Luka Doncic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Diaw, Silver, Contract Years, Doncic

September 17th, 2017 at 7:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Having signed to play for a team in France, Boris Diaw explains in a YouTube video (French, with English subtitles) why he made the decision to join Levallois Metropolitans for the 2017/18 season after 14 years in the NBA.

“This decision wasn’t about the money,” Diaw said. “It was about joining a club that could benefit from my presence, where I could help guide and teach the younger players. It was about bringing them my experience, my advice. It was also about staying fit. It provided me with an opportunity to play at a high level and stay physically fit while waiting for a potential offer from an NBA team that might need me during the season.”

As we wait to see if Diaw makes his way back to the NBA at some point in 2017/18, let’s round up a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world…

While commissioner Adam Silver hoped NBA owners could reach on gentlemen’s agreement on policing the rest of healthy players, team owners – led by Robert Sarver of the Suns – encouraged Silver to institute concrete rules and potential punishments in order to curb the issue, writes ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Wojnarowski’s piece examines Silver’s role in addressing the DNP-Rest problem, and looks at the commissioner’s push for lottery reform.
In a piece for HoopsHype, Bryan Kalbrosky identifies a number of players who may end up exceeding expectations in contract years. Of course, many of the players on Kalbrosky’s list – including Gary Harris, Rodney Hood, and Jusuf Nurkic – are eligible for extensions until opening night, so 2017/18 may not end up being a contract year for some of them.
Sasa Doncic, the father of young Real Madrid star Luka Doncic, called his son a unique talent who “plays in a magical way,” but acknowledged that he’d like to see him improve his shot a little (link via AS.com; translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Doncic is expected to be one of the first players to come off the board in the 2018 draft.

Knicks Notes: Anthony, Porzingis, Doncic, Value

September 12th, 2017 at 4:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

Whether we’ll see it during the season remains uncertain, but Carmelo Anthony, James Harden and Chris Paul were all on the same team Monday. The three stars joined forces in a pickup game in New York, relays Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle, who links to some video of the event. Other NBA players such as Russell Westbrook, Enes Kanter, JaVale McGee and Kenneth Faried were also involved, but the focus was on Anthony, Harden and Paul.

Anthony has made no secret of his desire to join the two All-Star guards in Houston, reportedly telling Knicks management that he will only waive his no-trade cause if he can join the Rockets. New York’s front office tried to accommodate him, but talks have slowed recently. The Rockets have been unable to find an additional team to facilitate a deal to the Knicks’ liking, and it appears Anthony may not be traded before training camps open in two weeks.

There’s more basketball news from New York City:

ESPN’s Chris Herring examines whether Anthony should still be considered an elite player at age 33. He finished 64th in the network’s rankings of the top 100 NBA players that were released today, dropping 33 spots from a year ago. Anthony’s rating has been hurt by four straight non-playoff seasons, Herring explains, and the Knicks’ desire to trade him and build around Kristaps Porzingis.
Knicks officials were very interested in today’s EuroBasket matchup that pitted Porzingis’ Latvia team against 18-year-old Luka Doncic and Slovenia, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. The Knicks have a large group of scouts and other representatives at the game and have a strong interest in Doncic, a 6’7″ forward who is considered among the top prospects for the 2018 draft.
The Rockets sold for a record $2.2 billion last week, but the Knicks could easily top that if they ever hit the market, tweets Ian Begley of ESPN. One analyst has estimated the team’s worth at $3.5 billion.
The Knicks are doing the right thing by rebuilding around young players, but there’s not much hope for the upcoming season, according to the staff at Basketball Insiders. In their season preview, all five writers forecast New York to finish fourth or fifth in the Atlantic Division.
Earlier today, we passed along details on Charles Oakley‘s civil suit against James Dolan and MSG.

Sixers Notes: Embiid, Doncic, Lottery Reform, Brown

September 10th, 2017 at 11:31am CST by Arthur Hill

Fans shouldn’t put much stock in a report that Joel Embiid won’t play five-on-five until he gets a maximum contract extension and might hold out if that doesn’t happen, according to Derek Bodner and Mike O’Connor of The Athletic. The Philadelphia-based writers address that rumor and other Sixers topic in a podcast, saying it would be unprecedented for someone with so little NBA experience to hold out for a max deal.

The Sixers have until October 16, the day before the regular season opens, to negotiate an extension with Embiid, who would become a restricted free agent next summer if a deal can’t be reached. Bodner speculates that Embiid’s representatives may relax their demands as the deadline gets closer, settling for a lower dollar amount or a provision to tie guaranteed money to the number of games Embiid can play. Bodner adds that a holdout seems unlikely because Embiid has shown so much dedication to the franchise.

There’s more news out of Philadelphia:

Bodner and O’Connor also discussed Luka Doncic, an 18-year-old Slovenian who is currently starring in the EuroBasket tournament and may be a top three pick in next year’s draft. O’Connor sees him as the best fit for the Sixers based on his elite passing and outside shooting. The Sixers are expected to be a playoff contender this year, but will receive the Lakers’ pick if it falls at No. 1 or between sixth and 30th.
The Sixers and former GM Sam Hinkie shouldn’t get all the blame for the league’s proposal to reform the draft lottery, writes Kevin Pelton of ESPN. He notes that tanking has been an issue for years in the NBA, which tried similar reforms in 2014 but couldn’t get enough votes from owners to approve them. Even so, Pelton notes that a successful season from Philadelphia could reinforce the perception that tanking is an effective strategy.
Sixers coach Brett Brown will conduct his annual Coach the Coaches Clinic on Tuesday, writes Kevin Callahan of nba.com. This is the third year for the event, which is open to coaches from grade school up to college. More than 200 coaches attended last year and more are expected this year.

