NBA

Sunday’s NBA: Warriors acquire guard Oubre from Thunder for draft picks

Janie McCauley
Associated Press

San Francisco — Guard Kelly Oubre is joining the Golden State Warriors to give the team backcourt depth in the wake of Klay Thompson’s latest injury, with Oubre acquired Sunday in a trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Warriors will send a conditional 2021 first-round draft pick and a 2021 second-round selection — via Denver — to Oklahoma City in the swap.

Phoenix Suns forward Mikal Bridges, left, and forward Kelly Oubre Jr. (3) react to a foul called on Oubre during an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz Feb. 24, 2020, in Salt Lake City.

Thompson will miss the season after suffering a torn right Achilles tendon playing a pickup game in Southern California on Wednesday. He already sat out the coronavirus-shortened season recovering from surgery for a torn ACL in his left knee that he hurt in the Raptors’ clinching Game 6 victory of the 2019 NBA Finals.

“We’ve got to look hard and look fast,” Warriors general manager Bob Myers said Thursday when Golden State introduced No. 2 overall draft pick James Wiseman and second-rounder Nico Mannion at Chase Center. “But I’ve got some great guys I work with that are working right now on what we can do. And so we’ve got to fill that position and give our fans and our organization and all the people that support us the best chance to win next year that we can.”

The 24-year-old Oubre is coming off a season in which he averaged career bests of 18.7 points and 6.4 rebounds over 56 games — 55 starts — for the Phoenix Suns. He also added 1.5 assists and 1.27 steals in 34.5 minutes. Oubre ended up with the Thunder on Monday night in the trade that sent Chris Paul to Phoenix.

The Warriors drafted Arizona guard Nico Mannion in the second round of the draft before knowing all the details of the injury to Thompson, who underwent an MRI exam Thursday that revealed the severity.

“We got this news and we found ourselves with a hole at a position that we can’t find many better guys to fill than a Klay Thompson,” Myers said. “We read our board up and under the two guard position we have a blank space. After processing that, like you mentioned, the league’s not waiting for us. We’ve got to do what we have to do. We’re exploring a lot of things. ”

Blazers sign Hood, make trade

The Portland Trail Blazers announced that they have re-signed forward Rodney Hood, who was injured for much of last season, and signed free-agent forward Derrick Jones Jr.

Hood, a six-year veteran, declined a $6 million player option with Portland earlier this week, becoming a free agent. He signed a new two-year deal with the Blazers but the terms were not made public.

Hood averaged 11.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in 21 games, all starts, with the Blazers last season before he tore his left Achilles tendon. He did not play with Portland in the bubble in Florida.

“Rodney played a critical role in our run to the Western Conference Finals in 2018-19 and was off to a great start last year prior to his season being cut short due to injury,” Neil Olshey, president of basketball operations, said in a statement. “Now fully healthy we expect him to make an immediate impact and are pleased he chose to stay in Portland.”

Sunday was the first day that most NBA free-agent contracts could be signed. Free-agent talks around the league opened Friday evening, and many of the deals that were struck over the weekend became official.

Jones, a four-year veteran, averaged 8.5 points and 3.0 rebounds with the Miami Heat last season. He played in 59 games including six starts.

Portland also formally announced that it had acquired veteran center Enes Kanter from Boston in a three-team trade. It is Kanter’s second stint with the Blazers, he was also with the team during its run to the Western Conference finals in the 2018-19 season.

Kanter averaged 8.1 points and 7.4 rebounds last season. Portland sent forward Mario Hezonja to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of the deal.

The Blazers also acquired forward Robert Covington from the Houston Rockets in exchange for Trevor Ariza, the draft rights to Isaiah Stewart and a conditional future first-round pick. The deal was reported before Wednesday’s draft, but it was not announced by Portland until Sunday.

Covington, a seven-year veteran who played for both Minnesota and Houston last season, is expected to start for the Blazers. He had a total 115 steals, ranking third in the league, and 93 blocks last season while averaging 12.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists.

