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Magic’s Paolo Banchero To Play For Team USA In World Cup

June 24th, 2023 at 9:31am CST by Rory Maher

Magic forward Paolo Banchero, the reigning Rookie of the Year and the No. 1 overall pick in 2022, has committed to play for Team USA during the FIBA World Cup this summer, league sources tell Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

According to The Athletic, Banchero said a year ago that he would play for the Italian national team this summer, but Team USA managing director Grant Hill continued to recruit Banchero throughout the season and evidently convinced him to change his mind. Both Hill and Banchero played for Duke in college.

Banchero was born and raised in the United States but he has an Italian passport due to his father’s ancestry. As Charania and Vardon write, the 20-year-old originally planned to play for Italy during the 2020 Olympics, but the event was delayed due to the pandemic, and he wound up missing the competition a year later.

After meeting with Banchero in December, Italian Basketball Federation President Gianni Petrucci believed there was a “60% chance” the young forward would suit up for Italy internationally. However, last month he expressed pessimism about the possibility.

Banchero averaged 20.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists per game in 72 starts this past season. He’s the 11th player to commit to Team USA’s 12-man roster, per The Athletic.

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

Warriors Notes: Paul, Curry, Jackson-Davis, Baldwin

June 24th, 2023 at 12:01am CST by Rory Maher

Chris Paul‘s deliberate, often ball-dominant style seems like a strange fit with how the Warriors operate offensively, but it could be just strange enough to work, opines Seerat Sohi of The Ringer.

As Sohi details, the contrasting styles between Paul and Golden State were on display multiple times in the Western Conference playoffs, with the Warriors prevailing on two of those three occasions (Paul’s Clippers defeated the upstart Warriors in the first round in 2013/14).

However, the Warriors have also had success with high IQ veterans who can control the tempo, Sohi notes, particularly former swingman Shaun Livingston. Paul may be able to help get Golden State’s young players easy shots on the second unit, according to Sohi, and allow Stephen Curry to play more off the ball when they’re paired.

Obviously it’s a risk since Paul is 38 years old and he could be backing up another older player who has been injured a lot the past few seasons in Curry. But the Warriors might be better next season with Paul instead of Jordan Poole, and shedding Poole’s long-term contract while picking up Paul’s non-guaranteed deal for ’24/25 gives the team financial savings in the future, Sohi writes.

Here’s more on the Warriors:

Paul and Curry are excited to be teammates, with the two-time MVP blessing the blockbuster trade, sources tell Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. Thompson takes a look at the shared history between the two former rivals.
New general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. says the team plans to have Trayce Jackson-Davis on the 15-man roster, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter video link). The Warriors traded cash considerations to Washington to land the No. 57 pick in last night’s draft, which they used on the Indiana big man. “We’re not overly loaded in the frontcourt,” Dunleavy said, adding the Warriors had him much higher on their draft board.
As Slater writes for The Athletic, agreeing to include 2022 first-rounder Patrick Baldwin in the Poole/Paul trade created considerable tax savings, but it was also a bet on Jackson-Davis being more ready to contribute next season. Dunleavy’s brother, James Dunleavy, is Jackson-Davis’ agent, and the sides worked together to ensure he wouldn’t get picked until the Warriors could select him. Getting a guaranteed minimum-salary contract is rare for a player chosen late in the second round, Slater notes, but that’s the intention for the forward/center.

Pascal Siakam Hopes To Spend Entire Career With Raptors

June 23rd, 2023 at 11:05pm CST by Rory Maher

Raptors forward Pascal Siakam hopes to finish his career with the only NBA team he’s ever known, a source close to the 29-year-old tells Doug Smith of The Toronto Star.

Smith is confirming — and expanding on — Chris Haynes‘ recent report about Siakam warning off potential trade suitors by suggesting he’d refuse to re-sign with them if he was dealt. Haynes also wrote Siakam wanted to remain with Toronto long term.

