Newsstand Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Nikola Jokic Reportedly Won’t Play In 2023 World Cup

July 23rd, 2023 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

Following a championship run with the Nuggets this spring, star center Nikola Jokic won’t suit up for Serbia in this summer’s World Cup, according to a report from Dejan Stankovic of Mozzart Sport.

As Stankovic details, there had been skepticism that Jokic would be available for Serbia at the World Cup after he played into mid-June with Denver. Mozzart Sport’s reporting indicates that the two-time NBA MVP has informed the Serbian national team of his decision and will get some extra rest in advance of training camp.

New Thunder guard Vasilije Micic – who signed a three-year contract with Oklahoma City earlier this month – may also skip the World Cup as he prepares for his first season in the NBA. There’s less certainty about Micic’s status at this point, but Stankovic suggests the longtime EuroLeague star will likely follow Jokic’s lead and decline to participate, leaving Serbia without another key piece of its projected rotation.

The FIBA World Cup is generally viewed as a less prestigious international event than the Olympics, so stars who miss this summer’s event in Asia may still end up playing for their national teams in 2024 in Paris. The U.S. World Cup team, for instance, is headlined by a younger group of stars such as Brandon Ingram, Anthony Edwards, and Tyrese Haliburton, but Team USA will likely have more big-name players available in France next year.

Still, non-U.S. stars are often more inclined to compete in non-Olympic international events than top American players are, so the fact that Serbia will likely be missing two of its best players is a tough blow for the team.

Serbia didn’t qualify for the previous Olympics in Tokyo and isn’t a shoo-in for Paris either — the club will be looking to improve upon its fifth-place finish in the 2019 World Cup. Serbia would have to finish as one of the top two European teams at this year’s World Cup in order to automatically qualify for the 2024 Olympics.

Hawks Sign Wesley Matthews

July 22nd, 2023 at 11:58am CST by Tristan Tucker

JULY 22: Matthews’ deal with the Hawks is official, per NBA.com’s transactions log.

JULY 21: Free agent wing Wesley Matthews has agreed to a one-year deal with the Hawks, tweets Adrian Wojnarowki of ESPN.

Matthews, 36, is joining the Hawks after spending the last two seasons – and three of the last four – with the Bucks. In three seasons in Milwaukee, Matthews averaged 5.5 points and shot 34.6% from beyond the arc. Matthews joins Patty Mills as the second veteran shooter the Hawks have added this offseason.

The Hawks now have 17 players on standard contracts. Guard Tyrese Martin‘s $1.7MM contract is on track to become fully guaranteed if he’s not waived today (unless he agrees to push that guarantee date back) while guard Vit Krejci‘s $1.8MM contract is non-guaranteed with a Jan. 7 guarantee date.

Just because Martin and Krejci are on non-guaranteed contracts doesn’t mean they are necessarily on the chopping block. Atlanta has reportedly been exploring deals involving both Clint Capela and De’Andre Hunter after shipping out John Collins earlier this offseason, so the team could theoretically create more roster spots via trades of Capela, Hunter or other players on the roster, like Garrison Mathews or Bruno Fernando, who each played sparingly after arriving in Atlanta at the trade deadline.

Further, we don’t yet know the nature of Matthews’ contract with Atlanta. While Wojnarowski reports that Matthews is signing a one-year deal, it will likely be worth the veteran’s minimum, and it’s unclear whether or not it’ll be fully guaranteed.

Hawks Waive Tyrese Martin

July 21st, 2023 at 3:31pm CST by Luke Adams

3:31pm: The move is official, the Hawks announced in a press release.

10:51am: The Hawks intend to waive swingman Tyrese Martin, reports Grant Afseth of DallasBasketball.com and HoopsAnalysis.net (Twitter link). A league source confirms the news to Hawks reporter Brad Rowland (Twitter link).

