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Damian Lillard Roundup: Heat, Thunder, Herro, More

September 19th, 2023 at 9:15am CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers and Heat remain at a standoff in the Damian Lillard trade talks, with the two sides unable to bridge the gap between what Portland expects to receive for its star guard and what Miami is willing to give up, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on the latest Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link).

“What the Blazers want – if they’re dealing with one team, if it is Miami or nothing – they want what the Nets got from the Suns (for Kevin Durant),” Windhorst said.

The Nets acquired four unprotected first-round picks along with Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, a first-round pick swap, and two second-rounders in the four-team deal that sent Durant and T.J. Warren to Phoenix at the February deadline. When ESPN’s Tim Bontemps interrupted to say that the Blazers simply aren’t going to get a Durant-esque package for Lillard, Windhorst continued:

“I understand that. And a year ago right now, the Nets weren’t getting it from the Suns, whatever initial talks that they had. But the concept is that (the Blazers) want the Heat to literally scrounge into every nook and cranny and produce everything they possibly can. And the Heat don’t feel the need to do that, and they haven’t since June.”

As Windhorst observes, the Suns only became more willing to make the sort of massive offer the Nets wanted for Durant following the franchise’s change in ownership. Obviously, the Blazers can’t count on their talks with Miami getting that sort of push.

Here’s more on Lillard:

  • Appearing on Back on Figg (YouTube link), Lillard spoke about his desire to win a championship and hinted that Portland’s lack of urgency to contend for a title is the reason why he wants to be traded. “(It’s) like me and you saying, ‘No matter what happens, we ain’t telling on each other,'” Lillard said (hat tip to RealGM). “… And then a day comes where I’m still playing by those same rules. Like, ‘Me and you want the same thing, we’re gonna go out together.’ And then that ain’t the code you want to live by no more. So, when that happens, me and you can’t be how we was. … If me and you don’t want the same thing no more and you show me that you don’t want the same thing, we don’t want the same thing.”
  • Asked during an appearance on the It Is What It Is podcast (Twitter video link) whether he wants to be a Trail Blazer this season, Lillard replied, “In a perfect world, I could spend my entire career in Portland.” Again, it sounds like the implication there is that he’d be comfortable remaining with the Blazers if they were more aggressively building a win-now roster.
  • During an NBA Today segment on Lillard (YouTube link), ESPN’s Marc Spears suggested there might be a mystery Eastern Conference team interested in making a play for the star guard. “Would Boston do it?” Spears said when discussing possible suitors besides Miami. “I’m kind of hearing rumors about another Eastern Conference team that I’m not going to throw out there just yet.”
  • Chris Mannix of SI.com said on The Crossover NBA podcast that he believes the Thunder could enter the Lillard sweepstakes if Dame is still a Blazer in January and Oklahoma City is overachieving. “If they’re playing really well, don’t be surprised if they go out and make a run at Lillard,” Mannix said, per Ross Lovelace of SI.com.
  • Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscriber link) questions the Trail Blazers’ apparent aversion to acquiring Heat guard Tyler Herro in a trade for Lillard, arguing that Herro has accomplished more in his career than Anfernee Simons and might immediately become the best player on Portland’s roster.
  • In a separate article for the Sun Sentinel, Winderman notes that if the Heat are able to land Lillard, they’d have three players – Lillard, Jimmy Butler, and Bam Adebayo – impacted by the NBA’s new player participation policy. Chicago, Cleveland, Golden State, Milwaukee, Minnesota, and Phoenix are currently the only teams with more than two players affected.
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Super-Max Candidates To Watch In 2023/24

September 14th, 2023 at 7:30am CST by Luke Adams

Note: This is an updated version of an article that was sent exclusively to our Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers in June. Click here for more information on Trade Rumors Front Office.

The NBA’s Designated Veteran rule, as we explain in our glossary entry on the subject, allows players to qualify for a maximum salary worth 35% of the cap before they gain the required NBA service time.

