San Antonio Spurs Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Jazz’s Sensabaugh, Spurs’ Castle Out For Rest Of Summer League

July 15th, 2024 at 1:07pm CST by Rory Maher

An MRI has revealed that second-year forward Brice Sensabaugh sustained an extensor tendon tear in his left middle finger during the second quarter of Saturday’s game vs. Dallas, the Jazz announced in a press release (via Twitter).

Sensabaugh’s finger will be splinted and reexamined in about six weeks, which means he’ll miss the remainder of Las Vegas Summer League. Based on that timeline, he’d be reexamined around late August, before training camp begins in the fall.

The 28th pick of the 2023 draft out of Ohio State, Sensabaugh made just four NBA regular season appearances in Utah’s first 53 games leading up to the February trade deadline. After the Jazz traded away veterans for the second consecutive year and tanked down the stretch, the 20-year-old averaged 8.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists on .392/.292/.902 shooting while appearing in 28 of the team’s final 29 games (20.5 MPG).

Sensabaugh, who is known for his shooting and scoring but isn’t a great defender, also appeared in 29 games for Utah’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, as a rookie in 2023/24. He averaged 19.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals on .467/.365/.758 shooting in 29.5 MPG.

Spurs guard Stephon Castle, the fourth pick of last month’s draft out of UConn, will also miss the remainder of Summer League, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required).

Castle suffered a right wrist sprain in Saturday’s win over Portland — his Spurs debut — in which he recorded 22 points, five rebounds and four assists. The injury is considered minor, but the team didn’t want to risk aggravating it.

“I feel like they have my best interests in mind,” Castle said, per Orsborn. “I feel like it’s smart to take the caution route.”

Southwest Notes: Dudley, Lawson, Popovich, Hawkins

July 14th, 2024 at 2:58pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Mavericks assistant coach Jared Dudley has made no secret of the fact that he’s hoping to one day serve as a head coach in the league, per Joey Mistretta of ClutchPoints (Twitter video link).

“I want to head coach, that’s my dream and ambition is to be able to do that,” Dudley said. “But at the same time as you can have that, some us aren’t J.J. Redick and get to go right away. I’ve got to be able to do two, three years, four or five years as an assistant. We all have different years, and my time will come later on. My time will eventually come.”

Redick, a one-time former Maverick, took over as the Lakers’ head coach this offseason without any assistant coach experience at the NBA or college level.

Dudley, a 14-year combo forward as a pro, has served as an assistant coach under Jason Kidd since the 2021/22 season. During that window, the Mavericks have appeared in a pair of Western Conference Finals and one NBA Finals. Currently, Dudley is the head coach of the Mavs’ Summer League squad.

There’s more out of the Southwest:

High-flying Mavericks wing A.J. Lawson is looking to show he belongs in the league as a regular rotation player, writes Eddie Sefko of Mavericks.com. Though he’s now on a standard contract, Lawson is still trying to prove his mettle on the club’s Summer League team. “The emphasis for me is definitely going to be defending,” Lawson said of his focus this summer. “I want to show I can defend one through four (point guards to power forwards). And also to be able to knock down the open shot. Everybody knows I got speed.”
Longtime Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich discussed San Antonio’s offseason roster additions Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes in a courtside conversation with ESPN’s Doris Burke and Mark Jones (YouTube video link). “I think [Paul’s] going to teach everybody a whole lot better than I did,” Popovich said. “Having he and Harrison come into the fold at this stage in their career is really wonderful for the youth that we have.” Popovich also raved about No. 4 draft pick Stephon Castle: “I love his seriousness for such a young kid. I love his pace – you see his expression never changes – he doesn’t go too fast, doesn’t go too slow. He reads the situations. The more minutes he gets, the better he is going to be. He seeks contact, he is an excellent defender and he makes wonderful decisions.”
Second-year Pelicans shooting guard Jordan Hawkins, the No. 14 pick out of UConn in 2023, knows exactly where he wants to improve his game this offseason, writes Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “Definitely the defensive end,” Hawkins said. “I think that’s what held me back a little bit. Not being able to guard. So I think my big focus is going to be on guarding. Trying to guard wings. Trying to get bigger. Shooting. Being a 40% three-point shooter for our team. We have guys who can penetrate, get to the hoop. I just have to be able to knock shots down.”

