- According to Marks, Matt Costello got $31.5K guaranteed from the Grizzlies, Lamar Patterson received a $100K guarantee from the Kings, and JaVale McGee has a $250K partial guarantee from the Warriors. Marks indicates that McGee’s guarantee will increase to $500K if he’s still under contract through December 1.
Kings center DeMarcus Cousins appears to be bonding with new coach Dave Joerger, a stark contrast to his well-publicized issues with former coach George Karl, according to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. Cousins expressed to Jones that they like each other, adding he appreciates Joerger’s straightforward approach and even-keeled personality. “I think what he brought to the team is what this team needed,” Cousins told Jones. “It fits our identity more than how we played in the past. Not to knock any of the previous situations but I think this situation fits this team the best.” Cousins’ relationship with his new coach will carefully watched, particularly if the season starts to go sour once again in Sacramento.
- Suns coach Earl Watson will insert a pair of rookies, point guard Tyler Ulis and power forward Dragan Bender, into the second unit to replace veterans Leandro Barbosa and P.J. Tucker, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reports. Watson decided to make the change after an opening-night loss to the Kings. They will join Brandon Knight, fellow rookie Marquese Chriss and Alex Len on that unit, Coro adds. “To me, they play with the most heart,” Watson told Coro. “Heart gets rewarded.”
- The Kings’ brass told NBA Commissioner Adam Silver they want to host the 2020 All-Star Game, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com tweets. No formal application has been made but their desire to host that game was made clear as Silver toured the Kings’ new Golden 1 Center, Howard-Cooper adds.
- Shooting guard Lamar Patterson has signed a D-League contract and will be an affiliate player for the Kings’ Reno Bighorns, according to another tweet from the D-League Digest. Patterson appeared in four preseason games for the Kings, averaging 5.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game, before he was waived. He spent much of the 2015/16 season playing in the D-League and the Hawks waived him in July.
The Kings have officially waived guards Jordan Farmar and Isaiah Cousins, the team announced via press release. Sacramento will be on the hook for $100K for Cousins, who had a partially guaranteed deal, unless he is claimed off waivers by another team.
The team also released its opening night roster, which includes 15 players. No mention was made of Lamar Patterson, who was reportedly re-signed by Sacramento on Friday. It’s unclear if the signing never occurred, the player was already waived or the deal is still pending.
Farmar, who will turn 30 in November, has played more than 500 regular-season games over the course of his nine-year NBA career, though he appeared in just 12 games last season. In those contests, Farmar averaged 9.2 PPG, 3.1 APG and 1.3 SPG. However, his production dipped in the playoffs, as he shot just 32.3% from the floor during the club’s first-round loss to San Antonio.
Cousins (no relation to DeMarcus) is a 6’6″ shooting guard out of Oklahoma who became the second-last player selected in this year’s draft. In his final year with the Sooners, Cousins averaged 12.6 PPG, 4.5 APG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.4 SPG in 37 contests. The senior also shot 41.1% on three-point attempts and made nearly two of them per game — his shooting percentage was better on three-pointers than on two-pointers for a second consecutive season.
Monday afternoon is the deadline to reach the roster limit of 15, and nine teams still have cuts to make, tweets salary cap expert Albert Nahmad. The Celtics, Cavaliers, Rockets, Lakers, Pelicans, Thunder, Sixers, Suns and Kings all remain over the limit leading into what should be an eventful day, says Nahmad. By our count, the Grizzlies still have a move to make as well. The Pacers were the latest team to trim their roster, waiving Jeremy Evans and Julyan Stone tonight.
There’s more news from around the NBA:
- J.J. Avila, who was waived Friday by the Bulls, has agreed to play for Chicago’s D-League affiliate, tweets Dennis Silva II of Monitor News. The 6’8″ power forward from Colorado State signed a training camp contract with Chicago in September. Guard Thomas Walkup of Stephen F. Austin, another Friday cut, will also be joining the Windy City Bulls (Twitter link).
- Damjan Rudez and Arinze Onuaku both traveled a lot of miles to realize their dream of returning to the NBA, writes John Denton of NBA.com. After playing overseas and in the D-League, both veterans were told Saturday that they had earned a place on the Magic’s final roster. “It was a big blessing,” Onuaka said. “When you are out here fighting for a spot every day it’s stressful and to get that news, it was great. You’ve always got to wait to hear if you’re in or you’re out, so it wasn’t easy sleeping at night.’’
- Fred VanVleet won the Raptors‘ final roster spot, but coach Dwane Casey said all the training camp invitees were impressive, tweets Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. Casey said Drew Crawford and Brady Heslip have the talent to be NBA players, adding that he was disappointed he didn’t have room to keep all of them.
