Sean Kilpatrick Signs 10-Day With Timberwolves
Sean Kilpatrick has been signed to a 10-day contract by the Timberwolves, the team’s public relations staff tweets. Minnesota had a full roster but was granted an NBA hardship exception for a 16th roster spot in order to add Kilpatrick, the tweet adds. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities reported the deal minutes before the announcement (Twitter link).
The Timberwolves applied for the hardship exception after a dealing with a number of injuries. Shabazz Muhammad required season-ending finger surgery last month and Robbie Hummel and Anthony Bennett have also been out for an extended period. The deadline to apply for a disabled player exception expired in January, so Minnesota did not receive any extra salary flexibility to replace the second-year swingman.
Kilpatrick, an undrafted rookie guard out of Cincinnati, was playing for the D-League’s Delaware 87ers and could give the Timberwolves a perimeter boost. He was averaging 15.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals for the 87ers in a 20-game stint while shooting 48.7% from the field and 42.1% on 3-point attempts. Kilpatrick told HoopsRumors.com during the draft process that he could defend as well as score.
Kilpatrick passed through two other organizations before the Timberwolves signed him. He was on the Sixers’ summer-league team, then was signed by the Warriors during training camp. He was released before the start of the season and hooked on with Golden State’s D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz, where he remained until he was traded to the 87ers in January.
Scott Wants Jabari Brown For Another 10 Days
Lakers coach Byron Scott wants the club to sign Jabari Brown to another 10-day contract, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reports. Brown’s first 10-day deal expires after the Lakers play the Jazz on Thursday. Scott plans to meet with GM Mitch Kupchak after the game to discuss Brown’s status. “Right now, I’d like to keep him for another 10 days and see how it goes,” Scott said to the team’s beat reporters. “I think he’s improved from what we had in the summer time to this time right now.”
Aiding Brown’s cause is that Nick Young remains sidelined for at least for another week because of a small fracture in his left knee. Brown, an undrafted rookie shooting guard out of Missouri, has averaged 7.0 points on 60% shooting from the field while playing in three games. Scott says Brown needs to be physical and attack the basket while improving his ballhandling and pick-and-roll defense to stay in the league, the story adds.
Brown was on the Lakers’ NBA roster during the preseason after signing a non-guaranteed training camp deal, but he played only nine minutes total during the preseason and failed to make it to opening night. Scott has given him a longer look since he signed the 10-day contract, as Brown has averaged 20.0 minutes per game. The Lakers retained his D-League rights after training camp and Brown earned his way into the NBA by averaging 24.4 points in 34.9 minutes per game for the L.A. D-Fenders.
Eric Gordon Plans To Opt In With Pelicans
Eric Gordon gave a clear signal this week that he intends to pick up his player option for next season, worth more than $15.514MM, and stay with the Pelicans, referring to next season as a “contract year” in remarks that John Reid of The Times-Picayune relays. Player option aside, next season is the last on Gordon’s contract. The shooting guard echoed coach Monty Williams, who recently praised Gordon for putting off surgery on the torn labrum in his left shoulder.
”When I came back, I didn’t want to give up on this year because next year is a contract year for me,” Gordon said. ”I definitely didn’t want to give up on this team. I thought this was a special team and it’s just good to see where we’re at right now.”
It’s certainly no surprise that the Rob Pelinka client would choose to opt in, even though he’s played better since returning from the injury in January. His 13.3 points per game this season represent a fourth straight year of decline in his scoring average, and though his shot attempts have also gone down each of those years, his PER of 12.7 indicates that he’s not playing efficiently. He’s not the star that many thought he’d become when he was the jewel of the trade package New Orleans received for him in the Chris Paul deal. That reputation helped him earn the offer sheet, a four-year maximum-salary arrangement, that he signed with the Suns in the summer of 2012 and that the then-Hornets matched even after he’d played only nine games in 2011/12 because of injury.
The 26-year-old shooting guard is nonetheless draining 45.3% of his three-pointers, a career-best mark by far for the career 38.0% three-point shooter, and, as Reid points out, he’s been turning it on of late, scoring 16 points or more in five of his last six games. Williams is optimistic that Gordon is turning a corner, Reid notes.
