NBA Rumors - HoopsRumors.com

Ricky Rubio Gave Up $5.4MM In Cavs Buyout

January 6th, 2024 at 1:34pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran point guard Ricky Rubio gave up $5.4MM in his buyout agreement with the Cavaliers, according to reports from Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Keith Smith of Spotrac, and Bobby Marks of ESPN (all Twitter links).

That’s a significant portion of the remaining guaranteed money that was owed to Rubio, who initially had a salary of $6,146,342 for 2023/24 and a $4,250,000 partial guarantee for ’24/25 (his full cap hit for next season would have been $6,439,025).

While Rubio had earned a prorated portion of this season’s salary, he was still owed about $3.5MM in 2023/24, along with his $4.25MM guarantee for next season, for a total of $7.75MM. He’ll receive approximately $2.35MM of that total, but the Cavaliers will recoup the rest, giving the team some extra cap flexibility this season and next.

As Marks notes, Rubio’s new cap hit this season is approximately $3.7MM and he’ll be on Cleveland’s books for about $1.3MM in ’24/25. The Cavaliers’ team salary this season had been about $752K below the luxury tax line prior to the buyout, but that cushion has increased to approximately $3.2MM, Marks adds.

That extra flexibility puts the Cavs in position to immediately sign one or two players to their roster to fill out their 15-man squad. Now that the 10-day contract window has opened, Cleveland may opt for short-term additions for now, maintaining some roster flexibility ahead of the trade deadline, but the team technically has enough breathing room below the tax to add two minimum-salary players for the rest of the season.

Since teams are only permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for up to two weeks at a time, Cleveland will have to make at least one roster addition by January 18, two weeks after officially parting ways with Rubio.

Nets Waive Armoni Brooks

January 6th, 2024 at 1:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets have waived two-way guard Armoni Brooks, the team confirmed today in an official announcement. The move was first reported by Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Since Brooks was cut ahead of Sunday’s waiver deadline, Brooklyn won’t be on the hook for his full two-way salary for the rest of the season.

Brooks, who previously spent time in Houston and Toronto, signed with the Nets in July and has appeared in 10 games this season, averaging 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per night. The 25-year-old made just 32.6% of his shot attempts from the field during his time in Brooklyn, though he did knock down 34.4% of his three-pointers.

Brooks has seen more action for the Long Island Nets in the G League, averaging 15.0 PPG and 4.3 RPG on .436/.393/.800 shooting in 14 games (25.6 MPG) for Brooklyn’s NBAGL affiliate in 2023/24.

The move opens up a two-way slot for the Nets alongside Jalen Wilson and Keon Johnson. The deadline to sign a player to a two-way contract doesn’t arrive until March, so the team won’t be under any pressure to fill that opening right away.

Central Notes: Beasley, Giannis, Rubio, Pistons

January 6th, 2024 at 11:45am CST by Tristan Tucker

Appearing on a B/R Live stream with TNT and Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes (Twitter link), Bucks guard Malik Beasley said he bypassed offers worth more money from the Lakers and Mavericks to sign with Milwaukee.

Beasley opened up about his experience in free agency, saying it was “tough” because he closed out the year on a rough note, averaging just 3.0 points per game in the playoffs with Los Angeles after averaging 11.1 PPG during the regular season. The 27-year-old guard said the Lakers wanted to re-sign him on a deal worth about $6MM but explained there were some unknowns regarding his role with Austin Reaves re-signing early in free agency.

Beasley also said he had an offer from the Mavericks worth between $3-6MM, but was again unsure of what his role would be, given that Dallas had a roster filled with guards and shooters.

The seventh-year guard ended up signing with the Bucks on a one-year, minimum contract for a chance to have a bigger role.

“[Bucks general manager] Jon [Horst] is such a great person,” Beasley said. “We talk a lot and he was like ‘You have an opportunity to start here, you have a chance to win a championship.’ And I think for me, most importantly, [the Bucks have] some veterans around [the] team. Most of the teams I have been on, aside from LeBron and AD, they’ve been young.”

