Hoops Rumors Originals

Poll: Will The Magic Make The Playoffs?

November 8th, 2019 at 11:00am CST by Luke Adams

The Magic were one of the NBA’s best teams during the last two months of the 2018/19 regular season, finishing the year on a 23-9 run and earning the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference. However, that second-half success hasn’t carried over to the 2019/20 season so far.

Through eight games, the Magic are just 2-6, with their only two wins coming at home against Eastern lottery teams Cleveland and New York.

The defense that keyed the Magic’s late-season run in the spring is still the team’s strength. Orlando’s 101.0 defensive rating ranks fifth in the NBA, and Jonathan Isaac is emerging as one of the league’s most impactful players on that side of the ball — in the early going, he’s averaging 1.6 steals per game to go along with a league-high 3.0 blocks per game.

However, the Magic’s offense has been dismal this season, as ESPN’s Zach Lowe writes. Orlando’s 96.6 offensive rating is easily the worst in the NBA, well behind the 100.1 mark posted by the 29th-ranked Knicks.

While Lowe acknowledges that the team’s 27% conversion rate on three-point shots figures to improve, he points to several other red flags, such as a lack of corner threes and free throw attempts. As Lowe notes, the Magic have too many power forwards and not enough shooters or play-makers, especially with D.J. Augustin regressing after a career year and Markelle Fultz still not a reliable shot-maker.

The Magic could experiment with some different lineups and hope that their excellent defense helps create a few more fast-break opportunities and easy baskets. But barring a trade, there doesn’t appear to be a quick fix for their offense. And if that’s the case, the club’s ceiling will be limited.

Still, being dominant on one side of the ball could be enough to earn a playoff spot in the East, where average teams like the Hornets (4-4) and Pistons (4-5) currently rank in the top eight. The Magic and the 3-4 Nets are among last year’s playoff teams looking to make their way back into that postseason mix.

What do you think? Will the Magic make the postseason again in 2019/20, or will they be unable to repeat even last year’s modest success?

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

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Trade Rumors App For iOS/Android

November 8th, 2019 at 10:20am CST by Luke Adams

If you enjoy Hoops Rumors on your smartphone or tablet, be sure to check out our free Trade Rumors app!

Trade Rumors, available for iOS and Android, is the best way to consume our content on a mobile device. Here’s what it delivers, all for free:

All the articles from Hoops Rumors, MLB Trade Rumors, Pro Football Rumors, and Pro Hockey Rumors in an easy-to-navigate, eye-catching format. Swipe through stories to quickly consume all the news and rumors from our four sites. Not into all four sports? No problem – any sport can be easily removed.
Customize what you see. You can create feeds for any team or player across any of our sites.
Notifications. For any team or player, you can set up push notifications to ensure you always get breaking news instantly. Notifications can also be set up at the sport level.
Commenting. You can read and contribute comments on the app seamlessly.
Customer service. If you find a bug, we’ll fix it. If you have a feature request, we’ll consider it. The app is continually evolving and improving.
Did we mention Trade Rumors is a free app? What do you have to lose? Download it now!

Categories:
Hoops Rumors Originals

NBA Super-Max Candidates To Watch In 2019/20

November 8th, 2019 at 8:56am 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.

With those criteria in mind, it’s worth keeping an eye on the players who could qualify for a super-max veteran contract with their play this season. Let’s dive in and examine a few of those guys…

Players who already qualify for a super-max contract:

Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
Rudy Gobert (Jazz)

Antetokounmpo met the performance criteria for the super-max when he won last season’s MVP award. Gobert did so by winning the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2018 and then being named to the All-NBA team in 2019 — his second consecutive DPOY award in ’19 merely put an emphatic stamp on his eligibility.

However, neither Antetokounmpo nor Gobert can actually sign a Designated Veteran Extension yet, since they must have seven years of NBA experience under their belts.

Each player is in his seventh season now, but years of experience aren’t officially added until the very end of the league year. In other words, the Bucks and Jazz stars will have to wait until next July to officially sign super-max extensions.

We know the Bucks will put that offer on the table for Giannis, but we’re not sure yet whether he’ll sign it. It also remains to be seen if the Jazz will make the same offer to Gobert. Based on the NBA’s latest cap projection for 2021/22 ($125MM), each player would be eligible for $253.75MM over five years.

Players who could qualify for a super-max contract by meeting the criteria in 2019/20:

Joel Embiid (Sixers)
Andre Drummond (Pistons)

Technically, any player who earns an All-NBA spot in 2019/20 and meets the contract criteria can qualify for a super-max, but the two players listed above are probably the only legitimately viable candidates. Thunder center Steven Adams, for instance, would become eligible for a super-max extension by earning an All-NBA spot, but that’s probably not happening.

Even Drummond might be a long shot, but if he can maintain the numbers he has posted in his first nine games (21.9 PPG, 18.6 RPG, 2.2 BPG), he’ll be in the conversation. So far, he’s outplaying last year’s All-NBA First Team center Nikola Jokic, who is off to a slow start.

Embiid, last season’s All-NBA Second Team center, looks like a safer All-NBA bet as long he stays healthy. He earned his spot in 2018/19 despite playing just 64 games, so if he can match or exceed that number this season with similar production, look for him to become super-max eligible.

Drummond is in his eighth NBA season, while Embiid is only in his sixth. So if Drummond were to earn All-NBA honors this season, he’d become eligible to immediately sign a super-max contract. Declining his player option and signing a five-year Designated Veteran contract would put Drummond in line for a deal worth $235.48MM based on the league’s latest cap projection for 2020/21 ($116MM). Though of course, there’s no guarantee the Pistons would be willing to go quite that high.

