Hawks Re-Sign Cartier Martin For Season
3:19pm: Atlanta has made its signing of Martin official, the team announced.
9:07am: The Hawks will re-sign Cartier Martin for the balance of the season, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. The Hawks were set to terminate Martin’s 10-day deal Thursday, but the team never officially announced that move before the end of the day, when the contract was set to expire anyway, making him a free agent.
Martin, 29, has seen time in 31 games this season for the Hawks, averaging 6.7 PPG and 2.0 RPG in 17.1 minutes per contest. The 29-year-old has spent most of the season with Atlanta after making the team out of camp. The Hawks cut him in January, before his contract would have become guaranteed for the season, which led to a pair of 10-day deals with Chicago, as our 10-Day Contract Tracker shows. The Andrew Vye client followed those up with two more 10-day contracts with the Hawks.
Yesterday, just hours after acquiring Antawn Jamison, we learned that Atlanta was mulling the possibility of buying out the veteran forward. That move will create the roster opening necessary to officially bring Martin back into the fold.
Hawks Waive Antawn Jamison
3:18pm: The Hawks have officially waived Jamison, the team announced.
FRIDAY, 12:24pm: Atlanta will waive Jamison, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. It’s not entirely clear whether Jamison will give back any of his salary in a buyout, or whether he’s simply being released. The move will give the team an open roster spot to re-sign Cartier Martin.
THURSDAY, 3:22pm: The Hawks and Antawn Jamison appear to be thinking about swinging a buyout in the wake of Atlanta’s agreement to trade for the veteran power forward today, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Jamison is making the minimum salary, and represents a cap hit of just $884,293. The league pays the rest of his nearly $1.4MM take.
In the buyout arrangement, Jamison would agree to give up some of his salary in exchange for the Hawks putting him on waivers. He’d probably look to sign with a contending team if he hits free agency. A club that’s particularly enamored with him could claim him off waivers, but that seems unlikely for the 37-year-old who’s averaging just 3.8 points in 11.3 minutes per game this year.
The Hawks would have to waive him on or before March 1st for him to be eligible to play for another team in the postseason this year. The Wasserman Media Group client isn’t far removed from a 17.2 PPG season for the Cavs in 2011/12, so he could be an intriguing commodity for teams confident he can show at least a glimpse of his old form.
Danny Granger Wants Buyout, Sixers Hesitate
Danny Granger and his representatives are anxious to negotiate a buyout with the Sixers, but it’s not a foregone conclusion that the Sixers will agree to one, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (All Twitter links). Stein identifies the Heat, Spurs and Thunder among teams that would be in the mix for the 30-year-old, but it’s unclear whether those are Granger’s preferred destinations or teams with legitimate interest. The notion of keeping him around for a possible sign-and-trade this summer appeals to the Sixers, Stein notes while also pointing out that Granger would no longer have Bird rights if the buyout happens.
“We’ll meet with (Granger). … It’s going to be interesting. We’re going to sit and talk,” Sixers GM Sam Hinkie told reporters today, including Christopher A. Vito of the Delaware County Daily Times (Twitter link).
Granger was angry upon hearing about the trade, tweets Jake Fischer of Liberty Ballers. The Sixers were the ones to approach the Pacers about making the trade, Larry Bird tells Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star, suggesting Philadelphia indeed finds Granger a commodity of value (Twitter link).
The ninth-year veteran has never played for any NBA team other than the Pacers. The Creative Artists Agency client is making slightly more than $14MM this season, but he’s unlikely to see such a payday on his next deal. He can’t return to the Pacers at any point until February 20th of next year because of collective bargaining agreement rules.
Sixers Waive Earl Clark
10:33am: Philadelphia has officially waived Clark, the team has announced.
7:53am: The Sixers are waiving newly acquired Earl Clark, tweets Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The club has yet to officially announce the move, but the Sixers have to cut someone to get down to 15 players after yesterday’s trio of trades.
Clark came to the team from the Cavaliers along with Henry Sims in the deal that sent Spencer Hawes to Cleveland. The 26-year-old appears destined for free agency just months after signing a two-year, $8.5MM contract this past summer with the Cavs. It’s unlikely any team will claim him off waivers, since the 6’10” forward has underwhelmed this season, averaging just 5.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 15.5 minutes per game.
