset in future seasons.

“In one case, the owners want a loan from the players. And in the other case, the players want a loan from the owners,” one agent told ESPN. “It will probably end up somewhere in the middle and it will get done after some yelling and posturing.”

The NBA put in a ton of work to establish a plan to end the 2019/20 season — much more work will be required to figure out what next season will look like.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pacific Notes: Kawhi, J. Green, Lakers, Suns, Warriors

July 10th, 2020 at 3:56pm CST by Luke Adams

Star forward Kawhi Leonard didn’t travel to Walt Disney World this week with the rest of the Clippers this week, sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. According to Haynes, Leonard was given permission by the club to tend to a family matter. Haynes wrote on Wednesday that the reigning Finals MVP was expected to arrive in Orlando within “a few days.”

Leonard isn’t the only Clippers player who will be late in arriving to the NBA’s campus. Sources tell Andrew Greif and Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link) that forward JaMychal Green is tending to a family matter of his own and isn’t in Orlando yet. Green is expected to arrive on Sunday, per The L.A. Times.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Anthony Slater of The Athletic digs into the question of whether J.R. Smith or Dion Waiters will help the Lakers more this summer in Orlando.
Not all of the Suns players are at the NBA’s campus yet, but Monty Williams declined on Thursday to identify the players arriving at a later date, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Phoenix’s head coach did say it was good to get back on a practice court. “It’s not weird when we get into the gym,” Williams said of the unusual circumstances. “It’s just when we leave the gym and you have to put your mask on and the coaches have had their mask on the whole practice. So you can imagine the huffing and puffing that goes on with us older coaches.”
Appearing this week on David Aldridge’s “Hoops, Adjacent” podcast at The Athletic, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr discussed a bevy of topics. Among them: His desire to conduct offseason team activities and the Warriors’ plan for Stephen Curry to make sure they’re “not wearing him out” going forward.

Restart Notes: Testing, TBT, Campus, Entertainment

July 10th, 2020 at 3:04pm CST by Luke Adams

When NBA commissioner Adam Silver first began talking in the spring about the possibility of resuming the 2019/20 season, he stressed that he didn’t want the league to be taking away coronavirus testing resources from the public. Now that 22 teams have reported to the Orlando campus and daily COVID-19 testing is taking place, that’s an issue worth watching, writes Tom Haberstroh of NBC Sports.

According to Haberstroh, the NBA recently switched testing providers, going from Quest Diagnostics to BioReference Laboratories right around the same time that Quest issued a press release announcing a surge in demand and a delay in processing results. Major League Soccer is also using BioReference Laboratories for coronavirus testing and neither the MLS nor NBA has faced processing delays from BioReference so far. However, according to Haberstroh, BioReference is “experiencing serious delays” with the general public.

Dr. Zachary Binney, an epidemiologist at Oxford College of Emory University, tells Haberstroh that the optics of the NBA getting preferential treatment are troublesome, especially at a time when many states are being hit harder than ever by the coronavirus.

“If BioReference or Quest is unable to return tests to the general public in less than 3-5 days, then I think the NBA (receiving priority) is causing a problem,” Binney said. “The NBA has only two choices. One is to jump to the front of the line with sick people in the hospital or they have to wait an unsatisfactory amount of time to get their results that gives the virus space to move throughout the bubble. Neither of those choices are acceptable.”

Here’s more on the NBA’s restart:

Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register contends that the league has lowered its standard for its restart plan from “safe” to “safer than elsewhere” over the last few months.
Rich Hofmann of The Athletic spoke to some players participating in The Basketball Tournament about their experience so far playing in a “bubble” environment and the challenges that NBA players will face in the coming weeks and months. “After going through this for eight days, I really have my doubts about them doing it for three months,” former Temple standout Khalif Wyatt said “It’s a long time, first of all. These guys have families and kids that they won’t want to be away from for three months. We’ve tested a lot, so I know they’ll be testing a lot. I’m sure the NBA will make it super comfortable for them but it’ll just be really different. It’s just going to be hard.”
Jim Sergent and Mark Medina of USA Today take an interesting visual look at how the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus has taken shape, breaking down many of the protocols in place to ensure player safety.
Having obtained a memo from the league, Fred Katz of The Athletic details many of the off-the-court entertainment options available to players at the Disney campus, including boating, golfing, and bowling.

