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New York Notes: Claxton, Simmons, Barrett, Arcidiacono

February 14th, 2022 at 6:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nets center Nic Claxton feared he would be dealt prior to last week’s deadline, Nick Friedell of ESPN tweets. Claxton termed the days leading up to the trade deadline as a “roller coaster,” but sounds happy to stay in Brooklyn and is looking forward to playing with Ben Simmons, Friedell adds. Claxton returned to action on Monday after injuring his hamstring on February 4.

We have more on the New York teams:

  • Nets coach Steve Nash says Simmons “is in a pretty good place mentally” and will be ready to play “when he’s ready physically,” Adam Zagoria of Forbes.com tweets. The Nets’ medical staff will determine the timetable for Simmons’ debut, with speculation that he could suit up after the All-Star break on February 24 against Boston.
  • RJ Barrett missed Monday’s game against Oklahoma City but has shed his walking boot, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets. The Knicks’ guard has now missed three games due to a left ankle sprain.
  • Guard Ryan Arcidiacono’s contract with the Knicks is a one-year deal for the minimum and he’ll be a free agent again this summer, Katz reports in another tweet. Arcidiacono inked the rest-of-the-season contract on Sunday.
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Raptors Notes: Porzingis, Trade Talks, Young, Ujiri

February 14th, 2022 at 7:40am CST by Luke Adams

Before Dallas agreed to trade Kristaps Porzingis to Washington last Thursday, one report suggested that the Mavericks and Raptors may be having discussions about the big man.

Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link) and Marc Stein (Substack link) have since confirmed that Toronto had some interest in Porzingis. However, Grange says the Raptors never got close to making a deal for the former lottery pick, while league sources tell Stein that Toronto “stepped away” from those discussions due to concerns about Porzingis’ long-term health.

Porzingis was eventually traded to the Wizards along with a protected second-round pick in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.

Here’s more on the Raptors:

  • Grange adds (via Twitter) that last week’s three-team trade talks involving the Raptors, Lakers, and Knicks reached an impasse in part due to L.A.’s luxury tax concerns. Presumably, the framework that was discussed would’ve required the Lakers to take on extra salary, increasing the projected luxury tax bill for a team that doesn’t currently hold a top-eight spot in the West.
  • Discussing the Raptors’ decision to acquire Thaddeus Young at the trade deadline, president Masai Ujiri explained that the forward checked multiple boxes for the team: “We wanted a veteran-type player, a Bird rights-type player, that came and bridged (a gap) helping our young guys both in the locker room and on the court” (link via Mike Ganter of The Toronto Sun). For his part, Young told reporters he’s excited to be in Toronto because the team’s energy and style matches how he plays (Twitter link via Eric Koreen of The Athletic).
  • Ujiri admitted during his post-deadline press conference that he doesn’t love the trade deadline, since he views the offseason as a better time to make moves that reshape the roster (Twitter link via Koreen).
  • The Raptors’ roster – which is heavy on length and 6’8″ forwards – reflects Ujiri’s refusal to subscribe to team-building orthodoxy, Koreen writes in a story for The Athletic. “We’re in a copycat league. Everybody wants to do what another person is doing,” Ujiri said. “‘Go play like Golden State.’ Well, we don’t have those types of players. You know, it’s hard to find those types of players. So, for me, we have to create ways where we think we’re going to win in this league, because it’s about winning. And I feel strongly that we can create our own style of play and bring these types of players and figure out a way to do it. Look, will it succeed? I pray it does. I’m hoping it does. And I think it will.”
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Atlantic Notes: Randle, Young, Robinson, Sixers, D’Antoni

February 13th, 2022 at 9:33pm CST by JD Shaw

Knicks star Julius Randle is rejuvenated and encouraged despite his team coming off a rough road trip, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. New York went 1-4 on the trip, defeating the Warriors and losing to the Lakers, Jazz, Nuggets and Blazers.

“Honestly encouraged in a sense of this was a tough trip,” Randle said. “We played some really good teams on this trip. We were in the game and really gave ourselves a shot to win four of the five games.

“It’s encouraging in that sense. But it’s also very disappointing that we were 1-4, easily could have gone 4-1. It’s tough. It’s tough. But for me it sucks, got a long plane ride back home.”

The Knicks are now 25-32 and rank 12th in the Eastern Conference. The team will return to New York for a four-game homestand on Monday, playing the Thunder, Nets, Heat and Sixers.

There’s more out of the Atlantic:

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Knicks Sign Ryan Arcidiacono For Rest Of Season

February 13th, 2022 at 1:43pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

1:43pm: The addition of Arcidiacono is now official, per a team press release (Twitter link).

1:01pm: Guard Ryan Arcidiacono will sign a deal with the Knicks that will keep him in New York for the rest of the 2021/22 NBA season, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The 6’3″ point guard, who won a title with Villanova in 2016, previously signed a pair of 10-day deals with the Knicks earlier this year, as well as a hardship exception deal that was later voided, though he has yet to suit up for an actual game with New York.

Ian Begley of SNY.tv adds (via Twitter) that the addition of Arcidiacono brings the Knicks’ total standard contract count to 15, the maximum allowable.

