The large information in a single day Saturday was not the New York Liberty’s first lack of the WNBA season. The Libs had been lacking two starters, in any case. Bummer although.
No, it was Shams Charania’s report that Kevin Durant’s preferences for what could possibly be his closing vacation spot are the Miami Warmth, San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets, with the very unsubtle message to GMs that should you’re not in that small circle, neglect signing him past subsequent season. He’ll be a rental and you’ve got may have given up loads of property for a one-time probability at a title.
The Miami Warmth, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets are Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant’s most popular commerce locations, sources advised ESPN on Saturday evening. Folks throughout the NBA have been made conscious in current days that these are the three groups Durant would decide to with a long-term extension.
Durant is on an expiring $54.7 million deal for the 2025-26 season, and the Suns have made clear to the six to eight significantly groups that they’ll make one of the best deal for the franchise, even when it means buying and selling Durant to a workforce exterior his most popular record, sources mentioned.
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What was unsaid, or unwritten, is the motivation for this Saturday evening scoop? It could seem that the Suns are speaking to a different workforce or groups, perhaps the Minnesota Timberwolves? Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein each reported that the Los Angeles Clippers and Toronto Raptors is likely to be “lurking,” as Windy put it. Shams has mentioned six to eight groups made preliminary inquiries. Stein mentioned the New York Knicks dropped out.
On Friday, talking on the Pat McAfee Present, Shams reported {that a} deal could possibly be imminent — “subsequent few days” — and he famous that “previously 24-to-48 hours, I’m advised the deal with the Suns conversations has been on a couple of groups: Houston Rockets, Miami Warmth, Minnesota Timberwolves.” (Emphasis ours.) No Spurs, it must be famous. It additionally must be famous that Shams didn’t reference his personal feedback on the McAfee Present within the in a single day report. Sigh.
So what does this imply for the Brooklyn Nets function as a facilitator? We’re advised that inside the KD negotiations, there are a number of situations in addition to a number of groups and that in a few of these situations the Nets, with their digital monopoly on cap area and 31 draft picks — 28 tradeable, can be wanted. In others they might not.
As Brian Lewis famous…
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It could seem — and we now have no pretense of experience in capology — that the Spurs would want the least assist from the Nets in any KD deal. They’ve the property and are in one of the best place cap-wise. Minnesota and Miami would in all probability want probably the most. Houston someplace within the center and no, don’t even ask us to take a position on some Rockets cope with all of the intertwining items the 2 share. It could break our brains into many items.
Have Sean Marks & co. engaged in talks with the Suns or the KD suitors? We don’t know and it may not matter, not less than but. These offers usually come collectively in 24 to 48 hours and as we now have identified advert finitum, the Sean Marks Draft Commerce Zone opens 48 hours earlier than Adam Silver steps to the rostrum on Draft Evening, which remains to be every week from Wednesday. In NBA phrases that’s an eternity.
We do discover a little bit of irony in all this intrigue. Truly a lot of irony. Again in 2023, after the failure of the Large Three experiment, Durant advised Joe Tsai he wished out and wished Phoenix which he thought (wrongly and in spectacular style) was his greatest shot of including to his appreciable legacy.
Mat Ishbia who had been Tsai’s protege within the possession course of and was in his very first day as proprietor gleefully agreed. Marks and James Jones, his counterpart in Phoenix, labored out the small print. The Nets received what they wished in each facet of the talks, from Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, two younger gamers who had been key items within the 2021 NBA Finals, to 4 unprotected firsts to Jae Crowder who they become items wanted in wage dumps of Joe Harris and Patty Mills.
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Now, after being swept within the first spherical of the 2024 playoffs and failing to make the post-season this yr, it actually seems that Ishbia and the Suns should not working as carefully with Durant and his enterprise accomplice, Wealthy Kleiman, as Tsai did. Watch out what you want for, Kevin.
Later Sunday, Shams dropped one other bomb: the Memphis Grizzlies are buying and selling Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for a bundle that rivals the Knicks’ bundle for Mikal Bridges. Per Shams:
The Memphis Grizzlies are buying and selling Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, 4 unprotected first-round picks and one first-round decide swap, sources advised ESPN on Sunday.
Orlando is sending Memphis the No. 16 decide within the 2025 NBA draft, its 2026 first-round decide (which incorporates swap rights with the Phoenix Suns or Washington Wizards) and its 2028 and 2030 unprotected first-round picks, sources mentioned. The decide swap is top-two protected in 2029.
Yikes. Placing apart the plain shock worth, does the commerce sign something for the Nets? It may. If Bane is price 4 firsts and a few good gamers, how a lot is Cam Johnson price? On the deadline, Marks reportedly believed that CamJ was price two first spherical picks however didn’t get any takers though he mentioned he wasn’t making calls simply taking them. What if he was?
Bane is a greater all-around participant. He’s additionally three years youthful and is extra sturdy, stronger too. Our Lukas Kaplan argues Bane was probably the most underrated participant within the NBA final season and he could also be proper. (Spoiler alert: he often is.) Johnson has some positives within the comparability. He and Bane put up virtually similar capturing numbers: Each shot 48/39/89 in 32 minutes, when you spherical off the numbers. Bane was each a greater rebounder and passer, though not by a lot. Johnson is a bit higher in post-season, however once more not by a lot. Johnson could also be a bit extra environment friendly and is a pacesetter within the locker room.
