Buying or Selling Latest NBA Buzz Entering 2020-21 Season

The NBA season is agonizingly close, with the 2020-21 opener set for Tuesday.

That means teams are running out of time to tie up financial loose ends and answer consequential last-minute questions about rosters and lineups. Reports on those topics are coming fast and furious, and without questioning anyone's reliability or sources, we need to keep clear heads about these important topics.

Here, we'll buy or sell the most recent big news items around the league.

Could James Harden really find a fit with the Miami Heat? Are the Los Angeles Clippers going to sort out the chemistry issues that plagued them a season ago?

Let's find out.

As sometimes happens when NBA staffers no longer have to coexist amicably with a star—whether because the partnership is obviously about to dissolve or because said staffers have moved to another organization—the tea-spilling about James Harden's time with the Houston Rockets has begun in earnest.

ESPN's Tim MacMahon got piles of info from anonymous Rockets employees past and present, which together revealed a toxic culture of organizational enablement and superstar misbehavior.

MacMahon was careful to point out that Harden wasn't solely to blame for what's now become an untenable situation—one that'll surely end in a trade. Houston catered to its superstar to an alarming degree, which fed into what may have been Harden's preexisting belief in his own exceptionalism. Team and player are both at fault here.

Power corrupts, but the Rockets never put a cap on how much Harden could have.

Harden's preseason conduct following a trade request, not to mention his apparent lack of conditioning during the offseason, is just the final confirmation of what so many sources told MacMahon.

That brings us to the idea of Harden and the Miami Heat being a potential match. Harden included Miami on his updated list of preferred trade destinations, per The Athletic's Shams Charania, and the Heat might have interest if the price is right.

Sorry, but it's just hard to imagine a franchise defined by unrivaled conditioning demands, no-nonsense work ethic and, not least of all, an egalitarian offense built on ball and player movement would want anything to do with, well...so much of the exact opposite.

MacMahon's reporting rings totally true, which makes the Harden-to-Miami angle almost impossible to grasp.

The Heat always hunt stars, but Harden? That feels like a bridge too far.

Verdict: Sell

With Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson out, Robert Williams III got extended minutes during Tuesday's preseason loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

In a mixed-bag performance that showcased Williams' vertical spacing and length around the rim alongside poor play recognition and defensive intuition, the third-year center looked very much like the inconsistent player he's been since entering the league. The Athletic's Jared Weiss broke it all down in detail.

Williams is a third-stringer, and Joel Embiid has a way of making most opposing bigs look imperfect. But Williams' struggles are a problem because he's a quietly critical piece to the puzzle in Boston.

Theis and Thompson are known commodities, though neither is a high-end starter. The former is undersized and fouls too much, while the latter has no ability to space. Williams is the wild card. If he can hone his court awareness and channel his size and athleticism, he has a shot to do some young-DeAndre Jordan stuff as a vertical spacer and imposing interior force on D.

Boston ranked in the top five in both offensive and defensive efficiency last year, and Theis was often a plus in his limited role. For those reasons, you wouldn't normally worry much about how a reserve center looks in preseason play.

But the Celtics are now without Gordon Hayward, and Kemba Walker's knee may prevent him from being the player he was a year ago. With one important rotation weapon gone and another compromised, it will be harder for Boston to compensate for a relatively weak center spot.

If Williams can't strengthen it by developing in his third season, that's going to be an issue for a team with semirealistic aspirations of winning the East.

Verdict: Buy

It's never a bad thing when the person signing your checks says he'd like to keep paying you. But we can't assume that just because Atlanta Hawks governor Tony Ressler is a John Collins fan, the promising big man is going to get his rookie-scale extension prior to the 2020-21 season.

"I would love to see John with the Atlanta Hawks for an extended period of time," Ressler said, per The Athletic's Chris Kirschner. "John's a really good young player and a really good kid. I hope we can figure out a very fair and reasonable contract for him."

