Denver Nuggets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Northwest Notes: Rubio, Martin, Foye, Green

February 17th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Bucks coach Jason Kidd, who holds sway over the team’s personnel decisions, has a longstanding admiration for Ricky Rubio, and while the Timberwolves haven’t been looking for Rubio trades, they’re likely to do so this summer, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Other recent reports have indicated that Rubio is currently on the block, though Minnesota doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to deal him for the time being, judging by Wojnarowski’s reporting. See more from Minnesota amid the latest from around the Northwest Division:

Timberwolves shooting guard Kevin Martin is unlikely to end up in a trade unless he turns down his player option, worth nearly $7.378MM for next season, league sources told Wojnarowski for the same piece. Martin probably won’t do that, since he’d have a tough time making up that money on the free agent market this summer.
Randy Foye‘s eminently positive locker room presence appeals to the Nuggets, who won’t be quick to give him up, according to Wojnarowski. The Heat reportedly have interest, and Wojnarowski suggests others do as well.
Erick Green, whose second 10-day contract with the Jazz expired Sunday, will return to the D-League affiliate of the Kings, a league source tells Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter link).
Joey Dorsey, whom the Nuggets acquired in the Ty Lawson trade this past summer and later waived in a buyout, has left Turkey’s Galatasaray and will sign with Barcelona of Spain, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter links).

Western Notes: Griffin, McRae, Durant

February 16th, 2016 at 10:05pm CST by Eddie Scarito

It’s likely the Clippers hang on to Blake Griffin through at least the rest of this season, but he isn’t “untouchable” in trade talk and the Clippers are listening to offers, writes Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. Still, while the team is liable to take a more aggressive stance about trading Griffin if it finds out before the trade deadline that it has no shot at Kevin Durant this summer, the Clips would demand a huge offer just to trade him away before draft time in June, much less Thursday’s 2pm Central trade deadline, according to Lowe. Clippers executives are adamant that they don’t intend to trade their star power forward, with one of them telling Dan Woike of The Orange County Register that the team never offered Griffin and Lance Stephenson to the Nuggets for a package of four players, as had been reported.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

The Kings are seeking a major upgrade at shooting guard and are not looking for younger players who couldn’t provide significant contributions immediately, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee notes (on Twitter). Sacramento is said to be desperate to deal away shooting guard Ben McLemore, with the Timberwolves and other teams reportedly interested in the young wing.
The Mavericks would be interested in Wolves shooting guard Kevin Martin if he works a buyout with Minnesota, Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com relays (via Twitter). Dallas would be reluctant to trade for Martin because of the fear he would pick up his player option for next season worth $7,377,500, MacMahon notes.
Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers said the team is looking to add a guard via a 10-day deal, but that isn’t likely to occur prior to the team’s next two contests, Dan Woike of The Orange County Register tweets.
The Warriors find themselves in a difficult position at trade deadline time as the team attempts to repeat as NBA champions while trying to set itself up for a run at Durant, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group writes. Golden State has to weigh its pursuit of the all-time regular season victory mark against the chance to land Durant this offseason, Kawakami notes. In order to clear enough cap room to ink Durant outright, the Warriors would need to part ways with a significant chunk of talent, which could derail the team’s chances at bringing home a title in 2015/16, Kawakami adds.
The Suns have recalled shooting guard Jordan McRae from their D-League affiliate in Bakersfield, the team announced. McRae, who is with Phoenix on a 10-day deal, was sent to the D-League so he could participate in the league’s All-Star game, wherein he notched seven points and five assists in 14 minutes of action.
The Kings don’t appear to want to bring George Karl back next season even though they’ve committed to him through the end of this season, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. He’ll have $6.5MM in guaranteed salary remaining on his contract once this season is done.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Nuggets Get $5MM-Plus Disabled Player Exception

February 16th, 2016 at 4:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Nuggets have been granted a disabled player exception for injured swingman Wilson Chandler, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). The value of the exception is worth $5,224,719, which is precisely half the amount of Chandler’s $10,449,438 salary for this season. The Nuggets will be permitted to exceed the salary cap in order to add a player thanks to the exception, though the team is still confined to using a maximum of 15 roster slots.

The exception allows Denver to sign or trade for a player, or claim one off waivers, as long as it goes toward someone whose contract doesn’t run past the end of the season. Its value is slightly higher, $5,324,719, for use in trades.

