Los Angeles Clippers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Patrick Beverley May Return During Clippers’ Road Trip

February 9th, 2021 at 4:36pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Clippers starting point guard Patrick Beverley may suit up for the first time since January 24 during Los Angeles’s upcoming two-game road trip, head coach Tyronn Lue said today, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (via Twitter). Knee soreness has sidelined Beverley over the past eight games.

As Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times notes (via Twitter), before the team will officially OK a return, L.A. is holding out to observe Beverley’s continued recovery. Beverley, in his fourth season with the Clippers, is averaging 8.1 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.0 SPG and 0.8 BPG. The 6’1″ defensive-oriented vet boasts a shooting slash line of .400/.414/.762.

The 32-year-old out of Arkansas is currently in the second season of a three-year, $40MM deal he signed to remain in Los Angeles in the summer of 2019, a transformative period for the Clippers roster.

All-Star Clippers small forward Paul George, however, will not be joining L.A. as the team travels to face the Timberwolves and Bulls, Greif adds in a separate tweet. Greif suggests the Clippers will assess George’s health when they returns to their home market this weekend. George has been absent for the past two games with a bone edema in his foot.

Knicks Trade DSJ, Second-Rounder To Pistons For Derrick Rose

February 8th, 2021 at 10:39am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

FEBRUARY 8: The deal is official, the Knicks announced (via Twitter).

FEBRUARY 7, 2:50pm: The two teams are in agreement, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). The Knicks are acquiring Rose from the Pistons in exchange for Smith and Charlotte’s 2021 second-rounder.

12:11pm: Derrick Rose is set to be reunited with the Knicks and with his former Bulls and Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau. New York is nearing an agreement to acquire Rose from the Pistons in exchange for Dennis Smith Jr. and future draft equity, per James Edwards III and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Steve Popper of Newsday tweets that the draft pick being sent to the Pistons in the Rose deal will not be the Pistons’ own 2021 second-round pick that the Knicks possess, but could be the 2021 second-round pick that the Hornets owe the Knicks.

News on the exact terms of the trade have yet to be announced. How adding Rose, a savvy veteran scoring point guard with a defined ceiling, will impact the still-developing Knicks’ rotation will be interesting to see. Fan favorite rookie Immanuel Quickley and off-guard Austin Rivers may be especially liable to feel the squeeze, but whether Thibodeau opts to start Rose in place of the more defensively-oriented Elfrid Payton is unclear.

The upstart Knicks are currently the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference with an 11-13 record. Offloading future draft picks for a 32-year-old veteran in a move to improve the current on-court product is a curious decision for a club that had very much been prioritizing young players this season. Even All-Star hopeful Julius Randle is only 26.

The Knicks were not the only team in the market for Rose’s services this season. The Clippers, Heat, Bucks, and Nets were apparently all interested in dealing for Rose, per Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Charania adds (via Twitter) that Rose and the Pistons mutually agreed a trade was in both sides’ best interests. The Knicks had been floated as Rose’s “preferred destination” due to his familiarity with Thibodeau and his tenure with the team in 2016/17, his last season as a full-time starter.

Rose is in the final season of a two-year, $15MM contract he inked with Detroit in the summer of 2019. Across 22.8 MPG, Rose has been averaging 14.2 PPG, 4.2 APG, and 1.9 RPG in 15 games for the 5-18 Pistons, the worst team in the Eastern Conference.

Smith, meanwhile, has dropped out of the Knicks’ rotation. He has appeared in just three games for the Knicks this season, but could be counted on to play a bigger role for the Pistons. With 2020 No. 7 lottery pick Killian Hayes injured for the immediate future, Delon Wright has assumed Detroit’s starting point guard duties. In the absence of Hayes, two-way rookie Saben Lee had emerged as the the third pure point guard option behind Rose.