Typically, a player is ineligible to receive a maximum contract that starts at 35% of the cap until he has at least 10 years of experience, but the Designated Veteran rule gives a player with between seven and nine years of experience the opportunity to do so if he meets certain performance criteria. This has become colloquially known as signing a “super-max” deal.

The performance criteria are as follows (only one of the following must be true):

  • The player was named to an All-NBA team and/or was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season, or in two of the last three seasons.
  • The player was named the NBA MVP in any of the three most recent seasons.

Since the NBA introduced the concept of the Designated Veteran contract in 2017, 12 players have signed them across seven offseasons. Celtics wing Jaylen Brown became the latest player to join that group this summer when he signed a five-year super-max deal that could become the NBA’s first $300MM contract.

Brown will be the only player who signs such a contract this offseason, but it’s worth taking a peek down the road to see which players are the best candidates to join the list of super-max recipients in 2024 and 2025.

We can start by penciling in another Celtic, Jayson Tatum, for 2024. Although he doesn’t yet have enough years of NBA service to sign a Designated Veteran extension, Tatum met the performance criteria in the spring by earning his second consecutive All-NBA berth.

That means that even if he doesn’t make an All-NBA team in 2024, he’ll have received an All-NBA nod in two of the previous three seasons when he meets the service time criteria next summer, making him super-max eligible. It seems likely the Celtics will offer him a Designated Veteran extension at that time.

Here are some other candidates to watch during the 2023/24 season:

2024

Because a player become ineligible for a Designated Veteran extension if he’s traded after his first four years in the NBA, prime candidates like Donovan Mitchell and Domantas Sabonis won’t be able to qualify. Still, there’s an intriguing group of candidates in play for next summer.

Ingram, Murray, and Siakam, members of the 2016 draft class, would have become super-max eligible if they had made an All-NBA team this year. They’ll get another chance in 2024.

Ingram averaged a career-best 24.7 points and 5.8 assists per night in 2022/23, but injuries limited him to just 45 games. While he’s not one of the best 15 players in the NBA, it’s not impossible to imagine the 26-year-old earning an All-NBA spot if he stays healthy and helps lead the Pelicans to a top-four seed in the West. He’s probably a long shot, but we can’t rule him out entirely.

Murray was making his way back from an ACL tear last season, which meant he was subject to load management and wasn’t necessarily at his best from day one. But his postseason performance – 26.1 points per game on .473/.396/.926 shooting en route to a championship – served as a reminder that he has All-NBA upside.

Siakam made the All-NBA Second Team in 2020 and the Third Team in 2022 and received some votes in 2023. However, he still needs one more All-NBA nod in 2024 to become eligible for a Designated Veteran deal. He’ll be a candidate to watch as long as he remains in Toronto for the 2023/24 season. A trade – which would make him ineligible – still looms as a possibility.

Adebayo and Fox are 2017 draftees with just six years of NBA experience, which means that Fox didn’t meet the Designated Veteran performance criteria by earning All-NBA honors in May — he’ll need to do it again in 2024 to qualify for a super-max deal. His performance this past year showed that he’s capable of it.

Adebayo’s path to an All-NBA berth is complicated by the fact that the All-NBA teams will become positionless beginning in 2024. That means voters won’t necessarily have to choose three centers, which may reduce his odds of making the cut.

Still, the field of All-NBA candidates may be more wide open than usual in 2024, since the league is also requiring players to appear in at least 65 games in order to be eligible for one of the 15 spots. That means a player who misses a few weeks with an injury might be out of the running. If Ingram, Murray, Siakam, Fox, and Abebayo can stay healthy and play at least 65 times, their All-NBA odds will increase.

It’s worth noting too that being named Defensive Player of the Year is another way to qualify for a super-max. Adebayo has finished in the top five in voting for that award in each of the last four seasons and is a legitimate candidate to win it at some point.

