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Pacific Rumors: L. Williams, Ball, Divac, Kings

January 23rd, 2018 at 9:53am CST by Dana Gauruder

Combo guard Lou Williams hasn’t made any progress with the Clippers regarding an extension, Sam Amick of USA Today reports. Williams is enjoying a career year and has an expiring contract that could draw interest from numerous contenders, but it sounds like the veteran wouldn’t mind staying put and reaching an agreement to stay in L.A. “I’m putting everything on the line out here for this organization, and you know the season I’m having I would like to be rewarded for it and just appreciated,” he told Amick.

In other Pacific Division developments:

Lakers rookie point guard Lonzo Ball has missed the last four games with a left knee injury and he may remain sidelined during the team’s upcoming five-game road trip, ESPN.com’s Ohm Youngmisuk reports. Ball is expected to join the team on the trip, which begins Friday in Chicago. The Lakers are 2-8 in games he’s missed. “Whether he plays or not [on the trip], that all depends on the knee,” coach Luke Walton told reporters. “We are not going to rush him back from a sore knee. Once that gets better, we will get him back on the court.”
Kings GM Vlade Divac‘s job is safe despite the club’s disappointing season, writes The Sacramento Bee’s Jason Jones. Divac’s contract runs through the 2019/20 season and it wouldn’t do the organization any good to begin another rebuild with a different GM at this point, according to Jones, who adds that the way that next season unfolds will determine if Divac sticks long-term.
With the Kings resting veterans and going all-in on their youth movement in the second half, Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee takes a closer look at several of the team’s young players, exploring what the team wants to see down the stretch from Bogdan Bogdanovic, Buddy Hield, De’Aaron Fox, and others.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Atlantic Notes: Hayward, Eddie, Williams, Hood, Raptors

January 21st, 2018 at 4:54pm CST by marksuleymanov

The Celtics suffered their third straight loss, a 105-93 defeat to the Magic on Sunday, putting an end to a horrific week for the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference. This recent stretch highlights how much the Celtics miss Gordon Hayward, who went down with a season-ending ankle injury on opening night, A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston writes.

Hayward, along with Kyrie Irving, was one of two major offseason acquisition designed to help Boston maintain and improve upon their first-place finish in the East last season. However, on nights where Irving sits due to injury or the Celtics need an added offensive punch, they miss Hayward’s shooting and scoring abilities.

Despite the rough stretch, the Celtics still have the best record in their conference at 34-13, two games ahead of the Raptors.

Check out other news from the Atlantic Division below:

The Celtics recently signed Jarell Eddie to a 10-day contract and hope the journeyman’s second stint in Boston — and eighth different opportunity in the NBA — leads to better results, NBA.com’s Taylor Snow writes.
Dennis Chambers of Basketball Insiders examines how potentially adding Rodney Hood and/or Lou Williams to the fold would impact the Sixers down the stretch.
The Raptors have Kyle Lowry back on track and with the team still in prime position in the East, it’s unlikely the team makes a deadline trade, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun writes.

Clippers Notes: Williams, Jordan, Rivers, Roster, Future

January 21st, 2018 at 2:00pm CST by marksuleymanov

Clippers guard Lou Williams has led the NBA in scoring since December 22, helping his team stay in playoff contention. As coaches decide on reserves for the All-Star game rosters, Williams feels his recent play has earned him a spot, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times writes.

“Naw, I’ll be proud if I make it,” Williams said. “Honestly, I deserve it. I rarely speak about myself because I’ve never set personal goals. Being an All-Star wasn’t even on my radar this year. But with what this team has been through this year with injuries, with so many different lineups and still having an opportunity to compete for the playoffs and to put ourselves over .500 at this point, I think I’ve got something to do with that.”

Williams is averaging career highs in several categories, including PPG (23.1), APG (5.0), three-point percentage (41.2%). While the Clippers remain in the Western Conference playoff picture, Williams has been mentioned as a potential trade piece.