General manager Bobby Webster acknowledged the Raptors saw the report, per Smith, though obviously that doesn’t necessarily mean it will impact the team’s decision-making.

“It popped right before the draft and we kind of just had a quick chat about it,” Webster said Thursday. “But, no, generally we’re not going to talk about any of that stuff publicly.”

Siakam will be entering a contract year in 2023/24, so a club that gives up a significant package to acquire him would likely want assurances that he’d be willing to stick around for more than one season, even if he doesn’t agree to an extension right away. The Hawks and Blazers are among the teams rumored to have interest in Siakam.

It’s worth noting that Siakam would qualify for a super-max contract – worth 35% of the cap instead of 30% – if he makes an All-NBA team in 2024, but would become ineligible for the super-max if he’s traded. That’s not to say that his reported desire to remain in Toronto isn’t genuine, but he’d also have contract-related reasons to want to stay put.

As Smith writes, the Raptors seem to have a “new era of enthusiasm” — seemingly due to their coaching change — and that may have played a factor in Gary Trent Jr.‘s decision to pick up his player option. New head coach Darko Rajokovic has been meeting with players individually to get to know them, Smith adds.

Having a two-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA member like Siakam putting word out that he wants to stay with the Raptors is a rarity for the organization, Smith notes, with players often spurning Toronto in free agency. It also shows the star forward believes in the team and thinks the 2022/23 season was an “aberration.” Toronto went 41-41 and was eliminated from postseason contention in the play-in tournament.

Smith argues retaining Siakam would be a prudent choice, because the Raptors could move him in the future even if he gets a lucrative extension. He also thinks having one of their best players already seemingly bought in for next season is important if the team wants more on-court success.

Siakam appeared in 71 games last season, leading the league in minutes per game (37.4) for the second straight season. He averaged career highs in points (24.2) and assists (5.8) while pulling down 7.8 rebounds and posting a .480/.324/.774 shooting line.

Kings Notes: Sabonis, Cap Space, Flexibility, Green

June 23rd, 2023 at 9:45pm CST by Rory Maher

The Kings made a salary-dump trade on Thursday, agreeing to send the No. 24 pick (Olivier-Maxence Prosper was selected) and reserve center Richaun Holmes to the Mavericks. Holmes is owed $24.9MM over the next two seasons, including a player option in 2024/25.

The move could give Sacramento about $33MM in cap room this summer if they renounce most of their cap holds. A league source tells James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com that one option the team has considered with that financial leeway is renegotiating Domantas Sabonis‘ $22MM expiring contract in ’23/24 in order to give him an immediate raise and thus a larger extension offer.

As Ham details, if the Kings were to increase Sabonis’ deal to $30MM, they could offer him a four-year extension worth about $189MM (with a starting salary of $42MM in ’24/25, which is close to his projected maximum), plus the $8MM increase to his ’23/24 salary.

Here’s more on the Kings:

