Washington Wizards Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Beal, Heat, Hayward, Brown Jr., Hawks

February 5th, 2021 at 2:19pm CST by JD Shaw

Wizards guard Bradley Beal is committed to sticking with the team this season, but that didn’t stop the 27-year-old from giving high praise to Heat stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo earlier this week, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes.

Beal led Washington to a 103-100 win over Miami on Wednesday, with the teams set to play again on Friday night. Both he and the Heat have been linked to each other in the past, as Miami has long been rumored to be eyeing the veteran in case he becomes available before the March 25 deadline.

“Jimmy is an unbelievable player,” Beal said. “He’s a star in our league, a true leader. It’s always competitive when we play. He always just wants to win, whatever it looks like.”

Beal also complimented Adebayo, singling out the 23-year-old’s unique ability to guard positions one-through-five. Winderman notes that Miami’s reported interest even caused some Heat fans to cheer for Beal, who finished with a game-high 32 points and eight rebounds in Wednesday’s game.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

Despite having a respectable season to date, Hornets forward Gordon Hayward may miss the cut of becoming an All-Star this season, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Hayward, who signed a four-year, $120MM deal to join the team in free agency, is holding per-game averages of 22.9 points (a career-high), 5.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 21 contests.
Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington explores whether Wizards forward Troy Brown Jr. did enough in Wednesday’s game against Miami to earn more playing time. Brown, 21, finished with nine points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench, shooting 3-of-9 from the floor.
The Hawks still haven’t solved their back-up point guard issue, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic opines. Atlanta has struggled without Trae Young on the floor this season, owning just a 10-12 record in their first 22 games. Offseason signings Rajon Rondo and Kris Dunn have both missed time due to injuries, with Rondo only playing in 13 of those games and Dunn not appearing in a single contest to date.

Steph's All-Star Window Key Factor In Potential Beal Deal

February 3rd, 2021 at 9:32pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Warriors could provide an appealing trade package in a hypothetical deal with the Wizards for Bradley Beal. In a deal that would probably have to include both 2020 lottery pick James Wiseman and the Timberwolves’ top-3 protected 2021 draft selection, the Warriors would be perhaps sacrificing their future for their present. The big question, were a trade to happen, is how long Golden State star guard Stephen Curry can remain a core part of a title club, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

And-Ones: Australia, Evans, Masks, Free Agency

February 2nd, 2021 at 9:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Ben Simmons heads the list of players named by Basketball Australia to the country’s preliminary Olympic squad, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. Among some of the other NBA notables on the 24-player list are Aron Baynes, Joe Ingles, Dante Exum, Matisse Thybulle, Patty Mills, Josh Green, Thon Maker and Matthew Dellavedova. The squad will have to be pared to 12 players for the Olympic tournament in Tokyo this summer.

We have more from around the basketball world:

The Erie BayHawks waived guard Jacob Evans to make room for forward Jordan Bell, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. Bell was released from his 10-day contract with the Wizards over the weekend. Evans played for the Warriors and Timberwolves the past two seasons.
The NBA will soon require players to wear KN95 or KF94 masks on the bench and all other areas where masks are necessary, Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes. The new rule will go into effect over the next week. Starting with games on Friday, the NBA will more strictly enforce current rules regarding the use of face masks, Bontemps adds.
The Athletic trio of James Edwards III (Pistons), Mike Vorkunov (Knicks) and Chris Kirschner (Hawks) take a closer look at their teams’ free agent moves during the offseason, how well those players have worked out so far, and what those franchises could have done differently.

Bryant Undergoes Knee Surgery

February 2nd, 2021 at 9:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Wizards center Thomas Bryant underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair a partially torn ACL in his left knee, Ava Wallace of the Washington Post tweets. Bryant suffered the season-ending injury more than three weeks ago. Bryant, 23, was averaging a career-best 14.3 PPG, along with 6.1 RPG in the team’s first 10 games. He is expected to be sidelined 9-12 months. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent after next season.

Wizards Notes: Beal, Brooks, Neto

February 2nd, 2021 at 11:14am CST by Luke Adams

Having seen other NBA stars face criticism for requesting trades in recent years, Wizards guard Bradley Beal is privately “frustrated and confused” by the portrayal of his situation in D.C., according to Fred Katz and Shams Charania of The Athletic.

