- After packaging the Nos. 27 and 38 picks to the Jazz for the No. 23 pick in this year’s draft, the Knicks may be looking to use the No. 23 pick to help them trade up even further. The Knicks have talked with the Cavaliers about trading their Nos. 8 and 23 for Cleveland’s No. 5 pick. However, Kelsey Russo of The Athletic tweets that Cleveland is holding out for more value.
In his latest mock draft in advance of tonight’s event, Jeremy Woo of SI.com shares several interesting tidbits, writing that Killian Hayes is “strongly in play” for the Pistons at No. 7 and suggesting there’s some concern about Aaron Nesmith‘s injured foot, which ended his season at Vanderbilt.
Woo also hears from sources that Cole Anthony has interviewed in recent days with multiple teams outside the top 20 and that the Celtics and Spurs would be among the teams with interest in Onyeka Okongwu if he slides out of the top 10 due to his foot injury.
Woo reports that there’s “significant traction” for Devin Vassell within the Knicks‘ front office, making him a viable option at No. 8 if the team stays put. Finally, Woo says the Celtics have shown interest in Duke big man Vernon Carey Jr., who could be an option at No. 26 or No. 30.
Here’s more on the 2020 NBA draft:
- The Hawks are currently planning to keep and use the No. 6 pick tonight, a source tells Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). That could change if Atlanta gets a surprise last-minute offer, Wasserman cautions, but for the time being, it sounds as if the team is comfortable staying put.
- We still don’t know with any certainty which player the Timberwolves will select with the No. 1 pick tonight, but Georgia guard Anthony Edwards has emerged as the betting favorite at Las Vegas sportsbooks, writes David Purdum of ESPN.com.
- While USC big man Onyeka Okongwu may not be ready for training camp due to a foot injury, it sounds like the issue shouldn’t impact his draft stock too significantly. One source who spoke to Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link) predicted that Okongwu will still likely come off the board before the Wizards pick at No. 9.
Teams monitoring Joe Harris‘ free agency “firmly believe” that he’ll end up re-signing with the Nets, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer also reported this week that Harris appears likely to remain in Brooklyn.
While the Nets are the frontrunners for the free agent sharpshooter, they’ll face competition. Begley writes that the Hawks and Hornets will be among the many teams interested in Harris. Atlanta and Charlotte are two of the only teams that will have the cap space necessary to offer Harris a deal worth more than the mid-level exception ($9.3MM) without requiring a sign-and-trade.
Two executives who spoke to Begley estimated that Harris could end up with a deal in the range of $16-20MM annually. Teams with interest in the 29-year-old believe he could get a four-year offer from Brooklyn, Begley adds.
If, for whatever reason, the market for Harris isn’t quite as hot as expected, the Knicks – another team projected to have cap room – will have interest too, but that’s unlikely, writes Begley.
Re-signing Harris would push the Nets well into tax territory, but he’s an important piece in a rotation that features ball-dominant players like Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving, and Caris LeVert. Harris doesn’t need the ball a lot and is a reliable floor spacer and knock-down shooter, having made 43.9% of his three-point attempts over the last three seasons.
The Cavaliers are receiving interest in the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who reports that the Pistons (No. 7), Knicks (No. 8), and Celtics (No. 14) are among the teams that have engaged in discussions with Cleveland.
The Knicks just moved up from No. 27 to No. 23 in a trade with Utah and may try to package that pick with No. 8 in an attempt to improve their lottery pick, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Knicks and Cavs have been the two teams in the top eight most frequently connected to Dayton forward Obi Toppin, so it’s possible he could be the target on New York’s radar in a move up, though that’s not confirmed.
The Pistons, meanwhile, have been linked often to Florida State’s Patrick Williams. If he’s still on the board at No. 5, Detroit may have interest in moving up to land him — or to leapfrog Atlanta at No. 6 for Tyrese Haliburton, Fedor suggests.
According to Fedor, the Cavs have their eye on a number of players in the second tier of the draft, including Toppin, Haliburton, Deni Avdija, and Isaac Okoro, among others. Moving down to No. 7 or No. 8 could allow them to “declutter their options” while picking up an extra asset or two.
