Free Agent Rumors: Teague, Payton, Beasley, Davis, Ibaka, Thompson
The Knicks have interest in free agent Jeff Teague as a starting point guard option, Marc Berman of the New York Post tweets. Teague, who made $19MM annually over the last three seasons, averaged 10.9 PPG and 5.2 APG in 59 combined games with the Timberwolves and Hawks last season.
If the Knicks don’t sign the 32-year-old Teague, they may shift back to one of their own free agents, Elfrid Payton. Front office executive Scott Perry remain a fan of Payton despite his perimeter shooting issues, Berman adds. Payton averaged 10.0 PPG and 7.2 APG in 45 games with New York last season.
We have more free agent news:
- The Bucks expressed interest in combo guard Malik Beasley before he chose to re-sign with the Timberwolves, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Beasley agreed to a four-year, $60MM contract with Minnesota.
- Anthony Davis will return to the Lakers but he might not put that in writing until December, Joe Vardon of The Athletic reports. Agent Rich Paul said there is no hurry for Davis to put his name to a contract and the signing could come just before or even during training camp.
- After completing an agreement with Fred VanVleet, Raptors president Masai Ujiri and GM Bobby Webster will meet with their other prominent free agent, forward Serge Ibaka, on late Saturday afternoon or evening, Michael Grange of Rogers Sportsnet tweets. As many as 10 teams have shown interest in signing Ibaka, who is coming off a career year and strong postseason run.
- The Timberwolves have inquired about center Tristan Thompson, Darren Wolfson of KSTP tweets. Minnesota is seeking some depth in the middle behind starter Karl-Anthony Towns.
Sixers Sign Dwight Howard To One-Year Deal
NOVEMBER 21: The Sixers have officially announced the signing of Howard, confirming the move in a press release. Because it’s a minimum-salary deal, it can be completed during free agency’s moratorium period.
NOVEMBER 20: The Sixers and Dwight Howard have reached an agreement on a one-year contract, agent Charles Briscoe tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Word of Howard’s agreement with Philadelphia comes shortly after the veteran center published a tweet saying that he would be returning to the Lakers. He quickly deleted that tweet, with Charania reporting at the time that Howard was still mulling his options. Now it appears he’ll head east after winning a title in Los Angeles.
Howard will presumably be the primary backup for Joel Embiid in Philadelphia. He’ll receive the veteran’s minimum of $2.6MM, though the cap hit for the Sixers will be just $1.6MM. The contract is guaranteed, according to The Athletic’s David Aldridge (Twitter link). Last season, Howard signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Lakers and worked his way into their good graces.
Howard will be playing for seventh team in his 17th season. He got steady minutes off the bench with Los Angeles, appearing in 69 regular-season games while averaging 7.5 PPG, 7.3 RPG and 1.1 BPG in 18.9 MPG. He also saw action in 18 of the Lakers’ postseason games, averaging 5.8 PPG and 4.6 RPG.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Magic Re-Sign Gary Clark To Two-Year Deal
NOVEMBER 23: The Magic have officially re-signed Clark, the team announced today in a press release.
NOVEMBER 21: The Magic have agreed to a new two-year contract with free agent forward Gary Clark, bringing him back for a second straight season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
The agreement is worth $4.1MM, Wojnarowski adds, which suggests it’ll be worth slightly more than the minimum. The second year of the contract will include a team option, Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel tweets.
Orlando tipped its hand that it wanted to bring back Clark but extending him a $1.82MM qualifying offer, which made him a restricted free agent.
The Magic signed Clark after the Rockets waived him in early January. Clark, 25, appeared in 24 games for Orlando, averaging 3.6 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 14.8 MPG. Clark, who turned 26 earlier this week, played a total of 69 games with Houston after going undrafted out of Cincinnati.
Grizzlies Sign John Konchar To Four-Year Deal
NOVEMBER 22: The Grizzlies have made their deal with Konchar official, announcing it in a press release.
NOVEMBER 21: The Grizzlies are signing swingman John Konchar to a four-year, $9MM deal, agent Happy Walters told Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Konchar, 24, was on a two-way contract with the team last season, averaging 2.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in his 19 games. He spent most of his time with the team’s G League affiliate, holding per-game averages of 12.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 29.1 minutes. He received a qualifying offer from the Grizzlies earlier this week that made him a restricted free agent.
