Toronto Raptors Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Injury Updates: Mirotic, Griffin, Anunoby, Oladipo

April 13th, 2019 at 9:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Nikola Mirotic has only played 14 games since the Bucks traded for him in February, but the club expects him to be ready for its playoff opener against the Pistons tomorrow, relays Malika Andrews of ESPN. Mirotic, who has been sidelined for nearly a month with a broken left thumb, was able to participate in a full practice Friday and a non-contact workout today, both times with the thumb lightly taped.

“Not much soreness, as we expected,” he said. “I should be ready to go.”

Mirotic moved into the starting lineup three games before getting hurt, replacing injured guard Malcolm Brogdon. Sterling Brown has been starting in Mirotic’s absence.

“Niko has been traveling with us,” Eric Bledsoe said. “He has been around practice. We have been feeling his energy. Him just being around has been big for us. I think he’s doing pretty good.”

There are more injury updates to pass along:

The Pistons aren’t sure if Blake Griffin‘s sore left knee will allow him to be ready for Game 1, writes Keith Langlois of NBA.com. Griffin offered no clues after today’s practice as the team prepared to fly to Milwaukee. “We’re taking this day by day,” he said. “I’m not looking forward to a day that’s not here right now in front of me. I’ll sit with our training staff and whoever else needs to be in on that decision and make that each day.” Griffin sat out four of Detroit’s final seven games as the team was battling for a playoff spot. He was limited to riding an exercise bike during today’s practice.
On top of their loss to the Magic today, the Raptors got some bad health news about OG Anunoby, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Originally projected to miss at least two weeks after an emergency appendectomy on Thursday, Anunoby may now be sidelined until the Eastern Conference Finals.
There’s no chance he’ll return for the playoffs, but the Pacers are encouraged by the progress Victor Oladipo has made since suffering a ruptured quad tendon in January, tweets Scott Agness of The Athletic. Oladipo has been in Miami since the injury and is reportedly doing “really well.” He will see a doctor in a few days and hopes to be in Indiana for Games 3 and 4 of the Pacers’ playoff series.

OG Anunoby Expected To Miss At Least Two Weeks

April 12th, 2019 at 11:48am CST by Luke Adams

Raptors forward OG Anunoby underwent an emergency appendectomy on Thursday night after being diagnosed with acute appendicitis, the team announced in a press release.

The Raptors didn’t provide any sort of timetable for Anunoby’s recovery, simply indicating that there’s no timeline for his return and his condition “will be updated as appropriate.” However, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets that the young forward is expected to be sidelined for at least two weeks.

The Raptors’ first-round series against the Magic is scheduled to conclude on April 27, if seven games are necessary, so it’s safe to assume that Toronto won’t be counting on having Anunoby available at all vs. Orlando.

With Anunoby and Patrick McCaw sidelined, it will be interesting to see how the Raptors fill the back end of their playoff rotation. Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, and Marc Gasol are expected to start, with Fred VanVleet, Serge Ibaka, and Norman Powell contributing off the bench.

Unless the team plans to roll with an eight-man rotation, Jeremy Lin and/or Jodie Meeks could see regular minutes. Based on his initial recovery timeline, it’s possible McCaw will also be available at some point in round one.

Grizzlies’ C.J. Miles Opts In For 2019/20

April 12th, 2019 at 11:22am CST by Luke Adams

Grizzlies sharpshooter C.J. Miles has exercised the player option on his contract for the 2019/20 season, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Miles had informed Peter Edmiston of The Athletic (Twitter link) on Thursday that he intended to opt in.

The decision locks in Miles’ $8,730,158 salary for next season, putting him on track to reach unrestricted free agency in 2020.

Miles’ decision doesn’t come as a surprise, since the 32-year-old struggled mightily in 2018/19, turning in his worst season in a decade. He’s also not healthy at the moment, having been ruled out for the season last month due to a stress reaction in his left foot.

The 14-year veteran, who started the season with the Raptors, was sent to the Grizzlies as part of the package for Marc Gasol in February. In total, Miles appeared in 53 games (16.2 MPG) for Memphis and Toronto, averaging just 6.4 PPG on .360/.330/.828 shooting. In his previous six seasons entering this year, he had averaged 11.2 PPG and shot 37.5% on three-pointers.

Depending on which direction the Grizzlies go this summer, it’s possible the club will look to move on from Miles via trade or buyout. If he returns to Memphis, the veteran swingman will look to compete for minutes on the wing.

