Nick Calathes Signs With Panathinaikos
Grizzlies restricted free agent Nick Calathes has signed with Greece’s Panathinaikos, the team announced (Twitter link; translation via Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi on Twitter). Sportando’s Enea Trapani reported the sides had a deal earlier this week, though Calathes denied it. David Pick of Eurobasket.com reported that he’d commit to the Greek club today if he couldn’t find an NBA deal to his liking. Memphis couldn’t match the offer from Panathinaikos since that right only applies to bids from other NBA teams. The exact terms of the agreement were not released, but Trapani’s initial report pegged Calathes’ deal as being for three years and $7MM.
Memphis had extended Calathes a qualifying offer worth $1,147,276, making him a restricted free agent this offseason. The point guard made 58 appearances for the Grizzlies during the 2014/14 campaign, averaging 4.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 14.4 minutes per contest. His slash line was .421/.256/.533.
Calathes had been drawing some NBA interest, but he was reportedly hesitant to continue his career as a backup, as Pick noted. The Mavericks had reportedly contacted him, though that was more than two weeks ago, and the addition of Deron Williams likely eliminated any opportunity for Calathes in Dallas.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Raptors Ink Norman Powell
The Raptors have officially signed second round pick Norman Powell, the team announced via a press release. The length and terms of the deal were not disclosed. Powell was the No. 46 overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft.
The 22-year-old appeared in 36 contests for UCLA this past season, averaging 16.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists with a slash line of .456/.319/.751. His career numbers with the Bruins were 9.8 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 1.5 APG. Powell is ranked No. 28 on UCLA’s all-time scoring list with 1,376 career points.
Powell has appeared in three Summer League games in Las Vegas where he leads the Raptors in scoring with 19.3 points per contest, and he’s shooting 59.5% from the field. The guard has led the team in scoring in each game, including a team-high 20 points during his professional debut against Sacramento’s squad. Hoops Rumors’ Zach Links chatted with Powell prior to this year’s draft.
Spurs Re-Sign Matt Bonner
The Spurs have re-signed veteran forward Matt Bonner, the team announced in a press release. The deal is for one year at the veteran’s minimum, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express News reports. The longtime Spur was reportedly thinking about retirement this spring, though he said last year that he wished to play for several more seasons.
The 35-year-old appeared in 72 games for San Antonio this past season, averaging 3.7 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.7 assists with a slash line of .409/.365/.811. His career numbers through 11 NBA campaigns are 6.0 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 0.7 APG.
Bonner had also reportedly drawn interest from the Kings, who have been seeking a stretch four in the free agent marketplace.
Atlantic Notes: Pressey, Prokhorov, Williams
Phil Pressey, whom the Celtics waived today, is already drawing interest from other teams, according to agent Aaron Mintz, as Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe reports, though he’d have to clear waivers before he could sign. In any case, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge had no shortage of praise for the point guard, as Himmelsbach relays.
“Phil may be my favorite player I’ve ever been around in the NBA, as a player, a coach or as an executive,” Ainge said. “It was a very difficult morning for me today. He’s a player I’d want on my team all the time. Unfortunately, we just have an abundance of small guards already. It’s unfortunate. He’s helped us a lot in the last two years, and he’s a classy and hardworking player.”
Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- An announcement could come within the next two weeks that Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has bought Bruce Ratner’s 20% stake in the Nets, a move that would give Prokhorov 100% of the team, Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher says (video link). The possibility still exists that Prokhorov will move in the other direction and sell off his majority interest, but the indications are strong that he’ll indeed buy the remaining shares of the team, Bucher says. Such a deal would also see Prokhorov’s interest in the Barclays Center rise from 45% to 100%, according to Bucher. Still, the move may well have more to do with debt that Ratner’s company owes Prokhorov and his partners than Prokhorov’s desire to own all of the team and the arena, since according to NetsDaily, Ratner faces a deadline to resolve that debt.
- The precise amount of money the Nets will have on their cap each of the next five years as a result of the buyout and stretch of Deron Williams‘ contract is $5,474,787, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (All Twitter links). That means he gave up exactly $16MM in the buyout. His new contract with the Mavericks is worth $5.4MM this year and $5.6MM next season, according to Pincus, so assuming he remains on that contract through the end of 2015/16, and assuming he and the Nets didn’t waive set off rights, Brooklyn’s obligation for 2015/16 will be further reduced to about $3.197MM.
- Shooting guard Daniel Hackett, who worked out for the Knicks, has a verbal agreement to sign with Olympiacos of Greece, sources tell Sportando Emiliano Carchia. New York was willing to sign Hackett for training camp, Carchia adds, but it looks like he’ll stay overseas.
- Fenerbahce Ulker said the contract that former Celtics forward Gigi Datome signed with them covered two years, but it includes a player option for a third, according to Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
Southwest Notes: Mavs, Williams, Calathes
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban spoke Tuesday with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and “it started off more than a little frigid,” as Cuban recounted via Cyber Dust, his social media app, and as the Dallas Morning News relays. That’s not surprising, given the DeAndre Jordan saga, but Cuban said he and Ballmer cleared the air.
