LeBron James Rumors | Hoops Rumors

LeBron Wants To Keep Thompson On Cavs

May 25th, 2015 at 2:16pm CST by Chuck Myron

LeBron James made his thoughts clear about soon-to-be restricted free agent Tristan Thompson‘s future in Cleveland, telling beat writers that the power forward “should probably be a Cavalier the rest of his career,” notes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Thompson and James both employ Rich Paul of Klutch Sports as their agent, and James clearly has an influence on the Cavs.

Extension talks between Thompson and the Cavs broke down as the deadline for the sides to sign one approached this past fall. Thompson reportedly turned down an offer worth $52MM over four years from the Cavs. Cleveland signed fellow big man and James confidant Anderson Varejao to an extension the same day that talks ended with Thompson. Uncertainty over just how the salary cap would look apparently helped discussions unravel with the former No. 4 overall pick, but neither side left the negotiating table with hard feelings, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. The union in March issued a final rejection of the league’s proposal to phase in salary cap increases, ostensibly bringing more clarity to bear for when Thompson and the Cavs can pick up negotiations this summer.

Cleveland appears set to zoom past the projected $67.1MM cap and $81.6MM tax threshold if it is to keep its team together next season, though owner Dan Gilbert hasn’t signaled that he wants any belt-tightening. Rival executives thought Thompson would end up with an extension for between $10-12MM a year while he and the Cavs were talking this past fall, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported during the season, but Thompson has appeared more valuable than ever in the playoffs. He’s averaging 3.9 offensive rebounds in 34.6 minutes per game in the postseason, having inherited a starting role following Kevin Love‘s injury. The Cavs appear to have meshed better with Thompson at the four than they did with Love.

Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders figures Thompson’s camp will start talks with a request for the max this summer. Kyler also writes in that same NBA AM piece that agents commonly believe that teams will be more willing than usual to give max and near-max offers this summer, the last before major escalation in the salary cap. So, it seems there’s a decent chance other teams will drive up Thompson’s price point with fat offer sheets. A further complication is the future of Love, who’s said he’ll opt in. Whether he does or he doesn’t, he wouldn’t be tied to Cleveland for more than another year, putting pressure on Cleveland to retain at least one of its top-line power forwards unless Love opts out and commits to a new long-term deal.

James, Curry, Harden Lead All-NBA Teams

May 21st, 2015 at 10:32am CST by Chuck Myron

LeBron James and Stephen Curry finished atop the voting for the All-NBA Teams, with James Harden, Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol joining them on the first team, the league announced via press release. Russell Westbrook, LaMarcus Aldridge, Chris Paul, Pau Gasol and DeMarcus Cousins comprise the second team. Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Tim Duncan, Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving make up the third team.

Curry, the league’s MVP, and James each received 645 points through a system in which five points are awarded a first team vote, three points go for a second team vote and one point is given for a third team vote. The duo garnered 129 first team votes each, making them unanimous first team selections. They were followed closely by Harden, with 125 first team votes and 637 points, and Davis, who had 119 first team votes and 625 points. Marc Gasol, who’s heading into free agency, wasn’t as widely seen as a first-teamer by the media members who cast their ballots, rounding out the squad with 65 first-team votes and 453.

Every member of the second team received at least one first team vote, and Thompson and Irving were the only members of the third team not to get a first team vote. Al Horford also received a first team vote even though he didn’t make any of the teams. The NBA will soon display the votes of each media member on its website, but the league has already distributed the information via press release, so click here to check it out in PDF form.

Cavs Notes: Love, James, Thompson

April 25th, 2015 at 3:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito

As painful as it was for the city of Cleveland, LeBron James‘ departure for Miami back in 2010 laid the groundwork for the Cavs’ title chances this season, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald writes. If James had remained, the franchise would not have been in the position to draft Kyrie Irving, nor have had the opportunity to select Andrew Wiggins, who was the centerpiece of the deal to acquire Kevin Love, Bulpett notes.

“Could he have won a championship if he stayed here? We’ll never know,” said former Cav Jim Chones, who is the team’s radio color commentator. “But we do know this, and this is a fact, that we’re better than we were the first time he was here. And we also have other opportunities down the road because of draft picks that we’ve stored up, so Cleveland is in a position where they’re going to be good for a while, not just a flash in the pan. Looking back to when LeBron left, philosophically speaking, it created an acute awareness within our organization that we had to be better at everything we did. Him leaving … we were so dependent on him, as most teams are with the super players, that it put us in a position that we weren’t prepared for.”

