Hansen, Tull Want To Move Hawks To Seattle
Investor Chris Hansen and financier Thomas Tull are planning to make separate bids to buy the Hawks and move them to Seattle, according to Grantland’s Bill Simmons (Twitter link). Still, the existing owners of the Hawks, who’ve reportedly agreed to sell 100% of the team, want the club to stay in Atlanta, Simmons notes. Anyone who buys the team probably won’t have a chance to relocate it, given the NBA’s desire to stay in the Atlanta market, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote amid last week’s reports. Other reports about the sale of the club have consistently indicated that it’s highly unlikely the team changes location.
Hansen teamed with Steve Ballmer to close a deal with the Maloof family to purchase the Kings in 2013, but the NBA rejected the bid and instead awarded the Kings to Vivek Ranadive and his investment team, who pledged to keep the franchise in Sacramento. Ballmer, who since then purchased the Clippers for a record $2 billion, was the primary financial backer of the Hansen-fronted bid, and the pair reportedly offered $650MM to buy the Bucks earlier this year, $100MM more than the team eventually sold for. Still, Hansen has forged ahead with plans to attract NBA and NHL teams to the Emerald City.
Tull is the founder and CEO of Legendary Entertainment, a film production company. He’s owns a minority share of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers. Another “name to watch” in regard to the Hawks sale is Jesse Itzler, according to Simmons (on Twitter). Itzler is a former rap artist who made his fortune with a private plane rental business.
A league source told Grantland’s Zach Lowe last week that the Hawks would likely go for between $750MM and $1 billion, though it appears the price is more likely to end up on the low end of that scale. Others who reportedly have interest in buying the team include former players Dominique Wilkins, Dikembe Mutombo and Chris Webber, former Grizzlies CEO Jason Levien and attorney Doug Davis
Berger’s Latest: Stephenson, Jackson, Crawford
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com shares eye-catching rumors from across the league in his latest must-read piece, which looks ahead to the trade deadline that’s just a month and a half away. We’ll pass along some of the highlights here:
- The Hornets continue to explore the market for Lance Stephenson, and they’re looking for frontcourt help, Berger hears. Charlotte had reportedly decided to table Stephenson talks late last month, but since that time, Al Jefferson was diagnosed with an injury that’ll keep him out most of January, if not longer.
- The Knicks tried to pry Reggie Jackson from the Thunder in talks leading up to Monday’s trade, and they’re expected to try to do so again, Berger writes. Still, the Thunder are holding the line against trading him, as Berger adds.
- Jamal Crawford is off-limits for other teams as the Clippers try to acquire a starting-caliber small forward, sources tell Berger. The Clips, up against a hard cap, have told at least one team that asked about Crawford that they don’t plan to move him.
- Execs from teams around the league believe the Knicks will be active between now and the draft, as there’s widespread doubt that New York will be able to land a major free agent this summer, Berger hears. There’s speculation that Jose Calderon will be the next Knicks player to be traded, but that’ll be more easily said than done for New York, since the 33-year-old point guard’s contract runs through 2016/17 with salaries in excess of $7MM each year, Berger writes.
Lowe On Cap, Raptors, Nuggets, Cavs, Love
Most league executives assume the salary cap will surge to around $90MM for the 2016/17 season, though they’re preparing for any eventuality, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes. The cap’s at $63.065MM this year, so that means teams are in line for nearly 30% more spending power within the next two years, thanks to the NBA’s new $24 billion TV deal. Lowe has much more from around the league as teams peer into an uncertain future:
- Raptors GM Masai Ujiri won’t say whether he’ll trade a first-round draft pick for someone who could help the team this season, but Ujiri tells Lowe that he “won’t make decisions that are going to shorten our growth and help us only this year.”
- The Nuggets, Ujiri’s old team, appear to be closing in on the realization that the playoffs are out of reach, several league sources said to Lowe. That suggests that current Nuggets GM Tim Connelly is about to change his approach to the team’s roster this season, though that’s my own inference.
- Chances are the Cavs will send a first-round pick out in a trade that brings back a center this season, Lowe writes in a separate piece. Cleveland maintains “serious off-and-on talks” with the Nuggets and Grizzlies about Timofey Mozgov and Kosta Koufos, respectively, according to Lowe.
