Gordon, McCollum Withdraw From U.S. World Cup Team
Two more potential Team USA players have decided not to participate in the 2019 World Cup. Rockets guard Eric Gordon is withdrawing from the team, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic, and Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum is joining him, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
With James Harden and Anthony Davis pulling out of the competition earlier this week, Team USA is now left with 16 players in training camp who will compete for 12 spots. The withdrawing players all said they want to focus on the upcoming season rather than the tournament, which will be held in China from August 31 to September 15. NBA training camps open in late September.
One of those remaining players, Kyle Lowry, had a surgical procedure on his thumb this week, and may not be physically ready to participate. His potential absence, plus the withdrawal of the four stars, should create more opportunity for members of the select team, who will be scrimmaging with the 16 players left in camp.
The players will gather for camp from August 5-8, and exhibition games will follow later in the month.
Canada’s World Cup team also lost an NBA player this week when Tristan Thompson elected not to participate, Charania tweets. In addition, Ben Simmons confirmed that he won’t be taking the court for Australia.
Jordan McLaughlin Signs Two-Way Deal With Timberwolves
5:38pm: The deal is official, the team confirmed on Twitter.
12:37pm: Point guard Jordan McLaughlin has signed a two-way contract with the Timberwolves, reports Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
McLaughlin likely earned his opportunity with Minnesota after a successful summer league performance with the T-Wolves, where he averaged a team-leading 26.0 MPG, 5.0 APG, and 1.4 SPG.
The USC product, 23, went undrafted in 2018 before signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Nets and joining the team for training camp. McLaughlin was ultimately waived less than one week before the start of the 2018/19 season, but remained with the organization as an affiliate player for the G League’s Long Island Nets.
Prior to his stellar performance in this year’s summer league, McLaughlin was one of 80 players invited to the NBA’s 2019 G League Elite Camp.
As our 2019/20 Two-Way Contract Tracker shows, the Timberwolves still have a vacant two-way spot after the signing of McLaughlin. That spot had been held by rookie big man Naz Reid, but he has since been promoted to the team’s 15-man roster.
Knicks Signing Kenny Wooten To Exhibit 10 Contract
Kenny Wooten, a shot-blocking power forward out of Oregon, will join the Knicks for training camp on an Exhibit 10 deal, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post.
Wooten made an impression with New York’s entry in the Las Vegas Summer League, even though he saw minimal playing time. He averaged just 1.8 points and 3.0 rebounds in four games, but blocked 2.5 shots per night, including five in 16 minutes in a win over Washington in the consolation round.
Wooten will have trouble earning a roster spot in camp because the Knicks already have 15 players with guaranteed contracts. However, the Exhibit 10 deal will guarantee him $50K if he spends 60 days with the organization’s G League affiliate in Westchester. A roster opening could emerge by then, as Berman notes that several of the free agents whom the Knicks signed to de facto one-year contracts could be used as trade bait.
Wooten ranks third in all-time blocks at Oregon, and his agent, Mitchell Butler, claims he is one of the five best athletes coming out of college. The Knicks likely would have drafted Wooten at No. 55, Berman adds, if they hadn’t traded up to get Ignas Brazdeikis.
“The club is positive on Kenny,’’ Butler said. “His Summer League games resonated with the organization. Mitchell Robinson is good on the defensive end and to have Kenny coming in with no drop-off, that’s a big thing. Both of those guys on the floor, they literally shut off the inside and make teams shoot from the perimeter.’’
Butler claims several teams expressed interest in Wooten, but he picked the Knicks because of coach David Fizdale.
“[Fizdale] always appreciated guys who did the little things and comes from organizations like Miami and Memphis that appreciated glue-type guys,’’ Butler said. “I wanted to get him to a coach like that where he‘d have chance at the next level.’’
Five Key Stories: 7/13/19 – 7/20/19
If you missed any of this past week’s biggest headlines from around the NBA, we’ve got you covered with our Week in Review. Here are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last seven days:
The Sixers and Ben Simmons have reached a deal on a five-year, maximum-salary contract extension through 2025. Based on the NBA’s current cap projections the contract will pay Simmons no less than $169.65MM. However, because the contract extension contains 5th year, 30% max criteria language, Simmons could earn up to $203.58MM in the event he earns an All-NBA First Team spot next season. The extension contains no options and includes a 15% trade kicker.
