Cavaliers Sign Earl Clark
JULY 12TH: The Cavaliers have officially signed Clark, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 4TH: The Cavaliers and Earl Clark have reached a two-year contract agreement, according to Sean Deveney of the Sporting News (via Twitter). Deveney reports that the deal will pay Clark $9MM over the two next seasons, while TNT's David Aldridge tweets that the second year will be a team option.
After three years of limited playing time in Phoenix and Orlando, Clark had a bit of a breakout season for the Lakers last year, averaging 7.3 PPG and 5.5 RPG in 59 contests (36 starts), while playing significant minutes in place of the clubs' injured bigs.
Cleveland had been in hot pursuit of Clark all week, with Deveney joking yesterday (via Twitter) that the Cavs seemed to be giving Clark a more aggressive pitch than they gave LeBron James three years ago. While the 25-year-old expressed some interest in returning to Los Angeles, the Lakers had limited cap flexibility to offer Clark a new deal, since the club is already well into tax territory.
For the Cavs, a $4.5MM annual salary for Clark shouldn't put much of a dent in the team's summer cap space. Taking into account cap holds for Anthony Bennett and Sergey Karasev, Cleveland had about $33MM in guaranteed salary on its books prior to the agreement with Clark. Depending on whether the team intends to guarantee C.J. Miles' salary, or keep cap holds on the books for players such as Wayne Ellington and Marreese Speights, there still could be close to $20MM available in cap room.
Clark is represented by BDA Sports Management, as the Hoops Rumors agency database shows.
Northwest Notes: Mozgov, Iggy, Splitter, Wolves
With the Thunder and Nuggets still looking strong, and the Timberwolves and Trail Blazers adding reinforcements, the Northwest could have four playoff contenders in 2013/14. Here's the latest out of the division:
- The Nuggets are getting "increasingly close" to an agreement with restricted free agent big man Timofey Mozgov, according to GM Tim Connelly (link via Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post).
- The Nuggets' failure to re-sign Andre Iguodala wasn't for lack of trying. Within a piece about the Warriors' newest acquisition, Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle says Iguodala passed on a front-loaded five-year, $60MM offer from the Nuggets, and nearly agreed to sign a lucrative deal with the Mavericks just an hour before reaching a deal with the Warriors.
- According to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com, the Trail Blazers reached an agreement with Tiago Splitter on a four-year, $36MM offer sheet. However, the team backed off when it became apparent that the Spurs would match.
- Now that the Timberwolves have traded Luke Ridnour, agents for free agent point guards will begin reaching out to the team, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Nate Robinson's camp figures to be among those in contact with the Wolves, though Wolfson doesn't see a fit there.
- The Jazz hope to use their remaining cap space to take on another contract and pick up another draft pick, as they did in their deal with the Warriors, tweets Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Lakers Re-Sign Robert Sacre
FRIDAY, 8:59am: Larry Coon of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter) that Sacre's minimum-salary contract will actually be for three years, rather than two, though only the first two years are guaranteed.
WEDNESDAY, 1:29pm: Sacre will get a fully guaranteed, multiyear deal from the Lakers, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com (via Twitter). I'd expect it to be for the minimum salary, but that's still a little unexpected, considering Sacre's limited role and the Lakers' reluctance to add guaranteed salary for 2014/15.
1:15pm: The Lakers have re-signed 2012 second-round pick Robert Sacre, according to Mike Trudell of Lakers.com (via Twitter). The team had extended a qualifying offer to Sacre in June, so I wouldn't be surprised if the 24-year-old simply accepted that one-year offer, worth $988,872.
During his rookie season in 2012/13, Sacre split time between the Lakers and the D-League's D-Fenders. In 32 NBA games, the seven-footer averaged 1.3 PPG and 0.8 RPG, appearing in just 6.3 minutes per contest. In his seven D-League appearances, Sacre's averages increased to 11.4 PPG, 8.4 RPG, and 32.7 MPG.
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Mavs Target Samuel Dalembert, Brandan Wright
JULY 11th 11:49pm: Dalembert spent all day with the Mavs on Thursday, tweets ESPN's Marc Stein, and the sides are currently still in negotiations. Stein also tweets that he's told the newly signed Jose Calderon was part of the Mavs contingent attempting to woo Dalembert to Dallas.
JULY 10th 8:17pm: Dalembert will meet with the Mavs on Thursday in Dallas, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
JULY 10th 6:06pm: Wright texted Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com today to tell him that "Dallas is the clear-cut leader" for his services. Wright added that his agent, Jim Tanner, has begun to discuss a deal with the team.
JULY 10th 5:30pm: The Mavs are in the mix for Andrew Bynum, but he's not the only center who's drawing the team's attention. The team is in "serious discussions" with Brandan Wright, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, while Samuel Dalembert figures to be the Mavs' prime target should their pursuit of Bynum fall short, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Dalembert's upside clearly isn't what Bynum's is, but since it sounds like Bynum hasn't received any offers that include more than $6MM guaranteed, they could be in the same price range. Dalembert made $6,698,565 last season in the final year of a two-year, $13.7MM contract, but he's probably in line for a paycut after limited playing time with the Bucks.
It's not clear whether the Mavs' interest in Wright is tied to Bynum or Dalembert, but the team should be most familiar with him after he spent the past two seasons in Dallas. He put up career highs in points (8.5), rebounds (4.1), and minutes per game 18.0 this past season, prompting a handful of teams to join the Mavs as suitors, including the Hawks, Magic, Pistons, Raptors and Knicks. The Knicks have just a portion of the mini mid-level exception left, and Wright appears to be out of their price range, so it seems he'll command a nice raise from his $993K minimum salary of 2012/13.
