NBA G League Rumors | Hoops Rumors

NBA G League Officially Announces Plans For Disney Bubble

January 8th, 2021 at 12:38pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA G League has officially announced that its shortened 2020/21 season will take place in a “bubble” at Walt Disney World, confirming the news in a press release. An exact start date has yet to be announced, but the season will tip off in February, per the NBAGL. Previous reports suggested a tentative opening night of February 8.

“We worked closely with our teams, the Basketball Players Union, and public health experts to develop a structure that allows our teams to gather at a single site and safely play,” NBAGL president Shareef Abdur-Rahim said in a statement. “We are thrilled to get back to basketball and to fulfill our mission as a critical resource for the NBA in developing players, coaches, referees, athletic trainers and front-office staff.”

Since at least November, a G League bubble has been in the works in order to avoid the frequent commercial travel associated with a typical NBAGL season. A late-December report indicated that the bubble would be set up at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, where the NBA resumed its ’19/20 season last summer.

As expected, 18 teams, including the G League Ignite, will participate in the season. Those teams are as follows:

Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario (Clippers)
Austin Spurs (Spurs)
Canton Charge (Cavaliers)
Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers)
Erie BayHawks (Pelicans)
Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Pacers)
G League Ignite (Select Team)
Greensboro Swarm (Hornets)
Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves)
Lakeland Magic (Magic)
Long Island Nets (Nets)
Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies)
Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder)
Raptors 905 (Raptors)
Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets)
Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz)
Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors)
Westchester Knicks (Knicks)

As we previously relayed, the G League didn’t anticipate being able to accommodate all 29 of its teams in a Disney bubble, so clubs were asked to volunteer to opt out the season. That’s why 11 NBA teams’ affiliates won’t be in action this season. Those NBA franchises will have the ability to assign players on standard contracts and transfer players on two-way deals to another G League team via the flexible assignment rule.

According to previous reports, NBAGL teams are expected to play between 12 and 15 games before advancing to the postseason, which will begin in early March. Today’s press release indicates that the top eight teams will advance to a single-elimination playoff.

G League rosters will be made up of affiliate players, who signed Exhibit 10 contracts with NBA teams and were waived in December, and returning-rights players, who were on NBAGL contracts in previous years. Teams will also be able to directly add one “designated veteran” who has five or more years of NBA experience, and can select players in the G League draft, which will take place on Monday, January 11.

We passed along word on Thursday that NBA veterans such as Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley, Emeka Okafor, Justin Patton, Jacob Evans, and Shabazz Muhammad, among many others, will be eligible to be drafted next week.

Reports in the last 24 hours from Nicola Lupo of Sportando and G League expert Adam Johnson (all Twitter links) have indicated that Justin Dentmon, Josh Huestis, Mario Chalmers, and Festus Ezeli are among the other former NBA players who have signed NBAGL contracts and are draft-eligible.

The Ignite is the one team whose roster is made up a little differently. The newly-introduced squad consists of top prospects who decided to forgo college ball – including Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga – as well as a handful of veteran NBA and G League players – including Amir Johnson – who will serve as mentors.

Nik Stauskas To Sign With Hometown Raptors 905

January 7th, 2021 at 4:50pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Longtime NBA shooting guard Nik Stauskas will sign a G League contract for the 2020/21 season and become the designated veteran player for the NBAGL affiliate of his hometown Raptors, Raptors 905, per Marc Stein of the New York Times (Twitter link).

Drafted by the Kings with the No. 8 pick out Michigan in 2014, the 6’6″ Stauskas also suited up for the Sixers, Nets, Trail Blazers and Cavaliers in a five-year NBA tenure. The 27-year-old holds career averages of 6.8 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 1.5 APG across 335 games. He has shot 35.3% on 3.3 three-point attempts per game.

Stauskas spent the 2019/20 season with the Spanish EuroLeague club Kirolbet Baskonia. He converted 42.2% of his three-point attempts in 22 games for Baskonia. Stauskas was on the Bucks’ training camp roster this December.

As we previously relayed, a recent rule tweak will enable each G League team to designate an “NBA Vet Selection” with five or more years of NBA experience. Such a player can be inked directly, meaning a club will not need to deal with the G League’s waiver wire.

Jeremy Lin To Play For Santa Cruz Warriors

January 7th, 2021 at 4:02pm CST by Luke Adams

As expected, Jeremy Lin will sign a G League contract and will suit up for the Santa Cruz Warriors during the upcoming NBAGL bubble season, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Word broke just before the start of the regular season in December that the Warriors were attempting to sign Lin to a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract in order to make him an NBAGL affiliate player for Santa Cruz.

