Kevin Garnett Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Garnett, Looney, Hayes

September 10th, 2016 at 1:18pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Despite the start of training camp being less than three weeks away, the Wolves are still awaiting word from Kevin Garnett on whether or not he intends to play this season, Steve Aschburner of NBA.com writes. “Kevin hasn’t told me or informed me yet if he’s coming back to play or if he isn’t coming back,” Wolves owner Glen Taylor told Aschburner “I can only assume I’ll be hearing from him in the next three weeks.” The veteran has one year remaining on his contract and is set to earn $8MM if he suits up for what would be his 22nd season in the league.

Here’s more from out West:

The Jazz held free agent workouts on Friday for guard Jermaine Taylor and center Henry Sims, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders reports (via Twitter). Taylor, 29, last appeared in the NBA during the 2010/11 season, while Sims appeared in 14 games for the Nets last season, averaging 6.5 points and 5.1 rebounds in 18.8 minutes per outing. Sims has also been mentioned as a possible training camp signee for Brooklyn.
The Nuggets have named Chuck Hayes as their Associate of Basketball Operations, Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated reports (on Twitter).
Warriors forward Kevon Looney, who underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum on his left hip earlier this year, is on track to make his return to basketball activities by the start of training camp on September 27th, Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle relays (subscription required). “I’m really eager,” Looney said. “I’ve been watching, running and doing drills now for what feels like two years. To be able to get on the court and actually be healthy, I’m really excited for that.”
In his look back at the Rockets‘ offseason, The Vertical’s Bobby Marks notes that the team’s medical staff will play a vital role this season in trying to keep new additions Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon and Nene healthy.

Doc Rivers Talks Pierce, Allen, KG, Griffin

September 7th, 2016 at 1:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Clippers head coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers made an appearance in Boston at the annual ABCD Hoops Dream fundraiser at TD Garden on Tuesday, and made time for a discussion with reporters. Given the location of the event, it was no surprise that many of the questions focused on the NBA futures – or lack thereof – for the Celtics’ old “big three” of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett.

In addition to discussing Pierce, Allen, and Garnett, the Clippers’ coach addressed a few other topics, including the offseason’s Blake Griffin trade rumors. ESPN’s Chris Forsberg has a nice round-up of Rivers’ comments, so let’s check out a few of the highlights….

On whether Pierce will be back for his 19th season, as has been reported:

“Depends on the day I talk to him. Paul has had the summer, he’s gone back and forth. … Paul didn’t have the best year last year. I don’t think he wants to go out that way. So I think that’s why he’s working to try to come back. But he still may change his mind next week. So we just have to wait. I told him if I see him at training camp, I’m assuming he’s playing.”

On Pierce’s eventual retirement:

“The day [Pierce] retires, he’s going to retire a Celtic. He has to. Paul’s a Celtic. So when he retires, he’s got to retire as a Celtic. I don’t think anyone disagrees with me.”

On whether Allen will return to the NBA:

“I don’t know. I won’t talk about what we talked about. I think if Ray was in the right spot, he may play. I think Ray wants to golf a lot too, right now. But Ray is in amazing shape. I don’t know how he does that. I didn’t know how he does that as a player; I don’t know how he does it as a non-player. He’s probably in top-five shape in the NBA. So could Ray play? Absolutely, I believe he could.”

On Garnett’s situation with the Timberwolves:

“I think Kevin – and I know it, because I talk to him – loves the young guys on his team. He loves how they work. He thinks they have an old-school mentality. So I think he’s really gotten into Kevin, the teacher. And I honestly never saw that coming, either. Yet he was a phenomenal teacher with [Boston]; I just didn’t think he would have the patience to do it. And I think Kevin loves teaching these young guys.”

On the Griffin trade rumors:

“We knew none of it was true. We figured that was one of you guys starting these rumors here in Boston. I was trying to find out who it was … No, it happens, unfortunately. Blake and [Chris Paul] are free agents [after this season]. Just like last year Oklahoma [City] had to deal with that, now it’s our turn.”

Be sure to check out the rest of Rivers’ comments right here.

And-Ones: Stackhouse, Labor, Olympics, Garnett

August 1st, 2016 at 10:32pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Raptors are expected to name former All-Star Jerry Stackhouse as head coach of their D-League affiliate, Raptors 905, sources told Chris Reichert of UpsideMotor.com. Stackhouse, who played for eight teams during a career that lasted from 1995-2013, spent last season on Dwane Casey’s staff. He would replace Jesse Mermuys, who is now an assistant to new Los Angeles Lakers coach Luke Walton. Stackhouse coached the Raptors’ Summer League team in Las Vegas last month. Raptors 905 was an expansion team last season and had several players that also saw action in the NBA, including Anthony Bennett, Bruno Caboclo, Delon Wright and Lucas Nogueira, Reichert adds.

