Timberwolves Sign Arinze Onuaku
5:10pm: Minnesota has been granted a hardship exception by the league and has officially inked Onuaku, the team announced.
1:34pm: The Timberwolves are bringing in Arinze Onuaku to help their injury-depleted roster, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. Minnesota already has 15 players on contracts that run until at least the end of the season, but with Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic and Shabazz Muhammad out for the season and four other injured players, it seems as though the team is a candidate for a 16th roster spot via hardship exception. Minnesota added Jeff Adrien and Sean Kilpatrick earlier this season using that mechanism. In any case, a deal for Onuaku would have to cover the balance of 2014/15 and couldn’t be a 10-day contract, since there are fewer than 10 days left in the regular season.
Onuaku has spent this season with the D-League affiliate of the Cavs after the Pacers had him on their NBA roster for the preseason. The 27-year-old power forward was briefly with Cleveland and New Orleans during the regular season in 2013/14, and those teams gave him his first official NBA action, though he appeared in only five games for both the Cavs and Pelicans put together. Onuaku went undrafted out of Syracuse in 2010, but at 6’9″, he’s looked strong on the boards for the D-League Canton Charge this year, racking up 12.2 rebounds in 34.6 minutes per game across 41 appearances. He’s also averaged 17.5 points on 11.5 shots per game.
Kevin Garnett, Anthony Bennett, Gorgui Dieng and Gary Neal are also injured for Minnesota, leaving the team with only Justin Hamilton, Adreian Payne and Robbie Hummel as inside players. So, Onuaku would help in that regard, and he’d also keep the team from scrambling to find a player to meet the minimum of eight healthy guys for the start of a game. The Wolves were down to seven healthy players when they signed Kilpatrick to be their eighth last month for a game against the Knicks, choosing him in part because he was a only short distance away.
Bucks Sign Jorge Gutierrez To Multiyear Deal
The Bucks have signed Jorge Gutierrez to a multiyear contract, as Josh Weir of The Repository reports (Twitter link) and as the team confirms in a press release. The signing will increase Milwaukee’s roster count to the league maximum of 15 players. It’s unclear if the deal contains any guaranteed salary for 2015/16, though it’s likely a minimum salary arrangement with little or no guaranteed funds.
Gutierrez had inked two 10-day deals with the Bucks earlier this season, appearing in seven games and averaging 3.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists. He signed his initial 10-day contact on January 28th and a second 10-day pact on February 7th. In 10 NBA appearances for Brooklyn, where he began the season, Gutierrez averaged 1.6 points in 4.4 minutes per game.
The guard also played 15 games this season for the Canton Charge, the Cavs’ D-League affiliate, and averaged 13.5 points, 5.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 29.8 minutes per contest. Gutierrez opted to enter the D-League after being waived by the Sixers earlier in the season. This was shortly after Philadelphia had acquired him from the Nets in the deal for Andrei Kirilenko.
Cliff Alexander To Enter NBA Draft
4:58pm: Alexander is indeed entering the draft, Kansas coach Bill Self announced.
4:26pm: Kansas freshman Cliff Alexander intends to enter this year’s NBA draft, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). The big man’s season came to an early end on February 28th when Alexander was ruled ineligible due to an NCAA investigation into his family’s finances. The Jayhawks made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament this season before falling to Wichita State.
The 6’8″ forward entered the season as a potential lottery selection, but his inconsistent play caused his stock to plummet. Alexander is currently ranked No. 32 by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and No. 39 overall by Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required). These projections peg Alexander as a likely second-rounder this June.
In 28 appearances for the Jayhawks this season, the 19-year-old averaged 7.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in 17.6 minutes per contest. Alexander’s shooting numbers were .566/.000/.671.
Poll: Should Brook Lopez Opt In Or Opt Out?
The Nets appeared close to trading Brook Lopez at least two times before the February deadline, but since coach Lionel Hollins put him back in the starting lineup on March 8th, he’s been sizzling, and the Nets have gone 11-6. He’s averaged 21.9 points and 9.5 rebounds in 33.8 minutes per game during that stretch, helping carry the Nets into position for a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. Those numbers would be career highs if extrapolated over an entire season, and his rebounding is particularly encouraging for a 7-footer who’s somehow managed only 8.1 boards per 36 minutes for his career. He’s put up 26.2 PPG on 61% shooting in his last 11 games, becoming the only NBA player to do that over any 11-game stretch this season, as Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders points out (Twitter link).
