- Chris Paul has returned to action for the Rockets, which excites James Harden, as Liam Blackburn writes for Sporting News. Harden has carried an incredible usage and workload over the past month due to a lack of playmakers and scorers across the Rockets’ roster.
JANUARY 27: Nunnally has signed a two-year deal with Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, according to Sportando.
JANUARY 22, 8:59am: Agent Bill Neff tells Sportando that Milano was one of five teams to make Nunnally an offer before he signed with the Rockets, but the two sides aren’t in agreement on a new deal at this point. Nunnally has not yet decided on his next move, per Neff.
8:45am: After being waived by the Rockets on Monday, veteran swingman James Nunnally is expected to head back overseas, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando, who hears from a source that Nunnally will likely sign a two-year contract with Italian club Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano.
Nunnally, initially released by the Timberwolves earlier this month, reportedly turned down EuroLeague offers to join the Rockets on a 10-day contract, with at least one report suggesting that he was “giving up a lot” by opting to remain in the NBA.
However, the 28-year-old had his 10-day deal terminated after just six days when Houston needed to open up a roster spot to sign Kenneth Faried. Given how quickly he reportedly agreed to terms with Milano, it appears that EuroLeague interest in Nunnally didn’t wane over the last week.
For Nunnally, the move overseas will represent a return to the European leagues where he has enjoyed his most professional success. He averaged 18.4 PPG in 30 Italian League games in 2015/16 for Sidigas Avellino before joining Fenerbahce for the next two seasons. Last season, in 29 EuroLeague contests, he shot a sizzling 55.4% on three-pointers, averaging 9.3 PPG for the Turkish squad.
Assuming Nunnally makes his deal with Milano official, it will presumably rule out a return to the NBA this season. It’s not clear if the agreement would include a potential NBA out for the 2019 offseason.
Meanwhile, a division rival got some promising injury news this week. The Rockets are expected to get Chris Paul back in their lineup on Sunday, head coach Mike D’Antoni confirmed today (Twitter link via Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun). While Paul isn’t quite ready to return from his hamstring ailment on Friday night against Toronto, he’d play if it were a playoff game, D’Antoni said.
The NBA announced the starters and captains for the 2019 All-Star Game on Thursday, with the Lakers’ LeBron James and Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo being named team captains for their respective conferences.
The Western Conference starters are comprised of James, Warriors stars Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, Rockets guard James Harden, and Thunder forward Paul George.
Antetokounmpo, Hornets guard Kemba Walker, Celtics guard Kyrie Irving, Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard, and Sixers center Joel Embiid were named starters in the Eastern Conference.
James (4,620,809 votes) and Antetokounmpo (4,375,747 votes) received the most fan votes from each conference in the past month, giving them the honors of being captains this season.
James and Antetokounmpo will draft their teams from the list of these starters and reserves on Thursday, February 7, hours after the NBA’s trade deadline. The All-Star Game will take place on Sunday, February 17, with the reserve players set to be announced next Thursday night.
We made our All-Star picks for the Western Conference and Eastern Conference earlier this week.
Trading Wayne Ellington would give the Heat just enough cap relief to escape the luxury tax, writes salary cap expert Albert Nahmad for HeatHoops. Miami currently projects to be $6.2698MM over the tax line and Ellington’s salary is $6.27MM, so if the Heat can find a deal in which they don’t take any money back, they would be in the clear by $159.
However, Nahmad notes that won’t be easy to accomplish. Only six teams have the ability to make such a trade with Miami, but the Hornets and Pistons would put themselves into tax territory, the Thunder and Wizards are already over the threshold and may not want to take on more salary and the Kings aren’t likely to be interested in using their cap room because they already have Buddy Hield.
Nahmad identifies the Nuggets, who are $6.9MM below the tax line and have a pair of trade exceptions worth $12.8MM and $13.8MM, as the most likely team to take on Ellington. His salary would be pro-rated at $2.2MM if he’s acquired at the February 7 deadline, and the Heat can trade up to $5.3MM in cash to help offset that.
