Celtics Sign Grant Williams, Romeo Langford
The Celtics have signed Romeo Langford and Grant Williams, according to a team press release.
Langford was the No. 14 overall pick in this year’s draft. The wing spent one year at Indiana, where he scored 16.5 points per game on 44.8% shooting. He’ll make approximately $3.46MM in the first year of his rookie deal, assuming he signed for the typical 120% of the rookie scale.
Williams spent three seasons at Tennessee and was selected with the no. 22 overall pick in this year’s draft. During his junior season, he scored 18.5 points and swatted 1.5 blocks per game. The big man will make roughly $2.38MM during the 2019/20 season, assuming he also signed for the typical 120% of the rookie scale.
Latest On Chris Paul
The Rockets had hoped to find a third team to join the Russell Westbrook trade that was preferable to Chris Paul, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). The Thunder have been in contact with Paul’s agent, Leon Rose.
The Heat remain a possibility for Paul’s services, Woj adds. If Paul prefers to go to Miami, the Thunder would have interest in sending him there and would engage in trade talks with Pat Riley‘s club, The Athletic’s Sam Amick tweets.
Miami was rumored to be in the hunt for Westbrook but now could turn to Paul as an alternate. The Thunder can immediately trade Paul as long as they don’t aggregate his salary in the deal (unlikely to happen with his $38.5MM figure). Oklahoma City could also hold off on finalizing the Westbrook trade and search for a suitor in order to make it a three-teamer.
It would be difficult to envision Miami giving up major assets for Paul. However, if the price is simply matching salary, then it would seem favorable to the Heat, as I recently detailed for SLAM Magazine. Miami is hard-capped, meaning team salary can’t exceed the tax apron of $138.93MM. The Heat currently have about $987K in wiggle room, per cap expert Albert Nahmad (Twitter link).
Paul has three seasons and $124MM left on his deal. The last year of the pact is a player option.
Heat Sign Chris Silva To Exhibit 10 Deal
The Heat have signed Chris Silva to an Exhibit 10 deal, according to a team press release. The forward has been playing for the franchise’s Summer League team in Las Vegas.
Silva was not selected in the 2019 draft out of South Carolina, though he did work out for the team during the pre-draft process. He spent four years at the University, earning All-SEC First Team honors as a senior.
Miami also announced that it has signed Jeremiah Martin to a similar deal. It was reported after the draft that the guard would join the Heat on an Exhibit 10 pact.
Latest On Russell Westbrook, Thunder
The Rockets always loom as a threat when stars become available on the market and the Russell Westbrook sweepstakes are no different.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (video link) hears that Houston is attempting to slip into negotiations with Oklahoma City, focusing on the possibility of a three-team trade. It’s unclear which players the Rockets would offer up in such a scenario, though I’d speculate sending Chris Paul elsewhere is the angle. Houston could swap Paul and Westbrook easily, as they both make $38.5M, though the rebuilding Thunder don’t appear to be a fit for Paul. Finding that third team would likely be necessary if in that type of deal.
The Heat appear to be the frontrunner to land Westbrook and the eight-time All-Star has reportedly placed Miami atop the shortlist he gave team’s front office, as Windhorst notes. Still, the two sides have barriers to overcome if they are going to come to an agreement on a trade. Miami is hard-capped, meaning the franchise cannot take back any additional salary in any trade. The team also lacks the ability to trade away a first-rounder until the 2025 season, having already dealt away its two future picks (OKC owns Miami’s unprotected 2021 and lottery unprotected 2023 selections).
Here’s more surrounding Westbrook and the Thunder:
- Will the Bulls get involved in the Westbrook sweepstakes? It doesn’t sound like it. “When you look at the financial aspect of a player that’s 30 going out four years and the amount of money that’s going to be made, those things can tie your hands up and put your organization in a tough position,” VP John Paxson said without mentioning Westbrook directly (via Mark Strotman of NBC Chicago). “You want the superstars. You want to do what the Clippers are doing and the Lakers are doing, but we’re realistic right now. We’re not in that position. We hope that in a couple years with the development of these young guys, players around the league view us as a destination point where they can win at the highest level.”
