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Pacers Waive James Johnson

January 17th, 2024 at 5:09pm CST by Rory Maher

As expected, the Pacers have officially waived veteran forward James Johnson, the team announced in a press release.

Indiana needed to open a roster spot to acquire Kira Lewis Jr. from New Orleans. Lewis — along with Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora and three first-round picks — will then be sent to Toronto in a separate deal for Pascal Siakam.

According to Tony East of SI.com (Twitter link), the Pacers hope to re-sign Johnson, assuming he clears waivers in a couple days. After the three-for-one trade is complete, Indiana will have two open roster spots.

Interestingly, Johnson was waived as part of a blockbuster trade last year as well, but the Pacers re-signed him a few days later. It sounds like that will be the case again in 2024.

If he clears waivers and becomes an unrestricted free agent, the Pacers will owe Johnson about $2.2MM — the prorated version of the veteran’s minimum — while the team will carry a $1.4MM cap hit, according to Spotrac. The 36-year-old signed a one-year deal with Indiana last month after going unsigned over the offseason, which is why his salary is prorated.

Johnson, who has played for 10 different different NBA teams, averaged 4.8 minutes per game across five appearances in 2023/24. He played 18 games for the Pacers last season.

While he hasn’t contributed much on the court the past two seasons, the Pacers clearly value Johnson’s leadership and professionalism, which is why they keep bringing him back.

Warriors Assistant Dejan Milojevic Dies At Age 46

January 17th, 2024 at 2:33pm CST by Luke Adams

Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic has passed away at age 46, according to reports from several outlets in Milojevic’s native Serbia. The team has confirmed the tragic news in an official press release (Twitter link).

Having accompanied the Warriors to Utah for a Wednesday game vs. the Jazz (which has since been postponed), Milojevic was rushed to the hospital in Salt Lake City on Tuesday after experiencing a medical emergency during a private team dinner with players and coaches.

The Warriors didn’t initially release any details on the nature of Milojevic’s health issue, but confirmed in their latest statement that he suffered a heart attack.

“We are absolutely devastated by Dejan’s sudden passing,” head coach Steve Kerr said in a statement. “This is a shocking and tragic blow for everyone associated with the Warriors and an incredibly difficult time for his family, friends, and all of us who had the incredible pleasure to work with him.

“In addition to being a terrific basketball coach, Dejan was one of the most positive and beautiful human beings I have ever known, someone who brought joy and light to every single day with his passion and energy. We grieve with and for his wife, Natasa, and their children, Nikola and Masa. Their loss is unfathomable.”

A former star player in Europe and the longtime head coach of Mega Basket in Serbia, where he coached future NBA MVP Nikola Jokic from 2012-15, Milojevic made the move to the NBA in 2021. He joined Kerr’s staff in Golden State and won a title in 2022 to cap off his first year with the franchise.

Milojevic previously worked with the Hawks, Spurs, and Rockets during Summer Leagues from 2016-18 and was in his third season as a Warriors assistant. As a player, he primarily competed for teams in Serbia, but also spent time in Spain, Turkey, and Montenegro. He was a three-time MVP of the ABA League from 2004-06.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to Milojevic’s friends and family.

Pacers Finalizing Trade For Pascal Siakam

January 17th, 2024 at 1:24pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers and Raptors are finalizing an agreement on a trade that will send star forward Pascal Siakam to Indiana, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

The deal, whose framework was previously reported by Shams Charania and Jake Fischer, will send Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, and three first-round picks to Toronto, according to Wojnarowski. The Pelicans will also be involved, Wojnarowski notes, with fourth-year guard Kira Lewis headed to the Raptors.

Earlier reporting indicated that Indiana would likely include either Jalen Smith or Obi Toppin in their package for salary-matching purposes. However, by acquiring Lewis from New Orleans using their cap room, the Pacers will be able to immediately aggregate his salary with Brown’s and Nwora’s, making him the missing matching piece. As a result, the “three-team” deal will technically consist of two separate trades, ESPN’s Bobby Marks confirms (via Twitter).

The three first-rounders going to Toronto will be the Pacers’ own 2024 pick, a second ’24 first-rounder (via Oklahoma City), and Indiana’s 2026 pick, sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The 2024 pick from OKC will be the least favorable of the Thunder’s, Clippers’, Rockets’, and Jazz’s first-rounders. The 2026 pick will include top-four protection, according to Charania (Twitter link).

