
Storyline: Jahlil Okafor Free Agency
27 rumors in this storyline

Malika Andrews: Pelicans are picking up Jahlil Okafor’s team option for the 2019-2020 season, league sources tell ESPN. The New Orleans staff is impressed by the way Okafor has reworked his body and the improvements he’s made on the defensive end of the floor.
More Rumors in this Storyline
Scott Kushner: Everyone I’ve spoken with this week has said Jahlil Okafor is a veritable lock. Gentry said he wasn’t concerned about the injury in deciding whether Okafor would make the roster. He saw enough. Deal isn’t done, b/c something around the league could happen, but it’s close.
Eric Pincus: Just $50k of Jahlil Okafor’s 2-yr is guaranteed – second year is a team option (if taken, $54,323 guaranteed in yr two) @BBallInsiders w/Pelicans
Adrian Wojnarowski: Free agent center Jahlil Okafor has agreed to a deal with New Orleans, league sources tell ESPN.
Michael Scotto: Jahlil Okafor has agreed to a two-year deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, a league source told The Athletic. Year 1 is partially guaranteed. Year 2 is a team option. First reported by ESPN.
Pelicans adding Jahlil Okafor?
Scott Kushner: Multiple sources have said the Pelicans are discussions with C Jahlil Okafor on a deal to bring him in for training camp.
Scott Kushner: Nothing formalized at this point but certainly an interesting, low-risk option for the Pelicans who lack a traditional center at the moment.
Jahlil Okafor is free agent after his season between 76ers and Nets. The big man has played 131 games in NBA averaging 12.9 points and 5.3 rebounds. Okafor is practicing in Miami but the Heat are unlikely to sign him but in China there are several teams interested in signing the former Duke center, as reported by Zhang Duo.
Zhang Duo: More than one Chinese clubs are interested in NBA center Jahlil Okafor,told by source.
Former Sixers and Nets center Jahlil Okafor, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 draft and a former teammate of Winslow’s at Duke, worked out for four NBA teams in Las Vegas last week and has been working out in Miami for the past few months. But a league source said the Heat, already with three centers on the roster and unable to move center Hassan Whiteside in part because of his contract, is not interested in Okafor.
With the Brooklyn Nets signing Ed Davis and acquiring Kenneth Faried in a trade, and with Sean Marks giving the impression Tuesday that they’re closing in on their final 2018-19 roster, the short-lived Jahlil Okafor era in Brooklyn looks dead. “I won’t comment on Jahlil, because he’s not here right now,” Marks said bluntly. “But again, I will always bet on our coaching staff. Our coaching staff have done a heck of a job, our performance team, in terms of how they develop guys.” Marks then noted the need for a “floor spacer,” which Okafor is not. Hours later, of course, the Nets signed Treveon Graham, who is a floor space and despite his size, can play the 4.
According to sources, Okafor, the No. 3 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, worked out for four teams last Wednesday in Las Vegas, and remains hopeful of signing with a team ahead of training camp next fall. Okafor averaged 17.5 points per game as a rookie in Philadelphia in 2015-16. He has spent the last few months working out in Miami with trainers David Alexander and Idan Ravin, fueling speculation that he could land with the Heat, especially if Miami finds a trading partner for Hassan Whiteside.
He will not be back with the Nets, the last team for which he played, a source said. Okafor has had interest from the Pacers and Bulls, among others, this summer but neither were at the workout in Las Vegas.
The career track so far for Jahlil Okafor, the third pick in the Draft overall just three flipping years ago, continues to astound. He is an unrestricted free agent after having been an afterthought in Brooklyn, which won exactly 28 games last season. Okafor is working this summer with player development yoda Idan Ravin, trying to show prospective teams he’s aware he must show improvement on the perimeter. Ravin has been reconstructing Okafor’s jump shot and improving his ability to score on face-ups and off the dribble. No one’s saying Okafor hasn’t been a disappointment so far as a pro. But in a league where there are so many bad teams, it’s astonishing no one has yet to give the still just 22-year-old Okafor a real look.
Michael Scotto: Jahlil Okafor was asked if playing time, winning, contract or style of play would factor most into his free agency decision this summer. Here is Okafor’s full reply:
And while Okafor has professed to be happy with the Nets, how will he weigh court time, money, playing style, an opportunity to win and other factors in where he signs? “All that goes into it,” said Okafor, who did not play in Sunday’s 108-96 loss to the Pistons. “But honestly I have no experience with this whatsoever, so I’m just trying to finish the season strong. [I’ll have] guidance from people who’ve dealt with what I’m going to deal with, and lean on them. I really don’t know what to expect. But, at the end of the day, I want to play basketball.”
“He’s had a little window of opportunity. We haven’t given him a great opportunity, a great section of play where you say, ‘Man, here’s 30, 40 games.’ That’s part circumstances,” Atkinson said. “You’d have more information if he had a training camp and he had a longer time period, he’d be much more acclimated.”
“I don’t really know what that means. I’ve been here for three or four months,” Okafor said. “Saying a full offseason would help me, I’ve been with these guys for three or four months now, done everything they’ve asked of me. I’m not sure what they want. But everybody’s treated me really well.”
But with Okafor a free agent, will he be with the Nets this summer? It’s unclear how he’ll weigh contract, system, being dropped from the rotation and other factors, because the Nets refused to make him available. “We’re not in that decision-making process right now,” Atkinson said. “We haven’t made any decisions. [But] I love his spirit, love how he’s working.”
Okafor has professed his love for Brooklyn and it may just take a summer to work everything out. It’s unlikely the Nets will have much competition for him, which is good because under the terms of the CBA, they can only pay him $6.2 million over one year. Everyone’s protected in that way and so we’ll have to wait and see how the rest of the season and free agency works out.
December 8, 2019 | 2:55 am UTC Update

