The NBA landscape in California has undergone quite the transformation in recent years. In the past, there have been long stretches with the Kings near the top of the division, while the Warriors and Clippers have often scraped the bottom. Currently, Golden State and the formerly hapless Los Angeles franchise have established themselves as perennial playoff teams, while Sacramento underwhelms at the bottom of the division. The Lakers’ decline might turn out to be the most startling development, especially if the purple and gold don’t emerge from their downturn in the next couple seasons. Here’s a rundown of California rumblings this evening:
Agent Andy Miller has already signaled Jamal Crawford‘s interest in signing an extension when he becomes eligible next summer, and it sounds like the reigning Sixth Man of the Year will have a friendly face on the other side of the negotiating table. Crawford has a longstanding relationship with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer based on their Seattle connections, as Crawford details to Jeff Caplan of NBA.com. “We’ve done a lot of [charity] events together in Seattle, so I’ve known him before he was actually the owner,” Crawford said. “We were texting throughout the year and emailing each other and staying in contact and continuing to work together with charities around Seattle. It’s exciting. I don’t know how many people have actually known their owner before they actually played for the team they were on. So it’s pretty cool.”
Despite some thought given by the Lakers to use the stretch provision on Steve Nash, the deadline to execute the maneuver came and went without Los Angeles doing so. Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times reports that the team was still considering stretching Nash’s deal before its top free agent targets of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh decided to sign elsewhere, eliminating the team’s need to gain cap flexibility from such a move.
September 1st, 2014 at 2:58pm CST by Eddie Scarito
2:58pm: An ESPN spokesperson released a statement to Hoops Rumors via email explaining why the video was removed.
“Around the Horn producers felt they had put Jackie in a difficult position since the discussion was being characterized externally as reporting rather than as an informed conversation among our panelists. For this reason, the decision was made to remove the video,” the statement read.
MONDAY, 9:42am: ESPN appears to have removed the video that featured MacMullan’s comments from the “Around the Horn” YouTube account, though it doesn’t look like the network has given a reason just yet.
SUNDAY, 10:51pm: A spokeswoman for Rondo’s agent, Bill Duffy, told Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald that both men deny that the guard has demanded a trade.
10:05am: Rajon Rondo has informed the Celtics that he wants out of Boston, as ESPNBoston.com writer Jackie MacMullan said in a recently published video featuring excerpts from the ESPN show “Around the Horn” (hat tip to Jay King of MassLive.com). In the video clip, MacMullan responded to a question about whether or not Boston should trade Rondo, to which she answered, “Oh, I hope so. Just get it done. And it will happen because he’s told them he wants out. And no one believes me, but that’s the truth.”
This conflicts with previous reports that Rondo was content in Boston. Rondo had been quoted as saying, “I don’t like change much” and “I wouldn’t mind staying here the rest of my career,” writes Jay King of MassLive.com. The Celtics organization has also maintained that they intend to keep Rondo, in part because they’re eager to see how he plays at the beginning of this season, when he’ll be more than a year and a half removed from tearing his right ACL. If Rondo shows he’s still capable of performing at his peak level, then the team could potentially garner a larger return for their star player.
If Rondo presses the issue and the Celtics are forced to trade him prior to the season, the Kings appear to be the number one suitors for Rondo’s services, MacMullan notes. The Kings have enough enticing pieces to catch Boston’s interest, but according to MacMullan, Rondo has already told the Kings that he would not re-sign with them. It remains to be seen if Sacramento would be willing to make the deal knowing that Rondo intends to leave as a free agent next summer. The Kings were willing to trade for Kevin Love without such assurances, so it’s possible they could take the same gamble with Rondo.
During the video, the potential scenario for Rondo to join the Clippers was broached, to which MacMullan responded, “He [Doc Rivers] doesn’t like Rondo, remember that. I mean, he’s done with Rondo. They went a good, long way together, but that guy — Rondo drives him nuts. And then (the Clippers have) Chris Paul anyway, they don’t need him.”
