- Veteran assistant Kaleb Canales is joining the Texas Legends — the Mavericks‘ G League affiliate — as associate head coach, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Canales, who became the NBA’s first Mexican-American head coach in 2012, last worked for the Pacers in 2020/21. He also had stints with Portland, Dallas and New York over his lengthy coaching career, so it will be a reunion with the Mavs organization.
- Mavericks guard Luka Doncic banged knees with an opponent in an exhibition game with Team Slovenia, but the Mavs have “no concerns” about the injury, a source tells Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link). As with Brooks, Doncic is suiting up for his home country for the upcoming World Cup, which will take place in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. He exited the loss against Greece as a precaution.
- The Mavericks likely have two more seasons to show Luka Doncic that they can build a contender around him before they have to worry about him leaving, Tim Cato of The Athletic writes in a mailbag column. Doncic can opt out of his current deal in 2026, and although Cato is skeptical that the Slovenian star would ask for a trade before then, he acknowledges that the organization is operating under a “Doomsday Clock.” Cato also points out that Dallas has amassed a wealth of young talent, draft assets and tradable contracts to bid for the next big star that becomes available.
- Cato believes it’s probably a coin flip on whether the Mavericks will trade Tim Hardaway Jr. before training camp, but he says it should become more likely as the season wears on. He points out that the acquisition of Seth Curry makes Hardaway more expendable, and the team needs to find minutes for second-year guard Jaden Hardy.
Mavericks star Luka Doncic was introduced Saturday as the new captain of the Slovenian national team for the FIBA World Cup competition, writes Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. He takes over for Edo Muric, who will miss the tournament with a torn ACL.
“I am honored to be the captain. The coach and the rest of the players made the decision,” Doncic said. “It is a pleasure to play for the national team. I have not played since April 10, so I can’t wait for the games.”
At 24, Doncic is already a veteran of international competitions. He was among the stars at the last Summer Olympics and competed twice in EuroBasket, helping Slovenia capture the gold medal in 2017. His team failed to defend its title at last year’s tournament, getting upset by Poland in the quarterfinals.
“As in every tournament, the goal is to win the championship,” Doncic said. “Last year’s failure in the EuroBasket did not make (me) too angry, but instead motivated me. You must look ahead. We don’t care what happened last year. I feel better this year. It is apparent. Much praise to the fitness coach pushing me.”
There’s more international news to pass along:
- After saying earlier this week that he’s hoping to have Sixers center Joel Embiid for the 2024 Olympics, Team USA managing director Grant Hill expanded on those comments Saturday on Marc Stein’s podcast (hat tip to HoopsHype). Hill expressed guarded optimism about landing Embiid, who also has citizenship with France and Cameroon, stating that talks will continue as he puts the team together. “Joel Embiid is an incredible talent and he has options,” Hill said. “And I guess that’s a good thing. I’ll just say this: I’ve had some discussions with him, and he knows our desire to have him a part of our program. So we’ll see sort of where that goes. But we’ll certainly, as we get through this World Cup and start to sort of plan for next summer, we’ll continue with those conversations, and hopefully by then, I’ll have some numbers and percentages to give you in terms of where the possibility stands.”
- Rudy Gobert had doubts about participating in the World Cup after the season ended, but now he believes France has a good shot at a gold medal, according to Eurohoops. Gobert said he continued to work hard after the Timberwolves were ousted in the first round of the playoffs. “The break after the end of the season wasn’t one,” Gobert said. “I trained a lot in June and July, I feel good and that’s also why I’m here.”
- France may be without draft-and-stash player Mathias Lessort, whose NBA rights are owned by the Knicks, Eurohoops reports. Lessort has an ankle issue that will force him to miss an exhibition game with Tunisia next week.
A recent report indicated that the Mavericks are considering an offer for Timberwolves shooting guard Jaylen Nowell, but Marc Stein hears that may not be true. In a podcast Saturday, the veteran NBA reporter said Dallas’ interest is exaggerated (hat tip to RealGM).
“I know there were some recent reports that Jaylen Nowell from Minnesota is a potential target. I was actually told the Mavericks are not really in that race at this point,” Stein said. “So, to this point, I would scratch Nowell as a target for the Mavericks, at least that was that’s what I was told yesterday.”
Nowell, 24, is an unrestricted free agent after spending the last four years in Minnesota. He is coming off his best NBA season, appearing in 65 games and averaging 10.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 19.3 minutes per night.