- Kevin Love has insisted on multiple occasions that he’s committed to the Cavs for the long term, but the Grantland scribe believes the All-Star power forward will undoubtedly survey the market in free agency this summer if conditions don’t improve in Cleveland. Love, who has a player option worth more than $16.744MM for 2015/16, is taking fewer shots this season than in any year since he became a full-time starter in 2010/11.
Clippers To Waive Jared Cunningham
The Clippers are expected to waive Jared Cunningham, a source tells Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). The move would come as no surprise, as Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com wrote last month that the team was likely to cut ties with the former first-round pick at some point in the coming weeks. Cunningham’s contract is non-guaranteed, but it would become fully guaranteed for the rest of the season if the Clippers fail to waive him by 4:00pm Central on Wednesday. The team is less than $1MM shy of its hard cap, so dropping Cunningham before his minimum salary locks in would give the club a modicum of additional flexibility. The Clips are on the hook for the prorated portion of Cunningham’s salary of more than $915K that he’s already earned, but they’d get to take his entire salary off their books if another team claimed him off waivers.
The 23-year-old shooting guard made the team out of training camp, but he’s failed to garner much playing time, accruing just 1.8 points in 4.7 minutes per game across 19 appearances. Still, Cunningham has played in nearly as many NBA games this season as he did in his first two seasons after becoming the 24th overall pick in 2012.
The team’s deal with Cunningham is its only non-guaranteed pact, as our roster counts show, so releasing him allows the club to maintain flexibility for a signing later in the season. The Clippers may also utilize 10-day contracts, as they did with three players last season, but since the team is already over the tax line and nearing that hard cap, even the slightest of investments come at a higher cost.
Nets Waive Brandon Davies
The Nets have waived recent trade acquisition Brandon Davies, the team announced via press release. Davies has a non-guaranteed salary, so the Nets won’t be on the hook for any additional money for the second-year power forward. However, the prorated salary he earned thus far this season will stick on Brooklyn’s books unless another team claims him off waivers, though any team that would do so would have to guarantee his entire minimum salary of more than $816K for the rest of the season.
Davies made it into seven games after last month’s trade that brought him to the Nets in exchange for Andrei Kirilenko. The 23-year-old averaged 2.3 points in 6.3 minutes per contest, much lower numbers than he put up during his time with the Sixers, who put him on the floor for 19.0 MPG prior to the trade this year. Davies, a Bill Duffy client, was a favorite of Philly coach Brett Brown, who expressed his frustration with the decision the team’s front office made to part with him.
The Nets are left with 14 players, only 11 of whom have full guarantees on their contracts. Cory Jefferson, Jerome Jordan and Darius Morris are the three remaining Nets without fully guaranteed pacts, but it would be surprising if the team waived any of them this week, as Tim Bontemps of the New York Post believes (Twitter link). Wednesday is the last day that teams can waive players with non-guaranteed salary without guaranteeing that salary for the year.
How Monday’s Trade Worked Financially
The teams involved in Monday’s three-way swap had divergent motives, as is so often the case in trades. The Thunder secured a scorer in Dion Waiters to help their title push. The Cavs, another title contender, gave up that scorer to shore up their defense. The Knicks took part in the deal seemingly with next year in mind, receiving only minimum-salary players in return for a pair of key perimeter players.
Each team accomplished those ends using different financial means. The simplest transaction was the Thunder’s. They possessed a $4.15MM trade exception as a vestige of Thabo Sefolosha, as our list of outstanding trade exceptions shows. GM Sam Presti created that exception when he convinced the Hawks to make their signing of Sefolosha this past summer a sign-and-trade rather than an outright signing. It was a move that appeared to have no real benefit to the Hawks, other than to create goodwill, and it’s clear after Monday’s trade that Presti owes Atlanta a favor. Waiters, who makes $4.062MM this season, fits neatly within that Sefolosha exception. Oklahoma City didn’t relinquish any players other than the minimum-salaried Lance Thomas to make the deal happen, as the team would have had to do if not for the exception.