At his post-draft press conference, GM Monte McNair declined to say whether or not Sabonis had thumb surgery, but suggested the expectation is he’ll be “good to go” for ’23/24, tweets Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Sabonis sustained an avulsion fracture to his thumb in December, but decided to play through the injury.
The flexibility the Holmes trade created was key for McNair, per Anderson. “I think, for us, we always value the optionality and flexibility when we can acquire it,” McNair said. “This was a great season for a lot of reasons and we want to have a long playoff run here and continue to compete. To do that in today’s NBA, you have to be able to build your team out, not just in the very near term, but over the course of many years. So, we’re always having that balance.”
Could the Kings pursue their playoff nemesis Draymond Green in free agency with their extra cap room? ESPN’s Brian Windhorst speculated on his Hoop Collective podcast that it shouldn’t be dismissed (YouTube link). “(Coach) Mike Brown is extraordinarily close to Draymond Green — extraordinarily close,” Windhorst said (hat tip to Anderson of The Sacramento Bee). “Mike Brown was the Draymond Green whisperer with the Warriors. Draymond Green is a free agent. They now have the money, if they want, to give him a premium over what he opted out of in Golden State. … The Kings can now go hunting for Draymond Green if they wish and that would be extraordinarily interesting because it is the exact — exact — type of player they need. … To be continued.” As Windhorst noted, owner Vivek Ranadive was a former part owner of the Warriors and has often tried to model the Kings after Golden State, as there are numerous ties between the organizations. Green recently declined his player option for 2023/24.
Windhorst isn’t the only reporter to take note of the trade. As John Hollinger writes for The Athletic, the Kings need a power forward and need to upgrade their defense, so Green is a logical fit in some ways. The move should have the Warriors “sweating,” says Hollinger, because the Kings are a “highly plausible rival Green bidder.” Sacramento could also potentially pursue a number of other power forward free agents, such as Jerami Grant, Kyle Kuzma, Grant Williams, Cameron Johnson or P.J. Washington, according to Hollinger, who notes that re-signing Harrison Barnes and Trey Lyles and operating as an over-the-cap team while creating a trade exception for Holmes and having access to the full mid-level exception is another option.
Yossi Gozland of HoopsHype examines options Sacramento could pursue after the trade.

Woj: Sixers “Determined” To Retain James Harden

June 23rd, 2023 at 8:08pm CST by Rory Maher

The Sixers are “determined” to retain James Harden for the 2023/24 season, but there will be negotiating between the two sides and he likely won’t get a long-term max deal, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on SportsCenter (YouTube link).

Wojnarowski also said the Rockets are worth keeping an eye on as suitor for Harden, as has been reported multiple times, but they have a number of other players they could pursue in free agency with their league-leading cap room.

Another possibility, according to Woj? A sign-and-trade deal, with Harden joining a new team that doesn’t currently have cap space. The former league MVP has a $35.6MM player option next season, he could simply exercise it if he wanted to as well, though that seems unlikely.

ESPN’s Zach Lowe recently said on his podcast that it’s no longer widely believed around the league that Harden will return to Houston, despite rumors linking him to his former club throughout the past season, while Marc Stein reported last week that the star guard was believed to be giving “renewed consideration” to the idea of remaining with Philadelphia.

Wojnarowski’s report is similar to what Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer recently wrote as well, with the Sixers being unwilling to overpay Harden on a long-term contract and the Rockets perhaps having the same reservations.

A 10-time All-Star who was the NBA’s scoring champion for three straight seasons (averaging 33.7 points over that span), Harden, who turns 34 in August, is no longer that type of scorer on a consistent basis, but he led the league in assists (10.7) for the second time in ’22/23, serving as more of a play-maker and secondary option behind Joel Embiid.

Overall, the veteran guard averaged 21.0 PPG, 10.7 APG, 6.1 RPG and 1.2 SPG on .441/.385/.867 shooting in 58 games (36.8 MPG). Those numbers declined to 20.3 PPG, 8.3 APG, 6.2 RPG and 1.8 SPG on .393/.378/.873 shooting in 11 postseason games (38.8 MPG).

Pelicans Notes: Hawkins, Roster, Scoot, Miles

June 23rd, 2023 at 6:20pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

With the No. 14 pick in the lottery last night, the Pelicans opted to play it safe in drafting Connecticut shooting guard Jordan Hawkins. William Guillory of The Athletic considers the 6’5″ swingman, who won a title with the Huskies this past spring, the ideal new addition to the club heading into the 2023/24 season.

New Orleans had been floated in potential trade scenarios for the Trail Blazers’ eventual No. 3 pick Scoot Henderson, as the team has clearly been hamstrung by major injury issues plaguing star forwards Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram.

“He takes pride in what gets him on the court, and he understands what his game really is,” team president David Griffin said of Hawkins. “I think the winning nature of his background and the way he approaches the game really fits well with us. I know our coaching staff was really excited when they saw him work out.”

