Clippers Sign Milos Teodosic
JULY 10, 3:27pm: Teodosic has officially signed his contract with the Clippers, according to a tweet sent out by his agency.
JULY 6, 1:44pm: European point guard Milos Teodosic has reached an agreement with the Clippers, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. It will be a two-year, $12.3MM contract with a player option on the second season (Twitter link).
Several teams have been in competition for the 30-year-old, who is considered to be one of the top players outside the NBA. He was reportedly seeking a three-year deal worth $25MM to $30MM, but his new contract is substantially less, at least in the first season.
The Heat, Kings, Nuggets, Jazz, Nets, Bulls and Timberwolves were among the other teams that expressed interest. Minnesota offered its room exception, but understood that he could get more money elsewhere, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. Brooklyn decided that Teodosic’s defensive shortcomings made him a poor candidate for big money or big minutes, according to NetsDaily (Twitter link).
A star with Serbia at the 2016 Olympics, Teodosic made his current team, CSKA Moscow, one of the best in the Euroleague. He has averaged 16.1 points per game over the past two seasons and 6.5 assists over the last three. The Russian squad was hoping to keep him, but admitted that it couldn’t compete financially with NBA teams.
Teodosic’s signing may end the Clippers’ interest in Derrick Rose, who met with the team on Wednesday. With Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams already on the roster, there doesn’t seem to be any room for Rose.
Magic Waive C.J. Watson
The Magic have waived C.J. Watson, the team confirmed today (Twitter link). Watson will become an unrestricted free agent later this week, assuming he clears waivers.
Per Basketball Insiders’ salary pages, Watson was set to earn $5MM in 2017/18, but only $1MM of that figure was guaranteed. The Magic would have been on the hook for the remaining $4MM if they’d kept the veteran point guard on their roster beyond today, but by cutting him, the team will only have to pay that $1MM — that amount could be stretched across three seasons, if the Magic so choose.
Watson, who has spent the last two seasons in Orlando, has seen his numbers drop off significantly since joining the franchise. In 95 total games with the Magic, the 33-year-old has recorded 4.5 PPG and 2.1 APG with a shooting line of .371/.301/.867. Prior to his time in Orlando, Watson was a .425/.383/.806 shooter for his career.
While Orlando didn’t announce the move until today, the writing was on the wall for Watson’s release when the team agreed to sign Shelvin Mack earlier in the free agent period.
The Magic currently have about $90.7MM in team salary on their books, which doesn’t account for cap holds and exceptions. If they’re operating as an under-the-cap team, the Magic would have about $8MM in space remaining.
Free Agent Rumors: Bucks, Clark, Bullock, Lakers
The Warriors have re-signed – or agreed to re-sign – many of the free agents from last year’s roster, including Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, David West, and Zaza Pachulia. However, Ian Clark has not agreed to a new deal with the team and appears likely to head elsewhere.
One potential landing spot for Clark may be Milwaukee, according to Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times, who hears from several sources that the Bucks have expressed interest in the free agent shooting guard. And that interest appears to be mutual, Woelfel adds.
Clark, who shot a career-high 37.4% on three-pointers last season, would provide the Bucks with some much-needed shooting. But it remains to be seen if Milwaukee will make him a competitive offer — once Tony Snell‘s new deal is finalized, the team will be getting very close to luxury tax territory.
Here are a few more free agent updates:
- The Timberwolves inquired early in free agency on Reggie Bullock, but the Pistons and two other teams are pushing hardest for the swingman now, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. According to Wolfson, Bullock figures to make a decision this week.
- Tyler Ennis, who finished the year with the Lakers, is among the free agent guards the team is considering, writes Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News.
- Former Knicks and Nets guard Shane Larkin, who headed overseas a year ago, had an opportunity this summer to opt out if he gets an NBA offer, but appears poised to play for Barcelona in Spain on a lucrative new deal, as international basketball journalist David Pick details (Twitter links).
Timberwolves Sign Taj Gibson
JULY 10: The Timberwolves have officially signed Gibson, the team confirmed today.
JULY 2: The Timberwolves have agreed to sign free agent power forward Taj Gibson, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter). According to Charania, Gibson will receive $28MM on a two-year deal from Minnesota.