In the Pelicans/Pacers swap, New Orleans will receive cash from Indiana and will send a second-round pick to the Pacers, per ESPN’s Andrew Lopez and Wojnarowski (Twitter link). That will be a 2024 selection, tweets Christian Clark of NOLA.com, which means it’ll be the least favorable of the Pelicans’ and Bulls’ second-rounders.

The blockbuster deal is the culmination of several months of trade rumors involving Siakam. He was also at the center of speculation over the 2023 offseason, at which time the Raptors reportedly spoke to the Hawks and others about the two-time All-Star. The Mavericks, Warriors, Pistons, and Kings are among the teams that have been linked to him in recent weeks.

After getting a limited return for Kyle Lowry in a sign-and-trade deal in 2021 and then losing Fred VanVleet for nothing in 2023 free agency, the Raptors were more proactive this season in moving key players on expiring contracts ahead of February’s trade deadline. Toronto sent OG Anunoby and two other players to New York at the end of December in exchange for Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, and a second-round pick.

The Pacers reportedly made an effort to acquire Anunoby before the Knicks landed him, but Siakam had been at the top of their wish list for over six months, tweets Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. While the Raptors were believed to be seeking a return headlined by a young player or two – like the one they got from the Knicks for Anunoby – Indiana was able to get the deal done with a pick-heavy package that didn’t include recent lottery selections Bennedict Mathurin or Jarace Walker.

By virtue of being traded, Siakam will no longer be eligible for a super-max contract in the event he makes an All-NBA team for a third time this season. Additionally, he won’t be able to sign an extension of more than two years with Indiana prior to free agency, since a longer-term extension deal isn’t permitted for six months after the trade.

However, the 29-year-old is excited to join the Pacers and is expected to be “eager” to figure out a new contract with the team this summer, sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The Pacers will hold his Bird rights, giving them the ability to offer up to five years once he becomes a free agent. They’ll have plenty of financial flexibility to make Siakam a part of the long-term core alongside star point guard Tyrese Haliburton.

“I’m excited that Pascal is getting a first class opportunity with the Pacers, being paired with Tyrese and Myles (Turner) and being coached by a great coach in Rick Carlisle,” Siakam’s agent Todd Ramasar said in a statement to Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link). “His future there looks bright there.”

The Raptors will now control at least two first-round picks in the 2024 draft, along with an early second-rounder from the Pistons that currently projects to be 31st overall. They traded their own ’24 first-rounder away to the Spurs in last season’s Jakob Poeltl deal, but it has top-six protection, so it’s not a lock to change hands — Toronto’s 15-25 record is tied for the sixth-worst mark in the NBA.

It’s unclear what Toronto’s plans are for Brown, who played an important role on the Nuggets’ championship team last season and could be a popular target for contenders on the trade market in the coming weeks.

Brown is on a pseudo-expiring $22MM contract — he has a $23MM club option for 2024/25, so if he remains a Raptor, the club could create in excess of $30MM in cap room by declining that option, notes Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). Nwora ($3MM) and Lewis ($5.7MM) are also on expiring deals.

While the Pacers’ 2023/24 team salary will increase beyond the cap once they officially acquire Siakam, the Raptors and Pelicans will gain significant cap relief. After being only slightly under the luxury tax line prior to the trade, Toronto will have about $9MM in breathing room below that threshold, tweets cap expert Yossi Gozlan.

New Orleans, meanwhile, will move from above the tax line to about $2.8MM below it, Gozlan adds (via Twitter). That will give the Pelicans – one of two NBA teams to never pay the tax – more room to operate on the trade market or in free agency in the coming weeks.

The Pacers will have to waive a player in order to acquire Lewis from New Orleans. Veteran forward James Johnson will be that roster casualty, per Tony East of SI.com (Twitter link). The Raptors, who currently have one open spot on their 15-man roster, will also need to make a cut in order to accommodate their three-for-one deal with Indiana.

Both the Pacers and Pelicans will end up with 13 players on standard contracts once the two trades are completed. Teams aren’t permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on standard deals for more than 14 days at a time, so both clubs will have two weeks to re-add a 14th man.

NBA Postpones Wednesday’s Warriors/Jazz Game

January 17th, 2024 at 11:07am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has elected to postpone the game between the Warriors and the Jazz that had been scheduled for Wednesday night, the league announced in a press release (via Twitter).

The postponement is due to the medical emergency affecting Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic. As we detailed this morning, Milojevic suffered a “sudden and serious” health issue on Tuesday during a private team dinner with Golden State coaches and players.