2025

Doncic, Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jackson were drafted in 2018 and have just five years of NBA experience, so they’re still two years away from having the service time required for a Designated Veteran contract — none of them would be able to sign a super-max extension until 2025. However, they all have an opportunity to meet the performance criteria in 2024.

Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander made up the All-NBA First Team backcourt in 2023, so if they make an All-NBA team again next year, they’ll have done so in at least two of the three years leading up to the 2025 offseason.

As for Jackson, he missed out on All-NBA honors in 2023, but was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. It’s a tall order, but if he can win a second DPOY award in either of the next two seasons, he’ll make himself eligible to sign a super-max contract in 2025.

The rookie scale extension recipients

Ball, Edwards, and Haliburton have all signed five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extensions this offseason that project to start at 25% of the 2024/25 cap. If we assume the cap will rise by the maximum allowable 10%, those deals would be worth just shy of $217MM.

However, all three extensions include Rose Rule language. This is another form of the super-max — we can call it the “mini” super-max, paradoxical as that may sound. Unlike a player who signs a Designated Veteran contract, which starts at 35% of the cap instead of 30%, a player who meets the Rose Rule criteria can receive a starting salary worth 30% of the cap rather than 25%.

The performance criteria for a Rose Rule salary increase are essentially the exact same as for a Designated Veteran bump, but must be achieved by the end of the player’s four-year rookie contract. That means Ball, Edwards, and Haliburton would have to make the All-NBA team in 2024 in order to increase the projected value of their respective extensions to $260MM over five years — an All-NBA berth in 2025 or 2026 would be too late.

Each of these three players has an All-Star berth under his belt, so making the leap to All-NBA certainly isn’t inconceivable. Edwards may be the best bet of the three to qualify for the mini super-max, but if Ball and Haliburton can lead their teams to playoff spots, they’d certainly have a case.

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Teams Limited To Minimum Salary Contract Offers

September 13th, 2023 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

There won’t be many free agents who sign for more than the veteran’s minimum between now and the end of the NBA’s regular season. The majority of the players whose markets exceeded the minimum came off the board pretty quickly in July, and teams aren’t looking to spend big on the players who are still available.

Still, that doesn’t mean every signing for the next seven months will be of the minimum-salary variety. In certain cases – especially on the buyout market in February – being able to offer a couple million dollars more than the minimum could be the difference between a team landing a free agent and missing out on him.

With that in mind, it’s worth checking in on which teams don’t currently have the ability to offer more than the minimum. By our count, about a third of the NBA is in this boat, though some of those clubs could generate some spending flexibility by making cost-cutting trades.

Here’s a breakdown of the teams currently limited to minimum-salary contract offers for free agents:

Teams above the second tax apron:

  • Golden State Warriors
  • Los Angeles Clippers
  • Miami Heat
  • Phoenix Suns

Beginning this offseason, the NBA added a second tax “apron” and introduced new restrictions for the teams whose salaries exceed that apron. In 2023/24, the second apron is set at $182,794,000 ($17.5MM above the tax line) — it will increase along with the cap in future years.

In addition to being prohibited from using the standard mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception, teams whose salaries are above the second apron aren’t permitted to make use of the taxpayer mid-level exception, which is worth $5MM. The Warriors, Clippers, Heat, and Suns all fall into that group and therefore don’t have any cap exceptions available to use on free agents besides the minimum exception.

Teams very close to the second tax apron:

  • Boston Celtics
  • Milwaukee Bucks

The Celtics and Bucks may be able to start the season with team salaries below the second apron, but from a practical standpoint, it will be extremely difficult for them to make use of the taxpayer mid-level exception, which would hard-cap them at that second apron.

Milwaukee, in particular, has several contract bonuses to account for and would find its team salary well above the second tax apron if certain players earn those unlikely incentives. Boston has slightly more cap flexibility, but will still almost certainly be limited to minimum-salary offers for the rest of 2023/24, barring a cost-cutting move.