The 51st overall pick in the 2022 draft, Martin appeared in just 16 games for the Hawks as a rookie after signing a standard contract with the team. He scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in his 66 total minutes at the NBA level.

Martin saw more frequent playing time for the College Park Skyhawks in the G League, averaging 18.0 PPG, 9.2 RPG, and 1.9 APG on .503/.366/.805 shooting in 23 regular season contests (33.9 MPG) for Atlanta’s G League affiliate.

Although Martin’s contract covered the 2023/24 season, his minimum ($1.72MM) salary was non-guaranteed. He had a July 21 salary guarantee date, so the Hawks would have been on the hook for that full amount if they had kept him on the roster beyond Friday.

Waiving Martin will reduce Atlanta’s roster to 15 players on standard contracts, but the team is reportedly signing Wesley Matthews, so at least one more player will have to be waived or traded before the regular season begins.

Kings Sign Nerlens Noel To One-Year Deal

July 21st, 2023 at 2:35pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 21: Noel’s new contract is official, tweets Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.

JULY 18: The Kings and free agent center Nerlens Noel have agreed to a one-year contract, agent George Langberg tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Wojnarowski refers to it as a $3.1MM deal, which suggests it’s a minimum-salary agreement. The veteran’s minimum for a player with 10 years of NBA experience in 2023/24 is $3,196,448.

Noel, who has appeared in 467 career regular season games since being drafted sixth overall in 2013, didn’t play much in 2022/23. After being traded from New York to Detroit during the 2022 offseason, the 29-year-old appeared in 14 games for the Pistons, who bought him out at the end of February. He signed a 10-day contract with Brooklyn and played in three games for the Nets, but didn’t get a second 10-day and finished the season as a free agent.

Known as an athletic frontcourt defender who has the ability to generate turnovers and protect the rim, Noel enjoyed his best season in recent years in New York in 2020/21, when he averaged 5.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks in 24.2 minutes per night across 64 contests.

It’s unclear whether or not Noel’s new contract with Sacramento will be fully guaranteed, but he should be in position to claim an opening-night roster spot. Prior to their agreement with Noel, the Kings were carrying just 13 players on standard guaranteed contracts.

Although Alex Len re-signed with the Kings this offseason, Richaun Holmes and Chimezie Metu aren’t returning and Neemias Queta is still a free agent, so there could be rotation minutes available at center behind Domantas Sabonis.

Kemba Walker Signs With AS Monaco

July 21st, 2023 at 7:56am CST by Luke Adams

Free agent point guard Kemba Walker will resume his playing career in Europe, having signed with AS Monaco Basket for the 2023/24 season. The team, which competes in France’s LNB Pro A and the EuroLeague, confirmed the deal on Twitter.

A four-time NBA All-Star, Walker has been slowed in recent years by knee injuries. He was traded from New York to Detroit in a salary-dump deal during the 2022 offseason and was waived by the Pistons prior to the regular season. He caught on with the Mavericks in November, but appeared in just nine games for the team last season before being cut in January.

Walker, 33, can still be an effective offensive player when healthy. He has averaged 19.3 points and 5.3 assists per game over the course of 750 career NBA appearances, with shooting averages of .418/.360/.840. However, he was never an elite defender and his knee issues have exacerbated his struggles on that end of the court, which was a key factor in his lack of recent NBA opportunities.

Walker will be joining an AS Monaco team that finished with a 21-13 record in EuroLeague regular season play last season and advanced to the EuroLeague Final Four. Monaco lost in the first round of the Final Four, but won the third place game.

Mike James, Donatas Motiejunas, Jaron Blossomgame, Donta Hall, and Elie Okobo are among the other former NBA players on Monaco’s roster.

Thunder Waive Rudy Gay

July 20th, 2023 at 5:20pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 20: The Thunder have officially released Gay, per a press statement.

