Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 7/6/2017
Click here for the transcript of today’s Hoops Rumors chat.
Pacers Trade Paul George To Thunder
JULY 6, 12:05pm: The trade is official, according to a tweet from the Pacers.
JUNE 30, 8:42pm: Paul George will be traded to the Thunder, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN tweets. The scribe adds in a second tweet that Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis will be headed to the Pacers.
The deal was quickly confirmed by both TNT’s David Aldridge and Shams Charania of The Vertical and following up shortly thereafter was Royce Young of ESPN noting specifically that there will be no picks changing hands.
While George had been the subject of trade rumors ever since he expressed his desire to leave the Pacers next summer, the Thunder were not among the teams floated as a possible destination. It has since been made clear, however, that the Thunder have been in pursuit of George since at least the draft.
The move can be regarded as a risky one by general manager Sam Presti, who will see one of the game’s top two-way perimeter players suit up alongside the ever-prolific Russell Westbrook in 2017/18. George, however, has made no secret his desire to sign with his hometown Lakers next summer.
The relative lack of a return the Pacers received from Oklahoma City, specifically no draft picks, is indicative of how nervous league executives are about George ultimately leaving for Los Angeles in 2018, Brian Windhorst of ESPN says.
Teams on the outside looking in as the Thunder welcome the year’s most coveted “rental” include the Cavaliers, Celtics, Rockets and Wizards.
As the dust settles, the basketball community will pay special attention to how this impacts the future of the Thunder organization. Will the gesture of going out and landing Geoge be enough to convince Westbrook to sign a long-term extension this summer?
Of note is that the Thunder will not have the available cap space to negotiate a significant pay raise for George, meaning he’ll inevitably hit the free agent market in 2018. That doesn’t bode well considering his widely reported desire to play for the Lakers.
As far as the other side of the deal is concerned, the Pacers will bring a familiar face back to the state of Indiana. Prior to going second overall in the 2013 draft, Oladipo spent three years with the Hoosiers. Now, after a solid but unspectacular four years with the Magic and Thunder, the 25-year-old will have the opportunity to elevate his game with another change of scenery.
In Sabonis, the Pacers acquire a skilled big man fresh off of an acceptable first campaign. In limited action behind Steven Adams and Enes Kanter, Sabonis averaged 10.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per 36 minutes. He’ll slot in next to or just behind Myles Turner in Indiana.
The blockbuster deal is the second such move that will send an elite talent from the Eastern Conference westward. On draft day, Jimmy Butler of the Bulls was moved to the Timberwolves.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Suns Sign Mike James To Two-Way Contract
JULY 6: The Suns’ deal with James will be a two-way contract, tweets Chris Reichert of The Step Back. Our primer on two-way contracts can be found right here.
JULY 4: Combo guard Mike James has signed with the Suns, the team announced on its website.
James, 26, has spent the past five seasons in Europe and played this year for Panathinaikos in Greece. He has also spent time in Croatia, Israel, Italy and Spain.
The 6’1″ James played 25 games this season, averaging 13.1 points, 3.0 assists and 0.9 steals per night. He is part of the Suns’ summer league team this year and played summer ball for Phoenix in 2015. He scored 32 points in the 2015 championship game in Las Vegas.
James played collegiately at Lamar, where he was named first-team All-Southland Conference in 2011/12 and scored 52 points in a 2010/11 game. He went undrafted in 2012.
Tyler Lydon Signs Rookie Contract With Nuggets
Tyler Lydon, the Nuggets’ first round-pick out of Syracuse, has officially signed his rookie contract, the team announced on its website.
A 6’10” forward, Lydon was taken by Utah with the 24th pick and shipped to Denver along with Trey Lyles in exchange for 13th pick Donovan Mitchell.
As a sophomore, Lydon was All-ACC Honorable Mention after averaging 13.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game for the Orange. He helped Syracuse reach the Final Four as a freshman.
