Bucks Rumors

Fischer: Valanicunas Among Several Centers On Trade Block

Jonas Valanciunas of the Wizards may be the most “attainable” and desirable trade candidate among centers this season, but he’s certainly not the only big man who could be on the move prior to the February 6 deadline, league sources tell Jake Fischer (Substack link via The Stein Line).

According to Fischer, several teams are looking for help in the middle, including the Lakers, Clippers, Bucks and Pelicans. The Clips and Bucks are interested in reserve centers to complement their starters (Ivica Zubac and Brook Lopez, respectively), with Lopez also drawing trade interest since last summer.

The Warriors are another team contemplating a trade involving big men, with Kevon Looney garnering “plenty of interest” from rival clubs, Fischer writes. Like Lopez, who earns $23MM in 2024/25, Looney is on an expiring contract ($8MM).

Confirming a recent report from Stefan Bondy, Fischer says Knicks center Jericho Sims is viewed as a potential trade candidate due to his inconsistent playing time as a backup this season. Fischer also notes that New York gauged injured center Mitchell Robinson‘s trade value around this time last year.

Despite his lengthy injury history, Trail Blazers center Robert Williams may be the “most coveted” big man on the market outside of Valanciunas, but it’s no lock that Portland will end up moving him, according to Fischer’s sources. If the Blazers do trade a member of their frontcourt, expect it to come closer to the deadline, Fischer adds.

Here’s more from Fischer:

  • Like Clint Capela, whom we highlighted in another story, Nikola Vucevic is a starting center who could be on the move, but it’s unclear if the Bulls will be successful in their attempts to trade the two-time All-Star, in part due to his contract ($20MM in ’24/25, $21.5MM in ’25/26).
  • Valanicunas, Williams and Walker Kessler are among the big men on the Lakers‘ trade wish list, sources tell Fischer. However, the Jazz have declined multiple offers for Kessler, so it’s difficult to decipher if Utah is actually willing to trade him or is simply gauging what he might bring in return.
  • Chris Boucher (Raptors), Day’Ron Sharpe (Nets), Trey Lyles (Kings), Daniel Theis (Pelicans) and Nick Richards (Hornets) are also “known to be on the market,” according to Fischer.

Antetokounmpo Headlines All-Tournament Team For NBA Cup

The NBA announced the All-Tournament Team for the NBA Cup on Thursday, with Giannis Antetokounmpo headlining the five-player group (Twitter link). The Bucks superstar was named tournament MVP after Milwaukee defeated Oklahoma City in Tuesday’s final.

Here’s the full team, along with the amount of votes each player received (in parentheses) from a group of 20 media members:

All five players advanced to at least the semifinals of the league’s second in-season tournament. Antetokounmpo and Gilgeous-Alexander were unanimous selections, while Lillard fell one vote shy.

According to the full voting results, Thunder big man Isaiah Hartenstein (5), Magic forward Franz Wagner (5), Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (4) and Thunder forward Jalen Williams (3) narrowly missed out on making the team. Six other players received one vote apiece.

The voting for the team is based on each player’s performance over the entire NBA Cup, including group play and the knockout round games. The Bucks went undefeated (7-0) to claim the trophy.

Lakers Notes: Ham, James, Christie, Wood

Darvin Ham, now back with the Bucks as an assistant, admitted to Marc J. Spears of Andscape that he was stunned in May when the Lakers fired him after two seasons.

“To do as well as I did, I swear to God, anywhere else I’m probably looking at an extension with what I did,” Ham said. “I’m not talking about feelings. I’m talking actual facts. They go from not making it to the playoffs to the final four in the NBA, the conference finals. And then you win the in-season tournament, navigate through all the injuries and win both of your play-in games to get to the playoffs. People always talk about us losing to Denver, but they never talk about how we got to Denver.”

Ham received criticism for his coaching methods and in-game strategy and there were reports the team’s stars felt the same way. Ham was blindsided by the negativity.

