- The potential sale of the Suns is complicated by the fact that Robert Sarver only owns 35% of the franchise, while owners of 60% of the team’s shares don’t have “tag-along” rights, explains Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic. That means that those minority shareholders won’t necessarily have to sell their stakes in the franchise when Sarver does, though he could require it as part of a deal. Prospective buyers aren’t sure what path Sarver will take, according to Kaplan, who suggests that the valuation of the team would spike if minority shareholders aren’t obligated to sell — in that scenario, a buyer would be able to gain controlling rights of the Suns while only purchasing 40% of the franchise.
- Jae Crowder remains away from the Suns as the veteran forward awaits a trade. Crowder posted a hopeful message on his Twitter page that the situation will be resolved soon. “YEA NO WORRIES STAY PATIENT COMING SOON I PROMISE!” he wrote.
One downside to the Lakers‘ first win Sunday night was continuing back pain for Anthony Davis, writes Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times. Davis, who had been listed as questionable for the game, was grimacing and limping around the court, Hernandez observed. Afterward, he admitted being in a “pretty good amount of pain.”
Davis sat out Friday’s game due to lower back tightness, and his health is a constant concern after playing a combined 76 games over the past two seasons. On Sunday, he told reporters that he doesn’t know what to expect regarding his back from day to day, adding, “It kind of just comes and goes.”
An eight-time All-Star, Davis is crucial to any success the Lakers hope to have this season. He’s averaging 23.8 points and 10.6 rebounds through five games, along with 2.4 steals and 2.0 blocks.
“AD’s impact is not only huge defensively, but also very efficient offensively, giving us possessions at the rim, knocking down the jumper, just all around very efficient tonight,” LeBron James said.
There’s more injury news to pass along:
- The Suns are grateful that Deandre Ayton‘s sprained left ankle wasn’t more serious, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Ayton got hurt Friday when he landed on the foot of Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas after taking a jump shot. “When you look at the play, just one of those plays that should’ve been called a foul,” Phoenix coach Monty Williams said. “Just kind of go from there, but for me, I’m just grateful it wasn’t worse. We will look at it in another week to make sure he’s ready to go.”
- Injury management continues for Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, according to Law Murray of The Athletic. Leonard sat out Sunday’s loss to the Pelicans to protect his surgically repaired right knee and won’t play tonight against the Rockets. He has only played twice this season, coming off the bench both times, and is averaging 12.5 minutes per game.
- There’s a chance Nerlens Noel could make his debut with the Pistons tonight, tweets James L. Edwards of The Athletic. Jalen Duren didn’t travel with the team to Milwaukee after rolling his ankle in Sunday’s game, and Marvin Bagley III remains out with an MCL sprain. Coach Dwane Casey has said Noel, who is reconditioning after plantar fasciitis, might be available to play in an emergency.
Suns center Deandre Ayton, who sprained his left ankle in Friday’s win over New Orleans, has been ruled out for Sunday’s game vs. Houston and will be reevaluated in one week, the team announced today (Twitter link via Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic).
As Rankin notes, Ayton sustained the injury when he landed on Jonas Valanciunas‘ foot after attempting a shot during the first quarter on Friday. The former No. 1 overall pick left the game and didn’t return, with Bismack Biyombo and Jock Landale handling center duties for the rest of the night.
Both Biyombo and Landale figure to play increased roles for Phoenix during the next week while Ayton remains sidelined. He’ll likely miss at least Sunday’s game vs. Houston, Tuesday’s contest vs. Minnesota, and the first half of a back-to-back set vs. Portland next Friday and Saturday. It’s unclear at this point whether the 24-year-old might be cleared for the second half of that back-to-back.
After having his four-year, maximum-salary offer sheet from Indiana matched by the Suns this offseason, Ayton had gotten off to a strong start, averaging 18.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game in his first four appearances (30.7 MPG). He had four points and three boards on Friday before exiting the game.
The NBA will give fans an opportunity to take a closer look at 2023’s projected No. 1 pick over the next several months, announcing on Thursday that all of this season’s Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92 games will be available to watch for free on the NBA app. The Metropolitans 92 are, of course, Victor Wembanyama‘s team in France.