“I told him exactly what I told other owners, I didn’t have a problem with his hail Mary approach to keeping a player,” Cuban wrote. “I understood why they did it. And even how they did it. They got their player back. End of story.”
Cuban said he doesn’t have a problem with the July Moratorium, which seemingly helped facilitate Jordan’s reversal, but even if he did, the moratorium doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Deron Williams‘ two-year deal with the Mavs is worth $10MM and includes a player option, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- The clock appears to be ticking on an NBA future for Grizzlies restricted free agent Nick Calathes. The point guard denied to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal that he has signed with Panathinaikos of Greece, but he’ll commit to that team if he doesn’t find an NBA deal today, according to David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Calathes is drawing NBA interest, but he’s hesitant to continue as a backup, Pick hears. The Mavericks have reportedly contacted him, though that was two weeks ago. Memphis has the power to match all competing bids from NBA teams, but not from overseas clubs.
- Panathinaikos is close to a deal with center Nikola Milutinov, this year’s 26th overall pick, Sportando’s Enea Trapani writes. Regardless, Milutinov won’t soon be joining the Spurs, the team that drafted him, as San Antonio has informed the NBA that it won’t sign him or 2013 No. 28 pick Livio Jean-Charles during 2015/16, allowing San Antonio to remove their cap hits, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links).
- The Rockets reportedly had hopes of signing draft-and-stash prospect Marko Todorovic this summer, but that won’t be happening, as the big man has signed a three-year deal with Khimki Moscow, the Russian club announced (Twitter link; hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
- Spurs GM R.C. Buford said he and the front office didn’t think that they would have been able to snag Ray McCallum if he’d have been a free agent on the open market, so they were pleased to pull off the trade with the Kings that brought him in, as Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News chronicles. McCallum, who’s excited about the deal, earned a $200K partial guarantee on his salary when the Spurs didn’t waive him Sunday.
- A $390,089 sliver of Houston’s Jeremy Lin trade exception expired Monday, though it was essentially too small to use. The Rockets had already used the majority of the exception, once worth $8,374,646, to trade for Corey Brewer and Alexey Shved in December.
- Brewer’s new three-year deal with the Rockets is worth precisely $23,420,913, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders shows.
Sixers Sign Pierre Jackson
WEDNESDAY, 12:37pm: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
9:42 pm: The deal is for four years, and is partially guaranteed, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group tweets.
TUESDAY, 9:20pm: The Sixers and unrestricted free agent Pierre Jackson have reached an agreement on a contract, Jake Fischer of LibertyBallers reports (Twitter link). The length and details of the pact have not been released yet. The point guard, who is coming off a ruptured right Achilles’ tendon, was cleared to resume basketball activities back in April.
Jackson had been waived by Philly last September, but had indicated that he wanted to return and play for the Sixers this coming season. “There’s a little bit of loyalty here. I want to play in Philadelphia, man,” Jackson said. The 23-year-old was part of the Nerlens Noel trade between Philadelphia and the Pelicans after the Sixers selected him in the second round in 2013. New Orleans traded Jackson back to the Sixers last year in exchange for Russ Smith‘s draft rights.
The young point guard will figure into the backcourt mix for a still rebuilding Sixers team. Jackson toiled away in the NBA D-League during the 2013/14 campaign, appearing in 31 contests for the Idaho Stampede, Utah’s affiliate. Jackson averaged 29.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 6.2 assists, with a slash line of .449/.349/.737.
Celtics Waive Phil Pressey
12:22pm: The move is official, the team announced.
11:39am: Ainge confirmed that he’s about to put Pressey on waivers, tweets Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald, though the executive doesn’t sound excited about it. “It’s really tough for us to waive Phil,” Ainge said.
11:00am: The Celtics have chosen to waive Phil Pressey rather than guarantee the minimum salary for the two-year veteran, reports Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Today is the last day the team can release Pressey before his $947,276 salary, currently non-guaranteed, locks in. Pressey was also reportedly a candidate to go to the Warriors in the David Lee trade, which has still yet to become official, so it would appear more likely that Boston will include Chris Babb in that swap.
Pressey saw 11 starts as a rookie, averaging 15.1 minutes per game that season, but he saw less playing time this year even though he was a more efficient scorer. President of basketball operations Danny Ainge liked his perimeter defense, but the point guard position is crowded in Boston, with Marcus Smart, Isaiah Thomas, Evan Turner and this year’s No. 16 overall pick, Terry Rozier, among the team’s options.
Boston’s acquisition of Perry Jones III from the Thunder on Tuesday spelled further trouble for Pressey, since it added another already-guaranteed deal to the roster. The Celtics seemingly remain a work in progress, and while teams don’t have to cut down to 15 players until the end of training camp, it appears that Boston doesn’t want to commit to Pressey at this point. He’d be eligible to re-sign with the Celtics if he clears waivers.
