Los Angeles Lakers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

J.R. Smith Doesn't Interest Lakers

July 15th, 2019 at 10:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Lakers are unlikely to sign shooting guard J.R. Smith once he clears waivers, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The Cavaliers cut Smith loose on Monday after failing to find a trade partner. The lack of interest shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering the Lakers have signed shooting guards Danny Green, Avery Bradley, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Troy Daniels in free agency.

Troy Daniels chose the Lakers over the Warriors and Thunder, Dave McMenamin of ESPN tweets. Daniels was wooed by Anthony Davis during the decision-making process. Daniels signed a one-year, minimum salary contract.

Lakers Notes: Davis, Howard, Handy, Horton-Tucker

July 15th, 2019 at 12:38pm CST by Luke Adams

When Team USA named its 20-man training camp roster for the 2019 World Cup last month, Anthony Davis‘ name was on that list. However, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, the new Lakers star will remove his name from consideration for USA Basketball’s World Cup roster.

As Haynes explains, Davis won’t participate in training camp with Team USA because he wants to spend the bulk of his offseason preparing to attempt a championship run with his new team. The former Pelicans big man remains committed to playing in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, sources tell Haynes.

Davis, a gold medalist in 2012 (Olympics) and 2014 (World Cup), will still attend Team USA’s training camp next month to support his teammates, per Haynes. It’s not clear if USA Basketball has a 20th man lined up to replace AD — the club will eventually pare that group down to 12 players for the World Cup itself.

Here’s more on the Lakers and Davis:

In a conversation with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, Davis said that Lakers GM Rob Pelinka was calling him every “30 to 45 minutes” during free agency. “Rob would call me: ‘AD, what you think about him?’ ‘All right, cool,'” Davis said. “Right back, ‘AD, you know, this is what is going on with him.’ ‘All right, cool. All right.’ Sometimes I had to tell him, like, ‘Rob, I’m in the movies.’ He’d be, like, ‘All right, well, call me as soon as you get out.’ But we’re trying to put the best team around us, and I think he did a great job of doing it.”
Speaking to Arash Markazi of The Los Angeles Times, veteran center Dwight Howard – who technically remains under contract with the Grizzlies for now – said he wouldn’t mind playing in Los Angeles again, either for the Lakers or Clippers. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I do love L.A.,” Howard said. “Staples Center is going to be rocking this season.”
The Lakers are hiring veteran assistant coach Phil Handy to join Frank Vogel‘s staff, reports Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link). Handy has appeared in five consecutive NBA Finals, having coached in Cleveland before joining Toronto for the 2018/19 season.
Talen Horton-Tucker‘s new two-year, minimum-salary deal with the Lakers is fully guaranteed, a source tells Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Pacific Notes: Green, Suns, Bradley, Gabriel

July 14th, 2019 at 6:59pm CST by JD Shaw

New Lakers guard Danny Green was forced to wait some extra time before deciding where to sign in free agency, with the 32-year-old explaining how difficult of a process that was after leaving the city of Toronto for Los Angeles.

Green, a veteran three-and-D player, wanted to see if teammate Kawhi Leonard would re-sign with Toronto before making his own decision. However, Leonard’s situation took several days to finalize, leaving Green, his agent Joe Branch, and multiple NBA teams out of the loop.

“Those five days [in free agency] seemed like five months,” Green said, as relayed by Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times. “And each day that went by, I checked in with ‘Whi and I’m like, ‘Yo, what’s going on with your meeting?’ ‘I have a meeting tomorrow.’ So, [it was] like, ‘Tomorrow? So I have to wait another day?’ You think a day, it goes by pretty fast but the way it was happening, the way I was talking to him, you would think it was a week. Like, ‘I got to wait another day, dude? Like, come on!’”

Leonard ultimately convinced the Clippers to trade for Thunder star Paul George, sealing the deal for him to sign with the team. As a result, Green informed interested teams such as the Clippers, Mavericks and Raptors that he would be joining the Lakers.

