Month: April 2024

Hoops Rumors Originals: 6/24/17 – 6/30/17

Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team compiles original content to complement our news feed. Here are some of our favorite segments and features from the past seven days:

Latest On George Hill

The Spurs and unrestricted free agent George Hill have broken off contract talks and a deal between the two parties is highly doubtful, Shams Charania of The Vertical reports (on Twitter). It is unclear at this time what the disconnect between the point guard and the team is, be it money or fit.

Hill is one of the more desirable backcourt options available in free agency this summer and he should have no shortage of suitors for his services. The player has been contacted by the Nuggets and the Knicks, both of whom are in need of upgrades at the one, Charania adds. It is unclear if the Jazz will pursue re-signing Hill in the wake of their reported acquisition of Ricky Rubio earlier this evening.

In 49 contests this past season, Hill notched averages of 16.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 31.5 minutes per outing. He shot .477/.403/.801 on the campaign.

Stephen Curry, Warriors Reach $201MM Deal

JULY 6, 9:14pm: The Warriors have officially re-signed Curry to his new Designated Veteran Extension, according to RealGM’s transactions log.

JUNE 30, 11:15pm: Now that the free agency period has officially begun, Curry and the Warriors have agreed on the expected $201MM super-max deal, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.

10:31pm: Although it was never really in doubt, the Warriors and Stephen Curry are on pace to to strike a five-year, $201MM super-max deal after midnight EST, Marc Stein of ESPN tweets.

Notoriously underpaid over the course of the past three seasons, two of which he earned the Most Valuable Player award in, Curry is set to get his long-awaited payday.

There has never been any doubt that the Curry was committed to returning to the Bay Area, nor was there doubt that the franchise was ready to foot the bill. Of note, however, is how quickly the two parties worked to strike an agreement.

While the concept of Kevin Durant leaving some money on the table has been floated, that has not happened in this case with Curry.

NBA Salary Cap, Max Salaries Set For 2017/18

The NBA has formally set the 2017/18 salary cap at $99.093MM, Shams Charania of The Vertical writes. That figure lands ever so slightly above the most recent projections. The luxury tax threshold, according to a league memo, will be $119.266MM, while the salary floor will be $89.184MM.

In addition to setting this year’s salary cap and tax line, the NBA also issued projections for the next two league years. Here are those estimations, per Albert Nahmad (Twitter link):

  • 2018/19: $102MM salary cap, $123MM tax line
  • 2019/20: $108MM salary cap, $131MM tax line

The NBA’s minimum salaries and mid-level and bi-annual exception figures had already been set for the 2017/18 season, so today’s cap announcement won’t change those. However, the maximum salaries for ’17/18 will be a little higher than our most recent projections. Here are the starting salaries for max contracts:

  • Players with six years of experience or less: $24,773,250
  • Players with 7-9 years of experience: $29,727,900
  • Players with 10+ years of experience: $34,682,550

Here are the total values for a player re-signing with his own team for a five-year max contract with 8% annual raises:

  • Players with six years of experience or less: $143,684,850
  • Players with 7-9 years of experience: $172,421,820
  • Players with 10+ years of experience: $201,158,790

Here are the total values for a player signing with a new team for a four-year max contract with 5% annual raises:

  • Players with six years of experience or less: $106,524,975
  • Players with 7-9 years of experience: $127,829,970
  • Players with 10+ years of experience: $149,134,965

Latest On Paul Millsap

The competition to sign unrestricted free agent Paul Millsap is heating up. With the forward set to meet with the Suns on Sunday, and Phoenix reportedly gearing up to go after him hard, it appears two teams may have jumped ahead of them in his pecking order, Frank Isola of The New York Daily News relays (via Twitter). According to a source close to the player, the Timberwolves and the Nuggets are the current frontrunners to sign Millsap, per the scribe.

The Wolves are certainly an intriguing option after acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Bulls, though, the team is more in need of a point guard than another scoring forward at this time. Jeff Teague is reportedly set to join the franchise as an unrestricted free agent, and if he is indeed inked, adding Millsap may create complications on offense given Butler’s high usage rate and the continuing development of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins as scoring threats.

Denver would provide Millsap with more of an opportunity to shine individually, especially with the potential loss of Danilo Gallinari this summer, but they are a team further away from contention than the Wolves at this time.

In a fourth consecutive All-Star season last year, Millsap averaged a career high 18.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Bulls Sign Felicio To Four-Year Deal

2:47 PM: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

June 30: The Bulls have come to terms with restricted free agent Cristiano Felicio, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. The soon-to-be 25-year-old big man averaged 4.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per game for the Bulls last season.

Per Charania, the deal will be worth $32MM over four years. That should give Chicago more than enough time to gauge what sort of player they have in Felicio.

At this point Felicio is regarded as a potentially valuable reserve, although there doesn’t appear to be any rush to throw him into significantly more minutes any time soon. His ability to serve as a big, defensive presence, however, was enough to convince Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg to let him close some games during the 2016/17 season.

Now that the Bulls have moved on from veterans Jimmy Butler and Rajon Rondo, the rebuild is officially underway. With that in mind, the Brazilian center will likely get more than enough opportunities to show just what he’s capable of.

Iguodala To Meet With Spurs, Kings, Rockets

10:45pm: Count the Rockets among those interested in Iguodala. Chris Haynes of ESPN writes that Houston has secured a meeting with the veteran as well.

7:49pm: The Spurs aren’t the only team with whom Iguodala will meet tonight. Ramona Shelburne of ESPN writes that the forward will also meet with the Kings when the free agency period officially opens.

6:00pm: When the free agency period formally begins tonight, Andre Iguodala will meet with the Spurs, Chris Haynes of ESPN tweets. The veteran has spent the past four seasons with the Warriors, winning a pair of titles and one Finals MVP.

The news comes on the heels of a Zach Lowe revelation that Iguodala and the Warriors don’t currently have any meetings scheduled. That said, Lowe also points out that the two parties are still optimistic about working out a deal that would bring Iggy back into the fold for the reigning champions.

The Spurs are currently projected to have about $23MM in cap space and could benefit from having another veteran wing player on board in the event that Jonathon Simmons pursues an offer that they’re not keen to match.

The meeting doesn’t necessarily mean Iguodala is actively looking to ply his trade elsewhere in 2017/18 – instead, as Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News suggests, the forward could be simply gauging what his market is.

Suns To Meet With Paul Millsap

JUNE 30th, 10:43pm: Phoenix has a meeting set with Millsap for this Sunday, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. With Blake Griffin agreeing to re-sign with the Clippers, this may intensify the Suns’ pursuit of the forward, TNT’s David Aldridge relays (via Twitter).

JUNE 29th, 4:45pm: In addition to their scheduled meeting with Blake Griffin, the Suns will meet with Paul Millsap, John Gambadoro of 98.7 Arizona Sports reports.

The 31-year-old forward is expected to have numerous suitors although most tend to be more established contenders. As Gambadoro notes in his article, Millsap would join a small group of players considerably older than the Phoenix’s young core.

As we discussed yesterday, new Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk is not expected to offer Millsap a full max contract, that puts the ball in the court of teams looking to lure the 12-year veteran away.

Just last week, Millsap was briefly linked to the Suns by Brian Windhorst of ESPN and Gambadoro then offered up Tyson Chandler as a possible player who could be involved in a sign-and-trade between the two franchises.

In a fourth consecutive All-Star season last year, Millsap averaged a career high 18.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Magic May Offer Ingles 4-Year Deal

10:31pm: Ingles is also receiving significant interest from the Grizzlies, plus, he has a meeting scheduled with the Clippers on Saturday, Adam Joseph of 16WinsARing.com tweets.

7:59pm: It may not be long before Jazz forward Joe Ingles has a $60MM contract in front of him, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post writes. The scribe tweets that he’s heard the Australian free agent could have a four-year deal in the $60MM range coming from the Magic.

If that’s the case, Bontemps adds, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Jazz would match the restricted free agent’s new price tag.

Per Sean Deveney of the Sporting News, new Magic general manager John Hammond has long been a fan of the sharpshooting forward and this could be a significant early move for the new regime.

As Tim MacMahon of ESPN notes, there are two significant Jazz-specific takeaways from the rumored Magic offer, one being that Ingles is said to be close friends with fellow free agent Gordon Hayward, the other being that they’re represented by the same agent.

Those factors, coupled with Utah’s move earlier today to land Ricky Rubio at the likely expense of free agent George Hill (another Hayward favorite) lend credence to the notion that Hayward’s time with the Jazz may be coming to an end.

Hayward aside, Ingles is a widely respected small forward that offers a suite of intangible contributions in addition to his 7.2 points per game and 44.1% three-point shot. That said, given that the Magic were expected to lay low during free agency, such a move is somewhat surprising.

Latest On Gordon Hayward, Celtics

The Celtics and unrestricted free agent Gordon Hayward will meet face-to-face this Sunday, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (via Twitter). Hayward is reportedly one of Boston’s primary free agent targets this offseason. The forward is said to only be considering three teams in free agency: the Jazz, the Heat, and the Celtics.

It certainly remains to be seen just how much Utah’s reported acquisition of Ricky Rubio from the Wolves will hamper the franchise’s efforts to retain its star player. By adding Rubio, it is unclear if that signals the end of George Hill‘s tenure with the Jazz. Hayward is reported to be fond of playing alongside Hill, and the addition of Rubio may be a sign that Hill is no longer an option for the team going forward.

Hayward, 27, appeared in 73 games for the Jazz in 2016/17, notching averages of  21.9 points (a career-high), 5.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists. He shot .471/.398/.844 from the field.