Newsstand Rumors | Hoops Rumors

DeMar DeRozan Has No Desire To Make Trade Request

December 23rd, 2022 at 10:15pm CST by Rory Maher

Opposing teams might speculate about DeMar DeRozan‘s future intentions, but he has no desire to request a trade from the Bulls.

In response to an article from Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report, who cited rival executives that believe DeRozan might make an offseason trade request if the Bulls continue to struggle and do poorly in the playoffs, the five-time All-Star posted a clip on Instagram from the movie “Training Day,” in which Denzel Washington’s character tells Ethan Hawke’s character, “This is a newspaper, right? It’s 90 percent bulls**t, but it’s entertaining. That’s why I read it.”

DeRozan then elaborated on what he meant with the clip, if it wasn’t already clear.

“I take my job as a professional, honestly, and in every type of way,” DeRozan told Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “If I sign up for anything, my goal is to finish whatever I sign up for. That’s with anything in life. I signed up to be a father, not just a part-time father. I treat everything I do that way.

“I mean 14 years in my career, I’ve never talked about a trade, asked for a trade, anything. So when I see something like that [story], I try and make fun of it more than anything.”

DeRozan, who is under contract through 2023/24, “reiterated that he would never request a trade” under any circumstances, according to Cowley. The veteran guard/forward says he wasn’t bothered by the report.

“Obviously when you’re young in the league, don’t know nothing, you hear anything of that nature, and yeah it bothers you because you wonder where it came from,” DeRozan said, per Cowley. “The older I am, hell, I’m going to be honest with you – there’s nothing that bothers me. No he say, she say stuff … now, if my mom was saying some stuff [in the media] that would bother me, but no, don’t nothing bother me.

“We live in a world that’s full of opinionated people, and anyone can come up with something. These days I see fake pages acting like they’re Woj [ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski] or something. I just don’t get caught up in that. But if I’m in the mood, I’ll make fun of something like I did [Thursday].”

The 33-year-old hit a game-winning jumper over the Knicks on Friday night (Twitter video link) to increase the Bulls’ winning streak to three games. They now hold a 14-18 record, the No. 11 seed in the East, but are only three-and-a-half games back of New York, currently the No. 6 seed.

Hornets, Miles Bridges Making Progress In Contract Talks

December 23rd, 2022 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The only restricted free agent left on the market may have a deal in place in the near future, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports that the Hornets and forward Miles Bridges are “gathering traction” in their contract negotiations.

Bridges was on track to be one of the top free agents in the class of 2022, but was arrested and charged with felony domestic abuse just days before his rookie contract expired, casting doubt on his NBA future. He was accused of assaulting his then-girlfriend in front of their two children.

Bridges ultimately worked out a plea deal with prosecutors in Los Angeles County, agreeing to plead no contest to one charge of felony domestic violence while two child abuse counts were dismissed. The 24-year-old avoided jail time by accepting three years of probation. He was ordered to attend a year’s worth of domestic violence counseling sessions and parenting classes in addition to completing 100 hours of community service.

Following the resolution of his legal case, Bridges appears to have a path back to the NBA, though the league is completing its own investigation into the incident and has the power to suspend the four-year veteran. As Wojnarowski writes, Bridges can’t begin serving a possible suspension until he signs a new NBA contract, so if the Hornets intend to bring him back into the fold, they could be motivated to get something done sooner rather than later.

It’s unclear how long a suspension Bridges would be facing. Wojnarowski notes that another former Hornet, Jeffrey Taylor, was banned for 24 games in 2014 after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence assault. Bridges didn’t formally admit guilt in his case, but the allegations were considered credible and the NBA would likely face substantial pressure not to let him off lightly.

If he’s suspended for at least 20 games, Bridges would lose 1/110th of his 2022/23 salary for each game he misses, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

On the basketball court, Bridges had a breakout season in 2021/22, establishing new career highs in points (20.2), rebounds (7.0), and assists (3.8) per game while starting 80 games and averaging 35.5 minutes per night.

Lakers Say Anthony Davis Has Stress Injury, Out Indefinitely

December 23rd, 2022 at 2:27pm CST by Luke Adams

Nearly a week after Anthony Davis left suffered a right foot injury, the Lakers have issued an official update on Davis’ status, announcing on Friday that he has a stress injury in his foot and has been ruled out indefinitely (Twitter link).