Here’s more news out of Cleveland:

Though their relationship hasn’t been perfect this season, James understands the difficulties that Love has had to deal with since coming to the Cavs, Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio relays. “He’s been highly criticized this year,” James said. “I know why. For a team that finally gets together, when you have a ‘Big Three,’ they’ve got to find someone. When I was in Miami, Chris Bosh was that guy at one point. I’ve seen it before. When you’ve been in position where you’ve had your own team and now you come and join forces, at one point in Miami we were 9-8. They started pointing fingers at anybody. They’ve got to find somebody.“
The Cavs’ role-players are proving this postseason that Cleveland is more than just the “big three,” Tom Withers of The Associated Press writes. Just as James, Irving and Love have had to make personal sacrifices, the Cavs’ second-stringers have forgone individual accolades for team success, Withers adds. “It’s like a company. You have your janitor, your CEO. You have your secretaries,” said Tristan Thompson, who knows that his job is to bring energy as a reserve. “I don’t mind being the cleanup guy, punching the clock. I’ll do all the little things.”

Heat Notes: Johnson, Haslem, Luxury Tax

April 22nd, 2015 at 4:39pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The athletic Tyler Johnson impressed with his ball-handling and playmaking this season for the Heat, and he’ll need to show more improvement with those ball-handling skills and shoot more consistently, as Surya Fernandez of Fox Sports Florida examines. Johnson has a non-guaranteed minimum salary for next season that becomes 50% guaranteed if he remains under contract through August 1st, and he made his case for the Heat to keep him. “He’s relentless with his work ethic and with his drive,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “A lot of players would have gotten discouraged by being cut after a full summer and having to go to [D-League] Sioux Falls. He looked at it as an opportunity to get better and play minutes under our guidance and our system. Doors happen to open for players like that and it did when we re-signed him and he made the most of his opportunities so I know he’s poised and looking forward to this offseason.”

Here’s more out of Miami:

Sean Deveney of The Sporting News has doubts about Heat owner Micky Arison’s willingness to pay the luxury tax next season, noting that bringing back Goran Dragic, Dwyane Wade and Luol Deng would give the Heat room for little else. If Dragic re-signs for the max and Wade and Deng return with salaries equivalent to the values of their player options, the rest of the guaranteed salary on the books for the Heat would send them above next season’s projected $81.6MM tax.
Heat president Pat Riley has offered Udonis Haslem to several teams in trade conversations in the past few years, league sources tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Windhorst’s piece juxtaposes Riley’s willingness to sacrifice loyalty for winning against similar choices LeBron James has made in light of Riley’s recent remarks that seem to show the Heat president questioning James’ decision to leave for Cleveland.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Pat Riley On LeBron, Dragic, Wade, Draft

April 20th, 2015 at 12:23pm CST by Chuck Myron

Heat team president Pat Riley said today that he’s “at peace with” the choice LeBron James made last summer to return to Cleveland, and he indicated that everyone else in the organization had moved on, too, as Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald transcribes (Twitter links). That didn’t appear to be the case when Riley, in response to a question about the draft, said there would be “no more smiling faces with hidden agendas, so we’ll be going in clean,” as Goodman also relays from today’s season-ending press conference (Twitter link). That could be interpreted as a jab at James, whose affection for Shabazz Napier was well-known before the Heat drafted him just weeks prior to James’ departure from Miami, but Riley insists his remark could be a reference to “anyone across the board,” Goodman tweets. Regardless, Riley had much more to say about the Heat’s future, and we’ll round up the highlights here:

Riley underscored the importance of re-signing Goran Dragic, as Herald columnist Barry Jackson relays. “If he doesn’t sign, my [expletive] is going to be in that seat and I’ll be writing about it,” Riley said to the gathered media. Still, Riley is “very confident” that Dragic will be back, Jackson notes.
Dwyane Wade‘s health been an ongoing issue, but Riley challenged the 33-year-old to be prepared to play more often. Wade said last week that he intends to opt in for next season. “Dwyane has to change the narrative about his body, his injuries, his missing games,” Riley said. “We’ve had a discussion about that. Night in, night out, there’s always a question of whether he can or cannot [play]. I’d like to see him do whatever he has to do to get himself ready to practice and play every single night. He’s got five months. This is not just a Dwyane Wade problem. It’s throughout the league.”
Riley would like to see the current starters return, Jackson relays in the same piece. That would indicate that the team wants to keep Luol Deng, who’s undecided about his more than $10.15MM player option.
The Heat president laid out what he’s looking for in the draft, where the Heat have a lottery pick as long as it falls in the top 10, and the 40th pick, saying that he wants “developed players, experienced players,” Jackson notes. “While we felt we might have had enough on the perimeter, that might be an area where we look,” Riley said. “I don’t want a one-dimensional guy. [I want] guys that can [shoot], guys that are playmakers, guys that can defend. We will take the best player that’s available.”
Riley believes the Heat will return to title contention next year, Goodman tweets, and he expressed bitter disappointment about falling short of the postseason this time around, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel notes (on Twitter). “There is not a person in the organization that doesn’t think we should have made the playoffs,” Riley said.