As for Embiid, if he makes an All-NBA team this season, he’ll be in a similar situation to the one Giannis and Gobert are in now — super-max eligible based on his performance criteria, but not yet on his contract criteria. He’d have to wait until the 2021 offseason to sign that extension. I expect the Sixers will be ready to do a super-max deal if he keeps playing at this level and doesn’t suffer any more major injuries.

It’s also worth mentioning Jokic and Karl-Anthony Towns in this group. They’ll only have five years of NBA experience apiece after this season, so they wouldn’t be able to sign super-max extensions until the 2022 offseason. Technically though, one of them could meet the required performance criteria as early as this spring by winning the MVP award.

Players who can no longer qualify for a super-max contract:

Anthony Davis (Lakers)
Bradley Beal (Wizards)
Victor Oladipo (Pacers)

There are many other players who could be added to this list, but these are the three who would otherwise be strong candidates to qualify the super-max if they hadn’t already become ineligible based on one of the required criteria.

In Beal’s case, he opted to sign a standard veteran extension this fall rather than wait to see if he’d make an All-NBA team this season and become eligible for the super-max. By the time he’ll be able to opt out of his new deal in the summer of 2022, he’ll have 10 years of experience under his belt, meaning he’ll automatically qualify for the 35% max.

Davis and Oladipo, meanwhile, were traded while playing out their rookie scale contract extensions, making them ineligible for a super-max. Davis would have been able to sign such a deal this past offseason if he had remained with the Pelicans.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2019 Offseason In Review: Toronto Raptors

November 7th, 2019 at 2:48pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2019 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2019/20 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Toronto Raptors.

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Patrick McCaw: Two years, $8MM. Re-signed using mid-level exception.
- Stanley Johnson: Two years, $7.43MM. Signed using bi-annual exception.
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson: One year, $2.5MM. Signed using mid-level exception.
- Matt Thomas: Three years, minimum salary. Second year partially guaranteed ($725K). Third year non-guaranteed. Signed using mid-level exception.
- Terence Davis: Two years, minimum salary. Second year non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Cameron Payne: Two years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($150K). Second year non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception. (Waived)
- Isaiah Taylor: Two years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($50K). Second year non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception. (Waived)
Two-way contracts:
- Shamorie Ponds
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Oshae Brissett: One year, minimum salary (Converted to two-way contract).
- Tyler Ennis: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Sagaba Konate: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Devin Robinson: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Matt Morgan: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

None

Draft picks:

2-59: Dewan Hernandez — Signed to three-year, minimum-salary contract. First year partially guaranteed ($500K). Second and third years non-guaranteed. Signed using mid-level exception.

Contract extensions:

Pascal Siakam: Four years, 25% maximum salary. Projected value of $129,920,000. Starting salary can be worth between 28-30% of the cap if Siakam earns All-NBA or MVP honors in 2020 (full details). Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2023/24.
Kyle Lowry: One year, $30MM. Includes $500K All-Star bonus. Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2020/21.

Departing players:

Other offseason news:

Named Brittni Donaldson, Jon Goodwillie as assistant coaches.
Kyle Lowry underwent left thumb procedure to repair tendon injury.
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale option on OG Anunoby.

Salary cap situation:

Remained over the cap.
Hard-capped.
Carrying approximately $125.15MM in salary.
$961K of mid-level exception still available (used $8.3MM on Patrick McCaw, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Matt Thomas, and Dewan Hernandez).
Three traded player exceptions available; largest TPE ($2.54MM) expires 2/7/20.

Story of the summer:

Generally speaking, the Raptors received high grades at the time for the 2018 blockbuster that saw them acquire Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green from the Spurs without surrendering young building blocks like Pascal Siakam or OG Anunoby.

However, some skeptics questioned the wisdom of giving up a perennial All-Star like DeMar DeRozan for Leonard, who was on an expiring contract and didn’t even want to be in Toronto. Kawhi had also been limited to just nine games the year before due to a quad injury, creating further uncertainty about what exactly the Raptors were getting in that deal.

The concern that Leonard would be a one-year rental was real, even if early speculation that he wouldn’t even report to Toronto was invented. But after years of disappointing playoff runs, the Raptors had determined it was time for a change. To president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, the risk of Leonard being one-and-done was worth it, since a healthy Kawhi would give the club a legit chance to make the NBA Finals.

Ujiri’s bet paid off in a big way, as Leonard didn’t just give the Raptors a chance at a title — he led the way as the franchise secured its first-ever championship. It took some good luck along the way – including a fortunate roll on Leonard’s series-ending buzzer beater against the Sixers and a Finals matchup against a Warriors team missing Kevin Durant – but Toronto was one of the NBA’s best teams all season long, and peaked at exactly the right time.

While Ujiri was ultimately right to make that move for Leonard, the skeptics who were concerned about the star forward being a rental were proven right too. Once free agency rolled around, the Los Angeles native decided to head home, joining the Clippers just three weeks after winning a Finals MVP award with the Raptors.

Leonard’s departure stung in Toronto. After all, the hangover from the championship celebration had barely worn off by the time fans found out the team’s best player wouldn’t be back. Still, having that title under their belts made it a whole lot easier for the Raptors and their fans to move on.

Unlike when the Cavaliers lost LeBron James in 2018, losing their star player won’t immediately force the Raptors into rebuilding mode. The team’s cap sheet is relatively clean going forward, and Siakam, Anunoby, and Fred VanVleet give Toronto a few intriguing pieces to build around, with accomplished veterans like Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, and Serge Ibaka still poised to play major roles in the short term.

Key offseason losses:

There will be no way for the Raptors to adequately replace Leonard, a two-way superstar who ranked sixth in the NBA in scoring and earned All-Defensive honors during the regular season before taking his game to another level in the playoffs.

