The Trail Blazers, Lakers, and Celtics are expected to be among the teams to show interest in Enes Kanter when free agency opens, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Portland doesn’t have Bird rights on Kanter, and Boston and L.A. may end up using most or all of their cap room on impact players, so it’s possible that none of those three teams will have the resources to make a strong bid for Kanter. We’ll see if the taxpayer mid-level exception (Trail Blazers) or room exception (Lakers, Celtics) is enough to sign him.
Here are more free agent rumors from around the NBA:
- Jazz big man Derrick Favors remains under contract in Utah, but because his situation remains in flux due to his non-guaranteed contract, he’ll be permitted to take calls from interested teams during the free agent period, agent Wallace Prather tells Shams Charania of The Athletic. If the Jazz decide not to guarantee Favors’ $17.65MM salary for 2019/20, he’d be waived by July 6 and could join a new club.
- Reporters around the NBA are still trying to pin down the mystery team that appears to be on track to sign Al Horford to a lucrative four-year contract. Marc Stein of The New York Times thought it might be the Pelicans, but says he has been “strongly advised” that that’s not the case (Twitter link). Meanwhile, Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link) doesn’t believe the Mavericks are seriously in the mix for Horford, despite reports that suggested otherwise.
- According to Darren Wolfson of SKOR North (by way of Dan Feldman of NBC Sports), the Timberwolves reached out to the Nets to see whether Brooklyn might be interested in Andrew Wiggins in a potential sign-and-trade for RFA-to-be D’Angelo Russell. Predictably, the Nets had no interest in taking on Wiggins’ contract, per Wolfson.
- The Kings haven’t closed the door on a reunion with Kosta Koufos, who will be an unrestricted free agent this Sunday, and the veteran center feels the same way, writes James Ham of NBC Sports California. Both sides figure to let the market dictate their next moves, Ham adds.
I think Brooklyn could be in on Horford, especially if they are committed to Kyrie.
With all the turmoil surrounding the Celtics last year, I don’t remember hearing any drama involving those two and I think Horford would be a great mentor to the young group there in Brooklyn and a great fit as a natural 4 next to Allen (and can easily slide to 5 if they want to play small, I believe Joe Harris and others got time at the 4 last year).
Brooklyn is smart and they don’t want to put all their eggs into two risky baskets so I think they will want to invest some money into a “safe” option like Horford.
Remember the last time the Nets acquired two Celtics…
lol hardly an analog, but yes I do remember
THE PICKS, SO MANY PICKS, MAKE IT STOPPPP
Why would anyone want Horford at $30m+ at age 33. That contract will be an instant regret.
Yeah, I love me some Horford, but no thank you…He’s just a winning player, great teammate, and he is def. someone that can help mentor younger guys..Even so, he’s not going to put your team over the top, and going more than 3 years, just seems like a really bad idea…Not to mention that’s about 12 mil more than I’d be comfortable.
However, he’s a winner and a respected veteran, so it wouldn’t shock me. I’ve certainly seen worse deals..
Sounds more like, ‘like’ me some Horford.
Just because he walked away from that doesn’t mean he’s expecting to sign for 30million per going forward.
LOL Timberwolves thinking ANYONE will take Wiggins dead lazy ass off their hands!
Wiggins does try like once a week during the season to be fair.
Sacramento is the team in on AL
This is my current theory too actually, though it’s just a guess.
No way . They have WCS and Bagels
Wcs is a rfa/fa.. haven’t heard about his QO but he wants to leave
Horford is such a better investment than Barnes. They brought in Joe Dumars to consult for some reason, probably to weigh in on this while keeping it a secret.
I think it’s the Clippers in on Horford