As for the rest of the potential trade market for Rondo, MacMullan speculated that teams like the Knicks, Rockets, and Mavericks would be interested, but wouldn’t be able to offer Celtics GM Danny Ainge enough to get a deal done. She also listed the Lakers as a possibility, though Rondo might not be willing to re-sign with them either. The other possibility she raised was a sign-and-trade deal with the Suns for Eric Bledsoe, but he’s also looking for a max contract, which the Celtics would most likely be hesitant to agree to.
There was a report earlier from ESPNBoston.com’s Jackie MacMullan, in which she noted that Rajon Rondo had informed the Celtics that he wanted out of Boston. This conflicted with previous reports that Rondo was content in Boston and that the Celtics were looking to hold onto their point guard at least up until next season’s trading deadline. But if the report from MacMullan is correct, then Celtics GM Danny Ainge may be forced to deal his still-recovering star player, or at the very least, much sooner than he would prefer to.
Rondo is set to make roughly $12.9MM next season, which will be difficult for teams to salary match and provide Boston with players they will agree to take on. Ainge will prioritize cap flexibility, draft picks, and younger players in any deal for Rondo. This means that any team pitching an offer will need to have expiring contracts, first-rounders, and younger players that fit in with the franchise’s new culture, in order to have a shot at nabbing Rondo.
If Rondo is traded, then where might he be headed? The Kings appeared to be the frontrunners to match up as a trade partner with Boston. Sacramento has previously expressed interest in acquiring the 28 year-old guard, who has career averages of 11.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 8.4 APG, and 1.9 SPG. The Kings have a number of intriguing pieces to offer in some combination of Ben McLemore, Jason Thompson, Nik Stauskas, and draft picks. But the main hold-up would be that Rondo has already said that he would not re-sign with Sacramento when he hits free agency. The Kings were willing to trade for Kevin Love after he made a similar decree, so it’s possible they would make the same concession in dealing for Rondo.
The Rockets would be another possibility, MacMullan noted, though after dealing Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik, and losing Chandler Parsons to the Mavs in free agency, Houston has less flexibility or pieces that could have brought in a third team to provide Ainge with the draft picks that he desires to stockpile. There aren’t many players that Houston would be willing to deal that Boston would want, so Houston seems like a long shot here.
Another team that has previously expressed their desire to acquire Rondo is the Knicks. They had attempted to trade for him last season, but had the same issues then that they do today–no tradeable first-rounders in the immediate future, and a lack of younger talent to deal. The Knicks could potentially offer up some combination of Amar’e Stoudemire‘s expiring contract, Iman Shumpert, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jose Calderon, and Shane Larkin, and try to involve another team to get Boston a first round pick. This package isn’t as enticing for Boston as some others they could receive, though if the Knicks could somehow acquire a 2015 first rounder from another team, that, Hardaway Jr, and another player or two isn’t too bad a fallback haul for Ainge.
In the video, MacMullan also mentioned the Lakers as a possibility for Rondo. Los Angeles could offer some combination of draft picks, Julius Randle, and one or both of Jeremy Lin‘s and Steve Nash‘s expiring deals, plus the Lakers probably could be talked into taking on Gerald Wallace‘s $20MM+ that he’s owed over the next two seasons as well. This wouldn’t be a bad return for Boston, especially if they could rid their books of Wallace’s deal in the process. One major hitch would be convincing Rondo to re-sign with the Lakers, which MacMullan said he wouldn’t be willing to do.
One team that I’ll throw into the mix here is the Pistons. They already have Josh Smith on board, who is close friends with Rondo and there was talk in the past that they would be interested in being teammates one day. This might give Detroit an edge in re-signing Rondo, plus it could also keep Smith happy in the short-term. For Detroit, it would give them a star presence at the point, and if Rondo was healthy it would probably guarantee the Pistons a playoff spot in the weak Eastern Conference.
Detroit also has a very intriguing piece that might get the deal done in Greg Monroe. Monroe hasn’t signed his qualifying offer yet, which would severely limit his trade possibilities, and this means that a sign-and-trade deal is still very much on the table. Monroe has demonstrated that he has no intention of re-signing with the Pistons after next season, which means Detroit risks letting him leave for nothing in return. Monroe is exactly the type of high-ceiling younger player that Ainge would be interested in, plus the Pistons have a few other pieces they could mix-and-match along with draft picks to get this deal done. As for whether or not Ainge sees Monroe worthy of a long-term, big money commitment, that is uncertain.
