- Based on his knowledge of the offers the Jazz have received, agent Wallace Prather doesn’t expect the club to move his client Derrick Favors before Thursday’s deadline, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. However, Prather acknowledged that things could change as the last minute.
Here are Wednesday’s D-League assignments and recalls:
- The Grizzlies have assigned Wade Baldwin and Jarell Martin to the team’s D-League affiliate, the Iowa Energy, according to a team’s website.
- The Mavericks have recalled A.J. Hammons from the Texas Legends, according to a team press release.
- The Jazz have assigned Joel Bolomboy to the Salt Lake City Stars, according to the team’s website.
- The Suns have assigned Derrick Jones to their D-League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns, per the team’s Twitter feed.
- The Spurs have assigned Bryn Forbes to the Austin Spurs, according to the team’s website.
- Maurice Ndour and Marshall Plumlee have been assigned to the Westchester Knicks, per New York’s Twitter feed.
We’re less than 17 hours away from the trade deadline. While we wait to see what unfolds, check out some notes and rumors out of the Western Conference:
- Deron Williams and Andrew Bogut are rumored to be on the move and the Mavericks held both of them out of practice today, Earl K. Sneed of Fox Sports relays via Twitter. “With the trade deadline tomorrow, you can read a lot into that,” coach Rick Carlisle said.
- If the Mavericks make a deal involving Williams or Bogut, it’s likely to occur right before Thursday’s deadline, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes. The team is looking for picks in the upcoming draft in exchange for their veterans.
- The Kings are likely to move someone in their backcourt, Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee tweets. Voisin hears that the Pacers have interest in acquiring Arron Afflalo.
- The Jazz have had conversations with other teams regarding a Derrick Favors trade, but a source told Spencer Checketts of 1280 KZNS (Twitter link) that the team doesn’t view any offer as “even close” to being fair.
- Wolves executive/coach Tom Thibodeau said the team is still looking at trade possibilities, but as of right now, he doesn’t see any deal that makes sense for the franchise, Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press writes. “If there’s something that makes sense that can make you better, then you take a look at it. If not, I’m happy with the team we have. I like the guys we have. I like the approach we have,” Thibodeau said.
- Clippers coach Doc Rivers said Chris Paul has been medically cleared to return to the court and he may play as early as Thursday, Andrew Han of ESPN.com relays.
Iman Shumpert has been the subject of trade rumors with the Wolves and Rockets among the teams showing interest, but coach Tyronn Lue believes the Cavaliers will keep him on the team, as Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com relays. “You wish you could trade and get all the people you say you can get, but it never happens. … If you hear about 200 trades, there’s probably two that happens,” Lue said.
Here’s more out of Cleveland:
- Back-up point guard isn’t as much of a need for the Cavs as it was earlier in the season, Vardon writes in the same piece. “In the playoffs you can always get away with playing [LeBron James] at the backup point guard,” Lue said. “The backup point guard situation was more so to not play Bron and [Kyrie Irving] so many minutes throughout the regular season, but, I mean we just gotta go with what we got.”
- The Cavs recently engaged in trade talks with the Jazz regarding a swap of Shelvin Mack and Jordan McRae, Chris Haynes of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Haynes adds that the discussions have stalled out.
- Lue said he was impressed with Larry Sanders, who worked out for the Cavs today, as Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal tweets. Lue added that the biggest question with the big man is whether he loves the game or not.
New NBA rules allow teams to place protections on draft picks that they’re in line to acquire if they want to flip them to another team, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe. As Lowe explains, if the Celtics wanted to trade the rights to the Nets‘ 2017 first-rounder, they wouldn’t necessarily have to make it unprotected — the club could, for instance, trade the Nets pick to another team with top-two protection, then if Boston keeps the selection, that team could get Brooklyn’s unprotected pick from the C’s in 2018.
As we wait to see if the Celtics or another team takes advantage of that rule, let’s round up a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world…
- The BIG3 has formally announced a new group of 10 players who will be eligible for the upcoming draft. Keith Bogans, Rashad McCants, Voshon Lenard, and Mike James are among the former NBA players set to participate in the three-on-three league.
- Marcus Georges-Hunt‘s recent 10-day contract with the Heat has expired, but the rookie is drawing interest from multiple NBA teams, a league source tells Chris Reichert of The Step Back (Twitter link).
- After previously playing a game in 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa, the NBA will be returning to the city this summer, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com. Team Africa will take on Team World at Johannesburg’s Ticketpro Dome on August 5, the league confirmed.
- Bobby Marks of The Vertical continues to publish his team-by-team trade guides this week, focusing more recently on playoff teams. Marks takes a closer look at the Celtics and Rockets, as well as the Raptors and Jazz.
The NBA second half won’t get underway until Thursday, but with NBA and D-League teams returning from their respective All-Star breaks, assignments and recalls have gotten underway again. Here are Tuesday’s moves:
- The Jazz have recalled Joel Bolomboy from the Salt Lake City Stars following his participation in the weekend’s D-League All-Star game, per a team release. The rookie forward averaged 15.8 PPG and 13.2 RPG in 18 first-half NBADL games.