The Knicks had a trio of exceptions to make the trade work on their end, but those weren’t exceptions that team president Phil Jackson or GM Steve Mills created. Instead, they used three different instances of the minimum-salary exception to absorb Thomas, Lou Amundson and Alex Kirk. The minimum-salary exception is a renewable resource of sorts. A capped-out team can use it as many times as it wants to sign players, trade for them, or claim them off waivers, as long as that team didn’t trigger a hard cap. The Knicks have no hard cap, and so they were free to employ the exception as they saw fit. In so doing, they’re allowed to create two new trade exceptions that are significantly more valuable than the minimum-salary exception. Offloading J.R. Smith lets New York come away with a trade exception equivalent to his $5,982,375 salary and another trade exception equal to the $2,616,975 salary for Iman Shumpert.
There’s a different salary figure for Smith as it pertains to the Cavs. Smith has a 15% trade kicker on his contract. Now that he’s been traded, that provides him with a bonus equivalent to 15% of the remaining value of his deal, excluding next year’s salary, since Smith has a player option for next season, and player options don’t count for trade kickers. Monday was the 70th day of the NBA’s 170-day regular season, so the prorated bonus works out to about $533K, making his new salary for this season come to about $6.516MM. Smith inked his deal after the existing collective bargaining agreement came into being, so the Knicks have to pay the bonus that Smith receives for having been traded. However, the salary for Smith that was on the books prior to the trade is the one that counts as outgoing salary in the trade from New York’s perspective, limiting the value of the new trade exception the Knicks can create. Conversely, Cleveland had to make the salaries match based on Smith’s new, bonus-enhanced salary.
The combined salaries of Smith and Shumpert were too much for the Cavs to absorb if they only gave up Waiters, Amundson and Kirk and didn’t use any exceptions. Cleveland has been holding onto a $5,285,816 trade exception left over from Keith Bogans since September, but the team recently gained another exception of similar value. The league granted the Cavs a disabled player exception worth $4,852,273 to compensate for the season-ending injury to Anderson Varejao. That disabled player exception expires March 10th. The Bogans trade exception doesn’t expire until September 27th. So, it makes sense that Cavs GM David Griffin used the asset that would disappear first, and that’s what they’ve done here, as Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal confirms they’ve used the Varejao disabled player exception (Twitter link).
That exception wouldn’t work for Smith, since Smith’s not on an expiring contract, and disabled player exceptions only work for deals that don’t extend beyond a single season. Smith’s salary, both before and after the trade kicker, was too large for either the Varejao disabled player exception or the Bogans trade exception, anyway. Shumpert’s deal, set to come off the books at season’s end, fits the bill in terms of length, and his $2,616,975 salary works in terms of value. That leaves Cleveland to match Smith’s trade-kicker-enhanced salary, a task the team can accomplish by combining Waiters’ $4.062MM pay with Kirk’s $507,336 minimum salary and Amundson’s $915,243 cap hold. Smith’s salary is within 125% plus $100K of the combined salaries for Waiters, Kirk and Amundson, so it’s kosher under the salary matching rules for taxpaying teams, which apply to the Cavs since they slipped over the tax line in the deal.
Amundson’s salary is more than $1.3MM this year as an eight-year veteran, but the Cavs were only responsible for the equivalent of the two-year veteran’s minimum salary of $915,243, since he’s on a one-year minimum-salary contract. The league picks up the bill for the rest. For the most part, the league’s help with veteran’s minimum contracts benefits teams, but in this case, it combines with Smith’s trade kicker to prevent the Cavs from creating a trade exception equivalent to Kirk’s salary. If Smith didn’t have the trade kicker, or if Cleveland could plug Amundson’s full salary into the matching math, Amundson and Waiters alone would be enough to match for Smith, allowing the team to come up with an exception for Kirk. Still, trade exceptions equivalent to the rookie minimum salary are rarely useful, so the Cavs don’t miss out on too much.
Teams have choices when it comes to creating and using trade exceptions, so aside from the news that Lloyd reported, there’s no confirmation that the paths I’ve explained here are the ones the teams took. However, these are the most logical scenarios, and in many cases, as with the Thunder, they represent the only way Monday’s transaction could have taken place within the bounds of the collective bargaining agreement. The move leaves plenty of loose ends, especially as far as the Cavs and Thunder are concerned, since it appears to have brought both teams above the $76.829MM tax threshold. Teams aren’t subject to the tax unless they’re above that line on the final day of the regular season, so that suggests more moves are on their way for Cleveland and Oklahoma City.