Over-the-cap teams that have used all their cap exceptions:

  • Denver Nuggets
  • Oklahoma City Thunder
  • Toronto Raptors

The Nuggets are the only team this season to use the taxpayer mid-level exception. It’s the lone cap exception available to them in free agency, since their team salary is above the first apron, so they can’t offer more than the minimum to free agents.

The Thunder, meanwhile, used their entire room exception, while the Raptors used their non-taxpayer mid-level exception and bi-annual exception. Both teams are now over the cap and only have the minimum salary exception left to sign a free agent outright (a sign-and-trade remains possible, but is unlikely at this stage of the offseason).

Over-the-cap teams whose remaining exception money is less than the two-year veteran’s minimum:

  • Los Angeles Lakers
  • Sacramento Kings

The Lakers have $1,905,000 remaining on their non-taxpayer mid-level exception, while the Kings have $1,381,536 left on their room exception. Both figures fall short of the full-season minimum salary for a two-year veteran ($2,019,706), so neither club could offer more than the minimum to a veteran free agent at this time.

However, that leftover exception money isn’t useless. Los Angeles and Sacramento could each offer more than the minimum to a rookie free agent, for instance. And their remaining exception money won’t begin prorating downward until after the trade deadline. So if L.A. wants to sign a veteran free agent in December, it could use its MLE to offer more than the player’s prorated minimum salary at that point.

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Thunder Close To Securing New Arena

September 12th, 2023 at 6:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Thunder are close to getting a new home.

A plan has been finalized to construct a new downtown arena that will keep them in Oklahoma City until at least 2050, according to an Oklahoma City government press release. The city and the Thunder plan to open the arena for the 2029/2030 NBA season, if not sooner.

The plan for the new arena and the commitment from the Thunder is conditional on passage by Oklahoma City voters on December 12 of a temporary one-cent sales tax. A simple majority of Oklahoma City’s city council is required to call for the December 12 vote, and a simple majority of voters is required for passage.

The Thunder’s current arena, Paycom Center, is the smallest in the NBA by square footage and it has the second-smallest capital investment of all NBA arenas. The project cost for the new arena will be a minimum of $900MM.

The franchise’s owner will make a $50MM contribution for the publicly owned arena. All three of Oklahoma City’s previous downtown arenas have been paid for entirely by taxpayers.

“Perhaps the most important aspect of the deal is the length – this is twice the commitment we received in 2008 and will keep the Thunder here beyond 2050,” mayor David Holt said. “My children will be my age when this agreement ends.”

The Thunder will continue playing at Paycom Center while the new arena is designed and constructed. The Thunder have committed to play their home games in OKC for 25 years in the new arena, provided the voters approve the funding for a new arena and related legal documents are completed.

The current arena opened in 2002.

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World Cup/Team USA Notes: Paul, Embiid, SGA, Canada, Bertans

September 11th, 2023 at 8:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Add Chris Paul to the list of stars who might join Team USA for the 2024 Olympics. The Warriors point guard is considering another Olympic appearance, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. Paul won gold medals during the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Joel Embiid would be an even bigger catch for Team USA, which lost three times in the World Cup in large part due to its lack of interior size. However, the Sixers’ big man, who holds both United States and French citizenship, remains noncommittal.

As reported earlier in the day, LeBron James is trying to round up a number of All-Stars for the Olympics.

We have more World Cup-related info:

  • Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led Canada to a bronze medal, believes the World Cup experience will have a positive impact on the upcoming NBA season, according to George Efkarpides of Eurohoops.net. “I think this whole tournament will help me be ready for the next season,” he said. “I’ll be in shape, I’ve played basketball, so it won’t be as much of an adjustment next season.”
  • Team Canada’s coach, Jordi Fernandez, hopes the roster assembled for the World Cup returns for the Olympics, Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net writes. We have a great program and we will decide about the Olympic roster when this time comes. But they made this happen, those guys have the number one ticket. We will hold on to those guys,” Fernandez said.
  • Latvia had a strong run in the World Cup and Thunder forward Davis Bertans hopes it becomes a turning point for his country’s basketball program, he told Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops.net. “Hopefully, that inspires the kids back home,” he said. “There are a lot bunch of videos back home where instead of studying the kids were watching our games. Probably a better lesson than the one they could learn in school. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”
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World Cup Notes: USA-Canada Rivalry, Valanciunas, Latvia

