- If unrestricted free agent Paul Millsap re-signs with the Nuggets, it will be at a vastly reduced rate, Mike Singer of the Denver Post speculates. Millsap, who is making $30MM this season, would probably have to settle for a short-term contract with a starting salary of $10-13MM. Re-signing fellow power forward Jerami Grant, who is likely to opt out and become an unrestricted free agent, is probably a bigger priority, Singer adds.
1:24pm: Pacers GM Chad Buchanan will join Karnisovas and Webster on the Bulls’ list of first-wave interview targets, per K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune (via Twitter). Sources tell Darnell Mayberry and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) that Heat assistant GM Adam Simon will be part of that group as well.
According to Mayberry (Twitter link), the Bulls won’t pursue Ujiri or Thunder head of basketball operations Sam Presti and won’t go the player-agent route like New York and other teams have.
12:41pm: The Bulls have formally launched their search for a new top front office executive who will have full authority on basketball decisions, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. We had previously heard in a series of February reports that the team was laying the groundwork for front office changes.
Those February reports suggested that executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson would retain a “valuable seat at the table” amidst the front office upheaval and that general manager Gar Forman would have his responsibilities cut back.
Wojnarowski confirms that Paxson is expected to continue in an advisory role and says that the club will have more conversations with Forman about his future. Previous reports indicated Forman would likely be re-assigned to a scouting position.
According to Wojnarowski, Chicago plans to seek permission to interview Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas and Raptors GM Bobby Webster, among others. The club’s goal is to complete its planned front office changes “well before” the NBA resumes play, per Woj, who hears that interviews will begin next week and will be conducted virtually rather than in person due to the coronavirus.
Neither Karnisovas nor Webster is the head of basketball operations for his respective team — Tim Connelly serves as Denver’s president of basketball operations, while Masai Ujiri holds that position in Toronto. However, the two GMs have risen through their respective organizations in recent years and have played important roles in building the Nuggets’ and Raptors’ talented rosters.
According to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, who identified Karnisovas and Webster as two possible targets for the Bulls in a March mailbag, Pacers GM Chad Buchanan, Heat assistant GM Adam Simon, Jazz GM Justin Zanik, and Clippers GM Michael Winger are among the other executives on Bulls president/COO Michael Reinsdorf‘s list of potential candidates (Twitter link).
Many of those executives are under contract beyond the 2019/20 season, but likely wouldn’t be held back by their respective teams if the Bulls’ job is viewed as a promotion from their current roles. Based on Woj’s description, it should be.
The timing of Chicago’s search is interesting. Ujiri spoke earlier this week about putting business like contract extensions for himself and Nick Nurse on hold during the NBA’s stoppage, and we heard on Thursday that the Knicks aren’t pursuing front office changes or a new head coach during the hiatus. Nets GM Sean Marks also said this week that his team isn’t moving forward with its head coach search at this time.
However, no official hiring or firing freeze has been instituted by the NBA, and the Bulls’ situation is a little different from that of those other teams — a new top front office executive would lead the team’s decisions in the draft and free agency, making that search a more pressing matter than a head coaching hire, lower-level front office changes, or extensions for current execs and coaches.
The Nuggets have completed their 14-day quarantine, Mark Medina of USA Today tweets. The team released a statement on March 19 that an undisclosed member of the organization tested positive for COVID-19. That person is now considered “symptom-free,” Medina adds.
We have more on the Nuggets:
- Rookie forward Michael Porter Jr. said the suspension of play has allowed his right ankle to fully heal, Mike Singer of the Denver writes. Porter suffered a sprain on January 31 and the injury continued to linger after the All-Star break. Porter has access to a private gym and he’s been working on his game during the suspension of play, Singer adds.
- Jerami Grant will probably command $15-16MM annually on the open market, Nick Kosmider of The Athletic speculates. Grant is likely to decline his $9.35MM option in order to become an unrestricted free agent. A four-year, $64MM deal sounds reasonable for a player entering the prime of his career, Kosmider adds.
- Porter is one of 16 NBA players who will compete in the 2K Players Tournament, which begins Friday on ESPN and ESPN2, Joe Nguyen of the Denver Post notes. The Suns’ Devin Booker will be Porter’s first-round opponent.
- Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said the suspension of play has accelerated the timeline for offseason preparations, according to Mike Singer of the Denver Post. “The bulk of your energy is spent toward the draft, but you also have an eye on the offseason, free agency, any potential trades,” Connelly said. “There’s no shortage of video. We’re going to have a pick at No. 21 (from Houston), so you’re going to have to know a lot of players and know them as well as you possibly can.”
- The Nuggets need to acquire another impact player to become true contenders, Joel Rush of Forbes.com argues. They’d have to be willing to move Will Barton, Gary Harris or any bench player outside of Michael Porter Jr. this offseason to accomplish that goal, Rush adds.
