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Popovich Expected To Continue Coaching Spurs

April 28th, 2019 at 9:09am CST by Arthur Hill

Gregg Popovich is expected to return to the Spurs next season, with one member of the team’s staff telling Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express News that he has “no doubt” about the legendary coach’s future. Popovich’s current contract expired when San Antonio’s playoff run ended last night. He will coach Team USA in the FIBA World Cup this summer, but has remained guarded about his plans beyond that.

“I’m a head coach in the NBA,” Popovich said in response to a pre-game question Saturday on whether he was considering retirement. “I don’t think about what that means in the future.”

At age 70, Popovich still embraces the challenges of coaching and had a particularly good time this season, notes Jabari Young of The Athletic. In looking for clues about his future, Young cites a quote from Popovich before a March game in Boston.

“This is actually one of the more enjoyable seasons,” he said. “It’s been fun to watch Bryn Forbes develop, and Davis Bertans, and Derrick White and so forth. It’s satisfying.”

The chance to reach a milestone may also play into Popovich’s thought process. He moved into third place on the career victories list this season with 1,245 and is just 90 away from catching Don Nelson for the top spot.

There’s more on the offseason decisions facing the Spurs:

  • Rudy Gay will be the team’s only significant free agent this summer, but San Antonio has to decide how much it wants to invest in a player who will be 33 by the start of training camp. The Spurs will have Early Bird rights on Gay, Young notes, meaning they can offer up to a 75% raise on his $10MM contract. Gay will be eligible for a one- to four-year deal starting at about $17MM per season.
  • Regardless of what happens with Gay, San Antonio will likely be operating above the salary cap but under the tax line, Young adds. That will give the team a $9.2MM mid-level exception to use on the free agent market.
  • It’s not too early to start thinking about DeMar DeRozan‘s free agency, writes Bobby Marks of ESPN. DeRozan can decide next summer to opt out of his $27.7 million salary for 2020/21, and could join Draymond Green and possibly Anthony Davis as the top names in an otherwise sub-par free agent class. The Spurs can eliminate that possibility by reworking DeRozan’s contract when he becomes eligible for a four-year, $149.1MM extension on July 6.
  • The Spurs also face a difficult decision on Dejounte Murray, who will be eligible for a rookie-scale extension through October 21, according to Marks. Murray appears to have a bright future, but he is coming off a torn ACL that wiped virtually his entire season. Jakob Poeltl is also eligible for a rookie scale extension, but by waiting on both players and DeRozan, the Spurs could have up to $30MM in cap room to spend next summer.
  • Patty Mills will be eligible for a veteran extension on August 4, and LaMarcus Aldridge becomes eligible on October 1, Marks adds.
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Warriors Notes: Kerr, Durant, Green, Iguodala

April 27th, 2019 at 8:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

Warriors coach Steve Kerr is calling for a change in the rule that imposes an automatic one-game suspension on any player who receives seven technical fouls in the playoffs, relays Tim MacMahon of ESPN. The penalty is significant for the Warriors because Kevin Durant and Draymond Green were among the league leaders in technicals during the regular season.

“I will never understand the rule that everybody falls under the exact same category, in terms of whether you lose in four games in the first round or you play 25 games and you go to the Finals, that it’s the same technical fouls points that lead to a suspension,” Kerr said. “It seems strange. But I do know that Kevin and Draymond have a good feel for when they reach that number. They generally are able to shut that off, shut that emotion off and stay on the floor. That’s going to be important.”

Green and Durant each picked up two T’s in the first-round series with the Clippers. Both of Durant’s came in the opening game, which got him ejected, while another technical in Game 3 was rescinded. Golden State is hoping the league will also rescind a technical foul Green received last night.

“He ran over to [referee David Guthrie] and said, ‘Tell me what I have to do to defend that better,’ and he got a T,” Kerr explained. “I was surprised. We’ll see what happens, but we’ve got to understand that we’ve got to be on alert, because the rules are the rules in terms of the suspensions and all that stuff.”

