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Clippers, Spurs Among Teams Facing Potential Roster Crunch

August 13th, 2021 at 10:19am CST by Luke Adams

NBA teams are permitted to carry up to 20 players during the offseason, so no clubs have been forced to cut anyone to make room for new additions so far this summer. However, once the regular season begins in October, teams must trim their rosters to 15 players (not counting two-way contracts), and there are already a handful of clubs that may face some difficult decision to get down to that number.

Of course, there’s plenty of time for these teams to figure out how their regular season rosters will look and make the necessary trades or cuts. It’s only mid-August after all.

Still, we wanted to check in on these teams to preview some of the decisions they may be facing in the coming weeks and months.

Let’s dive in…

Los Angeles Clippers:

After officially completing their new deal with Kawhi Leonard on Thursday, the Clippers now have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, and Nicolas Batum will become the 16th once he officially finalizes his new contract with the team.

Yogi Ferrell remains under contract on a non-guaranteed salary, but it’s hard to see how he’ll fit on the regular season roster, since the club would have to remove two players on guaranteed salaries in order to keep him.

Perhaps the Clippers, who are facing a projected $125MM tax bill in 2021/22, will make a surprise trade involving a veteran on an expiring contract in order to cut costs, but it’s hard at this point to imagine the team salary-dumping a player like Patrick Beverley, Serge Ibaka, or Rajon Rondo.

This year’s second-round picks, Jason Preston and Brandon Boston, signed deals with two guaranteed seasons and should be safe, but last year’s second-rounder – Daniel Oturu – is on an expiring $1.52MM deal and could be at risk of losing his roster spot following a quiet rookie season.

San Antonio Spurs:

The Spurs are currently at 14 players on guaranteed contracts and one (Drew Eubanks) with a small partial guarantee of $500K. Their offseason moves aren’t all done though — Bryn Forbes and Jock Landale have yet to sign their contracts, and second-rounder Joe Wieskamp is unsigned too.

We don’t know the exact salary details for Forbes and Landale. However, Forbes seems like a safe bet for a full guarantee. It’s possible Landale’s deal won’t be guaranteed, which would make him and Eubanks potential odd men out. The Spurs also have an open two-way slot, which perhaps they’d like to use on Wieskamp.

If San Antonio wants to carry at least one of Eubanks, Landale, and Wieskamp on its 15-man regular season roster, Al-Farouq Aminu would be the most logical odd man out. Injuries have limited him to just 41 games over the last two seasons, he’s on an expiring contract, and he was included in the DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade for salary-matching purposes.

Detroit Pistons:

It was a little surprising when the Pistons brought back Rodney McGruder on a guaranteed minimum-salary deal just a few days after waiving him. McGruder is Detroit’s 15th guaranteed contract, and the team has yet to sign restricted free agent Hamidou Diallo or second-round picks Luka Garza and Balsa Koprivica.

The Pistons are reportedly using one of their two-way contract slots on undrafted rookie Chris Smith, but that leaves one for Koprivica or Garza. Jahlil Okafor, who is on expiring $2.13MM contract, is probably the most expendable of the 15 players on guaranteed deals.

But even if, say, Koprivica fills a two-way slot and Diallo replaces Okafor on the 15-man roster, one more move would be necessary to accommodate Garza. Perhaps Detroit can stash Koprivica in the G League or an international league and use that second two-way spot on Garza.

New York Knicks:

The Knicks are carrying just 10 players on fully guaranteed contracts for the time being, but they still need to officially complete deals for Evan Fournier, Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, and Taj Gibson. That’ll bring the total to 14.

The team is also carrying Luca Vildoza on a non-guaranteed deal, has reached an agreement to sign Dwayne Bacon, and has No. 34 overall pick Rokas Jokubaitis talking about wanting to make this year’s roster.

We don’t know the full details on Bacon’s contract yet, but if it’s not fully guaranteed, he could end up battling Vildoza for the final spot on the 15-man squad, with Jokubaitis returning to Europe for at least one more year.

A few other situations worth noting:

