And-Ones: Cousins, LeBron, Redick, Value Contracts, 2025 FAs
Former All-NBA big man DeMarcus Cousins will be returning to the Taiwan Beer Leopards in mid-April, according to Chen Jung-chen and James Lo of Focus Taiwan. Cousins played four games for the Leopards in January.
“Super excited to be back and gearing up for an epic season of playoffs with my teammates and all of you,” Cousins said in a video released on the team’s Facebook page. “Your support means the world, let’s lock it in and go all the way for this championship run.”
While he hasn’t officially announced his retirement from the NBA, the 33-year-old said in an interview last month that he doesn’t really expect to be back in the league. Since playing for the Nuggets in 2021/22, the four-time All-Star has been out of the NBA, competing professionally in Puerto Rico and Taiwan.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Lakers superstar LeBron James and ESPN commentator JJ Redick are starting a new podcast that’s “planned to be a pure conversation about basketball,” reports Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. “It’s meant to be a very free-flowing conversation about the sport and about the game,” former NBA sharpshooter Redick told Marchand. “If you look at it in a very simplistic way, it’s just about basketball.” A teaser of the Mind the Game podcast was released on YouTube, with the first full episode debuting tomorrow.
- With several caveats (no maximum or minimum-salary deals, no rookie scale deals, no second-round exception deals), Keith Smith of Spotrac lists what he believes are the 10 best value contracts in the NBA. Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, the East’s reigning Player of the Week, ranks No. 1, followed by Grizzlies forward/center Jaren Jackson Jr. at No. 2.
- Frank Urbina and Raul Barrigon of HoopsHype rank 75 players who could potentially be free agents in 2025, with the top spot going to Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, followed by Knicks star Brunson. Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers), Scottie Barnes (Raptors) and Lauri Markkanen (Jazz) round out the top five.
Knicks Notes: Grimes, Barrett, Hart, Offseason
Quentin Grimes worked with a pair of former NBA guards to get ready for the upcoming season, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. In addition to his annual summer workout with University of Memphis coach Penny Hardaway, Grimes spent time refining his jump shot with JJ Redick. According to Bondy, the idea came from head coach Tom Thibodeau and assistant Darren Erman, who recognized that Redick was proficient with the type of plays they want to see from Grimes.
“I know JJ Redick was one of the best shooters ever in this league. His conditioning was otherworldly, stuff like that. So I just tried to get in the gym with him, learn little things, how he would come off screens, pin downs, because I knew that would be some of the plays that were going to be run for me this season,” Grimes said. “So hopefully I’ll be prepared for them when I get my number called.”
Grimes is hoping to become more of a play-maker with the freedom to break down defenses. Bondy notes that he averaged just 1.89 seconds with the ball when it came to him last season and only 1.1 dribbles per touch. With Jalen Brunson, RJ Barrett and Julius Randle dominating the ball, Grimes was assigned to a catch-and-shoot role.
“It’s a good thing for me because I can space the floor, create driving lanes for RJ, whoever has the ball,” Grimes said. “But like I said, Thibs and (the assistant coaches), we had conversations this season like if I got the ball out there and I can make a play, go make a play.”
There’s more from New York:
- Barrett hopes to build on his World Cup performance, Bondy adds in a separate story. He was one of the top contributors to Canada’s bronze medal run, averaging 16.8 PPG while shooting 37.1% from three-point range. “I think I learned the game a little bit more,” Barrett said. “It’s crazy physical. Refs don’t care. It’s a lot different over there. But it was fun. I really kind of just did the same thing, my same thing, played the same game. I feel like I’m a guy — whether it’s the league or it’s FIBA — I kind of do the same stuff.”
- Playing power forward won’t be a new experience for Josh Hart, even though he’s undersized for the position at 6’4″, Bondy states in another piece. Hart said he guarded fours in Portland with Jerami Grant on the perimeter, which helped him to become an exceptional rebounder for his size.
- Knicks fans shouldn’t be alarmed that the team didn’t make any major moves this summer, contends Zach Braziller of The New York Post. He defends the front office’s decision not to chase Damian Lillard or anyone else who was on the market while preserving the team’s assets for a more significant addition in the future.
