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Kings’ Curry, Anderson Opt Out

May 18th, 2016 at 9:29pm CST by Arthur Hill

Seth Curry and James Anderson have both opted out of their contracts with the Kings for next season, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The action means both players will become restricted free agents this summer.

Curry, a third-year point guard, could have made $1,015,696 next season after signing a two-year deal last July. He appeared in 44 games for the Kings, making nine starts, while averaging 6.8 points per night and shooting 45% from 3-point range.

Anderson, a sixth-year swingman, would have received $1,139,123 next season on a minimum-salary deal. He started 15 of the 51 games he played, averaging 3.5 points per contest.

New York Notes: Conley, Rambis, McCullough

May 8th, 2016 at 1:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Nets will be shopping for a point guard this summer and may have a better shot at landing Mike Conley now that coach Dave Joerger has been fired in Memphis, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Conley, who averaged 15.3 points and 6.1 assists this season and led the NBA in assists-to-turnovers ratio, has said he wants to see how the Grizzlies’ offseason plays out before deciding to re-sign.

Lewis foresees a point guard shakeup in Brooklyn even if the Nets can’t lure Conley. He expects Jarrett Jack, who started 32 games before tearing his ACL, to be released, allowing the Nets to save all but $500K of his $6.3MM salary. Shane Larkin has a June 29th deadline to decide whether to exercise a $1.5MM option for next season. New coach Kenny Atkinson has a reputation for developing point guards and worked closely with Jeremy Lin when both were with the Knicks. Lin could be an option if he opts out of a deal with Charlotte that would pay him only slightly more than $2.2MM. Lewis writes that Rajon Rondo, Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, Seth Curry and Jordan Clarkson could be other targets, along with overseas players such as Milos Teodosic, Nando De Colo, Malcolm Delaney and Sergio Rodriguez.

There’s more out of New York:

The Knicks also have interest in Conley and might see their chances improving because of the events in Memphis, relays Marc Berman of The New York Post. That’s especially true if GM Chris Wallace, a huge supporter of Conley, leaves the Grizzlies as well, Berman writes.
Knicks president Phil Jackson may be repaying Kurt Rambis after costing him the head coaching job with the Lakers 17 years ago, Berman writes in a separate story. Rambis took over on the Lakers’ bench after Del Harris was fired in 1999 and expected to be named head coach after the season ended. However, late owner Jerry Buss hired Jackson, and Rambis’ coaching career was put on hold. Now the interim coach with the Knicks, Rambis is believed to be Jackson’s choice to lead the team next season.
Nets rookie Chris McCullough showed a lot of promise late in the season, but he will probably be brought along slowly next year, according to NetsDaily. McCullough, the 29th pick in last year’s draft, missed most of the season while recovering from an ACL tear he suffered at Syracuse. A 6’11” power forward with an impressive vertical leap and 3-point range, McCullough gives Brooklyn hope for the future, but the author speculates that Atkinson will phase him in gradually and may even send the 21-year-old to the team’s new D-League team for occasional seasoning.

Kings Rumors: Blatt, Turner, Messina, Cousins

May 2nd, 2016 at 4:06pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Kings plan to speak with Spurs assistant Ettore Messina this week, according to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). It’s not entirely clear whether it’ll be a formal interview, as San Antonio has just begun its second-round series against the Thunder, though the series will be in hiatus between tonight’s Game 2 and Friday’s Game 3. Sacramento reportedly reached out to Messina weeks ago, suggesting that the Spurs have granted Sacramento permission to at least contact their assistant. San Antonio granted the Lakers permission for an interview, and one was scheduled for the gap between Games 2 and 3 of the Spurs-Thunder series before the Lakers called it off and hired Luke Walton instead, a league source told Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. The European coaching legend apparently holds particular appeal to Kings GM Vlade Divac.

See more from the California capital:

4:06pm update:

David Blatt‘s interview with the Kings is today, as USA Today’s Sam Amick hears, advancing a Sunday report from Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
Elston Turner is a candidate for the job of lead assistant for the Kings, Amick tweets, which suggests that he isn’t in the running for the head coaching job. Turner, a Grizzlies assistant, emerged among the many in the mix for Sacramento last week, and Memphis has reportedly granted the Kings permission to interview him.

