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Suns Notes: Ishbia, Nurkic, Booker, Watanabe, Ayton

October 2nd, 2023 at 8:14pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Forget about the defending champion Nuggets. Forget about what the Bucks and Celtics have done in recent weeks. Suns owner Mat Ishbia confidently declares his team the best in the league, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic reports.

“We’ve got a great team. I think we’ve got the best team in the league,” Ishbia said. “Obviously, we’ve got to play it out. We’re really excited.”

Ishbia believes that Jusuf Nurkic, acquired in the three-team Damian Lillard blockbuster, is a “better fit” than Deandre Ayton, who was dealt to the Trail Blazers.

“We wish Deandre nothing but the best,” Ishbia said. “He was a great part of the organization, he’ll do great things in Portland, but for us, Nurkic is the better fit and it wasn’t my decision or a one-person decision. It was a unanimous decision that we think it was the right fit for our team.”

We have more on the Suns:

  • General manager James Jones is confident Devin Booker will feel comfortable as the main ball-handler, Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports tweets. “Devin’s a player. He’s figured out how to be effective on the ball, off the ball….He’s not gonna complain about having the ball in his hands more, so we’re looking forward to that,” Jones said. Jordan Goodwin and Eric Gordon will also serve as ball-handlers, he added.
  • Yuta Watanabe said one of the reasons he signed as a free agent was that he wanted to play again with Kevin Durant, Rankin tweets. They were teammates in Brooklyn. “I really enjoyed playing with him,” Watanabe said. “He’s a great teammate, great guy, great leader. After he was traded I was really sad.”
  • Ayton took a verbal shot at his former organization, hinting the Suns didn’t want him to succeed, Rankin tweets. “I’m with an organization that wants me and wants me to succeed,” Ayton said. “It’s a lot more passion when you feel that mentally and you’re seeing that physically as well. It’ll be a lot more grit and a lot more DominAyton this year.”
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Lakers Notes: James, Russell, Wood, Davis

October 2nd, 2023 at 7:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

LeBron James says he’s no longer the face of the Lakers franchise. He gives that title to Anthony Davis, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes.

“He is the face [of the franchise],” James said. “You look at all these [retired] numbers that surround this facility, all the greats that have come here and AD is one of them.”

Davis, who signed a three-year max extension in August, says he feels the need to be a leader.

“I think I’m going to be the second-oldest guy here now so guys lean on me a lot,” he said. “I feel like it’s my responsibility, being one of the leaders of the team alongside Bron. It’s my job to help those guys and help the young guys and continuously being on them. Let them know what we need and what we need to get better and giving them advice so we can all be together and unified to be able to compete for a championship.”

We have more on the Lakers:

  • D’Angelo Russell offered a simple explanation as to why he re-signed with the Lakers this summer, McMenamin tweets. “They made me feel wanted,” he said. Russell signed a two-year, $37MM contract at the start of free agency.
  • Christian Wood says he’s motivated to disprove the “false narrative” about him, he told Spectrum SportsNet (video link). Wood lingered in free agency much longer than expected before accepting a two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Lakers. “Just ready to prove a lot of people wrong,” he said.
  • Davis believes the Lakers are primed for another championship due to the moves the front office made this offseason, according to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times. “A lot of teams around the league have made a lot of good moves to improve their teams. We did as well,” Davis said. “So we know every night, going into every game is going to be a battle. I think we’re prepared for it. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do. But I like our chances against anybody. We have depth, we have speed, we have shooting, we have ball-handling, we have play-making. We have it all. Now it’s just time to get on the floor.”
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Clippers Notes: Leonard, Primo, Mann, Covington

October 2nd, 2023 at 6:28pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kawhi Leonard said he’s unaffected by the league’s new rules regarding load management, according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN.

Leonard had his games limited during his lone season with Toronto and the Clippers have also employed the strategy with him and other players. He hasn’t played more than 60 regular-season games since the 2017/18 season.

