Spurs Re-Sign Kawhi Leonard For Five Years
JULY 16TH, 4:05pm: The deal is official, the Spurs announced in a press release.
JULY 1ST, 4:00pm: The deal includes a player option for the fifth year, Zach Lowe of Grantland reports (on Twitter).
JUNE 30TH, 11:13pm: The Spurs will re-sign Kawhi Leonard for five years and an estimated $90MM, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The sides have agreed to a framework of a deal, as Wojnarowski details.
“I have every intention of signing with the San Antonio Spurs,” Leonard said in a statement, as Wojnarowski passes along. “There are details in the contract which need to be worked out with the organization. I am confident that this will be accomplished.”
The deal was agreed to just minutes after midnight on the East Coast, but the two sides still have to iron out some specifics over the next several days. The language in the statement (“every intention”) and the report (“agreed to the framework”) could be an inference to suggest that the Spurs will take their time in finalizing the pact. By waiting, the Spurs could avoid getting charged with max cap hit so that Leonard’s cap hold stays low, thereby preserving cap room for other free agents.
Leonard, 24, averaged 16.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists last season. While Tim Duncan and Tony Parker were the anchors for many elite Spurs outfits, Leonard can be expected to be the cornerstone of future contending teams. Leonard’s resume includes the 2014 Finals MVP and this past season’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
Back in April, it was reported that Leonard was unlikely to pursue offer sheets, even though he had the ability to as a restricted free agent.
Nuggets Seek Danilo Gallinari Extension
The Nuggets recently agreed upon a contract renegotiation and extension with forward Wilson Chandler, and now the team intends to open talks regarding an extension with Danilo Gallinari, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post reports. Gallinari is entering the final year of his contract, during which he is scheduled to earn $11,559,225, and the Italian will be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent after the completion of the 2015/16 campaign.
With the Nuggets currently over the salary cap, any extension would likely need to be structured to kick in at the start of the 2016/17 season, similar to what Kenneth Faried did a year ago with his four-year, $50MM extension, Dempsey notes. Going this route wouldn’t allow Gallinari the sort of raise that Chandler got in his renegotiation. A straight extension would limit Gallinari to a starting salary of no more than 7.5% of what he’s making this season, with raises of no more than 7.5% for the life of the extension. The extension can also carry no longer than three years from the end of his current deal.
Gallinari has struggled with injuries throughout his career, and he has only appeared in more than 60 games in just three of his six NBA seasons. The 26-year-old only made it onto the court 59 times during the 2014/15 campaign, notching averages of 12.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.4 assists, with a slash line of .401/.355/.895. His career marks since being the No. 6 overall pick back in the 2008 NBA Draft are 14.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.8 APG.
Pelicans Sign Alonzo Gee
JULY 16TH, 3:01pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
JULY 10TH, 10:16am: The Pelicans and Alonzo Gee will sign a deal worth two years and $2.75MM, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). It’ll include a player option, Wojnarowski also hears (Twitter link). Gee comes from the Trail Blazers, where he quickly developed a bond with LaMarcus Aldridge during the short time they were teammates following the deadline-day trade that brought Gee to Portland.
The Happy Walters client would make about $2.5MM on a two-year minimum-salary deal, and this deal appears to be for slightly more than that, meaning that New Orleans is likely using either part of its $5.464MM mid-level exception or its $2.139MM biannual exception. Gee made the minimum last season after signing before training camp with the Nuggets, who shipped him to Portland in that deadline trade. The 28-year-old averaged only 12.3 minutes per game in 2014/15, but he started all 82 games for the Cavs in 2012/13 and gives new Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry another option at small forward, a consistent trouble spot for the team.
A new deal between Gee and the Blazers didn’t appear out of the question as the offseason began, but Aldridge’s departure no doubt hastened his exit from Portland, and the Blazers renounced his rights Thursday. Gee was traded three times last summer, but his deal with the Pelicans means he can’t be traded until December 15th this year.