As Katz and Charania explain, Beal likes the idea of spending his career with one team and would love to establish a legacy in Washington like Dirk Nowitzki‘s in Dallas — Nowitzki spent his 21-year NBA career with the Mavericks, winning a title with the club in year 13. However, Beal feels as if he’s being “nitpicked” for remaining loyal to a struggling Wizards club.

The Athletic’s duo confirms that Beal continues to express a desire to remain in Washington rather than a preference to be traded. The Wizards have just a 4-12 record so far this season, but the hope is that Sunday’s impressive comeback win over Brooklyn can be the start of a turnaround rather than a rare bright spot.

Here’s more on the Wizards:

In a HoopsHype podcast, Fred Katz and Michael Scotto discussed a number of Wizards-related topics, including where things stand with head coach Scott Brooks. Katz believes that Wizards owner Ted Leonsis will be less inclined to fire Brooks during the season and pay him the remainder of his $7MM salary after having furloughed 40% of his company’s employees in 2020. “I think this is an organization that thinks about optics and that kind of stuff,” Katz said. “I don’t think the optics are there to pay somebody that much when you just furloughed that many people not to work for you in the middle of an economic crisis in the middle of a pandemic.”
Brooks told reporters on Monday that Raul Neto will be out for at least a couple games due to a left groin strain (Twitter link via Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington). Ish Smith, who missed a handful of games due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, will reclaim backup point guard duties in Neto’s absence.
In case you missed it, we noted on Monday that Wizards guard Garrison Mathews is among the players on two-way contracts making a case for a promotion to a standard contract.

Fischer’s Latest: Beal, Wizards, Pelicans, Hawks, Ujiri

February 1st, 2021 at 2:47pm CST by Luke Adams

Reiterating a point made by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday and Wizards head coach Scott Brooks on Saturday, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report confirms that Bradley Beal is not available via trade, citing one longtime executive who notes that the team’s stance on the matter appears sincere and isn’t a bluff to drive up the guard’s price.

Despite there being no change in Beal’s potential availability, it continues to be a popular subject of speculation around the NBA. As Fischer explains, opposing front offices anticipate an “inevitable inflection point,” since there’s an expectation that the Wizards won’t be able to transform into a contender before Beal becomes eligible for free agency in 2022.

That inflection point isn’t here yet though, and the expectation is that it won’t arrive prior to this season’s trade deadline. According to Fischer, there’s a sentiment around the league that, regardless of Washington’s record, team ownership is unlikely to approve a Beal trade until the 2021 offseason at the very earliest.

“Teams say it all the time, but you feel like it’s real,” one assistant GM told Fischer, referring to the Wizards’ unwillingness to engage.

Here are a few more items of note from Fischer’s latest report:

New Orleans’ interest in Beal is one of the “biggest open secrets” around the league, according to Fischer, who suggests that the Pelicans and Hawks could be among the potential suitors for the Wizards guard if he eventually hits the trade block. Washington had been eyeing Onyeka Okongwu with the No. 9 pick in the 2020 draft before Atlanta scooped him up at No. 6, Fischer notes.
The Hawks “widely signaled” prior to draft night in the fall that Kevin Huerter was available via trade, per Fischer. It’s unclear whether the team’s stance has changed at all since then or if Huerter will be a trade candidate at next month’s deadline.
Word in NBA circles is that the Wizards may try to make another run at Masai Ujiri this summer, according to Fischer, who says the franchise has some deep-pocketed minority stakeholders interested in pursuing the Raptors‘ president of basketball operations. Although the Wizards denied it at the time, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported in June 2019 that the club was ready to make an aggressive offer to Ujiri, whose contract with Toronto expires later this year.

Two-Way Players Making Bids For Promotions

February 1st, 2021 at 11:01am CST by Luke Adams

Players on two-way contracts are free to appear in NBA games, but there are limitations on the amount of time they can spend with their respective NBA teams. Even in 2020/21, with those restrictions loosened a little, each two-way player can only appear in 50 of his team’s 72 games, assuming he signed before the season began.

While 50 games should be more than enough for most teams to get through the season without maxing out the eligibility of their two-way players, some have emerged as regular rotation pieces for their respective clubs and are likely to reach the 50-game mark before season’s end, barring an injury.