Leonard nearly singlehandedly dragged the Raptors past Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. He then helped flip the script after the Raptors fell behind the Bucks 2-0 in the Eastern Finals when he became the primary defender on Giannis Antetokounmpo. He topped off his historic run by being named the Finals MVP against Golden State and finishing the postseason with 732 total points, the third-best mark in league history.

Of course, while Leonard’s departure rightly got all the headlines during that first weekend in July, the loss of Green shouldn’t be overlooked. The veteran sharpshooter nearly earned All-Defensive honors himself and made a career-best 45.5% of his three-point attempts, providing positive value on both ends of the floor.

Green struggled with his shot during the club’s playoff run, but Toronto wouldn’t have gotten as far as it did without him. And while replacing Green’s production is a little more realistic than replacing Leonard’s, the Raptors won’t be able to simply plug in a player who’s capable of shooting like Green while playing the same kind of suffocating defense.

Besides those two former Spurs, Toronto also lost Jeremy Lin, Jodie Meeks, and Eric Moreland, all of whom were in and out of the club’s rotation after coming aboard during the season. All three players have had better years than they did in 2018/19 for the Raptors, so the front office won’t lose any sleep about having to replace them.

Key offseason additions:

Recognizing that they weren’t going to be able to sign a player of Leonard’s or Green’s caliber with the mid-level exception, the Raptors used part of their mid-level and the full bi-annual exception to sign a pair of free agents who at least might be capable of approximating their impact on the defensive end.

Former first-round picks Stanley Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson each signed short-term contracts with the team in the hopes of filling one of those newly-opened spots in the starting lineup or at least earning a regular role in the frontcourt rotation.

There’s reason to believe the Raptors, who have done strong developmental work with players like Siakam and VanVleet in recent years, could unlock some untapped potential in Johnson and/or Hollis-Jefferson, but it hasn’t worked out that way so far. A week before the regular season began, head coach Nick Nurse publicly called out Toronto’s new veterans for not playing with the kind of effort the team expects. Neither Johnson nor RHJ has logged many minutes for the club since the season began, though there’s still plenty of time for them to get out of the doghouse.

The Raptors have been a little more impressed in the early going with a pair of undrafted rookies who signed guaranteed minimum-salary contracts over the summer. Terence Davis, a guard who went undrafted out of Ole Miss this June, has drawn comparisons to VanVleet and played well enough in the preseason to warrant a look in the rotation.

Matt Thomas, meanwhile, spent his first two professional seasons in Europe after going undrafted in 2017. The former Iowa State standout was one of the top three-point shooters in Spain last season, and while he stills needs to work on his defense, it looks like that outside shot is a transferable skill — he knocked down 7-of-15 threes in the preseason, and 5-of-8 so far in the regular season.

Dewan Hernandez, the Raptors’ lone pick in this year’s draft, is more of a developmental project and figures to spend plenty of time in the G League as a rookie.

Outlook for 2019/20:

It’s a safe bet that the Raptors won’t repeat as NBA champions in 2019/20. However, this team won’t fall off the map after losing its superstar.

Lowry, a five-time All-Star, is still capable of being the most impactful player in a game, whether or not that impact shows up on the stat sheet. Siakam is morphing into the kind of player who could become a perennial All-Star himself. That duo – extended this offseason – is complemented by a handful of quality role players and another young breakout candidate in Anunoby, which is more than enough to claim a playoff spot in the East.

The Raptors’ ceiling will hinge in part on what Siakam, Anunoby, and VanVleet are capable of, and partly on whether the team’s lack of reliable depth will become an issue. But it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Toronto claim a top-four seed and win a playoff series this spring.

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

Free Agents Signed Now Can’t Be Traded Before Deadline

November 7th, 2019 at 9:57am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement prevents a team from signing a player and then turning around and trading him shortly thereafter. If a club signs a free agent without having reached an agreement on a sign-and-trade deal, then the club isn’t permitted to trade that player until December 15 or for three months after his signing, whichever is later.

Since most top free agents finalize new contracts in July, that December 15 date applies to most recent signees around the NBA. Several others can’t be traded until January 15, since they met certain criteria when they signed their new deals. And a few more, who either signed after September 15 or received contract extensions, have unique dates when they’ll become trade-eligible.

Now that the calendar has turned to November 7, we can add a new category to that list of players with trade restrictions. Because this season’s trade deadline falls on February 6, any free agent who signs with a team between now and February 6 won’t be eligible to be dealt this season. If a player were to sign a contract today, the three-month anniversary of his signing would fall on February 7, the day after the trade deadline.

This restriction won’t impact a ton of players — many of the free agents signed between now and the trade deadline will get non-guaranteed contracts or 10-day deals, and wouldn’t be trade candidates anyway. Plus, different rules apply to players who sign two-way contracts, as their trade restrictions lift after just 30 days.

Still, last season, a number of veterans signed contracts during this three-month period before the trade deadline and made an impact on their respective teams, including Austin Rivers (Rockets), Kenneth Faried (Rockets), Patrick McCaw (Raptors), and Joakim Noah (Grizzlies).

Those players were ineligible to be flipped in trades before last season’s deadline, and the same restriction will be placed this season on every player who makes a similar impact after being signed anytime in the next three months.