Beasley earned a prominent role with Milwaukee right away, starting all 33 of his appearances this year. He’s averaging 11.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per night while shooting a career highs of 48.8% from the field and 46.9% on three-pointers (on 6.3 attempts per game). He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

We have more notes from the Central Division:

Opening up about his time with the Lakers, Beasley blames himself for how his tenure in L.A. ended (Twitter link via Haynes). “It was more of the past things that happened in my life that caused me to not play at my best,” the Bucks wing said.
Out of the Bucks‘ 10 losses this season, four have come at the hands of the Pacers. Giannis Antetokounmpo is bothered by those losses, writes The Athletic’s Eric Nehm. “Now, when you go back home and you sleep and you wake up, you think about it,” Antetokounmpo said. “Now, when you go back and work out, you think about it. In the All-Star break, when you’re gonna be on an exotic beach with your family, I hope you think about it, you know? … But at the end of the day, it’s good because it gives us time to fix things.“
Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell had a feeling former teammate Ricky Rubio was going to retire, Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor writes. “I feel like he could breathe,” Mitchell said while paying tribute to Rubio. “I’m not speaking for him. But I feel like it’s just one of those things where it’s kind of like that indecision of what you want to do can be a lot. I’m just happy that he finally has time to feel like he can breathe and go pick up his son from school and be with his family in Spain. He’s been playing this game professionally at the highest of levels and had this expectation of himself since he was a teenager.“
Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff also paid tribute to Rubio, as detailed in a story from ESPN. “I owe Ricky a debt of gratitude that there’s only a couple of guys who I could say at this point have had the impact on me that way,” Bickerstaff said. “He helped us, in a brief period of time, turn this organization into what you see in front of you. His presence allowed me to coach the team in a certain way where no one was too big to sacrifice.“
The Pistons are widely expected to make a trade of some sort after setting the NBA record for consecutive losses in a season, and The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III thinks Detroit will add some veterans around the margins. In his mailbag, Edwards confirms there’s great interest league-wide in Pistons vet Bojan Bogdanovic but says he doesn’t expect Detroit to trade him just to trade him. The Pistons are in a difficult position, Edwards writes, because the young players who would bring in a difference-making haul are guys the team should build around.

Trail Blazers Waive Skylar Mays, Ish Wainright

January 6th, 2024 at 10:22am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Trail Blazers waived guard Skylar Mays and forward Ish Wainright, according to a release from the team.

Neither Mays nor Wainright had full guarantees on their contracts and, facing a Jan. 7 deadline before those contracts became fully guaranteed, Portland decided to cut the pair loose.

As our tracker shows, Mays’ contract was partially guaranteed for just $850K and would have been guaranteed for approximately $1.86MM if not waived before Sunday. Wainright’s contract would have been guaranteed for roughly $1.93MM.

Because Wainright was on the roster for 75 days and will be on waivers for two more, the Blazers will carry a cap charge worth about $853K for his time spent on the team (77 days multiplied by a $11,080 salary per day), assuming he goes unclaimed on waivers, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).

Mays joined the Blazers on a 10-day contract late into the 2022/23 season, appearing in six games (all starts) and averaging 15.3 points and 8.3 assists from late March through the end of the season. He signed a two-way deal in early October, which was converted to a standard contract in mid-November as Portland dealt with injuries to their ball-handlers.

The LSU product put up some impressive performances in November while Portland’s roster was banged up, averaging 11.1 points and 6.4 assists in 26.3 minutes across nine games from Nov. 3-21. However, he fell out of the rotation when the Blazers got healthier and averaged just 11.1 minutes in eight appearances after that.

Portland claimed Wainright on waivers just before opening night after the Suns cut ties with him after two seasons. The 29-year-old forward was one of the older players on the roster, behind only Malcolm Brogdon and Jerami Grant. However, Wainright only appeared in seven games with the Blazers, averaging 2.9 points in 6.6 minutes per night. His best moments with the team came in his last two appearances, in which he totaled 17 points, including five three-pointers.

Wainright has averaged 3.4 points per game in 112 career appearances with the Suns and the Trail Blazers.

Waiving Mays and Wainright opens up two standard roster spots for the Trail Blazers, bringing them below the threshold of 14 players. Teams are not permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for more than two weeks at a time — or more than 28 total days — so expect to see more moves for Portland soon.

While this theoretically opens up roster spots in the event a trade brings in more players than they send out, the trade deadline is still a month away, and the more likely short-term option is the Blazers making moves around the edges of the roster. A 10-day signing (or two) is one possibility.

For what it’s worth, players on two-way contracts see their deals fully guaranteed on Jan. 7 too. The Blazers have Duop Reath, Ibou Badji and Justin Minaya on two-way contracts. Reath, in particular, has earned a prominent role on the Blazers, averaging 8.3 points in 21 games. It’s possible he earns a standard deal now that Portland has two open roster spots.

