Orlando Magic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Diamond RSNs, Dragic, Nowtizki, Oppenheimer

August 23rd, 2024 at 8:20pm CST by Luke Adams

Diamond Sports Group – the parent company of the Bally Sports regional networks – announced on Friday that it has reached an agreement with the NBA to continue local broadcasts for 13 teams for the 2024/25 season, according to Evan Drellich and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

Diamond’s agreements, including a deal with the NHL to continue broadcasting nine teams’ games, will need to be approved by a federal bankruptcy judge. That hearing is scheduled for September 3, per Drellich and Vorkunov. While the new deals will only cover the 2024/25 season for now, they could extend beyond that if Diamond gets out of bankruptcy.

Diamond won’t be moving forward on deals with the Pelicans or the Mavericks, according to Friday’s announcement. The Pelicans news was reported earlier this month, with the team making plans to broadcasting its games for free over the air through Gray TV.

The Mavericks’ broadcast plans for the coming season remain unclear. However, The Athletic characterized the split with Dallas as mutual, and an NBA spokesperson told The Dallas Morning News that the Mavs “declined to continue distributing their games” through Diamond/Bally Sports, so it sounds like the club has a new plan in the works.

The 13 teams whose games will continue to air on Diamond’s regional sports networks in 2024/25 are the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pistons, Pacers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Bucks, Timberwolves, Thunder, Magic, and Spurs.

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

Saturday’s farewell game in honor of Goran Dragic‘s retirement – dubbed “The Night of the Dragon,” will stream on the NBA App at 2:00 pm Eastern time, the league announced today (Twitter link). Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic will team up as part of “Team Luka,” while Dragic’s roster features former MVP Steve Nash. Eurohoops published the full rosters on Twitter.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Dragic’s farewell game, Dirk Nowitzki suggested that he would like to continue working in basketball in some capacity, but he doesn’t plan on becoming a full-time coach for any team. “I don’t think I see coaching in my future,” Nowitzki said, per Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops. “Things could change very quickly, but I don’t see myself as a team coach. I see more myself as an individual coach.”
Former Bucks assistant Josh Oppenheimer has accepted a job on Porter Moser‘s coaching staff at Oklahoma, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Milwaukee parted ways with Oppenheimer – who had a “close working relationship” with Giannis Antetokounmpo, according to Wojnarowski – back in May as Doc Rivers made changes to his staff ahead of his first full season with the Bucks.

Eastern Notes: Council, Celtics, Lillard, ’24/25 Standings

August 21st, 2024 at 1:23pm CST by Luke Adams

As he prepares for his second NBA season, Sixers swingman Ricky Council has been participating this summer in the private runs held in Los Angeles by Sixers assistant Rico Hines, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Council is working on fine-tuning his game in the hope of earning rotation minutes in Philadelphia in 2024/25.

“This summer has been a whole lot of work, maybe even more than last year,” Council said. “Keeping my shooting touch up, working on different finishing moves, just learning the game, playing against good competition every day. All that’s going to help me in the long run.”

Having spent most of his rookie season in 2023/24 on a two-way contract, Council didn’t see a ton of action at the NBA level, but he impressed in his limited minutes, averaging 5.4 points in 32 outings (9.0 MPG), with a shooting line of .482/.375/.746. He knows that in order to get more playing time in ’24/25, he’ll have to show he can excel in a complementary role.

“We have Paul George. We have Tyrese Maxey and we have Joel Embiid,” Council said. “I don’t expect they’ll need much off the dribble in that nature. So I just need to be able to hit open shots and guard people.”

