Willie Cauley-Stein Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Cavaliers Notes: James, Irving, Love, Trades

December 16th, 2016 at 10:15am CST by Arthur Hill

The new collective bargaining agreement will allow the Cavaliers to offer LeBron James a five-year worth about $209MM in 2018, writes Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal. The exact dollar amount won’t be known until the cap is set for 2018/19, but it would easily exceed the record $153MM contract that Mike Conley signed with the Grizzlies in July. It will be a nice raise for James, who will make nearly $31MM this season and more than $33MM next year, and it was made possible by the union’s insistence that the “age 36” rule, which limits contract length for older veterans, be changed to an “age 38” rule. Of course it’s not certain that James will decide to finish his career in Cleveland. He has talked about forming a team with his friends Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, and 2018 may be his last chance to make that happen while they’re all still productive.

There’s more this morning out of Cleveland:

Kyrie Irving is the only member of the team’s Big Three who will be affected by the new designated veteran player exception, Lloyd notes in the same piece. The provision permits teams to offer six-year extensions to two players who are entering their eighth or ninth seasons in the NBA and who are signing their second max extensions. James is in his 14th season, and Kevin Love has already inked two long-term contracts. Both Irving and Love can both become free agents in 2019.
Grizzlies coach David Fizdale thinks that if James stays in the league when his playing days are over, it should be as an executive rather than a coach, relays Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. “He would kill somebody,” Fizdale said. “Perfection is like [his standard]. He wants perfection. I could see him actually owning his own team and doing something like that, but I think he would end up killing a player at some point because they wouldn’t live up to the expectations that he would set forth.”
The Cavaliers have expressed interest in Kings center Kosta Koufos in the past, but a trade with Sacramento doesn’t seem likely, Vardon states in a separate story. Koufos is now starting for the Kings and making $8MM, so he would be an expensive acquisition. Also, it would be hard to work him into the rotation with Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye forming an effective combination at center. Vardon says Willie Cauley-Stein might be more realistic, but would still cost too much for a player not likely to see many minutes come playoff time.

Kings Rumors: Cauley-Stein, Collison, Cousins

November 14th, 2016 at 12:17pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings appear to be one of the teams most likely to make a trade this season, with a number of their players having already been the subject of various rumors and speculation. Most recently, a Friday report indicated that the team is open to the idea of moving Willie Cauley-Stein, while over the weekend, Omri Casspi denied reports that he wants to be traded by the Kings.

According to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link), however, the Kings aren’t looking to trade anyone – especially players on rookie contracts – for now. That isn’t a big surprise, since most teams don’t get serious about exploring trades until December 15, when most recent signees become trade-eligible. Jones reports (via Twitter) that the Kings are happy with Cauley-Stein’s approach and are still optimistic about him taking a big step forward, and adds that the team wants to take a longer look at the full lineup with Darren Collison back before making any major decisions.

Here are a few more Kings-related rumors:

League executives who spoke to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News about the Kings believe that if the club looks bad in its upcoming five-game home stand, it could lead to some roster changes. Despite the lack of travel, it won’t be an easy stretch for the Kings, who will face the Spurs, Clippers, Raptors, Thunder, and Rockets.
Deveney’s sources also believe that the Kings could finally get serious about moving DeMarcus Cousins this season, but there will be roadblocks. “You have one owner in Sacramento who does not want to give him up,” an Eastern Conference general manager told Deveney. “And you have 29 other owners who don’t want to overpay because they are scared the guy is going to be a headache and is going to hurt the organization.”
A Western Conference GM weighs in to Deveney on the possibility of the Kings trading Cousins: “It is not going to happen unless the Kings cave a little. No one is going to give up too much for someone who might ruin your team’s chemistry this year, then ruin it next year when he is playing for free-agent money. If they don’t see that, then I don’t think it changes and I don’t think he goes anywhere. I don’t know that is good for them or for him, either. But that’s the reality.”

Kings Open To Moving Willie Cauley-Stein?

