Bucks, Jerryd Bayless Near Deal
3:34pm: There won’t be any option clauses involved, Gardner writes.
WEDNESDAY, 1:45pm: The sides are discussing what would be two-year pact worth $6-7MM, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (on Twitter).
TUESDAY, 11:41pm: The Bucks and free agent guard Jerryd Bayless are closing in on a deal, according to Marc Stein of ESPN (Twitter link). Although he’s headed to Milwaukee, Bayless made it known a few times last season that he envisioned staying with the Celtics for the long-term, and head coach Brad Stevens even went on record saying that he wanted the 6’3 guard to be part of the team’s future; back in April, Celtics president Danny Ainge didn’t offer comment when asked about the possibility of retaining Bayless beyond 2013/14.
Following a trade from Memphis to Boston last season, the 6’3 guard played in 41 games for the Celtics, averaging 10.1 PPG, 3.1 APG, and 1.0 SPG in 25.3 MPG. He also shot 41.8% from the field overall and 39.5% from three-point range. The Bucks will be his sixth stop since being drafted 11th overall by the Pacers in 2008.
Carmelo Anthony To Re-Sign With Knicks
2:22pm: Marc Stein of ESPN.com has the figures for all five seasons (on Twitter): It’s the maximum $22,458,401 in year one, followed by a discounted raise to $22,875,000 for year two, and maximum raises that bring Anthony’s salaries to $24,559,380, $26,243,760 and $27,928,140 in the final three years. That brings the total value to $124,064,681, exactly $5,071,124 less than the maximum for which he could have signed.
8:42am: Anthony will receive his maximum salary in the first year of his deal, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. That precise max is $22,458,401, and it allows for a raise worth $1,684,380 each season. However, Anthony’s raise for the second season of the deal is $400K, Berman reports, adding that the contract will also include a 15% trade kicker should Anthony decide to waive his no-trade clause.
7:19pm: The deal also includes a no-trade clause, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter link).
TUESDAY, 7:00pm: Anthony’s contract will be for $124MM over five years, sources tell Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com, who adds that Anthony will have an early termination option after the fourth season. The deal – which starts at $22.5MM in the first year – includes a “slight increase” in the second year followed by “larger increases” thereafter (Twitter links).
MONDAY, 10:05am: Anthony took a discount, Jackson confirms, and while the deal is for an estimated $122-123MM, the total value remains unclear, as Marc Berman of the New York Post details.
SUNDAY, 11:54am: Phil Jackson also confirms the pending agreement via the Knicks official Twitter account (Twitter links). Jackson said, “After 3 months of questions around Carmelo Anthony’s return to the NY Knicks we are now happy to know that we have the cornerstone of what we envision as a team of excellence. Steve Mills and I have assured Carmelo through our conversations, that we share the vision and the determination to build this team.”
SUNDAY, 11:28am: Anthony has confirmed he will be returning to New York via his website. In his announcement, ‘Melo said, “This organization has supported me and in return, I want to stay and build here with this city and my team.” Contract details have not been announced yet.
1:10pm: The deal is for five years and more than $120MM, but the final amount is undetermined, and Anthony may still accept less than the max, sources tell Wojnarowski.
SATURDAY, 12:05pm: Carmelo Anthony will inform the Knicks of his decision to re-sign in New York within the coming hours, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Frank Isola of The New York Daily News first reported Anthony’s intention to return to New York earlier this week, but the former scoring champ appeared to fluctuate over the last few days in deciding between the Knicks, Lakers and Bulls. ‘Melo will sign a five-year contract. The deal will presumably be for a maximum salary of $129MM, although Knicks president Phil Jackson has suggested that there were multiple salary structures on the table for Anthony.
Anthony, ranked second in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings, was encouraged by the momentum Jackson had garnered the franchise, which included hiring Derek Fisher as head coach and acquiring Jose Calderon via trade. The Bulls offered ‘Melo the best opportunity to contend in the upcoming season, but were unable to offer nearly as much annual salary or as many years as New York, who exercised their Bird Rights to extend the winning bid to retain the All-Star.
The client CAA client will remain in New York for the duration of his prime, after coming to his home state in a 2011 trade from Denver. Since joining the Knicks, ‘Melo has put up some of his most effective seasons as an individual, but seen mixed results as the centerpiece for a blockbuster team. The Knicks have won a single playoff series since obtaining Anthony.
A series of poor decisions had turned the Knicks from hopeful contenders to a laughing stock to many last season, in which they finished 37-45. The hefty contracts for Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, and Andrea Bargnani left the team with no cap flexibility, and a history of parting with draft selections and prospects had them headed toward the 2014 draft with no picks. However, Jackson was able to swing a series of moves that sent Chandler to Dallas and earned New York multiple second round picks.
