Jimmy Butler, Kyrie Irving Interested In Playing Together?
All-Stars and former USA Basketball teammates Jimmy Butler and Kyrie Irving are interested in figuring out a way to play together, a league source close to the situation tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
Both Butler and Irving were dealt to new teams in 2017 and thrived in those new homes during the 2017/18 season, so neither player is viewed as a trade candidate for the time being. However, both veterans hold player options for the 2019/20 season, meaning they could opt out and reach free agency at the same time a year from now.
Both Irving and Butler are eligible for contract extensions this summer, but are unlikely to sign them. A June report indicated that Irving won’t consider a new deal this offseason, since it wouldn’t make financial sense for the Celtics point guard to do so. Butler is in a similar boat for the Timberwolves, as he has the ability to make significantly more money if he waits for free agency.
Additionally, a league source tells Cowley that Butler has been “all but fed up with the nonchalant attitude of his younger teammates” in Minnesota. Cowley singles out Karl-Anthony Towns as a player who isn’t on the same page as the veteran forward, hinting that Butler’s end-of-season comments to the Sun-Times could have been aimed at KAT and other young teammates.
Butler said in late April that he doesn’t understand “how or why you all don’t love to get better the way that I do” and that he gets “lost in how everybody is not built the way that I’m built.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about unease in Minnesota related to the team’s three stars, Butler, Towns, and Andrew Wiggins. While there’s no indication that the Timberwolves need to take immediate steps to address any tension by moving one of those three players, the frequency of these reports is making it harder to envision them all staying with the franchise long term.
Rookie Scale Salaries For 2018 First Round Picks
With the NBA’s salary cap set at $101,869,000 for the 2018/19 league year, the rookie scale has been set as well. The rookie scale locks in the value of contracts for first-round picks.
In every NBA league year, rookie scale amounts are assigned to each first-round slot, from No. 1 through No. 30. Teams can sign their first-rounders to as little as 80% of that rookie scale amount, or up to 120% of that figure. While that rule theoretically affords teams some flexibility, first-round picks virtually always sign contracts worth 120% of their rookie scale amount, and unsigned first-rounders have a cap hold worth 120% of their rookie scale amount.
Listed below, via Coon and RealGM, are the salary figures that represent 120% of the rookie scale amounts for 2018 first-round picks. Players will sign for these amounts unless they accept a deal worth less than the maximum allowable 120%. Rookie scale contracts are guaranteed for the first two years, with team options on the third and fourth years.
Here’s the 2018 breakdown:
| Pick | Player | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deandre Ayton | $8,165,160 | $9,562,920 | $10,018,200 | $12,632,950 | $40,379,230 |
| 2 | Marvin Bagley | $7,305,600 | $8,556,120 | $8,963,640 | $11,312,114 | $36,137,474 |
| 3 | Luka Doncic | $6,560,640 | $7,683,360 | $8,049,360 | $10,174,391 | $32,467,751 |
| 4 | Jaren Jackson | $5,915,040 | $6,927,480 | $7,257,360 | $9,180,560 | $29,280,440 |
| 5 | Trae Young | $5,356,440 | $6,273,000 | $6,571,800 | $8,326,471 | $26,527,711 |
| 6 | Mo Bamba | $4,865,040 | $5,697,600 | $5,969,040 | $7,568,742 | $24,100,422 |
| 7 | Wendell Carter | $4,441,200 | $5,201,400 | $5,448,840 | $6,920,027 | $22,011,467 |
| 8 | Collin Sexton | $4,068,600 | $4,764,960 | $4,991,880 | $6,349,671 | $20,175,111 |
| 9 | Kevin Knox | $3,739,920 | $4,380,120 | $4,588,680 | $5,845,978 | $18,554,698 |
| 10 | Mikal Bridges | $3,552,960 | $4,161,000 | $4,359,000 | $5,557,725 | $17,630,685 |
| 11 | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | $3,375,360 | $3,952,920 | $4,141,320 | $5,495,532 | $16,965,132 |
| 12 | Miles Bridges | $3,206,640 | $3,755,400 | $3,934,320 | $5,421,493 | $16,317,853 |
| 13 | Jerome Robinson | $3,046,200 | $3,567,720 | $3,737,520 | $5,340,916 | $15,692,356 |
| 14 | Michael Porter | $2,894,160 | $3,389,400 | $3,550,800 | $5,258,735 | $15,093,095 |
| 15 | Troy Brown | $2,749,080 | $3,219,480 | $3,372,840 | $5,170,564 | $14,511,964 |
