California Notes: Bogdanovic, Clippers, Gasol, McNair
The Kings may have been savvy to let shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic walk in restricted free agency, Jason Jones of The Athletic posits. The addition of promising rookie shooting guard Tyrese Haliburton via the 2020 draft made Bogdanovic superfluous to Sacramento’s long-term team-building plans.
The replacement of former Kings GM Vlade Divac with Monte McNair this summer also yielded a different assessment of Bogdanovic’s value with the still-developing club, Jones writes. Bogdanovic’s four-year, $72MM contract extension also would have put Sacramento, a team that has not made the NBA playoffs since 2006, well above the salary cap.
There’s more out of California:
- Jovan Buha of The Athletic assesses the current roster depth of the Clippers and speculates about how Los Angeles could still upgrade its club, most likely through trading point guards Lou Williams or Patrick Beverley for a ball-handler upgrade.
- New Lakers center Marc Gasol discussed his fit with his new club, especially with regard to how he intends to contribute on the defensive end of the floor, according to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times. “I know we’re going to have great communication,” Gasol said. He also discussed his expected on-court meshing with Finals MVP LeBron James. “I’m a first pass kinda guy. But somebody — he’s gonna score too at his will whenever he decides to score, he’s gonna be able to score.”
- Jason Jones of The Athletic takes stock of Kings GM Monte McNair‘s patient approach to his first offseason in Sacramento. Jones suggests that McNair’s reticence to make a big splash on the free agent or trade market indicates a confidence in the development of the club’s young core.
Bucks Sign Justin Patton To Training Camp Contract
DECEMBER 2: Patton’s deal with the Bucks is now official, according to RealGM’s transactions log.
NOVEMBER 26: Free agent center Justin Patton is set to receive a training camp invitation from the Bucks, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Since being drafted with the No. 16 pick in 2017, the 23-year-old big man has logged time with the Timberwolves, Sixers and Thunder. After being signed by the Pistons earlier in the summer,
Patton was traded to — and subsequently released by — the Clippers earlier this offseason. The Creighton alum, who will clear waivers on Friday, has appeared in nine NBA games across his three-season career.
Last season, the 6’11”, 241-pound big man logged seven games with Milwaukee’s G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, and 23 for the Thunder’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue. Across his 30 G League games during the 2019/20 season, Patton averaged 12.1 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.2 BPG, and 2.9 APG.
Will Magnay Signs Two-Way Contract With Pelicans
DECEMBER 1: Magnay has formally signed his two-way deal with New Orleans, according to the NBA’s official transactions log.
NOVEMBER 26: The Pelicans have agreed to sign center Will Magnay to a two-way contract, according to Olgun Uluc of ESPN (via Twitter).
The 22-year-old most recently played in the Australian NBL. The 6’10” big man was voted that league’s Most Improved Player for the 2019/20 season, while playing for the Brisbane Bullets. For the season, Magnay tallied averages of 8.1 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and an NBL-leading 2.1 BPG. Magnay went undrafted in 2018.
The Pelicans have been active in reshaping their center rotation this offseason. They recently traded for former Thunder center Steven Adams and signed former Hornets big man Willy Hernangomez to be his primary backup. Raw second-year center Jaxson Hayes remains on the roster as well.
Magnay joins undrafted forward Naji Marshall in reportedly filling out both of New Orleans’s two-way contract slots. This year, two-way players can partake in up to 50 games for their NBA clubs.
Atlantic Notes: Turner, Rivers/Howard, Gasol, Knicks
The Celtics had an opportunity to add Pacers big man Myles Turner in a sign-and-trade package deal for departing forward Gordon Hayward. Zach Lowe of ESPN believes that Turner “would probably be a Celtic” if the club really wanted to add him.
The Celtics wound up adding former Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson in free agency instead of making the trade for Turner. Turner is set to earn $18MM/year for the next three seasons, while Thompson inked a two-year deal worth $9.5MM annually.
There’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- During his first video conference call with his new squad, Sixers center Dwight Howard discussed his recruitment by head coach Doc Rivers soon after free agency began last Friday, and recruit him, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “He was the first one to call me and he said we want you,” Howard said. “I’m super happy that Doc called me, that he gave me the opportunity, and I told him yes.”
- Marc Gasol, who signed a two-year contract with the Lakers as a free agent, said it was a “tough” decision to leave the Raptors and that his run in Toronto “could not get better,” as Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes. “I’m going to miss Toronto,” Gasol said. “Toronto has been a great place, my family was very settled there, very comfortable, they really enjoyed their time.” Gasol added that the rumors of his potential return to Spain were overblown and that he never spoke to FC Barcelona (Twitter link via Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca).