In other news around the league:

NBPA executive director Michele Roberts is optimistic a new labor agreement will be reached before a potential lockout, she told Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. “Our teams have been in discussions for some months now and we have made progress and we’re inclined to continue along those lines,” she said. “We have meetings this summer and we’re meeting next week and [consistently] after that. We’re trying to get a deal as quickly as we can, ideally before the start of the season.” Roberts added that if an agreement isn’t reached by the Dec. 15th deadline, the union would likely opt out, triggering the possible lockout following the season.
American fans will get their first look at a lot of foreign players during the Summer Olympics, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. There will be many players whose names are familiar because teams hold their draft rights, such as Croatian star Dario Saric, who recently signed to play for the Sixers next season. Other prominent names include Lithuania’s Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Spain’s Willy Hernangomez, who will both be part of the Knicks; Nigeria’s Michael Gbinije, a second-round pick of the Pistons; China’s Zhou Qi, a Rockets’ second-rounder; Spain’s Sergio Llull, who the Rockets have been trying to convince to come to the NBA, Lithuania’s Domantas Sabonis, who was traded to the Thunder on draft night; and Spain’s Alex Abrines, who recently signed with the Thunder.
Kevin Garnett met with Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor but no final decision materialized regarding Garnett’s future, Darren Wolfson of KSTP tweets. The 40-year-old Garnett, who appeared in 38 games last season, has one year and $8MM remaining on his contract.
CAA Sports signed NBA free agent guards Sergio Rodriguez and Ish Smith and negotiated deals with their new clubs, Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal tweets. The Sixers signed the 30-year-old Rodriguez to a one-year, $8MM contract. Smith received a three-year, $18MM deal from the Pistons.

Kevin Garnett To Retire?

July 16th, 2016 at 10:50pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kevin Garnett would like to play one more season, but he is unsure whether his body can endure the grind of the 82-game schedule, Steve Aschburner of NBA.com writes. “Yes, theoretically, he’d like to play. But he has some doubts of his knees holding up,” owner Glen Taylor said. “I think he’s worried if he can play. I worry about that too. When I talked to him last year, I said, ‘Is it your knees or what?’ He said, ‘It’s my whole leg.’ ” Garnett also told Taylor that he’d really like to play next year because he expects Minnesota to make the playoffs.

New president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau said earlier in the week that he is giving Garnett as much time as he needs to make a decision because “the great ones deserve time.” Garnett has $8MM and one season remaining on his current deal and Aschburner notes that the team likely won’t use that cap space if he does retire, so it can wait on the big man’s decision.

Garnett’s agent, Andy Miller, told Aschburner that he hasn’t heard anything that would make him believe Garnett would not return. Aschburner notes that one of the reasons Garnett was willing to waive his no trade clause back in 2015 to come back to the Wolves was because the late Flip Saunders pitched Garnett with the idea of buying an ownership share of the franchise.

Taylor recently sold 15% of the franchise and he said he never had conversations with Garnett about a potential ownership stake. “I never participated in that. Kevin said it to some reporter and it got into the paper. I thought it was inappropriate for me to talk to him about it because he was a player. I never had that discussion with Kevin at all. But I sort of believed it because I assumed he was saying, that was his goal,” Taylor said. However, Taylor did not rule out the possibility. “I’m always open to something like that,” Taylor said, “because he would kind of represent a Minnesota owner.”

Taylor also insinuated that if Garnett decided to retire, a good portion of his $8MM salary would be made available to him via a buyout, so that the future Hall of Famer wouldn’t have to return for the money, Aschburner adds. Taylor knows retirement will be difficult for the power forward. “When he retires, he’s got to figure out a nice way to do it. I don’t know what it is, but I want to help him,” Taylor added. “The transition won’t be easy.”

Garnett saw only 14.6 minutes per contest over 38 games last season. The team went 14-24 in games he played and 15-29 in games he did not.

Northwest Notes: Westbrook, Garnett, Gillespie

July 15th, 2016 at 4:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

Russell Westbrook hasn’t offered any public comment since Kevin Durant elected to leave Oklahoma City and join the Warriors, notes Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. Westbrook also hasn’t offered any insight into his own situation, which includes free agency in the summer of 2017. That has led to speculation that the Thunder might consider trading him, rather than losing another important asset with nothing in return. Horne writes that he has been unable to contact Westbrook, either through his agent or the team. The only indications of Westbrook’s thinking are second-hand stories from his basketball camp in which he told a group of youngsters that he plans to stay in Oklahoma City.