September 9th, 2023 at 9:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

They both fell short of the gold medal game, but Sunday’s meeting between Team USA and Canada could be the beginning of a significant rivalry in international basketball, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. The teams will face off for third place as the Canadians hope to win their first-ever World Cup medal and their first in any tournament since the 1936 Olympics.

Both countries have rosters filled with NBA talent, and both had successful runs in the World Cup before slipping in Friday’s semifinals. The U.S. lost to Germany by two points, and Canada fell to Serbia by nine.

“They haven’t won a medal since the 1930s, so they’re coming for us,” Tyrese Haliburton said. “I think both of our countries will expect to see each other for the coming years. So it seems like this is kind of the start.”

Familiarity is part of the storyline as players bring their NBA rivalries into international competition. There are even some ex-teammates involved as Jaren Jackson Jr. will face Dillon Brooks for the first time since Brooks left the Grizzlies in free agency to sign with the Rockets.

“I hope Dillon does talk trash,” Jackson said. “Otherwise it wouldn’t be him. It wouldn’t be real.”

There’s more on the World Cup:

  • Following an All-NBA season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been one of the biggest stars of the tournament, notes Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. The Canadian guard is sixth overall in World Cup scoring at 23.6 PPG and he’s number one in terms of scoring efficiency. “It’s the change of pace, yeah,” Thunder and Canadian teammate Luguentz Dort said. “Also, it’s the way he explodes, the way he can get off the defender to rise for his shot. The way that he handles the ball, the way that he creates for himself. There’s so much more.”
  • Jonas Valanciunas has represented Lithuania in every major tournament since 2011 and he’s not ready to think about stopping, per George Efkarpidis of Eurohoops. The 31-year-old center considers it an important part of his basketball responsibilities. “I feel proud playing for my country,” Valanciunas said. “That is what I can give for my country. This is how I can put my country on the map. I am going to keep doing that (as long as) my body lets me and the team needs me.”
  • Latvia wrapped up the No. 5 spot in its first-ever World Cup, defeating Lithuania by 35 points on Saturday. It’s an impressive statement from a team that played without Kristaps Porzingis, who sat out the tournament to recover from plantar fasciitis, and lost captain Dairis Bertans to an injury, observes Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.
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And-Ones: Parker, Team Assets, 2024 FAs, Pelicans, Hornets

September 8th, 2023 at 4:02pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

2014 lottery pick and veteran NBA forward Jabari Parker sat down for an extensive conversation with Julian Phillip of Mundo Deportivo about his new pro club, FC Barcelona. When asked if he felt that Barcelona could hold its own against teams in his former league, Parker was effusive in his praise.

“Definitely,” Parker said. “Because we have, essentially, three guys who aren’t just NBA players but main guys. Myself, Sato [Tomas Satoransky] and Willy [Hernangomez], and the experience is there because we’ve been playing professionally for a long time.”

A 6’8″ forward out of Duke, Parker hasn’t suited up for an NBA team since the 2021/22 season, which he split between the Kings and Celtics. As a deep-bench reserve, he averaged 5.5 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 0.8 APG in just 13 total games.

Parker told Phillip that he intends to focus on how he can help his new club in Spain rather than how he can use the opportunity as a springboard to get back to the NBA.

“I just want to be here,” Parker said. “My most important thing is not skipping steps. And I signed here with the intention of giving my all. I think being in the moment is very important for me.”