According to the club, the diagnosis was reached after “extensive consultation with Lakers team physicians and outside specialists.” Further updates will be provided when appropriate, the Lakers added in their statement.

Although we waited several days for official word from the Lakers, their announcement doesn’t provide much additional clarity on Davis’ injury or his potential recovery timeline. As Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes tweets, a “stress injury” could mean a stress reaction or a stress fracture, and it’s difficult to assess the severity of the ailment without knowing which bone is affected.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported five days ago that Davis was expected to be sidelined for at least a month, but it sounds like the big man and the Lakers aren’t prepared to go that far. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), the pain in Davis’ foot has subsided in recent days and the plan is to rest it for another seven-to-10 days before having it reevaluated to see if he can return to the court.

The hope is that Davis will be able to avoid undergoing a procedure on his injured foot, Wojnarowski adds.

With Davis on the shelf, Thomas Bryant has been promoted to the Lakers’ starting five and has played well, averaging 17.5 PPG and 7.8 RPG on .622/.636/.583 shooting in his last four games (28.5 MPG). However, Los Angeles’ defense has struggled without Davis manning the middle, giving up between 117 and 134 points in the three games since his injury. The Lakers’ defensive rating during that time ranks 29th in the NBA.

Pacers, Myles Turner Discussing Possible Extension

December 23rd, 2022 at 1:27pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers and center Myles Turner have opened up discussions about a possible contract extension, league sources with knowledge of the situation tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. Those talks are believed to be in the initial stages, Charania adds.

Turner is earning $18MM in the final year of his current contract and will become an unrestricted free agent in the summer if he doesn’t sign a new deal before then.

With Domantas Sabonis no longer sharing minutes at the five in Indiana, Turner is enjoying the best season of his eight-year NBA career, averaging a career-high 16.7 points in his first 26 games (29.5 MPG). His 7.8 rebounds per game are also a career high, as are his .541 FG% and .417 3PT%. The 26-year-old has provided his usual rim protection too, blocking 2.1 shots per night.

As we explained last month, the Pacers would be limited to giving Turner a 20% starting raise (to $21.6MM) if they offered a standard contract extension. Such an offer would max out at about $97MM over four years.

However, because they’re still well below the salary cap – not to mention the salary floor – the Pacers could complete a renegotiation-and-extension, which would allow them to more than double Turner’s $18MM salary this season (to his maximum of about $37MM) and would give them the flexibility to discuss a much wider range of salary numbers in future years (including a decrease of up to 40% from his renegotiated salary).

According to Charania, Pacers officials have indeed discussed the renegotiation-and-extension framework with Turner’s agent, Austin Brown.

Although Charania says that there’s a March 1 deadline for the two sides to reach an extension, Turner will technically remain eligible to sign a new deal all the way up until June 30. However, teams aren’t permitted to renegotiate players’ current-year salaries after the last day in February. If Turner and his camp are viewing the start of March as the deadline to work something out, that presumably means they won’t entertain a new deal without a 2022/23 salary bump.

Even as they explore an extension for Turner, the Pacers are expected to keep all their options open, including a possible trade before the February 9 deadline. The Lakers and Raptors are among the teams that have shown interest in the big man in recent months, league sources tell Charania.

Turner and Buddy Hield – who has also drawn interest from rival teams this season, per Charania – are considered Indiana’s most obvious veteran trade candidates, though there’s no guarantee that either will go anywhere this season.

Desmond Bane Upgraded To Questionable For Friday

December 22nd, 2022 at 6:45pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After an extended absence, Grizzlies shooting guard Desmond Bane has been upgraded to questionable to play in Friday’s matchup against the Suns, Memphis reports (Twitter link). The 6’5″ swingman out of TCU suffered a Grade 2 sprain of his right big toe on November 11 and has been unavailable ever since.

Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com notes (via Twitter) that, should Bane become available, this would mark the first time all season that the team has been able to play all of its preferred starting five of Bane, All-NBA point guard Ja Morant, small forward Dillon Brooks, power forward Jaren Jackson Jr. and center Steven Adams.

