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Checking In On 2018’s Unsigned Draft Picks

July 17th, 2018 at 2:45pm CST by Luke Adams

The 2018 NBA draft took place less than a month ago, but over three quarters over the players selected on the night of June 22 have already signed their first NBA contracts. That includes each of the 30 players picked in the first round, all of whom are now under contract.

The following players have not yet signed contracts with their new NBA teams:

Detroit Pistons: Khyri Thomas, SG (Creighton)
Orlando Magic: Justin Jackson, F (Maryland)
Washington Wizards: Issuf Sanon, G (Olimpija Ljubljana)
Oklahoma City Thunder: Hamidou Diallo, SG (Kentucky)
Houston Rockets: De’Anthony Melton, G (USC)
San Antonio Spurs: Chimezie Metu, F/C (USC)
New Orleans Pelicans: Tony Carr, PG (Penn State)
Oklahoma City Thunder: Devon Hall, SG (Virginia)
Philadelphia 76ers: Shake Milton, G (SMU)
Charlotte Hornets: Arnoldas Kulboka, SF (Capo D’Orlando)
Dallas Mavericks: Ray Spalding, PF (Louisville)
Oklahoma City Thunder: Kevin Hervey, SF (Texas-Arlington)
Denver Nuggets: Thomas Welsh, C (UCLA)

Sanon, Carr, and Kulboka will reportedly spend the 2018/19 season overseas, so we can safely remove their names from this list — they won’t be signing NBA contracts this offseason. Welsh, meanwhile, has reportedly agreed to terms on a two-way contract with Denver, though it’s not yet official.

That leaves just nine players from 2018’s draft class who we should still expect to sign at some point. Of those nine players, the higher picks such as Thomas (Pistons), Jackson (Magic), Diallo (Thunder), and Melton (Rockets) are good bets to sign multiyear NBA contracts. Even though some of those teams have luxury-tax concerns, they’ll have to fill out their rosters somehow, and a rookie contract at or near the minimum is the best way to avoid significantly increasing their potential tax penalties.

The players selected in the 50s may be candidates for two-way deals. A year ago, no player selected between Nos. 49-60 received a standard NBA contract, with all of those players signing two-way contracts, agreeing to straight G League contracts, or heading overseas to join an international team.

As such, players like Hall (Thunder), Milton (Sixers), Spalding (Mavericks), and Hervey (Thunder) should be considered two-way options. For now though, Dallas doesn’t have a two-way slot open, and Oklahoma City only has one, so it remains to be seen what the future holds for these late second-rounders. We should find out in the coming weeks.

Latest On Kawhi Leonard

July 17th, 2018 at 12:03pm CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs‘ asking price for Kawhi Leonard remains high, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne. In an article packed with Leonard-related tidbits, the ESPN duo suggests that – based on conversations with opposing teams – San Antonio appears to be seeking an All-Star caliber player, high-potential young players, and draft picks in exchange for Kawhi.

It’s not clear if the Spurs will be able to land that sort of return, according to Wojnarowski and Shelburne, who note that a three-way bidding war involving the Lakers, Celtics, and Sixers never really materialized. The Lakers are being patience and conveying confidence that Leonard will sign with them in 2019. As for the Celtics and Sixers, they’ve held their top players out of trade discussions and have offered pick-heavy packages, which haven’t enticed the Spurs.

Given the Spurs’ reported demands, a Raptors offer built around one of their All-Star guards (likely DeMar DeRozan), one or two of their young players, and draft picks could be the most logical package for San Antonio.

In an appearance on Zach Lowe’s ESPN podcast, Brian Windhorst said he thinks the Raptors are in the “driver’s seat” in the Leonard sweepstakes, since the Lakers and Sixers haven’t been aggressive in their pursuit of the star forward. Lowe didn’t go so far as to call the Raptors the favorites, but he cautioned not to underestimate the club or to view the rumors linking Leonard to Toronto as mere speculation.