With the NBA requiring teams to close their training facilities beginning on Friday, players around the league don’t have many options left for conducting workouts, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
As Bontemps explains, players have also been told not to work out at any non-team public facilities, such as health clubs, fitness centers, college facilities, or gyms. The league is essentially telling players to shut it down outside of home facilities, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. While that’s an option for some players, many live in apartments and have little to no workout equipment at home, Bontemps notes (via Twitter).
There are still ways for players to stay active, but a lack of training facilities for weeks or months could be an issue, as Lakers forward Jared Dudley pointed out on Twitter.
“If we can’t train properly for a month or two, an athlete would need at least a month starting from scratch,” Dudley wrote, when asked how much time players would need to be “game-ready” if the season resumed. “Injuries would be the biggest concern … so it all depends on this lay-off from our facilities.”
Here’s more on the coronavirus situation and the NBA’s hiatus:
- The NBA is discussing “every imaginable scenario” for restarting games, league sources tell Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. As O’Connor outlines, some of those hypothetical scenarios include having a postseason play-in tournament replace the end of the regular season, shortening playoff series, playing games at a neutral site, and pushing back the start of next season until December or even 2021.
- Within that same article, O’Connor reports that team executives around the NBA seem to be “warming” to the idea of starting the 2020/21 regular season in December. While acknowledging that their opinions may by shifting out of necessity, O’Connor points out that this could be a good opportunity for the league to experiment with a new-look calendar, as we observed earlier this week.
- Although the Nuggets had a member of their organization test positive for COVID-19, they don’t plan on testing other players or staffers unless they show symptoms, a source tells Mike Singer of The Denver Post. According to Sam Amick of The Athletic (via Twitter), the affected person with the Nuggets followed state guidelines and was tested by means of the public system — the test wasn’t privately procured.
A member of the Nuggets‘ organization has tested positive for the coronavirus, the team announced today in a press release. The Nuggets didn’t offer much in the way of specifics, so it’s unclear if the affected person is a player, coach, executive, or staff member.
“The person, who was tested after experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 on March 16th, is currently under the care of team medical staff and in self-isolation,” the club said in its statement. “The testing was undertaken following guidance from state public health officials and team physicians.”
The Mavericks were the last team to play the Nuggets before the NBA’s hiatus begun, with that game taking place last Wednesday. It’s not clear when the affected Nugget contracted the virus, or if members of the Mavs, Bucks, Cavaiers, or Hornets – all of whom played Denver in the last two weeks – are at risk of having been exposed.
Seven NBA players are known to have tested positive for COVID-19 so far: Jazz stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, Pistons big man Christian Wood, former MVP Kevin Durant, and three other unidentified Nets players.
If the Nugget who tested positive today is a player, that total would increase to eight. Either way, it seems safe to assume that the number of affected players and members of NBA organizations in the coming days and weeks will continue to grow.
“A whole lot of us are going to test positive,” NBPA executive director Michele Roberts told Mark Medina of USA Today earlier this week. “… I certainly know there will be more players, more league staff and my own staff (that will be tested positive). I was hearing the numbers that 40-50% of our population will be positive for the virus, whether or not we test for it.”
Earlier today, we explored what the lottery odds for the 2020 NBA draft would look like if the regular season doesn’t resume. We’re now applying that hypothetical to another aspect of the draft and examining which traded 2020 picks would and wouldn’t change hands based on the current standings.
Our projections below assume that the NBA will sort its standings by winning percentage in scenarios where teams haven’t played the same number of games this season. Again, this is just a hypothetical exercise — if the season resumes, the order below would likely change.
With that in mind and with the help of our reverse standings, let’s take a closer look at where this year’s traded draft picks would land if the NBA has played its last regular season game of 2019/20.
First round:
- Minnesota Timberwolves (from Nets)
- Boston Celtics (from Grizzlies)
- Brooklyn Nets (from Sixers)
- Note: Could be No. 20 depending on random tiebreaker.
- Milwaukee Bucks (from Pacers)
- Note: Could be No. 19 depending on random tiebreaker.
- Philadelphia 76ers (from Thunder)
- Note: Could be No. 22 depending on random tiebreaker.
- Denver Nuggets (from Rockets)
- Note: Could be No. 21 depending on random tiebreaker.
- Oklahoma City Thunder (from Nuggets)
- New York Knicks (from Clippers)
- Boston Celtics (from Bucks)
Protected picks:
- Golden State Warriors (to Nets; top-20 protected)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (to Pelicans; top-20 protected)
- Utah Jazz (to Grizzlies; top-7 and 15-30 protected)
Notes:
- The Thunder pick would be the one worth watching closest if the season does resume. It’s top-20 protected, so OKC would keep it if it were to move up a spot or two, sending the Sixers second-round picks in 2022 and 2023 instead.