“This is the guy that we thought we were going to have fortunately; he had so many injuries and it was hard for him to get the work in,” Williams said. “I think you are starting to see a part of it but not all of it. I think Eric, because A.D [Anthony Davis] is playing so well and Tyreke [Evans] has the ball a lot, he doesn’t get as many opportunities. I’ve got to find more ways to get him the ball. The thing I like about Eric is he tries to make the right play. Eric has so much in his game that people haven’t seen what all he can do with his ability to score and play off the dribble.”
Gordon expressed regret this week for saying when he signed the offer sheet that “Phoenix is just where my heart is now,” Reid notes. It’s the latest step Gordon has made to distance himself from that comment, an effort that began soon after New Orleans matched the offer. Regardless, it appears he’ll remain with the Pelicans for at least one more season. New Orleans would have about $55.8MM in guaranteed salary against a projected $67.4MM salary cap next season if Gordon were to indeed opt in.
Draft Notes: Knicks, Russell, Hunter
Today’s 32-game NCAA tournament schedule will draw plenty of eyes from fans and NBA personnel alike, even if the connection between college postseason success and NBA riches isn’t all that strong. Still, it serves as a gateway into the buildup for June’s draft, and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress outlines today’s games from a prospect-focused perspective. We’ll share more draft-related items here as the action heats up:
- Knicks president Phil Jackson made it obvious that he’s high on Ohio State combo guard D’Angelo Russell, drawing a fine for complimenting the underclassman’s game, and Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal examines how Russell would fit on the Knicks. There’s a potential for a fit there, but he’s not the typical sort of player Jackson’s teams have had to run their offenses, and his lack of defensive skill would force the team to prioritize stoppers in free agency, Herring opines.
- Russell, Jerian Grant, Myles Turner, Devin Booker and R.J. Hunter are the five prospects an SI.com panel of writers believes have the most on the line during the NCAA Tournament.
- Hunter, a Georgia State shooting guard, leads a pack of mid-major prospects who have a chance for rare high-profile showcases in the tournament, as Chad Ford and Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com examine in an Insider-only piece. Eastern Washington’s Tyler Harvey and Kyle Collingsworth of BYU are others who appear in line to be drafted, according to Ford and Pelton.
Wizards Likely To Re-Sign Toure’ Murry
The Wizards are likely to sign Toure’ Murry to a second 10-day contract even as they continue to keep an eye on No. 1 target Will Bynum, league sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The team signed Murry last week as Bynum nursed a hamstring injury, though it appeared then that Bynum, if healthy, would be Washington’s preference, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post reported at that point. The team’s first 10-day deal with Murry expires at the end of Saturday.
Murry, the former Knicks and Jazz combo guard, also seemingly found a place on the roster in part because of the absence of Garrett Temple, who’s out with a hamstring injury of his own. Still, Murry has seen only four minutes of action for the Wizards so far. That’s nonetheless more than the single regular season minute of play he saw with the Jazz, who signed him to a two-year, $2MM deal in the offseason that was partially guaranteed for $250K.
Washington has 14 contracts that carry through the end of the season, so Murry’s spot represents the team’s measure of flexibility. That spot had been open since the Wizards waived Glen Rice Jr. on January 7th until they signed Murry, with Ray Allen apparently the team’s ultimate goal until Allen decided earlier this month he wouldn’t play in the NBA this year.
Western Notes: Gasol, Kings, Jazz, Messina
“The understanding is” that Marc Gasol will indeed be the No. 1 target of the Spurs this summer, depending on the fates of fellow soon-to-be free agents Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, a Western Conference GM told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Gasol has given plenty of signals that he prefers to stay in Memphis, and if he were to leave, he would likely move only to a team that would give him a better chance to win a title, sources also tell Deveney. The Spurs would conceivably fit that bill, but even if they don’t end up with Gasol, one GM expects San Antonio to make a surprise move this summer and hints that it’ll come at draft time, as Deveney details. There’s more on the Spurs amid the latest from around the Western Conference:
- Kings adviser Chris Mullin, reportedly a candidate for the team’s coaching position earlier this season, resisted the recent hirings of coach George Karl and vice president of basketball and franchise operations Vlade Divac, high-ranking team execs tell Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. GM Pete D’Alessandro also resisted the hiring of Divac, who’s technically atop him in the organization, according to Voisin, though D’Alessandro said to Voisin on Tuesday that he and others are pleased to have the former center around.
