Mobile Menu
HEADLINES

Raptors Rumors

Lakers Frontrunners To Sign Christian Koloko

September 13th, 2024 at 10:09pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers are the frontrunners to sign free agent big man Christian Koloko, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links). According to Charania, Koloko is also drawing interest from the Clippers, the Spurs, and his former team, the Raptors.

Koloko, who is still finalizing his decision on where he’ll sign, is on the comeback trail after missing all of the 2023/24 season due to a blood clot issue.

Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy reported in July that the seven-footer had received medical clearance to resume playing, while agent Calvin Andrews of Klutch Sports said last month that his client had a “major breakthrough” with his blood clot issue, which was addressed via corrective surgery.

Koloko held a workout for potential suitors during the Las Vegas Summer League in July and has been able to participate in five-on-five, full-contact drills this offseason as he attempts to get back to 100% health. Chris Johnson, a trainer who has worked with a number of NBA players, posted a YouTube video in August of Koloko taking part in a scrimmage alongside Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jalen Johnson, Jordan Clarkson, Delon Wright, and several other active NBAers.

Although Koloko is still awaiting formal clearance from the NBA’s Fitness-to-Play panel, it sounds like he continues to trend in the right direction. And according to Charania, the 24-year-old is technically eligible to sign with a team before being cleared by that panel.

The 33rd overall pick in the 2022 draft, Koloko appeared in 58 games for the Raptors as a rookie, averaging 3.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.0 block in 13.8 minutes per game across 58 appearances (19 starts). He was the Pac 12’s Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player in his final college season at Arizona in 2021/22

The Lakers will be without center Christian Wood this fall after the big man underwent knee surgery this week that is expected to sideline him for at least eight weeks, so they could use more depth in their frontcourt. However, Los Angeles is currently carrying 15 players on fully guaranteed standard contracts and is narrowly operating below the second tax apron.

It’s unclear if the Lakers’ plan would be to sign Koloko to a standard deal or perhaps to bring him on a two-way contract. Inking him to a two-way pact would require waiving one of Armel Traore, Blake Hinson, or Colin Castleton, who currently occupy L.A.’s two-way slots.

The Clippers and Spurs also have 15 players on guaranteed standard contracts, while the Raptors have 14 players on guaranteed deals, plus Bruno Fernando on a non-guaranteed salary. The Clippers have a two-way slot open; San Antonio and Toronto don’t, for now.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

And-Ones: Watson, First-Rounders, Trade Targets, Punter

September 13th, 2024 at 6:36pm CST by Rory Maher

Former Suns head coach Earl Watson is joining Steve Lavin‘s coaching staff at the University of San Diego, sources tell NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link). It’s a reunion for the two sides — Watson played under Lavin in college at UCLA.

Watson, who played 13 NBA seasons as a defensive-minded point guard, was an assistant with Phoenix before being named interim and then full-time head coach. He was fired at the start of the 2017/18 season. The 45-year-old was an assistant coach under Nick Nurse with Toronto from 2021-23.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • Which NBA teams hold the most valuable future first-round picks? Bobby Marks of ESPN explores that topic (subscriber link), ranking the Spurs No. 1, followed by the Thunder, Nets, Jazz and Rockets. As Marks writes, San Antonio doesn’t have the most picks among those teams, but the selections they do control could be very valuable — in 2025, they control their own pick, the Hawks’ first-rounder (unprotected), a top-10 protected first from Chicago, and a top-14 protected first from Charlotte, the latter of which seems unlikely to convey.
  • Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report lists one “realistic” trade target for every NBA team. According to Pincus, Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin would make sense as a target for the Hawks and Nets, while Jazz center Walker Kessler could be a logical fit for Indiana.
  • Former Tennessee star Kevin Punter has thrived in Europe since he went undrafted in 2016. In an interview posted by his Spanish club FC Barcelona (Twitter video link), Punter said he used to dream of playing in the NBA. Now? He’s not sure. “When I was younger, my dream was to play the NBA,” Punter said (hat tip to Eurohoops). “That’s all you know growing up, when you play in America. That is all we talk about. That is all you watch. That was my dream. Is it my dream now? To be honest with you, I don’t know. It used to be, but as you get older, a lot of things change, a lot of things become different. You realize a lot of certain things that have nothing to do with basketball.” The 31-year-old said he had serious contract talks with the Raptors in 2023.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Atlantic Notes: Walker, Celtics, Raptors, Brunson, Bridges