“So you go to the next-best team you think in the league is and that was here,” Green said of signing with the Lakers. “Just with the foundation, they only had three players on the roster at the time, but those three players are pretty damn good and you know with those three you can build something special.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division today:

The Suns quietly made some constructive roster moves this offseason, Greg Moore of the Arizona Republic writes. Phoenix was able to sign free agent point guard Ricky Rubio, re-sign forward Kelly Oubre Jr. and draft the likes of Cameron Johnson and Ty Jerome.
Avery Bradley will have something to prove in his first season with the Lakers, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register writes. “My goal is to come here and give myself a chance to show what I can do,” Bradley said. “I feel like it’s been a rough couple of years for me obviously with trades, (never) being in one place a long period of time and then going through that. It’s been hard on me and my family, but I feel like this is going to give me some stability and give me the opportunity to go out there and really show what I can do on both sides of the floor.”
Kings two-way forward Wenyen Gabriel is starting to show the organization more to his game, as written by Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. Gabriel averaged 13.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and two blocks in four summer league games. “I’m trying to keep it simple here in summer league and show that I can complement the team,” Gabriel said. “So I’m out there trying to show my defensive ability and my switching ability and also my ability to shoot the ball as well.”

Lakers Introduce Anthony Davis

July 13th, 2019 at 6:12pm CST by Arthur Hill

After months of waiting for a trade, Anthony Davis learned about the deal that sent him to the Lakers on Instagram, writes Chris Bumbaca of USA Today. Speaking today at his introductory press conference, Davis explained that he was watching a movie when the news broke and he missed two calls from his agent, Rich Paul. After a return call was unsuccessful, Davis tried social media, where he found out he was headed to L.A.

The deal was no surprise for Davis, who submitted a trade request to the Pelicans in January. The Lakers were one of his preferred destinations, offering the chance to team up with fellow Klutch Sports client LeBron James. Even so, Davis is happy that the process is finally over.

“That’s the biggest thing for me,” he said. “The relief of not knowing the unknown anymore and not knowing where I was going to be next season.”

GM Rob Pelinka, who closed the deal by offering New Orleans Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and a package of draft picks, called Davis’ introduction “a history-shifting day for the Los Angeles Lakers” and said organization is hoping for “a decade of dominance” from its new big man. Right now, L.A. is guaranteed just one year out of Davis, who is expected to opt out of his current contract next summer.

There’s more from today’s press conference:

Davis doesn’t regret waiving his $4MM trade kicker, even though the move was designed to help land Kawhi Leonard, who wound up choosing the Clippers. “Any time you’re able to able to acquire a player like Kawhi, you have to do almost everything to get a guy like that,” he said. “Obviously, it didn’t work out for us, but I still wanted to do everything I could to help the team. That $4MM was to add more money to a player’s contract or get another guy, and by all means I was willing to do that.”
Pelinka frequently sought input from Davis and James as the front office filled out the roster with free agent signings. Once Leonard was off the market, the Lakers focused on making the most of their cap space to build as much depth as possible. “I like our roster,” Davis said. “I like every player that we have, from one through 14. I’m excited about it. I would put our roster against anybody. I think that in a seven-game series we would come out victorious.”
Davis turned aside a question about his long-term future in L.A., saying he’s “focused on this season,” tweets Ben Golliver of The Washington Post. “When that time comes around next year, you can ask me that question and we can revisit it,” Davis responded. “Right now my focus is on this year and figuring out how I can help this team and help this organization become a championship team.”
Davis isn’t bothered by negative reaction he got from fans and the media after requesting a trade, relays Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen and Roll (Twitter link). “As long as I can sleep at night and live with the decisions that I made, then I’m happy and I don’t really care what anyone else thinks,” he explained. “I have a great team around me who I can talk to about things that’s going on, and they give me great advice and at the end of the day I’ll live with the decisions I make.”

Lakers Sign Talen Horton-Tucker

July 13th, 2019 at 4:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

Second-round pick Talen Horton-Tucker has signed with the Lakers, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Horton-Tucker was selected 46th overall with a pick that was acquired from the Magic in a draft-night trade.

Because L.A. is over the cap, the team isn’t able to able to sign Horton-Tucker past two years, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). The maximum he could earn on his new deal is $898,310 as a rookie and $1,517,981 in 2020/21.

A 6’4″ swingman, Horton-Tucker averaged 11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists during his only season at Iowa State.