Both Rose and Smith will be free agents at season’s end — Smith is eligible for restricted free agency, though it would require a $7MM qualifying offer from Detroit. The Pistons will have his full Bird rights, while the Knicks will have Rose’s Early Bird rights.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

PG-13 Sidelined With Foot Injury

February 7th, 2021 at 3:21pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Clippers star forward Paul George has been sidelined for the past two games with a bone edema in his foot, according to Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register. Head coach Tyronn Lue would not speculate on the duration of George’s absence. “I don’t know,” he said. “We’re going to miss him. We wish him a speedy recovery.” George is averaging a stellar 24.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 5.5 APG in 20 games this season.

Knicks Among Teams Hoping To Acquire Derrick Rose

February 6th, 2021 at 7:47pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pistons are talking to the Knicks about a Derrick Rose trade, but other teams have expressed interest as well, according to Shams Charania and James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. Sources tell Charania that Detroit’s front office agrees with the veteran guard that a trade would be best for both sides. The Clippers, along with a few other teams, have also asked about Rose, according to sources.

New York coach Tom Thibodeau would like to team up once again with Rose, who played for him in both Chicago and Minnesota. Rose has remained productive at age 32, averaging 14.2 points, 4.2 assists and 1.9 assists in 22.8 minutes per night, but he doesn’t fit the timeline of the rebuilding Pistons.

Detroit is hoping to get something in return for Rose, who is headed for free agency after signing a two-year, $15MM contract with the team in 2019. The authors point out that the Pistons were coming off two straight playoff appearances at the time and had a strong connection in vice chairman Arn Tellem, who was Rose’s former agent. The team has since started rebuilding and currently holds the league’s worst record at 5-17.

Rose sat out Friday’s game due to “rest” and is being held out tonight for “personal reasons.” He hasn’t played this week, but doesn’t appear to have any physical issues other than a stomach ailment that forced him to miss Tuesday’s game at Utah. Although he was plagued by injuries during his prime years, Rose has been able to play at least 50 games in each of the past two seasons.

Rose had his best season under Thibodeau in Chicago in 2010/11 when he was named MVP, averaging 25.0 points and 7.7 assists per game. He suffered an ACL tear the following season and was never able to reach that level again.

G League Assignments: Pokusevski, Oturu, Magnay, Azubuike, Forrest

February 2nd, 2021 at 7:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Thunder rookie big man Aleksej Pokusevski has averaged 17.4 minutes per game in 17 appearances but he’s headed to Orlando to join the G League’s Oklahoma City Blue, according to Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. The 17th overall pick, who played 20 minutes in a blowout loss to Houston on Monday, is shooting just 24.7% from the field and the team wants him to develop his offensive game.

Guard Ty Jerome and two-way players Moses Brown and Josh Hall are also going to Orlando. “A lot of time and effort has gone into deciding who to send and when to send them,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “We felt like sending the four of them together, all for different reasons developmentally, was the best decision.”

We have more G League transactions from Western Conference clubs:

The Clippers assigned rookie big man Daniel Oturu to the Agua Caliente Clippers, according the RealGM transactions log. Oturu has appeared in 10 NBA games this season but has only averaged 4.2 MPG. He’s only gotten on the court once since January 22 and the organization wants Oturu to get some extended playing time during the bubble season in Orlando.
The Pelicans have transferred two-way player Will Magnay to the Erie BayHawks, the Pelicans’ PR department tweets. The 22-year-old rookie power forward out of Tulsa, who played in Australia last season, has not appeared in a game this season.
The Jazz duo of rookie center Udoka Azubuike and Trent Forrest are joining the Salt Lake City Stars, the G League team tweets. Azubuike, the team’s first-round pick out of Kansas, has made 12 limited appearances this season. Forrest, an undrafted guard out of Florida State, has played in two NBA games.

Kennard Grateful For Injury Rehab Last Season

January 30th, 2021 at 2:49pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Luke Kennard missed a good chunk of last season with Detroit due to tendinitis in both knees. Now a key reserve for the Clippers, Kennard is grateful for all the rehab he last season, as he told Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times. “It helped so much more than I could have thought and now I’m feeling great, my body feels great and I’m moving well,” Kennard said. “I hated it at the time — didn’t hate it, but it just took a while. It was pretty hard. Looking back now, I’m grateful and thankful I went through it.” Kennard signed a four-year extension in December.