“I’m not a mudslinger and I’m not going to wait until I’m 51 to become one,” Ham said. “You feel like you did enough to sustain in one spot. I felt like I did that. I get it. The franchise I’m working for, the expectations can be unrealistic at certain points in time.

“To be 33-49 when I was hired, with an unbalanced roster, turn that around, make it to the Western Conference Finals. The very next year we were a plus-10 in wins, going from 33-49 to 43-39. And guys got paid on my watch. It went from a lot of unknown scenarios to I think we have a little bit of a core. And then we got hit with the injury bug like crazy last [season]. We might have been top five in games lost to injury.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

  • LeBron James is listed as questionable to play against Sacramento tonight due to left foot injury management, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin tweets. James has only missed two games this season, but both of those absences have come in the last 11 days.
  • Max Christie has suddenly become a key member of the rotation, averaging 25.1 minutes per game since November 15 and getting an audition as a starter as of late. He didn’t contribute much offensively on Sunday against Memphis but did an excellent job guarding Ja Morant, Khobi Price of the Orange County Register writes. “It’s a lot of confidence,” Christie said. “I’ve been thrown in the fire guarding a lot of really good players. Trae Young, Ja Morant, to name a few. So it’s definitely a big confidence booster for me.”
  • Christian Wood has yet to make his season debut but he will take a significant step in his rehab from knee surgery during the team’s road trip, according to Price. Wood will remain in Southern California and do live drills against the team’s coaching associates. “He’s doing more on the court with obviously just individual work,” coach JJ Redick said. “His Alter-G (anti-gravity treadmill) stuff, getting to 95%, 100% on the Alter-G. He’s had progress and it’s looking like it’ll be soon. Barring a setback, he’ll be back.”

Central Notes: Bucks, LaVine, Reed, LeVert

Perhaps wary of the fate of the Lakers and Pacers, who both struggled in the immediate aftermath of the finale of last season’s inaugural in-season tournament, the Bucks‘ post-game celebration after winning Tuesday’s NBA Cup final was decidedly muted, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic.

The NBA had set up a champagne celebration room for the winner of Tuesday’s game, but it went untouched following Milwaukee’s victory (Twitter link via Ben Golliver of The Washington Post).

The NBA puts a big tournament in front of you, and you go win that motherf—-er. It’s as simple as that,” forward/center Bobby Portis said as part of a larger quote. “They put something in front of you. You set a goal. You chop wood every day. Carry water. And eventually, you get here and you get a medal around your neck. … And then you get back to work on Thursday, which is what we signed up for. It’s part of the gig.

Here’s more from the Central:

  • Citing a source, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times says there’s “light momentum” on the possibility of the Nuggets pursuing a trade for Bulls star Zach LaVine. According to Cowley, Chicago’s front office remains steadfast in its desire to avoid adding draft capital to move off LaVine’s maximum-salary contract, though the team is open to potential pick swaps.
  • Paul Reed‘s new one-year deal with the Pistons is fully guaranteed, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype confirms (via Twitter). Reed, who was waived and then re-signed for financial flexibility, will receive the prorated portion of the veteran’s minimum.
  • He hasn’t received much, if any, national recognition, but Caris LeVert is playing arguably the best — and most efficient — basketball of his career for the Cavaliers and is making a strong case for Sixth Man of the Year consideration. Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscriber link) has the story and quotes on LeVert, who will be an unrestricted free agent in 2025.

Warriors Remain Atop 2024 NBA Franchise Valuations

The Warriors remain the NBA’s most valuable team, according to Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico, who unveiled the website’s updated NBA franchise valuations for 2024 on Wednesday.

Badenhausen projects the Warriors’ value at $9.14 billion, making them one of three teams to surpass the $8 billion mark this year. The Knicks have a projected worth of $8.3 billion, while the Lakers come in at $8.07 billion, per Sportico. Only the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys – at $10.3 billion – have a higher valuation than Golden State among North American sports teams, says Badenhausen.

