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Free agent forward Greg Brown and wing Joe Wieskamp have agreed to sign training camp contracts with the Mavericks, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The 43rd overall pick in the 2021 draft, Brown spent his first season-and-a-half as a pro in Portland, appearing in 64 games for the Trail Blazers during that time. He didn’t establish himself as a regular rotation player, averaging just 4.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per night with a shooting line of .422/.294/.636.
Because the Blazers didn’t have a G League affiliate of their own during Brown’s time with the team, they couldn’t send him to their own NBAGL program for developmental purposes. The 21-year-old ended up being waived in February to accommodate Portland’s trade deadline moves, then finished the season with the Ontario Clippers in the G League.
Wieskamp was drafted two spots ahead of Brown in 2021 and appeared in 29 games for the Spurs as a rookie, but he wasn’t retained for a second season in San Antonio. He inked a pair of 10-day contracts with the Raptors in January of this year, then signed a multiyear deal in February. That contract was only guaranteed for the rest of the 2022/23 season though, so he was waived by Toronto last month before his 2023/24 salary became guaranteed.
Wieskamp, who will turn 24 later this month, has only made 30.9% of his 55 three-point shots at the NBA level in 38 appearances, but has shown his ability to stretch the floor at the G League level, hitting 38.0% of 237 attempts across 32 NBAGL regular season contests.
Dallas currently has 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals, so adding Brown and Wieskamp on camp deals would bring the team’s total roster count to 18 players, leaving three open spots.
The Hawks have been the strongest suitor to date for star forward Pascal Siakam, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports that Atlanta has offered the Raptors a package that includes forward De’Andre Hunter, swingman AJ Griffin, and draft compensation in exchange for Siakam.
The Raptors have resisted the Hawks’ overtures and are “believed to have upped the price on any possible deal at each turn,” Charania says.
As Charania outlines in his story, it has become increasingly rare for a player of Siakam’s caliber to enter a contract year without some sort of clarity on his long-term future. However, he and the Raptors have yet to seriously engage in negotiations on a potential contract extension, and the 29-year-old also hasn’t requested a trade, sources tell The Athletic.
Siakam has been considered a trade candidate since well before February’s deadline due to his contract situation and his positional and skill-set overlap with rising star Scottie Barnes, the 2022 Rookie of the Year.
Charania suggests that Siakam’s trade value has been limited to some extent by the fact that the two-time All-NBA forward has privately expressed a desire to remain in Toronto and an unwillingness to sign an extension with any team that acquires him.
Siakam is currently eligible for a maximum-salary extension worth up to 30% of the cap — earning another All-NBA nod in 2024 would make him eligible for a super-max contract that starts at 35% of the cap, but he would only be able to sign such a deal with the Raptors. A trade would make him ineligible for a super-max contract.
Atlanta isn’t the only club to express interest in Siakam, Charania notes, but it doesn’t appear that any other suitor has made significant headway with the Raptors. The Pacers are among the other clubs previously reported to be interested.
For what it’s worth, the Hawks’ offer for Siakam as described by Charania appears incomplete, since Hunter’s and Griffin’s combined salaries ($23.8MM) wouldn’t be nearly enough to match Siakam’s $37.9MM cap hit for 2023/24.
There has been some chatter about the possibility of Atlanta sending Clint Capela ($20.6MM) to a third team – like the Mavericks – as part of a trade for Siakam, but such a structure would require that third team to send at least one player to Toronto. Dallas doesn’t have a big expiring contract to close that salary gap and would likely have to include some combination of Tim Hardaway Jr. ($17.9MM), Richaun Holmes ($12MM), and JaVale McGee ($5.7MM), each of whom has two years left on his respective deal.
As for the Hawks’ movable draft assets, they owe two of their own future first-round picks to San Antonio as part of the Dejounte Murray trade, but they could offer Sacramento’s lottery-protected 2024 first-rounder as well as their own first-rounder in either 2029 or 2030.
For now, trade talks between Toronto and Atlanta are “at a complete pause,” according to Charania, who says the Hawks are “fully prepared” to enter the 2023/24 season with their current roster.
Trendon Watford‘s one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Nets is non-guaranteed for the time being, but the third-year forward could earn partial guarantees if he makes the opening night roster and holds his spot on the team for at least a couple months.
Watford will receive a partial guarantee of $200K if he isn’t waived on or before the first day of the regular season in October, Hoops Rumors has learned. That partial guarantee would increase to $700K if he remains under contract through December 19.