Second round:
- Dallas Mavericks (from Warriors)
- Charlotte Hornets (from Cavaliers)
- Philadelphia 76ers (from Hawks)
- Sacramento Kings (from Pistons)
- Philadelphia 76ers (from Knicks)
- Washington Wizards (from Bulls)
- New York Knicks (from Hornets)
- New Orleans Pelicans (from Wizards)
- Memphis Grizzlies (from Suns)
- Boston Celtics (from Nets)
- Chicago Bulls (from Grizzlies)
- Golden State Warriors (from Mavericks)
- Atlanta Hawks (from Rockets)
- Note: Could be No. 51 depending on random tiebreaker.
- Sacramento Kings (from Heat)
- Golden State Warriors (from Jazz)
- Brooklyn Nets (from Nuggets)
- Charlotte Hornets (from Celtics)
- Philadelphia 76ers (from Lakers)
- New Orleans Pelicans (from Bucks)
Protected picks:
- Indiana Pacers (to Nets; 45-60 protected)
- Portland Trail Blazers (to Nets; top-55 protected)
Notes:
- The Hawks will receive the more favorable of Houston’s and Miami’s second-round picks, while the Kings will receive the less favorable of those two picks. Those two picks could end up right next to one another, since the Rockets (40-24) and Heat (41-24) have nearly identical records.
- The Celtics’ pick looks like it will be one of the rare second-rounders with heavy protection that will actually change hands. Boston would have kept it if it had fallen in the top 53.
The list of teams and players who have vowed to help support arena workers who will lose wages during the NBA’s hiatus continues to grow. Here are several of the updates from the couple days:
- The Bulls‘ ownership group, along with United Center ownership, announced that it will pay day-of-game employees through the remained of the originally scheduled season. The Nets issued a press release indicating they’ll do the same for hourly employees who worked games and events at Barclays Center. A team official said the Sixers are doing so too, tweets John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
- The Spurs announced the formation of a fund totaling $500K+ that will be used to pay its part-time employees through the rest of the season. The Hornets also established a fund to assist the organization’s part-time employees who had been scheduled to work Hornets and Greensboro Swarm games through the end of their respective seasons.
- The Nuggets‘ ownership group pledged to pay its part-time and hourly employees for the next 30 days, per a press release.
- Madison Square Garden has committed to paying event-driven employees, including those who work at Knicks games, through March 22 and is working to come up with a longer-term plan, per a memo obtained by Ian Begley of SNY.tv. The Suns, meanwhile, are paying their employees who were scheduled to work their two home games in March, noting that the staffing for their four home games in April hadn’t yet been finalized.
- The Raptors said in a press release that they have joined forces with Toronto’s other sports franchises to create a fund for arena and stadium workers. “Being a good teammate means looking out for our neighbours, friends and the people we work with,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri said in a statement. “Through this fund, we all pledge to be good teammates to our arena, stadium and support staff. We want to be here for them, the way they are always here for us.”
- Following the lead of stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, the rest of the Bucks‘ roster has also committed to making donations to impacted Fiserv Forum workers, per the team (Twitter link). Magic center Mohamed Bamba vowed to do the same for Amway Center employees (Twitter link).
- Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns is making a $100K donation as well, but his money will be going to the Mayo Clinic, which is rolling out a test to detect the virus that causes COVID-19. “My hope is that we can fight this virus quicker and more efficiently by increasing the testing capabilities and availability and Mayo Clinic’s overall COVID-19 response,” Towns tweeted.
7:32pm: Silver confirmed that the duration of the league’s postponement “will be most likely at least 30 days,” according to an interview during Inside The NBA on TNT. When asked if it was possible that the NBA regular season would not resume at all, Silver noted, “Of course it’s possible. I just don’t know more at this point.”
4:00pm: Although the NBA has yet make a formal announcement on an initial timetable for its hiatus, team owners are encouraging commissioner Adam Silver to re-evaluate the situation after 30 days, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who says the league is expected to provide an official update soon.
Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) also hears that the NBA will shut down for 30 days before the suspension is re-assessed. Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star (Twitter links) was the first to report that preliminary 30-day timeline, stressing that it’s a “minimum” and that the timetable may end up being largely out of the NBA’s control.
A layoff of at least 30 days doesn’t come as a surprise. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban speculated earlier today that it may take at least 60 days for the virus to run its course and for the NBA to consider resuming the 2019/20 season. The Chinese Basketball Association, which suspended its season in late January, is aiming for an early-April return, which would mean a hiatus of over two months.
In the short term, a handful of NBA teams – particularly those who have been in recent contact with affected Jazz players Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell – are self-isolating in order to minimize risk.
In addition to the teams we discussed in that earlier story, the Nuggets and Sixers are among the clubs whose players are being advised to temporarily self-quarantine, per Mike Singer of The Denver Post and Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link), respectively. The 76ers are organizing testing for players and some staffers, while the Nuggets have tests available if needed, according to those reports.
Goodwill reports (via Twitter) that some team owners on today’s conference call suggested that every NBA player should be tested for COVID-19 during the suspension. Given how challenging it has been for the average American with symptoms to get tested for the virus, it’s unclear how realistic it is to expect tests right now for hundreds of NBA players without symptoms.