Celtics Notes: Holiday, Mazzulla, Gabriel, Redick
Celtics owners, front office members and even Hall of Famers were raving about Jrue Holiday‘s performance Wednesday in his first practice with the team, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Co-owner Wyc Grousbeck said the energy reminded him of the first practice session after Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were acquired in 2007. Co-owner Steve Pagliuca said Paul Pierce told him he had never seen anything to match Holiday’s intensity, then Pagliuca offered a few superlatives of his own.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen Jaylen Brown be stopped going to the hoop with a full head of steam, and he just ran right into Jrue,” Pagliuca said. “And that was it. It was incredible. One of the most incredible things I’ve seen in practice.”
Pagliuca added that the organization has been enamored with Holiday for years and had been hoping he would eventually become available. That opportunity arose after he was sent to Portland last week in the Damian Lillard trade, and the Celtics were determined that they wouldn’t be outbid when the Trail Blazers put him back on the market. Holiday said that as soon as the trade was finalized, Boston coach Joe Mazzulla sent him video clips of the team’s pick-and-roll coverages and offensive sets.
“From the beginning, (Mazzulla’s) told me my role is to do everything,” Holiday said. “Do everything, be all over the floor defensively, be able to control situations offensively, situations to calm us down and get good shots toward the end of games. But I think when it comes down to it, it’s about winning. It’s about keeping this culture of winning and Joe’s a part of that and the way he’s communicated with me has been awesome.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Holiday told reporters that the Celtics have already had discussions with him about a contract extension and are hoping to reach an agreement on a long-term deal as soon as he becomes eligible, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe.
- Holiday credits Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin for helping him get to a place where he wanted to be, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “Portland blessed me,” Holiday said. “Joe Cronin did a great job of communicating with me on how I wanted to proceed. … Working with him was very easy, very seamless, and made all of this possible.”
- Wenyen Gabriel, who signed with the Celtics on Tuesday, hopes to provide an answer to the team’s need for frontcourt depth, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. Gabriel isn’t guaranteed a roster spot, but he believes he can provide what the team needs. “I’m not thinking they’re expecting me to do anything new that’s out of the character of what I’ve already done in terms of bringing energy, toughness, getting us extra possessions, being able to switch, being versatile out there, running the floor, being athletic, blocking shots,” Gabriel said. “There’s a lot of different things I can do defensively, being a good help defender. So there’s a lot of things that I already do as a player.”
- Former NBA guard JJ Redick revealed on his podcast that the Celtics offered him a job as an assistant coach last September and again when Damon Stoudamire left in March, relays Brian Robb of MassLive.
And-Ones: Rivers, Myers, ESPN, Flowers, Tillman
ESPN has officially hired former Sixers head coach Doc Rivers to join its top broadcast team, the network announced in a press release written by Ronce Rajan. Rivers, who signed a multiyear contract to be an analyst, will work alongside fellow analyst Doris Burke and play-by-play announcer Mike Breen.
ESPN decided to shake up its top broadcasting group after releasing former analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy.
In addition to Rivers, ESPN has also signed longtime Warriors executive Bob Myers, who left his post a couple months ago. Myers will serve as analyst on NBA countdown and will also call games during the season, per Rajan.
The signings of Rivers and Myers were previously reported by The New York Post.
ESPN also announced a new secondary broadcast team comprised of play-by-play voice Ryan Ruocco alongside analysts — and former NBA players — JJ Redick and Richard Jefferson. Jefferson received a multiyear extension, Rajan adds.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Forward Trentyn Flowers, who had committed to Louisville, has decided against playing for the Cardinals and will instead head overseas in an effort to make the NBA. Flowers announced on Twitter that he’ll be joining the NBL’s Next Stars program and will play for the Adelaide 36ers. The NBL features nine Australian teams and one based in New Zealand. As Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report tweets, Flowers is one of a handful of potential 2024 first-round picks who have decided to play in the NBL.
- Greece’s AEK Athens has officially signed big man Justin Tillman, according to Eurohoops.net. Tillman never actually got in an NBA game, but he signed a 10-day hardship deal with the Hawks a couple years ago and has been a highly productive player in the G League. The former VCU star has had several other international stops during the course of his professional career.
- In case you missed it, we passed along several World Cup notes this morning.
