2021 March | Hoops Rumors

Nuggets Notes: Bradley, Luxury Tax, Gordon, Tucker, Barnes, Murray

March 26th, 2021 at 7:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nuggets would have some interest in guard Avery Bradley if he’s bought out, Mike Singer of the Denver Post tweets. Bradley was part of package the Heat shipped to Houston for Victor Oladipo. Bradley has only appeared in 10 games this season due to injury. There’s a $5.9MM team option on the remaining year of his contract.

We have more on the Nuggets:

The team’s ownership is willing to pay the luxury tax in a future season as long as the club is a prime contender for the title, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN. Denver has managed to stay below the tax threshold this season. Aaron Gordon‘s contract and Michael Porter Jr.‘s rookie deal expire after next season, giving the franchise a season-and-a-half to evaluate whether keeping both of them, along with stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, is worth a big luxury tax bill. However, ownership doesn’t want to be a “repeater” tax team, Lowe adds. Teams are subject to repeater penalties when they’ve been a taxpayer in three of four seasons.
Prior to acquiring Gordon from the Magic, the Nuggets discussed a P.J. Tucker trade with the Rockets but never got close to an agreement, Lowe reports in the same story. They also sent feelers to the Kings regarding Harrison Barnes but Sacramento wasn’t interested in dealing him.
Murray has been very proactive about his interest in playing for Team Canada in the Summer Olympics, Raptors and Team Canada coach Nick Nurse told The Athletic’s Blake Murphy (Twitter link).

Spurs Sign Cam Reynolds To 10-Day Contract

March 26th, 2021 at 6:29pm CST by Luke Adams

6:29pm: It’s official, according to a team press release.

2:50pm: Free agent forward Cameron Reynolds is returning to the Spurs, according to his agent James Dunleavy, who tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link) that the team is signing Reynolds to a 10-day contract.

Reynolds, 26, spent the preseason with San Antonio, then joined the Austin Spurs for the G League bubble at Walt Disney World last month. In 14 NBAGL contests (29.0 MPG), he averaged 16.1 PPG and 4.6 RPG on .412/.337/.833 shooting.

The former Tulane standout has 19 games of NBA experience under his belt, having spent part of the 2018/19 season with the Timberwolves. He’ll earn $99K on his 10-day deal with San Antonio.

The Spurs briefly filled the 15th spot on their roster when they acquired Marquese Chriss at the trade deadline, but reopened it when they bought out LaMarcus Aldridge. As such, no corresponding roster move will be required to officially sign Reynolds.

Bruce Brown Reaches Starter Criteria, QO Increases

March 26th, 2021 at 6:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bruce Brown has reached the starter criteria in his contract, jumping his qualifying offer from $2.1MM to $4.7MM, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets.

Brown made his 26th start for the Nets on Friday against his former team, the Pistons. He started 43 of 58 games for Detroit last season.

The starter criteria requires an RFA-to-be to start at least half of his team’s games in the two seasons leading up to his free agency.

This makes Brooklyn’s decision on whether to extend the QO to Brown a little trickier, considering its luxury tax bill considerations. It would still be a surprise if the Nets choose not to extend the QO, considering how valuable Brown has been this season. He’s averaging 8.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 1.4 APG and is a stout one-on-one defender for a team with a wealth of scoring options when at full strength.

Brooklyn holds Brown’s Bird rights and could also sign him to an extension prior to free agency.

Brown was a second-round selection by Detroit in 2018 but quickly jumped into the starting five as a rookie.

Cavaliers Buy Out Andre Drummond’s Contract

March 26th, 2021 at 4:45pm CST by Luke Adams

4:45pm: The buyout agreement is official, according to a team press release.

“I want to thank Andre for his contributions to our team both on and off the court, and for his professionalism and mutual cooperation as we navigated through this process with him and his representation,” GM Koby Altman said. “We have great respect for Andre as a person and a player here in Cleveland and we are happy to have reached an outcome that is in the best interest of both Andre and our team.”

