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Northwest Notes: Lillard, Nuggets’ Staff, Murray

September 11th, 2023 at 7:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Talks between the Heat and Trail Blazers regarding a potential Damian Lillard trade should resume sometime before training camp, The Athletic’s Shams Charania said during “The Rally” TV show (video link).

Lillard remains intent on getting traded to Miami, if he’s dealt. Charania expressed doubt that Lillard would even report to camp if he’s traded to a team other than the Heat.

“I’m told that that the only training camps Damian Lillard would report to are Portland and Miami,” Charania said.

Of course, that could be just posturing in the hopes of going to his desired destination. Media day for training camps is scheduled on Oct. 2 with camps slated to begin in Oct. 3.

We have more from the Northwest Division:

After winning a championship, Nuggets coach Michael Malone is content to run it back — at least in terms of his staff. There are no anticipated changes to the coaching staff, TheDNVR.com’s Harrison Wind reports. That group includes David Adelman, former Minnesota head coach Ryan Saunders, Popeye Jones, Charles Klask, Ognjen Stojakovic, Boniface N’Dong and Connor Griffin.
A New York Times’ story from Tania Ganguli discusses the friendship between Nuggets guard Jamal Murray and Alexander Volkanovski, the U.F.C.’s featherweight champion. “I’m a Nuggets guy now purely because of our connection,” Volkanovski said.
In case you missed it, the Trail Blazers are reportedly adding center Duop Reath to their roster. Get the details here.

Griffin Embraces Giannis’ Comments, Doesn’t Feel Added Pressure

September 11th, 2023 at 5:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

New Bucks heaed coach Adrian Griffin is unfazed by recent comments made by superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo regarding his future, according to Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Antetokounmpo revealed in a New York Times interview that he wouldn’t sign an extension this offseason and only wanted to stay in Milwaukee long-term if he felt the franchise could compete for championships on a regular basis.

“The real question’s not going to be this year — numbers-wise it doesn’t make sense,” Antetokounmpo said. “But next year, next summer it would make more sense for both parties. Even then, I don’t know. … I would not be the best version of myself if I don’t know that everybody’s on the same page, everybody’s going for a championship, everybody’s going to sacrifice time away from their family like I do. And if I don’t feel that, I’m not signing.”

Griffin indicated he’s on the same page with the two-time MVP.

“He wants to win and I want to win and it’s that simple,” Griffin said. “So I respect him. I respect what he’s accomplished in this league and we’re here together to win. So I have no problem with that. I think it’s a great partnership. We’re going to lead the team together. When he leads, the others will follow, so I think it’s great.”

Griffin doesn’t believe Antetokounmpo’s comments will add any extra pressure on him or the organization.

“Absolutely not. We’re here. We’re aligned. We’re here to win,” Griffin said. “And the one thing I talked to my team and our staff about is just embracing expectations. I have a really good roster. Instead of running from it, we want to embrace it. It just takes one day at a time though. Yes, we want to go far and deep into April, May and June but it’s about just one step at a time and taking care of our controllables and it starts with practice.”

Griffin has been in frequent contact with his top player, who underwent an offseason procedure on his knee. The new coach anticipates that Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, who also underwent offseason knee surgery, will be ready to go by the start of camp.

“That’s the plan,” he said. “They’ve been working their butts off, getting in the gym every day and just grinding.”

Latest On Kevin Porter Jr.

September 11th, 2023 at 4:35pm CST by Rory Maher

Kevin Porter Jr. was arrested in New York City on Monday for assault and strangulation following an alleged incident with his girlfriend. Both charges are felonies, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

While Rockets general manager Rafael Stone previously declined to comment, both the team and the NBA later released statements acknowledging the incident.

“We are in the process of gathering information surrounding the matter involving Kevin Porter Jr.,” the Rockets said, per MacMahon. “We have no further comment at this time.”

The NBA’s statement, which was through spokesperson Mike Bass, was quite similar.

“The league office is in contact with the Houston Rockets and in the process of gathering more information.”

ESPN’s Bobby Marks doesn’t expect the league to take any discipline against the 23-year-old guard until a full investigation has been completed (Twitter link).

