Latest On Russell Westbrook
The Heat and Pistons are expected to be the top contenders to land Russell Westbrook if the Thunder decide to trade him, according to Sam Amick and Brett Dawson of The Athletic.
Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti will meet this week with Westbrook and his agent, Thad Foucher, to plot out the future for the former MVP. All three were blindsided by Paul George‘s trade request, which was the result of Kawhi Leonard‘s successful lobbying effort to join him on the Clippers.
The Thunder are motivated to move Westbrook, not only because he’s the lone star left in OKC and will make $171MM over the next four years, but also because he plays the same position as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the centerpiece of their return in the George deal.
Miami would like to pair Westbrook with Jimmy Butler and could offer a package built around Goran Dragic, who has one year left on his contract at $19.2MM, and Dion Waiters, who is owed a combined $24.7MM over the next two seasons. Detroit’s offer might include Andre Drummond ($27MM in 2019/20 with a $28.75MM player option the following season), Reggie Jackson (one year left at $18MM) and Tony Snell ($11.39MM next season followed by a $12.18MM player option).
Some executives believe the Rockets could get involved as well, given GM Daryl Morey’s penchant for star chasing. However, pairing Westbrook with James Harden and Chris Paul, two other guards who like to control the ball, may prove awkward, and matching salary wouldn’t be easy. Houston would almost certainly have to part with Clint Capela ($14.9MM next season), Eric Gordon ($14MM), and P.J. Tucker ($8.35MM) in any deal if Paul isn’t included.
Sources with knowledge of Houston’s thinking confirmed to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com that the Rockets have interest in Westbrook. However, one team source described a potential deal as a “long shot,” says MacMahon.
There’s more today on the Westbrook front:
- The Knicks have been mentioned as a possible suitor for Westbrook, but will have to wait until December to make a move, notes Marc Berman of The New York Post. New York no longer has the cap room to absorb Westbrook’s $37.5MM salary for next season after reaching deals with six free agents, and those new players can’t be traded before December 15. If the opportunity is still there, Elfrid Payton, Reggie Bullock, Bobby Portis, Wayne Ellington and Taj Gibson will all have expiring contracts that could interest the Thunder as they try to reduce a league-high tax bill. The Knicks can also offer the 2021 and 2023 first-rounders they acquired from Dallas in the Kristaps Porzingis deal, Berman adds.
- Michael Shapiro of Sports Illustrated mentions the Timberwolves, Celtics and Magic as other possibilities. A swap with Minnesota would be easy if OKC would accept Andrew Wiggins in return, he states, while the Celtics could offer Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown or wait a year and trade newly acquired Kemba Walker. Orlando has been seeking a point guard for years and has a lot of wings and big men to offer.
- The Bulls, Mavericks, Nuggets, Bucks, Spurs and Raptors all have the assets to get involved as well, according to Zack Rosenblatt of NJ.com.
Pacific Notes: Leonard, George, Caruso, Kings
Kawhi Leonard and Paul George may have permanently altered the perception of the two teams in Los Angeles, writes Arash Markazi of The Los Angeles Times. At one time, Leonard and George were both considered to be future Lakers. They were two stars who grew up in the L.A. area and wanted to leave their smaller-market teams for the comforts of home. That’s where they wound up, but they’re both Clippers.
Markazi recounts the history of the two franchises and how unbalanced the rivalry has been since the Clippers moved west. The Lakers had the stars, the famous fans and the titles, with 33 playoff appearances, 16 trips to the Finals and 10 championships from 1976 to 2011. Over that same time, the Clippers had just three winning seasons and made the playoffs four times.
The “Lob City” years and the purchase of the team by Steve Ballmer helped changed the balance of power as the Lakers fell onto hard times. Now with George and Leonard together on one side of Staples Center and LeBron James and Anthony Davis roaming the other, there finally appears to be a real rivalry.
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers will sign Alex Caruso with part of their $4.8MM room exception, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. A full day of signings on Saturday plus the Davis trade left the team a little more than $1MM below the salary cap, and Marks believes that money may be used to give second-round pick Talen Horton-Tucker a contract longer than two years. Dudley, Daniels and Rajon Rondo will all sign veteran’s minimum deals, Marks adds (Twitter link).
