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Notes On Proposed Formats For NBA’s Return

May 28th, 2020 at 11:38am CST by Luke Adams

Although a resumption of the 2019/20 season appears likely, there’s still no clarity on what form the NBA will take upon its return. A potential playoff format has been the subject of much discussion and debate this week, with the league still believed to be considering bringing back anywhere from 16 to 30 teams.

Among other issues, the league must decide whether or not to play any regular season games, whether a play-in pool or play-in tournament makes sense, and whether or not to reseed its playoff teams regardless of conference.

[RELATED: Community Shootaround: Play-In Pool Format]

As the NBA continues to weigh all those questions, a number of notable basketball writers are sharing their input on the potential format of a return to play. Here are some highlights:

  • In a deep dive, ESPN’s Zach Lowe explores various playoff formats for the NBA’s return, suggesting that a seven-team play-in tournament for the final three postseason spots (currently held by the Grizzlies, Nets, and Magic) could be one solution. No Eastern lottery teams would be involved in such a tournament, but the Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, and Spurs would be.
  • John Hollinger of The Athletic contends that most of the experimental postseason proposals are unnecessarily complicated or have dangerous downsides. In Hollinger’s view, the NBA should just keep it simple, bringing back its 16 current playoff teams and play a “normal” postseason. It’s worth noting that Hollinger’s former team, the eighth-seeded Grizzlies, would undoubtedly favor that solution, which forgoes a play-in tournament.
  • In a podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said that some people around the NBA believe the league’s inclination to have more than 16 teams return this summer is directly related to a desire to have Pelicans star Zion Williamson involved in any return to play (hat tip to RealGM). New Orleans currently ranks 10th in the West and 18th overall in the NBA standings.
  • Danny Leroux of The Athletic makes a case for allowing the NBA’s top teams to pick their playoff opponents, regardless of the format the league chooses.
  • If the NBA decides to bring back all 30 teams, the league ought to freeze the draft lottery order based on the current standings in order to avoid a potential tank-fest, says Marc Berman of The New York Post.
  • Chris Mannix of SI.com questions whether the NBA should even be prioritizing crowning a champion in 2020, and whether that champ will be viewed as legitimate.
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NBA Hopes To Resume Season In July Or August

May 27th, 2020 at 2:28pm CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA’s current projection has games resuming in late July or early August, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The league is working on multi-phase protocols involving medical and safety concerns, Charania adds. Teams are expected to hold training camps in their home cities in July, followed by camps and scrimmages in Orlando.

It’s the latest bit of encouraging news as the league tries to salvage its season following a hiatus that is now up to 11 weeks. Decisions still have to be made on how many teams will be involved and how the playoffs will be handled.

More information is likely to be forthcoming in a remote meeting Friday involving commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA’s Board of Governors. However, we learned this morning that a final plan isn’t expected at that session.

A limited number of family members would be permitted to join players in the bubble environment in Orlando under a plan being negotiated by the league and the National Basketball Players Association, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.

Issues include when family members can arrive at the Walt Disney Resort, which will probably happen once the first group of teams is eliminated and fewer people are being housed in the bubble, sources tell the authors. Family members will be required to undergo the same safety and testing protocols as players and other team personnel.

Talks are continuing on a playoff format, but teams are becoming “skeptical” that the entire league will be part of a resumption, the story adds. One playoffs-plus idea would involve 20 to 24 teams with more from the West than from the East, sources tell Wojnarowski and Shelburne. Play-in possibilities are also being considered involving the Pelicans, Trail Blazers, Spurs and Kings, who are all within striking distance of the eighth seed in the West.

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Pacific Notes: Bagley, Hield, Kaminsky, Suns

May 26th, 2020 at 10:47pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Trading Marvin Bagley III might be a prudent move for the Kings, Richard Ivanowski of the Sacramento Bee contends in a piece that looks at a hypothetical trade for each player on the team. While he acknowledges that Sacramento is unlikely to consider such a move, Ivanowski pitches the idea of sending Bagley to the Wizards for their 2020 first-rounder (Washington is currently ninth in our Reverse Standings) and Thomas Bryant.

Bagley, who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 draft, hasn’t been able to stay healthy since coming into the league. That, coupled with the presence of Richaun Holmes, could make Sacramento more comfortable with moving on from the 21-year-old, Ivanowski writes.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • Buddy Hield has been the subject of some trade speculation, and Ivanowski believes that dealing him to the Magic for Aaron Gordon would be a solid move for the Kings (same piece). Sacramento could pair the 24-year-old with Harrison Barnes as the team’s starting forwards.
  • Suns big man Frank Kaminsky isn’t too concerned with the logistics of the NBA’s return; he just hopes to be able to participate now that he’s healthy, as Gina Mizell of The Athletic passes along. “I’ll go to Saturn to play basketball at this point,” Kaminsky said. “I’ll go pretty much anywhere. You tell me where to be and I’ll be there, ready to play.”
  • The Suns hold a $5MM team option on Kaminsky for 2020/21 and the former No. 9 overall pick said the team hasn’t really discussed it with him, as Mizell adds in the same piece. “Obviously, I really like it here,” Kaminsky said. “I really like this staff. … I’d really like to be back, but that’s something that’s gonna have to be talked about once everything (with the rest of this season is) figured out.”
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2020/21 Salary Cap Preview: Sacramento Kings

May 22nd, 2020 at 4:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is looking ahead at the 2020/21 salary cap situations for all 30 NBA teams. Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the NBA, it’s impossible to know yet where the cap for 2020/21 will land. Given the league’s lost revenue, we’re assuming for now that it will stay the same as the ’19/20 cap, but it’s entirely possible it will end up higher or lower than that.