Watford’s full $2.02MM salary would become guaranteed if he isn’t cut on or before January 7. That’s the date that all players on non-guaranteed contracts must be waived by if their teams want to avoid paying their full salaries.
Here are a few more details on recently signed contracts:
- The one-year, minimum-salary deal that Frank Ntilikina signed with the Hornets is partially guaranteed for $200K, Hoops Rumors has learned. Ntilikina would have to remain under contract through the league-wide salary guarantee deadline of January 7 in order to earn his full $2.53MM salary.
- Souley Boum‘s non-guaranteed training camp contract with the Nuggets includes Exhibit 10 language, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Boum would receive a bonus worth $75K if he’s waived before the regular season begins and then spends at least 60 days with the Grand Rapids Gold, Denver’s G League affiliate.
- In case you missed it, Anthony Davis‘ three-year, maximum-salary contract with the Lakers includes a third-year player option for the 2027/28 season, as Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported on Sunday when the deal was officially finalized.
One of two longtime All-Star guards to request a trade this summer, James Harden – like Damian Lillard – has a one-team wish list. While Lillard is trying to make his way from Portland to Miami, Harden is hoping for a deal that will send him from the Sixers to the Clippers.
As similar as the two situations are, there are two key factors that differentiate them.
For one, Harden’s contract situation is more typical of what we’ve historically seen for a player on the trade block — he’s on a $35.6MM expiring contract and will reach unrestricted free agency in 2024. That means any team acquiring him will only be assured of having him for one year. Harden’s new team would acquire his Bird rights and might be pretty confident about its ability to re-sign him next summer, but he won’t be extension-eligible before becoming a free agent, so there are no guarantees.
Secondly, Harden is at a slightly different point in his career than Lillard, who averaged a career-high 32.2 points per game last season and appears to still be very much in his prime. Harden, who will turn 34 later this month, is only a year older than Lillard, but he has seen his production dip since he left Houston. After averaging 35.3 PPG across two seasons from 2018-20, Harden has put up more modest numbers (22.3 PPG on .436/.358/.870 shooting) while playing for three different teams in the three years since then.
That drop-off is partly related to an adjustment in role(s) for Harden, who was the go-to scorer in Houston and has played second fiddle to stars like Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. But he also doesn’t have the same explosiveness he showed when he was geetting to the basket and drawing fouls during his prime Rockets years. Harden averaged over 10 free throw attempts per game during his eight seasons in Houston, but went to the line just 6.2 times per night last year in Philadelphia.
Harden, the NBA’s assists leader in 2022/23 (10.7 APG), is still an All-Star caliber player and one of the league’s best offensive guards. But given his age, his declining production, and his contract situation, it’s perhaps no surprise that the Clippers have been reluctant to make the Sixers a substantial trade offer so far.
The fact that the Sixers want to contend for a title rather than enter another rebuild complicates matters. They won’t be content to accept a package of draft picks and/or young players that won’t make them better – or at least make them just competitive – in the short term.
In theory, the Clippers make sense as a trade partner for that reason. They have a handful of veterans earning between $11-18MM who could be used as salary-matching pieces and who could fit the Sixers’ roster. Marcus Morris ($17.1MM), Nicolas Batum ($11.7MM), and Robert Covington ($11.7MM) are on expiring contracts, while Norman Powell ($18MM) has three years left on his deal.
But the 76ers are reportedly hoping to maintain significant 2024 cap room, reducing the appeal of Powell. And a package of, say, Morris, Covington, and Amir Coffey ($3.7MM) wouldn’t move the needle much. Terance Mann, an improving 26-year-old guard who’s a career 38.3% three-point shooter, would be a nice get for Philadelphia, but the Clippers are said to be reluctant to include Mann in an offer for Harden.
Los Angeles could theoretically offer up to two future first-round picks, but the team can’t trade a first-rounder earlier than 2028 due to prior trade obligations and I suspect L.A. would want to include protections on any pick it moves. As noted above, draft picks wouldn’t appeal to the Sixers much anyway, unless they could immediately flip them for a win-now asset.
While the Clippers could make a viable offer for Harden, there’s no indication they’re eager to put Mann and/or an unprotected first-rounder on the table, and Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey has shown in the past that he’s comfortable dragging these situations into training camp or even the regular season.