Lakers, Cavs deal

Looking to replace Tristan Thompson, the Cavaliers have acquired center JaVale McGee and a future draft pick from the Los Angeles Lakers for forwards Alfonzo McKinnie and Jordan Bell, a person familiar with the deal told AP.

The Cavs will get a second-round pick in 2026 from the Lakers, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the teams have not announced the swap.

On Saturday, Thompson, who played nine seasons with the Cavs and helped them win a championship in 2016, agreed to a two-year, free-agent deal with the Boston Celtics.

The 32-year-old McGee spent the past two seasons with Los Angeles after two with Golden State. The 7-footer averaged 6.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks for the NBA champions this past season.

The Lakers needed to move McGee in order to open up salary space after getting Marc Gasol to agree to a two-year contract.

McGee will likely serve as a backup to Cleveland center Andre Drummond, who picked up his $28 million player option last week to stay with the Cavs.

Holiday staying

Justin Holiday will continue playing for the Indiana Pacers next season after agreeing to a new deal.

Terms of the deal were not immediately announced but the decision means Holiday and one of his two NBA-playing brothers, Aaron, will be teammates again next season. Both played primarily as backups but held key roles in helping the Pacers make the playoffs.

Justin Holiday averaged 8.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and a team-high 1.2 steals last season while shooting a career-high 40.5% on 3-pointers. He finished 19th in the NBA in 3-point percentage.

“Re-signing Justin was one of our main priorities going into free agency,” Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said in a statement released by the team. “His contributions last season were tremendous. He can play multiple positions and is extremely versatile. He also represents this franchise as a true professional, on and off the court.”

Previously, Holiday played for Memphis, Chicago, Atlanta, Golden State, Philadelphia and the New York Knicks. His other brother, Jrue, is heading to Central Division rival Milwaukee in a trade.

Jazz, Mitchell agree to extension

Donovan Mitchell got the life-changing news and immediately began celebrating. He ripped off his T-shirt, ran out of the house and leaped into the pool.

And just as he did in his first three seasons with Utah, he made a huge splash.

Mitchell is now a max-contract recipient, he and the Jazz agreeing on a five-year extension that guarantees him $163 million — the new paydays start kicking in with the 2021-22 season — and could be worth $196 million if he reaches the All-NBA level.

“A dream does not become reality through magic it takes sweat, determination and hard work,” Mitchell wrote on Instagram after sharing a toast with CAA Basketball agent Ty Sullivan and some family members as the celebration continued.

The Jazz did not immediately comment. Typically, teams cannot discuss contracts publicly until they are signed, and it was unclear when Mitchell will put pen to paper to complete the transaction.

Mitchell averaged 20.5 points as a rookie, then 23.8 points in his second season and 24.0 points last season as a third-year player who wound up making the All-Star team for the first time. And even though the Jazz lost in first round of this past season’s playoffs in a seven-game epic against Denver — the Nuggets rallied from a 3-1 series deficit — Mitchell was dazzling.

He averaged 36.3 points in that series, including 57 points — the third-highest scoring total by any player in an NBA playoff game — in Game 1 of the matchup. He followed that with a 51-point outburst in Game 4, a game where he and Denver’s Jamal Murray became the first duo with 50-point performances in the same playoff game; Murray had 50.

Cauley-Stein sticks with Mavs

Willie Cauley-Stein is returning to the Dallas Mavericks on an $8.2 million, two-year contract, a person with knowledge of the deal told the Associated Press.

The Mavericks acquired the veteran center from Golden State before the trading deadline last season, and his impact was minimal before he opted out of the restart following the coronavirus shutdown because of the impending birth of his daughter.

Cauley-Stein declined the $2.3 million option on the two-year deal he signed with the Warriors. His return gives Dallas another option behind Kristaps Porzingis and Dwight Powell. It’s possible Porzingis and Powell will start, with Powell likely filling the traditional role of the center. Dallas also has Boban Marjanovic in a backup role.

The 27-year-old Cauley-Stein averaged 5.2 points and 4.6 rebounds in 13 games for the Mavericks. His career averages in five seasons are 9.6 points and 6.3 boards.