Lydon, 21, can make nearly $1.58MM in his first season and nearly $9.48MM over four years, according to the Hoops Rumors chart of rookie scale salaries.
Lydon will play for Denver’s summer league team starting Friday in Las Vegas. He is the 21st first-rounder to agree to a contract.
Kings Sign Harry Giles To Rookie Contract
The Kings have officially signed 2017 first-round pick Harry Giles to his first NBA contract, according to the league’s transactions log. Sacramento has not yet issued a formal announcement on Giles’ deal, and may be waiting for fellow first-rounders De’Aaron Fox and Justin Jackson to sign on the dotted line as well.
Giles, the 20th overall pick in this year’s draft, was viewed a probable lottery pick based on talent alone, but his history of knee problems made him a risky pick. The Kings, who traded down from No. 10 to grab the 15th and 20th overall picks, had already made two selections in Fox and Jackson before drafting Giles, so he was a worthwhile gamble for the franchise.
Giles’ rookie deal with Sacramento figures to be worth $1.859MM in year one, and $10.622MM over four years, as our chart of this year’s rookie scale salaries shows.
Less than one third of 2017’s first-rounders remain unsigned.
NBA’s July Moratorium Ends Today
The NBA’s July moratorium will end on Thursday at 11:00 am central time, allowing teams to conduct official business beginning today. The July moratorium is the period from July 1 to July 6 when teams are permitted to agree to trades and free agent contracts, but can’t yet formally finalize them.
[RELATED: 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker]
There are a number of types of deals that can be finalized during the moratorium, as we’ve seen this week. Teams can sign first-round picks to their rookie contracts, two-way contracts can be made official, and players signing minimum salary contracts can also finalize those deals. Restricted free agents are also permitted to sign offer sheets during the moratorium, though only one player – Otto Porter – has agreed to an offer sheet this week, and he hasn’t yet made it official with the Nets.
Although the end of the moratorium signals the beginning of official business for many teams, those teams aren’t obligated to immediately finalize deals reached during the moratorium. For instance, if the Celtics still haven’t found a taker for Jae Crowder, Avery Bradley, or Marcus Smart by 11:00 am CT today, it’s not as if their deal with Gordon Hayward will fall apart — Boston can take as much time as it needs to get its cap in order before making Hayward’s deal official, though I’m sure the team won’t want to drag out the process too long.
In some cases, trades that were agreed to in June before the new league year began still need to be officially finalized too. The Thunder‘s acquisition of Paul George from the Pacers is the most notable outstanding trade. However, a pair of draft-day deals involving the Sixers still need to be made official as well.
Philadelphia sold the 39th and 46th overall selections, but the team had reached its limit for cash received during the 2016/17 league year, so the Clippers and Bucks, respectively, agreed to postpone those deals until 2017/18, when the Sixers’ cash-received limit for the year will reset to $5.1MM.
[RELATED: 2017 NBA Offseason Trades]
Once the moratorium lifts, we’ll be updating our stories of contract and trade agreements to reflect when they become official. For top headlines from the last week, like the deals for Hayward, Paul Millsap, Blake Griffin, and other big-name free agents, we’ll bump those stories to the top of the site so you don’t miss news of them becoming official. However, since we don’t want to bury new news amidst confirmation of old news, our stories on smaller deals won’t be moved to the top of our feed unless there are new developments or details.
Timberwolves Sign Justin Patton To Rookie Deal
The Timberwolves have officially signed first-round pick Justin Patton to his rookie contract, the team announced in a press release. The move was made official earlier this week.
Patton, the 16th overall pick in this year’s draft, was part of a trade that sent Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and the No. 7 pick (Lauri Markkanen) to Chicago. Patton arrived in Minnesota along with Jimmy Butler as part of that blockbuster deal.
Unfortunately, Patton’s pro career didn’t get off to a great start. The former Creighton center won’t be participating in Summer League with the club, having suffered a foot fracture during a workout, the Wolves announced on Tuesday. Patton underwent surgery to repair a broken fifth metatarsal in his left foot and will be sidelined indefinitely, per the team.
