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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.

Execs Consider Lakers Frontrunner For Iguodala

November 6th, 2019 at 10:07am CST by Luke Adams

Andre Iguodala technically remains under contract with the Grizzlies, but the expectation is that he’ll be traded or bought out at some point this season, allowing him to join a contender. While it remains to be seen which club Iguodala will end up playing for, David Aldridge of The Athletic asked several NBA executives to hazard a guess and virtually all of them predicted the Lakers would be the landing spot for the former Finals MVP.

“[The Lakers would offer the] best combination of ring chance and role,” one longtime team boss told Aldridge.

For Iguodala to get to the Lakers, the Grizzlies would almost certainly have to go the buyout route, since L.A. probably doesn’t have the necessary salary-matching pieces to take on Iguodala’s $17MM+ salary in a trade. The only non-stars on the Lakers’ roster earning more than $4.77MM this season are Danny Green ($14.64MM), who is a key rotation player, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($8.09MM), who holds a de facto no-trade clause.

As Aldridge notes, a league-wide belief that the Lakers will land Iguodala doesn’t mean it will actually happen. There will also plenty of people around the NBA who thought Kawhi Leonard would become a Laker in the summer, and the Clippers ultimately closed that deal. The Clips – who were the only team besides the Lakers to receive a vote in Aldridge’s informal poll of execs – would presumably be in the running for Iguodala too.

Lakers Considering Sixth-Man Role For Kyle Kuzma

November 3rd, 2019 at 7:02pm CST by JD Shaw

The Lakers are considering a sixth-man role for Kyle Kuzma, who remains on a minutes restriction as he returns from injury, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register writes. However, head coach Frank Vogel refused to commit to anything just yet. “Sometimes it makes sense to have a guy coming off the bench filling that role, and sometimes it doesn’t,” Vogel said. “Sometimes it makes more sense to put him in the starting lineup. I don’t know the answer to that. It depends on each group. I have to see everybody play with each other, but there’s definitely value to that.”

Grizzlies Notes: Bradley, Oubre, Morant, Melton

November 2nd, 2019 at 8:19pm CST by Arthur Hill

Avery Bradley only played 14 games with the Grizzlies, but he tells David Cobb of The Commercial Appeal that short stretch in Memphis helped him revitalize his career. Bradley re-emerged as a scorer after the Clippers shipped him to the Grizzlies at February’s trade deadline. He increased his average from 8.2 PPG in L.A. to 16.1 in Memphis and credits the freedom offered by then-coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

“J.B. gave me an opportunity to go out there and play my game,” Bradley said. “I’m thankful for that, I’m thankful for the city of Memphis. It’s home for me. My family is from Memphis and Mississippi. I’m going to miss it. It’s going to be nice when I come back and we play them there.”

The Grizzlies parted with Bradley in a cost-cutting move, waiving him in July and paying a $2MM guarantee instead of his $12.96MM salary. He signed with the Lakers a few days later for $4.8MM.

“Things were just unfortunate,” Bradley said of the end of his stay in Memphis. “There were a lot of changes. My time there was special.”

There’s more from Memphis:

Confusion shut down the Grizzlies’ attempts to trade for Kelly Oubre last season, and the roster would look much different now if that deal had gone through, Cobb notes in a mailbag column. Memphis believed it was parting with Wayne Selden and MarShon Brooks, while the Wizards were expecting to receive Dillon Brooks. Washington wound up moving Oubre to Phoenix, where he has played well. But Cobb notes that if the Grizzlies had taken on his $15MM salary, they probably couldn’t have made room for Andre Iguodala in a deal that landed them a future first-round pick from the Warriors.
The Grizzlies are thrilled with the start by first-round pick Ja Morant, whose 70 points are the most in four games by any rookie in team history, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. In addition to his obvious athleticism, Morant has impressed coaches with how quickly he has adapted to the NBA game. “He’s got great chemistry with his teammates,” head coach Taylor Jenkins said. “His IQ is kind of helping him navigate day in and day out, game after game after game and the sky’s the limit for the guy.”
De’Anthony Melton considers his rookie year with the Suns to be a “learning experience” about life in the NBA (video link from The Arizona Republic). After playing 50 games and starting 31 in his first season, Melton was sent to Memphis in July in a four-player deal. It marked the second time he had been traded, after being dealt from Houston to Phoenix before playing his first game. “I’m not worried about one year; I’m worried about 10 years, 15 years,” Melton said. “People have had crazier stories.”

Lakers Notes: Howard, Davis, Kuzma

November 2nd, 2019 at 11:18am CST by marksuleymanov

Years after a disappointing first tour of duty with the Lakers, Dwight Howard is back in Hollywood. While he’s no longer a superstar, Howard has excelled in his role off the bench, providing L.A. with solid defense and rebounding.

Unexpectedly, one of his biggest supporters is Kobe Bryant. The former teammates’ bad blood from their lone season together has been well documented from both sides. Bryant labeled Howard “soft” and the big man has said he hated the former NBA MVP “for years” for making that comment. However, watching from afar this time, Bryant is thrilled for Howard’s success.

“I’m happy for him because sometimes we don’t realize how much we love the game and miss the game until that window starts closing or its closed,” Bryant said to The Los Angeles Times’ Arash Markazi. “Then you’re like, ‘Oh damn, I really miss playing the game. I want another opportunity to show what I can do.’ Sometimes you don’t know if that opportunity will ever come again. For him, I really believe he’s appreciative of the opportunity and I think he’s going to make a hell of an impact because of the new appreciation he has for playing the game.”

