Mobile Menu
HEADLINES

Hoops Rumors Originals

Community Shootaround: Checking In On Western Playoff Race

March 3rd, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Given the truncated nature of the NBA’s 72-game 2020/21 season, the standings in each conference figure to significantly fluctuate all year long, with any multi-game winning streak or losing streak more likely than ever to shake up the playoff picture.

Still, as we near the halfway point of the regular season, the Western Conference standings are – at least for the time being – easy enough to split into tiers.

The 27-8 Jazz are in a tier of their own at the top. Their 3.5-game lead over their next-closest competitor is the biggest margin between any two teams in the conference besides the gap between the 14th and 15th seeds. That cushion should allow Utah to have a bad week or two without necessarily falling out of the top spot in the West.

The next tier is currently made up of three Pacific teams, the Suns (23-11), Lakers (24-12), and Clippers (24-13). They’re all separated by a half-game and are at least three games ahead of any other team in the conference.

The two Los Angeles teams were expected to be here, and they comfortably hold top-four seeds despite having star players (Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George) miss some time due to injuries. Phoenix, on the other hand, is something of an upstart — expectations had increased for the Suns following their 8-0 run at last summer’s bubble and the offseason acquisition of Chris Paul, but few expected them to hold the No. 2 seed in the West with the All-Star break around the corner.

The Western Conference’s third tier consists of six teams bunched together within two games of each other, from the No. 5 Spurs (18-13) to the No. 10 Mavericks (17-16). Others in this group include the Trail Blazers (19-14), Nuggets (20-15), Warriors (19-16), and Grizzlies (16-15).

It remains to be seen whether the NBA’s new play-in format for the final two postseason spots in each conference will make this race more or less interesting. Having six clubs vie for four playoff berths would’ve been entertaining in its own right, but the play-in tournament adds a new wrinkle.

Assuming the Jazz, Suns, Lakers, and Clippers hang onto playoff spots, that will only leave two guaranteed postseason berths for the six “third-tier” clubs. The teams that finish in the 7-10 range would enter the play-in tournament, where the Nos. 7 and 8 teams would need to win one game to advance, while the Nos. 9 and 10 teams would have to win two.

Entering the season, the Mavs, Blazers, and Nuggets were viewed as the likeliest playoff teams from this group, but San Antonio and Memphis have substantially exceeded expectations, and Golden State has admirably overcome the loss of Klay Thompson. If pressed, I’d probably consider Denver and Portland the favorites to claim the fifth and sixth seeds, but this should be a fascinating race.

A few clubs further down in the standings have the potential to shake up the postseason picture too, but it’s hard to get too enthusiastic about the 7-28 Timberwolves or the 11-22 Rockets, both of whom are mired in horrible slumps, or the 14-20 Thunder, who are ostensibly rebuilding. The 13-21 Kings have also been hit hard by a recent cold streak and have a lot of ground to make up.

That leaves the Pelicans (15-19), who are the most intriguing wild card outside the Western Conference’s current top 10. All-Star forward Zion Williamson and 2020 All-Star Brandon Ingram give New Orleans a dangerous one-two punch on offense, but the club will need to tighten up its defense to make a run — the Pelicans’ 116.1 defensive rating ranks 29th in the NBA.

With the first half of the NBA season about to come to an end, we want to get your thoughts on where things stand in the Western Conference playoff race.

  • Will the Jazz finish the season as the No. 1 seed?
  • Will the Jazz, Suns, Lakers, or Clippers fall out of the top four?
  • Which teams do you view as the best bets to claim the top six seeds in the conference?
  • Which four clubs do you expect to take part in the play-in tournament?
  • Will the Pelicans or another team currently in the bottom five force their way into the top 10? If so, which team are they knocking out?

Head to the comment section below to share your two cents!

Retweet 2 Share 0 Send via email0

Seventeen More NBA Players Become Trade-Eligible

March 3rd, 2021 at 8:22am CST by Luke Adams

Most NBA players who signed new contracts as free agents during the 2020 offseason became eligible to be traded as of February 6, but a small subset of players were still ineligible to be dealt until today, March 3.