There’s more Warriors news to pass along:

  • Durant tells Anthony Slater of The Athletic that the key to finishing off the Clippers was to block out distractions. After giving up a 31-point lead in a Game 2 loss, Durant averaged better than 40 PPG for the rest of the series. “There’s a lot of speculation about me, about my attitude, about where I’m playing next season that a lot of these (media) dudes in here are trying to distract us with and then want to blame it on me because it’s easy to blame it on me,” Durant said. “I understand that. We understand that. So for us, we just made it about basketball.”
  • Durant has established himself as the best player in the league and should stay with the Warriors to see how many titles he can win, contends Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report.
  • Andre Iguodala‘s value as a playoff defender convinced the Warriors to give him a three-year, $48MM contract when he was a free agent in 2017, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. After Golden State made an original offer of $36MM, Iguodala had discussions with the Spurs, Lakers, Kings and Rockets before owner Joe Lacob approved the larger deal.
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Community Shootaround: Spurs-Nuggets Winner

April 26th, 2019 at 6:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Unlike the NHL playoffs, which has produced some wild results and do-or-die Game 7 thrillers, the first round of the NBA playoffs has mostly gone true to form.

The opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, in particular, served more as a tune-up than a challenge for the top four seeds. Milwaukee clobbered Detroit four straight times and Boston swept away Victor Oladipo-less Indiana. Following first-game stumbles, Philadelphia and Toronto also took care of business.

It’s been a lot more entertaining in the Western Conference. The pesky Los Angeles Clippers have made two-time defending champion Golden State work harder than anticipated. Utah showed more resistance in the final three games of its series with Houston but ultimately didn’t have enough offensive answers to keep up with the Rockets.

Oklahoma City underachieved once again, as Portland overcame a devastating late-season injury to center Jusuf Nurkic to advance to the conference semis. Damian Lillard‘s 37-foot series-ending shot will be a defining moment in his career.

In terms of sheer drama, nothing gets the pulse racing more than a Game 7. We’ll have at least one in the first round (pending the result of tonight’s Clippers-Warriors game), as San Antonio and Denver will feel the pressure of a win-or-go-home game.

Not surprisingly, DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge have led the way for the Spurs in the series, supplemented by Derrick White‘s 36-point outburst in Game 3. Nikola Jokic has shown why the Nuggets gave him a max extension last summer, leading his team in scoring, rebounding and assists.

Denver will have the home court advantage but San Antonio possesses the experience edge and coach Gregg Popovich, who has prepared teams for games like this for two decades.

That leads us to our question of the day: Who will win Saturday’s Game 7 between San Antonio and Denver and what will be the deciding factor?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

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Poll: Which Team Will Win Nuggets/Spurs Series?

April 23rd, 2019 at 12:03pm CST by Luke Adams

While the second round of the NBA postseason are on track to feature a handful of fascinating and entertaining series, the first round has been a bit of a disappointment so far.

The Celtics and Bucks have already advanced to the Conference Finals, sweeping their respective opponents. The Raptors, Sixers, Warriors, and Rockets hold 3-1 leads and are overwhelming favorites to join Boston and Milwaukee in the second round. The Thunder, down 3-1 to the Trail Blazers, have the talent to make a comeback, but face a significant uphill climb, with Game 5 and a potential Game 7 taking place in Portland.

Barring a surprise turn in any of those other series, that leaves us with just one matchup that’s still very much up for grabs — the No. 2 Nuggets against the No. 7 Spurs. With the series tied up at 2-2, Game 5 is schedule to tip off in Denver tonight, and if the first four games are any indication, it’s hard to know exactly what to expect.

Will we see the Jamal Murray who has averaged 24.0 PPG on 51.6% shooting in the Nuggets’ two wins? Or will it be the Murray who managed just 23 total points on 34.5% shooting in Denver’s two losses?

How about Derrick White? The young Spurs guard looked like the best player on the court in Game 3, pouring in 36 points on 15-of-21 shooting. In Game 4, he scored just eight points and was a team-worst minus-19.

After Will Barton struggled mightily in the first three games of the series, the Nuggets pulled him from the starting lineup, inserting Torrey Craig in his place. The move worked well for both players in Game 4, with Craig scoring 18 points and making 5-of-7 three-pointers, while Barton had 12 points and was 3-of-3 from the outside. Will that adjustment continue to key Denver’s success going forward?

And how much of a factor will home-court advantage be for the rest of the series? The two teams have split their home games so far, but during the regular season, no Western Conference clubs were better at home than the Nuggets (34-7) or Spurs (32-9). Conversely, they were also the only two Western playoff teams with losing records on the road — 20-21 for Denver and a dismal 16-25 for San Antonio. Those numbers certainly favor the Nuggets, who will host Game 5 and a possible Game 7.