The Metropolotians 92 compete in the LNB Betclic ELITE, France’s top basketball league. According to the NBA’s announcement, the French games included on the NBA App will include the All-Star Game on December 29 and the Leaders Cup (playoff) games from February 17-19. The league has a preliminary broadcast schedule right here, though it only includes October and November games for the time being.
The buzz around Wembanyama reached a new level when his French team faced off against the G League Ignite for a pair of exhibition games earlier this month. The NBA is clearly hoping to capitalize off of the increasing level of interest in the 7’3″ super-prospect as he prepares to enter the league in 2023.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- While Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson remains locks to be the first and second players off the board in the 2023 NBA draft, there are plenty of questions behind them in the lottery, according to Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. Vecenie has published an updated version of his ’23 mock draft, projecting Amen Thompson of Overtime Elite to be the No. 3 overall pick, followed by Arkansas’ Nick Smith Jr., Villanova’s Cam Whitmore, Baylor’s Keyonte George, and Duke’s Dariq Whitehead.
- Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports suggests that the NBA should attempt to curb tanking by prohibiting teams from getting a top-three pick in back-to-back years. He hears that a version of that rule was proposed by the NBA in talks with teams and was resisted by a “small handful” of general managers, despite being favored by commissioner Adam Silver.
- Suns center Jock Landale and Hornets big man Nick Richards are among the under-the-radar players who are worth getting to know based on their performances in the first 10 days of this NBA season, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic. As Hollinger notes, both Landale and Richards will be restricted free agents in 2023.
With 30 NBA teams each permitted to carry 15 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals, there are a total of 510 roster spots available across the league. Nearly two weeks into the 2022/23 season, 500 of those spots are filled, with only 10 still up for grabs.
[RELATED: 2022/23 NBA Roster Counts]
The NBA’s transaction wire has been pretty quiet since the regular season tipped off on October 18, as the teams that began the year with open roster spots are in no rush to fill them.
In some cases, that’s about maintaining roster flexibility — teams want to be able to make trades where they acquire more players than they send out, or sign a free agent to a non-guaranteed contract to address a positional hole if multiple players start to go down with injuries.
In most cases though, it’s more about financial concerns. Many of the teams with open roster spots are either already over the luxury tax line or dangerously close to it.
Here are the teams that have open roster spots:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Charlotte Hornets
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Golden State Warriors
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Miami Heat
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Note: The Timberwolves’ opening is a two-way slot.
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Phoenix Suns
- Portland Trail Blazers
Of these teams, the Timberwolves are the most likely to fill their roster opening in the coming days or weeks — since two-way signings don’t count against a team’s cap, there’s no compelling financial reason for a team not to be carrying two players on two-way deals.
Minnesota has a relatively healthy roster though, and the G League season hasn’t started yet, so there’s no urgent need to add a two-way replacement for Eric Paschall, who was waived last week.
Among the other teams on this list, only the Hornets and Cavaliers could sign a 15th man without any immediate luxury tax concerns, so they’re probably the first two teams to watch for potential signings. If they were to sign a player to a non-guaranteed contract, they’d only have to pay his daily salary and would be able to waive him at any time before January 7 without being on the hook for his full-season cap hit.
For the first time since Forbes began issuing annual valuations of NBA teams over two decades ago, a team other than the Knicks or Lakers ranks atop the publication’s list of 2022’s most valuable franchises.
According to Mike Ozanian and Justin Teitelbaum of Forbes, the Warriors are now considered the NBA’s most valuable club, with a record-setting valuation of $7 billion following a championship season.
Forbes’ duo explains that the Warriors generated more revenue and operating income in 2021/22 than any other team in NBA history, buoyed by $150MM in arena sponsorships and advertising, along with $250MM from premium seating.
While the Warriors enjoyed the biggest bump in value since Forbes’ most recent round of valuations, every other NBA team saw its valuation rise during that time as well, according to Ozanian and Teitelbaum, who say the average franchise is now valued at $2.86 billion. That’s 15% more than a year ago, despite the fact that the stock market is down 15% over the same time period.