LeBron On Lakers: “We Just Suck Right Now”

January 6th, 2024 at 9:26am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Lakers dropped their fourth straight game on Friday and Los Angeles is now 17-19 following its loss to the Grizzlies. After winning the NBA’s in-season tournament last month, L.A. currently sits a game out of a play-in tournament spot at No. 11 in the conference.

“We just suck right now,” LeBron James said after the game, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

The Lakers have gone 3-10 since winning the in-season tournament in Las Vegas, and James downplayed the importance of that accomplishment in evaluating the Lakers’ season in full.

“That was just two games,” James said. “It’s a small sample. Everyone is getting so cracked up about Vegas and keep bringing up Vegas. It was two games. We took care of that business. It was the in-season tournament, we played it, we won it. But that was literally just two games.”

The Lakers’ frustrations have boiled over, with reports surfacing over the past week about coach Darvin Ham‘s disconnect with the locker room. Ham said too much emphasis has been placed on Los Angeles’s recent losses.

“I’m tired of people living and dying with every single game we play,” Ham said. “It’s ludicrous, actually. It’s like, come on, man, this is a marathon. And we hit a tough stretch. It’s the same team. … We played some high-level games a little while ago, and we just got to get back to that. We got to keep the fight going. We cannot lose our fight.”

The Lakers are currently without rotation players in D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent, further complicating their current struggles ahead of the trade deadline. However, players have continually refused to use injuries as an excuse.

“We still have a lot of basketball left,” Anthony Davis said. “But we’re trending in the wrong direction right now. And the last thing we need, especially when guys are out, is to separate and fall apart. So we got to stay together, for sure, and figure it out. We can’t be in our feelings. We can’t be complaining or whatever. We can’t take anything personal.

“We have to look individually, myself, everyone in the locker room, the coaching staff, look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out what we can do individually better to help the team be better. And I think then we can come out and flip things around.“

Warriors’ Kerr Responds To Kuminga’s Reported Frustration

January 6th, 2024 at 8:20am CST by Tristan Tucker

Prior to the Warriors‘ Friday game against the Pistons, The Athletic reported Golden State forward Jonathan Kuminga had lost faith in head coach Steve Kerr due to the latter’s decision to bench the third-year forward for the final 17:48 against the Nuggets on Thursday. Kerr responded to Kuminga’s reported frustration before Golden State’s Friday victory, according to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews.

“I’ve got to get him out there for longer, but these are really difficult decisions,” Kerr said. “Because it’s not just as simple as how many minutes a guy plays. It’s who’s playing, what’s the combination, what’s happening in the game.”

According to Andrews, Kuminga and Kerr met in the 20 hours between Golden State’s back-to-back games to address the 21-year-old’s frustration.

“I think it went really well,” Kuminga said. “I think it was just all about better understanding of each other. More communication. We don’t really get to sit together as much and communicate about pretty much non-basketball things, basketball things. We don’t get to do that as much. Just us having that conversation today made me more comfortable that any time I have something to ask, I should just go up to his office. His door is open. Go up there and chill and wait for him to come back whenever. I think that’s what it’s all about, communication every single time if something is going wrong. Communication is the key.”

Kuminga wound up playing a season-high 36 minutes against the Pistons and didn’t come off the floor for the entire fourth quarter. He finished the game, his 12th consecutive start, with 11 points and six rebounds. However, The Athletic’s Anthony Slater observes Kuminga has yet to post back-to-back games with 30 or more minutes this season, so it will be interesting to monitor the trend moving forward.

“I never complained about playing time [during the meeting],” Kuminga said. “We were just talking about if I do great at something, just go back and remind him, ‘Yo, coach, what do I need to do to get better at this? What do I need to do to gain more trust or more minutes?’ Like I said, it’s more about communication and better understanding from both of us.”

Kuminga emphasized the fact the conversation was centered around gaining a “better understanding” of things, including what Kerr expects of him.

“It’s a difficult situation because every player naturally has his own goals, his own dreams,” Kerr said. “Everybody wants to flourish. Everybody wants to blossom. … I have very difficult decisions to make each and every night. JK is a young player who is growing. He’s getting better. It’s why he’s in the starting lineup.”

Kerr wasn’t the only person to speak with Kuminga before Golden State’s Friday matchup, according to Slater, who writes that Stephen Curry met with the 6’8″ forward too.

