Wizards Re-Sign Marcus Thornton
JULY 28: The Wizards have issued a press release announcing their deal with Thornton, which is a minimum-salary pact.
JULY 7: The Wizards have agreed to a deal with Marcus Thornton, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops reports (Twitter link). It will be a one-year, $1.3MM arrangement that is fully guaranteed, Scotto adds.
The 29-year-old had indicated back in March that he hoped to return to Washington in 2016/17, and it appears that Thornton’s wish has been granted. The veteran will compete for minutes off the bench with Tomas Satorasnky, Kelly Oubre and Trey Burke. You can view the Wizards’ current depth chart here.
Thornton made 14 appearances for Washington last season, averaging 8.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 16.0 minutes per outing. His slash line was .393/.333/.762.
Community Shootaround: J.R. Smith
In a recent Community Shootaround discussion, we asked which free agent – besides LeBron James – represented the best option still available on the open market. Those of you who responded gave plenty of support to J.R. Smith over other options like Dion Waiters and Maurice Harkless, who have since signed deals, and guys like Lance Stephenson and Donatas Motiejunas, who remain unsigned.
While most observers believe that Smith will eventually re-sign with the Cavaliers, that’s not necessarily a given. We’ve certainly seen plenty of surprising free agent departures this month, and one report from mid-July suggested that Smith was seeking a $15MM annual salary — assuming the Cavs lock up LeBron James for a max or near-max deal, a $15MM salary for Smith would put the team way over the tax line once again, even after this year’s huge salary cap leap.
Meanwhile, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders detailed on Wednesday, the 76ers, Nuggets, and Nets all have over $18MM in cap room, while teams like the Thunder, Lakers, Timberwolves, Suns, and Jazz are all above $12.5MM. Not all of those clubs have a need for a player like Smith, and he may not be interested in a few of them, but perhaps there’s a fit somewhere in that list of eight teams — or with another club for a more modest price.
The Cavaliers are limited in what they can offer outside free agents, making Smith a logical fit, since the team can go over the cap to sign him. But how high should the Cavs be willing to go? And how long should they be willing to wait for Smith to compromise on his asking price? Do you see a more ideal fit for Smith with another team?
Take to the comments section below to share your opinions on Smith. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Contract Details: Selden, Waiters, Celtics, Eddie
After passing along a handful of contract details last night, we’ve got several more to round up. Let’s dive right in…
- The Grizzlies added Wayne Selden to their offseason roster with a summer contract, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, who notes (via Twitter) that the training-camp, minimum-salary deal offers no real injury protection for the former Jayhawk.
- Dion Waiters‘ new two-year deal with the Heat features a 15% trade kicker, tweets Pincus.
- Bobby Marks of The Vertical has the details on Demetrius Jackson‘s and Ben Bentil‘s contracts with the Celtics. Jackson’s four-year deal, which is worth nearly $5.5MM in total, starts at $1.45MM fully guaranteed in 2016/17, and declines annually in subsequent seasons. Bentil, meanwhile, got a three-year, minimum-salary pact that is partially guaranteed for $250K in year one.
- According to J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com, the Wizards guaranteed $175K of Jarell Eddie‘s contract in order to get him to agree to push his guarantee deadline back. Eddie originally would have been owed his full salary if he hadn’t been waived by July 15, but the two sides worked out an arrangement to postpone that deadline to October.
- Mike Tobey received a $75K on his two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Hornets, while Beau Beech got $45K guaranteed on his one-year, minimum-salary pact with the Nets, according to Pincus (Twitter links).
Nets Sign Egidijus Mockevicius
JULY 28: The Nets have officially signed Mockevicius to a camp deal, per RealGM.com. Mockevicius certainly won’t be assured of a regular-season roster spot, but Brooklyn currently doesn’t have a ton of depth at center, with only Justin Hamilton behind Lopez, so the rookie could receive 15-man consideration if he impresses in camp.
JUNE 26: The Nets have agreed to a partially guaranteed, one-year deal with Egidijus Mockevicius, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, however, it’s likely a minimum-salary arrangement.
Mockevicius played four seasons at Evansville, shooting 61.7% from the field. The 6’10″center is ranked 97th in Jonathan Givony’s T0p 100 prospects on DraftExpress.com. The big man averaged 15.6 points and 14.1 rebounds per game while sporting a 29.3 player efficiency rating during his senior season.
