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Celtics Notes: Tatum, Brown, Grousbeck, Sale

July 11th, 2024 at 8:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

All-NBA Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, fresh off capturing his first NBA title, just signed the biggest contract in league history, a five-year, super-max deal worth a projected $313.93MM. According to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, Tatum believes his championship has helped quiet some of the discourse surrounding him in the league at present.

“You know, just being the topic of discussion of so many debates or whatever it is. ‘Can he lead a team? Is he a top-five player?’” Tatum said. “There’s still a lot of things I guess they can debate, but I’ve done some things they can’t debate. I won a championship. I did it at the highest level. So having that under my belt, like, obviously there’s still conversations to be had or whatever people want to say, but they’ve always got to refer to me as an NBA champion.”

Tatum seemed grateful for his lucrative new extension, too.

“For me just to feel wanted, and they want me to be here and want me for the long haul,” Tatum said. “I’ll spend my whole career here and have got nothing but love for the fans, the city, and the organization. You know, we just won a championship and I want to try to win as many as I can.”

During the 2023/24 regular season, the five-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA honoree posted superlative averages of 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.6 blocks across 74 contests, with a .471/.376/.833 shooting line.

There’s more out of Boston:

Tatum’s All-Star teammate Jaylen Brown appeared miffed to have been passed over to replace Kawhi Leonard on Team USA in favor of another Celtics wing, Derrick White, Himmelsbach writes in a separate piece. Brown posted an emoji-packed tweet expressing his apparent displeasure. Sources confirmed to Brian Robb of MassLive that the 6’6″ small forward was indeed frustrated by the choice. Team USA managing director Grant Hill explained the decision on Wednesday. “This is about putting together a team,” Hill told gathered media. “Just kind of overall, you have incredible interest from an abundance of talent that we have here in the United States. I’ve talked a little about when we assembled this roster.”
Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck recently revealed his intentions to sell his stake in the team. Now, Grousbeck has outlined some supplemental details of the plan, Robb notes in an additional article. “I want to clarify, it’s not my majority stake,” Grousbeck said. “The control of the team is owned by my family, so it’s a family that I belong to and then I have the Celtics family I also belong to, so there’s an intersection and there’s an involvement.” According to Robb, Grousbeck hopes to sell the majority of his family’s ownership stake early next year. “The plan, the expectation is to sell the team in two parts, 51 percent going fairly soon,” Grousbeck said. “49 percent then closing in a second closing, that’s the expectation in 2028. I’m planning or expected to stay on until 2028 (as governor) and we’re going to hire bankers and advisors and this is going to be quite a bidding process.”
Grousbeck may be selling his portion of the Celtics chiefly because of long-term family estate planning, writes Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico. Boston is valued at an estimated $5.12 billion by Sportico, Novy-Williams adds.

Derrick White Replaces Kawhi Leonard On Team USA Roster

July 10th, 2024 at 11:05am CST by Luke Adams

11:05am: As first confirmed by Spears (via Twitter), White has officially replaced Leonard on Team USA’s roster, according to a press release.

“I am happy to announce that Derrick will compete at his first Olympic Games on the heels of a championship season in Boston,” managing director Grant Hill said in a statement. “We look forward to him joining the team in the coming days as we continue preparations for Paris. “I want to thank Kawhi for his commitment to the USA Men’s National Team. He earned the opportunity to represent the United States, but USA Basketball and Clippers leadership felt it’s important to allow Kawhi to prepare for the NBA season.”

Team USA now features three members of the defending champion Celtics, with White joining teammates Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday.

9:57am: Star Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard will withdraw from Team USA’s roster ahead of the Olympics in Paris, sources tell Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic (Twitter link).

USA Basketball intends to name a replacement for Leonard on the 12-team roster that will travel to Paris, with Celtics guard Derrick White considered a strong candidate, according to Charania and Vardon.

Leonard was sidelined at the end of the 2023/24 season due to right knee inflammation. He missed the last eight games of the regular season and first game of the playoffs due to the ailment, returned for Game 2 and Game 3 vs. Dallas, then sat out the final three contests of the Clippers’ first-round loss.

After reporting to Team USA’s training camp, he said over the weekend that his knee had improved in recent weeks enough for him to play this summer. Neither The Athletic’s report nor USA Basketball’s official statement (Twitter link) on Leonard’s exit from the team specifically mentions that knee, but it sounds as if the forward’s health is the motivating factor for the decision.