Categories:
Hoops Rumors Originals

2019 Offseason In Review: Golden State Warriors

November 6th, 2019 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Klay Thompson: Five years, maximum salary ($189.9MM). Re-signed using Bird rights.
- D’Angelo Russell: Four years, maximum salary ($117.33MM). Acquired via sign-and-trade.
- Kevon Looney: Three years, $14.46MM. Third-year player option. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Willie Cauley-Stein: Two years, $4.46MM. Second-year player option. Signed using mid-level exception.
- Alec Burks: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Glenn Robinson III: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Two-way contracts:
- Ky Bowman
- Damion Lee
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Marquese Chriss: One year, minimum salary.
- Jared Cunningham: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Andrew Harrison: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Devyn Marble: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Kavion Pippen: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Juan Toscano-Anderson: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Nick Zeisloft: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired the No. 41 pick in 2019 draft (used to select Eric Paschall) from the Hawks in exchange for the Warriors’ 2024 second-round pick and cash ($1.3MM).
Acquired the draft rights to Alen Smailagic (No. 39 pick) from the Pelicans in exchange for the Warriors’ 2021 second-round pick, the Warriors’ 2023 second-round pick, and cash ($1MM).
Acquired cash ($2MM) from the Jazz in exchange for the draft rights to Miye Oni (No. 58 pick).
Acquired Julian Washburn (two-way) from the Grizzlies in exchange for Andre Iguodala, the Warriors’ 2024 first-round pick (top-four protected), and cash ($2MM).
- Note: Washburn was later waived.
Acquired D’Angelo Russell (sign-and-trade), Treveon Graham, and Shabazz Napier from the Nets in exchange for Kevin Durant (sign-and-trade) and the Warriors’ 2020 first-round pick (top-20 protected).
- Note: If Warriors’ 2020 first-round pick lands in top 20, Nets will instead receive Warriors’ 2025 second-round pick.
Acquired Omari Spellman from the Hawks in exchange for Damian Jones and the Warriors’ 2026 second-round pick.
Acquired the draft rights to Lior Eliyahu from the Timberwolves in exchange for Treveon Graham, Shabazz Napier, and cash ($3.6MM).

Draft picks:

1-28: Jordan Poole — Signed to rookie contract.
2-39: Alen Smailagic — Signed to four-year, minimum-salary contract. Third and fourth years non-guaranteed. Signed using mid-level exception.
2-41: Eric Paschall — Signed to three-year, minimum-salary contract. Signed using mid-level exception.

Contract extensions:

Draymond Green: Four years, $99.67MM. Fourth-year player option. Includes 15% trade kicker. Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2023/24 (with 2023 opt-out).

Departing players:

Jordan Bell
Andrew Bogut
Quinn Cook
DeMarcus Cousins
Marcus Derrickson (two-way)
Kevin Durant
Andre Iguodala
Jonas Jerebko
Damian Jones
Shaun Livingston (retired after being waived)
Alfonzo McKinnie (waived)

Other offseason news:

Moved From Oracle Arena in Oakland to Chase Center in San Francisco.
Klay Thompson out until at least All-Star break after undergoing ACL surgery.
Signed president of basketball operations Bob Myers to a contract extension; signed president and COO Rick Welts to a contract extension.
Hired Zaza Pachulia as consultant.
Named Ryan Atkinson general manager of G League affiliate (Santa Cruz Warriors).
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale options on Jacob Evans, Omari Spellman.

Salary cap situation:

Remained over the cap.
Hard-capped; approximately $375K below hard cap.
Carrying approximately $138.55MM in salary.
Approximately $5.93MM over the tax line.
$5.28MM of mid-level exception still available (used $3.97MM on Willie Cauley-Stein, Alen Smailagic, and Eric Paschall).
Full bi-annual exception ($3.62MM) still available.
- Note: Due to hard cap, the Warriors would have to reduce salary elsewhere in order to use full MLE and/or BAE.
Five traded player exceptions available; largest TPE ($17.19MM) expires 7/7/20.

Story of the summer:

No NBA team had a wilder, more up-and-down offseason than the Warriors, whose run of five consecutive appearances in the Finals was capped by a torn Achilles for Kevin Durant and a torn ACL for Klay Thompson, both of whom were about to become unrestricted free agents.

As the Warriors prepared to move across the bay from Oakland to San Francisco, they had to figure out whether they’d be able to re-sign two stars with multiple All-NBA nods under their belts, and how they’d replace those players if they didn’t return.

Fortunately, Thompson never seriously considered signing elsewhere and was locked up quickly once free agency opened. But Durant didn’t follow suit. After being linked to New York all year long, KD made his expected cross-country move, joining the Nets rather than the Knicks.

While losing Durant would seriously compromise the Warriors’ ability to maintain their dynasty, the team had shown over the years – and as recently as this spring – that it was a force to be reckoned with even without the two-time Finals MVP in its lineup. His departure would hardly launch a full-fledged rebuild in Golden State. It was simply a matter of deciding how to reload, with two paths potentially available to the Dubs.

Path one would have involved allowing Durant to walk outright. Without having to account for a maximum-salary contract for KD, the Warriors would have had the flexibility to bring back veteran contributors like Andre Iguodala and use their mid-level exception (taxpayer or non-taxpayer) to add another rotation player or two.

Instead, the Warriors chose path two. Recognizing that Durant’s departure may be their best – and only – opportunity to add a young star to their roster anytime soon, they worked out a sign-and-trade deal with Brooklyn that allowed them to acquire D’Angelo Russell in return.

While the idea of landing a young All-Star like Russell rather than losing Durant for “nothing” seems like a no-brainer on the surface, acquiring D-Lo came at a cost. By the time the dust had settled, the Warriors had to surrender Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, two future first-round picks (one heavily protected), and all their available trade cash for the league year ($5.6MM) in order to make the acquisition of Russell work.

That move also imposed a hard cap on the Warriors that will make it virtually impossible for the team to make any in-season roster changes or to even carry a full 15-man roster for most of the year. With Thompson already expected to spend most or all of the season on the shelf, Golden State essentially had to start the season down two roster spots, leaving little margin for error.