| 16 | Zhaire Smith | $2,611,800 | $3,058,800 | $3,204,600 | $4,915,856 | $13,791,056 |
| 17 | Donte DiVincenzo | $2,481,000 | $2,905,800 | $3,044,160 | $4,675,830 | $13,106,790 |
| 18 | Lonnie Walker | $2,357,160 | $2,760,480 | $2,892,000 | $4,447,896 | $12,457,536 |
| 19 | Kevin Huerter | $2,250,960 | $2,636,280 | $2,761,920 | $4,253,357 | $11,902,517 |
| 20 | Josh Okogie | $2,160,720 | $2,530,680 | $2,651,040 | $4,087,904 | $11,430,344 |
| 21 | Grayson Allen | $2,074,320 | $2,429,400 | $2,545,320 | $4,054,695 | $11,103,735 |
| 22 | Chandler Hutchison | $1,991,520 | $2,332,320 | $2,443,440 | $4,019,459 | $10,786,739 |
| 23 | Aaron Holiday | $1,911,960 | $2,239,200 | $2,345,640 | $3,980,551 | $10,477,351 |
| 24 | Anfernee Simons | $1,835,520 | $2,149,560 | $2,252,040 | $3,938,818 | $10,175,938 |
| 25 | Moritz Wagner | $1,762,080 | $2,063,520 | $2,161,920 | $3,893,618 | $9,881,138 |
| 26 | Landry Shamet | $1,703,640 | $1,995,120 | $2,090,040 | $3,768,342 | $9,557,142 |
| 27 | Robert Williams | $1,654,440 | $1,937,520 | $2,029,920 | $3,661,976 | $9,283,856 |
| 28 | Jacob Evans | $1,644,240 | $1,925,880 | $2,017,320 | $3,641,263 | $9,228,703 |
| 29 | Dzanan Musa | $1,632,240 | $1,911,600 | $2,002,800 | $3,615,054 | $9,161,694 |
| 30 | Omari Spellman | $1,620,480 | $1,897,800 | $1,988,280 | $3,588,845 | $9,095,405 |
Atlantic Notes: Nets, Lin, Sixers, Kanter, Celtics
The Nets had legitimate interest in Julius Randle before he agreed to sign with the Pelicans, sources tell Brian Lewis of The New York Post. With Randle off the board, however, Brooklyn may not look to make a major splash in free agency after reaching deals with Joe Harris and Ed Davis. If the team returns to the free agent market, it will likely be for “under-the-radar types,” according to Lewis, who identifies Davis Bertans as one possible target.
There’s a chance that the Nets could still be active on the trade market as well. While a Monday report suggested the club isn’t actively shopping anyone, including Jeremy Lin, league sources tell Lewis that they’ve heard Lin could be dealt during the offseason. Without a major free agent target in their sights though, the Nets likely won’t be eager to get out from under the point guard’s $12.5MM+ expiring contract to create more spending flexibility.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- The Sixers have removed the cap hold for 2017 first-rounder Anzejs Pasecniks from their 2018/19 cap, according to RealGM’s official transactions log. Philadelphia still holds Pasecniks’ NBA rights, but the move ensure that he won’t sign with the club for the coming season.
- After opting into the final year of his contract, Enes Kanter said in an interview with MSG Network that he wishes he could’ve signed for longer, but is happy to remain with the Knicks (Twitter link via ESPN’s Ian Begley). It sounds like Kanter wanted to opt out of his deal in order to secure a long-term contract with New York, but the club wasn’t interested in adding long-term money to its books this offseason, preferring to maximize its cap flexibility for 2019.
- Introduced by the Celtics today after signing a minimum-salary deal with the team, Brad Wanamaker said he has been looking for an opportunity to come to the NBA for the last couple years. “It’s a dream come true to play in the NBA and with a team like Boston,” the EuroLeague standout said, per Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- Celtics rookie Robert Williams, who slipped to No. 27 in the draft in part due to reported character concerns, hasn’t exactly been making a great impression to start his NBA career. After sleeping through an introductory conference call on the day after the draft, Williams missed his flight to Boston for the start of Summer League practices over the weekend, tweets ESPN’s Chris Forsberg.
Bulls Sign Carter, Hutchison To Rookie Deals
The Bulls have made it official with their two first-round picks, announcing today in a press release that Wendell Carter Jr. and Chandler Hutchison have both signed their rookie contracts.
Carter, the seventh overall pick in the 2018 draft, was somewhat overshadowed in his freshman year at Duke by teammate Marvin Bagley III, but had a strong season for the Blue Devils, averaging 13.5 PPG, 9.1 RPG, and 2.1 BPG. He projects as the Bulls’ long-term starting center alongside power forward Lauri Markkanen in the frontcourt.