“Kawhi has been ramping up for the Olympics over the past several weeks and had a few strong practices in Las Vegas,” Team USA’s statement reads. “He felt ready to compete. However, he respects that USA Basketball and the Clippers determined it’s in his best interest to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season rather than participating in the Olympic Games in Paris.”

While that statement suggests the decision was made by the Clippers and Team USA, Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link) hears from a source that Leonard’s camp reached out a couple days ago to USA Basketball to express concern.

Team USA Notes: Edwards, Durant, Leonard, LeBron

July 8th, 2024 at 11:58am CST by Arthur Hill

Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards declared himself “the No. 1 option” for Team USA during a media session on Sunday, but that’s not how he really views his place on the squad, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Vardon suggests that Edwards may have been performing a little bit when talking to reporters, defaulting to the brash personality that has helped him become one of the NBA’s most recognizable figures at age 22. Outside of the media spotlight, Edwards acknowledged that he’s teaming up with some of the greatest players of all time.

“We got LeBron (James), (Kevin Durant) and (Stephen Curry),” Edwards told Vardon. “So I don’t feel like nobody can beat those three by themselves on the court. You mix in two of us regular guys, we’ll be all right.”

Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton are the only returning players from the U.S. contingent that failed to win a medal at last year’s FIBA World Cup. Edwards became a star on that team after initially being projected for a sixth-man slot, but he knows it will be more difficult to earn a consistent role while playing with legends.

“They mentioned some guys might not play some games, or might not play many minutes,” Edwards said. “I don’t mind. Like I said, I’m playing alongside Hall of Famers. So I’m just here. But if they need me, I’ll be one call away.”

There’s more on Team USA:

A strained calf forced Durant to sit out the first two days of training camp, Vardon adds along with Shams Charania in a separate story for The Athletic. Coach Steve Kerr said the injury isn’t considered serious, but the Suns forward may miss Wednesday’s first exhibition game against Canada. “We’re just going to use an abundance of caution,” Kerr said. “It’s not bad. He’s assuring me that it’s not bad. We’re just going to be really careful and take it day by day.”
Kawhi Leonard had fears that lingering inflammation in his right knee might cause him to miss the Olympics, but he’s experienced enough improvement that he expects to be ready to play, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “Yeah, but this is just my journey, so whatever … I can’t lay out the perfect script for me,” Leonard said. “Last year, I tried to play as much as possible, felt great. And at a certain period of time I couldn’t go. I tried the best that I could, but it’s just my journey. I don’t want to be in a situation that I do be in, but I got to take it for what it is. And a lot of people are watching, supporters or doubters, but I motivate a lot of people.” Leonard refused to comment on Paul George‘s decision to leave the Clippers in free agency, Bontemps adds, saying he wants to focus on Team USA.
Kerr was amazed after watching James operate at full speed during Saturday’s first practice session, according to Mark Medina of Sportskeeda. The 39-year-old Lakers star had no problem keeping up with his younger teammates. “I was blown away by how hard he practices,” Kerr said.

And-Ones: Team USA, Bonuses, Summer League, Draft, Tavares

July 5th, 2024 at 7:07pm CST by Luke Adams

The members of the U.S. Olympic team that will compete in Paris this summer have arrived in Las Vegas, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Team USA will hold a pre-Olympic camp in Vegas from July 6-8 and will be joined by a 15-man Select Team for scrimmaging purposes.

Led by LeBron James (two Olympic gold medals, 20 All-Star berths) and Kevin Durant (three gold medals, 14 All-Star berths), the 12-man Olympic roster is as formidable as any team USA Basketball has fielded in the 21st century, with 84 combined All-Star nods. It will make picking a starting lineup a challenging task for head coach Steve Kerr.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Kerr said on Friday, per Reynolds. “I’m guessing that all 12 players on this roster will be in the Hall of Fame someday. So, how do you pick five out of 12? The idea is, you find combinations that click, and you find two-way lineups that can be effective at both ends. Our big job in Las Vegas is to find five-man combinations that fit and to just ask all 12 guys to fully commit to the goal of winning a gold medal no matter what it looks like, no matter who’s playing.”