Knicks Notes: Grimes, Randle, DiVincenzo, Brunson
Playing for the Select Team is only part of Quentin Grimes‘ summer schedule as he prepares for his third NBA season, writes Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Once he’s done competing against Team USA in Las Vegas, the Knicks guard will head to Memphis to work out with former NBA All-Star and current Tigers coach Penny Hardaway. He also reached out to ex-NBA guard J.J. Redick and spent two days learning the game from him in the Hamptons.
“Got in a real good workout with him, picking his brain about how he comes off pick and rolls, down screens, pin-downs, floppy action,” Grimes said. “Really just try to take as much as I can from him and incorporate it into … this upcoming season.”
After getting uneven playing time as a rookie, Grimes became a regular member of Tom Thibodeau’s rotation last season, starting 66 of the 71 games he played and averaging 11.3 PPG while shooting 38.6% from three-point range. He’s working to improve at making plays off the dribble and wants to upgrade his defense as well.
“To be effective on the offensive end and guard the best player defensively, you’ve got to be in supreme shape,” Grimes said. “That’s one of the big things I learned from JJ. The way he was coming off screens. You’ve got to be one of the top (conditioned) guys in the league. So I’m definitely trying to make sure I’m in the best shape possible coming into training camp.”
There’s more on the Knicks:
- Grimes defended the work ethic of teammate Julius Randle, who battled ankle issues throughout the playoffs, Begley adds. Randle continued to play after aggravating a late-season injury to his left ankle in the series against Cleveland. “It just really shows you that nobody should ever be questioning his toughness, how much he wants it, how much he cares about the team, how much he cares about winning,” Grimes said. “… He cares a lot about this team. He does everything he can possibly (do) to make sure his body is right, to make sure he’s in the best shape possible to make sure he can give it all.”
- Grimes told Ethan Sears of The New York Post that he’s excited to have Donte DiVincenzo on the team, even though the free agent addition might cut into his playing time. Sears suggests they might have a training camp battle for a starting wing role. “I think everything you do is competition,” Grimes said. “You wanna have the best players out there every day to make us better. Competing against him, Josh (Hart), Jalen (Brunson), (Immanuel Quickley) is gonna make everybody better, really.”
- In addition to giving the Knicks more shooting, Brunson believes DiVincenzo will bring an “edge” to the team in whatever role he plays (Twitter link from Knicks Videos).
Eastern Notes: Hawks, Quickley, Rubio, Celtics, Redick
The Hawks held pre-draft workouts with six college players on Thursday and will be hosting six more on Friday, the team announced (Twitter links).
Thursday’s group featured Alex Fudge (Florida), Logan Johnson (St. Mary’s), Matthew Mayer (Illinois), Kevin Obanor (Texas Tech), Antonio Reeves (Kentucky) and Hunter Tyson (Clemson), while Marcus Carr (Texas), Kendric Davis (Memphis), Tosan Evbuomwan (Princeton), Landers Nolley (Cincinnati), Drew Peterson (USC) and Erik Stevenson (West Virginia) will be working out tomorrow.
Of the players mentioned, only Evbuomwan — who helped lead the 15th-seeded Tigers to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament — appears on ESPN’s top-100 prospects list ahead of the draft; he’s considered a fringe second-round pick at No. 77. The Hawks control the 15th and 46th overall picks in June’s draft.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Trailing 3-1 and facing playoff elimination tonight, the Knicks will be without Sixth Man of the Year runner-up Immanuel Quickley for the second straight game due to a left ankle sprain, head coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters, including Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Thibodeau did say the third-year guard’s injury has improved, but obviously not enough to play. He’s still considered day-to-day, Begley adds. Reserve guard Evan Fournier (illness) will also be sidelined, per the Knicks (Twitter link) — the veteran has yet to play this postseason.
- Cavaliers guard Ricky Rubio didn’t have the season he was hoping for after returning from his second left ACL tear, but he and the team are hoping for better results in 2023/24, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Sources tell Fedor the Cavs are encouraging Rubio to play in this summer’s World Cup for Spain, but the veteran hasn’t made a decision on that front. “I think it will help,” Rubio said. “I’m going to meet with my team, my personal team, see what’s the best for me in rehab. I think I’ve got to get more even strength on my lower legs, lower body and see what’s the best for me. I always want to compete up. The World Cup is something special as well. But I will take my time.”
