Grizzlies Sign Jarell Martin
The Grizzlies have signed first-round draftee Jarell Martin to a rookie scale deal, the team announced via a press release. Martin was the No. 25 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft after being a consensus First Team All-SEC selection last season. The 21-year-old was the No. 39 ranked prospect according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
The big man out of LSU will likely receive a salary of more than $1.230MM this season and a total of nearly $6.274MM over the course of his four-year contract, as our salary chart for 2015 first-rounders shows. These figures presume he’ll get 120% of the scale amount, which is the norm.
Martin made 33 appearances for the Tigers during the 2014/15 campaign, averaging 16.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 35.1 minutes, with a slash line of .509/.269/.690. His career averages were 13.7 PPG, 6.9 RPG, and 1.4 APG.
Magic Sign Mario Hezonja
The Magic have signed Mario Hezonja, this year’s fifth overall pick, the team announced. He’ll almost certainly receive a salary of more than $3.741MM this season and a total of nearly $16.897MM over the four-year rookie scale contract, as our salary chart for 2015 first-rounders shows. Those figures presume he’ll get 120% of the scale amount, which is standard procedure. The Arn Tellem client will likely put some of that toward his $1.4MM buyout from Barcelona of Spain. The Magic can only cover $625K of that.
Hezonja’s selection wasn’t too surprising, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress had him as the fifth-best prospect while Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranked him sixth. The Croatian swingman is a versatile scorer with tantalizing outside shooting skill, though he has a reputation for a poor attitude.
The Magic are likely done with signings for more than the minimum salary, as Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel wrote. That frees the team to formally sign Hezonja, a maneuver that lifts his cap hold by about $900K.
Clippers, Darrell Arthur Share Mutual Interest
The Clippers and Darrell Arthur share interest in the idea of a deal, but the team has yet to make an offer to the Jerry Hicks client, reports Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). The power forward has nonetheless been drawing the eye of the Clips for a while, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register reported the club’s interest last month.
Arthur and the Nuggets have had productive talks about a return, but the Pistons and Wizards like him, too, as Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post reported last week. The Nuggets have Arthur’s Bird rights, so they can far outbid the Clippers, who have only the minimum salary to offer. The Pistons could float him the $2.814MM room exception, while the Wizards have only about $1.464MM left on their mid-level after using most of it on Alan Anderson, and that’s not much more than the minimum.
The 27-year-old put up numbers this season largely in line with his career averages, and as usual, he played a bench role, averaging 17.0 minutes per game. Still, he’s been a fixture in the rotation for the Grizzlies and Nuggets since becoming the 27th overall pick in 2008.
Jazz Re-Sign Joe Ingles
FRIDAY, 2:34pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
MONDAY, 6:17pm: The Jazz are finalizing a deal with Joe Ingles, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). The sides have reached agreement on a pact worth $4.5MM over two years, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link), a raise on the minimum salary he made this past season as a rookie. The move can’t become official until Thursday at the earliest, since the July Moratorium still holds.
It’s no surprise to see the sides agree to terms, since they had mutual interest in a continued partnership as the regular season ended, according to Gordon Monson of The Salt Lake Tribune. Utah made a qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent and reached out to him as soon as the free agent negotiating period began July 1st.
Ingles will see more than his Non-Bird rights would have provided him, so Utah will either have to use cap space or the $2.814MM room exception to accommodate his deal. The two-year length of the contract means he’ll again be eligible for restricted free agency in 2017.
The Jazz nabbed the Bradley Ames client off waivers from the Clippers at the start of this past season. Clippers president Doc Rivers said he’d wanted to re-sign Ingles after he cleared waivers, but he never got a chance to do so. Instead, the 27-year-old Australian, who’ll turn 28 in October, spent his first NBA season in Utah after several years playing in Europe.