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

There’s “zero truth” to rumors that billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is interested in bidding on the Celtics, a source close to Bezos tells Nick Wingfield of The Information. As Kurt Helin of NBC Sports notes, there has been speculation in league circles that Bezos may have interest in being involved in an expansion franchise in Seattle, but it doesn’t sound like he’s looking to gain control of the defending champions, whose majority ownership group put its stake up for sale earlier this summer.
Appearing on the Club 520 Podcast (YouTube link), Bucks guard Damian Lillard admitted that his first year in Milwaukee last season was a “harder transition” than he expected. In addition to going through a tumultuous period in his personal life at the time, he also found it challenging to adjust to playing alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton after being traded from Portland to Milwaukee just days before training camp. “I’m having to get used to playing with two (great) players and I don’t want to stop them from doing what they do,” Lillard said (hat tip to HoopsHype). “But I got to find how to be the best version of me within this too, so it was just a lot of moving parts. It was more difficult than I thought it would would be.”
The Celtics sit atop ESPN’s predictions for the 2024/25 Eastern Conference standings, followed by the Knicks, Sixers, Cavaliers, and Bucks, in that order. The Magic round out ESPN’s projected group of top-six playoff teams, followed by the Pacers, Heat, Hawks, and Bulls in the play-in group. For what it’s worth, ESPN’s panel sees a big disparity between the the top two and bottom two play-in teams, projecting 46 wins for Indiana and 45 for Miami, compared to 31 for Atlanta and 30 for Chicago.

Nets Notes: Future Trades, Schröder, Staff Changes

August 19th, 2024 at 8:04pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After the Mikal Bridges trade, it was widely speculated that the Nets would begin offloading a lot of their movable veteran contracts sooner rather than later. Now, as NetsDaily’s Net Income notes, the consensus among NBA observers is that players like Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith will open the season in Brooklyn.

The Nets accrued a massive haul for Bridges, whose only individual accolade during his NBA career is one All-Defensive Team honor. Brooklyn has five new first-round picks plus a swap from New York, in addition to a second-round selection and a massive trade exception.

As Net Income points out, the deals Brooklyn made this summer sending out Bridges and regaining control of the team’s 2025 and 2026 first-round picks arguably turned out better than those rumored at the trade deadline, so the front office figures to take a similar patient approach in its discussions involving players like Johnson and Finney-Smith.

The article dives into a variety of intriguing offseason plot lines:

Point guard Dennis Schröder, who is on an expiring $13MM contract, is another intriguing Nets trade candidate. The 31-year-old was the offensive fulcrum of a deep German national team this summer, although that program came up short of a medal. As Net Income observes, there has yet to be much chatter about a Schröder trade, but given how well he plays alongside Team Germany comrades Franz Wagner and Moritz Wagner, and the Magic‘s need for a point guard upgrade, Orlando feels like a potential trade partner.
Head video coordinator Travis Bader has taken an assistant coaching gig with the Nets, while former assistant video coordinator Jim McDonnell has taken Bader’s old job, per NetsDaily. Capologist Makar Gevorkian has been promoted to vice president of basketball operations for alignment and strategic planning. Brooklyn still needs a new assistant general manager and a new co-head of the performance team.
In a separate two-part story at NetsDaily, Net Income takes an in-depth look at how the franchise has grown a significant global fan base under current team owner Joe Tsai.

Magic’s Banchero: ‘We’re Right There’ With East’s Top Clubs

August 16th, 2024 at 5:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Paolo Banchero believes the Magic should be in the conversation with the Eastern Conference’s top teams, he declared on ESPN’s First Take (hat tip to Dan Savage of NBA.com).

“We feel like we’re right there,” the Magic’s star forward said. “We’re right there with all those (elite teams in the East). I remember last year, we started the year off as a top-two, top-three seed and everybody thought it was a fluke. Everybody thought we were going to be a play-in team and drop out the top of the East. We finished strong and got the fifth seed and had a chance to really grab the two seed at the end of the season. We were right there last year.”

Orlando finished with a 47-35 regular-season mark and was eliminated by the Cavaliers in the opening round of the playoffs.

The best-of-seven series went the distance and Banchero showed why he’d been named an All-Star in February. He averaged 27.0 points, 8.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game during the postseason.

Banchero viewed it as a learning experience.

“I learned how to kind of slow the game down in the playoffs,” he said. “The first two games of the series in Cleveland, I felt a little sped up. I turned the ball over a lot. From Games 1 and 2 to Game 3, I think that’s where I made that jump, that adjustment and started to really slow the game down. I started to be really intentional (and) pick my spots on the floor to score and play-make.