“I’m not a guy that’s sitting down because I’m doing load management — well, when I was with the Raptors, it was different; like, I was coming [off] an injury,” he said. “And you have to know the details from the doctor. But if the league is seeing or trying to mock what I did with the Raptors, they should stop because I was injured during that whole year. But other than that, if I’m able to play, I’ll play basketball. I work out every day in the summertime to play the game. So, no league policy is helping me to play more games.”

We have more on the Clippers:

  • Newcomer Joshua Primo said he’ll let his actions speak for him as he tries to clean up his image, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Primo will serve a four-game league suspension for indecent exposure. Primo signed a two-way contract with the Clippers late last month. “Talking’s cheap, guys,” he said. “Obviously it’s going to be my actions each and every day that proves my character.”
  • Apparently, the possibility of starting Leonard at power forward and inserting Terance Mann in the backcourt alongside Russell Westbrook is in play. Coach Tyronn Lue acknowledged he’s been thinking about, Greif tweets. “You’re a smart man,” Lue responded when asked about it during media day.
  • The Clippers were uninterested all summer in putting Mann in potential trade packages for Philadelphia’s James Harden, according to Greif.
  • Lue hinted he plans to give Robert Covington more playing time this season, Greif added in another tweet. He said Covington deserved to play “a little bit more last year, and that’s my fault.” The veteran forward appeared in only 48 games off the bench last season, averaging 16.2 minutes per night, his fewest since his rookie season.
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Bulls Notes: DeRozan, LaVine, Ball, Vucevic, Carter, Luxury Tax

October 2nd, 2023 at 5:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bulls wing DeMar DeRozan is headed to unrestricted free agency next summer unless he signs an extension. He said he’ll let his agent, Aaron Goodwin, concentrate on that issue, according to ESPN News Services.

“I have an agent. He deals with it and I tell him to leave me the hell alone so I can focus on my five kids,” DeRozan said. “I’m not kidding you. I try not to focus on that and let him handle what he needs to handle.”

Executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas says he’s in active discussions with Goodwin regarding an extension for DeRozan, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.

DeRozan is hoping to stay with the Bulls and lift them to greater heights rather than pushing to join an established contender.

“For me, it’s all about understanding what we can do to win. How we can win,” he said. “Obviously, this is a place I want to be. You can take that out of the equation.”

We have more on the Bulls:

  • The Zach LaVine trade rumors never completely go away, but he feels he showed his loyalty to the organization last year when he signed a long-term contract, Bulls Talk tweets. “I committed to the Bulls when I signed here, and I’ll be committed to the Bulls until I leave,” he said. “That’s not my decision. I made my decision to be here.”
  • Lonzo Ball, who will miss the season after undergoing cartilage transplant surgery, said he’s “about halfway through the rehab process,” Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic tweets. Ball is aiming to return for the 2024/25 season.
  • Nikola Vucevic felt an obligation to return to the Bulls, noting they gave up a lot of assets to Orlando when they acquired him, Mayberry tweets. “Chicago traded for me. They brought me here. They gave up a lot for me,” he said. “And so I felt a responsibility to come back and help the team do better than we did. I don’t know what that will be in the end. But that’s just kind of how I felt.” He inked a three-year, $60MM contract extension prior to free agency.
  • The Bucks and Celtics have stolen the headlines in the East with blockbuster trades just before training camp. Jevon Carter, who played for Milwaukee last season, said he’s not concerned about what’s going on outside of Chicago, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes. “Thoughts on Milwaukee and Boston? I don’t really care. I’m a Chicago Bull,” he said. “I’m not really thinking about Boston or Milwaukee.”
  • Karnišovas said the team’s performance will impact whether or not ownership enters luxury tax territory, Johnson adds in the same story. “I think we’re at the point where we’re going to go into the luxury tax if we’re confirming this is the group. I think this is just giving more time for this group to figure it out. And I think once you have consistent success, you can go for it,” Karnišovas said.
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Warriors Notes: Green, Joseph, Payton, Thompson, Paul, Gay, McGruder

October 2nd, 2023 at 4:52pm CST by Rory Maher

The Warriors provided a minor injury update on Draymond Green, who expects to miss four-to-six weeks with a left ankle sprain. According to the team, Green will be reevaluated in two weeks (Twitter link via Anthony Slater of The Athletic).