Arcidiacono spent his first four NBA seasons with the Bulls, mostly as a reserve. He holds career averages of 4.8 PPG, 2.2 APG, 2.0 RPG, and 0.6 SPG in 17.6 MPG. He boasts NBA shooting splits of .431/.373/.807.

Chicago opted not to re-sign the 27-year-old in free agency this summer. He signed a training camp deal with the Celtics, though he did not make Boston’s opening night roster. He has also spent time with the Celtics’ G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, in between his contracts with the Knicks this season.

When Arcidiacono first signed with New York in January, Charania noted that there was a possibility he would stick with the team for the rest of the year. That possibility has now come to pass.

As Marc Berman of the New York Post (Twitter link) observes, now that the reeling Knicks have a full 15-man roster, they’d have to waive someone in order to be active on the buyout market. Berman floats the possibility that point guard Kemba Walker could be the Knicks player the club opts to be buy out if they want to make another addition.

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Knicks Remain Interested In Trading For Damian Lillard

February 12th, 2022 at 8:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks are continuing to monitor Damian Lillard‘s situation in Portland, but he’s less interested in coming to New York than he was a year ago, a source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post.

The Trail Blazers plan to rebuild their roster around Lillard and turned away several teams that wanted to discuss trading for him before this week’s deadline. However, the Knicks want to be ready if something changes in Portland and Lillard does become available this summer.

New York continues to have a need at point guard, as the offseason addition of Kemba Walker hasn’t worked out. Berman states that the team tried to make deals this week involving Cam Reddish, Alec Burks and Evan Fournier, but weren’t able to move any of them.

Berman adds that the Knicks also tried to get CJ McCollum, Lillard’s longtime backcourt partner in Portland, but were outbid by the Pelicans. Although New York has all its future first-round picks and a few extra second-rounders, many of its other assets have been devalued because of a down season, Berman notes, adding that many people around the league are wondering if the franchise has enough available to make a serious offer for Lillard.

“If they’re going to be in the hunt for Lillard, they’d have to have a good lottery pick this year,’’ an unidentified NBA executive said. “Because they’d have to give up RJ Barrett. I don’t see how they get him otherwise.’’ 

Lillard, who would likely have influence with the Portland front office to send him to a desired location if he does request a trade, has lost some interest in joining the Knicks, according to Berman’s source. After being the fourth seed in the East last season, New York has fallen to 12th place at 25-32.

Another source tells Berman that the Knicks’ chances of trading for Lillard would have been helped by signing DeMar DeRozan, Lillard’s close friend, rather than Fournier in last year’s free agent market. General manager Scott Perry wanted to consider DeRozan, according to the source, but the idea was vetoed by William Wesley, who has become the top decision maker in the front office.

Lillard hasn’t played since undergoing abdominal surgery in mid-January and isn’t expected to return this season. He has three seasons remaining on his four-year, $196MM contract.

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RJ Barrett To Miss Second Straight Game With Ankle Sprain

February 12th, 2022 at 1:17pm CST by JD Shaw
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Leftover Deadline Rumors: Raptors, Rockets, Lakers, Nuggets, Knicks

February 11th, 2022 at 9:07am CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors considered a series of potential trade scenarios before they agreed to send Goran Dragic and a draft pick to San Antonio for Thaddeus Young, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.

According to Grange, Toronto had hoped the Hawks would make Bogdan Bogdanovic available, viewing the veteran wing as someone who could help the team in both the short- and long-term. However, Atlanta didn’t budge on Bogdanovic, forcing the Raptors to look elsewhere.

The Raptors inquired on Pistons forward Jerami Grant and Kings forward Harrison Barnes, sources tell Grange, but the price tags for those players were high. As previously reported, there were also discussions about a three-team deal that would’ve sent Talen Horton-Tucker and Nerlens Noel to Toronto, but Grange suggests those talks never gained serious traction.

Here are a few more leftover rumors on trades that didn’t get made on deadline day:

  • The Rockets never made real progress on a John Wall trade with the Lakers, who were unwilling to attach a first-round pick to Russell Westbrook, but a few days before the deadline, Houston got much closer to moving Wall to another team, a source tells Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. That proposed deal ultimately fell through, per Feigen, who doesn’t specify which team the Rockets were talking to.
  • During a TV appearance, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (video link) said one concept that “could have been discussed” by the Rockets and Lakers before the deadline, “depending on who you believe,” was a swap of Westbrook, Horton-Tucker, and draft capital for Wall and Christian Wood. It doesn’t sound like those talks, if they even occurred, advanced at all.
  • After agreeing to acquire center Jalen Smith from Phoenix, the Pacers explored flipping him to a new team, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Fischer says the Nuggets were among the clubs in the mix for Smith, but Indiana didn’t find a deal it liked and ended up hanging onto the third-year big man.
  • The Knicks didn’t make a deal on deadline day, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Sources tell Steve Popper of Newsday that the club was willing to move just about anyone on its roster, but had trouble finding trade partners for many of its top trade candidates, including Kemba Walker and Noel. According to Popper, his sources suggested there was a “universal lack of interest in the Knicks’ talent and contracts.”
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Lakers Sought Trades With Knicks, Raptors, Celtics

February 10th, 2022 at 10:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Rival executives tried to take advantage of the Lakers’ predicament, which ultimately led to VP of basketball operations Rob Pelinka standing pat at the trade deadline, according to The Athletic’s Bill Oram.