What do you think? Are the Nuggets on track to win this series and advance to the second round of the postseason for the first time since 2009? Or will Gregg Popovich‘s Spurs win out and become the lowest-seeded playoff team to win a series since the No. 8 Sixers in 2012?

Vote below in our poll, then head to the comment section to weigh in!

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

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Spurs’ DeMar DeRozan Fined $25,000

April 21st, 2019 at 5:31pm CST by JD Shaw

Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan has been fined $25,000 for throwing the game ball at official Scott Foster during Game 4 of their first round series against Denver, the NBA announced today.

The incident occurred with 5:01 remaining in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game, with DeRozan disagreeing on a charge call and tossing the ball past Foster into the spectator stands. DeRozan was assessed one technical foul and ejected upon his decision.

San Antonio lost the game 117-103 and will now travel to Denver for Game 5 on Tuesday, a pivotal contest that’ll help determine which team wins the series and advances to the second round.

On the night, DeRozan finished with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes of work, registering a minus-16 net rating. The Spurs struggled defensively and allowed the Nuggets to shoot a scorching 48% from 3-point range on their home floor.

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How Secret Dinners Have Influenced Spurs' Culture, Success

April 18th, 2019 at 8:47am CST by Luke Adams
  • In an entertaining piece for ESPN.com, Baxter Holmes takes a deep dive into the secret team dinners that have been a fixture for Spurs coaches, executives, and players throughout Gregg Popovich‘s tenure with the organization, exploring how those dinners influence the club’s culture and success.
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NBA Teams That Can’t Trade/Acquire Cash Until July

April 17th, 2019 at 12:25pm CST by Luke Adams

During each NBA league year, teams face limits on the amount of cash they can send out and receive in trades. Once they reach those limits, they’re no longer permitted to include cash in a deal until the following league year.

For the 2018/19 NBA season, the limit is $5,243,000. The limits on sending and receiving cash are separate and aren’t dependent on one another, so if a team has sent out $5,243,000 in trades and also received $5,243,000 in separate deals, they don’t have a clean slate — they’ve reached both limits for the season.

Thanks to reporting by cap experts like Bobby Marks, Eric Pincus, and Albert Nahmad, we’ve been able to keep tabs on the cash sent and received in trades by teams during the 2018/19 NBA league year, so we have a pretty clear idea of each club’s flexibility heading into the draft.

Being able to send or receive cash on draft day is particularly useful, since it can provide a simple means of acquiring – or moving – a second-round pick. A year ago, five of the trades agreed upon in June that featured 2018 draft picks included cash.

Of course, three of those five trades weren’t actually completed until July, which highlights a simple way to work around these restrictions. A team that can’t send or receive cash at this year’s draft could still technically agree to a deal involving cash, then officially finalize it sometime after July 1, when the cash limits reset for the 2019/20 league year.

Still, the 2018/19 restrictions are worth noting, since in some cases a player’s changing cap figure or contract status can make it impossible to wait until July to make a trade official.

With that in mind, here are some of the limitations facing teams until July 1:

Ineligible to receive cash:

  • Charlotte Hornets
  • Chicago Bulls
  • Toronto Raptors

The Hornets reached their limit less than a week until the 2018/19 league year, having received $5MM from the Nets in their Dwight Howard trade and $243K from the Thunder in a deal involving Hamidou Diallo.

As for the Bulls, they reached their yearly limit in three separate transactions, acquiring approximately $2.63MM in a pair of swaps with the Rockets involving Michael Carter-Williams and Carmelo Anthony. Chicago then received another $2.61MM from the Thunder in a Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot salary dump.

Based on the reported figures for the Raptors ($5MM from the Spurs in the Kawhi Leonard blockbuster, plus $110K apiece from the Sixers and Nets in deadline deals), they could technically acquire another $23K. However, $110K is the minimum amount of cash a team can include in a trade this season, so Toronto can’t actually acquire any more.

Outside of these three teams, every NBA club is eligible to acquire at least $2MM before July. The Magic ($2,226,778), Sixers ($2,743,000), Mavericks ($3,148,049), and Hawks ($3,187,090) are most limited.

Ineligible to send cash:

  • None

No NBA teams have reached their limits for sending out cash this season, though some are close.

