2016 August | Hoops Rumors

Emmanuel Mudiay, Bruno Caboclo Change Agents

August 29th, 2016 at 3:31pm CST by Luke Adams

3:31pm: Mudiay isn’t the only young player making the move to Wasserman. According to Marc J. Spears of The Vertical (via Twitter), Raptors forward Bruno Caboclo is also being represented by the agency now. Caboclo has two years remaining on his rookie contract, and will be extension-eligible next summer.

2:45pm: Emmanuel Mudiay has a new agent, according to a report from Sportando (via Twitter). A source tells Sportando that Mudiay, who had been repped by Jason Martin of Rival Sports, has now hired Wasserman for representation.

Mudiay, the seventh overall pick in last year’s draft, is coming off a solid rookie season in Denver in which he averaged 12.8 PPG, 5.5 APG, and 3.4 RPG. Mudiay will need to improve his 36.4% shooting percentage from the floor going forward, but he’s still just 20 years old, and is a key part of a Nuggets roster that features several talented young players.

Because Mudiay is currently playing on his four-year rookie deal, his new representatives shouldn’t have to do much work on the contract front anytime soon. Denver will make decisions on Mudiay’s 2017/18 and 2018/19 team options this offseason and next offseason, but the young point guard won’t be eligible for a contract extension until the summer of 2018.

Assuming the Nuggets exercise Mudiay’s 2017/18 team option before this year’s deadline, which should be a lock, he’ll be in line for a $3,381,480 salary a year from now. He’s set to earn $3,241,800 in 2016/17.

Teams Not Projected To Have 2017 Cap Room

August 29th, 2016 at 1:40pm CST by Luke Adams

During the first few years of the NBA’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement, many teams had virtually no chance to open up cap room. The salary cap remained in the $58MM range for three straight seasons, making it tricky for teams to get under the cap unless they were in rebuilding mode and shed high-priced players. However, with the cap now up to $94MM+, and projected to blow past $100MM next summer, that’s no longer the case.

This year, 27 of 30 teams used cap room at some point to acquire players, leaving just three teams that never went under the cap. Plenty of those 27 teams have since used up all their space and gone well over the cap, but not many currently project to be over the cap in future seasons.

The NBA’s most recent estimate for the 2017/18 salary cap, released last month, was $102MM. At this point in the league year, cap estimates are usually on the conservative side, so we can probably expect a slightly higher figure next year, but that’s no lock — particularly since the NBA and the players’ union may make changes to the CBA by next July.

Still, even if we assume that the $102MM projection is accurate, there are currently only two teams whose guaranteed salaries for 2017/18 exceed that figure. Here are those teams:

Projected to be over the 2017/18 cap:

Portland Trail Blazers: Incredibly, no NBA team has more guaranteed money on its 2017/18 books than the Blazers, whose $123.71MM blows away the competition. That total doesn’t include team options for Noah Vonleh and Shabazz Napier, a qualifying offer for Mason Plumlee, or Festus Ezeli‘s non-guaranteed salary. Throw in those figures, plus a few more non-guaranteed salaries, and Portland’s commitments total $140MM+. Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Allen Crabbe, and Evan Turner combine to make $86.58MM in ’17/18.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Even without a new contract for J.R. Smith, the Cavs already have more than $113MM in guaranteed salaries on their books for ’17/18. LeBron James‘ $33.29MM salary is the biggest number, but the team has four more eight-digit cap hits, ranging from about $10.34MM for Iman Shumpert to $22.64MM for Kevin Love.

While the Blazers and Cavs are the only two teams whose guaranteed salaries for next year exceed $102MM, there are a few more clubs joining them above that threshold when taking into account non-guaranteed salaries, options, and/or qualifying offers. Here are those teams:

Projected to potentially be over the 2017/18 cap:

Washington Wizards: After locking up Bradley Beal and Ian Mahinmi to expensive long-term deals this summer, the Wizards have $94MM+ in guaranteed salaries on their books for 2017/18. The team will have to add another $2MM+ to that total for Kelly Oubre, and then may need to commit more than $12MM in total to qualifying offers for Otto Porter and Trey Burke, potential restricted free agents.
Los Angeles Clippers: The Clippers have less than $60MM in guaranteed money on their ’17/18 cap, but that figure doesn’t include either Chris Paul or Blake Griffin, who have early termination options on their contracts. If both players stay in L.A. – either on their current deals or new ones – the Clippers will remain well over the cap.
Detroit Pistons: This summer, the Pistons maxed out their cap room, then went over the cap to sign Andre Drummond to a max deal. Once the club exercises its 2017/18 option on Stanley Johnson, it will have about $95MM on the cap for next year. Detroit must also account for qualifying offers for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Bullock, along with Aron Baynes‘ $6.5MM player option, taking the team over the projected cap.
Toronto Raptors: The Raptors’ current guaranteed and non-guaranteed commitments for 2017/18 total about $104MM, and the team figures to pare down that figure to below $102MM before the season begins. Still, if the club intends to keep Kyle Lowry beyond next season, he’ll likely require a big raise on his current $12MM player option, meaning Toronto’s remaining cap space will be chewed up quickly.

