Jazz Sign Nigel Williams-Goss
JULY 19: The Jazz have officially signed Williams-Goss, per NBA.com’s transactions log. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), the three-year deal is worth $4.8MM, with a fully guaranteed first season.
A minimum-salary contract for Williams-Goss would only be worth about $4.2MM, so it sounds as if Utah used its remaining cap room to give him a larger first-year salary.
JULY 13: The Jazz are signing Nigel Williams-Goss to a three-year contract, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic (hat tip to EuroHoops.net).
Utah selected the former Gonzaga star in the second round of the 2017 draft and retained his rights. He drew interest from two other teams who wanted to acquired him via trade, but the Jazz chose to retain him and add him to their roster (Twitter links here).
Williams-Goss played in Europe last season for Olympiacos in Greece. He averaged 11.3 PPG and 4.6 APG in 25.0 MPG in 23 games.
The 6’3” Williams-Goss, 24, spent the previous season with Serbian club Partizan.
He joins a crowded backcourt that includes point men Mike Conley, Dante Exum and Emmanuel Mudiay.
Magic To Re-Sign Amile Jefferson To Two-Way Deal
11:18am: Jefferson’s new contract with the Magic will be another two-way deal, tweets Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel. Josh Magette will reportedly fill Orlando’s other two-way contract slot.
9:25am: The Magic and free agent forward Amile Jefferson have agreed to a new one-year deal, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Orlando made Jefferson an unrestricted free agent by withdrawing his two-way qualifying offer, but will bring him back anyway.
Jefferson, who spent the 2018/19 season on a two-way contract with the Magic, saw the majority of his playing time for the Lakeland Magic, Orlando’s G League affiliate. The former Duke Blue Devil averaged 18.1 PPG, 11.3 RPG, and 3.4 APG in 34 G League games (33.2 MPG), earning a spot on the All-NBAGL Third Team.
The details of Jefferson’s new deal aren’t yet known, but I wouldn’t expect the 26-year-old to get much – if any – guaranteed money from the Magic. An Exhibit 10 contract or even another two-way deal seem to be the likeliest possibilities.
Kosta Koufos To Join CSKA Moscow
Veteran NBA center Kosta Koufos has reached a contract agreement with defending EuroLeague champions CSKA Moscow, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). According to Haynes, the deal will make Koufos the highest-paid American player in Europe next season.
Sources tell Haynes (Twitter link) that Koufos’ new deal will be worth $6MM over two years. It will also have an NBA out, in the event that the big man decides to return stateside for the 2020/21 season.
Koufos, 30, spent the last four seasons with the Kings, who were said to have some interest in re-signing him. However, after averaging about 19-20 minutes per game in his first three years in Sacramento, the former first-round pick saw his role cut back in 2018/19 as the club focused on developing younger players.
In 42 games (12.0 MPG) last season, Koufos recorded 3.7 PPG and 4.2 RPG. He has posted career marks of 5.7 PPG and 5.0 RPG in 686 total regular season contests for the Jazz, Timberwolves, Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Kings.
CSKA Moscow was also rumored to be nearing a deal with former No. 4 overall pick Dragan Bender earlier this week. It’s not clear if the team’s new deal with Koufos will have any impact on Bender’s situation, or if both players will ultimately join the Russian club.
Contract Details: Portis, Theis, G. Hill, Harrison
As we previously relayed, most of the new Knicks that signed multiyear contracts with the team this month received modest partial guarantees in the final year of their respective deals. Taj Gibson, Elfrid Payton, Wayne Ellington, and Reggie Bullock each have $1MM partial guarantees for 2020/21, while Julius Randle has a $4MM partial guarantee in 2021/22.
The only newly-signed member of the Knicks whose deal includes a team option – rather than a non-guaranteed final year – is Bobby Portis, per Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Portis will earn a guaranteed $15MM salary in 2019/20 with a $15.75MM team option for 2020/21.
Meanwhile, Marcus Morris is the only Knicks free agent addition who didn’t get a multiyear contract at all, as Pincus notes. Morris will earn a flat $15MM salary on his one-year deal.
Here are a few more contract details from around the Eastern Conference:
- Daniel Theis‘ new two-year, $10MM deal with the Celtics is only guaranteed for the first year, according to Pincus. Theis’ $5MM non-guaranteed salary for 2020/21 would become guaranteed if he remains under contract through July 3, 2020.
- Pincus also provides the specific details on the partial guarantee in year three of George Hill‘s new contract with the Bucks. After earning a total of $18.72MM in his first two seasons, the veteran guard has a $1.28MM partial guarantee in 2021/22 that increases his overall guarantee to exactly $20MM. If he remains under contract through July 1, 2021, Hill’s third year would be worth $10.05MM.
- Having re-signed with the Bulls on a new one-year, minimum-salary contract, Shaquille Harrison received a partial guarantee worth $175K, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Harrison will also get a de facto no-trade clause as a result of signing a one-year deal with his previous team.
Raptors Sign Matt Thomas To Three-Year Deal
JULY 19: The Raptors have officially signed Thomas, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. As we relayed in a separate post, his three-year, minimum-salary deal is said to include two fully guaranteed seasons.
JULY 1: EuroLeague guard Matt Thomas has agreed to a three-year contract with the Raptors, according to Varlas Nikos of Eurohoops.net (Twitter link). The total amount of the deal is $4.2MM, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
While the deal looks like it will be worth the minimum, the Raptors will use a slice of their mid-level exception to sign Thomas. Without the MLE, the team couldn’t have offered more than two years.
Thomas exercised an NBA opt-out clause in his contract with Valencia Basket of Spain’s Liga ACB in order to make the jump. The 6’5” Thomas, 24, played college ball at Iowa State.