The Celtics will have 15 fully guaranteed contracts once Dennis Schröder and Enes Kanter officially sign, making Jabari Parker (non-guaranteed) the odd man out unless a player like Kris Dunn or Bruno Fernando is traded.
The Nets have 13 players on guaranteed contracts, with DeAndre’ Bembry on a partial guarantee and Alize Johnson on a non-guaranteed deal. Second-round picks Kessler Edwards, Marcus Zegarowski, and RaiQuan Gray are all unsigned, as is two-way RFA Reggie Perry. Two of those players will likely end up on two-way deals and one of the second-rounders probably replaces Johnson on the 15-man roster. However, there’s not really a path to Edwards, Zegarowski, and Gray all claiming standard contracts or two-way deals unless one of Bembry or Perry is cut loose.
The Warriors have 13 players on fully guaranteed deals, meaning not all three of Damion Lee, Mychal Mulder, and Gary Payton II (all non-guaranteed) will make the team. Mulder and Payton may end up fighting for the 15th spot.
If the Pelicans sign RFA Josh Hart and second-round pick Herb Jones to guaranteed contracts, they’ll have 15 of them, making Wenyen Gabriel (non-guaranteed) the likely odd man out.
The Sixers have 13 players on guaranteed contracts, with Paul Reed and Anthony Tolliver on non-guaranteed deals and second-round picks Charles Bassey and Filip Petrusev unsigned. Bassey figures to get a 15-man spot, since both of the team’s two-way slots are full, and I’d be surprised if Reed goes anywhere. That might mean Tolliver is waived, with Petrusev remaining overseas.
The Kings will have 14 players on guaranteed contracts once Alex Len officially signs, leaving Chimezie Metu (partially guaranteed) and Justin James (non-guaranteed) battling for the 15th spot.

What Schröder Brings To Celtics

August 13th, 2021 at 9:05am CST by Luke Adams

Dennis Schröder may not be a perfect on-court fit for the Celtics, but he’ll bring an element of speed and an ability to get to the rim that the team’s other point guards don’t have, and it’s hard to argue with the value of a one-year, $5.9MM deal, says Jay King of The Athletic.

Atlantic Notes: Green, Young, Marks, Noel

August 12th, 2021 at 6:38pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Danny Green, who re-signed with the Sixers on a two-year deal, said most of his other suitors in free agency offered less money or would have needed to work out a sign-and-trade with Philadelphia, according to Rich Hofmann of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Ex-teammates Dwight Howard (Lakers) and George Hill (Bucks) tried to recruit Green to the teams they signed with this summer, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. However, Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid were also in frequent contact with the veteran guard, urging him to stick with the Sixers, Kyle Neubeck of The Philly Voice tweets.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Former Celtics assistant Jamie Young is joining Doc Rivers’ staff with the Sixers, Derek Bodner of The Athletic tweets. Young spent 21 years with Boston.
While Nets general manager Sean Marks says he’s mostly done tweaking the team’s roster this offseason, he reserved the right to make more moves, Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes. “We’ve got to continue to tinker with the roster, and just see what happens,” he said. “We’ve seen in the past where other teams make cuts, and so forth, and we’re able to adjust because of that. So I don’t want to say that the roster’s complete: Maybe it’s 90 percent complete, 99 percent complete.”
Nerlens Noel‘s three-year contract with the Knicks includes $4MM in total incentives. Among those potential incentives is a $750K bonus each time he makes First or Second Team All-Defense, Ian Begley of SNY.TV reports.

Isaiah Thomas On Lakers’ Radar

August 11th, 2021 at 1:47pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers still have multiple roster spots available after overhauling their roster around LeBron James and Anthony Davis this offseason, and according to veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein, free agent guard Isaiah Thomas is among the players the team is considering to fill one of those openings.

As Stein explains, it’s far from a lock that the Lakers will sign Thomas, but he’s among the targets the team is keeping its eye on in the search for “additional backcourt punch.”

Thomas generated some buzz on social media over the weekend by racking up 81 points in a Pro-Am game in Seattle. However, he has struggled to make an impact at the NBA level in recent years.

Thomas has appeared in 55 total games since the start of the 2018/19 season for the Nuggets, Wizards, and Pelicans, averaging 11.1 PPG and 3.2 APG on .393/.381/.771 shooting in 21.0 minutes per contest during that time. While those numbers aren’t bad, they haven’t been enough to make up for his below-average defense and earn him a full-season rotation role.

Stein – who reported last week that the Celtics have also mulled the idea of a reunion with Thomas – says the Lakers don’t view Thomas’ failed stint alongside James with the 2017/18 Cavaliers as a deterrent, but will still have to decide how best to use their final roster spots.

Currently, Los Angeles has 12 players on guaranteed contracts, plus Joel Ayayi and Austin Reaves on two-way deals.

Fischer’s Latest: Markkanen, DeRozan, Hield, Hart, Suns, More

August 10th, 2021 at 11:58am CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans, Mavericks, Celtics, and Timberwolves are among the teams that have shown interest in Bulls restricted free agent Lauri Markkanen, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, who hears from sources that the price tag on the power forward would be about $15MM per year.

Landing Markkanen would be a challenge for any of those teams, however, as they’re all over the cap and would have to acquire the RFA forward via sign-and-trade. New Orleans has a traded player exception big enough to fit Markkanen, but the other teams would likely to have rely on salary-matching or offer him a lower salary (Dallas has a TPE worth $10.872MM, while Boston has one worth $9.72MM). Acquiring a player via sign-and-trade also results in a hard cap, which the Celtics are reportedly resisting.