“I also learned that you have to be in elite shape – not only physically, but mentally (in order) to deal with a seven-game series. It’s fun to go against the same team over and over, but it’s also a huge challenge. I think that’s something I took and will definitely use for next year.”

The Magic should be a more dangerous playoff team with the addition of shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Orlando brought in the former Nuggets wing on a three-year, $66MM deal in one of the biggest free agent signings this summer.

“Getting KCP is going to help us a lot,” Banchero said. “That’s a guy that’s won two championships in the last five seasons. He’s been around some of the greatest (players) of all-time. So, he’s going to be able to come out and make a huge difference for us. (Also), we’re a really young team and getting that playoff experience (and) a top-five seed last year (gives us) a lot of momentum heading into next season.”

Banchero, who doesn’t turn 22 until November, has lived up to his billing as the top overall pick in 2022. Orlando surprised many people by picking Banchero at that spot after his one-and-done season with Duke.

He’ll be eligible for a rookie scale extension next summer and it’s a lock that he’ll get a max offer from the Magic.

“Orlando took a chance on me when they drafted me, and I am forever grateful for that,” he said. “I give them my love and respect for that because nobody knew that I was going to go number one. I didn’t know I was going to go number one. So, they put the trust in me to take that chance and take me number one. After that, I felt like it was my job to help them reach heights that haven’t been reached in a long time … We’re trying to take (a huge) jump next year and keep taking it one level at a time.”

Banchero’s appearance on the ESPN show can be viewed here.

And-Ones: Marquee Matchups, Cap Room, Spending, Most Improved Teams

August 16th, 2024 at 7:55am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA revealed its full schedule for the 2024/25 regular season on Thursday, and while there generally aren’t any surprises on that schedule (it’s not like the NFL, where a team plays fewer than half of the league’s other clubs), it’s still worth circling specific dates and marquee matchups.

Zach Harper of The Athletic, Chris Mannix of SI.com, and ESPN did just that, with Harper highlighting 35 games he’s looking forward to, Mannix naming 10 games to watch, and ESPN identifying 23 games not to miss.

Unsurprisingly, the Knicks/Celtics regular season opener (October 22), Paul George‘s return to Los Angeles with the Sixers (November 6), and Klay Thompson‘s return to Golden State with the Mavericks (Nov. 12) made all three lists.

The other two matchups that showed up on all three lists? Wizards at Hawks on Oct. 28 in the first regular season matchup between this year’s top two draft picks (Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr) and Spurs at Thunder on Oct. 30 in this season’s first Victor Wembanyama/Chet Holmgren showdown.

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

A total of seven NBA teams operated under the cap and used room to make moves this offseason. As Keith Smith of Spotrac writes, those clubs used their cap space in very different ways, with some – like the Sixers and Thunder – making splashes in free agency, some (such as the Hornets) focusing on taking in salary in trades, and one (the Jazz) using most of its room to renegotiate a star player’s contract.
Which NBA teams have been the “cheapest” in recent years and which have been most willing to spend? Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report explores that questions, ranking each team by its spending from 2017-24 and considering whether clubs should have been willing to invest more on those rosters. The Warriors, Clippers, and Bucks have been the biggest spenders over the last seven years, while the Bulls, Pistons, and Hornets are at the other end of the list.
In a three-part series for The Athletic, David Aldridge ranks all 30 NBA clubs based on how much they improved their rosters with their offseason moves. Aldridge’s list, which is sorted by which teams improved most in the short term rather than which clubs made the “best” moves, features the Thunder, Sixers, and Magic at the top. Not coincidentally, those clubs made three of the summer’s biggest free agent signings, adding Isaiah Hartenstein, Paul George, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, respectively.

And-Ones: K. Smith, Schedule, C. Brown, Burton, Duke & Rutgers

August 14th, 2024 at 11:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Warner Bros. Discovery is suing the NBA after being excluded from the new broadcast rights package, but Kenny Smith isn’t worried about how that might affect what will likely be the final year of “Inside the NBA,” writes Greg Rajan of The Houston Chronicle. Smith, who has been with the network since his playing career ended in 1998, insists that nothing will change inside the studio.

