- The Timberwolves will host some free agents this week, Darren Wolfson of KSTP tweets. Wolfson didn’t name the free agents who are visiting but added that the club has grown antsy waiting on decisions from free agents Shabazz Muhammad and Dante Cunningham. Muhammad is reportedly mulling a contract offer from the Lakers, while the Pelicans and Bucks are also pursuing Cunningham.
SEPTEMBER 1, 10:45am: The Bucks are now in the mix for Cunningham as well, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). Milwaukee is in the market for an inexpensive big man with some range after waiving Spencer Hawes.
AUGUST 29, 5:16pm: The Pelicans are intent on re-signing forward Dante Cunningham, but the Timberwolves have been aggressively pursuing his services as well, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter).
Over the course of the past three seasons, Cunningham has started 108 games for the Pels, establishing himself as a valued rotation player capable of hustling hard on defense and knocking down threes.
Prior to his stint in New Orleans, however, the forward played in Minnesota. Although Tom Thibodeau was still in Chicago the last time Cunningham called himself a Timberwolf, there’s no denying that he’s the type of gritty forward that would thrive in a Thibodeau system.
In 212 total games for New Orleans, Cunningham has averaged 5.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. He earned just under $3MM in 2016/17, the second season of a two-year deal, but figures to be in line for just the minimum should he sign with either the Wolves or the Pelicans.
The Timberwolves haven’t made the postseason in 14 seasons. That could change this year, Shane Rhodes of Basketball Insiders writes, in a feature profiling five teams that could surprise in 2017/18. The Wolves have made no secret their desire to surround their promising young core with as many established veterans as possible and it’s likely to pay off in the form of a playoff appearance.
Another team Rhodes mentions is the Pelicans, who will break camp for the first time with both Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins on the roster. It’s not unreasonable, Rhodes suggests, to call Davis and Cousins the best players in the NBA at their respective positions.
Other teams that the scribe considers on the rise include the Lakers, Hornets and Pacers, the latter perhaps reeling from the loss of its superstar but still boasting plenty of versatile talent on the roster.
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- There are no shortage of past, present and future NBA players on EuroBasket 2017 rosters. Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype recently made a list of them all, broken down by nationality. (We see you, Anthony Randolph).
- The Australian National Basketball League isn’t a high profile international league like the Spanish ACB, Turkish BSL or Russian VTP leagues but it’s growing in popularity, Chris Reichert of 2 Ways, 10 Days writes.
- The only restricted free agent to accept a qualifying offer in the NBA this summer is Mavs center Nerlens Noel. In his latest feature, Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders breaks down the unique contract type, what it means for the players who sign them and what, typically, happens next.
- For those keeping track at home, the NBA has doled out over $2B less this summer than it did last summer. That’s a decrease of 42.6%, tweets Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal.
When top college prospects like Markelle Fultz or Lonzo Ball are drafted, there’s virtually no doubt that their next step will involve signing an NBA contract. However, that’s not the case for every player who is selected in the NBA draft, particularly for international prospects and second-round picks.
When an NBA team uses a draft pick on a player, it gains his NBA rights, but that doesn’t mean the player will sign an NBA contract right away. International prospects will often remain with their professional team overseas for at least one more year to develop their game further, becoming “draft-and-stash” prospects. Nikola Mirotic, Dario Saric, and Bogdan Bogdanovic are among the more notable players to fit this bill in recent years.
However, draft-and-stash players can be former NCAA standouts too. Sometimes a college prospect selected with a late second round pick will end up playing overseas or in the G League for a year or two if there’s no space available on his NBA team’s 15-man roster.
While these players sometimes make their way to their NBA teams, others never do. Many clubs around the NBA currently hold the rights to international players who have remained overseas for their entire professional careers and are no longer viewed as top prospects. Those players may never come stateside, but there’s often no reason for NBA teams to renounce their rights — those rights can sometimes be used as placeholders in trades.
For instance, earlier this summer, the Pacers and Raptors agreed to a trade that sent Cory Joseph to Indiana. Toronto was happy to move Joseph’s salary and didn’t necessarily need anything in return, but the Pacers had to send something in the deal. Rather than including an NBA player or a draft pick, Indiana sent Toronto the draft rights to Emir Preldzic, the 57th overall pick in the 2009 draft.
Preldzic is currently playing for Galatasaray in Turkey, and at this point appears unlikely to ever come to the NBA, but his draft rights have been a useful trade chip over the years — the Pacers/Raptors swap represented the fourth time since 2010 that Preldzic’s NBA rights have been included in a trade.
This week, we’re taking a closer look at the players whose draft rights NBA teams currently hold, sorting them by division. These players may eventually arrive in America and join their respective NBA teams, but many will end up like Preldzic, plying their trade overseas and having their draft rights used as pawns in NBA trades.
Here’s a breakdown of the draft rights held by Northwest teams:
Denver Nuggets
- Sani Becirovic, G (2003; No. 46): Retired.
- Xue Yuyang, F/C (2003; No. 57): Retired.
