2021 February | Hoops Rumors

Rockets Waive DeMarcus Cousins

February 23rd, 2021 at 2:55pm CST by Luke Adams

2:55pm: The Rockets have officially waived Cousins, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).

7:56am: The Rockets have decided to release veteran center DeMarcus Cousins, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Assuming he clears waivers, Cousins will become an unrestricted free agent and will be able to sign with any team.

Houston and Cousins’ representatives reportedly decided over the weekend to end the relationship, with the Rockets said to be going younger and smaller in their frontcourt. The team explored the trade market in an attempt to get something in return for the 30-year-old, but today’s update suggests there were no deals out there worth making.

While he had a few big games for the Rockets, Cousins – who is coming off a series of major leg injuries, including a torn ACL – hasn’t looked like his old All-Star self this season, averaging just 9.6 PPG and 7.6 RPG on 37.6% shooting in 25 games (20.2 MPG). His limited mobility also reduced his effectiveness on the defensive end.

In a show of good will, the Rockets guaranteed Cousins’ full-season salary last week, so any team mulling a waiver claim on the big man would have to be comfortable taking on his full $1.62MM cap hit. If he clears waivers and signs a new minimum-salary contract, that deal would only be worth a prorated portion of the veteran’s minimum, while Houston would carry $1.62MM in dead money.

Cousins should generate some interest around the NBA as a backup frontcourt scorer, but it’s unclear which team might emerge as his top suitor. Although the Lakers had him on their roster last season as he recovered from his ACL tear and will have two open roster spots, multiple people with knowledge of the situation said they don’t expect a reunion between L.A. and Cousins, according to Dan Woike and Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times.

Cousins reportedly has some interest in the Heat, but it remains to be seen how seriously Miami will reciprocate that interest.

Once Cousins officially hits waivers, the Rockets will have an open spot on their 15-man roster.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Heat Granted Disabled Player Exception For Leonard

February 23rd, 2021 at 1:46pm CST by Luke Adams

The Heat have been granted a disabled player exception as a result of Meyers Leonard‘s season-ending shoulder injury, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

A salary cap exception designed to give teams extra flexibility when a player suffers a major injury, the disabled player exception can be used to sign a free agent, to claim a player off waivers, or to acquire a player in a trade. The exception can only be used on a single player and can only accommodate a player on a one-year deal. A free agent signee can’t get a multiyear contract, and any trade or waiver target must be in the final year of his contract.

Miami’s new DPE has a value of $4.7MM – half of Leonard’s $9.4MM salary for 2020/21 – so any player signed or acquired with the exception can’t be earning more than that amount (plus $100K). The deadline to use it is April 19.

The Heat used their full mid-level exception during the offseason to sign Avery Bradley and Maurice Harkless, but still have their $3.6MM bi-annual exception, along with a $7.5MM trade exception that expires on March 22, so they have a few options available if they want to target a player in free agency or on the trade market.

Miami does, however, currently have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, and none of those exceptions – including the DPE – allow the team to add an extra player to its 15-man roster. So in order to use any of their exceptions, the Heat will have to trade or release one of their current players.

Mike Conley Hopes To Re-Sign With Jazz

February 23rd, 2021 at 1:10pm CST by Arthur Hill

Halfway through his second season with the Jazz, Mike Conley is completely sold on the organization, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. After an awkward start to last season, the 33-year-old point guard has become comfortable in his role and is hoping for a long-term deal when he reaches free agency this summer.

“Utah’s got me,” Conley said. “I was talking about this to my wife recently. We love it here. I don’t think I can go anywhere else that plays the way we play. We’ll see this offseason, because when that time comes there will definitely be a lot of chatter. But, from where I sit right now, this team is so unique in the way we play. And everyone has bought into what we want to do on both ends of the floor.”

Everything seems to be going well for the Jazz, who hold the league’s best record at 25-6. All the pieces are fitting together and Conley is playing as well as ever, averaging 16.4 points and 5.6 assists per game while leading the league in NBA.com’s list of individual net rating.

Jones notes that there are plenty of reasons for the Jazz to let Conley go if the relationship hadn’t been so successful. Donovan Mitchell handles the ball frequently and could take over as point guard if needed. Conley makes $34.5MM this year, and a new contract will involve a significant financial commitment for a franchise that is already in luxury tax territory.

Even so, Jones suggests Utah’s front office is committed to holding onto Conley.