Of the NBA’s 30 teams, only one – the Nets – lost money last season, per Forbes’ report, which states that record-setting sponsorship and advertising revenue ($1.35 billion last season) has put the league back on its “pre-Covid growth trajectory.” Further growth is anticipated going forward, with a new television and media deal to be negotiated in the coming years — it will take effect in 2025.
Although Forbes’ figures are just estimates and often don’t quite match up with the sale prices for franchises that change hands, they’re still useful for getting a sense of the league’s most and least valuable teams.
Here’s Forbes’ full list of NBA franchise valuations for 2022:
- Golden State Warriors: $7 billion
- New York Knicks: $6.1 billion
- Los Angeles Lakers: $5.9 billion
- Chicago Bulls: $4.1 billion
- Boston Celtics: $4.0 billion
- Los Angeles Clippers: $3.9 billion
- Brooklyn Nets: $3.5 billion
- Dallas Mavericks: $3.3 billion
- Houston Rockets: $3.2 billion
- Philadelphia 76ers: $3.15 billion
- Toronto Raptors: $3.1 billion
- Miami Heat: $3 billion
- Phoenix Suns: $2.7 billion
- Washington Wizards: $2.5 billion
- Milwaukee Bucks: $2.3 billion
- Portland Trail Blazers: $2.1 billion
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $2.05 billion
- Sacramento Kings: $2.03 billion
- Utah Jazz: $2.025 billion
- San Antonio Spurs: $2 billion
- Atlanta Hawks: $1.975 billion
- Denver Nuggets: $1.93 billion
- Detroit Pistons: $1.9 billion
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $1.875 billion
- Orlando Magic: $1.85 billion
- Indiana Pacers: $1.8 billion
- Charlotte Hornets: $1.7 billion
- Minnesota Timberwolves: $1.67 billion
- Memphis Grizzlies: $1.65 billion
- New Orleans Pelicans: $1.6 billion
Appearing on The Draymond Green Show, Kings guard De’Aaron Fox recounted his reaction to the news that Sacramento had traded Tyrese Haliburton to Indiana at last season’s deadline, explaining that he viewed the deal as a strong message from his team.
“For me, it’s like yo, they believe in me,” Fox said, per Ajayi Browne of Slam Online. “But two, it’s like motherf—-r, we just traded somebody who could be a franchise point guard either here or somewhere else. So, you better get on your s–t; you better start winning.”
The Kings received plenty of outside criticism for their decision to trade a rising star like Haliburton in his second NBA season, but Fox is determined to prove that the Kings made the right move by handing him the undisputed reins at point guard.
“Does it add pressure? Yeah, a little bit,” Fox said. “But, at the end of the day, I’ve been trying to get us in the playoffs for years, so it’s a little added pressure. It ain’t hurt anybody.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter video link), Suns forward Jae Crowder pushed back against the idea that he demanded a trade because he was told he wouldn’t be a starter. “I do not want to get into the details just yet,” Crowder said, as Haynes relayed during a TNT appearance. “But it’s definitely not true, the narrative being pushed about me not starting or not, I can honestly say that.”
- Asked about his impressions of Devin Booker so far this season, head coach Monty Williams described the Suns‘ star guard as “probably the most complete player in the league right now” (Twitter link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports). Booker has averaged 32.5 PPG on .530/.480/.882 shooting through four games (38.8 MPG).
- Williams’ comments on Booker came after a Suns victory over the Warriors in which sharpshooter Klay Thompson was ejected for the first time in his NBA career. Kendra Andrews of ESPN has the story on the chippy game between two Pacific rivals, Thompson’s first ejection, and Booker’s account of what Klay was saying to him before he left the floor: “They have four rings, repeated over and over.”
