Free Agent Notes: Lawson, Hansbrough, Buycks
Although he appeared to be on the verge of signing a contract with China’s Shanxi Brave Dragons, free agent point guard Ty Lawson remains on the market, agent Larry Fox tells HoopsHype. According to Fox, Lawson has received interest from several teams in China, and has reciprocated that interest and had some discussions with those clubs. However, the 29-year-old has also drawn interest from NBA teams and is still weighing his options, per Fox.
As we wait to see where Lawson lands, here are a few more free agent notes:
- Former lottery pick Tyler Hansbrough has reached an agreement to join China’s Guangzhou Lions, sources tell international basketball journalist David Pick (Twitter link). Sportando first reported that Hansbrough was expected to make the move to China. The former UNC standout has appeared in 428 career regular season NBA games, but didn’t catch on with a team for the 2016/17 season.
- Veteran guard Dwight Buycks broke off negotiations on a two-year contract with Olympiacos in order to pursue NBA opportunites, tweets David Pick. Buycks, who last played a regular season NBA game in 2015 with the Lakers, was said to be drawing interest from the Knicks earlier this month.
- Having reached an agreement to sign Rajon Rondo after signing Jrue Holiday to a lucrative new contract earlier in the month, the Pelicans envision the two guards playing side by side. As William Guillory of The Times-Picayune details, New Orleans head coach Alvin Gentry said during a radio appearance this week that his plan for now is to start Rondo at point guard with Holiday at the two. Rondo’s deal with the Pelicans is expected to be finalized soon.
Jazz Sign Royce O’Neale
JULY 19, 3:47pm: The Jazz have officially signed O’Neale, per the NBA’s transactions log.
JULY 17, 10:21am: Former Baylor forward Royce O’Neale has opted out of his Euroleague contract with Lithuanian club Zalgiris Kaunas, according to international basketball journalist David Pick (Twitter link). Pick suggests he’s hearing “rumblings” of an NBA contract agreement between O’Neale and the Jazz, while Chema De Lucas of Gigantes Del Basket tweets that O’Neale will get a three-year contract from Utah, with a fully guaranteed first year.
There has been no confirmation out of Utah yet on an agreement between the Jazz and O’Neale, but we heard last week that the 24-year-old was considering multiple NBA offers and had to exercise the opt-out in his Euroleague contract by July 20.
O’Neale, who went undrafted in 2015, played one season in Germany before joining Spanish team Gran Canaria for 2016/17. In 35 Spanish League games with the team, O’Neale averaged 7.5 PPG and a team-high 5.0 RPG. The Texas native played for the Warriors’ Summer League squad in 2016, and was part of the Pelicans’ Summer League team this year.
The Jazz, who have yet to finalize all their free agent signings for the month, should have the cap room necessary to accommodate a three-year deal for O’Neale.
Nuggets Sign Torrey Craig To Two-Way Contract
JULY 19: The Nuggets have officially signed Craig to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 16: The Nuggets and Torrey Craig have agreed to a deal to add the small forward to the team, Orazio Cauchi of Sportando reports. The deal will be a two-way contract, according to Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post (Twitter link).
Players on two-way deals will spend most of their season in the G-League since they cannot spend more than 45 days with an NBA club, as our glossary page on two-way contracts shows.
Craig, who has had an impressive Summer League for Denver’s squad, played abroad over the last several seasons. He earned the NBL Best Defensive Player Award as well as All-NBL Second Team honors while playing for the Brisbane Bullets during the 2016/17 season.
Community Shootaround: Remaining RFAs
While most of this year’s top free agents have found new homes – or returned to their old ones – the restricted free agent market still features several interesting names. Nikola Mirotic (Bulls), JaMychal Green (Grizzlies), Mason Plumlee (Nuggets), Alex Len (Suns), and Nerlens Noel (Mavericks) remain unsigned.
A year after 27 teams dipped below the salary cap and used cap space to sign players, less than half the league’s teams did so this year, and many of those clubs have since used up all their cap room. That means that there aren’t many teams left with the spending power necessary to offer the remaining RFAs the sort of contracts they may believe they’re worth.
Clubs like the Nets, Suns, Bulls, and Hawks still have some flexibility to make aggressive offers to restricted free agents if they so choose, but none of those clubs appears to be actively pursuing anyone at the moment.
If no offer sheets are on the table for a given restricted free agent, and his team is unwilling to finalize a deal without letting the market set the price, it could create a holding pattern capable of dragging on through the summer and into the fall.
If an RFA is willing to bet on himself, he could sign his one-year qualifying offer, play out the season, and become an unrestricted free agent a year from now. The deadline for teams to withdraw qualifying offers has passed, so none of these players are in immediate danger of having their QOs pulled. Still, so far this year, no one has been willing to sign that one-year offer.
Of course, the idea of accepting the qualifying offer has varying appeal depending on the player. For instance, Green’s QO is worth a fairly modest $2,820,497, meaning he may be less inclined to sign that one-year offer than someone like Mirotic, whose QO is worth $7,228,063.