Kings Void Luc Mbah a Moute Contract
The Kings have voided their signing of Luc Mbah a Moute after the forward failed his physical, the team announced. Bill Herenda of CSN California reported the news minutes earlier (Twitter link). It was reportedly a one-year deal for the Darren Matsubara client who returns to free agency. It’s unclear what specific ailment, if any, was identified during his exam.
Sacramento officially announced the deal Tuesday, but physicals commonly take place after players put pen to paper. It’s not unprecedented for contracts to fall apart because of an issue discovered during the exam, and it happened with the Mavs and Rashard Lewis last year. Lewis has yet to sign another NBA deal, but it remains to be seen how serious Mbah a Moute’s trouble is.
The team doesn’t owe Mbah a Moute his salary, but the voided contract nonetheless has a ripple effect. Sacramento also officially announced its signing of Omri Casspi on Tuesday, and according to former Nets GM Bobby Marks, the Kings intended to use the $2.814MM room exception for him. Instead, he falls into the cap space that Mbah a Moute occupied, since the room exception isn’t available to teams that haven’t yet used all of their cap space (Twitter links). The Kings have reportedly committed to sign Caron Butler to a deal that will extinguish their remaining cap room, but they haven’t formally signed him yet, Marks notes (Twitter link).
Kings Sign James Anderson
JULY 16TH. 2:01pm: The deal is official, the team announced (on Twitter).
JULY 2ND, 12:08pm: The Kings and James Anderson have agreed on a multiyear deal, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Anderson, a former 20th overall pick, spent last season with Zalgiris of Lithuania after he was the starting shooting guard for the Sixers in 2013/14.
Anderson averaged 13.7 points in 25.2 minutes per game overseas this past season, numbers apparently strong enough to keep him on the NBA radar. His original deal with Zalgiris included an NBA out clause, but he chose not to exercise it in exchange for a raise.
It’s unclear what the Andy Miller client will make with the Kings, but following their agreement to trade three players to Philadelphia in a cap-clearing deal, Sacramento has plenty of latitude to exceed the minimum.
Kings Sign Willie Cauley-Stein
The Kings have signed No. 6 overall pick Willie Cauley-Stein to his rookie scale contract, the team announced (on Twitter). Agent Rich Kleiman told the news to Sam Amick of USA Today earlier today, before the team acknowledged it (Twitter link). The center from Kentucky will see a salary of more than $3.398MM this season and make in excess of $15.35MM over the life of the four-year pact, assuming he signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale.
Cauley-Stein is an elite defender, though his 7’1″, 242-pound body could use more bulk, and he doesn’t rebound as well as he should, as Dana Gauruder of Hoops Rumors points out in his prospect profile. Still, he was no real stretch at the sixth pick, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranked him No. 6 among this year’s prospects and Chad Ford of ESPN.com had him eighth. Our Eddie Scarito had him a touch lower, at No. 11, in the final Hoops Rumors Mock Draft this year.
The 21-year-old big man, who turns 22 in August, stayed at Kentucky for three years, a rarity for such a heralded NBA prospect. He’s averaged 11.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and an impressive 2.8 blocks in 20.0 minutes per game so far in summer league play. Cauley-Stein took part in summer league play without a signed contract to let the Kings make the most of their cap space. Now that he’s signed, his cap hold goes up by about $600K, signaling that Sacramento is likely done with significant free agent additions this summer.
Southwest Notes: Barea, Simmons, Baynes
Wesley Matthews saw his four-year deal with the Mavericks spike from around $13MM a year to a max contract worth $16,407,500 this season and $70,060,025 total when DeAndre Jordan reneged on his deal to play for Dallas, and Matthews isn’t the only one to benefit financially from that flip-flop. The Mavs upped their deal with J.J. Barea from two years and roughly $5.7MM to four years and $16MM before the point guard officially re-signed today, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com (Twitter link). The move means the Mavs have less cap flexibility but get to keep their $2.814MM room exception, which initially seemed ticketed for Barea’s original deal. In any case, Barea is sticking around.