Draft Notes: Fultz, Ball, Hutchison, 2018

April 11th, 2017 at 12:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks currently have the sixth-best odds in the NBA draft lottery, which would give them a modest 6.3% chance to land the first overall pick. Despite those fairly long odds, potential No. 1 pick Markelle Fultz has considered the possibility of playing for New York, and was in attendance on Sunday at Madison Square Garden to take a first-hand look at the team and its triangle system.

As Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News details, Fultz said it would be “amazing” to be drafted by the Knicks, and didn’t express any reservations about the triangle.

“I think I could play in any system,” Fultz said. “I’m very versatile, so it was cool to see that. It’s a lot of openings and stuff like that, so that’s why I came to see that in person.”

Let’s round up a few more draft-related items…

Former UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball is the biggest threat to Fultz for that No. 1 pick, but if he had to choose between being drafted first overall and being selected by the Lakers, Ball would opt for the Lakers, he recently told ESPN (video link). Ball also made the case for why clubs should draft him over Fultz, suggesting that he’s more capable of leading a team than the Washington point guard is.
Boise State’s Chandler Hutchison will enter his name in the 2017 NBA draft pool, but won’t hire an agent, according to an announcement from the school. “Our coaches have informed me that NBA teams are expressing interest, and I feel that I need to take advantage of the opportunity to be evaluated and find out where I truly stand,” Hutchison said in a statement. The junior shooting guard, who isn’t considered a top prospect by DraftExpress or ESPN, will have until May 24 to decide whether to withdraw his name and return to Boise State.
Much has been made of the strength of the 2017 draft class, but as Chad Ford of ESPN.com writes in an Insider-only piece, the 2018 class projects to have several elite prospects at the top too. However, it won’t be as deep as 2017’s class. “[The 2017] class was one of the most talented and deepest I’ve ever seen,” one NBA GM said. “[For 2018], I love three or four guys and that’s about it.” Michael Porter Jr. (Missouri), Luka Doncic (Real Madrid), and DeAndre Ayton (Arizona) are the three players at the top of Ford’s 2018 board.
Former Green Bay power forward Kerem Kanter, who was said to be testing the draft process before potentially graduating and transferring, has committed to Xavier, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. As such, the brother of Enes Kanter figures to postpone his pro career for another year.

And-Ones: Doncic, Seattle, Jeff Van Gundy, Draft

February 17th, 2017 at 2:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Seventeen-year-old Real Madrid star Luka Doncic has a new agent, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein, who reports (via Twitter) that Doncic has signed on with BDA Sports, and will be represented by Bill Duffy. Doncic won’t be eligible for the 2017 draft, but the investment by BDA has a chance to pay off in a big way down the road — the Slovenian guard is considered one of the best European prospects in years, and is currently viewed as the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft.

Here are a few more odds and ends from across the basketball world:

Chris Hansen‘s efforts to build a new NBA- and NHL-ready arena in Seattle have been going on for more than five years, but the investor is still confident that it will eventually happen, according to an Associated Press report (link via USA Today). Hansen’s group has increased the private funding in its arena plan and re-submitted it to Seattle City Council, per The Associated Press.
Will ESPN and ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy ever return to the sidelines to coach an NBA team? His brother thinks it’s still a real possibility. “Yeah, with the right situation, absolutely. I don’t know if he will, but I definitely can see it,” Stan Van Gundy said, per Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times. “He misses parts of it (coaching), but he also has a real good job, so it goes both ways.”
Within his latest draft notebook for The Vertical, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress passes along several interesting notes, writing that player agents aren’t enthusiastic about the NBA’s new two-way contracts and suggesting that 2017 will be a weak draft class for NCAA upperclassmen and international players.
Terrance Ferguson is the mystery man of the 2017 draft class, according to Neil Johnson of ESPN.com, who takes a closer look at the 18-year-old who is playing professional ball in Australia.

And-Ones: Draft, Doncic, Villanueva, BIG3

February 1st, 2017 at 2:00pm CST by Luke Adams

In the view of NBA general managers and scouts, The league’s 2017 draft is poised to be the strongest in a decade, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider-only link), who has updated his big board with profiles of this year’s top 30 prospects. Washington guard Markelle Fultz remains atop Ford’s board, though he acknowledges that it’s no slam dunk that Fultz will be the No. 1 pick in June. Lonzo Ball and Josh Jackson, other candidates for that top spot, held their respective positions at Nos. 2 and 3, while Dennis Smith and Jonathan Isaac moved up to round out Ford’s top five.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Givony’s latest prospect profiles for The Vertical include a player who may be the early frontrunner to come off the board first in the 2018 draft. According to Givony, 17-year-old Luka Doncic is making waves in Europe with his play for Real Madrid this season, having become the youngest player to secure a rotation spot for a Euroleague team since Ricky Rubio in 2007. And so far, Doncic’s production is blowing away Rubio’s, Givony writes.

Let’s round up a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world…

After appearing in 62 games last season for the Mavericks, longtime NBA big man Charlie Villanueva didn’t re-sign with Dallas or land with a new team in free agency. However, Villanueva doesn’t appear to be ready for retirement yet. The 11-year veteran issued the following tweet on Tuesday: “I want back in #NBAcomeback.”
Rashard Lewis and Jason Williams will co-captain one of the eight BIG3 teams this summer, according to a press release from the league. The team featuring Lewis, Williams, and three additional players will be known as the 3 Headed Monsters.
Cliff Alexander, who was in camp with the Magic in the fall and has spent the season with Orlando’s D-League affiliate, was traded on Tuesday. According to a press release, the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s NBADL affiliate, acquired Alexander from the Erie BayHawks in exchange for Long Island’s third-round pick in 2017. In 22 D-League games this season for Erie, the Kansas product has recorded 11.9 PPG and 8.0 RPG.