Hoops Rumors Chats

4:02pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: The preseason is at roughly the midway point, and much remains unresolved as teams evaluate end-of-the-bench options. The Pelicans, with Anthony Davis ensconced at power forward, are scrambling to find a center, but it doesn’t seem they’re in the market for Larry Sanders, in whom the Mavs reportedly maintain a level of interest. The Pistons are less than two weeks away from having to waive at least a pair of players with fully guaranteed salaries unless they can find a trade taker. Plus, conflicting reports exist about whether the Knicks were in talks with Lamar Odom about a potential comeback before Odom’s health took a turn for the worse.

We can talk about all that and more in today’s chat, so click here to join!

4:03pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: The season hasn’t begun yet, but the Hornets are already likely without Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, whom they just signed to an extension, for all of 2015/16, and both of last season’s Finals participants are without key figures. Warriors coach Steve Kerr is on a leave of absence to nurse his ailing back, Cavs swingman Iman Shumpert is out for three months and teammate Tristan Thompson is holding out. That leaves others with unexpected opportunities and plenty of question marks about what happens next.

We can discuss that and more in today’s chat, so click here to join!

4:03pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: Training camps are underway, and but offseason matters linger, with Tristan Thompson facing a key deadline Thursday and the Nuggets poised to land Mike Miller. The trade demand that Markieff Morris made this summer is apparently no longer in effect, but, as with the saga of DeMarcus Cousins, George Karl and the Kings, questions remain over how long the detente will last.

We can talk about all that and more in today’s chat, so click here to join!

4:03pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: The first NBA training camps start Saturday, while the rest begin Tuesday, and with them, a new set of decisions face NBA teams. The Timberwolves solved a roster dilemma early with their decision to accept a buyout from Anthony Bennett, sparking interest from a trio of teams eyeing the former No. 1 overall pick. An extension deadline looms for Harrison Barnes and the Warriors, and it looks like they’ll need more than $16MM to get a deal done. October 1st is the last day for Tristan Thompson to accept his qualifying offer if he’s to do so, as he and the Cavs remain far apart in negotiations over a number of options.

We can talk about all of this and more in today’s chat. Click here to join!

4:05pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: Two of the three unsigned Rich Paul clients have agreed to terms in the last two days. Thus, it would seem hope of resolution for Tristan Thompson‘s free agency is as high as it’s been since he and the Cavs were reportedly close to a deal on July 1st. Thompson appears likely to end up back in Cleveland for this season, but his long-term future with the Cavs hangs in the balance of the next couple of weeks, with his qualifying offer set to expire October 1st. Training camps open before that date, so that and other lingering offseason storylines, like the trade demand from Markieff Morris, will soon come to a head.

We can talk about that and more in today’s Hoops Rumors chat. Click here to ask a question!

4:04pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: Tristan Thompson has still yet to sign for this season, but his camp is already thinking about next summer. That’s when agent Rich Paul reportedly believes he’ll have three teams waiting to give Thompson the max if he’s once more on the market. That scenario would be in place if Thompson signs his qualifying offer, a short-term discount that could turn out to be the most lucrative path for him in the long run, as I explained amid Tuesday’s news. Meanwhile, the Cavs are moving on with other business, with training camp less than three weeks away, officially signing draft-and-stash prospect Sasha Kaun today and, as Zach Links of Hoops Rumors reported Tuesday, agreeing to add D.J. Stephens to the camp roster.

We can talk about all of that and more in today’s chat. Click here to join!

4:03pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: Less than a month remains before the start of training camp, and negotiations between Tristan Thompson and the Cavaliers are still at a stalemate, with limited contact, at best, between the two sides, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer told us this week. The best of the remaining 2015 free agents is stuck in limbo, but that’s not the only storyline that persists. It’s been a summer of broken deals, from DeAndre Jordan‘s infamous flip–flop, to Richard Jefferson‘s less controversial exit from the Mavs, to Luc Mbah a Moute‘s voided Kings deal, to the fractured agreement between Chuck Hayes and the Rockets, one that led him to join Jordan, his fellow almost-Texan, on the Clippers. Maybe we should have seen it coming this spring when the Thunder hired Billy Donovan, who reneged on a deal to become the Magic’s coach in 2007.

In any case, we can talk about all of that and more in today’s chat. Click here to join!

4:04pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: J.R. Smith and the Cavs reached a deal within the past week, and so did Jason Terry and the Rockets, and intriguing names like Jeff Adrien and Henry Sims came off the board, too. That leaves three key unsigned players who are all clients of Rich Paul, as I noted this week when I examined how negotiations for the players he represents have gone in the past. Tristan Thompson, Norris Cole and No. 32 overall pick Montrezl Harrell are still without deals, but that surely won’t be the same for too much longer, since training camps begin in a month.

We can discuss them and many others in today’s live chat.

4:04pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: The Raptors and Jonas Valanciunas are reportedly close to a four-year extension worth more than $60MM, the latest indication that NBA economics are undergoing a metamorphosis. The Lithuanian center is a former No. 5 overall pick, but last season’s pedestrian 12.0 points per game were a career high, and he’s a minus defender, as I examined earlier this month. Extensions usually entail the player making the sacrifice, but Valanciunas appears poised to sign a deal with an average annual value greater than all but one of the players on this past season’s title-winning Warriors team. Still, the projected maximum that Valanciunas could sign for in an extension is $20.4MM, so perhaps Toronto will end up with a bargain after all. We can discuss Valanciunas, the rapidly-changing NBA salary structure, the latest on Jamal Crawford and Jason Terry, and much more in today’s chat.

4:03pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: Markieff Morris made it clear Tuesday that he doesn’t want to play for the Suns anymore, so it looks like Phoenix has a move to make before the start of training camp at the end of next month. The onus is on GM Ryan McDonough, now the clear-cut leader of the front office, to either engineer a reconciliation, which seems like a long shot, or pull off a trade that minimizes the damage. It’s already been an active summer in Phoenix, where the Suns are anxious to return to the playoffs, as Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic examined in depth as part of an interview with Hoops Rumors earlier this week, and it seems like it’ll stay busy.

We can chat about Morris, the Suns, and the other 29 teams in today’s chat, so click here to join!