JULY 19: The Thunder are waiving forward Rudy Gay, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Gay, who turns 37 next month, has been traded twice this offseason. The Jazz sent him to Atlanta in the John Collins deal, and then the Hawks moved him to Oklahoma City in a salary dump.

As Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman tweets, releasing Gay will open up a roster spot, which the Thunder will use to officially sign Jack White. The two sides agreed to the terms of a contract on July 1, but OKC made some trades to add draft assets, temporarily putting the deal on hold.

Gay has had a long and highly productive NBA career, often popping up on lists of the best players to have never been an All-Star. He averaged at least 17 points and five rebounds per game in 10 consecutive seasons from 2007-2017 with the Grizzlies, Raptors and Kings.

While the 17-year veteran was still a solid performer as recently as 2020/21 with the Spurs, he battled injuries over his two seasons with the Jazz, appearing in just 111 of a possible 164 regular season games. His production slipped as well, with Gay posting career lows in virtually every major statistic over the past two campaigns.

Overall, Gay has appeared in 1120 regular season contests, including 779 starts, with career averages of 15.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.1 SPG and 0.7 BPG on .452/.346/.799 shooting in 30.9 MPG. In ’22/23, he averaged just 5.2 PPG and 2.9 RPG on .380/.254/.857 shooting in 56 games (14.6 MPG).

Gay is virtually certain to go unclaimed on the waiver wire, as he’ll earn a guaranteed $6,479,000 in ’23/24, which is the final year of his contract. The Thunder will be on the hook for that full amount in a couple days if he isn’t claimed, while the former UConn star will become an unrestricted free agent.

Anthony Slater of The Athletic previously identified the Warriors as a team that might be interested in Gay if he were to hit the open market.

Thunder’s Williams, Holmgren Among Players Joining USA Select Team

July 20th, 2023 at 4:01pm CST by Rory Maher

Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren of the Thunder and Jalen Green of the Rockets are among the young players joining the USA Select Team ahead of the upcoming FIBA World Cup, league sources tell Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

Those three players will be eligible to travel with Team USA to the Philippines and could potentially be added to the 12-man national team roster in the event of an injury, per The Athletic.

Williams, Holmgren and Green will be joined by Pistons guard Cade Cunningham and Kings forward Keegan Murray for Team USA’s training camp in a couple of weeks, where they will practice and scrimmage against the main roster, according to Charania and Vardon. As many as 12 players could end up being named to the Select Team.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported (via Twitter) that Cunningham would attend the training camp. The 2021 No. 1 overall pick was actually offered a spot on the senior team’s roster, according to Wojnarowski, but decided to forgo the opportunity in order to focus on the 2023/24 season. Cunningham was limited to 12 games last season due to a shin injury which required surgery.

Williams, the runner-up for the ’22/23 Rookie of the Year award, is coming off a stellar first season with OKC, averaging 14.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 3.3 APG and 1.4 SPG on .521/.356/.812 shooting in 75 games (30.3 MPG). Holmgren, the No. 2 overall pick last year, missed the entire season due to foot surgery, but he’s healthy again and recently played during Las Vegas Summer League.

Green, the No. 2 overall pick in 2021, averaged 22.1 PPG, 3.7 RPG and 3.7 APG on .416/.338/.786 shooting in 76 games (34.2 MPG) for Houston last season. Murray was the fourth pick of last year’s draft. The former Iowa product averaged 12.2 PPG and 4.6 RPG while shooting 41.1% from three-point range during his All-Rookie First Team campaign.

The Americans will start training camp for the World Cup on August 3 in Las Vegas, with their first game scheduled later that month in the Philippines.

Heat Promote GM Elisburg To Executive VP Of Basketball Operations

July 20th, 2023 at 1:57pm CST by Rory Maher

The Heat have promoted senior vice president of basketball operations and general manager Andy Elisburg to executive vice president of basketball operations, the team announced in a press release. In addition to his new title, he will retain his dual title of GM.