“What is gratifying is how Mike has come back and adjusted after the initial integration and injuries, and how he has worked his way through a really premature and unfair narrative that a player and a man like himself received,” said executive vice president of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey. “Mike has taught me a lot about what life and sports teaches us.”

Conley’s time in Utah got off to a rough start after the Jazz traded for him in the summer of 2019. A pulled hamstring sidelined him for much of his first season with the team, and he wasn’t playing at his normal level when he was on the court. Things didn’t fully turn around until the restart in Orlando, but there were still whispers that Conley was past his prime and perhaps the trade was a mistake.

Conley hated feeling like he was disappointing Jazz fans, whom he describes as “very passionate.”

“So to start the way I did, not doing anything well, not being able to hit a shot, that wasn’t me,” he said. “And then when the injury came, I wasn’t able to show what I could do. For a while, it felt like anything I did was going to be bad. It was tough. I wasn’t used to negative criticism. I felt like I let the people down.”

That has changed this season, and Conley could be on the verge of an All-Star selection, which has eluded him throughout his career. Mitchell and center Rudy Gobert seem like sure things, and Conley makes no secret of his desire to join them when the reserves are announced later today.

“I think this year, honestly, I’m playing the best basketball of my entire career,” he said. “Being 33 years old, I’ve never had the opportunity to play in the game. I’ve had the door shut so many times. But it’s been so much fun being a part of a team like this that is so unique. We play so unselfishly, and we have a defensive mindset and a physical mentality.”

Kai Sotto Not Rejoining G League Ignite

February 23rd, 2021 at 11:45am CST by Luke Adams

Kai Sotto, a 7’2″ center from the Philippines, will not return to the G League Ignite, as he and the team have mutually agreed to part ways, the club announced today in a press release.

Sotto was one of several young prospects who joined the Ignite, the NBAGL’s new select team, for its inaugural season in 2020/21. However, he didn’t end up appearing in any G League games, having left the Ignite in January to train with the Philippines National Team at the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in Qatar. That event was ultimately canceled, but Sotto won’t head back to the G League bubble at Walt Disney World for the home stretch of the NBAGL season.

“Kai and the team both understood the challenges for him to rejoin Ignite given the current international travel constraints, quarantine times and health and safety protocols,” NBA G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim said in a statement. “Kai will always be part of the extended Ignite family and we wish him continued success as he pursues his NBA dreams.”

A four-star recruit, Sotto arrived stateside in 2019 and joined The Skill Factory, a prep program based in Georgia. A handful of colleges were believed to be keeping an eye on the big man, including Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Auburn, and USC, but he opted to go pro, joining the Ignite as he pursued an eventual NBA career.

Given that this season didn’t exactly play out as he likely envisioned, it’s unclear whether Sotto still intends to enter the 2021 draft. If he does, he’ll be something of a mystery to NBA teams, who didn’t really get a chance to scout him at all this season.

Pau Gasol Officially Confirms Reunion With Barcelona

February 23rd, 2021 at 10:24am CST by Luke Adams

After several reports and rumors tying him to the club, Pau Gasol has officially confirmed that he’ll reunite with Barcelona, returning to the team with which he started his professional basketball career.

“I’m very happy to announce that I’m coming home and that I’ll soon join the ranks of Barça’s basketball team,” Gasol said in a statement. “… I’m happy to return to the club where I began, and I’m excited about this new opportunity: I hope to contribute to the first team very soon.”

Multiple reports way back in July 2020 indicated that Gasol would be signing with Barcelona, but those reports were shot down quickly at the time as the 40-year-old continued to work his way back from the foot issues that ended his last NBA stint.

Over the weekend, reports of Gasol joining his old team once again surfaced, and the veteran center once again issued a denial that any deal was done. However, this time around, it seems as though there was an agreement in place and he simply wanted to announce it on his own terms.

Gasol last appeared in an NBA game in March 2019, when he briefly played for the Bucks. Since then, he has undergone multiple surgeries to repair stress fractures in the navicular bone in his left foot, but never gave up his hope of making a comeback. The Spaniard had talked repeatedly about wanting to play for either the Lakers in the NBA or Barcelona in his home country, and has expressed his desire to represent Spain in the Olympics one last time in Tokyo.

Gasol’s deal with Barcelona represents the next step in his comeback efforts, but based on his announcement, it sounds like he won’t be playing key minutes for one of Spain’s top clubs right away. Within his statement, Gasol talks about lending his “skills and experience” to the team while “making progress in my physical condition and getting into the rhythm of competition.”