- Briante Weber has been recalled to the Warriors from Santa Cruz after playing in the D-League All-Star game, Golden State announced in a press release. Weber is still on his second 10-day contract with the Dubs, though the team could waive him at the trade deadline if it needs to open up that 15th roster spot.
- One other D-League All-Star is back with his NBA team, as the Heat confirmed that they’ve recalled Okaro White. White has been with the Heat since mid-January, but his early-season play with the Sioux Falls Skyforce earned him a spot in the D-League All-Star Game.
- The Nuggets have sent 2016 first-rounder Malik Beasley back to the D-League, the team announced in a press release. It’s the third assignment this season for Beasley, who will head to Sioux Falls and join Miami’s affiliate, since Denver doesn’t yet have a D-League team of its own.
- The Raptors have sent Bruno Caboclo, Pascal Siakam, and Fred VanVleet to the D-League, according to the team (Twitter link). Caboclo and VanVleet have gone back and forth between the NBA and NBADL all year, but it’s Siakam’s first assignment.
- Rookies Chinanu Onuaku and Kyle Wiltjer have been re-assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets announced today (via Twitter).
- The Trail Blazers have assigned rookie guard Tim Quarterman to the D-League, according to a press release from the team. Quarterman joined the Windy City Bulls in his previous two NBADL stints via the flexible assignment rule, but will head to the Long Island Nets this time around.
The Jazz have expressed interest in bringing Deron Williams back to Utah through a trade with the Mavericks, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. The scribe adds that Dallas is open to trading both Williams and Andrew Bogut before the deadline, but he cautions that no deal is imminent.
The point guard is making $9MM this season and since it was a one-year deal with the same team he played for in the prior season, he has the right to block any trade. MacMahon adds that Williams still has a home in the Salt Lake City area and he enjoys Utah. He was drafted by the Jazz with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2005 draft before being traded to the Nets midway through the 2010/11 campaign.
The Jazz are roughly $13.6MM under the salary cap, but they do have 15 players under contract, as the team’s depth chart at Roster Resource indicates, so they would need to either send back or waive a player to complete a deal.
George Hill will likely remain the starter, but he’s missed 25 games this season because of injury. The team is 23-9 with Hill in the lineup, but just 12-13 when he’s unable to play. Utah could use depth at the point guard spot as it looks to make the playoffs for the first time since trading away Williams.
P.J. Tucker‘s name has been coming up in trade rumors for over a month now, and with less than 48 hours to go until the deadline, the Suns swingman appears to be receiving interest from several potential suitors. Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) identifies the Raptors, Wizards, Clippers, Hawks, Celtics, and Jazz as teams eyeing Tucker.
Several of those teams have already been linked to Tucker in recent weeks. The Clippers and Hawks were among the teams initially named as suitors in January, along with Chicago, Cleveland, and Minnesota. More recently, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News wrote that the Celtics have “deep interest” in Tucker, and ESPN’s Zach Lowe said that the Raptors were a team to watch.
The inclusion of the Wizards and Jazz in Scotto’s report appears to be new, though both teams are known to be in the market for modest upgrades to their respective rotations. Both Washington and Utah are believed to have interest in Lou Williams, a far more lethal scorer than Tucker, who is known more for his defense.
Tucker is on an affordable contract, earning just $5.3MM this season, but he’ll also become an unrestricted free agent this summer, so it remains to be seen how much value the Suns will be able to extract for a rental player.
- Sources close to the George Hill situation say the point guard is very happy in Utah. There’s mutual interest in a new deal this offseason between Hill and the Jazz, but it remains to be seen how high the team will be willing to go with its offer, Kyler writes.
[SOURCE LINK]
FEBRUARY 21, 9:03am: The Suns have expressed interest in discussing a Favors deal with the Jazz, per Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. Utah isn’t considered overly likely to part with the power forward, however, as Jones writes.
FEBRUARY 20, 9:10pm: The Jazz have tested the market for Derrick Favors over the past several weeks, Zach Lowe of ESPN.com writes. However, it’s unclear how serious Utah is about moving the former No. 3 overall pick.
Lowe adds that the franchise is “all-in” to keep Gordon Hayward and it doesn’t want to weaken the team this season since it’s in good position to make the playoffs. The scribe adds that the team could be testing the market for Favors now to set up a trade around the draft.
The Jazz currently have roughly $13MM in cap room, but they have several players in line for raises next season. Rudy Gobert‘s massive extension becomes effective this summer and George Hill will join Hayward as a free agent. If the team can re-sign both Hill and Hayward, it may need to shed salary elsewhere.
Favors doesn’t play many minutes alongside Gobert, a player who is clearly in the team’s long-term plans. The 25-year-old power forward is having a middling season by his standards, averaging just 9.2 points per game while sporting a 15.3 player efficiency rating.