Elisburg has been with Miami since the team’s inception in 1988. He has served as senior VP of basketball ops and GM for the past 10 years.

“Andy is so deserving of this promotion,” said president Pat Riley. “Working together for 28 years has brought so many great transactions that have improved the franchise multiple times over the years, both on and off the court. More importantly, Andy’s knowledge and work ethic are second to none, he’s been involved with everything we do at the HEAT and we look forward to continued success.”

While Riley is frequently (and justifiably) credited for the Heat’s success over the past two decades, Elisburg has been an instrumental behind-the-scenes figure who is said to be a shrewd negotiator and a CBA expert. Miami has won three championships and made seven NBA Finals appearances since 2006, when the team won its first title.

Suns To Launch New G League Affiliate

July 20th, 2023 at 8:58am CST by Arthur Hill

The Suns are planning to have a G League affiliate, possibly by the 2024/25 season, writes Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Once the Trail Blazers launch their G League team this fall, Phoenix will be the only NBA franchise without a direct affiliate in the league. The Suns used to operate a team in Northern Arizona, but former owner Robert Sarver sold it to the Pistons in 2020.

“Bringing a G League team to the Valley has been a priority for us, and I am excited that we have begun the process and the wheels are in motion to have a team in Phoenix as early as the 2024/25 season,” owner Mat Ishbia announced. “Not only will this allow us to develop young players within our winning culture, but also will serve as an opportunity to expand our reach and connect with even more basketball fans across the region. This investment further strengthens our connection with the community and continues to elevate Phoenix as the epicenter of basketball.”

The new franchise will be located somewhere in the Phoenix area, sources tell Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. During their four seasons in operation, the Northern Arizona Suns played in Prescott Valley, which is about 90 minutes away from Phoenix.

There are several criteria an NBA team has to meet to acquire a G League affiliate, Rankin adds, including having a lease agreement with an arena that complies with league standards. Those standards involve having enough locker rooms, approved ceiling clearance and available dates for 24 regular season home games. The G League doesn’t designate a minimum number of seats for its arenas.

Before they can begin their new franchise, the Suns will have to hire coaches, staff members, a team president and a general manager.

Without a direct affiliate, any Phoenix players who get sent to the G League are assigned to another team. That affects control of how the players are used and removes the potential benefit of developing them in a system that’s similar the one that the Suns operate.

Ishbia teased the announcement Monday during an appearance on the Burns and Gambo radio show, per Kellan Olson of Arizona Sports 98.7.

“We believe in developing young players,” Ishbia told the hosts. “… In the very near future, hopefully we’ll be able to announce a different strategy on that.”

Olson notes that the Suns have rarely sent their two-way players to the G League since selling the Northern Arizona franchise.

Pacers First-Rounder Jarace Walker Had “Minor” Elbow Surgery

July 19th, 2023 at 4:45pm CST by Rory Maher

Jarace Walker underwent “minor” surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The Pacers forward is expected to be completely healed when training camp opens in the fall, per Wojnarowski.

Walker spent his lone college season with the Houston Cougars, averaging 11.2 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.0 SPG and 1.3 BPG on .465/.347/.663 shooting in 36 games (27.6 MPG) in 2022/23. Known as a strong defensive player, Walker was the eighth pick of last month’s draft.

The 19-year-old appeared in four Summer League games for Indiana in Las Vegas, averaging 14.3 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.3 APG, 1.3 SPG and 1.3 BPG in 30.1 MPG. While those all-around stats are quite solid, he struggled mightily with scoring efficiency, posting a .343/.179/.444 shooting line. It’s safe to assume his elbow was affecting him, considering he reportedly underwent surgery to correct the ailment.

Assuming no other major roster moves are made, Walker will likely be vying with Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith for the starting power forward job entering ’23/24. Nesmith spent much of last season as the small-ball starting four, but he’s only 6’5″ and the Pacers were obviously focused on adding talent at the position this summer.