“He’s not wrong for being upset and pissed off, wanting to play,” Curry said. “Probably should’ve played. Not probably. … But the ultimate challenge for anybody in this league is to not let the narrative be told for you and you not be able to address that with your own voice or directly with Coach or whatever the case is. … There are ways to express it, ways to voice your opinion but protect the team. I’m just proud of the way he — we talked about it before the game. Go out and play. Go hoop. Be a professional. And that’s what he did.”

Slater writes a big source of the problem is the Warriors’ inability to fit Kuminga and forward Andrew Wiggins together on the floor. Kerr says he doesn’t play the two together because of their similar skill sets. Kuminga made it clear he doesn’t want it to seem like the two are fighting for minutes and is trying to make sure the pair can coexist and remain crucial parts of the team, Andrews writes.

“I love it here,” Kuminga said. “I got drafted here. There’s always ups and downs. I feel like when you look at all the ups and downs, that will confuse a lot of people. But I know Steve believes in me. I know he trusts me at this point. It was just more about communication and better understanding. It wasn’t no beef. None of that. Scratch whatever happens. It’s the past. Move on with better understanding and hoping we all can work with each other and help this team and leave everything in the past.“

Chris Paul Fractures Hand, Will Need Surgery

January 6th, 2024 at 2:52am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Warriors reserve point guard Chris Paul fractured his left hand in a game against the Pistons on Friday, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Charania notes that Paul will require surgery for the injury, while Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets that a recovery timeline for the 38-year-old has yet to be established.

The 12-time All-Star departed during the third quarter of an eventual 113-109 home win, after battling with Detroit shooting guard Jaden Ivey for a rebound. He concluded his night with eight points, six boards, and four dimes.

This is a huge blow for Golden State, and not just on the court.

Paul’s $30.8MM 2023/24 contract could have been a massive trade chip, but with just a month remaining until the this season’s deadline, it appears unlikely he’ll be healthy in time to appeal to rival teams as anything more than an expiring contract.

He is technically owed $30MM next season, though that money is non-guaranteed and almost certainly will not be picked up by any club. The Warriors could still package Paul’s money along with future draft equity and some combination of young players on rookie-scale salaries.

The six-footer is now definitively in a different phase of his Hall of Fame NBA run. Through his 31 healthy contests this season, Paul’s averages of 9.0 PPG, 7.3 APG, 3.7 RPG, 1.2 SPG and 27.7 MPG all represent career lows. He achieved that scoring output fairly efficiently, however, with a shooting line of .421/.357/.854.

Paul’s hand injury is the second long-term ailment to afflict Golden State’s backcourt this week. Defense-first guard Gary Payton II incurred a grade 2 left hamstring strain, and will miss at least the next three weeks as he recovers.

Without Paul or Payton available, the Warriors seem likely to lean even more on standout rookie combo guard Brandin Podziemski, with veteran point guard Cory Joseph another candidate to get some extra rotation run.

Lakers’ Ham: “Aligned” With Owner, GM

January 5th, 2024 at 10:45pm CST by Rory Maher

Amid a report of a “deepening disconnect” between Darvin Ham and Lakers players due to Ham’s erratic lineups, which have partially been a result of injuries, the team’s head coach says he’s “solid” in his job security and is “aligned” with owner Jeanie Buss and vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka, according to Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group and Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

“It comes with the territory,” Ham said of the criticisms. “I’m solid. My governor, Jeanie Buss, the boss lady; our president, Robert Pelinka – we’re all aligned. As long as they’re not saying it, I guess I’m good.

“Which I know how they feel about me and the situation we’re currently in. So, we’re all on the same page. My two captains (LeBron James and Anthony Davis), I communicate with them. Our communication has been at a high level.”

Ham didn’t directly mention the report from The Athletic, but he criticized the general use of anonymous sources, like the ones cited in the story.

“The one thing that’s crazy is that it reminds me of when I used to watch ‘60 Minutes’ with my father in the ’80s,” Ham said. “And one particular show they were talking about La Cosa Nostra and the mafia and these guys were starting to go to trial and their star witness shows up with a black potato sack over his head and shades. And due to fear, the name can’t really be released.

“This seems to be the standard of reporting now for [the] NBA. People on the internet and whatever. And not all reporters – I don’t want to disrespect anybody in the room – but when you say the source is anonymous by choice and they don’t want to put their name on something but they want to give you the information and then you take the information and now everybody gets a chance to dissect it and spread it all out in their own way, it’s kind of disingenuous. And I wish we would get to a place where people are firm enough to stand on what they’re saying and then maybe we can have real dialogue and get to it.”