Castle Plans To Learn From Paul

July 12th, 2024 at 10:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Spurs lottery pick Stephon Castle has aspirations to be a starting point guard but it probably won’t happen this year with Chris Paul signing with the club. Castle says he’s looking forward to the experience of playing with and learning from the future Hall of Famer. “I’m super happy about that,” Castle told Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. “To have a guy like that and play alongside him and have him mentor me a bit, it’s going to be fun.”

Groups Revealed For 2024 NBA Cup

July 12th, 2024 at 7:28pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The NBA has announced the five-team groups for this year’s in-season tournament, now renamed the Emirates NBA Cup, the league announced in a release on Friday (Twitter link).

Like last year, there are six groups — three each from the Western Conference and Eastern Conference — and each conference was split into five groups based on last year’s standings. One team was selected at random from each group to determine the group round matchups.

The results are:

West Group A: Timberwolves, Clippers, Kings, Rockets and Trail Blazers
West Group B: Thunder, Suns, Lakers, Jazz and Spurs
West Group C: Nuggets, Mavericks, Pelicans, Warriors and Grizzlies
East Group A: Knicks, Magic, Sixers, Nets and Hornets
East Group B: Bucks, Pacers, Heat, Raptors and Pistons
East Group C: Celtics, Cavaliers, Bulls, Hawks and Wizards

The NBA Cup begins with group play, which runs from Nov. 12 to Dec. 3. Each team plays one game against each of the four opponents in its group. The NBA released a matchup matrix to help fans follow along (Twitter link).

Just like last season, the winner of each group advances to a knockout round alongside the team with the best record in each conference that didn’t win a group. The semifinals and finals will again be played in T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Last year, the Lakers won the inaugural in-season tournament over the Pacers. LeBron James was named the tournament MVP after dropping 24 points in the title game.

The full game and broadcast schedule for group play will be announced next month.

Paul Valued PT Over Ring

July 11th, 2024 at 9:16am CST by Dana Gauruder

After getting waived by the Warriors, Chris Paul chose the Spurs despite his lack of a championship ring. Paul will likely return to a starting role with San Antonio and that was a deciding factor, according to Andrew Lopez on ESPN. “I want to play more than anything,” he said. Newly-acquired Harrison Barnes had a 10% trade bonus that he waived in order to help facilitate the deal involving the Kings, Spurs and Bulls. Barnes called it “a pretty easy decision,” adding, “It’s funny, with the new CBA, the trade kicker became more of a play than I was expecting, but I think the opportunity just to come here and to be able play for Pop (Gregg Popovich) and play with this group I think is exciting.”

Contract Details: Quickley, Barnes, Batum, Jones, CP3, Oubre, More

July 10th, 2024 at 7:15am CST by Luke Adams

Initially reported to be worth $175MM over five years, Immanuel Quickley‘s new contract with the Raptors actually has a base value of $162.5MM, according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet (Twitter link). It also features $12.5MM in unlikely incentives – $2.5MM per year – that would allow the guard to max out at $175MM if he earns all of them. But for now the cap hits for Quickley will be $32.5MM annually.

Meanwhile, the “Rose rule” language in Scottie Barnes‘ new five-year, maximum-salary extension with the Raptors is fairly straightforward, Murphy notes (Twitter link). Barnes will have a starting salary worth 30% of the 2025/26 salary cap if he makes any All-NBA team – first, second, or third – next season, or if he wins MVP or Defensive Player of the Year. If he doesn’t earn any of those honors, his starting salary will be 25% of the ’25/26 cap, with 8% annual raises from there.