12:53pm: The Cavaliers have reached a buyout agreement with center Andre Drummond, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). Drummond will be free to sign with any team once he officially clears waivers.

The move was expected, with reports on Thursday indicating that the Cavs were negotiating a buyout with Drummond after failing to find a favorable trade at the deadline.

Drummond, 27, is averaging a double-double for the eight consecutive season in 2020/21, with 17.5 PPG and 13.5 RPG in 25 games (28.9 MPG) for Cleveland. However, he wasn’t in the Cavs’ long-term plans, so the team pulled him out of its rotation in February to create more minutes for new center Jarrett Allen and to resolve his situation.

Drummond’s $28.75MM expiring salary made it impossible for the club to recoup anything of real value on the trade market. However, he could be as available on the free agent market for as little as the veteran’s minimum. Money will be one of the factors Drummond must consider as he weighs which team to join next, since some of his suitors – including the Lakers – will be limited to offering the prorated minimum, while others – like the Knicks – could go much higher.

His potential role and the opportunity to compete for a championship are other factors that Drummond will have to consider as he explores his options. Besides the Lakers and Knicks, the big man is expected to talk to the Clippers, Celtics, Hornets, and possibly the Nets.

Executives around the league reportedly view the Lakers as the frontrunners for Drummond.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Grizzlies Waive Gorgui Dieng

March 26th, 2021 at 4:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Grizzlies have waived Gorgui Dieng, according to a press release posted on the team’s Twitter feed.

The 31-year-old big man has appeared in 39 games, including 22 this season, in parts of two seasons with Memphis. He’s averaged 7.6 PPG and 5.0 RPG in 17.7 MPG during those contests.

His $17.3MM expiring contract made it difficult to deal Dieng before Thursday’s deadline. With Xavier Tillman Sr. ahead of him in the rotation behind starting center Jonas Valanciunas, Dieng became a prime buyout candidate.

He’ll clear waivers on Sunday afternoon and become an attractive pickup for a contender seeking frontcourt help.

Kleiman: Jaren Jackson Jr. To Return In April

March 26th, 2021 at 3:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. is on track to return to action before the end of April, the team’s executive VP of basketball operations Zach Kleiman said on Friday, per Drew Hill of The Daily Memphian.

Jackson has yet to play at all for Memphis this season as he recovers from undergoing surgery to repair a torn left meniscus. As Kleiman explained today, the Grizzlies knew the third-year forward would be sidelined for a significant period when they decided to fully repair his meniscus tear rather than opting for a quicker fix.

“When Jaren first tore his meniscus there are kind of two routes you can take,” Kleiman said, according to Hill. “You can either do what’s called a meniscectomy, where you shave down or trim the meniscus, and you can be back in a couple of months. But at that point you lose the protective function of the meniscus. It leads to swelling and soreness and recurring knee issues over time.

“What we did with Jaren, with his long-term health in mind and everyone on the same page of taking the long view, was to repair his meniscus. The surgeon went in and was thankfully able to repair 100% of his meniscus. But, a full repair of a meniscus often times takes up to eight months or nine months.”

As Jackson inches closer to his return, another power forward’s days in Memphis appear to be numbered. Asked today about Gorgui Dieng, who is viewed as a possible buyout candidate, Kleiman didn’t explicitly confirm that the Grizzlies will move onto him, but didn’t say the 31-year-old will finish the season with the team either.

“More to come on Gorgui,” Kleiman said. “There will be more updates there.”

And-Ones: COVID-19, Buyout Market, Marble, Carr, Albeck

March 26th, 2021 at 3:21pm CST by Luke Adams

While it fell through the cracks to some extent amidst a hectic trade-deadline week, the latest update from the NBA and NBPA on coronavirus testing results was another favorable one. According to the league and the union, just one player out of 485 tested positive for COVID-19 between March 17-24.