There’s more news out of the Northwest Division:

There’s “nothing tangible” yet to reports linking the Celtics to Thunder guard Russell Westbrook, says ESPN’s Chris Broussard (video link). It’s worth stressing that, while Westbrook, Blake Griffin, and the Celtics have been the subjects of trade speculation at the Las Vegas Summer League, much of that speculation is coming from rival general managers and execs — not from sources within the Celtics or Thunder, or from specific player agents.
When the Thunder sent Serge Ibaka to the Magic for three players, Ersan Ilyasova was viewed as almost an afterthought, included in the deal to make the salaries work. However, as Horne writes for The Oklahoman, Ilyasova – whose salary is now guaranteed – could potentially come in and start for OKC.
Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau tells Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) that he’s waiting to hear from Kevin Garnett on whether or not he’ll play next season. “The great ones deserve time,” Thibodeau said of Garnett, who has one year and $8MM left on his contract with Minnesota.
Nuggets assistant coach Noel Gillespie is close to a deal that would make him the head coach of the Hornets‘ new D-League affiliate, tweets The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Gillespie has been part of Denver’s staff for the past two seasons.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Karl-Anthony Towns Named Rookie Of The Year

May 16th, 2016 at 9:09am CST by Arthur Hill

Karl-Anthony Towns has officially been named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year for the 2015/16 season in a unanimous vote, the Timberwolves announced today (via Twitter). A 20-year-old out of Kentucky, Towns was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month each month this season.

Towns was the top pick in the 2015 draft and immediately moved into Minnesota’s starting lineup. He started all 82 games and averaged a double-double with 18.3 points and 10.4 rebounds per night.

Towns quickly won the respect of Wolves veteran Kevin Garnett, who praised the rookie center for his IQ and understanding of the game. Sometimes [it’s] a little difficult teaching him because he is so smart,” Garnett said. “I guess that’s a young thing. But he gets a lot of things you teach him very quickly.’’

Towns’ Rookie of the Year nod represents the second consecutive time a player from the Timberwolves organization has earned the honor. Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins was named Rookie of the Year in 2015.

ESPN’s Marc Stein (Twitter links) first reported on Sunday that the Wolves were expected to announce that Towns had been named Rookie of the Year at a news conference Monday, adding that it wouldn’t be surprising if the final vote was unanimous.

Here is this year’s full list of vote-getters for the award, along with their point totals:

Karl-Anthony Towns (Timberwolves): 650
Kristaps Porzingis (Knicks): 363
Nikola Jokic (Nuggets): 59
Devin Booker (Suns): 49
Jahlil Okafor (76ers): 34
Justise Winslow (Heat): 7
Emmanuel Mudiay (Nuggets): 4
Myles Turner (Pacers): 3
D’Angelo Russell (Lakers): 1

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Garnett, Demps, Rockets

April 22nd, 2016 at 9:21pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kevin Garnett, who still has one year and $8MM remaining on his deal with the Wolves, is waiting to see how the hiring of Tom Thibodeau as coach and president of basketball operations will affect his future with the franchise, Marc Stein of ESPN.com relays. “I pride myself on being loyal,” Garnett told Stein. “I think I’ve proven that by coming back home to finish my career. I need to see how the next few weeks turn out to truly understand if everyone has that same loyalty. Then I will know what my future holds.” Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reported earlier this week that Garnett intends to hold off on retiring and play in 2016/17.

Talks between team owner Glen Taylor and Grizzlies part-owner Steve Kaplan about a would-be deal for 30% of the Minnesota franchise are ongoing, Stein notes. If a deal between Kaplan and Taylor is struck, it would be with the understanding that Kaplan would eventually succeed Taylor as the Wolves’ controlling owner, with the timing of that change up to Taylor, Stein adds. Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press had reported in early March that talks between the pair had “hit a wall.”

Here’s more from out West:

Pelicans ownership will meet with GM Dell Demps on Monday to discuss his future with the team, though indications point to the executive returning in 2016/17, as Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate relays.
Much has been made out of the lack of emotion shown by members of the Rockets‘ bench after James Harden nailed the game-winning shot on Thursday night, but their failure to over-react only illustrates that they understand the Warriors haven’t played their best and are still firmly in control of the series, opines Ray Ratto of CSNBayArea.com.
The Rockets contend that it wasn’t a lack of investment that caused them to appear stoic, but rather that they were upset with themselves for being in that precarious of a position, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle notes (Twitter links). “All of us were happy we won the game, but we were upset we put ourselves in position that it took a last-second shot,” Dwight Howard said. “For all those people saying we weren’t happy and excited that James hit the shot, shut up.” GM Daryl Morey also defended his team’s response, tweeting, “Big win to keep series on serve and folks are worried about grading cheer technique and execution when there is still time left on the clock? OK.“

Kevin Garnett Plans To Return To Timberwolves

April 20th, 2016 at 12:51pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kevin Garnett plans to play another season with the Timberwolves, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Doubt had lingered about whether Garnett, who’ll turn 40 next month, would continue to play even though he’s under contract for $8MM next season. Wojnarowski points to Garnett’s strong relationship with Tom Thibodeau, who’s finalizing a deal to become Minnesota’s coach and president of basketball operations. Thibodeau was a Celtics assistant coach for three years while Garnett was in Boston.