It’s unclear how interested the Cavaliers would be in moving all the way down to No. 14, which is Boston’s top first-rounder. Cleveland sees a drop in talent after the top 10 or 11 prospects in this year’s draft class, says Fedor. There has been some speculation about a possible Gordon Hayward trade involving the Cavs and Celtics, but it’s not clear if that’s something the two sides have even discussed.
9:07am: The trade is official, the Knicks announced in a press release.
8:32am: The Knicks have moved up four spots late in the first round of the 2020 NBA draft, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports that the team is sending the 27th and 38th overall picks to the Jazz in exchange for No. 23.
New York will also receive the rights to 2008 second-rounder Ante Tomic in the deal, Wojnarowski adds. However, Tomic is not expected to join the NBA at any point.
The timing of the move is interesting, as this sort of deal is typically completed during the draft, when teams have a better sense of which players will be available – or unavailable – when they’re on the clock.
The Knicks may have felt they needed to leapfrog a team in the 24-26 range to target a specific player, or may have other plans in mind for the No. 23 pick. For now, they’ll enter tonight’s draft holding the eighth and 23rd overall selections.
As for the Jazz, they clearly have enough players they like in the 20s to feel comfortable pulling the trigger on this deal early. They’ll acquire a second-round pick whom they’ll likely be able to sign at or near the rookie minimum. Utah previously traded away its own second-rounder.
Stanford point guard Tyrell Terry has worked out for the Nets and Grizzlies, in addition to conducting Zoom meetings with Brooklyn and the Knicks, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post (Twitter link). Lewis notes that Terry has not worked out in person for any other clubs as of earlier today. Brooklyn has the No. 19 and No. 55 picks in tomorrow’s draft, while Memphis owns the No. 40 pick.
The Hornets and Knicks are the only teams with “verifiable” trade interest in Rockets star Russell Westbrook so far, Marc Stein of The New York Times writes in his weekly newsletter. And Stein cautions that both clubs’ interest is “conditional” rather than aggressive.
Some people around the NBA believe that Charlotte’s desire to acquire Westbrook will increase if the team doesn’t end up drafting LaMelo Ball on Wednesday night, per Stein. As for the Knicks, their stance is best described as “weighing, but resisting,” according to Stein, who says multiple people within the organization are hesitant to make a move for Westbrook and his pricey contract.
Stein suggests that the best offer the Rockets could expect from the Knicks for Westbrook at this point would include one future first-round pick from Dallas, along with players who aren’t part of the team’s long-term plans, such as perhaps Julius Randle and Dennis Smith Jr.. Even then, there’s no guarantee New York would want to take on the three years and $133MM left on Westbrook’s contract.
Here’s more on the Rockets:
- While the Rockets remain reluctant to move James Harden and don’t feel pressure to make a move right away, the “overwhelming expectation” around the NBA is that he’ll eventually be dealt, whether it’s this week, next month, or sometime in 2021, according to David Aldridge and Kelly Iko of The Athletic. Past inquires of Harden have simply been turned aside by the Rockets, but there’s a sense that they’ll now come around if the package is strong enough.
- Although Harden is reportedly focused on getting to the Nets, the Sixers‘ interest in him has grown in recent weeks, sources tell The Athletic’s duo. According to Aldridge and Iko, rapper Meek Mill – who is from Philadelphia – has been trying to convince Harden to come to the Sixers.
- The Clippers aren’t currently pursuing Harden, per The Athletic’s report.
- Sources tell Aldridge and Iko that Harden feels as if some of the Rockets’ decisions – including roster moves and hirings – have been made without substantial impact from him.
- The Athletic’s sources maintain that Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is “hellbent” on keeping the team out of luxury tax territory for the foreseeable future.
- Sydney Kings swingman Jae’Sean Tate, who went undrafted out of Ohio State in 2018, is expected to sign with the Rockets sometime after free agency opens later this week, Stein reports. John Hollinger of The Athletic recently referred to Tate – who made over 40% of his three-point attempts in Australia last season – as one of the most highly-regarded players outside of the U.S. Houston is also bringing Sydney’s head coach Will Weaver stateside as an assistant on Stephen Silas’ staff, as we relayed last week.
League sources have long said that the Hornets‘ preference on draft night would be adding a big man, either by trading up for James Wiseman or by picking Onyeka Okongwu, writes Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. However, according to O’Connor, there are some people in Charlotte’s front office who like the idea of drafting LaMelo Ball if he’s available.