All those drawbacks don’t mean that acquiring Russell was the wrong move. But it put a lot of pressure on him, Stephen Curry, and Draymond Green to make up for the depth the Warriors sacrificed in the process.

Key offseason losses:

Although Curry remained the heart of the Warriors and the fan favorite throughout Durant’s stint with the team, it’s hard to argue that KD wasn’t the team’s best two-way player during that stretch. He transformed into a legit rim protector as a Warrior and posted the three best shooting percentages of his career in his three years in Oakland. While Curry and Thompson are two of the NBA’s best shooters of all time, Durant’s ability to simply elevate and shoot over a defender opened up new possibilities for the offense that the Warriors will have a hard time replacing.

Of course, Durant wasn’t the only Finals MVP the Warriors lost this summer. Iguodala will turn 36 in January and has become far more valuable in the postseason than he is during the regular season. But for a Warriors team experiencing so much turnover and missing a top perimeter defender like Thompson, Iguodala would have been a valuable asset to have for all 82 games in 2019/20. He’ll become eligible to rejoin the Warriors next July, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a one-year reunion at that point before Iguodala calls it a career.

Speaking of retirement, Livingston announced his this summer after being released by the Warriors. It’s not clear whether he would have continued his career if Golden State had been willing to keep him on the roster, but that was never really a viable option with or without the hard cap, since the size of his cap hit ($7.7MM) was beginning to outweigh his on-court contributions.

The Warriors’ hard cap may have played a part in their willingness to rescind qualifying offers for Quinn Cook and Jordan Bell, two young players who were restricted free agents. Bell took a step backward in 2018/19 after a promising rookie season, but Cook had developed into a reliable rotation player who played big minutes in the NBA Finals.

Big men Andrew Bogut and DeMarcus Cousins are also gone. Bogut returned to Australia after essentially being loaned to the Warriors for the stretch run, while Cousins left Golden State after a somewhat disappointing season — he had hoped to rebuild his value by playing a key role for a contender, but ultimately saw his year once again derailed by health issues. In retrospect, the uproar over his 2018 deal with the Warriors was overblown.

Role players Jonas Jerebko and Alfonzo McKinnie are gone too, with McKinnie sticking around all the way up until the weekend before the regular season before being cut in favor of Marquese Chriss. McKinnie was another casualty of the Warriors’ hard cap — without it, the team could have kept both players.

Key offseason additions:

As noted above, the Warriors’ decision to work out a sign-and-trade with the Nets that allowed them to sign Russell to a maximum-salary deal essentially set the rest of their offseason moves in motion, subsequently limiting their cap flexibility and their ability to add depth. Was Russell worth it? The Warriors think so, rightly pointing out that the opportunity to land a 23-year-old All-Star doesn’t come along often for an over-the-cap team.

I’m a little less enthusiastic about Russell’s fit alongside Curry and Thompson and about his breakout year in Brooklyn, which only happened after an ankle injury sidelined Caris LeVert. He’s certainly a promising young player, and the Warriors will be able to flip him at some point if they want to, but now that he’s on a max deal, he’s no longer a bargain. If he’s traded at some point, Golden State shouldn’t necessarily count on getting another All-Star in the deal.

Willie Cauley-Stein, Alec Burks, and Glenn Robinson III joined the Warriors on modest contracts and figure to play regular roles. Burks and Robinson have flashed some upside as three-and-D wings, but have yet to show they can be above-average contributors for a contender. I’d be surprised if that changes. I did like the addition of Cauley-Stein though — he looked like he needed a fresh start after four seasons in Sacramento, and the Warriors got him at a bargain-basement price.

In addition to signing low-cost free agents, the Warriors also kept team salary below the hard cap by signing all three of the players they drafted in June: Jordan Poole, Alen Smailagic, and Eric Paschall. I didn’t expect any of the three to play major minutes for Golden State as rookies, but early-season injuries have forced Poole and Paschall into action.

Poole, predictably, has struggled, but Paschall, the No. 41 pick in this year’s draft, already looks like a steal. He’s averaging 16.7 PPG on 60.3% shooting through seven games, improbably earning “MVP” chants in San Francisco this week when he racked up 34 points in a win over Portland. He has been a bright spot in an otherwise disastrous couple weeks for the Dubs.

Omari Spellman and Chriss round out the Warriors’ offseason roster additions, giving the team a couple more options in the frontcourt. We’ll see how much Golden State can get out of those former first-rounders after their old teams decided to move on from them.

Outlook for 2019/20:

With Durant gone and Thompson injured, this was always going to be a transition year for the Warriors. I viewed them as a borderline playoff team entering the season, picking them to claim the No. 8 seed in the West in Hoops Rumors’ preseason predictions, buoyed primarily by an MVP-caliber season from Curry.

Now that Curry is expected to miss more than half the season with a broken hand, a spot in the postseason feels like a pipe dream. Even before Curry went down, Golden State looked like a potential lottery team, with opponents scoring at will on the Dubs’ ineffective defense.

While a core of Curry, Thompson, Green, and Russell is still a strong long-term foundation, this year’s team just doesn’t have the supporting pieces necessary to contend with two of those stars out until at least February. For the first time in several years, Warriors fans will likely end up anticipating the draft lottery in May more than the Finals in June.

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

NBA Trade Candidate Watch: Pacific Division

November 6th, 2019 at 2:50pm CST by Luke Adams

Over the course of the 2019/20 NBA season, up until February’s trade deadline, we’re keeping an eye on potential trade candidates from around the NBA, monitoring their value and exploring the likelihood that they’ll be moved. Each of these looks at possible trade candidates focuses on a specific division, as we zero in on three players from that division.