While Sportico’s figures suggest the Warriors, Knicks, and Lakers are worth significantly more than the fourth-place team (the Nets at $5.7 billion), the average value of an NBA franchise is up to $4.6 billion, with no team worth less than $3 billion.

That average has increased by 15% since Sportico released its 2023 valuations last December and has nearly doubled since the site published its first NBA franchise valuations four years ago, when the average was $2.37 billion.

The NBA’s new $77 billion media rights deal and a 15% increase in team sponsorship are among the factors contributing to the rising valuations of the league’s franchises, according to Badenhausen, who notes that a post-COVID boom in concerts and other major events has been good news for team owners who also control their arenas.

NBA team owners operated 10 of the world’s 20 highest-grossing concert venues in 2024, with the Nets’ Barclays Center coming in at No. 1, says Badenhausen. The Nets’ valuation is up 43% this year, per Sportico, easily the largest year-over-year increase among the 30 NBA franchises.

When Forbes put out its NBA franchise valuations in October, it pegged the average value of a team at $4.4 billion. In the past, we’ve used Forbes as our primary source for NBA franchise valuations, but with Badenhausen making the move from Forbes to Sportico in recent years and the outlet establishing itself as a go-to resource for sports business news, we begun highlighting Sportico’s projections as of 2023.

Of course, it’s worth noting that figures from Sportico, Forbes, or any other media outlet are just estimates and often don’t quite match up with the sale prices for franchises that change hands. But these projections are usually in the right ballpark and remain useful for getting a sense of the league’s most and least valuable teams.

Here’s Sportico’s full list of NBA franchise valuations for 2024:

  1. Golden State Warriors: $9.14 billion
  2. New York Knicks: $8.3 billion
  3. Los Angeles Lakers: $8.07 billion
  4. Brooklyn Nets: $5.7 billion
  5. Los Angeles Clippers: $5.68 billion
  6. Boston Celtics: $5.66 billion
  7. Chicago Bulls: $5.56 billion
  8. Miami Heat: $5 billion
  9. Houston Rockets: $4.77 billion
  10. Toronto Raptors: $4.66 billion
  11. Philadelphia 76ers: $4.57 billion
  12. Dallas Mavericks: $4.46 billion
  13. Phoenix Suns: $4.32 billion
  14. Sacramento Kings: $4.11 billion
  15. Atlanta Hawks: $4.07 billion
  16. Denver Nuggets: $4.06 billion
  17. Washington Wizards: $3.98 billion
  18. Cleveland Cavaliers: $3.95 billion
  19. Milwaukee Bucks: $3.91 billion
  20. San Antonio Spurs: $3.79 billion
  21. Indiana Pacers: $3.74 billion
  22. Utah Jazz: $3.67 billion
  23. Portland Trail Blazers: $3.6 billion
  24. Oklahoma City Thunder: $3.55 billion
  25. Orlando Magic: $3.46 billion
  26. Detroit Pistons: $3.45 billion
  27. Charlotte Hornets: $3.39 billion
  28. Minnesota Timberwolves: $3.29 billion
  29. New Orleans Pelicans: $3.09 billion
  30. Memphis Grizzlies: $3.06 billion

As Badenhausen notes, Sportico’s projections are based on a control sale price, rather than limited stake purchases. No NBA franchise saw its majority control change hands in 2024, but that could change in 2025, with control of the Celtics up for sale.

According to Badenhausen, team executives and investors have predicted a sale price ranging from $4.5 billion to $6.5 billion for the Celtics. The final valuation will be determined by a number of factors, including how many bidders are on the mix, what percentage of the team they can buy, and whether current governor Wyc Grousbeck insists on remaining in that role until 2028, which he has indicated is his goal.

Adam Silver Talks NBA Ratings, Europe, CBA, Las Vegas

Speaking to Joe Vardon and Sam Amick of The Athletic and other media outlets on Tuesday ahead of the NBA Cup championship game, NBA commissioner Adam Silver admitted that the league’s television ratings are “down a bit” this season, but expressed confidence that interest in the league remains strong.