There’s no guarantee that Rondo gets dealt prior to the season beginning. The trade market would have been more robust prior to the NBA Draft, when more teams could have gotten involved. But if Rondo has issued an ultimatum to the Celtics, then they may have no other alternative but to find the best offer they can. Vote below for where you think Rondo will begin the season, and then feel free to expand on your choice in the comments section.
The West will surely be ultra-competitive again next year, and there could be some shuffling in the top tier. The Rockets have had an underwhelming offseason, while the Thunder and Spurs have had relatively uneventful summers. Meanwhile the Mavericks and Clippers have retooled in the hopes of forming championship contenders. Here’s a look around the conference:
Henry Walker, formerly known as Bill Walker, is considering a camp offer from the Grizzlies, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (allTwitterlinks). Walker, who has played internationally since spending the 2011/12 season with the Knicks, is also receiving interest from the Kings, Pacers, and Heat.
Bobby Brown‘s contract with his Chinese team is valued at over $1MM, tweets Pick. There is still no report on how much the NBA buyout clause is for Brown, who most recently worked out for the Lakers, but one at or below the $600K teams can pay outside of the cap would fall in line with that salary.
The Lakers might not be a championship-caliber team the way they’re currently constructed, but as the team’s Basketball Insiders salary page shows, they’re set to have plenty of cap room next summer that they can use to lure free agents to the ever-appealing purple-and-gold. We’ll round up the latest out of Lakerland below..
Michael Beasley has worked out twice for the Lakers this offseason, and it isn’t the first time that LA has shown interest in the former second overall pick. Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times looks back at when the Lakers were close to acquiring Beasley in 2012 before pulling the trigger on a trade for Jordan Hill instead.
Phil Hubbard has been named head coach of the Lakers’ D-League affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the team announced (on Twitter). Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News provides some background on Hubbard and lays out the former player’s coaching resume.
Johnny Davis won’t be part of Byron Scott‘s coaching staff in Los Angeles next season, as Medina hears (Twitter link). Davis, the former head coach of the Sixers, Magic, and Grizzlies, spent last season as an assistant under Mike D’Antoni.
Projecting the playoff teams in the Western Conference would be difficult enough if it weren’t for the unresolved saga involving Eric Bledsoe and the Suns, but Phoenix is the true X-factor in the equation as it stands. The Suns were 28-15 when Bledsoe played last season, a winning percentage of .651 that would have made them the West’s sixth seed. They were just 20-19 without him, which dragged the team down far enough to miss the playoffs. Of course, there are plenty of other unknowns still at play in the West, and we’ll round up the latest here:
The inclusion of Toney Douglas and Bobby Brown among those in Tuesday’s Lakersworkout was somewhat curious, since they both have deals to play in China, but both contracts contain NBA escape clauses, as USA Today’s Sam Amick explains. Douglas intends to head to China regardless and views the audition as an early tryout for when he returns stateside after the Chinese season ends, agent David Falk tells Amick. Brown is interested in joining the Lakers right away if given the opportunity, Amick adds, and presumably so are the rest of the hopefuls who took part in the workout.
Two Western Conference teams invited former University of Wisconsin point guard Jordan Taylor to camp, but he turned them down to take a deal with Israel’s Hapoel Holon instead, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. A trip to camp with an NBA team would have been a first for the 24-year-old, who spent summer league with the Bucks.
Here is what else is happening around the league on Wednesday evening:
Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer doesn’t foresee the Hornets burning their 15th and final guarantee on center depth behind Al Jefferson and Bismack Biyombo. Bonnell believes Charlotte would prefer to, when needed, plug Cody Zeller in at center rather than limit their roster flexibility (Twitterlinkshere).
Bonnell also quashes any talk of the Hornets using that final guarantee on Chris Douglas-Roberts, who impressed at times in 49 games in Charlotte in 2013/14 (Twitter link). With Lance Stephenson and P.J. Hairston now in the fold, the Hornets are not looking for another wing, Bonnell implies. CDR was linked to the Clippers as recently as yesterday.
Michael Beasley auditioned for the Lakers once more today, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The former No. 2 overall pick also reportedly worked out for the Lakers a few weeks ago, and the team apparently liked what it saw, so it seems as though Beasley continues to intrigue GM Mitch Kupchak and his staff.
