Here are today’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Thunder have recalled Isaiah Roby from the Oklahoma City Blue, according to the team’s website. Roby has appeared in just one game since the team acquired him on January 24.
- After holding onto Danilo Gallinari through the trade deadline, the Thunder may explore sign-and-trade scenarios for the veteran forward this offseason, according to Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman, who is skeptical that the rebuilding squad will be enthusiastic about a pricey multiyear contract for a player entering his age-32 season.
The Trail Blazers, Heat, and Thunder all reduced their projected end-of-season tax bills with their moves leading up to the trade deadline, while the Rockets and Warriors got out of tax territory altogether. The Timberwolves ended up sneaking slightly over the tax line as a result of the D’Angelo Russell trade, but the league-wide tax penalties for 2019/20 will be very modest overall, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter).
According to Marks’ calculations, the Trail Blazers will have the highest bill, at around $5.94MM, followed by the Heat ($2.96MM), Thunder ($2MM), and Timberwolves ($1.34MM). If those numbers don’t change between now and the end of the regular season, it would mean the league’s other 26 teams receive approximately $236K apiece in tax distribution, which would be the lowest mark in league history, according to Marks.
The Knicks have had a miserable 12 months, finishing the 2018/19 season with a league-worst 17 wins, missing out on their top free agent targets, and then firing head coach David Fizdale and president of basketball operations Steve Mills during the 2019/20 season.
None of that seems to have had a noticeable impact on the team’s market value though. Once again, the franchise is considered the most valuable of any of the NBA’s 30 clubs, according to a report from Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes. The Lakers and Warriors aren’t far behind, having both surpassed the $4 billion mark for the first time this year.
For the first time, all 30 NBA teams have a perceived worth of $1.3 billion or more, per Forbes’ annual report. Every team’s value increased by at least 6% since Forbes put out their 2019 valuations last February, with a handful of franchises jumping by 20% or more.
The NBA-wide average of $2.12 billion per team in 2020 is also a new record — that league-wide average surpassed the $2 billion mark for the first time. NBA franchise values are up almost sixfold over the last decade, according to Badenhausen.
Here’s the full list of NBA franchise valuations, per Forbes:
- New York Knicks: $4.6 billion
- Los Angeles Lakers: $4.4 billion
- Golden State Warriors: $4.3 billion
- Chicago Bulls: $3.2 billion
- Boston Celtics: $3.1 billion
- Los Angeles Clippers: $2.6 billion
- Brooklyn Nets: $2.5 billion
- Houston Rockets: $2.475 billion
- Dallas Mavericks: $2.4 billion
- Toronto Raptors: $2.1 billion
- Philadelphia 76ers: $2 billion
- Miami Heat: $1.95 billion
- Portland Trail Blazers: $1.85 billion
- San Antonio Spurs: $1.8 billion
- Sacramento Kings: $1.775 billion
- Washington Wizards: $1.75 billion
- Phoenix Suns: $1.625 billion
- Denver Nuggets: $1.6 billion
- Milwaukee Bucks: $1.58 billion
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $1.575 billion
- Utah Jazz: $1.55 billion
- Indiana Pacers: $1.525 billion
- Atlanta Hawks: $1.52 billion
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $1.51 billion
- Charlotte Hornets: $1.5 billion
- Detroit Pistons: $1.45 billion
- Orlando Magic: $1.43 billion
- Minnesota Timberwolves: $1.375 billion
- New Orleans Pelicans: $1.35 billion
- Memphis Grizzlies: $1.3 billion
The Raptors are among this year’s big “winners,” with their value rising 25%, from $1.675 billion a year ago to $2.1 billion this year following their first NBA championship. The Clippers also had a noteworthy bump, moving from ninth place on Forbes’ list to sixth after landing Kawhi Leonard and Paul George last summer.
Although every franchise’s value increased, the Nets had the smallest jump, just 6%. The Magic‘s modest 8% increase resulted in the team slipping from 23rd on last year’s list to 27th this year.
It’s worth noting that when a franchise has been sold in recent years, the price often exceeds Forbes’ valuation, so these figures are just estimates.