Will the Knicks have a shot at landing Ujiri? That’s unclear. But once the Knicks started struggling last month, multiple Madison Square Garden people in positions of influence have been ‘obsessed’ with – and ‘enamored’ by – the Raptors executive, per SNY sources. In order to land Ujiri, it will probably take significant money and full autonomy. Whether Knicks owner James Dolan will grant that kind of autonomy remains to be seen.

At the time, the belief was that Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka negotiated Howard’s contract to be non-guaranteed so that the team could ties with him if he didn’t buy into his role, but apparently that wasn’t the case. During an appearance on ESPN’s “The Jump,” senior writer Ramona Shelburne said that it was Howard and his agent that suggested that his contract be non-guaranteed (emphasis mine): “I think with Dwight, it also goes back to why the Lakers signed that contract with him that way in the first place. Dwight asked for that. That was his idea. That wasn’t the Lakers saying ‘oh this is the only way we’ll do it.’ This was Dwight and his agent saying ‘yes, we’ll do non-guaranteed just to show you how committed we are to being this kind of player.’”
Royce Young: After serving a one-game suspension from the Thunder for a locker room altercation, Deonte Burton has been assigned to the G-League.
Jim Eichenhofer: Alvin Gentry on #Pelicans: “Zion is not coming in as the cavalry. We’ve got to play good basketball, regardless of what he comes in and does when he’s ready to play. It’s unacceptable the way we are playing right now.”

Dave McMenamin: Avery Bradley has been cleared for full contact after having the hairline fracture in his right leg re-evaluated today. He is out tomorrow vs. MIN and is considered day to day after that, per the Lakers.
Candace Buckner: #Wizards injury report is out and Isaiah Thomas will miss his third consecutive game with a left calf strain
Dane Moore: Jeff Teague and Andrew Wiggins are both questionable to play tomorrow against the Lakers. The injuries just don’t stop.
December 8, 2019 | 12:26 am UTC Update

Justin Kubatko: The @Dallas Mavericks recorded their third 40-point win of the season this afternoon, tying the NBA record for most such wins in a single season. They share the record with seven other teams.