Check out other news out of the Clippers organization below:

DeAndre Jordan‘s name has floated all season as a possible – if not probable – trade candidate ahead of the February 8 trade deadline. The Clippers center, however, is proud of his tenure with the franchise and the longevity of his time in Los Angeles, Jeff Miller of the Orange County Register writes.
Coming out of a tumultuous game between the Clippers and Rockets in which things got physical on and off the court, Austin Rivers‘ reputation among his peers has taken a hit. However, the Clippers guard addressed those criticisms in an interview with ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, who detailed Rivers’ account of the incident and his relationship with Rockets veteran Trevor Ariza.
After that win over the Rockets, the Clippers seem to have found their identity as a team, but ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz questions how long that can last.
Mike Sorensen of Deseret News writes about how the Clippers team that faced the Jazz recently is unrecognizable from the squad that battled Utah in a memorable seven-game playoff series last season.

Clippers Notes: Jordan, Griffin, Beverley

January 14th, 2018 at 8:03pm CST by Austin Kent

The time has come for the Clippers to trade DeAndre Jordan, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders writes. The big man’s name has been subject to speculation for much of the season but now a rebuild is inevitable.

While Jordan isn’t the problem, he can be part of the team’s solution heading forward, Hamilton writes. Re-signing the 29-year-old big man would keep L.A. competitive enough to miss out on the benefits of being a bad team — unloading him for parts could help the team set off in the right direction.

There’s more out of L.A.:

An in-depth interview conducted by Marc Spears of The Undefeated sheds light on Blake Griffin‘s upbringing in Oklahoma. The scribe spoke with the power forward about everything from growing up biracial in Oklahoma to Chris Paul‘s departure.
The Clippers’ second unit has taken to referring to itself as the Goon Squad, Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times writes. Front and center of the bunch is Lou Williams, even though he’s spent time as a starter of late. “I am the leader of the Goon Squad. Yet and still,” Williams said. “I’ve started, what, six games this season? [Actually 11]. So I can’t really call myself a starter. I’m still a bench guy.”
While his return to the court may still be months away, Patrick Beverley is thrilled to return to rejoin his team on the sidelines. “I’m ecstatic, I get to talk some [trash] on the bench today,” he told Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register. “[…] I wanted to stay in Houston until I was off the crutches, but I’m back. I’m back for good now.”

Clippers, Lou Williams Have Discussed Extension

January 11th, 2018 at 8:47am CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers and veteran guard Lou Williams have recently engaged in discussions about a possible extension, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). According to Charania, no deal as imminent, with both sides evaluating their positions.

Williams is one of several veteran players around the NBA who will remain eligible for a contract extension all the way up until June 30. However, his ability to cash in would be somewhat limited if he struck a deal with the Clippers before reaching the open market.

NBA rules limit the raise a player can receive in the first year of an extension to 120% of the player’s previous salary or 120% of the estimated average salary. Because Williams is earning just $7MM this season, his max extension would be worth approximately $42MM over four years — that would be the same deal as the ones signed by Josh Richardson of the Heat and Norman Powell of the Raptors in the fall.

Given Williams’ age (31) and career track record, he may not see an offer better than that on the open market, but his stock is certainly on the rise this season. In 39 games for the Clippers, the former second-round pick is averaging a career-best 22.9 PPG to go along with 4.9 APG and a .450/.412/.907 shooting line. He’s coming off a 50-point explosion against the Warriors on Wednesday night.

Should the Clippers decide to become sellers before next month’s trade deadline, Williams would be a tantalizing target for playoff teams in need of scoring help. Still, the Clips themselves are currently only a game out of the No. 8 seed in the West, so it’s not as if they’re throwing in the towel yet. If L.A. keeps Williams and attempts to push for a postseason spot, it will be interesting to see if the two sides continue to discuss an extension into the spring, or if Lou-Will opts to try his luck in free agency.

For what it’s worth, a trade would likely eliminate the possibility of an extension for Williams, since his new team would be limited to offering about $15MM over two years.