Other teams wanted the Lakers to take on bad contracts or give up their limited draft capital, including their 2027 first round pick, to facilitate potential deals, according to Oram.

The Lakers were unable to gain any traction on a potential Russell Westbrook deal. They tried to put together some lower-level deals, including a proposed three-way trade with the Knicks and Raptors. Toronto big men Khem Birch and Chris Boucher and Knicks wing Cam Reddish could have been on the move, but those fell apart after the other two teams couldn’t agree on draft compensation.

The Lakers also mulled a possible reunion with Dennis Schröder, though there was some pushback from some members of the organization. The Lakers still pursued a deal with the Celtics but Boston’s high asking price ended those negotiations. The Celtics wound up trading Schröder to Houston.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis were consulted on potential trades and understood why Pelinka chose to stand pat, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

“You can’t force another team to present yourself with a deal that is going to make your team be better. That’s up to them,” Pelinka said. “And throughout this process we had different things we looked at and like I’ve done in the past had conversations with LeBron and Anthony about it and I would say there’s alignment here. And that’s all that matters.”

The Lakers will monitor the buyout market but would have to waive a player since their roster is full.

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Team Still Wants To Make Playoffs

February 10th, 2022 at 7:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • The Knicks, who didn’t pull off a trade on Thursday, still want to compete for a play-in spot, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. They still believe they made an upgrade in adding Cam Reddish last month, even though coach Tom Thibodeau has played the young wing sparingly, and they’re expected to get Derrick Rose back in action from ankle surgery later this month.
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Lakers, Warriors, Knicks, Bulls Among Teams Standing Pat At Deadline

February 10th, 2022 at 2:54pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The struggling Lakers, losers of seven of their last 10 games, opted not to make any moves leading up to the NBA trade deadline. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), Los Angeles will instead look to the buyout market to shore up their club.

Underperforming Lakers wing Talen Horton-Tucker, who had been considered L.A.’s most logical trade chip, will now remain on the roster through at least this season. At 26-30, the Lakers occupy the Western Conference’s ninth seed, a far cry from their expectations heading into the 2021/22 season. Russell Westbrook, who is in the midst of one of the worst seasons of his career, will also remain with the team.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN adds (via Twitter) that, given that the Lakers currently possess a full roster of 15 players, the team would need to waive a player to make room for a new addition. Reserves DeAndre Jordan and Kent Bazemore would seem to be the likeliest candidates for this.

Several other teams with postseason hopes opted to not make trades during deadline day:

  • Another team that had high hopes heading into 2021/22, the 24-31 Knicks, opted to stand pat today, reports Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The team made two trades earlier in the season, including acquiring Cam Reddish from Atlanta. Fred Katz of The Athletic notes (via Twitter) that, though New York may have possessed some trade-friendly contracts, the team was unable to find a willing partner.
  • A relatively loaded Warriors club elected not to make a deadline transaction, and currently boasts a 15-man roster identical to their opening night group, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). Led by All-Stars Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins, plus a returning Klay Thompson and Sixth Man of the Year candidate Jordan Poole, this revamped Golden State club has comfortably established itself as one of the top teams in the Western Conference.
  • The Bulls, a top seed in the East with a very injured roster, decided to also not make any trades during the season, and will instead look to the buyout market to improve their depth, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Johnson adds (Twitter link) that Chicago never really wanted to move on from second-year power forward Patrick Williams this season. Johnson notes that Williams, who has been hurt for all but five games this season, could be returning from his wrist fracture as soon as mid-March.
  • The surging Hawks, winners of seven of their last ten games, ultimately did not make any deadline-day moves, according to Sarah K. Spencer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). The Reddish deal with New York ended up being their only move this season.
  • The Timberwolves had several conversations around the league but ultimately could not find a trade that worked for them, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. With an exciting core of All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns, second-year shooting guard Anthony Edwards, and veteran point guard D’Angelo Russell, the team has developed into a frisky playoff contender. The front office will look to observe how the club wraps up the 2021/22 season. With a 29-26 record, the Timberwolves are the seventh seed in the West at present. Minnesota appears on track to make its first postseason berth since 2018.
  • The 38-18 Grizzlies, the third seed in the Western Conference, did not make any trades at the deadline, per Chris Herrington of the Daily Memphian (via Twitter). Led by All-Star starter Ja Morant, Memphis is already a particularly deep club with several players signed to reasonable contracts.
  • In a bit of a surprise, the usually very-active Thunder are another team that decided to not make any compositional changes at the trade deadline this season, per the Oklahoman’s Joe Mussatto (Twitter link). Oklahoma City is currently well below the salary cap and the minimum salary floor. The team’s cap space will still be in play in June before the new league year starts.
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