September 11th, 2024 at 10:05pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

New Celtics Exhibit 10 signee Lonnie Walker IV, who has probably done enough to warrant a roster spot on a rebuilding team this year, is instead looking to prove that he’s worthy of a roster spot with the defending champions in 2024/25, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic.

Walker is a solid shooter who has enough offensive talent to play in the NBA, but he’ll likely have to show improved defensive awareness to stick in Boston, according to Weiss, who speculates that the veteran wing could serve as a possible roster option in the event second-year swingman Jordan Walsh and rookie guard Baylor Scheierman need further seasoning.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

  • All of the Celtics’ top nine players from their run to the 2024 title are returning for an encore next season. With those champs’ places in the Boston hierarchy more or less set in stone, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston speculates as to which player will emerge as the club’s 10th man.
  • Appearing on ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday, ex-Raptors forward DeMar DeRozan said he believes his former team still would have won a championship in 2019 if he and Jakob Poeltl had remained on the roster instead of being traded to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green (Twitter video link). “I felt, off the year we had before, we just needed one more piece to kind of push us over the top, and that piece came to be LeBron (James) going to the West,” DeRozan said. “I didn’t get an opportunity to see what would’ve happened, but I have the utmost confidence within myself. I have no doubt in my mind the same outcome would’ve happened.”
  • Knicks All-NBA point guard Jalen Brunson showed true leadership in agreeing to a below-market contract extension, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. Popper also opines that the team took a major swing in trading for All-Defensive small forward Mikal Bridges this summer, in the hopes that he can help them match the Celtics and the East’s other top clubs. Finally, Popper considers the fate of Julius Randle, a critical piece who has yet to be locked up beyond 2025, leaving his long-term future in doubt.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Silver: League Still Isn’t Ready To Tackle Expansion

September 10th, 2024 at 6:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The league isn’t quite ready to explore expansion talks, NBA commissioner Adam Silver revealed during a Tuesday press conference. Silver addressed the media after the league’s Board of Governors meeting.

“There was not a lot of discussion in this meeting about expansion, but only largely not for lack of interest, it was that we had said to them that we’re not quite ready,” Silver said, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “It was something that we told our board we plan to address this season, and we’re not quite ready yet. But I think there’s certainly interest in the process, and I think that we’re not there yet in terms of having made any specific decisions about markets or even frankly to expand.”

Expansion has been put off while the league negotiated a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and reached new broadcast deals. With those items in the rear view mirror, the league could eventually discuss expansion in the coming months. The first step in that process, according to Bontemps, would be forming a committee of several owners to explore the topic and determine what the next steps would be.

Here’s more from Silver’s press conference and the BOG meeting:

  • The commissioner would prefer that legalized sports betting had a “federal framework,” rather than being a state competition with varying rules. “I was in favor of a federal framework for sports betting. I still am,” he said. “I still think that the hodgepodge of state by state, it makes it more difficult for the league to administer it. I think it creates competition, understandably, among states to get — just think New York, New Jersey or a situation like that where you’re both competing for the same customer, so you can compete on tax rates and other things and a regulatory framework.”
  • The league is essentially in wait-and-see mode regarding the potential sales of two franchises, the Timberwolves and the Celtics, according to The Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds. Minnesota’s dispute between current majority owner Glen Taylor and potential majority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez is headed to arbitration. “That’s a process that exists independent of the league that was set out in the sales agreement,” Silver said. Boston’s ownership group, led by Wyc Grousbeck, intends to sell the majority of its shares later this year or early next year, then close on a sale of the balance of remaining shares in 2028. “I think that Wyc Grousbeck and his ownership group are in the process of working through what the steps will be,” Silver said.
  • Raptors Governor and Chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Larry Tanenbaum has been re-elected as the Board’s chairman, NBA Communications tweets. Tanenbaum has served in that role since 2017.
  • The league could have a national streaming RSN platform as soon as the 2025/26 season, according to the Sports Business Journal’s Tom Friend. Numerous teams were affected Diamond Sports bankruptcy proceedings. Diamond is the parent company of Bally Sports. “I think coming out of this, when we look at the interest of streaming services to carry local games and all the additional functionality that will come to that, there will be a transition and transition for our viewers, as well, in terms of how they discover those games and how they watch them, that I think the end result will be a much better consumer experience,” Silver said.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Batum, Dolan, Raptors, Nets