Chandler was diagnosed with a labral tear in his hip back in November and underwent season-ending surgery as a result. The 28-year-old signed a four-year, $46.5MM extension with Denver during the offseason and he was expected to play a major role for the team. This isn’t the first time Chandler has dealt with hip issues, and all told, hip woes have cost him a total of 133 games since 2011.

The swingman’s career numbers are 13.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists through 445 career contests. Chandler was the No. 23 overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft.

Heat Interested In Randy Foye

February 16th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The Heat have been looking into inexpensive 3-and-D wing options, including Nuggets shooting guard Randy Foye, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. Foye was said to be available as of mid-December, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported then, and that’s no surprise, given his shrinking role in Denver. He’s averaging career lows in points and minutes per game while shooting a career worst 29.6% from 3-point range, well beneath his career mark of 37.0%.

Foye is making $3.135MM on an expiring contract, so Miami would have to match for that salary, and given the Heat’s position as a tax team and the repeat-offender tax penalties they face if they don’t ditch roughly $5.5MM from their payroll by season’s end, they have incentive to send salary Denver’s way. The Heat have been aggressive in trying to trade a player on the end of their bench, especially Chris Andersen and Jarnell Stokes, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported around the same time that fellow Herald scribe Ethan Skolnick heard Miami had explored trading for Omri Casspi. It’s unclear if the Nuggets would want either Andersen, whom they amnestied in 2012, or Stokes, who’s spent enough time in the D-League this season to be named one of its All-Stars. Neither of them have a salary that would work in a one-for-one swap involving Foye, with Anderson’s $5MM pay too large and Stokes’ minimum salary too small.

Concern over the health of Chris Bosh clouds Miami’s trade deadline plans. The Heat have reportedly spoken with the Rockets about a swap involving Hassan Whiteside and Dwight Howard, but Miami isn’t sold on Howard’s character and the way he’d fit with the Heat, Lowe adds.

Nets Likely To Part Ways With Andrea Bargnani

February 16th, 2016 at 6:59am CST by Chuck Myron

TUESDAY, 6:59am: Colangelo and Rosas are still in the race for the GM job, Wojnarowski clarifies (on Twitter).

MONDAY, 11:24am: Andrea Bargnani is among the players almost certain to work a buyout with their respective teams if they’re not traded by Thursday’s 2pm Central deadline, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. It’s not surprising to see David Lee and J.J. Hickson as the other names on Wojnarowski’s short list of buyout candidates, since Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck reported earlier this month that the Celtics intended to either trade Lee or do a buyout, while the Nuggets have apparently been shopping Hickson. Bargnani is in the first season of a two-year deal for the minimum salary that includes a player option for next season and is averaging only 13.8 minutes per game, by far the fewest of his 10-year NBA career.

Still, it’s difficult to gauge just what the Nets will do with their personnel, since they’re in the midst of hiring a new GM. Nuggets assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas and Spurs assistant GM Sean Marks continue to talk with the team as it moves toward second interviews this week, league sources told Wojnarowski. The general consensus around the NBA as of Friday held that former Raptors and Suns GM Bryan Colangelo would ultimately emerge with the gig, as Beck reported then, though Colangelo and Rockets executive VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas aren’t necessarily out of the running, Wojnarowski indicates. Chris Broussard of ESPN on Thursday identified Colangelo, Karnisovas and Marks as the front-runners for the job that’s been vacant since the Nets removed Billy King from the position last month.

Regardless of whom the Nets choose as GM, he’ll be only one part of a committee that will hire the team’s next coach, Wojnarowski also writes. Various reports have indicated that some combination of team chairman Dmitry Razumov, board member Sergey Kushchenko, CEO Brett Yormark and owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s holding company president Irina Pavlova comprise the committee in charge of the GM search. The new GM will join that group in its efforts to find a coach, according to Wojnarowski. The Nets hope to draw from a pool of coaching candidates that includes NBA head coaching veterans Jeff Van Gundy and Tom Thibodeau and Spurs assistant Ettore Messina. Mike Mazzeo and Marc Stein reported last month that Brooklyn had strong interest in Thibodeau, and Stein later identified Messina as a candidate, but this appears to be the first legitimate link between the Nets and Van Gundy.

Whomever ends up coaching the Nets likely won’t have Bargnani, unless the team speeds through the process. March 1st represents the de facto buyout deadline, since it’s the last day any player can hit waivers and still be eligible to play for another NBA team in the postseason.

