- Among the players who have already earned bonuses: Hawks center Dewayne Dedmon ($900K for incentives related to points, rebounds, and games played), Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless ($500K for his three-point percentage), Bucks center John Henson ($500K for playing 75+ games), and Jazz guard Ricky Rubio ($175K for his field-goal and free-throw percentages).
Hawks guard Malcolm Delaney underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle and will require 6-8 weeks of recovery, Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The surgery could impact Delaney’s status as a free agent this summer. Atlanta could make him a restricted free agent by extending a $3.125MM qualifying offer. Otherwise, he’ll enter the market as an unrestricted free agent.
Under the second scenario, Delaney might have difficulty finding a suitor. Delaney, who averaged 6.3 PPG and 3.0 APG in 18.8 MPG this month, turned 29 last month. He appeared in 54 games this season but has been sidelined since March 4th.
He spent a handful of seasons in Europe before signing with the Hawks prior to the 2016/17 season. He appeared in 73 games during his rookie NBA campaign, averaging 5.4 PPG and 2.6 APG.
The 6’3” Delaney played his college ball at Virginia Tech.
Following the Grizzlies’ win over Detroit and the Suns‘ loss to Golden State on Sunday, Phoenix has locked up the NBA’s worst record for the 2017/18 season. As our Reverse Standings show, the Suns’ 2.5-game lead for that top lottery spot ensures that they’ll head into next month’s draft lottery with a 25% chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick. They’ll also be guaranteed a top-four pick in the 2018 draft.
The Suns will be hoping for better luck this year than they had last spring — after finishing with the NBA’s second-worst record in 2016/17, Phoenix slipped out of the top three of last year’s lottery, ultimately landing Josh Jackson with the fourth overall pick. This time around, the Suns will have a 64.3% chance of securing a top-three selection.
Although the Grizzlies are no longer in the running for the No. 1 spot in the lottery, they look like a good bet to wind up at No. 2 in the lottery standings — they have a 22-58 record, putting them 1.5 games ahead of the 24-57 Hawks and Mavericks with three days left in the season.
Unlike in the NBA’s playoff race, where ties are broken based on each team’s performance in certain regular-season matchups, lottery ties are broken via coin flips. If Atlanta and Dallas ultimately finish tied for third in the lottery standings, they’d receive nearly equal odds of landing the No. 1 pick. Rather than 15.6% for third place and 11.9% for fourth, one team would have a 13.8% chance for the No. 1 pick and one team would have a 13.7% chance. In that scenario, the winner of a coin flip would receive the slightly higher lottery odds, and would get the higher draft pick if neither team ends up in the top three.
2018 represents the last year that the NBA will use its current draft lottery format. Starting in 2019, the lottery odds will be smoothed out, reducing the “top” teams’ chances of landing the highest picks. If the Suns had finished No. 1 in the lottery standings under that new format, they’d only have a 14% chance at the No. 1 pick – plus a 40% chance at a top-three selection – and could have fallen as low as No. 5.
- The Hawks announced the recall of forwards Tyler Cavanaugh and Jeremy Evans from their Erie affiliate, which lost to Raptors 905 in the Eastern Conference Finals.
When Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports polled executives around the NBA recently on rising head coach candidates, Raptors assistant Nick Nurse and Raptors 905 head coach Jerry Stackhouse were among the top names on the list. According to Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times, both Nurse and Stackhouse will likely be among the the candidates the Magic consider if the club elects to replace Frank Vogel this offseason.
In addition to the fact that current Magic president Jeff Weltman was formerly the GM in Toronto, Stackhouse also has a connection to Orlando general manager John Hammond, who was the GM in Milwaukee when Stackhouse played for the Bucks. Woelfel adds that some NBA officials believe the Magic are “leaning toward” replacing Vogel with Stackhouse, though Orlando’s list of preferred targets figures to become clearer if and when the club formally moves on from its current head coach.