These players all met a specific set of criteria: Not only did they re-sign with their previous team during the offseason, but they got a raise of at least 20%, their salary is worth more than the minimum, and their team was over the cap, using Bird or Early Bird rights to sign them.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN confirms (via Twitter), the following players fit that bill and are eligible to be traded as of today:

A few of these players aren’t realistic candidates to be traded — Davis, Ingram, and VanVleet, for instance, aren’t going anywhere this month. But many of them are role players who would probably be available in the right deal, so it’s worth noting that the restrictions on them have lifted.

Only a small handful of players on standard contracts around the NBA remain ineligible to be dealt. That group of players includes the seven who are on active 10-day contracts, since a player on a 10-day deal can’t be traded. Here’s the rest of the list:

Trade-eligible as of March 18:

Trade-eligible as of March 23:

Not eligible to be traded this season:

Gibson and Len signed after the regular season was already underway, so their restrictions will last longer than the ones on players who signed during the offseason. The others in this group signed veteran contract extensions that exceeded the extend-and-trade limits in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, making them ineligible to be dealt for a few months.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Retweet 6 Share 0 Send via email0

Community Shootaround: Top Draft Pick

March 2nd, 2021 at 8:37pm CST by Dana Gauruder

There’s help on the way for teams such as the Pistons and Timberwolves, who have the worst record in their respective conferences.

The 2021 NBA draft class is projected to be stronger than usual, particularly at the top where five players have emerged as potential All-Stars.

Most of the draft buzz has centered on Oklahoma State freshman guard Cade Cunningham. His college coach calls him a cross between Grant Hill and Penny Hardaway. He has also drawn comparisons to Luka Doncic.

Cunningham’s 40-point explosion against Oklahoma on Saturday further solidified his reputation as the draft’s top prospect (he only took eight shots and scored 15 points in a rematch on Monday). The 6’8’’ Cunningham is averaging 19.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 3.5 APG and could turn into a triple-double machine in the pros.

There are several other prospects who could legitimately argue they deserve to top the list. USC seven-footer Evan Mobley is averaging 16.4 PPG, 8.5 RPG and 2.9 BPG in his freshman season. Mobley is the prototype of a modern big man with elite rim protecting skills. Though the NBA has become an increasingly small-ball league, there’s always room for an athletic big man (Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis).

Gonzaga freshman guard Jalen Suggs hasn’t piled up the stats like Cunningham and Mobley but he’s got a good excuse – he’s surrounded by better players. The top prospect on the nation’s top-ranked team is averaging 13.9, PPG, 5.5 RPG, 4.5 APG, and 2.0 SPG. He could excel at either guard spot at the next level.

Then there’s the G League Ignite duo of Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga. Green is averaging 17.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 2.7 APG and shooting 37.9% beyond the arc while facing experienced professionals. Green has the ability to be an explosive scorer in the Zach LaVine mold and can terrorize defenders in the open court.

Kuminga, a 6’8’’ forward, has been better than advertised while averaging 16.4 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 2.8 APG. He has the physical tools to step right into a starting lineup and create mismatches at either forward spot. He has shown superior shot-creating ability in the Orlando bubble.

That leads us to our topic of the day: Should Cade Cunningham be the No. 1 pick of the draft or do you feel Evan Mobley, Jalen Suggs, Jalen Green or Jonathan Kuminga will be an even better pro?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

Retweet 4 Share 0 Send via email0

Super-Max Candidates To Watch In 2021

March 1st, 2021 at 2:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The Designated Veteran Extension, as we explain our glossary entry on the subject, is a relatively new addition to the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. It allows players with 7-9 years of experience, who would normally qualify for a maximum starting salary of 30% of the cap, to qualify for a “super-max” contract that starts at 35% of the cap, a level normally reserved players with 10+ years of experience.

A player who has seven or eight years of NBA service with one or two years left on his contract becomes eligible for a Designated Veteran Extension if he meets the required performance criteria and hasn’t been traded since his first four years in the league. A Designated Veteran contract can also be signed by a player who is technically a free agent if he has eight or nine years of service and meets the required criteria.

The performance criteria is as follows (only one of the following must be true):

  • The player was named to an All-NBA team and/or was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season, or in two of the last three seasons.
  • The player was named the NBA MVP in any of the three most recent seasons.

Technically, players like Gary Harris and Evan Fournier meet the criteria related to years of service with one team and could theoretically become eligible to sign a super-max extension this year, but they’re obviously not viable candidates to make an All-NBA team in 2021.