“They knew I wanted to be there for a long time,” Barea said to MacMahon (Twitter link). “They wanted me there for a long time, so we made it happen.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest Division:
- Guard Jonathon Simmons wows with his athleticism, but he hadn’t had as much as an invitation to an NBA training camp since going undrafted in 2012 until the Spurs agreed to sign him to a two-year contract with a fully guaranteed salary for this season, writes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. McDonald chronicles the unlikely ascension of the former Spurs D-Leaguer.
- The Spurs lost out on Aron Baynes, who signed a deal reportedly worth as much as $20MM over three years with Detroit, and Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy cited Baynes’ free-throw percentage as one unconventional reason why the team was willing to pay him. Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press has the details. “Free-throw shooting, obviously, was a problem for us last year, next-to-last in the league, and Aron’s the best free throw-shooting big out there,” Van Gundy said. “Eighty-five percent at the line last year, that’s a huge thing for us in games, especially coming down the stretch. So that was also a big thing — maybe bigger for us than for other people with big guys.” Baynes actually hit 86.5% of his free throws last season, better than Van Gundy indicated, and he’s a career 84.7% shooter from the stripe.
- Russ Smith picked up a $150K partial guarantee on his salary this season with the Grizzlies when he remained on the roster through Wednesday, as the schedule of salary guarantee dates shows.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Karl, Cousins, Dawson
The Lakers have seemed to lag behind in the adoption of advanced metrics, so they’re creating a new front office position designed to serve as a liaison between the coaching staff and number crunchers in management, as Bill Oram of the Orange County Register details. Assistant coach Clay Moser is expected to transition into that role, Oram reports, noting that the Lakers underwhelmed LaMarcus Aldridge with the basketball side of their presentation while he was reportedly “floored in a good way” by the Rockets’ analytics and on-court projections. Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- George Karl was known to have reached out to DeMarcus Cousins on several occasions over the past few months, but before their brief encounter at summer league this week, Karl hadn’t spoken with him for quite some time, writes Sam Amick of USA Today. Still, Kings vice president of basketball and franchise operations Vlade Divac wants everyone on the same page by training camp, and the plan is for Karl and Cousins to have a more extensive face-to-face meeting before that, as Amick details.
- Kings management won’t let Karl hire son Coby Karl as an assistant coach, as Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times hears (Twitter link).
- The Clippers are in line to save money on No. 56 pick Branden Dawson even though they gave up $630K to trade for his rights, as former Nets executive Bobby Marks observes (Twitter links). He’ll make the rookie minimum salary of $525,093 this season, but if the Clips had instead signed an undrafted free agent for the minimum, it would have counted as $947,276 for luxury tax purposes, as Marks points out, adding that the Clippers are in line to pay about $1MM less in tax penalties as a result.
2015 Draft-And-Stash Signees
Free agent signees, trade acquisitions, and signees from last month’s draft are the most common additions to NBA rosters this month. However, a handful of players have come via the draft-and-stash route, as teams have finally brought aboard players drafted in previous years. More such signees figure to come as the offseason continues, with the Thunder reportedly expected to sign Josh Huestis, who was last year’s 29th overall pick, and rumors that the Nets are talking to the Cavs about Sasha Kaun, still who’s unsigned from the 2008 draft. Other draft-and-stash players making positive impressions in summer league, heightening the chances that they sign NBA deals, too.
While we wait for more, here’s a look at the draft-and-stash signees so far this month, categorized by team:
Updated 10-1-15
Cavaliers
- Sasha Kaun (drafted 56th overall in 2008): The 6’11” center finally signed an NBA deal, inking with the Cavs on a two-year contract worth $2,609,420 via the taxpayer’s mid-level exception. The Russian who played college ball at Kansas finished his tenure with CSKA Moscow in 2014/15.
Hawks
- Lamar Patterson (drafted 48th overall in 2014): The Hawks signed the 6’5″ shooting guard to a deal worth the minimum salary that covers two seasons, with a partial guarantee of $75K for this season. Atlanta used the minimum-salary exception on the former University of Pittsburgh standout who played for Tofas Bursa of Turkey in 2014/15.