As for Hutchison, the 6’7″ swingman played his college ball at Boise State, and is coming off a 2017/18 season in which he averaged an impressive 20.0 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 3.5 APG with a .475/.359/.728 shooting line. The No. 22 pick will look to earn minutes in Chicago’s wing rotation in his rookie year.
Carter’s new four-year deal will be worth approximately $22MM, while Hutchison will be in line for a four-year total of about $10.79MM. The terms of both deals are dictated by the NBA’s rookie scale. Each contract will also have two guaranteed seasons, with team options in years three and four.
Wizards Express Interest In Crawford, Mbah A Moute, Others
The Wizards lost one key member of their bench when Mike Scott reached an agreement with the Clippers on Monday, but the team has remained active in search of potential free agent additions.
According to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post (Twitter links), the Wizards have expressed interest in a number of veteran free agents, including Jamal Crawford, Luc Mbah a Moute, Dante Cunningham, and Willie Reed. Ty Lawson, who finished last season in D.C., also remains a possibility to return, Buckner adds.
The Wizards’ backcourt is getting pretty crowded, with Tomas Satoransky and newly-acquired Austin Rivers slotting in behind John Wall and Bradley Beal. Jodie Meeks and rookie Troy Brown could also see some time at the two, so it’s not clear whether Crawford, who will want a featured role off the bench, would be a good fit in Washington.
However, Mbah a Moute, Cunningham, and Reed make more sense as potential targets for the Wizards. Mbah a Moute and Cunningham are versatile forwards capable of knocking down three-pointers, while Reed is a big man who could add depth to a Wizards frontcourt that no longer features Marcin Gortat.
The Wizards have also been linked to Dwight Howard, Jeff Green, Treveon Graham, and Thomas Robinson, among other free agents.
More On DeMarcus Cousins’ Deal With Warriors
In a conversation with Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, DeMarcus Cousins explains that he chose to pursue a deal with the Warriors – calling GM Bob Myers himself – because he hadn’t received any offers from other teams, adding that Pelicans GM Dell Demps said New Orleans didn’t plan to re-sign him.
Recognizing that he wasn’t going to get a maximum-salary deal, Cousins opted to play for a title contender for one year, aiming to rebuild his value in advance of 2019’s free agent period. “This was my ace of spades. This was my chess move,” Cousins told Spears.
It’s somewhat hard to believe that no team was willing to offer Cousins a contract before he accepted the Warriors’ $5.3MM offer, and that’s especially true of the Pelicans, who had insisted all along that they wanted to re-sign the star center.
According to Will Guillory of NOLA.com (Twitter link), Cousins never formally met with the Pelicans during free agency and may not have officially made an offer, but general numbers had been discussed and there was an “understanding of what each side was looking for.” It’s not true to say the Pels didn’t want Cousins, Guillory adds.
Still, it’s certainly fair to say that NBA-wide interest in Cousins wasn’t as strong as many observers expected. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (video link), Cousins’ Achilles injury and a lack of cap space around the league were factors, and so was his image. “There were teams with [cap] space who did not want him in their locker room and didn’t want him in their organization,” Wojnarowski said.
Here’s more on free agency’s most shocking contract agreement:
- The Pelicans had a tentative meeting with Cousins scheduled for the coming days, but that meeting obviously won’t happen now, sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe.
- Lowe’s piece includes several other tidbits of note — he confirms Woj’s report that a number of teams had a “No Cousins policy,” and hears from sources that Cousins’ people were calling around on Monday and pitching deals to various teams. The big man’s camp proposed a one-year, $15MM deal to one club, but clearly there wasn’t a ton of interest, Lowe adds. For what it’s worth, Lowe is skeptical that Cousins’ deal with the Warriors will merit the kind of “hype” or “anguish” that it’s received so far, since his health and fit are still question marks.
- While a previous report indicated Cousins narrowed his choices to the Warriors and Celtics, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) hears from a league source that the Celtics didn’t get a chance to make a formal offer. The C’s heard Cousins might have interest in coming to Boston, but by the time they began looking into it, his deal with Golden State was done, says Himmelsbach.
- Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer takes a look at the NBA system that allowed the Warriors to add Cousins to their super-team, exploring whether the idea of a hard cap could gain momentum or stop this sort of move in the future.
- We rounded up several more Cousins-related notes on Monday night.
Free Agent Rumors: Neto, Wizards, J. Green, Parker
The Jazz, who have reached an agreement with Derrick Favors and are hoping to re-sign a couple other key free agents, met with point guard Raul Neto on Monday, league sources tell Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). Utah has expressed interest in bringing back RFA point guards Neto and Dante Exum.