The Knicks remain above the tax, but they, too, have set the seeds for more trades. The removal of the threat that Smith would exercise his nearly $6.4MM player option for next season gives the team additional flexibility, and the ability to create two new trade exceptions allows the team added means to put that flexibility to use.
Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and the Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Fallout From Cavs-Thunder-Knicks Trade
Monday night’s three-team trade brought about significant changes to a title contender in each conference and was seemingly a signal that the Knicks are focused more on the future than the present. We’ll look at the ripple effects of the move as they’re felt in Cleveland, Oklahoma City, and New York.
- The Knicks plan to waive two of the three players they acquired in the trade, and Lance Thomas is the most likely among that trio to be kept, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. The Knicks would look to fill the open roster spots that would create, coach Derek Fisher said, according to Newsday’s Al Iannazzone. “I don’t think this in any way signals the end of our transition process,” Fisher said. “I think our front office will continue to look at what we can do to replace a couple of these guys, but also how we’re going to build our roster going forward in the short term and the long term. I think Phil [Jackson] is continuing to look at how we transition as we change the culture of the New York Knicks.”
- The Cavs kept LeBron James informed about the move, and he understands it as a transaction necessary for the team, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group hears. The relationship between James and J.R. Smith, who’s spent summers training with James in the past, is solid, Haynes also reports.
- Kevin Durant is excited about the addition of Dion Waiters to the Thunder and said that he doesn’t think the shooting guard has felt “wanted” the past couple of years, notes Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman (Twitter link). Durant is intent on changing that. “I’m not saying he’s James [Harden]‘s replacement, we’re far past that,” Durant said. “But yeah, he can play, can come off the bench for us and score and make plays. He’s a really good player, man. A lot of people take him for granted, I think. Because he’s been around and you hear different things about him that’s not true. But he can play basketball. So he just needs to come out here and be himself, be aggressive and make plays.”
And-Ones: Waiters, Lakers, Lopez, Thunder
The Thunder landed Dion Waiters earlier tonight, but the Lakers previously made a run at him, Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com tweets. However, the Cavs weren’t just looking for a straight salary dump and Shumpert is more valuable than Robert Sacre, who the Lakers would have included. Here’s more from around the Association..
- The Nets and Thunder recently discussed a deal that would have involved Brook Lopez, Kendrick Perkins (and his expiring contract), Perry Jones, and Lance Thomas, but the Nets decided to stand pat as they liked what they were seeing, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com.
- The Rajon Rondo deal is looking pretty good for the Mavericks so far, writes Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram. Center Tyson Chandler and coach Rick Carlisle are among those over the moon with what Rondo has done in Dallas. The Mavs have won six of their last eight games, including their last five.
- Sometimes, the best move is standing pat. The Warriors held on to budding star Klay Thompson rather than using him to get Kevin Love and that looks like a smart decision right now, as Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press writes. Many were surprised at the Warriors’ decision, but it’s one that had the full support of coach Steve Kerr.”For me as a new coach, what I saw was maybe the best backcourt in the NBA and a chance to keep the group together,” Kerr said. “And that’s pretty powerful, especially when you know you’re already pretty good.”
- Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders won’t rush to judge Bucks center Larry Sanders. While speculation flies about his situation, Koutroupis notes that Sanders has worked hard at his craft and has even independently trained in the offseason to work on some lagging aspects of his game. Earlier tonight, agent Happy Walters denied the report indicating that his client wants to walk away from basketball, so it will be very interesting to hear from Sanders himself.
Cavs, Knicks, Thunder Complete Three-Way Deal
9:56pm: The Thunder, Cavs, and Knicks all announced the deal via press release.
“Dion Waiters is a player that we’ve tracked and liked since his time at Syracuse, in the NBA, and with USA Basketball. Dion provides another proven scorer that positively impacts our roster and adds depth and flexibility,” said Presti in OKC’s release. “We have a lot of respect for his toughness and competitiveness, and believe that he is a physical playmaker who will enhance the versatility of our team. We are excited to welcome Dion to Oklahoma City and the Thunder organization.”
The Thunder’s draft pick being conveyed is protected 1-18 in 2015 and 1-15 in 2016 and 2017, respectively, according to the release from the Thunder. Should the pick not convey during this period, Oklahoma City would send the Cavs its second round draft picks in 2018 and 2019.
The Knicks’ release also makes it official that Dalembert has been waived.