Kennedy reported last month that several teams had expressed interest, though the Heat appear to be lukewarm on the idea of bringing him back to Miami, where he played last season and during the first two seasons of his tumultuous NBA career. The Suns made the unusual step of citing concerns about his character in their official release when they waived him as part of a buyout deal a year ago, but Beasley hasn’t seemed to stir any trouble since then. His talent is less of a question mark, and he was productive when he saw the floor last season, as he appears on the lists of the top scorers, rebounders and three-point shooters remaining on the market that I’ve compiled in the past two weeks.
The Lakers can only hand out the minimum salary, though that’s all Beasley made in Miami last season, when he stuck with the team for all of 2013/14 despite having signed a contract without any guaranteed salary. L.A. is carrying just 13 deals known to be guaranteed, so there’d be room to give Beasley a decent chance to make the opening-night roster.
Eric Pincus has once more updated his Basketball Insiders salary pages, and included in his changes are a few tidbits of previously unreported news on players who’ve signed this summer. We’ll pass along those items here:
The two-year deal that Jerrelle Benimon signed with the Nuggets is for the minimum salary and is partially guaranteed for $35K this season, while his 2015/16 salary is non-guaranteed, Pincus reports (Twitter link).
The Blazers gave Diante Garrett a $30K guarantee in the first year of his two-year minimum salary deal, but the second year is non-guaranteed, Pincus notes on Twitter.
Patric Young‘s two-year deal with the Pelicans is a minimum-salary arrangement that’s partially guaranteed for $55K this season, but it’s otherwise non-guaranteed, Pincus notes (Twitter link). Darius Miller‘s dealwith the team is partially guaranteed for $400K this year but otherwise non-guaranteed, Pincus adds.
Both Will Cherry‘s and Jordan Hamilton‘s salaries are guaranteed for $25K for the 2014/15 season, Pincus tweets, adding that Hamilton’s pact is for the minimum. The Raptorssigned Cherry to a two-year minimum salary deal, and Hamilton to a one-year arrangement. Cherry’s salary for 2015/16 is non-guaranteed, Pincus adds.
Dwight Powell‘s deal with the Cavaliers is fully guaranteed for the first season, with the second year non-guaranteed, Pincus reports (Twitter link). The contract covers just those two seasons, as Pincus notes.
The Spurs‘ two-year deal with JaMychal Green is for the minimum salary and has a $60K guarantee for this coming season, Pincus reports (Twitter link). It’s non-guaranteed for 2015/16, according to Pincus.
Sim Bhullar‘s deal is for one year and comes with a guarantee of $35K, while Eric Moreland‘s three-year contract is guaranteed for $200K this coming season and is otherwise non-guaranteed, Pincus notes (Twitter link). Both players are with the Kings, and, according to Pincus, make the minimum.
The two-year, minimum-salary deal that Jordan Clarksonsigned with the Lakers is fully guaranteed for this coming season, but the 2015/16 season is non-guaranteed, Pincus reports (Twitter link).
8:36pm: It is still unknown whether Clarkson’s contract is fully, partially, or non-guaranteed, but the total deal is for two years at the minimum salary, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
4:26pm: The Lakers have signed rookie Jordan Clarkson, according to a team release. Clarkson was the 46th pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, acquired by Los Angeles from the Wizards on draft night.
Terms of the deal weren’t announced, but it is presumably for the minimum, considering the Lakers are above the cap and have no exceptions to use. The 6’5″ guard averaged 15.8 PPG, 1.2 APG and 5.0 RPG for the Lakers in Summer League, with a slash line of .424/.421/.882 after putting up 17.5 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 3.8 RPG with a .501./281./831 slash line in his junior season with Missouri.
Clarkson’s path to minutes in Los Angeles will be affected by Steve Nash‘s health and how coach Byron Scott determines to use his roster. Scott was open to using Clarkson as a ball-handler when interviewed by Mike Trudell of Lakers.com. Jeremy Lin, Nash, and Kobe Bryant stand as the guards ahead of Clarkson on the roster, with a handful of guard/forward wing players established in front of him as well.