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Atlantic Notes: Maxey, Nurse, Knicks, Bridges, Celtics

April 8th, 2023 at 12:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey will be eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason and has put himself in position for a major payday by averaging a career-high 20.3 points per game on .481/.434/.845 shooting in 60 games (33.6 MPG) this season, writes Sean Deveney of Heavy.com.

Assuming they look to negotiate a new deal with Maxey, the Sixers may want to use recent rookie extension recipients like Jordan Poole and Tyler Herro as points of comparison. Poole signed for four years and $123MM (plus incentives) last offseason, while Herro got $120MM (plus incentives) on his four-year extension. However, rival executives who spoke to Deveney believe the 22-year-old’s value has increased beyond that.

“They might have thought there was room to negotiate there,” an Eastern Conference executive told Deveney. “But look at what the guy has done. He’s gotten better at every turn, his work ethic is really, really amazing from everyone around him. That’s what stands out. This guy is only getting better. Probably, there’s no negotiation, they’re going to have to max him out.”

The exact value of a maximum-salary extension for Maxey would depend on where the 2024/25 salary cap lands, but it could exceed $40MM per year. For what it’s worth, the Sixers could have Tobias Harris and his $39.3MM expiring salary coming off the books in the summer of 2024.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Whether or not Nick Nurse remains with the Raptors beyond this season, he’ll coach Team Canada in the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympics, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Within the same story, Smith points out that this week’s Jeff Dowtin drama could have been avoided if Toronto had done a better job finding a reliable backup point guard instead of having to rely on a player on a two-way contract.
In a pair of subscriber-only stories for The New York Post, Peter Botte explores how president of basketball operations Leon Rose set up the Knicks for future success despite missing out on Donovan Mitchell, while Brian Lewis suggests that Nets forward Mikal Bridges has room to continue getting better even after taking a big step forward since arriving in Brooklyn.
Speaking to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said that he and Jayson Tatum have been “incredibly successful” together despite some calls over the years to break them up. “At this point, we’re part of each other’s destiny,” Brown said. “The only thing that could put the ribbon on top is winning a championship.”
In an interesting feature for The Athletic, Jared Weiss takes a deep dive into the Maine Celtics’ season, focusing on a few of the players who spent time with Boston’s G League affiliate, including Luka Samanic, who eventually earned a call-up to Utah, and Eric Demers, who hopes to work in basketball when his playing days are over.

Nets’ Cameron Johnson Meets Starter Criteria

April 8th, 2023 at 8:04am CST by Luke Adams

Nets forward Cameron Johnson started his 41st game of the season on Friday vs. Orlando and has now met the “starter criteria” ahead of his restricted free agency.

As we outlined earlier in the week when Grant Williams achieved the same feat, a player is considered to have met the starter criteria when he starts at least 41 games or plays at least 2,000 minutes in the season before he becomes eligible for restricted free agency (or if he averages 41 starts or 2,000 minutes in the two seasons leading up to his free agency).

Johnson was primarily a reserve last season in Phoenix and then missed most of the first half of this season due to a torn meniscus, so it looked for a while as if he’d fall short of reaching the criteria. However, he started 16 of 17 games as a Sun this season and has started all 25 games he has played as a Net.

Johnson’s qualifying offer this summer will now be worth $8,486,620 instead of $7,744,600. That new figure is the equivalent of what the No. 9 pick in his draft class would receive.

Johnson’s new QO likely won’t have any real impact on his free agency, since the one-year offer will serve as a placeholder until he signs a multiyear contract with the Nets or another team. He reportedly turned down a four-year, $66MM extension offer from Phoenix last fall, so he’ll presumably be seeking a deal even more lucrative than that as a free agent.

Included as part of Brooklyn’s haul in February’s Kevin Durant blockbuster, Johnson has averaged a career-best 16.6 points per game since joining the Nets. He’s also contributing 4.8 RPG, 2.1 APG, and 1.4 SPG with a .468/.372/.851 shooting line in 30.8 minutes per night since the trade.

Johnson will be the last of 2023’s potential restricted free agents to meet the starter criteria, joining Williams, P.J. Washington, Tre Jones, Ayo Dosunmu, Kenyon Martin Jr. and Herbert Jones (Jones will have his team option picked up rather than reaching free agency, and Martin may be in that boat too). No other RFAs-to-be started 41 games or logged 2,000 minutes this season.

