Andray Blatche Inks Multiyear Deal In China
1:47pm: The deal doesn’t include any NBA escape clauses, Pick clarifies to Hoops Rumors, but it’s unclear if the team would allow him to play toward the end of an NBA season once the Chinese season ends.
MONDAY, 7:47am: The deal is worth a total of $7.5MM, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com, adding that the big man has put pen to paper on the contract. The salary is guaranteed, and Blatche has no interest in returning to the NBA, Pick also hears (Twitter links).
SATURDAY, 8:56am: Former NBA player Andray Blatche is set to sign a three year deal to return to the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, AsiaBasket.com reports (hat tip to HoopsHype.com). Financial terms have not been disclosed but the deal is reportedly the largest in the history of the CBA, and possibly the largest in overseas basketball history, the report notes. Shams Charania of RealGM.com first reported the possibility of Blatche re-signing with Xinjiang. The 28-year-old big man dominated the Chinese league last season, averaging 31.0 points and 14.5 rebounds in 38.7 minutes per game for the Flying Tigers.
A number of NBA teams were reportedly interested in signing Blatche for the remainder of this season, including the Nets and Grizzlies. Miami had also shown interest in Blatche, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported back in December, though the emergence of Hassan Whiteside likely dampened the Heat’s interest in inking Blatche, speculated Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com. Heat officials reportedly made preliminary inquiries about the Andy Miller client last summer, but Miami reportedly had longstanding concerns about Blatche’s maturity and behavior.
Blatche has appeared in a total of 564 NBA games over the course of his career. His last taste of action in the league came during the 2013/14 campaign with the Nets when he logged 11.2 PPG and 5.3 RPG in 22.2 minutes per game. Blatche’s career numbers are 10.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per contest. His career shooting numbers are .467/.237/.725.
Maximum Salaries For Select 2015 Free Agents
The NBA’s maximum salary isn’t just a single number. It’s an individualized figure that depends on a player’s years of experience and prior salary. That’s why it’s quite conceivable that Greg Monroe will receive a maximum-salary contract this summer that gives him less money for next season than what DeAndre Jordan gets for a starting salary on his new deal, even if Jordan signs for less than the max. Monroe will enter the offseason with five years of experience against seven years of experience for Jordan.
That seventh year is the key. The NBA’s maximum salary jumps from a figure of about 25% of the cap to one that’s approximately 30% for players who have between seven and nine years of experience. It goes up even farther, to about 35%, for those with 10 or more years in the league. Depending on league revenues from this season, which determine the maximum for next season, LeBron James could make even more than the 35% max. A player can sign a new contract with a starting salary of up to 105% of what he made in the final season of his previous deal, regardless of experience. So, James’ maximum salary will be at least $21,676,200, regardless of where the league’s maximum for players with his years of experience comes in.
The maximum salaries, like the salary cap, are tied to league revenues, but the NBA uses a formula for determining the maxes that’s different from the one that produces the cap. So, that’s why the 25%, 30% and 35% figures don’t line up precisely with those corresponding percentages of the cap. In most cases, the maxes are less than the true percentages of the cap. For instance, 35% of this season’s cap is close to $22.073MM, but the 35% maximum salary is just slightly more than $20.644MM.
We’ve put together a list of some of the top free agents for next season, categorized by the maximum salary bands in which they’ll fall. The following players are eligible for the 25% max next season, which was $14,746,000 in 2014/15. If the maxes go up by the same percentage that the cap is expected to escalate for next season, when the league projects a $67.4MM cap, the maximum salary for these players will be approximately $15.76MM. All are due for restricted free agency, except those marked with asterisks.
- *-Omer Asik
- Patrick Beverley
- Jimmy Butler
- Draymond Green
- Tobias Harris
- Reggie Jackson
- Enes Kanter
- Brandon Knight
- Kawhi Leonard
- *-Wesley Matthews
- Khris Middleton
- *-Greg Monroe
- Tristan Thompson
This next group of players are some of those eligible for the 30% max, which was $17,695,200 in 2014/15. If the maxes go up by the same percentage that the cap is expected to escalate for next season, when the league projects a $67.4MM cap, the maximum salary for these players will be approximately $18.912MM. All are set for unrestricted free agency. Those who have player options are noted.
- LaMarcus Aldridge
- Goran Dragic (player option)
- Marc Gasol
- Eric Gordon (player option)
- Roy Hibbert (player option)
- DeAndre Jordan
- Brook Lopez (player option)
- Robin Lopez
- Kevin Love (player option)
- Paul Millsap
- Rajon Rondo
This next group of players are some of those eligible for the 35% max, which was $20,644,400 in 2014/15. If the maxes go up by the same percentage that the cap is expected to escalate for next season, when the league projects a $67.4MM cap, the maximum salary for these players will be approximately $22.063MM. All are set for unrestricted free agency. Those who have player options are noted.