However, in order to sign an NBA contract, Lin – who spent last season in the Chinese Basketball Association – required a Letter of Clearance from FIBA. The Warriors were unable to get that letter in time to sign and waive Lin without paying a small portion of his regular season salary, which would’ve increased the team’s projected tax bill.

While it initially looked like the Warriors missed their chance to have Lin play for their G League affiliate, a rule tweak made by the NBA and NBAGL reopened that door. As Jonathan Givony of ESPN has reported, each G League team will be able to designate an “NBA Vet Selection” who has five or more years of NBA experience, and will be able to sign that player directly without navigating the league’s complicated waiver process.

Charania doesn’t explicitly say that the Warriors will make use of that rule to sign Lin, but it’s a safe bet they will. Otherwise, he’d have to enter the draft pool or post-draft waiver pool, giving other G League teams a chance to land him.

Earlier today, we passed along a list of notable former NBA players who will be eligible to be selected in the NBAGL’s draft on Monday — Charania (via Twitter) adds former No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley to that list.

Lance Stephenson Among NBA Vets Eligible For G League Draft

January 7th, 2021 at 9:26am CST by Luke Adams

As previously reported, the NBA G League’s 2020/21 draft will take place on Monday, January 11. And according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter links), there will be some interesting names on the list of players eligible to be selected in that draft.

Veteran swingman Lance Stephenson, former No. 2 overall pick Emeka Okafor, and other recent NBA players like Justin Patton, Jacob Evans, Dzanan Musa, and Admiral Schofield will be part of the draft pool, per Givony. Former first-round picks Terrence Jones and Shabazz Muhammad will be draft-eligible as well.

According to Givony, the following players who have been on NBA rosters in the past are also among the G League’s other draft-eligible veterans: Kenny Wooten, Antonio Blakeney, Tyler Ulis, Quincy Pondexter, Diamond Stone, Hollis Thompson, Cat Barber, Isaiah Briscoe, Phil Booth, Dusty Hannahs, Jemerrio Jones, Cory Jefferson, and Freddie Gillespie.

These, presumably, are players who have signed G League contracts but whose rights aren’t currently held by any teams. A player whose returning rights are controlled by a club participating in the G League’s bubble season wouldn’t be eligible to be drafted.

For instance, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that LiAngelo Ball has signed a contract to play in the bubble. Since the Oklahoma City Blue hold his returning rights and are playing in the bubble, Ball shouldn’t be in the general draft pool.

The Blue are one of 18 teams set to participate in the shortened bubble season, which is expected to take place at Walt Disney World. That list of teams can be found right here.

Givony previously reported that the G League is adjusting its roster rules for this season to make it easier for NBA teams to recruit and sign veterans with five or more years of NBA experience. Each NBAGL team will be able to designate an “NBA Vet Selection” who fits that bill and can sign that player directly without navigating the league’s complicated waiver process. My understanding is that those designated won’t be in the draft pool.

18 G League Clubs Likely Headed To Disney World Bubble

December 29th, 2020 at 5:28pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA could be returning to Disney World in Orlando, Florida for a “bubble” campus experience in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. This time, Disney World looks set to be home for 18 G League clubs as the NBA’s minor league begins its 2020/21 season, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Though Atlanta had previously been the frontrunner as a destination for the 2020/21 G League season, Orlando emerged in recent weeks as a viable candidate. Disney World of course served as a successful locale for the 2019/20 NBA season restart. The ’19/20 NBA “bubble” season included eight seeding games for 22 NBA clubs, a play-in game between the Trail Blazers and Grizzlies, plus a full slate of playoff games without any player, personnel member, coach or family member of team personnel recording a positive coronavirus test result after quarantining.

As previously reported, are expected to land in their home markets for physical examinations by January 19. A week later, January 26, clubs will all convene in Orlando. The 12-to-15-game 2020/21 G League season is set to commence on February 8. Playoffs are currently expected to run from March 5-9.

The news report includes all 18 teams anticipated to participate in the Disney World campus:

Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario (Clippers)
Austin Spurs (Spurs)
Canton Charge (Cavaliers)
Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers)
Erie BayHawks (Pelicans)
Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Pacers)
G League Ignite (Select Team)
Greensboro Swarm (Hornets)
Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves)
Lakeland Magic (Magic)
Long Island Nets (Nets)
Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies)
Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder)
Raptors 905 (Raptors)
Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets)
Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz)
Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors)
Westchester Knicks (Knicks)

The report notes that the Wizards will be using the Erie BayHawks as their affiliate, as previously reported. Washington’s own club, the Capital City Go-Go, will not be involved in the 2020/21 G League bubble season.

As we previously relayed, several teams were asked to volunteer to opt out of the bubble this season, as the G League will not be able to accommodate all 29 clubs into this Orlando campus environment.