November 11th, 2016 at 12:43pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings made Willie Cauley-Stein the sixth overall pick in the 2015 draft less than a year and a half ago, but there already appears to be some uncertainty about his long-term future in Sacramento. According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, word is that the Kings are “open to moving” Cauley-Stein, who would like a larger role than he currently has in Sacramento.

After averaging 21.4 minutes per contest in his rookie season, Cauley-Stein is playing just 14.5 MPG early on for the Kings. The 23-year-old big man hasn’t seen the floor at all in two of Sacramento’s 10 games so far under new head coach Dave Joerger, who has often leaned toward playing his veterans over his young players during the first 10 games of the season.

At this point in the season, with offseason signees still ineligible to be traded for at least another five weeks or so, the Kings likely won’t seriously consider any major moves involving Cauley-Stein or any of their other top trade candidates. However, Sacramento is certainly a team worth keeping an eye on as the season progresses, particularly if the club slips out of playoff contention.

In addition to Cauley-Stein, players like Rudy Gay, Kosta Koufos, Ben McLemore, and DeMarcus Cousins have been mentioned as potential trade candidates for Sacramento. Gay and Koufos still appear to be available, though it sounds as if the Kings would like to keep McLemore.

As for Cousins, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com, the consensus among multiple league sources he spoke to was that it would be smart for the Kings to move the big man before the deadline. In the view of those sources, Cousins is unlikely to re-up with the franchise when he becomes eligible for free agency in 2018, so it makes sense to extract as much value as possible for him by dealing him this season, rather than trying to do so in a contract year.

During TNT’s Inside the NBA studio show on Thursday night, Shaquille O’Neal – who has a small ownership stake in the Kings – referred to Cousins as “hot-headed,” suggesting that the veteran center “hasn’t shown great leadership qualities yet.” O’Neal added that he’s hearing the club could be looking to go “in a different direction” if the Kings don’t show signs of improvement.

Western Notes: Deng, Mozgov, Cauley-Stein, Barnes

November 9th, 2016 at 11:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Lakers spent $136MM to bring Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov to Los Angeles, but neither is being used to finish games, writes Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Both offseason signees are in the starting lineup, but coach Luke Walton has been closing out games with younger players. “I think they understand that while we’re trying to win right now … that we’re also trying to develop young players,” Walton said. “I haven’t sat down and talked to them about that but I’m pretty sure, the professionals that they are, they understand that.” Deng signed with the Lakers for $72MM over four years, while Mozgov received $64MM over four seasons.

There’s more tonight from the Western Conference:

Effort is the main thing the Kings are expecting from second-year big man Willie Cauley-Stein, relays Matt Kawahara of The Sacramento Bee. Cauley-Stein has seen his minutes cut from 21.4 per game to 14.9, but new coach Dave Joerger just wants to see him play hard while he’s on the court. “The energy that he brought is the biggest deal,” Joerger said after Cauley-Stein scored nine points in 12 minutes Tuesday. “When he … gets to the rim, [it] seems like it gets all those guys going a little bit. But he’s up there fullcourt, shadowing the other team’s point guard. He’s fronting a guy, comes over and gets a blocked shot. He’s running the floor.”
Harrison Barnes looks like a “big-time upgrade” at small forward for the Mavericks, writes Kevin Sherrington of The Dallas Morning News. The 24-year-old, who signed as a free agent over the summer, is averaging 22.3 points and 5.9 rebounds through Dallas’ first seven games. The player he replaced, Chandler Parsons, has been dealing with knee problems and recently made his season debut in Memphis.
After trying to be a veteran leader with the Bulls, Pau Gasol has entered a much more relaxed atmosphere with the Spurs, according to Ben Dowsett of Basketball Insiders. Gasol signed a two-year, $30MM deal this summer and came to a franchise filled with veteran leaders. “You don’t need to be too loud in this locker room, because it’s not like a group of young guys that need more leadership or direction,” Gasol said. “There’s not much need for me to be loud and say much.”

Kings Pick Up 2017/18 Option On Willie Cauley-Stein

October 21st, 2016 at 5:12pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Kings had only one rookie-scale option to make a decision on in advance of the October 31st deadline this year. In a move that comes as little surprise, Sacramento has exercised its third-year option on Willie Cauley-Stein, the team announced via press release.