We’re still five and a half weeks away from December 15, the date that most offseason signees become eligible to be dealt and the NBA’s trade season unofficially kicks off. Still, it’s hardly unprecedented for deals to be consummated in November. A year ago, two November trades were made, including the blockbuster that sent Jimmy Butler to Philadelphia.

With that in mind, it’s not too early to start identifying and considering players who could emerge as trade candidates before this year’s deadline. Here are three players who may fit that bill in the Pacific…

Bogdan Bogdanovic, SG
Sacramento Kings
$8.53MM cap hit; RFA in 2020

As we relayed last week, one general manager told Sean Deveney of Heavy.com that the Kings aren’t currently fielding trade offers for Bogdanovic, but speculated that the team might eventually have to consider doing so. Harrison Barnes and Buddy Hield signed lucrative long-term deals with the Kings this summer, and De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley figure to eventually receive similar – or pricier – extensions, creating some uncertainty about whether the team can afford to retain Bogdanovic too.

Although he’s off to a slow start this season, with a .314 FG% through seven games, Bogdanovic would appeal to a team seeking a wing who can shoot and would certainly have positive trade value. The only concern might be his upcoming restricted free agency.

There aren’t many teams projected to have significant cap space in 2020, but if one of those rebuilding clubs with room is eyeing Bogdanovic, a club that trades for him now might be forced to make a tough decision on an expensive offer sheet in July.

Alec Burks, G
Golden State Warriors
$1.62MM cap hit (minimum salary); UFA in 2020

If the Warriors bottom out this season in the wake of major injuries to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, their focus will be on developing young prospects. In other words, they probably won’t prioritize finding playing time for the veteran role players who signed one-year contracts with the team in the summer hoping to play for a contender.

In an episode of the Hoop Collective podcast earlier this week, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst speculated that the Warriors could be active before the trade deadline, jettisoning some of those veteran role players. As Mike Moffitt of SFGate.com writes, Windhorst also identified Burks as the Golden State player who is perhaps the most likely to be traded.

Because the Warriors are hard-capped, they can’t really take back any extra 2019/20 salary in any trade involving Burks, but they probably wouldn’t have to. A team with interest in acquiring Burks – and an open roster spot – could take him on using the minimum salary exception without sending a player back to the Dubs.

DeMarcus Cousins, C
Los Angeles Lakers
$3.5MM cap hit; UFA in 2020

The Lakers haven’t ruled out the possibility of Cousins returning in the postseason, so perhaps the team plans to keep him into the spring as he recovers from his torn ACL. Still, having suffered multiple major leg injuries in recent years, Cousins should be playing it very safe with his latest ailment, and I’d be surprised to see him back on the court before the 2020/21 season.

If the Lakers eventually reach the same conclusion, Cousins could make a good salary-matching piece in a modest deadline deal. Los Angeles doesn’t have a lot of players who fit that bill, particularly since Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JaVale McGee, and Rajon Rondo all have de facto no-trade clauses and likely wouldn’t be eager to leave a contending team like the Lakers.

Cousins can’t block a trade and is on an expiring contract, which could make him a useful trade chip even if the team acquiring him intends to simply waive him. Even without attaching him to another player, the Lakers could use his expiring salary to acquire a player earning up to $6.225MM in 2019/20.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Poll: Is Phoenix For Real?

November 5th, 2019 at 8:48pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The injury-depleted Warriors’ shocking stumble (2-5 and fading fast) out of the gate isn’t the only Western Conference development to stun many in the early throes of this NBA season. A positive surprise has been the remarkable early run by the Suns (5-2). Phoenix’s management and ownership groups in recent years have been notoriously dysfunctional (shout-out to Kevin Arnovitz), but suddenly, the team’s production may be catching up to their promise.

Heading into the season, expectations for Phoenix were low. The team has won 24 or fewer games in each of the last four seasons (i.e. every prior year of Devin Booker’s NBA career). The Suns’ talented young core of Booker and 2018 No. 1 draft pick Deandre Ayton (currently serving a 25-game suspension after violating the league’s drug policy) underwhelmed together last season. But that was last season.

Now, under the stabilizing stewardship of new head coach Monty Williams, and with the Suns’ solid offseason veteran additions in point guard Ricky Rubio and center Aron Baynes exceeding expectations, things are finally looking sunny in Phoenix.

Phoenix currently stands at second place in the Western Conference and could move into a tie for first if the Lakers lose tonight. The Suns have racked up quality wins against the Clippers and Sixers (still formidable, even sans a suspended Joel Embiid).

As The Ringer’s Shaker Samman noted today, Phoenix has been impressive on both ends of the floor. The Suns are among just two teams (the other being the 5-1 Miami Heat) currently occupying the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating. Their plus-8.6 point differential ranks fourth in the league. Booker, perpetual All-Star-in-waiting, appears to have taken another leap. New young forwards Dario Saric (acquired in a summer trade) and Kelly Oubre (added in a trade last season) have offered other competent scoring options.

Baynes, though, has been a particular revelation, as Cody Cunningham details on Suns.com. The Australian center’s three-point shooting has taken an astronomical leap. He is currently connecting on 48.4% on his looks from deep across 4.4 attempts per game, far eclipsing his career averages of 33.3% from long distance on 0.3 tries per contest. His scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks are all at career marks. His numbers will come back down to earth once he returns to the bench, but his terrific start makes him look a steal for Phoenix nevertheless.

What do you think? Can Phoenix make the playoffs this season?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your prediction.