The Nets ($243,000) and Spurs ($243,000) can barely trade any cash after sending out $5MM in deals last July. The Thunder ($411,294) and Rockets ($565,513) are also nearly tapped out, having made a handful of moves aimed at reducing – or in Houston’s case, eliminating – their luxury tax bills.

The Wizards ($2,365,456), Grizzlies ($2,660,069), and Celtics ($2,737,090) are also somewhat limited in their ability to trade cash, but no other teams have less than $3MM available.

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Cavs Notes: Smith, Coaching Search, Expiring Deals, Draft

April 14th, 2019 at 12:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

Cavaliers GM Koby Altman told reporters Friday that he has already been contacted by a team interested in trading for J.R. Smith, relays Joe Vardon of The Athletic. The interest isn’t so much in Smith as a player – he parted ways with the team in November and only appeared in 11 games this season – but in his contract, which is valued at $14.72MM but carries only a $3.87MM guarantee.

[RELATED: Why J.R. Smith May (Or May Not) Be A Valuable Offseason Trade Chip]

A team looking to unload salary could deal for Smith and be on the hook for just $1.29MM annually if he is waived and stretched over three seasons. The Cavaliers showed a willingness this year to take on unwanted contracts in exchange for draft picks, trading for Brandon Knight, Marquese Chriss, Matthew Dellavedova and Nik Stauskas.

“We are actually the only team in the NBA that can provide guaranteed cap relief from teams or salary relief until July 1,” Altman said. “We can guarantee that right now and we actually had a phone call yesterday on that (Smith) trade chip, so, we’re going to keep on being aggressive adding those assets because we do eventually want to consolidate and be really good at some point.”

There’s more from Cleveland, all courtesy of Vardon:

  • Altman promised an “open-minded” approach to the team’s coaching search and brought up the possibility of making history by hiring a woman for the job. Though he couldn’t mention her by name because she’s under contract, Spurs assistant Becky Hammon is an obvious candidate if Altman wants a female coach. Hammon interviewed for the Bucks’ head-coaching job last year, ran the Spurs’ summer league team and has a player development background, which Vardon states is important to the Cavaliers.
  • Other coaching possibilities that Cavs players mentioned to Vardon include the Nets’ Bret Brielmaier, the Mavericks’ Jamahl Mosley and the Trail Blazers’ Nate Tibbetts. All three have previous experience in Cleveland. Altman said interviews will begin soon with candidates whose teams aren’t in the playoffs.
  • The Cavaliers believe their expiring contracts for next season might generate some interest on the trade market this summer. Knight and Dellavedova will both be free agents in 2020, along with John Henson, Jordan Clarkson and Tristan Thompson.
  • Cleveland won a tiebreaker with the Suns for second place in the draft order heading into next month’s lottery. If they Cavs do wind up with the No. 2 pick, Vardon notes, their view of what type of player Collin Sexton will develop into may determine whether they opt for a point guard in Ja Morant or a wing player in R.J. Barrett.
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And-Ones: Silver, Mock Draft, Players’ Poll, Belinelli

April 12th, 2019 at 9:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is willing to consider shortening the regular season and even the length of games, he said in a press conference on Friday. Silver’s comments were relayed by the Associated Press’ Brian Mahoney. “The format we have in place now — I’m a traditionalist on one hand, but on the other hand it’s 50 years old or so, presenting an 82-game season, and there’s nothing magical about it,” Silver said. He also tossed out the idea of reducing the length of games from 48 minutes to 40, the same as college and international games. Holding mid-season tournaments is something else he’s willing to consider. None of the potential changes are close to be implemented, Mahoney adds.

We have more from the basketball world:

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Kings To Interview Walton; Messina Also On Their List

April 12th, 2019 at 4:32pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings have formally requested an interview with Luke Walton, who parted ways with the Lakers on Friday, and also intend to request permission to interview Spurs assistant Ettore Messina for their vacant head coaching job, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. (Hat tip to USA Today’s Sam Amick).

Walton is reportedly GM Vlade Divac’s leading candidate for the job. Messina was a finalist for the Raptors’ job last season, which wound up going to Nick Nurse. He also met twice with the Bucks’ brass last season before Milwaukee chose Mike Budenholzer.

The Kings fired Dave Joerger on Thursday, even though they improved enough to win 39 games. Sixers assistant Monty Williams is also expected to get a long look from Divac.

The fact that Divac is already lining up interviews suggests he’d like to make the coaching hire quickly.

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