10:26am update:

DeMarcus Cousins indicated that he’d prefer to stay with the Kings as he spoke in an interview with Carmichael Dave of CBS Sacramento (audio link; scroll to 6:24 mark). People in the Kings organization reportedly believe Divac will test the trade market for Cousins this summer. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve grown an attachment to the city, like, the way these people treat me, the love they give out to me, and vice versa,” Cousins said to Dave. “I feel like I have an attachment, and it’s something that I do owe to this city. I want to be the person to bring this city back to the glory days. I want to grow myself and this city all together. I want to bring us back to those glory days. So, that’s where I’m at with it. This is like a personal vendetta for me.”
Seth Curry said he wants to return to the Kings next season and that it would be difficult to do otherwise, but he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of moving on as he spoke at a basketball camp in India to Akash Khanna of Follow Your Sport. Curry reportedly intends to turn down his player option and hit free agency this summer.
Curry also told Khanna that he doesn’t want to sign with the Warriors and play with brother Stephen Curry, preferring to compete against him instead. The Currys were teammates with Golden State during the 2013 preseason.

Eastern Notes: Caldwell-Pope, DeRozan, Gores

April 26th, 2016 at 9:05pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Pistons shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is eligible to ink a rookie-scale contract extension this summer, but he says his focus is on improving his game and not on his next deal, David Mayo of MLive relays. “Yeah, I mean, why do it now? It’s not in my mind. I mean, it could happen. If it does happen, it happens. But right now I’m going to stay focused and get better,” Caldwell-Pope said. “Right now, I’m just going to let my agent handle all that. If you have any questions about that, I really can’t answer them. I let my agent answer for me. I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it.” If Caldwell-Pope and Detroit are unable to reach an agreement by October’s deadline, he would be eligible to become a restricted free agent in the summer of 2017.

Team owner Tom Gores, one of the principals who will be involved in the Pistons’ future decisions regarding Caldwell-Pope, is involved in a bid to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Detroit, Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press relays. Gores is partnering with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert on the venture, Ellis notes. “I’ve always believed a sports franchise is a community asset with the power to unite and inspire people,” Gores said in his official statement. “I’m excited to partner with Dan and help in Detroit’s resurgence. Together we have all the tools we need to make a new team successful.”

Here’s more from the East:

Raptors swingman DeMar DeRozan‘s struggles this postseason call into question whether or not he is worthy of a max salary deal this summer, should he choose to opt out of his current deal and become an unrestricted free agent, Steve Simmons of The Toronto Sun writes. The 26-year-old is averaging 13.3 points and shooting a woeful 29.6% from the field in four playoff outings. His player option for 2016/17 is worth $10.15MM, but he’ll almost certain decline it and end up with more than that.
The Nets hiring of the hard-working Kenny Atkinson as their new coach is another positive sign of the franchise trying to change its culture for the better, NetsDaily opines.
If the Wizards intend to maintain their “pace-and-space offense,” they need a playmaker off the bench who’s capable of sinking the long ball and should consider signing Seth Curry, Ben Standig of CSN Mid-Atlantic.com writes. The Kings combo guard averaged 16.4 points, 5.3 assists and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 45.9% from the field, including 48.9% from beyond the arc over Sacramento’s last seven contests, Standig notes. Curry, 25, has a player option on his deal for 2016/17 worth $1,015,696.

Seth Curry To Decline Player Option

April 22nd, 2016 at 4:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Seth Curry intends to decline his player option worth $1,015,696 for 2016/17 and will become a restricted free agent this summer, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical. Curry has until this Saturday to finalize his decision, Charania adds. The player inked a two-year pact with Sacramento last July.

Curry, 25, averaged 6.8 points, 1.5 assists and 1.4 rebounds in 44 games for Sacramento this season, finally establishing himself as a rotation player in the league, Charania notes. He shot a stellar 45.1% from three-point range for the season and connected on 45.5% of his shots overall. Prior to this season, Curry had spent most of his time in the NBA D-League, and he inked 10-day contracts with the Cavs, Grizzlies and Suns over the previous two campaigns.

The combo guard, who is the younger brother of Warriors superstar Stephen Curry, is in line for a higher salary than his player option would have seen him earn, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee opined recently. Curry averaged more than 11 points per game after the All-Star break and he notched 16.4 points and 5.3 assists in his last seven games of the season. “I think I’ve played pretty well and showed some different things in my game that will set me up for the future to show I can be a good player in this league for a long time,” Curry told Jones.

Pacific Notes: Walton, Kupchak, Karl, Curry

April 17th, 2016 at 6:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

Warriors assistant Luke Walton has already interviewed for head coaching positions with the Knicks and Nets, reports Marc Berman of The New York Post. Walton pulled his name out of consideration with Brooklyn, which announced the hiring of Kenny Atkinson earlier today. Golden State is reportedly allowing Walton to talk to other franchises as long as there’s no conflict with its playoff schedule. A source told Berman that Walton may decide to remain with the Warriors for another season.