- Tyson Chandler
- Luol Deng (player option)
- Tim Duncan
- Monta Ellis (player option)
- Kevin Garnett
- Manu Ginobili
- LeBron James (player option) — eligible for at least $21,676,200
- Al Jefferson (player option)
- Dwyane Wade (player option)
- David West (player option)
Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
Kings Sign David Wear To 10-Day Deal
MONDAY, 12:53pm: The signing is official, the team announced.
SUNDAY, 10:09pm: The Kings will call up big man David Wear from their D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, for a 10-day contract, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). In 43 games, Wear has averaged 16.3 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game for Reno. He is shooting 47.8% from the field and 39.4% from three-point range.
Sacramento currently has 14 players on its roster, as Hoops Rumors’ roster counts show, so signing Wear would not necessitate a corresponding move. Wear was one of the Kings’ final cuts before the preseason after he signed a non-guaranteed one-year contract for camp. He was acquired by Reno on November 2nd. Wear thrived in Reno’s run-and-gun system and participated in the Three-Point Contest during the 2015 D-League All-Star Weekend. He could provide the Kings some extra scoring and solid defense if given playing time with the Kings, who are 24-45.
Wear’s twin brother, Travis Wear, is a forward on the Knicks. The twins played together at UCLA for two seasons after they both transferred from North Carolina. UCLA gave David Wear the Irv Pohlmeyer Memorial Trophy for top defensive player after the 2013/14 season.
JaVale McGee Backs Off Player Option Demand
JaVale McGee now prefers a deal that carries only through the end of the season, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, who writes in his weekly power rankings. That indicates a turnabout from earlier this month, when he was reportedly seeking a player option for 2015/16 on any deal. That was apparently at the root of failed negotiations with the Celtics, who wanted a team option. Most of the contending teams reportedly inquired about the B.J. Armstrong client earlier this month, and, as Spears reports today, McGee still wants to play for a postseason contender.
It’s unclear if the lack of an insistence on a player option will spark a renewed interest, as chatter about the 27-year-old has slowed considerably after a brief period in which he seemed a prime target following his release from the Sixers. The Mavs were “seriously interested” a few weeks ago, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported then, but Spears reported last week that they were no longer in pursuit. The Rockets, Raptors and Heat also appeared to be teams in the mix for McGee at the time of the strong interest from Dallas, but even at that point, there was “no way” the Raptors would cross the tax line to sign him, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.
While Houston, Miami and Toronto likely wouldn’t go over the tax threshold for this season with a multiyear arrangement for the minimum salary, a one-year deal reduces McGee’s cost if he signs for the minimum. That’s because the league would cover the difference between the two-year veteran’s minimum and the minimum for a six-year veteran like McGee if the contract only covered a single season. It would mean a savings of $32,533 for this season for a team that signs him to a one-year minimum deal instead of a two-year minimum deal, and it would come with the cost certainty of knowing that McGee couldn’t force the team to pay him a salary for next season, too.
Central Notes: Middleton, George, Jackson
Khris Middleton refuses to bring up the subject of his impending restricted free agency even with his agent, as he tells Grantland’s Zach Lowe. “It’s a little awkward” to share an agent with Bucks coach Jason Kidd, Middleton also admits. The forward’s agent is Mike Lindeman of Excel Sports Management, while Kidd’s relationship with Excel founder Jeff Schwartz has been a flashpoint for controversy. Union executive director Michele Roberts indicated in November that she would take a tougher stance on a rarely enforced rule that bars agents from representing both coaches and players. Kidd also has a significant measure of player personnel control for the Bucks. There’s more on Middleton amid the latest from the Central Division:
- Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird tells Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com that he expects George will play for the Pacers at some point this season, adding that he believes George has received medical clearance to do so (Twitlonger link).
Earlier updates:
- Middleton told Lowe for the same piece that he loves living in Milwaukee but expressed reservations about the Bucks‘ deadline-day trade that sent out Brandon Knight and Kendall Marshall and netted Michael Carter-Williams, Miles Plumlee and Tyler Ennis. “Yeah. It was tough, man,” Middleton said about learning of the trade. “We had things rolling before the All-Star break. We thought we’d just get back on track rolling after the break, too. But it’s a business. They thought it was a good trade for the team, so, I mean, we’ll see.”
- The Bucks prevailed upon the Pistons to include Middleton in the 2013 Knight/Brandon Jennings trade, and the experience of getting traded left Middleton with some painful feelings at first, as Lowe also details.