Through his first 12 games of 2022/23, Bane had been performing at an All-Star level for the ascendant Grizzlies, averaging a career-high 24.7 PPG on .465/.451/.912 shooting splits. He was also logging 4.9 RPG, 4.8 APG and 0.6 SPG.

With Bane sidelined, the Grizzlies have gone 10-7. Overall, the team sports a 19-11 record on the season, good for the second seed in the Western Conference as of this writing.

Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr. Plans To Play Friday

December 22nd, 2022 at 4:01pm CST by Rory Maher

Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. says he’s “definitely playing” on Friday against Portland, per Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports (Twitter links).

Oddly, head coach Michael Malone spoke to the media before Porter, and he said the 24-year-old’s status for Friday was still up in the air and indicated that he would have a minutes restriction when he does play. According to Wind, Porter then followed Malone and stated that he was playing and didn’t think there would be any restrictions, so evidently there was a miscommunication between the coach and player.

Porter has been sidelined since Nov. 22 while dealing with a left heel strain, missing the past 13 games with the injury. He downplayed the severity of the injury despite missing a month of action.

“For me, if it’s not related to my back, I’m not too worried about it…this is something that’s unrelated to my back,” Porter said (Twitter link via Wind).

Porter, who played just nine games last season after undergoing his third back surgery since college, is averaging 16.4 points and 6.0 rebounds on .466/.427/.800 shooting through 16 games (29.1 minutes per contest). He’s officially listed as questionable for Friday night, as is guard Jamal Murray (left knee injury management), tweets Wind.

After defeating Memphis on Tuesday, the Nuggets have recaptured the top seed in the West, currently sitting with a 19-11 record through 30 games.

Lottery Prospect Nick Smith Jr. Out Indefinitely

December 22nd, 2022 at 9:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Arkansas guard Nick Smith Jr., who is projected to be one of the top picks in next year’s draft, has been sidelined indefinitely due to “right knee management,” writes Jeff Borzello of ESPN.

The 18-year-old freshman is No. 4 in ESPN’s latest draft rankings, making him the top prospect in college basketball. ESPN had him listed as the third-best recruit coming out of high school.

“He’s out indefinitely. That’s what it is,” Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman said following Wednesday’s game. “There’s nothing else. He’s out indefinitely and he’s going to continue to rehab the best he can.”

Borzello notes that Smith missed the team’s first six games because of the knee, with the school calling it a precautionary measure. He played just six minutes in his debut November 28, then started the next three games, averaging 19.7 points and 3.0 assists.

Smith also started Saturday’s victory against Bradley, but played just 20 minutes and shot 1-of-8 from the field while scoring five points.

“Nick is a competitor, and he looked forward to playing for the Razorbacks,” Musselman told reporters, including Christina Long of The Fort Smith Times Record. “He’s kind of been in and out of the lineup, and we just want him to get healthy as quickly as possible and for him to be 100 percent.”

Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki Among Newly Eligible Hall Of Fame Candidates

December 21st, 2022 at 5:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

Several former NBA stars are first-time nominees on the list of eligible players released Wednesday by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Headlining the list are Dwyane Wade, who won three NBA titles with the Heat, along with three international players, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and Tony Parker, and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

Wade was a 13-time All-Star, an eight-time All-NBA honoree and a member of the 75th anniversary team that was selected last year. He is currently a part owner of the Jazz.

Nowitzki, also on the 75th anniversary team, is the highest-scoring foreign-born player in league history with 31,560 career points. He was named MVP in 2007 and was chosen as Finals MVP in 2011 after leading the Mavericks to their first championship. He set a league record by spending 21 years with the same franchise, made the All-Star Game 14 times and was an All-NBA selection 12 times.

Gasol captured back-to-back NBA titles with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010 and was the first non-American to be honored as Rookie of the Year. A six-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA selection, Gasol was also successful internationally, winning a FIBA World Cup, three EuroBasket titles and three Olympic medals with Spain.

Parker played a huge role in helping the Spurs win four NBA championships and was named Finals MVP in 2007. He was a six-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA selection, and was named MVP of EuroBasket in 2013 as France won the tournament.

Popovich holds the record for most wins by an NBA coach with 1,354. He guided the Spurs to five NBA titles and was named Coach of the Year three times.