There’s more news from the Pacific Division:

The video controversy involving D’Angelo Russell and Nick Young may have brought bad publicity to the Lakers, but GM Mitch Kupchak doesn’t believe it will scare off any free agents, writes Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com. Kupchak said the incident “becomes less and less of a story” every day, and he complimented both players on the way they handled it. “We’ve dealt with players in this organization, on this team, that have made mistakes over the years,” Kupchak said, “and we’ve gotten through it and had great teams and won championships.” He believes Young and Russell can settle their differences if they are teammates again next year. However, the Lakers are rumored to want to part ways with Young, either through a trade or buyout. He still has two years and more than $11.1MM left on his contract.
UNLV has hired Marvin Menzies as its new head coach, passing on ex-Kings coach George Karl, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. Menzies, who had been coaching at New Mexico State, replaces Chris Beard, who backed out of the UNLV job to go to Texas Tech instead. Karl had contacted UNLV about the opening and mutual interest was reported Friday.
The opt-out clause that the Kings included in Seth Curry‘s contract could help him land a much better deal, writes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. After an impressive summer-league performance, Sacramento signed Curry last July, giving him a two-year deal with a $1,015,696 player option for next season that he has to decide on this week. Curry’s performance over the second half of the season may cause someone to pay him a lot more, as he averaged more than 11 points per game after the All-Star break. “I think I’ve played pretty well and showed some different things in my game that will set me up for the future to show I can be a good player in this league for a long time,” Curry said.

Western Notes: Augustin, Munford, West

April 9th, 2016 at 4:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kevin Durant is pleased that friend and former teammate D.J. Augustin has seemingly found a home with the Nuggets, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. “I’m just happy he got his opportunity to play, that’s all he wanted,” said Durant. “I talk to him all the time. He said he loves it [in Denver], the coach is trusting him. I remember coach [Michael] Malone calling him a security blanket or something like that, and in free agency a lot of people read things. You need that rap to get you the deal you want, I guess.” Augustin, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has appeared in 26 games for Denver this season and is averaging 12.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists in 24.1 minutes per outing.

Here’s more from out West:

Xavier Munford‘s multiyear deal with the Grizzlies has him set to earn $874,636 next season, which is a team option, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays (Twitter links). Munford’s salary for 2016/17 includes a partial guarantee of $50K, but it will become fully guaranteed if his option is exercised by June 29th, Pincus adds.
David West turned some heads last summer when he decided to turn down his $12.6MM player option with the Pacers to ink a minimum salary deal with the Spurs, but the veteran said that solid financial planning early in his career afforded him the opportunity to chase a ring in San Antonio this season, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News relays. “My financial security was something we focused on very, very early in my career so we could make basketball decisions at the end,” said West, whose career earnings before this season topped $87.6MM, McDonald notes. “As opposed to just making them solely on needing to get more money and squeeze the orange, so to speak.”
Kings combo guard Seth Curry‘s stock was limited in the eyes of many NBA scouts because he was viewed as a tweener with no set position, something that Curry believes is an asset, writes Kevin Fippen of NBA.com. “I feel comfortable at both positions, honestly,” Curry told Fippen. “I mean, I like having the ball in my hands and being able to make plays but I think my shooting is an asset too. I pride myself on being able to play the one [guard] and two [guard] and being able to affect the game in a lot of different ways.” In 41 appearances for Sacramento this season, Curry is averaging 6.1 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists to accompany a slash line of .496/.458/.843.

Pacific Notes: Griffin, Curry, Karl, Watson

April 2nd, 2016 at 9:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

Blake Griffin is expected to be in the Clippers‘ starting lineup Sunday, even though he isn’t fully healed from a quad injury, according to Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. Griffin, who hasn’t played since Christmas Day, expected to be out just a few weeks after partially tearing a tendon in his lower quad muscle. “I don’t want to say ‘misdiagnosed’ but [it] wasn’t doing the right things, I guess,” he said. “We weren’t addressing the initial problem, the main problem. Everything I was doing was just putting more stress on my knee. The small tear became a three-month thing because I wasn’t doing the right things until we figured it out. … It just wasn’t being allowed to heal. The tear is still there. It’s just about managing the pain and getting through this. It’s not a new tear. I wasn’t re-tearing my knee in different places. I wasn’t allowing the initial injury to completely heal.” Griffin didn’t discuss the condition of his right hand, which was broken in a fight with assistant equipment manager Matias Testi. The Clippers posted a 30-15 record in the 45 games that Griffin missed.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

Kings point guard Seth Curry is still deciding whether to exercise his option for next season, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. A decision is due just a week after the end of the regular season. Curry added that he likes Sacramento and GM Vlade Divac‘s plans for the team. If Curry opts in, he will make $1,015,696.
Sacramento placed coach George Karl in a no-win situation and would be making a mistake if it fires him, argues Andy Furillo of The Sacramento Bee. The front office failed to support Karl when it overturned his early-season suspension of DeMarcus Cousins, and Furillo claims that move deteriorated their already-strained relationship. Even with a rebuilt roster that was weakened by injuries, Karl has led the Kings to their highest win total since 2007/08.
Earl Watson has managed to get some defensive improvement out of the Suns since taking over as interim coach, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Under Watson, who has posted a 6-7 record after losing his first nine games, Phoenix has a defensive rating that is 12th best in the league over its past 10 contests. Before Watson arrived, the Suns were 29th in that category. “We have a lot we haven’t even touched,” he said.