The NBA and NBPA would certainly rather see that number at zero, but the fact that there have been no postponements so far in the second half is a good sign that teams have avoided an outbreak since the All-Star Game.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

LaMarcus Aldridge and Andre Drummond have received most of the buzz as the biggest names on the buyout market, but John Hollinger of The Athletic views Otto Porter, Kelly Olynyk, and Gorgui Dieng as more appealing targets — if their respective teams are willing to move on from them.
Jabari Young of CNBC takes an early look at the NBA’s next TV deal, reporting that people in league circles believe the league could seek a deal worth a total of $75 billion. The NBA’s current TV rights deal doesn’t expire until 2025, so there’s still plenty of time to work out the next one.
Our JD Shaw provided a pair of updates on former second-round picks this week, reporting that veteran wing Devyn Marble is joining Maccabi Haifa in Israel and that 23-year-old guard Tony Carr underwent successful surgery to repair a torn ACL (Twitter links). Marble was selected 56th overall in the 2014 draft and appeared in 44 NBA games with Orlando, while Carr – the No. 51 pick in 2018 – has yet to make his NBA debut.
Former NBA head coach Stan Albeck passed away at age 89 on Thursday, as Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News writes. Albeck coached the Cavaliers, Spurs, Nets, and Bulls from 1979-86 and also spent time as an assistant on a handful of other NBA staffs.

Lou Williams Considered Retirement After Trade

March 26th, 2021 at 2:08pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran guard Lou Williams contemplated retirement following the trade that sent him from the Clippers to the Hawks on Thursday. As the three-time Sixth Man of the Year winner explained in a post on Instagram, being dealt away by the Clippers – his team for the last four years – hit him hard.

“I thought about retiring yesterday. You give so much to an organization and you wake up and boom, it’s no more,” Williams wrote. “Then in true Clipper nation fashion I was reminded that my talent and contribution was appreciated and it made me reflect on what’s to come. There’s plenty left in my tank and I’m privileged to continue my career in my backyard.”

The Clippers didn’t want to move Williams, but he was the only salary-matching piece that made sense in their deal for Rajon Rondo, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic.

The Hawks, incidentally, received high marks on that trade from ESPN’s Kevin Pelton (Insider link). Rondo hadn’t been effective this season and was owed a guaranteed $7.5MM salary for 2021/22, so trading him for Williams’ expiring $8MM deal and multiple second-round picks was an “enormous win” for Atlanta, Pelton argues.

Here’s more on the Hawks:

Although it’s a win for the Hawks overall, the Rondo trade will cost the team a respected veteran leader in the locker room, according to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, who says some players were going to the point guard for guidance over former head coach Lloyd Pierce. Kirschner notes that Williams, a 16-year veteran, should help replace Rondo’s leadership.
With Rondo gone, the Hawks don’t have a clear-cut backup point guard, but general manager Travis Schlenk said today that he thinks Williams can fill that role, with Bogdan Bogdanovic and others also sharing ball-handling responsibilities, per Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Schlenk added that the team will count on Williams to inject more offense into a second unit that has often struggled to score without Trae Young on the floor.
Atlanta never had any “serious conversations” about a John Collins trade prior to Thursday’s deadline, Schlenk told reporters. “We’ve been steadfast that we view John as a big part of our team, a big part of our franchise,” the Hawks’ GM said, according to Spencer. “Like with all our players, we do our due diligence to see what their value is, but I don’t think that you’ve ever heard myself or anybody else in the Hawks organization say that we don’t place great value on John. We do.”
Schlenk told reporters today that the plan is for Kris Dunn (ankle) to scrimmage on Monday, and that the guard could make his Hawks debut near the end of the team’s current West Coast road trip, tweets Spencer. That trip concludes on April 2 in New Orleans.

Eastern Notes: Celtics, Vucevic, Heat, Pacers, Wizards

March 26th, 2021 at 1:35pm CST by Luke Adams

One of the NBA’s most reliable trade-deadline traditions is hearing after the fact which big-name players the Celtics came close to acquiring. Although Boston was active at this year’s deadline, adding Evan Fournier in one deal and moving Daniel Theis in another, the team didn’t let that annual tradition fall by the wayside.

