New York Notes: Jordan, Durant, Nets, Bullock
After spending the latter part of last season with the Knicks, veteran center DeAndre Jordan was expected to be a potentially key part of New York’s plan to pursue Kevin Durant in free agency. Instead, Jordan ended up joining the crosstown rival Nets, along with Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Jordan, 31, is joining his fourth team in two seasons. For him, the decision to go with the Nets over the Knicks had a lot to do with the team’s oft-mentioned culture and commitment to player development.
“Not to knock the culture the Knicks are creating, but we like what Kenny [Atkinson]’s doing and Sean [Marks] has been awesome and the organization, from top to bottom, has been great,” Jordan said to The Gothamist (via New York Post). “So you want to be a part of something like that, especially when you have a chance to play with other great players and build something.”
Check out more New York notes below:
- As for Durant, Jordan commented on his new Nets teammate in the same story. While it’s unlikely that Durant, coming off a torn Achilles, plays next season, Jordan is excited at what Brooklyn can accomplish when he does suit up. “We’ve got a lot of talent on this team,” Jordan said. “You know obviously Kevin had a tough injury, he’s going to be out for a while, but he’s progressing great, he’s recovering fast, we’ll be even better when we get him back and healthy.”
- With the Nets‘ free agency success has come an increased interest in the team, Kavitha Davidson of The Athletic writes. After luring Durant and Irving to Brooklyn, Nets’ CEO Brett Yormark said ticket demands, social media activity and much more has skyrocketed. “This is an outbound business, not an inbound business, so when a thousand calls are starting to come in, you get pretty excited. You realize momentum is shifting,” Yormark said.
- Knicks free agency signee Reggie Bullock may not return to the court until sometime in the new year, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. A serious back injury forced the Knicks to rework their original deal with the 3-and-D specialist and his cervical disk herniation surgery could sideline him for upwards of six months, according to one leading orthopedic surgeon who spoke to Berman.
Southeast Notes: Adebayo, Heat, Miles, Kulboka
Heat center Bam Adebayo has accepted an invitation to Team USA’s training camp in preparation for the FIBA World Cup tournament in China, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. USA Basketball is scrambling for replacements after nine members of the original 20-man roster decided not to participate this summer, a list that includes Paul Millsap, Kevin Love, Bradley Beal, Anthony Davis, Eric Gordon, James Harden, Tobias Harris, Damian Lillard, and CJ McCollum. A 12-man team will represent Team USA in China.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- The Heat have named Eric Glass head coach of the G League Sioux Falls Skyforce, according to a team press release. Glass has been in the organization nine seasons and served as a video coordinator and player development coach the last two seasons. Additionally, Adam Simon has been named VP of basketball operations and assistant GM, while Eric Amsler has been promoted to director of scouting and director of player personnel.
- C.J. Miles is eager to show he can still be an effective player for the Wizards once he returns from foot surgery, he told Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Miles split time with the Raptors and Grizzlies last season and was traded to Washington this summer in exchange for Dwight Howard. “Last year I just felt like I never really got in a groove after the work I put in to really help my team,” he said. “It just didn’t fit. It’s not personal, it was new coach and a trade happened.” Miles underwent surgery on Thursday to repair a stress fracture in his left foot and will be re-evaluated in six weeks.
- Hornets draft-and-stash prospect Arnoldas Kulboka will remain overseas and play in Spain during the upcoming season, Lithuanian journalist Donatas Urbonas tweets. The 6’9” Kulboka, 21, was a late second-round pick last year.
Pelicans Notes: Melli, Ball, Ingram, Redick, Miller
The Pelicans’ executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin was able to land Euro star Nicolo Melli by selling him on the team’s system and through a connection with Melli’s agent, Griffin told Jeff Duncan of The Athletic in a Q&A session. Melli joined New Orleans on a two-year, $8MM contract.
“It’s not like anybody discovered Melli. Everybody knew Melli. What was interesting is we were able to create a situation that attracted Melli. He had other opportunities to come to the NBA. He’s a player that, because he’s an elite defensive rebounder and floor spacer — I think he’s the leading rebounder in Europe since 2015 and he shoots 42 percent from 3 — that type of player is attractive to the NBA. What I think was significant for us was our situation spoke to him to because he saw his fit within Alvin Gentry’s system, and he’s represented by Sam Goldfeder of Excel Sports Management and Jeff Schwartz, whom I was really close to.”
We have more on the Pelicans:
- Griffin received trade inquiries regarding the three rotation players he received from the Lakers in the Anthony Davis blockbuster but didn’t get close to moving Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart or Brandon Ingram, Griffin indicated in the same story. “There was interest but nothing that really spoke to us to any degree. … We felt really fortunate that we were able to land the players we did, and it became really evident that we were fortunate because of the interest in them that was shown by several other teams basically immediately after the deal was announced. It was fascinating to go through the experience, but we didn’t acquire them to move them, so nothing was even close.”