The pact doesn’t include an option (player or team) for the second year, per Sam Amick of USA Today (on Twitter). News of the agreement comes on the heels of a report from Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link) that the Wolves’ interest in Gibson had “increased.”
[RELATED: 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker]
By agreeing to join the Wolves, Gibson will reunite with Tom Thibodeau, who coached the forward in Chicago. He’ll also be joining former Bulls teammate Jimmy Butler, who was acquired by Minnesota in a blockbuster trade. The market for Gibson’s services was relatively quiet, with the only other team reportedly interested in him being the Kings.
Inking Gibson will wipe out most, if not all, of Minnesota’s remaining cap room. The Wolves are still armed with their Room Exception, valued at about $4.33MM, which can be used to further bolster their ever-improving roster. However, adding Gibson almost certainly eliminates the Wolves from the Paul Millsap sweepstakes, which may make the Nuggets the frontrunner to land the versatile forward.
The Timberwolves will likely have to renounce their qualifying offer for Shabazz Muhammad in order to sign Gibson, which would make the swingman an unrestricted free agent. Muhammad could – in theory – still return to Minnesota, but the Wolves would no longer have matching rights, allowing him to sign outright with another club.
Gibson, 32, split his time between the Bulls and Thunder last season. He appeared in a total of 78 contests, averaging 10.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 0.9 assists. He shot .515/.231/.715 from the field.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Pat Riley Talks Offseason, Haslem, Babbitt, More
After an eventful week of free agency, Heat president Pat Riley spoke to local reporters and addressed a handful of subject related to his team and the offseason so far. Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald passed along the highlights of that session, so let’s dive in and round up some of Riley’s most notable observations and comments…
- Riley called the Heat’s pursuit of Gordon Hayward a “no-brainer” even though it didn’t ultimately work out. “The fact Gordon had an interest in us, we felt a need to pursue that but not at the risk of [not] negotiating hard with our own free agents,” Riley said.
- The Heat went hard after Kelly Olynyk because the team viewed a stretch four or five as one type of player the roster was lacking. Riley also suggested that Olynyk “sets probably the best screens in the NBA” and is an ideal fit alongside Hassan Whiteside or Bam Adebayo.
- The Heat have used “every last dollar” of the salary cap, but still have the $4.3MM room exception. Still, Riley doesn’t expect the team to use that exception right away. “We have 10 guys that we really like, 11 guys or 12 who will be fighting for rotation minutes,” Riley said. “I’m going to add another room mid level guy who is going to be fighting for 10 minutes? … If something pops up that’s really good, we’ll think about using it.”
- Asked if the Heat need to add a backup point guard, Riley replied, “Absolutely not.” The Heat president pointed to Tyler Johnson, Justise Winslow, and Josh Richardson as possible ball-handlers.
- Miami wants to re-sign Udonis Haslem and is “still talking” to Luke Babbitt. However, Willie Reed is unlikely to return, per Riley.
- When it came to the Josh McRoberts trade, A.J. Hammons wasn’t just a throw-in for the Heat — Riley likes what he brings to the table. “He’s the kind of player that fits that mold of a stretch five or four,” Riley said. “We remember him from Purdue. That happened very quickly. We made that deal pretty quickly. We already had scouting reports on him.”
Timberwolves Sign Jeff Teague
JULY 10: The Timberwolves have officially signed Teague, the team announced today.
JUNE 30: The Timberwolves and unrestricted free agent Jeff Teague have agreed to a deal, per Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (via Twitter). It will be a three-year, $57MM deal, per the scribe. The final year is reportedly a player option.
The addition of Teague will continue an extremely busy offseason for Minnesota, with the team having already acquired star swingman Jimmy Butler from the Bulls earlier this week. The Wolves were in desperate need of a point guard, having shipped away Ricky Rubio (Jazz) and Kris Dunn (Bulls) in separate trades.
In 82 contests last season for the Pacers, Teague averaged 15.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 7.8 assists. His career marks are 12.6 PPG, 2.4 RPG and 5.5 APG to go along with a shooting line of .447/.355/.844.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Grizzlies Sign Tyreke Evans To One-Year Deal
JULY 10: The Grizzlies have officially signed Evans, per the NBA’s transactions log. As confirmed by Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal (Twitter link), Memphis is using its bi-annual exception to complete the signing. That means the Grizzlies have a hard cap this year and won’t be able to use the BAE next year.