Nowell has developed into a reliable bench player for the Wolves since being selected with the 43rd pick in the 2019 draft. He’s seeking his second NBA contract after signing a four-year deal at the time and is hoping for a raise after making $1.93MM last season.
With 14 players holding standard contracts, the Timberwolves have one open roster spot, but committing money to Nowell may not be in the team’s plans. They recently gave a three-year, $42MM extension to Naz Reid and signed Shake Milton and Troy Brown Jr. as free agents. An extension is also expected for Jaden McDaniels at some point this summer.
Bob Myers indicated that he wanted some time away from the game when he stepped down as president of basketball operations and general manager of the Warriors, but fans should expect to hear his name mentioned in connection to any openings that arise in the next few months, writes Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.
The most obvious team for Myers, according to Fischer, is the Clippers because of his longtime association with team consultant Jerry West and the working relationship they developed during their time together with Golden State. Myers spent more than a decade with the Warriors and helped to win four championships, so Fischer believes he’ll be among the first names that any team will call if it decides to shake up its front office.
Fischer identifies a few other former general managers who may be in line for a second chance, including ex-Utah GM Dennis Lindsey, who is currently working in the Mavericks‘ front office, Kings assistant GM Wes Wilcox, who has rebuilt his reputation after his experience in Atlanta, and former Orlando GM Rob Hennigan, who is VP of basketball operations with the Thunder.
Fischer passes along more information about rising stars in NBA front offices:
- Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon was among the candidates to become the Wizards’ president of basketball operations and he’ll likely be considered for similar jobs in the future, Fischer writes. Raptors GM Bobby Webster, Cavaliers GM Mike Gansey and new Clippers GM Trent Redden all appear headed for team president roles someday, Fischer adds.
- Jeff Peterson, the Nets‘ assistant GM, is considered one of the league’s best young executives, according to Fischer. Peterson interviewed for the Pistons’ GM slot in 2020, and Fischer hears that he’s viewed as one of the favorites to take over the Hornets if they decide to replace Mitch Kupchak, who’s in the final year of his contract. Pelicans assistant GM Bryson Graham could be first in line to replace Langdon if he leaves, but league sources tell Fischer that he might get an opportunity with another team before that happens.
- Tayshaun Prince is a valuable member of the Grizzlies‘ front office and has received overtures about running other teams, according to Fischer. Among other former NBA players, Jameer Nelson has built a strong reputation in the Sixers‘ front office for his work with their G League affiliate, and Acie Law appears headed for a promotion with the Thunder after Will Dawkins was hired by the Wizards.
- Fischer identifies CAA’s Austin Brown as an agent who might move into a front office role, noting that he was a candidate to run the Bulls in 2020. Fischer also singles out agents Jason Glushon and Todd Ramasar, along with Kirk Berger, a legal counsel with the players’ union.
Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr., the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, says he’s excited to team up with Marcus Smart, who won the award in 2022, writes Jerry Jiang of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Smart was acquired from the Celtics last month in a three-team trade, and Jackson reached out to him when the news broke.
“That doesn’t happen pretty often or ever,” Jackson said, referring to a team having two DPOY winners at the same time. “I just know what he brings to Boston. I’ve seen it before I was in the league and it’s crazy.”
Here’s more from the West:
- The Mavericks intend to hire Eric Hughes as an assistant coach, sources tell Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link). Hughes got his NBA start as an assistant with Toronto and previously worked under head coach Jason Kidd with the Nets and Bucks, MacMahon notes. He has been with the Sixers for the past four seasons.
- Thunder big man Aleksej Pokusevski won’t be able to represent his native Serbia in the FIBA World Cup next month, according to Eurohoops.net. The 17th pick of the 2020 draft, Pokusevski suffered a broken arm during an offseason workout at the end of May and won’t receive medical clearance to train with a basketball until late August, the report states. The World Cup starts August 25 and runs through September 10. The 21-year-old was hoping to secure a spot on the Serbian national team’s 12-man roster.
- In a mailbag for The Oklahoman, Joe Mussatto predicts that Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Victor Oladipo, Jack White, Usman Garuba and TyTy Washington are the the most likely players to be on the chopping block due to the Thunder‘s roster crunch. However, Mussatto notes that OKC has a few months to figure things out and more trades could be in order rather than outright waiving all five players.