All of this is cast against the backdrop of a crucial decision for Lopez and for the Nets. The 27-year-old has a player option worth more than $16.744MM that, if he were to opt in, would leave Brooklyn with seven players with guaranteed salaries that add up to only about $6MM shy of the projected $81MM luxury tax line for next season. If he opts out, the Nets still wouldn’t have the ability to open significant cap room to replace him, and Brooklyn would be liable to lose the catalyst for its turnaround this season with nothing to show for it.
The stakes are perhaps even more consequential for Lopez. He played in all 82 games his first three seasons in the league, but a broken foot that required three surgeries in three years and forced him to 134 missed games during that span left him with a reputation as damaged goods. He’s started only 39 games this season after playing in only 17 last season, and there’s no telling if his revival and return to health are but short-lived phenomena.
Lopez said last month that he hadn’t given thought to the option, though executives around the league seem to have had it on the minds for some time. Grantland’s Zach Lowe heard in December that most of those execs thought he would opt in. Today, Lowe wrote that the opposite is now true, which echoes what Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck had heard in December, when he reported that many execs expected him to opt in.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports said last week that he’s heard estimates that Lopez will draw offers with annual salaries of $13-14MM if he hits free agency this summer. Those figures would give him less next season than he would make on his option, but free agency would likely give him the chance to lock in those salaries on a long-term deal that would ensure him of far more money than the option would. Lopez, a Wasserman Media Group client, also must consider the rising salary cap for 2016/17, and the rising maximum salaries that will come with it. Lopez’s existing deal is a maximum-salary arrangement, and if he opts in and continues playing the way he has the past month, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to see him land another max deal in the summer of 2016.
So, let us know what you would tell Lopez to do if you were one of his agents. Should he opt in, take a higher salary than it seems he would otherwise see for 2015/16 and the risk of injury and regression that comes with it, or opt out and cash in while he’s hot, even if it means missing out on a better payday next year? Use the comments section if you’d like to give him more specific advise.
Ashton Pankey To Enter Draft
Manhattan junior forward Ashton Pankey plans to turn pro and enter this year’s NBA draft, as he tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter links). The 6’10” 22-year-old is an unheralded prospect who’s unlikely to be drafted, as he’s unranked in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress listings, and Chad Ford of ESPN.com doesn’t have a profile for him.
Pankey spent his first two years in college at Maryland, including a redshirt year in 2010/11, when he appeared in only one game before undergoing season-ending left leg surgery. He had a limited role on offense the next year, and after sitting out a season as he transferred to the Jaspers, he again had a single-digit scoring average in 2013/14. That changed this season, when he put up 13.4 points on 8.3 shots in 27.5 minutes per game, chipping in 6.7 rebounds per contest, too. He led the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in fouls given this season, but Manhattan won the conference tournament and earned an NCAA Tournament bid, albeit for a play-in game, which it lost to Hampton.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Pankey end up with some predraft workouts for NBA teams and perhaps play in the summer league, but it still seems a long shot that he’ll earn an invitation to training camp. He’ll likely begin his pro career with a season in the D-League or overseas, though that’s just my speculation.
Draft Notes: Kentucky, Johnson, Jones
Kentucky coach John Calipari acknowledged Monday that Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles, Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison are all likely to declare for the draft, as Kyle Tucker of The Courier-Journal relays. Devin Booker and Dakari Johnson are still weighing their options, according to Calipari, Tucker notes, adding that the coach expects that Tyler Ulis, Alex Poythress and Marcus Lee will decide to stay. Calipari later addressed the idea of his own departure for the NBA, downplaying the idea in a piece on his own website, wherein he said he doesn’t have a desire to prove himself in the NBA. A recent report indicated that Calipari “desperately” wants an NBA job, and he apparently still has supporters within the Nets organization. Here’s more on those potentially making the college-to-NBA leap:
- Projected lottery pick Stanley Johnson is on the fence as he decides whether to enter the draft this year or return to Arizona for a sophomore year, sources tell Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com, with one source describing him as “really torn.” The small forward is the No. 9 prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and No. 11 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
- NBA personnel who spoke with Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com are in wide agreement that Final Four Most Outstanding Player Tyus Jones would go in the final third of the first round this year if he entered the draft, as Goodman writes in an Insider-only piece. Those sources also tell Goodman that the freshman point guard’s stock is peaking and that he wouldn’t benefit from staying at Duke another year, and even Jones’ father is encouraging him to declare. The Pistons, Pelicans, Sixers and Magic are among the NBA teams focusing on the Minnesota native, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
- Brice Johnson is returning to North Carolina, multiple sources tell Evan Daniels of Scout.com. The junior power forward was No. 50 in Givony‘s rankings, while Ford had the power forward 82nd.