Player and personnel health and safety expenses will be accounted for by each individual club partaking in the enterprise, and sources tell The Athletic reports that these will cost between $400K-$500K.

The 2020/21 NBA G League draft will take place on January 11, per Charania.

And-Ones: Wisconsin Herd, Davis, Hall, Tax Teams

December 28th, 2020 at 8:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Bucks’ G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, plans to opt out of the proposed G League bubble season in Atlanta, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. They’ll be the 10th NBA franchise to pass on the bubble event. For a list of teams expected to participate, follow this link.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Former NBA guard Baron Davis and rapper Percy “Master P” Miller are in negotiations to acquire Reebok, Eric Woodyard of ESPN tweets. According to Forbes, Reebok’s asking price from its parent company Adidas is around $2.4 billion. Master P says they’re “prepared financially” after a couple months of negotiations, Woodard adds.
Big man Donta Hall is joining the G League Ignite as one of its veteran players, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. The Ignite includes top prospects for next year’s draft who decided against playing in college this season. Hall spent most of last season with the Pistons’ G League team in Grand Rapids. Hall also saw action in four games with Detroit and five games as a substitute player for the Nets during the restart.
Who were the worst teams in NBA history to pay the luxury tax? Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype takes a deep dive into that subject. Not surprisingly, the Knicks snagged three of top six spots on the list.

Latest Details On NBA G League Bubble

December 24th, 2020 at 2:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Seventeen teams have indicated that they plan to participate in the NBA G League bubble, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, who notes that the G League Ignite select team will be the 18th squad.

While we don’t yet have a full, official list of the teams participating in the G League bubble, Ridiculous Upside has done a good job passing along reports (including some of ours) and providing new details on which clubs are in and out. Their list includes 13 teams believed to be in, not counting the Ignite, as follows:

Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario (Clippers)
Austin Spurs (Spurs)
Canton Charge (Cavaliers)
Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers)
Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Pacers)
Lakeland Magic (Magic)
Long Island Nets (Nets)
Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies)
Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder)
Raptors 905 (Raptors)
Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz)
Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors)
Westchester Knicks (Knicks)

G League expert Adam Johnson says the Greensboro Swarm (Hornets), Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves), and Erie BayHawks (Pelicans) are also expected to take part (Twitter link).

The G League reportedly asked for teams to volunteer to opt out, since bringing 29 franchises to the bubble wouldn’t have been logistically possible, so the clubs passing on the bubble aren’t necessarily doing so because they’re not interested in participating.

Teams opting out of the bubble who signed players to Exhibit 10 contracts before the season will be given the option to loan or “flex” those players to another G League team for the bubble and will be responsible for paying all expenses for those players, Givony explains.

The Wizards, for example, aren’t expected to have the Capital City Go-Go play in the bubble, but will likely use the Pelicans’ affiliate – the BayHawks – as their temporary affiliate for their former Exhibit 10 players, such as Caleb Homesley, Marlon Taylor, and Yoeli Childs, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.

A G League draft would take place in January, according to Givony, who reports that players whose returning rights are held by non-bubble teams would temporarily be dispersed to other clubs in that draft. If non-bubble teams don’t want to “flex” their former Exhibit 10 players to G League teams participating in the bubble, those players will also enter the draft pool, says Givony.

Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News reported earlier this week that the tentative start date for the G League season is February 8. Adam Zagoria of Forbes (Twitter link) shares a more detailed breakdown of the proposed timeline, which would see G League players and staffers begin an “at-home” quarantine period on January 13.

Givony confirms that teams participating in the bubble still expect to play a minimum of 12 games apiece (not including the playoffs), as was reported in November.

Finally, Givony reports that the G League is making adjustments to its roster rules to make it easier for NBA teams to recruit and sign veterans with five or more years of NBA experience. Each team will be able to designate an “NBA Vet Selection” who fits that bill, and won’t have to navigate the NBAGL’s complicated waiver process to add that player, per Givony.

As Johnson tweets, the rule will be a one-off for this season and will allow – for instance – the Warriors to add Jeremy Lin to their Santa Cruz affiliate, like they wanted to.

Central Notes: Markkanen, Weaver, Wu, Pistons G League, Love

December 22nd, 2020 at 9:05pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen feels extra motivation after he couldn’t reach an extension agreement with the organization by Monday’s deadline, Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago writes. “Obviously disappointing, I wanted to get a deal done,” he said. “But that happened, and we’re moving on, and I’m 100 percent committed to this team.”

Markkanen confirmed the sides were never near a deal after he struggled through an injury-marred season. “I don’t think it was very close,” Markkanen said. “I talked to (my agent) obviously a lot last couple days, and (the Bulls’ offer) just wasn’t something I would take, and that’s the end of it.”