In addition to Konchar, Memphis also agreed to a new four-year contract with De’Anthony Melton on Saturday, plus two-way deals with Killian Tillie and Sean McDermott earlier in the week. The team lost forward Josh Jackson to Detroit when free agency began Friday night.
Konchar went undrafted in 2019, signing a two-way contract with the Grizzlies shortly thereafter. He spent four seasons at Purdue University Fort Wayne from 2016-19.
Nets Sign Jeff Green To One-Year Deal
NOVEMBER 23: It’s a done deal. The Nets sent out a press release confirming the signing of Green.
NOVEMBER 21: The Nets have reached a one-year agreement with forward Jeff Green, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). He’ll receive the veteran’s minimum of $2.56MM, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets, though it will only count $1.62MM against Brooklyn’s cap.
The journeyman forward was waived by the Jazz last season but had a good run with the Rockets in their small-ball lineups after he signed with them, first on 10-day contracts and then a rest-of-the-season deal.
Green averaged 11.6 PPG and 5.0 RPG in 28.4 MPG during 12 postseason appearances with the Rockets while knocking down 42.6% of his long-range attempts.
Green, 34, met with Houston on Friday, Kelly Iko of The Athletic tweets, but he opted to join another prime playoff contender next season in Brooklyn.
Deadline Set For Players Opting Out Over COVID-19 Concerns
Players who wish to opt out for the upcoming season due to coronavirus concerns must notify the league by December 1, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association reached that agreement on Saturday. Players who elect not to play will be prohibited from signing a contract for which the 2020/21 season is covered, Charania adds.
A number of players opted out of the restart in Orlando due to the pandemic. Some did so for medical issues, family concerns or worries that an injury could damage their future contract offers.
It’s unknown which players might choose not to play next season outside of a “bubble” environment, but COVID-19 positives have skyrocketed across the U.S. this fall.
Hornets To Waive-And-Stretch Nicolas Batum
The Hornets will waive and stretch the final year of Nicolas Batum‘s contract in order to create the cap room necessary to sign Gordon Hayward, reports Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
[RELATED: Hornets, Gordon Hayward Agree To Four-Year Deal]
Batum, who will turn 32 next month, is entering the final season of the five-year, $120MM contract he signed back in 2016. His cap hit for 2020/21 is approximately $27.13MM, but the Hornets can stretch that amount across three seasons at $9.04MM annually, opening up more than $18MM in cap room for 2020/21.
That newly-opened amount will be more than enough to complete the Hayward signing, as Charlotte entered the day with about $19MM in space. The team should have some room left over for an additional move or two, though it will now have to deal with $9MM+ in dead money on the cap for 2021/22 and ’22/23 as well.
Batum was excised from the Hornets’ rotation this past season, appearing in just 22 games (23.0 MPG) and playing poorly in his limited time, with 3.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 3.0 APG on .346/.286/.900 shooting.
Although he’s coming off a down year and has long been viewed as an unfavorable asset as a result of his oversized contract, Batum might be an interesting minimum-salary target in free agency once he clears waivers.
Heat Sign Avery Bradley To Two-Year Deal
NOVEMBER 23: The Heat have officially announced their deal with Bradley, issuing a press release to confirming the signing.
“This is a great signing that can help us right away,” team president Pat Riley said in a statement. “Being able to add a two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection who is also a great shooter and fits perfectly with our current philosophy as a multi-positional player. Avery will be a great addition to fortifying our backcourt.”
As we relayed in a separate story, Boston and Charlotte were among the other teams that expressed interest in Bradley before he agreed to sign with Miami.
NOVEMBER 21: The Heat and free agent guard Avery Bradley have agreed to a two-year, $11.6MM deal, agent Charles Briscoe tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The contract will include a team option for the second year, sources tell ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). The Heat took a similar route with their new deals for Goran Dragic and Meyers Leonard as they prioritize preserving cap room for 2021.
The Heat will use a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Bradley. The Heat have also agreed to a one-year, $3.6MM contract with Maurice Harkless and Miami could preserve its bi-annual exception by splitting up the MLE between Bradley and Harkless, as John Hollinger of The Athletic tweets.
Bradley was considered a fallback option for the team in case it couldn’t re-sign Jae Crowder, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets. While Crowder was a priority for the Heat, he wasn’t comfortable with only a one-year guarantee, says Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). As a result, he’ll head to Phoenix on a three-year deal while the Heat replace him with Bradley.
