Knicks Trade Ed Davis To Wolves For Spellman, Evans, Pick
NOVEMBER 24: The Timberwolves have officially acquired Davis from the Knicks in exchange for Spellman, Evans, and a future draft pick, the team confirmed today in a press release. According to the Wolves, the pick going to the Knicks is Minnesota’s 2026 second-rounder.
NOVEMBER 22: The Knicks will trade big man Ed Davis to the Timberwolves for big man Omari Spellman, shooting guard Jacob Evans and the rights to a future second-round pick, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter).
Evans and Spellman, sent by the Warriors to Minnesota at the 2020 deadline as part of the D’Angelo Russell–Andrew Wiggins deal, will earn a combined $4MM in 2020/21. Davis, meanwhile, is set to make $5MM this season.
Given the added money and the fact that the Timberwolves are surrendering a draft asset in the deal, it looks as if the Wolves like Davis and intend to retain him. At just 31 years old, the athletic journeyman could help spell sharpshooting star center Karl-Anthony Towns.
Davis had career-lows in minutes (10.8 MPG in just 28 games), points (1.8 PPG) and rebounds (3.8 RPG) during his 2019/20 season with the Jazz. Utah agreed to send him to New York earlier this week in a salary-dump deal.
Considering that the Knicks acquired two 2023 second-round draft picks for taking on Davis’ salary originally, it is impressive that the club has now added a third second-round draft pick in moving off his salary.
Luke Adams contributed to this report.
Lakers Trade McGee, Future Second-Rounder To Cavs
NOVEMBER 23: The deal is official, according to a press release from the Cavs. Cleveland acquires McGee and the Lakers’ second-round pick in exchange for McKinnie and Bell, as expected.
NOVEMBER 22: The Lakers are set to send center JaVale McGee and a future second-round draft pick to the Cavaliers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter). This will create flexibility below the hard cap to allow the Lakers to sign veteran center Marc Gasol.
Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com tweets that the second-round pick will be from the 2026 NBA draft. Fedor reports in a separate tweet that small forward Alfonzo McKinnie and big man Jordan Bell will be headed to Los Angeles in the deal.
McGee has a $4.2MM cap charge for 2020/21, which the Cavaliers have no way to absorb without sending out some salary themselves. McKinnie ($1.76MM) and Bell ($1.76MM) are currently on non-guaranteed deals, but their salaries will have to be at least partially guaranteed to make the deal work. The Cavs have to send out about $2.34MM and non-guaranteed money doesn’t count for salary-matching purposes.
Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets that the likely outcome will see McKinnie being fully guaranteed, while Bell gets about a $600K guarantee. The Lakers could then waive and stretch Bell to create a little extra flexibility.
McGee started at center for most of the Lakers’ 2019/20 championship season, but was supplanted in the starting lineup during the last two rounds of the playoffs by the more mobile Markieff Morris or Dwight Howard most of the time, with Anthony Davis shifting from power forward to center to close out the Heat in Game 6 of the Finals. McGee is a three-time champion thanks to tenures with the Warriors and Lakers.
It doesn’t sound as if the Cavaliers view McGee as a mere salary dump. The team wanted a veteran big man with experience coming off the bench behind Andre Drummond, according to Fedor, so McGee will replace Tristan Thompson on the roster. Cleveland continues to explore possible free agent deals involving the mid-level, with a focus on backup point guard, per Fedor.
Luke Adams contributed to this story. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Warriors To Sign Dwayne Sutton
Former Louisville wing Dwayne Sutton, who went undrafted last week, has agreed to a contract with the Warriors, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Brett Siegel of Hoop Analysis Network (via Twitter) reports that the three-and-D swingman will get an Exhibit 10 contract and has a good chance to have it converted to a two-way deal for the season. The 6’5″ 23-year-old was an All-ACC Honorable Mention with the Cardinals this past season.
Sutton spent his first college season with the University of North Carolina at Asheville, then redshirted his sophomore season to transfer to his hometown squad in Louisville. During his redshirt senior year in 2019/20, Sutton averaged 9.1 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 0.8 BPG, and 0.7 SPG. He also connected on 35.4% of his 2.6 looks from long range per game.
He certainly could help provide depth at a position of need for Golden State, after All-Star wing Klay Thompson went down for the season with an Achilles tear last week.
Southeast Notes: Hayward, Bryant, Wall, Heat
The Hornets made one of the biggest and most controversial splashes in free agency, signing injury-prone forward Gordon Hayward to a four-year, $120MM contract. Due to injuries and the development of his Boston teammates, Hayward was never able to return to his All-Star form while with the Celtics.
Although the Hornets’ $120MM commitment to Hayward is widely viewed as an overpay, it didn’t come out of left field. In today’s edition of The Lowe Post podcast, Zach Lowe of ESPN suggests that the Hornets’ offer to Hayward was not significantly higher than that of some competing clubs hoping for his services in free agency.
“You want to clown the contract?” Lowe said (per RealGM). “That’s fine. Just know it’s not like the Pacers and the Celtics were offering $80MM. They weren’t offering $120MM. But my best intel is something like $105MM, $108MM, $102MM, $110MM.”
Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer examines Hayward’s fit with the Hornets, conceding that the deal is probably an overpay. However, he also contends that Hayward can supply veteran leadership to the Hornets’ young core while being by far their best player, if healthy. Hayward will be leaned on to supply multifaceted scoring and is an expert play-maker. He also will be able to convincingly slot into the lineup at small forward, power forward, and even shooting guard.
- Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard said today that the team informed every center it spoke to in free agency that Thomas Bryant would remain the Wizards’ starter, according to Quinton Mayo of NBC Sports Washington (Twitter link). “Certainly probably rubbed some guys the wrong way who thought they could come in here and start,” Sheppard said. The club ultimately signed Robin Lopez to back up Bryant.
- Beyond the churning NBA rumor mill, Wizards point guard John Wall has remained active during the offseason. Wall will purchase an ownership stake in the Australian NBL club the South East Melbourne Phoenix, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. Los Angeles entrepreneur Romie Chaudhari heads the ownership group for the Phoenix, which also includes and Cavaliers reserve guard Dante Exum, plus retired big men Zach Randolph and Al Harrington and retired swingman Josh Childress.
- Point guard Goran Dragic and backup center Meyers Leonard are excited to return to the Heat, according to Joe Beguiristain of Heat.com. Miami prioritized re-signing both players to lucrative two-year contracts with team options for the second year. “When free agency hit, we pretty much made our quick deal,” Dragic commented. “First of all, it felt like there was unfinished business for our team and for me because, obviously, going through the ankle injury was not easy, and I feel like I could have helped in many different ways,” Leonard said.
Raptors Sign Alex Len To One-Year Deal
NOVEMBER 26: Len has officially signed with the Raptors, per the NBA’s transactions log.
NOVEMBER 23: The Raptors will add veteran big man Alex Len to their center rotation, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link). Len will presumably compete with Chris Boucher for backup minutes behind Aron Baynes, another new addition.
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter) reports that Len will sign a one-year contract.
After using most of their mid-level exception on the two-year, $14.3MM Baynes signing, the Raptors will use the leftover portion of their MLE to sign Len, per Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link). As a result, he’ll earn about $2.32MM instead of a minimum salary of $2.17MM.
Drafted with the fifth pick by Phoenix in 2013, the oft-traveled Len signed with the Hawks during his first crack at free agency in 2018, for a two-year, $8.5MM contract. Atlanta dealt Len to the Kings in a package for Dewayne Dedmon and two future second-rounders at the 2019/20 trade deadline.
The 27-year-old seven-footer holds efficient career averages of 8.0 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 1.0 BPG in 19.6 MPG across his seven NBA seasons.
Toronto saw its top two centers, veterans Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol, walk in free agency. The Raptors have moved quickly to piece together a respectable rotation of big men to replace them — including incumbent RFA Boucher.
The 33-year-old Baynes is a competent defender who has recently developed into a perimeter shooting threat, while the lankier Boucher became an intriguingly athletic rotation piece last season. Len provides a big body in the post to threaten players at the rim. Though they lack the two-way versatility or passing of their predecessors, this triumvirate may be able to replace a decent amount of their output.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cavs Re-Sign Matthew Dellavedova To One-Year Deal
NOVEMBER 25: Dellavedova’s contract is now listed in the NBA’s transactions log, making it official.
NOVEMBER 23: Free agent reserve point guard Matthew Dellavedova will return to the Cavaliers, Olgun Uluc of ESPN tweets. The one-year agreement will be for the veteran’s minimum, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN adds (Twitter link).
The contract will pay Dellavedova $2.17MM. As the first year of a veteran’s minimum deal it will only count against $1.6MM of the Cavaliers’ salary cap. Since Dellavedova has re-signed on a one-year deal with Cleveland, the guard will be able to veto any potential trade that includes him for the 2020/21 season, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.
Dellavedova opted to forgo the Cavaliers’ in-market bubble team workout this fall in anticipation of his free agency. The 6’3″ point guard was first signed in 2013 by the Cavaliers after going undrafted, and became a key role player for the team’s 2016 title run.
The 30-year-old Australian vet is coming off a four-year, $38MM deal he inked with the Bucks in 2016. Cleveland received Dellavedova again when it sent George Hill to Milwaukee in 2018.
Marc Stein of ESPN tweets that the Lakers, led by Dellavedova’s old Cavaliers teammate LeBron James, had interested in adding the veteran to one of their last available roster spots.
Dellavedova’s role with the lottery-bound Cavaliers diminished this past year. He averaged single-season lows in points (3.1 PPG) plus field goal percentage (35.4%) and three-point shooting percentage (23.1%), across a career-low 14.4 MPG.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Knicks Sign Obi Toppin To Rookie Deal
The Knicks have announced (via Twitter) that they have inked their 2020 No. 8 lottery pick Obi Toppin to his rookie contract.
The former Dayton forward will earn $4,862,040 in his rookie year and about $22.1MM over the first four years of his NBA career, unless he accepts a deal worth less than the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale. A full list of anticipated rookie scale salary figures is viewable here.