‘Melo will hope Jackson, who has managed some of the game’s greats to many titles as a coach, can work some of the same magic as an executive. Jackson will work with Fisher to implement his triangle offense around Anthony’s strengths. Anthony’s belief in the future of New York will likely play a large part in determining his legacy, and whether he ever finds prolonged success in the playoffs. Anthony has standout averages of 25.3 PPG and 6.5 RPG for his career.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Texas Notes: Mavs, Nowitzki, Rockets, Messina
The Mavs‘ offer to Lance Stephenson was for two years and $20MM, rather than three years at that total, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv, who corrects his earlier report (Twitter link). Chris Broussard of ESPN.com confirms that the sides had a “handshake agreement” on a two-year, $20MM pact contingent on the Rockets matching the Dallas offer to Chandler Parsons. Of course, the Rockets declined to match, and Stephenson wound up with Charlotte instead. There’s more on another offer the Mavs have made amid the latest from the Lone Star State:
- Dallas is willing to give summer league swingman Eric Griffin a partially guaranteed deal, reports Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside. Griffin, who went undrafted out of Campbell in 2012, was in camp with the Heat last autumn. It’s unclear whether he’ll accept what the Mavs have on the table, indicating other NBA clubs may have interest, though that’s just my speculation.
- A source close to the Lakers denied that the team floated a maximum-salary offer to Dirk Nowitzki, telling Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News that the Lakers would never have done so.
- The Rockets intend to sign second-round pick Nick Johnson this summer, a source tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (Twitter link). The shooting guard from Arizona went 42nd overall in last month’s draft.
- The Spurs officially hired European coaching star Ettore Messina as an assistant coach Tuesday, the team announced, more than a month after GM R.C. Buford denied a report that they were close to a deal. Messina appeared to be a strong candidate for the Jazz head coaching vacancy this spring and was mentioned in connection to the Lakers head job, too.
Thunder Sign Anthony Morrow
WEDNESDAY, 2:04pm: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
“Anthony Morrow has demonstrated that he is amongst the most consistent and efficient three point shooters in the NBA over his career, and we are pleased to welcome him to Oklahoma City and the Thunder organization,” Thunder GM Sam Presti said. “With his body of work, we feel Anthony is a unique addition to a diverse roster, while also possessing the toughness and selflessness that we are consistently seeking in Thunder players.”
SATURDAY, 1:08pm: The deal is for three years in slight excess of $10MM, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. The final year is a team option, per David Aldridge of NBA.com (via Twitter).
12:33pm: Anthony Morrow has agreed to join the Thunder, tweets Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. The shooting specialist had received interest from the Clippers, Heat, Wizards, Raptors, Suns, Wizards, Pistons, and Pelicans in addition to Oklahoma City and other unnamed teams.
Morrow opted out of the final, $1.1MM year of his contract with New Orleans this summer. The terms of the deal are still unknown, but I would guess the contract to be significantly more lucrative considering the amount of interest the 28-year-old was drawing. The shooting guard could be in play to start for the Thunder, who let starting shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha walk following a disappointing 2013/14 campaign. Morrow has only started 129 games over the course of his six-year career.
Pacers Eye Rodney Stuckey
The Pacers have “serious interest” in Rodney Stuckey as they seek to replace Lance Stephenson, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The Pacers reportedly reached out to Rodney Stuckey in the first two days of free agency, but they were nonetheless without plans to pursue him. It appears that Indiana is now ready to go after him, if the team isn’t already making a push for the Leon Rose client.
Stuckey’s days with the Pistons appear to be over after the team renounced its Bird rights to the 28-year-old combo guard and struck deals with Jodie Meeks and D.J. Augustin. The Magic had been poised to make a play for Stuckey, who was reportedly willing to sign with the Warriors for the mid-level exception before Golden State committed most of that exception to Shaun Livingston instead.
The Pacers have reportedly already used most their mid-level on Damjan Rudez and C.J. Miles, and they’re without the biannual exception after using it last year to sign C.J. Watson. That means that Indiana would probably have to work a sign-and-trade with the Pistons to give Stuckey any more than the minimum salary.
Hoops Rumors On Facebook/Twitter/RSS
It’s been a wild first two weeks and change of NBA free agency, and with the destinations of Eric Bledsoe, Greg Monroe, Carlos Boozer and many others still to be decided, plenty of news is yet to come. There are a handful of ways you can follow us to keep tabs on the latest NBA news and rumors as the storylines develop.
You can Like us on Facebook and receive headlines and links for all our posts via your Facebook account. You can also follow us on Twitter to have all our posts and updates sent directly to your Twitter feed. Our RSS feed is located here if you’d like to follow us using your reader of choice.
If you prefer to receive updates only on roster moves such as signings, cuts, and trades, you can follow our transactions-only feeds via RSS and Twitter.
Eastern Notes: Stephenson, Miller, Knicks
Some Pacers players attempted to persuade the team to sweeten its offers to Lance Stephenson, but the front office resisted, according to Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. Stephenson agreed early this morning to bolt for the Hornets, and as his new three-year, $27.5MM deal quickly came together, the Pacers never received the opportunity to match Charlotte’s offer, as Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star writes. There’s more on his deal amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:
- The Mavs made a three-year $20MM offer to Stephenson, reports Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link). The new Hornets two-guard would have joined the Mavs instead if the Rockets hadn’t passed on matching the Mavs’ offer sheet to Chandler Parsons, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com.