8:26pm: The Knicks will receive Thomas, Amundson, and Kirk in the deal but will only keep Thomas, according to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report (via Twitter). The Knicks will also waive Dalembert.
The Cavs are sending their 2019 second-round pick to the Knicks, sources tell Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The duo hears that team officials spoke with LeBron James about his willingness to play alongside Smith before executing the deal.
Even though the deal weakens the Knicks in the short-term, Beck (link) hears that the Knicks are not giving up on the season. The Knicks plan on making more moves between now and the February trade deadline.
At present, it appears that the deal will have Waiters going to the Thunder, Shumpert and Smith going to the Cavs, and Thomas, Amundson, and Kirk going to the Knicks. In addition, the Cavs will receive a future first-round pick from the Thunder and the Knicks will get the Cavs’ 2019 second-round choice.
Waiters has been the subject of trade talks for some time and the Cavs were reportedly telling teams around the league that they’d be willing to part with him. Cleveland wanted Grizzlies big man Kosta Koufos, who would fit the bill as the “difference-making center” they were after, but they have found another deal in this proposed three-way swap. Waiters, 23, has averaged 10.5 PPG, 2.2 RPG, and 1.7 RPG – all career lows – through 33 games this season. The former No. 4 overall pick was reportedly being shopped in August as well, but the Cavs couldn’t find a suitable deal. Waiters might not be the most complete player in the NBA, but he is a scoring threat and should add lots of punch for OKC off of the bench.
The Knicks wanted to trade Smith more than anyone else, according to a December report from ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard. In fact, the Knicks have been huddling up internally for some time to figure out how they could move the polarizing guard. There hasn’t been much trade buzz surrounding Smith in recent weeks, but the Knicks were able to find a taker in tonight’s three-team blockbuster. The 29-year-old New Jersey native is averaging 10.9 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 2.4 RPG this season. The scoring output is his lowest since his sophomore season in 2005/06. His PER rating of 11.7 – a career low – tells a more complete story of his struggles this season. Thanks to his 15% trade kicker, Smith will collect on something of a belated Christmas bonus.
Shumpert, 24, has been a mainstay on Hoops Rumors and on the back pages of the New York tabloids for the last two seasons. The Knicks might not have been intent on moving Shumpert, but by including him they were able to move both his salary and Smith’s without taking much back. The combo guard is averaging 9.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 3.3 APG in 26 minutes per contest this season. Shump is also headed towards restricted free agency this offseason and the Knicks, ostensibly, weren’t going to make a big play to retain him.
The Knicks didn’t add much in terms of assets, but they have greatly improved their financial situation by moving Smith’s substantial contract. The guard is making nearly $6MM this season and he holds a player option worth nearly $6.4MM for 2015/16. It’s possible that the shooting guard could turn down the option in order to seek a more lucrative multi-year deal, but that’s not a risk that Phil Jackson & Co. were willing to take. Beyond the financial benefit of moving Smith’s deal, the Knicks are also moving a player who might not be a wonderful locker room presence.
Multiple Teams Eyeing DeAndre Kane
MONDAY, 9:55pm: A source tells Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype that Kane’s contract with Belgium’s Antwerp includes an out clause that would allow him to play in the NBA this season if there’s a firm offer.
SUNDAY, 1:41pm: The Celtics, Kings, and Jazz are all keeping an eye on guard DeAndre Kane, according to Shams Charania of RealGM. Kane, who went undrafted out of Iowa State last summer, is currently playing for the Antwerp Giants in Belgium.
The 25-year-old, who has averaged 14.0 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 5.0 APG in the EuroChallenge, has a deal that is “expected” to run through the remainder of the NBA’s regular season, according to Charania. Still, even if he’s not available to NBA teams between now and April, he’ll likely be a candidate for workouts and the summer league for the clubs interested.
In his senior season at Iowa State, Kane averaged 17.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 5.9 assists across 36 games. After helping to vault the Cyclones to the Sweet Sixteen, Kane hit the workout circuit hard and auditioned for a number of teams, including the Kings and Jazz.
Kane first established himself as an intriguing prospect at Marshall, where he spent played his first three seasons of collegiate ball. He also made a transfer of sorts in his first year overseas – Kane signed on with Russia’s Krasny Oktyabr but joined up with Antwerp following his November release.