Thunder Trading Steven Adams To Pelicans
9:00am: Wojnarowski has another update on this deal, reporting (via Twitter) that George Hill will indeed end up with the Thunder rather than the Pelicans. New Orleans will also send Oklahoma City Darius Miller‘s $7MM expiring contract, Washington’s 2023 second-round pick, and Charlotte’s 2024 second-round pick, Woj adds.
New Orleans is still acquiring Bledsoe in the multi-team trade, per Woj (Twitter link), so Miller’s contract will likely need to become fully guaranteed for salary-matching purposes and the Pelicans will still probably have to send out a bit more salary. So I expect there are still more parts of this deal to be reported.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter) that Adams may also need to amend his trade kicker to make the money work.
12:41am: The lottery-protected 2023 first-round pick that the Nuggets agreed to send to the Pelicans on draft night in order to land RJ Hampton will be rerouted to Oklahoma City as part of this deal, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The Thunder will also receive two future second-round picks from New Orleans, per ESPN.
12:00am: Having already traded away guards Chris Paul and Dennis Schröder, the Thunder are now finalizing a trade that will send veteran center Steven Adams to the Pelicans, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The deal is becoming a part of the Jrue Holiday blockbuster that New Orleans and the Bucks previously agreed upon, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the Holiday trade will expand to include more teams and players. It still has “a lot of moving parts” and will take some work to finish, tweets Wojnarowski.
The Thunder will be receiving a first-round pick and second-round picks as part of the expanded swap, per Woj (Twitter link).
While it’s tricky to evaluate the deal before we know all those moving parts, we can at least break down Adams’ fit in New Orleans. He’ll fill the hole in the frontcourt created by the free agent departures of Derrick Favors and Jahlil Okafor earlier this evening. The Pelicans were said to have interest in Aron Baynes, among other big men, but it looks like Adams will be the team’s new man in the middle.
In 2019/20, Adams averaged 10.9 PPG, 9.3 RPG, and 2.3 APG in 63 games (26.7 MPG) as Oklahoma City’s starting center. His contract is somewhat onerous, with a $27.5MM cap hit for 2020/21. However, it’ll be an expiring deal and will come off the Pelicans’ cap next summer.
With the Pelicans now taking on Adams’ salary, it seems likely that at least one of the point guards they were set to receive in the Holiday trade – Eric Bledsoe and George Hill – will be rerouted elsewhere — most likely to OKC.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, KCP, Haliburton, Suns, Warriors
After crunching the numbers, ESPN’s Bobby Marks says (via Twitter) the most the Lakers can offer free agent wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for 2020/21 is about $12MM. That would give the team just enough money to fill out the roster with players on minimum-salary contracts and remain under the hard cap of $138.93MM.
The Lakers’ other free agent options are somewhat limited now that they’ve committed their full mid-level exception to Montrezl Harrell and their bi-annual exception to Wesley Matthews. However, a sign-and-trade remains an option for Los Angeles – since the team already hard-capped – if enough salary can be sent out.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- After ESPN’s Jonathan Givony suggested on Zach Lowe’s Lowe Post podcast that Tyrese Haliburton‘s camp may have had a hand in orchestrating his draft-day slide to the Kings at No. 12, Haliburton was asked about that possibility and neither confirmed nor denied it, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. “I don’t know about all the behind-the-scenes stuff that really goes on,” Haliburton said. “But I do know that Sacramento was a perfect place for me and somewhere that we really looked at and thought it would be a perfect fit, somewhere where we felt I would have an opportunity right away.”
- Suns officials confirmed to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic that the organization is enacting furloughs on some employees and pay cuts for many others. Sources tell Rankin that more than 30 employees have been furloughed due to the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, while remaining employees within all departments are taking 20% pay cuts.
- In a pair of articles for The Athletic, Anthony Slater examined what’s next for the Warriors in the wake of Klay Thompson‘s second consecutive season-ending injury and explored how James Wiseman can help the team right away.
- The Clippers will have a new advertisement patch on their jersey for 2020/21, announcing in a press release that they’ve reached a deal with L.A.-based technology company Honey.
Magic To Sign Karim Mane To Two-Way Contract
Undrafted rookie Karim Mane announced (via Twitter) on Friday night that he’ll be joining the Magic as a free agent. According to Blake Murphy of The Athletic (via Twitter), Mane will get a two-way contract from Orlando.
Mane, a Canadian guard who spent the last few seasons playing for Vanier College in Quebec, declared for the draft as an early entrant this year after weighing the possibility of joining a U.S. program.