September 10th, 2024 at 10:59am CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers couldn’t have asked for a much better outcome after entering the summer armed with cap space than coming away with free agents like Paul George, Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, and Reggie Jackson in addition to re-signing Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre, KJ Martin, and Kyle Lowry.

Still, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN observed on the latest Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link), there was one free agent the 76ers had hoped to re-sign who ended up leaving Philadelphia after seriously considering the possibility of a new deal with the team.

“The one thing you could say that’s a disappointment for the Sixers from the way everything went is they were really close to getting (Nicolas) Batum back,” Bontemps said. “He was going back and forth – at least from my understanding – (between) going back to Philly or going back to the team that traded him, the Clippers. I think family played a part in him going back to the Clippers. He was pretty comfortable out in L.A.”

Although the Sixers added Guerschon Yabusele late in free agency, there’s no obvious starting power forward on the roster, Bontemps notes, so a player like George, Martin, or Oubre will likely slot in as a somewhat undersized four.

“Obviously, (Batum) slotted in perfectly for them as a power forward,” Bontemps said. “… He was a critical piece for them last year. If he’s on the roster, things look a lot different.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), Knicks owner James Dolan continues to express his discontent with the NBA’s league office, announcing in a letter to his fellow team owners that he plans to vote against the league’s proposed operating budget for 2024/25, as well as the election of a new Board of Governors chair. Those votes will be conducted on Tuesday in New York. Dolan, who has made a habit of criticizing the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver, is citing a lack of transparency as the reason for his “no” votes, Wojnarowski adds.
  • Within a mailbag for The Athletic, Eric Koreen tackles questions about why the Raptors‘ front office is no longer looked up on as favorably as it once was, why Bruce Brown hasn’t been traded yet, and whether the team overpaid to retain Immanuel Quickley and Scottie Barnes, among other topics. Koreen acknowledges that Quickley’s five-year, $162.5MM contract (which includes another $12.5MM in incentives) is based on projection and comes with real risk, but says he doesn’t understand criticism of the deal for the five-year max deal for Barnes, who won a Rookie of the Year award and made an All-Star team in his first three NBA seasons.
  • C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News (subscription required) considers whether Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas, among other Nets, will see their play-making responsibilities expand under new head coach Jordi Fernandez, based on how Fernandez’s previous offenses in Denver and Sacramento operated.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Community Shootaround: Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament

September 8th, 2024 at 7:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The play-in tournament ensures that at least 10 teams in each conference will get a taste of the postseason.

Unless something unforseen happens, eight teams in the Eastern Conference can already plan on playing beyond their regular season finales. It’s safe to assume the Celtics, Bucks, Sixers, Magic, Knicks, Cavaliers, Pacers and Heat will occupy eight of the postseason slots. The only mystery regarding those clubs is which two teams will have to come out of the play-in tournament.

Predicting which two Eastern teams among the remaining seven will participate in the play-in is a much tougher call. The Bulls and Hawks snared the last two spots last season, but there’s reason to believe they’ll wind up in the lottery.

The Bulls dealt away leading scorer DeMar DeRozan and top defender Alex Caruso this offseason and would like to make more moves. Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic have been on the trading block for quite a while and they could be wearing different uniforms at some point during the season. The addition of Josh Giddey, joining Coby White in the backcourt, could be enough to get them back to the play-in but that’s certainly no lock.

