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Spurs, Hornets Expected To Be Among Top Deadline Sellers

January 17th, 2023 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs and Hornets are viewed as two of the NBA’s “assured” sellers in this season’s trade market, Shams Charania of The Athletic writes in his latest Inside Pass column.

In San Antonio, veterans Jakob Poeltl, Doug McDermott, and Josh Richardson are considered the team’s top trade candidates. Poeltl and Richardson are on expiring contracts, while McDermott is under contract for one more season at the same salary he’s earning this year ($13.75MM).

Confirming a previous report indicating that Poeltl is generating significant interest, Charania says the Raptors and Celtics are among the teams that have shown interest in the big man. According to Charania, Poeltl is widely respected within the organization and the Spurs would like him to be part of their long-term future, but they’ll have to take into account his price tag as a free agent and the risk of losing him for nothing this summer.

The Spurs have had a standing extension offer of four years and $58MM (his in-season max) on the table for Poeltl since before the season, per Charania, but the center has passed on that offer and is expected to do much better on the open market. Rival executives believe he could approach $20MM per year on his next deal, Charania adds.

San Antonio will have a ton of cap room available this summer, so it’s not as if the franchise won’t have the means to retain Poeltl. However, there’s a belief among rival teams that the 27-year-old’s desire to play for a contender could be an important factor as he weighs his future, Charania notes.

As for the Hornets, Mason Plumlee, Kelly Oubre, and Jalen McDaniels – all on track for unrestricted free agency in 2023 – are considered candidates to be moved. According to Charania, Charlotte is also expected to listen to inquiries on guard Terry Rozier, even though he’s still under contract for three years beyond this one.

More sellers besides Charlotte and San Antonio figure to emerge in the coming weeks, but for now, only two other teams are with them in the NBA’s cellar, well out of play-in contention. Those teams are the Pistons and Rockets.

Multiple recent reports have suggested that Detroit has set a high asking price for veterans like Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks, but the team is believed to be open to conversations. The Raptors, Lakers, Pelicans, Bucks, Cavaliers, and Mavericks are among the clubs that have registered interest in Bogdanovic, league sources tell The Athletic.

As for the Rockets, their roster isn’t exactly loaded with expendable vets. Shooting guard Eric Gordon is the team’s most obvious trade candidate, but Houston is seeking either a good young player or a first-round pick in exchange for Gordon, says Charania.

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Serge Ibaka Still Away From Bucks

January 15th, 2023 at 11:59am CST by Luke Adams
  • Bucks big man Serge Ibaka wasn’t with the team on its four-game road trip this past week due to personal reasons, and it doesn’t sound like that will change anytime soon. According to Eric Nehm of The Athletic (Twitter link), head coach Mike Budenholzer said on Saturday that he doesn’t expect Ibaka to rejoin the club when it returns home. The Bucks will play in Milwaukee on Monday and Tuesday before heading back out on the road.
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21 More NBA Players Become Trade-Eligible

January 15th, 2023 at 8:23am CST by Luke Adams

Today is Sunday, January 15, which means that nearly two dozen players who signed free agent contracts meeting specific criteria this past offseason are now eligible to be traded.

Most offseason signees became trade-eligible on December 15, but players who met the following criteria were ineligible to be moved for an extra month:

  1. The player re-signed with his previous team.
  2. He got a raise of at least 20%.
  3. His salary is worth more than the minimum.
  4. His team was over the cap and used Bird or Early Bird rights to sign him.

The following players met that criteria and are eligible to be traded as of Sunday:

(* Players marked with an asterisk have the ability to veto trades.)

Most of the players on NBA rosters are now eligible to be moved, though a small handful still can’t be dealt. That group includes Thunder guard Isaiah Joe, who becomes trade-eligible on Monday, Bucks swingman Pat Connaughton (trade-eligible on Wednesday), and Thunder forward Kenrich Williams (trade-eligible on Friday).

There are also several players who won’t become trade-eligible before this season’s February 9 deadline, including Lakers star LeBron James. Players on 10-day contracts are also ineligible to be dealt.

