Pistons Re-Sign Reggie Bullock
JULY 14: The Pistons have officially re-signed Bullock, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 10: Swingman Reggie Bullock has agreed to re-sign with the Pistons on a two-year, $5MM contract, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets.
The decision to bring back Bullock is somewhat of a surprise, given that Pistons traded for Avery Bradley, signed Langston Galloway in free agency and drafted Luke Kennard. That gives them plenty of depth at shooting guard, so the Pistons brass must be looking at Bullock as an insurance policy at small forward behind Tobias Harris and Stanley Johnson.
The 6’7” Bullock appeared in 31 games with the Pistons last season, averaging 4.5 PPG and 2.1 RPG in 15.1 MPG. He played in 37 games with Detroit the previous year after spending his first three seasons with the Clippers and Suns. He’s a career 35.5% shooter from 3-point range.
The Timberwolves were among the teams who expressed interest in Bullock during the free agent process. Bullock will have to sit out the first five games of the season while serving a suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy.
Celtics Officially Sign Gordon Hayward
JULY 14: Ten days after Hayward made his decision, he has formally signed his new maximum salary contract with the Celtics, the team confirmed today in a press release. Boston cleared the necessary cap room earlier today by waiving Jordan Mickey.
JULY 4: Gordon Hayward has made it official. In a piece for The Players’ Tribune, Hayward has announced that he has decided to join the Celtics as a free agent. Hayward will receive a four-year maximum salary contract from Boston with a player option on the final year, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter links).
“After seven years in Utah, I have decided to join the Boston Celtics,” Hayward writes. “I know that will be tough to hear for Jazz fans — and I really want you all to know that you mean the world to me and my family. Over the past few days, I’ve been genuinely torn. And I know that this process isn’t easy on the fans, either. So I just want to be as straight-up as possible about why I’m coming to Boston.
“There were so many great things pulling me in that direction,” Hayward continued. “There was the winning culture of Boston, as a city — from the Sox, to the Pats, to the Bruins. There was the special history of the Celtics, as a franchise — from Russell, to Bird, to Pierce, and it goes on. There was the amazing potential of this current Celtics roster, as a team — from ownership, to the front office, to a talented roster with Isaiah, and Al, and everyone else. And of course, there was Coach [Brad] Stevens: Not just for the relationship that we’ve built off the court — but also for the one that we started building on the court, all of those years ago, in Indiana.”
It has been an eventful day for Hayward, as a report from Chris Haynes of ESPN indicating that Hayward planned to sign with the Celtics was shot down by other outlets, with Hayward’s agent Mark Bartelstein issuing a statement confirming that his client hadn’t finalized his decision. However, Haynes’ scoop proved accurate, with Hayward formally announcing his new team a few hours later.
By joining the Celtics, Hayward will be in line for a four-year contract worth $127,829,970, though he may end up not opting into that fourth year. By that point, he’ll have 10 years of NBA experience, which would put him in line for a new max deal worth 35% of the cap instead of his current 30%. That potential desire to opt out after year three reduced the importance of Utah’s ability to offer a fifth year.
Before they finalize the signing of Hayward, the Celtics will have to make a series of salary cap moves to create the necessary cap room for his lucrative new deal. In addition to renouncing their free agents, the C’s figure to pull Kelly Olynyk‘s qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent. Jordan Mickey and Demetrius Jackson are candidates to be waived, and Boston will likely have to make at least one trade — Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley, Terry Rozier, and Jae Crowder are among the candidates to be moved. Teams are already engaging the Celtics on possible deals, tweets Chris Mannix of The Vertical.
By adding Hayward, the Celtics made a big free agent splash for the second straight summer, having signed Al Horford a year ago. The team wasn’t able to land a second star like Jimmy Butler or Paul George via trade, but the reigning No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference has added an All-Star forward in Hayward and the No. 3 overall pick in Jayson Tatum, and still has a collection of future draft picks at its disposal, setting the franchise up very well for the future.