- The Warriors had “significant interest” in Caruso before he opted to return to the Lakers, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
- The Lakers risk another “reality show” season with their flurry of signings in the wake of losing out on Leonard, observes Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. L.A.’s front office was heavily criticized last summer for not surrounding James with more shooters, and although they improved in that area this year with Danny Green, Jared Dudley, Troy Daniels and Quinn Cook, only Green has proven to be a reliable two-way player. Goodwill is also concerned about the lack of young talent, with Kyle Kuzma left as the only prominent player with a chance to improve.
- The Kings continue to move toward GM Vlade Divac‘s vision of a faster and deeper team with this year’s free agent signings, notes Jason Jones of The Athletic. Sacramento added veteran help for its young core by re-signing Harrison Barnes and adding Dewayne Dedmon, Trevor Ariza, Cory Joseph and Richaun Holmes.
Nets Rescind QO For Theo Pinson
To free up cap room for their free agent signings, the Nets have withdrawn their qualifying offer for Theo Pinson, tweets Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports. The rookie shooting guard is now an unrestricted free agent.
Undrafted out of North Carolina, Pinson joined the Nets for training camp on an Exhibit 10 contract and earned a roster spot as a two-way player. His deal was converted to a standard NBA contract shortly before the end of the season in April.
Pinson appeared in 18 NBA games in his first season, averaging 4.5 PPG in 11.7 minutes per night. He posted a 20.7/5.9/6.1 line in 34 G League games.
Jonathon Simmons Released By Wizards
The Wizards have waived Jonathon Simmons, tweets Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. He had just a $1MM guarantee on his $5.7MM salary for next season.
Washington acquired Simmons along with the 42nd pick in a draft-day trade with the Sixers, sending cash considerations in return. The Wizards used that pick to select Admiral Schofield of Tennessee.
Simmons, 29, went undrafted out of Houston in 2012, but was able to earn a spot on the Spurs‘ roster in 2015. He was impressive enough in San Antonio to earn a three-year, $20MM contract from the Magic in 2017. Simmons played a combined 56 games this season between Orlando and Philadelphia, averaging 6.5 points per night.
By parting ways with Simmons, Washington will gain a little breathing room below the luxury-tax line. Having acquired Davis Bertans from the Spurs earlier today, the Wizards projected to be a possible taxpayer, but removing Simmons’ $4.7MM partial guarantee from their books alleviates that concern for now.
Assuming he goes unclaimed on waivers, Simmons will become an unrestricted free agent early next week.
Mavericks Preparing Offer Sheet For Delon Wright
The Mavericks are targeting Grizzlies restricted free agent Delon Wright and could have his signature on an offer sheet by the end of the night, a league source tells Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Memphis will have 48 hours to decide whether to match the offer once it’s submitted to the league office.
The 27-year-old point guard took advantage of increased playing time after he was shipped from the Raptors to the Grizzlies in February as part of the Marc Gasol trade. In 26 games with Memphis, Wright posted career highs with 12.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.3 assists.
Earlier in the night, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told Townsend that the team was virtually done in free agency outside of an “opportunistic” situation, which turned out to be Wright (Twitter link). ESPN’s Tim MacMahon tweeted that the Mavs are waiting to finalize their deals from the past week while they search the trade market for ways to utilize their cap space, which goes away when all the transactions become official. That doesn’t include the Seth Curry signing, which is being done with cap room, and the extension for Dwight Powell, which doesn’t take effect until next season.
The Grizzlies have been making an effort to clear salary to better position themselves to keep Wright without going into tax territory. Their latest move came earlier today when they waived Avery Bradley.
Suns Sign Cameron Johnson, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque
First-round pick Cameron Johnson has signed his rookie scale contract with Phoenix, according to the NBA’s transactions log.
The Suns selected the sharpshooting forward out of North Carolina with the No. 11 pick after trading down from No. 6 in a deal with the Timberwolves. The move represented the biggest surprise in the lottery.
[RELATED: 2019 NBA Draft Pick Signings]
Terms of Johnson’s contract weren’t announced, but under the rookie scale he is eligible to earn $4,033,440, $4,235,160, $4,437,000 and $5,887,899 in his first four seasons.
Phoenix also signed the 24th pick, Ty Jerome, who was acquired in a trade with the Celtics, and Jalen Lecque, who agreed to sign with the Suns shortly after he went undrafted (Twitter link). Like Johnson, Jerome will get a standard rookie scale contract, but terms of Lecque’s deal aren’t known.
Lakers Announce Multiple Signings
After a flurry of moves today, the Lakers have made five of them official, tweets Bill Oram of The Athletic.