The Mavericks have named Jordan Sears as the head coach of the G League’s Texas Legends, according to a team press release (hat tip to the Dallas Morning News’ Brad Townsend. Terry Sullivan will serve as the team’s general manager while also continuing in his duties as the Mavericks’ director of player personnel.
Sears has been on the Mavericks’ staff for the past two seasons as head video coordinator. He was previously on the staff of the 2021 Bucks’ championship team. Sullivan has been in the Dallas organization for 13 years.
The Mavericks are reportedly eyeing former Timberwolves shooting Jaylen Nowell, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North suggests on a new episode of his podcast The Scoop.
“No, he’s not coming back to the Wolves,” Wolfson said. “There’s a mutual understanding that, ‘Hey, time for Jaylen to move on.’ But here’s a new team in on Jaylen Nowell: the Dallas Mavericks. They need to create some roster flexibility, they are looking into doing some stuff is the word and it may not come to fruition. But Jaylen Nowell is on Dallas’ radar. The Nowell camp is still also awaiting finality on the Damian Lillard situation.”
The 6’4″ Nowell, now an unrestricted free agent, had been with Minnesota since being selected in the second round of the 2019 draft out of Washington. He enjoyed his most prolific season yet in 2022/23, averaging 10.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.0 APG and 0.6 SPG in 65 contests.
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- The Mavericks made some major offseason moves to reconfigure their roster following a disappointing end to the 2022/23 season, but will they be enough in a talented West? In a new reader mailbag, Tim Cato of The Athletic asserts that, while Dallas may not be quite a legitimate contender yet, the team made some solid new veteran and rookie additions while replenishing some future draft equity.
- New Grizzlies shooting guard Josh Christopher could yet emerge as a helpful rotation piece for Memphis, in part due to a minor shortage at the position, writes Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Memphis acquired the 6’5″ swingman as part of the five-team sign-and-trade that shipped Dillon Brooks to the Rockets — the team still has 17 players on standard guaranteed contracts, so it’s unclear whether or not Christopher will be on the regular season roster.
- In case you missed it, we took stock of the offseasons of two lowly 2022/23 Southwest clubs, the Rockets and Spurs, and asked you which club they thought would have a better record in 2023/24.
A year ago, Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey described his relationship with James Harden as a “mutual lovefest” before the star guard hit free agency, eventually taking a pay cut to help Philadelphia build out its roster, Marc Stein writes at Substack.
However, a year later, the relationship between Morey and Harden is said to be “essentially fractured,” with the 33-year-old unhappy about how his free agency played out this time around. He has since issued a trade request and is intent on joining the Clippers. Morey publicly confirmed last week that the rift was over Harden’s contract and the Sixers’ unwillingness to meet his ask.
Should the Sixers regret trading for Harden? Despite rumors to the contrary, sources tell Stein that the Kings never offered Tyrese Haliburton in any trade with the Sixers for Ben Simmons ahead of the February 2022 deadline. Haliburton, of course, ended up getting moved to Indiana in a multiplayer deal that sent back All-NBA big man Domantas Sabonis, while Simmons was sent to Brooklyn as part of the package for Harden.
Here’s more from Stein:
- The Suns are still interested in Pacers guard T.J. McConnell, league sources tell Stein, but there doesn’t appear to be a viable pathway to a deal at this time. As Stein notes, Phoenix recently traded Cameron Payne to San Antonio, and he was the only obvious salary-matching piece for a possible deal with Indiana. The Suns may revisit a McConnell trade down the road once their free agents become trade-eligible in mid-December, but Stein hears the veteran guard hopes to remain with the Pacers.
- According to Stein, the Pistons initiated trade conversations with the Mavericks in an effort to unload former No. 7 overall pick Killian Hayes, but those talks “gained little traction.” Detroit has several guards on the roster, including multiple offseason additions. Although Dallas remains intrigued by Pistons forward Bojan Bogdanovic, the team’s top trade priority is believed to be a center upgrade, Stein adds.
- Prior to signing Kemba Walker, EuroLeague club AS Monaco considered signing free agent guard Frank Ntilikina, Stein reports. The No. 8 pick of the 2017 draft, Ntilikina spent his first four seasons with the Knicks and spent the past two seasons with the Mavericks. He appeared in 47 games in 2022/23 for an average of 12.9 MPG.