And-Ones: Cavs, Stephenson, Payne, Dekker

March 31st, 2015 at 9:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

J.R. Smith, and not Iman Shumpert, was the player whom LeBron James most wanted the Cavs to obtain from the Knicks, according to Brian WIndhorst of ESPN.com (audio link), who spoke on the B.S. Report podcast with Grantland’s Bill Simmons, as RealGM transcribes. Of course, Cleveland traded for both in the January deal that sent out Dion Waiters.

“He [James] is so excited about the talent on this team,” Windhorst said. “He loves playing with [Timofey] Mozgov. He loves Smith. He was the guy who pushed for that trade. The Cavs were trying to get Iman Shumpert; that’s what the conversations were and of course the Knicks were saying ‘We’ll give you Shumpert, but you have to take J.R.’ They went to LeBron and he said ‘No, you get J.R. and if you get Shumpert with him that’s great.’ He, I think, really loves their top seven.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Lance Stephenson says that despite his struggles during his first season in Charlotte, he doesn’t regret signing with the Hornets, Steve Reed of The Associated Press writes. “I love this system. I love my coaches. I love my teammates,” Stephenson said. “Some people come into systems and fit right in. Some people it takes time. I feel like with me I’m going to take time.” In 58 appearances this season Stephenson has averaged 8.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.1 assists in 26.4 minutes per night.
Murray State sophomore guard Cameron Payne is leaning toward entering this year’s draft, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Payne averaged 20.2 points and 5.7 assists while shooting 37.7% from three-point range this season. The 20-year-old is ranked No. 23 by Chad Ford of ESPN.com and No. 32 by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
New No. 1 prospect Karl-Anthony Towns, Justise Winslow, Frank Kaminsky and Jerian Grant are among those who helped themselves during the second week of the NCAA Tournament, according to Ford, who writes in an Insider-only piece. Still, no prospect has boosted his stock more during the tournament than Sam Dekker, whom Ford believes has risen into the back end of the top 20 prospects.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Eastern Notes: LeBron, Irving, Stevens, Shved

March 31st, 2015 at 10:58am CST by Chuck Myron

The relationship between LeBron James and Kyrie Irving was “rocky” at points earlier this season, Irving admits, but it’s grown into a bond that appears much stronger than the one between James and Kevin Love, as Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group details. Love and James say it doesn’t matter whether they become as tight as Irving and James are as long as they can develop a greater on-court connection, Vardon writes.

“People get so infatuated with the best of friends, things of that nature,” James said. “First of all, I’ve got three very good friends in this league, and that’s Carmelo [Anthony], and that’s C.P. [Chris Paul], and that’s [Dwyane Wade] Wade. And after that I have a bunch of teammates. I have guys I ride for every day. But Kyrie is a guy I understand how important he is to this team, how important he is. And the same with Kev as well.”

James and Love can opt out to hit free agency this summer, while Irving will enter year one of his five-year extension next season. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS hears “some Brad Stevens chatter” in connection to the University of Texas coaching job (Twitter link). It’s unclear whether there’s interest on either side, though Texas athletics director Steve Patterson has spoken with NBA coaching agents of late, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com. Davis identifies Avery Johnson as a possible sleeper for the job. Stevens is just finishing up the second season of a six-year, $22MM deal and there have been no indications that he wants to leave the Celtics. Further, the Celtics would probably deny him permission to go, as Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com surmises (Twitter link).
Alexey Shved loves playing for coach Derek Fisher and is open to re-signing with New York after his contract expires this summer, sources tell Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link). The Knicks can make Shved a restricted free agent if they tender a qualifying offer of nearly $4.103MM.
The Cavs have assigned Joe Harris to the D-League, the team announced. It’s the eighth time Cleveland has sent last year’s 33rd overall pick to its affiliate, though none of the seven previous assignments have lasted as long as a week, as our leaguewide assignments/recalls log shows.