As Jonathan Givony of ESPN writes, a breakout showing at last year’s FIBA U19 World Championship improved Mane’s NBA stock and he would have participated in this year’s Nike Hoop Summit had the event not been canceled. Givony, who ranks Mane sixth among undrafted prospects, praises the youngster’s physical tools and athleticism.
B.J. Johnson and Vic Law finished the 2019/20 season on two-way contracts with Orlando, but neither player received a qualifying offer this week, so it looks like the Magic will probably turn over both of their two-way slots.
Knicks, Hawks, Hornets Still Have Cap Room Available
The Knicks, Hawks, and Hornets are the only teams that still project to have cap room available after the first day of free agency, tweets Keith Smith of RealGM.
Smith estimates that New York has about $29MM or so left to spend, with Atlanta around $25MM and Charlotte at about $19MM. Cap exceptions, minimum deals, and sign-and-trades will be the only way for other teams to add free agents, barring cost-cutting moves to get under the cap, Smith notes.
We may find out as early as today what each of those three Eastern lottery teams intends to do with its cap room.
The Knicks are reportedly in the running for free agent forward Gordon Hayward, but could turn their attention elsewhere if Hayward agrees to re-sign with the Celtics or reaches a sign-and-trade deal with the Pacers. Fred VanVleet, who is reportedly meeting with interested teams today, might be one option.
The Hawks are believed to have their sights set on Bogdan Bogdanovic and Rajon Rondo, with a report yesterday indicating that the team was confident it will be able to land at least two players from a group of free agents that included those two and Danilo Gallinari (who is finalizing a three-year deal with Atlanta).
Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer says Atlanta is considered the frontrunner to land Bogdanovic, but notes that the Lakers remain in pursuit. Getting something back from L.A. in a sign-and-trade may appeal more to the Kings – who still hold Bogdanovic’s RFA rights – than losing him for nothing if the Hawks use their cap room to sign him to an offer sheet they won’t match.
As for the Hornets, I expect they’ll use a chunk of their cap room to fortify their frontcourt. A report on Friday night indicated they made Montrezl Harrell a bigger offer than the two-year, $19MM deal he ultimately accepted from the Lakers.
Besides VanVleet, Hayward, and Bogdanovic, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Serge Ibaka, Jae Crowder, and Hassan Whiteside are among the best free agents still available from our top-50 list. Anthony Davis and Brandon Ingram also technically haven’t agreed to deals with their respective teams, but are considered virtual locks to re-sign with the Lakers and Pelicans.
Bulls’ Denzel Valentine Signs Qualifying Offer
Bulls wing Denzel Valentine has signed his qualifying offer from the team, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
As a result of the decision, Valentine will be under contract for the 2020/21 season on a one-year, $4.64MM deal. He’ll have a de facto no-trade clause for the season and will become an unrestricted free agent in 2021 once the contract expires.
The Bulls’ decision to extend a qualifying offer to Valentine was somewhat surprising. After a promising 2017/18, he has only appeared in 36 games over the last two years due to injuries. He averaged 6.8 PPG and 2.1 RPG on .409/.336/.750 in 13.6 minutes per contest for Chicago last season.
New president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas reportedly values Valentine’s shooting ability, which played a big part in the Bulls’ decision to make him a restricted free agent. The 27-year-old knocked down 38.6% of his three-point attempts in his last full season in ’17/18.
Free agent contracts generally can’t be officially completed until after the moratorium at the start of each league year, but signing a qualifying offer is one of the few transactions that is permitted in that window.
NBA 2020 Free Agency: Day 1 Recap
An eventful opening night of the 2020 free agent period saw more than 30 NBA free agents reach agreements on deals, including six whose new contracts will be worth at least $60MM in overall value.
These deals aren’t yet official, so the reported terms could change — or agreements could fall through altogether. Generally speaking though, teams and players are on track to finalize these agreements sometime after the moratorium ends on Sunday.
Here are today’s free agent agreements:
- Davis Bertans, Wizards agree to five-year, $80MM contract.
- Joe Harris, Nets agree to four-year, $75MM contract.
- Marcus Morris, Clippers agree to four-year, $64MM contract.
- Danilo Gallinari, Hawks agree to three-year, $61.5MM contract.
- Jerami Grant, Pistons agree to three-year, $60MM contract.
- Malik Beasley, Timberwolves agree to four-year, $60MM contract.
- Jordan Clarkson, Jazz agree to four-year, $52MM contract.
- Christian Wood, Rockets agree to three-year, $41MM contract (sign-and-trade).
- Goran Dragic, Heat agree to two-year, $37.4MM contract.