- The 22% stake in the Thunder organization owned by the late Audrey McClendon is up for sale, Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg reports. The franchise is worth approximately $1.5 billion, according to the latest Forbes report. Oklahoma City has sold out 355 games in a row, which is the third-longest active streak in the league.
- Dan Devine of The Ringer breaks down the possible destinations from Westbrook but struggles to find a new home for the point guard. Still, the scribe contends that there will be a team willing to trade for him before training camp starts.
Bulls Re-Sign Ryan Arcidiacono
JULY 11: The Bulls have officially re-signed Arcidiacono, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
JULY 2: The Bulls are bringing back Ryan Arcidiacono on a three-year deal, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The point guard will make $9MM over the three seasons.
Chicago will likely wait to make the deal official until after using their cap room. The team has commitments to Thaddeus Young and Tomas Satoransky (via sign-and-trade) that it will need to complete using cap space.
Satoransky and Arcidiacono will join Coby White and Kris Dunn in what is becoming a crowded point guard picture in Chicago. There have been rumors that the Bulls are exploring the trade market for a deal involving Dunn.
Arcidiacono played in 81 games during his sophomore NBA season averaging 6.7 PPG, 3.3 APG, and 2.7 RPG in 24.2 minutes per contest.. The Langhorne, Pennsylvania native signed on with the Bulls during the summer of 2017 after going undrafted out of Villanova.
Raptors Sign Terence Davis To Two-Year Contract
JULY 11: Davis’ deal is now official, the Raptors announced today in a press release.
JULY 7: Terence Davis will join the Raptors on a two-year deal, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The first-year of the deal is fully guaranteed.
Davis, who went undrafted in June out of Ole Miss, turned down multiple two-way deals with hopes of finding an NBA deal, Charania adds. Toronto will come to an agreement with the combo guard on a day where the franchise also agreed to sign Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
Davis was playing for the Nuggets Summer League team. He had an impressive day on Sunday, scoring 22 points in Denver’s contest. Davis will no longer play for the Nuggets’ team in Las Vegas.
Khem Birch Signs With Magic
JULY 10: Birch’s deal with the Magic is now official, according to a press release from the team (h/t to Josh Robbins of The Athletic).
JULY 9: Khem Birch will return to the Magic on a two-year, $6MM deal, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).
Adding Birch on a modest deal will allow Orlando to remain under the tax. After applying his $3MM salary, the team is approximately $672K below the luxury tax line.
Prior to free agency, it was reported that Birch would draw substantial interest, though the market may have been slow developing because of his restricted free agency status — with cap room and exceptions drying up around around the NBA, few teams were in position to put together an aggressive offer sheet.
Birch showcased a developed game during his sophomore season in Orlando, seeing a role after 2018 No. 6 overall pick Mohamed Bamba injured his leg and was lost for the season. Birch improved his true shooting to 64.0% and his player efficiency rating to 19.2. He’ll turn 27 before the start of the season.
The Magic have now reached deals with all of their most important free agents — they’ll retain Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross, and Michael Carter-Williams in addition to Birch.
Rodney McGruder Signs Three-Year Deal With Clippers
JULY 10: The contract between McGruder and the Clippers is now official, per a release from the team.
JULY 2: The Clippers have reached an agreement with shooting guard Rodney McGruder on a three-year deal, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. The contract will pay McGruder $15MM over the three years.
Los Angeles picked up McGruder after the Heat waived him at the end of the season to avoid the luxury tax. He was not eligible to play in the postseason for the Clippers, but the team retained his restricted free agency rights by tendering him a qualifying offer.
In 66 games (45 starts) last season for Miami, McGruder averaged 7.6 PPG, 3.6 RPG, and 1.7 APG with a shooting line of .403/.351/.722 in 23.5 minutes per contest.
