Nikola Vucevic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Whiteside, Vucevic, Ilyasova

February 2nd, 2018 at 5:54pm CST by Austin Kent

The Heat have been aggressive on the trade market, but don’t expect them to deal Hassan Whiteside without a significant haul coming back in return, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. The franchise knows all too well how much of a role the 28-year-old has played in the team’s emergence as a defensive force.

Head coach Erik Spoelstra has reined in his inconsistent big man’s minutes this year, a luxury he can afford with other options like Kelly Olynyk and Bam Adebayo on the roster.

Despite the decreased workload, Whiteside is as efficient as ever, posting 14.4 points and 11.8 rebounds per game in just 25.8 minutes of action. Those are per-36 rates of 20.0 and 16.4, respectively, up from 18.8 and 15.6 per-36 in 2016/17.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

A pair of rotation players returned to practice for the Magic, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel tweets, but neither Nikola Vucevic or Jonathan Isaac are particularly close to suiting up in-game. Robbins clarified in a subsequent tweet that they participated in full contact practice.
Veteran Ersan Ilyasova could be the Hawks‘ most realistically attractive trade chip, Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal Constitution writes. The 30-year-old sharpshooting forward is an asset on defense and, conveniently, has an expiring contract.
The Heat can never truly be ruled out when it comes to teams willing to make a bold trade, but president Pat Riley has been wise to let head coach Erik Spoelstra channel every thing he can out of their current roster, Dave Hyde of The Sun Sentinel writes.

Southeast Notes: Walker, Vucevic, Oladipo, Whiteside, Wizards

January 27th, 2018 at 11:56am CST by marksuleymanov

Kemba Walker is the Hornets‘ best and most popular player — which makes him the most desirable trade chip as the February 8 trade deadline approaches. There’s an anxiety over Walker’s future with Charlotte which will not subside until the deadline comes and goes, Tom Sorensen of The Charlotte Observer writes.

At this juncture, a trade of Walker during the season seems unlikely. The Hornets sport a 20-27 record, good for 11th place in the Eastern Conference and five games back of the Pacers for the eighth seed. Team owner Michael Jordan recently downplayed the rumors of a Walker trade, instead suggesting the team’s disappointing season has led the team to discussions with multiple teams.

Walker has enjoyed another great season for Charlotte, averaging 21.9 PPG and 5.9 APG in 45 games. He would be an upgrade for several teams, including his hometown Knicks, who have been a rumored trade partner, but nothing is imminent.

Check out other Southeast Division news and notes:

Magic center Nikola Vucevic recently made significant progress as he recovers from a fractured left hand, John Denton of NBA.com writes. Doctors have encouraged Vucevic to play more video games so that he get strength in the injured left hand. “They said anything where I’m using the hand – even playing video games – will be good for it, so I’m doing it,’’ Vucevic said.
Victor Oladipo is a 2018 NBA All-Star, which will haunt the Magic, a team that has lacked a true superstar talent, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel writes. Oladipo enjoyed three solid seasons with Orlando before a 2016 deal sent him, along with the draft rights of Domantas Sabonis, to the Thunder for veteran Serge Ibaka.
After a disappointing performance where he committed seven turnovers, Heat big man Hassan Whiteside heard criticism from everyone, including head coach Erik Spoelstra. Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel writes that Spoelstra expects more from Whiteside.
The Wizards should be better than they have played with the trio of John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Otto Porter leading the pack. Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer writes that the time is now for Washington to make a trade deadline deal and make a playoff push.

Southeast Notes: Walker, Johnson, Vucevic

January 21st, 2018 at 7:21pm CST by Austin Kent

The Hornets may have permanently damaged their relationship with All-Star guard Kemba Walker, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes. When news broke that the franchise was eager to unload their best player in order to clear cap space and initiate a rebuild, the 27-year-old was apparently devastated.

Bonnell argues that Walker has been a world-class representative of the Hornets, a leader on the court and in the community. The scribe also argues that he’s a part of the solution in Charlotte, not the problem, and that it was customarily clumsy for the organization to dangle him for financial relief.