With Favors returning, Thabo Sefolosha‘s salary guaranteed for 2018/19, and Grayson Allen now locked up to his rookie contract, the Jazz have 10 players on guaranteed deals so far for next season. If the club intends to keep its remaining three non-guaranteed players – Ekpe Udoh, Jonas Jerebko, and Royce O’Neale – that would leave just two open roster spots for Exum and Neto. I would guess that with Favors back, Udoh isn’t a lock to be retained, but we’ll see what the Jazz have in mind in the coming days.
Here are a few more free agent notes and rumors from around the NBA:
- After losing Mike Scott to the Clippers, the Wizards are on the lookout for frontcourt help and have been in touch with free agent forward Jeff Green, reports TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link).
- A report from French outlet L’Equipe (hat tip to Amico Hoops) suggests that Tony Parker isn’t necessarily a lock to return to the Spurs, with the Nuggets and Hornets among the “five or six” teams that could make a play for the veteran point guard.
- While Marcus Smart‘s free agency could linger due to his restricted status, retaining him remains the Celtics‘ top offseason priority, tweets Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.
- Former fifth overall pick Thomas Robinson didn’t play in the NBA last season, but he’s receiving some interest from teams this offseason, per Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. Kennedy tweets that the Bucks, Clippers, Wizards, and Suns have all expressed some level of interest in the veteran power forward.
Tyreke Evans Meeting With Pacers
Free agent guard Tyreke Evans continues to meet with interested teams, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Evans has a meeting lined up with the Pacers today. While the two sides have mutual interest in completing a deal, there’s still work to do on it, Woj adds.
It’s the fifth reported free agent meeting for Evans, who also reportedly spoke to the Thunder, Lakers, Warriors, and Hornets. None of those teams currently have the cap room or exceptions to offer the 28-year-old the kind of money that Indiana could.
Having waived Al Jefferson on Monday, the Pacers should still have about $10-15MM in cap room even after committing a portion of their space to Doug McDermott early in free agency.
A former fourth overall pick and Rookie of the Year, Evans appeared in 52 games during an injury-shortened season for the Grizzlies. When healthy, the play-making guard looked as good as he has at any time in his nine-year NBA career, averaging 19.4 PPG, 5.2 APG, and 5.1 RPG with a .452/.399/.785 shooting line.
Magic Sign Mohamed Bamba To Rookie Deal
The Magic have officially locked up their 2018 first-round pick, announcing in a press release that they’ve signed Mohamed Bamba to his rookie contract. Bamba’s deal, like all other rookie scale contracts for first-rounders, will feature two guaranteed years with team options in years three and four.
Bamba, 20, spent a single college season at Texas, averaging a double-double (12.9 PPG, 10.5 RPG) with an impressive 3.7 BPG. He declared for the draft as an early entrant.
Bamba will join a crowded Orlando frontcourt that features veteran centers Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo, as well as power forwards Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon, who agreed to a new four-year deal with the Magic on Sunday. Khem Birch will also provide depth for the team at the four and five.
As the sixth overall pick in the 2018 draft, Bamba will be in line for a first-year salary worth just shy of $4.9MM. Assuming he plays out his full four-year deal, he’ll become extension-eligible for the first time in 2021, and would be on track to reach restricted free agency in 2022.
NBA 2018 Free Agency: July 2 Recap
While the second day of the 2018 NBA free agent period didn’t feature as many contract agreements as day one, we still got a handful of major news items, plus one genuine jaw-dropper when DeMarcus Cousins decided on his new team.
Listed below are July 2’s notable NBA contract agreements. For the most part, these deals aren’t yet official, so the reported terms could change — or agreements could fall through altogether. Generally speaking though, teams and players are on track to finalize these deals sometime after the July moratorium ends on Friday.
Here’s our breakdown of July 2’s notable NBA contract agreements:
- Derrick Favors, Jazz agree to two-year, $36MM contract.
- Julius Randle, Pelicans agree to two-year, $17.71MM contract.
- J.J. Redick, Sixers agree to one-year contract worth approximately $12-13MM.
- Rajon Rondo, Lakers agree to one-year, $9MM contract.
- Anthony Tolliver, Timberwolves agree to one-year, $5.75MM contract.
- Seth Curry, Trail Blazers agree to two-year contract worth an estimated $5.64MM.
- DeMarcus Cousins, Warriors agree to one-year, $5.34MM contract.
- Nerlens Noel, Thunder agree to two-year, minimum salary contract.
- Jose Calderon, Pistons agree to one-year, minimum salary contract.
- Mike Scott, Clippers agree to one-year contract. Terms not yet known.
Be sure to use our 2018 NBA Free Agent Tracker to keep tabs on all of this summer’s contract agreements. Our lists of free agents by position/type and by team show which players are still available.