- Paul George insisted today that there is no timetable for his return as he continues to recover from his broken leg, and he denied a report that the Pacers were targeting this week for his comeback, tweets Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star.
- Reggie Jackson says Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy is “making it easy” as he’s turned him loose for Detroit, observes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Jackson hinted that he would have been OK with staying on the Thunder, who have a better shot at the playoffs, but he’s glad that his duties are more well-defined on the Pistons, notes Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. “It’s good,” Jackson said of knowing his role. “That’s one less monkey on my back. Wherever I got my shot was where I was going to get my shot. I was just vocal about what I wanted my shot to be, and some people were mad about that. Some people understood where I was coming from. But it’s always been about getting out there and competing.”
Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Ross, Ledo
The Atlantic Division has only one team above .500, but it could send as many as three teams to the playoffs as the Celtics and Nets try to chase down the final two postseason berths in the Eastern Conference. Here’s the latest from around the Atlantic:
- One Eastern Conference executive has trepidation about the Sixers‘ radical roster approach becoming the model for the rest of the league if it’s successful, as that exec expressed to Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Holmes contrasts what Philadelphia is doing to the vastly different approach the Lakers have taken to rebuilding in spite of a shared history of success between the two franchises.
- Terrence Ross took his first free throws in March on Sunday, as Doug Smith of the Toronto Star points out, a remarkable fact given his pedigree and athleticism that’s a disturbing sign for the Raptors, Smith opines. The Star scribe figures GM Masai Ujiri and coach Dwane Casey are already thinking about what they can do in July, when Ross will become eligible for a rookie scale extension and the team can seek alternatives.
- Ricky Ledo hasn’t made much of an impact yet for the Knicks on his 10-day contract, but injuries will likely give him a chance to do so before the deal expires at the end of Saturday, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post.
Andrei Kirilenko Likely To Retire After Season
Andrei Kirilenko, who recently signed to play with CSKA Moscow in his native Russia, is planning to make this season his last in professional basketball, as he said to Canal Plus, a French television outlet, and as Eurohoops.net shares online (YouTube link; hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
“It’s probably my last season,” Kirilenko said. “I’m still thinking about next year, but for this moment, I feel like this is the last season. I don’t know yet. There’s a lot of years in front of me. Change my occupation. I’m not going to be a player anymore. I still think I’m going to be connected to the basketball, somehow.”
The 34-year-old forward has appeared in just two games since inking his deal with CSKA Moscow last month, scoring a total of 15 points in a combined 21 minutes of action. He made it into just seven games for a total of 36 minutes with the Nets this season before taking a leave of absence in November to tend to his wife, who reportedly endured a complicated pregnancy before giving birth to a healthy baby boy in February.
Brooklyn traded him to the Sixers in December, and while the Sixers wanted him to report and gave thought to flipping him at the trade deadline, Kirilenko never suited up for Philadelphia. The team placed him on unpaid suspension before releasing him in an apparent buyout deal shortly after the trade deadline passed.
Kirilenko signed with CSKA Moscow shortly thereafter and suggested that it would be the final stop in his career. He spent parts of 13 seasons in the NBA, joining the Jazz in 2001, two years after they drafted him 24th overall in 1999. He spent 10 seasons in Utah, making an All-Star appearance in 2004 and earning a reputation for his versatility and defense. Kirilenko was twice an All-Defensive Second Team selection and a First Team pick in 2005/06. The year before, he led the league in blocks at 3.3 per game, despite standing only 6’9″.
He returned to Europe to play for CSKA Moscow during the 2011 lockout and stayed with the team for the balance of the 2011/12 season. He re-emerged in the NBA the next year with the Timberwolves, but he surprisingly turned down a $10.219MM player option for 2012/13. Instead, he inked a two-year deal for about $6.509MM with the Nets that sparked controversy given the steep discount and the presence of fellow Russian Mikhail Prokhorov as Brooklyn’s owner. The NBA investigated the deal after complaints from at least one other team, but the league found no wrongdoing.
In an unexpected twist, Kirilenko made the contract look burdensome to the Nets as he failed to make the impact in Brooklyn that he regularly made throughout his career. For his career, he averaged 11.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 30.0 minutes per game with an 18.7 PER and 47.4% shooting. His career NBA earnings came to more than $104MM, according to Basketball-Reference, not including his salary from this season. His buyout brought this year’s cap hit for Philadelphia down to about $2.328MM, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reported, but he presumably lost some of that amount because of his unpaid suspension.
And-Ones: Lopez, Crawford, Holiday
With the way Brook Lopez has played this season, he has plenty of reason to not exercise his $16.7MM player option for the 2015/16 season with the Nets, and instead test free agency, Tim Bontemps of the New York Post writes. Lopez signed a four-year, $60.8MM deal with the Nets in July 2012. The big man is averaging 16.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game since the All-Star break, so he would likely receive plenty of interest from several teams, Bontemps adds. Lopez played in only 17 games last season because of a foot injury.