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

Expect NBA teams to include unlikely incentives less frequently in player contracts going forward, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Those unlikely bonuses don’t count against the cap if they’re not earned, but they do count when determining a team’s position relative to the tax aprons, giving high-spending teams less wiggle room below those aprons. For instance, the Heat – who are operating in between the first and second aprons – would presumably prefer not to have to account for the $1.5MM unlikely bonus Tyler Herro would earn for winning Defensive Player of the Year.
With the Bulls, Magic, Nets, Trail Blazers, Cavaliers, and Hawks among the teams announcing their Summer League rosters on Friday, Brett Siegel of Clutch Points has updated his tracker of the Summer League squads from around the NBA.
While no concrete decisions have been made yet about next year’s draft schedule, the expectation is that the NBA will want the second round (ie. the second day) to start in the evening instead of the afternoon, Marc Stein writes at his Substack. The second day of the 2024 draft began at 4:00 pm Eastern time on June 27 so as not to compete with the U.S. presidential debate that was scheduled for that evening.
There had been some speculation in the spring that Walter Tavares might try to make an NBA comeback this summer, but the former Hawks and Cavaliers big man – who has been a star in Europe since 2017 – won’t be going anywhere, having signed a five-year contract with Real Madrid, the Spanish team announced in a press release. The all-time EuroLeague blocks leader, Tavares has won a pair of EuroLeague championships with Madrid in 2018 and 2023.

Lakers Notes: LeBron, Team USA, Las Vegas, Bronny

July 5th, 2024 at 11:50am CST by Rory Maher

The Lakers have agreed to a new two-year contract with LeBron James that features a player option for 2025/26 and a full no-trade clause. It will likely either be for the maximum salary or just under the max.

Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times argues James’ lucrative new contract is a mistake from a team-building perspective and confirmation that the club’s offseason has been a failure to this point. Plaschke points to L.A.’s fruitless pursuits of Dan Hurley and Klay Thompson — both of whom reportedly accepted less money than the Lakers were offering — as evidence of how negatively the team is currently viewed, particularly when it comes to championship contention.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Will James be a starter for Team USA at the Olympics in Paris? Joe Vardon of The Athletic explores that question, writing that while there’s a case to be made that the 39-year-old would be better suited to come off the bench, two sources close to the situation “cast serious doubt” on the possibility. Those same sources told Vardon that James will likely be the Americans’ starting point forward, allowing Stephen Curry to play more off the ball. Vardon also ponders which other players from the star-studded roster will start and the potential roles for the reserves.
There have been several reports indicating that James’ playing career could end in a year or two. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (Twitter video link via First Take), James will be weighing a couple of factors as he decides how long he wants to play. “The biggest thing, other than health, that we’re gonna see that is going to determine when the end of LeBron’s career is when the owners of the league set forth a timeline about when they’re gonna establish that expansion team in Las Vegas,” Windhorst said, per RealGM. “Now, nothing is assured … but I suspect once the TV rights deals get wrapped up … they’re gonna bring expansion to the table. … (James) wants to join up with partners to become the face of the franchise in Las Vegas.” Windhorst acknowledges that several factors would have to line up perfectly for that scenario to come to fruition.
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report considers five paths the Lakers could take to improve their roster, with some scenarios more plausible than others.
The Lakers expect second-rounder Bronny James to spend most of his rookie season in the NBA G League, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on SportsCenter (YouTube link). LeBron’s eldest son was the No. 55 pick of last month’s draft.

USA Basketball Announces 15-Man Select Team

June 28th, 2024 at 11:46am CST by Luke Adams

USA Basketball has announced in a press release that a 15-man Select Team will train with the U.S. Olympic squad as it prepares for the upcoming Olympics. The Select Team, which is made up mostly of younger players and some who have previous Team USA experience, will work out with the men’s national team in Las Vegas from July 6-8.

The members of the Select Team are as follows:

Jalen Duren (Pistons)
Cooper Flagg (Duke)
Langston Galloway (free agent)
Nigel Hayes-Davis (Fenerbahce)
Trayce Jackson-Davis (Warriors)
Jaime Jaquez (Heat)
Brandon Miller (Hornets)
Trey Murphy (Pelicans)
Keegan Murray (Kings)
Brandin Podziemski (Warriors)
Micah Potter (Jazz/two-way FA)
Payton Pritchard (Celtics)
Jabari Smith Jr. (Rockets)
Jalen Suggs (Magic)
Amen Thompson (Rockets)

Perhaps the most notable name on the list is Flagg, who has committed to Duke and will begin his first college basketball season in the fall. He’s viewed as a strong candidate to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft.

Duren, Galloway, Murphy, Murray, and Pritchard were part of the U.S. Select Team that trained with the national team ahead of the 2023 World Cup.

It’s possible some of these players will use their Select Team experience as a springboard to represent Team USA in international competitions down the road. Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, and Tyrese Haliburton are among the players on this year’s Olympic team that were members of a Select Team earlier in their respective careers.