The Hawks, of course, broke up their high-scoring backcourt by dealing Dejounte Murray to the Pelicans. Atlanta did wind up with the top pick in the draft, but Zaccharie Risacher isn’t your typical top overall selection. No one quite knows what the Hawks have in Risacher, who is unlikely to have the sort of first-year impact that Victor Wembanyama or Brandon Miller did a year ago.

The Raptors have a much different roster than in recent years but they should improve on their 25-win total. They have built around Scottie Barnes with a backcourt of former Knicks Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett.

The Hornets could be on the upswing if LaMelo Ball can finally stay healthy for a whole season. They have two high-scoring wings in Miller and Miles Bridges.

The Wizards signed Jonas Valanciunas and have two promising forwards Bilal Coulibaly and No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr. They still seem to be a couple of years away from entering the postseason picture.

The Nets, of course, traded away their top player in Mikal Bridges with their sights set on next offseason, when they’ll have extra first-round picks and plenty of cap space.

Last, but maybe not least anymore, are the Pistons. Coming off the worst season in franchise history, the Pistons used their ample cap room to get Cade Cunningham more help. The additions of Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. should make them more competitive.

That leads us to our topic of the day: Among the Bulls, Hawks, Raptors, Hornets, Wizards, Nets and Pistons, which of those Eastern Conference teams will make the play-in tournament this upcoming season? 

Please take to the comments section to address this topic. We look forward to your input.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Atlantic Notes: Barrett, Raptors, Yabusele, Springer

September 7th, 2024 at 8:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

RJ Barrett enjoyed his time with the Knicks, but he tells David Stol of Sharp Magazine that the chance to play for the Raptors in the city where he lived as a child is “a literal dream come true.” Barrett’s homecoming occurred last December when New York sent him to Toronto as part of a five-player trade involving OG Anunoby.

“I grew up with my dad taking me to games,” Barrett said. “[…] When I found out I was coming home, I didn’t know how to act. I was pinching myself and telling my people, ‘We’re really here. We’re playing for the Toronto Raptors.’”

Barrett became the focus of the Raptors’ offense after the deal, averaging a career-high 21.8 PPG in 32 games. He’s looking forward to his first training camp with the team and seeing what he can accomplish in a full season. He also has fond memories of his years in New York, where he helped to turn around a floundering franchise after being selected with the third pick in the 2019 draft.

“I think people forget that we really built something there,” he said. “When I arrived, we weren’t contending. We weren’t close, really. My sophomore year, we made the playoffs. Then, we just kept building. We gave the fans something to cheer for. And they deserve it, man. It’s a tough city but you earn their love. I’m glad we got there for them.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Not much is being expected from the Raptors as they look ahead to their 30th season, notes Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. A lack of star power will likely limit Toronto to a play-in tournament spot at best, Wolstat adds, as Washington and Brooklyn are the only Eastern rivals that appear to be significantly worse. Wolstat also cites a difficult early schedule, with 22 of the first 25 games against teams coming off postseason appearances.
  • Guerschon Yabusele is probably in a better spot with the Sixers than he would have been if he had tried to return to the Celtics, Brian Robb of MassLive states in a mailbag column. Yabusele signed a one-year deal with Philadelphia last month after a standout performance with France in the Olympics. Robb points out that his main competition for playing time as the backup power forward to Caleb Martin will be KJ Martin and Ricky Council. Robb also suggests the Celtics may have been more interested in Yabusele if they hadn’t reached new deals with backup big men Luke Kornet, Neemias Queta and Xavier Tillman.
  • Jaden Springer is eligible for a rookie scale extension through October 21, but sources tell Robb that the Celtics aren’t likely to consider a new deal until the fourth-year guard has played a full season with the team.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

2024/25 NBA Over/Unders: Atlantic Division

September 4th, 2024 at 9:18am CST by Luke Adams

With the 2024/25 NBA regular season set to tip off next month, we’re getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign and continuing an annual Hoops Rumors tradition.