Bonnell cites Charlotte’s fruitless attempt to sign Gordon Hayward away from the Jazz as a restricted free agent in 2014 and the club’s ill-advised decision to sign Lance Stephenson to a three-year, $27MM deal shortly thereafter as other examples of the Hornets being managed clumsily.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Heat continue to be ravaged by injuries at the two-guard position, the latest one to fall being Tyler Johnson. Now, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel writes, head coach Erik Spoelstra will have to decide between two-way player Derrick Jones Jr., reserve Wayne Ellington or an out-of-position Josh Richardson.
Despite the temporary scare, Heat guard Tyler Johnson‘s leg injury wasn’t as bad as initially feared, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald writes. “I was really worried because initially it felt like my knee popped,” he said. “That’s why when I went down I started grabbing at my knee and that was what was more worrisome than anything else. I’ve never had a bad knee injury so I didn’t know what it felt like. I was just thankful once I got to the back and my adrenaline kind of went down the pain in my knee wasn’t nothing I really ever felt before. My foot was down and it just kind of got tangled up.“
A fractured bone in Nikola Vucevic‘s hand has kept him out of action since December 23 but the Magic big man is making progress, John Denton of Orlando’s team site writes. “Little by little [the strength is returning] and the best thing is just me using my hand because that will help it. I’m just doing stuff every day. Even video games, will help because I’m using my hand,” Vucevic said.

Southeast Notes: Dedmon, Fournier, Walton, Adebayo

January 8th, 2018 at 9:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Hawks center Dewayne Dedmon returned to the active roster on Monday evening against the Clippers, Jeff Siegel of Peachtreehoops.com reports. Dedmon missed 19 games with a left tibia stress reaction, which was expected to sideline him 3-6 weeks. Atlanta has been the league’s third-worst defensive club since the Dedmon injury in late November, Siegel notes. Dedmon, who played for the Spurs last season, signed a two-year, $12.3MM deal with the Hawks in July. He holds a player option for next season.

In other news involving the Southeast Division:

Magic swingman Evan Fournier shot just 27.5% from the field during the team’s first three games in January and it’s clear he misses injured center Nikola Vucevic, as John Denton of the team’s website explains. Vucevic is Fournier’s best friend on the team and the Euros feed off each other. Vucevic suffered a broken bone in his left hand just before Christmas and is out 6-8 weeks. “Definitely, we have great chemistry and there’s no secret to that,” Fournier told Denton. “No more two-man game with him out.”
Heat rookie guard Derrick Walton Jr. has only 14 days of NBA service remaining on his two-way contract, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel notes. That was a factor in the team’s decision to send the University of Michigan product to the G League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce on Sunday despite injuries to two wing players. He has appeared in 12 games with the Heat. If he returns to the Heat and reaches the 45-day limit, he must either spend the rest of the season in the G League, be offered a standard contract or be released.
Rookie Bam Adebayo is likely to drop out of the Heat’s rotation due to a logjam in the frontcourt, Winderman opines in his weekly mailbag. Adebayo’s energy is admirable but he’s prone to defensive mistakes, Winderman explains. For a team fighting for a playoff spot, the club is best served by dividing the minutes at power forward and center among veterans Hassan Whiteside, Kelly Olynyk and James Johnson, Winderman adds.

Kyler’s Latest: Lakers, Mavs, Grizzlies, Magic

January 4th, 2018 at 11:29am CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers and Mavericks both currently sit comfortably in the lottery, with little chance of making a run at a playoff spot this season. Still, there’s a sense in NBA circles that the two teams could be logical trade partners, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.

Kyler cautions that there have been zero talks between the Lakers and Mavericks about a potential Luol Deng trade, but he suggests that if any team is willing to roll the dice on Deng and his exorbitant contract, Dallas might be that team. The Mavericks have some expiring contracts that would appeal to L.A., and if the Lakers attached Julius Randle and a future draft pick to Deng, that could pique the Mavs’ interest, Kyler writes.

Of course, within the last month, we’ve heard that the Lakers aren’t interested in parting with future first-round picks in order to move Deng, and a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski suggested that the club had essentially given up hope of another team taking on the veteran forward’s unwieldy contract. So even if the Mavericks represent the best potential fit, the odds of a deal remain slim.

Kyler’s latest piece for Basketball Insiders includes several other items of interest on a handful of lottery teams, so let’s round up a few highlights…

The Grizzlies are unlikely to make any franchise-altering moves before next month’s trade deadline, which means Marc Gasol probably isn’t going anywhere. Still, they’re a team worth watching, according to Kyler, who points to Tyreke Evans as a potential Memphis trade candidate.
The “dream scenario” for the Magic would be to move Bismack Biyombo before the deadline, but they’re highly unlikely to find a taker for that contract. Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier may also emerge as trade chips, but Aaron Gordon almost certainly isn’t going anywhere — the “prevailing thought” is that he’ll be retained by Orlando as a restricted free agent this summer, says Kyler.
The Hawks appear open to listening to inquiries on Dennis Schroder and Kent Bazemore, but their current asking prices are probably too high to work anything out, reports Kyler.