Categories:
COVID-19

New York Notes: Ball, Knicks, Woodson, Nets, Crawford

July 10th, 2020 at 2:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Multiple teams believe that LaMelo Ball and people in his circle view the Knicks as their preferred landing spot, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. However, since Ball is considered a lock to be a top-five pick and a candidate to come off the board first overall in the 2020 NBA draft, it’s possible New York won’t get an opportunity to select him.

Because the lottery odds for the league’s bottom eight teams are already locked in, we know the Knicks have a 9% chance to land the No. 1 overall pick and a 37.2% chance at a top-four pick. The more likely outcome would see the team draft seventh or eighth overall, in which case Ball would presumably out of reach unless New York is willing to trade up.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams:

Mike Woodson‘s previously-reported interview with the Knicks for their head coaching job is taking place on Friday, sources tell Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News (Twitter link). The team continues to work its way through meetings with 11 candidates and intends to name a permanent head coach before the end of the month.
After not finding an NBA home all season, new Nets guard Jamal Crawford tells Brandon Robinson of Heavy.com that his deal with Brooklyn came together “really fast.” Crawford added that he’s ready to play whatever role the team expects of him. “Whatever they want me to do, I’ll do,” the 40-year-old said.
Brian Lewis of The New York Post examines the Nets‘ signings of Crawford and Michael Beasley, noting that both players could be candidates to re-sign with the team for 2020/21 — especially if Brooklyn consolidates some assets and trades for a third star, opening up a few extra roster spots. “We’re always going to be evaluating players, how they fit not only with the group we have now but the group that’s expected to be part of this team next year and the year after that,” GM Sean Marks said.

Ante Zizic Eyeing Move To Real Madrid?

July 10th, 2020 at 1:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Cavaliers center Ante Zizic is entering free agency this fall on an expiring contract that technically won’t expire until mid-October. However, it sounds as if Zizic may already be in the process of lining up his next contract.

According to a pair of reports – one from Chema de Lucas (Twitter link) and another from Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops – Zizic is expected to sign with Real Madrid in Spain. Varlas writes that Zizic has received a verbal commitment from the Spanish club and will sign a multiyear deal once his contract with the Cavs formally expires.

It’ll be some time before Zizic can officially sign with Real Madrid or any other team, but it won’t be a major surprise if he does head back overseas. His contributions in 113 games for Cleveland were modest, as he averaged 6.0 PPG and 3.9 RPG in 13.4 minutes per contest. The Croatian native played just 10.0 MPG in 22 contests in 2019/20 for the Cavs, and would be unlikely to generate significant NBA interest in free agency.

While Zizic has never played in Spain, he’ll be returning to the EuroLeague if he finalizes a deal with Real Madrid. After being selected 23rd overall in the 2016 draft by the Celtics, Zizic spent the ’16/17 season with Darussafaka in Turkey before making the move stateside.

Community Shootaround: Eastern Conference Seeding

July 10th, 2020 at 11:50am CST by Luke Adams

Although the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference will still be up for grabs when the NBA’s eight “seeding” games begin on July 30, that race has lost much of its luster as a result of the injuries, COVID-19 cases, and opt-outs that have decimated the Nets‘ and Wizards‘ rosters.

Technically, the Magic (30-35) are the No. 8 seed at the moment, but they’re just a half-game back of Brooklyn (30-34) for the No. 7 spot and seem likely to pass a Nets team that will be without at least seven players, including Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, and DeAndre Jordan.

That would leave the Nets to hang onto the No. 8 seed by holding off the Wizards (24-40), who will be missing Bradley Beal, Davis Bertans, and John Wall, but could force a play-in tournament if they finish within four games of Orlando or Brooklyn. Washington is also currently without Thomas Bryant (coronavirus), Gary Payton II (coronavirus), and Garrison Mathews (personal), though some or all of those players may eventually rejoin the team.

While that race for the seventh and eighth seeds may not be quite as dramatic as the NBA would like, there could still be some interesting jockeying for position further up the standings in the East.