That’s what happened with Hornets forward Miles Bridges, who remained unsigned all of last season following felony domestic abuse charges — he pleaded no contest and later received a 30-game suspension once the league’s investigation concluded. Twenty games of that suspension were applied retroactively, so Bridges will be inactive for the first 10 games of ’23/24.

Bridges’ situation was different than Porter’s because he wasn’t under contract last season — Porter has a guaranteed $15.86MM salary for ’23/24.

As Marks notes, Houston could tell Porter to stay away from the team in the short term. The NBA technically has the power to void his contract as well, Marks adds, though that seems unlikely to occur, particularly in the near future.

The incident will be a tricky one to navigate for the Rockets, because Porter’s extension is uniquely structured due to his prior off-court incidents.

According to Marks, Porter’s $1MM partial guarantee for ’24/25 will increase to $3MM if he isn’t waived by the first day of the upcoming regular season. It will increase from $3MM to $6MM if he isn’t released five days after the trade deadline.

June 30, 2024, is a huge date to watch as far as Porter’s contract goes, per Marks. If he isn’t waived by that date, his full $15.86MM salary for ’24/25 will become guaranteed, as will his identical cap hit for ’25/26. The final year of Porter’s contract, which is a team option, will become guaranteed if he isn’t waived by June 30, 2025.

Spurs Waive Cameron Payne

September 11th, 2023 at 4:20pm CST by Rory Maher

4:20pm: The Spurs have officially waived Payne, the team announced in a press release.

1:01pm: The Spurs are releasing Cameron Payne, league sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Assuming he goes unclaimed on the waiver wire, San Antonio will be on the hook for Payne’s 2023/24 salary, which is fully guaranteed at $6.5MM. Wojnarowski says there will be a “significant market of contending teams” interesting in signing the veteran guard if he clears waivers.

Phoenix traded Payne to San Antonio a couple months ago in a salary-dump deal. The Spurs picked up a 2025 second-rounder and $5.7MM in cash as part of the trade, while the Suns received a protected 2024 second-rounder.

Payne appeared in 48 games for the Suns last season, averaging 10.3 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.2 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .415/.368/.766. The 29-year-old will be one of the top players left on the free agent market after a solid run as a backup with Phoenix.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, the Spurs are facing a roster crunch — even after waiving Payne, they still have 17 players on guaranteed contracts. That number will need to be trimmed to 15 by the start of the season.

Payne freely admitted last month that he’d rather be in Phoenix than San Antonio. However, league rules forbid Payne from re-signing with the Suns, Marks notes.

With a packed roster and in the midst of a rebuild, Payne clearly wasn’t part of the Spurs’ plans. They now have 19 players under contract, two shy of the offseason limit.

Heat Frontrunner For Kelly Oubre?

September 11th, 2023 at 2:39pm CST by Rory Maher

Teams around the league expect free agent wing Kelly Oubre to eventually sign with the Heat, according to veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein, who publishes his articles on Substack.

However, there’s an important caveat: Miami would need to trade for Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard first. As Stein writes, the Heat would likely have a hole on the wing if they can pull off a Lillard deal, and Oubre could help fill that void.

Oubre, 27, is the highest-ranked player left on our list of 2023’s top-50 free agents, coming in at No. 27. He averaged 20.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals on .431/.319/.760 shooting in 48 games (32.3 minutes) for Charlotte last season.

Unless they can shed a significant amount of salary, the Heat will be limited to a minimum-salary offer for Oubre, which would be just shy of $2.9MM for a player with his amount of experience (he just finished his eighth NBA season). That’s a significant pay cut — Oubre has earned $12MM or more in each of the past four seasons.

Miami isn’t expected to have access to the taxpayer mid-level exception (a maximum of $10.25MM over two years) due to its proximity to the second tax apron, and it used its bi-annual exception last season to sign Kevin Love. As the name implies, the bi-annual exception can’t be used in consecutive years.