Here are a few more coaching notes and rumors from Woelfel:
- Multiple sources tell Woelfel that Clippers coach Doc Rivers and Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer would have “more than a passing interest” in the Bucks‘ position if they move on from their current teams this offseason. Some NBA officials believe that Budenholzer wouldn’t want to be part of an “extensive” rebuild in Atlanta, according to Woelfel.
- While the Suns are expected to conduct a wide-ranging head coaching search, multiple NBA executives and coaches think David Fizdale, Jason Kidd, and Villanova’s Jay Wright will receive strong consideration, says Woelfel.
- Besides Wright, Virginia’s Tony Bennett is among the college coaches expected to draw NBA interest. “Everybody knows he’s an exceptional defensive coach, but he does some really nice things offensively, too. He can flat-out coach.” one longtime NBA executive told Woelfel. “I think almost every team that is in the market for a new coach will take long, hard looks at Wright and Bennett. They’re both great coaches and they’re both great guys.”
- A league source expects Mark Jackson and David Blatt to be among the finalists for the Knicks‘ job if the team dismisses Jeff Hornacek, according to Woelfel.
- The G League’s Eastern Conference Final isn’t happening until Friday, but the Hawks have gotten a head-start by assigning Tyler Cavanaugh and Jeremy Evans to the Erie BayHawks for that contest, tweets Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Erie will face Toronto’s affiliate, the Raptors 905, for the right to play in this year’s Finals.
- The Hawks recalled Tyler Cavanaugh and Jeremy Evans from Erie, according to the team’s website. Cavanaugh had one point in Tuesday’s game, while Evans posted 24 points and seven rebounds.
- The Hawks have been the NBA’s least effective team in terms of post-up offense this season, prompting Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype to explore a few players worth targeting in free agency if Atlanta wants to improve that aspect of its roster.
Here are Monday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Knicks assigned Damyean Dotson to their Westchester affiliate for its playoff game Monday against Raptors 905, the Knicks’ PR staff tweets. The rookie shooting guard out of Houston is averaging 18.2 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 2.5 APG in 13 games with Westchester. The second-round pick has appeared in 39 games with New York.
- The Hawks have assigned forwards Tyler Cavanaugh and Jeremy Evans to the Erie BayHawks, according to a team press release. The BayHawks face Fort Wayne in the playoffs Tuesday. Cavanaugh is averaging 14.5 PPG and 7.3 RPG in 11 G League, while Evans has posted averages of 15.3 PPG and 9.9 RPG in 39 games with Erie.
3:39pm: The Hawks have officially signed Lee to a rest-of-season contract, the team announced in a press release.
8:30am: Damion Lee‘s second 10-day contract with the Hawks expired overnight, but he appears set to stick with the team. According to Chris Haynes of ESPN (Twitter link), Atlanta expects to re-sign Lee to a rest-of-season deal. It’s not clear yet if the agreement would cover the 2018/19 season or if it would allow the rookie guard to return to the free agent market this summer.
During his 20 days with the Hawks, Lee has appeared in the first 10 games of his NBA career, averaging 9.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 1.9 APG. After a hot start, the 25-year-old cooled off a little during his second 10-day contract, shooting just .388/.190/.667 over his last five games.
The Hawks, who signed Jeremy Evans to a 10-day contract on Sunday, currently have a full 15-man roster. However, the league granted Atlanta a hardship exception, which allows the club to carry a 16th player, so no corresponding roster move will be necessary to re-sign Lee.
That hardship exception can be granted when a team has at least four players who have missed three consecutive games and are expected to miss at least two more weeks. In the Hawks’ case, Dennis Schroder, Kent Bazemore, Antonius Cleveland, Jaylen Morris, and Malcolm Delaney are all on the shelf, so at least four of those players appear unlikely to return this season.
Mark Suleymanov of Hoops Rumors recently took an in-depth look at Lee’s long road to the NBA, a journey that saw him make his way back from ACL tears in both knees.