Based on the NBA’s latest salary cap projection, Barnes’ five-year extension would be worth $224,238,150 if it starts at 25% next year’s cap, or $269,085,780 if it starts at 30%.

Here are more details on a few of the contracts recently finalized around the NBA:

Nicolas Batum (15%) and Derrick Jones (5%) each received trade kickers on their new contracts with the Clippers, Hoops Rumors has learned. Batum’s deal is worth the full bi-annual exception ($9,569,400 over two years) with a second-year player option, while Jones’ three-year, $30MM deal was completed using a significant portion ($9,523,810) of the mid-level exception. Los Angeles still has $3,298,190 left on its MLE for now.
Chris Paul‘s one-year contract with the Spurs has a guaranteed base value of $10.46MM, with unlikely incentives that could push his total earnings as high as about $12.03MM, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. That structure allowed San Antonio to create the extra cap room necessary to accommodate Harrison Barnes‘ incoming salary while also putting Paul in position to earn more his initially reported salary of $11MM.
Kelly Oubre, whose two-year, $16,365,150 contract is worth the Sixers‘ entire room exception (and features a player option), waived his right to veto a trade in 2024/25, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Kings center Alex Len gave up that right as well on his one-year, minimum-salary contract, Hoops Rumors has learned.
As expected, the contracts signed by new Kings guard Jordan McLaughlin and new Pelicans center Daniel Theis are one-year deals worth the veteran’s minimum.

Western Notes: Morant, Klay, Wiggins, Barnes, Avdija

July 9th, 2024 at 2:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has been cleared for all basketball activities, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Morant, who missed the first 25 games of the 2023/24 season due to a suspension, returned to action in December and immediately provided a spark for the Grizzlies, who won six of nine games with the star point guard in the lineup. However, a labral tear in Morant’s right shoulder ended his season after those nine games. He has been recovering from surgery in the months since then.

The Grizzlies were one of the NBA’s most injury-plagued teams in ’23/24, but head coach Taylor Jenkins told reporters back in April that only Morant projected to have a recovery timeline extending well into the offseason. With a fully healthy roster, there’s optimism in Memphis that the club can bounce back from a 27-55 year and look more like the club that went 107-57 over the previous two regular seasons.

We have more from around the Western Conference:

Referring to his deal with the Mavericks as a “fresh start,” Klay Thompson told reporters on Tuesday that he’s optimistic about “kind of being rejuvenated” in Dallas, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN details. “Feeling just wanted again, like I bring great value, it just gets me excited to go out there and even work out after this press conference and get shots up,” Thompson said. “Yeah, there was times last year where it was tough, where it wasn’t as joyful as it was in the past. It’s nice to kind of shed that and have a whole new fresh start, whole new group of guys to get to know, co-workers, whole new city. It’s really cool, and I’m going to embrace the heck out of this opportunity.” In a story for The Athletic, Tim Cato takes a look at how Thompson will fit in on the Mavs’ roster.
Aaron Wiggins‘ new five-year contract with the Thunder is worth $45MM, with $2MM in bonuses that could push it up to the initially reported total of $47MM, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). The deal has a descending structure and includes a fifth-year team option, Scotto adds.
New Spurs forward Harrison Barnes confirmed on Tuesday that he waived his $3.7MM trade kicker to facilitate his move to San Antonio, calling it a “pretty easy decision” and adding that he’s excited about playing for head coach Gregg Popovich, tweets Andrew Lopez of ESPN.
New Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija admitted on Monday that he was surprised to be traded by the Wizards, according to Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Substack link). “I think they really love me,” Avdija said of his old team. “I’ve done a lot for that organization. It was just not the timeline, I guess.” Now that he has gotten past that initial surprise, the 23-year-old is “excited” about the new opportunity in front of him. “They’ve welcomed me very well, so it’s a good start,” he said. “I’m glad to be in a place where people embrace me and love me. I’m going to bring my competitiveness, and we’re going to have a lot of fun.”