Top Six, Play-In Tournament Now Set For Eastern Conference

April 7th, 2023 at 9:20pm CST by Rory Maher

The Eastern Conference’s postseason picture is much clearer after Friday night’s games, though we’ll still have to wait until next week’s play-in tournament to determine who will emerge as the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds.

The top six seeds are now set after Brooklyn defeated Orlando:

Milwaukee Bucks
Boston Celtics
Philadelphia 76ers
Cleveland Cavaliers
New York Knicks
Brooklyn Nets

Two first-round playoff matchups are finalized: Philadelphia will face Brooklyn, and Cleveland will face New York.

As for the bottom end of the postseason picture, Toronto lost to Boston tonight, which means the play-in tournament has been finalized for the East (Twitter link via Mark Medina of NBA.com).

No. 7 Heat will host No. 8 Hawks on April 11 — the winner advances as the No. 7 seed to face Boston.
No. 9 Raptors will host No. 10 Bulls on April 12 — the winner advances to face the loser of Miami vs. Atlanta.
Loser of the Heat/Hawks matchup plays the winner of the Raptors/Bulls on April 14 — the winner advances as the No. 8 seed to face Milwaukee.

The first round starts on April 15, according to the NBA. The Bucks have locked up the best record in the league and will have home court advantage throughout the playoffs.

David Duke Jr. Gets Standard Contract From Nets

April 7th, 2023 at 9:06am CST by Arthur Hill

9:25am: The move is official, the Nets announced (via Twitter).

9:06am: The Nets will convert David Duke Jr.‘s two-way contract to a standard deal, sources tell Brian Lewis of The New York Post. An official announcement is expected to be made later today.

The 23-year-old combo guard has appeared in 21 games in his second season with Brooklyn, averaging 3.1 points and 1.0 rebounds in 8.6 minutes per night. He emerged as a star in the G League, Lewis notes, finishing third in this year’s MVP voting.

Duke earned a two-way contract in 2021 after going undrafted out of Providence and got into 22 games last season. He had hoped to get a standard offer after a strong Summer League showing, according to Lewis, but he had to settle for another year on a two-way contract.

The Nets have a roster spot open after Moses Brown‘s second 10-day contract expired on Thursday. Brown played just six total minutes in two appearances with Brooklyn and wouldn’t have been eligible for the playoffs because the Knicks waived him past the March 1 cutoff point.

Bulls’ Carlik Jones Named 2022/23 G League MVP

April 5th, 2023 at 1:19pm CST by Luke Adams

Bulls guard Carlik Jones has been named the NBA G League’s Most Valuable Player for the 2022/23 season, the league announced today (via Twitter). Thirty NBAGL head coaches and GMs voted on the award.

Jones joined the Windy City Bulls in the fall after spending the preseason on Chicago’s roster. His strong play at the G League level earned him a two-way contract in December and then a promotion to the Bulls’ 15-man roster about a month ago.

Jones has only made four brief appearances at the NBA level this season, but he put up big numbers in the NBAGL.

In 19 Showcase Cup games in the fall, the 25-year-old averaged 20.3 PPG, 7.3 APG, and 5.4 RPG with a .494/.387/.683 shooting line in 35.9 minutes per night. He boosted his scoring average to 26.1 PPG on .483/.360/.789 shooting in 24 regular season contests (38.3 MPG) while also contributing 7.0 APG and 4.4 RPG.

Windy City made it to the finals of the Showcase Cup in December and then went 18-14 in the G League regular season, including 15-9 when Jones played.

Jones’ contract with Chicago includes non-guaranteed salaries for 2023/24 and ’24/25, so the Bulls will be able to keep him on their NBA roster at the veteran’s minimum for two seasons beyond this one, if they so choose.

The runners-up in MVP voting were Kings center Neemias Queta and Nets guard David Duke, who are both on two-way contracts. They finished second and third, respectively.

Grant Williams Meets Starter Criteria, Increases QO

April 5th, 2023 at 8:44am CST by Luke Adams

After logging 29 minutes on Tuesday night in the Celtics‘ loss to Philadelphia, forward Grant Williams has now played more than 2,000 minutes this season, meeting the “starter criteria” for restricted free agents.

