Wizards Sign Martell Webster To Four-Year Deal
JULY 10TH, 4:18pm: The Wizards have officially announced Webster's signing in a press release.
JULY 2ND, 1:57pm: The fourth year of Webster's deal will be partially guaranteed, tweets Wojnarowski.
1:42pm: Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that Webster's deal with the Wizards will be worth $22MM over four years. So my prediction that the four-year agreement would probably mean a lower annual salary was way off.
Webster's contract will almost certainly use up Washington's entire mid-level exception, since, as we noted in an earlier post, a four-year deal worth the full MLE this summer will work out to $21,990,500. That means that the Wiz have already committed to using both their mid-level exception and their bi-annual exception (on Eric Maynor), so if the team hopes to add more free agents, it will have to be via sign-and-trade or the veteran's minimum.
1:35pm: The Wizards and Martell Webster have reached an agreement on a four-year deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Multiple reports suggested yesterday that even after the Wizards drafted Otto Porter and Glen Rice Jr. last week, re-signing Webster was the team's top priority in free agency.
TNT's David Aldridge had indicated that Washington would likely use part, but not all, of its mid-level exception to bring back Webster. Considering the 26-year-old is receiving a four-year deal, I would guess the annual salary will be a little lower than if Webster had re-signed for just one or two years, though the terms of the agreement haven't been reported yet.
Webster signed a one-year contract worth $1.75MM with the Wizards last summer and enjoyed the most productive season of his eight-year career. In 76 games for Washington, the Relativity Sports client established new career-highs in PPG (11.4), 3PT% (.422), and PER (13.9), among other categories.
Bulls Sign Tony Snell, Erik Murphy
The Bulls have officially inked their pair of 2013 draft picks to deals, the team announced today in a press release. First-rounder Tony Snell will receive a standard rookie-scale contract, while Erik Murphy's years and dollars aren't known.
Snell, the 20th overall pick in the draft, should earn a first-year salary of about $1.41MM, as our chart of rookie cap holds shows. As the 49th overall pick, Murphy is likely in line for a minimum-salary contract. It may be for multiple seasons, though it's not a lock to be fully guaranteed.
Pelicans Re-Sign Al-Farouq Aminu
JULY 10TH: The Pelicans have officially re-signed Aminu, the team confirmed today in a press release.
JULY 5TH: The Pelicans and Al-Farouq Aminu have agreed to a one-year, $3.7MM deal that will keep the small forward in New Orleans, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The team had prioritized an upgrade at small forward in the offseason, but with other major moves, including the acquisitions of Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans, it appears the Pelicans are content to bring back their incumbent starter at the three.
There hadn't been much talk about other teams interested in Aminu, a client of Raymond Brothers at IAM Sports & Entertainment. Still, the three-year veteran showed steady progress over his time in the league, averaging 7.3 points and 7.7 rebounds in his first year as a full-time starter in 2011/12. The Pelicans declined their fourth-year option on his rookie contract before this past season began, and they wound up agreeing to re-sign him at an amount roughly equivalent to his cap hold.
Warriors Pick Up 2014/15 Option On Mark Jackson
The Warriors have officially exercised their team option on head coach Mark Jackson for the 2014/15 season, the team announced today in a press release.
In 2012/13, Jackson led the Warriors to a 47-35 record and a sixth seed in the Western Conference. It was the team's first playoff berth since 2006/07, and only the second in the last 19 seasons. Overall, Jackson has a 70-78 record (.473) as the head coach of the Warriors, and has one postseason series victory under his belt.
While there have been some rumblings about a potential contract extension for Jackson, the team's decision to pick up his '14/15 option will keep him under contract for at least two more seasons, so there's no rush to negotiate a new deal. Jackson himself indicated last month that he isn't expecting to sign an extension this offseason.
Bucks Exploring Luke Ridnour Trade
As the Timberwolves continue to explore ways to create enough room to bring aboard Corey Brewer, the Bucks have emerged as a potential destination for trade candidate Luke Ridnour, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Stein reports that the Bucks are prepared to acquire Ridnour from the Wolves, which would allow Minnesota to sign Brewer and acquire Kevin Martin via sign-and-trade (Twitter links).
If the T-Wolves were to send Ridnour to the Bucks, Minnesota would have $47,420,858 in team salary on its books, by my estimation. That figure includes cap holds for Chase Budinger, Nikola Pekovic, Shabazz Muhammad, and Gorgui Dieng. With a cap line of $58,679,000 in play, the Wolves would have about $11.26MM in space to fit in Brewer and Martin.
$11.26MM in cap room would seem to be close to enough to sign both players outright, but Stein's indication that a sign-and-trade deal for Martin is in the works suggests that maybe Minnesota would have to clear a tiny bit more salary. According to Stein (Twitter link), the Thunder are willing to participate in a Martin sign-and-trade in order to acquire a trade exception, but perhaps they'll acquire a small-salary player like Chris Johnson from the Wolves in the proposed deal as well.
From the Bucks' perspective, it's not clear how the potential acquisition of Ridnour would affect their pursuit of Jeff Teague, or the possibility that they bring back Brandon Jennings.
Mavs Out Of Mix For Monta Ellis?
Although they've frequently been cited as one of the potential landing spots for Monta Ellis, the Mavericks are esssentially out of the running for the free agent guard, according to GM Donnie Nelson (link via Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News). Sefko, seemingly passing along Nelson's thoughts, says the Mavs probably have too many bodies in the backcourt already to make Ellis a realistic possibility.