However, it’s not certain that another shooter is Denver’s top priority. Any other club that trades for Ellington would have to send out at least $3.5MM in salary, which means a third team would have to get involved to make it work for Miami. Nahmad cites the Lakers, Rockets and possibly the Thunder as other potential contenders for Ellington.
There’s more news from Miami:
- The Heat have been working on deals to ease their overcrowded roster and Rodney McGruder may be a candidate to get traded, a source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The source adds that McGruder would be a good fit for the Celtics, who could use an all-around role player and wouldn’t mind adding his expiring $1.5MM contract. The Heat may not get more than a second-round pick for McGruder, but won’t be in a great position to re-sign him this summer because of their cap situation.
- In the same story, Jackson states that the Heat don’t seem like a good fit for the Grizzlies’ Marc Gasol or Mike Conley, who are reportedly now available on the trade market. Jackson cites Conley’s $32.5MM salary for next season and $34.5MM in 2020/21 as too much for Miami to take on, while Memphis may not be interested in the collection of players — James Johnson, Kelly Olynyk and Dion Waiters — that would need to be included to match the salaries of Gasol and Chandler Parsons, whom the Grizzlies would like to move in a trade involving the center.
- Olynyk is the latest player to fall out of the Heat’s frequently changing rotation, notes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The backup center didn’t play in the second half Saturday, then was held out of Monday’s game. “You look at the game saying, ‘I definitely think I can help out there. I can make an impact, make a difference,'” Olynyk said. “But Coach has to do his job and I don’t envy him, because it’s not an easy job.
The Bulls will receive $1,566,570 in cash from the Rockets in the Carmelo Anthony trade, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (via Twitter). As was the case with the deal the two teams completed earlier in the month involving Michael Carter-Williams, Houston will send that cash in installments — 10 payments of $66,657 will be followed by a lump sum of $900K before July, according to Pincus, who adds that Chicago didn’t require Anthony to pass a physical or report to the team to finalize the swap.
Each NBA team is permitted to send and receive no more than $5.243MM in trades during the 2018/19 league year. As our breakdown of traded cash shows, Houston is now nearly at its limit, with only about $566K still available to send out. Chicago, meanwhile, could still receive up to about $2.61MM.
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- Mark Schanowski of NBC Sports Chicago identifies a number of important issues the Bulls will be evaluating during the second half of the season, including whether or not head coach Jim Boylen should return next season, Kris Dunn‘s potential to be the club’s long-term answer at point guard, and whether Bobby Portis deserves a lucrative new deal in the offseason.
- In a column for The Chicago Sun-Times, Joe Cowley makes a case for why the Bulls need to strongly consider replacing general manager Gar Forman.
- Meanwhile, over at The Chicago Tribune, K.C. Johnson argues that this offseason is the right time for the Bulls to bring former MVP Derrick Rose back home to Chicago.
- During an appearance on Nate Duncan’s Dunc’d On podcast, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports revisited the near–revolt that took place early in Jim Boylen‘s tenure as Bulls head coach, noting that Zach LaVine was “kind of running things” and that Robin Lopez was the veteran who helped hold things together.
The Rockets and Bulls have completed the Carmelo Anthony deal, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (Twitter link). The Bulls have confirmed the trade is official.
Anthony will head to Chicago along with the draft rights to Jon Diebler and approximately $1.56MM in cash while Houston will receive the draft rights to Tadija Dragicevic.
Diebler is a 30-year-old shooting guard who was originally drafted with the No. 51 overall pick in the 2011 draft by the Blazers. Dragicevic, who will turn 33 later this month, is a power forward who was selected with the No. 53 overall pick back in 2008 by the Jazz. Both players currently play in Turkey. Neither player has any NBA experience and it’s unlikely either “prospect” makes his way to the league any time soon.
The Bulls are not expected to play Anthony but will likely either release him or scour the league for a trade. Anthony reportedly wants to find a place where he can make an impact.