Clippers Sign Branden Dawson
WEDNESDAY, 11:31am: Dawson has officially signed with the Clippers, the team announced.
TUESDAY, 2:22pm: The Clippers are expected to sign Branden Dawson, this year’s No. 56 overall pick, within the week, reports Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). The former Michigan State forward’s strong showing in the summer league is fueling the Clippers’ desire for a deal, Bolch indicates. It would likely be a minimum-salary deal covering no more than two seasons for Dawson, since that’s all the Clippers are limited to after re-signing DeAndre Jordan and spending their taxpayer’s mid-level exception on Paul Pierce.
New Orleans originally drafted Dawson, quickly trading him to the Clippers in return for cash. Early returns on the $630K investment are positive for the Clips, as the 22-year-old averaged 12.8 points and 10.3 rebounds across 25.6 minutes per game in his first four summer league appearances.
Defense is Dawson’s calling card, but he’s been working on a jump shot, as he told Zach Links of Hoops Rumors before the draft. The 22-year-old mentioned the Clippers and the Pelicans among the teams that liked him.
And-Ones: Labor, Moratorium, Max Salaries
Commissioner Adam Silver struck an optimistic tone about labor negotiations with a December 15th, 2016 deadline looming for owners and players to opt out of the collective bargaining agreement, writes Sam Amick of USA Today.
“You know, I’m not sure if the players association is going to opt out,” Silver said as he addressed media Tuesday. “[Union executive director] Michele [Roberts] made some early remarks suggesting maybe they were leaning that direction, but she hasn’t told me that she plans to opt out. And I know that in discussions that she and I have had and I’ve had with players association representatives, it’s clear the goal on both sides is to avoid any sort of work stoppage whatsoever and maybe even to avoid the opt out.”
Still, Silver claims a “significant number of teams” are losing money, Amick notes. The commissioner said the league projects that it’ll need to issue a $500MM check to the players after the 2016/17 season because total salaries aren’t expected to add up to the required 50-51% of basketball related income, even as the salary cap surges, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com observes. Berger sees a strong chance that the owners opt out, in spite of Silver’s seeming confidence that such can be avoided. Here’s more from around the league:
- Owners discussed the idea of changing the July Moratorium to avoid sagas like the one that surrounded DeAndre Jordan as he decommitted to the Mavs to return to the Clippers, but none of the owners could come up with an appealing solution, Silver said, according to Berger.
- The projected maximum salaries for next season are $20.4MM for players with fewer than seven years of experience, $24.9MM for those with seven to nine years in the league, and $29.3MM for veterans of 10 or more years, tweets former Nets executive Bobby Marks. See this year’s max salaries right here.
- The union continues to consider a get-tough stance on agencies that represent both players and coaches, but the most likely outcome is a continuance of the same policies, despite the conflict of interest, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports. Agencies are allowed to represent both as long as they create separate divisions, with separate agents, to handle player and management clients, as Lowe explains. Still, not all are pleased with arrangement, and when the Bucks, who have close ties to Excel, drafted Excel client Rashad Vaughn last month, some people around the league found it untoward, Lowe writes.
- The Nets once more led luxury taxpayers for this past season, though it wasn’t the record amount of some $90MM from a year ago. This time, they paid $19.98MM, followed by the Cavs with $6.96MM, the Clippers at $4.8MM, and the Thunder at $2.79MM, salary cap expert Larry Coon tweets. Teams that didn’t pay the tax saw $830K each as a result.
- The second-round pick that the Celtics are sending to the Thunder as part of the Perry Jones III trade is Boston’s own 2018 second-rounder, but if it falls within the top 55 picks that year, the Celtics’ debt to Oklahoma City is extinguished, according to RealGM.
Raptors Sign Luis Scola
JULY 15TH, 9:32am: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
“Luis is an accomplished NBA and international player. We are thrilled to add his experience and leadership to our team and our locker room,” Raptors GM Masai Ujiri said in the team’s statement. “Luis is a winner wherever he goes.”
11:59pm: The agreement is for one year and approximately $3MM, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (on Twitter).
JULY 8TH, 11:29pm: The Raptors and unrestricted free agent Luis Scola have agreed to a deal, Scola announced via his Twitter account (h/t Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun). The length and terms of the deal have not yet been announced.
Scola spent the 2014/15 campaign with the Pacers, appearing in 81 games, including 16 as a starter, where he averaged 9.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 20.5 minutes per contest. His slash line was .467/.250/.699. Through eight NBA seasons, the 35-year-old has notched averages of 12.7 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 1.7 APG, with a shooting line of .497/.167/.742.
It was reported back in May that there was mutual interest in the forward returning to Indiana, but with the Pacers revamping their roster and aiming for a faster-paced offense, the Argentinian likely fell out of the organization’s plans. Instead he’ll head North to the Raptors where he’ll likely compete for minutes at the four spot with Patrick Patterson.