What do you think? Are the Nets or Hawks lurking with an offer sheet for any of these restricted free agents? Will they all return to their current teams? Will any of them sign their qualifying offers? Which of these RFAs would you be most inclined to pursue if you were running a team?
Jump into the comments section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
James Jones Joins Suns’ Front Office; GM McDonough Extended
Longtime NBA forward James Jones appears ready to call it a career as a player, and will transition into a front office role in Phoenix. The Suns announced today in a press release that Jones has joined the franchise and has been named vice president of basketball operations.
According to the Suns, Jones will report to general manager Ryan McDonough, who has received a new multiyear contract extension from the franchise. Jones will work alongside McDonough to “oversee all basketball-related matters for the Suns,” per the announcement.
“I would like to thank [team owner] Robert [Sarver] and his partners for extending my agreement with this great franchise,” McDonough said in a statement. “We have laid the foundation for what we hope will become the next championship caliber Suns team. There is still a lot of work to be done to reach our ultimate goal of bringing a championship to Phoenix so we are thrilled to add James Jones to our staff.”
Jones, 36, has played for 14 seasons in the NBA, spending team with the Pacers, Suns, Trail Blazers, Heat, and Cavaliers, appearing in 709 regular-season games and another 148 playoff contests.. Along with LeBron James, Jones has appeared in the last seven NBA Finals. However, a report earlier this month suggested that the veteran forward wouldn’t be returning to the Cavs for the 2017/18 campaign.
Instead, Jones will take his talents to the Suns’ front office, and will look to help McDonough guide a rebuilding organization. Phoenix entered this month mulling the idea of making a big splash in free agency, but watched Blake Griffin re-sign with the Clippers and backed off Paul Millsap, opting instead to focus on developing the team’s young players.
The Suns’ roster currently features a mix of promising youngsters and veteran role players. The club figures to build around players like Devin Booker, Josh Jackson, Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, Alan Williams, and Tyler Ulis, with veterans such as Tyson Chandler and Jared Dudley not part of the long-term plans. Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight are also believed to be on the trade block.
Celtics Sign Aron Baynes
JULY 19: The Celtics have officially signed Baynes, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 9: The Celtics have reached an agreement with Aron Baynes on a one-year deal that will be worth $4.3MM, sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Boston will be using its room exception to bring Baynes aboard.
Baynes, who spent the last two seasons with the Pistons, turned down a player option worth $6.5MM to become a free agent this summer. Detroit didn’t rule out bringing back the big man, but ultimately renounced his rights as part of this week’s moves, all but closing the door on the possibility of a reunion.
Boston lacked frontcourt depth after losing Amir Johnson, Jonas Jerebko, and Kelly Olynyk in free agency and waiving Tyler Zeller. Baynes has an opportunity to play a key role off the bench for the Celtics.
Having used their cap room and their room exception, the C’s will now be limited to minimum salary deals for free agents going forward.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Wizards Owner Expects John Wall To Sign Extension
Wizards owner Ted Leonsis was in attendance today at a press conference to re-introduce Otto Porter, and in addition to discussing his newest maximum salary player, Leonsis also addressed another one of the club’s potential max deals. According to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post (Twitter link), the Wizards owner said that he expects John Wall to sign a Designated Player Extension to remain in D.C.
Like the Thunder did with Russell Westbrook, the Wizards put a DPE offer on the table for Wall when the new league year began. Both players are eligible for the super-max extension under the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement after earning All-NBA honors this past season.
Wall still has two years left on his current deal, which pays him just over $18MM in 2017/18 and $19MM in ’18/19. A Designated Veteran Extension would go into effect for the 2019/20 season and would keep him locked up for another four years. It would start at 35% of the salary cap, which is currently projected to be $108MM.
That projection could – and likely will – change by the summer of 2019, but based on the current estimations, a four-year extension for Wall would be worth more than $169MM from 2019/20 through 2022/23 — the same amount as James Harden‘s new deal over that four-year stretch.
While that’s a mammoth offer, Wall has thus far been noncommittal to actually signing it. When word first broke that the Wizards would offer Wall a Designated Player Extension, the star point guard suggested that he wanted to take his time to consider the team’s direction and mull the decision.
“I just want to kind of see what they do throughout free agency, talk to my family, talk to my agency and my managers and see what we want to do,” Wall said last month. “It’s definitely a place I want to be … I’ve just got to make sure things are going in the right direction, and make sure we are building the team in the way we want to be, and don’t get locked up in a situation where you might not feel comfortable … But I love being in Washington, I love playing there, and there’s not another city I’d really want to play for.”
Word out of Oklahoma City has suggested that local reporters expect Westbrook to sign his DPE at some point in the coming weeks or months, and Leonsis’ comments today indicate he expects Wall to do the same for the Wizards. Both point guards can finalize those extensions at any point before the regular season begins, so there’s no urgency to get them done right away.
Thibodeau: Wolves Working On Wiggins Extension
Appearing today at a press conference to introduce newly-signed guard Jamal Crawford, Timberwolves head coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau confirmed that his team is working on a contract extension for Andrew Wiggins, tweets Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune.
