- X-rays on the injured right foot of Warriors big man Draymond Green came back negative, as Nick Friedell of ESPN.com relays. However, while Green appears to have avoided a serious injury, having been diagnosed with a right toe sprain, he won’t be available for Golden State’s Thursday game against Milwaukee (Twitter link via Anthony Slater of The Athletic).
- The NBA’s lone remaining restricted free agency, Patrick McCaw, remains in discussions with multiple teams, including the Warriors, Charania reports.
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Here are Tuesday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Warriors have assigned Jacob Evans III to the team’s G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, according to the team’s website. Evans, who was the No. 28 overall pick in the 2018 draft, has played in seven NBA games this season, seeing just 6.3 minutes per contest.
Draymond Green is eager to win the Defensive Player of the Year award and with good reason — he would be eligible for a super max extension, Nick Friedell of ESPN relays. Citing fellow ESPN contributor Bobby Marks, Friedell notes that Green could receive a five-year, $235MM extension that would start in 2020 if he captured the prize, though Golden State could only sign one more player to a Designated Veteran Contract because Stephen Curry already has that type of deal.
“I need that bad. Real bad,” Green said of the Defensive Player of the Year award. “I made second team All-Defense last year. I’m (ticked) about that still. I’ll be (ticked) until I right that, so that’s a serious goal of mine this year.”
We have more from the Warriors:
- Forward Omri Casspi didn’t play at all during the Warriors’ postseason run but the franchise will honor him anyway during a ring ceremony on Monday, Mark Medina of the San Jose Mercury News reports. Casspi, now a member of the Grizzlies, was waived just before the playoffs to open up a roster spot for guard Quinn Cook. Casspi appeared in 53 games with the Warriors after signing a one-year, veteran’s minimum deal but was sidelined by an ankle injury before he was waived.
- Alfonzo McKinnie acknowledges that the impasse between Patrick McCaw and the Warriors helped him land a standard contract, as he told Anthony Slater of The Athletic in a lengthy Q&A session. McKinnie, a 6’8” forward, is averaging 6.1 PPG and 4.3 RPG off the bench and recorded a double-double against the Bulls last week. McKinnie originally came in on a two-way deal but received a two-year contract in training camp, though his salary for this season won’t fully guaranteed until January 10th. “The McCaw stuff, I guess, was good for my situation,” McKinnie said. “But it’s not something I can control. Just went through training camp, worked my butt off and they liked what they’ve seen.”
- The Warriors remain hopeful of retaining DeMarcus Cousins beyond this season. Get the details here.
- DeMarcus Cousins is expected to have a one-year stay with the Warriors, but GM Bob Myers isn’t giving up on the idea of extending their arrangement, relays Chelsea Howard of The Sporting News. During a recent appearance on the team’s pre-game show, Myers said “options are open” when it comes to keeping the All-Star center. “These type of predictions — good or bad — are pretty fruitless because you just don’t know,” he said. “You don’t know what’s going to be going on on July 1, 2019. You don’t know if it’s going to be better than you think … but it’s not going to be what you think. So, with a guy like DeMarcus, who knows? If he wants to come back, let’s bring him back.” If Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson both re-sign, Golden State would be well above the cap and would be limited to offering Cousins its mid-level exception again.
5:24pm: Chandler’s frustrations with the Suns have been growing over the years, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link). He was angry about losing and being shut down early, playing just 47 and 46 games the past two seasons. Before zeroing in on the Lakers, Chandler had also expressed interest in joining the Wizards, Warriors or Rockets.
4:52pm: The Suns are negotiating a buyout with 36-year-old center Tyson Chandler, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times, and the Lakers are his likely destination once he clears waivers (Twitter link).
After being used primarily as a starter since coming to Phoenix in 2015, Chandler has slipped into a reserve role this season behind No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton. He has averaged 12.7 minutes per night in seven games and doesn’t fit in with the Suns’ youth movement. Chandler is making $13.6MM in the final season of a four-year, $52MM contract.
He could become a defensive anchor for the Lakers, who don’t have much depth at center behind starter JaVale McGee. Chandler is a native of Los Angeles, Stein notes, and his salary will likely discourage any other team from making a waiver claim.
He and the Suns have had a standing buyout agreement in place for a while, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Chandler wanted to be sure another team would pick him up before finalizing the deal, and he found a taker in L.A. It explains why the Lakers didn’t make a stronger effort during the offseason to sign another center, adds ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link).
Although Anthony Davis remains under contract with the Pelicans through at least 2020, rival NBA executives believe he could be up for grabs for a larger-market team before then, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Davis will be eligible for a five-year, super-max contract extension as of July 2019. If he passes on that extension – which some executives believe he might, per Haynes – the Pelicans could be forced to consider the possibility of trading the star big man before he gets the opportunity to opt out in 2020.
The Celtics, Lakers, Clippers, Knicks, and Warriors are among the big-market teams that will be monitoring Davis’ situation this year and next, sources tell Haynes.
Whenever he has been asked about his future, Davis has dismissed the idea that he wants to play anywhere but New Orleans. However, as Haynes notes, Davis’ top priority is to win, so the Pelicans will be under pressure to continue building a roster that can help the former first overall pick achieve that goal.