The team announced the re-signing of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and JaVale McGee, along with the free agent additions of DeMarcus Cousins, Quinn Cook and Danny Green.
Still to come are the signings of Rajon Rondo, Troy Daniels, Jared Dudley and Alex Caruso, along with confirmation of the mega-deal that will bring Anthony Davis from the Pelicans.
Woj: Heat “Team To Watch” For Russell Westbrook
The Heat are a “team to watch” in the Russell Westbrook situation, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said today during the network’s broadcast of a Summer League game (video clip).
“Russell Westbrook at 30 years old is still a high-level player, but it is a lot of money and he’s going to take up a great deal of your salary cap,” said Wojnarowski, who predicts Miami will be among several to talk to the Thunder about Westbrook’s availability.
A source confirms to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald that Heat officials “absolutely like” Westbrook, but there’s no indication of how hard they plan to pursue him (Twitter link). He adds that the Thunder own Miami’s first-round pick in 2021 and don’t have any incentive to help the Heat.
Westbrook’s availability was made public in the wake of the surprising overnight trade that sent teammate Paul George to the Clippers to team up with Kawhi Leonard. Westbrook will make $170MM over the next four seasons and the Thunder are interested in cutting costs now that they longer have two stars in place.
There’s more today from Miami:
- New Heat center Meyers Leonard told Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel that he has gotten over the shock of being traded from the Trail Blazers. Leonard said he was in the middle of a workout when his trainer told him to call his agent after seeing a tweet from Wojnarowski about the deal. “There are numerous things I’m excited for — the culture, the kind of get-in-there-and-work-hard grit mentality,” Leonard said. “I can only say I’m very, very excited for this opportunity, to help the Heat win.”
- The Heat are risking their ability to surround Butler with more talent in the future with today’s decision to stretch the $15.6MM still owed to Ryan Anderson, Winderman notes in a separate story. They had to cut salary before they could accommodate Butler’s new contract, but the deal will keep Anderson on the payroll for three more years at $5.2MM per season.
- The Heat expect rookie forward KZ Okpala to make his Summer League debut tomorrow, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. With the moratorium lifted, the 32nd pick in the draft officially traveled the circuitous route that took him from the Pacers to the Suns to the Heat. “The process has been different,” Okpala said of the long wait. “It’s not what I expected, for sure. But I think it’s just all a part of the process. You just have to control the things you can control.”
Lakers Re-Sign Alex Caruso
JULY 7: Caruso’s new deal with the Lakers has been finalized, according to NBA.com’s official transactions log.
JULY 6: Free agent guard Alex Caruso will return to the Lakers on a two-year, $5.5MM contract, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The second-year guard became a restricted free agent when L.A. extended a qualifying offer last week. However, his rights may cause complications in the Anthony Davis trade, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), who speculates that the Lakers may be using their room exception or cap space in the new deal with Caruso.
The 25-year-old first came to L.A. as a two-way player in 2017. He has played a combined 62 games in two seasons and contributed 9.2 PPG in 25 contests this year.
Pincus believes the Lakers may have exhausted all of their cap room with the signings of Caruso, Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, DeMarcus Cousins, Quinn Cook, Jared Dudley and JaVale McGee, with just the $4.8MM room exception available. If they’re using that exception to add McGee and have included unlikely incentives in some of their new contracts, they could have up to $7.7MM remaining.
Pacers, Bucks Complete Malcolm Brogdon Sign-And-Trade
Malcolm Brogdon is now a Pacer after the sign-and-trade agreement with the Bucks became official today, both teams announced in press releases. Milwaukee receives a future first-round pick and two second-rounders in return.
The 2017 Rookie of the Year, Brogdon had three promising seasons with the Bucks, although injuries limited him to 48 and 64 games the past two years. He averaged a career-best 15.6 PPG this season before suffering a minor plantar fascia tear in his right foot in March. He was a member of the 50-40-90 club, shooting .505 from the field, .426 from 3-point range and .928 from the foul line.
“We feel like Malcolm embodies the values that we’re about here at the Pacers, and he’s the perfect fit for our team,” president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said. “Having started on the team with the best record in the NBA last year, we value the leadership he’ll bring to our team, as well as his great ability to play multiple positions.”
Brogdon’s new contract with the Pacers is reportedly worth $85MM over four years, while the first-round pick they sent to the Bucks is lottery-protected in 2020.