- Izzet Turkyilmaz, F/C (2012; No. 50): Last played in Croatia.
- Nikola Radicevic, G (2015; No. 57): Playing in Serbia.
- Petr Cornelie, F (2016; No. 53): Playing in France.
- Vlatko Cancar, F (2017; No. 49): Playing in Serbia.
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Lior Eliyahu, F (2006; No. 44): Playing in Israel.
- Henk Norel, C (2009; No. 47): Playing in Spain.
- Paulao Prestes, C (2010; No. 45): Last played in Brazil.
- Bojan Dubljevic, F/C (2013; No. 59): Playing in Spain.
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Abdul Shamsid-Deen, C (1990; No. 53): Retired.
- Sofoklis Schortsanitis, C (2003; No. 34): Last played in Greece.
- Szymon Szewczyk, F/C (2003; No. 35): Playing in Poland.
- Paccelis Morlende, G (2003; No. 50): Last played in France.
- Yotam Halperin, G (2006; No. 53): Playing in Israel.
- DeVon Hardin, C (2008; No. 50): Retired.
Portland Trail Blazers
- Marcelo Nicola, F (1993; No. 50): Retired.
- Doron Sheffer, G (1996; No. 36): Retired.
- Federico Kammerichs, F/C (2002; No. 51): Retired.
- Nedzad Sinanovic, C (2003; No. 54): Retired.
- Daniel Diez, F (2015; No. 54): Playing in Spain.
Utah Jazz
- Peter Fehse, F (2002; No. 49): Retired.
- Mario Austin, F/C (2003; No. 36): Retired.
- Ante Tomic, C (2008; No. 44): Playing in Spain.
- Shan Foster, G/F (2008; No. 51): Retired.
- Nigel Williams-Goss, G (2017; No. 55): Playing in Serbia.
Previously:
Information from Mark Porcaro and Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
It has been eight days since both the Celtics and Cavaliers announced the completion of a trade that sent Kyrie Irving to Boston in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the Nets’ 2018 first-round pick. However, more than a week later, we still can’t classify the deal as “completed.”
As first reported last Friday by ESPN, the Cavaliers expressed concern after their own doctors conducted a physical exam on Thomas’ injured hip. That concern has pushed the Cavaliers to re-engage the Celtics about acquiring further compensation in the blockbuster deal. Although it took a few days for the two sides to make contact again, that reportedly happened on Tuesday.
Here’s a breakdown of what we know about the situation, and when we can expect resolution:
As we noted on Monday, the Cavaliers are still interested in trading Iman Shumpert, even as they consider whether to complete the Kyrie Irving trade with the Celtics as is. Shumpert has been linked to a handful of teams this offseason, having nearly been sent to the Rockets in July. The Timberwolves are also among the clubs that has spoken to the Cavs about the veteran swingman, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link).
Sources tell Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net that while several teams have shown interest in Shumpert, that interest hinges on the Cavs’ willingness to attach a draft pick to him. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders makes a similar point in his latest piece, noting that if the Cavs are seeking an extra draft pick from the Celtics in the Irving mega-deal, Cleveland could flip that pick in a Shumpert trade in order to move him.
Here’s more on the Cavs as they consider their options with Irving and Shumpert:
- Within the article linked above, Kyler notes that moving Shumpert without taking back significant salary might also make the Cavaliers more comfortable about taking on Isaiah Thomas‘ contract, even if they have concern about his hip, since dealing Shumpert would further reduce their projected tax bill.
- With funding from the city of Cleveland uncertain, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert has nixed a proposed $140MM renovation to Quicken Loans Arena, as Karen Farkas of Cleveland.com details. Community groups had opposed spending taxpayer money on the project, which was announced by the Cavs eight months ago.
- Speaking to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, new Cavaliers point guard Derrick Rose opens up about his time with the Knicks, his motivation going forward, and a handful of other topics.
The Timberwolves are still carrying just 11 players on guaranteed contracts for 2017/18, but head coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau expects that number to increase in the near future. As Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune details, Thibodeau and the Wolves plan to add three players on guaranteed minimum contracts, retaining some flexibility with the 15th and final roster spot.
As has been the case for more than a month now, the Wolves intend to add a backup point guard and two wings to their roster. While the market for backup point guards has thinned out considerably, there are still several interesting wings on the market, including Tony Allen, Gerald Green, Anthony Morrow, and Mike Dunleavy.
Here’s more on the Wolves:
- Of course, as Minnesota looks to add a couple wings, Shabazz Muhammad remains an option, if he’s willing to settle for a minimum salary contract, writes Zgoda. “There’s an opportunity here for him,” Thibodeau said of Muhammad. “He has several opportunities to look at.”
- The process of signing Andrew Wiggins to a contract extension will be delayed by his agent change, but Thibodeau and the Wolves still expect that deal to get done in the “next few weeks,” as Zgoda details.
- Nemanja Bjelica and Justin Patton continue to recover from foot injuries. According to Zgoda, Thibodeau is hopeful that Bjelica will be ready for training camp and Patton will good to go for the Wolves’ regular season opener.