Hayward’s move to the Eastern Conference also comes at a time when most of the league’s stars who are changing teams are heading west. Butler is now in Minnesota, George is headed to Oklahoma City, and Paul Millsap will land in Denver. The talent drain in the East should give Hayward a clearer path to a spot in the NBA Finals, though Boston will still have to overcome LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
As for the other two teams involved in the Hayward sweepstakes, the Jazz are hit the hardest, having lost both Hayward and George Hill today. The team was able to add a replacement for Hill by acquiring Ricky Rubio last week, but replacing Hayward’s production will be much more difficult.
Still, now that they no longer need to accommodate a max deal for Hayward, the Jazz have some options. According to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), Utah has scheduled a meeting with Wizards RFA Otto Porter. However, Utah currently doesn’t have the cap space for a max offer for Porter, and moving contracts to open up that room would be risky, since the Wizards could match any offer.
Meanwhile, the Heat have a chunk of available cap room that they can now use on other players as well. Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald reports (via Twitter) that Bartelstein, who also reps Miami free agent forward James Johnson, is “working on something” for Johnson and will talk with Pat Riley tonight.
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Spurs Sign Brandon Paul
JULY 14, 12:32pm: The Spurs have formally issued a press release making their deal with Paul official.
JULY 13, 2:24pm: The Spurs have reached an agreement with Brandon Paul to add him to the team, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link). Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com adds that the contract will be guaranteed, though no other details of the deal have trickled out yet.
Paul played abroad last season for Anadolu Efes Istanbul where he shot 41.5% from behind the arc. He played for the Cavaliers’ Summer League team in 2017 and the Sixers’ squad during the summer of 2016.
The combo guard spent four years at the University of Illinois before going undrafted in the 2013 draft. During his senior year in college, he scored 16.6 points per game while shooting 40.1% from the field.
Kings To Receive Second-Rounder, Cash For Perry
The Kings’ solid offseason continues, with the team poised to add an extra draft pick in exchange for an executive that has been with the franchise for less than three months. According to Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link), the Knicks and Kings have agreed on compensation for Scott Perry, who will be leaving Sacramento to become the general manager in New York.
The Kings will receive a 2019 second-round pick and cash as compensation for Perry’s departure, per Amick. The USA Today scribe adds (via Twitter) that the Knicks are currently slated to receive the worst two of the Orlando, Cleveland, and Houston second-rounders in 2019. Sacramento will receive the best of those two — the middle pick of the three, in other words.
Perry, who agreed on Thursday to join the Knicks, has had an eventful year so far. He had been working in the Magic’s front office under Rob Hennigan, but was dismissed along with Hennigan when Orlando cleaned house at season’s end. Perry quickly caught on in Sacramento as the executive VP of basketball operations, and helped guide the Kings to a series of offseason moves that included the additions of De’Aaron Fox, George Hill, Zach Randolph, Vince Carter, Justin Jackson, and Harry Giles.
Now, Perry will be headed to New York, where he’ll serve as the team’s general manager under Steve Mills, who will ascend to president. While Mills will have the final say, Perry will have “tremendous freedom” to operate and will be run the club’s day-to-day basketball operations, per Adrian Wojnarowski and Ian Begley of ESPN.com. Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter) that Perry will get a five-year contract from the Knicks.
While the Kings did well to turn Perry’s three-month stint into cash and draft compensation, the team may now be on the lookout for another veteran executive to help add stability to a front office that has made some questionable decisions in recent years.
Raptors, Pacers Finalize Cory Joseph Trade
The Raptors have officially sent Cory Joseph to the Pacers in a trade, the team announced today in a press release. In exchange for Joseph, Toronto acquired the draft rights to forward Emir Preldzic.
“We are very excited to acquire Cory,” Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said in his team’s announcement of the trade. “He has been on our radar for a while. With Darren Collison and Cory we have two solid, veteran point guards who fit our culture of playing hard and unselfish.”
Joseph was previously reported to be part of a swap that would send Miles to the Raptors in a sign-and-trade. However, Miles’ three-year contract was set to include a player option, and the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement prohibits third-year options on contracts completed in sign-and-trade deals.
As such, the Raptors will trade Joseph and sign Miles in separate transactions. Toronto will sign Miles using the mid-level exception, which starts at $8.406MM. By splitting up the transactions, the Raptors will no longer be able to retain that MLE for another signing, but they’ll pick up another traded player exception instead. After getting a $11.8MM TPE in their DeMarre Carroll deal with the Nets, the Raptors will create a trade exception worth Joseph’s salary ($7.63MM) in today’s swap.