There are some other NBA teams that may not be involved in free agency because they’ll need any cap room they may have to re-sign their own players. Despite only currently having $37.3MM in guarantees on their 2017/18 cap, the Warriors may very well fit into this category, since Stephen Curry will be getting a huge raise, and the team will want to retain Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala as well.

Of course, these outlooks could change between now and next July, depending on in-season trades, draft-day deals, and potential CBA changes. For now though, the teams listed above appear to be the least likely candidates to go below the cap next offseason.

Information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.

Lance Stephenson To Work Out For Pelicans

August 29th, 2016 at 12:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Free agent wing Lance Stephenson will work out for the Pelicans, reports Brett Dawson of The Advocate (via Twitter). It’s not yet clear when that workout will take place, or how serious New Orleans’ interest in Stephenson is.

The Pelicans still appear to monitoring the free agent market closely, despite having 15 players with guaranteed salaries on their roster. An earlier report indicated that the team was preparing to meet with Ty Lawson this week before the veteran point guard received – and accepted – a contract offer from the Kings.

Stephenson, who turns 26 next Monday, spent the first four years of his NBA career in Indiana, and enjoyed a breakout year for the Pacers in 2013/14, averaging 13.8 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 4.6 APG, while shooting .391/.352/.711. However, he has regressed over the last two years, failing to find an ideal role during stints with the Hornets, Clippers, and Grizzlies.

Stephenson’s end-of-season run in Memphis this past year was the best he had looked since his Indiana days, as he earned consistent minutes on an injury-plagued Grizzlies squad and averaged 14.2 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 2.8 APG. Still, he doesn’t appear to have received much NBA interest this summer, with one report this month suggesting he may end up playing overseas. Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe, the author of that report, wrote that Stephenson has the talent to play in the NBA, but his personality may be scaring teams away.

The Pelicans currently have Langston Galloway, Buddy Hield, E’Twaun Moore, and Tyreke Evans on tap to earn minutes at the two, while Solomon Hill, Alonzo Gee, and Quincy Pondexter are expected to be in the mix at the three. Of course, many of those players are capable of playing other positions or may not see a ton of playing time, so there still could be room on the wing for Stephenson.

Pacers Sign Julyan Stone, Alex Poythress

August 29th, 2016 at 11:10am CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers have announced a pair of signings, revealing today in press release that they’ve added veteran guard Julyan Stone to their roster. The club also confirmed and formalized the previously-reported signing of undrafted free agent Alex Poythress.

Stone, 27, entered the NBA in 2012, and ultimately appeared in 47 total games over the course of three seasons for the Nuggets and Raptors. He didn’t see much action in those games, averaging just 1.3 PPG and 1.1 APG in 7.0 minutes per contest. Stone was in camp with the Thunder last fall, but was cut and signed with Gaziantep in Turkey — he averaged 4.4 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 25 games for the Turkish club.

As for Poythress, he missed the bulk of the 2014/15 campaign due to a torn left ACL. Returning to Kentucky as a senior, the forward made 31 appearances and averaged 10.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 0.6 steals in 23.6 minutes per contest. Poythress’ shooting line for the Wildcats was .601/.304/.706.

The Pacers already have 15 guaranteed contracts on their roster, so Stone and Poythress aren’t great bets to survive preseason cuts unless Indiana has injury problems heading into the season. Poythress could end up playing for the Pacers’ D-League affiliate in Fort Wayne, while Stone would be a candidate to head back overseas.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Hoops Rumors 2016 Free Agent Tracker

August 29th, 2016 at 10:09am CST by Luke Adams

It has been nearly two months since the NBA’s 2016 free agent period got underway, and while a few notable names – such as Ty Lawson – are still coming off the board, the majority of deals these days are for lower-profile camp invitees.

With training camps fast approaching, Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players have landed with which teams this offseason. To this end, we present our Free Agent Tracker, a feature we’ve had each year since our inception in 2012. Using our tracker, you can quickly look up deals, sorting by team, position, free agent type, and a handful of other variables.

A few notes on the tracker:

Some of the information you’ll find in the tracker will reflect reported contract agreements, rather than finalized deals. As signings become official, we’ll continue to update and modify the data as needed. A few rumored back-of-the-roster signings that have not yet been confirmed aren’t included in our tracker, for now.
When the years and dollars for a contract haven’t yet been confirmed, our data will be based on what’s been reported to date, so in some cases those amounts will be approximations rather than official figures. Salaries aren’t necessarily fully guaranteed either.
A restricted free agent who signs an offer sheet will be listed under the team that extended the offer sheet, but note that those signings won’t be official unless the player’s original team declines to match within the three-day period to do so. If the original team matches, we’ll update the tracker to show that the player is back with that team.