There are, however, a few players who are more realistic candidates to qualify for a super-max veteran contract based on their All-NBA candidacy. Let’s dive in and examine a few of those cases…

Joel Embiid (Sixers)

When Embiid first signed his five-year, maximum-salary contract with the Sixers back in 2017, he had appeared in just 31 games over the course of his first three NBA seasons, making the investment a risky one. The deal included some injury protection for Philadelphia, giving the team the ability to waive Embiid without fully guaranteeing the salaries in later years of the deal if one of the injuries he experienced early in his career became a recurring issue.

The idea of the Sixers waiving Embiid seems absurd now. While the former third overall pick hasn’t exactly been an iron man since the start of the 2017/18 season, there are no longer any concerns about his career being derailed by health issues before it could really get off the ground.

Embiid will have seven years of NBA service under his belt at the end of the 2020/21 campaign and if he earns a spot on an All-NBA team, he’d have done so twice in the last three years, having made the Second Team in 2019.

For now, he looks like an awfully safe All-NBA bet — his 30.0 PPG, 11.3 RPG, .519/.415/.858 shooting line, and solid defense have made him a legit MVP candidate. Health is always the wild card for Embiid, but as long as he stays on the court for most of the second half, an All-NBA spot should be a lock. That would make the big man eligible to sign a super-max extension with the Sixers this offseason.

Embiid remains under contract through 2023, with a $31.6MM salary in ’21/22 and a $33.6MM figure for ’22/23. A super-max extension would tack on four years to those two seasons and would start at 35% of the ’23/24 cap.

It’s too early to know exactly where the cap will end up in 2023/24, but if we use a conservative estimate and assume it will rise by 3% annually in each of the next three summers, that would result in a four-year total of up to $187MM on a new Embiid deal that runs through 2027. It will be fascinating to see how eager the 76ers would be to put that extension – which would cover Embiid’s age-29 to age-32 seasons – on the table.

Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)

Like Embiid, Jokic has played like an MVP candidate and is a lock for an All-NBA spot, barring an injury or another unexpected development. Jokic, who was the All-NBA Second Team center in 2020, is making a case for a First Team spot this season, averaging 26.7 PPG, 10.9 RPG, and 8.5 APG on .564/.421/.879 shooting through 33 games for the Nuggets.

Unlike Embiid, however, Jokic will only have six years of NBA experience at the end of the 2020/21 season. That means that even though he can technically gain super-max eligibility by earning an All-NBA nod for the second straight season, Jokic wouldn’t officially be able to sign a new extension with Denver until 2022, once he has his seven years of service.

This is the same situation Giannis Antetokounmpo found himself in last year — he gained super-max eligibility following the 2018/19 season based on his multiple All-NBA spots and his MVP award, but wasn’t able to actually sign that super-max contract until the 2020 offseason, once he had seven years of service. The Bucks, of course, planned all along to offer him the super-max as soon as they could, and it’s probably safe to assume the Nuggets will do the same for Jokic.

Jokic’s current contract is virtually identical to Embiid’s, with matching $31.6MM and $33.6MM cap hits for the next two seasons after ’20/21. Because Jokic wouldn’t be able to sign a super-max until 2022 though, he could get a five-year extension at that point — if we once again assume annual 3% cap increases, that deal could be worth up to an eye-popping $242MM.

Zach LaVine (Bulls)

While Embiid and Jokic have clear paths to All-NBA spots in 2021, LaVine is a longer shot to get there. The Bulls guard is having the best year of his career and currently ranks sixth in the NBA with 28.7 points per game, but he’s not a strong defender and Chicago’s place in the standings is unlikely to do him any favors with All-NBA voters.

Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, Luka Doncic, and James Harden look like the top contenders to fill the guard spots on the first two teams, which means LaVine would be competing with stars like Bradley Beal, Kyrie Irving, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, Ben Simmons, and Jaylen Brown, among others, for a Third Team spot.

LaVine’s current deal pays him well below the max, at just $19.5MM annually, so earning an All-NBA spot would make him eligible for a massive raise. If we once again count on annual 3% salary cap increases, a super-max extension for LaVine would could be worth up to $235MM over five years, starting in 2022/23.

Even if he beats the odds and earns an All-NBA spot, LaVine seems unlikely to receive that sort of offer from the Bulls, who traded Jimmy Butler to Minnesota when his super-max eligibility loomed a few years ago. But the super-max wrinkle would further complicate LaVine’s contract situation, which should be very interesting to monitor even if he falls short of an All-NBA team.