- Former NBA veteran JJ Redick, who is now an ESPN analyst, recently interviewed for Toronto’s head coaching job. The Celtics are among “several teams” that have shown interest in hiring Redick as an assistant coach since he retired a couple years ago, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Raptors Interview JJ Redick For Head Coaching Job
Former NBA sharpshooter and current ESPN analyst JJ Redick is among the candidates who have interviewed for the Raptors‘ head coaching vacancy, according to Redick’s ESPN colleague Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca was the first to report Toronto’s potential interest in Redick.
Redick played in the NBA for 15 seasons from 2006-21, appearing in 940 total regular season games for the Magic, Bucks, Clippers, Sixers, Pelicans, and Mavericks. Known for his ability to make outside shots, he had a career three-point rate of 41.5%.
Since retiring two years ago, Redick has served only as a commentator, analyst, and podcaster, but he has previously discussed his interest in possibly getting into coaching, according to Grange.
It seems unlikely that the Raptors would hire Redick as Nick Nurse‘s replacement, given his lack of experience. Still, the fact that he got a meeting is an indication that the team is casting a wide net and keeping an open mind in its head coaching search.
As our tracker shows, Redick is at least the 11th candidate to reportedly secure an interview with Toronto.
Former Pelican J.J. Redick: Zion Williamson A “Detached Teammate”
Responding to the news that CJ McCollum hasn’t yet had a chance to speak to Pelicans star Zion Williamson since being acquired by New Orleans at this month’s trade deadline, ESPN analyst J.J. Redick expressed disbelief and criticized Williamson for not being more engaged with the team.
“This is a little bit insane to me. There’s a general decorum of behavior that you should apply as a teammate,” Redick said on ESPN’s First Take on Tuesday (video link). “Look, I wasn’t the best player on any team I was on, but if there was a buyout possibility, if there was a trade possibility, I would always reach out to teammates. I called Ersan Ilyasova, I called Marco [Belinelli], I called Wes Matthews trying to get him to come to Philly. This just shows a complete lack of investment in your team, in the organization, in the city.”
Williamson, who underwent foot surgery during the offseason, has yet to play this season and has been rehabbing away from the team since early January. However, Redick doesn’t view that as a reasonable excuse for the star forward’s lack of communication with McCollum.
“I get that he’s hurt and away from the team, but you just traded for one of the 50 best players in the league, a guy that’s supposed to be paired with you,” Redick said. “Reach out and say hello.”
[UPDATE: McCollum says he has spoken to Williamson since Saturday]
Typically, opinions from an ESPN analyst about a player aren’t particularly newsworthy, since that analyst is often sharing his two cents without any inside info on the player or the team. However, this situation is a little different.
Besides being teammates with Williamson from 2019-21 before he retired as a player, Redick is also a fellow Duke alum, a fellow CAA client, and has publicly criticized of Pelicans head of basketball operations David Griffin, as Scott Kushner of NOLA.com tweets. As such, Redick’s comments about Zion are especially eyebrow-raising.
“This is a pattern of behavior with Zion that we are seeing again and again. And look, I was his teammate. I can describe him as a detached teammate. That is an accurate statement,” Redick said. “This is basic level of humanity, being a teammate. Send a text to a guy when he gets traded to your team. That is just normal behavior. That’s the bare minimum that you have to do.
“… This is something I addressed with Zion in front of the team,” Redick later added. “This is going back to his rookie year. There’s a responsibility that you have as an athlete when you play a team sport to be fully invested. You’re fully invested in your body, you’re fully invested in your work, and you’re fully invested in your teammates. That is your responsibility, and we have not seen that from Zion.”
Williamson’s desire to play for the Pelicans has been questioned since the 2019 draft lottery, when New Orleans won the No. 1 pick over bigger-market teams like the Knicks and Lakers. One report during the 2021 offseason suggested that some of Williamson’s family members wanted him out of New Orleans, while a subsequent story claimed that Zion and Griffin aren’t on particularly great terms.
For his part, the former No. 1 overall pick has repeatedly stated that he loves playing in New Orleans, but Redick and his ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith expressed skepticism about Zion’s long-term commitment to the franchise.
“He’s never publicly come out and said, ‘I don’t want to be in New Orleans.’ But as we know, Stephen A., because we follow the league, where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Redick said. “You didn’t hear rumors about Giannis [Antetokounmpo] being unhappy in Milwaukee. With Zion, you’ve heard that now for the last three years.”