Ham said he welcomed critiques of his performance and brushed off the speculation.

“I don’t mind people critiquing the job I’m doing,” he said. “All I’m going to do is keep my head down and continue to do my job until I can’t do it anymore. Just be solid with what you’re putting out there and please don’t intertwine it with personal attacks either.

“That’s what it is, that’s what I signed up for when I decided to become a coach and I’ve been around some great guys who have handled it well and some coaches that haven’t handled it so well. But me? I’m solid. I’ve been through a ton of ‘ish’ in my life and this is a walk in the park. Trust me.”

New York Notes: Hartenstein, McBride, Nets, Claxton

January 5th, 2024 at 8:34pm CST by Rory Maher

Isaiah Hartenstein continues to impress as the Knicks‘ starting center in place of the injured Mitchell Robinson, writes Fred Katz of The Athletic. Hartenstein had a monster double-double in Wednesday’s victory over Chicago, recording 10 points, a career-high 20 rebounds, and a career-high-tying five blocks.

“I’m impressed with the way he’s protecting the rim, to be honest,” Julius Randle said after Wednesday’s win. “We’re used to Mitch doing that, covering up for our mistakes when we get beat off the dribble. But he’s a monster doing that. And to go up against (Bulls center Andre) Drummond and get 20 rebounds, it’s no slight. He’s been amazing.”

An unrestricted free agent in the offseason, Katz says Hartenstein is “due for an inevitable raise” on his $9.2MM expiring contract, and it will be difficult for New York to re-sign him, given the team’s commitments to Robinson and several other players. The Knicks will hold his Early Bird rights.

“Right now, I’m a New York Knick,” Hartenstein said of 2024 free agency. “That’s the biggest thing. I feel like, yeah, sometimes you have that in the back of your mind. That’s normal. At the end of the day, I wanna be in New York, but it’s a business.”

Here’s more on the two New York-based teams:

Miles McBride had a shaky first two games as the Knicks‘ new primary backup point guard, but they still view him as a long-term replacement for Immanuel Quickley, sources tell ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. McBride inked a three-year, $13MM extension with New York shortly after the team traded Quickley to Toronto. For what it’s worth, McBride has 12 points in six minutes thus far during Friday’s contest vs. Philadelphia, making all four of his three-pointers.
Lucas Kaplan of NetsDaily.com takes an in-depth look at Nic Claxton‘s value and future, writing that Claxton could be worth $20-25MM annually on the open market as a free agent this summer and the Nets would be wise to re-sign him to a long-term contract if that range is indeed accurate. Claxton won’t become extension-eligible prior to free agency.
Brian Lewis of The New York Post revisits the Nets‘ decision to promote Jacque Vaughn to head coach last season instead of hiring Ime Udoka, who eventually landed with Houston in the offseason after being suspended by Boston for all of 2022/23 for sexual misconduct.

Kings Reportedly Ending Pursuit of Pascal Siakam

January 5th, 2024 at 8:18pm CST by Rory Maher

8:17pm: The Kings are ending their pursuit of Siakam, at least for now, sources tell Charania (Twitter link). That could change, but the teams are no longer talking, Charania adds.

6:42pm: Appearing on Stadium’s show The Rally (Twitter video link), Shams Charania confirms the Raptors “are ramping up trade talks around Pascal Siakam.”

“I’m told the Sacramento Kings are emerging as a serious suitor (for) Siakam,” Charania said. “They’re among the offers and options that Toronto has.”

Charania went on to explain that the Kings are increasingly interested in forming a “big three” featuring De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and Siakam.

However, as Charania observes, Siakam is playing on an expiring $37.9MM contract, which will complicate any negotiations for potential suitors. If Siakam is open to re-signing with a team interested in trading for him, that could help facilitate a deal; if he’s not, it could “dissuade some teams,” Charania said.

Fischer cited Sacramento, Indiana and Detroit as prime landing spots for Siakam earlier today, also reporting that the Kings were open to moving Davion Mitchell and have been gauging the value of a package headed by Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter. Multiple reporters have stated former No. 4 overall pick Keegan Murray is off the table in trade talks.

A two-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA forward, Siakam is averaging 22.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists on .521/.288/.751 shooting in 34 games this season (34.9 minutes). The 29-year-old has spent all eight of his NBA seasons to this point with the Raptors, who selected him No. 27 overall back in 2016.