Pacific Notes: Griffin, Schlenk, Nance

February 15th, 2016 at 10:31am CST by Chuck Myron

Clippers president of basketball operations Doc Rivers told ESPN’s Chris Broussard that there isn’t truth to the idea that his team offered Blake Griffin and Lance Stephenson to the Nuggets for Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, Will Barton and Nikola Jokic, as a source who spoke with the reporter had said earlier. Broussard relayed the exchange in an appearance on ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike” show (audio link; scroll to 6-minute mark), adding that the source had told him the Nuggets turned down the offer out of concern that Griffin would opt out and leave in free agency after next season. That jibes with an earlier report from Mitch Lawrence of Forbes, who indicated 10 days ago that the Clippers had engaged the Nuggets in talks about Griffin, though Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times reported shortly thereafter that the Clippers had no interest in trading their star power forward, a refrain that Rivers repeated in the days that followed. See more from the Pacific Division:

Kings owner Vivek Ranadive is known to be high on Warriors assistant GM Travis Schlenk, writes Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee amid a piece that argues the Kings should bring in an experienced front office hand to work beneath GM Vlade Divac. Sacramento reportedly interviewed Schlenk for the lead front office role in 2013, and he was believed to be one of the candidates to fill former GM Pete D’Alessandro‘s chair in Divac’s front office this past summer.
The Kings anticipate making a minor move at Thursday’s trade deadline, Voisin writes in the same column, speculating that such a trade could involve Marco Belinelli or Ben McLemore going out for draft picks or a wing defender.
Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports lists Larry Nance Jr. alongside Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell among those the Lakers should refuse to trade and instead make the focal point of their rebuilding efforts.

Celtics Rumors: Lee, Thomas, Horford, Love

February 14th, 2016 at 10:02am CST by Arthur Hill

The trade deadline is just four days away, but the Celtics don’t feel any urgency to make a deal, according to Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. A league source told Murphy that Friday’s rumored three-team trade with Cleveland and New York “never existed” and that Boston hasn’t talked to the Rockets about acquiring Dwight Howard. The Celtics are willing to add a player for the right price, but they believe everyone currently in play is overpriced. The source said that includes the Hawks’ Al Horford, whom the Celtics don’t want to invest heavily in because of his looming free agency. Boston had interest in the Nuggets’ Danilo Gallinari, but the source said that would-be deal was “a dead issue” before it was even reported.

There’s more this morning out of Boston:

The Celtics haven’t found any teams interested in David Lee and his $15.5MM contract, Murphy writes in the same piece. The source said Lee has “no value” around the league, even though his expiring deal presents an opportunity for cap relief this summer.
Isaiah Thomas recently became a recruiter when a player from another team asked him about the benefits of Boston, Murphy adds. Thomas, who used the reputation of coach Brad Stevens as one of his selling points, wouldn’t offer any clues as to who the player was. “The coaching staff is great and the organization is 100% – it’s A1,” Thomas said. “I told him, You watch us. It’s fun to watch us. We were joking around the locker room about how everyone likes to watch the Boston Celtics, and how hard we play.”
The unidentified player may have been Horford, speculates A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE. He noted that Thomas smiled and said, “I didn’t say that” when asked if it was Horford he was talking about. A late replacement pick for the All-Star Game, Horford is trying to focus on business as usual despite the trade talk. “I’m going to continue doing what I do,” he said. “I can’t control the speculation that’s going on.”
It’s unlikely the Celtics can get Kevin Love from Cleveland without a third team involved, Blakely said in an interview on SportsNet Central. Blakely explained that Boston has enough young players and draft picks to make a deal happen, but such a move wouldn’t get Cleveland any closer to a championship.

And-Ones: Nets’ GM Search, International Players

February 13th, 2016 at 10:38pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The team could hire their next GM in the coming days, but no specific deadline is in place, according to Alex Raskin of The Wall Street Journal.

The general consensus around the league is that the job is Bryan Colangelo’s to lose. Other candidates include Nuggets assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas, Rockets executive VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, former Cavs and Hawks GM Danny Ferry and Spurs assistant GM Sean Marks. Raskin notes that all the candidates have a background in international basketball, something that will be important for the Nets. Brooklyn doesn’t control its own draft pick until 2019, so acquiring talent through atypical means will be key to putting together a successful roster, Raskin opines.