- The Pacers made two different five-year offers to Stephenson, but he rejected them both, favoring a shorter arrangement, agent Alberto Ebanks tells Buckner (Twitter link). Indiana wasn’t willing to go shorter than five years, Broussard writes in his piece.
- The Nuggets had a three-year, $12MM offer on the table for Mike Miller, but he passed it up for two years and $5.5MM with the Cavs thanks to persistent entreaties from LeBron James, as Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com details.
- Knicks president Phil Jackson thinks the team has too many guards, and he may end up waiving Wayne Ellington, whom New York acquired in the Tyson Chandler trade, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post.
- The Jazz almost doubled the average annual value of the deal that the Wizards were willing to give Trevor Booker, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com.
- The Hawks held on to Pero Antic through Tuesday, meaning his non-guaranteed salary for 2014/15 has become fully guaranteed for $1.25MM. The same is true for Kyle O’Quinn, whose minimum salary with the Magic went from non-guaranteed to fully guaranteed when Orlando kept him Tuesday.
Bucks Pushing To Trade Ersan Ilyasova?
WEDNESDAY, 9:01am: There’s a strong feeling among Bucks brass that it would be better to keep Ilyasova rather than trade him, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
MONDAY, 3:47pm: Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times identified Ersan Ilyasova shortly before the draft as the Buck most likely to be dealt, and the team continues to shop him “hard,” an NBA executive tells Woelfel (Twitter link). Ilyasova is set to make $7.9MM in each of the next two seasons, and he’s been a trade candidate seemingly ever since he signed his five-year, $40MM deal in 2012.
Ilyasova reportedly asked for a trade this past season, though he later said he was “comfortable” in Milwaukee. Ilyasova had said at the time that, “When you go through a season like this and your name comes up [in rumors] it is a little frustrating. But I still feel myself as part of this franchise. I’m hopeful we can find the right pieces for the team so we can play much better because we really need it. I want to be part of a playoff team and that’s what I’m looking forward to, [the franchise] building a better team – a playoff team.”
The 27-year-old’s production took a step back in 2013/14, as he averaged 11.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and abysmal 28.2% shooting from three-point range, all numbers that were worse than the season before. Ilyasova was hampered by a nagging ankle injury during the second half of the season which could have contributed to the drop in production.
DraftKings $20K Royal Golf Championship
The following is a sponsored post from DraftKings.
Win big at this week’s British Open with DraftKings! The entry fee for the DraftKings PGA $20,000 Mini Royal Golf Championship is just $2 and the top 2,300 entrants are paid. First place wins $1,500, and a total of $20,000 in prize money will be handed out.
All you have to do is draft a team of the best players in this salary-cap style pick ’em. You have $50,000 to select six golfers. The deadline to enter is Thursday at 12:25am Central time.
First-time depositors at DraftKings receive matching funds in their DraftKings account up to $600! Here’s a look at my team, with some heavy hitters at the top of the lineup:
Don’t hesitate! Sign up for the DraftKings PGA $20,000 Mini Royal Golf Championship and you may be the one taking home $1,500!
Southwest Notes: Parsons, Mavericks, Baynes
Here’s what we’ve gathered out of the Southwest Division:
- It’s widely suspected around the league that Dan Fegan insisted that the Rockets turn down their team option on Chandler Parsons before he would allow fellow client Dwight Howard to sign in Houston last summer, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes. Parsons strongly denied knowing of such a deal, notes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
- On Monday, Parsons told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports that he wasn’t thrilled with how the Rockets handled his restricted free agency. “…I was offended by the whole process…(Houston) publicly said that they were going out looking for a third star when I thought they had one right in front of them. I guess that’s just how they viewed me as a player. I don’t think I’ve scratched the surface of where I can be as a player and I think I’m ready for that role.”
- Today, Parsons said he was surprised about the backlash he received by making those comments. While he didn’t back off from what he said, Parsons also cited that he praised Rockets GM Daryl Morey (Twitter link from Feigen).
- On Monday, Mavericks president Donnie Nelson told Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the team may not be done tweaking their roster. “We’re not done…But we feel pretty good about where things are right now.” Following the team’s addition of Rashard Lewis today, Price reminds that Nelson plans to keep one of the team’s final two roster spots open for flexibility down the line (Twitter link).
- In the former piece, Price mentions also Al-Farouq Aminu, Bernard James, Shawn Marion, and Ivan Johnson as other names that Dallas could attempt to add before the start of next season.
- Nelson sat down for an interview with KESN-FM 103.3 to offer some insight on how the Mavs plan to approach the rest of the season (transcription via SportsDayDFW) and mentioned that the team is always keeping its eye out for a shooter. It’s worth noting that he said this before they added Lewis, however.
- While they won’t close the door on re-signing Marion, Nelson acknowledges that the veteran forward’s value in the marketplace is much higher than what the Mavs can afford.
- The Spurs still hope to retain restricted free agent center Aron Baynes, tweets Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News. Young adds that San Antonio is willing to match any reasonable offer.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.