“If you look at other data points, in terms of our business, for example, we’ve just come off the last two years of the highest attendance in the history of this league,” Silver said. “We’re at a point where our social media audience is at the highest of any league and continuing to grow exponentially. So, it’s not a lack of interest in this game.”

Silver pointed out that the NBA isn’t the only league dealing with a decline in traditional television ratings. According to Sports Media Watch, while the ratings for NBA national broadcasts are down 19% compared to the same period last year, men’s college basketball (21%), the NHL (28%), and women’s college basketball (38%) have seen more significant ratings dips. Viewership for college football games has also dropped across all networks this fall, per Sports Media Watch, albeit by single-digit percentages.

“We’re almost at the inflection point where people are watching more programming on streaming than they are in traditional television,” Silver said. “And it’s a reason why for our new television deals, which will enter into next year, every game is going to be available on a streaming service. And as we move to streaming service, putting aside how the actual game is played on the floor, it’s going to allow us from a production standpoint to do all kinds of things that you can’t do through traditional television. All kinds of new functionality, all kinds of new options and screens that are available.”

Some fans and league observers have suggested that a focus on analytics, which has led to a significant increase in three-point shots, has hurt the game’s appeal. According to Vardon and Amick, Silver said moving back the three-point line isn’t something the NBA is seriously considering, but he made it clear the league is having “discussions about the style of basketball” and is open to rule tweaks that wouldn’t drastically change the game.

“It’s not unique to the NBA, where analytics start to be too controlling and create situations where players are doing seemingly unnatural things because they’re being directed to do something that is a more efficient shot,” Silver said. “And part of what we’re focusing on, too, is that what makes these players so incredible is the joy they bring to playing the game and the freestyle notion of the game too.”

Here are a few more highlights from Silver’s media session on Tuesday:

  • Silver confirmed that the NBA and FIBA have been discussing launching a new professional league in Europe. “We’re not ready to make any public announcements. We haven’t made any internal decisions yet, but I do think there continues to be an enormous opportunity to take basketball to another level in Europe,” Silver said, per The Athletic. “I think the quality of the basketball in Europe has been fantastic. Many of our top players, of course, are from Europe, but we think there is more of a commercial and fan opportunity to create something special in Europe.”
  • Responding to NBA team executives who believe the trade rules in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement have had unintended consequences that have made it too challenging to make deals, Silver suggested those consequences were, in fact, intended, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “I understand the frustration of some of the general managers because particularly if you go over the apron, we’ve cut down on your flexibility,” Silver said. “But that was the very intent of the second apron and with the goal being to have a better distribution of star talent around the league. And I think we’ve been successful in doing that.”
  • As Reynolds relays, the commissioner pointed to the Bucks (a second apron team) and the Thunder (operating under both aprons) ahead of the NBA Cup final as proof that teams can still succeed using a variety of cap/spending strategies under the new system. “There’s many different ways to win,” Silver said.
  • Asked about whether Las Vegas will continue to host the NBA Cup semifinals and final going forward, Silver acknowledged that some teams have expressed interest in playing those games in their home markets. While the league isn’t shutting the door on that idea, it would make scheduling more complicated, according to the commissioner, who said he likes the job Vegas has done as a host the past two years. “You start to build in tradition, you have a lot of fans who can circle these dates on their calendar and plan to come to Las Vegas, plan a holiday around it,” Silver said. “I think the teams are on both sides. I think they like the idea of winning that opportunity to play at home. But then you’ve got to move tickets very short term. We have some experience doing that in the playoffs, but this is a little bit different.”

The Bucks Players Who Benefited Most From NBA Cup Prize Money

The Bucks‘ team salary this season is approximately $193MM, which is over the second tax apron and far exceeds the $160.4MM on the Thunder‘s books.