In order to remove those restrictions, a team has to promote a two-way player to its 15-man roster, either converting him to a rest-of-season, minimum-salary contract or negotiating a new multiyear deal.

While it’s a little early in the 2020/21 season to determine which two-way players will ultimately end up being promoted to 15-man rosters, a handful of players on two-way deals have made strong cases for standard contracts in the early going.

Here are some of the top candidates to receive promotions among this year’s two-way players:

Jordan McLaughlin (Timberwolves)

McLaughlin spent the 2019/20 season on a two-way contract with the Timberwolves and played well enough to earn a standard deal in the offseason, having averaged 7.6 points, 4.2 assists, and 1.1 steals per game with a .489/.382/.667 shooting line in 30 contests (19.7 MPG).

A restricted free agent, McLaughlin reportedly received a multiyear contract offer from Minnesota, but it would’ve been a team-friendly deal that included multiple non-guaranteed years. The 24-year-old opted to bet on himself instead, playing another year on a two-way contract and hoping for a better opportunity when he returns to the free agent market in the summer of 2021.

We’ll have to wait to see whether or not that was the right call, but so far it doesn’t look like last season was a fluke. With D’Angelo Russell, Ricky Rubio, and Anthony Edwards in the picture, there are fewer backcourt minutes to go around, but McLaughlin has played well in a limited role, with 5.5 PPG, 4.1 APG, and .455/.375/.800 shooting in 17.2 MPG (11 games).

Garrison Mathews (Wizards)

Like McLaughlin, Mathews was on a two-way contract last season and played well, but ended up having to take another two-way deal. He’s once again proving that he deserves consideration for a promotion, with 8.9 PPG and 1.4 SPG on .429/.405/.889 shooting through 10 games (19.7 MPG).

Unfortunately for Mathews, the Wizards currently have a full 15-man roster made up of mostly non-expendable players. If the team cuts recent signee Alex Len at some point or makes a trades that opens up a roster spot, that could create an opportunity for Mathews.

Yuta Watanabe (Raptors)

Invited to training camp on an Exhibit 10 contract alongside other NBA veterans like Henry Ellenson and Alize Johnson in the fall, Watanabe played his way onto the 17-man regular season roster, with the Raptors converting his non-guaranteed camp deal into a two-way contract at the end of the preseason.

Since then, Watanabe who spent the last two years on a two-way deal with the Grizzlies, has gradually been making a case for more playing time. His box-score numbers (3.9 PPG and 3.4 RPG) are modest, but he’s been hot from three-point range so far, knocking down 12-of-25 attempts (48.0%) and is providing energy and defensive itensity off the bench.

In Toronto’s last five games, Watanabe has been one of the team’s most-used bench players, logging 18.8 minutes per game and bumping his averages to 8.0 PPG and 5.0 RPG.

Since releasing Len, the Raptors have been holding an open spot on their 15-man roster. If that spot doesn’t get filled in a trade at some point in the coming weeks, Watanabe looks like the best bet to fill it before the end of the season.

Others to watch:

Jordan Bone (Magic)
Mason Jones (Rockets)
Reggie Perry (Nets)
Max Strus (Heat)
Gabe Vincent (Heat)

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Southeast Notes: Westbrook, Herro, Anthony, Hunter

January 31st, 2021 at 10:55am CST by Arthur Hill

Frustrations may be boiling over for Wizards guard Russell Westbrook, who was involved in his second on-court incident of the week Friday night, writes Chris Cwik of Yahoo Sports. Westbrook was ejected from the loss to the Hawks after a game-long battle with Rajon Rondo. They both received technicals for a second-quarter altercation, then Westbrook picked up another one after shoving Rondo in the fourth quarter.

Westbrook was also involved in a double-technical incident Tuesday in Houston during an exchange with John Wall, the player he was traded for in December. The combination of losing and a sub-par shooting year are undoubtedly contributing to Westbrook’s short fuse.

“Honestly, it’s more on me,” he responded when asked about the dispute with Rondo. “I cannot allow myself to stoop down to anybody’s level. That’s not my character, who I am.”