Because he’s earning just $19.5MM next season, LaVine would typically only be eligible for a four-year, $104.8MM veteran extension — the Bulls would almost certainly put that offer on the table, but LaVine would probably pass, since he’d be eligible for a far higher salary as a free agent in 2022.

It’s worth considering, however, that Chicago projects to have a significant chunk of cap room available during the 2021 offseason, giving the team the option of renegotiating the final year of LaVine’s contract to give him a raise and a more lucrative extension. That may be the most likely outcome for the first-time All-Star, who is a super-max long shot but is still likely to command more than the $26MM annual salary the Bulls can offer without a renegotiation.

Luka Doncic (Mavericks)

To be clear, Doncic will not be eligible for a starting salary worth 35% of the salary cap on his next contract. But the Mavericks star is being mentioned here because he’ll likely become eligible for a lesser form of the “super-max” contract.

When a former first-round pick is entering the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, he’s eligible to sign a rookie scale extension that starts at 25% of the cap. But if that player has met the super-max performance criteria listed at the top of this story (based on MVP, DPOY, or All-NBA honors), his rookie scale extension can instead start at 30% of the cap.

Most of the time, a player who signs a rookie scale extension that can start at 30% of the cap does so conditionally — for instance, Jayson Tatum was on the 2019/20 All-NBA Third Team, then signed a rookie scale extension prior to the ’20/21 season. Because his extension will go into effect next season, Tatum still has to earn an All-NBA spot again this season to meet the super-max criteria (an All-NBA spot in the most recent season, or in two of the past three seasons) and to qualify for that 30% starting salary.

Doncic, on the other hand, has a chance to pull off a rare feat. Because he was named to the All-NBA First Team in just his second season, he’ll become eligible for a 30% starting salary if he earns All-NBA honors again this year, in his third season. It wouldn’t matter whether or not he’s an All-NBA player again in 2022, because he would have already met the necessary benchmark — two All-NBA berths in three years.

Assuming Doncic earns an All-NBA spot this season, which looks like a safe bet, he’d be eligible to sign a five-year rookie scale extension worth a projected $201.5MM, which would begin during the 2022/23 season.

Like Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, and De’Aaron Fox all signed rookie scale extensions in 2020 that will increase in value if they meet certain performance criteria, so they’re worth keeping an eye on this season too.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Retweet 4 Share 0 Send via email0

Free Agent Stock Watch: Pacific Division

February 27th, 2021 at 3:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Throughout the season, Hoops Rumors takes a closer look at players who will be free agents or could become free agents this off-season. We examine if their stock is rising or falling due to performance and other factors. This week, we take a look at players from the Pacific Division:

Kelly Oubre, Warriors, 25, SF (Up) – Signed to a two-year, $30MM deal in 2019

The Warriors were willing to explode their luxury tax bill by using a $17.2MM trade exception to acquire Oubre. Initially, it looked like a colossal waste of money. He got off to a woeful start, missing 28 of his first 30 3-point attempts. Oubre has settled in this month, doing what he does best – providing offensive punch while helping out around the boards. He’s averaging 20.5 PPG and 6.5 RPG and shooting 44% from long range in February. Productive wings are always in demand and Oubre – though his perimeter shot is still inconsistent — should be able to attract offers similar to the one he signed two years ago with the Suns.

Markieff Morris, Lakers, 31, PF (Down) – Signed to a one-year, $2.33MM deal in 2020

Morris had his contract bought out by the Pistons last season in order to join a contender. He made a good choice, giving the Lakers some rotation minutes during their championship run. He re-upped with the Lakers this offseason and has retained his rotation role. Morris’ playing time has recently increased in Anthony Davis’ absence, but he hasn’t moved the needle. He’s shooting 38.9% from the field and 30.4% from deep after making 39.7% of his 3s for Detroit last season. It’s quite possible that Morris will see his playing time evaporate when Davis returns and/or the Lakers add a frontcourt piece.

Langston Galloway, Suns, 29, SG (Down) – Signed to a one-year, $2MM deal in 2020

When Galloway signed with Phoenix for the veteran’s minimum, it initially appeared like one of the better under-the-radar moves of the offseason. It hasn’t worked out that way. At the moment, Galloway is under wraps. He was coming off a strong season for the Pistons, averaging 10.3 PPG off the bench while shooting 39.9% from the field and playing solid defense as well. With the Suns, Galloway finds himself out of the rotation with E’Twaun Moore absorbing most of the backup guard minutes. Galloway could still make his mark on a playoff team at some point.