Perhaps the Clippers will feel more urgency as the season approaches or maybe a new suitor will emerge for Harden, but for now, no deal appears close.
With all that in mind, we want to know what you think: Will Harden open the regular season with the Sixers, the Clippers, or another team?
Weigh in below our poll, then head to the comment section to share your predictions!
After being selected third overall in the 2023 NBA draft, Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson is confident that he’ll have a big rookie season in Portland.
“My goal, obviously, is to win Rookie of the Year,” Henderson told Playmaker (YouTube link). “And I will win Rookie of the Year. … My goals for the season are to help win a lot of games, to embrace the position I’m in, to embrace my role on the team, to be a great listener, and watching film and applying it to the next game.”
Henderson’s assertion that he’ll be the 2023/24 Rookie of the Year is just one of the lofty goals he expressed during the Playmaker interview. He also said he wants to eventually “be remembered as the best point guard to ever play the game.”
Henderson’s professional career got off to a promising start at the Las Vegas Summer League, where he put up 15 points, six assists, and five rebounds in just 21 minutes before exiting the Trail Blazers’ first game due to a shoulder injury. There’s no indication that he won’t be fully healthy by the time training camp begins this fall.
Still, before he begins chasing his most ambitious career goals, Henderson may have to achieve a more modest one: cracking Portland’s starting lineup. Even if Damian Lillard is traded, Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe appear to be the favorites to open the season as the starters in the Blazers’ backcourt, a league source tells Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian.
Of course, Henderson figures to have a major role even if he’s coming off the bench, and it’s possible he’ll show enough this fall that it will be impossible for the club to keep him out of its starting five.
Henderson also figures to face stiff competition in the ’23/24 Rookie of the Year race. The betting favorite is No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama, while last year’s No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren is also considered a strong contender for the award.
Eric Gordon, who joined the Suns as a free agent this summer, is playing alongside new teammate Deandre Ayton with the Bahamas national team this month, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic notes.
The new Suns guard scored 12 points as Bahamas defeated the Kansas Jayhawks, 87-81, Monday in an exhibition game in Puerto Rico, Rankin tweets. Ayton didn’t play in the exhibition. Gordon played for Team USA in 2010. Team Bahamas will play in the FIBA Americas Olympic pre-qualifying tournament August 14-20 in Argentina.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Warriors guard Klay Thompson had a dust-up with the Suns’ Devin Booker early last season and was ejected for the first time in his career. However, Thompson now characterizes it as a moment of weakness. Appearing on Paul George‘s Podcast P, Thompson expressed his admiration toward Booker, Rankin relays. “He survived a tough regime in Phoenix where everyone is getting traded,” Thompson said. “He’s playing for a new coach every year. Now he’s franchise player who just kept working. I admire the guys who have work ethic like that.”
- During the same podcast, Thompson said he’s thrilled the Warriors acquired Chris Paul and believes the veteran point guard will elevate his game. “That’s one of the greatest players ever,” Thompson said. “He’s top 75. He’s elevated every franchise he’s ran the point for and me as a shooter, I’m excited because I know CP is going to put it right here on the seams. He’s going to set me up nice. I’m going to get a couple of easy extra buckets every night. And he’s a winner. I’ve played against him so many times and seen how competitive he is. He’ll do anything to win and that’s the vibe you want, you know, with the Dubs.”
- Yuta Watanabe was one of many free agent pickups for the Suns and Gerald Bourguet of GoPhnx.com takes an in-depth look at Watanabe’s strengths and weaknesses. Bourguet concludes that Watanabe will be an elite spot-up weapon who will fit in extremely well off the bench.
It’s no coincidence that the Spurs found a sponsor for their arena after winning the lottery and selecting Victor Wembanyama, Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News writes. The arena, previously named the AT&T Center, has been renamed Frost Bank Center. The agreement is expected to last for the duration of the team’s lease, which runs through the 2031/32 season.
The Spurs received about 4,000 new season-ticket deposits between the lottery and draft due to Wembanyama mania. That helped to convince Front Bank to become the new sponsor.
The AT&T Center’s marquee became available in 2021, when the telecommunications company decided not to renew its naming rights deal. The Spurs were unable to find a new partner at that time, so they extended their agreement with AT&T through last season.