- The Hornets have three prominent former members of the Jazz, and Al Jefferson, Marvin Williams and Mo Williams all expressed fondness for their time in Utah when their new team came to Salt Lake City for Monday’s game, observes Mike Sorensen of the Deseret News. Mo Williams will hit free agency again this summer, and Jefferson can, too, if he turns down a $13.5MM player option.
- Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina would like to become a head coach in the NBA someday, but he’s content with the Spurs and said he’d ask Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford for advice before pursuing a head coaching job, as Messina told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
Players With The Largest Cap Holds For 2015/16
Bird rights help teams re-sign their own players, but cap holds are what prevent the same teams from loading up on high-salaried players of their own while also spending lavishly on free agents from other teams. It’s still possible for teams to do that to a degree, depending on the amount of cap flexibility they have, their willingness to renounce their Bird rights to some of their players, and just how high the cap escalates from one year to the next. Cap holds will be less troublesome after next season, when the cap is expected to surge into $90MM territory.
Still, for this year, cap holds are what stand between the illusion of cap space and reality. The Grizzlies have only about $38MM in guaranteed salary for next season, but the notion that they’ll enter the summer with significant cap room is far-fetched if they have designs on keeping Marc Gasol. The sought-after Spanish center will represent a cap hold of about 30% of the salary cap, equivalent to the maximum salary he can make next season. For the right to give Gasol a fifth year in his next deal, along with higher annual raises than he can see elsewhere, the Grizzlies have to keep that maximum amount, likely to be in excess of $18MM, on their books, and they wouldn’t be able to use it to sign other free agents. The Grizzlies surely wouldn’t renounce their Bird rights to Gasol, and the cap hold that comes with it, unless he commits to another team. Those rights are automatically renounced if he signs elsewhere, but that’s clearly not the ideal outcome for Memphis. Factor in Jeff Green‘s $9.2MM player option, and it seems certain that the Grizzlies would only get to use cap space to replace players who depart this summer, not to build around them.
The Knicks are in a different situation with Andrea Bargnani. There’s apparently mutual interest in a new deal, but likely at a drastically reduced price compared to the $11.5MM he’s making this season. Cap holds usually represent much higher amounts than a player’s previous salary, to account for the potential of a raise, so Bargnani’s cap hold will come in at $17.25MM. New York, with only about $32.4MM in guaranteed salary for next season, would surely prefer to use most of that $17.25MM worth of potential cap space on others. Thus, it seems likely that unless the Knicks and Bargnani agree to a new, cheaper deal during the July Moratorium and quickly finalize the contract at moratorium’s end, the team would renounce his Bird rights. The team could still circle back to sign him using a smaller chunk of cap space or the room exception.
Here’s a look at every soon-to-be free agent whose cap hold will represent at least $10MM on the books for their respective teams this summer. Players who have options on their contracts aren’t listed, so conceivably, this list could be even longer. In any case, the players atop the list will likely represent cap holds equivalent to the maximum salaries, which are based on experience and a percentage of the salary cap. The precise values of the maxes won’t be known until after the moratorium, so we’ve included last year’s figures as a guide. Those numbers are likely to escalate this season with the rising cap.
- Tyson Chandler, Mavericks — Cap hold likely to be 35% max ($20.644MM this season)
- LaMarcus Aldridge, Trail Blazers — Cap hold likely to be 30% max ($17.695MM this season)
- Marc Gasol, Grizzlies — Cap hold likely to be 30% max ($17.695MM this season)
- Rajon Rondo, Mavericks — Cap hold likely to be 30% max ($17.695MM this season)
- Kevin Garnett, Timberwolves — $18MM
- Andrea Bargnani, Knicks — $17.25MM
- DeAndre Jordan, Clippers — $17.160MM
- Tim Duncan, Spurs — $15.542MM
- Steve Nash, Lakers — $14.552MM
- Marcus Thornton, Suns — $12.863MM
- Derrick Williams, Kings — $12.663MM
- Omer Asik, Pelicans — $12.562MM
- Jeremy Lin, Lakers — $12.562MM
- Paul Millsap, Hawks — $12.35MM
- Tristan Thompson, Cavaliers — $11.916MM
- Tayshaun Prince, Pistons — $11.562MM
- Enes Kanter, Thunder — $11.389MM
- Wesley Matthews, Trail Blazers — $10.868MM
- Manu Ginobili, Spurs — $10.5MM
- Amir Johnson, Raptors — $10.5MM
- Greg Monroe, Pistons — $10.412MM
- Brandon Bass, Celtics — $10.35MM
Note: The figures here are rounded to the nearest $1K.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
10-Day Contract Tracker
The 10-day contract isn’t just the domain of the fringe prospect. It’s a path that several notable names take to re-establish their NBA careers. This season, players who were once taken with the first overall pick (Kenyon Martin), the second overall pick (Michael Beasley) and the fourth overall pick (Tyrus Thomas) have all signed 10-day contracts.