As our breakdown of this year’s rookie scale salaries shows, Patton’s four-year deal with Minnesota will be worth about $12.81MM, with a first-year salary just shy of $2.25MM.
Eastern Rumors: Ellington, Haslem, Smart, Hawks
The belief among Heat players is that Wayne Ellington will be back with the team next season, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Ellington is a candidate to be released within the next 48 hours or so, since his $6.27MM salary for 2017/18 – currently non-guaranteed – will become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract.
Even if the Heat ultimately decide that they need to waive Ellington to create some extra cap room for another move, that doesn’t necessarily rule out his return — the team could eventually re-sign him to a deal worth the $4.3MM room exception, if he’s open to accepting a pay cut.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Reynolds provides another Heat-related tidbit, tweeting that Udonis Haslem is on the Cavaliers‘ radar. Haslem, who has spent his entire career in Miami, wants to stay with the Heat, and that looks like the most probable outcome. But a conversation between Haslem and the Cavs is likely, per Reynolds.
- On Wednesday, an ESPN report indicated that the Celtics had called the Knicks about Marcus Smart, but New York’s level of interest in Smart was unclear. Following up on that story, Marc Berman of The New York Post reports that the Knicks do indeed have interest in Smart and are considering trade options as a way of filling part or all of their remaining cap space.
- Italian forward Nicolo Melli received a contract offer from the Hawks, according to international basketball journalist David Pick (Twitter link). However, Pick reports that Melli has turned down that offer and will sign a multiyear pact with Fenerbahce in Turkey. Per Sportando (Twitter link), Melli’s new deal isn’t done yet, but will be within a few days.
- The Raptors are the latest team to line up a deal to add a sponsored patch to their jersey, according to TSN’s Rick Westhead, who reports that Toronto has signed a three-year agreement with insurance company Sun Life Financial. The deal will pay Raptors ownership more than $5MM annually, sources tell Westhead. The list of NBA clubs that have agreed to jersey sponsorship deals can be found here.
JaVale McGee To Meet With Kings
Free agent center JaVale McGee continues to look for a new home and has lined up a meeting with the Kings for Thursday, according to Chris Haynes of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Sacramento has already been active during the free agent period, striking deals to sign George Hill and Zach Randolph. However, the Kings still have some cap room left over, creating the flexibility to outbid rival suitors for McGee if they so choose.
The Kings’ frontcourt currently includes Randolph, Willie Cauley-Stein, Georgios Papagiannis, Kosta Koufos, Skal Labissiere, and – when he gets healthy – Harry Giles. There’s no shortage of options there, but many are young, developing players, so if McGee were to sign in Sacramento, he’d likely have an opportunity to take on a bigger role than he had in Golden State.
A nine-year NBA veteran, McGee played a career-low 9.6 minutes per game for the Warriors last year, but his per-minute production skyrocketed in Golden State. The veteran center averaged a career-high 23.0 points per 36 minutes, and his .652 FG% was also easily the best of his career.
McGee has received interest so far from the Warriors and Clippers, so it appears he’s a good bet to stay out west.
Cavs Offered Chauncey Billups Below-Market Deal
The Cavaliers were unable to reach an agreement with Chauncey Billups to make the former point guard their new president of basketball operations and Marc J. Spears and Chris Haynes of ESPN.com report that a deal never consummated in part because the team gave Billups a low-ball offer.
Cleveland reportedly initially offered Billups an annual salary of $1.5MM. League sources tell the pair of ESPN scribes that $4MM is viewed as the typical starting point in negotiations for that type of role. The Cavs eventually raised the offer to $2MM per season, though it wasn’t enough to entice the 40-year-old. Koby Altman, who is the Cavs’ assistant GM, is currently in charge of team president responsibilities.
Billups has no prior experience on the management side, but he is considered around the league as a “future front-office star.” He recently said that he intends to pursue a front office role at some point in the future.