Notice how you never heard anyone in the Celtics organization using the terms "fair" or "reasonable" when discussing Jayson Tatum's now-inked extension? Or how the Miami Heat, who had incentives to preserve cap space by delaying Bam Adebayo's extension, never implied something less than the max might be in the offing?

Tatum was an All-NBA player last season, while Adebayo got a couple of first-place votes for Defensive Player of the Year, ultimately finishing fifth. Both led their teams on deep playoff runs, with Adebayo's Heat reaching the Finals. Collins just isn't on that level yet, and though he's undeniably talented and important to the Hawks' future, it behooves the franchise to make him prove he's a cornerstone in his fourth season.

If Collins demonstrates he's more than a "good stats, bad team" guy by developing as a playmaker and defender, and if he offers increased value on a squad that should actually win some games this year, maybe he'll warrant a deal like the ones several of his 2017 draft-mates signed this offseason.

The risk in postponing a new agreement until next summer is that Collins blows up, feels slighted by his team's lack of faith and signals the Hawks shouldn't match whatever he gets in restricted free agency. Atlanta would still technically hold all the power in that hypothetical, but things could get awkward if Collins feels more valued by teams other than his current one.

That's a risk the Hawks are wise to take. Ownership support aside, the Hawks shouldn't lock Collins up now unless they can do it at a steep discount.

Verdict: Sell

Giannis Antetokounmpo's decision to sign a supermax extension with the Milwaukee Bucks is being lauded as a critical victory for small-market teams. One might counter that it was actually just further proof that players are rational beings who take the absolute most money possible at the first opportunity.

I guess what it means to you depends on your level of cynicism.

Most agree, though, that Antetokounmpo's loyalty is exceptional. He could have delayed signing until next offseason. He could have demanded a trade. He could have signed a shorter contract.

But he didn't.

It'd be naive to act as if Antetokounmpo will never change. Anthony Davis signed a big deal with the New Orleans Pelicans and forced his way out four years later. Kawhi Leonard got himself off the San Antonio Spurs, Paul George worked his way out of Indiana, and Russell Westbrook (aka "the one who stayed") gave the go-ahead on a 2019 trade that moved him from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Houston Rockets.

Giannis can't be traded for a year, but circumstances in Milwaukee will change as time passes. Maybe the organization emptied the asset cupboard too thoroughly to get Jrue Holiday. Maybe Holiday, who'll surely get a massive extension, won't be worth it. Maybe the roster's lack of depth in combination with its dearth of future first-round picks will keep the team from becoming a true title contender.

The Bucks shouldn't relax, but maybe they can put a little more stock in Giannis' professions of loyalty than would normally be advisable.

Antetokounmpo has been consistent in his messaging about building something in Milwaukee, about his desire to be a one-team legend along the lines of Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant. And he took less than the max on the contract he signed in 2016 because management asked him to.

It's easy to become jaded in the wake of so many high-profile players inking huge deals and then having changes of heart. But Antetokounmpo's track record indicates he really is wired a little differently than most superstars.

Maybe he really is different.

Verdict: Buy

According to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk, new Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue led the team in bonding sessions designed to help players "get to know one another off court."

That's not the worst idea for a franchise undone last season by locker-room divisions and a lack of leadership. But it's going to take more than a few icebreakers and team-building exercises for the Clips to convince us their critical failing is fixed.

Will Kawhi Leonard still be late for team flights because he's allowed to live in San Diego? Will he and Paul George continue to have control over everything from the practice schedule to how much and how often they play? Will those two stars quit dodging media responsibilities in ways that put undue burdens on teammates?

Those are tough privileges to walk back, and it'll ultimately take a willingness from Leonard and George to relinquish preferential treatment before we can believe the conditions that contributed to poor chemistry are a thing of the past.

Not to be a doomsayer, but what in Leonard's recent history suggests he's keen on ceding control about any aspect of his career?

Nothing. The answer is nothing.

The Clips might be so talented that none of this matters. They could win a title while hating one another. But let's not pretend the rifts that formed last season will be so easily mended.

Verdict: Sell