Still, the fact that Oubre remains unsigned likely means there hasn’t been much of a market for him above the veteran’s minimum to this point — otherwise, he presumably would have landed with a team already. The Cavaliers and Mavericks are rumored to have shown some level of interest in the former first-round pick, but obviously nothing has come to fruition.

Sixers Sign David Duke To Exhibit 10 Contract

September 11th, 2023 at 2:25pm CST by Dana Gauruder

SEPTEMBER 11: Duke’s Exhibit 10 contract is now official, the 76ers announced.

SEPTEMBER 5: Free agent guard David Duke is signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Sixers, Gina Mizell of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets.

Duke became an unrestricted free agent this summer when the Nets declined to give him a qualifying offer.

The Sixers had 18 players on their roster, so even with Duke joining them in camp they can still add two more players. They have just 13 players on fully guaranteed salaries, so it’s conceivable Duke could earn a spot on the 15-man roster.

Duke first joined Brooklyn on a two-way deal after going undrafted out of Providence in 2021. He returned to the Nets on another two-way contract for the 2022/23 season, then received a standard deal in April.

Duke averaged 3.7 PPG, 1.3 RPG and 0.9 APG in 23 games with the Nets last season. In 22 games for Brooklyn’s G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, Duke averaged 22.9 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 3.8 APG, and 1.9 SPG and was named to the All-NBA G League First Team.

Under the terms of an Exhibit 10 contract, if Duke is waived and then spends at least 60 days with Philadelphia’s G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats, he’d be in line for a bonus worth up to $75K.

Rockets’ Kevin Porter Jr. Arrested For Assault, Strangulation

September 11th, 2023 at 12:14pm CST by Rory Maher

Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. was arrested in New York and charged with assault and strangulation, reports Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscriber link).

Police arrived at a hotel at 6:45am Eastern time following a 911 call.

“Upon arrival officers were informed that a 26-year-old female sustained a laceration to the right side of her face and was complaining about pain to her neck,” a New York Police Department spokesperson said. “A preliminary investigation on scene determined that a known individual struck her multiple times upon her body and placed his hands around her neck.”

The woman was taken to a hospital to be evaluated.

According to Aaron Katersky of ABC 7 New York, Porter arrived at the Times Square hotel early Monday morning after a night out, and his girlfriend, a former WNBA player, wouldn’t let him into the room because she was upset at the hour of his return. Porter gained access to the room with the help of security and that’s when the alleged assault occurred, police sources tell Katersky.

Rockets general manager Rafael Stone declined to comment on the incident, according to Feigen.

Porter was considered one of the top prospects in his draft class, but he fell to 30th overall in 2019 in part due to off-court concerns — he was suspended indefinitely during a portion of his lone college season at USC for personal conduct issues. During his rookie season with Cleveland, he was suspended for a game for making improper conduct with an official.

During the 2020 offseason, Porter was arrested for improper handling of a firearm following a car accident. He opened 2020/21 on the inactive list due to the gun charge, which was later dropped.

In January 2021, Porter had a locker room outburst, which caused the Cavaliers to publicly say they would either trade or waive him. The Rockets basically got him for nothing in return — they gave up a heavily protected second-round pick.

The following January, Porter was suspended by Houston for a game following a verbal altercation with then-assistant coach John Lucas. The 23-year-old reportedly threw an object in the locker room and left the arena before the game ended.

Porter is undeniably talented — he averaged 19.2 points, 5.7 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals on .442/.366/.784 shooting in 59 games (34.3 minutes) last season. However, it’s pretty clear that the Rockets aren’t entirely sold on him being a centerpiece of their future.

For example, Porter signed a four-year, $63.4MM+ rookie scale extension with Houston last October, but only his 2023/24 salary ($15.86MM) is guaranteed. He has a $1MM partial guarantee for ’24/25, followed by a non-guaranteed salary in ’25/26 and a non-guaranteed team option in ’26/27, the final year of the deal.

The Rockets also drafted guard Amen Thompson fourth overall a few months ago and gave Fred VanVleet a three-year, maximum-salary contract in free agency (the third year is a team option), so Porter’s role will likely be reduced this season — assuming he remains on the team following his latest off-court incident.