With Miles’ $8.7MM+ salary locked in, the Grizzlies now have approximately $86.6MM in guaranteed money on their books for next season, per Basketball Insiders. Given that Jonas Valanciunas looks like a decent bet to pick up his $17.62MM player option as well, Memphis projects to be an over-the-cap team this offseason, barring cost-cutting moves.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Five Teams Finish 2018/19 Season In Tax Territory

April 11th, 2019 at 1:48pm CST by Luke Adams

With the exception of bonuses that could still be earned – or missed – in the postseason, 2018/19 NBA team salaries are now frozen for luxury-tax purposes, ESPN’s Bobby Marks observes. That means that five teams will finish the ’18/19 season as taxpayers.

Here are those five teams, along with approximations of their projected luxury tax bills, per Marks:

Oklahoma City Thunder: $61.6MM
Golden State Warriors: $51.5MM
Toronto Raptors: $21.4MM
Portland Trail Blazers: $15.1MM
Boston Celtics: $3.9MM

While the Warriors‘ payroll is actually slightly higher than Oklahoma City’s, the Thunder met the repeater tax criteria, since they also paid the tax in 2015, 2016, and 2018. As a result, they’re subject to more punitive penalties, as we outline in our glossary entry on the luxury tax. The standard penalties for taxpaying teams start at $1.50 per dollar and increase from there; the repeater penalties start at $2.50 per dollar.

Golden State will meet the repeater criteria next season if they’re in the tax again, since they’ll have paid the tax in 2016, 2018, and 2019. Teams qualify as repeat offenders when they’ve finished in the tax in three of the previous four seasons.

The figures listed above are subject to change. For instance, Kyle Lowry has three separate $500K bonuses that he could still receive, depending on how far the Raptors advance in the playoffs. If he earns any of those, they’d be added to Toronto’s payroll and would in turn increase the club’s tax bill.

Since half of the luxury tax penalty money is reallocated to the teams that finished out of the tax, those non-tax clubs are in line for payouts of approximately $3.1MM, per Marks.

The Heat, Wizards, and Rockets made in-season transactions to get out of tax territory and will now receive $3.1MM from the tax pool. Other clubs, such as the Grizzlies, Knicks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pistons, and Bucks, managed to keep their team salaries just below the $123.73MM tax threshold throughout the league year.

Atlantic Notes: Leonard, Smart, Embiid

April 10th, 2019 at 7:25pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kawhi Leonard played in only 60 games this season due to a team maintaince plan designed to preserve his health. He’s happy with how the Raptors have managed him in what could be his only season in Toronto.

“We did a great job just attacking the [injury] problem in the beginning during training camp,” Leonard said, as Ryan Wolstat of Toronto Sun tweets.“Laying out the schedule. I feel good. I wasn’t as healthy as I wanted to be this year, but, I couldn’t say I would have this type of season in the beginning of the year the way things started, the way I felt.

“I’m happy. We’re second place. We’ve got an opportunity to get where we want to get to.”

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Marcus Smart has suffered a torn left oblique and could miss the first two rounds of the playoffs, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports. The Celtics host the Pacers in the Eastern Conference’s 4-5 matchup.
Sixers GM Elton Brand said he’s “optimistic” that Joel Embiid will be ready for Game 1 of the playoffs, as NBC Sports’ Serena Winters relays (Twitter link). Including Philadelphia’s finale vs. the Bulls, Embiid has missed five of the team’s last seven games as a result of knee soreness and the staff’s management plan and it’s possible that the big man could sit in the
Jonathan Gibson‘s deal with the Celtics is only for the remainder of the season, per Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Gibson signed with Boston on Tuesday and didn’t see action in the team’s final game of the year.

Details On Kyle Lowry's Contract Incentives

April 10th, 2019 at 2:45pm CST by Luke Adams

Although he didn’t play in the Raptors‘ regular season finale on Tuesday night, Kyle Lowry appeared in 65 games in 2018/19, just barely reaching an important threshold for the bonuses in his contract, ESPN’s Bobby Marks observes.

Raptors Sign Eric Moreland

April 9th, 2019 at 12:33pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Raptors have signed Eric Moreland, according to a team press release.

Toronto will play its final game of the regular season tonight, meaning today was the final day for the team to sign a player. The Raptors entered the day with 14 players under traditional contracts and two players under two-way deals, so the team will not need to make a corresponding move in order to accommodate Moreland’s signing.

Moreland inked a 10-day deal with Toronto earlier this season, playing three games with the club. The franchise opted to not offer him an additional 10-day contract when his deal expired.

Moreland will be eligible to play in the postseason, since he has not been released by an NBA team since March 1. However, he’s unlikely to see any real action in the playoffs unless one of Toronto’s two centers – Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka – goes down with an injury.