- Pelicans guard J.J. Redick will not participate in Team USA’s training camp for the FIBA World Cup, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Unlike some players on the original 20-man roster who pulled out to concentrate on the next NBA season, Redick declined to be added to the roster due to family reasons as he transitions to a new city. Redick joined the Pelicans on a two-year, $26.5MM contract.
- Forward Darius Miller‘s contract has an early July trigger date next summer, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Miller will make $7.25MM in guaranteed money next season and is due $7MM in 2020/21 in the non-guaranteed portion of his contract. Miller was officially signed over the weekend.
Mavs Waive Two-Way Player Daryl Macon
The Mavericks have waived guard Daryl Macon, according to a team press release.
The 6’3” Macon spent all of last season with Dallas on a two-way contract. He played in eight games for the Mavericks as a rookie and averaged 3.6 PPG in 11.2 MPG.
He also appeared in 41 games, including 37 starts, for the Mavericks’ G-League affiliate, the Texas Legends. He averaged 19.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG and 6.2 APG in 34.5 MPG.
Macon started all five games for the Mavericks’ Las Vegas summer league team and averaged 12.6 PPG and 4.0 APG.
Dallas’ two-way slots have been in a state of flux. The team recently waived forward Kostas Antetokounmpo, then signed shooting guard Antonius Cleveland to fill that opening.
Unsigned second-rounder Isaiah Roby is one of the potential candidates to take Macon’s spot, Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News speculates.
Northwest Notes: Murray, Wolves, Jazz, Thunder
Jamal Murray‘s new five-year, maximum-salary extension with the Nuggets will start at 25% of the cap if the standout guard doesn’t make an All-NBA team in 2019/20, which would make the deal worth $169.65MM based on the league’s current cap projections.
However, as Bobby Marks of ESPN outlines (via Twitter), the two sides agreed to include Rose Rule language in Murray’s new deal, which would increase the value of the contract in the event that he has a huge ’19/20 season. If Murray earns All-NBA honors in 2020, his starting salary would be worth 26% (Third Team), 27.5% (Second Team), or 30% (First Team) of the cap.
That means Murray’s five-year extension could have a value as high as $203.58MM if he makes the All-NBA First Team or wins the MVP award next season, which is a long shot. A spot on the Second Team would result in a deal worth a total of $186.62MM, while a Third Team nod would bump the total value to $176.44MM.
As we wait to see if Murray can have a breakout year and insert himself into the All-NBA discussion, here’s more from around the Northwest:
- With Tom Thibodeau no longer in the picture in Minnesota, the Timberwolves project to have a deeper rotation to start the 2019/20 season than they did a year ago. Still, as Kent Youngblood of The Star Tribune writes, with so many young, hungry players on the roster, there should be some interesting position and rotation battles in training camp this fall.
- Upon being introduced by the Jazz on Friday, veterans Ed Davis and Jeff Green said they chose Utah because they view the team as a team capable of competing for a championship, as Aaron Falk of UtahJazz.com relays.
- In a pair of stories, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman and Brett Dawson of The Athletic explore whether Sam Presti‘s references to “repositioning” and “replenishing” – rather than “rebuilding” – the Thunder is merely semantics, or if it provides a clue for how the process in Oklahoma City might play out.
Frank Mason III Signs Two-Way Deal With Bucks
JULY 26: The deal is now official, the Bucks confirmed today in a press release.
JULY 20: Point guard Frank Mason III has agreed to a two-way contract with the Bucks, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Mason was waived earlier this month by the Kings and went unclaimed.
Mason, 24, was selected by Sacramento with the 34th overall pick in the 2017 draft. He had a promising rookie season, averaging 7.9 PPG and 2.8 APG, but lost his place in the regular rotation last season.
He was supposed to play for the Kings in the California Summer League, but was held out of action due to a sore right hip. Mason had a $1.62MM salary for the upcoming season but it wasn’t guaranteed.
He’ll provide depth at the point behind Eric Bledsoe, George Hill and Donte DiVincenzo.
Forward Bonzie Colson holds the other two-way spot with Milwaukee, but the team also agreed to sign Cameron Reynolds to a two-way deal, so Colson looks like the odd man out.
Wizards Sign Phil Booth To Exhibit 10 Deal
The Wizards have officially signed free agent guard Phil Booth, the team announced today (via Twitter). According to Don Markus of The Baltimore Sun (Twitter link), Booth received an Exhibit 10 contract.
A Baltimore native, Booth won a pair of titles during his time at Villanova before going undrafted last month. In his final season as a Wildcat in 2018/19, the 6’3″ guard emerged as the team’s go-to scorer, averaging 18.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 3.8 APG with a .434/.367/.749 shooting line in 36 games.