Pat Riley On Stars, LeBron, Bosh, Playoffs

March 12th, 2015 at 8:45am CST by Chuck Myron

The choice LeBron James made to rejoin the Cavaliers this summer “just crushed us,” Heat team president Pat Riley told Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick, but the Hall-of-Famer remains confident that he can build another championship team in Miami. He acquired quite possibly the best player dealt at the trade deadline, swinging a deal for Goran Dragic, but he did so having already learned of Chris Bosh‘s pulmonary blood clots that ended his season, as Riley revealed to Skolnick. Riley feels as though he was a better coach than he is an executive, but with his 70th birthday coming later this month, he made it clear that he has no desire to coach again, as Skolnick relays. Retirement from the front office crossed his mind while LeBron was still with the team, but it isn’t a consideration now, Riley told Skolnick, though he also indicated during the interview that he’ll probably retire right after he wins his next championship.

Skolnick’s entire piece provides a broad sketch of Riley, dating back to his humble NBA beginnings in the 1960s. It’s worth a full read, but we’ll pass along a few notable quotations from Riley about current-day Heat issues:

On his philosophy of attracting established stars:

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to be able to see what it takes. If you can get three of those kinds of players and fill it out with some other good guys, then you might be ahead of the curve. … So there are a lot of ways to skin a cat. For me, it’s not through the draft, because lottery picks are living a life of misery. That season is miserable. And if you do three or four years in a row to get lottery picks, then I’m in an insane asylum. And the fans will be, too. So who wants to do that?”

On LeBron’s departure:

“That was almost shocking to me that the players would allow that to happen. And I’m not just saying LeBron. I mean, the players, themselves, would allow them to get to a state where a guy would want to go home or whatever it is. So maybe I’m dealing with a contemporary attitude today of, ‘Well, I got four years here, and I think I’ll go up there for whatever reason I went.’ You know, the whole ‘home’ thing, I understand that. But what he had here, and what he had developed here, and what he could have developed over the next five or six years here, with the same team, could have been historic.”

On the Heat’s post-LeBron plans:

“Our plan was always to move to great as quick as we could, past good. And I think that was more disappointing than anything, once we made that deal, to see what happened to Chris, which was devastating to me just from a personal standpoint. For his health. But also for the team, it was another hit. That’s why it would be so great for this team, we’re in this race here, if somehow we could get into the playoffs and make something of it. But I do think we have enough, in that in any series with anybody in the East, with what’s going on in the East, that you never know. And I love that.”

Pacific Notes: Knight, Perkins, Kerr

February 25th, 2015 at 4:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Suns were already planning to a hard push for Brandon Knight in free agency before they traded for him at last week’s deadline, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com, who writes amid a chat with readers. Phoenix was willing to trade the rights to the Lakers’ top-five protected first-round pick to Milwaukee for Knight, but the Bucks decided instead to take a package that included Michael Carter-Williams from the Sixers in what ended up a three-way deal, Ford adds.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

It was tough for Kendrick Perkins to turn down former coach Doc Rivers and the Clippers, but a pitch from LeBron James was too tempting to pass up, notes Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. “He was real honest with me,” Perkins said of Rivers. “He told me, ‘I think your best two situations right now is either us or Cleveland.’ So I was like, ‘Doc? Or I have a chance to go play with The King [LeBron James]. Doc? The King? Uh, I choose The King.”
New Kings assistant coach Vance Walberg is being counted on to bring creativity to Sacramento’s offense, which is something the team was looking for when it fired former coach Mike Malone, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes.
The hiring of Steve Kerr as coach was the final ingredient needed to change the Warriors from a one-and-done playoff team into a title contender, Chris Ballard of SI.com writes. Ballard also runs down how GM Bob Myers constructed the rest of the team’s roster, which is currently an NBA best 44-10.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: James, D-League, Cousins

February 14th, 2015 at 5:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

LeBron James being elected as the vice president of the NBPA means that the union will have another strong voice at the negotiating table, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes. A person close to James said that LeBron felt compelled to serve in this role at a crucial and exciting time for the league and its players, Zillgitt notes. James had considered running for NBPA president in the past, the post Chris Paul now occupies, but James had decided that he did not have the necessary free time to devote that the job required, the USA Today scribe adds.

Here’s more from around the league:

Kings center DeMarcus Cousins is glad to finally have some stability regarding Sacramento’s coaching situation now that George Karl has been inked to a four-year deal to coach the team, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a coach longer than a year and half maybe,” Cousins said. “It feels good to know I have one for the long haul.“
Gino Pilato of D-League Digest ran down how the NBA affiliate players have performed thus far in the D-League this season. A number of the players whom Pilato lists could be in line for a 10-day contract from an NBA team this season.
With the Chinese Basketball Association’s regular season completed, a number of notable players will now be eligible to return to the NBA. Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders runs down some of the more intriguing names who could be difference-makers for teams down the stretch, including Will Bynum, Michael Beasley, Earl Clark, Jordan Crawford, and Al Harrington.