Atlantic Rumors: Trent, Quickley, Knicks, Kessler, Bertans, Celtics

July 9th, 2024 at 10:25am CST by Luke Adams

Although the Raptors haven’t entirely closed the door on the possibility of bringing back free agent wing Gary Trent Jr., his return appears increasingly unlikely based on how the team’s offseason has played out, says Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca.

As Lewenberg observes, Toronto sacrificed much of its cap flexibility by taking on salary in a trade with the Kings and exercising Bruce Brown‘s team option. The club also added a wing in the first round of the draft, selecting Ja’Kobe Walter with the 19th overall pick. The 15-man roster is now full, with little breathing room below the luxury tax line.

When the Raptors’ negotiating window with Trent opened last month, they were willing to offer him an annual salary in the neighborhood of $15MM, a source tells Lewenberg, but the swingman’s camp was seeking a raise on last year’s $18.5MM salary, possibly up to $25MM or so.

Toronto wasn’t prepared to meet that price, and it doesn’t look like there are any rival suitors who will go that high either. One league insider tells TSN that Trent would be lucky at this point to receive the full mid-level exception (worth about $12.9MM). The Raptors no longer have on offer on the table for the 25-year-old, according to Lewenberg.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

The Jazz and Spurs, among other teams, had “real” interest in restricted free agent guard Immanuel Quickley before he agreed to sign a five-year, $175MM contract with the Raptors, Lewenberg writes, which is one reason why that deal came in higher than expected. Quickley’s new deal will be worth a flat $35MM across all five seasons, Lewenberg adds, so it’ll start at just under 25% of the salary cap in 2024/25 but that percentage will drop each year as the cap increases.
Echoing previous reporting, Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter video link) confirms that the Knicks have inquired on Walker Kessler, but says he’d be surprised if New York makes a deal for the third-year center, given the Jazz‘s asking price, which includes “at least” a first-round pick.
The Knicks are among the teams that have expressed some level of interest in free agent sharpshooter Davis Bertans, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
After the Celtics officially re-signed centers Xavier Tillman, Luke Kornet, and Neemias Queta, director of player personnel Austin Ainge said he’s “extremely grateful” to have all those players back and suggested that one or more of them could have landed more lucrative deals elsewhere. “We had some guys turn down more money other places to come back,” Ainge said, according to Brian Robb of MassLive.com. “It feels really good that guys we care about a lot to come back and go for another run.”

Olympic Notes: France, Japan, Spain, Flagg, Brooks

July 9th, 2024 at 8:56am CST by Luke Adams

The host nation for the 2024 Olympics officially confirmed its roster for the Paris games, announcing a 12-man squad headlined by centers Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs and Timberwolves, respectively (Twitter link).

Besides France’s twin towers, other NBA players on the French squad include Clippers forward Nicolas Batum, Wizards forward Bilal Coulibaly, and free agent swingman Evan Fournier. Nando De Colo, Frank Ntilikina, and Guerschon Yabusele are among the other players on the team who have previous NBA experience.

As first reported by Gabriel Pantel-Jouve of BeBasket on Sunday (via Twitter), France’s final two cuts were also former NBA players — guards Elie Okobo and Theo Maledon won’t be on the 12-man roster for Paris.