A player achieves the starter criteria when he starts at least 41 games or plays at least 2,000 minutes in the season before he becomes eligible for restricted free agency (or if he averages 41 starts or 2,000 minutes in the two seasons leading up to his free agency).

Williams made 21 starts and logged 1,875 minutes in 2021/22 and has started just 23 games this season, but has now surpassed the minutes-played requirement for ’22/23.

As a result of meeting the starter criteria, the 24-year-old will see the value of his qualifying offer increase by more than $2MM. The No. 22 overall pick in the 2019 draft, Williams had been on track for a QO worth $6,235,495, but that figure will be bumped to $8,486,620, which is the equivalent of what the No. 9 pick in his draft class would receive.

That modest bump may not have a tangible impact on Williams’ free agency. He’s considered highly likely to sign a new multiyear contract that exceeds $8.5MM in annual average value, so that qualifying offer would essentially just serve as a placeholder during his negotiations with the Celtics or rival suitors.

If Williams doesn’t get any multiyear offers he likes and is intrigued by the possibility of reaching unrestricted free agency in 2024, accepting a one-year, $8.5MM offer would certainly hold more appeal than signing a one-year, $6.2MM offer, but his restricted free agency seems unlikely to play out that way.

Williams is the sixth potential restricted free agent to meet the starter criteria so far this season, joining P.J. Washington, Tre Jones, and Ayo Dosunmu — Kenyon Martin Jr. and Herbert Jones also made more than 41 starts, but they have 2023/24 team options on their respective contracts and may not reach free agency this summer (Jones definitely won’t, based on the structure of his deal).

Nets forward Cameron Johnson could join that group by starting two of Brooklyn’s last three regular season games this week. Trail Blazers forward Matisse Thybulle will fall just short of the starter criteria after missing Tuesday’s game — he needs to make four more starts, but Portland now only has three games left on its schedule.

New York Notes: Bridges, Knicks’ Future, Randle, Toppin

April 4th, 2023 at 7:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mikal Bridges outplayed Utah’s Lauri Markkanen, the favorite for the Most Improved Player award, in the Nets’ one-point win over the Jazz on Sunday. So why shouldn’t Bridges get consideration for the award? Brian Lewis of the New York Post makes that point.

Bridges has delivered 11 30-point games for the Nets, including three in his last four, after posting just two in 365 games before the Suns traded him. He was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday.

We have more on the New York teams:

The Knicks have exceeded expectations and their future is bright, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic. Jalen Brunson has been better than anyone anticipated, Julius Randle had a bounce-back campaign and some of their younger players have stepped up. They also have the means to get even better in the future, considering that no top-eight team in either conference has the surplus of first-round picks they do.
Is there a silver lining to Randle’s left ankle injury? Chris Herring of Sports Illustrated explores that topic and believes — assuming Randle can come back close to full strength once he’s reevaluated next week — it could be a blessing in disguise. In the midst of the Knicks’ current four-game winning streak, other players have filled the scoring void, including Josh Hart, Quentin Grimes, Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley. That should give Randle more trust in those players than he had in the offensively challenged group around him in the Knicks’ last playoff journey.
Speaking of Toppin, he could be auditioning for an extension this offseason while filling in for Randle, Jared Schwartz of the New York Post notes. He has scored 33 points in his first two starts this season. “Just playing to his strengths,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Every player has strengths, every player has weaknesses. Stay away from your weaknesses, play to your strengths, understand who you are playing with.”

Anthony Davis, Mikal Bridges Named Players Of The Week

April 3rd, 2023 at 2:45pm CST by Rory Maher

Lakers big man Anthony Davis and Nets wing Mikal Bridges have been named the NBA’s players of the week, the league announced (via Twitter).

Davis, the Western Conference’s winner, averaged 38.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, 1.0 steal and 2.0 blocks on .652/.333/.806 shooting in leading the Lakers to a 3-0 record last week. After winning six of seven, L.A. is currently 40-38, the No. 7 seed in the West.

Bridges, the East’s winner, averaged 33.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.3 steals on .500/.455/.885 shooting last week as the Nets went 3-0. Brooklyn is close to locking up the No. 6 seed and a guaranteed playoff spot, currently sitting with a 43-35 record and a two-game lead (and the tiebreaker) on the No. 7 Heat.