He went undrafted in 2017 and played on the Lakers’ summer league team, then played in Spain for Monbus Obradoiro. He signed a two-year deal with Valencia last summer. He appeared in 29 games last season, averaging 11.4 PPG in 20.3 MPG. He was the team’s best 3-point shooter, knocking down 48.5% from long range, a skill which made him desirable to NBA teams.
Celtics Sign Max Strus To Two-Way Contract
JULY 19: The Celtics have officially signed Strus to his two-way deal, per RealGM’s log of NBA transactions. The team is expected to fill its other two-way contract slot with second-round pick Tremont Waters.
JUNE 21: Max Strus of DePaul will sign a two-way deal with the Celtics, tweets Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated.
The 6’6″ guard averaged 20.1 points per game as a sophomore and shot .363 from 3-point range. He was a second-team choice to the All-Big East Team.
P.J. Dozier held one of Boston’s two-way contracts for all of last season, while Walt Lemon filled the other slot at the start of the year before being replaced by R.J. Hunter. Both Dozier and Hunter are free agents.
Magic Withdraw QO For Amile Jefferson
According to RealGM’s transactions log, the Magic have withdrawn their qualifying offer to two-way player Amile Jefferson. As a result of the move, Jefferson becomes an unrestricted free agent, free to sign outright with any team.
The Magic’s decision on Jefferson isn’t altogether surprising given the unlikelihood of him grabbing a spot on the 15-man roster, but the team does still have one of its two-way slots open after signing Josh Magette yesterday.
Jefferson, 26, was a two-way contract recipient last season, appearing in just 12 games with Orlando. He spent much of his time in the G League for the Lakeland Magic, where he was named Third-Team All NBAGL.
Tyson Chandler Signs One-Year Deal With Rockets
JULY 18: The deal between Chandler and Houston is now official, per a release from the team.
JULY 12: The Rockets and veteran center Tyson Chandler have agreed to terms on a one-year contract, agent Jeff Schwartz tells Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link).
Specific financial terms on the deal aren’t yet known. Houston is using part of its mid-level exception to bring back Danuel House, but could offer some of it to Chandler as well. A minimum-salary arrangement is also a possibility — because he has 10 years of NBA experience, Chandler would earn $2,564,753 on a minimum deal.
Chandler, who agreed to a buyout with the Suns early in the 2018/19 season, signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Lakers and helped shore up the team’s front line, averaging 3.1 PPG and 5.6 RPG in 48 games (16.4 MPG) for Los Angeles. He indicated at season’s end that he planned on playing just one more year in the NBA, though he took some extra time this offseason to consider whether to return, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
Houston’s interest in Chandler, which was previously reported, stems in part from head coach Mike D’Antoni‘s familiarity with the big man. According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link), D’Antoni strongly advocated bringing Chandler to Houston. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter) that the Rockets had recruited the 18-year veteran for weeks, noting that the acquisition of Russell Westbrook may have played a part in Chandler’s commitment.
Although Clint Capela‘s name was mentioned frequently in trade rumors this summer, the Rockets view Chandler as a replacement for Nene rather than Capela. The 36-year-old will slot in as Capela’s backup at the five.
According to MacMahon, the Rockets believe Chandler still has enough left in the tank to be a lob threat on offense and to provide the team’s second unit with reliable defense and rebounding.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Central Notes: Arena, Forcier, Wood, Brimah
According to The Associated Press, city officials in Indianapolis are signing off on a deal nearing $300MM in public subsidies in order to fund the renovation of the Pacers’ downtown arena, Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Council members reportedly voted in favor of the deal unanimously, with the Pacers promising to stay at Bankers Life for 25 more years in consideration of the public money. The project includes building a year-round outdoor plaza next to the arena and interior updates.
There’s more news out of the Central Division this evening:
- Marc Stein of The New York Times is reporting that the Bucks are adding veteran assistant coach Chad Forcier to Mike Budenholzer‘s coaching staff. Forcier worked with Budenholzer in San Antonio under Spurs’ head coach Gregg Popovich.
- Big man Christian Wood, recently claimed by the Pistons after being waived by New Orleans, has become the front-runner to take the 15th roster spot in Detroit, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.
- Per Scott Agness of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Pacers’ reported one-year deal with center Amida Brimah has a partial guarantee. Agness refers to Brimah as a “potential two-way guy,” which suggests that his guarantee doesn’t exceed $50K.
And-Ones: Paul, Sylla, Tampering, Canada
In an interesting piece regarding Chris Paul‘s role as the head of the NBA Players Union, Tom Ziller of SB Nation opines that Paul’s reported insistence and hand in incorporating the Over-38 Rule into the 2017 CBA has now ironically landed him with one the most untradeable contracts in the NBA.
Paul, who is admittedly now under contract to make more money because of the rule change, is also stuck on the Thunder, a non-contending team, with no real way out until later this year when the latest crop of free agents become trade eligible.
Ultimately, Ziller opines that the tradeoff (non-contending team vs. an extra $45MM) was worth it for Paul, but wonders whether CP3, as union president, sacrificed the good of many (mid-level earners) for the benefit of few.
We have more odds and ends to report from around the basketball world:
- Amar Sylla, the No. 23 prospect for the 2020 NBA Draft, has signed a three-year contract containing NBA out clauses with Belgian league champions BC Oostende, reports Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
- Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer writes that many executives believe the penalty for tampering needs to be harsher, including the removal of first-round picks or even as severe as being barred from trading any picks for some amount of years in addition to the loss of picks. “Basketball operations needs to get hit the hardest, not an owner’s wallets,” said another executive.
- Canada Basketball has announced the 29 players invited to attend the Senior Men’s National Team training camp ahead of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019. The list includes R.J. Barrett, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cory Joseph, Jamal Murray, and Tristan Thompson.