As Charania explains (via Twitter), Bradley – who was recruited by Heat president Pat Riley and star swingman Jimmy Butler – was sold on the Heat’s culture and made the decision to leave Los Angeles after spending the 2019/20 season with the Lakers.
Bradley, who will turn 30 next Thursday, appeared in 49 games for the Lakers in 2019/20, starting 44 of them. He averaged 8.6 PPG and 2.3 RPG with a solid 3PT% (.364) and strong perimeter defense, but opted out of the restart and wasn’t part of the club’s championship run.
The Warriors were among the other teams that had interest in signing Bradley, tweets Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Dana Gauruder contributed to this story. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hornets, Gordon Hayward Agree To Four-Year Deal
The Hornets are signing Gordon Hayward, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the forward’s new deal will be worth $120MM over four years. It’s fully guaranteed, tweets David Aldridge of The Athletic.
Hayward turned down a $34.2MM player option with the Celtics earlier in the week, which was a signal that he and agent Mark Bartelstein were confident that one or more lucrative multiyear offers would be waiting for him on the open market.
The Hawks and Knicks were said to have interest in Hayward, but Atlanta quickly moved onto other targets – including Danilo Gallinari – and New York wasn’t comfortable with either the years or the money that Hayward ultimately received from Charlotte, per Steve Popper of Newsday (Twitter link).
Hayward was said to prefer joining his hometown Pacers, and Boston and Indiana attempted to work out a sign-and-trade deal within the last couple days. However, the Pacers’ cap situation complicated matters, as Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), and it was always going to be a challenge for the C’s and Pacers to agree on fair compensation.
Just a half-hour before word of Hayward’s agreement with the Hornets broke, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files said (via Twitter) that there had been no progress in those sign-and-trade talks.
So Hayward will be headed to the Hornets, who will have to either open up some extra cap room in order to clear the space necessary to complete the signing. They’ll reportedly do so by using the stretch provision on Nicolas Batum.
Although the Hornets were cited on Friday as a potential suitor for Hayward, the deal still comes as a major surprise, especially since president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak had talked for the better part of the year about Charlotte not planning to make a splash in free agency. Apparently, the team decided to change course on that plan when Hayward became available.
Hayward, 30, still didn’t quite look like his old All-Star self in 2019/20. However, he was a lot closer to that level last season than he was during his first two years in Boston. In 52 games, he averaged 17.5 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 4.1 APG on .500/.383/.855 shooting.
Hayward’s deal with the Hornets represents a full-circle moment, as the first free agent contract he signed in the NBA, back in 2014, was an offer sheet with Charlotte. The Jazz, of course, matched that offer and the former Butler standout spent the next six years in Utah and Boston, but now he’s finally joining the Hornets.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nuggets Guarantee Morris’ 2020/21 Salary, Interested In Extension
Nuggets point guard Monte Morris had his salary for the upcoming 2020/21 season guaranteed on Friday, Yahoo Sports’ Keith Smith noted (Twitter link). With his salary guaranteed, the focus shifts to a possible extension, as there appears to be mutual interest in a new deal.
As we relayed earlier this month, Morris – entering his fourth season – is eligible for an extension for the first time in his career. The 25-year-old has been a strong backup point guard for Denver, especially his 2018/19 campaign when he appeared in all 82 games (six starts) while averaging 10.4 PPG and 3.6 APG. Morris shot nearly 50% from the field and 41.4% from three that season.
Last season was also a strong showing for the Iowa State product as he produced 9.0 PPG and 3.5 APG with a strong 45.9% field goal percentage. And even with Facundo Campazzo entering the point guard mix in Denver, the Nuggets are interested in extending Morris, per Mike Singer of The Denver Post (Twitter link).
“I don’t think it’s a secret to anyone,” Morris told Singer earlier this month. “I would love to get an extension here. I love Denver. I love everything from the organization to the coaches all the way down to equipment, to everyone. Me personally, hopefully, if it goes that way. I would love to be in Denver for however long.”
Morris is eligible for an extension starting at up to 120% of the league’s estimate average salary. Given his status as a minimum-salary player and the present cap numbers, Morris’ extension could be worth up to $53.76MM over four years.
Per the earlier report, while the interest is mutual, a yearly salary in the $6MM range is reportedly a “non-starter” for Morris. However, there is no rush to get an extension done as both sides can take talks into the season.