There’s more out of New Orleans:

Pelicans general manager Trajan Langon is not anticipating major personnel changes this summer after the team opted to hold onto its draft pick, writes Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “I don’t foresee a whole lot of change between now and then,” Langdon said. “I think we are happy with our roster.” Griffin, meanwhile, offered a hint into what skills New Orleans is looking to add during the rest of the offseason. “We were looking for rim protection and shooting [in assessing draft candidates],” Griffin said. “We feel like we certainly addressed part of that [during the draft]. But I think as we go through, if we’re able to address that other portion, we would.”
New Trail Blazers point guard Henderson, the third pick in Thursday’s draft, explained his pre-draft meeting with the Pelicans, who reportedly had some interest in trading up to acquire him, per Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. Henderson indicated that the encounter amounted to “just making sure I wasn’t missing on any opportunity or anything like that.”
The Pelicans continue to build out their bench for 2023/24 behind third-year head coach Willie Green. Marc J. Spears of Andscape reports (Twitter link) that New Orleans is expected to hire ex-Celtics assistant coach Aaron Miles, a former colleague of Green’s when both were assistants on the Warriors.

Suns’ Deandre Ayton “Very Unlikely” To Be Traded?

June 23rd, 2023 at 5:45pm CST by Rory Maher

Deandre Ayton was rumored to be one of the bigger names on the trading block this offseason, but John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM hears the Suns‘ starting center is “very unlikely” to be dealt (Twitter link).

The news isn’t exactly surprising. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported last week that Phoenix’s efforts to trade Ayton haven’t been very fruitful so far, calling the big man’s market “lean” and saying there wasn’t an “obvious” deal to be made.

A big part of that is likely Ayton’s contract. He signed a maximum-salary offer sheet with Indiana last summer as a restricted free agent, which Phoenix quickly matched. The former No. 1 overall pick is owed $102MM over the next three seasons.

Ayton, who turns 25 next month, famously didn’t have a great relationship with former head coach Monty Williams. However, Gambadoro reported yesterday that new head coach Frank Vogel “loves” Ayton and suggested that would be a factor in favor of him sticking with the Suns.

Gambadoro previously reported that the Wizards were interested in acquiring Ayton in exchange for Bradley Beal, but the Suns weren’t interested in that deal. They ended up agreeing to trade Chris Paul and Landry Shamet (along with six second-round picks and four first-round pick swaps) to Washington, with Paul set to be rerouted to Golden State.

The Suns are expected to split Ayton’s large contract into multiple depth pieces if they do end up moving him, according to Gambadoro. Clearly, he’s pouring cold water on that possibility now.

Ayton has averaged a double-double in each of his five NBA seasons. In 2022/23, he posted 18.0 PPG and 10.0 RPG in 67 games (30.4 MPG), shooting 58.9% from the floor and 76.0% from the charity stripe.

Spurs To Sign Charles Bediako, Setric Millner Jr.

June 23rd, 2023 at 3:59pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Spurs are reportedly adding two new undrafted prospects to their comprehensive haul this week.

Former Alabama center Charles Bediako will sign a one-year deal with the Spurs, agent Daniel Green informs Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Terms of the agreement aren’t known, but it’ll likely be non-guaranteed, perhaps with Exhibit 10 language.

Ex-Toledo senior small forward Setric Millner Jr. is inking an Exhibit 10 training camp deal, sources tell Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress (via Twitter).

Exhibit 10 contracts can be converted to two-way deals or can put a player on track to receive a bonus worth up to $75K if he’s waived before the regular season and then spends at least 60 days with his team’s G League affiliate.

During a two-year college career, the seven-foot Bediako was named to the 2023 All-SEC Tourney and SEC All-Defense teams. Across his two college seasons with the Crimson Tide, he averaged 6.6 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 1.7 BPG, 0.7 APG and 0.6 SPG during 19.3 MPG.