The third overall pick in the 2001 draft, Gasol began his NBA career with Memphis after playing for Barcelona from 1998-2001. He ultimately spent 18 seasons in the NBA for the Grizzlies, Lakers, Bulls, Spurs, and Bucks, averaging an impressive 17.0 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 3.2 APG, and 1.6 BPG in 1,226 regular season games. He’s a six-time All-Star who won a pair of championships with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010, as well as three Olympics medals (two silvers and a bronze) for Spain.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Cuban Denies Mavs Gauging Trade Market For Porzingis

February 23rd, 2021 at 9:58am CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks have “quietly gauged” the potential trade market for Kristaps Porzingis as they continue to evaluate whether he can be the team’s second star behind Luka Doncic, league sources tell Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.

“They’ve kicked the tires on everybody on their roster that’s not named Luka,” a person with knowledge of the situation told Fischer. “You know (president of basketball operations) Donnie (Nelson); they’re always tinkering.”

Mavs owner Mark Cuban disputed the report, telling Tim Cato of The Athletic that his club has “not discussed (Porzingis) with anyone.” However, Ian Begley of SNY.tv backs up Fischer’s reporting, citing sources who say Dallas reached out to the Warriors to gauge their interest in the big man.

As Fischer explains, Porzingis’ ever-growing injury history and his struggles on defense are possible concerns for the Mavericks. Still, it sounds like if Dallas is discussing Porzingis at all, it’s more about the team doing its due diligence or considering hypothetical scenarios than actually looking to move on from the 25-year-old. Cato says it’s “incredibly unlikely” the former No. 4 overall pick will be traded this season or in the summer.

According to Fischer, the Mavericks are believed to be more interested adding a center who can complement Porzingis in the frontcourt, such as perhaps Andre Drummond. Dallas would like a big man with “physicality, rebounding, (and) toughness,” one source tells Bleacher Report.

While it’s not clear if Hawks big man John Collins will be a pre-deadline trade target for the Mavs, league sources believe the team would make a “significant offer” to him if he reaches restricted free agency in the offseason, per Fischer.

Dallas has also explored the trade market for additional shooting and perimeter defense, according to Fischer, who adds that the Mavs appear to have been one of the more active teams in the early stages of trade conversations around the league.

Porzingis’ injury issues and his defensive shortcomings have prevented him taking a major step toward stardom since arriving in Dallas, and he owns the most expensive contract on the Mavs’ books, with three years and $101MM+ left on his deal after this season. However, that contract isn’t interfering with Dallas’ ability to upgrade the roster, as the club still projects to have a significant chunk of cap room available in the summer of 2021.

10-Day Contract Window Opens; Salary Guarantee Deadline Looms

February 23rd, 2021 at 7:26am CST by Luke Adams

As of Tuesday, February 23, NBA teams can begin signing free agents to 10-day contracts without requiring a hardship exception to do so. The annual 10-day window typically opens on January 5, but that date was pushed back in 2021 to account for the season’s later start date.

A 10-day contract allows a team to add a player to its roster for either 10 days or three games (whichever occurs later) without any commitment beyond that. A player can sign up to two 10-day deals with the same team in a single season — after those two contracts, the team must decide whether to sign him to a rest-of-season contract or part ways with him.

For some teams, the 10-day contract provides an opportunity to take a flier on a young player to see if he deserves a longer-term look. Other clubs may utilize 10-day deals for short-term injury fill-ins, or simply to meet minimum roster requirements.

As is the case in a typical season, the NBA’s 10-day signing window will open during the same week that the league-wide salary guarantee deadline arrives. In a normal season, teams would have to release players on non-guaranteed contracts by January 7 to ensure they clear waivers before the guarantee date of Jan. 10. This season, those cuts must be completed by February 24 to beat the Feb. 27 guarantee date.

The start of the 10-day contract period and the salary guarantee deadline go hand in hand, since teams cutting players before their salaries become fully guaranteed will often sign players to 10-day contracts to fill those newly-opened roster spots — in some cases, the same player who was waived at the salary guarantee deadline returns to his team on a 10-day contract, as clubs looks to maximize their roster flexibility.

So far this week, the Pelicans have waived Sindarius Thornwell to avoid locking in his full-season cap hit, and the Lakers are poised to do the same with Quinn Cook. There will likely be several more cuts made around the NBA by Wednesday evening. Already, 11 teams have at least one 15-man roster opening.