- Derrick Favors, Jazz agree to three-year, $27MM contract.
- Jakob Poeltl, Spurs agree to three-year, $27MM contract.
- Mason Plumlee, Pistons agree to three-year, $25MM contract.
- Rodney Hood, Trail Blazers agree to two-year, $21MM contract.
- Meyers Leonard, Heat agree to two-year, $20MM contract.
- Montrezl Harrell, Lakers agree to two-year, $19MM contract.
- Derrick Jones, Trail Blazers agree to two-year, $19MM contract.
- Justin Holiday, Pacers agree to three-year, $18MM contract.
- JaMychal Green, Nuggets agree to two-year, $15MM contract.
- Trey Burke, Mavericks agree to three-year, $10MM contract.
- Pat Connaughton, Bucks agree to two-year, $8.3MM contract.
- Alec Burks, Knicks agree to one-year, $6MM contract.
- Garrett Temple, Bulls agree to one-year, $5MM contract.
- Wesley Matthews, Lakers agree to one-year, $3.6MM contract.
- Drew Eubanks, Spurs agree to three-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Jahlil Okafor, Pistons agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Dwayne Bacon, Magic agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Dwight Howard, Sixers agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Udonis Haslem, Heat agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Patrick Patterson, Clippers agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Facundo Campazzo, Nuggets agree to two-year contract (terms unknown).
- Josh Jackson, Pistons agree to two-year contract (terms unknown).
- Anthony Gill, Wizards agree to two-year contract (terms unknown).
- Robin Lopez, Wizards agree to one-year contract (terms unknown).
- James Ennis, Magic agree to one-year contract (terms unknown).
Today’s trades are trickier to round up, since most of them involved adding new parts to previously agreed-upon deals. Here’s a recap of what happened:
The Thunder are sending Steven Adams to New Orleans as part of the Jrue Holiday deal between the Pelicans and Bucks. We still don’t know all the moving parts involved in that one, but Oklahoma City will acquire – you guessed it – more draft picks.- The Thunder, Mavericks, and Pistons agreed to a three-team trade that sends Delon Wright to Detroit, James Johnson to Dallas, and Trevor Ariza, Justin Jackson, and draft compensation to Oklahoma City.
- The Pistons agreed to sign-and-trade Christian Wood to the Rockets as part of their previously agreed-upon deal involving Trevor Ariza (before Detroit reroutes him to OKC).
- The Trail Blazers officially acquired Enes Kanter from the Celtics, folding that deal into a Grizzlies/C’s draft-night agreement.
- The Timberwolves officially finalized their trade for Ricky Rubio.
Here are some of the day’s other major headlines:
- De’Aaron Fox and the Kings agreed to a five-year, maximum-salary extension (starts in 2021/22; projected value of between $163-196MM).
- Wizards point guard John Wall is reportedly seeking a trade out of Washington.
- The Raptors will play their home games in Tampa, Florida to start the 2020/21 season.
- The Rockets and Magic discussed a Russell Westbrook trade, but didn’t gain traction.
- Anthony Davis will take his time signing his new contract with the Lakers.
- Davis is one of several players expected to sign maximum-salary contracts soon, along with Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum, and Donovan Mitchell.
- Gordon Hayward is hoping to land a four-year, $100MM contract via a sign-and-trade to the Pacers.
Despite a busy Friday, there are still plenty of stories to watch over the course of the weekend — five of the top six free agents on our top-50 list don’t yet have new deals in place.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Western Rumors: Howard, Lakers, Carmelo, Cousins, Kanter, More
Before he agreed to a deal with the Sixers on Friday night, Dwight Howard posted a message on his Twitter account indicating that he would be re-signing with the Lakers.
“I’m staying right where I belong,” Howard wrote. “Laker nation I love y’all. Purple and gold never gets old.”
A few minutes later, the tweet had been deleted, and a little later in the evening, Howard was set to join the 76ers. So what happened?
According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, sources within the Lakers’ organization are adamant that they never put a formal offer on the table for Howard and that they discussed a “deal concept.” Howard, on the other hand, believe that if he agreed to the “deal concept,” the two sides had a deal.
As Haynes writes, Lakers management told Howard’s agent they had to consult with team ownership and get approval before making an official offer. The veteran center waited for almost an hour without hearing back, sources tell Haynes. Ultimately, the communication breakdown resulted in Howard preparing to head east for the 2020/21 season.
Here are a few more free agency notes and rumors from around the Western Conference:
- The Trail Blazers haven’t ruled out the possibility of re-signing Carmelo Anthony, even after lining up deals to acquire Robert Covington and Derrick Jones, tweets David Aldridge of The Athletic.