Our 2016 Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” and it’s also under the “Tools” menu atop the site. It will be updated throughout the offseason, so be sure to check back for the latest info. If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Ty Lawson Had Planned To Meet With Pelicans

August 29th, 2016 at 8:56am CST by Luke Adams

After visiting the Kings on the weekend, free agent point guard Ty Lawson had planned to meet with Pelicans officials early this week, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. However, Lawson ultimately cancelled that meeting when Sacramento made a contract offer, which he accepted.

Within his initial report on Lawson’s deal with the Kings, Wojnarowski noted that the Pelicans had “serious interest” in the 28-year-old. Lawson has significant upside, but is coming off the worst season of his career and has dealt with off-field problems in recent years, as he was arrested multiple times on DUI charges and spent time in rehab.

The Pelicans are currently poised to enter the season with Jrue Holiday as their starting point guard and Tim Frazier backing him up. Other backcourt players, such as Tyreke Evans and Langston Galloway, could occasionally handle the ball, but aren’t really point guards. As such, Lawson probably would have had to battle Frazier for the No. 2 spot on the point guard depth chart if he had landed in New Orleans.

The path to playing time might be a little simpler for Lawson in Sacramento, where Rajon Rondo is no longer manning the point. Darren Collison looks like the Kings’ starter, with Garrett Temple backing him up. However, Collison is facing domestic violence charges and Temple – while capable of playing the point – isn’t really a pure point guard.

Terms of Lawson’s new deal with the Kings aren’t yet known, but it will be interesting to see if Sacramento offered him more money than New Orleans would have been able to, in order to convince him to cancel that meeting. The Pelicans used most of their $2.9MM room exception on Frazier, and would have had to offer Lawson a minimum-salary deal, while the Kings still have their full room exception available.

Eastern Notes: Terry, Sanders, Wall, Forbes

August 28th, 2016 at 10:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

A shot at playing time may have been what most attracted Jason Terry to the Bucks, according to Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times. Terry appeared in 72 games and averaged 17.5 minutes per night for the Rockets last season, and apparently he’s not ready for a reduced role, even with his 39th birthday looming next month. After missing out on free agent guards Kent Bazemore and Dwyane Wade, the Bucks turned to Terry, who ranks third on the list of most 3-pointers made in a career. “Whether he gets 40 minutes, four minutes or no minutes, he’ll accept it and be professional about it,’’ said Terry’s agent, Ryan N. Davis. “He’s excited to be with Milwaukee and help them.’’

There’s more news tonight from the Eastern Conference:

Former Bucks center Larry Sanders has no interest in signing a deal that is only guaranteed for training camp, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Sanders, who hasn’t played since leaving the NBA in December of 2014 because of anxiety and depression, is looking for a situation that offers a real opportunity to make a 15-man roster.
Wizards point guard John Wall is going through intense rehab as he tries to bounce back from two knee surgeries in May, writes Ben Standig of CSNMidAtlantic. Wall, who is expected to be ready for the start of next season, promises “the beginning of the new John Wall era” and says he’s trying to get in the best shape of his career.
Former Nuggets and Raptors wing Gary Forbes is among the most likely players taken by the Long Island Nets in this week’s expansion draft to actually play for the D-League team, according to NetsDaily.com. Most of the draftees have overseas contracts for next season, but the 31-year-old Forbes doesn’t. Other possibilities are swingmen Carrick Felix and Akil Mitchell.

Weekly Mailbag: 8/22/16-8/28/16

August 28th, 2016 at 8:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

We have an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap or the NBA draft? Drop us a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com. Here are this week’s inquiries:

What exactly is going on with the Magic? Do they have a plan? — Yancy Yeater

Orlando’s plan for the summer seemed to involve acquiring as much talent as possible, then worrying later about how it all fits together. They got two of the best shot blockers in the league by signing Bismack Biyombo and trading for Serge Ibaka. How they’ll mesh with holdover center Nikola Vucevic remains to be seen, and Vucevic may not be easy to move with three seasons and $36.75MM left on his contract. New coach Frank Vogel faces a big challenge in putting all the pieces together, but Orlando probably raised its talent level enough to challenge for a playoff spot.