JULY 7: The Grizzlies have agreed to a one-year, $3.3MM deal with Tyreke Evans, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
[RELATED: 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker]
The move represents a homecoming of sorts for Evans, who played his college ball at the University of Memphis before being selected fourth overall in the 2009 draft. After spending several years with the Kings, Evans joined the Pelicans in 2013 and eventually returned to Sacramento earlier this year as part of February’s DeMarcus Cousins trade.
Evans, 27, is coming off the least productive season of his NBA career. In addition to being limited to 40 games due to health problems, the veteran guard averaged career lows across the board, including in PPG (10.3), APG (3.1), and FG% (.405). One silver lining for Evans? He has made 36.9% of his three-point attempts over the last two seasons after making just 27.8% in his first six seasons.
Based on the reported terms of Evans’ deal, it sounds like the Grizzlies will complete the signing using the bi-annual exception, which is worth $3.29MM. The team also has more than $3MM of its mid-level exception left over after committing a chunk of it to Ben McLemore, so it’s possible that Evans’ contract will be worth the remainder of the MLE. Either way, Memphis would be hard-capped at $125.66MM for the 2017/18 league year. Unless JaMychal Green receives a mammoth offer sheet, that hard cap shouldn’t have an impact on the Grizzlies’ ability to retain the RFA power forward.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NBA Teams With Cap Room Remaining
We’re only on the 10th day of the NBA league year, but already, the number of teams with cap room still available is dwindling.
Clubs without cap room remaining could create space at some point — the Knicks, for instance, used the last of their cap room to finalize Tim Hardaway‘s offer sheet, but may try to clear salary by trading Carmelo Anthony and/or Courtney Lee. For now though, only a handful of teams have a useful amount of cap space left.
Those teams with cap room are listed below, along with an informal breakdown of what their situation looks like. Many deals haven’t yet been finalized, so these figures our based on our projections, with the help of information from Basketball Insiders and HeatHoops.
Teams with cap room remaining:
- Atlanta Hawks: With agreed-upon deals for Mike Muscala and Tyler Dorsey not yet official, the Hawks retain about $18-19MM in cap room. And that’s not counting whatever amount of money Jamal Crawford was willing to give up in his buyout, so that figure may creep a little higher.
- Brooklyn Nets: The Nets remain in a holding pattern with Otto Porter, but after he officially moves over to the Wizards’ books and Brooklyn completes its trade for DeMarre Carroll, the team should have about $16-17MM in cap room. The Nets could create a little more space by waiving one or more non-guaranteed players.
- Denver Nuggets: Once the Nuggets’ signing of Paul Millsap becomes official, the team won’t have much cap flexibility left, though that could change if Mike Miller is waived and/or Mason Plumlee is renounced. If both of those players remain on the cap, Denver will only have about $2MM in room. If they move on from both players, the Nuggets could get up to about $11MM+ in space.
- Indiana Pacers: Assuming the Pacers stretch Monta Ellis‘ salary, as has been reported, they should have in the neighborhood of $7-8MM in remaining cap room, even after finalizing the acquisitions of Darren Collison, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Cory Joseph.
- Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers have approximately $17MM in cap room left, though they’d have to renounce their remaining unrestricted free agents to make use of all that space.
- Orlando Magic: The Magic could have retained their exceptions and cap holds and stayed over the cap, but it looks like they’re operating under the cap, signing Shelvin Mack with room instead of the mid-level exception. Orlando doesn’t have much space available, but could get up to $8MM+ in room by waiving C.J. Watson, and could increase that number a little more by cutting other non-guaranteed players.
- Philadelphia 76ers: The Sixers’ remaining cap room will depend on the exact numbers for J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson, but it figures to be in the neighborhood of $16-17MM.
- Phoenix Suns: Alex Len‘s $12MM+ cap hold is a significant factor in the Suns’ remaining cap room. If they were to renounce Len, the Suns could get up to about $23MM in room, with the ability to create even more by waiving non-guaranteed contracts. However, if they keep Len on the books, Phoenix’s cap room is below $11MM, and will be reduced further when Alan Williams‘ new deal becomes official.
- Sacramento Kings: Deals for George Hill, Zach Randolph, Vince Carter, and Bogdan Bogdanovic will use up most of the Kings’ space, but the team should still have room in the $8-10MM range after those signings become official.
Teams that went under the cap, but have used all (or virtually all) of their room:
- Boston Celtics
- Miami Heat
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New York Knicks
These teams went below the cap this summer to accommodate big-money moves. In some cases, those deals aren’t yet official, but when they’re finalized, they’ll eliminate any cap room these teams have left. A couple of these clubs have already committed their room exception to certain players, with the Celtics on track to sign Aron Baynes and the Wolves lining up a deal with Jamal Crawford.
Teams that are operating over the cap, but could create some cap room:
- Chicago Bulls
- Dallas Mavericks
- Utah Jazz
These teams are currently operating as over-the-cap clubs in order to retain their full mid-level, bi-annual, and trade exceptions, but there could be scenarios in which it makes more sense to renounce those exceptions and dip below the cap.
In the Bulls’ and Mavs’ cases, it would likely only happen if they don’t retain top RFAs (Nikola Mirotic and Nerlens Noel, respectively). Meanwhile, the Jazz could only create up to about $12MM in room if they were to waive their non-guaranteed contracts and wait to sign Joe Ingles.
Note: Items on Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic were edited after publication to adjust figures.
Atlantic Notes: Covington, Knicks, Raptors, Nets
Sixers swingman Robert Covington has new representation, according to Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal, who reports (via Twitter) that Leon Rose and Drew Morrison of CAA Sports are Covington’s new agents. Covington, who was previously represented by Happy Walters, is finally nearing a significant payday after having been one of the NBA’s biggest bargains for the last couple seasons. If the Sixers don’t renegotiate and extend Covington’s deal this year, he’ll be eligible for unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2018.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Knicks general manager Steve Mills has thrown Phil Jackson‘s triangle “in the trash” and is giving head coach Jeff Hornacek full autonomy to run the team’s offense, tweets Marc Berman of The New York Post. While giving Hornacek more freedom to operate looks like a positive sign, Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post believes the Knicks took a step forward and then two steps back by turning basketball decisions over to Mills after Jackson’s departure.
- Moving DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph will give the Raptors a little more flexibility to maneuver, but the club still has holes to fill on its roster, including at the power forward spot, writes Sportsnet’s Michael Grange.
- Sixers head coach Brett Brown is a significant reason why J.J. Redick ultimately decided to sign with the team, as Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer details. “He is someone I have watched and I’ve wanted to play for,” Redick said of Brown. “I’m thrilled to be playing for him next year. For me personally, that was the biggest thing.”
- Net Income of NetsDaily takes a look at how the Nets might use – or not use – their remaining cap room.
Hoiberg, Bulls Not Expecting Dwyane Wade Buyout
Shortly after Dwyane Wade committed to picking up his $23.8MM option for the 2017/18 season, the Bulls decided to rebuild their roster, trading Jimmy Butler and cutting Rajon Rondo. While Wade is the last player standing out of Chicago’s “three alphas” from last season, no buyout is imminent, and head coach Fred Hoiberg doesn’t believe one is coming, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN.com.
“As of right now, no. I don’t see that,” Hoiberg said of a possible Wade buyout.
Hoiberg’s stance on the matter echoes that of executive VP John Paxson, who addressed the issue in a press conference last month when the team introduced its newly-acquired players from the Butler deal. Asked about a buyout, Paxson said that any arrangement with Wade “would absolutely have to benefit” the franchise.
As Friedell notes, there’s a “widespread belief” among team officials that Wade won’t be willing to give up enough of his $23.8MM salary to make a move worthwhile for the Bulls. It’s possible that the two sides explore that possibility later in the offseason, or after February’s trade deadline, but Hoiberg indicated he’d like to see Wade stick around and provide veteran leadership for a team that has gotten younger this offseason.
“Dwyane, he’s going to have an important role on this team as a mentor,” Hoiberg said. “He’s going to obviously play for us and hopefully play well. And take the role of leadership; it’s going to be very important with him.”