Kyrie Irving Opts In To Final Year Of Contract
10:30pm: Irving has officially opted in, according to RealGM’s transactions log.
5:50pm: Kyrie Irving has decided to opt in to his contract for 2022/23, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. By exercising the $36.9MM option, Irving is bypassing multiple opt-in-and-trade scenarios in order to fulfill his four-year commitment to the Nets and Kevin Durant, according to Charania (Twitter links).
Irving is entering the final year of his four-year, $136.5MM deal.
“Normal people keep the world going, but those who dare to be different lead us into tomorrow,” Irving said in a statement. “I’ve made my decision to opt in. See you in the fall. A11even.”
By exercising his option, Irving is now both extension- and trade-eligible, though it doesn’t sounds as if either is happening in coordination with the opt-in. The seven-time All-Star will remain extension-eligible up until next June 30 and could tack on up to four years to his expiring deal.
If Irving signs an extension exceeding two years, he would become ineligible to be traded for the next six months; if he’s traded, he would be ineligible to sign an extension longer than two years for the next six months.
Irving’s contract option technically has a base value of about $36.5MM, but the cap hit is $36.9MM due to likely incentives, and it can go as high as $37.7MM if he reaches all his incentives.
The opt-in closes the door on the possibility of Irving of taking a massive pay cut and signing with a new team, such as the Lakers, for the mid-level exception. However, it’s unlikely the drama surrounding Kyrie will end any time soon — since he’s now on track for unrestricted free agency in 2023, he could reemerge as a trade candidate within the next year if he and the Nets don’t agree to an extension.
The Nets, who were reportedly unwilling to offer Irving a long-term contract, have been playing hardball in negotiations with the 30-year-old and essentially threw it in his lap to find a viable sign-and-trade scenario. He was unable to do so, which has led him to exercising the option, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. Irving had until 5:00 pm ET on Wednesday to officially make a decision on that option.
Earlier in the day, it was reported that the Lakers were the only team willing to engage in serious sign-and-trade talks with Brooklyn and they lacked attractive pieces to ship back to the Nets in a potential deal.
With Irving’s future up in the air during the last week, multiple reports indicated that Durant was also mulling his options. But with Irving seemingly on track to return to the Nets for next season, Durant presumably won’t be looking for an exit ramp out of Brooklyn.
Pacific Notes: McNair, Kings’ Offseason Strategy, Looney
With general manager Monte McNair entering the final year of his three-year contract, it’s widely assumed the Kings are in a playoffs-or-bust mode. McNair insists that’s not necessarily the case, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee writes.
“There’s no mandate,” McNair said. “We’ve been very clear what our goal is. We want to win. We want to make the playoffs and we want to stay there, but there’s no mandate to do so. My job is to build, as I’ve said, the best team that’s going to take the court this year and for years to come.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- In the same story, McNair shrugged off criticism for trading his early second-round pick to Dallas for two future second-rounders. Sacramento has nine guaranteed contracts on its books, with lottery pick Keegan Murray soon to be the 10th. McNair said he wanted to keep his options open regarding the 15-man roster instead of locking into a high second-round pick. “For us, as we go into draft night and into free agency, we’re really managing both our roster and our roster spots,” McNair said. “We’ve got a bunch of guaranteed contracts already. We’re adding one more (Murray) very quickly, and so that’s one thing, opening up another roster spot as we go into free agency, and we have a lot of things on the table.”
- The Kings passed on Jaden Ivey in the lottery as De’Aaron Fox‘s backcourt partner. So which guards might they pursue in free agency? James Ham of The Kings Beat explores 10 potential options, including Gary Harris, Victor Oladipo and Bruce Brown.
- Warriors center Kevon Looney is likely to re-sign with the defending champion, according to a report. Todd Ramasar, Looney’s agent, discussed his free agent pitch to other suitors Monday on 95.7 The Game’s “Willard & Dibs” (hat tip to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area). “I talk about how he’s been to five Finals and he’s only 26 years old,” Ramasar said. “He’s won three rings, he’s got a great pedigree. And the fact that he played 104 games this season.”
Northwest Notes: Green, Hart, Timberwolves Draft, Jazz Targets
JaMychal Green was officially traded to the Thunder by the Nuggets on Thursday, but it’s unlikely the forward will ever suit up for Oklahoma City. General manager Sam Presti says they’ll look to trade Green, Brandon Rahbar of the Daily Thunder tweets. Green, 32, is at the stage of his career where he provides greater value to a contender than a rebuilding team. He’s on an $8.2MM expiring contract for 2022/23.