- Steve Popper of Newsday indicates that the Knicks might still be in the market for talent this offseason. The team remains $8MM below the salary cap floor. Given the club’s cap space, New York might be in the mix to take back money in a trade. Popper notes that the contracts of Nicolas Batum, Victor Oladipo, and DeMar DeRozan could still be traded into cap space.
- New Knicks coaching hire Aaron Brooks will be the first “two-way liaison” in the NBA, as Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. We passed along word of Brooks’ hiring earlier today.
Raptors Notes: FVV, 2020/21 Arena, Baynes, Boucher
Returning Raptors guard Fred VanVleet discussed his new four-year, $85MM deal with the club and the league’s current perception of the Raptors, during a remote Tuesday conference, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
“I think we’re kind of headed back in the direction of where we were pre-Kawhi [Leonard], where people are overlooking us again, which is not a bad place to be in,” VanVleet said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’ve got to get a lot better as individuals, and then we’ll go out there and see what we can do.”
There’s more out of Toronto:
- The Raptors will start the 2020/21 NBA season in Tampa, playing in Amalie Arena, the home of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. But the team’s first choice was apparently a different Florida hockey arena. Toronto preferred the Florida Panthers’ home arena, the BB&T Center in Sunrise, tweets Scott Soshnick of Sportico. However, they couldn’t agree with the nearby Heat on certain “stipulations” and ended up pivoting to Tampa, per Soshnick.
- New Raptors center Aron Baynes is excited to bring his recently-expanded offensive skillset to a playoff contender in Toronto, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN. “I’m just looking forward to coming in and playing with these guys, because I know what they’re all about,” Baynes said. “That’s what it is at the end of the day – we want to win and give ourselves the best chance to be able within shooting distance of getting that ultimate prize.”
- Following his recent restricted free agency payday, Raptors big man Chris Boucher intends to maintain his hardworking ethos, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. “I’ve been in Toronto the whole summer just to make sure that I was working on my stuff and learning the game as much as I can,” Boucher said. “So it’s about the next step, and they always told me that and it’s be an everyday contributor, so that’s what we’re working on now.”
Jake Toolson Signs Exhibit 10 Contract With Jazz
The Jazz have inked ex-BYU/Utah Valley rookie guard Jake Toolson to an Exhibit 10 contract, according to an official team press release. The news was first reported by Ben Anderson of KSL Sports.
Toolson will have an opportunity to join Utah for the club’s training camp. Should he make the Jazz’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, Toolson could earn a bonus between $5K-$50K .
Toolson started out at BYU from 2014-16, transferred to Utah Valley, finally reunited with BYU for his 2019/20 senior season.
As a fifth-year senior, Toolson averaged 15.2 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 3.9 APG for the Cougars. The 6’5″ guard also shot 47.2% from the floor and converted and 47.0% of his 5.7 long range attempts during his senior year season. Toolson was named a 2019/20 All-WCC First Team selection.
Celtics Sign Jayson Tatum To Five-Year Max Extension
NOVEMBER 25: Tatum’s maximum-salary contract extension with Boston is now official, the Celtics have announced on their official site.
NOVEMBER 22: The Celtics have agreed to a five-year, maximum-salary contract extension with forward Jayson Tatum, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The deal will go into effect for the 2021/22 season, once Tatum’s rookie contract expires. Ryan McDonough of Radio.com tweets that the deal includes a fifth-year player option for the 2025/26 season.
Tatum, 22, blossomed into an All-Star during his third season in Boston. He posted career-high averages of 23.4 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.4 SPG, and 0.9 BPG across 66 games for the Celtics during the regular season. Tatum also logged impressive shooting splits of .45/.403/.812.
Along with his fellow 2020 Boston All-Star, point guard Kemba Walker, and ascendant young forward Jaylen Brown, Tatum led the Celtics to their second Eastern Conference Finals appearance of his young tenure during the 2019/20 season.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN details (Twitter link), Tatum’s starting salary will be worth at least 25% of the 2021/22 salary cap. If he makes an All-NBA team again in 2021, his deal will start at 30% of next year’s cap. Based on a 3% cap increase, Tatum’s first-year salary will range from about $28.1MM to $33.7MM.
Marks notes in a separate tweet that, if Tatum and/or his fellow recently-extended young All-Star Donovan Mitchell, qualifies for the full 30% extension by making any of the three All-NBA teams next season, either player would earn the biggest rookie extension in NBA history. Sixers All-Star Ben Simmons holds the current record at $177.2MM.
Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox could also earn the 30% max on his new deal, though he’ll have to earn All-NBA First Team honors to do so, per the terms of his own extension. Among this year’s players eligible for rookie contract extensions, Tatum, Mitchell and Fox are the only three who have agreed to terms so far.