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However right here’s the distinction. The Magic see Bane as the ultimate piece for a championship contender. They had been the worst 3-point capturing workforce within the NBA and that’s been a problem for some time. Bane is a gigantic assist in that regard. Is there a GM who sees CamJ as the ultimate piece? Various contenders actually favored him on the deadline however none had been keen to put down two firsts for him. So the reply might be no. However two firsts? One and a prospect. We must wait and see.
In fact, the bundle the Magic gave up might merely be an overpay. It solely takes one GM to fall in love with a participant. It’s not a couple of consensus. Contemplating how rapidly issues are transferring, we might not have to attend lengthy to search out out!
Tsai’s rising function in sports activities
One factor we maintain observe of outdoor NetsWorld is Joe Tsai’s persevering with funding in skilled sports activities, a few of it well-known, some not a lot. The reasoning is straightforward: the Nets stay his core piece and what he does elsewhere may be telling.
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There may be the 85% possession of BSE International which covers the Brooklyn Nets, the New York Liberty and Barclays Heart in addition to the retail area on the base of the Williamsburgh Financial savings Financial institution and a minority stake within the Brooklyn Paramount, each of which little question are destined to be a part of the considerably mysterious “ecosystem” centered on — however not restricted to — the nook of the Flatbush and Atlantic.
Lately, Joe and Clara Wu Tsai bought a chunk of the Liberty — reportedly a “mid-teens” piece — to a bunch of traders led by Jack Ma, the Chinese language billionaire and a co-founder with Joe of Alibaba, for an undisclosed value. It will likely be used to assist defray the price of the Libs’ new $80 million coaching facility in Greenpoint … simply as they bought 15% of BSE to members of the Koch household to assist with a $100 million improve at Barclays Heart.
However that’s simply the Brooklyn piece of the Tsais’ sports activities property. There’s additionally a two p.c piece of the Miami Dolphins in addition to Exhausting Rock Stadium and an Method One circuit; a small piece of the LAFC within the MLS; the Las Vegas and San Diego franchises within the Nationwide Lacrosse League (indoor) and a bit of the unitary Premier Lacrosse League (out of doors).
There was additionally a 2019 funding — together with Clippers proprietor Steve Ballmer and others — in G2 Sports activities, a Berlin-based esports firm. Extra lately, like final month, Tsai turned the lead investor within the Asian College Basketball League, a 12-team school league throughout China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. We’ve reported on all this earlier than.
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However wait there’s extra! The Tsai household funding workplace, Blue Pool Capital, has additionally put cash in what is likely to be known as ancillary sports activities providers: a chunk of Fanatics, the sports activities merchandise firm; a chunk of Genius Sports activities, which offers sports activities information to just about each professional league and a chunk of Golden Goose, the Italian luxurious shoe put on. Will a Nets participant enroll with Golden Goose? (Fascinating footnote on Fanatics funding. Because of the connection between the Tsais and Fanatics founder Michael Rubin, Clara Wu Tsai joined him within the REFORM Alliance, the Meek Mill-inspired group that lobbies for parole and probation reform throughout the U.S. Wu Tsai reportedly donated $8 million to the hassle.)
Most often, the Tsais’ investments have been about serving to entrepreneurs broaden their enterprise in Asia, the market Joe Tsai is aware of greatest.
We don’t know the present standing of these investments or others Blue Pool might need made out of the highlight however Ollie Weisberg, who runs Blue Pool, made it clear final yr that they see sports activities as an asset class of its personal.
“After I take into consideration about my marginal greenback right now, sports activities is on the prime of the record. Sports activities has turn out to be an precise asset class now,” Weisberg, who’s additionally an alternate governor of the Nets, advised Asian Investor journal.
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“We consider that the rising curiosity in stay sports activities, and the growing progress in media rights, that’s one thing we’re tremendous enthusiastic about. It’s not simply the NFL, the NBA, the NHL. It’s ladies’s soccer, ladies’s basketball.”
Income are clearly good. The valuation of the Nets is up 50% since he purchased out Mikal Prokhorov in 2019. The valuation of the Liberty is up a lot greater than that over that very same interval. Ask James Dolan if he’s not too busy being rejected by one other NBA workforce in his teaching search.
Joe Tsai’s curiosity in sports activities additionally extends to his function as chairman of Alibaba. Simply this week, he advised a Paris tech convention concerning the function Alibaba’s cloud and AI companies play on sports activities largest stage.
The corporate has been the Worldwide Olympic Committee’s cloud expertise supplier for the previous three Olympic cycles, together with the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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“One of many areas that we deal with is broadcasting,” Tsai mentioned, noting that the Olympics generate tens of hundreds of hours of footage. “So what the IOC have achieved is that they centralize the filming of the Video games, they usually take all that footage, put it onto the cloud.” For the Paris Olympics alone, that meant managing round 11,000 hours of video, China Every day quoted him as saying.