- Edy Tavares (drafted 43rd overall in 2014): Atlanta used cap space to gave the 7’2″ center a contract worth more than $3.01MM over three years. The final season is non-guaranteed. Tavares spent this past season with Gran Canaria of Spain.
Jazz
- Raul Neto (drafted 47th overall in 2013): The Jazz signed the 6’1″ point guard via cap space to a deal worth $2,852,546 over three years, with the third year non-guaranteed. Neto came from Murcia of Spain.
- Tibor Pleiss (drafted 31st overall in 2010): Utah’s other draft-and-stash signee also came from the Spanish ACB league, as Pleiss had been playing for Barcelona. The 7’2″ center signed for three years and $9MM, with the Jazz taking him into cap space, too.
Knicks
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo (drafted 51st overall in 2014): The Knicks signed the 6’6″ small forward for two years at the minimum salary with a $75K partial guarantee for this season. Antetokounmpo spent 2014/15 with New York’s D-League affiliate.
Nuggets
- Nikola Jokic (drafted 41st overall in 2014): The 6’11” center, who spent this past season with Mega Leks in Serbia, signed a deal worth $5.551MM over four years with a team option on the final season. Denver used cap room to facilitate the contract.
Sixers
- Jordan McRae (drafted 58th overall in 2014): The 6’5″ shooting guard signed his required tender with the Sixers. That means he took a one-year deal for the minimum salary without any guaranteed money. He split 2014/15 between Melbourne of Australia and Philadelphia’s D-League affiliate.
Spurs
- Deshaun Thomas (drafted 58th overall in 2013): Just like McRae, Thomas is a former No. 58 pick who signed his required tender, as he put pen to paper on a deal with the Spurs that covers one year at the minimum salary without a guarantee, according to terms that Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders lists. He spent the past season with Barcelona of Spain.
Thunder
- Josh Huestis (drafted 29th overall in 2014): Huestis and the Thunder made an unprecedented pact before the 2014 draft: The Thunder would take Huestis, who wasn’t widely considered a first-round prospect, at No. 29 overall, and he would play for Oklahoma City’s D-League team instead of signing a rookie scale contract last year. The 6’7″ small forward from Stanford waited his turn, played for the D-League Oklahoma City Blue, and finally signed a rookie scale contract this summer. He’s set to make nearly $5.818MM over four years.
Timberwolves
- Nemanja Bjelica (drafted 35th overall in 2010): The reigning Euroleague MVP signed a deal reportedly worth $11.7MM over three years, a value that indicates the Timberwolves used part of their mid-level exception. Bjelica, a 6’10” forward, had been playing for Fenerbahce Ulker in Turkey.
Mavs Re-Sign J.J. Barea
JULY 16TH, 10:05am: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
JULY 6TH, 3:47pm: J.J. Barea will re-sign with the Mavericks, he tells Carlos Rosa Rosa of El Nuevo Dia (hat tip to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com). Rosa indicates that it’s a three-year pact with annual salaries of $2.8MM and a player option on year three, though a third year would require the team to use cap space instead of the $2.814MM room exception. Berger and TNT’s David Aldridge indicate that it’s just two years at $5.6MM total (Twitter link), which would fit within the exception, seemingly a necessity if the Mavs are to fit all of their agreements under the cap without pulling off salary-clearing maneuvers.
The Mavs and Barea had been nearing a deal since late last week, as Aldridge first reported, though it seemed just a couple of days prior that he was close to signing with the Heat. The Bulls and Lakers also reportedly had interest in the client of Dan Fegan, an agent with close ties to the Mavs.
Dallas has Non-Bird rights on Barea, but they only provide for 120% of the minimum, since he signed for the minimum with the Mavs after he cleared waivers from the Timberwolves at the beginning of the season. Thus, the Mavs appear to be turning to other means to keep the waterbug point guard in the fold.