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Western Notes: Smith, Cuban, Fertitta, Daniels, Clarke

July 15th, 2019 at 10:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Lakers are unlikely to sign shooting guard J.R. Smith once he clears waivers, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The Cavaliers cut Smith loose on Monday after failing to find a trade partner. The lack of interest shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering the Lakers have signed shooting guards Danny Green, Avery Bradley, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Troy Daniels in free agency.

We have more from the Western Conference:

  • Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been fined $50K by the league for leaking information from the Board of Governors meeting, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reports. Cuban revealed the vote to allow coaches to challenge an official’s ruling next season.
  • The league has also fined Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta $25K for making public comments about the Russell Westbrook–Chris Paul swap before it was officially completed, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets.
  • Troy Daniels chose the Lakers over the Warriors and Thunder, Dave McMenamin of ESPN tweets. Daniels was wooed by Anthony Davis during the decision-making process. Daniels signed a one-year, minimum salary contract.
  • Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, the 21st player selected in the draft, has been named the Las Vegas Summer League MVP, David Cobb of the Memphis Commercial Appeal relays. Clarke averaged 14.7 PPG and 9.8 RPG in 22.0 MPG over six games.
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Lakers Notes: Davis, Howard, Handy, Horton-Tucker

July 15th, 2019 at 12:38pm CST by Luke Adams

When Team USA named its 20-man training camp roster for the 2019 World Cup last month, Anthony Davis‘ name was on that list. However, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, the new Lakers star will remove his name from consideration for USA Basketball’s World Cup roster.

As Haynes explains, Davis won’t participate in training camp with Team USA because he wants to spend the bulk of his offseason preparing to attempt a championship run with his new team. The former Pelicans big man remains committed to playing in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, sources tell Haynes.

Davis, a gold medalist in 2012 (Olympics) and 2014 (World Cup), will still attend Team USA’s training camp next month to support his teammates, per Haynes. It’s not clear if USA Basketball has a 20th man lined up to replace AD — the club will eventually pare that group down to 12 players for the World Cup itself.

Here’s more on the Lakers and Davis:

  • In a conversation with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, Davis said that Lakers GM Rob Pelinka was calling him every “30 to 45 minutes” during free agency. “Rob would call me: ‘AD, what you think about him?’ ‘All right, cool,'” Davis said. “Right back, ‘AD, you know, this is what is going on with him.’ ‘All right, cool. All right.’ Sometimes I had to tell him, like, ‘Rob, I’m in the movies.’ He’d be, like, ‘All right, well, call me as soon as you get out.’ But we’re trying to put the best team around us, and I think he did a great job of doing it.”
  • Speaking to Arash Markazi of The Los Angeles Times, veteran center Dwight Howard – who technically remains under contract with the Grizzlies for now – said he wouldn’t mind playing in Los Angeles again, either for the Lakers or Clippers. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I do love L.A.,” Howard said. “Staples Center is going to be rocking this season.”
  • The Lakers are hiring veteran assistant coach Phil Handy to join Frank Vogel‘s staff, reports Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link). Handy has appeared in five consecutive NBA Finals, having coached in Cleveland before joining Toronto for the 2018/19 season.
  • Talen Horton-Tucker‘s new two-year, minimum-salary deal with the Lakers is fully guaranteed, a source tells Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link).
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Lakers Introduce Anthony Davis

July 13th, 2019 at 6:12pm CST by Arthur Hill

After months of waiting for a trade, Anthony Davis learned about the deal that sent him to the Lakers on Instagram, writes Chris Bumbaca of USA Today. Speaking today at his introductory press conference, Davis explained that he was watching a movie when the news broke and he missed two calls from his agent, Rich Paul. After a return call was unsuccessful, Davis tried social media, where he found out he was headed to L.A.

The deal was no surprise for Davis, who submitted a trade request to the Pelicans in January. The Lakers were one of his preferred destinations, offering the chance to team up with fellow Klutch Sports client LeBron James. Even so, Davis is happy that the process is finally over.

“That’s the biggest thing for me,” he said. “The relief of not knowing the unknown anymore and not knowing where I was going to be next season.”

GM Rob Pelinka, who closed the deal by offering New Orleans Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and a package of draft picks, called Davis’ introduction “a history-shifting day for the Los Angeles Lakers” and said organization is hoping for “a decade of dominance” from its new big man.  Right now, L.A. is guaranteed just one year out of Davis, who is expected to opt out of his current contract next summer.