The 22-year-old 6’9″ Brooklyn native played two years for Dayton, averaging 20.0 PPG, 7.5 RPG, and 2.2 APG across 31 games during his sophomore season (all starts). Toppin was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and the National College Player of the Year in 2019/20.
Toppin marks the first draft pick of new Knicks team president Leon Rose, and will join new head coach Tom Thibodeau‘s revamped New York roster for the 2020/21 season. This offseason, the Knicks appear to be mostly in asset-gathering mode, having made two deals to turn Ed Davis into three future second-round picks and having avoided signing big-money free agents like Fred VanVleet or Gordon Hayward or (thus far) trading for frustrated Rockets All-Star Russell Westbrook.
Charles Matthews Signs Exhibit 10 Deal With Cavaliers
NOVEMBER 29: The Cavaliers have officially signed Matthews to his Exhibit 10 deal, per RealGM’s NBA transactions log.
NOVEMBER 23: Former University of Michigan wing Charles Matthews is set to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Cavaliers, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The arrangement means that Matthews will get an opportunity to compete for a roster spot during Cleveland’s training camp.
The 6’6″ guard spent one season at Kentucky in 2015/16 before transferring to Michigan, for whom he suited up from 2017-2019. During his second and final year with the Wolverines, he averaged 12.2 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 1.4 APG in 34 games. Matthews declared early for the draft, but tore his ACL during a team workout. Fedor reports that Matthews rehabilitated his knee in Chicago, all while starting a business and wrapping up his college degree.
Former Michigan and Cavaliers head coach John Beilen lauded the hire in a tweet. “He can become a 3 and D guy that every NBA team loves to have,” Beilen said. “He is also a fabulous teammate and high character young man.” Matthews’ mentor, per Fedor, is future Hall of Famer and fellow native Chicagoan Dwyane Wade, sent him a congratulatory tweet. “[Congrats] on signing with the [Cavaliers] lil bro,” Wade said. “Now the work starts!”
The deal qualifies Matthews for a non-guaranteed, one-year veteran’s minimum salary pact. If Matthews is waived by the Cavaliers but assigned to the Canton Charge, Cleveland’s G League affiliate, for 60 days or more he stands to earn a bonus of up to $50K. The agreement can also be converted to a two-way contract at the start of the regular season, in which case the optional bonus would be pulled. The Cavaliers currently have their two allotted two-way contracts apparently committed to guard Matt Mooney and forward Lamar Stevens.
Free Agency Rumors: Ibaka, Iwundu, Hernangomez, Bazemore
Big man Serge Ibaka was not bereft of contending suitors in free agency, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Scotto notes that the Raptors, the team with whom Ibaka spent most of the last four seasons, apparently offered a one-year, $12MM deal to Ibaka for an encore appearance in 2020/21. Toronto was believed to be unwilling to offer multiple years, which would have cut into the team’s projected 2021 cap space.
The Nets also wanted Ibaka, but could only afford a taxpayer mid-level exception, which would have started at $5.7MM this season. Ibaka ultimately inked a two-year, $19MM contract with the Clippers.
Here are more free agency rumors:
- Though swingman Wesley Iwundu ultimately opted to sign a two-year, veteran’s minimum contract with the Mavericks, the Hawks, Pelicans and Kings were also in the running for Iwundu’s services this offseason, Scotto reports in the same piece.
- The Mavericks and Kings also considered adding reserve center Willy Hernangomez before he agreed to terms with the Pelicans on a one-year, veteran’s minimum deal, per Scotto. Hernangomez’s 2019/20 club, the Hornets, also apparently wanted to re-sign the 26-year-old big man.
- Scotto reports that former Kings wing Kent Bazemore also found himself in high demand this offseason before agreeing to a one-year veteran’s minimum deal with the Warriors. The Lakers, Clippers, Bucks, Celtics, Suns, Knicks, Nets, and Hornets were all interested in adding the three-and-D vet this offseason.
Knicks, Austin Rivers Agree To Three-Year Deal
7:15pm: The second and third years of Rivers’ new deal will be non-guaranteed, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link).
6:23pm: Following up on his initial report, Wojnarowski says (via Twitter) that Rivers will actually get a three-year deal from the Knicks. It’ll be worth $10MM, Woj adds.
5:08pm: The Knicks have agreed to add free agent combo guard Austin Rivers to their rotation on a one-year deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic (via Twitter) observes that this brings New York to 15 total roster spots, including another new addition, center Ed Davis.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau has long been a fan of Rivers, according to Frank Isola of ESPN (Twitter link). Selected by the Pelicans with the 10th pick out of Duke in 2012, the 6’3″ Rivers has developed into a solid reserve scoring guard.
He also had stops with the Clippers and Wizards, before turning in memorable performances on competitive Rockets teams during parts of the last two seasons. In 68 games for the Rockets last season, Rivers added 8.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 1.7 APG. He had a respectable shooting line of .421/.356/.703.
According to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link), Rivers is one of eight players with ties to either CAA or the University of Kentucky added by new Knicks GM Leon Rose via draft, trade or free agency.