Why didn’t the Knicks pursue Lance Stephenson? He’s only 25 and brings a strong resume playing in playoff competition. He’s a big guard, can defend well, rebounds great, passes well, shoots 48% from field and 39% from 3. He’s a New York City product and has the state high school all-time scoring record. Why no interest? — Harvey Ludwin

It’s not just the Knicks. A lot of teams that could have used Stephenson’s talent decided to pass on his personality. A series of incidents both large and small have resulted in him playing on three teams in the last two seasons. A rumor that the Nets might have a spot for Stephenson was seemingly debunked today, and Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe recently reported that the sixth-year swingman might have to play overseas for a while and work his way back to the NBA.

What do you think will become of Greg Monroe? It was only a year ago he was one of the hottest UFAs on the market, with no less than three active suitors. He’s coming off another efficient, productive season, yet I get the sense the Bucks are struggling to find value in the trade market. What’s the story here? Are seven-footers with his offensive skills suddenly obsolete? — Daren Hill

Monroe put up decent numbers last season, averaging 15.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 79 games, but he wasn’t the rim protector or overall defender that the Bucks needed. There have been reports that Milwaukee has been trying to find a taker for him, but his contract doesn’t make him easy to deal. Monroe will make $17.1MM next season and has a player option for 2017/18, which means any team trading for him may get his services for just one year. Milwaukee may have to decide whether it’s worth taking a discounted offer just to move on from Monroe.

Community Shootaround: Wall vs. Beal

August 28th, 2016 at 7:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

Stories of bickering in Washington, D.C., are commonplace, but when it happens in the Wizards’ backcourt, that’s a cause for concern.

Point guard John Wall and shooting guard Bradley Beal have started airing their disagreements in public, with Wall saying they have “a tendency to dislike each other on the court” and Beal responding that he and Wall “lose sight of the fact that we need each other.”

That’s not how you want your starting backcourt to talk about each other, especially when they are the cornerstones of your rebuilding effort after a disappointing 41-41 season that left you out of the playoffs and prompted a coaching change. Scott Brooks had to be hoping that his time on the Wizards’ bench would start with more team unity.

Star players failing to get along is nothing new in the NBA, but the situation frequently leads to a breakup. The most recent case was in Chicago, where rumors kept floating last season of unhappiness between Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler. That was resolved in June when Rose was traded to the Knicks.

Wall, who turns 26 next month, has been an All-Star the past three years. He is coming off career-high averages of 19.9 points and 10.2 assists last season. He has three seasons and more than $54MM left on a maximum extension he agreed to in 2013. Beal averaged a career-high 17.4 points per game last season and shot a career-best 45% from the field. However, he played in a career-low 55 games and was placed on a minutes restriction in December after doctors discovered “the beginnings of a stress reaction in his lower right fibula.” Beal re-signed with the Wizards last month for $127MM over the next five seasons.

That brings us to tonight’s question: If the Wizards decide to break up their backcourt, should they trade Wall or Beal? Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the topic. We look forward to what you have to say.

Southwest Notes: Barnes, Benson, Jones

August 28th, 2016 at 6:18pm CST by Arthur Hill

Harrison Barnes has a new $94MM contract, but he tells Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News that he considers the Mavericks to still be Dirk Nowitzki‘s team. Barnes inked a four-year deal with Dallas in July after the Warriors signed Kevin Durant. Owner Mark Cuban has indicated that the Mavericks want Barnes to expand his game and claim a larger role of the offense than he did in Golden State. However, the 24-year-old small forward recognizes the special place that Nowitzki has earned during his 18 seasons in Dallas. “He’s put in the years and won a championship,” Barnes said. “But I have to go out and earn that. People assume that just because you get paid a lot of money and have a lot of attention that all of the sudden you’re guaranteed this many shots. I have to prove that every day in practice. I have to prove that to the coaching staff, and ultimately, if I’m going to be the guy taking shots, I’ve got to prove it to Dirk.”

There’s more news out of the Southwest Division:

December 8th has been set as the trial date for a suit filed by Tom Benson involving ownership of the Pelicans and Saints, according to Katherine Sayre of the Times-Picayune. The 89-year-old Benson sued last year to take ownership of the teams out of trust funds for his daughter and two grandchildren. In January of 2015, after a falling out with his heirs, Benson said he wanted to grant full ownership of the Pelicans and Saints to his wife, Gayle Benson. The move was blocked by attorneys who served as trustees for the trust funds. The trusts include 95% ownership of the Pelicans and 60% ownership of the Saints. The judge in the case has urged both sides to try to reach a settlement before the trial date.
New Pelicans power forward Terrence Jones can’t wait to reunite with former Kentucky teammate Anthony Davis, tweets Brett Dawson of The New Orleans Advocate. “It’s amazing. The chemistry is just a winning vibe, and I’m very excited,” said the former Rocket, who signed with the Pelicans last month. “We’ve worked out this summer together and really are focused on setting goals and completing them. We really want to make it to the playoffs, and whatever we do in there, we think, is destiny. It’s going to be a great experience.” (Twitter link.)

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