Here are a few more notes and rumors on the NBA’s most noteworthy trade candidate:

In addition to the four teams noted above, the Clippers, Nuggets, Suns, Trail Blazers, and Wizards have talked to the Spurs about Leonard, league sources tell Wojnarowski and Shelburne. However, it’s unlikely that any of those teams has made a monster offer, given concerns that Kawhi would be a one-year rental. Portland hasn’t discussed Damian Lillard or C.J. McCollum, for instance, per ESPN.
Leonard is “seriously considering” participating in Team USA’s mini-camp next week, league sources tell Wojnarowski and Shelburne. There’s a sense that the All-Star wants to show the Spurs‘ prospective trade partners that he’s healthy, but there may be a concern within Leonard’s camp that participating in the mini-camp would give San Antonio more leverage to push him to report to camp in the fall.
While there have been whispers that Leonard has no intention of showing up at the Spurs‘ facility if he’s not traded, rival teams generally view that as an “empty threat,” since they’re skeptical he’s willing to risk forfeiting his $20MM salary for 2018/19, according to Wojnarowski and Shelburne,
The Spurs haven’t allowed potential trade partners to talk directly with Leonard or his camp, or to see his medical information, per ESPN’s report. It’s unlikely that stance would change unless the Spurs agree to a trade in principle with a team, Woj and Shelburne add.
Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders addressed the Leonard situation in his latest article, suggesting that the start of training camp could be a key deadline to keep an eye on. One source close to Leonard also tells Kyler that the forward would ideally like to be the “focal point” of a team going forward. It’s not clear how that alleged desire to be a team’s focal point will impact Leonard’s preference to join the Lakers now that LeBron James is in L.A., Kyler writes.

Contract Details For Davis Bertans

July 16th, 2018 at 1:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs‘ new two-year agreement with Davis Bertans has a base value of $7MM annually, but Bertans can also earn $250K in unlikely incentives per year (Twitter link). The deal can be worth up to $14.5MM in total.

Kawhi Leonard Now Officially Extension-Eligible

July 16th, 2018 at 11:56am CST by Luke Adams

The possibility of a Kawhi Leonard contract extension with the Spurs has been a subject of discussion for much of the year, but Leonard wasn’t officially eligible to sign a new deal until today.

A veteran NBA player who signs a five-year contract becomes eligible to have that contract extended three years after it was signed. Leonard inked his current five-year deal with the Spurs on July 16, 2015, meaning today is the three-year anniversary of that signing.

Because he was named to one of the league’s All-NBA teams in both 2016 and 2017, Leonard is eligible for a Designated Veteran Extension, which means he could earn a starting salary worth up to 35% of the cap – rather than just 30% – on a new deal with the Spurs.

We won’t know exactly what such an extension would be worth until the 2019/20 salary cap is finalized. However, a five-year 35% max contract starting in ’19/20 based on the NBA’s current $109MM cap projection would have a starting salary of $38.15MM and an overall value of $221.27MM, including a fifth-year salary of $50.358MM.

The terms of a potential Leonard extension may ultimately be irrelevant though, since the star forward has shown no interest in staying in San Antonio long term. The Spurs likely won’t be willing to put that $221MM+ offer on the table anyway, since Leonard is coming off an injury-plagued 2017/18 campaign in which he appeared in just nine games. He wouldn’t be able to get the same deal with any other team.

Since the NBA introduced the Designated Veteran Extension in its most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement, the only players to sign such a deal are Stephen Curry, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and John Wall.

Hilliard Remains RFA; Chimezie Metu Injury Will Not Require Surgery

July 15th, 2018 at 9:03pm CST by Austin Kent

The Spurs chose not to withdraw their qualifying offer from Darrun Hilliard before Friday, meaning they won’t be able to do so without Hilliard’s blessing, Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News writes. Hilliard remains a restricted two-way free agent.
The Spurs have downgraded rookie Chimezie Metu‘s wrist injury from a sprain to a fracture, Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News writes, noting that Metu will wear a cast but will not require surgery.

Noise From The North: The Latest On Kawhi Leonard

July 14th, 2018 at 2:19pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kawhi Leonard has dominated headlines all summer and he’ll likely be featured in the rumor mill until either the Spurs trade him or he commits to playing in San Antonio long-term. Rumors of the Raptors making a play for the disgruntled star made rounds during Summer League, and other teams such as the Sixers and Celtics come up in speculation about where Leonard is going to play next season.

Most of the news may simply be noise, as Leonard has long been linked to Los Angeles, the only city he reportedly wants to play for. Cris Carter of Fox Sports hears that Leonard hasn’t changed his stance.

“Nothing’s changed from Kawhi’s side from these standpoints: He still wants to go to Los Angeles, and he’s still not interested in being rented out for one season, so that being Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto or any other team,” Carter said on First Things First on Friday (Twitter link).