According to the NBA (Twitter link), the other nominees in the West were Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Brandon Ingram and Domantas Sabonis, while Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, Jalen Brunson, Immanuel Quickley, Donovan Mitchell and Jayson Tatum were nominated in the East.

New York Notes: Finney-Smith, Harris, Hartenstein, Playoff Rotation

April 2nd, 2023 at 4:11pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Following a lackluster offensive start to his Nets tenure, swingman Dorian Finney-Smith is finding his footing in Brooklyn, writes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post.

Smith had been scoring just 6.4 PPG on 31% field goal shooting across his first 22 games with the Nets prior to a 124-107 defeat of the Hawks. In that contest, he notched 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-6 from deep, and eight boards.

“It feels good, man,” Finney-Smith said of his best scoring night with his new team thus far. “Especially when the whole team is yelling at me when I turn down shots to stay aggressive. It feels good when you got guys who believe in you, so I appreciate them.”

Finney-Smith continues to make a big defensive impact for the Nets. Head coach Jacque Vaughn has even employed the 6’7″ forward as a center in small ball lineups.

There’s more out of The City That Never Sleeps:

Nets wing Joe Harris has been demoted since Brooklyn added an influx of three-point shooting perimeter players at the trade deadline, and that’s just fine by Harris, per Schwartz in another piece. “It’s definitely a luxury of this team,” Harris observed. “A lot of space on the floor for primary ball-handlers, facilitators.”
Knicks backup center Isaiah Hartenstein is the only New York player to have been available for all 78 of the team’s games thus far, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post.
Though they have just four games left in their 2022/23 regular season run, the 45-33 Knicks still need to finalize their postseason rotation, says Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Begley notes that New York’s coaching staff is assessing both active rotation and deep-bench players with the playoffs looming. The Knicks seem to favor a nine-man rotation, Begley observes. Backup point guard Miles McBride became the team’s new ninth man with All-Star power forward Julius Randle out of the lineup for now.

Final Check-In On Open NBA Roster Spots

April 2nd, 2023 at 9:57am CST by Luke Adams

With just one week left in the NBA’s regular season, there are still a number of teams around the league with open roster spots, and there’s little downside to filling those openings before the regular season ends.

For playoff teams, adding one more player would create a little extra depth in the event of postseason injuries or garbage-time minutes. For non-playoff teams, it makes sense to try to convince a young player to accept a multiyear deal that includes little or no guaranteed money beyond this season, since it gives those teams another option for next year’s roster.

Even clubs over the luxury tax line or right up against it shouldn’t have a problem paying one more player a prorated minimum salary for the last day or two of the season — the prorated minimum for a veteran on a rest-of-season deal is just $10,552 per day, which is a drop in the bucket for NBA franchises.

With all that in mind, it’s safe to assume that some – if not all – of the teams with open roster spots should fill them by next Sunday. Here are those teams:

Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets *
Charlotte Hornets *
Houston Rockets
Los Angeles Lakers
New York Knicks
Phoenix Suns ^
Utah Jazz #

The two teams marked with an asterisk (*) here technically have full 15-man rosters as of today, but one of their players is on a 10-day contract. That’s Moses Brown for the Nets and Xavier Sneed for the Hornets. Both of those contracts run through Thursday night before expiring, so Brooklyn and Charlotte will have the opportunity to sign a player to a rest-of-season or multiyear deal at that time.

The Suns (^) have a full 15-man standard roster but have an open two-way contract slot alongside Saben Lee. It’s possible Phoenix won’t bother signing someone to fill that opening, since two-way players aren’t eligible to play in the postseason and the Suns don’t have a G League affiliate (the NBAGL season is just about over anyway).

As for the Jazz (#), they currently have one open spot on their 15-man standard roster and will open up a second when Luka Samanic‘s 10-day contract expires on Thursday night. So Utah could technically bring in two new players before season’s end without waiving anyone.

The rest of the teams on this list – the Celtics, Rockets, Lakers, and Knicks – are carrying 14 players on standard contracts, leaving one spot available.

Boston and New York are postseason-bound and L.A. is in good position to join them, but that doesn’t necessarily mean each of those teams will sign a “win-now” veteran as a 15th man. They already have enough depth on their respective rosters that they may prefer to promote a player from the G League on a multiyear deal, assuming they decide to fill those openings at all. Boston and L.A. are taxpayers, so a signing would cost them a little more than just $10,552 per day.