Jazz Re-Sign Joe Ingles
FRIDAY, 2:34pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
MONDAY, 6:17pm: The Jazz are finalizing a deal with Joe Ingles, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). The sides have reached agreement on a pact worth $4.5MM over two years, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link), a raise on the minimum salary he made this past season as a rookie. The move can’t become official until Thursday at the earliest, since the July Moratorium still holds.
It’s no surprise to see the sides agree to terms, since they had mutual interest in a continued partnership as the regular season ended, according to Gordon Monson of The Salt Lake Tribune. Utah made a qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent and reached out to him as soon as the free agent negotiating period began July 1st.
Ingles will see more than his Non-Bird rights would have provided him, so Utah will either have to use cap space or the $2.814MM room exception to accommodate his deal. The two-year length of the contract means he’ll again be eligible for restricted free agency in 2017.
The Jazz nabbed the Bradley Ames client off waivers from the Clippers at the start of this past season. Clippers president Doc Rivers said he’d wanted to re-sign Ingles after he cleared waivers, but he never got a chance to do so. Instead, the 27-year-old Australian, who’ll turn 28 in October, spent his first NBA season in Utah after several years playing in Europe.
Nets Sign Wayne Ellington
FRIDAY, 2:17pm: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
11:14pm: It’s a two-year, $3MM deal with a player option, reports Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com (Twitter link). That would appear to exhaust Brooklyn’s taxpayer’s mid-level, Mazzeo notes, leaving the team with only the minimum to hand out to outside free agents.
THURSDAY, 7:59am: The Nets have an agreement in principle with Wayne Ellington, the team announced via press release. Teams usually announce signings rather than agreements, so it’s unclear if a formal contract has yet been signed. Brooklyn has a portion of its taxpayer’s mid-level left over after agreeing to terms with Shane Larkin for part of it, though it’s not yet known if the team is using that or if Ellington is merely getting the minimum salary.
Ellington leaves the Lakers despite making it clear to GM Mitch Kupchak that he preferred to come back. The Lakers reportedly reached out to him on the first day of free agency, as did the Cavaliers, Warriors, Wizards, Spurs and Hawks. The Knicks also apparently had interest.
The Thaddeus Foucher client who turns 28 in October is coming off career highs of 10.0 points and 25.8 minutes per game for the Lakers. That’s in spite of 37.0% three-point shooting that was below his 38.2% career rate.
Thunder Sign Cameron Payne
The Thunder have signed Cameron Payne, this year’s No. 14 overall pick, the team announced. His rookie scale contract is likely worth slightly more than $9.6MM over four years, with a first-year salary of nearly $2.022MM, presuming he gets the standard 120% of the rookie scale, as our table of salaries for 2015 first-round picks shows.
Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors had predicted in our final mock draft that Payne would go to the Thunder amid rumors of a promise from the team. Chad Ford of ESPN.com, who originally reported that chatter, had Payne as the No. 14 prospect in his rankings. Payne starred at mid-major Murray State, averaging 20.2 points, 6.0 assists and 2.5 turnovers this past season, and he told Zach Links of Hoops Rumors before the draft that he compares his game to that of Tony Parker.
The signing of the Travis King client raises his cap hold by roughly $300K, but it does little to affect flexibility for Oklahoma City, which is already well above the $70MM cap. The Thunder figure to pay the tax should they match Portland’s offer sheet to Enes Kanter, as expected, but the club didn’t end up trading its pick and seems committed to Payne as a backup for Russell Westbrook.
LeBron James Re-Signs With Cavs
1:26pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
“LeBron’s re-signing today is a reflection and continuation of his strong, personal commitment to help deliver championships to Northeast Ohio and Cavs fans everywhere,” GM David Griffin said in the team’s statement. “We share this deep level of commitment with him. His impact upon this team, his community and the game are impossible to overstate and we look forward to continuing on our mission together.”
FRIDAY, 12:10pm: James signed this morning, a source tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The team has yet to make a formal announcement.