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Heat may have another looming COVID-19 problem, according to an ESPN story. Tyler Herro learned at halftime Saturday night that someone he lives with has tested positive for the virus. He’s not sure yet if he’ll have to quarantine. Kendrick Nunn didn’t play Saturday because the team was awaiting his test results, but he was cleared by the second quarter. Jimmy Butler returned after missing 10 games due to health and safety protocols.
The Magic are being patient with first-round pick Cole Anthony as he goes through the ups and downs of being a rookie, notes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Anthony, who has moved into the starting lineup for the past 12 games, has impressed teammates with his desire to improve. “He’s hard on himself,” said James Ennis, who serves as a mentor to Anthony. “He doesn’t like making mistakes. I give him credit. He’s tough. It’s hard to find young guys like that. He listens, also. So it’s hard to find young guys that come in and listen and want to compete and just want to be perfect.”
The Magic aren’t likely to re-sign Evan Fournier when he becomes a free agent after this season, Robbins adds in the same piece. Although Fournier is only 28, Orlando has some cap concerns after giving extensions to Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz. Robbins expects the team to explore trade offers for Fournier if it falls out of the playoff race before the March 25 deadline.
De’Andre Hunter‘s condition will be reviewed this week after an MRI Saturday showed articular wear and tear in his right knee, the Hawks announced in a press release. Hunter will be held out of Monday’s game against the Lakers.

Jordan Bell Released By Wizards

January 31st, 2021 at 10:21am CST by Arthur Hill

JANUARY 31: Bell will join the Erie BayHawks in the G League bubble, tweets JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors. Before the 10-day contract, the Wizards designated Bell as one of their four flex-affiliate players with plans to have him play for the BayHawks. Washington’s G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, isn’t participating in the Orlando bubble.

JANUARY 30: The Wizards have given center Jordan Bell an early release from his 10-day contract, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.

Bell was signed last Saturday under the hardship provision when Washington had seven players sidelined, Katz explains (Twitter link). The six who were in health and safety protocols for COVID-19 will all be back by tomorrow, leaving no room for Bell. The Wizards already have a full roster with 15 guaranteed contracts and both two-way slots filled.

Bell, 26, appeared in three games during his brief stay in Washington, averaging 3.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in 16.7 minutes per night. He helped to fill a gap in the middle with Thomas Bryant lost for the year with an ACL injury and Moritz Wagner in the NBA’s protocols.

Scott Brooks: Wizards Aren’t Trading Bradley Beal

January 30th, 2021 at 9:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

After a report earlier this week that the Wizards aren’t considering any trades involving Bradley Beal, coach Scott Brooks issued an emphatic declaration today that the star guard isn’t on the market, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports.

“Brad and I have never talked about it,” Brooks said after today’s practice. “We know that’s part of it. We haven’t won and when you don’t win, teams think that you’re just gonna throw the towel in and give up, that you’re just gonna want to get rid of your good players. So, that’s all part of the business.

“Brad is no different. He’s one of the best players in the league, of course every team would want him. But the good part about it is the team he’s on loves him the most. I love coaching him. He wants to be here, he signed an extension. He didn’t have to.”

Beal’s appeal is obvious. He’s one of the league’s most dangerous offensive players and is on pace to win his first scoring title. He’s averaging 34.7 PPG through 14 games, more than four points better than second-place Kevin Durant.

However, he’s putting up those numbers for the league’s worst team. Playing short-handed for much of the year due to COVID-19 and contact tracing, the Wizards have lost four straight games and are off to a 3-12 start. With six games already postponed, they face a loaded schedule for the second half of the season.

Beal admitted this week that the losing is getting to him, responding “Is the sky blue?” when asked if he was frustrated after Wednesday’s loss to the Pelicans.

Even so, Beal hasn’t asked to be traded and sources close to him tell Hughes that he doesn’t plan to. The Wizards are sticking to their position that they won’t seek a deal unless he requests one.

The extension that Beal signed in 2019 keeps him under contract through the end of next season, with a $36.4MM player option for 2022/23. The Wizards are hoping to quiet trade speculation by getting back in the playoff race once their full team is available again. In the meantime, Brooks is trying a more direct approach.

“We’re not interested,” he told reporters. “I’m gonna just tell (general manager Tommy Sheppard) you might as well block all the 29 other teams’ numbers. We’re not answering.”