Here’s more from around the league:

Owner Mikhail Prokhorov expects to be personally involved with the interviewing process while in Brooklyn on Wednesday when the Nets officially open their new training center, Raskin reports in the same piece.
The Spurs were able to trade Tiago Splitter to the Hawks last offseason in part because they had targeted Boban Marjanovic as his replacement, Raskin adds in the same piece. Marjanovic, who went undrafted in 2010, signed a one-year, $1.2MM deal with San Antonio in July.
The Nuggets‘ second round gamble on Nikola Jokic during the 2014 draft is paying tremendous dividends, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post contends in a piece that examines the Serbian’s journey to the NBA.

Atlantic Notes: Shaw, Howard, Mbah a Moute

February 13th, 2016 at 1:06pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Brian Shaw is reportedly a candidate for the Knicks head coaching position, and despite not having run the triangle offense during his tenure in Denver, Shaw said he could coach any system, Marc Berman of The New York Post relays. “I was 12 years involved in it as a player and coach,’’ Shaw told Berman. “The funny thing about it is everybody makes a big deal about the triangle. Almost every team in the league runs different aspects. They’re not dedicated solely to the triangle. It’s something that will always be ingrained in me — the fundamentals of that offense. In Denver, I didn’t run the triangle. I could adapt to any style the personnel dictates.’’

The former Nuggets coach also hopes he isn’t solely judged by his performance in Denver, which was marred by injuries and player unrest, Berman adds. “It was a situation I don’t really feel I was able to succeed in,’’ Shaw said. “I don’t think anyone placed in that situation could’ve succeeded. I hope I’m not judged on the year-and-a-half I was there more so than the 27 years prior to that I’ve been involved in the NBA.’’

Here’s more regarding the teams of the Atlantic Division:

Despite the reports that the Celtics are targeting Rockets center Dwight Howard, team executive Danny Ainge is reluctant to part with assets for a short-term rental, a description Howard would potentially fit, since he can opt out of his deal this summer, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes. While Boston is looking to make a significant trade prior to Thursday’s deadline, it won’t get itself caught up in a bidding war for players, and the franchise is willing to stand pat, Himmelsbach adds. “This team is not in it for the short term,” a league source told Himmelsbach regarding the Celtics. Boston has also been linked to Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony, both of whom are under contract beyond this season.
Luc Mbah a Moute believed he would be back with the Sixers this season, but the team went in a different direction instead, leading the combo forward to sign with the Clippers after his deal with the Kings fell through. For his part, Mbah a Moute is pleased with how things turned out and he has found his niche in Los Angeles, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. “It’s a life lesson, you know,” Mbah a Moute said. “It’s always something good when everything bad happens. You never know. When you go through it, it’s kind of tough. It’s always something that better comes out of it.“

Northwest Notes: Durant, Lauvergne, Rubio

February 12th, 2016 at 12:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The idea that Kevin Durant will sign a two-year deal with a player option after the first season to align his free agency with that of Thunder teammate Russell Westbrook, whose contract expires after next season, isn’t one that Durant has given much thought, as he said on ESPN Radio today, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link).

“Actually that’s probably one of the first times I’ve heard that one, but, no, I haven’t really thought about it, man,” Durant said. “I’m just, with [coming back from] injury and just getting back to playing again, I haven’t thought about contracts or free agency or none of that stuff at all. … I really haven’t thought about that one. I guess I have to.”

Durant would stand to benefit financially from the short-term deal, since becoming a free agent in 2017 would allow him to make a starting salary worth roughly 35% of the salary cap, instead of 30%. The cap is also projected to reach $108MM in 2017 and only $89MM this coming summer. Still, the uncertainty surrounding the next collective bargaining agreement, likely to take effect before 2017 free agency, might mean changes to the sort of contract Durant could sign, notes Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). See more from the Northwest Division:

Nuggets coach Michael Malone spoke earlier this week of finding a way for Joffrey Lauvergne to see more playing time, as Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post observes. The Nuggets reportedly want a late first-rounder in exchange for the center, but Dempsey believes Lauvergne is staying put.
The four-year, $55MM extension that kicked in for Ricky Rubio this season is soon to become one of the most team-friendly deals in the league, thanks to the escalation of the salary cap and Rubio’s “electrifying” play, Marks opines. Timberwolves GM Milt Newton denies that he’s received any trade calls on Rubio lately but said he would be obliged to listen if a team did ask about him, as Newton said to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link).
The Wolves allowed a pair of small trade exceptions, one worth $816,482 and the other $500K, to lapse Wednesday. They were vestiges of the team’s swap that sent Mo Williams and Troy Daniels to the Hornets last year.