“No, because we do our jobs,” he said. “Our job is to talk (about) the game and give insight and also give you insight about what’s going on behind the scenes with TNT. Like, ‘Hey, we’re not happy.’ That’s part of what makes us different. I don’t think any other network would allow or want their talent to talk about things like that. We’re going to do it, no matter what happens.

“But again, we’ve had a great run. If it continues, it’ll be great. But also, there are massive opportunities for the four of us — again, to create ownership opportunities to make sure our directors, producers, makeup, stats and audio people are still part of one of the greatest shows in sports TV history.”

Smith views the possible end of the network’s affiliation with the NBA as an opportunity for the show to reach out into other areas. He compares it to what Adam Sandler or Peyton and Eli Manning are doing with their companies, providing a chance to create a new brand in sports television.

There’s more from around the basketball world:

More details on the 2024/25 NBA schedule continue to leak out ahead of the official announcement at 3:00 pm ET on Thursday. The Nuggets will host the Thunder on October 24 in the season opener for both teams, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). It will be a matchup of the top two seeds in the West last season. After facing the Clippers October 23 in the first game at the new Inuit Dome, the Suns will stay in Los Angeles to take on the Lakers October 25 before hosting the Mavericks in their home opener a night later, tweets Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. The Kings will have two six-game road trips during the season, sources tell James Ham of Kings Beat (Twitter link). One in January will have them face the Nuggets, Knicks, Nets, Sixers, Thunder and Timberwolves, and another from March 29 to April 7 will feature games against the Magic, Pacers, Wizards, Hornets, Cavaliers and Pistons.
Former NBA players Charlie Brown Jr. and Deonte Burton will be among the players representing the G League United in a pair of September exhibition games, the league announced (Twitter links).
Duke and Rutgers will be the top destinations for NBA scouts when the college basketball season begins, observes Adam Zagoria of NJ.com. The Blue Devils have the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, Cooper Flagg, along with Khaman Maluach, a probable lottery selection who played for South Sudan in the Olympics. The Scarlet Knights’ Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper are also in contention for the top spot in next year’s draft.

Team USA Notes: Curry, LeBron, Durant, Haliburton, Banchero

August 13th, 2024 at 7:27pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Could some of the gold-medal winners from Team USA pair up in the future on an NBA team? Sam Amick of The Athletic explores that topic, noting that superstar-laden teams are sometimes born out of their bonding experiences with USA Basketball.

A LeBron James–Stephen Curry pairing seems unlikely now that LeBron’s son is on the Lakers roster and Curry would like to finish his career with the Warriors. Could Golden State eventually wind up with Durant-Curry reunion or a Devin Booker–Curry backcourt? Suns owner Mat Ishbia has squashed talk of trading his stars but Amick speculates that could change if Phoenix flops in the postseason again.

We have more USA Basketball-related news:

If Kevin Durant wants to play for Team USA in Los Angeles, team officials would like to have him back, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (hat tip to Zach Bachar of Bleacher Report). “I would not rule out KD playing, and I talked with Team USA officials, and they would give him a provisional yes right now,” Windhorst said on The Hoop Collective. Durant has already set the Olympic record with four gold medals in men’s basketball. Durant, who averaged 13.8 points and 3.2 rebounds in Paris off the bench, will be 39 in 2028.
Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton hopes to retain his spot on Team USA in future Olympics, according to Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. He informed managing director Grant Hill that he’d welcome an invite to the Los Angeles Games. “I’ve told Grant — I’ve said it many times — I want to represent USA Basketball for as long as I can,” Haliburton said. He was essentially the 12th man on this year’s squad, averaging 8.8 minutes in three appearances. He was dealing with a minor leg injury during the tournament.
Magic forward Paolo Banchero, a member of USA’s last World Cup team, was under serious consideration for the Paris Olympics, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. He’s a player Hill wants to feature in future Olympics. In the same piece, Vardon speculates which players from this year’s gold medal squad might be back for 2028.

New York Notes: Johnson, Barrett, Kolek, Payne, Achiuwa

July 23rd, 2024 at 5:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Now that Mikal Bridges has been dealt, which Nets player currently has the most trade value? Cameron Johnson could fit that description, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Johnson is entering the second year of a four-year, $94.5MM contract. Johnson averaged 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game last season, despite battling numerous injuries. He’s a career 39.2% 3-point shooter and has good size for a wing.