The bulk of the signings that take place this time of year are usually of the 10-day variety, and we’re keeping on top of all of them. Hoops Rumors has created a database that allows you to track every 10-day signing all season long. The 10-Day Contract Tracker includes information on all 10-day contracts signed from the 2006/07 season on, giving you a chance to identify trends regarding your favorite teams and players. The search filters in the database make it easy to sort by team, player and year. You can even see whether a player and team signed a second 10-day contract, and if the short-term deals led to an agreement that covered the rest of the season.
For instance, if you want to see how many 10-day deals Lou Amundson has signed over the course of his career, you can find that information here. Similarly, if you want to see all the 10-day contracts the Mavericks have signed in recent years, you can do so here.
A link to our 10-Day Contract Tracker can be found at any time in the Tools menu at the top of the page, or in the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features.” We’ll be keeping it up to date for the rest of the season, so be sure to check back to keep tabs on the latest signings as they become official.
Knicks Sign Ricky Ledo To 10-Day Deal
THURSDAY, 9:26am: The deal is official, the team announced.
WEDNESDAY, 10:08pm: The Knicks are set to sign Ricky Ledo to a 10-day deal, reports Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com (Twitter link; hat tip to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com). New York won’t need to make a corresponding move to accommodate Ledo’s arrival since they’re only carrying 14 guaranteed contracts at the moment, as our list of roster counts shows.
Ledo was waived by the Mavs around the trade deadline to make room for Amar’e Stoudemire. He only appeared in five games with Dallas this season, spending the lion’s share of his time with the Texas Legends, the club’s D-League affiliate. The 22-year-old guard was the 43rd pick in the 2013 draft but hasn’t been given much of a chance to display his skills at the NBA level. Joining the league-worst Knicks might give him a better platform to demonstrate his abilities than he had with the title-hopeful Mavs.
Should Ledo stick around in New York, there’s little chance Thanasis Antetokounmpo makes the roster in 2014/15, as Begley points out (on Twitter). The Knicks were reportedly considering bringing aboard Thanasis, the older brother of Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Ledo’s presence might indicate they’ve moved on from that idea.
Central Notes: George, Kaun, Van Gundy
Paul George should come back to play if he’s healthy enough to do so before season’s end, but not so he can help the Pacers win more games down the stretch, argues Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. Instead, the focus should be on helping George shake off the rust so he can be ready to go full-speed next season, even if there’s concern that inserting him into the lineup would disrupt the rhythm of this year’s team, Aschburner believes. Here’s more from around the Central Division, which has a strong chance to send the Pacers and three other teams to the playoffs this year:
- The Cavs are giving thought to signing draft-and-stash prospect Sasha Kaun this summer, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia. The 29-year-old from Kansas is on an expiring contract with Russia’s CSKA Moscow, as Mark Porcaro shows in our Draft Rights Held Players database, and Carchia hears that Kaun has told the Russian club that he won’t be back next season. Cavs coach David Blatt coached Kaun on the Russian national team, Carchia notes.
- The Pistons are in line for the seventh overall pick pending the lottery, as our Reverse Standings show, but coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy admits that he hasn’t seen an entire Kentucky game all year, MLive’s David Mayo observes. Van Gundy’s coaching duties have kept him from seeing much college basketball at all this season, and breaking down prospects is a task that he’s left to scouts and other staffers, as Mayo details. Still, Van Gundy added that he intends to watch video before the draft of just about every game the top 10 or 15 prospects played this season, according to Mayo.
- Draft-and-stash signee Nikola Mirotic has raised his game to fill the void of the injured Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson, turning into the sort of shooter the Bulls had hoped fellow rookie Doug McDermott would become, writes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com.