- We’ve written about how the Pelicans have at least a passing interest in Iman Shumpert. Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype has taken things one step further, amalgamating various hypothetical deals that could unfold between the Pels and Cavaliers. It’s unlikely that a Shumpert trade would escalate to the point of DeMarcus Cousins and the Brooklyn first-rounder changing hands but there’s at least some merit to the speculation.
The Pelicans have an interest in Iman Shumpert, Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders writes. The news comes a week after there were conflicting reports about the swingman requesting a deal.
Regardless of whether Shumpert has specifically sought a move or not, the Cavaliers can afford to lose him after trading for Jae Crowder in the now-official Kyrie Irving deal. Shumpert, an acute perimeter defender, represents a need of the Pelicans franchise given their dearth of healthy wings.
Just what a deal between the two franchises would entail, however, is a different story. Considering that both Cleveland and the Pelicans are over the cap, the Cavs would need to take back salary equal to Shumpert’s $10.3MM deal and that’s where things get tricky.
Given Cleveland’s mandate to win now while maintaining a modicum of agility and flexibility should LeBron James leave next summer, it’s unlikely that the club would accept what the Pelicans could offer under the cap.
Neither the $25.9MM guaranteed to E’Twaun Moore through 2019/20 nor the prospect of adding Pelicans center Omer Asik to the frontcourt mix are presumed to inspire much enthusiasm in Koby Altman‘s front office, leaving us little choice but to speculate that the Pelicans will need to fill their perimeter holes elsewhere.
- The Pelicans were limited in what they could do to their roster this offseason, Shaun Powell of NBA.com. The team will have to hope that the superstar duo of Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins is enough to lead them to the postseason.
SEPTEMBER 1, 2:55pm: The deal is now official, the Pelicans announced in a press release.
In exchange for Pondexter, a 2018 second-rounder, and cash, the Bulls are sending the Pelicans the draft rights to Ater Majok, according to Brett Martel of The Associated Press (Twitter link). Majok, a 2011 pick who is currently playing in Lebanon, had his rights traded from the Lakers to Chicago in last summer’s Jose Calderon swap.
AUGUST 31, 4:52pm: There has been a clarification regarding the trade courtesy of CSN Chicago’s Vincent Goodwill. The Bulls will receive Pondexter and a 2018 second-pick, as well as cash.
4:44pm: The Bulls and Pelicans are finalizing a trade that would send Quincy Pondexter to Chicago for a second-round draft pick, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. An update, however, suggests that it will be New Orleans giving up the pick in addition to Pondexter.
Pondexter hasn’t seen NBA action since 2014/15 when he started 28 games for the Pelicans and 30 contests total. Since then, he’s struggled through a particularly troublesome knee injury, his health remaining in limbo ahead of the 2017/18 season.
While the Bulls may end up ultimately waiving Pondexter, the second-round pick will serve them well as they navigate a long anticipated rebuild. The addition of Pondexter’s $3.9MM contract will presumably be absorbed into Chicago’s $15.3MM trade exception, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.
Considering New Orleans’ need for a perimeter threat in light of Solomon Hill‘s long-term hamstring injury, the 29-year-old Pondexter would be an extremely valuable asset for the franchise if there was any sense of optimism that he could be healthy for the upcoming campaign. In June, however, general manager Dell Demps spoke about how uncertain the forward’s status was.
We had previously identified Pondexter as a candidate to be waived and stretched before the August 31 deadline, particularly given New Orleans’ proximity to the tax line. However, by finding a trade partner for the veteran swingman, the Pelicans will avoid carrying his cap hit in 2017/18 or stretching it across the next three seasons.
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 Southwest teams:
Dallas Mavericks
- Petteri Koponen, G (2007; No. 30): Playing in Spain.
- Stanko Barac, C (2007; No. 39): Last played in Italy.
- Renaldas Seibutis, G (2007; No. 50): Playing in Lithuania.
- Satnam Singh, C (2015; No. 52): Playing in G League (Texas Legends).
