Newsstand Rumors | Hoops Rumors

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.

Wizards Acquire Bagley, Livers From Pistons In Four-Player Trade

January 14th, 2024 at 2:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

2:31pm: The trade is now official, Detroit has announced in a press release (Twitter link).

9:35am: The Pistons will send Marvin Bagley III, Isaiah Livers and two second-round picks to the Wizards in exchange for Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The picks are for 2025 and 2026, sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Detroit used some of its draft assets to offload Bagley’s contract, which will pay him $12.5MM next season. The other three players in the trade are all on expiring deals, with Livers at $1.8MM, Gallinari at $6.8MM and Muscala at $3.5MM.

Bagley had been a part-time starter since being acquired from Sacramento at the 2022 trade deadline, but the organization is motivated to create as much cap space as possible in the wake of a disastrous season. Detroit will have 11 impending free agents once the trade is finalized and currently projects to have about $64MM to work with in free agency, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.

This could be the start of a complete overhaul for the 3-36 Pistons heading into the February 8 trade deadline, suggests Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports cites a high-ranking source who tells him the deal is just the “first step” (Twitter link).

There are several options available for the two draft picks in the trade, observes John Hollinger of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 2025 selection could be a return of Washington’s pick, while the 2026 choice could be from Minnesota, New York, New Orleans or Portland.

Bagley, the second overall selection in the 2018 draft, will get a chance to revive his career with another rebuilding team in Washington. Although he was averaging 10.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 26 games this season, he was an awkward fit for a team that already had Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart and James Wiseman in its big-man rotation.

Livers, a 25-year-old forward, established himself as a rotation player in Detroit after being drafted in the second round in 2021. He averaged 5.0 points and 2.1 rebounds in 23 games this season, but was shooting career lows of 34.5% from the field and 28.6% from three-point range.

Gallinari appeared in 26 games in his first year with the Wizards after sitting out all of last season with a torn ACL. The 35-year-old forward was averaging 7.0 points and 2.9 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per night.

Muscala, 32, was acquired from Boston last summer in the same deal as Gallinari. He averaged 4.0 points and 3.1 rebounds in 24 games in his brief time in Washington.

The Pistons will also create a $5.7MM trade exception in the deal, according to cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link).

Latest On Pascal Siakam

January 13th, 2024 at 8:21am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Warriors are one of the top threats to trade for Raptors forward Pascal Siakam at the trade deadline, but there are some complicating factors for a potential deal for Golden State or any other team.

As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski explained in a recent TV appearance (Twitter video link) – and as has been previously reported – Siakam has plenty of say on where he wants to go because he’s in the last year of his deal and any team acquiring him has to be prepared to offer a max contract.

The Warriors would have to first decide whether they want to commit long-term money to Siakam and then determine what a trade package looks like from there. A player like Andrew Wiggins, believed to be available, is on the books for at least two years after this one for an average of $27.25MM per year but Marc J. Spears notes there’s “not a lot of value for Wiggins right now.” Jonathan Kuminga was previously mentioned as a sticking point in negotiations between the two teams.

Siakam would undoubtedly be a boon for a Warriors team with well-documented struggles and, according to Wojnarowski, Golden State is interested, but it’s a “difficult pathway” for the two sides on any deal.

On top of that, other teams don’t have to get desperate to try and acquire Siakam’s services due to his impending free agency. Wojnarowski specifically mentions the Pacers as a team that has engaged with Toronto on Siakam and also has the cap flexibility in the offseason to sign him to a free agent deal. While Jarace Walker and Bennedict Mathurin are two young players on Indiana’s roster Toronto general manager Masai Ujiri “would love to get,” Wojnarowski says the Pacers realize they don’t necessarily have to move either due to their upcoming flexibility.

These complicating factors have led some to believe Siakam and Toronto will find a middle ground on an extension that benefits both parties and allows the Raptors to not lose the two-time All-Star in free agency for nothing. However, Wojnarowski says there’s no traction on an extension between the two sides right now.

The Mavericks are another team that makes sense for Siakam and Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports said during a recent podcast appearance (YouTube link via Locked On Mavericks) that there have been conversations between Dallas and Toronto on a potential deal.

According to Fischer, there are some people in Dallas who view Siakam as a missing piece and believe that a big three headlined by him, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving would make the team a legitimate contender. However, there are others unconvinced he’s worth what he would cost to acquire.