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Injury Notes: Jokic, Giannis, Turner, Capela

January 14th, 2023 at 11:54am CST by Luke Adams

The right wrist injury that sidelined Nuggets star Nikola Jokic on Friday has been “bothering him for a while,” head coach Michael Malone said before the game, per Mike Singer of The Denver Post (Twitter links). However, the team doesn’t seem to have any long-term concerns about that wrist issue, which doesn’t appear to be serious, Singer adds.

While it may be true that Jokic has been dealing with the ailment for a while, the impact on his performance hasn’t exactly been noticeable. In his last 10 games, he has averaged 24.9 PPG, 11.2 RPG, and 10.9 APG on .625/.524/.889 shooting.

Jokic and the Nuggets made the decision to sit him on Friday to let the wrist “calm down” a little, according to Malone, who expressed optimism that the two-time MVP will be available again on Sunday.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the league:

  • Another former MVP has been dealing with a nagging injury, and it will sideline him on Saturday — Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is out for a second consecutive game due to left knee soreness, head coach Mike Budenholzer confirmed (Twitter link via Eric Nehm of The Athletic). Antetokounmpo scored single-digit points last Friday for the first time all season, then did it again on Wednesday, so it certainly seems like the knee pain has been bothering him.
  • Pacers center Myles Turner missed a second straight game on Friday due to back spasms, and while head coach Rick Carlisle doesn’t expect to be a long-term problem, he said the big man is unlikely to play on Saturday, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “It will be days, not hours, how about that?” Carlisle said. “There’s no concern that this will be anything but a minor thing. (Saturday) is maybe a reach. … Next week is more likely, but we’ll see.”
  • Hawks center Clint Capela missed his ninth consecutive game on Friday due to a right calf strain. Capela is making steady progress, but is still feeling some soreness in his calf, and as long as that’s the case, the injury isn’t healed, according to head coach Nate McMillan, who said there’s still no timeline for the 28-year-old’s return (Twitter links via Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal Constitution).
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Central Notes: Green, Terry, Middleton, Haliburton

January 12th, 2023 at 8:52pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Bulls forward Javonte Green underwent a right knee scope on Wednesday, and Chicago reportedly expects him to return in around a month. After that news broke, head coach Billy Donovan explained why the team and Green opted for surgery, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.

“He obviously had that bone bruise, which was causing him some problems,’’ Donovan said. “He did swell from it. Medical guys thought that this was something that could be managed if we backed off of him. They had a bunch of different therapies that they could try to do. They did that, and there really wasn’t much progress after a week.

“Given Javonte’s options with where we’re at in the season … obviously it was Javonte’s decision to do it, but I didn’t think from what I got from medical, and even what I got from Javonte, that there was a lot of progress with the interaction of just resting him,” Donovan continued.

Green is on the second year of a two-season, $3.5MM contract he signed with the Bulls, and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. The 6’5″ vet has emerged as a tenacious, if undersized, defender, mostly playing small forward and power forward.

There’s more out of the Central Division:

  • Rookie Bulls wing Dalen Terry is not currently in the rotation, even with the team missing key swingmen like DeMar DeRozan and Green. He is hoping to carve out rotation minutes at some point this season, Cowley writes in a separate piece. “I’m definitely anxious to get playing time,’’ Terry said. “With the position I’m in right now, it’s just like you’ve gotta embrace it, but you can’t ever get comfortable. I can’t get comfortable with learning every day and not playing. I just have to find that balance.’’
  • Bucks All-Star small forward Khris Middleton practiced with Milwaukee on Tuesday and was involved in the club’s subsequent shootaround Wednesday, but will require more practice reps before he can make his return to the floor, writes Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He continues to try to progress from the knee soreness that has kept him shelved since December 15. “It’s the next ramp-up step in returning to playing,” Middleton said. “It went well. Really, no swelling that came back yesterday, feel pretty good today. I know people get frustrated, but it’s like a day-by-day thing where I have to put myself through these various steps and have to sustain it for a lot of time in order to be back playing without pain or swelling.”
  • Pacers star point guard Tyrese Haliburton suffered a left elbow sprain and left knee bone contusion, and is set to miss at least the next two weeks before he is reassessed. Bob Kravitz of The Athletic writes that the team seems to have found a long-term keeper in Haliburton, a player who might actually love Indiana back for once, much like Hall of Fame shooting guard Reggie Miller, who spent all of his 18 NBA seasons trying to bring a title to the Pacers.
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Fischer’s Latest: Jazz, Suns, McDaniels, Sixers, Holmes