Nikola Vucevic Breaks Bone In Hand, Out 6 To 8 Weeks

December 23rd, 2017 at 6:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Magic center Nikola Vucevic fractured the first metacarpal on his left hand in tonight’s game, tweets Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. The injury occurred midway through the first quarter of the contest at Washington, and Vucevic was taken to the locker room for X-rays that revealed the fracture.

Vucevic is expected to have surgery on the hand and miss six to eight weeks, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link).

Vucevic has started all 33 of Orlando’s games heading into tonight and was averaging 17.8 points and 9.6 rebounds. He joins Aaron Gordon, Terrence Ross and Evan Fournier as members of the Magic’s opening-night lineup who are out with injuries, Robbins notes (Twitter link).

Vucevic’s absence should result in more playing time for backup center Bismack Biyombo, who is seeing just 15 minutes per game this season, down from from 22 a year ago. Averaging 4.0 points and 4.4 rebounds, Biyombo still has two years and $34MM left on the contract his signed in the summer of 2016.

Kyler’s Latest: Jordan, Gasol, Bazemore, Hornets

December 19th, 2017 at 10:13am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA trade deadline is just over seven weeks away, so it’s only a matter of time before teams start discussing potential deals a little more earnestly. In anticipation of trade talks heating up, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders takes a closer look at a handful of players whose names figure to come up frequently in trade rumors in the coming weeks, passing along the latest nuggets of info on each of those guys. Here are a few highlights from Kyler’s piece:

Source close to the situation tell Kyler that a Cavaliers offer for DeAndre Jordan would be built around Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert, and a first-round pick, though Cleveland is only willing to discuss its own pick at this point, rather than the Nets’ first-rounder. It remains to be seen whether the Clippers will be willing to move Jordan, but the big man’s future in L.A. is “anything but clear,” writes Kyler.
More and more people around the NBA believe that the Grizzlies would be willing to explore the market for Marc Gasol, but it may require Gasol telling them he wants out, per Kyler.
League sources tell Kyler that the Hawks might be open to moving Kent Bazemore for the right combination of expiring contracts and a first-round pick. Even if that pick is “highly protected,” as Kyler suggests, I’d be very surprised if any team is willing to pay that price for Bazemore, who is owed $18MM+ in 2018/19 and $19MM+ in 2019/20.
The prevailing belief around the league is that the Hornets would like to move one of their big contracts, such as Michael Kidd-Gilchrist‘s. However, Charlotte would likely need to attach a young player to a deal in order to dump salary. Kyler suggests Malik Monk and Dwayne Bacon likely aren’t going anywhere, identifying Frank Kaminsky as a possible name to watch.
The Magic and Kings are also worth keeping an eye on, according to Kyler, who identifies Nikola Vucevic and George Hill as a pair of potential trade candidates. Orlando isn’t looking to shake things up for the sake of it, but Vucevic figures to draw interest. As for Hill, his significant cap hit limits his trade value, but he’d probably “welcome a move,” says Kyler.

Sixers Notes: Simmons, Saric, McConnell

April 11th, 2017 at 10:39pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Sixers lost to the Celtics in Game 7 of the 2012 Eastern Conference semifinals and Lavoy Allen believes that if Philadelphia had prevailed in that contest, the franchise would be in a much different position, as Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays.

“We would have had a couple of more years with [Nikola Vucevic], Andre Iguodala, and a few of the guys,” said Allen. “We would have had some more good years if we would have kept that team together.”

Instead, the team pivoted, making a trade for Andrew Bynum. The big man wasn’t able to stay on the court and a year later, The Process was born.

Here’s more from Philadelphia:

Coach Brett Brown would like to see Ben Simmons participate in summer league, but it’s unclear if the 2016 No.1 overall pick will be healthy enough to play, Pompey passes along in the same piece. “His health and the judgment of his health rules the day. I don’t know what that looks like when we are talking about the summer league,” Brown said.
Brown would like to see the Sixers add shooters this offseason, David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News relays. “We need shooters,” Brown said. “That’s kind of the bottom line. We need to get Ben Simmons the ball, we need to have Joel be Joel, and get a bunch of shooters around them.”
Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Inquirer believes Dario Saric is best suited for a role off the bench next season. The scribe believes Joel Embiid needs someone who can shoot from behind the arc next to him in the frontcourt and Saric only made 31.1% of his 3-point attempts this season.
If the Sixers want to win next season, T.J. McConnell may give them the best chance to do so, Marcus Hayes of the Philadelphia Daily News opines. Hayes is a fan of the point guard’s defense and he believes McConnell will return better immediate value at the position than Simmons or a first-round draft pick would.