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- Josh Hart had his $12.96MM contract guaranteed by the Trail Blazers over the weekend. However, it shouldn’t have major implications on Portland’s offseason moves, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. The Blazers now have $105MM in guaranteed contracts but they’re over the cap because of the free agent holds on Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic. They still could have the flexibility to re-sign those two free agents and use the full $10.5MM mid-level exception to pursue outside targets.
- The Timberwolves prioritized rebounding in the draft and addressed that by making moves to select Auburn’s Walker Kessler, Chris Hine of the Star Tribune writes. Kessler was the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year. They also wound up with Duke wing Wendell Moore late in the first round and Memphis wing Josh Minott and Italian guard Matteo Spagnolo in the second round. President of basketball operations Tim Connelly isn’t expecting too much out of those rookies. “We don’t want to put too much expectations on their ability to contribute right away,” he told The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski. “When you have a team that had as much success as we did, it’s hard to put that on your shoulders.”
- What might the Jazz do with their taxpayer mid-level exception in free agency? Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune lists 25 potential free agent targets — breaking them down into wings, guards and bigs.
Southwest Notes: Green, Grizzlies Draft, Daniels, Grant
Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman says the status of Danny Green, who was traded from Philadelphia to Memphis, has yet to be determined, Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal writes. The Grizzlies have a July 1 deadline to decide whether to guarantee the remainder of his contract or cut loose Green, who tore his ACL in the playoffs and is expected to miss most or all of next season.
Green received a $6,964,781 guarantee on his $10MM salary as part of the trade, as Eric Pincus of SportsBusinessClassroom.com explains. That was the minimum amount that had to be guaranteed in order to legally match De’Anthony Melton‘s salary. If they waive Green by July 1, the Grizzlies would avoid paying the remaining $3MM+ owed to Green.
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- The Grizzlies wound up with four players via the draft and the common denominator was 3-point shooting, Cole writes in a separate story. Each player shot at least 38% from deep in their final college season. “That’s going to open things up for us,” Kleiman said. “That was a priority for us.”
- The Pelicans were holding their breath that G League Ignite guard Dyson Daniels would still be on the board with the No. 8 pick, according to William Guillory of The Athletic. They weren’t sure what the Trail Blazers would do at No. 7 — not only which player they wanted, but whether they would deal the pick. Portland wound up taking Shaedon Sharpe, leaving Daniels available for New Orleans. “We had a couple guys we liked that went after, but Dyson was the guy,” Pelicans GM Trajan Langdon said. “We had some intel that Portland liked Dyson and they liked Shaedon. So, there was a chance they could’ve taken (Dyson) at (No. 7). When they took Shaedon, the room exploded.”
- Mavericks assistant GM Keith Grant announced his retirement Monday after 42 seasons, according to a team press release. “Keith Grant is an NBA legend with a heart of gold,” team owner Mark Cuban said in the statement. “He did so much for the Mavs, and he made our organization and our community better. I can’t express enough appreciation for everything that KG has done for this franchise.” Grant has been an assistant GM since 1998.
Windhorst: Nets, Kyrie Irving Engaged In “Grade-A Staredown”
With less than 48 hours remaining for Kyrie Irving to make a decision on his $36.9MM player option for 2022/23, he and the Nets are engaged in a “Grade-A staredown,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said during an appearance today on NBA Today (video links).
Since Irving and the Nets reached an impasse in their contract extension talks, there have been rumors suggesting that Kyrie is willing to walk away from the Nets and to potentially take a $30MM+ pay cut for the 2022/23 season by signing with the Lakers using their $6.4MM taxpayer mid-level exception.
However, the Nets haven’t backed down in their negotiations with the seven-time All-Star and are playing hardball themselves, even with Kevin Durant‘s future in Brooklyn potentially tied to Irving’s, according to Windhorst.
“The message that is being sent around the league – and before I say this, this could just be a negotiating position – but the message the Brooklyn Nets are sending is that they are willing to risk losing Kevin Durant if it means (not) going through what they went through last year with Kyrie Irving,” Windhorst said. “They just cannot have him back under the same terms that they had last year. I think they would be willing to welcome him back under different terms, both contractual and an understanding with the organization. But if it costs them both players to avoid a repeat of last year, they are sending the message that they are willing to do that.”
Irving’s decision not to get vaccinated against COVID-19, despite New York City’s vaccine mandate, was a major factor in him suiting up for just 29 of 82 possible regular season games in 2021/22. That mandate wasn’t lifted until late in the regular season and Irving’s inconsistent availability contributed not just to the Nets’ inconsistent play but to James Harden‘s decision to request a trade.