Brook Lopez is the only center under contract for the Nets, as the team’s depth chart at Roster Resource indicates. Brooklyn will need to add at least one more bruiser in the frontcourt and Mockevicius’ staying power will likely be tied to who else the team can add in free agency.
No Deal Yet For Celtics, Colton Iverson?
10:19am: A source tells Jay King of MassLive.com that there is no agreement at this point between Iverson and the Celtics, despite the fact that the seven-footer wants a shot to play in the NBA.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that Iverson and the C’s won’t eventually finalize a deal — Pick’s report didn’t materialize out of thin air, so it seems likely that the two sides are talking. We’ll pass along any updates as they become available.
8:51am: Three years after landing him on draft night, the Celtics have agreed to a deal with big man Colton Iverson, according to international basketball reporter David Pick (Twitter link). It’s not clear if there’s any guaranteed money included on Iverson’s deal, which will bring him to camp with the C’s.
Iverson, who played his college ball at Minnesota and Colorado State, was selected 53rd overall in the 2013 draft with a pick Boston acquired from Indiana in exchange for cash. Since then, Iverson has played overseas, spending time with various teams in Turkey and Spain. The 27-year-old played for Pinar Karsiyaka last season, averaging 11.4 PPG and 6.4 RPG in 33 Turkish League contests (21.2 MPG).
The timing of Iverson’s move is interesting, since the Celtics’ depth chart looks pretty crowded this season. Iverson will be the team’s 19th player under contract, not counting 2016 second-round pick Abdel Nader, who remains unsigned. Of those 19 players, 16 are believed to have guaranteed contracts for the coming season, while John Holland‘s deal is non-guaranteed and Ben Bentil received a partial guarantee.
With an uphill battle to make the regular-season roster, Iverson could end up being one of the players the Celtics cut in training camp and assign to their D-League affiliate in Maine.
And-Ones: Varejao, Wells, Gay, Contract Details
The Warriors announced via press release that center Anderson Varejao was diagnosed with a small lower back disc herniation. The injury will force him to sit out the 2016 Olympics, but he is expected to be at full strength in time for training camp, per the release. Varejao recently inked a one-year, minimum salary deal to return to Golden State for the 2016/17 campaign.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Equipment manager Matias Testi, who was on the receiving end of a Blake Griffin punch during an altercation at a restaurant last season, is no longer with the Clippers, Dan Woike of The Orange County Register tweets, confirming an earlier report by TMZ (Twitter link).
- Dez Wells, who spent part of last season with the Thunder‘s D-League affiliate, has signed a deal to play in Germany for Tigers Tubingen, J. Michael of CSNMid-Atlantic.com writes.
- Disgruntled Kings swingman Rudy Gay underwent shock wave treatment to alleviate pain in his Achilles, not surgery as was initially relayed, James Ham of CSNBayArea.com notes. “I actually had surgery,” Gay had previously told Sactown Royalty, “I had Achilles tendonitis, basically micro tears in my Achilles and for the past two seasons it’s been bothering me so I’ve been trying to play through it and I got to a point where I needed to have it fixed so I got it fixed.”
- Troy Williams‘ two-year deal with the Grizzlies includes a partial guarantee of $150K for 2016/17, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
- The Wizards‘ two-year deal with undrafted free agent Danuel House is a minimum salary arrangement that includes a partial guarantee of $100K, Pincus relays ( Twitter links). Washington also included a $50K partial guarantee in Sheldon McClellan‘s pact, Pincus adds.
- Treveon Graham‘s two-year arrangement with the Hornets includes a partial guarantee of $75K for next season, Pincus tweets.