The select team will be coached by Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley, who will be joined by assistants Jim Boylen and Matt Painter. Boylen, a former Bulls head coach and current Pacers assistant, was Team USA’s head coach during the qualifying contests. Painter has been the longtime head coach at Purdue.

Leonard, Haliburton, Embiid Expected To Be Ready For Team USA

June 27th, 2024 at 11:54am CST by Arthur Hill

Head coach Steve Kerr expects a fully healthy roster when Team USA begins training for the Olympics next week in Las Vegas, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. That means Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton and Sixers center Joel Embiid, who were all sidelined with injuries late in the season or during the playoffs, are likely to participate.

Right knee inflammation prevented Leonard from playing in the final eight games of the regular season and limited him to two playoff games as L.A. lost to Dallas in the first round. Kerr cautioned that there could still be a late surprise, but staff members have been in frequent contact with Leonard and they expect him to be ready for camp. Sources tell Vardon that there’s no new structural damage to Leonard’s knee, and the inflammation is the result of previous surgeries.

Haliburton suffered a strained left hamstring in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals and wasn’t able to return as Indiana was swept by Boston. He was concerned about his availability for the Olympics when the injury occurred, but Vardon states that the Pacers training staff always believed he would be ready in time.

Embiid missed more than two months after meniscus surgery on his left knee in late January. He was back in time for the playoffs, but appeared to be affected by the knee during the first-round series with New York. He also experienced a mild case of Bell’s palsy, which causes weakness or paralysis in the facial muscles.

Training camp for team USA will open July 6, followed by an exhibition game against Canada four days later in Las Vegas. The team will travel to Abu Dhabi and London for more exhibition contests before heading to Paris.

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is expected to see limited action when Greece takes on the Bahamas this afternoon, tweets Harris Stavrou of SPORT24. A left calf strain forced Antetokounmpo to miss all of Milwaukee’s first-round series with Indiana. Greece has to advance through an Olympic qualifying tournament next week to earn a spot in the Summer Games.

Stein’s Latest: Brown, Van Gundy, Coaching Carousel, More

June 19th, 2024 at 9:40pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Raptors are still determining how they plan to move forward with Bruce Brown‘s $23MM team option for 2024/25, NBA insider Marc Stein relays in his latest around-the-league notebook. The Pacers originally signed Brown to the two-year, $45MM deal last summer in a successful effort to poach him from Denver, then traded him as part of a package to acquire Pascal Siakam.

According to Stein, numerous teams expect the Raptors to pick up that option to help facilitate a trade further down the road.

Brown played in 67 games (44 starts) between the Pacers and Raptors last season, averaging 10.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists contest one year after helping Denver win the championship.

We have more from Stein:

Before joining Tyronn Lue‘s staff in Los Angeles as an assistant, Jeff Van Gundy was pursued by the New Zealand Breakers of Australia’s National Basketball League to be their head coach, Stein reports. The Breakers formally requested permission from the Celtics to interview Van Gundy, who spent the year as a special adviser in Boston’s basketball operations room, but were told he had another coaching opportunity lined up already (with the Clippers).
J.J. Redick is the overwhelming favorite to be hired as the Lakers‘ head coach, while James Borrego is still considered the frontrunner to get the Cavaliers‘ job, according to Stein. Though he cautions that anything can happen, as of Wednesday Stein expects those two positions to be filled by those candidates soon.
Jayson Tatum and Derrick White‘s contract extensions with the Celtics are viewed as inevitable, Stein writes. Tatum is eligible for a five-year, $315MM deal that would make him the highest-paid player in NBA history.
Klay Thompson is in Houston training with Team Bahamas ahead of Olympic qualifiers, but likely would never have been able to participate in the tournament due to the timing of the event (July 2-7). An unrestricted free agent with an injury history, Thompson — like other free agents — can’t officially sign a new contract until July 6, making any play before then an unnecessary risk. Even if he were willing to make that risk, Thompson likely wouldn’t have received clearance from USA Basketball anyways after the organization was criticized last year for allowing Eric Gordon to join the Bahamas, which won a pre-qualifying tournament, Stein writes.
Stein confirms reports that Atlanta has been unable to secure an in-person workout with Alexandre Sarr, increasing rumblings that the Hawks may select Zaccharie Risacher first overall.

Pacific Notes: Hurley, Suns, Vezenkov, Kerr

June 8th, 2024 at 10:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

UConn submitted a new contract offer to try to keep Dan Hurley as its head coach, but a source close to the athletic department tells Adam Zagoria of NJ.com that the school can’t afford to get into a bidding war with the Lakers. Hurley traveled to Los Angeles on Friday to meet with team officials and is expected to consider his options throughout the weekend before reaching a decision. One of those options will be an offer from the university that would reportedly make him the third-highest-paid coach in the NCAA.