The Cavaliers added Booth to their roster for Summer League play in Las Vegas this month and he showed off his scoring ability in four games for Cleveland, averaging 11.3 PPG in just 15.3 minutes per contest.
Booth appears to be on track to attend training camp with the Wizards. Although he’s probably unlikely to earn a regular season roster spot, he could end up on a two-way deal or playing for the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s G League affiliate.
How Teams Are Using 2019/20 Bi-Annual Exceptions
The bi-annual exception is one of the tools available to NBA teams who are over the cap, giving those clubs the flexibility to offer free agents more than the minimum salary. In 2019/20, the bi-annual exception is worth $3,623,000, and can be used to offer a deal worth up to about $7,427,150 over two years.
However, the bi-annual exception isn’t available to every team. Clubs that go below the cap in order to use cap room lose access to the exception. Additionally, using the BAE imposes a hard cap of $138,928,000 (the tax apron) on a club. So if a team has surpassed the tax apron – or wants to retain the flexibility to do so – that team can’t use the bi-annual exception.
Finally, as its name suggests, the bi-annual exception can’t be used by a team in consecutive years. In 2018/19, four teams used the BAE — the Bucks (Brook Lopez), Pelicans (Elfrid Payton), Knicks (Allonzo Trier), and Spurs (Dante Cunningham). As such, the exception isn’t available to those clubs during the 2019/20 league year. They’ll be able to use it again next summer.
With all those factors in mind, here’s a breakdown of how teams are using – or not using – their respective bi-annual exceptions in 2019/20:
BAE Still Available:
- Charlotte Hornets
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Orlando Magic
- Washington Wizards
The five clubs listed above are the ones who could most realistically still use their bi-annual exception at some point during the 2019/20 season.
All four of these teams have already hard-capped themselves by using more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception or by acquiring a player via sign-and-trade, so they could theoretically use their BAEs without worrying about further restrictions.
BAE Unavailable:
Used:
- Dallas Mavericks
- Used: $3,500,000 (Boban Marjanovic)
- Available: $123,000
- Detroit Pistons
- Used: $3,200,000 (Markieff Morris)
- Available: $423,000
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Used: $2,625,000 (Marko Guduric)
- Available: $998,000
- Toronto Raptors
- Used: $3,623,000 (Stanley Johnson)
- Available: $0
So far, the Mavericks, Pistons, Grizzlies, and Raptors are the only teams that won’t have the bi-annual exception available to them during the 2020/21 league year after using it this season.
Went under cap:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Boston Celtics
- Brooklyn Nets
- Chicago Bulls
- Indiana Pacers
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Phoenix Suns
- Sacramento Kings
- Utah Jazz
These 11 teams forfeited their right to the bi-annual exception when they went under the cap and used space this offseason.
Over or near tax apron:
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Denver Nuggets
- Golden State Warriors
- Houston Rockets
- Miami Heat
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Portland Trail Blazers
Not all of these seven teams are over the tax apron, and some are still theoretically in position to use the bi-annual exception. However, teams like the Cavaliers and Nuggets still have their full mid-level exceptions available, so they’d be more likely to dip into those rather than using their BAEs. The Warriors and Heat are right up against hard caps, the Thunder are looking to sneak below the tax line, and the Blazers are above the tax apron.
Used last year:
- Milwaukee Bucks
- New Orleans Pelicans
- New York Knicks
- San Antonio Spurs
As noted in the intro, these are the four teams that used their bi-annual exceptions in 2018/19 and won’t have them again until 2020/21 as a result.
Salary information from Bobby Marks of ESPN, Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights, and Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
How Teams Are Using 2019/20 Mid-Level Exceptions
In addition to receiving approximately $109MM in cap room and being allowed to surpass that threshold in order to sign players using Bird Rights or the minimum salary exception, each NBA team also receives a mid-level exception. The value of this exception varies depending on a club’s total team salary.
A team that goes under the cap to use its available cap room, for instance, receives only a modest form of the MLE known as the room exception. An over-the-cap team receives the full mid-level exception, unless that team is also over the tax line, in which case it gets a taxpayer version of the MLE that falls in between the full MLE and the room exception. We detailed the exact values of each form of mid-level exception earlier this offseason, but here’s a quick breakdown:
- Room exception: Can be used for contracts up to two years, with a starting salary worth up to $4,767,000.
- Taxpayer mid-level exception: Can be used for contracts up to three years, with a starting salary worth up to $5,718,000.
- Full mid-level exception: Can be used for contracts up to four years, with a starting salary worth up to $9,258,000.
Now that nearly all of the NBA’s teams have used up their cap space, it’s worth keeping an eye on which teams still have part or all of their mid-level exceptions available, which we’ll do in the space below. This list will be kept up to date throughout the 2019/20 league year.