There’s more from today’s press conference:

  • Davis doesn’t regret waiving his $4MM trade kicker, even though the move was designed to help land Kawhi Leonard, who wound up choosing the Clippers. “Any time you’re able to able to acquire a player like Kawhi, you have to do almost everything to get a guy like that,” he said. “Obviously, it didn’t work out for us, but I still wanted to do everything I could to help the team. That $4MM was to add more money to a player’s contract or get another guy, and by all means I was willing to do that.”
  • Pelinka frequently sought input from Davis and James as the front office filled out the roster with free agent signings. Once Leonard was off the market, the Lakers focused on making the most of their cap space to build as much depth as possible. “I like our roster,” Davis said. “I like every player that we have, from one through 14. I’m excited about it. I would put our roster against anybody. I think that in a seven-game series we would come out victorious.”
  • Davis turned aside a question about his long-term future in L.A., saying he’s “focused on this season,” tweets Ben Golliver of The Washington Post. “When that time comes around next year, you can ask me that question and we can revisit it,” Davis responded. “Right now my focus is on this year and figuring out how I can help this team and help this organization become a championship team.”
  • Davis isn’t bothered by negative reaction he got from fans and the media after requesting a trade, relays Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen and Roll (Twitter link). “As long as I can sleep at night and live with the decisions that I made, then I’m happy and I don’t really care what anyone else thinks,” he explained. “I have a great team around me who I can talk to about things that’s going on, and they give me great advice and at the end of the day I’ll live with the decisions I make.”
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Lakers Notes: Pelinka, Contracts, Green, Cousins

July 12th, 2019 at 6:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Lakers are taking an all-or-nothing mentality into next season with the acquisition of Anthony Davis and numerous veteran free agents, including DeMarcus Cousins. GM Rob Pelinka said there’s only one goal for next season, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “For us, anything short of a championship is not success,” Pelinka said. “So we have to learn from last season, because we didn’t win a championship. And a lot of that went into the construction of the roster this year.”

We have more on the Lakers:

  • Pelinka notes the benefit of signing players to short-term contracts. While Davis is expected to be a long-term Lakers, only James (player option) is currently on the books beyond 2021, Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times relays. “It gives us the ability to not only contend in the short term with the players we wanted, but also add a superstar or max player in that July of 2021,” Pelinka said.
  • Shooting guard Danny Green, another off-season free agent addition, said he waited for Raptors teammate Kawhi Leonard to make his decision before he chose his destination, according to another Ganguli story. Green may have stayed in Toronto or gone to Dallas if Leonard hadn’t joined the Clippers. “Those five days seemed like five months. … You think a day, it goes by pretty fast but the way it was happening, the way I was talking to him, you would think it was a week. Like, ‘I got to wait another day, dude? Like, come on!’” Green said.
  • The Cousins signing will only work if he’s willing to come off the bench and split the center spot with JaVale McGee, Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times opines. That could be a tough for Cousins to accept, given that he was a premier player prior to rupturing his Achilles two seasons ago, Woike notes. Cousins is thrilled to be reunited with former Pelicans teammate Davis, Youngmisuk writes in a separate story. “We realized how much better we made one another and how much we made the game easier for each other. We both appreciate each other’s presence,” Cousins said. “To add LeBron James to the mix, his résumé speaks for itself.”
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Lakers Officially Acquire Anthony Davis In Three-Team Trade

July 6th, 2019 at 9:54pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers, Pelicans, and Wizards have officially completed the three-team trade that makes Anthony Davis a Laker. All three teams issued press releases tonight to announce the deal. The structure of the trade is as follows:

  • Lakers acquire Anthony Davis.
  • Pelicans acquire Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, the draft rights to De’Andre Hunter (No. 4 pick), the Lakers’ 2021 first-round pick (9-30 protected; unprotected in 2022), the Lakers’ 2024 first-round pick (unprotected), the right to swap 2023 first-round picks with the Lakers, and cash ($1.1MM; from Wizards).
    • Note: The Pelicans will also have the option to defer the 2024 first-round pick to 2025.
  • Wizards acquire Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga, Jemerrio Jones, and the Lakers’ 2022 second-round pick.

The long-awaited deal was held up slightly today as the Lakers officially finalized a series of signings using their cap room. In order to maximize its cap space, the club had to sign free agents first before acquiring Davis. Danny Green, DeMarcus Cousins, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Quinn Cook, and JaVale McGee all signed their contracts with the Lakers since the July moratorium ended this afternoon.

The Pelicans, meanwhile, will now flip the rights to Hunter to the Hawks in a separate deal, putting the No. 4 pick on track to join his new team for Summer League action. Once the deal is done, Atlanta will also be able to complete its trade with the Sixers involving Bruno Fernando and Jordan Bone, then Philadelphia will be able to flip Bone to the Pistons.

For more details on one of the summer’s biggest trades, be sure to check out our previous stories on the Lakers/Pelicans aspect of the deal, as well as the Lakers/Wizards part of the swap.