Nets Sign Wayne Ellington
FRIDAY, 2:17pm: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
11:14pm: It’s a two-year, $3MM deal with a player option, reports Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com (Twitter link). That would appear to exhaust Brooklyn’s taxpayer’s mid-level, Mazzeo notes, leaving the team with only the minimum to hand out to outside free agents.
THURSDAY, 7:59am: The Nets have an agreement in principle with Wayne Ellington, the team announced via press release. Teams usually announce signings rather than agreements, so it’s unclear if a formal contract has yet been signed. Brooklyn has a portion of its taxpayer’s mid-level left over after agreeing to terms with Shane Larkin for part of it, though it’s not yet known if the team is using that or if Ellington is merely getting the minimum salary.
Ellington leaves the Lakers despite making it clear to GM Mitch Kupchak that he preferred to come back. The Lakers reportedly reached out to him on the first day of free agency, as did the Cavaliers, Warriors, Wizards, Spurs and Hawks. The Knicks also apparently had interest.
The Thaddeus Foucher client who turns 28 in October is coming off career highs of 10.0 points and 25.8 minutes per game for the Lakers. That’s in spite of 37.0% three-point shooting that was below his 38.2% career rate.
Thunder Sign Cameron Payne
The Thunder have signed Cameron Payne, this year’s No. 14 overall pick, the team announced. His rookie scale contract is likely worth slightly more than $9.6MM over four years, with a first-year salary of nearly $2.022MM, presuming he gets the standard 120% of the rookie scale, as our table of salaries for 2015 first-round picks shows.
Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors had predicted in our final mock draft that Payne would go to the Thunder amid rumors of a promise from the team. Chad Ford of ESPN.com, who originally reported that chatter, had Payne as the No. 14 prospect in his rankings. Payne starred at mid-major Murray State, averaging 20.2 points, 6.0 assists and 2.5 turnovers this past season, and he told Zach Links of Hoops Rumors before the draft that he compares his game to that of Tony Parker.
The signing of the Travis King client raises his cap hold by roughly $300K, but it does little to affect flexibility for Oklahoma City, which is already well above the $70MM cap. The Thunder figure to pay the tax should they match Portland’s offer sheet to Enes Kanter, as expected, but the club didn’t end up trading its pick and seems committed to Payne as a backup for Russell Westbrook.
LeBron James Re-Signs With Cavs
1:26pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
“LeBron’s re-signing today is a reflection and continuation of his strong, personal commitment to help deliver championships to Northeast Ohio and Cavs fans everywhere,” GM David Griffin said in the team’s statement. “We share this deep level of commitment with him. His impact upon this team, his community and the game are impossible to overstate and we look forward to continuing on our mission together.”
FRIDAY, 12:10pm: James signed this morning, a source tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The team has yet to make a formal announcement.
THURSDAY, 12:01pm: Agent Rich Paul notified the Cavaliers that client LeBron James will sign with them on the first day he can in free agency, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. That would indicate that James will sign today. It’s no great surprise, unlike last year, as James has been likely to stay with Cleveland, though the timing of the move, which comes before an agreement between the Cavs and fellow Paul client Tristan Thompson, is somewhat unexpected. It’s a two-year deal with a player option, Broussard adds in a second tweet, with salary figures that indicate it’ll be a max contract. That’s the very sort of arrangement that Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group wrote months ago that James was likely to sign.
James, 30, turned in another stellar season in 2014/15, averaging 25.3 PPG, 7.4 APG, 6.0 RPG, and a 25.9 PER. This past campaign might not have been James’ career-best, but he was nothing short of dominant overall. After cruising to his eleventh consecutive All-Star selection, James put on a heroic effort in the postseason. Even after losing Kevin Love to a shoulder injury in their first round battle with the Celtics and Kyrie Irving to a knee injury in the Finals, LeBron kept his Cavs afloat into a hard-fought championship series against the Warriors.
