NBA Rumors Round-Up
NBA Rumors: Mills to Lead NBPA?
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Check out the biggest rumors of the day in our NBA Rumor Round-Up. For more rumors and news, check out Basketball Insiders’ headlines, which are constantly being updated.
Steve Mills has emerged as a strong candidate to become executive director of the National Basketball Player Association.
Mills was in the running to replace Billy Hunter last summer before he was rehired by the New York Knicks as president. Mills’ plan was to hire a general manager with a background in analytics.
With Phil Jackson joining the Knicks, Mills’ role with the franchise in the long-term remains unclear.
Jackson was complimentary of Mills when he officially came on as president, but it’s very common for top executives to want to hand pick their own staff. While Mills is capable and familiar with the league in a way that Jackson isn’t yet, the fact of the matter is that he’s not one of Jackson’s guys.
Isola reported yesterday that Jackson and Knicks owner James Dolan were clashing over some of the changes that he wants to make in the front office, and this could be one situation that solves itself.
The NBPA is desperately in need of a new executive director and Mills has been one of the most popular candidates for over a year now.
Joe Lacob on contract status of his shooting guard: “We are going to re-sign Klay Thompson. I will say that unequivocally.”
via 97.5 The Game
Thompson is still on his rookie contract, but will be a restricted free agent at the end of next season – assuming that the Warriors issue a qualifying offer, which is a near certainty. His price tag could be quite high, though, as he’s improved every year.
This season, he averaged 18.4 points a game and has scored over 20 in two of their three playoff games so far. With Andrew Bogut, Stephen Curry, David Lee and Andre Iguodala already having long-term term deals, the Warriors guaranteed for the 2015-16 season, when a contract extension for Thompson would kick in, is $50.5 million. That’s without picking up the options for Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, and Nemaja Nedovic. So, the Warriors may have to accept paying the luxury tax if they’re indeed going to stay true to their word and keep Thompson in the Bay.
Pete D’Alessandro: “When you’re doing a trade, a deal isn’t done until it’s done. I’ve had probably five other deals done this year that weren’t ever completed, but they were right there, and at least one of them that got done was done quickly and out of nowhere. So trades are really difficult in terms of trying to manage the moving parts.”
via NBA.com
This is actually far more common than the average fans realize. The majority of the deals that get discussed never actually get completed or make their way into the news.
It’s not surprising to hear that the Kings thought they had a couple of other deals done. They were very active in season, trading for Rudy Gay and Derrick Williams.
When D’Alessandro took over he vowed to be aggressive, so you can definitely expect that trend to continue as he looks to get the Kings back to the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