Latest On DeAndre Jordan

January 8th, 2018 at 11:59am CST by Luke Adams

The 17-21 Clippers continue to linger on the outskirts of the postseason race in the Western Conference, and the team’s play over the next month may dictate whether or not DeAndre Jordan remains in Los Angeles through the February 8 trade deadline.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA’s trade market as a whole has been moving slowly so far, and the “sluggish pursuit” of Jordan around the league reflects that relative inactivity. The Clippers have yet to receive many serious offers for their standout center, Wojnarowski writes.

“He’s a difference-maker, but I’m not sure anyone thinks he puts you over the top,” one GM said of Jordan, per ESPN.

So far, potential suitors for Jordan have been content to see which other centers may surface on the trade market before the deadline, rather than rushing to offer up trade assets to the Clippers right away. For their part, the Clips aren’t set on trading Jordan at any cost, so if they only receive offers featuring mediocre draft picks and players, they may simply hang onto the 29-year-old and try to extend him in the offseason, according to Wojnarowski.

Wojnarowski adds that teams around the league believe Jordan would be willing to re-sign with a team that trades for him if that club is ready to pony up big money for a long-term extension. However, while a player of Jordan’s caliber might have yielded multiple first-round picks a few years ago, teams are hanging onto those picks tighter than ever these days, with one Eastern Conference GM telling Woj that no club wants to end up “embarrassed like the Nets were” in their infamous trade with Boston.

Besides Jordan, Lou Williams also figures to be a valuable trade chip for the Clippers at the deadline if they do become sellers, Wojnarowski notes. Williams has an affordable expiring contract and is having the best offensive season of his career, with 21.9 PPG and 4.9 APG, plus a .445/.406/.900 shooting line.

Clippers Notes: Williams, Rivers, Evans, Wilson

January 1st, 2018 at 5:38pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Clippers now have a formidable 1-2 offensive punch in power forward Blake Griffin and combo guard Lou Williams, Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register writes. Franchise player Griffin pumped in 24 points on Friday after missing 14 games with a knee injury. Williams, who became the team’s top scorer in his absence, poured in 40 points off the bench on Sunday as the Clippers won their third straight. “He’s been unbelievable for us,” Griffin told Teaford and other media members. “I knew he could score and all that, but he’s been better than advertised in my opinion.” Williams, 31, is averaging a career-high 21.4 PPG and 4.8 APG.

In other developments concerning the Clippers:

The team was relieved that Austin Rivers’ right Achilles tendon injury wasn’t serious, Teaford reports in a separate story. Rivers was injured on Friday but an MRI revealed no structural damage and he could return to action on Wednesday. “I didn’t see it,” coach and father Doc Rivers said. “I just saw him lying on the ground. My nerves came from our trainer’s look when he pointed to his Achilles. Whenever someone points to an Achilles we’ve been conditioned to think like Pavlov’s dog, ‘Oh my.’ Talking to Austin, he was scared and I think that probably played into it, as well. He’s good now.”
Rookie guard Jawun Evans made his first NBA start on Sunday in place of Rivers, as Teaford notes. Evans, who is averaging 5.4 PPG and 1.9 APG, has made a strong impression on Doc Rivers. “Jawun has been way more effective than I ever thought,” he said. “We didn’t know we were going to play Jawun and we were getting him ready for the G League. He’s had an impact in games.”
Forward Jamil Wilson, who is on a two-way contract, didn’t think he’d get a chance to play in the NBA until the Clippers gave him a shot on their summer-league team, Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times reports. Wilson, 27, thought he’d spend the rest of his career overseas. “I’m not going to lie about it. When I was in Italy, it was a crossing point for me,” he told Woelfel. “I wasn’t seeing any real NBA interest and I decided if nothing happened I’d continue my career over there. I could play in Europe until I was 38 or 39. As long as you can shoot the ball, you can play over there. I thought I’d be over there a while.’’