As Windhorst explains, the Nets’ stance in their negotiations with Irving – which has been driven not just by management by but owner Joe Tsai – has sent “ripple effects” across the NBA, as teams around the league consider where Kyrie could end up and what it might take to trade for Durant.
“I have talked to several star players’ agents in the last 24 hours whose teams have come to the star player and said, ‘How do you feel about playing with Kyrie Irving? How do you feel about playing with Kevin Durant?'” Windhorst said. “Teams are preparing for this contingency.”
The Nets are likely willing to take an aggressive stance in their talks with Irving at least in part because most of the teams he would be interested in joining either don’t appear eager to pursue him or would be hard-pressed to find a way to acquire him. The Lakers, Sixers, Heat, Mavericks, Clippers, and Knicks are reportedly on Irving’s wish list, but many of those clubs don’t reciprocate his interest, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Wojnarowski reported earlier today that only the Lakers have legitimate sign-and-trade interest in Irving, and their trade chips don’t appeal to Brooklyn, which is why accepting the $6.4MM taxpayer MLE might be Kyrie’s only viable path to Los Angeles.
If Irving picks up his player option for 2022/23, it would make him easier to trade, but the Nets would also be under no obligation to make a move at that point — the two sides would have all season to potentially negotiate an extension.
“It seems to me that the Nets want Kyrie to opt in because that relieves the pressure a little bit and it buys more time,” Windhorst said. “He can negotiate for a period of time. He doesn’t have to decide on the extension this week. They can try to figure things out — it removes the immediate pressure, and I think that’s probably the best. Because at the end of the day, the Nets don’t want to lose Kevin Durant. The Nets could have a very good team for next year. … They don’t want to blow this up, but they are willing to bring it to the precipice to blow it up to try to get what they want.”
Rockets Rumors: Draft, Gordon, Wall, Martin
The Rockets mulled the idea of trying to trade up from No. 3 in last Thursday’s draft, but given that the draft class featured three prospects (Jabari Smith, Paolo Banchero, and Chet Holmgren) considered top-tier options, they didn’t feel the need to give up the assets necessary to move up a spot or two, general manager Rafael Stone tells Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
“We thought about it a lot,” Stone said. “But it wasn’t clear who we’d be moving up to. You think about moving up in every spot of the draft. You always think about that, that’s part of the job. But one of the nice things — and we knew on lottery night — was that we were going to get somebody that we thought could be part of our organization for a long time and really help us take the next step in this process we’re trying to build.
“That doesn’t mean you foreclose conversations; you talk to everybody about everything, but we always felt comfortable picking where we were picking and were really excited.”
Here are several more Rockets-related notes and rumors from Iko:
- The Rockets received calls when they were on the clock at No. 17 from teams looking to acquire the pick and would have been more inclined to entertain those offers if Tari Eason hadn’t been on the board, according to Iko.
- Iko describes trade interest in Eric Gordon as having gotten more “fervent” within the last couple weeks and notes that teams were making offers during last week’s draft that included 2022 picks. The Sixers were one of the clubs that made a proposal, but the Rockets continue to value Gordon more highly than the packages they’ve been offered and aren’t desperate to move him, Iko writes.
- Like Marc Stein, Iko has heard that the Rockets and John Wall may finally be gaining momentum toward a divorce, with a buyout considered more likely than a trade. The two sides are expected to meet this week, and Wall is hoping to come to a resolution by the start of free agency on Thursday, sources tell The Athletic.
- The Trail Blazers and Nets are among the teams that have inquired on Kenyon Martin Jr., who reportedly wouldn’t be opposed to a trade.
Kellan Grady Signs Exhibit 10 Contract With Nuggets
JULY 9: Grady has officially signed his Exhibit 10 contract with Denver, according to RealGM’s transactions log.
JUNE 27: Undrafted Kentucky guard Kellan Grady is signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Nuggets, according to Kyle Tucker of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Grady spent his first four college seasons at Davidson and was the team’s primary offensive weapon across those four years, averaging 17.4 PPG with a .366 3PT% in 115 games. He transferred to Kentucky for his “super-senior” year in 2021/22 and averaged 11.4 PPG with a .415 3PT% in his 34 games (32.9 MPG) as a Wildcat.
An Exhibit 10 contract is a non-guaranteed minimum salary contract that makes the player eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he’s waived before the regular season begins and then joins his team’s G League affiliate. It can also be converted into a two-way deal before the season.
The Nuggets have now reportedly reached Exhibit 10 agreements with two undrafted free agents: Grady and Adonis Arms. Those signings can become official after the NBA’s new league year begins on Friday.