McGruder’s deal does not significantly impact the Clippers’ ability to sign a max free agent (Kawhi Leonard), as Bobby Marks of ESPN.com tweets. McGruder’s modest $3MM cap hold has been factored into the equation for Los Angeles’ projected cap room all along.
Warriors Waive Shaun Livingston
JULY 10: The Warriors have issued a press release to announce that Livingston has officially been waived and thanking him for “immense contributions” to the franchise. Assuming he goes unclaimed, as expected, he’ll clear waivers on Friday.
JULY 9: The Warriors have waived veteran guard Shaun Livingston, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The move was a necessary one for the hard-capped Dubs, who needed to remove Livingston’s $7.7MM salary from their books before it became fully guaranteed.
Livingston had a $2MM partial guarantee, which the Warriors will stretch across three seasons at a rate of $666K per year. Golden State likely explored moving the 33-year-old in a trade to avoid eating that dead money, but would have had to attach an asset to him to find a taker.
According to Wojnarowski, Livingston is determined to continue his playing career after being cut by Golden State. He’ll clear waivers later this week and will likely be prioritizing contending teams as he seeks a new NBA home.
A member of the Warriors teams that have reached the NBA Finals in each of the last five years, Livingston played a regular rotation role in Golden State, averaging between 15.1 and 19.5 minutes per game in each season since 2014/15. He recorded 4.0 PPG, 1.8 APG, and 1.8 RPG in 64 games in 2018/19.
Here are a few more notes on the Warriors’ contracts and cap situation:
- Second-round pick Eric Paschall received a three-year, guaranteed minimum-salary contract, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). The Warriors used the mid-level exception to give him that third year.
- The Warriors also used their mid-level exception to sign Willie Cauley-Stein, who got a two-year, $4.4MM deal with a second-year player option, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. That contract is worth a little more than the minimum.
- While the Warriors still have some MLE money leftover, they’re unlikely to be able to use it this year. According to Marks (Twitter link), after waiving and stretching Livingston, the team projects to be just $219K below the $138.9MM hard cap once all its moves are complete.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Durant, Westbrook, Stoudemire
Many assume that Kevin Durant will miss the entire 2019/20 season, but it appears that’s not a given quite yet. GM Sean Marks said it’s “too early” to make a definitive timeline on Durant’s Nets debut.
“A timeline will be given in due time, but as of now, we’re certainly not going to comment on when or if and make any sort of hypotheticals. It’s too early,” Marks said (via Nets Daily).
Durant is familiar with the medical staff in Brooklyn. Dr. Martin O’Malley, a foot and ankle specialist who is the team’s orthopaedic surgeon, performed the surgery to repair Durant’s Achilles. Despite the connection, the former MVP’s decision to join the Nets caught many in the basketball world by surprise, including some within Brooklyn’s front office.
“The Instagram post that he put up [announcing he’d sign with the Nets], we were all sitting in the office. We all got that in real time with you guys. We weren’t even sure if we were getting a meeting that night or if it was going to be a telephone conversation,” Marks said of finding out about Durant’s decision. The GM added that he hadn’t even spoken to Durant’s business partner Rich Kleiman yet.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Magic are unlikely to have interest in Russell Westbrook, Josh Robbins of The Athletic relays (Twitter link). The long-time Thunder point guard is reportedly open to a trade.
- Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer believes Marvin Williams is the veteran on the Hornets‘ roster most likely to be traded. Williams is making $15MM next season and Bonnell thinks the power forward’s game would mesh well with nearly every roster in the league.
- Amar’e Stoudemire, who worked out in front of a number of teams this week, is serious about returning to the NBA. “I was never really done,’’ Stoudemire said, as Marc Berman of the New York Post relays. “I took kind of a sabbatical leave and I went to go learn over in Israel for two and a half years or so. So I went there and when I was still learning, I was able to also play basketball and keep myself in shape. I always stayed in top shape. I didn’t really remove myself too far from being in basketball shape.”