- In a conversation with Mark Medina of NBA.com, Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins explained that he took a pay cut on his new four-year, $109MM extension with Golden State because he didn’t want to leave a “winning organization” that treats him well. Wiggins’ goal is to eventually join teammates like Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green, and Stephen Curry as “Bay Area legends,” he told Medina: “Hopefully by the time I’m done, people will look at me like that. I just have to keep putting in the work and accomplish what they have accomplished.”
The Bucks have the NBA’s oldest opening night roster this season, per a 2022/23 roster survey published by the league on Tuesday.
According to the NBA’s data, the average age of a Milwaukee player is 29.47 years old, with 36-year-olds George Hill and Wesley Matthews and 35-year-old Joe Ingles among the veterans contributing to that league-high average. The Heat (average age of 28.13 years old), Suns (28.05), Clippers (27.98), and Mavericks (27.89) have the next-oldest rosters, according to the NBA.
On the other end of the spectrum, no team has a younger roster than the Thunder, whose current group includes just one player older than 27 (Mike Muscala, who is 31). The average age of a Thunder player is just 23.14 years old, putting them ahead of fellow rebuilding teams like the Rockets (23.58), Spurs (23.84), and Magic (23.94). Interestingly, the Grizzlies (24.27) are the league’s fifth-youngest team, despite coming off a 56-win season.
Here are a few other tidbits of note from the NBA’s roster survey for the 2022/23 season:
- The Bucks and Thunder are also the most and least experienced NBA teams, respectively. The average Milwaukee player has 7.24 years of NBA service, while the average Oklahoma City player has just 1.94. That puts the Bucks comfortably ahead of the Clippers (6.56) and Celtics (5.82), while the Thunder are well behind the Rockets (2.29) and Magic (3.00).
- Kentucky (27) and Duke (25) have the most players currently in the NBA of any college program. No other school has more than 12 (UCLA).
- The average NBA player stands at 6-foot-6.74, weighs 217.62 pounds, and is 26.01 years old. The league identifies Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks (6-foot-6.5, 220 pounds, and 26 years old) as the player who most closely resembles the league’s “composite” player in terms of height, weight, and age.
- There are 13 sets of brothers currently in the NBA, including three Antetokounmpos (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, and Kostas Antetokounmpo) and three Holidays (Jrue Holiday, Justin Holiday, and Aaron Holiday).
- The league’s survey also includes some data on the youngest and oldest players, which we previously outlined here.
Kings head coach Mike Brown has indicated that 6’8″ rookie forward Keegan Murray, the No. 4 pick out of Iowa, could be moved into the team’s starting lineup soon, per Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
“Yeah, he started the second half [of the team’s Sunday loss against the Warriors], so there’s a chance he could start going forward,” Brown said.
The 0-3 Kings will next have the opportunity to start Murray against the 2-1 Grizzlies on Thursday. As Anderson writes, current starting power forward KZ Okpala seems most likely to be moved to the bench in such a scenario.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- Clippers reserve guard John Wall is hoping for a larger role with Los Angeles, per Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. The 6’4″ vet has been limited by his team to 25 or fewer minutes a night as a backup. Across 23 MPG in two contests thus far, Wall is averaging 16 PPG on .519/.250/.250 shooting splits, plus 3.5 APG, 2.0 RPG and 1.0 SPG. “There’s no recovery process for me,” Wall said. “It’s just a program, a plan [the Clippers have] for me… I was fully healthy last year; I just didn’t play because of the situation [with the Rockets]. So, I’m not on like on a recovery process.”
- The 0-3 Lakers are struggling to start the season, and still seem to be considering offloading the expiring $47.1MM contract of current starting point guard Russell Westbrook. Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report identifies six potential outcomes for the team’s future with Westbrook, including standing pat and not executing a trade.
- Estranged Suns power forward Jae Crowder remains in limbo as both he and Phoenix hope to work out a deal to send Crowder away from the Suns for a hopefully larger role elsewhere, per Chris Haynes of Turner Sports (Twitter video link). “Both sides, his agent and the Suns, they though they were going to come to an agreement on a trade before the season started, and things have been prolonged,” Haynes said. “He’s in the best shape possible of his career and he’s just ready to get back out there on the court.”