Golden State also had an update on veteran guard Cory Joseph, who signed with the Warriors in free agency. Joseph sustained a back injury while preparing with the Canadian national team for the World Cup, which caused him to miss the tournament.

According to Slater, the Warriors described the injury as a lower back lumbar strain, and Joseph will be reevaluated in two weeks. That means he’ll miss training camp.

Here’s more on the Warriors:

  • At Monday’s Media Day (Twitter links via ESPN’s Kendra Andrews), Green said he was disappointed with the injury, but he’s pleased with how his ankle is responding thus far and is focused on being in “even better shape by the time, whenever it is, that I start playing … it’s an opportunity for me to get better and continue to improve.”
  • Guard Gary Payton II was limited to just 15 games last season due to a lingering adductor injury, but he’s healthy now and says there’s a “night and day” difference entering 2023/24. “Ready to play 82 (games),” he said, per Slater (Twitter link).
  • Klay Thompson will be a free agent in 2024 unless he signs a contract extension. As Andrews tweets, Thompson says it’s “possible” a deal comes together in the next few months. “If not, life is still great,” he said. “I’m playing basketball in my 13th year in the NBA.”
  • There’s been a lot of speculation about who will start for the Warriors this season after the team traded for Chris Paul, who has never come off the bench in his long NBA career. But Paul noted that he was a reserve for Team USA at the 2008 Olympics, and he’s not concerned about starting in ’23/24. “Anybody who knows me knows that I’m all about winning,” Paul said, per Andrews (Twitter link). “Whatever I can do to help the team win.”
  • According to Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link), both Rudy Gay and Rodney McGruder  signed non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 deals for training camp. Exhibit 9’s can only be one-year, minimum-salary contracts and do not count against the salary cap until the start of the regular season. Exhibit 9 contracts are primarily used to limit the team’s liability in the event of an injury.
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Raptors Notes: Siakam, Anunoby, Ujiri, Koloko

October 2nd, 2023 at 4:36pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pascal Siakam offered a carefully worded response when asked about his future with the Raptors, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets. Siakam is headed to unrestricted free agency next summer unless he signs an extension. He’s also been the subject of numerous trade rumors.

“I’m under contract. I’m a Raptors player,” he said. “That’s what I’m focused on. I’m focused on the present.”

Raptors president Masai Ujiri, when asked about the lack of extension talks regarding his power forward, gave a general response about his dissatisfaction with how last season played out, Michael Grange of Sportsnet tweets.

“A lot of players didn’t play the right way,” he said. “I said it, that we were selfish, I’m not running away from that. We were selfish and we didn’t play the right way. So let us see it when we play the right way.”
We have more on the Raptors:
  • Another player who has been the subject of numerous trade rumors, OG Anunoby, indicated he hopes to stay put, Lewenberg tweets.  “I love Toronto, so I want to be here,” he said. Contractually, he’s in a different situation than Siakam, though both players can reach free agency next summer. Anunoby holds a $19,928,571 option on his contract for the 2024/25 season. He added he’ll let his reps handle any extension talks.
  • Ujiri is content with Toronto’s roster for now, but he acknowledged he’ll continue to be active in the trade market, according to Eric Koreen of The Athletic. “This is the team, now, that we want to take into next season,” Ujiri said. “Did we look at other opportunities (in the summer)? Yes we did. Did we look at maybe going younger? Yes we did. But sometimes those opportunities are there and sometimes they’re not there. … I know everybody’s looking for trades, I know everybody’s looking for moves. Trust me — when the right ones come, the right opportunities come, maybe we’ll take those opportunities.”
  • Christian Koloko‘s health problems have not subsided. The young big man will miss training camp due to ongoing respiratory issues, Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca tweets. Koloko also sat out Summer League action due to the same issue.
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Durant, Curry, LeBron, Other U.S. Stars Express Olympic Interest

October 2nd, 2023 at 4:08pm CST by Luke Adams

The 2024 Olympics in Paris were a popular topic of discussion on media days around the NBA in Monday, with many of the league’s biggest American stars expressing interest in representing Team USA next summer.