On top of all that, Fischer confirms a previous report that the Bulls are seeking a first-round pick to accommodate a Markkanen sign-and-trade and don’t want to take on any salary, preferring any contracts to be rerouted to a third team. If they maintain that stance, the Bulls would make it very difficult for Markkanen to do anything but accept his $9MM qualifying offer.

“Chicago is playing this masterfully from no other perspective than a contract management standpoint,” a team capologist told Fischer. “It won’t do any favors relationship-wise, but they’re bleeding his market based on their tax situation, and nobody else can offer him any kind of money without them.”

As we wait to see what happens with Markkanen, it’s worth noting that the Hornets – previously rumored to be eyeing the forward – weren’t listed by Fischer as one of the teams in the hunt, and president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak told reporters today that the team is likely done with its “heavy lifting” this offseason (Twitter link via Rod Boone of SI.com).

Here’s more from Fischer:

The Sixers, Suns, Trail Blazers, Warriors, Celtics, and Knicks were among the teams that expressed interest in DeMar DeRozan before he reached a deal with the Bulls, per Fischer. However, New York agreed to sign Evan Fournier and most of the other teams would’ve had to figure out complicated sign-and-trade arrangements to accommodate DeRozan, who never really entertained the idea of signing for the mid-level exception, sources tell Fischer.
The Pelicans and Kings discussed the possibility of swapping Buddy Hield and Josh Hart (via sign-and-trade) as part of New Orleans’ trade with Memphis, Fischer writes. It’s unclear if anything along those lines is still being considered now that the Pelicans’ deal with the Grizzlies has been completed — base year compensation rules would complicate a one-for-one swap.
The Suns are weighing their options for their final open roster spot and have gauged the trade value of 2020 lottery pick Jalen Smith, sources tell Fischer.
The Raptors will meet with Goran Dragic‘s camp at Summer League in Las Vegas to further discuss the point guard’s situation, according to Fischer.
Zach LaVine has told Bulls staffers he’s committed to improving defensively next season, Fischer says.

Celtics Have Made Offer To Dennis Schröder

August 10th, 2021 at 9:46am CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics, who were reported last week to be in discussions with Dennis Schröder, have made a contract offer to the free agent point guard, league sources tell Jordan Schultz of ESPN (via Twitter).

According to Schultz, the Celtics’ offer to Schröder is a one-year deal worth the taxpayer mid-level exception (approximately $5.9MM). However, Schröder is seeking a second-year player option and a deal worth the full mid-level exception (about $9.5MM), per Schultz.

Going above the taxpayer portion of the MLE would hard-cap the Celtics, which the team wants to avoid, Schultz notes. There have also been reports that Boston wants to create as much cap flexibility as possible in 2022, which may make the club reluctant to tack on a second-year player option for Schröder.

Despite the current impasse, there’s reason to believe the Celtics and Schröder could be a good match. Boston has been in the market for a new point guard after having traded Kemba Walker to Oklahoma City in June, and opportunities around the league are drying up for Schröder, who was viewed as one of the top point guards on the market entering free agency. A short-term deal that gives the Celtics another backcourt play-maker and scorer and gives the 27-year-old a chance to rebuild his value could benefit both sides.

According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, the Celtics are exploring possible trades involving Kris Dunn and/or Bruno Fernando before “concluding” their conversations with Schröder. If Boston could shed salary in a deal involving Dunn and Fernando and create more breathing room below a potential hard cap, perhaps the team would be more willing to go above the taxpayer mid-level for Schröder.

Kings Acquire Tristan Thompson In Three-Way Deal

August 7th, 2021 at 4:22pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 7: The three-team trade is now official, the Kings, Celtics, and Hawks all announced today in press releases.

The 2023 second-round pick that the Hawks are sending to Boston originally belonged to the Trail Blazers and was shipped to Atlanta by the Clippers in the Lou Williams trade in March, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link).

JULY 30: The Celtics are trading veteran big man Tristan Thompson to the Hawks for guard Kris Dunn, forward Bruno Fernando and a 2023 second-rounder, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.

However, Thompson isn’t staying with the Hawks. He’s being forwarded to the Kings, with guard Delon Wright going to Atlanta.

All the players in the three-way deal have expiring contracts. Thompson will make $9.7MM next season, while Dunn will secure just over $5MM and Fernando will collect $1.8MM. Wright will make approximately $8.5MM next season.

The move pushes the Celtics another $3MM below the luxury tax threshold, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Dunn had a player option on his contract and opted in earlier this week, which made the trade viable.

