Host Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux) and draft expert Sam Vecenie of The Athletic (@Sam_Vecenie) break down the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery.
They discuss how Minnesota faces a fascinating decision at #1, what the Warriors could and should do with the second pick, opportunities for the Hornets/Bulls and much more.
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Glen Taylor is in advanced discussions with former Memphis Grizzlies minority owner Daniel E. Straus to purchase both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, sources tell Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The two sides have issues to resolve before any full agreement can be completed, but Straus has emerged as the frontrunner to purchase the team.
Representatives from the Straus Group visited the Twin Cities two weeks ago for official meetings, toured the team facilities and reviewed financials as part of their due diligence. The sides had entered an exclusivity agreement that formally expired last week, and both parties have continued discussions about a deal.
Straus would keep the Wolves in Minneapolis as Taylor has mandated for his sale.
Straus amassed his fortune in the health-care field, starting with a handful of nursing homes inherited from his father and eventually building CareOne into one of the dominant inpatient providers in the New York area.
Straus ended his run as an owner in Memphis in 2018 during a complicated buy/sell process with majority owner Robert Pera. It was a tense setup, with Pera owning around 26 percent of the team and Kaplan and Straus each owning about 14 percent.
Sources tell The Athletic that Straus took the money he made form his investment in the Grizzlies and began canvassing the New York area for more investors to put a group together to pursue another NBA franchise.
Kevin Garnett, who has expressed interest in the Wolves, is not involved with the Straus group.
The NBA and NBPA have reached agreement for the eight teams not involved in the restart in Orlando to conduct voluntary group workouts while residing in campus settings.
There had been discussions about the teams participating in a second bubble with team workouts and scrimmages, but the union had resisted that concept.
The Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks were not invited to participate int he league's restart in Orlando.
The program is scheduled to take place between Sept. 14 and Oct. 6.
D'Angelo Russell will represent the Minnesota Timberwolves at the 2020 NBA draft lottery.
The Wolves acquired Russell from the Golden State Warriors at the trade deadline.
"I’m honored to represent the Timberwolves at this year’s draft lottery," said Russell. "We are excited about what we are building in Minnesota and look forward to continuing the progress with the lottery and in the draft.”
The Wolves have a 14 percent chance of winning the lottery.
Minnesota won the lottery in 2015 when they had the best odds and subsequently selected Karl-Anthony Towns. The Wolves have never moved up in the lottery as they have only gone down or stayed neutral.
The eight teams excluded from the NBA's restart in Orlando continue to discuss with the league office and NBPA how they can conduct workouts or scrimmages, sources tell ESPN.
The most likely outcome remains in-market workouts starting in September. There had been discussions of a second bubble with those teams playing scrimmages.
Many of those teams want to get players back in their practice facility during a long hiatus.
The teams would test daily, have one week of individual workouts, two weeks of group practices and one hour of five-on-five per day.
The NBPA has no interest in having the NBA send the eight teams left out of the original restart to Orlando for an offseason training camp once the first group of 22 games are eliminated, sources tell ESPN.
The concept is a non-starter for the union.
The only viable solution is for the NBA and NBPA to agree to voluntary workouts in the team facilities.
Several of the teams are frustrated and angry over how far they feel they're falling behind the teams in restart.
"We are looking at nine months between games now, and if the season is delayed, we are looking at possibly a full year between competitive games," one GM told ESPN on Friday. "That's unprecedented in the history of the sport. We deserve help here."
The NBA is considering the possibility of bringing the eight teams who didn't participate in the restart to Orlando for a minicamp and scrimmages, sources tell Sam Amick of The Athletic.
Six teams will leave Orlando at the end of the restart and the beginning of the playoffs.
The NBPA has been skeptical of any basketball setting that doesn't replicate the conditions the NBA created in Orlando.
The first round will begin on August 17th with the start of the second round and the addition of family members beginning on September 1st.
The eight franchises that weren't included in the NBA's restart in Orlando now are pessimistic about the odds of a second site being created for minicamps and intrasquad scrimmages. There is also pessimism about even in-market minicamps for group workouts.
“There’s nothing happening,” one general manager told The Athletic after a Tuesday call between the eight GMs and league officials. “It’s a shame. It’s a huge detriment to these eight franchises that were left behind.”
Sources say the National Basketball Players Association remains concerned about the safety concerns that would come with creating another location for the other eight teams to compete (Charlotte, Chicago, New York, Detroit, Atlanta, Minnesota, Cleveland, Golden State).
NBPA prefers the idea of having in-market bubbles for individual team minicamps.
The 20-21 season has a tentative training camp start date of Nov. 10th.
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