Suns forward Kevin Durant, who won Olympic gold medals in 2012, 2016, and 2020, was adamant in addressing his 2024 plans, telling reporters, “I will play in the Olympics next year,” according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.

Durant’s Suns teammate Devin Booker also indicated that he would accept an invite from USA Basketball, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic writes, while KD’s former Warriors teammate Stephen Curry told reporters, “(I) definitely want to be on the team,” per Reynolds.

Lakers forward LeBron James, who was rumored last month to be recruiting his fellow U.S. stars to play at next year’s Olympics, confirmed his interest, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic. His teammate Anthony Davis wasn’t prepared to commit yet, telling reporters that it’s too early to say whether he’ll play (Twitter link via Buha).

Of course, one of the biggest question marks for Team USA is Joel Embiid, who has yet to take part in an international competition and has citizenship in France and the U.S. in addition to his native Cameroon.

As Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays (via Twitter), Embiid said today that he’d like to play in the Olympics but is still weighing his options. While the U.S. and France have already qualified, Cameroon will compete in a qualifying tournament next summer in the hopes of earning a spot in the 12-team Olympic field. Embiid, who was reportedly given an October 10 deadline by the French team, said he hopes to make his decision “in the next few days.”

“I love all three options,” Embiid said, per ESPN. “Cameroon, I’m born there, I’m from there and I always want to represent my country. But the goal is also to play in the Olympics. If we had a chance, or if we would qualify for the Olympics, that will be an easy decision. But that’s still up in the air. And I really do want to play in the Olympics.”

Here’s more on the potential Team USA roster, which can only accommodate 12 players:

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Cavaliers Notes: Rubio, Altman, Strus, Mobley

October 2nd, 2023 at 3:38pm CST by Luke Adams

Cavaliers point guard Ricky Rubio, who announced in August that he has decided to pause his basketball career to focus on his mental health, received an excused absence from the team’s media day on Monday, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

It remains unclear when Rubio might report to the team, but president of basketball operations Koby Altman told reporters, including Fedor (Twitter link), that the subject of retirement hasn’t come up at all during his discussions with the veteran guard. Altman and the Cavs are hopeful that Rubio will be with the club for the 2023/24 season, Fedor adds.

Here’s more on the Cavs:

  • After being arrested and charged in September for driving under the influence, Altman told reporters on Monday that he has spoken to team owner Dan Gilbert about the situation, though he declined to say whether he expects to face discipline from the organization, per Tom Withers of The Associated Press. “I feel awful about the distraction that this incident has caused our organization and team,” Altman said. “I’ve had several conversations across the building with players, coaches and ownership on down and have expressed that same sentiment to them as well.”
  • Having joined the Cavaliers on a four-year, $62MM deal in July, Max Strus expects to be the team’s starting small forward, he said on Monday (Twitter link via Fedor). Cleveland’s starting backcourt (Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland) and frontcourt (Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen) is set, but the club rotated through several options at the three last season, so Strus certainly looks like the obvious choice to fill that spot.
  • Mobley said on Monday that he had a home gym installed and hired a personal chef this offseason, which helped him put on seven pounds of muscle. The big man added that he’s ready to “take off” this season and has made it a goal to make the All-Star team and to win Defensive Player of the Year (Twitter links via Fedor).
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Wizards Exercise Wes Unseld Jr.’s Option For 2024/25

October 2nd, 2023 at 3:33pm CST by Rory Maher

The Wizards have a new front office regime, but their head coach appears to be safe. According to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post, the Wizards have exercised their option on Wes Unseld Jr.‘s contract for 2024/25.