January 12th, 2023 at 12:30pm CST by Rory Maher

League personnel expect the Jazz to become a seller ahead of the February 9 trade deadline, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, who reports that Utah has received a lot of interest in Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt. The Jazz are looking for a first-round pick in exchange for either player, sources tell Fischer.

A couple weeks ago, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported about three-team trade talks between the Jazz, Suns and Hawks that involved Beasley, Vanderbilt, John Collins and Jae Crowder. Fischer hears from sources that the Jazz and Hawks also discussed a more straightforward deal, with Beasley and Vanderbilt heading to Atlanta in exchange for Collins, but suggests that the deal may have fallen apart when Utah asked for a first-rounder as well.

Echoing a report from Marc Stein, Fischer says Jordan Clarkson “is not considered a trade candidate at this time.” The Jazz want to keep the veteran guard, but are currently limited in what they can offer him in an extension, so he is expected to hit free agency.

Here’s more from Fischer:

  • Fischer suggests that a three-team deal is the most likely pathway for Crowder to eventually be dealt from the Suns. The Bucks are known to be very interested in Crowder, with Fischer reiterating that Milwaukee has been dangling Grayson Allen to rival teams. Charania reported a couple days ago that the Suns are interested in Hornets forward Jalen McDaniels, but sources tell Fischer that the fourth-year forward is a favorite of GM Mitch Kupchak, so Allen and second-round picks is unlikely to be enough for Charlotte.
  • Rival teams have gotten the impression that the Suns are looking for another ball-handler at guard, potentially a long-term replacement for point guard Chris Paul, Fischer adds.
  • Like Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Fischer says the Wizards aren’t currently open to trading Kyle Kuzma, as the team hopes to re-sign him in free agency.
  • Unsurprisingly, Fischer writes that the Sixers will be actively looking for roster upgrades ahead of a playoff push. However, if that doesn’t come to fruition, Fischer suggests Philadelphia might dump a smaller salary to dip below the luxury tax threshold, pointing to Furkan Korkmaz, Matisse Thybulle and Jaden Springer as potential contracts that could be moved.
  • Kings backup center Richaun Holmes is available on the trade market, sources tell Fischer. The 29-year-old is in the second year of a four-year, $46MM deal, but has fallen out of Sacramento’s rotation under new head coach Mike Brown, averaging just 2.7 PPG and 2.0 RPG in 26 games (9.0 MPG). He averaged 14.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG and 1.6 BPG in 2020/21, so it’s possible a rival team might view him as a bounce-back candidate, but there’s no question that his value has declined.
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Brook Lopez On Future With Bucks: “Can’t Imagine Being Anywhere Else”

January 11th, 2023 at 12:29pm CST by Luke Adams

Few NBA players are enjoying more successful contract years than Bucks center Brook Lopez, who has bounced back after missing most of last season due to a back injury and has established himself as a legitimate candidate for Defensive Player of the Year consideration.

On track for unrestricted free agency in the offseason, Lopez spoke to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype about his future and expressed a desire to remain in Milwaukee for the foreseeable future.

“I love it here,” Lopez said on Monday. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity the Bucks gave me five years ago to come here and be a part of something special. We’ve had a great time. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

Lopez spent the first nine years of his NBA career with the Nets, then was a Laker for a single season in 2017/18. He signed as a free agent with the Bucks in the summer of 2018 and has been with the franchise since then, earning an All-Defensive nod in 2020 and winning a championship in 2021 as Milwaukee’s starting center.