“We want to pay him certainly what he’s worth, but there’s a limit to how far we can actually go just because of the political pressures and all of that,” the source told Zagoria. “Even though everybody wants him to stay, and everybody’s behind it, I just think there’s a cap that exists.”

Zagoria points to a USA Today database that lists Bill Self with a $9.6MM annual salary at Kansas, while John Calipari will earn $8MM in the first year of his new contract at Arkansas. Hurley signed a six-year deal worth $32MM after winning his first national title last year, and he earned a $2MM bonus this season on top of his $5MM base salary.

“Obviously, they want to pay him,” Zagoria’s source added. “I just think at some point it’s not going to be Kentucky, it’s not going to be the place where you can just get some stupid number. I think there are just some realities at the school that make that tougher.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Suns will attempt to fill three needs this summer despite being bound by second apron restrictions, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 said on the Burns and Gambo podcast (hat tip to RealGM). After letting Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant run the offense this season, Phoenix hopes to find a point guard who can play at least 20 minutes per game, according to Gambadoro. The team is also in the market for a young wing player who can provide more athleticism, along with an upgrade on Drew Eubanks at backup center.
Conflicting information about Kings forward Sasha Vezenkov makes it hard to tell which parts of the story are legitimate, James Ham states in his latest edition of Kings Beat (subscription required). As we relayed earlier today, a Eurohoops report stated that Vezenkov has asked for a change of scenery and is considering a return to Europe. However, Ham notes that Matteo Andreani of Basketinside claims the Kings told Vezenkov that he’s not in their plans for next season and they’ll try to trade him. Either scenario could lead to a breakup this summer, and Ham states that team officials have been silent about Vezenkov’s future.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr understands the pressure on Team USA to capture an Olympic gold medal this summer, calling it a “win or fail” situation, per Ron Kroichick of The San Francisco Chronicle. Part of Kerr’s early preparation has been watching past losses to see what went wrong, including a 113-111 defeat against Germany in last year’s FIBA World Cup semifinals. “One of the things we look at is, why has USA Basketball lost games in the past?” Kerr said. “There are some common themes, and the big one really is defense. The games we’ve lost, we just failed to stop the other team. This Germany game is one of them — they carved us up. So we’re going to have to be really good defensively this summer.”

Mavs Notes: Washington, Gafford, THJ, Lively, Kidd, Harrison, Kyrie

April 19th, 2024 at 9:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Few NBA teams could argue they had a better trade deadline this season than the Mavericks, who fortified their rotation by acquiring P.J. Washington from Charlotte and Daniel Gafford from Washington. Dallas has been on a roll since those two new additions debuted on February 10, going 21-9 during that stretch, including a 16-2 run from March 7 to April 10.

Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News takes a closer look at how Washington, who grew up rooting for the Mavs, got to achieve a childhood dream by suiting up for his hometown team, while Kevin Sherrington of The Dallas Morning News (subscriber link) explores the impact Gafford has had since he arrived in Dallas.

As Sherrington writes, the Mavs are 18-3 in games Gafford has started, as he and Washington have helped turn the team into a genuine threat to make a playoff run. Six weeks ago, just avoiding the play-in and having a competitive first-round series might have been a realistic goal for the club, but now the Mavs looks like they could be the best team in the West besides Denver, Sherrington says.

Here’s more out of Dallas:

Veteran Mavs swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. didn’t practice on Friday due to an illness, but he’ll join the team in Los Angeles, per head coach Jason Kidd, and there’s no indication his availability for Sunday’s Game 1 is in jeopardy at this point. (Twitter link via Townsend). Kidd also said that big man Dereck Lively (knee) has looked good this week and is trending toward playing on Sunday.
Kidd and Nico Harrison are both in the third season of four-year contracts, according to Townsend, who opines in a Morning News column that the Mavs’ head coach and general manager have done enough this year to warrant contract extensions this offseason. Those decisions will be made by a new-look ownership group led by governor Patrick Dumont.
Kyrie Irving would have accepted an invitation to play for Team USA this summer if he had received one, but won’t hold any grudges for not being selected, telling reporters on Thursday that “the deliberation process was a tough one” for USA Basketball, as Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News relays. “I would’ve loved to, but I wish my brothers well and I just didn’t fit in to this team,” Irving said. “… At this point in my career, I think my focus should be on winning the championship and in the summertime, just going to support those guys when I get a chance.”