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Salary Cap Snapshot: Brooklyn Nets
Here’s a breakdown of where the Nets currently stand financially:
Guaranteed Salary
- Brook Lopez — $21,165,675
- Jeremy Lin — $11,483,254 [Contract Includes 10% Trade Kicker]
- Trevor Booker — $9,250,000
- Andrew Nicholson —$6,088,993
- Deron Williams — $5,474,787 [Waived via stretch provision]
- Luis Scola — $5,000,000 [Waived by team; $500K in likely incentives not earned]
- Greivis Vasquez — $4,347,826 [Waived by team]
- K.J. McDaniels —$3,333,333
- Justin Hamilton — $3,000,000
- Randy Foye — $2,500,000
- Quincy Acy — $1,790,092
- Caris LeVert — $1,562,280
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson — $1,395,600
- Isaiah Whitehead — $1,074,145
- Anthony Bennett — $1,015,696 [Waived by team]
- Marcus Thornton —$980,431 [Waived by team; Actual Salary — $1,315,448]
- Sean Kilpatrick — $980,431
- Joe Harris — $980,431
- Spencer Dinwiddie — $726,672
- Andrea Bargnani — $323,599 [Salary remaining from buyout]
- Jarrett Jack — $115,851 [Waived by team]
- Yogi Ferrell — $102,300 [Waived by team (Dec 8)]
- Yogi Ferrell — $100,000 [Waived by team (Oct 21)]
- Egidijus Mockevicius — $100,000 [Waived by team]
- Archie Goodwin — $75,000
- Cliff Alexander — $75,000 [Waived by team]
- Prince Ibeh — $75,000 [Waived by team]
- Quincy Acy — $57,672 [10-day contract (Jan 10); actual salary — $61,821]
- Quincy Acy — $57,672 [10-day contract (Jan 20); actual salary — $61,821]
- Archie Goodwin — $57,672 [10-day contract (Mar 15); actual salary — $59,747]
- Archie Goodwin — $57,672 [10-day contract (Mar 25); actual salary — $59,747]
- Beau Beech — $45,000 [Waived by team]
Total Guaranteed Salary= $83,392,084
Cash Sent Out Via Trade: $75K sent to Rockets in K.J. McDaniels trade [Amount Remaining $3.425MM]
Cash Received Via Trade: $0 [Amount Remaining $3.5MM]
Payroll Exceptions Available
- Room Exception: $2,898,000
Total Projected Payroll: $83,392,084
Salary Cap: $94,143,000
Estimated Available Cap Space: $10,750,916
Luxury Tax Threshold: $113,287,000
Amount Below Luxury Tax: $29,894,916
Salary Cap Floor: $84,729,000
Amount Below Salary Cap Floor: $1,336,916
Last Update: 4/16/17
The Basketball Insiders salary pages and The Vertical’s salary database were used in the creation of this post.
Celtics Ink Jaylen Brown
The Celtics have officially signed 2016 lottery pick Jaylen Brown, the team announced via press release. Brown was one of the five remaining 2016 first round picks who had yet to put pen to paper on their rookie deals.
Brown was selected with the third overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. He appeared in six games this summer for the Celtics split between the Utah and Samsung Summer Leagues in Las Vegas, averaging 16.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals in 29.0 minutes per game. Brown was named to the Samsung All-NBA Summer League Second Team in Las Vegas.
The 6’7” forward from the University of California was selected to the five-player USBWA Freshman All-America team, was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and was the lone freshman this season to make the All-Pac 12 First Team, according to the release. He averaged 14.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 34 appearances and shot .431/.294/.654 from the field in his lone collegiate season.
Celtics, Ben Bentil Finalize Contract
6:10pm: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
11:46am: After signing second-round pick Demetrius Jackson, the Celtics have also finalized a deal with another second-rounder, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, who reports (via Twitter) that Ben Bentil received a three-year deal with a partial guarantee in year one. Himmelsbach first reported over the weekend that Boston and the young power forward had agreed to terms on a contract.
[RELATED: Update on unsigned 2016 draft picks]
There had been some uncertainty about whether or not Bentil would join the Celtics right away, since the team selected six players in the draft. However, first-round picks Guerschon Yabusele and Ante Zizic will be stashed overseas, and Boston hasn’t yet committed to adding Abdel Nader to its roster. That left the door open for Bentil, Jackson, and third overall pick Jaylen Brown to join the C’s as rookies.
Of course, just because Bentil received a contract from the Celtics, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s guaranteed a roster spot for the regular season. Including Tyler Zeller and Gerald Green, Boston has 14 guaranteed salaries on its books for the 2016/17 season. Jackson figures to receive a more sizable guarantee than Bentil, and the team also has John Holland on a non-guaranteed deal, so it may be an uphill battle for Bentil to crack the regular-season roster unless the Celtics make a trade or cut a player with a guaranteed contract.
Bentil, who left school after his sophomore year, averaged 21.1 PPG and 7.7 RPG during his last season at Providence. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com ranked him as this year’s 45th-best prospect, and the Celtics made him the 51st pick in last month’s draft.