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers’ Job Seems Safe

December 4th, 2017 at 7:19pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Clippers coach Doc Rivers will likely hold onto his job the remainder of the season, multiple sources told USA Today’s Sam Amick. Owner Steve Ballmer feels the team’s rash of injuries has made it difficult to judge Rivers’ performance this season, Amick continues. The team’s top player, power forward Blake Griffin, is out at least a month with an MCL sprain. Point guard Patrick Beverley underwent season-ending knee surgery, while newcomers Milos Teodosic and Danilo Gallinari have barely played because of ailments. “You’ve just got to hang in there,” Rivers told Amick. “People get down on the team. They get down on you. They get down on everybody. That’s what happens, and you can’t waver. You’ve just got to keep doing your job, and the players have to just keep playing.”

Other notable items from Amick’s story:

The club is taking calls on center DeAndre Jordan but not actively shopping him. Jordan is expected to opt of the final year of his contract next summer, leaving $24.1MM on the table. The front office believes it can re-sign him, so they’re asking price for any potential deal is high. The market could heat up on December 15th, when many players who signed new contracts last summer are eligible to be dealt. Jordan hired an agent on Monday, which could facilitate trade talks.
The team remains committed to building around Griffin, who re-signed with them over the summer. Griffin doesn’t have an opt-out on his massive five-year, $171.1MM deal until the summer of 2021.
Productive role players, such as guard Lou Williams, could be dealt for draft picks. The team still has its first-rounder in June but dealt away its 2019 pick.

2018 Free Agent Stock Watch: Los Angeles Clippers

November 30th, 2017 at 8:56pm CST by Austin Kent

The Clippers are in a precarious position, now teetering on the ledge of an existential crisis following Blake Griffin‘s latest significant injury. Suddenly, the team that seemed so valiantly intent on forging ahead without Chris Paul (and then Milos Teodosic and then Patrick Beverley) has been dramatically deflated, dealt a seemingly insurmountable blow that could very well change the franchise’s short-term plans.

Needless to say, the next few months will be of particular interest to various representatives of the team’s pending free agents, several of whom could stand to benefit from increased playing time in Griffin’s absence and/or a significantly expanded role if the team decides to lean into a full-fledged rebuild and trade away veterans.

On paper, the Clippers could end up with substantial cap space, but that’s far from guaranteed considering how many players have options heading into the summer.

Montrezl Harrell, C, 24 (Up) – Signed to a three-year, $4MM deal in 2015
One of the biggest potential beneficiaries of the Clippers’ bad luck is Harrell, a 2015 second-round pick who showed glimpses of productivity throughout his first two seasons in the league with Houston. Harrell hasn’t done much to this point in the 2017/18 season but it seems inevitable that he’ll see his playing time and opportunities in general increase over the next two months.

Brice Johnson, PF, 24 (Down) – Signed to a two-year, $3MM deal in 2016
While the absence of Griffin could open up opportunities for Johnson to see more of a role at the big league level, the team would have to fully accept a rebuild in order for the sparsely-used North Carolina product to start seeing consistent action. I’m not sure if the Clips are there yet. Simply put, Johnson hasn’t show much in Los Angeles and the team forfeited the chance to lock him up on the cheap last month when it turned down his rookie option.

Wesley Johnson, SF, 30 (Down) – Signed to a three-year, $18MM deal in 2016
After eight underwhelming seasons in the NBA, it’s hard to imagine Johnson landing big money in a crowded free agent market next summer. However, the 30-year-old – who has career averages of 7.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game – has a player option worth over $6MM that he’ll presumably accept.

DeAndre Jordan, C, 29 (Down) – Signed to a four-year, $88MM deal in 2015
Jordan is the closest thing to a marquee name among Los Angeles’ pending free agents. The 29-year-old will be coming off of seven straight seasons as a rain-or-shine starter (10 in total), with off-the-charts rebounding numbers and an All-Star Game under his belt. That being said, Jordan – who holds a $24MM player option for next season – will need to be careful heading into the summer, considering the market for big men has changed since he signed his last contract. On top of that, any long-term deal would put a club at risk of having that contract turn into an albatross during its back half. Finally, it’s not inconceivable to suggest that the Jordan you could temporarily (kinda, maybe, possibly) justify maxing out was simply a product of CP3’s playmaking abilities. Jordan may very well end up turning down his player option, but there won’t likely be strong market pressure for L.A. or anybody else to offer a huge long-term deal.