The cost for picking up Anthony’s salary at this stage of the season is $675K, so the cash Chicago is receiving more than enough to covers his deal. The Rockets are facing luxury tax concerns, so moving him allows the franchise to lower their anticipated tax payment.
Anthony played just 10 games for the Rockets, averaging 13.4 points per game. The fit wasn’t there in Houston and he’ll likely wait until after the trade deadline to find a new home. The Lakers reportedly have some interest, though the team’s roster is full and the franchise doesn’t want to waive a player on a guaranteed contract in order to add the 10-time All-Star.
The Carmelo Anthony trade between the Rockets and Bulls is still expected to get done at some point soon, but the trade call has yet to take place, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times. According to Stein, the deal may have to be amended due to a discrepancy involving the rights to a draft-and-stash player.
In addition to receiving Anthony and cash in the trade, the Bulls are also expected to receive the rights to Marko Todorovic, while the Rockets receive Tadija Dragicevic‘s rights, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. However, according to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), the NBA has made an effort to crack down on swaps that include a player who aren’t expected to ever come stateside. It’s not clear if those efforts will impact what the Rockets/Bulls swap ultimately looks like.
Let’s round up a few more items from out of the Southwest…
- Within an article about DeMarcus Cousins‘ free agency and his debut with Golden State, the big man admits to Shams Charania of The Athletic that he hasn’t forgotten about how his time with the Pelicans playing alongside Anthony Davis ended. “I think about our pairing all the time,” Cousins said. “Me and A.D. talk about it. It’s f—ed up. It could’ve been something great, something special, but other people had different things in mind. That’s out of our control, and you never know what’ll happen later on down the line.”
- After sitting on the bench in Denver and Brooklyn, Kenneth Faried is happy to have an opportunity to play an actual role for the Rockets, as Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle details. “The coaches and team believe in me,” Faried said. “They want me to come out and do what I do. I’m excited to be here.”
- The Mavericks are listing Dennis Smith Jr. as a probable starter for his return game tonight, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, who tweets that the club never discussed a possible move to the bench with Smith before his sabbatical.
- Mavericks rookie Luka Doncic has been fined $10K for kicking the game ball into the stands during Saturday’s game, the NBA announced today in a press release.
The Rockets will improve their luxury tax situation if the proposed trade of Carmelo Anthony to the Bulls goes through, Bobby Marks of ESPN notes. Houston started the day with a projected luxury tax bill of $13.9MM but will see that number drop to $12.4MM if the trade becomes official. It will also create a $1.5MM trade exception and open up a roster spot. Big man Kenneth Faried, signed earlier in the day, will earn $917,271 with the Rockets incurring a $683,661 cap hit.
5:00pm: The Rockets have officially waived Nunnally, the team confirmed in a press release announcing the signing of Faried.
4:01pm: The Rockets will terminate James Nunnally‘s 10-day deal early, releasing him before the contract expires, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. As Charania notes, cutting Nunnally will allow Houston to finalize its signing of Kenneth Faried tonight.
Nunnally, 28, reportedly turned down lucrative offers from international teams to sign a 10-day contract with the Rockets last Thursday. With Houston in need of help on the wing, the veteran sharpshooter immediately claimed a rotation role, averaging 19 minutes per game in two contests with the club. However, he struggled to make an impact, making just 3-of-13 shots from the floor, including 3-of-12 from beyond the arc.
Parting ways with Nunnally was the simplest way for the Rockets to open up a roster spot to sign Faried. The club’s other option would have been to trade or release Carmelo Anthony, but it appears a viable trade involving Anthony has yet to materialize. Houston would like to avoid cutting Anthony outright, since trading him would reduce the team’s projected tax bill.
As for Nunnally, he’ll get paid for the full 10 days, even though his 10-day contract is being terminated on day six. The Rockets could bring back the 28-year-old swingman later in the season if a roster spot opens up, but if there are no NBA opportunities out there for him right away, Nunnally might end up returning to Europe, where he has thrived in recent years.