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Magic Exploring Possible Serge Ibaka Deal?

January 30th, 2017 at 3:37pm CST by Luke Adams

The Magic have “picked up their attempts” to trade Serge Ibaka before next month’s deadline, league sources tell Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. According to Deveney, Orlando has experienced some “buyers’ remorse” after trading for Ibaka last summer, and the team is looking to get something for him to avoid the risk of losing him for nothing in free agency.

Although Deveney suggests that there’s pessimism about Ibaka re-signing with the Magic this summer, he adds that people around the NBA aren’t sure what the former Oklahoma City big man will do in free agency, which complicates his trade market. Teams would be unwilling to give up a significant return to rent Ibaka for a few months.

“They’re asking too much,” one front office executive said of the Magic, per Deveney. “(The Magic) would probably like to make a few moves there, but Ibaka is the one they’re really pushing because he is going to leave. But they have had too high a price. They want a young player and a pick, two young players — you know, a package that can get them back some assets. They’re not going to get that. Not for three, maybe four months of Serge Ibaka.”

The Magic surrendered their 2016 lottery pick (Domantas Sabonis) along with Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova when they acquired Ibaka, signaling that they expected the 27-year-old to be a part of the long-term plan. However, the club has struggled this season and appears to be slipping out of playoff contention, with a 19-30 record, reducing the odds of Ibaka wanting to re-sign with Orlando in July.

General manager Rob Hennigan said last week that he expects to be “aggressive” in pursuing ways to improve Orlando’s roster, and addressing the club’s frontcourt logjam would be a good place to start. With Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo joining a group that already featured Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon, there aren’t enough minutes to go around, and Gordon has spent a lot of time playing out of position.

According to Deveney, there’s “no chance” of a trade involving Biyombo, who signed a four-year, $68MM deal last summer. Gordon is also a key part of the Magic’s long-term plan, which leaves Ibaka and Vucevic as possible trade candidates. We heard last week that the Celtics were among the teams to talk to Orlando about Vucevic.

As for Ibaka, even if he’s no more than a rental piece, there should be several teams with interest in talking to the Magic about a deal. Deveney identifies the Celtics, Rockets, and Raptors as a few potential suitors, though he cites a source who says Toronto isn’t very interested in giving up Terrence Ross in a trade for Ibaka.

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Sixers Sign Chasson Randle To Three-Year Deal

January 30th, 2017 at 3:12pm CST by Luke Adams

3:12pm: The Sixers have officially re-signed Randle, the team announced today in a press release. The club is now carrying 15 guaranteed contracts on its roster.

11:35am: After signing him to a pair of 10-day contracts, the Sixers will ink point guard Chasson Randle to a multiyear contract that locks him up for the rest of this season, and for two years after that, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter).

As Charania details, the three-year pact, which will be guaranteed for the rest of this season, will feature trigger dates for subsequent guarantees in years two and three. Based on Charania’s report, it sounds like the Sixers will probably have the option to waive Randle in either of the next two summers without taking on dead money. Bobby Marks of The Vertical (Twitter link) has the details on what Randle’s cap hits will look like, assuming the young guard signs a standard minimum salary contract.

Randle, who went undrafted in 2015, appeared headed toward a roster spot with the Knicks in October, but was waived after suffering an orbital bone fracture. He subsequently joined the Westchester Knicks in the D-League as an affiliate player and averaged 20.7 PPG to go along with a shooting line of .422/.402/.825 in 19 games.

That solid showing in the D-League earned Randle an audition with the Sixers, which in turn led to two 10-day contracts. With that second 10-day deal now expired, Philadelphia had to either sign the Stanford product for the rest of the season or let him return to free agency. The team opted to keep Randle around rather than opening up a spot on the 15-man roster.

Randle, who will turn 24 next week, has appeared in just four games during his time with the Sixers, averaging 4.0 PPG in 7.3 minutes per contest.

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Nets Sign Quincy Acy To Two-Year Deal

January 30th, 2017 at 2:37pm CST by Will Joseph

2:37pm: Acy’s new contract will pay him $1.79MM for the rest of this season and a non-guaranteed $1.7MM next year, tweets Bobby Marks of The Vertical. That makes the deal worth significantly more than the minimum for this season, with Brooklyn using cap space to complete the signing. The move will bring the team to within about $6.43MM of the salary floor.

JANUARY 30, 1:22pm: The Nets have issued a press release formally confirming that Acy’s new multiyear deal with the team is official.

JANUARY 29, 1:47pm: The Nets will sign power forward Quincy Acy to a two-year deal, Shams Charania of The Vertical reports (on Twitter). It is not yet known how much the contract is worth. Brooklyn had to choose whether or not to sign Acy for at least the remainder of this season, since his second 10-day pact was set to expire.

The cap hit on Acy for this season will be $451K for Brooklyn if it’s a minimum salary deal, Bobby Marks of The Vertical tweets. Acy has played well for Brooklyn and has brought elements of toughness and energy to the squad. He has appeared in 10 games for Brooklyn, averaging 7.0 points and 2.7 rebounds. He has also improved his shot this season.

The Nets orginally signed Acy on January 10th after Brooklyn waived Anthony Bennett. Acy was playing for the D-League’s Texas Legends at the time of the move. Acy appeared in four games with the Nets during his initial contract, playing in more than five minutes in a single contest just once. Acy, who had his best season while being a member of the Knicks in 2014/15, began this season with the Mavericks, but was waived in November when backcourt injuries forced the team to add another guard.

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Northwest Notes: Timberwolves, Kanter, Burks

January 30th, 2017 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves remain on the lookout for a big man, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). That’s not a new revelation — a report in mid-December suggested that Minnesota was interested in adding some frontcourt help to its roster. Still, at that time, the trade deadline was more than two months away. February 23 is inching closer, so if the Wolves do indeed intend to address their frontcourt rotation via the trade market, they’ll have to do so within the next few weeks.

Here’s more from around the Northwest division:

  • After breaking his forearm last week when he punched a chair, Enes Kanter told reporters this weekend that he apologized to his Thunder teammates for his mistake, writes Royce Young of ESPN.com. “Of course it’s like a really sad thing because like, I mean because you’re letting your teammates down when you make a mistake like that,” Kanter said. “I mean you’re [letting] coaches down and stuff. But the only thing you can do is just, you know, you learn from it. The one thing you know I wish we could go back [in] time and then I could take it back.”
  • As Erik Horne of The Oklahoman details, player injuries could play a not-insignificant part in determining what kind of deals happen before the deadline. In the case of the Thunder, Cameron Payne missed several months earlier this season after having been mentioned in trade rumors, and Kanter will now be sidelined through February despite being a possible trade candidate.
  • The Jazz have a handful of potential backup point guards available now that the roster is healthy, but it has been Alec Burks who has received a chance to fill that role a couple times lately, says Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News. Unlike Burks, who has a longer-term deal, Utah’s other four point guards are all eligible for free agency in 2017 or 2018.
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Grizzlies Re-Sign Toney Douglas, Waive Troy Williams

January 30th, 2017 at 11:26am CST by Austin Kent

JANUARY 30: The Grizzlies have officially re-signed Douglas to a 10-day deal, announcing in a press release that they’ve waived Williams to create a roster spot.

JANUARY 29: The Grizzlies are finalizing a deal to bring Toney Douglas back on a 10-day contract, tweets Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com. The team waived the 30-year-old point guard on December 15 after a six-game stint.

Initially signed by the Grizzlies in early December via a hardship exception, Douglas will hit the ground running at least somewhat familiar with the systems in place in Memphis. He averaged 5.8 points per game during his first stint there and the club went 5-1.

The Grizzlies are expected to release Troy Williams to make room on their roster. After going undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft, Williams caught on with Memphis and saw action in 22 games. Though briefly featured heavily in early December — he played 30-plus minutes six times between November 26 and December 13 — the 22-year-old last took the court for the Grizzlies on December 18.

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Six NBA Teams Still Below Salary Floor For 2016/17

January 30th, 2017 at 10:12am CST by Luke Adams

With the NBA’s 2017 trade deadline fast approaching, it’s worth taking a look at which teams around the league remain below the salary floor for the 2016/17 season. Each NBA club is required to spend at least 90% of the cap in each league year — if a team doesn’t meet that requirement, it will have to make up the difference at year’s end by paying it out to its players.

While teams will make up the shortfall at year’s end if they have to, it makes more sense to find a way to reach the floor in the coming weeks. It’s why multiple teams below the salary floor acquired – or re-acquired – Mo Williams earlier this month, as I explained last week. It’s also why some of these teams may get involve in deadline deals to take on unwanted salary in exchange for a future draft pick or another asset.

Last February, for instance, the Trail Blazers reached the salary floor after agreeing to take on Anderson Varejao‘s contract from Cleveland, giving the Cavaliers a significant trade exception and allowing the Cavs to substantially reduce their luxury tax bill. In return, Portland secured a first-round draft pick for 2018 that the team later turned into a first-round pick for 2017. So, in exchange for taking on a contract and paying some money that they would’ve been on the hook for anyway, the Blazers ended up with an extra first-round pick in a strong ’17 draft.

The teams listed below will likely be on the lookout for that sort of opportunity in the coming weeks, and some of them will also be active in taking a look at various players on 10-day contracts.

Here’s the full list of teams that remain below the salary floor ($84.729MM), along with their accompanying cap data:

Brooklyn Nets
Team salary: $76,507,540
Amount below salary floor: $8,221,460
Note: Quincy Acy‘s new two-year deal, which is expected to move the Nets about $1.7MM closer to the floor, is not yet included in this total.

Philadelphia 76ers
Team salary: $76,986,092
Amount below salary floor: $7,742,908

Denver Nuggets
Team salary: $77,117,054
Amount below salary floor: $7,611,946

Utah Jazz
Team salary: $80,498,192
Amount below salary floor: $4,230,808

Phoenix Suns
Team salary: $80,921,006
Amount below salary floor: $3,807,994

Minnesota Timberwolves
Team salary: $81,427,199
Amount below salary floor: $3,301,801

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Following Specific Players On Hoops Rumors

January 30th, 2017 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors lets you keep up with your favorite teams as they plot their moves, and we also provide ways to easily follow the latest on all of your favorite players and trade candidates. You can get news about players wherever you go with our Trade Rumors app, available for iOS and Android devices. The app is free and allows you to add a feed for any player and set up notifications that will alert you whenever we write about him.

Every player we’ve written about has his own rumors page. You can find any player by using our search box (located in the right sidebar); by clicking his tag at the bottom of a post in which he’s discussed; or, by simply typing his name in your address bar after hoopsrumors.com, substituting dashes for spaces. For example, Kevin Durant’s page is hoopsrumors.com/kevin-durant.

You can also set up an RSS feed for any of our player pages by adding /feed to the end of the page URL, like this: hoopsrumors.com/demarcus-cousins/feed. Entering that URL into the reader of your choice will enable you to get updates whenever we write about DeMarcus Cousins. It works for teams, too. If you’re a Kings fan, you can enter hoopsrumors.com/sacramento-kings/feed into your reader and stay on top of all the latest from Sacramento.

In addition to players and teams, there are a number of other subjects you can track by clicking on the tags that we use at the bottom of posts. For example, you can keep tabs on our 2017 draft stories right here. Items about the NBA D-League can be found on this page. You can simply scan our top stories here. Again, you can set up a feed with any of these pages by adding /feed to the end of the URL.

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Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Acy, DeRozan

January 29th, 2017 at 9:24pm CST by Austin Kent

The Sixers were without rookie Joel Embiid Sunday night as the 7’2″ center sat to rest a sore left knee. Now he’s listed as questionable for Monday’s game, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Just last week Embiid sat for three straight games nursing a bruise on the same left knee but returned in dramatic fashion with a 32-point showing when the Sixers played the Rockets on Friday night.

Asked if the big man returned prematurely, Sixers head coach Brett Brown spoke confidently of the team’s approach. “No, I don’t think so,” Brown said. “I think you end up going with the doctors’ advice.”

Embiid didn’t make the trip to Chicago for Philly’s Sunday night matchup with the Bulls, opting instead to undergo treatment at the team’s practice facility.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division tonight:

  • Considering the headlines that have come out of New York this month, Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek is well aware of the fact that Carmelo Anthony is in charge of his own fate. “He has control,” Hornacek told Marc Berman of the New York Post. “[…] At the end, he has the final say. He’s going to keep playing for us, and guys have to put all that stuff aside and keep playing.”
  • After two successful 10-day stints with the Nets, Quincy Acy officially has two years of job security. The forward agreed to a two-year deal after proving that he can be a source of physicality and defense for the Brooklyn franchise, writes Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “We’ve been pleased with how he’s adapted,” said head coach Kenny Atkinson. “We like his versatility, how he brings a toughness. And his perimeter shooting is obviously intriguing.” In 15 games of action, Acy has shot .480 from behind the arc.
  • After three games on the sidelines nursing a sprained ankle, DeMar DeRozan made his return for the Raptors on Sunday. The shooting guard played 36 minutes for Toronto but, according to Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun, looked slow out of the gates.
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NBA D-League Recalls/Assignments: 1/29/17

January 29th, 2017 at 8:33pm CST by Austin Kent

Here are the D-League transactions from the day:

8:33pm:

6:58pm:

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Southwest Notes: Wright, Randolph, Ferrell

January 29th, 2017 at 7:52pm CST by Austin Kent

The Grizzlies are expecting injured power forward Brandan Wright back on Monday, tweets ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. Wright has been sidelined recovering from an ankle issue that ultimately required surgery. He hasn’t played at all in 2016/17.

The 29-year-old hasn’t done much since signing a three-year contract with Memphis during the summer of 2015, playing in only 12 games for the Grizzlies during the 2015/16 campaign on account of a knee injury.

After emerging as an intriguing reserve with the Mavericks between 2011 and 2014, Wright bounced around with the Suns and Celtics in 2014/15. With the Grizzlies, however, Wright could establish himself as a reliable source of frontcourt help heading into the final stretch.

There’s more out of the Southwest Division:

  • Though the plan was to reduce his workload, the Grizzlies have turned to veteran big man Zach Randolph more and more often of late. Randolph is averaging 27.9 minutes per game in January, writes MacMahon in an article for ESPN, compared to his season average of 24.2. The forward has filled a sixth-man role for the club but has been as efficient with his minutes as ever.
  • Before he signed on to lead the Rockets to new heights in 2016/17, Mike D’Antoni worked alongside Brett Brown with the Sixers. Brian Seltzer of the Sixers’ official site spoke with the Rockets bench boss about his time in Philadelphia.
  • Less than 24 hours after signing his 10-day contract with the Mavs, point guard Yogi Ferrell has moved into the team’s starting lineup, tweets team play-by-play man Mark Followill.
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