The 53-12 Bucks have a 6.5-game cushion over the 46-18 Raptors, so Milwaukee will likely clinch the top seed even if they’re on cruise control during the seeding games. But Toronto’s lead on the third-seeded Celtics (43-21) is just three games, and Boston’s eight-game schedule looks less daunting than the Raptors’ slate.

Five of the Celtics’ eight games are against the Nets, Wizards, Magic, Grizzlies, and Trail Blazers, all of whom are at or near the bottom of the playoff race. The Raptors, meanwhile, will face Orlando and Memphis, but also have games against the Lakers, Heat, Nuggets, Sixers, and Bucks. The Celtics and Raptors face each other as well, in a game that will have important tiebreaker implications.

That No. 2 seed isn’t as important as it once was, given the lack of home court advantage available, but it could mean facing the Magic instead of the Pacers, which should be a more favorable matchup even with Victor Oladipo sidelined.

Speaking of the Pacers, they’re currently tied at 39-26 with the Sixers, with the No. 5 seed up for grabs. Clinching that fifth seed would likely mean securing a first-round matchup with the fourth-seeded Heat instead of the Celtics or Raptors.

The Heat, meanwhile, are 41-24, putting them two games behind Boston and two games ahead of the Sixers and Pacers. They seem like a relatively safe bet to hold their position in the No. 4 vs. 5 matchup, but a hot or cold streak in Orlando could affect their spot in the standings, especially with games vs. Boston, Toronto, and Indiana (twice) on tap.

What do you think? What do you expect the top eight spots in the Eastern Conference to look like by the time the playoffs begin? Will they look relatively similar to the current standings, or will there be some shuffling that results in some unexpected first-round matchups?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

Draft Updates: Allen, Alston, Quisenberry, Mike

July 10th, 2020 at 10:48am CST by Luke Adams

Utah Utes forward Timmy Allen announced on Instagram on Thursday night that he’ll be returning to school for at least one more year, withdrawing his name from the 2020 NBA draft.

A sophomore in 2019/20, Allen was Utah’s leading scorer with 17.3 PPG in 31 games (35.6 MPG). He also contributed 7.3 RPG, 3.0 APG, and 1.2 SPG. He was one of two Utah underclassmen to test the draft waters this spring, though the other – Both Gach – will be transferring to Minnesota.

Here’s more on the draft:

Boise State forward Derrick Alston Jr. tweeted that he has “unfinished business” to complete with the Broncos and will be returning to the school for his senior year. Alston averaged 17.3 PPG, 5.2 RPG, and 3.1 APG on .413/.335/.808 shooting in 32 games (33.0 MPG) as a junior before testing the draft waters.
Youngstown State guard Darius Quisenberry will also be withdrawing from the draft, he announced on Twitter. Quisenberry recorded 16.6 PPG, 4.2 APG, and 3.6 RPG in 33 games (31.5 MPG) as a sophomore in 2019/20.
SMU forward Isiaha Mike is set to go pro following his junior year, a source tells Sam Blum of The Dallas Morning News. While the expectation is that Mike will remain in the draft, he’s leaving the door open to the possibility of withdrawing and then become auto-eligible in 2021 following a year in Europe, tweets Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. Mike, who averaged 14.0 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 30 games (30.7 MPG) last season, won’t have to finalize his decision until October 6.

Heat Viewed As Threat For Oladipo In 2021?

July 10th, 2020 at 9:48am CST by Luke Adams

Pacers guard Victor Oladipo isn’t set to reach free agency until the 2021 offseason, but now that he has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2019/20 season, he’ll likely be entering a contract year the next time we see him on the court. As a result, there has been increased speculation as of late about his long-term future.

As J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star details, that speculation only figures to increase following Oladipo’s decision to sit out the NBA restart. Although Oladipo is considered to be sidelined for injury reasons, meaning he won’t forfeit his remaining salary, the two-time All-Star made the decision and announced it himself without giving the Pacers a heads-up.