However, only two players on Oklahoma City’s roster are on minimum-salary contracts and just three of 15 Thunder players on standard deals are earning less than $3MM this season. By comparison, Milwaukee has eight players with salaries below $3MM, plus a ninth earning just a hair above $3MM. Seven of those nine players are earning their respective minimums.

While the $514,970 bonus for winning the NBA Cup may be a drop in the bucket for maximum-salary Bucks stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, it represents a significant pay raise for the players on the lower two-thirds of Milwaukee’s cap sheet, as well as the players on two-way contracts who will receive bonuses worth $257,485 apiece.

[RELATED: Details On NBA Cup Prize Money For 2024]

The NBA Cup prize money results in at least a 17% raise for each of the following Bucks players, whose 2024/25 salaries are noted in parentheses:

Players receiving a $514,970 bonus:

Players receiving a $257,485 bonus:

The bonuses for Smith and the Bucks’ two-way players represent a raise of roughly 44.5% on their respective base salaries.

None of this prize money will count against the salary cap, so the Bucks’ team salary for cap, tax, and apron purposes remains unchanged, as do the team salaries for Oklahoma City and the other six clubs who made the knockout round of the IST. Their prize money is as follows:

  • Oklahoma City Thunder: $205,988 per player ($102,994 for two-way players)
  • Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets: $102,994 per player ($51,497 for two-ways)
  • Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Orlando Magic: $51,497 per player ($25,749 for two-ways)

Giannis Antetokounmpo Named 2024 NBA Cup MVP

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2024 NBA Cup on Tuesday night after leading Milwaukee to a 97-81 victory over the Thunder in the championship game in Las Vegas (Twitter links).

Antetokounmpo was selected as the MVP by all 20 media members who voted on the award and also received three of the five fan votes (Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got the remaining two).

The two-time regular season MVP guided the Bucks to victory on Tuesday with a 26-point, 19-rebound, 10-assist triple-double. He also added three blocked shots and a pair of steals.

“I mean it’s… I could try but you know, I’ll just keep it simple: He’s the best player in the world,” Bucks center Brook Lopez told Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the game in trying to describe Giannis’ play. “He just keeps finding ways to get better in the offseason, in-season, every day, every game, it’s just so impressive.”

The MVP award is based on Antetokounmpo’s performance over the entire NBA Cup, including group play and the previous knockout round games. He averaged 30.5 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 7.7 APG, and 2.8 BPG across six NBA Cup contests as the Bucks went undefeated (7-0) in the in-season tournament.

As Owczarski notes, Antetokunmpo and last year’s in-season tournament Most Valuable Player LeBron James are now the two players in league history who have won MVP awards for the regular season, NBA Finals, All-Star Game, and NBA Cup.

While the NBA Cup championship game doesn’t count toward the Bucks’ regular season record or toward Antetokounmpo’s regular season stats, Tuesday’s win served as an exclamation point on the team’s early season turnaround — Milwaukee has won 13 of 16 games (including the NBA Cup final) since opening the season with a 2-8 record.

Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, is making a strong case for his third regular season MVP award. His 32.7 points per game lead the NBA and he’s also in the top five in rebounds per game (11.5) and field goal percentage (61.4%).

Eastern Notes: Middleton, Sheppard, Nesmith, Thompson, Harris

Khris Middleton is now listed as doubtful to play in the NBA Cup final between the Bucks and Thunder tonight due to an illness, ESPN’s Jamal Collier tweets. Middleton had been listed as probable on Monday. Middleton has only appeared in four games this season after undergoing surgery on both ankles during the offseason.