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- The Mavericks and the WNBA’s Dallas Wings have forged a business and philanthropic partnership, according to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. The Wings, who are independently owned, are now wearing a Mavericks-sponsored jersey patch featuring the logos of the Mavericks and GEM: Girls Empowered by Mavericks. The Mavericks have made a seven-figure investment in the WNBA club. “I’m unaware of any partnership to this extent, breadth and depth between NBA and WNBA teams that are not a shared ownership situation,” Wings president and CEO Greg Bibb said.
- In a subscriber-only article, Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal details how the Grizzlies front office has been in contact with Team USA and Spain with regard to the minutes Jaren Jackson Jr. and Santi Aldama will play in the FIBA World Cup and is pleased with the communication from both national teams.
- Aldama is looking forward to playing against top competition in the World Cup, the Grizzlies forward told Michael Wallace of the team’s website. “This is all just in general for my growth,” he said. “It’s just a learning opportunity. I need to put on some pounds, get bigger, quicker and stronger overall. I’ve got to get to the best version of myself and help my teammates in as many ways as possible, play multiple positions.”
- The Rockets recently added two players to their training camp roster. Get the details here.
Thunder big man Chet Holmgren admits that spending an entire season rehabbing a foot injury was tough, as he told Sam Yip of Hoops Hype.
“Anything like that is gonna be challenging for anybody, but I feel like I’ve stayed the course really well, and I didn’t let my focus, attention to detail or confidence waver,” he said. “It was a challenging year, but I feel like I made the most out of it.”
Holmgren could battle Victor Wembanyama and the rest of the 2023 rookie class for the Rookie of the Year award, since he sat out last season. However, he’s only interested in team goals.
“My focus is on helping this team win games,” he said. “Things like Rookie of the Year, and everything else are not important, so I’m just focused on helping the team. Everything else follows the team’s success.”
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- Despite all the assets that Thunder executive Sam Presti has hoarded in recent years, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman doubts he’ll cash a bunch of them in to land a star. Mussatto believes OKC will most likely focus on retaining Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams and Holmgren on rookie scale extensions when they’re eligible, as the team did with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
- The Timberwolves have named Ernest Scott as head coach of the Iowa Wolves, the team’s G League affiliate, according to a team press release. Nathan Bubes has been named an assistant coach for Iowa, while Michael DiBenedetto will have to dual title of assistant coach and director of operations for the G League team. Scott replaces Jeff Newton, who was previously promoted to assistant coach/quality control coach for the NBA team.
- Kris Dunn could begin the season in the Jazz‘s starting lineup, Sarah Todd of the Deseret News opines. Todd views Dunn as Utah’s best point guard. However, with Talen Horton-Tucker, Collin Sexton and rookie Keyonte George also in the mix, head coach Will Hardy could go a number of different ways with that key position. Dunn signed a multi-year contract with the Jazz in March.
Kentucky freshman forward Justin Edwards tops the 2024 draft list of The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie. Edwards is an athletic, bigger wing who has a well-rounded game, consistently plays hard and has excellent feel for the game, according to the draft expert. Vecenie believes Edwards will be the Wildcats’ top player during the upcoming season.
Edwards is followed by a trio G League Ignite players — forwards Ron Holland, Izan Almansa and Matas Buzelis. USC guard Isaiah Collier rounds out the top five. Vecenie provides details on his top 30 prospects, as well as listing his projected second-round picks.
We have more from the basketball world:
- Edy Tavares isn’t sure if he’ll sign another contract with Real Madrid, Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops.net relays. Tavares is hopeful he’ll return to the NBA. “I don’t know if I’m going to renew with Real Madrid,” Tavares told Relevo. “The truth is that I have a contract for next year, and I don’t know what to tell you. Yes, I hope we will agree, but the dream of the NBA is there too. I’m not going to deny it.” The 31-year-old center will play for Cape Verde at the FIBA World Cup. Tavares received a contract offer from the Trail Blazers this summer, but his Real Madrid contract includes a significant buyout, which precluded a move stateside. Tavares most recently played in the NBA during the 2016/17 season.
- Jabari Parker‘s one-year contract with Barcelona is worth an estimated $2MM, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). It also includes an NBA opt-out clause. The free agent forward and former lottery pick signed with the European team on Monday.
- Longtime Lakers player and former Knicks head coach Derek Fisher is now a high school head coach. He has agreed to coach Encino Crespi in northern Los Angeles, according to Tarek Fattal of SBLive Sports. Encino Crespi plays in one of the top leagues in California and has produced NBA players De’Anthony Melton and Brandon Williams.