Cauley-Stein, who is earning $3,551,160 this season, will be on the Kings’ books for $3,704,160 in 2017/18. The big man would be due $4,696,875 in the final year of his rookie deal, should Sacramento elect to exercise his fourth year option next fall.

The 23-year-old is entering his second season in the league after being selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Cauley-Stein was named to the All-Rookie Second Team last season, notching 7.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.00 blocks in 21.4 minutes per contest over 66 games played.His shooting line was .563/.000/.648.

Rudy Gay Notes: Trade Rumors, Heat, Dragic

October 19th, 2016 at 10:12am CST by Luke Adams

While Rudy Gay has been the subject of trade speculation throughout the offseason, given his apparent discontent with his situation in Sacramento, a Tuesday report provided the most concrete update yet on potential trade talks involving Gay. According to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, the Kings and Heat have discussed a potential deal that would send Gay to Miami along with Darren Collison, with Goran Dragic heading to Sacramento.

While such a deal has been discussed, it’s believed to be in the “kicking the tires” stage, with nothing imminent. With that in mind, here’s the latest on Gay and the trade rumors surrounding him:

Asked about the latest trade whispers, Gay downplayed the talk, as James Ham of CSN Bay Area details. “I’m in the same place I was earlier in the day, I’m in Sacramento,” Gay said. “It is what it is, man, it’s the NBA, it happens. Rumors are going to happen and you’ve just got to go out there and play basketball.”
According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, both he and fellow Herald reporter Manny Navarro have heard nothing is happening with the Heat and Kings at this time. Jackson adds that Miami likes Gay as a “complementary player,” but wants to see how Dragic looks with the current roster rather than trading him right now. Per Jackson, Gay would “love” to play in Miami, and the Heat will consider him a secondary option in free agency next July, whether or not they trade for him.
Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel also explores the Gay rumors from a Heat perspective, suggesting the team probably wouldn’t do the rumored deal involving Dragic and Collison unless the Kings included a draft pick or Willie Cauley-Stein. Winderman also echoes what Jackson wrote, suggesting it’s too early at this point for Miami to make a major trade.

Pacific Notes: Cauley-Stein, Williams, Wilcox

March 22nd, 2016 at 8:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein takes umbrage with those who label him as strictly a defensive player, noting that he has a complete set of skills, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee relays. “I’m a hooper. I do everything – I do it all,” Cauley-Stein said. “So when that stipulation leaves, it’s going to be cool where you’re just not [a defender], but I don’t think it ever will. People don’t want to see that. People ain’t ready for that. They want it to be, ‘You’re a defensive stopper.’ Well, I’m a defensive stopper, and I’ll go get 20 on you if I get the chance. I haven’t got the chance thus far in my career, but I’ve got it in me. I’ve got a lot of different things. Just waiting on the time to do them or having the green light to just hoop. But that comes; I’m a rookie. I kind of have to just wait and perfect it in practice.” The 22-year-old is averaging 6.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 block per game to go along with a slash line of .592/.000/.622.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

Alan Williams‘ multiyear deal with the Suns calls for him to earn $875K next season and that amount is non-guaranteed, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays (Twitter link). It looks like Pincus is rounding up from the one-year veteran’s minimum salary of $874,636.
Warriors small forward Harrison Barnes is eligible to become a restricted free agent this offseason and ESPN’s Brian Windhorst believes that he’ll command an average salary of around $20MM per year on his next deal and that the player will receive multiple free agent offers, as he told 95.7 The Game (Twitter link). Golden State, provided it submits a qualifying offer worth $5,194,227, will have the right to match any offer sheet that Barnes signs.
The Clippers have assigned shooting guard C.J. Wilcox to the D-League, the team announced. Wilcox, who is making his fourth trek to the D-League on the campaign, will report to the Canton Charge as part of the league’s flexible assignment rule, since L.A. does not have its own affiliate.