His $4.25MM salary is guaranteed for this season, so it will remain on Philadelphia’s books, barring a waiver claim. The deal is non-guaranteed for 2014/15. The Kevin Bradbury client inked with Cleveland after a career year with the Lakers in which he showed glimpses of the promise that made him the 14th overall pick in 2009. He notched 11.9 PPG and 9.0 RPG in 32.9 MPG over a 22-game stretch in 2012/13.
Lakers Rumors: Free Agents, Gasol, Deadline
Mike Bresnahan and Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times deem the notion of LeBron James joining the Lakers unlikely, note the Lakers’ lack of interest in Carmelo Anthony, and hear that the team isn’t high on Kyle Lowry, either. The Lakers do like Luol Deng, but they don’t want to overpay him, with the focus squarely on Kevin Love and Kevin Durant in the summers of 2015 and 2016, respectively.
“I don’t think that we’ll use our cap money to patch together a team for next year. We’re looking to bring something [big] to Los Angeles,” GM Mitch Kupchak said. “May take more than one year to build, I don’t know. But because we have a lot of money this summer doesn’t mean we’ll spend it all. We’ll spend it wisely.”
Here’s more from the purple-and-gold, who made a single deadline trade despite a multitude of rumors:
- Kupchak says the Lakers will “absolutely” consider re-signing Pau Gasol this summer, as Bresnahan and Pincus note in the same piece.
- The GM wouldn’t rule out negotiating an extension with Gasol that would keep him from free agency, but Kupchak calls it unlikely, since it would limit the team’s flexibility, tweets Bill Oram of the Orange County Register.
- The Lakers wound up remaining in tax territory through the deadline in spite of opportunities to escape. Kupchak says making a move purely to cut costs, without enhancing the roster in some way, is “not acceptable” for the Lakers franchise, as Oram also passes along (Twitter link).
Hawks Release Cartier Martin
FRIDAY, 8:00am: Atlanta has yet to officially announce the move, but Martin’s deal was set to expire at the end of the day Thursday, so he is no longer with the Hawks, one way or another.
THURSDAY, 5:05pm: The Hawks will release Cartier Martin ahead of the expiration of his 10-day deal to make room for the newly-acquired Antawn Jamison, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Though Vivlamore says the team will waive Martin, he won’t actually go on waivers. Teams can terminate 10-day contracts at any point, and when that happens, the player becomes a free agent immediately.
Atlanta acquired Jamison earlier today along with cash considerations from the Clippers. The 37-year-old veteran may not be staying in Atlanta for long, however, as the Hawks are thinking about buying him out.
Martin, 29, has seen time in 31 games this season for the Hawks, averaging 6.7 PPG and 2.0 RPG in 17.1 minutes per contest. His 10-day contract was to expire at the end of tonight anyway, and since the Hawks don’t have a game, the early termination of his deal is of little effect.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Odds & Ends: Pacers, Smith, Deng, Lowry
We saw plenty of trades go down before the deadline and Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders looked at the winners and losers. The Pacers top the list of winners for their acquisition of former No. 2 overall pick Evan Turner. While the Wizards and Warriors also get nods, Koutroupis says that the Lakers and Knicks should have done more. Here’s tonight’s look around the league..
- Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders has six trades that should have happened at the deadline. Among Brigham’s more interesting proposals: a hypothetical swap that would have sent Josh Smith from the Pistons to the Cavs in exchange for Luol Deng.
- Kyle Lowry wasn’t moved at the deadline today and Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun takes that as a sign that Raptors GM Masai Ujiri believes that he will re-sign him after this season.
- The trade deadline didn’t have a lot of stars changing uniforms in part because teams are zeroed in on the summer of 2015, writes Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. “More and more you have teams that are already looking ahead to (the summer of 2015),” one GM said. “You are going to see teams really be reluctant to give out long-term deals going forward, and it is because everyone wants to keep their cap flexible to see if they can shake something out next year.”
- Josh Akognon is headed to the Delaware 87ers of the D-League, according to Gino Pilato of D-League Digest.
- Kobe Bryant was sad to see Steve Blake go, writes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times.
Clippers Send Byron Mullens To Sixers
The 76ers announced that they have acquired center Byron Mullens and a 2018 second-round pick in exchange for a protected second-round pick in the 2014 draft.