Jason Jones: Bagley said he’s getting closer to playing, but won’t rush back if his body isn’t right. The broken in his thumb is healed, now he’s focused on regaining full strength in his hand.
Malika Andrews: Knicks interim coach Mike Miller said that he has “no sense of time” over the past 24 hours — he was alerted to the coaching change Friday afternoon but couldn’t offer specifics. Miller said he has spoke to Fizdale since he was fired.
Malika Andrews: Dennis Smith Jr. said the firing “caught everybody by surprise.” He said that the front office came and informed the players of the decision to make a coaching change.

Ian Begley: Taj Gibson said he and some other players heard from Steve Mills and Scott Perry after David Fizdale was fired. He says he also had a chance to say goodbye to Fizdale before Fizdale left the facility yesterday. Fizdale got emotional during the conversation. Taj: “Guys loved him.”
Chris Iseman: Taj Gibson was still at the facility when David Fizdale was fired. Had a chance to give him a hug and say goodbye. Said Fizdale teared up a bit.
Allan Houston, the Knicks former assistant general manager and now the GM of the Westchester Knicks, pushed hard to have Mike Miller considered to be the interim coach following David Fizdale’s firing. Houston has been with Miller since he was hired five seasons ago to coach the G-League team when Phil Jackson was president. Miller successfully ran the triangle for Jackson, then adapted when Jackson was let go.
Stefan Bondy: Never seen this before. The Knicks front office is not talking about the coaching change. Instead they threw out Mike Miller to answer questions. It was as awkward as you’d expect.
December 7, 2019 | 10:52 pm UTC Update

According to various reports, players like Dennis Schroeder, DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Love could be made available via trade by their respective teams. The Knicks, per a source, are keeping their ‘eye on a lot of players’ as we enter trade season.

Justin Kubatko: The @Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic produced 26p/6r/9a today, tying Michael Jordan’s mark for most consecutive games with at least 20p/5r/5a since the ABA-NBA merger: 18 – Jordan, 1988-89. 18 – Doncic, 2019-20*. 17 – Russell Westbrook, 2014-15. 16 – Westbrook, 2017-18 * active streak
Oleh Kosel: Alvin Gentry just now: “I didn’t think we competed. When they got separation, I didn’t think we competed. I think that’s the worst thing in the world to do, you know…It’s a terrible game. It’s a poorly played game, poorly coached game. All of us have to take responsibility.”

Brad Townsend: Porzingis: “Can’t stop Bobi. Once he gets the ball in the paint, you really can’t do much about it.”

There has certainly been a key dose of the latter, including Jimmy Butler’s desire to join the Heat even with Miami lacking any cap space (the Heat set the groundwork for that with its exemplary culture), and Dallas — in late June — bypassing a trade for Goran Dragic after the Dragic camp had been told he would probably need to be traded to accommodate the Butler transaction from a cap standpoint. “We’re all glad that deal didn’t happen,” one Heat official conceded privately, even more so because the inability to deal Dragic led to the jettisoning of Hassan Whiteside (a player the coaching staff didn’t want) to Portland.
The Heat studied him when he played at Oakland University, but he became a strong consideration in July 2018, when team officials were impressed by the diversity of his offensive game — and all-around skill set — while watching Nunn play for Golden State against Sacramento during NBA summer league. Nunn had already committed to the Warriors’ summer program by that point, and the Heat didn’t have a roster spot anyway, but from that point on, the Heat’s scouting staff decided to monitor him in the G-League, where he would average 19.3 points for Santa Cruz. What particularly stuck was the ease to his offensive game, the ability to score in multiple ways, and his willingness to defend.

The California Air Resources Board has granted fast-track approval to a proposed $1.2 billion Los Angeles Clippers arena in Inglewood that should allow the project to be finished in time for a 2024 basketball season. After nearly a year of back-and-forth negotiations, CARB determined last week that the project will not result in a net increase in greenhouse gases and, thus, qualifies for special protections from environmental lawsuits that could otherwise stall construction for years.
“CARB staff conducted an evaluation of the GHG emission estimates and reduction measures submitted by the applicant, and confirmed that the applicant’s methodology, calculations and documentation are adequate,” wrote Richard Corey, CARB’s executive director, in a letter to the governor’s Office of Planning and Research. Assembly Bill 987, a law passed specifically to move the Clippers project forward, required the Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Center to be net neutral and reduce 50 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions through local measures.