- The Rockets touched base with DeMarcus Cousins‘ camp today, a source told Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link). Iko’s report came before the team reached a deal with Christian Wood, so it’s not clear whether or not signing Cousins remains an option for Houston.
- Now that the Lakers aren’t an option for Tristan Thompson, the Clippers could emerge as a real possibility, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who notes (via Twitter) that it’d be a chance for Thompson to reunite with Tyronn Lue.
- The Lakers and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope remain interested in getting a deal done, but will have to reach a compromise on salary, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Caldwell-Pope is seeking a raise, while the Lakers won’t have a ton of wiggle room below their hard cap.
- The Celtics gave Enes Kanter a choice of being traded to either the Grizzlies or Trail Blazers in the deal that was completed earlier today, and Kanter chose Portland, a source tells Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link).
- Count the Timberwolves among the teams with interest in free agent big man Paul Millsap, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link).
Nuggets Sign JaMychal Green To Two-Year Deal
NOVEMBER 30: The Nuggets have officially signed Green, the team announced in a press release.
NOVEMBER 21: The Nuggets have reached an agreement to sign free agent forward JaMychal Green to a two-year, $15MM contract, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal will include a second-year player option.
Denver’s depth chart took a hit earlier tonight when power forward Jerami Grant and center Mason Plumlee both agreed to sign with the Pistons. Signing Green will allow the team to replenish some of that lost frontcourt depth.
Green’s numbers don’t jump off the page, but he’s a reliable three-point shooter (39.4% over the last two seasons) and a versatile frontcourt defender who can play the five in smaller lineups. He averaged 6.8 PPG and 6.2 RPG in 63 games (20.7 MPG) for the Clippers last season and was an important role player for the team in the postseason.
Based on the reported figures for Green’s new deal, it appears the Nuggets will use a chunk of their mid-level exception to bring him aboard.
Meanwhile, the Clippers will now be looking to fill some holes in the frontcourt themselves. Although they agreed to re-sign Marcus Morris, they’ve now lost both Green and Montrezl Harrell since free agency opened.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Eastern Notes: Hawks, Collins, Wall, Holiday, Pistons
The Hawks‘ deal with power forward Danilo Gallinari has raised some questions about John Collins‘ long-term fit in Atlanta. However, Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (via Twitter) that the club is still hoping to get a rookie scale extension done with Collins this offseason. In other words, the addition of Gallinari doesn’t mean the Hawks don’t still consider Collins part of their future.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference on the first night of free agency:
- In the wake of a report that Wizards point guard John Wall is seeking a trade out of Washington, Fred Katz of The Athletic notes (via Twitter) that Chris Miller of NBC Sports Washington reported earlier this week that Wall was “surprised” to hear GM Tommy Sheppard say that the franchise was building around Bradley Beal. Even if Sheppard’s comment didn’t directly lead to Wall’s apparent trade request, the timing is interesting.
- Aaron Holiday has drawn frequent trade interest over the last two years, but the Pacers remain high on the 24-year-old guard, per J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link), who hears that Holiday is “safe.” Holiday’s name came up in trade rumors involving Boston earlier today.
- The Pistons didn’t want to go as high as Houston was willing to in order to re-sign Christian Wood (nearly $14MM per year), which was way the team shifted its focus to Jerami Grant, according to James Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Hayward Still Prefers Pacers, Knicks Remain In Hunt
Free agent forward Gordon Hayward prefers to land with the Pacers, but the Knicks have continued to express interest in his services as free agency progresses, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times (Twitter links).
New York has so far offered lower figures than Indiana, who shares a mutual interest with Hayward, according to Stein. However, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (hat-tip Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports) relayed that the Knicks are actually willing to offer more money — just fewer years on a deal.
In order for Hayward to receive an estimated four-year, $100MM deal from Indiana, a sign-and-trade must occur between the Celtics and Pacers. Boston has expressed interest in adding a center during free agency, and Indiana’s Myles Turner could be included in a potential deal between the teams.
Despite offering lower figures than Indiana, New York has shown a willingness to go beyond their initial two-year offer for Hayward, Stein reports. Hayward, who declined a $34.2MM player option with the Celtics to become an unrestricted free agent, is said to have a big admirer in Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, Stein adds.
Several teams are discussing sign-and-trade scenarios on the former NBA All-Star, according to Wojnarowski, which means a resolution may not come until the weekend. Hayward could also re-sign with the Celtics on a brand new deal, Wojnarowski cautions. Hayward averaged 17.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game last season, shooting 50% from the floor and 38% from deep.