There’s more from around the basketball world:

  • The Thunder and Spurs, both of whom possess a variety of draft picks in addition to burgeoning young talent, occupy the top two slots in a fresh ranking of team assets, courtesy of HoopsHype’s Yossi Gozlan. Gozlan took stock of all 30 franchises’ rosters and future draft picks in making his list.
  • The fates of aging future Hall of Famers like Lakers small forward LeBron James and Sixers guard James Harden are among some of the top potential 2024 free agent storylines to watch, opines Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. James, who turns 39 in December, has a player option for 2024/25, while Harden is in the final season of his deal with Philadelphia. Harden, of course, is pushing to be dealt elsewhere this year.
  • The G League affiliates of the Pelicans and Hornets have completed a minor trade. The Pelicans’ affiliate, the Birmingham Squadron, has shipped out shooting guard John Petty Jr. and next year’s first-round NBGL draft pick to the Hornets’ affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm, for the returning player rights to point guard Jalen Crutcher, per a Swarm tweet.
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Northwest Notes: Small-Market Stars, Henderson, SGA, Edwards

September 7th, 2023 at 10:45pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Current Sixers guard Patrick Beverley sent a ripple through the NBA when he suggested Timberwolves star guard Anthony Edwards should leave Minnesota when he gets the chance. Stars of small-market teams are often subject to trade rumors and to that point, the Trail Blazers look poised to send franchise icon Damian Lillard to a “bigger market” after years of speculation.

The Trail Blazers have an heir apparent to the point guard spot in 2023 No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson, but Henderson recognizes that he has plenty of work to do to help offset a potential loss of Lillard, he said in an interview with The Oregonian’s Bill Oram. Part of that starts with being an active member of the Portland community, which Lillard was, according to Oram.

“I can definitely learn from that and seeing how he goes out his way to do certain things for the fans here,” Henderson said. “That’s something I’ve seen and heard about. That’s who I am as a person as well.”

Henderson said Lillard has been in communication with the former G League Ignite guard, and he’s been giving him pointers on living in Portland, per Oram. Whatever way the Lillard situation ends, Oram writes, Henderson is prepared to help get the Blazers back to the playoffs.

“I’m here to work,” Henderson said. “I’m here to come here and win some games. Never been focused on anyone else’s situation, ever.”

Oram believes Henderson has a real chance to connect with Portland fans in a similar way to Lillard, but knows sentiments like Beverley’s will persist through Henderson’s career if he’s a breakout star. However, Oram believes Henderson is well-situated to become the franchise’s next staple, and the guard appears to have similar plans.

“It’s probably the best situation I could possibly be in, ever,” Henderson said. “I’m here to stay.”

We have more Northwest Division notes:

  • While Portland has a star on the way out, the Thunder‘s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is poised to stick around for a while. According to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, rival executives who hoped Gilgeous-Alexander would want out of Oklahoma City less than a year ago appear to have given up on those hopes. Amick writes that organizational excitement is at an all-time high, and that Gilgeous-Alexander has a chance to take the young Thunder to the playoffs — he’ll get a chance to play with last year’s No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren this season.
  • Responding to Beverley’s comment about Edwards, The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski pushed back on the notion that Edwards should leave the Timberwolves. Krawczynski echoes the point that small-market fans are used to hearing people say their players should or will depart for bigger markets, but to hear it from Beverley, who played for the team in 2021/22, is different. Krawczynski writes that Minnesota is a bigger market than given credit for and can push to keep Edwards around, though the team will need to continue to build around the star guard.
  • In case you missed it, free agent Javonte Cooke is reportedly signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Timberwolves.
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World Cup Notes: SGA, Brooks, Doncic, F. Wagner

September 7th, 2023 at 10:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has separated himself from the field in the race for World Cup MVP, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet. The Thunder guard had 31 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday against Slovenia and has been outstanding while leading Canada to its first semifinals appearance in tournament history.