- Thibodeau confirmed that the Wolves explored the possibility of acquiring Kyrie Irving from the Cavaliers, per Zgoda. “You have the responsibility to explore every possibility,” Thibodeau said. “If it makes sense for us, we’ll do it. If it doesn’t, we move on. We love the players we have. We know there’s a lot of work to do.”
- Former Timberwolves player and current scout Scott Roth is set to become the first head coach of the Iowa Wolves, Minnesota’s newly-purchased G League affiliate, according to Zgoda. Roth will be tasked with his helping to develop young players for the Wolves, as well as implementing Thibodeau’s strategic concepts in Iowa.
- The fact that Andrew Wiggins recently changed agents won’t impact his extension deal, Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press tweets. CBA rules dictate that Wiggins must wait two weeks to sign the new deal after changing his representation. Some within the Timberwolves organization, Krawczynski adds in a second tweet are ‘puzzled by the timing of the move’.
Andrew Wiggins has filed paperwork to leave BDA Sports after his agent Bill Duffy negotiated a five-year, maximum salary extension for the Timberwolves‘ budding star, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports. That deal, which has not yet been agreed upon, is expected to be worth about $148MM.
Duffy revealed to Wojnarowski that Wiggins filed paperwork to terminate his relationship with BDA Sports as Minnesota sent a contract to both agent and Wiggins. Players are free to leave their agents at any time but guidelines of the National Basketball Players Association are set up to protect agents who negotiated deals for their players while representing them. Duffy indicated that whenever Wiggins puts ink to paper to confirm the deal he negotiated, he will be in touch with the NBPA to protect his interests.
“We are disappointed that Andrew made this decision, especially after a three-year partnership where we worked closely with Andrew and his entire family,” Duffy said to ESPN. “Unfortunately, tampering is a common problem in our industry, and that’s part of the reason why I’ve already been in contact with the NBPA to discuss my rights in this matter. Obviously, whenever Andrew signs the max extension that we negotiated with Minnesota, we will work with the NBPA to make sure that our interests are protected.”
The former first overall pick would become the first player from his 2014 draft class to sign a rookie extension. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets that Wiggins is likely to sign with a Canadian agent (Wiggins is a native of Toronto, Canada) that works for a major agency in the United States. Once he has new representation, Wiggins’ tentative deal with Minnesota will likely not change, Wolfson adds.
Wiggins, 22, has shown vast improvements in his offensive game in his first three seasons, topping out at 23.6 PPG last season while completing his third straight season of at least 81 games played. Along with Karl-Anthony Towns, the recently acquired Jimmy Butler and Jeff Teague, Wiggins is expected to be a vital piece for a potential playoff team.
Rumors of the Suns trading promising rookie Josh Jackson for Kyrie Irving should be put to rest, writes Greg Moore of AZCentral.com. Moore writes that Jackson and Devin Booker each create a sense of “awe and wonder,” making anyone who watches them dream of the future.
The Arizona-based scribe argues that the manner in which coach Earl Watson talks about Jackson comes off much more as genuine optimism for the future than big talk to boost trade value.
“I love Josh Jackson,” Watson said Monday. “Something about him is just uncommon.” Devin Booker, meanwhile, “always had that edge.” “(Those) two together are going to be great young guys who can push other guys to become better because they’re so inner competitive,” Watson said.
Watson joked in response to being asked about a rumor that Jackson had grown two inches since being drafted: But “if he did, we love it, and even if he didn’t … let’s build the legend. Yeah, he grew. Absolutely. He’s like 7 feet now … anyone coming up against him should be intimidated by his constant growth vertically, in height, and ability to play above the rim.”
In a recent interview, Jackson addressed the trade talk, saying, “I think if that was going to happen, it would have happened by now.” However, he also said: “I’m going to make the best of whatever situation that I’m presented with. If I’m traded to China, whatever, I’m going to come out, and I’m going to be happy and just try to make the best of it.”
Here are more notes from the Western Conference:
- James Harden is more fit and fired up than ever, writes Sam Amick of USA Today. “I know how exciting this season is (going to be, and) I know how important it is, so I’m going to take full advantage of it. I have a lot of charity (events), a lot of things going on, but when I’m in that gym that’s kind of my getaway. That’s kind of when I’m locked in,” Harden said. The Rockets‘ 2017 postseason ended with concerns over Harden’s fatigue and stamina.
- Shabazz Muhammad may have to settle for a short-term “prove-it” deal for next season, writes Michael Rand of The Star Tribune. Heading into the offseason, coach Tom Thibodeau used the word “optimistic” when discussing re-signing Muhammad. However, in July, the wing’s rights were renounced. On Wednesday, Timberwolves signee Jamal Crawford tweeted Muhammad, “c’mon back home.”
- The mayor of Inglewood and the four other council members unanimously approved a revised agreement with a Clippers-controlled company to shrink the four-block area where an arena could be built so homes and a church aren’t displaced, reports Nathan Fenno of The Los Angeles Times. More than a dozen citizens had raised concerns about the potential arena before the vote took place.