Willie Reed, C, 28 (Up) – Signed to a one-year, $2MM deal in 2017
Now with his third team in three NBA season, Reed will need to show that he’s more than just a journeyman spot starter with legal baggage. While Reed has been used less with the Clippers than he was in Miami last season, his opportunities could increase substantially with Griffin sidelined. I suspect, given the big man’s per-36 numbers, he’ll be able to procure more than the minimum and stick with that team for longer than a single season.

Austin Rivers, G, 25 (Down) – Signed to a three-year, $35MM deal in 2016
The Clippers took a gamble on Rivers in 2016, offering the largely unproven combo guard a major contract without much of a track record to show for it. Fast forward two seasons and Rivers remains more or less equally underwhelming. Rivers does little across the board and isn’t a particularly effective shooter. It wouldn’t make much sense for Rivers’ camp to turn down his $13MM player option for next season.

Milos Teodosic, PG, 31 (Down) – Signed to a two-year, $12MM deal in 2017
It’s hard to gauge Teodosic’s NBA value, considering he only played two games before falling to a foot injury. As things stand, the romantic notion that Teodosic would drop in from overseas to fill the playmaking hole left by Paul is on the back burner. If the plan was for Teodosic to prove himself in his rookie season, turn down his player option for 2018/19 and then sign a larger contract, it’ll come down to how he fares during the second half of the season, since nobody has yet seen enough to warrant a big investment. It seems likely that the Serbian 31-year-old will be back in the lineup before the end of December, so there’s plenty of time for him to prove himself at the NBA level.

Lou Williams, SG, 32 (Up) – Signed to a three-year, $21MM deal in 2015
Over course of the last half decade, Williams has fully embraced an identity as a wildly prolific scorer off the bench. Over the course of the last two seasons alone he’s thrived in systems that have had no reason but to let him loose on their second unit and the volume shooter has shown no signs of slowing down north of 30. It may be a bit much to expect Williams to yield anything in the realm of former Clipper J.J. Redick‘s offseason haul ($23MM for a one-year deal with Philly) but there should be plenty of suitors willing to give 2015’s Sixth Man of the Year a sizable raise over his current $7MM salary.

Player ages as of July 1, 2018. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pacific Notes: James, Gallinari, Kuzminskas

November 20th, 2017 at 10:02pm CST by clarkcrum

After bouncing around Europe and playing in five different countries over five seasons, Suns rookie point guard Mike James is making the most of his opportunity in the NBA, writes Baxter Holmes of ESPN. James has made such an impression since signing a two-way contract back in July that general manager Ryan McDonough, who didn’t even know who James was until this summer, has stated that the team plans to sign James to a standard NBA contract before his two-way contract expires on December 6.

James, who had balked at the opportunity to play in the NBA on numerous previous occasions, finally felt that it was time. “I felt like if I wasn’t going to do it this year, I probably wasn’t never going to do it. So I’m just like, let me take one chance. It would just be for a year, and if it doesn’t work out here, I’ll be back overseas, and I’ll make more money.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

Clippers forward Danilo Gallinari continues to nurse a strained left glute that he suffered in the first half of the team’s loss to the Heat on November 5. Essentially day-to-day since then, it has now been confirmed in a tweet from Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times that Gallinari will miss another 7-10 days.
Back in Los Angeles after a brief stint in Houston, Clippers guard Lou Williams is eager to have his new team back at full strength as soon as possible, as detailed in an interview with Spencer Davies of Basketball Insiders. Believing that the Clippers still have plenty of time to right the ship despite being in the midst of a nine-game losing streak, Williams said, “We’ve been playing extremely hard giving ourselves an opportunity to win these games and just haven’t been able to finish. (Once we) get guys back … we’ll break through.”
The Lakers are keeping an eye on free agent Mindaugas Kuzminskas and have even met with the forward recently, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. The Lakers were one of the teams we recently highlighted as having interest in Kuzminskas. The Lakers already have a full 15 players under contract, so any play for Kuzminskas would first require a roster move.