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Paul George Trade Roundup: Kawhi, Davis, Trade Request, Durant

July 6th, 2019 at 10:31am CST by marksuleymanov

In a shocking move early Saturday morning, the Thunder agreed to trade one of their two superstars, Paul George, to the Clippers. The move facilitated the Clippers pairing George with Kawhi Leonard, who agreed to a four-year pact with the organization earlier in the morning.

The landscape of the league has been altered with the Clippers and their crosscourt rival Lakers expected to dominate headlines this forthcoming season. The process that led to the Clippers becoming one of the NBA’s powerhouses included a lot of moving parts, a lot of communication and a heavily involved Leonard.

Before George to L.A. became a possibility, Leonard had reached out to Kevin Durant about the possibility of the duo teaming up with the Clippers, per ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. Leonard told Durant he “admired him, and had tremendous respect for him as a competitor,” according to Shelburne. While Durant appreciated the recruitment from Leonard, he was already set on pairing with Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan in Brooklyn.

Therefore, the process moved on and Leonard set his sights on pairing with another superstar: Paul George.

Here are some more tidbits on George being traded to the Clippers:

  • In Shelburne’s report, she noted that Leonard’s camp attempted to delay the consummation of the Anthony Davis to the Lakers trade until “as late as Sunday.” No reason was provided to the Lakers, only that the request be honored if the organization wanted to stay in the running for his services. We had relayed that Leonard’s free agency decision was holding up a series of moves, the Davis trade being one of them.
  • Shelburne also noted that Leonard, who is known for his quiet demeanor both on and off the court, took an active, engaging role during free agency. “For a quiet guy, he’s a hell of a recruiter,” one source told her. Sam Amick of The Athletic heard a similar account of Leonard’s activity during free agency: “Kawhi recruited the hell out of him,” one source told Amick. “He did a number on Paul.”
  • The Thunder organization was blindsided by George’s trade request, ESPN’s Royce Young writes. It was just one year ago when George decided to forego free agency and re-sign with OKC on a long-term pact. The Palmdale, California, native had long been rumored to want to play for his hometown Lakers; now he will return home but will suit up for the Clippers.
  • With George gone, the Thunder secured quite the haul their now-former superstar. While OKC had planned to compete next season, led by George and Russell Westbrook, the focus is now on a rebuild. Brett Dawson of The Athletic examined how and why the trade went down and which directions are available to the Thunder. Whether it’s dealing Westbrook and going full rebuild or trying to build a roster more suited toward their MVP’s style, OKC has a lot of decisions to make.
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Davis Deal Could Be Delayed If Leonard Remains Undecided

July 5th, 2019 at 10:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Anthony Davis trade could be delayed if Kawhi Leonard doesn’t choose a team by noon ET on Saturday, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk and Bobby Marks report.

The complex, four-way series of deals involving the Lakers, Pelicans, Hawks and Wizards can become official Saturday. The Lakers would lose their ability to give Leonard a max contract if any of the other teams involved decline to delay the trade. However, those teams are expected to cooperate, according to Marks.

The Lakers and Pelicans agreed on the initial trade in which Los Angeles sent Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three first-round picks to New Orleans for Davis. Los Angeles opened up a $32MM salary slot by agreeing to ship Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga, Jemerrio Jones and a 2022 second-round pick to Washington, which sent cash to New Orleans. Davis also agreed to waive his $4MM trade kicker.

New Orleans and Atlanta made a big draft-night swap as an offshoot of the Davis trade. New Orleans agreed to move the No. 4 overall pick, forward De’Andre Hunter, they received from the Lakers as well as a late second-rounder along with Solomon Hill‘s contract to the Hawks for two first-rounders, center Jaxson Hayes and guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, an early second-round pick and a first-rounder next year.

Without the delay, the Lakers could only offer Leonard a four-year, $127MM contract — $11MM less than the max over the life of the deal.

Leonard’s indecision also may cause some other delays.

The Pelicans won’t be able to sign free agent guard J.J. Redick until the Hill trade is finished. Hill is ticketed to the Grizzlies in another trade once the Davis deal is completed. The rookies involved in those proposed transactions, as well as the three young players headed to the Wizards, aren’t allowed to play summer league ball until everything is finalized.

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No Kawhi Leonard Announcement Expected Today

July 5th, 2019 at 3:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Our wait for Kawhi Leonard‘s free agent decision appears likely to extend until at least Saturday. According to Cris Carter of Fox Sports 1 (Twitter link), Leonard remains undecided and doesn’t plan to finalize and announce his decision today.

Interestingly, Carter also adds that Leonard is expected to sign a long-term contract with whichever team he chooses. There had been some speculation that he might sign a one- or two-year deal in order to potentially line himself up for a larger maximum-salary contract in 2021, when he has 10+ years of NBA experience. Carter suggests that’s not the plan.

[RELATED: Poll: Which team will Kawhi Leonard choose?]

