Hawks Acquire Thabo Sefolosha

JULY 16TH, 7:48pm: Sefolosha’s deal has a declining salary structure, with $4,150,000 in 2014/15, $4,000,000 in 2015/16, and $3,850,000 in 2016/17, according to the Hawks updated salary sheet by Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com. That $4.15MM salary in year one is the value of the trade exception the Thunder create with this deal.

6:36pm: The Hawks announced that the deal is official, per team press release.

“Thabo is an unselfish, competitive and playoff-tested player, and does many things well on both sides of the ball,” Hawks president Danny Ferry said in a statement. “He also fills a need, giving us more size and depth at the wing position. He’s been a part of winning programs and will fit our culture well.”

4:40pm: The Thunder will receive the rights to draft-and-stash prospect Sofoklis Schortsanitis, while Atlanta gets Sefolosha, the rights to fellow draft-and-stash prospect Giorgos Printezis, and cash, according to Mayberry (Twitter link).

JULY 15TH, 4:32pm: The Hawks and Thunder are working on a sign-and-trade that would send Sefolosha to Atlanta but allow the Thunder to reap a trade exception, tweets Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. It’s expected to be finalized today, Mayberry adds.

JULY 10TH, 10:12pm: In spite of the team press release, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution hears that Sefolosha’s signing has yet to take place (Twitter link). Such news is out of the ordinary, given the team’s announcement, and Vivlamore notes the agreement is still in place, so the deal is likely to happen sometime soon.

6:10pm: The deal is official, the Hawks announce via press release.

“Thabo is an unselfish, competitive and playoff-tested player, and does many things well on both sides of the ball,” Hawks President and GM Danny Ferry said. “He also fills a need, giving us more size and depth at the wing position. He’s been a part of winning programs and will fit our culture well.”

JULY 3RD: The Hawks and Thabo Sefolosha have reached agreement on a three-year, $12MM deal, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. There were serious doubts about the Thunder’s willingness to retain their starting shooting guard since their playoff elimination, and indeed the 30-year-old is headed elsewhere. It’s a fully guaranteed three-year deal with no option clauses involved, Charania adds.

The Clippers, Mavs and Rockets scheduled meetings with the Guy Zucker client, who also visited Washington, according to earlier reports, and Toronto, as Charania writes. The Heat apparently made an inquiry, but there was no report of contact from either the Thunder or the Hawks. Atlanta nonetheless was on the lookout for a wing player with size and wasn’t pleased with the way it played when either Kyle Korver or DeMarre Carroll were unavailable last season, USA Today’s Sam Amick tweets. It appears as though the Hawks have brought Sefolosha in to address those issues.

Atlanta will likely use cap space to finalize the deal, having opened up additional flexibility with this week’s John Salmons trade. It’s doubtful they’ll stop there, however. The Hawks had reportedly thought about making a run at Carmelo Anthony, and while that seems like a remote possibility, they can still open enough cap room for an eye-catching free agent acquisition, even with Sefolosha in tow.

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