The NBA season will kick off in less than a month and we bring some news and notes from around the league as teams get ready for another season.
Bucks Fined Before NBA Season Starts
The Milwaukee Bucks have been handed a $50K fine by the NBA. The were fined for talking about offering Giannis Antetokounmpo a super max contract. They didn’t exactly offer it to him directly as much as they made their intentions public. It might seem petty but it is also against league rules.
Bucks general manager John Horst was on T.V speaking at a town hall back on Sept. 12th. He said that the Bucks planned to offer Giannis a super max contract next summer worth $253.8 million. That would be the richest contract in NBA history. They also aren’t allowed to speak on the subject until next summer. The collective bargaining agreement states that team official can’t speak about committing to a max contract until a player has played seven season. For Giannis, that won’t be until July of 2020. Considering the amount of money, they are talking about paying him, surely they can afford to pay the $50K fine and move on.
Kyrie Gets Elbowed in The Face
Nets new star guard Kyrie Irving caught an accidental elbow to the face during a workout during at the Brooklyn Nets facility. Even though the injury is not believed to be serious, Kyrie did go to get himself checked out at the hospital. Head coach Kenny Atkinson went with Kyrie to the hospital and said that he was OK.
The Nets start their preseason on Saturday and Kyrie has been seen at the team facility participating in all of the workouts with his new teammates. They have been working on building chemistry before heading on their pre season tour of China. They will play the Los Angeles Lakers twice will in China. Once on Oct. 10th and then again on Oct. 12th. They will begin their regular season on October 23rd.
The Nets also announced that they do not plan to have Kevin Durant this NBA season. They said that his injury is coming along fine and that he did have a desire to play this year. The Nets will take the approach that this is a long term injury and he will not be available this season.
Iggy Wants Out of Memphis
The Memphis Grizzlies and Andre Iguodala have mutually agreed that he will stay away from the team until they can find a trade. Iggy was hoping for a buyout so that he can go to the team of his choice but the Grizzlies are having none of it.
The Golden State Warriors had traded Iguodala and a 3rd round draft pick to the Grizzlies in order to complete the sign and trade of D’Angelo Russell. They have made clear that they have no plans to buy him out and they will be looking for the best possible trade. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. At this point in his career it is clear that Iggy has no interest in being part of a rebuilding franchise.