Unseld signed a four-year deal with a team option in the final season when he was hired in 2021. The Wizards have gone 35-47 in each of his two seasons at the helm, a .427 win/loss percentage.

A Maryland native, Unseld got his NBA start with Washington as an assistant. He also had assistant jobs with Golden State, Orlando and Denver before earning his first head coaching job with the Wizards a couple years ago.

There has been some speculation that Unseld might be on the hot seat due to the team’s lackluster results in his first two seasons. However, as Wallace writes, with the Wizards in the midst of a rebuild, the new front office has publicly shown support for the 48-year-old head coach.

“Whether it’s in selecting players, participating in the conversation vis-à-vis trades, he’s just been awesome,” president Michael Winger said last week of Unseld. “And from a coaching perspective, he’s going to coach his butt off. We know that. He’s registered with us countless times how excited he is about this team, how excited he is to figure out — it’s going to be really hard for him — but figuring out how to blend those young players with the vets.

“We’re going to have streaks. We’re going to have ebbs and flows throughout the course of the season. There’s no evaluation on that kind of thing. If our young players are getting better, if our vets are contributing, if the culture is in a good place, I think that Wes is doing exactly the job that Wes wants to do.”

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And-Ones: Holiday, N. Young, J. Parker, 2024 Draft, More

October 2nd, 2023 at 2:55pm CST by Luke Adams

The Heat and Clippers are believed to be the other teams that were seriously in the mix for Jrue Holiday before the Trail Blazers accepted the Celtics’ offer for the All-Defensive guard, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said during the latest episode of his Hoop Collective podcast.

“I’m not sure exactly where are the offers were at the end for the Blazers before they decided on the Celtics’ offer, but based on my conversations, my feel was there was at least three teams who were making significant bids.” Windhorst said, according to RealGM. “… The teams I really think were there in the end were the Celtics, Heat and the Clippers.

“The reason I think those three teams were there because I think those were the three teams Jrue Holiday was really focused on at some point being able to sign a longer-term contract (with). And that message kind of went out in recent days. Other teams made offers but it was sort of a three-team, aggressive race at the end. Only the Blazers know exactly what the offers were.”

The Clippers came close to acquiring Malcolm Brogdon back in June, so it will be interesting to see if they make any effort to re-engage the Trail Blazers in talks for Brogdon after missing out on Holiday.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • Former NBA guard Nick Young is resuming his playing career overseas, having signed with the Macau Black Bears of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), according to the team (Instagram link; hat tip to Sportando). A former first-round pick, Young has appeared in 720 regular season NBA games, but has been out of the league since being waived by Denver in 2018.
  • Speaking to Alex Molina of Eurohoops following his move to FC Barcelona, former No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker said he believes the NBA is getting “watered down” because so many teams are trying to tank for draft picks each season, and expressed dismay that players like Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins, and John Wall can’t find NBA homes.
  • ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Insider link) has updated his mock draft for 2024, moving USC guard Isaiah Collier up to No. 2 and Perth Wildcats big man Alexandre Sarr up to No. 4. While Ron Holland of the G League Ignite is still considered the early favorite to be next year’s No. 1 pick, Givony says Sarr has done enough to join the small group of prospects with a legitimate case for the top spot in the 2024 draft.
  • With a series of holes in its programming schedule this winter due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes, ABC will air NBA games on every Wednesday night in January, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. That slate of games will includes matchups between the Pelicans and Warriors, Mavericks and Lakers, and Suns and Nets, among others.
  • Kurt Helin of NBC Sports believes that Jason Kidd (Mavericks), Steve Clifford (Hornets), and Billy Donovan (Bulls) are three head coaches who will be on the hot seat this season.
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