[RELATED: Anthony Davis Hopeful DeMarcus Cousins Can Return To Pelicans]
“Of course, I know that in order to win games, a lot of pressure is going to be on me,” Davis said after a loss to the Warriors this week. “I don’t have a good game and we lose. So, I got to play almost perfect every night to give us a chance to win.
“But my teammates do a great job,” he continued. “Even the games I didn’t play, those guys have been battling night in and night out to get victories. … I don’t try to put too much pressure on myself, but I know it’s there.
While the speculation about Davis isn’t expected to subside, the five-time All-Star knows it comes with the territory, suggesting he’s tuning out the noise and focusing on what he can control on the court. He also tells Haynes that his teammates, who “do as much as possible to help me,” don’t view his contract situation as a distraction.
“Nah, my team doesn’t care. They cherish the moments that they have with me,” Davis said. “Every day we try to put in the work to be a great team. They hear it, I hear it. Everybody hears it. It’s hard not to. But we’re focused on what we have to do this year. We’re trying to beat teams like the Warriors and get to where they are. That’s our goal. That’s it.”
DeMarcus Cousins didn’t re-sign with the Pelicans when he reached free agency four months ago, but Anthony Davis remains hopeful that his old frontcourt partner will return to New Orleans at some point down the road, he said on Thursday.
“He will be a free agent next year,” Davis said of Cousins, per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “Hopefully, down the line we can reconnect.”
As Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted this week, Cousins’ one-year deal with Golden State seems unlikely to lead to a longer-term arrangement, given the team’s cap limitations. However, the Pelicans would face challenges of their own if they want to bring back Cousins. New Orleans could theoretically create enough cap room to make an offer to the big man during 2019’s free agent period, but that would probably mean allowing both Julius Randle and Nikola Mirotic to depart, unless Cousins is willing to take another discount.
There may be other roadblocks in the way of a reunion between the Pelicans and Cousins, who was bothered by having not received a formal offer from GM Dell Demps this past July. That relationship is in need of repair, sources tell ESPN. Still, Demps told Spears that he’s rooting for Cousins, while head coach Alvin Gentry referred to the ex-Pelican as “the best player at his position in the league.”
Of course, if Cousins were to consider returning to New Orleans, he’d certainly want assurances that Davis would be sticking around as well. The Pelicans’ All-NBA big man is under contract through 2019/20 and sounds committed to staying with the team at least through that season, if not longer.
“I got two years to ’20/21. I’m here and whatever happens after that happens,” Davis told Spears. “For me, right now it is about being the most dominant player in the league and helping this team win. … You hear all the rumors. You hear all the talk. But it’s not coming from me. I’m here to be a Pelican, help this team move forward and help this team win a championship.”
- Exercising the 2019/20 option in Damian Jones‘ contract was an easy decision for the Warriors, Monte Poole of NBC Sports writes. Jones’ $2.3MM salary for next season is a team-friendly deal when considering his level of play at starting center this year.
- Shaun Livingston underwent an MRI on his foot this week after dealing with soreness, Mark Medina of The Mercury News tweets. The MRI returned clean, and the Warriors plan to be cautious with his injury. Livingston is listed as doubtful for Friday’s game against the Timberwolves.
The Raptors are taking a long view on Kawhi Leonard, ensuring that he remains in good health throughout the rest of the season, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports writes. The team rested Leonard against the undefeated Bucks on Monday, the first half of a back-to-back set against Milwaukee and Philadelphia.
Leonard missed most of last season with a quad injury and has spent this season regaining his stamina, working to get back into a consistent game shape. He’s averaged 27.3 PPG, 7.8 RPG and 3.2 APG so far on the year.
“It feels good, [I] just don’t want to overdo it too early since I missed out on a year,” Leonard said about his quad. “It’s just injury prevention, so [I’m] just not playing back-to-backs for right now.”
When healthy, Leonard is a top-tier defender who’s improved vastly on the offensive end. The Raptors acquired him in a trade with the Spurs this past offseason, labeling him as a player who could lead the team to a deep playoff run.
Toronto is scheduled for 12 back-to-backs on the season. It’s unclear how long Leonard will rest for these sets, with the 27-year-old in his eighth NBA season.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Several Warriors players have labeled the Celtics as the biggest threat in their quest to a three-peat this season, according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick. Players such as Kevin Durant and Draymond Green recognized the strengths of Boston, including the team’s ability to switch on defense and their depth off the bench.
- Former NBA center Tiago Splitter has spent this season with the Nets sharing coaching and scouting duties. “Our goal this year is to improve last year’s result when we had 28 wins,” Splitter said, according to Nets Daily. “We want to do more than that, but we also think about the long run.” Splitter retired last February and joined the Nets in a dual role shortly after.
- Derek Bodner of The Athletic examines the Sixers‘ decision to decline the third-year option in Furkan Korkmaz‘s contract. Philadelphia will have an extra $2MM in cap space next summer as a result, and Korkmaz will reach free agency on July 1.