Carter, a Hall-of-Fame NFL wide receiver, is an unlikely source for NBA news, though he appears to be dialed into the situation. Longtime sports agent Mitch Frankel, who represents Leonard, was Carter’s agent during his NFL playing days.

Carter relayed that Leonard’s camp has remained in contact with the Spurs and they were told by the organization that they’d be notified if the club was closing in on a deal. That hasn’t happened and no rival team has been in contact with Leonard, something that would typically happen if another team was in conversations to acquire a player in a trade.

Leonard’s camp considered issuing a press release about the rumors of Toronto making a play for him, Carter added. No such thing has since been released and the silence from Leonard’s people is partially to blame for the rampant speculation about the Raptors swooping in and acquiring the former MVP candidate, Sean Deveney of Sporting News writes.

Deveney believes that a Leonard trade remains distant and adds that it’s easy to see why NBA executives are connecting the dots between Toronto and San Antonio. GM Masai Ujiri has the ammunition to pull off a trade that provides value to San Antonio while maintaining Toronto’s status as a serious Eastern Conference contender.

Such a deal could be centered around a package of DeMar DeRozan and young prospects or picks and the Raptors have a deep enough team to give up two or three contributors and still surround Leonard with a top-ranked cast.

However, Deveney believes it would be foolish to make the trade for Leonard without assurance that he’ll stick around past the 2018/19 campaign. For the Raptors or any team outside of Los Angeles, getting that long-term commitment doesn’t appear to be in the cards. Leonard is a generational talent, but for those non-Southern California teams, the risk may be even greater than the reward and a trade seems unlikely until that ratio tilts in one of the other 27 organizations’ favor.

Spurs, Lakers, Others Eyeing David Nwaba

July 13th, 2018 at 10:58am CST by Luke Adams

David Nwaba is no longer a restricted free agent, meaning he can sign outright with any NBA team, and interested clubs are checking in on the young shooting guard. According to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link), several teams have reached out to Nwaba, including the Spurs and Lakers. There’s no clear frontrunner at this point, Aldridge adds.

Nwaba, who was eligible for restricted free agency this summer, received a qualifying offer from the Bulls last month, giving the team the right of first refusal on any offer sheet he signed. However, Chicago withdrew that QO on Thursday, despite its modest price ($1.7MM), leading to speculation that the club is maximizing its cap room for a bigger move.

Despite making Nwaba an unrestricted free agent, the Bulls haven’t given up hope of re-signing him. Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer tweets that the Bulls have interest in using the room exception to bring back Nwaba after they use up their cap space. A source confirmed to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune that the team hasn’t ruled out re-signing Nwaba once it completes other business.

In order to retain Nwaba though, the Bulls would have to count on the 25-year-old waiting out the team’s other move(s) and being willing to accept the $4.45MM room exception. Those aren’t unreasonable requests, but if Nwaba gets a comparable offer from another suitor, he may not want to wait on Chicago.

A former undrafted free agent, Nwaba had a solid season for the Bulls in 2017/18, averaging 7.9 PPG and 4.7 RPG while playing strong perimeter defense in 70 games (21 starts).

Ginobili Happy To See Belinelli Back In San Antonio

July 13th, 2018 at 10:16am CST by Arthur Hill

Manu Ginobili was among the first people to text congratulations to Marco Belinelli after he committed to return to the Spurs, notes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express News. That doesn’t guarantee Ginobili will be back for another season, but he’s glad to see his former teammate return after winning a title together in 2014. “We didn’t talk about [Ginobili playing], but I can say he was really happy about me coming back,” Belinelli said. “Winning a championship with that great team was amazing. Nobody is going to take that away from me.”

Raptors Ready To Join The Pursuit For Kawhi Leonard?

July 12th, 2018 at 9:46pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors‘ potential pursuit of Kawhi Leonard is the hottest rumor making the rounds at summer league, according to Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Toronto appears poised to join the Lakers, Sixers and Celtics as teams in the conversation for the Spurs’ star. With LeBron James out of the East, the addition of Leonard could tilt the balance of power in the race for the conference title.

Spurs Attend Rodney Stuckey's Workout

July 12th, 2018 at 2:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier today, we noted that Rodney Stuckey was holding a private workout in Las Vegas as he seeks a new NBA home. According to international basketball reporter David Pick (Twitter link), the Warriors, Nets, Grizzlies, Spurs, and Pacers had representatives at that session.