Among those impressed by SGA’s exploits is Canadian star Steve Nash, who served as general manager of the national team and had him on the roster for an Olympic qualifying tournament in 2016. Although Gilgeous-Alexander was just a teenager at the time and barely played, Nash could tell he had the potential to become something special.

“I mean, he’s got it, right?” Nash said. “He has the game, the feel, the understanding of his responsibility in the moment. It’s just a beautiful thing when you have a player like that in your arsenal.”

There’s more on the World Cup:

  • Canadian coach Jordi Fernandez credited Dillon Brooks for his strong defensive effort against Luka Doncic in the win over Slovenia, per Aris Barkas of Eurohoops. The Slovenians were upset by some of Brooks’ tactics before both players were ejected in the fourth quarter, but Fernandez doesn’t mind if Brooks takes the same approach in the semifinals against Serbia. “If they complain, they complain,” he said. “We have to play our game and we have to keep our composure, so we can control what we can control. I think yesterday we did a great job as a team defensively and especially Dillon put on a defensive clinic and it should be in a FIBA museum at some point.”
  • Doncic was upset at not getting more foul calls and made a money-sign gesture toward FIBA officials during the game, but he and Slovenia remain on good terms with the organization, Barkas adds in a separate story. Doncic downplayed the incident in a post-game press conference, according to Barkas, and Slovenian Federation president Matej Erjavec sat with FIBA secretary general Andreas Zaglis for Thursday’s contest against Lithuania.
  • Franz Wagner is confident that German teammate Dennis Schröder will bounce back in Friday’s semifinal meeting with Team USA after shooting 4-of-26 from the field against Latvia, relays George Efkarpidis of Eurohoops. Wagner also discussed the ankle injury that sidelined him for much of the tournament before he returned for the quarterfinals. “We tried to do as much rehab, icing, all that stuff as much as possible, and I think we did a really good job,” Wagner said. “And then the last week or so, I started working out on the court and was able to do a little bit more. I did a bunch of conditioning stuff, too, just so I can play again.”
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Team Canada Notes: QF Win, SGA, Brooks, Nurse

September 6th, 2023 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

In addition to qualifying for the 2024 Olympics, the Canadian men’s national team has earned a spot in the FIBA World Cup semifinals for the first time in the history of the event. However, star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his teammates aren’t happy to simply leave the Philippines with a spot in the final four.

“It feels good, but we are not satisfied,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Wednesday’s victory over Slovenia, according to Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops.net. “We didn’t come here only to get to the semifinals, we came here to try to get gold.”

Team Canada will be in tough in the semifinal against a talented Serbian squad that played in the gold medal game in the 2014 World Cup, and would be an underdog against Team USA in a potential final. However, Slovenia’s head coach Aleksander Sekulić is bullish on the club’s chances after seeing his team fall to the Canadians on Wednesday.

“Canada has a hell of a team,” Sekulić said, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “They can play different lineups, small-ball and two bigs. They have big guards, strong guards. They have guys who can create. So they have everything they need to go all the way. I think they can match up with (the) United States.”

Here’s more on Team Canada:

  • Although the Canadians made it past Slovenia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, head coach Jordi Fernandez chided forward Dillon Brooks after the game for his fourth-quarter ejection. “He has to be better,” Fernandez said, per Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. “We need him on the court. You can’t get disqualified. We have to have better composure as a team.” The head coach did laud Brooks for playing his role “at a high level” prior to his early exit.
  • Although he’s no longer the head coach of Team Canada, having been replaced by Fernandez when he stepped down earlier this year, Nick Nurse continues to keep a close eye on the club’s performance on the international stage, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. “An awesome job by them, so very happy for them,” Nurse said before Wednesday’s semifinal win. “Just in my time, from 2019 to now, it was a big process to get here and I’m just glad to see them realize the vision, the goal, the dream.”
  • Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman shares his takeaways from the Canada/Slovenia game, noting that Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic entered the World Cup as the consensus top two players in the event and the Thunder guard won their head-to-head battle on Wednesday.
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