Chris Paul is likely to begin the 2018/19 season as a member of the Thunder after Oklahoma City failed to find any success in their attempts to trade the future hall-of-famer. One of the primary hiccups to a trade is the timing of the deal that brought Paul to OKC. Because it the trade happened so far into free agency, few contenders have the flexibility to take on Paul. As a result, a trade will likely need to include recently-signed players for salary-matching purposes who aren’t eligible to be traded until December 15 or later.
The Pacers and free agent swingman Justin Holiday have reached an agreement on a one-year, $4.8MM contract. Likely to be signed with Indiana’s room exception, Holiday should get a chance to play plenty of minutes early on this season with All-Star guard Victor Oladipo not expected to be ready to play. Holiday, 30, appeared in 82 total games last season for the Bulls and Grizzlies, averaging 10.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 1.5 SPG in 31.8 minutes per contest. He’ll also join his younger brother, Aaron Holiday, with the siblings potentially sharing the Pacers’ backcourt on occasion.
The Wizards are promoting interim GM Tommy Sheppard to the position on a permanent basis. Washington, who fired longtime GM Ernie Grunfeld just before the end of the regular season, has had Sheppard in charge since April 2, but reportedly made a run at Raptors’ top executive Masai Ujiri. The Wizards also made an offer to Tim Connelly, but the executive chose to remain in Denver running the Nuggets.
Veteran shooting guard Kyle Korver is signing with the Bucks on a one-year, veteran’s minimum deal. Korver was recently waived by the Suns after being traded by the Jazz and Grizzlies earlier this offseason. Korver averaged 8.6 PPG on .416/.397/.822 shooting in 70 games (19.1 MPG) last season for the Cavaliers and Jazz.
Here are 10 more noteworthy headlines from the past week:
- Former Clippers guard Milos Teodosic, a six-time All-EuroLeague selection, has signed with the Italian club Virtus Bologna.
- Unsurprisingly, NBA executives are prepared to push the league for a shorter summer moratorium.
- Unable to find a favorable trade, the Cavaliers waived shooting guard J.R. Smith, who has since met with the Bucks as a free agent.
- The Knicks and free agent shooting guard Reggie Bullock were able to finalize a new contract agreement after the last deal fell through.
- Former first-round pick Cameron Payne has reached an agreement to sign a two-year contract with the Raptors.
- The Kings have signed former first-round pick, forward Tyler Lydon, to a two-year contract.
- After being waived by the Pelicans, big man Christian Wood was claimed off waivers by the Pistons.
- Forward Cheick Diallo has agreed to a two-year deal with a second-year team option with the Suns.
- The Timberwolves have promoted former two-way player Naz Reid to a 15-man roster spot and standard NBA contract.
- Veteran NBA center Kosta Koufos has reached a contract agreement with defending EuroLeague champions CSKA Moscow.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 7/13/19 – 7/20/19
Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team creates original content to complement our news feed. Here are our original segments and features from the past seven days:
- In this week’s lone community shootaround post, we asked whether the Sixers make the right decision by agreeing to a max-extension with Ben Simmons.
- Luke Adams broke down the Exhibit 10 clause and its affects on certain contracts, commonly known as Exhibit 10 deals.
- Luke Adams also took a look at the players selected in the 2019 NBA Draft who have yet to sign a contract with their new teams.
- In our latest poll, we asked for your opinion on which newly-formed star duo you’d most want on your favorite team.
- Finally, Luke Adams complied a list of the longest-tenured NBA players by team.
Jordan Caroline Signs Exhibit 10 Deal With Lakers
JULY 20: One month later, the Lakers and Caroline have made it official, per a release from the club.
JUNE 20: The Lakers have reached a deal with undrafted Nevada wing Jordan Caroline, according to Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen and Roll, who reports that Caroline will sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the club.
Caroline, who began his college career at Southern Illinois before transferring to Nevada, averaged 17.0 PPG, 9.6 RPG, and 1.9 APG in his senior year. He also showed off an improved three-point shot, converting 1.4 per game at a rate of 36.8%.
Caroline is the third undrafted free agent to have reached a deal with the Lakers since the draft, joining Zach Norvell Jr. (two-way) and Devontae Cacok (Exhibit 10), as we detailed earlier today.
Mississippi State forward Aric Holman may be joining that group, as Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports (via Twitter) that Holman has also agreed to join the Lakers. However, it’s not yet clear whether that deal will just cover the Summer League or whether Holman will get a spot on the team’s 20-man offseason roster.