- The Thunder have assigned rookie small forward Isaiah Roby to the Oklahoma City Blue, according to a team press release. Roby is averaging 9.5 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.18 SPG and 1.09 BPG in 20.4 minutes over 11 G League contests.
Rookie Thunder power forward Darius Bazley has suffered a right knee bone bruise and will be re-evaluated by the club in four to six weeks, according to ESPN’s Royce Young (Twitter link).
Bazley left the Thunder’s Saturday night tilt against the Celtics with the injury. Drafted with the 23rd pick in 2019, the 6’8″ bench player has logged time in 53 games for Oklahoma City, averaging 4.5 PPG, 3.7 RPG and 0.7 BPG.
The Thunder big man famously opted to forgo a year of college eligibility after graduating high school in 2018. He instead agreed to a three-month, $1MM New Balance internship before declaring for the draft in 2019.
USA Basketball has formally announced a preliminary group of 44 players who are candidates to be part of the program’s roster for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The final roster will only consist of 12 players, so most of these finalists won’t actually play for Team USA at the Olympics. Some will likely withdraw from consideration, while others simply won’t make the final cut. However, these players have all expressed interest in being involved in the process.
“This is the first step in USA Basketball identifying the 12 players who will represent the United States as members of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team in Tokyo,” said USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo.
“… Over the course of the remainder of the NBA season we’ll continue to monitor all of the athletes. Selecting the 12-man USA roster will obviously be an extremely challenging and difficult process, and we will again attempt to select the very best team possible to represent our country and who we hope will be successful in our difficult mission of repeating as Olympic champions for a fourth consecutive Olympics.”
Although the U.S. men’s team has won three consecutive Olympic gold medals, the program had a disappointing showing at last year’s World Cup, finishing in seventh place. Team USA will be looking for a bounce-back performance in Tokyo this summer, with many players from that World Cup squad among the 44 finalists announced today.
Here’s the full list of players who are candidates to play for Team USA at the 2020 Olympics:
- Bam Adebayo (Heat)
- LaMarcus Aldridge (Spurs)
- Harrison Barnes (Kings)
- Bradley Beal (Wizards)
- Devin Booker (Suns)
- Malcolm Brogdon (Pacers)
- Jaylen Brown (Celtics)
- Jimmy Butler (Heat)
- Mike Conley (Jazz)
- Stephen Curry (Warriors)
- Anthony Davis (Lakers)
- DeMar DeRozan (Spurs)
- Andre Drummond (Cavaliers)
- Kevin Durant (Nets)
- Paul George (Clippers)
- Draymond Green (Warriors)
- James Harden (Rockets)
- Montrezl Harrell (Clippers)
- Joe Harris (Nets)
- Tobias Harris (76ers)
- Gordon Hayward (Celtics)
- Dwight Howard (Lakers)
- Brandon Ingram (Pelicans)
- Kyrie Irving (Nets)
- LeBron James (Lakers)
- Kyle Kuzma (Lakers)
- Kawhi Leonard (Clippers)
- Damian Lillard (Blazers)
- Brook Lopez (Bucks)
- Kevin Love (Cavaliers)
- Kyle Lowry (Raptors)
- JaVale McGee (Lakers)
- Khris Middleton (Bucks)
- Donovan Mitchell (Jazz)
- Victor Oladipo (Pacers)
- Chris Paul (Thunder)
- Mason Plumlee (Nuggets)
- Marcus Smart (Celtics)
- Jayson Tatum (Celtics)
- Klay Thompson (Warriors)
- Myles Turner (Pacers)
- Kemba Walker (Celtics)
- Russell Westbrook (Rockets)
- Derrick White (Spurs)
When the Thunder and Heat discussed a potential Danilo Gallinari trade leading up to last week’s deadline, James Johnson, Kelly Olynyk, Kendrick Nunn, and draft compensation were among the various assets that came up in talks, league sources tell Michael Scotto of Bleacher Report. Miami reportedly wanted to extend Gallinari’s contract as part of a deal, but couldn’t agree to terms with his camp, which is one main reason the trade didn’t happen.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote last week that he believed the Heat could’ve acquired Gallinari without surrendering any of their young players like Nunn. So even though his name came up in discussions, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Thunder would have insisted on his inclusion, depending on what other pieces were involved.
