- The Hawks assigned rookie shooting guard Tyler Dorsey to the G League today, the team announced in a press release. Dorsey has appeared in six games for Atlanta so far this season, playing limited minutes in those contests.
The Lakers, Bulls, and Hawks are among the teams expected to have interest in Mindaugas Kuzminskas if the former Knick clears waivers, a source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post (Twitter link). Kuzminskas, waived today by New York, will become an unrestricted free agent on Tuesday if no team claims him.
When Kuzminskas first signed with the Knicks in the summer of 2016, Berman reported (via Twitter) that the Lakers and Hawks nearly beat out New York to sign the Lithuanian forward, so it’s not a surprise that they’d be willing to kick the tires again. The Bulls also make sense as a potential suitor, since they aren’t overly concerned with short-term success and can afford to roll the dice on a project.
Before Kuzminskas is free to sign with any team though, he’ll have to clear waivers. Waiver claims in the NBA are pretty rare, particularly for players earning more than the minimum. Still, it’s worth noting that half the league’s teams have the ability to claim Kuzminskas and his $3MM salary off waivers, if they so choose.
Waiver order is currently determined by last year’s record, with the worst teams getting first priority. Here are the clubs eligible to claim Kuzminskas:
- With cap room: Kings, Nets, Pacers, Sixers, Suns
- With cap room if various exceptions are renounced: Mavericks
- With a trade exception: Bucks, Bulls, Cavaliers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Raptors, Trail Blazers
- With a disabled player exception: Celtics
- Point guard Dennis Schroder tried to sell head coach Mike Budenholzer on the idea of bringing Daniel Theis to the Hawks but the German free agent eventually signed on with the Celtics, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe writes.
The Bulls and Hawks appear to be the most likely landing spots for Jahlil Okafor, according to TNT’s David Aldridge, who cites league sources in his latest report at NBA.com. However, the Sixers continue to hold out for “at least a draft pick,” Aldridge writes.
While it’s not clear if Aldridge is referring to a first-round pick or just a decent second-rounder, his report sounds similar to one from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski last week. Wojnarowski indicated that the 76ers remain committed to acquiring some sort of “asset” in exchange for Okafor, who has asked to be traded or bought out.
[RELATED: Jahlil Okafor confirms he wants trade or buyout]
The Bulls and Hawks are both very much in rebuilding mode, with just two wins apiece so far this season, so a move to acquire a 21-year-old with Okafor’s pedigree would make sense for either team. However, both clubs figure to maintain a tight hold on their draft picks, and – like Boston – would almost certainly be unwilling to part with a first-rounder for Okafor.
Although the former third overall pick still has plenty of potential, his contract situation makes him a tough sell. Because his fourth-year option was turned down, Okafor will be an unrestricted free agent next July, and the team carrying him as season’s end won’t be able to offer him a contract with a starting salary higher than about $6.3MM, the amount of his declined option. So if Okafor were to be traded now and then enjoyed a breakout year with his new team, that club may not be able to re-sign him.
Okafor would like resolution sooner rather than later, but as Aldridge notes, it’s possible that the Sixers will hang onto him as insurance against a potential Joel Embiid injury, or in order to use him as a salary-matching piece in a deadline deal.
The 76ers don’t want to take on any extra salary in a potential Okafor trade, since they want to have the flexibility to renegotiate Robert Covington‘s contract after November 15 and to retain cap space for next summer, says Aldridge. Philadelphia is also reluctant to buy out Okafor, according to Aldridge, since they believe it would take the division-rival Celtics “about 30 seconds to scarf him up.”
The Hawks have filled their second two-way roster spot by signing power forward Tyler Cavanaugh, tweets Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The 23-year-old spent the preseason with Atlanta, but was waived before the regular season began. A rookie out of George Washington, he averaged 18.3 points and 8.4 rebounds for the Colonials last year.
As a two-way player, Cavanaugh will be limited to 45 days with the Hawks. He will spend most of his time with the team’s G League affiliate in Erie, Pa.
Point guard Josh Magette holds Atlanta’s other two-way deal.
- The Hawks had point guards Malcolm Delaney and Isaiah Taylor on the court at the same time in tonight’s loss to the Sixers, relays Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. If both are going to be in the rotation, then Marco Belinelli will be the only wing off the bench and little playing time will be left for Tyler Dorsey and Nicolas Brussino, according to Cunningham.
Hawks majority owner Tony Ressler is convinced the franchise had no choice but to go into full rebuild mode, as he told NBA.com’s David Aldridge in an extensive piece on the team’s direction. New GM Travis Schlenk helped convince Ressler that the franchise was spinning its wheels and needed to stockpile draft picks while developing a young core, Aldridge continues.
“Truly, there are three options in the NBA, I would argue: being a contender, being a competitive team, and being young and fun,” Ressler told Adridge. “At least that would be my opinion. And we didn’t have the option of being a contender. So we could be competitive, or more competitive, and maybe, shall we say, with a whole bunch of higher-priced vets that made us older and made our payroll less flexible, and made our future more cloudy.”
Instead, Ressler selected the “young and fun” option, despite knowing the losses would pile up this season. The team has five first-round picks during the next two drafts, including one from the Clippers that they acquired this offseason by getting involved in a three-way deal that included the Nuggets. The Hawks also traded away center Dwight Howard and opted not to pursue their top free agent, power forward Paul Millsap.
Aldridge also offered these nuggets in the story:
- The team is building around point guard Dennis Schroder, second-year wings Taurean Prince and DeAndre’ Bembry, and rookie big man John Collins.
- Schlenk feels pressure to produce on the draft picks: “It’s my job to, hopefully, get four of those right,” he said.
- Ressler told coach Mike Budenholzer that he didn’t think anyone could be an effective head coach and run the organization at the same time. Budenholzer relinquished his duties as president of basketball operations. “I tried to convince him and I think he realized fully that being the GM is a full-time job,” Ressler said. “So why does anyone on earth think they can do two extraordinarily difficult jobs? And I believe Bud saw that very clearly.”
- Budenholzer lobbied Schlenk to make an offer to Millsap even after the decision to rebuild was made.
OCTOBER 24: Bembry has undergone surgery on his fractured wrist and is expected to miss the next four to six weeks, the Hawks announced today in a press release.
OCTOBER 21: Hawks small forward DeAndre’ Bembry suffered a fracture in his right wrist during the team’s opener and will be out indefinitely, according to Michael Cunningham of The Journal-Constitution.
The injury was confirmed by an MRI conducted Friday. Team doctors will further evaluate Bembry on Monday to get an idea of how long he will be sidelined.
Bembry recently recovered from a strained right triceps he suffered during training camp. He was out of action for about three weeks before returning for Atlanta’s final three preseason games.
The wrist injury happened when Bembry was bracing a fall during Wednesday’s game in Dallas. He played through the pain, but the wrist continued to bother him Thursday and Friday.
“I knew it was something, but I didn’t think it would be that serious,” he said. “I would definitely say I’m somewhat of a tough guy. I probably tried to act like it wasn’t nothing even though it was something. I just tried to push through it.”
Bembry, who played 18 minutes against the Mavericks, is expected to have an expanded role after getting into just 38 games as a rookie last season.
- Several former teammates of Hornets center Dwight Howard are disputing allegations that he was hard to get along with last season, writes Michael Cunningham of The Journal-Constitution. Amid reports that the Hawks wanted to get rid of Howard’s “negative influence” and that some players were happy to see him leave, at least two players are coming to his defense. Malcolm Delaney denied the accusation on Twitter, and Dennis Schroder says Howard is misunderstood. “Off the court he is a good guy,” Schroder said. “He did a great job trying to bring everybody together, as always. On the court we are too different. That’s on the court. But off the court, I think [he’s] amazing.”
It wasn’t long ago when Hawks guard Dennis Schroder was regarded as an up-and-coming star. Lately, however, the market has soured on the German export. In a fan mailbag column, Chris Mannix of The Vertical writes that there’s a toxicity surrounding the 24-year-old that has limited his trade value.
Given that newly appointed Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk has been dead set on clearing cap room and maintaining financial flexibility, it seems logical that he would be looking to unload the final four years of Schroder’s contract. In reality, however, it may not be so simple.
While the idea of finding a buyer for Schroder a season or two seemed incredibly easy, concerns around the league about the guard’s maturity – especially after a recent assault charge – have limited what the Hawks could get for him.
In that case, Mannix writes, unless the Hawks want to give the 17.9-point-per-game guard away for next to nothing, they’d be better off sticking with him and hoping that he matures into a player they’re comfortable building around.
- The Hawks have named Michelle Leftwich their new vice president of salary cap administration, Marc Stein of the New York Times writes. She’ll work alongside general manager Travis Schlenk.