Lopez is no longer the 20-point-per-game scorer he was during his New Jersey and Brooklyn days, but he’s having one of the best seasons of his career in 2022/23, averaging 14.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 2.6 BPG on .505/.381/.788 shooting through 39 games (30.3 MPG).

As Scotto details, Lopez leads the NBA in contested shots and total blocks as the anchor of a Bucks defense that ranks third in the league in defensive rating (109.4). Teammates Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday advocated on Monday for Lopez’s Defensive Player of the Year candidacy and the big man admitted that he has thought about winning the award.

“It’s definitely a goal of mine,” Lopez told Scotto. “Obviously, I’m a team-first player who wants the team to be successful. We want to win a championship. That’s our main goal. It definitely would be a personal point of pride for me, and it’s a goal for myself.”

Lopez, who is earning approximately $13.9MM in the final season of the four-year contract he signed with Milwaukee in 2019, will remain extension-eligible until June 30. The Bucks would probably be reluctant to sign the 34-year-old to a long-term deal, but tacking a year or two onto his current contract seems viable.

If he were to sign an in-season extension, Lopez would be eligible for a 20% raise on this year’s salary, with 8% raises for any additional years beyond that. That would work out to $16.7MM for a one-year extension or $34.7MM over two years.

If he were to wait until free agency, Lopez would be eligible to earn any amount up to the max (projected to be $46.9MM in 2023/24), though it’s unrealistic to think he’d get an offer worth anywhere close to that amount at age 35, even after a strong season.

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Nwora, Portis, Connaughton Become Trade Eligible Soon

January 10th, 2023 at 7:52pm CST by Dana Gauruder
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Scotto’s Latest: Burks, Reddish, Quickley, Cavs, Hardaway

January 10th, 2023 at 9:14am CST by Luke Adams

Pistons guard Alec Burks is receiving interest from a number of playoff-caliber clubs, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

Burks is having one of his best seasons as a pro off the bench for the Pistons, averaging 14.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 2.2 APG in just 22.0 minutes per contest (30 games). His 44.7% three-point rate is a career high, as is his 46.4% mark on shots from the floor.

Burks is earning approximately $10MM this season and has a $10.49MM team option on his contract for 2023/24. According to Scotto, the Pistons are a pretty safe bet to exercise that option if Burks remains with the team for the rest of the season, since it’s a team-friendly price based on his production and his veteran presence. With that in mind, Detroit could always trade Burks in the offseason or even at the 2024 trade deadline, so the club won’t have to simply settle for the best offer in the coming weeks.

Here’s more from Scotto:

  • The Knicks‘ asking price for Cam Reddish is a pair of second-round picks, league sources tell Scotto. The Lakers and Bucks are among the teams who have inquired on the fourth-year forward, Scotto adds.
  • The Bucks are also one of the clubs to inquire on Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley, along with the Mavericks, Wizards, and others, says Scotto. However, Quickley has been playing some of his best basketball as of late and New York’s asking price is significant (at least a first-round pick), reducing the odds that he’s moved.
  • Addressing the possibility of a Caris LeVert/Tim Hardaway Jr. swap between the Mavericks and Cavaliers, Scotto confirms a couple of concerns from Cleveland’s side first voiced by Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The Cavs would be hesitant to take on Hardaway’s contract, which has two years left beyond this season, according to Scotto, and may be seeking extra compensation in any deal due to a belief that LeVert is a better overall player.
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Giannis: No Reason To Panic

January 9th, 2023 at 8:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • The Bucks have hit a rough patch but Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t panicking, as he told Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Even though we’ve lost a few games, we’re still second or third in the East,” he said. “There’s no reason to panic but there’s a reason for us to be urgent, have urgency in the way we practice and the way we play the game. But we have a chance, so as long as we get better every single day, we have a chance to be great when it matters the most.” Milwaukee has dropped six of its last nine games.
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