With the help of the lines from a series of sports betting sites – including Bovada and BetOnline – we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.

In 2023/24, our voters went 16-14 on their over/under picks. Can you top that in ’24/25?

We’ll begin our series today with the Atlantic Division…

Boston Celtics

New York Knicks

Philadelphia 76ers

Toronto Raptors

Brooklyn Nets

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

And-Ones: Rookie Scale Extensions, $500MM Players, Beverley, Muhammad, T. Robinson

August 31st, 2024 at 7:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Three of the first four players selected in the 2021 draft have already received rookie scale extensions, but Rockets guard Jalen Green may have to wait until next summer, writes Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Despite a strong finish to last season, there are still questions about Green after three years in the NBA. Houston may want to maximize its cap space for 2025, and Pincus suggests the Rockets’ final offer to Green may not be in the neighborhood of what fellow top four picks Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley and Scottie Barnes received.

That philosophy would also affect Alperen Sengun, who was taken with the 16th pick in 2021. Pincus suggests that Sengun could receive a generous offer before the October 21 deadline if the Rockets are planning to pick up Fred VanVleet‘s $44.9MM option for the 2025/26 season. However, the Turkish center will only have a $16.3MM cap hold if the team plans to decline its option on VanVleet and operate using cap space.

Pincus’ comments are part of his analysis of the entire first round from 2021 and the likelihood of an extension for each remaining player. He gives a C-minus to Cunningham’s new deal, stating that the Pistons assumed unnecessary risk when they could have signed him to a similar contract next summer. The Cavaliers‘ Mobley extension gets a B-minus from Pincus, while the Raptors‘ Barnes extension rates a B-plus.

There’s more news from around the basketball world:

  • Stephen Curry‘s extension with the Warriors and Paul George‘s max contract with the Sixers will push them above $500MM in career earnings, joining LeBron James and Kevin Durant as the only players with deals in place to reach that figure, notes Steve Henson of The Los Angeles Times. James Harden will top $400MM under his new two-year, $70MM deal with the Clippers, while Chris Paul will get close to that number after joining the Spurs for one year at $10.46MM.
  • Longtime NBA guard Patrick Beverley made his debut for Hapoel Tel Aviv today in Israel, according to Eurohoops. Beverley, 36, was in the starting lineup and contributed three points, six assists and his typical intense defense in a preseason win over Elitzur Ironi Netanya.
  • Former NBA players Shabazz Muhammad and Thomas Robinson have signed with Homenetmen Beirut, per Dario Skerletic of Sportando. Muhammad, who joined the Kings’ G League affiliate in January, last played in the NBA during the 2017/18 season. Robinson, a lottery pick in 2012, has been out of the league for seven years.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Raptors Sign Jared Rhoden To Exhibit 10 Contract

August 19th, 2024 at 11:56am CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors have signed free agent guard Jared Rhoden, the team announced (via Twitter).

It’s an Exhibit 10 deal, a source tells Blake Murphy of Sportsnet (Twitter link), which means Rhoden will be invited to camp with no assurances of earning a roster spot or a two-way contract. He can receive a bonus worth up to $77.5K if he’s waived and spends at least 60 days with Toronto’s G League affiliate.

Rhoden, 24, played the past two years on two-way contracts with the Pistons, appearing in 31 total games. Last season he averaged 4.9 points and 1.9 rebounds in 17 games while shooting 50% from the field and 38.7% from three-point range.

A former standout at Seton Hall, Rhoden signed with the Trail Blazers after going undrafted in 2022. He was waived before the start of the season and claimed by the Hawks, who waived him the next day.

Toronto has now reached the training camp limit of 21 players, Murphy adds (Twitter link). That total breaks down to 14 guaranteed contracts, Bruno Fernando‘s non-guaranteed deal, three two-way players and three with Exhibit 10 contracts. That includes Quincy Guerrier, whose Exhibit 10 deal has been reported, but not confirmed by the Raptors. Murphy notes that the team has plenty of room below the tax line to make in-season roster moves.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0
Load More Posts