The Kings‘ 39-43 performance in 2018/19 qualified as a breakthrough. It was the team’s best record in 13 years, after all. Sacramento didn’t take another step forward in ’19/20, but hung around the outskirts of the playoff race even as former No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley III missed most of the season and other key contributors – like De’Aaron Fox and Richaun Holmes – were sidelined with injuries for extended stretches.

Continued development from young players like Fox and Bagley will be crucial as the Kings look to make the leap from frisky lottery team to solid playoff contender. However, the team’s young core will start getting more expensive going forward, beginning with Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic in 2020/21.

Here’s where things stand for the Kings financially in 2020/21, as we continue our Salary Cap Preview series:

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

Team Options

  • None

Non-Guaranteed Salary

Restricted Free Agents

Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds

Offseason Cap Outlook

Parker will likely opt in, so adding his salary and the cap hold for Sacramento’s first-round pick increases the club’s guaranteed commitments to about $94MM for nine roster spots. It’s safe to assume the Kings will do all they can to re-sign Bogdanovic too, so they’ll operate as an over-the-cap team.

A deadline deal that sent Dewayne Dedmon to Atlanta ensured that the Kings should have the flexibility to negotiate a market-value deal – or match any reasonable offer sheet – for Bogdanovic without approaching the luxury tax line. As such, Sacramento should have the non-taxpayer mid-level and bi-annual exceptions at its disposal this offseason, though it might not make sense to use both exceptions in full — especially if the team wants to retain Bjelica, Bazemore, or any of its other free agents.

Cap Exceptions Available

  • Mid-level exception: $9,258,000 3
  • Bi-annual exception: $3,623,000 3
  • Trade exception: $2,673,334 (expires 2/8/21)

Footnotes

  1. Bjelica’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after October 17.
  2. The Kings can’t offer Giles a starting salary worth more than his cap hold, since his rookie scale team option for 2020/21 was declined.
  3. These are projected values. If team salary gets high enough, it’s possible the Kings would instead be limited to the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5,718,000).

Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are based on the salary cap and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Early Bird Rights was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Four-Month Furloughs Ahead For Many Workers

May 18th, 2020 at 8:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings will place more than one third of their full-time workers on four-month furloughs beginning June 1 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee reports. The employees were informed in an email from President of Business Operations John Rinehart.  The furloughs will impact approximately 100 workers but the front office, health and performance, and scouting/analytics staffs will not be affected.

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Trading Hield Doesn't Seem Likely

May 15th, 2020 at 8:28pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings will likely give Buddy Hield the opportunity to bounce back next season rather than explore trades, James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area. Hield’s four-year, $106MM extension kicks in next season and even though he lost his starting job this season, his shooting ability is not easily replaced. Sacramento has invested heavily in Hield’s development, though economic issues created by the pandemic could change the team’s approach.

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Kings, Pacers, Heat Among Latest Teams To Reopen Facilities

May 13th, 2020 at 2:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Teams around the NBA continue to reopen their practice facilities to accommodate voluntary individual workouts for their players. The Kings, Pacers, and Heat are among the latest teams to do so.

As James Ham of NBC Sports California details, Sacramento opened its facility on Monday, and a handful of players have already taken advantage of the opportunity to get some work in.

The same thing happened in Indiana this week, according to J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star. Michael’s source didn’t identify the specific players who have been back at St. Vincent Center, but said some players have returned to the facility, even as many staffers still aren’t cleared to enter the building.

As for the Heat, they reopened their facility at AmericanAirlines Arena on Wednesday, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel. All but three of Miami’s players are still in the South Beach area, per Winderman, so a number of those players figure to make use of the building.

The Cavaliers, Trail Blazers, Nuggets, Jazz, Hawks, and Raptors are among the teams that have also opened their respective facilities. Raptors forward Malcolm Miller confirmed today that he was the first player back at the club’s facility in Toronto earlier this week (Twitter link via Blake Murphy of The Athletic).

As the list of teams with reopened facilities grows, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Tuesday night that the league believes 22 of its 30 teams will have their building opened back up by next Monday (May 18). However, situations remain fluid.

For instance, the Wizards had reportedly targeted this Friday to reopen their practice facility. That target date is now up in the air, since the stay-at-home order in Washington, D.C. has now been extended through June 8, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.

Players who have been given the green light to participate in individual workouts at their teams’ facilities face restrictive guidelines. They can only work out for an hour at a time, with no more than four total players in the building. They also must undergo temperature checks before entering the facility and are required to wear a mask when not engaged in physical activity.

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Max Extension On The Horizon For De'Aaron Fox?

May 7th, 2020 at 1:02pm CST by Luke Adams
  • Former fifth overall pick De’Aaron Fox will be eligible for a rookie scale extension when the 2020/21 league year begins. James Ham of NBC Sports California explores how much more room Fox has to improve and whether he’s worth a maximum-salary extension offer, ultimately predicting that a five-year max deal seems likely for the rising Kings star.
  • In case you missed it, the Kings are aiming to reopen their practice facility on Monday, May 11, while the Lakers are said to be targeting Saturday, May 16 to reopen their building.
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