While Gallinari remained with the Thunder for this season, Scotto suggests the Heat and Knicks could be among his potential suitors this summer. Miami clearly has interest, and created some cap flexibility for 2020/21 by moving Johnson and Dion Waiters last week. New York, meanwhile, will have cap space and is hiring veteran CAA agent Leon Rose as its new president of basketball operations. Gallinari is a CAA client.
Here are a few more noteworthy tidbits from Scotto’s look at the post-deadline landscape:
- The Knicks and Pacers discussed a possible Marcus Morris trade. According to Scotto, a package that featured Aaron Holiday, Doug McDermott, and T.J. Leaf was “briefly kicked around,” but didn’t end up going far.
- McDermott’s name also came up in discussions about a potential Pacers trade with the Bucks involving Ersan Ilyasova, says Scotto. It’s not known which team initiated those talks.
- Before the Cavaliers traded for Andre Drummond, they called the Pacers to ask about Myles Turner‘s availability, per Scotto. Indiana has remained firm on keeping Turner, though many executives expect the team to eventually break up its Turner/Domantas Sabonis frontcourt.
- The Nuggets discussed the possibility of trading Gary Harris, Malik Beasley, and Juan Hernangomez as part of a package for Bulls guard Zach LaVine or Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday, sources tell Scotto. New Orleans set a very high asking price for Holiday, while LaVine was said to be “off-limits” for Chicago, so Denver didn’t get far on either front.
Here are Sunday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA G League:
- The Pacers have assigned Goga Bitadze to their G League affiliate in Fort Wayne, the team announced. Bitadze was drafted by Indiana with the No. 18 pick last June.
- The Wizards have recalled center Anzejs Pasecniks, guard Gary Payton II and forward Admiral Schofield from the Capital City Go-Go, the team announced on social media.
- The Thunder have recalled guard Deonte Burton and forward Isaiah Roby from the Oklahoma City Blue, general manager Sam Presti announced.
Damian Lillard won’t be fined for his post-game tirade against the officials on Friday, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. The Trail Blazers guard had to be held back following a loss in Utah that included a missed goaltending call with 11.2 seconds remaining on a shot that would have tied the game.
Jazz center Rudy Gobert blocked Lillard’s shot, but it clearly hit the backboard first. Because no call was made, the play couldn’t be challenged or reviewed. Crew chief Josh Tiven admitted after the game that referees got it wrong.
Lillard met with league officials yesterday to discuss the incident.
“We get to the last play of the game, and they miss an easy call,” Lillard said after the game. “And then they tell us that’s an easy no-call, like that was obviously not a goaltend. It cost us a (expletive) game, man.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Timberwolves guard Malik Beasley, acquired from the Nuggets in a four-team deal this week, brings some much-needed passion to his new team, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. After word of the trade broke, Beasley flew to Minnesota Wednesday morning and hoped to play that night. However, the trade call wasn’t completed until almost game time and he was held out, even though he insisted to his new coaches that he was ready to go. “I’m like a mini-vet,” Beasley said. “I’m like a young vet for a team, so I have to bring the winning mentality from Denver over here and watch some extra film, make sure guys are on time, making sure I get extra guys in the gym in the morning, things like that. Just pushing each other and holding each other accountable.”
- Nuggets coach Michael Malone is glad that Beasley, along with Juan Hernangomez and Jarred Vanderbilt, all left the team on “positive terms,” relays Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Malone sent messages to his former players last night before their first game in Minnesota. “Change is inevitable in the NBA,” he said. “Players come, players go. Malik and Juancho were here for four years, Jarred for two. Everybody’s leaving on positive terms. I’m happy for those guys. Those guys are going to get opportunities in Minnesota that they deserve.”
- Luguentz Dort has become a starter for the Thunder, but he’s still not practicing with the team, notes Maddie Lee of The Oklahoman. Dort’s two-way contract limits him to 45 days in the NBA, and team officials want to maximize his number of games. “You’ve got to watch a lot of film with him,” coach Billy Donovan said. “You’ve got to catch him up. He’s got to certainly watch and spectate. All those things become important, following the rules in terms of how we can best keep him engaged to what’s going on and what we’re doing.”