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

2019 Offseason In Review: Milwaukee Bucks

November 5th, 2019 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Khris Middleton: Five years, $177.5MM. Fifth-year player option. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Brook Lopez: Four years, $52MM. Re-signed using cap room.
- George Hill: Three years, $28.77MM. Third year partially guaranteed ($1.28MM). Re-signed using cap room.
- Robin Lopez: Two years, $9.77MM. Second-year player option. Signed using room exception.
- Wesley Matthews: Two years, minimum salary. Second-year player option. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo: Two years, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Dragan Bender: Two years, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed ($300K). Signed using minimum salary exception.
  - Note: Partial guarantee increased to $600K on opening night.
- Kyle Korver: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Two-way contracts:
- Cameron Reynolds
- Frank Mason
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Jaylen Adams: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Jemerrio Jones: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Trevor Lacey: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Luke Maye: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Rayjon Tucker: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired Jon Leuer from the Pistons in exchange for Tony Snell and the draft rights to Kevin Porter Jr. (No. 30 pick).
- Note: Leuer was later waived.
Acquired the Pacers’ 2020 first-round pick (top-14 protected), the Pacers’ 2021 second-round pick, and the Pacers’ 2025 second-round pick from the Pacers in exchange for Malcolm Brogdon (sign-and-trade).
- Note: The Pacers’ traded 2021 second-round pick will convey one year after the Pacers’ 2020 second-round pick (45-60 protected through 2022; unprotected in 2023) conveys.

Draft picks:

None

Departing players:

Malcolm Brogdon
Bonzie Colson (two-way)
Tim Frazier
Pau Gasol
Nikola Mirotic
Tony Snell

Other offseason news:

Signed general manager Jon Horst to contract extension.
Lost assistant coach Taylor Jenkins to Grizzlies.
Hired Chad Forcier as assistant coach.
Fined $50K by NBA for publicly vowing to offer Giannis Antetokounmpo super-max deal in 2020.
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale team options on D.J. Wilson, Donte DiVincenzo.

Salary cap situation:

Used cap space; now over the cap.
Carrying approximately $129.63MM in salary.
No cap exceptions available.

Story of the summer:

The Bucks were one of the NBA’s most improved teams in 2018/19, winning a league-high 60 regular season games and 10 of their first 11 playoff contests before losing four straight to the eventual champion Raptors.

While that four-game losing streak to end the season – the first time the Bucks had lost more than two in a row all year – was discouraging, it was hard not to focus on the positives as the offseason began. Kawhi Leonard‘s looming departure meant that the Bucks would probably have the upper hand in their next matchup with the Raptors. It also meant Milwaukee would have the Eastern Conference’s best player in Giannis Antetokounmpo, last season’s MVP. Now it was just a matter of bringing back his supporting cast.

That last part would be a challenge. Of the seven non-Giannis Bucks who played the most minutes in the postseason, only two were under contract beyond 2018/19, and one of those two was Eric Bledsoe, who played poorly during the club’s postseason series vs. Toronto.

While Antetokounmpo was the player most responsible for the Bucks’ 60-win season, he didn’t do it by himself. An offseason exodus of talent would hurt Milwaukee’s chances of making another deep playoff run and might negatively impact the organization’s chances of keeping the reigning MVP around beyond his current contract.

So general manager Jon Horst and the Bucks’ front office got creative as they looked to retain as much talent as possible. They dipped below the cap to offer Brook Lopez a bigger contract than his Non-Bird rights would allow, while retaining Khris Middleton‘s full Bird rights in order to eventually go back over the cap when they re-signed him. George Hill, meanwhile, was waived and then re-signed to a longer, more cap-friendly deal.

Milwaukee didn’t retain everyone though. Nikola Mirotic, who opted to return to his home country to play for Barcelona, almost certainly would’ve landed with a new team even if he had remained in the NBA. Malcolm Brogdon, on the other hand, looked like a strong candidate to be brought back by the Bucks, but they ultimately sent him to Indiana in a sign-and-trade in exchange for multiple draft picks, including a first-rounder.

At times last season – particularly after he returned in the playoffs – Brogdon looked like the Bucks’ second-best player, but a handful of factors contributed to his exit. Among the most notable factors? Bledsoe’s $70MM extension, signed in March, and an apparent reluctance by Bucks ownership to go into tax territory.

There were no real cap limitations stopping Milwaukee from re-signing Brogdon with or without Bledsoe’s deal on the books, but if the team was looking to avoid substantial tax penalties, it essentially had to keep one point guard or the other. It’ll be fascinating to see whether choosing Bledsoe in the winter before he struggled in the postseason for a second consecutive spring will come back to haunt the Bucks.

Key offseason losses:

Brogdon’s ability to handle the ball, make shots, and play strong perimeter defense made him a valuable asset for the Bucks. His .505/.426/.928 shooting line was one of the best in the NBA in 2018/19, and despite playing plenty of point guard, he didn’t dominate the ball at all, often deferring to Antetokounmpo and Bledsoe.

The Bucks haven’t said a whole lot about Brogdon’s departure, so it’s not clear just how significant a factor the tax concerns were in the decision to let him go. A June report suggested that the team had a “walk-away” number it was unwilling to exceed on Brogdon, so if the Pacers’ offer was higher than that number, Milwaukee did well to get some draft picks out of the situation.

It’s also worth noting that Brogdon was red-flagged prior to the 2016 draft due to foot surgery, and once again battled foot issues in ’18/19. If the Bucks were worried about those foot issues continuing to re-surface in future seasons, that could be another reason why the team was unwilling to match the Pacers’ four-year, $85MM offer.

Mirotic was the other key loss for the Bucks, though he was another player – like Bledsoe – who stumbled in the playoffs, making just 28.9% of his postseason three-point attempts, including 6-of-31 (19.4%) vs. Toronto. Mirotic’s floor-spacing abilities as a big man helped open up Milwaukee’s offense and create driving lanes for Antetokounmpo and others, but when he wasn’t making those shots, he was essentially unplayable — he didn’t log a single minute in Game 6 vs. the Raptors, the final game of the Bucks’ season.