The 2016/17 NBA regular season gets underway just a couple days from now, which means it’s time to start getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign. With the help of the lines from offshore betting site Bovada.lv, we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division, and having you weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic. Having looked at the Atlantic, Northwest, Central, Southwest, and Southeast divisions so far, we’re moving on to the Pacific today…
Golden State Warriors
- 2015/16 record: 73-9
- Over/under for 2016/17: 66.5 wins
- Offseason in review: Added Kevin Durant, Zaza Pachulia, David West, Damian Jones, Patrick McCaw, JaVale McGee. Lost Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, Marreese Speights, Leandro Barbosa, Brandon Rush.
(App users, click here for Warriors poll)
Los Angeles Clippers
- 2015/16 record: 53-29
- Over/under for 2016/17: 53.5 wins
- Offseason in review: Added Marreese Speights, Alan Anderson, Raymond Felton, Brandon Bass, Brice Johnson. Lost Jeff Green, Cole Aldrich, C.J. Wilcox, Pablo Prigioni.
(App users, click here for Clippers poll)
Sacramento Kings
- 2015/16 record: 33-49
- Over/under for 2016/17: 34 wins
- Offseason in review: Added Arron Afflalo, Anthony Tolliver, Garrett Temple, Matt Barnes, Ty Lawson, Georgios Papagiannis, Malachi Richardson, Skal Labissiere. Lost Rajon Rondo, Marco Belinelli, Seth Curry, James Anderson, Quincy Acy.
(App users, click here for Kings poll)
Phoenix Suns
- 2015/16 record: 23-59
- Over/under for 2016/17: 30 wins
- Offseason in review: Added Jared Dudley, Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, Leandro Barbosa. Lost Mirza Teletovic, Jon Leuer, Ronnie Price, Chase Budinger.
(App users, click here for Suns poll)
Los Angeles Lakers
- 2015/16 record: 17-65
- Over/under for 2016/17: 24.5 wins
- Offseason in review: Added Luol Deng, Timofey Mozgov, Brandon Ingram, Jose Calderon. Lost Kobe Bryant, Roy Hibbert, Brandon Bass, Ryan Kelly.
(App users, click here for Lakers poll)
Previous voting results:
- Boston Celtics (52.5 wins): Under (54.59%)
- Toronto Raptors (50.5 wins): Over (54.63%)
- New York Knicks (38.5 wins): Over (71.41%)
- Philadelphia 76ers (23.5 wins): Under (54.62%)
- Brooklyn Nets (20.5 wins): Under (60.74%)
- Utah Jazz (49 wins): Under (68.72%)
- Portland Trail Blazers (45.5 wins): Over (69.92%)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (43.5 wins): Over (65.71%)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (40.5 wins): Over (50.11%)
- Denver Nuggets (37 wins): Under (68.81%)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (56.5 wins): Over (66.5%)
- Detroit Pistons (44.5 wins): Over (55.03%)
- Indiana Pacers (44.5 wins): Over (73.06%)
- Chicago Bulls (38.5 wins): Over (61.9%)
- Milwaukee Bucks (34.5 wins): Over (67.48%)
- San Antonio Spurs (58.5 wins): Under (57.4%)
- Houston Rockets (44 wins): Over (52.76%)
- Memphis Grizzlies (42.5 wins): Over (59.69%)
- Dallas Mavericks (38.5 wins): Over (69.71%)
- New Orleans Pelicans (37 wins): Under (70.9%)
- Atlanta Hawks (43.5 wins): Over (59.84%)
- Charlotte Hornets (42.5 wins): Under (62.22%)
- Washington Wizards (42.5 wins): Over (51.6%)
- Orlando Magic (37.5 wins): Over (54.42%)
- Miami Heat (34.5 wins): Under (61.45%)
- George Karl writes in his upcoming book that upon meeting Rudy Gay, the forward warned him about the dysfunctional nature of the Kings, calling the franchise “basketball hell,” Stein relays in the same piece. Gay seemingly has no interest in staying with the team long-term, as he announced last month that he plans to opt out of his contract at the end of the season.
The Kings intend to re-sign swingman Lamar Patterson, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders reports (via Twitter). The length and terms of the pact are unknown, nor if it includes any guaranteed money. Sacramento had waived Patterson on Wednesday.
Patterson played in four preseason games for the Kings, averaging 5.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. He shot 45.5% from the field, including 33.3% from behind the arc.
The Bucks drafted Patterson with the 48th overall selection in the 2014 draft and dealt his rights to the Hawks on draft night. He played overseas during the 2014/15 season before signing with Atlanta during the 2015 offseason. He spent much of the 2015/16 season playing in the D-League and the Hawks waived him in July.
- Several NBA.com scribes – including David Aldridge, Scott Howard-Cooper, Fran Blinebury, and others – gave their two cents on the best fit for point guard Mario Chalmers, with the Cavaliers getting the most votes. The Clippers and Kings were also mentioned as potential suitors that would make sense for Chalmers, who is still recovering from an Achilles injury.
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.