Stein’s Latest: Looney, Simons, Nurkic, Clippers, Wall, More
Teams interested in pursuing center Kevon Looney this offseason are increasingly pessimistic that they’ll be able to lure him away from the Warriors, league sources tell Marc Stein (Substack link). According to Stein, there’s an expectation that Looney will likely re-sign with Golden State on a multiyear deal when he becomes a free agent this week.
Stein writes that there has been similar pessimism from the teams with interest in making a run at Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons or center Jusuf Nurkic. Simons is a restricted free agent while Nurkic is unrestricted, but the belief among rival teams is that both players will remain in Portland, per Stein.
Here are a few more updates from the veteran NBA reporter:
- Stein says league sources reiterated to him on Monday that the Clippers will be making a “strong pitch” to John Wall if the veteran point guard reaches a buyout agreement with Houston. There’s a sense that the presence of head coach Tyronn Lue will help increase L.A.’s chances of landing Wall, Stein adds.
- While they stayed put on draft night, Hawks big man John Collins and Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon remain highly likely to be traded this offseason, sources tell Stein.
- Following a strong year overseas with AS Monaco, big man Donta Hall is receiving interest from NBA teams, according to Stein. Hall, a former Alabama standout, appeared in a total of 22 games for Detroit, Brooklyn, and Orlando in 2020 and 2021.
Summer League Commitments: Blazers, Grizzlies, Mavericks, Wizards
The Blazers have received a summer league commitment from guard Craig Randall II, league sources told Hoops Rumors. Randall was named the G League Most Improved Player this season, averaging 26.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists for Long Island.
Randall also shot well enough during those outings. He finished the season shooting 43% from the floor and 36.5% from three-point range, adding efficiency to his production. He’s expected to compete for a training camp or two-way deal in summer league.
Here are a few more summer league updates:
- The Grizzlies are adding shooting guard Dakota Mathias to their summer league roster, his agency Edge Sports told Hoops Rumors. Mathias holds two-way experience with the Sixers.
- The Mavericks are bringing free agent forward Justin Gorham to summer league, his agent Adie von Gontard said. Gorham, 23, recently impressed at the team’s free-agent mini-camp.
- The Wizards have received a summer league commitment from Tahjere McCall, according to his agent, Zack Charles. McCall last played in the NBL and was a key part of the Lakeland Magic’s championship team in 2020/21.
Free Agent Rumors: Brunson, Tucker, LaVine, Sexton, Campazzo
Marc Stein isn’t certain whether the Mavericks or the Knicks will end up signing Jalen Brunson this offseason, but he hints in his latest Substack article that it would be a surprise if the point guard ends up anywhere else.
After being identified earlier this year as possible suitors for Brunson, the Pistons and Pacers are no longer being mentioned as potential destinations, Stein writes. Both teams used lottery picks to draft guards last Thursday, with Detroit selecting Jaden Ivey and Indiana nabbing Bennedict Mathurin.
Elsewhere on the free agency front, Stein provides an update on P.J. Tucker after reporting last week that the Sixers are considered the biggest threat to sign the forward away from the Heat. According to Stein, numerous rival teams are saying “with even more conviction now than they did last week” that they believe Tucker will end up in Philadelphia on a three-year, $30MM deal.
After adding De’Anthony Melton, the Sixers project to be a taxpayer and would likely have to shed a little salary in order to give Tucker $30MM over three years. Using the full mid-level exception or acquiring him via sign-and-trade are the only ways Philadelphia could realistically offer a $10MM annual salary — either approach would hard-cap team salary at the tax apron.
Here are more free agency rumors from across the NBA:
- K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes that all signs still point toward the Bulls being prepared to offer Zach LaVine a five-year, maximum-salary contract when free agency opens this week, with LaVine likely to accept.
- The Wizards have some interest in Collin Sexton but are probably in the market for a more traditional point guard in free agency, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reports in a subscriber-exclusive story. Fedor believes the Cavaliers remain in the driver’s seat to re-sign Sexton, especially given that some of his potential suitors – including Detroit – drafted guards last Thursday.
- After indicating an openness to returning overseas, Nuggets free agent guard Facundo Campazzo clarified that his goal is to remain in the NBA. He tweeted out a statement in Spanish that translates to English as follows: “My priority one, two, and three is to continue in the NBA. For now, I don’t have in mind to return to Europe. It is obvious that at some point it will happen, but not now. I have it very clear: I want to try again, in whatever franchise it is, but to try again.“
- In an Insider-only story for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks takes an in-depth look at which teams project to have cap room, which will be taxpayers, and which fall somewhere in between.