Houston Rockets
- Venson Hamilton, F (1999; No. 50): Retired.
- Serhiy Lishchuk, F/C (2004; No. 49): Last played in Spain.
- Axel Hervelle, F (2005; No. 52): Playing in Spain.
- Sergio Llull, G (2009; No. 34): Playing in Spain.
- Jon Diebler, G (2011; No. 51): Playing in Turkey.
- Marko Todorovic, F/C (2013; No. 45): Playing in Russia.
- Alessandro Gentile, G/F (2014; No. 53): Playing in Italy.
- Isaiah Hartenstein, F/C (2017; No. 43): Playing in G League.
Memphis Grizzlies
- Wang Zhelin, C (2016; No. 57): Playing in China.
New Orleans Pelicans
- Latavious Williams, F/C (2010; No. 48): Playing in Spain.
San Antonio Spurs
- Robertas Javtokas, C (2001; No. 55): Retired.
- Viktor Sanikidze, F (2004; No. 42): Last played in Greece.
- Sergei Karaulov, C (2004; No. 57): Playing in Russia.
- Erazem Lorbek, F/C (2005; No. 46): Last played in Italy.
- Giorgos Printezis, F (2007; No. 58): Playing in Greece.
- Adam Hanga, G/F (2011; No. 59): Playing in Spain.
- Nemanja Dangubic, F (2014; No. 54): Playing in Serbia.
- Nikola Milutinov, C (2015; No. 26): Playing in Greece.
- Olivier Hanlan, G (2015; No. 42): Playing in G League.
- Cady Lalanne, F/C (2015; No. 55): Playing in Italy.
- Jaron Blossomgame, F (2017; No. 59): Playing in G League.
Previously:
Information from Mark Porcaro and Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
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.
SEPTEMBER 1, 10:35am: Jackson has undergone surgery on his foot and is expected to be sidelined for three or four months, sources tell Rod Walker of The Advocate (Twitter link).
AUGUST 31, 6:46pm: Pelicans rookie Frank Jackson has suffered a broken right foot and will undergo surgery on Friday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Jackson suffered the injury during a workout on Wednesday and is expected to miss four months, per Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter links).
Jackson, 19, underwent surgery on the same foot in May to repair a stress reaction that hindered him for much of the 2016/17 college season. The injury forced him to miss the 2017 summer league.
Originally drafted 31st overall by the Hornets in the 2017 draft, Jackson was acquired by New Orleans in exchange for the draft rights to Dwayne Bacon (40th overall pick) and cash considerations.
Jackson averaged 10.9 PPG while shooting 39.5% from beyond the arc in his lone season at Duke.
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.
The Pelicans worked out a number of veteran players that could potentially be used to fill the void at small forward in the wake of Solomon Hill‘s hamstring injury, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN revealed on his podcast. Included in the workout were Josh Smith, Chase Budinger and Martell Webster.
While Wojnarowski questions the decision to bring in a handful of players with spotty track records to fill such a vital role for a Pels team with playoff intentions, New Orleans will need to come up with a solution if they can’t quickly lock down Dante Cunningham.
As we discussed on Tuesday, the Pelicans are trying to bring Cunningham back on a minimum deal but are facing strong competition from Tom Thibodeau and the Timberwolves. Cunningham has served as a spot starter for the Pels on and off over the course of the past three seasons.
Of the three vets Wojnarowski mentions to have worked out for the franchise, it’s Smith who had the most significant NBA tenure but he’s also likely the least natural small forward of the three as well.
For nine seasons Smith helped anchor a Hawks team that gradually became one of the Eastern Conference’s most reliable contenders but things began to unravel when he signed a free agent deal with the Pistons ahead of the 2013/14 campaign.
Since then, Smith has bounced from the Pistons to the Rockets and Clippers and has found himself out of the league altogether since 2015/16.
Famously criticized for his tendency to shoot long twos, Smith’s inclusion in a Pelicans rotation already built around two traditional big men causes consternation and, in the eyes of Wojnarowski, won’t exactly help the franchise woo superstar Anthony Davis, whose name has come up as a coveted trade target for the Celtics.