Philadelphia was discussing Chris Kaman with the Lakers shortly before the deadline, but it appears the Sixers opted to instead acquire a big man with skills similar to Spencer Hawes, whom they agreed to send to the Cavs earlier today.
The Clippers have successfully pulled off two deals at the buzzer with Mullens and Jamison changing uniforms. Mullens, who was once regarded as the top talent in the 2009 draft class, is headed to his to his fourth team in five years. The big man has averaged just 2.5 PPG and 1.2 RPG in 6.2 minutes per game this season. Even when he was seeing significant playing time with the Bobcats, Mullens never had a PER above 13.0.
Zach Links contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link) first reported that Mullens was on his way to the 76ers. Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times added details (via Twitter).
Pacers Waive Orlando Johnson
Within tonight’s press release welcoming Evan Turner to the organization, the Pacers announced that they have waived Orlando Johnson. Indiana had to cut someone loose in order to make the trade work.
Johnson, a second-year player out of California-Santa Barbara, was a draft-night acquisition in 2012. He was originally drafted by the Kings with the 36th overall pick in that draft. In 38 games for Indiana this season, Johnson averaged 2.4 PPG and 1.3 RPG in nine minutes per contest. He also saw a stint with the D-League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
“Orlando is a great kid,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. “We appreciate everything he’s done for us and hope he has a long and successful career.”
Pacers Acquire Evan Turner
The Pacers issued a press release to officially announce that they have acquired Evan Turner from the 76ers. The deal sends Danny Granger and a future second round draft pick to Philly for Turner and forward Lavoy Allen. The future second-round pick will be the Warriors’ 2015 selection, tweets Tom Moore of Calkins Media.
Philadelphia and Indiana teamed up to complete the most significant deadline trade of them all. Indiana spent most of the season merely open to dealing Granger without actively seeking deals, but that appeared to change last week. Still, the Pacers were looking to be “blown away” by an offer and hadn’t found a suitable exchange as of this morning. That clearly changed when Turner entered the mix, and the former No. 2 overall pick figures to give Indiana a significant leg up in the race for the NBA title.
Turner has played his most significant role to date in the final season of his rookie scale contract, averaging a career-high 17.4 points and 6.0 rebounds in 34.9 minutes per game. He figures to get a raise this summer on his $6.68MM salary, but perhaps not a hefty one, as Philadelphia wasn’t planning to tender a qualifying offer worth more than $8.7MM that would have allowed the Sixers to match offers this summer. That helped push Turner into trade discussions. Indiana will now have the ability to decide on that qualifying offer this summer, when it faces a tight squeeze underneath the luxury tax to retain unrestricted free agent Lance Stephenson.
The Sixers were holding out for a 2014 first-round pick for Turner, as well as Spencer Hawes and Thaddeus Young, but didn’t find any such offers. They agreed to send Hawes to the Cavs for Earl Clark and Henry Sims, but hung on to Young. Still, Granger is a decent consolation prize, and Philadelphia, flush with cap room, can take on his bloated expiring contract, worth slightly more than $14MM.
Granger led the Pacers in scoring for five straight seasons from 2007/08 through 2011/12, but injury cost him all but five games last year, and he’s been unable to return to form this season in a reserve role. Still, he’s just 30 years old, and with plenty of shots to go around in Philadelphia, he has an opportunity to strengthen his market value for this summer.
Turner was a hot commodity in trade talks, with the Pistons, Suns, Clippers, Hawks, Bobcats, Mavs, Timberwolves and Spurs all linked to him at one point or another. Teams were nonetheless wary of giving up other players or picks for Turner, figuring they could sign him as an unrestricted free agent this summer if Philly passed on his qualifying offer. Depending on how it shakes out with the Pacers, those clubs might not have a chance at him in the offseason.
Allen makes $3.06MM in the final season of a two-year contract he signed with the Sixers after a surprisingly productive rookie season. He’s averaged 5.2 points in 18.8 minutes per game this year, but he doesn’t figure to have much of a role on the Pacers. He, like Turner, would become a restricted free agent in the summer if Indiana makes him a qualifying offer, but that seems unlikely, since that offer would be for $3.825MM.
I profiled Turner and Granger as trade candidates earlier this season.
Zach Links contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links) first reported the trade. Grantland’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link) and Jason Wolf of The News Journal (Twitter link) added details.