Here are a few more notes on the upcoming Olympic games:

As expected, Japan’s official 12-man roster for the Olympics is headed up by Lakers forward Rui Hachimura and six-year NBA veteran Yuta Watanabe (Instagram link). Former Nebraska Keisei Tominaga, who recently agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with the Pacers, is another notable name on the 12-man squad.
After winning their Olympic qualifying tournament over the weekend, Spain is making just one change for the Olympics, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops writes. Veteran wing Alex Abrines, who played in the NBA with Oklahoma City from 2016-19, has been medically cleared to play following an injury and will replace 2024 Spurs second-round pick Juan Nunez for the Olympics. The full roster, which includes Santi Aldama of the Grizzlies and the Hernangomez brothers, can be found right here (Twitter link).
Incoming Duke freshman Cooper Flagg said over the weekend that he was “pretty surprised” to be invited to be part of the Select Team for the U.S. training camp in Las Vegas, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. However, Flagg was the talk of that Vegas camp, earning rave reviews from players and coaches alike, according to Joe Vardon and Sam Amick of The Athletic. Select Team assistant coach Jim Boylen referred to the 17-year-old as “unbelievable,” while teammate Jaime Jaquez said Flagg was “playing out of his mind.” Flagg is a candidate to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft. “He showed no fear,” Jalen Duren said. “He came and worked hard every day. You would think he’s already here, you know what I mean?”
After defeating Team USA with the Canadian national team for bronze at the 2023 World Cup, Dillon Brooks is eager to face a more star-studded U.S. in Wednesday’s exhibition game in Las Vegas, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic. “I take it as (just) another game, but me being who I am, I like to make a statement,” Brooks told reporters on Monday. “So I’ll be ready to play. Team Canada will be ready to play, and we’re gonna go balls to the wall and watch the film after and see if we got better.”

DeRozan Trade Notes: Contract, Draft Picks, Spurs’ Moves, CP3

July 9th, 2024 at 7:35am CST by Luke Adams

DeMar DeRozan‘s new three-year contract with the Kings is worth $73.7MM, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who says the third year is partially guaranteed for $10MM.

If we assume the contract has a standard ascending structure with 5% annual raises, that would work out to about $48MM in guaranteed money for DeRozan across the first two seasons, with $58MM guaranteed in total.

Here’s more on the three-team sign-and-trade deal sending DeRozan to Sacramento that was officially finalized on Monday:

The two second-round picks the Kings sent to the Bulls in the trade are Sacramento’s own 2025 and 2028 second-rounders, per RealGM. The Kings have also traded away their own 2025 first-round pick (top-10 protected) and recently dealt Portland’s 2025 second-rounder to Toronto, so they currently don’t control any selections in next year’s draft.
The fact that the Spurs only had to make one roster move (waiving Charles Bassey) to finalize the trade suggests that Harrison Barnes gave up his $3.7MM trade kicker in order to make the math work, as LJ Ellis of SpursTalk writes. Even with Barnes waiving that trade bonus, the numbers still don’t quite add up unless Chris Paul‘s cap hit comes in a little lower than the $11MM figure initially reported — Paul’s deal may include unlikely incentives that wouldn’t count against the cap but could push the value of his deal to $11MM (or higher), as cap expert Yossi Gozlan speculates (via Twitter).
Prior to completing the deal, the Spurs renounced their rights to a handful of free agents, including two players to whom they previously issued qualifying offers: Sandro Mamukelashvili and David Duke (Twitter link via Keith Smith of Spotrac). That doesn’t preclude bringing back either player, but Mamukelashvili and Duke are now unrestricted free agents, so San Antonio wouldn’t have the right to match an offer they get from another team.
The inclusion of RaiQuan Gray, who is on a two-way contract, was necessary in order for the Spurs and Bulls to “touch” in the three-team trade (ie. each club has to send or receive an asset from the other two teams in the deal). However, Gray – who was sent from San Antonio to Chicago – will be waived by the Bulls, as K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reported (via Twitter). The Spurs now have two open two-way slots, while Chicago will have one once Gray is officially cut.
Barnes, who had been a King since 2019, published a pair of tweets thanking the franchise, city, and fans for the experience. “To Kings fans and all of SAC, this city will always hold a special place in my heart,” Barnes wrote as part of a longer statement. “Thank you for embracing me and making this city feel like home. Your passion and love for the game are unmatched. Grateful for the memories we made together!”