Kawhi Leonard, Paul George Cleared To Return

January 29th, 2021 at 12:20pm CST by Arthur Hill

Clippers stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have been cleared to play in tonight’s game against the Magic, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Both players missed the past two games due to health and safety protocols.

Leonard and George didn’t accompany the Clippers on their current road trip, but were expected to join the team once they received medical clearance. Tonight is the third game of the six-game trip, which began with a loss in Atlanta and a win in Miami.

The Clippers still won’t have guard Patrick Beverley, who has missed the past two games with soreness in his right knee, Youngmisuk adds (via Twitter). Beverley also didn’t travel with the team, and no official timetable has been set for him to return.

No Timeline For PG-13, Kawhi Returns

January 28th, 2021 at 9:15pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

“Mentally, they’re in a great place,” Clippers reserve point guard Reggie Jackson said of the two unavailable wings. “They are doing all they can to get back as soon as possible.”

NBA, NBPA Reach Impasse In Negotiations For 18th Roster Spot

January 28th, 2021 at 12:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA and NBPA have reached a stalemate in their negotiations for the possible addition of an 18th roster spot for teams in 2020/21, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link).

Word broke nearly two weeks ago that the league and the players’ union were discussing the possibility of adding a third two-way contract slot. Currently, clubs are permitted to carry up to 15 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals, for a total of 17.

The idea, which was previously said to be gaining some momentum, was broached at a time when a series of games were being postponed because teams didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.

According to Stein (Twitter link), the league has maintained that if an 18th roster spot is added, it should be a third two-way slot only open to players with fewer than four years of NBA experience, as the other two-way slots are. The players’ union wants that 18th spot to be open to all veteran free agents.

Stein adds (via Twitter) that there’s some concern that adding an 18th roster spot open to any veteran free agent would give a competitive advantage to hard-capped teams (such as the Lakers, Clippers, and Bucks), allowing them to add another quality player despite their current financial constraints.

A player on a two-way contract this season is earning a $449K salary (half of the rookie minimum) and doesn’t count against his team’s salary cap.

And-Ones: J. Johnson, Ignite, Clippers’ Arena, S. Smith

January 27th, 2021 at 11:06am CST by Luke Adams

Isaiah Thomas won’t be the only NBA veteran suiting up for Team USA at the AmeriCup qualifiers in San Juan, Puerto Rico next month. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), seven-time All-Star Joe Johnson, who has been out of the league since 2018, will also represent the U.S. in games against The Bahamas and Mexico.

As G League expert Adam Johnson points out (via Twitter), with the NBAGL bubble taking place next month, there will be fewer G League veterans available to represent Team USA than there were at the earlier qualifiers. However, there are a number of former NBA players who weren’t selected in this month’s NBAGL draft who could look to join Thomas and Johnson on the U.S. roster to showcase themselves to NBA teams.

USA Basketball has already qualified for the 2022 AmeriCup tournament by going 4-0 in previous qualifying games, so the team won’t face any pressure in San Juan to win both its games.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Brian Shaw, the head coach of the G League Ignite, spoke to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype about the outlook for prospects like Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga, why other youngsters should consider the G League out of high school, and whether he has any desire to return to coaching in the NBA.
Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated also checks in on the Ignite, passing along first impressions of Jalen Green and exploring the roles that the G League veterans on the Ignite’s roster are playing.
The City of Inglewood intends to use eminent domain to acquire the land necessary for the Clippers‘ new arena, according to Jason Henry of The Pasadena Star-News, who provides an update on the plans and the timetable for the construction of that building.
Veteran basketball analyst Sekou Smith (of NBA TV and NBA.com) passed away on Tuesday due to COVID-19, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes. The league and the players’ union both released statements mourning Smith. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.