The exact nature of Milojevic’s health issue isn’t known, but the postponement of tonight’s game is a clear indication of how significant it is. He has been hospitalized in Salt Lake City.

[UPDATE: Milojevic has passed away at age 46]

According to the NBA, a new date for the game between the Warriors and Jazz will be announced at a later time.

The next game on Golden State’s schedule is a Friday contest at home vs. Dallas.

James Harden Hopes To Remain With Clippers Beyond Season

January 17th, 2024 at 10:11am CST by Luke Adams

Because James Harden is on a two-year deal and an NBA contract must cover at least three seasons to be extended, the Clippers star won’t become extension-eligible before he reaches free agency this summer. However, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN writes, Harden indicated on Tuesday that he’s enjoying his time in Los Angeles and hopes to remain with his hometown team beyond this season.

“I’m here, home,” Harden said. “We have an opportunity. I want to be able to keep the core together for a few years and I haven’t had those opportunities the last few years. So things are going well and I’m happy.”

It took a few games for the Clippers to hit their stride following the acquisition of Harden on November 1, but the club has been on a roll since getting off to a 3-7 start, winning 23 of its past 30 games. L.A. now holds a 26-14 record, good for the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference.

Harden’s 16.9 points per game this season would be his lowest mark since he was a sixth man in Oklahoma City in 2011/12, but he’s among the NBA’s assist leaders with 8.4 per night, and his 41.9% three-point rate would represent a career high.

Prior to Harden’s postgame comments, Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and TNT reported during Tuesday’s TV broadcast that the former MVP would like to sign a long-term contract and spend the rest of his career with the Clippers. That suggests that Harden is conveying that desire both publicly and privately.

Still, as Timothy Rapp of Bleacher Report observes, this wouldn’t be the first time that Harden’s desire to spend the rest of his career with his current team was reported by the media or expressed by the guard himself, only for that not to come to fruition. Similar reports surfaced during Harden’s time in Houston, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia, and he ultimately asked to be traded out of all three spots.

Harden acknowledged on Tuesday that he “thought the same thing last year” about signing long-term in Philadelphia, per Youngmiusk, which is why he “did all those sacrifices” — that’s presumably a reference to the pay cut he took in 2022, as well as the role he accepted in the Sixers’ offense, which he later said felt like being “on a leash.”

Still, as long as his relationship with the Clippers’ front office doesn’t break down as dramatically as his relationship with Sixers president Daryl Morey did, it sounds Harden plans on remaining in L.A. past 2023/24. For what it’s worth, after Kawhi Leonard signed a three-year contract extension with the Clippers last week, he expressed a belief that “everybody is coming back,” while Paul George said he’s optimistic about reaching an agreement on a new deal of his own with the franchise.

Clippers Center Ivica Zubac Out At Least Four Weeks

January 16th, 2024 at 7:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Clippers center Ivica Zubac will miss at least a month due to a right calf strain, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times tweets. The team says Zubac will be reevaluated in four weeks.

Zubac has been one of the most durable players in the league over the last five seasons. He has appeared in at least 72 regular season games in each of the past four seasons, but it looks like that streak will come to an end in 2023/24.

In 38 starts this season, Zubac has averaged 12.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 27.1 minutes per game. He’s in the second season of a bargain three-year, $32.8MM contract.

It’s a huge blow for the Clippers, who are 17-4 over the last 21 games. Without him, the Clippers will have to rely on veterans Daniel Theis and Mason Plumlee to pick up the slack. The front office could also explore trade options to fortify the position.

Kings’ Mike Brown Fined $50K By NBA

January 16th, 2024 at 2:56pm CST by Luke Adams

Kings head coach Mike Brown has been fined $50K for “aggressively pursuing” a referee during the team’s Sunday loss in Milwaukee and for publicly criticizing the officiating after the game, the NBA announced today in a press release (Twitter link).

Brown was ejected in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game when he confronted and berated referee Intae Hwang to express his displeasure with how the game was being called (Twitter video link via Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 Sacramento).

During his postgame press conference, Brown brought the team’s video coordinator and a laptop to show reporters specifically which calls led to his ejection (Twitter video link via Carmichael Dave).

“The referees are human, and they’re going to make mistakes, but you just hope that there’s some sort of consistency and there’s some sort of communication between the refs,” Brown said. “The refs tonight, they were great, they communicated with me all night. But in terms of consistency, you guys saw it right here. In my opinion, the consistency wasn’t here tonight.”