Jabari Parker, Kings, 25, SF (Down) – Signed to a two-year, $13MM deal in 2019

Imagine if the Bucks had selected Joel Embiid in 2014 and waited out his foot injuries. Alas, Milwaukee chose Parker and missed out on a potential superstar pairing with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Parker is on his fifth NBA team, though if you weren’t aware that he’s on Sacramento’s roster, it’s perfectly understandable. Due to a back injury, personal reasons, and now COVID-19 protocols, Parker has appeared in just two games this season. He’s still young enough to reestablish himself as an instant-offense reserve but he’ll probably be looking at veteran’s minimum deals in free agency.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Retweet 2 Share 0 Send via email0

Cash Sent, Received In NBA Trades For 2020/21

February 26th, 2021 at 7:40pm CST by Luke Adams

During each NBA league year, teams face limits on the amount of cash they can send out and receive in trades. Once they reach those limits, they’re no longer permitted to include cash in a deal until the following league year.

For the 2020/21 NBA season, the limit is $5,617,000. If a team is including cash in a deal, the minimum amount required is $110,000.

The limits on sending and receiving cash are separate and aren’t dependent on one another, so if a team sends out $5,617,000 in one trade, then receives $5,617,000 in another, they aren’t back to square one — they’ve reached both limits for the season and can’t make another deal that includes cash.

Adding cash to a deal can serve multiple purposes. It can be a sweetener to encourage a team to make a deal in the first place – like when a team acquires a second-round pick in exchange for cash – or it can be a necessity to meet CBA requirements.

For instance, when the Jazz agreed to trade Ed Davis to the Knicks in November, they were looking to dump his $5MM salary, and sent New York a pair of second-round picks as a favor for helping them out. But Utah had to receive something in the deal, so the Knicks agreed to send the Jazz $110K, the minimum amount that can change hands in any trade involving cash.

We’ll use the space below to track each team’s cash sent and received in trades for the 2020/21 season, updating the info as necessary leading up to the 2021 trade deadline and for the first part of the 2021 offseason in July. These totals will reset once the ’21/22 league year begins in August.

Note: Data from Basketball Insiders, ESPN’s Bobby Marks, and various media reports was used in the creation of this post.

Atlanta Hawks

  • Cash available to send: $5,617,000
  • Cash available to receive: $3,517,000

Boston Celtics

  • Cash available to send: $4,317,000
    • Sent $1,300,000 to Bulls.
  • Cash available to receive: $5,617,000

Brooklyn Nets

  • Cash available to send: $3,017,000
  • Cash available to receive: $5,617,000

Charlotte Hornets

  • Cash available to send: $5,617,000
  • Cash available to receive: $3,617,000

Chicago Bulls

  • Cash available to send: $5,617,000
  • Cash available to receive: $4,067,000

Cleveland Cavaliers

  • Cash available to send: $3,617,000
    • Sent $2,000,000 to Jazz.
  • Cash available to receive: $5,617,000

Dallas Mavericks

  • Cash available to send: $4,517,000
  • Cash available to receive: $5,617,000

Denver Nuggets

  • Cash available to send: $5,617,000
  • Cash available to receive: $5,507,000

Detroit Pistons

  • Cash available to send: $5,257,000
  • Cash available to receive: $1,017,000
    • Received $4,600,000 from Rockets.

Golden State Warriors

  • Cash available to send: $1,767,000
  • Cash available to receive: $5,617,000

Read more

Retweet 3 Share 0 Send via email0

Hoops Rumors’ 2021 10-Day Contract Tracker

February 26th, 2021 at 3:52pm CST by Luke Adams

On February 23, NBA teams became eligible to sign players to 10-day contracts, and many of the signings that take place between now and the end of the regular season in May will likely be of the 10-day variety. Hoops Rumors has created a database that allows you to keep on top of those deals, tracking every 10-day signing all season long.

Besides featuring all of this year’s 10-day deals, our 10-Day Contract Tracker includes information on all 10-day contracts signed since the 2006/07 season, giving you a chance to identify trends regarding your favorite teams and players. The search filters in the database make it easy to sort by team, player and year. For instance, if you want to see all the 10-day contracts that the Lakers have signed in recent years, you can do so here.