With Brown’s own extension (for $103MM in guaranteed money plus an additional $12MM in possible incentives) locked in through the 2023/24 season, getting off the contract of oft-injured veteran forward Gordon Hayward a year early has helped streamline Boston’s books for the immediate future, while securing their young core. Hayward opted out of the final year of his deal with Boston to sign a four-year, $120MM contract with the Hornets yesterday.
In terms of the team’s immediate roster-building, Boston will be able avoid the luxury tax this season thanks to Hayward’s departure. The club can still upgrade its roster using its $3.6MM biannual exception, along with trade exceptions acquired through the moves of Vincent Poirier and Enes Kanter.
Brown, Walker, and Tatum will all be under contract together for the next two seasons. Walker has a $37.7MM player option for 2022/23, his age-33 season. Defensive stalwart Marcus Smart has the team’s next-biggest contract, and is owed $27.8MM through the 2021/22 season.
Yesterday, the Celtics added center Tristan Thompson, signed into the club’s full mid-level exception. He will earn $19MM through 2021/22. Boston also fully guaranteed the contracts of incumbent starting center Daniel Theis and reserve forward Semi Ojeleye. Theis may be in line for a raise when he enters unrestricted free agency in 2021.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Warriors To Add Kaleb Wesson
The Warriors will sign undrafted free agent OSU power forward/center Kaleb Wesson to a training camp deal, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets.
The 6’9″, 270-pound rookie big man spent three seasons with the Buckeyes. The 21-year-old was awarded Second-Team All-Big Ten honors during his junior season with the club.
Through his three seasons with Ohio State, Wesson averaged 12.9 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.6 APG, 0.8 BPG and 0.8 SPG and started in 92 of 96 contests. In a Warriors-friendly stat, Wesson averaged 38.5% on his 2.0 three-point attempts per game during his OSU tenure. His three-point output got more frequent and accurate each season. By his seniors year, he was converting 42.5% of his 3.4 attempts a night.
John Hollinger of The Athletic had Wesson listed as his No. 62 favorite rookie prospect in an epic pre-draft rankings piece.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hassan Whiteside Signs With Kings
NOVEMBER 27: The Kings have made it official, announcing in a press release that they’ve signed Whiteside.
NOVEMBER 25: Center Hassan Whiteside will reunite with his first NBA club. The big man is set to ink a one-year deal with the Kings, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets that the agreement is for a veteran’s minimum. Whiteside is coming off a four-year, $98.4MM maximum contract extension he signed with the Heat in 2016.
The Heat traded Whiteside to Portland in the summer of 2019 to clear cap space for incoming free agent Jimmy Butler. He had a productive year for the Trail Blazers, for whom he started during most of the 2019/20 season as center Jusuf Nurkic used most of the season to rehabilitate from compound fractures to the tibia and fibula of his left leg. In 30 MPG across 67 games with Portland (including 61 starts), Whiteside averaged 15.5 PPG, 13.5 RPG, and a league-leading 2.9 BPG, while shooting 62.1% from the field. Wojnarowski also notes that Whiteside’s 25.07 PER was good for the eighth best such stat in the NBA.
The 6’11” big man out of Marshall was initially drafted by Sacramento with the No. 33 pick in 2010. He spent his first two NBA seasons with the Kings from 2010-2012. Whiteside logged time in the NBA’s then-D League (now the G League) and overseas before Miami took a flyer on him in 2014, where he quickly developed into an athletic force at the next level.
Whiteside marks new Kings GM Monte McNair‘s first free agent addition to the Sacramento roster. Presumably Whiteside will be expected to add interior depth behind oft-injured starter Marvin Bagley. Earlier this week, the Kings opted not to match the four-year, $72MM offer sheet tendered to restricted free agent shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic by the Hawks.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
B.J. Johnson To Sign With Suns
Small forward B.J. Johnson is set to sign a deal with the Suns, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter).
Johnson, 24, was on a two-way contract with Magic for the 2019/20 season but did not receive a qualifying offer from Orlando. Details of Johnson’s agreement with the Suns are unknown as of this writing, but it’s unlikely to be a fully guaranteed deal.
The 6’7″ wing went undrafted out of La Salle in 2018. After a stop with the Magic’s G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic, at the start of the 2018/19 season, he logged limited time for the Hawks and Kings before landing back in Orlando in the fall of 2019. He appeared in just 10 games for Orlando, averaging 8.3 MPG.
In 28 games (all starts) for the Lakeland Magic during the 2019/20 season, however, Johnson averaged 22.8 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 2.1 SPG. He had a shooting line of .461/.414/.784. For his efforts, Johnson was rewarded with a 2020 All-NBA G League Second Team inclusion.