Odds & Ends: Jenkins, Wizards, Warriors, Amnesty
It’s already been a busy night, as news broke of Andrei Kirilenko‘s deal with the Nets followed shortly after by word that the Lakers would amnesty Metta World Peace. Here are some other odds and ends from around the NBA on Thursday night:
- The Hawks have named Taylor Jenkins as an assistant coach, the team announced
today in a press release. Jenkins had most recently been the head coach of the D-League’s Austin Toros. - The Wizards are in no rush to fill their final roster spot,
since they want to have flexibility for when the right player comes along,
according to GM Ernie Grunfeld (Twitter link). Grunfeld sounded optimistic about the team’s offseason today, as the Wiz wrapped us their summer minicamp, writes Gene Wang of the Washington Post. - The Wiz cut ties with roster longshots Josh Boone, Kevin Dillard and James Harris today, tweets Michael Lee of the Washington Post.
- Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News outlines how the Warriors front office has changed the way the team is viewed around the NBA, to the point where he says Golden State has “switched places” with the Lakers. Kawakami also provides a transcript of Andre Iguodala‘s introductory press conference.
- Now that the Lakers have amnestied World Peace, only 12 teams remain that haven’t utilized the provision and within those teams, only 30 players are left that fit the criteria for amnesty eligibility. Here is the list, courtesy of Marc Stein of ESPN.
Wolves To Sign-And-Trade For Kevin Martin
JULY 11TH 9:13pm: The Timberwolves have officially announced, via the team's Twitter feed, that they've acquired Martin and cash from the Thunder and will send Ridnour and a 2014 second-round pick to the Bucks. The Wolves own the Lakers 2014 second rounder, which is the selection that will go to Milwaukee. Regarding the addition of Martin, Wolves president Flip Saunders said, "He is familiar with Coach Adelman's style of play and had success playing for him in Sacramento and Houston. We expect that to continue in Minnesota." (Twitter link)
The Bucks will send the draft rights to 2003 second round pick Szymon Szewczyk to Oklahoma City in the deal and get cash back from the Thunder, the team tweeted. The Thunder will have until July 11 of next year to acquire a player via the trade exception they picked up in the deal, tweets Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman.
JULY 11TH 10:18am: The Thunder will send cash to the T-Wolves as part of the sign-and-trade for Martin, and create a $7MM TPE, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). It's still not entirely clear what the Wolves are sending out in the trade — either that missing piece has yet to be reported, or the team intends to fold its Luke Ridnour deal into this one.
JULY 10TH: Marc Stein of ESPN.com pegs the deal in the $30MM range, noting that the Wolves and Thunder will roll the agreement into a sign-and-trade that will net Oklahoma City a trade exception. It's unclear exactly what the Thunder are getting in the trade, but presumably, draft picks and/or cash will be headed OKC's way.
JULY 2ND: Kevin Martin has reached agreement with the Wolves on a four-year, $28MM deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). Sam Amick of USA Today (via Twitter) reported earlier tonight that Minnesota offered Kevin Martin a four-year deal in that vicinity. Martin is represented by Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports, according to the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.
Martin, of course, spent last season with the Thunder after coming over from Houston in the James Harden trade. The guard averaged 14.0 PPG while shooting 45% from the floor in 27.7 minutes per contest last season. Martin was a hot commodity this summer and the Blazers and Grizzlies were said to have serious interest in signing him.
It has been a busy day for the Timberwolves, who re-signed Chase Budinger just hours ago. The forward will get a $16MM, three-year deal from Flip Saunders & Co. Martin will pair with Ricky Rubio in the Wolves' backcourt, giving the club one of the more intriguing guard combos in the league.
The Thunder were said to be seeking a sign-and-trade for Martin if they could not retain him, but they'll now watch the guard leave without anything in return.
Rockets Sign Isaiah Canaan
The Rockets and second round pick Isaiah Canaan have agreed to a three-year contract with the third year being a team option, according to agent Reggie Brown (Twitter link and story via Fox Houston's Mark Berman). Canaan was said to be drawing first round interest in June's draft, but dropped to No. 34 where the Rockets jumped on him.
Canaan averaged 21.8 points and 4.3 assists per game as a senior at Murray State. He figures to be ready to score at the NBA level, and should be an offensive asset off the bench for the new-look Rockets sooner rather than later. If the rumors that the team is shopping Jeremy Lin prove true, Canaan could be thrust into a significant role on a team with title aspirations.
Pistons Release Kim English
The Pistons have released second-year guard Kim English, tweets Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. Detroit reached an agreement with Chauncey Billups earlier today, further maxing out the roster and making English the odd man out.
A 24-year-old Missouri product, English played 41 games for the Pistons last season and also spent some time in the D-League. Overall, he averaged 2.9 PPG over 9.9 minutes. English was drafted a year ago by Detroit with the 14th pick of the second round, which made the second year of his deal unguaranteed.
The 2013/14 season on English's contract would have become fully guaranteed had he not been waived on or before July 12th. Assuming he clears waivers, he'll become an unrestricted free agent.
Spurs Sign Jeff Pendergraph
JULY 11TH: The Spurs have officially signed Pendergraph, the team announced today in a press release. The deal is for two years and $4MM, tweets Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.
JULY 6TH: The Spurs have reached agreement with free agent forward Jeff Pendergraph on a two-year deal, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). Pendergraph is a client of Impact Sports Basketball, according to the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.
The 6'9" forward saw 10 minutes per contest for the Pacers last season and put up 3.9 PPG with 2.8 RPG. Pendergraph spent his first season in the league with the Blazers and missed his sophomore year (2010/11) due to a knee injury.