NBA rules: Suns break the rules for a free agent
According to Marc Stein, the Suns are being investigated for tampering and early contact with Drew Eubanks during free agency last offseason. Of course, the first reaction that any NBA fan will have is why were the Suns tampering for a player who is a role player at best? Eubanks is a talented basketball player but breaking for a player who is a bench player can seem very strange to any NBA fan.
To be quite honest, it was probably extremely smart for the Suns to go early after Eubanks. This is a team that clearly doesn't value draft picks at all and needs role players to fill out their roster. The veteran does fit Frank Vogel system which is probably why the team targeted him so hard.
While he probably wouldn't have gotten offers a lot bigger than $4 million, getting in early ensured the Suns could get him and get him at a reasonable price.
While it will be in the news cycle for the next couple of days due to the fact that the team also employs Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, the Suns will most likely be docked a second-round pick at worst for their offense. We can have the entire tampering conversion another day but this honestly was a smart thing done by the Suns due to the fact that everyone in the league commits some version of tampering and rule-bending when it comes to getting free agents.
NBA rumors: Marcus Smart expresses feelings on trade to Memphis
As the Memphis Grizzlies go into their first game of the season against the Pelicans, Marcus Smart talked about his feelings on being traded. Speaking to The Athletic, Smart said that he was told by the Celtics that he wasn't gonna be traded, and then was. He didn't even find out the trade for the Celtics rather he found out it from "Shams (Charania) on Twitter"
To be quite honest, it was quite sad when Smart was traded from the Celtics. The veteran was the perfect Celtic in the fact that he was a hard-working player who contributed to winning basketball, Yes, at times he chucked 3-point shots but he was one of the best defensive players in all of the league.
While Derrick Rose will also be a veteran leader for this season, the Grizzlies will need Smart's locker room presence as they try and turn around a team that had a lot of issues last season. Of course, a lot of attention will be put on the relationship that Smart has with Ja Morant. Morant is one of the best young players in the league but has made a lot of mistakes in the last 12 months.
If the Grizzlies want to end up winning a championship at some point in the near future, they will need their young stars to mature as basketball players.
NBA rumors: Knicks likely to land Towns over Embiid in the near future
According to Frank Isola, the Knicks are more likely to land Karl Anthony Towns in a trade than Joel Embiid. This comes after it was reported that the Knicks were assembling a package for Embiid. New York has been heavily involved in looking to trade for an offensive star who they can pair with Jalen Brunson.
To be quite honest, this makes a lot of sense. The Knicks have preferred players who are represented by CAA due to the connections Leon Rose has at the agency. Joel Embiid used to be a CAA client but left for another agency a couple of years ago.
Addtionally, Towns is a lot more likely to end up getting traded this season as the Timberwolves are still reeling from the devastating trade that they made for Rudy Gobert. In that deal, the team gave up way too much assets for a player who doesn't fit with Towns.
It has been speculated by many basketball analysts that Towns will end up getting to traded in order for the Timberwolves to recover from the Gobert trade. Minnesota has a potential MVP in Anthony Edwards and shouldn't risk losing him down the line. Trading Towns for a lot of assets might allow the team the captial needed to build around Edwards.
Embiid on the other hand will most likely not be available for trades until the summer. While people have been quick to circle the waters, the Sixers probably still have a trade deadline and the early part of the offseason (at the least) to prevent Embiid from requesting a trade.