After nine seasons in Cleveland, Thompson played in 54 regular-season games with the Celtics, including 43 starts. He averaged 7.6 PPG and 8.1 RPG.

Dunn’s lone season in Atlanta was a washout due to an ankle injury. He only appeared in four regular-season games, but does give the Celtics another option for their backcourt rotation with Kemba Walker getting traded this offseason.

Fernando, an early second-round pick in 2019, appeared in 89 regular-season games during his first two years in the league.

Thompson gives the Kings some frontcourt insurance with Richaun Holmes entering free agency.

Wright averaged 10.0 PPG and 3.6 APG in 27 games with Sacramento after being acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline. Wright can play either guard spot and will likely slide into a backup role with Atlanta.

Celtics Holding Discussions With Dennis Schröder

August 6th, 2021 at 4:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

4:34pm: Although there’s mutual interest between the Celtics and Schröder, he’s still considering a few options, a source tell Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link). Himmelsbach adds that if Schröder ends up in Boston, it’s unlikely to happen via sign-and-trade.

1:28pm: The Celtics are holding negotiations with Lakers free agent guard Dennis Schröder, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report tweets.

Boston has been shopping for a point guard since trading Kemba Walker to Oklahoma City in a salary dump. It’s likely that the Celtics would dangle their mid-level exception to Schröder, whose value declined after a subpar postseason performance against Phoenix. Boston could theoretically pursue a sign-and-trade with the Lakers, but there would be a number of hurdles to clear to make that type of transaction.

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, confirming the Celtics’ interest in Schröder, hears that the team could offer a one-year deal or a two-year deal with a player option.

Schröder’s foray into free agency has been a disappointment. He reportedly turned down a four-year, $84MM extension offer from the Lakers and bet on himself that he’d receive on the open market.

The door closed on a return to Los Angeles when the team agreed to acquire Russell Westbrook from the Wizards. Other clubs have not made an offer near what Schröder had hoped. The Knicks thought about signing Schröder but were lukewarm about that prospect even before they agreed to sign Walker (once he clears waivers) on a two-year deal in the $8-9MM annual range, according to Marc Stein of Substack.

If he fails to reach an agreement with Boston, it’s possible that Schröder could look to return to one of his former teams. according to Stein. The Thunder could give him a one-year contract above the $9.536MM mid-level exception that most teams can offer, though it’s unknown whether OKC would be interested in signing him.

Oklahoma City could use Schröder as a trade chip, while he could try to pump up his value and re-enter the market again next summer.

Eastern Notes: Smart, Jokubaitis, Magic Staff, Aldridge

August 6th, 2021 at 3:52pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics have offered Marcus Smart a four-year extension, longtime beat writer Mark Murphy tweets. The Celtics are awaiting a response from Smart’s agent, Jason Glushonworth, on an extension worth approximately $17MM annually, Murphy adds (Twitter link). The maximum possible extension the Celtics could give Smart would be worth around $77MM, Ryan McDonough of NBC Sports Boston tweets. The extension would kick in during the 2022/23 season. Smart has an expiring $14.33MM contract for next season.

We have more tidbits from the Eastern Conference:

The assumption that Rokas Jokubaitis was a draft-and-stash pick by the Knicks last month may not be entirely accurate. The Lithuanian guard, chosen with the No. 34 pick, hasn’t ruled out the possibility of playing in the NBA this season, Marc Berman of the New York Post tweets. It’s unclear whether New York is on board with that possibility or if the team prefers to stash Jokubaitis for at least a year.
The Magic have settled on a number of coaching hires to assist new coach Jamahl Mosley, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets. Nate Tibbetts, Jesse Mermuys, Dale Osbourne, Bret Brielmaier and Lionel Chalmers will join Mosley on the bench. The expected hires of Tibbetts and Osbourne were previously reported.
If LaMarcus Aldridge chooses to come out of his health-related retirement, the Bulls could be his destination. Both K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago and Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times report that there could be mutual interest between the club and the veteran big man (Twitter links). Aldridge would require team medical clearance from his heart-related issues in order to sign a contract and take the court again.

Celtics To Hire Ben Sullivan; Juhann Begarin To Play Summer League

August 6th, 2021 at 12:52pm CST by JD Shaw

Celtics second-round pick Juhann Begarin asked president of basketball operations Brad Stevens if he could play summer league with the team this month, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “Normally after the draft, I normally come back (to) France,” said Begarin, whose wish has been granted. “But I asked Brad Stevens to play the summer league and show them if I can play in the NBA, and after the summer league I will see what’s happened.”
Speaking of the Celtics, the team is hiring Bucks assistant Ben Sullivan to Ime Udoka‘s coaching staff, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Sullivan started his NBA career as a video intern for the Spurs, then became an assistant coach with the Hawks in 2014. He joined the Bucks in 2018.