As O’Connor notes, one potential avenue for the Hornets if Wiseman is off the board at No. 3 and Ball is available would be to trade down with a team like Chicago or Detroit that might be eyeing Ball. In that scenario, Charlotte could theoretically pick up an extra asset or two while still having the opportunity to select Okongwu.
Here are a few more of the most interesting tidbits from O’Connor’s latest mock draft at The Ringer:
- O’Connor’s sources believe the Knicks will select Obi Toppin if he’s available at No. 8. If the Dayton forward makes it past Cleveland at No. 5, there’s a chance he’ll still be on the board for New York.
- The Spurs “love” Villanova forward Saddiq Bey, according to O’Connor, who says San Antonio is also one of multiple teams with interest in trading up for Florida State’s Patrick Williams.
- “Everyone around the league” thinks that the Thunder will look to trade up to land seven-footer Aleksej Pokusevski, who has been frequently linked to Oklahoma City in large part due to his agent’s connection to general manager Sam Presti. Agent Jason Ranne used to work in the Thunder’s front office.
- Within his note on the Nets‘ potential pick at No. 19, O’Connor cites sources who say that Brooklyn is likely to re-sign free agent sharpshooter Joe Harris.
- The Nuggets are thought to be targeting a frontcourt player at No. 22, league sources tell O’Connor, who identifies Isaiah Stewart and Zeke Nnaji as a couple possibilities.
The Celtics will get some clarity on their offseason by 5:00 pm eastern time on Tuesday, according to Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald, who says that’s the deadline for Gordon Hayward to either exercise or pass on his $34.1MM player option for 2020/21.
A pair of league sources tell Murphy that Hayward still hadn’t finalized a decision as of Monday night. One source predicted Hayward would opt in, but the other suggested there would be plenty of interest for the Celtics forward if he becomes a free agent. “All I know is that there’s a lot of people who want him,” that source said.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- The Knicks reopened their Tarrytown practice facility on Monday, nearly a week after shutting it down due to three members of the organization testing positive for COVID-19, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Sources tell Berman that no players were among those who tested positive.
- The Raptors‘ chances of re-signing Fred VanVleet increased as a result of the Suns’ acquisition of Chris Paul, according to Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star. Phoenix was considered one of the few teams that could make a run at VanVleet in free agency — Toronto still may have to contend with New York and Detroit, among others, however.
- ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, Mike Schmitz, and Bobby Marks (Insider-only link) identify the Knicks, Celtics, Nets, and Sixers as four of the eight best candidates to make draft-night trades on Wednesday.
The first major domino of the NBA offseason has fallen, as the Thunder and Suns are set to finalize a deal that will send All-Star guard Chris Paul to Phoenix.
Kelly Oubre is one of the key pieces headed to Oklahoma City in that swap, and according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7FM (Twitter link), the Suns felt as if Oubre was expendable not only due to the emergence of Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson, but because they didn’t think they’d end up re-signing Oubre in free agency in 2021.
Meanwhile, while Paul is on board with being dealt to the Suns, Marc Berman of The New York Post hears that CP3’s top preference would have been a move to the Clippers. The veteran point guard had “mixed feelings” about a possible deal to the Knicks, Berman adds.
As we wait for more trade agreements to be reached, here are a few of the latest rumors from around the NBA:
- The Hornets appear to be the most likely landing spot for Russell Westbrook, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who writes that team owner Michael Jordan wants to acquire the former MVP. However, sources tell O’Connor that Charlotte won’t put the No. 3 overall pick on the table in an offer to the Rockets.
- The Mavericks aren’t involved in the Jrue Holiday sweepstakes for now, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News, who tweets that the Pelicans prefer to trade Holiday to an Eastern Conference team. Mike Singer of The Denver Post notes (via Twitter) that New Orleans’ apparent desire to send Holiday to the East might be posturing to try to drive up the price for a team like the Nuggets.
- Asked today about trade rumors involving Aaron Gordon, Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman confirmed there have been “a lot of calls” on the forward (Twitter link via Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel). However, he added that there’s an “amazing amount of misinformation that circulates and is unfounded.” A report last week suggested Orlando was trying to move up in the draft from No. 15 by attaching Gordon to the pick.
- In case you missed it, James Harden is rumored to be seeking a trade out of Houston.