Finalists for enshrinement will be announced February 17 during All-Star Weekend, and the Class of 2023 will be unveiled April 4 during the NCAA’s Final Four. The enshrinement ceremony is scheduled for August 12.

Knicks Lose 2025 Second-Round Pick For Free Agency Gun Jumping

December 21st, 2022 at 2:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks will lose their own second-round pick in the 2025 draft as a penalty for violating NBA rules governing free agency, the league announced today (via Twitter).

“This outcome reflected a finding, following an investigation, that the Knicks engaged in free agency discussions involving Jalen Brunson prior to the date when such discussions were permitted,” the NBA said in its statement, adding that the team “fully cooperated” with the investigation.

The Knicks were one of two teams investigated this year for possible free agency gun jumping after they signed Brunson to a four-year, $104MM contract in July. Days before free agency opened, word began to trickle out that Brunson was “widely anticipated” to sign with New York for a four-year deal exceeding $100MM, with multiple reports suggesting that the Mavericks had believed for weeks that the point guard was bound for the Knicks.

It’s not unusual for free agents’ presumed destinations to leak before the negotiating period officially begins on June 30. However, it raises eyebrows in the league office when the details of a rival team’s offer to a free agent leaks days in advance and there’s a publicly reported widespread belief that the player will join that team.

Brunson’s case was complicated further by the fact that he had personal relationships with so many people within the Knicks’ organization. President of basketball operations Leon Rose represented Brunson as a player agent before he joined New York’s front office, and his son Sam Rose is one of Brunson’s reps at CAA. Rick Brunson, Jalen’s father, was hired by the Knicks as an assistant coach several weeks before free agency began.

According to Steve Popper of Newsday (Twitter link), besides investigating the Jalen Brunson signing, the league also looked into the hiring of Rick Brunson and the signing of another CAA client, Isaiah Hartenstein. However, the league only found an issue with the Jalen signing.

The Sixers faced a similar investigation due to their free agency moves, including a contract agreement with P.J. Tucker that leaked early. Philadelphia was docked a pair of second-round picks for early contact with Tucker and Danuel House.

A year ago, the Heat and Bulls each forfeited second-round picks for free agency gun jumping related to Kyle Lowry and Lonzo Ball, so the NBA has established a pattern of penalizing a second-rounder for each instance of early free agency contact.

The Knicks have traded away their own 2023 and 2024 second-round picks, so the 2025 pick was their earliest available second-rounder. The team had acquired extra second-rounders in ’24 and ’25, but it appears the NBA decided to rescind New York’s own pick to simplify matters.

Pistons Sign GM Troy Weaver To Contract Extension

December 21st, 2022 at 12:46pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons have signed general manager Troy Weaver to a contract extension, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

According to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), Weaver’s extension was agreed to months ago. It’s unclear if the team simply didn’t announce it at the time or if it wasn’t officially finalized until now. Either way, it’s a done deal now.

Charania’s report doesn’t specify how many years the Pistons have added to Weaver’s contract or how long he’ll be under team control going forward. However, when he first joined the franchise in 2020, Weaver reportedly signed a four-year contract — he’d be in the third year of that deal now, which means his current contract was set to expire in 2024. I’d be surprised if his extension doesn’t tack on at least two more years.

Since arriving in Detroit, Weaver has been guiding the Pistons through a rebuilding process and stockpiling young talent. During his first offseason, he added Killian Hayes, Isaiah Stewart, and Saddiq Bey in the draft and landed Jerami Grant in free agency. He selected Cade Cunningham with the No. 1 overall pick the following year and then drafted Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren in this year’s lottery while trading Grant to Portland and acquiring Bojan Bogdanovic from Utah.

With Cunningham out for the season following surgery on his leg, the Pistons haven’t taken the step forward they’d hoped to this year — they currently rank last in the NBA with an 8-25 record. Still, team owner Tom Gores has expressed optimism about the direction of the organization.

“We’re growing,” Gores said last month. “Right now, we have an amazing core group and a lot of confidence. We’re better than our record is. We’re much better than that and I like the way that this team has a lot of heart. I feel great about it. (head coach) Dwane (Casey)‘s doing good work. Troy continues to think about growth and everything, so I feel great about it.”

Casey received a contract extension in 2021 that runs through the 2023/24 season, so the Pistons will face a decision on his future within the next 18 months or so.

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