In the slowest point of the offseason — at least until the NBA Board of Governors’ meeting next week — here is a quick weekend update on a few topics.
After the NBA brought the hammer down on the Clippers, fans across the league scurried to trade machines, thinking LA’s players would scramble to abandon a sinking ship. Nowhere is that truer than among the fans of that other franchise in Los Angeles, which did not land Jonathan Kuminga. Said fans are scrambling to come up with ways they think Rob Pelinka should upgrade their roster — often in ways not grounded in reality.
Enter Derrick Jones Jr. A solid veteran two-way forward, he could help 29 other teams around the league, so speculation started flying. One small problem: He hasn’t asked for a trade, nor is he expected to, notes plugged-in Clippers writer Tomer Azarly of Clutch Points.
As Azarly and others have noted recently, agents are constantly looking for ways to get their players paid more, or moved into a position where they get more playing time or a chance to chase a ring. It’s an agent’s job to think that way. However, it’s another couple of steps from there to a player pushing for a trade. Jones is in the final year of his contract at $10.5 million and could hit the free agent market next summer, but that always comes with risk. He could extend with the Clippers — clearly a team in a transition phase but a place Jones likes playing — on a tradable contract, then work with them when other teams come calling. Or, he could let the Clippers know he doesn’t intend to re-sign and that they should trade him at the deadline. Jones has options. A smart agent keeps all of those in play while working to get the client what he wants.
In this case, that does not mean a trade from the Clippers in the short term.
Back in June, Atlanta picked up a second-round pick from Sacramento for taking on Devin Carter’s $5.1 million salary. However, the Hawks have a roster crunch so they have officially waived Carter, who will become a free agent once he clears waivers.
Boston is interested in Carter, a point guard, reports NBA insider Jake Fischer. The Celtics have an open roster spot and the money to sign a player to a minimum contract (or slightly more), but Carter also has two-way eligibility, so Boston could be thinking about that if they want to keep that final roster spot open for flexibility.
Carter played two seasons in Sacramento, totaling 74 games, and last season averaged 8.9 points per game when he did get in, but he is not a floor-spacing guard and shot just 26.3% from beyond the arc. Would that be different in 3-happy Boston?
Worth nothing: Atlanta still has 16 players on guaranteed contracts and has to make one more move — a trade or waiving another player — before the start of the season.
Board of Governors meeting
Next Monday and Tuesday, the NBA owners convene in New York for a Board of Governors meeting, and this one should be interesting. On the docket:
• The Clippers findings and punishments. It’s unclear as of now who, if anyone, will represent the Clippers at this meeting. Also unknown is whether they plan to take this to court and fight the stiff punishments handed down by the league. One thing teams are asking about, according to Brian Windhorst at ESPN:
One topic rival front offices have discussed is the less-talked-about but draconian-sounding “compliance and monitoring program by the league office for a period of five years” penalty that was also leveled on the Clippers. The terms were nebulous, probably for a reason, and the devil will surely be in the details.
• Expansion. The NBA is in the process of vetting potential ownership groups for both Las Vegas and Seattle. What we know is there are more bidders for Vegas, the price tag is expected to be higher and it is expected to be approved first, with Seattle to follow. One interesting note about this from ESPN’s Windhorst:
Some teams have been projecting the per-team payout for expansion to be $500 million to $600 million, which would put the combined expansion fee at around $15 billion to $18 billion.
• NBA Europe. This is the one owners appear to care more about than domestic expansion, and the league is still on track to open NBA Europe in October of 2027. That said, there are still a lot of questions that remain.
Those start with a potential partnership with EuroLeague, the current peak of European basketball. EuroLeague team owners are meeting in Italy on Oct. 5, and there will be more clarity about that partnership (or lack thereof) after that, Windhorst notes.
The league will have 12 permanent members and another four teams that will play their way in. Exactly what that will look like and who the permanent members may be will come into focus in the coming weeks.
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