Next season will be Garnett’s 22nd, so he’ll break an all-time NBA record, assuming he indeed steps onto the hardwood. He didn’t play after January 23rd this past season because of soreness in his right knee. He averaged career lows of 3.2 points and 14.6 minutes per game before that, but he nonetheless started in all 38 of his appearances.

Wolves owner Glen Taylor seemed optimistic about Garnett’s return earlier this month, though former Garnett teammate Sam Mitchell, who spent this past season as Wolves coach, wasn’t so sure. Still, Garnett signed a two-year contract last summer without an option clause, so both sides are financially committed. They could conceivable arrange a buyout, but that doesn’t appear to be the plan. Instead, Garnett seems poised to resume his role as locker room leader for a youthful Timberwolves core that includes the last two No. 1 overall picks. Minnesota is in line for another high lottery pick this year.

Western Notes: Grizzlies, Arthur, KG, Aldrich

April 11th, 2016 at 12:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

GM Chris Wallace says the Grizzlies have skewed toward youth with the players they’ve signed to compensate for injury this season, given the cushion they’d already built for a playoff spot and the opportunity to “catch lightning in a bottle” with a prospect who pans out, as he tells Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. Memphis has had success in this regard in the past with JaMychal Green, and Wallace is optimistic that Xavier Munford, who recently signed a two-year deal, will follow in his footsteps. “I’m very proud of both of those guys,” Wallace said. “They were given a golden opportunity to make the case that they’re NBA players. [Green]’s played more games than anybody has for us this year. JaMychal has proven he’s an NBA rotation player. Xavier came from further off the beaten path than JaMychal. Xavier had never been in an NBA training camp. Xavier had never had a call-up. But he’s got good size and is very long and rangy. He’s got good potential defensively. When he’s out there, it looks like he belongs and he does well. The coaching staff and his teammates are getting more and more confidence in him. You always have to be projective with younger players. He’s a major upward curve that’s very intriguing for us in the future.”

See more from the Western Conference:

Darrell Arthur wants to remain with the Nuggets, and he would like to do so with a new three or four-year deal, as he tells Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Still, the 28-year-old power forward is undecided about whether to turn down a player option worth more than $2.94MM for next season, as he also said to Dempsey. He’d have to opt out to get that long-term deal he wants, since he’s ineligible to sign an extension on the two-year deal he signed with the team last summer. In any case, he fielded strong interest from other teams at the trade deadline, according to Dempsey.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is optimistic that Kevin Garnett will return for next season, the last on his contract, but coach Sam Mitchell, a teammate of Garnett’s from 1995-2002, isn’t so sure the 39-year-old won’t retire this summer, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune relays. “There’s one person who knows his future, and that’s him,” Mitchell said of Garnett. “You know how he is. He’s just not going to tip his hand one way or the other. He has earned the right to do that.”
Doc Rivers believes the insertion of Cole Aldrich into the rotation in December sparked the Clippers‘ second unit, and he’s thrived in even more playing time of late, as Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times examines. Aldrich has a minimum-salary player option for next season.

Wolves Owner Thinks Kevin Garnett Will Return

April 7th, 2016 at 9:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor doesn’t anticipate Kevin Garnett retiring in the offseason, as Taylor relayed Wednesday night to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). The 39-year-old who turns 40 next month is under contract at $8MM for the 2016/17 season, which would be his record 22nd year in the NBA.

“You’d have to ask him, but from everything he’s told me, he wants to be [back],” Taylor said.

Many people close to Garnett weren’t sure whether or not he’d return to play next season, Wolfson said in a February podcast. Garnett hasn’t appeared in a game since January 23rd as he’s dealt with soreness in his right knee.

His decision is liable to affect what former teammate Paul Pierce does, as they’ve frequently considered the idea of retiring at the same time, according to Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. Pierce, 38, is in the first season of a three-year contract with the Clippers. His salary of nearly $3.528MM for next season is fully guaranteed, while only about $1.096MM is guaranteed for 2017/18.

Garnett started in all 38 games he played this season, though he only averaged a career-low 14.6 minutes per contest. His primary role has been as a locker room leader for the team’s young core. He’s expressed interest in eventually buying the Wolves, though he can’t own even a minority share until after his playing days are done.