Marc Gasol Adjusts Quickly To New Team In Toronto

April 7th, 2019 at 3:58pm CST by JD Shaw

Marc Gasol has quickly adjusted to his new role with the Raptors, positively impacting the team on both ends of the floor, Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star writes. Gasol grew acclimated to his new teammates and play style quicker than most expected, with Toronto holding a 17-8 record since acquiring him. “It’s just weird that he stepped in day one and he was right on point … He doesn’t need a learning curve,” teammate Fred VanVleet said of Gasol. “He stepped in from day one and was able to adjust to pretty much everything we did. So that just speaks to his basketball IQ.”

Cost-Cutting Measures Save $18 Million

April 5th, 2019 at 6:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Raptors made a number of cost-cutting moves during the course of the season that saved an approximate $18MM, as Blake Murphy of The Athletic details. Waiving Lorenzo Brown, dumping the salaries of Malachi Richardson and Greg Monroe, trading three players for Marc Gasol, getting Gasol to waive his trade kicker, and signing players to 10-day contracts to meet roster requirements all contributed to a healthier bottom line.
The Raptors still have an open roster spot heading toward the playoffs and will likely sign a player, Murphy writes in the same story. Guard Jordan Loyd’s two-way contract could be converted to a standard contract and center Eric Moreland, who recently played on a 10-day contract, is another candidate. Veteran center Marcin Gortat could also be in play.

Eastern Conference Semifinals Will Have Major Offseason Implications

April 5th, 2019 at 3:22pm CST by Luke Adams

Not every list of 2019’s top 10 NBA free agents will look the same, but it’s a safe bet that all of those lists will include Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard and Celtics guard Kyrie Irving. It’s hard to imagine leaving Sixers forward Jimmy Butler or Tobias Harris out of the top 10 either. And after his first All-Star season, Bucks sharpshooter Khris Middleton deserves a spot in that group too.

In other words, five of the top 10 players expected to reach unrestricted free agency this summer are on the four teams currently atop the Eastern Conference: Milwaukee, Toronto, Philadelphia, and Boston. Throw in veteran marksmen J.J. Redick (Sixers) and Danny Green (Raptors), as well as key Bucks contributors Malcolm Brogdon and Brook Lopez, and you could put together an awfully talented rotation of free-agents-to-be among those four Eastern contenders.

Those four teams have something else in common, besides having standout players in contract years: They’ll all be disappointed if they don’t make it beyond the second round of the postseason.

The Bucks haven’t advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2001, but this year’s group looks like it has NBA Finals potential. Milwaukee has clinched the NBA’s best record, has a winning record against all its potential postseason opponents, and features the odds-on favorite to win the Most Valuable Player award, in Giannis Antetokounmpo. A second-round exit would be a letdown.

Right behind them are the Raptors, who blew up last year’s 59-win team with an eye toward making a deeper playoff run. With newcomers like Leonard, Green, and Marc Gasol in Toronto to lead the way – and Raptor-killer LeBron James no longer in the picture – this is another team that feels as if it has a real chance of advancing to the Finals. After a season of nagging injuries and load management, Toronto seems to be getting healthy and coming together at the right time.

While Milwaukee and Toronto are the odds-on favorites to represent the East in the Finals, the Sixers and Celtics certainly shouldn’t be overlooked. Philadelphia has gone all-in on its star-studded starting five, and owner Josh Harris has said that the Sixers want to “at minimum” advance deeper in the playoffs than they did last year, when they were knocked out in the second round by Boston. As for those Celtics, they entered the 2018/19 season as the Eastern frontrunners, and still believe they’re the team to beat if they’re playing up to their potential.

The Pacers and the rest of the conference’s still-to-be-decided playoff teams will be looking to play spoiler, but regardless of whether any of those clubs can pull off an upset, no more than two of the Bucks, Raptors, Sixers, and Celtics can advance past the Eastern Conference Semifinals. And the outcome of that round figures to have a significant impact on the NBA’s offseason landscape.

If the Raptors are bounced in the second round, it’s hard to imagine Leonard seriously considering a return. A second-round loss for the Celtics would cast even more doubt on the idea of Irving re-signing in Boston. There’s already some skepticism that the Sixers will bring back both Harris and Butler, and an ECF loss would make that an even less likely scenario. The Bucks, who have exceeded expectations this season, are probably the club least likely to undergo major offseason changes, but Middleton will be a popular target in free agency — if Milwaukee is knocked off in round two, it could increase his willingness to test the open market.

On the other hand, the team that makes a run all the way to the NBA Finals will be in a far more secure position entering free agency. If Irving is on the fence about Boston, winning the East would definitely help convince him that the Celtics are capable of continuing to win going forward. Ditto for Leonard and the Raptors.

The idea that a team’s postseason success can influence a top free agent’s offseason decision is a common one. This spring in the Eastern Conference, we’ll get an opportunity to see just how big a factor that is for a handful of star players, as at least two teams are set to fall short of their playoff goals.