The Kings, Magic and Lakers are among the teams who may have interest in the Nets sharpshooter, Lewis adds.

We have more from the New York teams:

The Nets have hired Andre Barrett as a scout, HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto tweets. Barrett worked four years for the league after a playing career in the NBA and a few foreign stops. He had been the scouting director for the now-defunct G League Ignite.
Second-round pick Tyler Kolek is eager to learn from Knicks starting point guard Jalen Brunson, the rookie out of Marquette told The Athletic’s Fred Katz. “It’s just playing under control, picking angles, getting to the line,” Kolek said. “That’s a really big thing. (Brunson) does a great job at getting to the line. I really gotta learn that. In the NBA, it’s so different. … You can over-exaggerate things, just little tricks of the trade you can pick up from older guys.” Kolek averaged 9.6 points and 7.0 assists in 27.2 minutes per contest for the Knicks’ Summer League team.
Despite the free agent addition of Cameron Payne, Kolek is currently viewed as the backup point guard ahead of Payne, according to Ian Begley of SNY TV. However, unless coach Tom Thibodeau goes with a 10-man rotation, Kolek may not get regular minutes. Miles McBride still projects to be in the rotation with Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart also coming off the bench.
The main backup big for the Knicks is still a question mark but they remain in regular contact with one of their free agents, Precious Achiuwa, Begley writes. However, Achiuwa has drawn interest from several other teams.

Tristan Da Silva Already Feeling Comfortable With Magic

July 20th, 2024 at 5:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

First-round pick Tristan Da Silva has teamed with last year’s first-rounders Anthony Black and Jett Howard to give the Magic a formidable Summer League trio, observes Josh Cohen of NBA.com. Da Silva believes getting minutes alongside Black and Howard will be beneficial once the season starts, and he complimented team officials for easing his transition into the NBA. “They make it really easy,” he said. “They welcomed me with open arms since day one. Great people, great organization, easy to be around and easy to connect with. From a basketball standpoint, I feel like a lot of the stuff that we did in college (at the University of Colorado) is also applicable to the NBA level from a concept standpoint. So, I feel really comfortable out there.”

Magic Sign Cory Joseph

July 19th, 2024 at 1:27pm CST by Luke Adams

July 19: Joseph’s contract is now official, the Magic announced in a press release.

July 17: The Magic and free agent point guard Cory Joseph have agreed to a deal, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). According to Scotto, Joseph’s new contract will cover two seasons.

A first-round pick in 2011, Joseph has spent 13 seasons in the NBA, playing for the Spurs, Raptors, Pacers, Kings, Pistons, and Warriors since entering the league.

The veteran guard, who will turn 33 next month, averaged just 11.4 minutes per contest in 26 appearances for Golden State last season before being dealt to the Pacers in February in a salary-dump trade. He was subsequently waived by Indiana.

Though he wasn’t effective in 2023/24, Joseph has a solid career résumé as a backup point guard. The Canadian has averaged 6.9 points, 3.0 assists, and 2.5 rebounds in 21.7 minutes per game across 816 regular season outings, with a shooting line of .441/.349/.786.

While the exact terms of Joseph’s agreement haven’t been reported, I’d expect it to be a veteran’s minimum deal.

It’s also unclear whether or not the first year will be fully guaranteed. It seems safe to assume that the second year, at least, will be non-guaranteed, as Orlando has made a habit in recent years of tacking on second-year team options for many of its signees — Gary Harris and Moritz Wagner both got them earlier this month.

[Update: Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link) confirms that the second year of Joseph’s contract will be a team option.]

The Magic entered the day with 14 players on standard guaranteed contracts for 2024/25, so Joseph looks like the leading candidate to fill the 15th spot on the club’s standard roster for now.

Assuming he makes the regular season roster, Joseph will provide depth and veteran leadership in a young backcourt that includes Jalen Suggs, Cole Anthony, and Anthony Black. It looks increasingly unlikely that former No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz is in Orlando’s plans going forward. Fultz remains an unrestricted free agent.