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Pelicans Waive Sindarius Thornwell

February 23rd, 2021 at 5:30am CST by Luke Adams

FEBRUARY 23: The Pelicans officially waived Thornwell on Monday, per NBA.com’s transactions log.

FEBRUARY 22: The Pelicans intend to release guard Sindarius Thornwell, reports Will Guillory of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Thornwell appeared in 11 games for New Orleans this season, but saw limited action, averaging just 4.8 minutes per contest. In 53 total minutes, he scored 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting, chipping in four steals.

According to Guillory, the Pelicans were happy with Thornwell’s performance, but will make the move for financial reasons. The 26-year-old’s minimum-salary contract isn’t fully guaranteed, so by waiving him prior to Wednesday’s salary guarantee deadline, the club will save some money and create more breathing room below the luxury tax line.

Rather than counting for $1,620,564 against the Pelicans’ cap, Thornwell will have a cap charge of $721,484, assuming he goes unclaimed on waivers, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. New Orleans will move approximately $1.4MM below the tax threshold, Marks adds (Twitter link).

Because the Pelicans already have an open spot on their 15-man roster, releasing Thornwell will reduce their total standard contracts to just 13. The league-mandated minimum is 14, but teams can dip below that number for two weeks at a time. New Orleans will have to add a 14th man within two weeks and will likely do so by utilizing a 10-day contract — 10-day deals can be signed starting on Tuesday.

Eastern Notes: Celtics, Cavs, Perry, Markkanen, Porter

February 22nd, 2021 at 10:28pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics have a $28.5MM trade exception but in order to acquire an impact player, they’ll also likely have to part with draft picks, Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe opines. Boston GM Danny Ainge has admitted he doesn’t feel the team as presently constituted is championship-caliber, and potential trade partners will demand multiple picks to part with a player that the Celtics covet.

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

The Cavaliers are paying the price for injuries and other issues, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes. They’re on a 10-game losing streak with Andre Drummond in limbo and three other frontcourt players — Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr. and Taurean Prince — out with injuries. Their reserve corps has been rendered ineffective. “Nobody is coming to bail us out. Nobody is coming to rescue us,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.
Knicks executive Scott Perry has played an underrated role in building a more competitive team, Steve Popper of Newsday points out. He was instrumental in bringing in Julius Randle and some other veterans that have put them in playoff contention. The front office now has the assets to make a major deal, Popper adds.
It’s possible that Otto Porter Jr. (back) and Lauri Markkanen (right shoulder sprain) could return from their injuries prior to the All-Star break, but Bulls coach Billy Donovan doesn’t sound overly optimistic, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times. “I think as this week unfolds and we get closer to the All-Star break, we’ll certainly have to look at OP because he hasn’t been able to do a lot of cardio stuff,’’ Donovan said. “I don’t know if either of those guys will be back before the All-Star Break or not. … I’d imagine both of those guys have been really, really diligent about working out and trying to take care of themselves, and doing what they can to keep their conditioning up.’’

Pacific Notes: Curry, Wiseman, Looney, Cousins, Lakers, Robinson

February 22nd, 2021 at 9:04pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Warriors could have most of the regulars back in action on Tuesday against the Knicks. Stephen Curry missed Saturday’s loss to Charlotte but practiced on Monday and is expected to play Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Nick Friedell. Coach Steve Kerr also indicated big men James Wiseman and Kevon Looney could play after participating in the practice. Looney has been out since February 2 with an ankle sprain. Wiseman, the No. 2 pick in the draft, has been sidelined since January 30 with a wrist injury.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Executives whom Heavy.com Sean Deveney spoke to believe that DeMarcus Cousins would be a bad fit for the Lakers. Cousins is being held out of action as Houston seeks to deal him. Cousins hasn’t shot it well this season and his diminished mobility makes him a liability on defense. The team also has limited salary available to add another player.
The absences of Anthony Davis and Dennis Schröder are taking a toll on the Lakers and the schedule isn’t helping, Jovan Buha of The Athletic notes. They had lost two straight heading into Monday’s game against Washington while struggling to find offensive answers. They also play four teams with winning records before the All-Star break.
Kings swingman Glenn Robinson III is not currently with the team due to personal reasons, James Ham of NBC Sports California tweets. Robinson has appeared in 23 games, averaging 5.3 PPG in 16.0 MPG. Sacramento must decide this week whether to fully guarantee Robinson’s $2MM contract.

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