Pacific Notes: Scott, Watson, Cauley-Stein, Curry

March 15th, 2016 at 10:13am CST by Chuck Myron

A theory going around the league suggests Byron Scott isn’t necessarily in his last season as Lakers coach, as Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck relays (Twitter links). The idea suggests the Lakers will keep Scott for one more year, delaying the appointment of his successor in case Knicks team president Phil Jackson exercises the opt-out that’s in his contract for the summer of 2017, moves to the Lakers, and wants to handpick a coach, according to Beck. The Bleacher Report scribe cautions that it’s just a theory. Sources close to Jackson and the Lakers tell Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com that the Zen Master is unlikely to return to the franchise that fiancee Jeanie Buss owns, with Jackson loving life in New York and perhaps thinking of coaching the Knicks on a part-time basis, as we rounded up earlier amid a slew of other coaching rumors. There’s news on the Lakers there, and more on other Pacific Division teams here:

Earl Watson has an interim tag on his title as Suns coach, but he’s already dreaming of ways to combine the talents of guards Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight and Devin Booker next season when Bledsoe returns from the torn meniscus in his left knee, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Booker has been seeing time at point guard, but his 6’6″ length means the situation is distinct from Phoenix’s failed experiment of having Bledsoe, Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas on the same team, Coro writes.
Watson is a believer in the internal growth of the the team, pointing to the emergence of Booker and Alex Len, as Coro relays in the same piece. “We enhanced bench production without a trade,” Watson said. “How many teams can say they did that without paying a guy to come in? So when you go into free agency, you have six guys who can give you 30 [points] at any time. The creativity is how do you build around it? As a full program, we can throw a lot of things on the board and we don’t have to say, ‘We need to bring in a scoring player,’ that’s going to command most of our money in free agency. Now we can be really crafty.”
Kings coach George Karl plans to increase playing time for Willie Cauley-Stein and Seth Curry down the stretch, notes Sean Cunningham of KXTV-TV in Sacramento (Twitter link). Cauley-Stein recently described Karl’s explanation for not giving him more minutes as “kind of flimsy,” while Curry has expressed mild frustration about his lack of burn.

Pacific Notes: Brown, Kings, Curry

March 5th, 2016 at 4:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The reputation of the Kings organization has suffered another blow in the wake of a flubbed D-League move. The D-League forced the affiliate of the Kings to forfeit a game because it played Duje Dukan, who was on assignment from Sacramento, during the All-Star break, report Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports and Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (All five Twitter links here). The D-League upheld a protest that the Suns affiliate filed after losing to Sacramento’s D-League team on February 16th, a game in which Dukan took part, according to Spears. NBA players weren’t allowed to play for D-League teams from February 11th through February 16th because of the NBA All-Star break, Reichert notes. So, the Reno win became a Bakersfield win instead, as Spears points out. The Sacramento front office under GM Vlade Divac has drawn criticism for its lack of knowledge about the finer points of rules governing personnel movement, though the Kings reportedly interviewed cap expert Bobby Marks on Thursday.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

Lakers rookie small forward Anthony Brown is expected to miss at least a month due to a stress reaction in his right foot, the team announced (Twitter link). Brown, 23, was the No. 34 overall selection out of Stanford in the 2015 NBA draft. He has appeared in 29 contests for Los Angeles, including 11 starts, and is averaging 4.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 20.7 minutes per game. Brown’s shooting line on the season is .310/.286/.850.
Brown, prior to his injury, was struggling to adjust to the NBA on offense, which frustrated the Lakers coaching staff, though head coach Byron Scott has praised the rookie’s acumen as a defender, Bill Oram of The Orange County Register writes. “Defensively he has a world of confidence that he can guard most people he has to guard,” Scott said. “I want that to translate on the other end as well.” For his part, Brown seems to understand why his shot selection and accuracy has vexed his coaches, Oram adds. “Obviously, as a coach you want to be able to know what you’re going to get consistently from a guy offensively as well as defensively,” Brown said. “And that’s something I’ve got to continue to work on.”
Seth Curry hasn’t seen much action for the Kings this season despite being a solid defender, an area the team is poor in, which has the combo guard mildly frustrated, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes. “It’s tough,” Curry said. “I think mentally the toughest part is trying to stay involved and try to keep that competitive edge. It’s pretty easy to work out and keep your skills right, but I think mentally and being in good shape is the hardest part.“

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.