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Pacers guard Ben Sheppard, who has missed the last 14 games with a strained left oblique, participated in a live practice on Tuesday, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star reports. Coach Rick Carlisle remains uncertain when Sheppard will return to action, though it could happen soon. “He’s making progress,” Carlisle said. “(He’ll be back) sometime in the not-too-distant future, we hope. He went through some things. He’s been doing some contact work. He’s getting closer and he’s been able to do things without any setbacks to this point. We won’t know about today until tomorrow.” Forward Aaron Nesmith, who has been out since Nov. 1 with a left ankle sprain, is also making progress but has not returned to live action, Dopirak adds.
  • Pistons second-year forward Ausar Thompson on Monday delivered his finest performance of the season, supplying 19 points, nine rebounds, four steals and a block in 27 minutes during the club’s overtime win against Miami. Thompson, who started in place of injured Tobias Harris, seems to be rounding into form after being medically cleared from a blood clotting issue and making his season debut on Nov. 25. “I thought he was really good on both ends of the floor and I think there’s more to come,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff told Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press.
  • Magic guard Gary Harris participated in practice Tuesday, according to Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel. The veteran guard has missed the last nine games with a left hamstring strain. “We’ll see how he responds, but as of right now just watching him walk off the court he looks OK,” coach Jamahl Mosley said.

Central Notes: Atkinson, Okoro, Bucks, Giannis, Duarte

Visiting Brooklyn on Monday for the first time as the Cavaliers‘ head coach, Kenny Atkinson – who coached the Nets from 2016-20 – picked up a resounding win over his old team, with Cleveland blowing out Brooklyn by a score of 130-101. Magnanimous in victory, Atkinson made it clear he harbored no ill will toward the Nets for dismissing him midway through the 2019/20 season, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

“I don’t look at it that way. I just look at it as part of the story, right, part of your growth,” Atkinson said. “You have good things happen, you have setbacks, and — it’s like a player, how do you bounce back? And it was definitely a bounce back. And in the long run, the journey after Brooklyn really helped me, helped me grow as a coach. Who knows? If that doesn’t happen, maybe I’m not in Cleveland; I don’t improve as much as a coach if that didn’t happen. So I look at it more as a positive.”

While Atkinson wasn’t necessarily seeking revenge or vindication entering Monday’s matchup, he admitted that facing his former team provided an extra layer of motivation.

“I’m competitive, right? And when you have setbacks, you remember things, right?” Atkinson said. “And players do the same thing. If something happened or a team beat you or you get fired, you’re motivated. You’re motivated to prove people wrong; and that’s kind of how I took it. It’s a chip on your shoulder or whatever you want to call it. But there’s definitely some of that. I think any competitor feels the same way.”

Here’s more from around the Central:

  • Isaac Okoro, who has been the Cavaliers‘ starting small forward since November 4 with Max Strus still sidelined, will undergo further testing on a right shoulder injury he sustained in Monday’s win over Brooklyn, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required).
  • Ahead of the Bucks‘ appearance in the final of the NBA Cup on Tuesday, Jamal Collier of ESPN and Eric Nehm of The Athletic explore how the team bounced back from its 2-8 start and the role Giannis Antetokounmpo has played in the turnaround, not just as an MVP-level performer but as a more confident leader. “He was being vocal, talking about things he wanted (on the court), talking before the game, things that the first couple years he didn’t really do as often as he does now,” Bobby Portis, who has been with the Bucks since 2020, told Collier. “It’s cool to see guys’ leadership go to another level. Especially at a time of the season when it was critical for us to get back to at least playing some good ball.”
  • Bucks rookies Tyler Smith and AJ Johnson aren’t playing much so far this season, but they’re poised to supplement their first-year salaries with lucrative bonuses as a result of the team’s NBA Cup run and are enjoying being part of the experience in Las Vegas. Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the story and the quotes from the two 20-year-olds.
  • The Bulls have assigned fourth-year wing Chris Duarte to the G League for the first time this season ahead of the Winter Showcase, per the team (Twitter link). Duarte, who was acquired in the DeMar DeRozan trade in July, has played sparingly for Chicago this season and is on an expiring contract, so he figures to be a trade candidate at the deadline — playing for the Windy City Bulls in Orlando at the G League Showcase, which begins Thursday, will give him an opportunity to try to catch the eye of scouts and executives from around the league.