Things are starting to ramp back up around the NBA. Players are working out with teammates and teams are making a lot of moves, but most of those are Exhibit 10 training camp contracts to stack the franchise’s G League roster. Still, there is news of note, and that starts with the LA Clippers.
Clippers name John Gibson interim Governor
Rather than promote from within, the Clippers have gone outside the organization and named Los Angeles-based attorney John S. Gibson interim Chief Executive Officer and Governor. He steps into the roles formerly filled by team owner Steve Ballmer and head of business operations Gillian Zucker, both of whom the NBA suspended for a year for circumventing the salary cap to get Kawhi Leonard more money.
“I am honored to take on this responsibility and grateful for the opportunity to serve an organization I have supported for many years,” Gibson said in a statement. “The Clippers have talented players, coaches, and staff, an extraordinary home in Intuit Dome, and passionate Clipper Nation fans who, like me, care deeply about this team. My focus will be on supporting our people, providing steady leadership, and helping the organization continue moving forward.”
Gibson is a partner at the law firm DLA Piper in Los Angeles and a long-time Clippers season ticket holder. He also represented the Clippers during the Donald Sterling ownership court battle. Expect more caretaker for a year, a guy who will set some best-practice business guidelines for the future but is not there to shake things up.
The Clippers also officially announced the expected, that General Manager Trent Redden will oversee basketball operations for six months until Lawrence Frank is off of his suspension.
Pistons, Duren still at an impasse
Seven days from the start of training camp and the Pistons and All-NBA center Jalen Duren remain at an impasse. While the sides are talking, they reportedly aren’t close to a deal.
ESPN’s Shams Charania said on NBA Today that “it’s highly up in the air and questionable as to whether (Duren) will be reporting and showing up to media day in just seven days.” He also said the Pistons’ latest offer is five years, $200 million.
If that is true, it shows how this is more about Duren not feeling respected by the organization than it is pure money — although Houston giving Amen Thompson five years, $208 million likely raised the bar a little. As Charania notes, a year ago the Pistons came to Duren with a hard $20 million a year average take-it-or-leave-it offer, and that is where the tension started. He turned that down and proved he was worth more than that — how much more (after a rough playoff run) is part of the question. The other part is how he feels the organization has treated him, which plays into this. It’s now about more than money, although at the end of the day, can Duren really leave that contract on the table and play for a $9.6 million qualifying offer?
This sucks.
Henri Veesaar — coming off a breakout year at North Carolina where he averaged 17 points and 8.7 rebounds per game — was a first-round talent who slid all the way to No. 52 last June because his agents steered him to a team where he could get a standard NBA contract. He got that in Atlanta at four years, $9.6 million (the first two years are guaranteed).
Veesaar tore his ACL in a workout on Sept. 15 and will miss the entire upcoming season recovering after surgery next month, Atlanta announced. This is a real blow for the Estonian big man, and also tough on Atlanta’s frontcourt depth, with Mouhamed Gueye missing the start of the season due to a fractured foot that required surgery.
Reserve center Dwight Powell has played the last 12 seasons in Dallas, and is now expected to play one more, reports Marc Stein of The Stein Line.
Well, probably. Powell is expected to sign a non-guaranteed deal with the team that gives the Mavericks flexibility if Powell were injured or something else occurred. That said, Powell was in Santa Monica with many of the Dallas Mavericks last week in a series of workouts organized by Kyrie Irving.
Powell doesn’t have a big impact on the court at age 35 (3.3 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in 63 appearances last season), but he may be more valuable to a young team as a mentor who shows players how to be professional and has a strong work ethic.
Pistons executive Michael Blackstone talks cancer
If you read one thing today, it should be Pistons executive vice president of basketball operations Michael Blackstone sitting down with Hunter Patterson of The Athletic to talk about Blackstone’s battle against Stage 4 lung cancer. Blackstone was diagnosed in 2023 but is speaking out now to urge people to see their doctor if they are feeling unexplained aches and pains. That’s how he found out.
“The reason I’m talking about it now versus the past three years is because time is basically all I have now, right? Time is what matters…
“If I didn’t pay attention to the discomfort I was having and ask a very innocent question, I wouldn’t be here right now. It was already Stage 4 when we found it; it had already gone too far.”
Check out the entire story. And heed his advice.
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