Wiggins, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft, is one of 21 former first-round picks eligible for a rookie scale contract extension this offseason, as we detailed last month. So far, no players heading into the fourth and final year of their rookie contracts have signed new deals with their respective teams, but they’ll have until the day before the regular season to work out extensions, and most agreements come at the 11th hour.
Wiggins’ contract situation will be an interesting one to watch. A year ago, none of the eight players who signed rookie scale extensions received maximum salary contracts, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, who projects to be a perennial MVP candidate. As such, it’s possible Minnesota’s offer for Wiggins will more closely resemble the four-year, $84MM deal signed by Victor Oladipo, as opposed to something at or near the max.
Wiggins, who has missed just one game in his first three NBA seasons, has shown impressive development as a scorer, increasing his PPG to 23.6 and improving his 3PT% to .356 in 2016/17. Those figures were both career bests by a comfortable margin. However, Wiggins’ abilities as a defender, rebounder, and distributor haven’t grown at the same rate.
At age 22, Wiggins has plenty of time to improve those areas of his game and could turn into a dominant two-way player, but it’s not clear yet how aggressively the Timberwolves are willing to bet on his continued development.
If Wiggins and the Wolves don’t reach an agreement on an extension by opening night, the team would still be in the driver’s seat to keep him for the long term, since he’d be eligible for restricted free agency in 2018.
Jamal Crawford Signs With Timberwolves
JULY 19, 10:41am: The Timberwolves have officially signed Crawford, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 8, 6:14pm: Crawford has agreed to sign with the Wolves once the waiver process is complete, according to Brian Windhorst and Chris Haynes of ESPN.com. They add that Crawford had to surrender some guaranteed money in the buyout with Atlanta, so salary was a factor in his decision. Minnesota is just under the cap and has a $4.3MM room mid-level exception that it was able to offer.
Jimmy Butler and coach Tom Thibodeau both aggressively recruited Crawford to join the team, tweets David Aldridge of TNT.
5:48pm: Sources tell Charania the Wolves will offer Crawford a contract worth $8.9MM over two years with a player option on the second season (Twitter link).
5:18pm: Veteran guard Jamal Crawford is in “serious talks” to sign with Minnesota once he clears waivers, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical.
The Hawks requested waivers Friday on Crawford, so he won’t clear until Monday. They acquired him as part of a three-way deal that sent Danilo Gallinari from the Nuggets to the Clippers, but never seemed like a real threat to keep the 17-year veteran.
Crawford would add bench firepower and 3-point shooting to a Wolves team that lacked both last season. The three-time Sixth Man of the Year averaged 12.3 points per game and shot 36% from long distance for the Clippers last year.
The Cavaliers had been considered the favorites for Crawford, with one report Friday suggesting he was “theirs to lose.” The Celtics, Bucks, Wizards and Lakers were also believed to be contenders.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
How Teams Are Using 2017/18 Bi-Annual Exceptions
The bi-annual exception is one of the tools available to NBA teams who are over the cap, giving those clubs the flexibility to offer free agents more than the minimum salary. In 2017/18, the bi-annual exception is worth $3.29MM, and can be used to offer a deal worth up to about $6.745MM over two years.
However, the bi-annual exception isn’t available to every team. Clubs that go below the cap in order to use cap room lose access to the exception. Additionally, using the BAE imposes a hard cap on a club, as we discussed on Tuesday. So if a team intends to surpass the tax apron – or wants to retain the flexibility to do so – that team is ineligible to use the bi-annual exception.
Finally, as its name suggests, the bi-annual exception can’t be used by a team in consecutive years. In 2016/17, only three teams stayed over the cap all year, and two of those clubs – the Raptors and Cavaliers – didn’t use their bi-annual exceptions. However, the Clippers used theirs, meaning it isn’t available to the team during the 2017/18 league year — they’ll be able to use it again next summer.
With all those factors in mind, here’s a breakdown of how teams are using – or not using – their respective bi-annual exceptions in 2017/18:
BAE Still Available:
- Charlotte Hornets
- Chicago Bulls
- Dallas Mavericks
- Milwaukee Bucks
- New Orleans Pelicans
- San Antonio Spurs
- Toronto Raptors
Unless a taxpaying team drastically cuts costs at some point, the seven clubs listed above are the only teams that could still use their bi-annual exception at some point during the 2017/18 season. Even in these cases, there’s no guarantee that the BAE will be available all season.
The Bulls, for instance, could decide to dip below the cap to use cap room at some point, forfeiting their bi-annual exception. Meanwhile, teams like the Hornets, Bucks, and Raptors are hovering near tax territory, and may not want to use their respective BAEs, given their proximity to the apron.
BAE Unavailable:
Used:
- Detroit Pistons (Anthony Tolliver)
- Houston Rockets (Tarik Black)
- Memphis Grizzlies (Tyreke Evans)
Went under cap:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Boston Celtics
- Brooklyn Nets
- Denver Nuggets
- Indiana Pacers
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Miami Heat
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New York Knicks
- Orlando Magic
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Phoenix Suns
- Sacramento Kings
- Utah Jazz
Over or near tax apron:
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Golden State Warriors
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Washington Wizards
Used last year:
- Los Angeles Clippers