Note: As of January 10, the value of the exceptions below began to prorate downward by 1/177th per day.
Here’s where things currently stand:
Mid-Level Exception:
Non-taxpayer: $9,258,000
Taxpayer: $5,718,000
Charlotte Hornets
- Used: $1,173,310 (Cody Martin); $898,310 (Caleb Martin); $898,310 (Jalen McDaniels)
Cleveland Cavaliers
- Used: $1,500,000 (Alfonzo McKinnie)
; $375,000 (Dean Wade); $250,000 (Jordan Bell)
Dallas Mavericks
- Used: $7,461,380 (Seth Curry); $1,500,000 (Isaiah Roby)
Denver Nuggets
- Used: $898,310 (Vlatko Cancar); $183,115 (PJ Dozier)
Detroit Pistons
- Used: $7,317,074 (Derrick Rose); $483,115 (Justin Patton)
Golden State Warriors
- Used: $2,177,483 (Willie Cauley-Stein); $898,310 (Eric Paschall); $898,310 (Alen Smailagic); $842,327 (Damion Lee); $350,189 (Ky Bowman); $350,189 (Juan Toscano-Anderson); $187,782 (Mychal Mulder)
Houston Rockets
- Used: $3,540,000 (Danuel House); $903,111 (David Nwaba); $563,347 (Chris Clemons)
Memphis Grizzlies
- Used: $9,258,000 (Tyus Jones)
Miami Heat
- Used: $898,310 (KZ Okpala); $466,918 (Chris Silva)
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Used: $2,000,000 (Noah Vonleh); $1,400,000 (Jaylen Nowell); $898,310 (Naz Reid)
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Used: $1,620,564 (Justin Patton); $155,647 (Luguentz Dort)
Orlando Magic
- Used: $9,258,000 (Al-Farouq Aminu)
Portland Trail Blazers
- Used: $5,718,000 (Rodney Hood)
San Antonio Spurs
- Used: $5,500,000 (Trey Lyles)
Toronto Raptors
- Used: $4,000,000 (Patrick McCaw); $2,500,000 (Rondae Hollis-Jefferson); $898,310 (Matt Thomas); $898,310 (Dewan Hernandez)
Washington Wizards
- Used: $6,000,000 (Ish Smith); $1,000,000 (Admiral Schofield); $898,310 (Justin Robinson); $482,144 (Anzejs Pasecniks)
Room Exception:
Available: $4,767,000
Atlanta Hawks
- Used: $0
Boston Celtics
- Used: $4,767,000 (Enes Kanter)
Brooklyn Nets
- Used: $4,767,000 (Garrett Temple)
Chicago Bulls
- Used: $2,250,000 (Luke Kornet)
Indiana Pacers
- Used: $4,767,000 (Justin Holiday)
Los Angeles Clippers
- Used: $4,767,000 (JaMychal Green)
Los Angeles Lakers
- Used: $4,767,000 (Avery Bradley)
Milwaukee Bucks
- Used: $4,767,000 (Robin Lopez)
New Orleans Pelicans
- Used: $4,102,564 (Nicolo Melli)
New York Knicks
- Used: $4,000,000 (Reggie Bullock)
Philadelphia 76ers
- Used: $4,767,000 (Mike Scott)
Phoenix Suns
- Used: $4,767,000 (Frank Kaminsky)
Sacramento Kings
- Used: $4,767,000 (Richaun Holmes)
Utah Jazz
- Used: $4,767,000 (Ed Davis)
Salary information from Basketball Insiders, Early Bird Rights, and ESPN was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Clippers Sign Derrick Walton Jr.
12:39pm: Walton confirmed to JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link) that he and the Clippers completed a deal. Jovan Buha of The Athletic tweets that it’s an Exhibit 10 contract, as expected.
9:59am: The Clippers have signed free agent point guard Derrick Walton Jr., according to RealGM’s official log of NBA transactions. Details aren’t known, but RealGM classifies it as a one-year contract, so an Exhibit 10 deal seems likely.
Walton, 24, spent a season with the Heat on a two-way contract in 2017/18 after going undrafted out of Michigan. He caught on with the Bulls for training camp and the preseason last fall, but was waived before the regular season began and ultimately ended up playing overseas in 2018/19 for teams in Lithuania and Germany.
The Clippers added Walton to their Summer League roster this offseason, and he appeared in four games for the club in Las Vegas, averaging 4.3 PPG, 1.8 APG, and 1.8 RPG in four games (13.3 MPG).
With only 13 players on guaranteed contracts, the Clippers still project to have a couple openings on their regular season roster. It’s not clear if Walton will get the opportunity to compete for one of those spots, or if Los Angeles simply views him as a potential candidate to join the team’s G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario.