Hornets Issue Required Tender To Jalen McDaniels
The Hornets have issued a one year, non-guaranteed, minimum-salary contract offer (“required tender”) to 2019 second-round pick, rookie forward Jalen McDaniels, reports Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
Per Bobby Marks of ESPN, all unsigned 2019 second-round draft picks become free agents if not given a required tender by today, so the Hornets had to make a decision as to whether they wanted to retain McDaniels’ rights after drafting the San Diego State product No. 52 overall in the 2019 NBA Draft.
As we noted earlier today, the Hornets have already agreed to sign rookie guard Ahmed Hill to the team’s second two-way contract, and with the expected addition of point guard Kobi Simmons, Charlotte will have a full 20-man offseason roster without McDaniels. As such, the team may no longer be interested in bringing the rookie to training camp this season.
However, as Bonnell notes, two-way contracts can be a fluid situation, so if Charlotte wants to sign McDaniels to a two-way contract later (perhaps when his legal troubles are more thoroughly settled), the team could easily move on from Hill or fellow two-way recipient Robert Franks.
Jameer Nelson Not Ready To Formally Retire
Longtime point guard Jameer Nelson hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since March of 2018, but he tells Josh Robbins of The Athletic that he hasn’t given up on resuming his career if a team expresses interest.
“I continue to stay in shape just in case somebody calls,” Nelson said. “If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, then there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Although Nelson is still working out in case he gets another opportunity, he sounds as if he’s prepared to move onto the next phase of his career, according to Robbins, who writes that the 37-year-old is interested in finding broadcasting work. Nelson participated in the NBPA’s four-day broadcaster training program in June and is intrigued by the idea of becoming a color commentator.
“I love talking about the game, I love giving my knowledge,” Nelson told Robbins. “I played for 14 years (in the NBA), so I know situations, I know styles of play. If you listen to a guy who has played at a high level for a long time, I’m sure you can learn something.
“… I just have to get the reps,” he added. “Get the reps and be me.”
Nelson has appeared in 878 total regular season games for the Magic, Mavericks, Celtics, Nuggets, Pelicans, and Pistons since entering the league in 2004, earning an All-Star nod and a Finals appearance with Orlando in 2009.
He put up some of the worst numbers of his career in 2017/18 with New Orleans and Detroit, but was an effective contributor the year before for Denver, averaging 9.2 PPG and 5.1 APG on .444/.388/.714 shooting in 75 games (27.3 MPG) for the Nuggets.
Northwest Notes: Blazers, ‘Melo, Nuggets, Wolves, Jazz
Star point guard Damian Lillard attempted to recruit Carmelo Anthony to the Trail Blazers before the 10-time All-Star was traded to Oklahoma City in 2017 and then again before ‘Melo signed with Houston in 2018.
With Anthony once again on the lookout for a new team, Lillard has made peace with the fact that the veteran forward probably isn’t coming to Portland, as he said during an appearance on The Joe Budden Podcast (video link via ESPN). After Lillard detailed his previous recruiting efforts, he was asked if he’s “not putting [his] hand out again.”
“The team or me,” Lillard responded. “I’m like, ‘He ain’t coming here.’ He deserves to be in the league, but he ain’t coming here.”
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Free agent point guard Isaiah Taylor is working out for the Nuggets in Denver this week, league sources tell Harrison Wind of BSN Denver (Twitter link). After spending the 2017/18 season with Atlanta, Taylor was pushing for a spot on Cleveland’s roster last fall when he suffered a stress fracture in his leg and was subsequently waived. Now healthy, Taylor has also worked out for the Suns and Celtics, according to Wind.
- The Timberwolves announced this week in a press release that Sam Newman-Beck will assume head coaching duties for their G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves. Newman-Beck, who was an assistant for the Erie BayHawks last season, previously spent eight years (2010-18) in Minnesota as a coaching associate/video scouting director.
- Bryan Bailey, who was previously on the Salt Lake City Stars’ staff in the G League, has been hired as an assistant by the Jazz, league sources tell Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link). Jones adds (via Twitter) that Johnnie Bryant and Alex Jensen will continue to be Utah’s lead assistants, with Lamar Skeeter, Zach Guthrie, and Vince Legarza sharing the third assistant role and rotating on the bench.
Heat Sign Davon Reed To Camp Deal
SEPTEMBER 4: The Heat have officially signed Reed, the team announced today in a press release.
SEPTEMBER 3: The Heat are expected to sign former Hurricanes guard Davon Reed to a training camp contract, reports Shandel Richardson of The Athletic (Twitter link). Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald confirms the agreement, tweeting that Reed will join the group of Heat players on Exhibit 10 contracts competing for a two-way deal.
Reed, 24, was the 32nd overall pick in the 2017 draft by the Suns, but lasted just one season in Phoenix before being cut last October. He quickly caught on with the Pacers on a two-way contract and spent most of the 2018/19 campaign playing for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Indiana’s G League affiliate.
Reed has put up modest numbers (2.4 PPG, 1.5 RPG) in limited playing time (9.3 MPG) in 31 NBA career games for the Suns and Pacers. He was a little more effective in 34 NBAGL contests last season, posting 13.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 3.0 APG, but he struggled to score efficiently, with a shooting line of .398/.326/.753.
The Heat have 12 players on guaranteed salaries, with Duncan Robinson and Kendrick Nunn in position to claim the final two regular season roster spots. Jeremiah Martin, Kyle Alexander, Chris Silva, and Reed will be among the non-guaranteed camp invitees vying for the club’s two-way contracts. Miami could bring up to two more players to camp on Exhibit 10 deals.
And-Ones: Crawford, Injuries, Nowitzki, Moore
Jordan Crawford has 281 career regular season NBA games under his belt, but hasn’t played in 20 or more in a season since 2013/14 and didn’t appear in a single game in 2018/19. Still, it sounds as if he’s looking to catch on with a club for the coming season, as Sam Amico and Ben Stinar of Amico Hoops detail.
A source informed Stinar that Crawford, who is said to be in “great shape,” has recently worked out in front of scouts at UCLA. There’s no word yet on whether specific NBA teams might be interested in giving him a look this fall, but he showed last year in China that he can still score. In a brief, six-game stint with the Sichuan Blue Whales, Crawford poured in 36.5 PPG.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- In an interesting article for ESPN.com, Zach Lowe examines the apparent shift to “Big Two” roster-building this offseason and explores which of those teams with dynamic duos may be in position to acquire for another star to create a “Big Three.” Lowe identifies the Nets and Mavericks as two intriguing possibilities, since Brooklyn has the assets necessary to make such a trade, while Dallas’ two young stars – Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis – aren’t as expensive as most top pairs around the league, creating an opportunity in free agency in 2021.
- Several writers at The Athletic checked in on injured players around the NBA, making predictions on when we might see guys like Victor Oladipo, Jusuf Nurkic, and Paul George return to action.
- When his final season as a player ended in the spring, Dirk Nowitzki said he could imagine having interest in eventually becoming the coach or general manager of a basketball franchise. Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness recently told Magenta Sport that he’d be open to the idea of bringing Nowitzki aboard in some role if the German big man wants to work in his home country (link via Sport1.de; translation via Eurohoops.net).
- Ben Moore, who recently signed with Turkish club Galatasaray S.K., received interest and two-way contract offers from multiple NBA teams, but the offer that ultimately swayed him to Turkey was “quite lucrative,” tweets Ben Stinar of Amico Hoops.
Thunder Sign Devon Hall To Two-Way Contract
1:39pm: Hall’s two-way contract with the Thunder is now official, the team confirmed in a press release.
10:31am: After spending his first professional season overseas and then in the G League, 2018 second-round pick Devon Hall is joining the Thunder, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). League sources tell Haynes that Hall has agreed to a two-way contract with Oklahoma City.
The No. 53 pick in the 2018 draft, Hall joined the Cairns Taipans of Australia’s National Basketball League last summer due to a roster crunch in Oklahoma City. After spending most of the 2018/19 season down under, the Virginia alum signed a G League contract in late February and finished the year with the Oklahoma City Blue, averaging 7.3 PPG with a .422 3PT% in 10 NBAGL games (21.1 MPG).
When Hall first signed to play in Australia, his agent Daniel Curtin told a reporter that “we expect him to be with the Thunder next season.” That expectation has come to fruition, with the 24-year-old shooting guard poised to claim OKC’s second two-way contract slot.
[RELATED: 2019 NBA Draft-And-Stash Signings]
Hall will join rookie shooting guard Luguentz Dort as the Thunder’s two-way players. The team only has 15 players on standard contracts so far, leaving three openings on the 20-man offseason roster.
Kings Hoping To Sign Buddy Hield To Extension
The Kings view shooting guard Buddy Hield as a part of their long-term future and would like to lock him up to a contract extension before the season begins, per Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Speaking to Anderson, GM Vlade Divac said that the two sides are trying to work toward a new deal for Hield.
“We are … every day is working and Buddy’s a big part of this team, and we’ll figure something out down the road,” Divac said. “We’re working on it and we’ll figure out something. Buddy is (a) very important piece to this franchise.”
Hield is one of 17 players who remains eligible for a rookie scale extension before this year’s October 21 deadline. Ben Simmons, Jamal Murray, and Caris LeVert have already signed extensions, which will go into effect for the 2020/21 season. If Hield doesn’t ink a new contract of his own, he’d be on track for restricted free agency in the summer of 2020.
Based on the NBA’s latest salary cap projection for ’20/21, Hield would be eligible for up to nearly $170MM on a five-year contract, though if the Kings intended to put a five-year, maximum-salary offer on the table, a deal would likely already be done.
Still, few players have a better case for a rookie scale extension this fall than Hield, who enjoyed an underrated breakout season in 2018/19, establishing new career highs in PPG (20.7), RPG (5.0), APG (2.5), and several other categories. He increased his productivity while maintaining his impressive efficiency, converting 42.7% of 7.9 three-point attempts per game.
Hield’s 278 three-pointers in 2018/19 place him seventh on the NBA’s all-time list for threes in a single season. Only Stephen Curry (four times), James Harden (2018/19), and Paul George (2018/19) have made more outside shots in a season.
Hield will be the first of several young Kings players who require long-term investments — Bogdan Bogdanovic will be a restricted free agent next summer at the same time De’Aaron Fox and Harry Giles become extension-eligible, while Marvin Bagley III could sign a new long-term deal as early as 2021.
Rockets Sign Eric Gordon To Four-Year Extension
SEPTEMBER 4: Gordon’s extension with the Rockets is now official, the team announced today in a press release.
AUGUST 30: The Rockets and shooting guard Eric Gordon have reached an agreement on a four-year contract extension, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle, who reports that the deal will be worth approximately $75.6MM.
Gordon had been entering the final year of his current contract and will earn a $14,057,730 salary in 2019/20. His new deal will lock him up through the 2023/24 season and brings the total value of his next five years to nearly $90MM.
However, Gordon isn’t assured of receiving that full amount, as the final year of his new contract is non-guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). It would become guaranteed if he makes an All-Star team or the Rockets win a championship, a league source tells Woj.
The starting salary of a veteran contract extension can only be worth up to 120% of the player’s previous salary, so Gordon’s new deal will technically be worth his maximum extension value. A 120% bump on this year’s salary will bring him to $16.87MM in 2020/21. Annual 8% raises going forward will give him salaries of $18.21MM (2021/22), $19.57MM (2022/23), and $20.92MM (2023/24) over the rest of the contract.
Although Gordon could have potentially landed a larger payday on the open market as a free agent next summer, agreeing to a deal now gives him long-term security into his mid-30s and takes off some pressure in what would have been a contract year. It will also remove another talented unrestricted free agent from a 2020 free agent market that was already considered weak.
Gordon, 30, has spent the last three seasons with the Rockets, serving as one of the team’s go-to scoring options behind perennial MVP candidate James Harden. In 2018/19, the former No. 7 overall pick averaged 16.2 PPG on .409/.360/.783 shooting in 68 games (31.7 MPG). Gordon has also been Houston’s most consistent outside threat besides Harden, averaging exactly 8.8 three-point attempts per game in each of the last three years.
The Rockets now have virtually their entire core locked up for several years. Harden and Russell Westbrook are each under contract through at least 2022, with player options for the 2022/23 season. Clint Capela‘s fully guaranteed deal runs through ’22/23. P.J. Tucker, who is reportedly seeking an extension as well, has two more years left on his current pact.
As Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights observes (via Twitter), Gordon can’t be traded during the 2019/20 season as a result of the extension, since it exceeds the extend-and-trade restrictions and makes him ineligible to be dealt for six months. That restriction won’t lift until after the 2020 deadline.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cavs Officially Sign Four Players, Waive Two
The Cavaliers have finalized a series of roster moves, according to RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions. Cleveland released a pair of players on non-guaranteed contracts, then signed four players to training camp deals, filling their 20-man offseason roster. Here’s a breakdown of the moves made by the Cavs:
Signed:
- Marques Bolden, C (previous report)
- Daniel Hamilton, G/F (previous report)
- J.P. Macura, SG (previous report)
- Sindarius Thornwell, SG (previous report)
Waived:
- Malik Newman, SG
- Levi Randolph, SG
Newman and Randolph signed with the Cavs nearly a month ago, but didn’t stick with the team long enough to attend training camp. Both players spent last season with the Canton Charge, Cleveland’s G League affiliate, and look like good bets to return to Canton in 2019/20. Their Exhibit 10 deals will entitle them to bonuses worth up to $50K if they spend at least two months with the Charge this season.
As for Bolden, Hamilton, Macura, and Thornwell, we provided more details on all four players in our previous stories on their deals with the Cavs, as linked above. They’ll fill out the team’s 20-man roster and will get an opportunity to compete in camp for a spot on the 15-man regular season roster or a two-way contract.
Currently, Cleveland is carrying 13 players with guaranteed salaries and one on a two-way deal. The newly-signed quartet will join Alex Robinson and Jarell Martin as non-guaranteed camp invitees who will look to make a positive impression in the preseason.
Timberwolves Sign Lindell Wigginton
The Timberwolves have signed rookie free agent Lindell Wigginton to a contract, according to RealGM’s transactions log. RealGM classifies it as a one-year deal, so it figures to be a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 pact.
[RELATED: What Teams Can Do With Exhibit 10 Contracts]
Wigginton, who was a sophomore at Iowa State in 2018/19, declared for the draft as an early entrant this spring after averaging 15.3 PPG with a .397 3PT% in two college seasons. After going undrafted, the 6’2″ Canadian guard caught on with the Raptors for Summer League play, averaging 7.4 PPG on 33.3% shooting in five games (15.0 MPG) in Las Vegas.
Having officially signed Wigginton, the Timberwolves now have 19 players under contract, including 15 players with guaranteed salaries and two more on two-way deals. Tyrone Wallace is the other player without a guaranteed contract.
A post-draft report in June indicated that the Wolves would also sign undrafted rookie Tyus Battle to an Exhibit 10 deal, so he could ultimately fill out the team’s 20-man offseason roster.
Wigginton likely won’t make Minnesota’s regular season roster, but he’d be a good fit for the Wolves’ G League affiliate, which is based on Iowa.