“I haven’t thought about that,” Lopez said of the player option. “I want to keep going, keep continuing to get my legs under me, and back to confidently playing basketball and being the player I normally can be. That’s still way out. I always take it one game at a time, so it’s definitely a ways out.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- Clippers coach Doc Rivers said “there’s a chance” that Jamal Crawford will not return this season and added that the veteran guard is nowhere near playing, Melissa Rohlin of The Los Angeles Times writes. The reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year has a very deep bruise on his right calf, and he’s had to have it drained once in the last 10 days, the Clippers said before Sunday’s game. The Clippers have gone 6-4 since losing Crawford, who is averaging 16.4 PPG this season. J.J. Redick has stepped up without Crawford by scoring at least 20 points in each of his last four games. “Jamal told me he’s feeling better,” Rivers said. “It’s just that it doesn’t seem like it. Honestly, we don’t know. There’s no target date for Jamal, for sure.”
- There’s a strong chance Justin Holiday‘s short run as the Warriors’ starting shooting guard ends Monday if Klay Thompson‘s sprained right ankle is healed, but the journeyman has made strides toward improving his game while playing in an enhanced role, Jimmy Durkin of the Bay Area News Group writes.
And-Ones: Monroe, World Peace, Nelson
Citing the Celtics’ need for a “true, low post scoring threat,” Greg Monroe, who will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, would be a good fit in Boston, Jackie MacMullan of Comcast SportsNet opines (video link). The Pistons big man is averaging 16 PPG and 10.4 rebounds this season. Only 24, Monroe is expected to receive plenty of interest from potential suitors this summer.
“I think he will fit in with anyone’s style of play,” MacMullan said. “I know the Detroit Pistons will do everything they can to keep him. Imagine Greg Monroe on one block, Jared Sullinger on the other and all those perimeter players you have. Who wouldn’t like that?”
Here’s more from around the world of basketball:
- The head coach of the Italian league team Metta World Peace will reportedly sign with confirmed that the team has been in talks with the former NBA player, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia relays. “We are talking with Metta World Peace but we have not signed him yet. I did not read what media said. We are talking with a few players and he is one of them. He can bring us experience and also a lot of curiosity around his name. On Monday our GM will sign a player: it could be Metta World Peace or another one,” said Acqua Vitasnella Cantù coach Stefano Sacripanti, according to the report. World Peace last played in the NBA with the Knicks in 2013/14.
- Jameer Nelson, who has a player option on his contract with the Nuggets for next season, said he still feels a strong attachment to Orlando, though he added he has moved on, Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel writes. Nelson, 33, spent his first 10 seasons in the league with the Magic. “My heart is still here for sure,” Nelson said in reference to Orlando.
Free Agent Stock Watch: DeAndre Jordan
DeAndre Jordan told Sam Amick and Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports last week that “the free agency process is definitely going to be a fun one.” The Clippers’ center, who will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, has good reason to be looking forward to the summer. He’s enjoying another season of gaudy raw numbers that could land him a maximum deal.
Jordan, who is making $11.44MM this season, is averaging 11.2 PPG and 2.2 blocks. His 14.8 rebounds per game and .709 field goal percentage are both tops in the league. He’s this season’s only player to post three 20-point, 20-rebound games. He ranks second in the NBA in defensive win shares.
“He’s clearly the defensive player of the year,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said, per Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. “If anybody else gets that award, we need to have an investigation.”
Winning the award could further solidify Jordan’s status, but it’s likely that he inks a maximum deal regardless. Another thing to keep in mind: Jordan will only turn 27 in July and has started every regular season game for the Clippers since the 2010/11 season. He brings size, length and athleticism. Outside of his offensive limitations, there isn’t much to dislike. With top big men being hard to find, there are several teams — including the Clippers — that could conceivably make pitches to Jordan, who said he has no interest in signing a one-year contract, as Markazi wrote.
“I’m not going to be greedy and sign a one-year deal,” Jordan said. “Nah. I’m just focused on getting it over with and focusing on playing again. I’m just trying to win here.”
It’s too early to tell which teams are seriously interested in reeling in Jordan, who, as Markazi pointed out in the aforementioned story, has been making the rounds on national sports talk radio shows recently while gaining more mainstream attention. The market could be dictated by the actions of other soon-to-be unrestricted free agent big men Marc Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge. Tim Duncan is in the final year of his contract and if he retires, that could make things even more interesting because the Spurs would be in play for a big man.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.