Warriors Notes: Curry, Livingston, Cauley-Stein, Cook

July 12th, 2019 at 10:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Warriors All-Star guard Stephen Curry is confident he’ll mesh his skills with D’Angelo Russell, who was acquired from the Nets in a sign-and-trade, according to an ESPN report.

“The chemistry will develop quickly. We’ll be really purposeful about that and trying to set the tone for how we’re going to play this year,” Curry said.

He’s also looking forward to being in an underdog role for a change with Kevin Durant signing with Brooklyn and Klay Thompson expected to miss a large chunk of the season.

“I’m excited, to be honest with you,” he said. “Five straight years in the Finals and we’ve accomplished a lot, and three championships. There’s a lot to be proud of. But everybody wants a new challenge in terms of how do you get back to that level.”

We have more on the Warriors:

The Warriors are likely to offer Shaun Livingston a role in the organization if he opts to retire, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. The veteran guard was waived this week before his $7.7MM salary for next season became fully guaranteed.
Willie Cauley-Stein was courted by Curry, Draymond Green and coach Steve Kerr and that made his free agency decision easier, as Anthony Slater of The Athletic relays. Cauley-Stein accepted a salary slightly above the veteran’s minimum in order to join a perennial winner after the Kings rescinded his qualifying offer. “It honestly just came down to situation. I know I had said something about getting paid at the beginning of the year,” he said. “But by the end of it, it was no longer about getting paid. It was about staying secure and building off that security.”
Guard Quinn Cook harbors no ill will toward the organization, though he was surprised it pulled his qualifying offer in order to clear cap space, as he told Mark Medina of the San Jose Mercury News. Cook wound up signing a two-year, $6MM deal with the Lakers. “It was tough for me with how everything went down, but no hard feelings,” Cook said. “We’re family forever and champions forever.”

Lakers Notes: Pelinka, Contracts, Green, Cousins

July 12th, 2019 at 6:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Lakers are taking an all-or-nothing mentality into next season with the acquisition of Anthony Davis and numerous veteran free agents, including DeMarcus Cousins. GM Rob Pelinka said there’s only one goal for next season, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “For us, anything short of a championship is not success,” Pelinka said. “So we have to learn from last season, because we didn’t win a championship. And a lot of that went into the construction of the roster this year.”

We have more on the Lakers:

Pelinka notes the benefit of signing players to short-term contracts. While Davis is expected to be a long-term Lakers, only James (player option) is currently on the books beyond 2021, Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times relays. “It gives us the ability to not only contend in the short term with the players we wanted, but also add a superstar or max player in that July of 2021,” Pelinka said.
Shooting guard Danny Green, another off-season free agent addition, said he waited for Raptors teammate Kawhi Leonard to make his decision before he chose his destination, according to another Ganguli story. Green may have stayed in Toronto or gone to Dallas if Leonard hadn’t joined the Clippers. “Those five days seemed like five months. … You think a day, it goes by pretty fast but the way it was happening, the way I was talking to him, you would think it was a week. Like, ‘I got to wait another day, dude? Like, come on!’” Green said.
The Cousins signing will only work if he’s willing to come off the bench and split the center spot with JaVale McGee, Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times opines. That could be a tough for Cousins to accept, given that he was a premier player prior to rupturing his Achilles two seasons ago, Woike notes. Cousins is thrilled to be reunited with former Pelicans teammate Davis, Youngmisuk writes in a separate story. “We realized how much better we made one another and how much we made the game easier for each other. We both appreciate each other’s presence,” Cousins said. “To add LeBron James to the mix, his résumé speaks for itself.”

Iguodala Drawing Interest From At Least Five Teams

July 12th, 2019 at 1:53pm CST by Luke Adams

1:53pm: In addition to the Rockets, Clippers, and Mavericks, the Nuggets and Lakers also have interest in Iguodala, tweets Stein.

Stein first mentioned Denver’s interest in Iguodala in his newsletter last week, though Amick tweets that the Nuggets view Memphis’ asking price as too high. If they do make a play for Iggy, Mason Plumlee‘s expiring $14MM contract would be their best salary-matching piece.

As for the Lakers, they have no clear path to matching Iguodala’s salary until after December 15, so they’re an unlikely suitor unless he’s bought out.