Moving Joseph to Indiana before signing Miles will help the Raptors stay out of luxury tax territory for now. Joseph, who turns 26 next month, played in 80 games for the Raptors last season, averaging 9.3 PPG and 3.3 APG. He’ll team with the newly-signed Collison as Indiana looks to replace Jeff Teague at the point guard position.
Joseph’s contract includes a player option worth $7.945MM for 2018/19, so he could hit the free agent market a year from now if he has a solid season with the Pacers.
As for Preldzic, the 29-year-old forward was the 57th overall pick in the 2009 draft and has remained overseas since then. At this point, he seems unlikely to make the jump stateside, so his NBA rights were likely just included in the deal because each team has to send out something in a trade. This is the fourth time Preldzic’s rights have been traded since he was drafted.
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Latest On Suns, Knicks Trade Talks
The Suns and Knicks have had trade talks involving Brandon Knight and Eric Bledsoe, but don’t appear to be close to a deal. According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (Twitter link), the two teams discussed a trade involving Knight, but the Knicks countered with a deal that included Bledsoe, which Phoenix declined.
We heard previously that the Knicks had contacted the Suns about Bledsoe. As Marc Berman of The New York Post observed at the time though, New York doesn’t have a ton of assets to offer up in a potential deal. Bledsoe isn’t a hugely valuable trade chip, but he’s a starting-caliber point guard coming off a career year and is under contract at a reasonable rate ($29.5MM for two years), so Phoenix would likely be seeking young players or picks, which the rebuilding Knicks would be reluctant to give up.
That’s not the case for Knight, who is coming off perhaps the worst year of his career, having recorded a career-low .398 FG% and 11.0 PPG. The Knicks wouldn’t have to give up as much for the former eighth overall, but Gambadoro suggests that the two teams were discussing a deal that would trade Knight “into cap space.” The Knicks no longer have space available, so it’s not clear what a Knight deal would look like at this point.
The Knicks explored signing a handful of veteran point guards in free agency, but ultimately used their cap space and room exception to sign Tim Hardaway and Ron Baker, respectively. That effectively took the team out of the market for any notable veteran free agents, but New York continues to seek out a veteran mentor for Frank Ntilikina, making the trade route a real possibility.
Carmelo Anthony Trade Talks On Hold
JULY 14, 9:13am: As the Knicks regroup on the Anthony front, the team’s primary hope is that Carmelo will consider expanding his wish list beyond Houston and Cleveland, a source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post.
Anthony, who has a no-trade clause, could veto any deal, but has expressed a willingness to waive that NTC for the Rockets or Cavaliers — the Knicks have been unable to work out a deal with either of those teams, so adding more clubs to the list could increase their chances of getting something done.
Berman also notes within his story that the Nuggets were among the clubs who explored getting involved in three- or four-team trade talks when those discussions were active.
JULY 13, 9:04pm: The Knicks have paused Carmelo Anthony trade talks with both the Rockets and Cavaliers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. New York would like to reopen dialogue with Anthony about “reincorporating him into the organization.”
It was previously reported that Anthony’s representatives wanted to see a deal get done this week. The Rockets and Knicks were looking to pull off a multi-team trade and were searching for a fourth team to help facilitate a deal. The two sides discussed a three-team deal last weekend, but those talks reportedly “stalled.”
Scott Perry’s pending arrival as GM has made team executive Steve Mills reconsider his stance on trading Anthony, the pair of scribes add. Perry, who currently is the Kings VP of basketball operations, and the Knicks have agreed on a deal to make the executive the team’s new GM. However, Sacramento and New York still need to work out compensation in order to finalize Perry’s hiring.
The Knicks would like Anthony to meet with the team’s new front office as well as coach Jeff Hornacek soon, but the pair of ESPN scribes add that it’s unlikely Anthony will respond with eagerness to stay with the franchise.
The Rockets acquired Chris Paul two weeks ago and since the trade, Houston has been cited as a potential landing spot for Anthony. In order to bring the 10-time All-Star aboard, Houston would presumably need to move Ryan Anderson, who will earn more than $19.5MM during the 2017/18 campaign. New York has no interest in adding Anderson to the team.
Knicks To Hire Scott Perry As GM
JULY 14, 8:15am: The Knicks and Kings will have to agree on compensation terms before New York can officially hire Perry, league sources tell Wojnarowski and Ian Begley of ESPN.com. Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets that cash and perhaps a second-round pick seems like fair compensation for Sacramento, but it’s not clear what sort of terms the two sides are discussing.
ESPN’s full report also confirms that Perry would report to Mills in the Knicks’ new-look front office, with Mills being promoted to president. While Mills would have the final say, Perry will have “tremendous freedom” to operate and will be the day-to-day voice running basketball operations, per ESPN.
JULY 13, 4:32pm: Perry has agreed to a deal to become the team’s new GM, sources tell Vincent Goodwill of Comcast Sportsnet (Twitter link).
3:32pm: The Knicks have met with Kings Vice President of Basketball Operations Scott Perry and the two sides are discussing the parameters of a deal to make him the team’s new GM, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com tweets.
Perry joined Sacramento’s front office at the end of the 2016/17 campaign. He previously served as the assistant GM of the Magic and he also worked in the Sonics/Thunder organization, as well as for the Pistons.
The Knicks were interested in adding David Griffin to the GM role before the former Cavs executive withdrew his name from consideration. Griffin reportedly wanted to bring in the same front office staff he had in Cleveland, which was something the team opposed.
Team executive Steve Mills has been handling the GM duties on an interim basis since the organization fired Phil Jackson. The franchise remains on the hook to pay Jackson $24MM over the next two years. Mills, meanwhile, is poised to ascend to a president of basketball operations role for the Knicks.
Celtics Waive Jordan Mickey
The Celtics have officially waived big man Jordan Mickey, the team announced overnight in a press release. The move will clear the way for the club to make Gordon Hayward‘s maximum salary contract official.
The 33rd overall pick in the 2015 draft, Mickey spent two seasons with the Celtics, but spent more time playing for the Maine Red Claws in the G League than he did for the NBA club. Mickey has averaged 18.6 PPG, 9.7 RPG, and 3.8 BPG in 35 total G League contests. In 41 NBA games, he has recorded just 1.4 PPG and 1.1 RPG in very limited action (4.8 MPG).
A cap casualty, Mickey was reportedly on a non-guaranteed contract for 2017/18, making him an obvious candidate to be cut when the Celtics needed to create a little extra cap room. After trading Avery Bradley to the Pistons, the Celtics remained about $300K short of the space required to sign Hayward, meaning the team had to either waive Mickey, waive Demetrius Jackson, or commit to stashing Guerschon Yabusele overseas for another year. With Mickey released, Jackson should be safe for now, and Yabusele could still sign his rookie contract.
Mickey will become an unrestricted free agent this weekend if he goes unclaimed on waivers. Meanwhile, the Celtics figure to make the Hayward and Aron Baynes signings official soon.
Warriors Re-Sign Shaun Livingston
JULY 14: The Warriors have formally re-signed Livington, according to the NBA’s official transactions log.
JUNE 30: The Warriors have come to terms on a three-year, $24MM contract with veteran guard Shaun Livingston, Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press writes. The third year of Livingston’s new deal is only partially guaranteed, tweets Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. The salaries are $8MM for each of the first two years, with a $2MM guarantee for 2019/20.
Last season, the 31-year-old averaged 5.1 points and 1.8 assists per game for the Warriors, establishing himself as a heady, reliable option off the bench for the star-studded squad.
The reported $24MM agreement falls short of what ESPN’s Chris Haynes had offered up as a possible price point for Livingston earlier this week. On Tuesday we wrote that Haynes had projected Livingston could earn in the $10MM-$12MM range annually.
Livingston’s family helped convince him to stay with the Warriors and take less money that he could have gotten on the open market, relays Marcus Thompson of The San Jose Mercury News (Twitter link).
The agreement with Livingston virtually ensures that Golden State will exceed the tax apron, according to cap expert Nate Duncan (Twitter link).
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