LeBron and his squad experienced some road bumps in 2014/15, including an up-and-down start to the year and apparent friction between first-year coach David Blatt and core players. Ultimately, however, LeBron will continue to push to see things through in Cleveland as he promised to do this time last year. Of course, it also helps that James appears to have far more control over personnel moves now than he did in Miami.
There was never much question as to whether LeBron would re-sign with Cleveland, but the Cavs are surely breathing a sigh of relief now that they have word of his return.
Clippers Expect To Re-Sign Glen Davis
The Clippers and Glen Davis continue to talk, and the team expects it will re-sign Big Baby, reports Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter). Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers reportedly reached out to representatives of Davis soon after free agency began last week. It’s been an active Friday so far for the Clips, as they’ve been negotiating with Cole Aldrich and Austin Rivers as they maintain interest in Josh Smith.
Davis, 29, has a relationship with Doc that dates back to their days with the Celtics. The Clips have Early Bird rights on Davis to pay him up to about $6MM, though it’s unlikely he’ll command quite that much after playing last season on the minimum salary.
The eight-year veteran averaged career lows in points and minutes per game in 2014/15. Still, the John Hamilton client was one of only eight players to average more than 10 minutes per game in the playoffs for the Clippers this spring.
Clippers, Josh Smith Have Mutual Interest
FRIDAY, 12:42pm: The Clippers remain interested even after Jordan’s decision to return, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). The Kings and Mavs are also reportedly in the mix.
TUESDAY, 12:21pm: The interest between the Clippers and Smith is mutual, and the team has spoken to the representatives of the Brian Dyke and Wallace Prather client, reports Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (on Twitter).
MONDAY, 6:34pm: The Clippers are targeting unrestricted free agent Josh Smith even though the club is cap-strapped, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN com tweets.
Though the Clippers lost DeAndre Jordan to the Mavericks, they still have approximately $68.1MM in guaranteed salary commitments next season. They also used part of their mid-level exception to get a verbal agreement with veteran forward Paul Pierce and only have $2,088MM remaining. Smith could slide into the rotation as a backup to Blake Griffin at power forward, as well as play some small forward and even play alongside Griffin in smaller lineups.
There hasn’t been a whole lot of buzz regarding Smith in free agency, though the Kings reportedly met with him. Smith has expressed a strong interest in re-signing with Rockets, who signed him as a free agent in late December after the Pistons released him, even though he was in the second year of a guaranteed four-year, $54MM deal.
Still, it would appear that Smith could find a bigger offer if he’s patient. While he flamed out in Detroit, he seemed to reestablish at least some of his value as a rotation player on a team that reached the Western Conference Finals.
Smith started at small forward for Detroit but mainly played power forward with the Rockets off the bench, averaging 12.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 55 games. He also had some big games in the postseason, averaging 13.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
Clippers Near Deal With Austin Rivers
The Clippers and Austin Rivers are in “strong discussions” as they negotiate terms on a would-be new contract, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter), and the Clippers expect they’ll reach a deal, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link). It would likely be a short-term arrangement so that Rivers could hit free agency again soon, as Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders hears (Twitter link). Teams have offered him multiyear contracts, but he feels as though he can help improve his stock if he stays with the Clippers just a while longer, Kennedy adds (on Twitter).
It’s no surprise to see Rivers draw close to a deal with the Clippers, and in part because his father is Doc Rivers, the team’s president of basketball operations and coach. Doc made it clear this spring that he wanted to re-sign his son, though Austin reportedly intended to explore his options in unrestricted free agency.
Rivers can’t receive $3,110,796 this coming season from the Clippers. That’s because the Pelicans declined the fourth-year option on his rookie scale contract before this past season, so whichever team wound up with him at season’s end would be limited to no more than the amount of that option. That holds for the Clippers even though they had nothing to do with declining the option. Other teams can pay him more, though it’s unclear if he could command that much. The Clippers may well be wary of paying even as much as that $3MM-plus figure, since they’re already poised to exceed the $84.74MM tax line.