You can also see whether a player and team signed a second 10-day contract, or if those short-term deals led to an agreement that covered the rest of the season. Our tracker, which is updated when a 10-day signing becomes official, also notes which 10-day deals remain active, saving you from having to figure out whether a particular contract ends on Wednesday or Thursday.

A link to our 10-Day Contract Tracker can be found at any time in the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” on our desktop site. On our mobile site, you can find it on our “Features” page. We’ll be keeping it up to date for the rest of the season, so be sure to check back to keep tabs on the latest signings as they become official.

Retweet 4 Share 0 Send via email0

Recap Of Non-Guaranteed Contract Decisions

February 25th, 2021 at 7:29am CST by Luke Adams

February 24 was a key date for the NBA players who were on non-guaranteed contracts for the 2020/21 season. While their salaries won’t technically become guaranteed until February 27, the players who remained under contract through 4:00pm central time on Wednesday are now assured those guaranteed salaries. If released today, they wouldn’t clear waivers by the start of February 27, so they’ve survived the cut.

While several players with non-guaranteed contracts were released in recent days, most are now safe. We’ll use the space below to break down those decisions from around the league.

The following players will have their non-guaranteed 2020/21 salaries become fully guaranteed on Saturday:

The following players were waived within the last few days before their salaries could become fully guaranteed. Their dead-money cap hits are noted:

Some of these players remain on waivers, so their salaries technically could still become fully guaranteed – and their cap hits could be fully removed from their old teams’ books – if they’re claimed by a new team.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Retweet 5 Share 0 Send via email0

2020/21 NBA Reverse Standings Update

February 24th, 2021 at 1:11pm CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the 2020/21 NBA season, Hoops Rumors is maintaining a feature that allows you to keep an eye on the tentative 2021 draft order. Our 2020/21 Reverse Standings tool, which lists the NBA’s 30 teams from worst to first, is updated daily to reflect the outcomes of the previous night’s games.

Our Reverse Standings are essentially a reflection of what 2021’s draft order would look like with no changes to lottery position. We’ve noted each club’s odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick, based on the league’s current lottery format.

[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Draft Lottery]

In instances where two non-playoff teams or two playoff teams have identical records, the order in our standings isn’t necessarily definitive — for draft purposes, the NBA breaks ties via random drawings, so those drawings would happen at the end of the year.

Of course, the 14 non-playoff teams all draft before the 16 playoff teams, even if some non-playoff teams have better records than those that made the postseason. Our reverse standings account for playoff seeding, though for now they assume that the Nos. 7 and 8 teams in each conference will earn those final two postseason spots. Since the NBA’s new play-in format opens the door for the Nos. 9 and 10 seeds to sneak into the postseason, we may have to account for a little movement in the draft order at season’s end.

Traded first-round picks are included via footnotes. For example, the note next to Golden State’s pick says the Warriors will send their pick to the Thunder if it’s not in the top 20. As of today, the Warriors’ pick projects to be exactly 20th, meaning that pick wouldn’t change hands.

The Timberwolves are currently in the driver’s seat at the “top” of our reverse standings — their 7-25 record giving them a 2.5-game cushion on the second-worst team, the 9-22 Pistons, with the 11-21 Cavaliers up next. It will be interesting to see whether that race tightens now that Chris Finch has taken the head coaching reins from Ryan Saunders in Minnesota.

Although the league’s bottom three teams will all have an equal chance at the No. 1 overall pick (14.0%) and a top-four selection (52.1%), finishing atop the reverse standings would still benefit the Wolves — the NBA’s worst team can’t fall further than the No. 5 pick, while the third-worst team could end up selecting as low as No. 7.

The Rockets‘ and Thunder‘s spots in the reverse standings are also worth keeping an eye on over the course of the year. Oklahoma City has the ability to swap first-round picks with Houston, but only if the Rockets’ pick doesn’t land in the top four. Currently, Houston is tied for the NBA’s fourth-worst record, while the Thunder are tied for the league’s sixth-worst mark.

Our Reverse Standings tracker can be found at anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” on our desktop site, or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu. It’s a great resource not just for monitoring a team’s draft position, but also for keeping an eye on whether or not traded picks with protections will be changing hands in 2021. So be sure to check back often as the season progresses!