Check out more Lakers notes below:

The acquisition of Anthony Davis has helped make the Lakers a legitimate Finals contender, but the All-Star is content doing less in Los Angeles so that both he and LeBron James can impact the game, Brett Dawson of The Athletic writes.
There has been a lot of chatter about Davis and whether or not he’s more effective playing the power forward or center positions. Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register opines that L.A.’s best lineup may include Davis at center and that the return of Kyle Kuzma only further accentuates that point.
Speaking of Kuzma, the forward made his season debut on Friday night, totaling nine points and three rebounds in nearly 19 minutes. Head coach Frank Vogel has noted that the team will patient with Kuzma as he reintegrates with the team. “It’ll be a little bit of a learning curve for him, but hopefully it doesn’t take too long,” Vogel said.

Youngest, Oldest NBA Rosters For 2019/20

November 1st, 2019 at 12:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns currently have the NBA’s youngest roster, according to the NBA’s official roster survey. The league’s data shows that the average age of a Suns player this season is just 24.49 years. On the other end of the spectrum, the Rockets have the league’s oldest roster, with an average age of 30.24.

Houston also has the NBA’s oldest roster in terms of years of experience — the average Rocket has played in the NBA for 8.93 seasons. The Celtics beat out Phoenix for the league’s least experienced roster, at an average of 2.73 seasons per player.

The NBA’s full roster survey, which includes every player on a standard contract (ie. not two-way players), is packed with interesting data, including the official heights and weights for every player, as well as each player sorted by jersey number and by home country. It’s worth checking out in full, but here are the rest of the league’s findings on the youngest and oldest NBA rosters:

Youngest rosters by average age:

Phoenix Suns (24.49)
Chicago Bulls (24.83)
Golden State Warriors (24.87)
Minnesota Timberwolves (24.91)
New York Knicks (24.98)

Least experienced rosters by average seasons of NBA experience:

Boston Celtics (2.73)
Phoenix Suns (2.80)
Chicago Bulls (3.07)
Minnesota Timberwolves (3.40)
Indiana Pacers (3.53)

Oldest rosters by average age:

Houston Rockets (30.24)
Los Angeles Lakers (29.07)
Milwaukee Bucks (28.73)
Dallas Mavericks (27.40)
Utah Jazz (27.08)

Most experienced rosters by average seasons of NBA experience:

Houston Rockets (8.93)
Los Angeles Lakers (8.07)
Milwaukee Bucks (7.07)
San Antonio Spurs (5.67)
Portland Trail Blazers (5.57)

And-Ones: Kuzma, NCAA, Vujacic, Agents

October 31st, 2019 at 9:30pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kyle Kuzma will make his debut for the Lakers on Friday and LeBron James is happy to have him back with the club, as Sacha Pisani of Sporting News relays.

“He hasn’t played since USA basketball when he had the stress reaction,” James said “Obviously he’s been training and working out, but like I always tell you guys, there’s no substitution for game fatigue and game stamina.

“That will come, though. It’s great to have him back on the floor. We definitely missed him.”

Here’s more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Sasha Vujacic wants to return to the NBA, as tells Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times. “I love the game so much, and I don’t want to walk away yet,” Vujacic said. “I’m in the best shape of my life right now. I work out every summer with DeAndre Jordan, and he said the same thing. I’m 35, but I feel like I’m 25. As long as I have that desire and fire inside of me, I’m going to keep pushing.”
The NCAA has begun the process of allowing student-athletes to benefit from their name and likeness, as their website announces.
Longtime NBA agents Roger Montgomery and Derrick Powell are teaming up to form the Elite Athlete Group, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com relays (Twitter link). Powell previously worked with Ja Morant.

Horton-Tucker Assigned Again; Kuzma Practiced With South Bay

October 30th, 2019 at 8:48pm CST by clarkcrum

In the span of 24 hours, the Lakers assigned rookie Talen Horton-Tucker to the South Bay Lakers for a second time, after he was recalled from yesterday’s assignment just last night. The team also sent Kyle Kuzma to South Bay on rehab assignment, with the plan to immediately recall him after practice (official release).

Kyle Kuzma To Make Season Debut

October 30th, 2019 at 6:12pm CST by clarkcrum

The Lakers, winners of three straight games after an opening-night loss to their crosstown rival, will add some additional firepower to their roster on Friday against the Mavs, with Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reporting that forward Kyle Kuzma is set to make his season debut.

As we relayed last night, Kuzma was already set to travel with the team on their upcoming three-game road trip, so the news that he will make his 2019/20 debut in the Lakers’ next game isn’t a big surprise, but it’s still noteworthy, as Kuzma is poised to try and give L.A. their own version of a “Big 3” alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Kuzma was sidelined for the first four games of this season with a stress reaction in his left foot. It’s unclear whether he’ll be on a minutes restriction in his first game or two back, but it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise.

Once back in the lineup and up to full speed, the 24-year-old Utah product will look to improve upon an impressive sophomore campaign in which he posted a stat line of 18.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 2.5 APG on .553/.303/.752 shooting.

Windhorst: Lakers May Have To Turn To Buyout Market To Upgrade Roster

October 30th, 2019 at 9:47am CST by Luke Adams

Rival executives view Kyle Kuzma and Danny Green as the Lakers‘ best trade assets, but both players will be important contributors in Los Angeles. With few other viable trade candidates, the Lakers may ultimately have to rely on the buyout market if they want to acquire a ball-handler and/or a wing defender, writes Windhorst.

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