Wizards Receive Otto Porter’s Offer Sheet From Nets
The Wizards have received Otto Porter‘s four-year, $106.5MM offer sheet from the Nets, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The deal contains a player option on the final year and ESPN’s Zach Lowe reports (Twitter link) that the contract includes a 15% trade kicker.
Porter’s deal has a peculiar wrinkle in it that will have him collect 50% of his annual salary by October 1 every season, Lowe tweets. Such an arrangement is not common in the NBA. ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (Twitter link) that the 50% threshold is the maximum allowed under the CBA.
Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post reports that the Wizards not only plan on matching — they also tie up Brooklyn’s cap space for as long as possible. The deadline for the team to match is July 8 at midnight, but Porter still needs to pass a physical with the Wizards and he’ll have two days to do so once Washington matches the offer.
At that point, Washington would have two days to announce that Porter has passed the physical. That means the Georgetown product’s offer sheet could theoretically stay on the Brooklyn’s cap through July 12.
[RELATED: Nets, Otto Porter agree to max offer sheet; Wizards plan to match]
The Wizards – one of three franchises (along with Charlotte and New Orleans) to never pay the tax – will be over the luxury tax line once they match the offer sheet. The club now intends to complete its reported deal with Jodie Meeks using part of the taxpayer mid-level exception rather than the bi-annual exception, to avoid being hard-capped.
The Nets have been aggressive with restricted free agents since Sean Marks took over GM duties. Last year, the team presented Allen Crabbe, Tyler Johnson, and Donatas Motiejunas with lucrative offer sheets, but didn’t ultimately land any of those players.
Brooklyn isn’t the only team that was hoping to steal Porter away from Washington. The Kings presented Porter with a max offer last weekend, though the small forward decided to meet with other teams before signing. Sacramento then went in another direction, using most of its available cap room on Zach Randolph and George Hill.
Pelicans Re-Sign Jrue Holiday To Five-Year Deal
JULY 6: The Pelicans have officially re-signed Holiday, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 1: The Pelicans have reached an agreement to re-sign point guard Jrue Holiday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports that the two sides have struck a five-year, $126MM deal. Wojnarowski adds that the value of the contract, which includes a fifth-year player option, could increase to approximately $150MM via incentives.
According to Wojnarowski, Holiday met with Pelicans officials with New Orleans late on Friday night in New Orleans, and while they didn’t make a deal immediately, the 27-year-old reached an agreement with the team just a few hours later. Holiday had been expected to meet with the Pacers and/or Knicks if he hadn’t agreed to re-sign with the Pelicans.
As Wojnarowski details, the Pelicans and Holiday developed a strong bond after the way the franchise helped the point guard deal with a family crisis last fall, when he missed the start of the 2016/17 season to care for his wife and newborn child. Head coach Alvin Gentry also has “tremendous trust” in Holiday’s ability to run New Orleans’ offfense, per Woj.
Re-signing Holiday was New Orleans’ top priority this offseason, particularly given the team’s salary cap situation. With more than $85MM in guaranteed salaries already on their books for 2017/18, the Pelicans weren’t in a position to create significant cap room to sign a replacement point guard if Holiday had decided to head elsewhere.
Because they held Holiday’s Bird rights, the Pelicans had the ability to go over the cap to lock him up, and now will have the mid-level ($8.4MM) and bi-annual ($3.3MM) exceptions available to add further reinforcements. They’ll also have a “big three” of Holiday, Anthony Davis, and DeMarcus Cousins for at least the next year, until Cousins’ contract expires in the summer of 2018.
Holiday, the 17th overall pick in 2009, arrived in New Orleans as a result of a draft-day trade in 2013. He has been reliable and productive over the last four years when he gets on the court, though he has been plagued by injuries too, having averaged just 52 games per season. In 2016/17, the UCLA product averaged 15.4 PPG and 7.3 APG.
It will be interesting to see whether the Pelicans express any interest in Justin Holiday this week. The Holiday brothers publicly stated earlier this year that they’d love the opportunity to play together, and Jrue’s older brother is also a free agent this summer.
Jrue Holiday was the No. 14 player on our list of this year’s top 50 free agents. He’s one of several point guards who has already struck an agreement since free agency opened less than eight hours ago. Stephen Curry, Jeff Teague, Patty Mills, and Shaun Livingston also have new deals in hand, leaving Kyle Lowry, George Hill, and Derrick Rose as the top point guards available.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Kings Sign First-Round Pick Justin Jackson
The Kings have signed Justin Jackson to a rookie scale deal, according to NBA.com. Jackson will take home nearly $13.5MM over the next four years, assuming he signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale.
Sacramento traded down from the No. 10 pick in order to select Jackson with the No. 15 selection as well as Harry Giles with the No. 20 overall selection. Outside of their draft night trade, the Kings also nabbed De’Aaron Fox with the No. 5 overall pick and Frank Mason III with the No. 34 overall pick.
Jackson spent three seasons at UNC where he helped lead the team to a national title last year. As a junior, he earned the ACC Player of the Year award in a season where he scored 18.3 points per game while pulling down 4.7 rebounds.
Clippers, Hawks, Nuggets Agree On Three-Way Deal
July 6: The trade is official, according to a Hawks team press release.
July 4: The Clippers, Hawks, and Nuggets are in agreement on a three-way deal that will send Danilo Gallinari to the Clippers in a sign-and-trade arrangement, reports Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The deal has been discussed extensively, and there was an expectation it would get done, but it hadn’t been formally agreed upon until now. It can be made official when the moratorium ends on Thursday.
Based on the terms reported, the trade is expected to look like this:
- Clippers receive: Gallinari (sign-and-trade, three-year deal worth $65MM)
- Hawks receive: Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone, first-round pick from Clippers (Rockets’ 2018 first-rounder), cash.
- Nuggets receive: Second-round pick from Hawks (it will be the Wizards’ 2019 second-rounder, tweets Vivlamore)
The key piece in the transaction is Gallinari, a free agent forward who turns 29 next month. He has had some trouble staying on the court in recent years, appearing in just 175 total games over the last four seasons, but he’s a versatile and effective scorer when he plays, averaging 18.2 PPG with a shooting line of .447/.389/.902 in 2016/17. The Clippers envision him sharing the frontcourt with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
The Clippers didn’t have the cap room to sign Gallinari outright, and the Nuggets didn’t want to take back salary in a sign-and-trade since they’re preserving their space to finalize Paul Millsap‘s signing. That opened the door for the Hawks to enter the mix and nab a future first-round pick – along with a young prospect in Stone – for their willingness to take on Crawford’s contract.
While Crawford will land in Atlanta as part of this three-way deal, there’s a belief that he’ll seek a trade or buyout. A trade will be tricky to complete, and the Hawks would likely want Crawford to forgo a significant chunk of the $17MM+ in guaranteed money remaining on his deal in order to buy him out. If the two sides can work something out though, the Lakers, Warriors, Spurs, and Cavaliers are among Crawford’ possible landing spots.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
RFA Rumors: Mirotic, Noel, Simmons, Green
A handful of restricted free agents have made out well so far this year on the open market. Tony Snell, Joe Ingles, Cristiano Felicio, and Andre Roberson got lucrative new multiyear deals from their respective clubs, and Otto Porter reportedly has a maximum salary offer sheet in place with the Nets, though the Wizards have yet to receive it.
Still, there are a number of RFAs still on the market as league-wide cap room begins to dwindle. Sean Deveney of The Sporting News takes a closer look at six big-name RFA still seeking a new contract, so let’s dive in and round up the highlights…
- Prior to free agency, rival executives estimated that Nikola Mirotic would seek something in the range of $20MM annually. However, the Bulls‘ power forward may have to settle for something closer to $12MM per year, according to Deveney, who notes that team owner Jerry Reinsdorf has played “hardball” in these situations in the past.
- Deveney predicts that the Mavericks and Nerlens Noel will eventually negotiate a deal in the four-year, $85MM range.
- The Spurs are expected to match reasonable offers for Jonathon Simmons, which could mean something in the range of $30MM over three years, per Deveney. The Kings and Knicks have expressed interest in Simmons.
- Grizzlies RFA JaMychal Green has drawn some interest from the Bulls and he may be a backup plan for the Spurs depending on what happens with Simmons, says Deveney, adding that Memphis still wants to retain Green.
- Bojan Bogdanovic‘s price tag is “quickly dropping,” according to Deveney. The Wizards RFA was believed to be seeking something in the range of $50MM over three years, but that doesn’t seem realistic at this point. The Kings may be Bogdanovic’s best bet if they don’t land another small forward, writes Deveney.
Pacers Waive Rakeem Christmas
5:03pm: The Pacers have officially waived Christmas, per the NBA’s transactions log.
10:17am: In his full story on Christmas’ pending release, Agness clarifies that the forward’s salary would have become guaranteed if he remained under contract beyond July 6, which is why the team is making the move today.
10:03am: The Pacers plan to waive Rakeem Christmas before the end of the day on Thursday, league sources tell Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports (Twitter link).
Christmas, 25, made his NBA debut for the Pacers in 2015/16, then appeared in 29 regular season games for the team last season. Christmas saw limited minutes in those games, averaging 2.0 PPG and 1.9 RPG in 7.6 minutes per contest.
Christmas’ 2017/18 salary, worth the minimum, was reportedly only guaranteed for $50K, per Basketball Insiders, so the Pacers will clear most of it from their cap. The 6’9″ forward’s full salary was scheduled to become guaranteed on August 1.
The Pacers waived Monta Ellis on Wednesday, stretching his contract in order to create nearly $9MM in cap room for 2017/18. The team also renounced its free agent rights to Aaron Brooks, Lavoy Allen, and Jeff Teague, per RealGM’s transactions log.
Teague has a deal lined up with Minnesota, so that move isn’t a surprise, but there didn’t seem to be any pressing need to renounce Brooks or Allen. There also was no apparent rush to cut Christmas quite yet, so it’s possible the Pacers have a move or two up their sleeves with their newly-expanded cap room.
Mavericks Not In Mix For Derrick Rose?
4:49pm: The Mavericks aren’t expected to be in the market for Rose after all, a source tells Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link).
4:20pm: The Mavericks appear to be in the mix for Derrick Rose, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post, who reports (via Twitter) that Dallas is emerging as a “serious contender” for the free agent point guard.
Dallas was linked to several notable point guards, including Jrue Holiday, in the weeks leading up to free agency. However, there wasn’t a clear path for the Mavs to pick up cap room for a deal near the maximum, and the team used its lottery pick to nab Dennis Smith Jr.
If the Mavs are still in the market for a veteran point guard to pair with Smith though, a tentative deal with Dirk Nowitzki will make things easier for the club to accommodate such a signing. Nowitzki is reportedly close to finalizing a two-year, $10MM contract to return to the franchise. His pay cut should give the Mavs up to about $15MM cap room with which to operate, even as Nerlens Noel‘s cap hit remains on the books.
Rose, 28, is coming off a season in which he averaged 18.0 PPG and 4.4 APG in 64 games for the Knicks. He has been linked to a handful of teams so far this month, though one potential suitor – the Clippers – went another direction today, striking a deal with Euroleague point guard Milos Teodosic.
Latest On Jamal Crawford
4:21pm: The Celtics are also among the teams Crawford would consider if he’s bought out, tweets Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders.
3:52pm: Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype (Twitter link) hears that in addition to the Wolves, Cavs, and Wizards, the Bucks would be in the mix for the shooting guard’s services in the event of a buyout. Kennedy mentions the Lakers as well, though Spears’ report (noted below) suggests the mutual interest between L.A. and Crawford has faded.
2:45pm: The three-team trade between the Nuggets, Clippers, and Hawks is expected to be finalized today and Jamal Crawford will work with Atlanta on a buyout agreement shortly after landing on the team, Chris Haynes of ESPN.com tweets.
It initially appeared that the shooting guard preferred to sign with the Lakers given his home in Los Angeles and his relationship with No. 2 overall pick Lonzo Ball. However, Marc J. Spears of the Undefeated reports (Twitter link) that neither Crawford nor the Lakers have much interest in working on a deal. The scribe adds that 37-year-old is expected to have interest from the Wolves, Cavs, and Wizards once a buyout is completed.
The Warriors were considered front-runners to sign Crawford earlier in the week, but the team opted to sign Nick Young to bolster its second unit. Crawford played for the Warriors during the 2008/09 season.
Atlanta is under no obligation to reach a buyout agreement with the shooting guard and the team could decide to trade him or keep him on the roster. It was reported earlier in the week that if Crawford wanted a buyout, he would have to give up a “significant portion” of his salary. He’s set to make over $17.2MM in guaranteed salary over the next two seasons.
Spurs Sign First-Round Pick Derrick White
The Spurs have signed Derrick White to a rookie scale deal, according to a team press release. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but if White signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale, he’ll take home roughly $8.54MM over the next four seasons.
White was the No. 29 overall pick out of the University of Colorado. During his lone season with the school, he was named Pac-12 All-Conference First-Team, All-Defensive Team, and All-Tournament Team.
The guard played three seasons of Division II basketball for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs prior to landing in the Pac-12. He’s that school’s all-time leader in career points and assists. White is currently playing for San Antonio’s summer league squad in Utah.
Suns Sign Second-Rounder Davon Reed
The Suns have made it official with one of their second-round picks, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed rookie guard Davon Reed to his first NBA contract. Reed’s deal was reported by Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link).
An ACC All-Defensive player for Miami in 2016/17, Reed averaged 14.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 2.4 APG in his senior season, making 39.7% of his three-point attempts. Reed was one of three players selected in last month’s draft by the Suns, who also nabbed Josh Jackson with the fourth overall pick and selected Alec Peters at No. 54.
Terms of Reed’s new deal aren’t yet known. As the No. 32 overall pick, he won’t be subject to the NBA’s rookie scale. However, he’s still a good bet to earn more than the minimum — last year, before the NBA’s minimum salaries jumped, the Suns drafted Tyler Ulis with the 34th overall pick and signed him to a four-year, $4MM contract with two fully guaranteed years.