Salvador Amezcua, 32, is better known as “Kickstradomis,” among the top shoe artists in the game. Give him a pair of kicks, and in due time, you’ll get back an original piece of work, not unlike the kid who started making up his own comic books when he was four, growing up in L.A. A savvy disrupter, Kickstradomis’ creations are a staple throughout the NBA and NFL, and are now reaching into the music and film worlds as well. Among his more well-known clients are Dallas Mavericks sensation Luka Doncic, the Lakers’ Anthony Davis, Timberwolves All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell, WNBA 2018 league and Finals MVP Breanna Stewart and L.A. Rams star defensive tackle Aaron Donald. He does all the work by hand, and the backlog is weeks long. Using movie characters, cartoons, any and everything that comes to mind, he can put them on a pair of shoes.

“Now, for 2020, everything’s going to shift a little differently,” he says. “I have to be more exclusive with the people I want to work with. I really choose to work with the guys who’ve been loyal to me, and we have mutual (desires), kind of both want the same things. There’s a few of these guys that really want to see me grow and they’ve helped me in different ways. Those are definitely the ones that I stick to. Luka’s one of them. Donovan Mitchell. KAT. Those are some of my closer guys. But then there’s the new young guys, the new generation.”
December 7, 2019 | 9:04 pm UTC Update

Influential voices in the NBA have strongly advised Ujiri not to take the job, if it’s ever offered, sources say. But those same sources say Ujiri might do it anyway, if the money is right, if he’s granted the necessary autonomy and if Dolan funds Giants of Africa as generously as the Raptors ownership group has. Ujiri’s contract is believed to run through 2021 but with an out clause under certain circumstances. He turned down a lucrative extension last summer, sources said, leaving the impression that he wants to keep his options open.
The Knicks have hired and fired five lead basketball executives since 2004, including legendary NBA figures from Isiah Thomas to Donnie Walsh to Phil Jackson. All departed under clouds of various shapes, sizes and despairing shades of gray. Maybe it will be different for the next guy. Maybe the Knicks get lucky and lure a gifted executive like Toronto’s Masai Ujiri to fix this mess. Some NBA sources believe it’s possible.

Sources say Dolan is indeed enamored of Toronto’s Masai Ujiri, who has twice fleeced the Knicks in trades (again, see Anthony, Carmelo and Bargnani, Andrea) and who last June presided over the first championship in Raptors history.

The Portland Trail Blazers have completed the two-way transfer of forward Jaylen Hoard from the Texas Legends of the NBA G League to Portland, it was announced today by president of basketball operations Neil Olshey.

Tim MacMahon: Luka Doncic has at least 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists for the 18th straight game. That ties Michael Jordan for the longest such streak in NBA history.

Pelicans vice president of basketball operations David Griffin went on the Pelicans in-game broadcast recently to talk about the return of Williamson and the team. There he said Williamson is progressing and added the obvious — that there will be some load management of Williamson upon his return. As there should be. “Yes, he very likely will not be asked to take the pounding of back-to-backs initially,” Griffin said on the team’s television broadcast. “There will be a sort of ramp-up for him to getting back to where you would call him full strength, but he’s certainly going to be playing, and we’re trying to win basketball games. And quite frankly, we’ve done a horrible job of that.”

They were not ha-ha-funny laughs. And they were not playful guffaws. Their laughs were more incredulous, those types of chuckles that come with a shake of the head and take the place of the words “can you believe this?” “We’ve been getting hit from every angle possible,” Kent Bazemore said. “Preseason on the road, 13 of the first 18 on the road, injuries. … I mean, it’s been a whirlwind.”
Even though he stands to gain from Hood’s injury — Hezonja will likely be one of the small forwards coach Terry Stotts turns to — Hezonja was consumed with the circumstances of Friday’s events. “I don’t even want to make a comment, that’s how bad I feel,” Hezonja said. “I mean, that’s Hoodie. From Day 1, he and I really bonded. You just don’t have teammates like that. He’s like a really outstanding person, so this really hurts me.”