Williamson will be eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2022 offseason. Although no player has ever turned down a maximum-salary rookie scale extension, it’s unclear whether the Pelicans would even be comfortable putting that sort of offer on the table, given that injuries have limited Williamson to just 85 games since he entered the league in 2019.
When the Sixers extended Joel Embiid following his third NBA season, he had only appeared in 31 career games, so the two sides agreed to include injury-related language in his max deal in order to protect the team. The Pelicans and Williamson could theoretically explore a similar arrangement, but first they’ll have to decide whether the union is one they even want to continue for the next several seasons.
“New Orleans is going to have to make some sort of decision here,” Redick said. “We’ve seen this now for three years.”
Mavericks Notes: Redick, Doncic, Brunson, Harrison
After finishing the 2020/21 season in Dallas, J.J. Redick had Early Bird rights with the Mavericks. The veteran sharpshooter ultimately ended up retiring, but he said on the latest episode of his Old Man and the Three podcast that it briefly looked like the Mavs might want to use those Early Bird rights to send him elsewhere in a sign-and-trade deal that would’ve resulted in a significant payday.
“About a week before free agency, my agent and I are talking, and I said to him, ‘I’m not ready to commit to anything right now,'” Redick said, per Dan Feldman of NBC Sports. “Teams were gauging interest. And I said, ‘I’m not ready to commit to anything, so on August 2nd, please just tell them I’ll talk to them later in the fall or early winter.’
“And he called me the next day, and he said, ‘Dallas has your rights. There’s a team that may do a sign-and-trade with them. If that’s the case, they’ve got to use you and your salary to make it work. You could make about $16 million.’ And I was like, ‘Alright, I’ll play another year.'”
Redick doesn’t offer any further details, so there are a lot of specifics we don’t know, as Feldman observes. It’s unclear which team the Mavs were talking to, which free agent they were targeting, and whether the discussed deal would’ve paid Redick a fully guaranteed $16MM in 2021/22. It’s a moot point now — as Redick notes, both teams ultimately “went in a different direction.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- Dallas came into the season that adding Reggie Bullock and Sterling Brown and getting a healthy Kristaps Porzingis back in the lineup would help push the team to the next level. However, Kevin Herrington of The Dallas Morning News is skeptical that the roster tweaks will make much of a difference, writing that the Mavs will still only go as far as Luka Doncic takes them.
- Jalen Brunson is averaging a career-high 28.6 minutes per game so far this season, and many of those minutes are coming alongside Luka Doncic. Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com takes a look at the thinking behind Jason Kidd‘s decision to have the two guards share the court more often, especially in closing lineups. “He’s learning how to play with J.B.,” Kidd said of Doncic. “You can see he’s not afraid to give J.B. the ball. There’s a good trust, good relationship between those two.” Brunson will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
- Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News conducted a brief Q&A with Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, asking him about Brunson’s contract situation, Porzingis’ health, and more. Harrison didn’t specifically address potential extension talks for Brunson, but said the team is happy with his performance. “The fact that he’s playing great, we want that to continue,” Harrison said. “All that does is make it easier for us. And it makes it easier for him, too.” Brunson is extension-eligible, but can’t be offered more than about $55.6MM over four years prior to free agency.
J.J. Redick Joining ESPN As Analyst
After announcing his retirement as a player last month, longtime NBA sharpshooter J.J. Redick has officially confirmed his next step — he’s joining ESPN as a basketball analyst, according to Joe Reedy of The Associated Press.
As Reedy details, Redick will contribute to a number of ESPN’s studio shows and will also work some games during the 2021/22 NBA season. He’ll make his debut in studio on November 3 during ESPN’s Nets/Hawks broadcast.
“After 15 years in the NBA, I am excited to take what I have learned on the court and be able to provide my insight and strong opinions about the game I love,” Redick said in a statement. “I am thrilled to have found a place on the biggest platform in sports, ESPN. I look forward to starting my post-playing career with such an incredible organization.”
The fact that Redick is transitioning into a media role rather than exploring a coaching role or a front office position doesn’t come as a surprise.
Even while he remained active as a player, the former Duke standout hosted his own podcast, The Old Man and the Three, and didn’t mind bluntly sharing his opinions on that platform, like when he criticized Pelicans executive David Griffin in March for the way he handled Redick’s exit from New Orleans.