Southeast Notes: Schroder, Ellington, Oubre Jr.

March 7th, 2017 at 4:57pm CST by Austin Kent

A mid-game argument resulting in an ugly defensive breakdown has some questioning the team harmony in the Hawks‘ lockerroom. In addition to a spat with Dwight Howard, 23-year-old point guard Dennis Schroder is said to have engaged with head coach Mike Budenholzer too, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes.

While Schroder and Howard were caught on camera arguing about a Howard turnover the previous possession, Stephen Curry wasted no time calling for the inbound pass and draining a three. The basket put the Warriors in front and they would go on to win the game. Shortly after the incident, Schroder – who at that point had led the Hawks in scoring with 23 points – was benched by Budenholzer for the remainder of the contest.

“We need to learn to play together and stay together for 48 minutes,” Budenholzer said of his Hawks. “That is something that is important to us.”

Vivlamore reminds readers that this isn’t the first time the Hawks have punished Schroder. When the guard returned to Atlanta late after the All-Star Break, he was suspended for one game. In that situation, Schroder cited passport complications as the reason for his delay.

Worth noting, Schroder has posted a photo of himself and Howard on Instagram and Twitter, a likely attempt to bury the hatchet, publicly at least.

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

The Heat have several options for dealing with Wayne Ellington‘s contract this summer, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. The guard has emerged as an elite source of production beyond the arc and may command significant amount more on the open market than if the franchise were to just pick up his $6.3MM option for 2017/18.
As the Wizards adjust their rotation to accommodate for the arrivals of Brandon Jennings and Bojan Bogdanovic, one guard on the losing end of it all has been Kelly Oubre Jr. Oubre Jr. played just six minutes in the team’s Sunday win, Candace Buckner of the Washington Post writes.
Though he isn’t even on the Heat roster anymore, Cavaliers forward Derrick Williams has nothing but good things to say about Pat Riley, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports. “The way things were going at that time, it was mutually agreed,” Williams said. “That was the best thing. We were both on the same page. It was a mutual parting. Everything [Riley] told me was the truth. I don’t think we have enough of that around here [in the NBA].”
The Magic will have their depth tested this week, John Denton of the team’s official website writes. A recent injury to Nikola Vucevic has forced Stephen Zimmerman to serve as the primary backup to Bismack Biyombo.

Kyler’s Latest: Cavs, Sixers, Lopez, Kings, Magic

February 7th, 2017 at 10:09am CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers have been “aggressively” exploring ways to clear the contract of Chris Andersen from their books, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Andersen, who is out for the season with a torn ACL, is on a minimum salary deal, but moving him would allow Cleveland to open up a roster spot and create additional savings on the team’s projected tax bill.

Although the Cavaliers have been mentioned in some intriguing trade rumors involving star players like Carmelo Anthony, Cleveland is more focused on bolstering its bench. According to Kyler, the Cavs are prioritizing adding a point guard and a big man for depth purposes.

Here are a few more items of interest from around the NBA, via Kyler’s report:

On Monday night, several reports indicated that the Sixers and Pelicans were discussing a possible swap of Jahlil Okafor for Alexis Ajinca and a 2018 first-round pick. However, a source tells Kyler that Philadelphia may not be on board with that specific framework, preferring to put Jrue Holiday in the deal rather than the future first-rounder. The two teams continue to talk, but both sides are exploring other options as well, writes Kyler.
We’ve heard in the past that the Nets are seeking two first-round picks in any Brook Lopez deal. Kyler says that the team is specifically seeking a lottery pick in 2017, plus an additional future first-rounder. It seems unlikely that any team will meet that asking price, but Brooklyn appears content to wait until at least the offseason to get serious about moving Lopez.
There’s a “growing sense” that the Kings might move Darren Collison, as well as Kosta Koufos, by the trade deadline, per Kyler.
Kyler identifies Nikola Vucevic, Serge Ibaka, Jeff Green, and C.J. Watson as Magic players that may be on the move this month, though he notes that Orlando’s asking prices remain high. Kyler’s sources suggest that Toronto would be a favorable long-term situation for Ibaka, but there’s no indication that the big man would be willing to sign with the Raptors long-term, or that the Raps would give up “meaningful assets” for Ibaka.