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Team USA Notes: Brown, White, Australia Game, AD, Kawhi

July 16th, 2024 at 4:54pm CST by Luke Adams

Appearing at the Las Vegas Summer League on Monday, Celtics wing Jaylen Brown was asked about his reaction to not making USA Basketball’s Olympic team, either as one of the initial 12 players or as a replacement for Kawhi Leonard. Brown made it clear that, despite his apparent frustration, he was proud of teammate Derrick White for taking Leonard’s spot.

“I called Derrick right away,” Brown said, per Souichi Terada of MassLive.com. “Just to make sure there’s no confusion, my love for you and all of that. He knew that, and he did. You don’t always gotta make everything public. Me and D-White are good.”

Still, Brown – who said he “wasn’t surprised” at being passed over for Team USA – reiterated that he believes Nike was involved in that decision. As Jared Weiss of The Athletic writes, Brown has criticized Nike over the years and isn’t sponsored by the company, whereas White is.

“I do for sure,” Brown replied when asked if he thinks Nike influenced the roster decision. “There will be more stuff to come with that. As of now, I’m not gonna comment on it.”

Here’s more on Team USA:

As Joe Vardon of The Athletic relays, White told reporters in Abu Dhabi over the weekend that he was scheduled to be on vacation in Cabo San Lucas, but that he’d “much rather” be with Team USA. “I got the call and I was ready to go,” White said. “… I just had to talk to the family and try to figure out how we can make it work and as quickly as possible. I’m super thankful and grateful and excited to be here.”
Team USA still wasn’t at its best in Monday’s exhibition game against Australia, but key contributions from Anthony Davis and Anthony Edwards helped the team secure a six-point victory, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and The Athletic’s Vardon detail.
With Joel Embiid still trying to round into form and Davis having been the team’s most effective big man through two exhibition contests, head coach Steve Kerr may face a tough decision when determining his starting center for the Olympics, Vardon writes in another story for The Athletic.
Team USA is still playing NBA basketball, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who says the squad will need to adjust to better the international rules and style to ensure it wins gold in Paris.
Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said on Monday that he and the Clippers were “very disappointed” with USA Basketball’s decision to replace Leonard on the Olympic roster, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Frank’s comments are noteworthy, since even though Team USA managing director Grant Hill took responsibility for the move, reporting at the time indicated that Leonard’s camp and the Clippers were involved in making the decision, too. “No, it was USAB’s call and I was quite frankly very disappointed with the decision,” Frank said. “Kawhi wanted to play. We wanted him to play. I was there the first two practices, he looked very good. Was a full participant in everything that they did. I wasn’t there for the third practice where ultimately that was the point where they decided to go in a different direction (last Wednesday). I expressed to them I really wish that they would’ve given Kawhi more time.”

Hauser Could Eventually Be Cap Casualty

July 15th, 2024 at 5:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics exercised their $2.1MM club option on Sam Hauser‘s contract but Hauser could be a cap casualty next offseason, Brian Robb of MassLive.com speculates. Hauser’s next contract will be significantly larger, so the Celtics’ efforts to re-sign him next summer could hinge on whether they move a big salary.

Ron Harper Jr. Signs Camp Contract with Celtics

July 14th, 2024 at 12:22pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The reigning champion Celtics are taking a flier on free agent combo forward Ron Harper Jr., having signed the former Raptors two-way player to a non-guaranteed training camp deal, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link).

After going undrafted out of Rutgers in 2022, the 6’4″ wing signed a two-way deal with Toronto, appearing in nine games during his rookie season. He agreed to a second two-way deal for 2023/24, as well, but was waived last December after appearing in just one contest for the Raptors.

All told, the 24-year-old has played in 10 NBA contests thus far, averaging 2.0 points on 50% field goal shooting, plus 0.7 rebounds and 0.5 assists a night.

He had a far more prolific role with the Raptors 905, Toronto’s G League affiliate. Harper averaged 16.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.0 steals per night on .501/.366/.776 shooting.

Harper evidently impressed Boston enough with his play on the team’s Summer League roster this month to earn a more extended look.

Celtics Notes: Davison, Springer, Scheierman, Begarin

July 14th, 2024 at 8:59am CST by Arthur Hill

A desire to remain with the Celtics prompted JD Davison to accept another two-way contract for his third NBA season, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Davison talked about his decision after posting 19 points, six assists and three rebounds in Boston’s first Summer League game on Saturday.

“Of course I had to weigh my options, see how it played out,” he said. “Hearing (president basketball operations) Brad (Stevens) saying he wanted me back and I just talked to my agent and said I wanted to go back to Boston. I just won a championship there and they have built me there for the last two or three years and it wasn’t a bad idea to come back.”

Davison has only played 20 total NBA games since being selected with the 53rd pick in the 2022 draft, but he has made an impact in the G League. He earned All-Star honors by averaging 20.8 points, 8.6 assists and 5.4 rebounds in 28 games last season, but he only shot 26.6% from three-point range, which he’s trying to improve this summer.

“Of course I want to come here and ball out and do my thing,” Davison said. “But I want to come here and work on the things I need to work on, talking more, being a leader on the court. We’ve got a good group of guys and they call me one of the vets and I’m only 21 but it feels good being around these guys. It’s a fun thing to hear yourself being called a vet.”

There’s more on the Celtics:

Also fighting for playing time in Boston’s backcourt is Jaden Springer, who was acquired from Philadelphia at the trade deadline, notes Souichi Terada of MassLive. The combo guard saw limited playing time in 17 games after the deal, so he’s hoping to show the team what he can do in Las Vegas. He had 23 points without any turnovers on Saturday, and Terada states that teammates have been raving about Springer’s impact on defense. “They just wanted to see my play,” Springer said in explaining his decision to return to Summer League. “Limited minutes throughout the season. We had a great team. Just coming in here, it’s a great chance to play, get run, get reps. I feel like that’s the biggest thing: They just wanted me to come out here and hoop.”
First-round pick Baylor Scheierman had an impressive debut with 13 points, five rebounds and six assists, Terada adds in a separate story. He struggled with his shot at first, but felt more comfortable as the game wore on. “It feels pretty good out there — I like getting my teammates involved,” Scheierman said. “I’ve said it multiple times, but I’d rather get an assist than score a bucket, especially if it’s like a cool pass. I’m always looking for my teammates and trying to get them open shots.”
French guard Juhann Begarin, whom the Celtics selected with the 45th pick in the 2021 draft, has a new three-year contract with AS Monaco, per Eurohoops. The story doesn’t specify whether Begarin’s contract includes NBA outs if he gets an offer to join the Celtics.

Groups Revealed For 2024 NBA Cup

July 12th, 2024 at 7:28pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The NBA has announced the five-team groups for this year’s in-season tournament, now renamed the Emirates NBA Cup, the league announced in a release on Friday (Twitter link).

Like last year, there are six groups — three each from the Western Conference and Eastern Conference — and each conference was split into five groups based on last year’s standings. One team was selected at random from each group to determine the group round matchups.

The results are:

West Group A: Timberwolves, Clippers, Kings, Rockets and Trail Blazers
West Group B: Thunder, Suns, Lakers, Jazz and Spurs
West Group C: Nuggets, Mavericks, Pelicans, Warriors and Grizzlies
East Group A: Knicks, Magic, Sixers, Nets and Hornets
East Group B: Bucks, Pacers, Heat, Raptors and Pistons
East Group C: Celtics, Cavaliers, Bulls, Hawks and Wizards

The NBA Cup begins with group play, which runs from Nov. 12 to Dec. 3. Each team plays one game against each of the four opponents in its group. The NBA released a matchup matrix to help fans follow along (Twitter link).

Just like last season, the winner of each group advances to a knockout round alongside the team with the best record in each conference that didn’t win a group. The semifinals and finals will again be played in T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Last year, the Lakers won the inaugural in-season tournament over the Pacers. LeBron James was named the tournament MVP after dropping 24 points in the title game.

The full game and broadcast schedule for group play will be announced next month.

Celtics Notes: Tatum, Brown, Grousbeck, Sale

July 11th, 2024 at 8:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

All-NBA Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, fresh off capturing his first NBA title, just signed the biggest contract in league history, a five-year, super-max deal worth a projected $313.93MM. According to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, Tatum believes his championship has helped quiet some of the discourse surrounding him in the league at present.

“You know, just being the topic of discussion of so many debates or whatever it is. ‘Can he lead a team? Is he a top-five player?’” Tatum said. “There’s still a lot of things I guess they can debate, but I’ve done some things they can’t debate. I won a championship. I did it at the highest level. So having that under my belt, like, obviously there’s still conversations to be had or whatever people want to say, but they’ve always got to refer to me as an NBA champion.”

Tatum seemed grateful for his lucrative new extension, too.

“For me just to feel wanted, and they want me to be here and want me for the long haul,” Tatum said. “I’ll spend my whole career here and have got nothing but love for the fans, the city, and the organization. You know, we just won a championship and I want to try to win as many as I can.”

During the 2023/24 regular season, the five-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA honoree posted superlative averages of 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.6 blocks across 74 contests, with a .471/.376/.833 shooting line.

There’s more out of Boston:

Tatum’s All-Star teammate Jaylen Brown appeared miffed to have been passed over to replace Kawhi Leonard on Team USA in favor of another Celtics wing, Derrick White, Himmelsbach writes in a separate piece. Brown posted an emoji-packed tweet expressing his apparent displeasure. Sources confirmed to Brian Robb of MassLive that the 6’6″ small forward was indeed frustrated by the choice. Team USA managing director Grant Hill explained the decision on Wednesday. “This is about putting together a team,” Hill told gathered media. “Just kind of overall, you have incredible interest from an abundance of talent that we have here in the United States. I’ve talked a little about when we assembled this roster.”
Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck recently revealed his intentions to sell his stake in the team. Now, Grousbeck has outlined some supplemental details of the plan, Robb notes in an additional article. “I want to clarify, it’s not my majority stake,” Grousbeck said. “The control of the team is owned by my family, so it’s a family that I belong to and then I have the Celtics family I also belong to, so there’s an intersection and there’s an involvement.” According to Robb, Grousbeck hopes to sell the majority of his family’s ownership stake early next year. “The plan, the expectation is to sell the team in two parts, 51 percent going fairly soon,” Grousbeck said. “49 percent then closing in a second closing, that’s the expectation in 2028. I’m planning or expected to stay on until 2028 (as governor) and we’re going to hire bankers and advisors and this is going to be quite a bidding process.”
Grousbeck may be selling his portion of the Celtics chiefly because of long-term family estate planning, writes Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico. Boston is valued at an estimated $5.12 billion by Sportico, Novy-Williams adds.

Derrick White Replaces Kawhi Leonard On Team USA Roster

July 10th, 2024 at 11:05am CST by Luke Adams

11:05am: As first confirmed by Spears (via Twitter), White has officially replaced Leonard on Team USA’s roster, according to a press release.

“I am happy to announce that Derrick will compete at his first Olympic Games on the heels of a championship season in Boston,” managing director Grant Hill said in a statement. “We look forward to him joining the team in the coming days as we continue preparations for Paris. “I want to thank Kawhi for his commitment to the USA Men’s National Team. He earned the opportunity to represent the United States, but USA Basketball and Clippers leadership felt it’s important to allow Kawhi to prepare for the NBA season.”

Team USA now features three members of the defending champion Celtics, with White joining teammates Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday.

9:57am: Star Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard will withdraw from Team USA’s roster ahead of the Olympics in Paris, sources tell Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic (Twitter link).

USA Basketball intends to name a replacement for Leonard on the 12-team roster that will travel to Paris, with Celtics guard Derrick White considered a strong candidate, according to Charania and Vardon.

Leonard was sidelined at the end of the 2023/24 season due to right knee inflammation. He missed the last eight games of the regular season and first game of the playoffs due to the ailment, returned for Game 2 and Game 3 vs. Dallas, then sat out the final three contests of the Clippers’ first-round loss.

After reporting to Team USA’s training camp, he said over the weekend that his knee had improved in recent weeks enough for him to play this summer. Neither The Athletic’s report nor USA Basketball’s official statement (Twitter link) on Leonard’s exit from the team specifically mentions that knee, but it sounds as if the forward’s health is the motivating factor for the decision.

“Kawhi has been ramping up for the Olympics over the past several weeks and had a few strong practices in Las Vegas,” Team USA’s statement reads. “He felt ready to compete. However, he respects that USA Basketball and the Clippers determined it’s in his best interest to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season rather than participating in the Olympic Games in Paris.”

While that statement suggests the decision was made by the Clippers and Team USA, Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link) hears from a source that Leonard’s camp reached out a couple days ago to USA Basketball to express concern.

Atlantic Rumors: Trent, Quickley, Knicks, Kessler, Bertans, Celtics

July 9th, 2024 at 10:25am CST by Luke Adams

Although the Raptors haven’t entirely closed the door on the possibility of bringing back free agent wing Gary Trent Jr., his return appears increasingly unlikely based on how the team’s offseason has played out, says Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca.

As Lewenberg observes, Toronto sacrificed much of its cap flexibility by taking on salary in a trade with the Kings and exercising Bruce Brown‘s team option. The club also added a wing in the first round of the draft, selecting Ja’Kobe Walter with the 19th overall pick. The 15-man roster is now full, with little breathing room below the luxury tax line.

When the Raptors’ negotiating window with Trent opened last month, they were willing to offer him an annual salary in the neighborhood of $15MM, a source tells Lewenberg, but the swingman’s camp was seeking a raise on last year’s $18.5MM salary, possibly up to $25MM or so.

Toronto wasn’t prepared to meet that price, and it doesn’t look like there are any rival suitors who will go that high either. One league insider tells TSN that Trent would be lucky at this point to receive the full mid-level exception (worth about $12.9MM). The Raptors no longer have on offer on the table for the 25-year-old, according to Lewenberg.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

The Jazz and Spurs, among other teams, had “real” interest in restricted free agent guard Immanuel Quickley before he agreed to sign a five-year, $175MM contract with the Raptors, Lewenberg writes, which is one reason why that deal came in higher than expected. Quickley’s new deal will be worth a flat $35MM across all five seasons, Lewenberg adds, so it’ll start at just under 25% of the salary cap in 2024/25 but that percentage will drop each year as the cap increases.
Echoing previous reporting, Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter video link) confirms that the Knicks have inquired on Walker Kessler, but says he’d be surprised if New York makes a deal for the third-year center, given the Jazz‘s asking price, which includes “at least” a first-round pick.
The Knicks are among the teams that have expressed some level of interest in free agent sharpshooter Davis Bertans, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
After the Celtics officially re-signed centers Xavier Tillman, Luke Kornet, and Neemias Queta, director of player personnel Austin Ainge said he’s “extremely grateful” to have all those players back and suggested that one or more of them could have landed more lucrative deals elsewhere. “We had some guys turn down more money other places to come back,” Ainge said, according to Brian Robb of MassLive.com. “It feels really good that guys we care about a lot to come back and go for another run.”

Celtics Re-Sign JD Davison To Two-Way Contract

July 8th, 2024 at 3:22pm CST by Luke Adams

JD Davison is back under contract in Boston, according to the Celtics, who announced (via Twitter) they’ve signed the free agent guard to another two-way deal.

Davison, who was the 53rd overall pick out of Alabama in 2022, has spent his first two professional seasons on two-way contracts with the Celtics, logging just 105 total minutes in 20 games at the NBA level across those two years.

While Davison hasn’t been able to crack the rotation on a veteran NBA roster, the 21-year-old has been a high-level performer for the Maine Celtics in the G League. He earned All-NBAGL Third Team honors this past season after averaging 21.5 points, 8.5 assists, and 5.1 rebounds in 34.3 minutes per game across 44 total Showcase Cup and regular season contests.

The Celtics didn’t issue Davison a qualifying offer at the end of June because he was ineligible for another two-way QO (his offer would’ve been a one-year, partially guaranteed standard contract). However, it appears bringing him back on a third two-way contract was always the plan. Davison will play for Boston’s Summer League team this month in Las Vegas.

The C’s now have one two-way slot available, with Drew Peterson filling the other.

Atlantic Notes: Martin, Sixers, Embiid, Vezenkov, Celtics

July 8th, 2024 at 2:59pm CST by Luke Adams

In order to maximize their cap room, the Sixers renounced the rights to nearly all of their free agents, including a handful of players who hadn’t actually been on the roster for years, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter links). However, there was one notable exception: KJ Martin‘s cap hold remains on the team’s books.

Martin’s cap hold is worth the veteran’s minimum of $2,087,519, but Philadelphia holds his full Bird rights, allowing the team to go over the cap to re-sign him to a contract worth any salary up to the maximum.

Of course, Martin won’t get the max, but it could be in the 76ers’ best interests to re-sign him to a deal worth more than the minimum. Besides potentially vying for rotation minutes, Martin might come in handy as a trade chip on a roster where so many players will be earning either maximum- or minimum-salary contracts.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

A year after James Harden‘s trade demand hung over the Sixers‘ offseason like a dark cloud, there’s more optimism this summer in Philadelphia about the new-look roster, headed by Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey. Speaking to Tim Bontemps of ESPN, Embiid cautioned that the team still needs to make it work on the court, but admitted he’s excited about how the new big three looks. “On paper, and as far as the fit, it looks fantastic because you got both guys that can play off the ball, and they can play on ball and they’re great shooters and they can handle the ball, and then you also got me,” he said with a smile.“So, yeah, it looks great.”
Addressing the Sasha Vezenkov situation on Monday, Raptors president Masai Ujiri said he has had discussions with Vezenkov, his representatives, GM Bobby Webster, and head coach Darko Rajakovic about the matter. As Keith Smith of Spotrac details in depth, Vezenkov has reportedly reached a deal with Olympiacos but remains under contract with Toronto on a guaranteed NBA contract, preventing him from returning to Greece without the Raptors’ cooperation. “I think that should develop in the next few days or we’ll see whether it’s a few months,” Ujiri said. “We acquired a player in a trade and we feel we have communicated well. We communicated well with the agent and the team before. And so we’ll see how that goes.”
Taking a closer look at the Celtics‘ decision to put majority control of the franchise up for sale, Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe says he believe H. Irving Grousbeck is ‘the one driving this sale” and that his son Wyc Grousbeck – the team’s governor and CEO – actually owns a “relatively small stake” in the team.