11:32am: After acquiring Russell Westbrook from Oklahoma City, the Rockets‘ top priority will be to find a way to land veteran forward Andre Iguodala, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic.

According to Amick, Houston continues to push to acquire Iguodala from the Grizzlies via trade. The Clippers are also known to be among the most serious suitors for the former Warrior, Amick adds.

In order to match Iguodala’s $17,185,185 salary, the Rockets or Clippers would have to send out at least $12,185,185 in salary of their own, which will be difficult, but not impossible.

Los Angeles could use Maurice Harkless‘ $11,511,234 expiring contract, but would have to include at least one more piece — likely either Jerome Robinson or one of their 2019 draftees. Those two 2019 draft picks (Mfiondu Kabengele and Terance Mann) can’t be dealt until at least August 9 after signing on Tuesday.

The Rockets, meanwhile, probably wouldn’t want to move Clint Capela, P.J. Tucker, or Eric Gordon for Iguodala, so a sign-and-trade involving Iman Shumpert could be their most viable path for matching salaries. Shumpert would have to sign a three-year contract in that scenario, but only the first year would need to be fully guaranteed. He could sign for exactly $12,185,185, and presumably he’d be open to the idea, since he won’t receive that kind of money from any other team as a free agent.

Although Amick doesn’t name any other suitors for Iguodala, Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com suggests that the Mavericks are interested in the former Finals MVP too, and are willing to offer Courtney Lee‘s expiring contract and a second-round pick. Lee has a $12,759,670 cap hit, so no additional players would need to be added to such an offer for matching purposes. However, the Grizzlies don’t appear to have interest in taking on Lee, according to Fisher.

The Grizzlies acquired Iguodala as a salary dump, receiving a future first-round pick and cash from the Warriors for their troubles, so if they’re able to flip him and acquire positive assets, they’ll be coming out ahead.

Still, Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link) says there’s a belief in league circles that Memphis may be leaning toward keeping Iggy on their roster into the season unless they receive a trade offer that includes a first-round pick.

Ron Adams To Remain With Warriors Despite Lakers’ Interest

July 11th, 2019 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Highly regarded Warriors assistant coach Ron Adams will remain in Golden State, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN, who reports that Adams has turned down an opportunity to join Frank Vogel‘s Lakers staff.

Adams, who has been an NBA assistant coach since being hired by San Antonio way back in 1992, is considered one of the league’s top defensive minds. He has been a key member of Steve Kerr‘s staff since 2014, having won three titles with the Warriors. He’ll remain with the franchise in a “revised” role, according to Youngmisuk.

Youngmisuk and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski had reported in June that the Lakers – who previously hired Jason Kidd and Lionel Hollins as assistants – received permission to speak to Adams.

At that time, the ESPN duo suggested that Adams’ interest level in joining the Lakers was unclear, but speculated that L.A. could make a compelling case by extending a “significant financial offer.” Details of the Lakers’ offer aren’t known.

Sasha Vujacic Still Seeking NBA Comeback

July 11th, 2019 at 1:48pm CST by Luke Adams

As players like Amar’e Stoudemire, Monta Ellis, and Marreese Speights work out in front of NBA teams in the hopes getting back in the league, Arash Markazi of The Los Angeles Times reports (via Twitter) that veteran guard Sasha Vujacic is also looking to make an NBA comeback.

According to Markazi, Vujacic has been working out daily in Los Angeles and hopes to play in the NBA next season. The former Lakers and Clippers guard said it would be his dream to play in L.A. again, Markazi adds.

Vujacic, who made his NBA debut with the Lakers in 2004 after being selected 27th in the draft, has appeared in 581 total regular season games, suiting up for the two L.A. teams and both of the New York clubs as well. His most recent NBA stint came in the 2016/17 season, when he appeared in 42 games for the Knicks. The 35-year-old has played in Italy since then.

While Vujacic will seek an NBA contract, his comeback attempt looks like a long shot. He had also been hoping to break back into the league last summer, and worked out for two teams in September, but nothing came of those auditions. Now two full seasons removed from his last NBA appearance, Vujacic is facing increasingly unfavorable odds.