If the Mavs are truly out of the mix for Ellis, it appears to be "Andrew Bynum or bust" for the club, writes Sefko. Bynum met with the Mavs today, and Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio is hearing that the Cavs believe the big man may want to play in Dallas (Twitter link). But so far, the former Laker and Sixer has given no indication of which way he's leaning. As Amico notes (via Twitter), the Mavs likely aren't equipped with enough cap space to match Cleveland's offer, but perhaps they'd be willing to give Bynum more than a one-year guarantee.
The Kings and Hawks appear to be among the most likely destinations for Ellis if he doesn't end up in Dallas. As we heard earlier today, the 27-year-old will be negotiating this week without his longtime agent, after he parted ways with Jeff Fried.
Luol Deng, Bulls Continue Extension Talks
The Bulls and Luol Deng have continued to discuss a possible new deal for the veteran forward, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Wojnarowski reports that GM Gar Forman met with Deng's reps in Chicago earlier this week to talk about the parameters of a potential extension.
Wojnarowski had previously reported that Deng and the Bulls were exploring a long-term deal, though agent Herb Rudoy denied that there had been any discussions between the two sides. At that time, I noted that since Deng wasn't the sort of player who would land a max deal when he hits the open market, it could make sense for him to consider extending his contract now.
According to Wojnarowski, several league executives believe Deng's value may fall somewhere in between Andre Iguodala's four-year deal for $48MM and Josh Smith's four-year, $56MM pact. Deng is only eligible to add three new seasons to the last season of his current contract. Since he's making $14,275,000 this year, an extension in between Iguodala's and Smith's total would mean adding three more years worth about $12-13MM annually.
The two sides could potentially come to terms at any point before next summer, so there should be no real rush on anyone's part to come to an agreement soon.
Trail Blazers Sign Allen Crabbe
2:45pm: Crabbe's deal is a three-year contract with a team option on the third year, tweets Joe Freeman of the Oregonian.
WEDNESDAY, 10:52am: Crabbe has officially signed with the Blazers, according to team owner Paul Allen (via Twitter).
TUESDAY, 4:23pm: Allen Crabbe will sign his contract with the Trail Blazers tonight, reports Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge (via Twitter). Because he was the first pick of the second round in the draft, Crabbe isn't eligible for a standard rookie-scale deal.
Crabbe, 21, was regarded as one of the better shooters in the draft, having averaged 18.4 PPG during his junior year at California. It's not clear how many years or dollars he and the Blazers have agreed to, but a minimum-salary contract is one possibility. If Crabbe receives more than the minimum, Portland can use either its cap space or a portion of its room exception for the deal.
Atlantic Rumors: Sixers, Bynum, C’s, Knicks, Nets
Atlantic teams have been among the clubs finalizing deals agreed to during the moratorium today, including the Sixers officially making a trade with the Pelicans and the Knicks and Raptors formally completing their Andrea Bargnani swap. As teams and players continue to put pen to paper, let's round up a few items of note out of the division…
- When the Sixers agreed to send Jrue Holiday to the Pelicans in exchange for Nerlens Noel and a 2014 first-rounder, Noel wasn't the only player Philadelphia would have accepted with that No. 6 overall pick. According to Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com, the Sixers would also have made the deal if New Orleans was able to select Anthony Bennett or Victor Oladipo. Those two players, of course, ultimately went first and second overall.
- The Sixers continue to keep their options open and have "absolutely not" ruled out re-signing Andrew Bynum, a source tells Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld (Twitter link). That seems like a long shot to me, but Philadelphia should still have plenty of cap room to make a move.
- Michael Curry has yet to formally interview for the Sixers' head coaching job, but expects to talk to GM Sam Hinkie after Summer League play, tweets Lynam.
- Although the Celtics could have their mid-level and bi-annual exceptions available, GM Danny Ainge says minimum-salary signings are more likely, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (via Twitter).
- The Knicks are interested in Tyrus Thomas, who was officially released via the amnesty clause by the Bobcats today, tweets Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. New York won't have a chance to place a claim on Thomas, but could negotiate a new deal with him if he clears amnesty waivers.
- Don't expect Andrei Kirilenko to be the Nets' "Plan B" after the team failed to lock up Bojan Bogdanovic. Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News says (via Twitter) that there's nothing happening between Kirilenko and Brooklyn.
Heat Re-Sign Chris Andersen
2:24pm: The Heat have officially confirmed the signing in a press release.
10:40am: Andersen will receive the maximum allowable raise via the Non-Bird exception, according to Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida. That means a first-year salary of $1.68MM (120% of the minimum), and a second-year player option worth about $1.75MM. The overall value of Andersen’s deal will be $3,434,389, by my math.
WEDNESDAY, 10:24am: Andersen’s deal will actually be for two years, with a second-year player option, according to Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter).
TUESDAY, 7:18pm: Free agent center Chris Andersen will re-sign with the Heat, according to Yahoo! NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski. It’s a one-year deal for the 35-year-old center, who joined Miami last season and was a major factor in their playoff run to a second straight championship.
An 11-year veteran, Andersen averaged 4.9PPG and 4.1RPG during the regular season with Miami last year, providing energy off the bench and a solid presence on the glass. In the playoffs he made 80.7% of his 57 shot attempts, which led all players.