Millner averaged 15.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.7 APG, and 1.1 SPG during 2022/23. He was a two-time All-MAC and a 2023 All-MAC Tourney honoree. Chepkevich notes that the 6’6″ wing number among 64 seniors brought to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament this spring.

San Antonio was of course the headliner in this week’s draft, as the team had the opportunity to select a potential generational talent, French big man Victor Wembanyama, with the top pick. The Spurs also added G League Ignite guard Sidy Cissoko in the second round.

Pacers To Sign Oscar Tshiebwe To Two-Way Deal

June 23rd, 2023 at 3:08pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Pacers will ink undrafted Kentucky big man Oscar Tshiebwe to a two-way deal, sources inform Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).

The 6’9″ power forward/center was a consensus All-American Second Teamer with the Wildcats in 2023, but a consensus All-American First Teamer in 2022, probably his best college season.

That junior year in 2021/22, his first with Kentucky after spending his first two college seasons with West Virginia, Tshiebwe won the Kareem Abdul Jabbar Center of the Year Award and the Pete Newell Big Man Award. He was also named the SEC Player of the Year, an SEC All-Defensive Teamer, and the National College Player of the Year by a variety of organizations.

He was twice the NCAA’s rebounds leader, averaging 15.1 RPG in 2022 and 13.7 RPG in 2023, and a two-time All-SEC selection during his final two college seasons.

The 23-year-old averaged 16.5 PPG, the aforementioned 13.7 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.6 SPG, and 1.0 BPG across 32 contests in 2022/23.

Indiana also added several new young players during this week’s draft. The club acquired Houston forward Jarace Walker in the lottery and Belmont forward Ben Sheppard later in the first round. The Pacers then added G League Ignite guard Mojave King and Miami guard Isaiah Wong in the second round.

And-Ones: Whitmore, Mavs, Blazers, Summer League, CBA

June 23rd, 2023 at 2:55pm CST by Luke Adams

In conversations with sources around the NBA, John Hollinger of The Athletic noticed two reasons being frequently cited to explain Cam Whitmore‘s draft-night slide from possible top-five pick to being selected at No. 20 by the Rockets.

According to Hollinger, some teams red-flagged Whitmore’s medicals due to concerns about his knees. Clubs were also underwhelmed by his pre-draft workouts and interviews, with one source who spoke to Hollinger using the descriptor “comatose.”

Within his post-draft wrap-up, Hollinger also praised the Mavericks for the modest price they paid to move off Davis Bertans‘ contract in one salary-dump trade (moving down from No. 10 to 12) relative to the nice return they got for accepting Richaun Holmes‘ contract in a second salary-dump deal (the No. 24 pick, which became Olivier-Maxence Prosper).

Additionally, Hollinger believes the Trail Blazers no longer need to “cower in fear” about the possibility of Damian Lillard requesting a trade, since the duo of Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe looks like the team’s backcourt of the future and is a strong foundation to build around. Whatever happens with Lillard going forward figures to have a ripple effect on Anfernee Simons, according to Hollinger, who notes that it’s probably untenable to have Simons making $20MM per year in Portland as a fourth guard.

Here are more odds and ends from around the NBA:

Assuming they suit up in Las Vegas, the top two picks in the draft will go head-to-head on the first day of the Vegas Summer League. As Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press writes, the Spurs (Victor Wembanyama) and Hornets (Brandon Miller) are scheduled to face one another on July 7. Reynolds also provides details on some of the other most notable matchups on the newly announced Summer League schedule.
Breaking down the restrictions that teams above the NBA’s new second tax apron will face beginning next offseason, cap expert Albert Nahmad tweets that those clubs won’t be permitted to trade for a player who was previously acquired via sign-and-trade.
While details on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement keep trickling out publicly and teams have seen the term sheet, the NBA has yet to distribute the full CBA to clubs, tweets Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. The CBA set to take effect when the new league year begins next Saturday (July 1), so the league is taking it down to the wire. According to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter link), the NBA had hoped to have the CBA completed in full by Monday of this week.