Isaiah Thomas has missed the Wizards’ last two games with a left calf strain and it sounds like he will be out at least a little while longer. The Wizards guard caught up with NBC Sports Washington at his holiday toy giveaway at the Boys and Girls Club in Northwest D.C. on Saturday and gave an update on how he’s feeling. “I’m good,” he said. “I think I will be out a few more games and then be able to come back.”
December 7, 2019 | 7:25 pm UTC Update

With Knicks president Steve Mills on shaky ground until the club shows progress, owner James Dolan could make another run at Raptors president Masai Ujiri. According to a source, if Mills is fired after the season, Dolan likely would renew his quest for Ujiri, who built the Raptors 2019 title team. “Why wouldn’t he — he’s the best GM in the league,’’ one NBA source said.
Ian Begley: Keith Bogans, who worked as an assistant with the Westchester Knicks, will join Mike Miller’s staff as an assistant, the Knicks say.

Ryan Wolstat: Gasol on Embiid and the Sixers: “To me, if he gets in rhythm, you’re in trouble Because once he starts hitting his jump shot, things change for him and for his team. It gives them a lot of confidence, it gives him confidence, which fuels the whole thing.”
December 7, 2019 | 5:30 pm UTC Update

The Knicks held a players-only meeting to rally support for their coach. But there was one problem: Fizdale was fired just hours later. Sources confirmed that Marcus Morris, who has been Fizdale’s top supporter in the locker room, led the session prior to Friday’s practice. It came on the heels of the Knicks getting blown out by the Nuggets on Thursday at the Garden.
Morris, according to a source, preached accountability and playing unselfishly, pointing the finger at himself as well as teammates, specifically Julius Randle and RJ Barrett. The message was well received by the players, a source said. Fizdale then conducted practice at the Tarrytown facility and was promptly fired afterwards.
David Fizdale was laughing and shaking hands with several members of Knicks brass just hours before news leaked of his curiously timed firing. Video shows a smiling Fizdale greeting team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry, among others, Friday at the team’s practice facility in Westchester.
December 7, 2019 | 4:54 pm UTC Update
Steve Mills on the hot seat?

These last two seasons fall directly on Mills, who, according to sources, will either be reassigned or simply removed from the building. His expiration date is long overdue. The Athletic reported last month that Dolan will try again to pry Raptors President Masai Ujiri from Toronto. If that doesn’t work, maybe NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will point Dolan toward R.C. Buford, Sam Presti, Neil Olshey and Daryl Morey. The Knicks are in the early stages of another massive overhaul that will only work if Dolan gives his next executive savior full autonomy.
Tommy Beer: Good morning. Steve Mills has been a part of the Knicks organization for 13 of the past 16 seasons, and NY posted a losing record in each of those 13 campaigns. Dating back to 2001, the Knicks have had far more head coaches (13) than playoff wins (7). forbes.com/sites/tommybee…
Maccabi Tel Aviv is looking for a guard following John DiBartolomeo’s injury that will keep him out for up to six months. According to Israeli website One, the “Yellows” have placed Tyler Ennis, Alex Perez and Jovan Novak high on their transfer list.

“That’s where my strength is because I don’t try to be something I’m not,” Lillard says. “I don’t say stuff that I don’t think. Whenever I think something or I feel a way about something, that’s what I say. If there’s something that I experienced that made me a certain way, that’s just what it is. That’s who I am. I’ve come this far being this way, so I don’t have any reason to be anything else.”
Steve Popper: Speaking to people around NBA heard good reviews on Mike Miller. Also confirmed what @Frank Isola wrote – Royal Ivey was not granted permission by Knicks to interview with multiple teams after last season. Sixers wanted him for a promotion and he’s still back of bench here.
That put the Knicks in a Catch-22. Fizdale couldn’t maximize the roster provided him but wasn’t given the personnel to run the system he desired. “Doesn’t seem like any of this is his fault,” one NBA executive said as Fizdale lingered in purgatory this month. One opposing coach noted that Fizdale’s team never developed an identity but put the emphasis for the struggles on the roster the Knicks put together for him.