We have more from the Central Division:

As we noted, the Pistons remade their roster more than any team in the league. New GM Troy Weaver promises to continue making changes. “We are going to stay aggressive,” Weaver said, per Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports. Owner Tom Gores is confident that Weaver has the franchise on the right path. “He is concise in how he sees talent. He sees it on a micro-level,” Gores said. “I’ve met a lot of executives who know basketball. Troy is just on a whole different level.”
The Pacers have officially hired Ted Wu as VP of Basketball Operations, according to a team press release. Wu worked eight years with the NBA league office, specializing in salary cap management. Wu will be the team’s capologist.
The Pistons have a program that includes night sessions and extended practice sessions for players that would ordinarily be on their G League squad, coach Dwane Casey told Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter link) and other media members. The Pistons had been affiliated with the Grand Rapids Drive but are switching to the newly-created Motor City Cruise in Detroit next season. They are not expected to participate in the G League bubble season in Atlanta.
A strained calf will prevent Kevin Love from playing in the Cavaliers’ opener on Wednesday, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer relays.

And-Ones: Hall Of Fame Nominees, G League, Extensions, More

December 22nd, 2020 at 3:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Longtime Celtics forward Paul Pierce and former NBA player and head coach Doug Collins are among those eligible for the first time to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, writes ESPN’s Royce Young.

Pierce and Collins are joined as this year’s first-time nominees by former Defensive Player of the Year Michael Cooper and three-time WNBA Most Valuable Player Lauren Jackson, along with Howard Garfinkel, Lou Henson, Val Ackerman, and Yolanda Griffith. Those new nominees will be added to a list of returning candidates that includes Chauncey Billups, Chris Bosh, and Becky Hammon, among others.

While the 2020 Hall of Fame class – headlined by Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett – won’t be enshrined until May due to coronavirus-related delays, the 2021 class is scheduled to be unveiled in early April, with a September induction ceremony to follow.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News (Twitter link) hears from a source that the NBA G League may be targeting February 8 for the start of its shortened season. Training camps would begin at a bubble site – possibly in Atlanta – on January 29 in that scenario, Bondy adds.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) examines what’s next for the players who didn’t sign rookie scale extensions on Monday and takes a look at some players who will still be candidates for veteran extensions during the season, including new Bucks guard Jrue Holiday and Rockets forward P.J. Tucker.
The NBA’s decision to rescind the Bucks‘ 2022 second-round pick after finding evidence that they jumped the gun on negotiations with Bogdan Bogdanovic last month is a relative slap on the wrist, but still represents a noticeable step up over past penalties for tampering, Jared Weiss writes for The Athletic. The league made it a priority starting in 2019 to crack down on such violations.
Basketball junkies will enjoy the 2020/21 version of Niku Mistry’s annual NBA Almanac, a 300-page guide that recaps last season’s results – along with each offseason transaction – and includes team-by-team breakdowns for the coming year.

G League Bubble Rumors: Schedule, Team Count, Location

December 17th, 2020 at 9:04pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

New rumors have emerged concerning the NBA’s continued efforts to make a “bubble” campus iteration of its G League a reality for the 2020/21 season.

The location for such an event has yet to be finalized. While Adam Zagoria of Forbes says (Twitter link) that the bubble may not happen in Atlanta for logistical reasons, Dave McMenamin of ESPN says Atlanta remains the frontrunner, though Orlando is also a candidate to host. A source tells Zagoria that a phone conversation that includes all 29 team presidents is scheduled for next week so that clubs can “get closer to a final decision.”

McMenamin also explains the reasoning behind teams opting out of the 2020/21 season entirely. As McMenamin details, G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim requested that clubs volunteer to pass on the bubble, as the G League would not be able to safely accommodate 29 franchises.

Per McMenamin’s sources, the G League hopes to pare down its bubble team tally to between 14-20 clubs, in much the same way that the 2019/20 summer restart in Orlando was limited to just 22 of 30 teams.

So far, 10 teams have agreed to opt out, according to McMenamin. That list includes the Maine Red Claws, the affiliate for the Celtics, and the Lakers’ affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, as our JD Shaw reported earlier this month. Meanwhile, 12 teams have committed to participating in the bubble season. Other teams have yet to make a determination.

As was outlined last month, the new G League Ignite team, centered around several star 2021 draft prospects including Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga, is expected to participate. McMenamin reports that showcasing the Ignite is a big motivating factor behind the push for a 2020/21 G League season.

The league expects play to run from January through March, with fewer than the standard 50 games for its season. Marc Berman of The New York Post (Twitter link) hears that the shortened season could start around January 10.