It’s a significant penalty for Brown relative to other fines that players and coaches have received for criticizing the officiating, which suggests that the league wasn’t pleased by the Kings coach’s on-court outburst — or by the extra preparation that preceded his postgame comments and the visual examples that accompanied them.

By comparison, Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic was fined $25K for a postgame rant ripping the officiating earlier this month.

Scotty Pippen Jr. Signs Two-Way Contract With Grizzlies

January 16th, 2024 at 2:42pm CST by Luke Adams

2:42pm: Pippen has officially signed with the Grizzlies, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link). He’ll be eligible to appear in up to 26 regular season games for the club.

2:30pm: Former Lakers guard Scotty Pippen Jr. has agreed to a two-way contract with the Grizzlies, agent Erika Ruiz tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, it will be a two-year deal, covering not just the rest of this season but 2024/25 as well.

Pippen, the son of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, spent his rookie year in 2022/23 on a two-way deal with the Lakers after going undrafted out of Vanderbilt. He logged just 32 total minutes in six games at the NBA level, but played regularly for the South Bay Lakers, averaging 22.2 points, 5.3 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in 28.3 minutes per game across 35 NBAGL appearances in the Showcase Cup and regular season.

After spending training camp with Los Angeles again this past fall, Pippen was waived ahead of the regular season and returned to South Bay. He has put up 20.2 PPG, 5.9 APG, and 5.3 RPG with a .485/.329/.846 shooting line in 17 G League games this season.

The Grizzlies had a two-way slot available after promoting Vince Williams to their standard 15-man roster last week. Pippen will join G.G. Jackson and Jacob Gilyard as Memphis’ two-way players.

Once Pippen officially signs, Memphis will have a full roster of 15 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals. However, as we outlined earlier this afternoon, the Grizzlies are in position to fill out their roster beyond the standard limits due to a series of injuries that will make the team eligible for hardship exceptions.

Clippers To Host 2026 NBA All-Star Game

January 16th, 2024 at 2:02pm CST by Rory Maher

JANUARY 16: The NBA officially confirmed today in a press release that the 2026 All-Star Game will take place at the Intuit Dome, the Clippers’ new arena.

JANUARY 12: The Clippers are “on track” to host the 2026 All-Star Weekend at owner Steve Ballmer‘s new Intuit Dome, though the NBA is still finalizing the plans, multiple sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link).

This year’s All-Star Game will be held in Indianapolis (Pacers), and the Warriors will host the event in 2025.

The Intuit Dome, which is located in Inglewood, California, is still under construction. It’s set to open for the 2024/25 season. Both the Lakers and Clippers currently play their home games at Crypto.com Arena, but it’s obviously far more famous for the Lakers than the Clips.

Former Microsoft CEO Ballmer is the wealthiest owner in the NBA and has shown a willingness to spend in multiple aspects of the Clippers business, including the team’s payroll and new arena. Star forward Kawhi Leonard just signed a three-year, $152MM extension two days ago, and Paul George is “optimistic” about his own extension talks.

The Clippers were 3-7 at one point in the immediate aftermath of the James Harden trade, but they’ve gone 21-6 since to currently hold a 24-13 record, good for the No. 4 seed in the West.

Grizzlies’ Desmond Bane Out At Least Six Weeks

January 14th, 2024 at 9:19pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Grizzlies’ lengthy injury list added two more names on Sunday, the team announced (via Twitter).

Guard Desmond Bane suffered a Grade 3 left ankle sprain during the third quarter against the Clippers on Friday. He will be reevaluated in six weeks.

Forward Jake LaRavia has a Grade 2 high left ankle sprain, which he suffered during the first quarter against the Knicks on Saturday. He will be reevaluated in three weeks.

Ja Morant and Steven Adams have already suffered season-ending injuries. The team announced on Thursday that Marcus Smart will be out at least six weeks due to a finger injury, and Brandon Clarke (Achilles) and Derrick Rose (hamstring) are also currently sidelined.

Bane is enjoying a career year, averaging 24.4 points, 5.3 assists and 4.6 rebounds. He officially leads the teams in scoring and assists, as Morant only appeared in nine games before a shoulder injury ended his season.

LaRavia has appeared in 11 games this season, averaging 3.6 points and 1.5 rebounds.

As was the case earlier this season, Memphis will soon become eligible for multiple hardship exceptions. The Grizzlies carried as many as 17 players on their standard roster in the fall when they was beset by injuries, adding Jaylen Nowell and Shaquille Harrison to 10-day contracts.