Cavs, Raptors Eyeing Cory Joseph?
The Cavs and Raptors should be expected to “take long looks” at soon-to-be restricted free agent Cory Joseph, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. The Spurs can match offers for the Toronto native with a qualifying offer of nearly $3.035MM, though they already have a backup point guard on a long-term deal in Patty Mills, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe points out, and Tony Parker signed a three-year extension that kicks in next season. Still, Spurs coach/president Gregg Popovich expressed hesitancy today to take playing time from Joseph, complimenting the 23-year-old’s tenacity, notes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (Twitter links).
It’s not the first time Joseph has impressed Popovich with his drive, though the Rich Paul client told McDonald a few months ago that he didn’t even ask his agent about a rookie scale extension when he was eligible this past offseason, figuring the team wouldn’t give him one. McDonald speculated when he wrote in January that it would be tough for San Antonio to afford Joseph this summer, considering his increase in minutes and production, though Joseph’s role has regressed since he filled in as a starter when both Parker and Mills were injured in December. The Spurs have Joseph’s Bird rights, though he’ll presumably be down the list of priorities with Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and Marco Belinelli among the other Spurs set to hit free agency.
Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has pledged to pursue Canadian players, so it makes sense that he’d at least consider signing Joseph. Toronto has a chance to open up cap space, with only about $49MM in commitments for next season. The Cavs have even less guaranteed salary on their books, but that doesn’t include money for four of their five starters, including LeBron James, and they seem poised to zoom into luxury tax territory. So, Cleveland would have a tough time ending up with Joseph unless the team used the $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level exception or convinced him to take the minimum, though James and Joseph share the same agent.
Lowe’s Latest: Lopez, Biyombo, Davis
Most executives around the league expect Brook Lopez to turn down his player option for next season, worth more than $16.744MM, writes Grantland’s Zach Lowe. That’s on the heels of his surge over the past month, as he averaged 20.9 points and 9.1 rebounds per game in March, and he’s upped those numbers to 22.8 PPG and 9.8 RPG so far in April. Lowe wrote in December that most execs thought Lopez would pick up the option, so it seems his hot streak has changed thinking around the league. Still, Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck wrote just a week after Lowe’s report in December that he had heard from many executives who expected even then that Lopez would opt out. The Nets center said a few weeks ago that he hadn’t thought about what to do with the option, so there’s some mystery here. Lowe has more rumors from his latest column, which focuses on players with decent chances of becoming this year’s version of what DeMarre Carroll was in 2013, when he signed a two-year, $5MM pact that wound up a bargain deal for the Hawks.
- Bismack Biyombo will almost certainly see the value of his qualifying offer from the Hornets shrink from more than $5.194MM to nearly $4.046MM thanks to the starter criteria that he has virtually no chance of meeting. Executives are “nearly unanimous” that he wouldn’t command annual salaries of that nearly $5.2MM amount in free agency this summer, according to Lowe, though while most people believe a team could snag him for about $4MM a year, no one is sure about that, Lowe adds.
- Ed Davis rejected a multiyear contract offer from the Grizzlies this past summer, several league sources tell Lowe. He instead signed with the Lakers on a two-year deal for the minimum salary with a player option that he’s said he plans to decline in search of a long-term deal this summer. Davis turned down a rookie scale extension in the fall of 2013 that would have given him annual salaries of $5-6MM beginning this season, as Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal reported this past October.
- Derrick Williams doesn’t intrigue front offices as much as he did a year ago, Lowe writes. He, too, is in line for a reduced qualifying offer from the Kings for failing to meet the starter criteria.
- Lowe identifies the Spurs as a team to watch on Mirza Teletovic, though it’s unclear if that’s just speculation. The Nets can match offers if they extend a qualifying offer of more than $4.21MM.