“Final Olympics was the primary time cloud expertise had overtaken satellite tv for pc broadcasting expertise, and that expertise is all supported by Alibaba,” Tsai mentioned.
Particularly, Alibaba used AI to generate multi-angle views of motion scenes with far fewer cameras than conventional strategies.
In different phrases, the Nets and Liberty might have been his first entree into sports activities but it surely gained’t be his final. Watch this area.
Draft Sleeper of the Week
Final month, we included Hugo Gonzalez in our round-up of worldwide prospects. As we famous then,
The participant with probably the most mentions in our most up-to-date mock draft roundup, home or worldwide, was a sensible, athletic 6’7” Spanish wing, Hugo Gonzalez, who was linked to the Nets at 4 of the 5 draft positions, lacking out solely at No. 8.
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Since then, Gonzales flew to Treviso for a exercise of seven prospects whose worldwide workforce commitments might not make it potential for them to interact in particular person exercises at NBA coaching services. The make-up mix included measurements and Gonzalez’s shone.
The 19-year-old Spaniard measured 6’6¼” barefoot and 222.7 kilos with a 6’10¾” wingspan, 8’5½” standing attain and 9” x 10¼” palms. The numbers that stood out to draftniks had been his all-around dimension for an NBA wing.
He’s a legit 6’7” and he weighed in 15 kilos heavier than he was listed a yr in the past. His hand dimension — the size and span of a participant’s hand, measured from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the pinky (size) and throughout the palm from the thumb aspect to the pinky aspect — is akin to LeBron James, roughly the equal of a 7-footer. Tied for the largest palms within the draft class.
The measurements simply added extra intrigue to his potentialities as an NBA prospect. He’s been a cornerstone of the Spanish nationwide workforce youth packages for years and as late as two years in the past, he was being in contrast favorably to Cooper Flagg. (Don’t get too excited. Lenny Cooke of Outdated Tappan, N.J. was additionally rated increased than Lebron James at an analogous level of their careers. Lenny who?, you would possibly ask. Precisely.)
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Nonetheless everybody noticed his potential again then…
Certainly in a head-to-head contest again within the 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup, Gonzalez helped Spain earn a silver in opposition to Group USA, main Spain with 16 factors to Flagg’s 10. (Should you’re a hoops sicko and excited by watching the entire sport, right here’s the tape together with that good dunk above by Gonzales 23:00 in.)
What makes it exhausting to evaluate him as a prospect now’s that Actual Madrid has stored him just about underneath wraps partly as a result of the gamers forward of him within the RM rotation are all former NBA varieties: gamers like Dzana Musa and Mario Hezonja. So he’s solely getting about 10 minutes a sport. Actually, he solely performed 5 minutes within the Actual Madrid sport final October that B.J. Johnson and Simone Casali had been seen watching within the SCOUT docu-series .
We additionally surprise if Gonzalez has a buyout and the way a lot. That would matter to some groups as they consider the place to challenge him. Actual Madrid is infamous for placing massive NBA buyouts of their younger prospects’ contracts. The NBA permits groups that draft worldwide prospects to repay buyout, however inside limits For the 2024-2025 season, this quantity was $850,000. Any quantity exceeding this restrict is taken into account a signing bonus and is included within the workforce’s wage cap calculation.
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Including to current hype. ESPN on Saturday mentioned Gonzalez has one of the best motor (in addition to the largest palms!) within the 2025 draft class, noting as effectively his defensive chops.
Gonzalez’s function at Actual Madrid has been inconsistent — typical for a teenage prospect attempting to interrupt via at one of many world’s prime golf equipment — however his calling card as a participant has lengthy been the very fact he performs exceptionally exhausting. That manifests on the defensive finish, the place he embraces doing the soiled work: taking part in in passing lanes, hustling for rebounds and even chipping in spotlight blocks. He’ll run the ground exhausting in transition going the opposite means, and is at all times keen to sacrifice his personal physique for the nice of the workforce.
The extent of need and want Gonzalez performs with has at all times been endearing for scouts, and has helped him earn elevated belief and minutes over the previous month. His sporadic offensive manufacturing has made it troublesome to enhance his inventory over the previous yr, however NBA groups know what kind of effort he brings, giving him an opportunity to carve out a task in due time.
One different factor to think about: ICYMI, the Nets head coach is the primary Spanish head coach in NBA historical past. Jordi Fernandez might have spent most of his profession within the NBA, however you may be certain he follows Spanish basketball and he has known as Spanish nationwide workforce coach Sergio Scariolo his “basketball father.” Scariolo has coached Gonzalez. Simply sayin’.
And naturally the spotlight bundle, courtesy of Jonathan Givony of ESPN and Draft Categorical.
Remaining Observe
The Shams scoops earlier Sunday indicators that the NBA commerce season is underway. We had been flawed to assume that massive trades would wait till after the NBA Finals are full. That could possibly be Sunday if the sequence, probably the greatest in current reminiscence, goes seven video games. And the opportunity of a Kevin Durant commerce within the subsequent few days as Shams reported would actually speed up issues. So put in your Nets rally caps.
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