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: Cousins, Cauley-Stein, Sanders

March 10th, 2016 at 3:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Kings have given DeMarcus Cousins a one-game suspension, the team announced, in the wake of his outburst toward coach George Karl during a timeout in Wednesday’s game. Cousins continued his tirade after the game, upset that Karl wasn’t defending him to refs, and Cousins jawed with GM Vlade Divac too, reports Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). It was odd timing, as Karl told Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee after the game that he would undergo a minor procedure for cancer in his throat today. It’s the latest chapter in the up-and-down relationship between Cousins and Karl, and it costs the star big man $144,109, 1/110th of his salary for the season. Cousins, who’ll miss Friday’s game against the Magic, wasn’t the only Kings player upset with Karl on Wednesday, as we detail amid news from the Pacific Division:

Kings rookie Willie Cauley-Stein found it difficult to accept Karl’s explanation for the decreased minutes he’s seen of late, as James Ham of CSN California relays. Karl told reporters not to overreact to Cauley-Stein’s minutes dip, saying he’ll see plenty of burn the rest of the season and pointing specifically to the matchups involved in Wednesday’s game, Ham notes. “That’s funny, that’s funny, kind of flimsy, [because] I can guard five positions, so that’s redundant, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” Cauley-Stein said. “There should be no matchup problems ever. So that’s just an excuse I think. However, I’m not the coach.”
Larry Sanders is living in Los Angeles and has Lakers season tickets, as he told Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The 27-year-old center who walked away from the game last year said he can envision making a comeback but remains wary of the NBA grind and said he won’t return to the situation he was in before, Kennedy relays, a subtle hint that he wouldn’t consider returning to the Bucks. Sanders praised Magic coach Scott Skiles, who was the Bucks coach when he entered the NBA, Kennedy also notes. The former 15th overall pick recently told Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports that he plans to play in the NBA again but only after he tends to other opportunities.
The Markieff Morris trade appears to have been beneficial for both the Suns and the Wizards, though much depends on where the top-nine protected pick that Washington owes Phoenix ends up in the draft order, observes Jeremy Cluff of the Arizona Republic.

Pacific Notes: Griffin, McDonough, Cauley-Stein

February 4th, 2016 at 6:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Clippers team owner Steve Ballmer said that Blake Griffin needs to be disciplined for his role in the altercation with equipment manager Mathias Testi that left the power forward with a broken shooting hand, Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times relays. “There needs to be consequences,” Ballmer said. “It’s the right thing to do.” The owner was also quick to note that Griffin is a significant part of the organization’s plans, Hernandez adds. Ballmer said Griffin would be welcomed back once he is medically cleared to play and has served any potential suspension the league may hand out, according to Hernandez.

“You know, everyone’s going to heal, and we’re going to have an opportunity to move forward,” Ballmer said.”We’re going to finish our investigation, decide what needs to happen and move forward. Blake’s a key part of our team. There’s no question about that. He certainly has been remorseful, which is great, and we’ll find a way to move past it. That’s part of life. An important part of life is learning how to have consequences.”

Here’s the latest from out of the Pacific Division:

Suns GM Ryan McDonough accepts his share of the blame for the franchise’s current woes and vows to hold himself, along with everyone else in the organization, more accountable moving forward, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic relays. “I take a lot of responsibility, most of the responsibility for what has gone on and what has gone wrong with this organization over the past few months,” McDonough said. “I know I need to do a better job. My staff needs to do a better job. What’s happened recently has been a collective failure. All of us have not done well enough and that starts with ownership, goes to the front office, the coaching staff and the players. We need to do better.”
Kings rookie Willie Cauley-Stein is driven to become a star in the NBA, and despite the negative predraft rumors regarding his love for the game, he has been one of the team’s hardest workers this season, James Ham of CSNBayArea.com writes. “For me to take the step that I want to take and the step that I think I need to take, I have to become an all-around basketball player or it’s not going to be fun for me,” Cauley-Stein said. “Playing this game won’t be fun for me if I don’t become the player that I know I can become and the player they know I can become. If I settled and was just a rim protector and an under-the-basket guy, then I cheated myself in life, that’s how I look at it.”