Storyline: Shaquille Harrison Free Agency
21 rumors in this storyline
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Jeff Siegel: Something that probably won’t matter but could — Shaquille Harrison has an implicit no-trade clause in his contract with the Bulls, since he never changed teams in free agency despite being waived a couple weeks ago. He’ll have Early Bird rights next year if he’s not traded.
Shams Charania: Guard Shaquille Harrison is signing a one-year deal to return to the Bulls, league source tells
Malika Andrews: Shaquille Harrison addressed media for the first time this morning. He says this is the first time he’s been to Chicago. He said he was surprised to be cut by the Suns. “I didn’t see it coming at all, but that’s the NBA for you.” He wished the Suns luck.
The Chicago Bulls have signed guard Shaquille Harrison. In accordance with team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed. In a preceding move, the Bulls waived center Omer Asik. Harrison (6-4, 190) was waived by the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 15, 2018. He played in four games (three starts) for the Suns during the 2018 preseason and averaged 7.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.25 steals and 1.25 blocks in 22.4 minutes per game. Harrison first signed with Phoenix on Feb. 21, 2018, and averaged 6.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.13 steals in 23 games last season, his first in the NBA.
Shams Charania: Bulls signing Shaquille Harrison to standard NBA deal, waiving eight-year NBA center Omer Asik. Asik is dealing with inflammatory arthritis issue and is under salary for for $11.3M this season, then partial guarantee on $11.9M for next season.
Shams Charania: Sources on @TheAthleticNBA @watchstadium: The Bulls are planning to sign guard Shaquille Harrison to a deal. Harrison arrived to Chicago this weekend, joining NBA team after his release from Phoenix on Monday.
The Disabled Player Exception that Phoenix applied for with regards to Darrell Arthur is now voided with his waiver. The Suns will have a $7.4M cap hit on Arthur and $50K with Shaquille Harrison. Teams eligible to claim Harrison must have cap space or a trade exception to claim him based on the guard signed a three-year contract in March. The remaining $1.4M on the Harrison contract is non-guaranteed and he has a $1.6M team option in 2019-20. The Suns will need to waive or trade one player before Jamal Crawford is signed.
Shams Charania: The Suns have waived guard Shaquille Harrison and forward Darrell Arthur, per league sources. @WatchStadium @TheAthleticNBA
Scott Bordow: Also, Suns plan to keep Shaq Harrison as well.
Scott Bordow: Can confirm Suns are signing Shaquille Harrison to multi-year deal, which will be guaranteed through the rest of this season. Good for him. Kid deserves it for way he’s played
Shams Charania: Sources: The Suns and guard Shaquille Harrison are finalizing a multiyear deal, guaranteeing him for the rest of the season. Harrison’s second 10-day contract expires today and he’s performed well since call up from G League’s Northern Arizona.
Gerald Bourguet: #Suns announce they’ve signed Shaquille Harrison to a second 10-day contract. Not surprising considering how well he’s done in limited time
Gerald Bourguet: #Suns make Shaquille Harrison 10-day signing official
Suns signing Shaquille Harrison
John Gambadoro: Suns are signing Shaq Harrison to a 10-day contact and waiving Josh Gray.
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.