Note: Mobile users are advised to turn their phones sideways when viewing the Reverse Standings in order to see team records and lottery odds.

Retweet 3 Share 0 Send via email0

Poll: Biggest 2021 NBA All-Star Snub?

February 24th, 2021 at 10:57am CST by Luke Adams

There were no undeserving selections among the 14 players named on Tuesday as the 2021 NBA All-Star reserves, but that didn’t mean that certain players who were left off the team don’t have legitimate grievances about missing out.

In both the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference, there were far more than 12 players who made strong cases for an All-Star spot and could’ve easily made the team in another year in which the competition wasn’t quite so strong.

The abridged nature of this season’s first half made selecting the team even trickier — a top-five seed in a conference may only be a game or two removed from the lottery, making it difficult to know how heavily to weigh a team’s record when considering a player’s case. Additionally, any multi-game absence related to an injury or COVID-19 had to be considered, since some teams have yet to even play 30 games this season.

With that in mind, there were a few players who stood out as the most notable omissions…

Western Conference:

Devin Booker didn’t make the cut despite averaging 24.7 PPG on 50.1% shooting for the 20-10 Suns, prompting LeBron James to call the star guard “the most disrespected player in our league.”

Kings guard De’Aaron Fox (22.5 PPG, 7.1 APG), Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (22.8 PPG, 6.5 APG), and Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan (19.8 PPG, 6.9 APG) have led their respective teams in both scoring and assists, with DeRozan doing it for a top-five seed in the West.

Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram (23.9 PPG, .469/.394/.882) is virtually replicating his numbers from last season, when he was named an All-Star.

And Mike Conley (16.4 PPG, 5.6 APG, .412 3PT%), who has never been named an All-Star, has been one of the most valuable players for the NBA’s best team, the 25-6 Jazz. While Conley’s counting stats are more modest than those of his competitors, most advanced metrics rate him among the NBA’s top players so far this season. Utah has an incredible +17.1 net rating when he plays, compared to +1.7 when he sits, a far more impressive on/off-court split than that of teammate Donovan Mitchell (who was named a reserve).

Eastern Conference:

Bucks forward Khris Middleton and Pacers big man Domantas Sabonis were All-Stars a year ago, but didn’t make the cut this time around, despite posting similar numbers. Despite a recent slump, Middleton is still nearly a member of the 50/40/90 club, having averaged 20.3 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 5.7 APG on .498/.434/.895 shooting. Meanwhile, Sabonis (21.5 PPG, 11.6 RPG, 5.7 APG) became the first player in history to be left off the team despite being part of the 20/10/5 club (Twitter link via StatMuse).

The Heat have gotten off to a slow start this season, but it’s still surprising that neither Bam Adebayo nor Jimmy Butler was named to the All-Star team after both making the team in 2020.

Adebayo has anchored the defense while improving his offensive output (19.6 PPG, 5.5 APG). As for Butler, he has made his usual two-way impact, leading the team to an 11-8 record in the games he has played, compared to 3-9 when he’s out. Only playing 19 games essentially killed his case, but as John Hollinger of The Athletic observes, Butler has missed fewer games than Kevin Durant, who was rightly considered a slam-dunk starter.

Hawks guard Trae Young is yet another player who had a strong All-Star case this season after making it in 2020. He’s averaging 27.0 PPG and 9.6 APG so far this season, making him the first player in 30 years to average 25+ points and 9+ assists and not be named an All-Star, according to StatMuse (Twitter link).

Hornets forward Gordon Hayward (21.9 PPG on .489/.424/.867 shooting), Sixers forward Tobias Harris (20.7 PPG, 7.7 RPG, .517/.415/.889 shooting), and Raptors guard Fred VanVleet (19.8 PPG, 6.7 APG) were also worthy candidates, with VanVleet rated especially highly by advanced metrics.

It may not be worth spending a ton of time bemoaning certain All-Star omissions, since certain players listed above could become injury replacements in the next week or two — Anthony Davis, for one, likely won’t be able to participate in the game, so the West will have to send at least one more player.

Still, now that the 24 initial All-Stars have been named, we want to know what you think: Who is this season’s biggest All-Star snub? And if you had to remove one of the current All-Stars to make room for that snubbed player, who are you taking off the team?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Retweet 3 Share 0 Send via email0
Load More Posts