League sources tell Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe that the Celtics were a finalist in the Nikola Vucevic sweepstakes, having included multiple first-round picks in their offer to Orlando before the big man was sent to Chicago.

Additionally, Himmelsbach reports that the Celtics offered a first-round pick and a young player (believed to be Aaron Nesmith) to Orlando for Aaron Gordon, and were prepared to increase that offer, but the Magic accepted Denver’s offer before Boston had a chance to do so.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Another post-deadline tradition? Teams insisting they didn’t offer players whose names were repeatedly mentioned in trade rumors. The Heat did that today, issuing a statement stating that they never offered Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and Precious Achiuwa in any deals. “They were asked for, but an offer was never made,” the team said, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. While the Heat’s reluctance to part with Herro was widely reported, at least one of Robinson or Achiuwa – and perhaps both – would’ve had to be included in any viable package for Kyle Lowry, so saying they were “never offered” is likely just a matter of semantics.
Although they were the subject of several trade rumors prior to the deadline, the Pacers were one of the few teams to stand pat. According to J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required), that inactivity can be attributed in large part to the team’s belief in Caris LeVert. Indiana, encouraged by the early returns, is satisfied letting LeVert get back up to speed and seeing how he meshes with the club’s current core.
Addressing the Wizards‘ acquisition of Daniel Gafford, general manager Tommy Sheppard cited the youngster’s shot-blocking ability and athleticism, as Ava Wallace of The Washington Post relays.

Raptors Notes: Lowry, Ujiri, Bembry, Watson

March 26th, 2021 at 1:15pm CST by Luke Adams

During the hours leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca tweeted that the Sixers and Raptors appeared to be “at the one-yard line” in their discussions on a Kyle Lowry trade. Obviously, those talks didn’t make it into the end zone and Lowry ended up staying put. But Sam Amick of The Athletic hears that Toronto did feel at one point as if a deal with Philadelphia was close.

According to Amick, the deal would have included Danny Green, who would’ve been re-routed to a third team. It’s a safe bet that at least one of Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle would have been part of the package too. However, the draft compensation involved in the proposed trade was the obstacle that held things up, a source tells Amick.

Following up today on the Lowry discussions, Grange says (via Twitter) that the Sixers knew Miami was Lowry’s preferred landing spot, so they had to view him as a possible rental. That limited what they were willing to offer beyond Maxey, Grange adds. The Lakers were in a similar boat with Talen Horton-Tucker, writes Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca, while the Heat were unwilling to offer Tyler Herro for a player they could theoretically sign in free agency this summer.

Here’s more on the Raptors:

While the Raptors didn’t trade Lowry at the deadline, it’s hard to shake the sense that more drastic changes could be coming as soon as this offseason, Grange writes for Sportsnet.ca. While Lowry could sign a new contract with Toronto, it seems just as likely that he could head elsewhere, possibly in a sign-and-trade deal.
Like Lowry, Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri is also on an expiring contract, and while he spoke glowingly about the franchise on Thursday, he gave no indication that an in-season extension is around the corner. “We’ll visit this at the end of the season at some point,” Ujiri said of his contract with Toronto, per Grange.
During his media session on Thursday, Ujiri addressed the idea that the Raptors’ asking price for Lowry was too high: “I was surprised (the offers) weren’t better because, to be honest, I’ve viewed him as somebody that can go out and put a stamp on what you can do this year. … I’ve lived it, I’ve seen it… I know what the guy does. I know who he is. And that’s the truth. So, yeah, we’re going to (be) skewed in some kind of way and I’m biased in many ways with the players we have and I hope I’m pardoned that if I valued him too much, but that’s what I believe in today.”
Raptors reserves DeAndre’ Bembry and Paul Watson have entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols and won’t play on Friday night, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca.

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