10-Day Contract Trends In 2014/15
There are fewer than 10 days left in the regular season, so that means there won’t be any more 10-day contracts this year. Still, it was the most prolific season for 10-day contracts in recent years, as 48 players signed a least one such deal, up from 41 last year and 36 the year before. It’s the most in any season on record in our 10-Day Contract Tracker, which dates back to the 2006/07 season.
We’ll use the data from this year’s tracker to illustrate a few trends and notable statistics that emerged from this year’s 10-day signings. It’s still possible that we’ll see some 10-day signees ink deals that cover the rest of the season, and perhaps a team or two will choose to end one of its current 10-day deals before it runs to term, so some of the data may change. Still, we can see a fairly accurate picture of the 10-day landscape now that no new 10-day deals may be issued. Here’s a look at what happened:
- The Jazz emerged as the team that gave out the most 10-day contracts, though that’s no surprise, since they had a commanding lead as of a few weeks ago. They signed ten 10-day deals with six players. The Knicks and Clippers finished right behind them, as each gave out seven 10-day deals to four players.
- Four players signed 10-day contracts with multiple teams, and one, Elliot Williams, signed 10-day contracts with three teams — the Jazz, the Hornets and the Pelicans. None of those teams signed him for the season. The three other multiteam 10-day signees are JaMychal Green (Spurs and Grizzlies), Chris Johnson (Jazz and Bucks) and Quincy Miller (Kings and Pistons), each of whom eventually wound up with a rest-of-season deal.
- Teams re-signed 26 10-day signees to deals that covered the rest of the season. Only three of them came after a single 10-day contract, as most of the players cycled through two 10-day pacts before moving on to rest-of-season deals.
- A dozen players signed two 10-day contracts with a team but didn’t end up with rest-of-season deals. That includes Williams, who didn’t re-sign with the Jazz or the Pelicans despite two 10-day stints with each.
- There were 14 players signed to just a single 10-day contract with a team, though four of those deals are still current, so there’s a decent chance they’ll join the trio of guys who followed one 10-day with a rest-of-season pact.
- Five players saw their 10-day contracts end early, as their teams exercised their right to terminate the deals before the 10 days were up. The shortest time a player spent on a 10-day contract was two days, as the Pelicans released Toney Douglas the day after signing him. New Orleans circled back around and signed him for the season more than a month later.
- The longest period of time a player spent on a 10-day deal was 13 days. That’s because the Pistons signed John Lucas III to a 10-day contract right before the All-Star break, which was lengthier than normal this year. The league stipulates that 10-day contracts cover at least three games, and the long gap in the schedule afforded Lucas extra time on his deal.
- Mark Bartelstein’s Priority Sports & Entertainment was the leading agency involved with 10-day contracts this year, with five clients signing 10-day pacts. Three of them wound up signing for the season, while a fourth, Lester Hudson, is still on a 10-day contract with the Clippers.
Atlantic Notes: Randolph, Young, KG, Raptors
Shavlik Randolph doesn’t want to sign a non-guaranteed deal for next season, and he indicated in an interview with Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders that it was part of the reason the Celtics let him go Monday.
“As much as I would have loved to finish the season and playoff run with this team, I just wasn’t willing to commit to a non-guaranteed deal for next season,” Randolph said. “So they had to do what was best for them, which I completely understand.”
Randolph spoke with team officials Monday afternoon, according to Camerato. He was on an expiring contract and ineligible to sign an extension, so aside from giving a non-binding verbal promise that he would re-sign a non-guaranteed deal with the team this summer, it’s unclear what the team was proposing. Conceivably, the C’s could have waived him and signed him back once he cleared waivers to a deal for the rest of this season that included non-guaranteed salary for next season, but that would have been an unusual maneuver. In any case, there’s more on Randolph amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:
- Randolph also told Camerato that there remains a level of mutual interest between him and the Celtics, but he’s considering a return to China, where he’s played in the past, to help boost his stock for an eventual NBA return, as Camerato details.
- The Thaddeus Young/Kevin Garnett deadline trade didn’t come together quickly, as Nets GM Billy King had been working toward it all year, tweets Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
- Raptors GM Masai Ujiri and coach Dwane Casey will tinker with the roster, but between now and the end of the season, the team can’t fix its defensive flaws, opines Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. The Raps were on the verge of a teardown early last season, so considering that so little time has passed since then, the team is about as strong as it could be, Smith argues.