The NBA’s July moratorium will end on Saturday at noon eastern time, at which point teams will be able to finalize the free agent deals and trades that they’ve agreed upon over the last week.

While that doesn’t exactly represent a deadline for Leonard, the Raptors, Clippers, and especially the Lakers will presumably be hoping a decision comes in by then. The Clippers and Lakers each have $32MM+ in cap room that they could commit to other players if they don’t land Kawhi.

The Lakers would lose some of their cap room if they finalize the Anthony Davis trade with the Pelicans right away when the moratorium lifts — their $32MM in cap space relies on signing free agents first, then completing the Davis deal using salary-matching rules, since AD’s salary will exceed their total outgoing salaries. So if Leonard’s decision extends beyond the end of the July moratorium, they’ll want to wait a little longer to finalize that trade.

However, the Pelicans have a subsequent trade with the Hawks that hinges on getting the No. 4 pick from the Lakers, and Atlanta will flip one of the draft picks involved in that deal in another trade, and so on. Several teams – including the Wizards, Sixers, and Pistons, who are also all linked to the series of moves – will be anxious to complete those trades to get their draftees into Summer League action in Las Vegas.

Other free agents, including Danny Green, could also be impacted by the wait for Leonard, since their options will be impacted by which teams still have cap space available. NBA free agency appears to be a little stuck at the moment as everyone waits on Kawhi — no deals have been agreed upon since Wednesday night.

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Pacific Notes: Jackson, Clippers, Ferrell

July 4th, 2019 at 9:28pm CST by Austin Kent

The Phoenix Suns unloaded 2017 fourth-overall pick Josh Jackson on the Memphis Grizzlies yesterday, after a tumultuous but oh-so-promising two-year stint with the franchise. Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic broke down exactly what went wrong for the once-prized prospect.

A plethora of red flags spoiled Jackson’s reputation off the court and eventually that proved to trump even his best performances on it. To Jackson’s credit, he managed to show high-ceiling talent despite playing for three different head coaches with three different playing styles, but the downside proved to much to bear for a young Suns organization that desperately needs to start moving forward.

Jackson averaged 17.0 points and 6.1 rebounds with over a block and a steal per games in games in which he played 30 or more minutes, but those flashes of excellence were few and far between as the Suns swingman struggled with his shot and controlling his emotions.

The Grizzlies, another team in the midst of a rebuild, will hope that a fresh start is enough to put the former Suns prospect back on the right track.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

 

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Kawhi Leonard Wants To Meet With Jeanie Buss, Magic Johnson

June 28th, 2019 at 11:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

11:30pm: Full reports from ESPN and Los Angeles Times provide more details on Leonard’s proposed meeting(s) with the Lakers, as Shelburne, Turner, and Tania Ganguli explain in those stories that Kawhi’s camp made it clear he only wants Buss and Johnson involved in his meeting with the team.

The Lakers’ owner (Buss) and former president of basketball operations (Johnson) will likely have to meet with Leonard and his camp separately, since the NBA has told Johnson that he can’t be a formal part of the free agent process, per ESPN and The Times. He still has interest in doing what he can on an informal basis to help the Lakers.

While James and Davis also plan to meet with Leonard, they might not be involved in the Lakers’ formal meeting, since Kawhi’s camp let it be known he wants that meeting to be with only Buss, rather than with multiple members of the front office, according to The Times. Additionally, ESPN’s report notes that Davis can’t act as an official representative of the Lakers, since he won’t actually become a Laker until July 6.

4:50pm: Citing league rules, Johnson said he cannot participate in the meeting nor has Buss asked him to meet with any prospective free agents, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN tweets. A third party called Johnson and told him Leonard wanted to meet with him, Shelburne adds in another tweet.

4:24pm: Kawhi Leonard’s representatives plan to meet with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and former president of basketball operations Magic Johnson next week when free agency begins, Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times tweets. The meeting will likely take place in Los Angeles, Turner adds.

A Yahoo Sports report on Thursday revealed that Leonard planned on meeting with both L.A. teams along with Raptors and this seems to firm up some of those plans.

The Lakers opened up a max $32MM salary slot for the Finals’ Most Valuable Player by agreeing to trade Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga, and Jemerrio Jones to the Wizards as part of the Anthony Davis trade. Additionally, Davis has agreed to waive his $4MM trade kicker. The Lakers are hoping to secure Leonard or Kyrie Irving to form an imposing superstar trio with Davis and LeBron James.

James and Davis are planning to be part of the formal pitch to Leonard, Sam Amick of The Athletic tweets.

The presence of Johnson, rather than GM Rob Pelinka, at the proposed meeting is a little curious. Johnson infamously ripped Pelinka in a TV interview after resigning his post, though Johnson did praise Pelinka for pulling off the Davis trade.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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