As Michael notes, the Pacers consider themselves a player-friendly organization and have given Oladipo the leeway to make such decisions — he also announced his return date from his torn quad tendon in January. On top of that, Michael points out that Oladipo was always expected to test the free agent market in 2021 rather than signing an early extension with Indiana, since that will give him the opportunity to maximize his earnings.

A pair of league sources tell The Indianapolis Star that Oladipo will be prioritizing two things in free agency: The most money possible and the chance to compete for championships. The Pacers, who will hold Oladipo’s Bird rights, will be in position to offer him more money and more years than any rival suitor, so if he feels good about the club’s chances to make deep postseason runs, Indiana should be in the driver’s seat to re-sign him.

Still, Oladipo may consider other options. If he does, Michael suggests that the Knicks aren’t the most logical landing spot, despite the presence of Oladipo’s former agent Leon Rose in the front office. According to Michael, the “strongest preliminary indication” is that the Heat would be the biggest threat to sign Oladipo.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard the Heat linked to Oladipo. Miami is expected to have cap room available in 2021 and president Pat Riley intends to go star-hunting. Giannis Antetokounmpo has frequently been cited as the team’s No. 1 target, but if Giannis re-ups with the Bucks, Oladipo could emerge as Miami’s top priority. Shams Charania of The Athletic reported last month that the Heat have “made it known” they intend to pursue both Antetokounmpo and Oladipo in 2021, if possible.

As Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald details, there would be a number of cap obstacles to overcome if the Heat try to land both players, particularly given the uncertain impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the salary cap going forward. But as we saw when they acquired Jimmy Butler last summer, the Heat have shown a willingness to get creative with sign-and-trades to a acquire a maximum-salary player even when they don’t have the cap room to sign him outright.

We’re still a year away from Oladipo reaching the open market, and plenty could happen between now and then to shift the outlook of his free agency — he’ll need to look like his old self in 2020/21 to even be assured of maximum-salary offers, for instance. For now though, based on Michael’s report and others, it sounds like the Pacers are preparing to have to ward off the Heat to retain their 28-year-old star.

No Deal For Pau Gasol, Barcelona

July 10th, 2020 at 8:51am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 10: It appears Gasol won’t be joining his old team in Barcelona after all. Joan Bladé i Marsal, a member of the club’s board of directors, said there have been and will be no negotiations with Gasol, per Catràdio Esports (Twitter link; hat tip to Sportando).

JULY 8: Free agent big man Pau Gasol appears to be nearing a deal to rejoin FC Barcelona, his former team in Spain, according to multiple reports.

La Resistencia del Palau first tweeted of “advanced negotiations” between Gasol and Barcelona, with Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops reporting today that the two sides are close to a one-year agreement that’s expected to be finalized later in the summer.

Gasol, who turned 40 on Monday, has played in the NBA since 2001, most recently appearing in 30 total games for San Antonio and Milwaukee during the 2018/19 season. The veteran center was briefly on the Trail Blazers’ roster to start the ’19/20 campaign, but foot issues prevented him from playing at all for the club, and he was eventually released.

Gasol’s decorated NBA résumé includes averages of 17.0 PPG and 9.2 RPG in 1,226 total regular season games for the Grizzlies, Lakers, Bulls, Spurs, and Bucks. He earned six All-Star nods and won a pair of NBA championships with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010. Even before he arrived stateside though, he had some memorable years in Barcelona, winning Spanish League titles in 1999 and 2001 and earning Finals MVP honors in ’01.

Although he has sat out the 2019/20 season, Gasol has repeatedly talked about wanting to play one more year and then participate in the Tokyo Olympics, which were rescheduled to the summer of 2021. Last month, he told Spanish media that he was intrigued by the idea of returning to the team with which he started his professional career.

“My intention is to play another season if the foot is OK, either in the NBA or in Europe,” Gasol said at the time. “A final season with the Lakers is attractive, finishing at Barça (Barcelona) is attractive, but you have to see the real possibilities and see what situation would be best for the circumstances of the moment.”

While Gasol and Barcelona don’t have an agreement in place yet, it makes sense that he’d choose that opportunity if it’s available — the timeline for the ’20/21 NBA season remains up in the air and there’s no guarantee there would be contract offers waiting for him in the fall.

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