Holman averaged 9.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 1.6 BPG with a .473/.429/.701 shooting line in his senior year at Mississippi State.
Spurs, Knicks At Odds Over Morris, Porzingis
Animosity has developed between the Spurs and Knicks organizations over the Marcus Morris free agency odyssey and alleged tampering involving Kristaps Porzingis, Frank Isola of The Athletic and Ian Begley of SNY TV report.
Morris backed out of a verbal agreement to sign a two-year, $19MM contract with San Antonio and inked a one-year, $15MM deal with the Knicks. While he’ll earn more in 2019/20 as a Knick, the actual value of next year’s salary isn’t significantly larger, as Isola points out, due to New York’s state taxes. Morris’ motivation was to max out his earnings in ’19/20 before entering a weaker free agent market again next summer.
The Spurs are upset at a number of levels, according to Isola. Not only are they upset about the Knicks swooping in, they had opened up the mid-level exception for him by dealing forward Davis Bertans to the Wizards and asking DeMarre Carroll to rework his free-agent contract. Carroll was eventually acquired from the Nets in a sign-and-trade.
New York saw the signing of Morris as a “small victory,” according to Isola, after missing out on top-level free agents. The Knicks gained more cap room by re-working Reggie Bullock‘s free agent deal. Bullock underwent a cervical disc procedure this week.
New York’s front office also feels that the Spurs had it coming because they alleged crossed lines of accepted behavior prior to the 2017 draft when it was shopping Porzingis, Begley writes. The exact nature of San Antonio’s behavior is unclear, Begley adds, though Isola asserts there may have been illegal contact between the Spurs and Porzingis during that time. The talented big man wound up with the Mavericks in a deadline deal last February.
Jazz Sign Emmanuel Mudiay
JULY 20, 8:30am: The signing is official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
JULY 2, 7:53pm: Free agent point guard Emmanuel Mudiay has agreed to sign a one-year deal with the Jazz, league sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
While terms of the deal weren’t mentioned, it figures to be a minimum-salary pact. Utah is using its cap room to take on Mike Conley, and has committed its room exception to Ed Davis.
Mudiay, a former seventh overall pick, enjoyed the most productive year of his NBA career in 2018/19 for the Knicks, averaging 14.8 PPG, 3.9 APG, and 3.3 RPG on .446/.329/.774 shooting in 59 games (27.2 MPG). He was eligible for a qualifying offer, but New York opted not to extend one, making him an unrestricted free agent.
While Mudiay hasn’t lived up to his pre-draft hype during his four NBA seasons, he’s still just 23 years. The Jazz want to help him develop, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter links), who adds that Utah’s strong developmental program also appealed to Mudiay’s camp.
With Raul Neto hitting waivers as a cap casualty, Mudiay projects to come off the bench along with Dante Exum as Conley’s backups at the point.
Jazz Sign Jeff Green To One-Year Deal
JULY 20, 8:09am: The signing is official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
JULY 2, 6:10pm: The Jazz will sign Jeff Green to a one-year deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Green will make $2.5MM, the minimum for a player of his experience level.
Green played last season for the Wizards. He had said he would “love to come back” to Washington but the franchise added wings/forwards in the draft, which complicated matters. The 32-year-old was speculated to be a target of the Lakers, given his previous success playing alongside LeBron James.
Utah needed replacements for both Derrick Favors (sent to the Pelicans) and Jae Crowder (dealt to the Grizzlies). Green will help replenish the team’s depth. Utah came to agreements with Bojan Bogdanovic and Ed Davis to help stabilize the frontcourt.
Ed Davis Signs Two-Year Deal With Jazz
JULY 20, 8:03am: The signing is official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
JUNE 30, 9:20pm: The Jazz have agreed to sign big man Ed Davis to a two-year deal, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com passes along via Twitter. Davis will make $10MM over the next two seasons.
Utah will use the room exception to sign Davis, which is the same type of deal the big man inked last summer in Brooklyn. Davis was our Room Exception MVP, as I broke down in our contract awards.
Davis had previously stated that the financials would likely dictate his destination in free agency. “First is the money…Then, two is fit,” Davis said last month.
The Jazz agreed to a contract with Bojan Bogdanovic earlier in the day, reaching a four-year, $73MM deal with the wing. The team is expected to either trade or waive Derrick Favors in order to accommodate the signing. Davis will help Utah fortify its big man rotation.