Budinger, like Smith, hasn’t suited up for an NBA team since the 2015/16 season, while Webster hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since 2014/15.
In our recap earlier today of where things stand on the Kyrie Irving front, we passed along several items of interest from ESPN’s Zach Lowe, who identified a number of potential trade partners for the Cavaliers if their deal with the Celtics falls through. Lowe also cited sources who said that there’s at least a slight chance Isaiah Thomas could miss the entire 2017/18 season if his recovery doesn’t progress as smoothly as hoped.
Lowe’s in-depth piece on the Irving situation included a few more noteworthy details, which we’ll pass along here:
- Timing played a major part in the Celtics‘ decision to go hard after Irving, rather than Paul George or Jimmy Butler. As Lowe notes, the team wanted to add two star players this summer, but wanted to make sure it could land Gordon Hayward in free agency before giving up key assets for that second star. Because the Bulls and Pacers agreed in June to trade their stars, they were no longer options for Boston, post-Hayward.
- Irving’s age was also a key consideration for the Celtics, says Lowe. With Boston poised to build around young pieces like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the fact that Irving is two years younger than either George or Butler was important, and allows the C’s to extend their window of contention.
- The Celtics also had some concerns about how Butler and Hayward might mesh – on and off the court – if they were to acquire both players, sources tell Lowe.
- Even if the Celtics have to include a little more in the Irving deal to get it done, they still may be the most well-stocked team in the league in terms of trade assets, according to Lowe, who notes that could become important if the Pelicans eventually make Anthony Davis available. There’s no indication at this point that New Orleans will do so, but the Celtics’ eyes “are very much trained on” Davis, says Lowe.
- According to Lowe, if Irving officially becomes a Celtic, he could play a part in helping to recruit an additional superstar, since the league’s stars respect Irving’s “ballsy showman’s game.” Celtics president Danny Ainge likes Irving more than many of his peers around the NBA for some of the same reasons, Lowe adds.
With Solomon Hill expected to miss a significant portion of the 2017/18 season, the Pelicans find themselves short-handed at the small forward position, and are expected to explore adding depth at the position. Head coach Alvin Gentry confirmed as much during a Monday appearance on the Black and Blue Report, as Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com details.
“I think we’ve got some players who can fill in, but we’ve really got to go out and find another guy of that size with a little bit of versatility, that can play some (power forward) or maybe even some (shooting guard) for us, depending on who we try to get,” Gentry said. “Right now we’ve got to decide if we’re going to add a guy and how we can do that.”
The Pelicans have an All-Star duo up front in DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis, and will head into the season with a pair of starting-caliber point guards in Jrue Holiday and Rajon Rondo. However, the club’s depth on the wing remains a potential concern, particularly with Hill sidelined for six to eight months with a torn hamstring.
Currently, Quincy Pondexter and Darius Miller are the other viable small forwards on New Orleans’ roster, but Pondexter’s health is still a question mark, and Miller hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2014/15 season. It remains to be seen whether either player can approximate the production provided by Hill, who wasn’t a force on offense last season, but was often matched up against a top scorer on defense.
“I thought he guarded his position as well as anyone last year,” Gentry said of Hill. “He did a great job on guys like Paul George. Kevin Durant got his points, but it’s a matter of how he got those. I thought [Hill] did a great job in those situations. Not having him out there obviously takes a really good perimeter defender away from us, but we’ve got to find a way to fill in and adjust.”
If the Pelicans return to the free agent market, players like Shabazz Muhammad, Gerald Green, Matt Barnes may be on their radar. With the club on the hunt for a versatile, defensive-minded wing, Tony Allen would be an intriguing option, though it remains to be seen if he’ll play for the minimum salary. The Pelicans still have their full bi-annual exception ($3.29MM) available, but are getting dangerously close to the tax line, so a minimum deal may be necessary as they look to replace Hill.