Tony Snell had been a starter for Milwaukee during the previous two seasons, but came off the bench in 2018/19 and saw his role cut back — his 17.6 minutes per game represented his lowest mark since his rookie year. He remained a solid contributor, knocking down 39.7% of his three-pointers, but it became untenable for the team to carry his multiyear contract and his eight-figure annual salary as core players became more expensive. He was moved to Detroit in a salary-dump deal.

Tim Frazier and Pau Gasol also departed this summer, though neither loss should have a major impact on the Bucks’ rotation. Frazier played extremely limited minutes in the playoffs, while ankle and foot injuries limited Gasol to just three games in total during his brief stint in Milwaukee.

Key offseason additions:

Rather than signing another point guard to provide depth behind Bledsoe and Hill, the Bucks tabbed Wesley Matthews to help fill the void created by Brogdon’s departure. At age 33, Matthews isn’t the same sort of high-quality three-and-D player he once was, but he can still provide enough value at both ends of the court to easily outperform his minimum-salary contract. In 69 games for three teams last season, he knocked down 37.2% of 5.8 three-point attempts per game.

With Mirotic and Gasol on the way out, the Bucks replenished their frontcourt depth by signing Robin Lopez and Dragan Bender in free agency. The former signing pairs the Lopez twins up front, and while I doubt we’ll see them playing alongside one another too often, Robin brings a much different skill set than Brook does.

Brook is a talented low-post scorer who added a reliable three-point shot to his game in recent years and helped protect the rim for the Bucks in 2018/19. Robin isn’t as dynamic an offensive player and probably won’t give the team much from beyond the arc, despite his uptick in three-point attempts in the early going this season. However, he’s a fundamentally sound, high-IQ contributor who plays excellent team defense and has mastered the art of the box-out. He’ll be an important part of Milwaukee’s rotation when the club goes up against top Eastern Conference centers like Joel Embiid and Marc Gasol.

Bender, on the other hand, is a developmental piece who probably won’t play much unless injuries force the Bucks’ hand. The same can be said of Thanasis Antetokounmpo, one of the offseason’s most improbable recipients of a multiyear guaranteed contract. It’s probably safe to say he wouldn’t be on Milwaukee’s roster if his last name were Smith.

The other new addition to the Bucks’ rotation this season is Kyle Korver, who signed a minimum-salary contract after being bought out by Phoenix. Even at age 38, Korver looks capable of making 40% of his three-pointers in his sleep. His marksmanship could come in handy for Milwaukee, though he’ll have to prove he’s not a liability on defense in order to hang onto his spot in the rotation all season and into the playoffs.

Outlook for 2019/20:

Bucks players and coaches probably lost some sleep during the summer thinking about the overtime period of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. If the Bucks had won that game, it would’ve given them a 3-0 lead over Toronto and perhaps put them in the driver’s seat to win a championship.

This year’s Bucks team might not be quite as talented as last year’s squad, but it also might not need to be. Milwaukee’s top competitors each lost key players, with Leonard leaving Toronto and Jimmy Butler leaving Philadelphia. Both teams still have extremely talented rosters, and clubs like the Celtics and Heat are threatening to move into the top tier of Eastern Conference contenders, but there’s a reason oddsmakers’ forecasts during the preseason viewed the Bucks as the team to beat.

This season could go a long way toward convincing Giannis one way or the other whether he wants a long-term future in Milwaukee, so the Bucks will do all they can this year to push for a title. Anything less than a return trip to the Eastern Finals will be considered a disappointment.

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

Poll: How Long Will Sixers Remain Undefeated?

November 4th, 2019 at 11:04am CST by Luke Adams

Six days ago, we asked which of the NBA’s four undefeated teams would be the last to lose. One after another, over the next three nights, the Nuggets, Timberwolves, and Spurs removed themselves from that conversation, suffering their first losses of the young season and leaving the Sixers as the last undefeated team standing.

With a one-point win over Portland on Saturday night, the 76ers kept that streak alive, and will enter tonight’s action with a 5-0 record. Buoyed by the NBA’s best rebounding rate and a defense that leads the league in steals, Philadelphia has put together its streak while still finding its way on offense. Now we’ll see how just much longer the club can stay out of the loss column.

Although Saturday’s win over the Trail Blazers was a good one, it was just the start of a challening road trip for the Sixers, who will play in Phoenix tonight, in Utah on Wednesday, and in Denver on Friday.

If Philadelphia can make it through that gauntlet unscathed, the team will be rewarded with winnable home games against the Hornets (November 10) and Cavaliers (Nov. 12) before going back on the road to face Orlando (Nov. 13), Oklahoma City (Nov. 15), and Cleveland again (Nov. 17).

The most likely scenario for the Sixers is dropping one of this week’s road games — the Jazz and Nuggets are expected to be among the West’s best teams, while the Suns are off to a good start and won’t have to face Joel Embiid, who is serving the final game of his two-game suspension tonight.

Plus, over the last few years, the NBA’s last undefeated team typically hasn’t gotten much further than this point without losing. The Bucks started 7-0 in 2018; the Clippers and Spurs went 4-0 in 2017; and the Cavaliers went 6-0 to open the 2016/17 season.

Of course, it wouldn’t be unprecedented for Philadelphia to continue its season-opening win streak into the double digits. In fact, the Warriors did much better than that in the fall of 2015 when they opened the season with an incredible 24-game winning streak. That Golden State squad was also the NBA’s best regular season team of all-time though, finishing the year with a 73-9 record. It seems safe to say the Sixers aren’t on that level.

What do you think? Will the 76ers’ run as the league’s last undefeated team end soon, or can they keep this streak going for at least few more games?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your prediction.

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Load More Posts