NBA Set To Impose New Rules On Resting Star Players

September 11th, 2023 at 11:58am CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA is expected to approve new guidelines this week involving rest for star players, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Competition Committee has endorsed a stricter policy on sitting out players in nationally televised games and resting more than one star on the same night, according to Wojnarowski, who adds that the Board of Governors will vote on the measure on Wednesday.

If approved, the league will be able to impose larger fines on teams that violate the new rule, sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The fines would be $100K for a first violation, $250K for a second violation and $1MM more than the last penalty for each additional violation, according to Woj’s sources.

A star will be defined as anyone who has made an All-Star or All-NBA team over the past three seasons, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Load management has become a more common practice in recent years, and the NBA has been searching for ways to get its best players on the court more often, especially in marquee games. One provision of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement requires players to participate in at least 65 games to be eligible for All-NBA or All-Defensive honors as well as major postseason awards.

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Trail Blazers To Sign Duop Reath

September 11th, 2023 at 10:55am CST by Arthur Hill

Free agent center Duop Reath will sign a one-year contract with the Trail Blazers, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Reath will likely receive a minimum salary, and there’s no indication if the deal includes any guaranteed money.

The 27-year-old played for Portland’s Summer League team, averaging 13.0 points and 7.4 rebounds in five games, and started for Australia during the World Cup. He has played overseas since going undrafted out of LSU in 2018, spending time in Serbia, Australia and China.

The 6’11” Reath will be just the fourth Blazers player 27 or older, joining Damian Lillard, Jusuf Nurkic and Jerami Grant, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). Portland had the NBA’s youngest roster prior to adding Reath.

The signing will bring the Blazers to the offseason limit of 21 players following the weekend agreements with Kevin Knox and George Conditt IV. However, several of the team’s reported deals aren’t yet official.

World Cup Notes: F. Wagner, Schröder, Top Players, Banchi

September 11th, 2023 at 10:28am CST by Arthur Hill

Germany’s Franz Wagner was thrilled not only to win a gold medal at the World Cup, but to be able to accomplish the feat while playing alongside his brother, writes Cesare Milanti of EuroHoops. Franz and Moritz Wagner are also teammates on the Magic, but their undefeated run through the World Cup field is the highlight of their careers.

“It’s special,” Franz Wagner said after Sunday’s win over Serbia. “Special to have our parents here too. This is so surreal, it doesn’t make sense that we are both on this team and we can enjoy it.”

Wagner appears to be fully recovered from a sprained ankle he suffered in Germany’s opening game. Although he missed the rest of pool play, he was back for the knockout round, scoring 22 points and grabbing five rebounds in a semifinal win over Team USA, then posting 19 points and seven rebounds in the gold medal contest.

“There were so many moments this year in so many games that the other team made a run, this game, the game before against the States,” he added. “We never let it slip, we just kept playing and kept staying together. That made a huge difference in all these games.”

There’s more from the World Cup:

Tournament MVP Dennis Schröder hopes Germany’s success will lead to more exposure for basketball in his home country, per Aris Barkas of Eurohoops. The German team has become more successful in international competitions, but the games aren’t widely available to the public. “We first thought the tournament was going to be on the TV. Only the final was on the TV,” Schröder said. “Basketball is a great sport and I hope we can get our respect for what we are doing the last two years. I wish that every single game is on TV. Ten years ago when I started, we had Dirk Nowitzki but nobody knew who were the other guys on the team. Now we go to Japan and the Philippines and they know us. We hope to get this respect also in our country and get recognized.”
Schröder was a first-team selection by Brian Windhorst of ESPN on his list of the best players at the World Cup. Joining him on the first team are Team USA’s Anthony Edwards, Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Slovenina’s Luka Doncic and Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic. Making up Windhorst’s second team are the USA’s Mikal Bridges, Australia’s Josh Giddey, South Sudan’s Carlik Jones, Serbia’s Nikola Milutinov and the Dominican Republic’s Karl-Anthony Towns.
Luca Banchi was honored as the tournament’s best coach after leading Latvia to a fifth-place finish in its first-ever World Cup.