THURSDAY, 12:01pm: Agent Rich Paul notified the Cavaliers that client LeBron James will sign with them on the first day he can in free agency, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. That would indicate that James will sign today. It’s no great surprise, unlike last year, as James has been likely to stay with Cleveland, though the timing of the move, which comes before an agreement between the Cavs and fellow Paul client Tristan Thompson, is somewhat unexpected. It’s a two-year deal with a player option, Broussard adds in a second tweet, with salary figures that indicate it’ll be a max contract. That’s the very sort of arrangement that Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group wrote months ago that James was likely to sign.
James, 30, turned in another stellar season in 2014/15, averaging 25.3 PPG, 7.4 APG, 6.0 RPG, and a 25.9 PER. This past campaign might not have been James’ career-best, but he was nothing short of dominant overall. After cruising to his eleventh consecutive All-Star selection, James put on a heroic effort in the postseason. Even after losing Kevin Love to a shoulder injury in their first round battle with the Celtics and Kyrie Irving to a knee injury in the Finals, LeBron kept his Cavs afloat into a hard-fought championship series against the Warriors.
LeBron and his squad experienced some road bumps in 2014/15, including an up-and-down start to the year and apparent friction between first-year coach David Blatt and core players. Ultimately, however, LeBron will continue to push to see things through in Cleveland as he promised to do this time last year. Of course, it also helps that James appears to have far more control over personnel moves now than he did in Miami.
There was never much question as to whether LeBron would re-sign with Cleveland, but the Cavs are surely breathing a sigh of relief now that they have word of his return.
Clippers Expect To Re-Sign Glen Davis
The Clippers and Glen Davis continue to talk, and the team expects it will re-sign Big Baby, reports Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter). Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers reportedly reached out to representatives of Davis soon after free agency began last week. It’s been an active Friday so far for the Clips, as they’ve been negotiating with Cole Aldrich and Austin Rivers as they maintain interest in Josh Smith.
Davis, 29, has a relationship with Doc that dates back to their days with the Celtics. The Clips have Early Bird rights on Davis to pay him up to about $6MM, though it’s unlikely he’ll command quite that much after playing last season on the minimum salary.
The eight-year veteran averaged career lows in points and minutes per game in 2014/15. Still, the John Hamilton client was one of only eight players to average more than 10 minutes per game in the playoffs for the Clippers this spring.
Clippers Near Deal With Austin Rivers
The Clippers and Austin Rivers are in “strong discussions” as they negotiate terms on a would-be new contract, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter), and the Clippers expect they’ll reach a deal, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link). It would likely be a short-term arrangement so that Rivers could hit free agency again soon, as Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders hears (Twitter link). Teams have offered him multiyear contracts, but he feels as though he can help improve his stock if he stays with the Clippers just a while longer, Kennedy adds (on Twitter).
It’s no surprise to see Rivers draw close to a deal with the Clippers, and in part because his father is Doc Rivers, the team’s president of basketball operations and coach. Doc made it clear this spring that he wanted to re-sign his son, though Austin reportedly intended to explore his options in unrestricted free agency.
Rivers can’t receive $3,110,796 this coming season from the Clippers. That’s because the Pelicans declined the fourth-year option on his rookie scale contract before this past season, so whichever team wound up with him at season’s end would be limited to no more than the amount of that option. That holds for the Clippers even though they had nothing to do with declining the option. Other teams can pay him more, though it’s unclear if he could command that much. The Clippers may well be wary of paying even as much as that $3MM-plus figure, since they’re already poised to exceed the $84.74MM tax line.
2015 Offseason Trades
A major part of the craziness of NBA player movement during the summer involves trades, and the 2015 offseason has certainly been no exception. Our Free Agent Tracker runs down the signings that have taken place this summer, but it doesn’t cover trades, so that’s where this post comes in. As we did with last year’s offseason trades and the in-season swaps from 2014/15, we’ll be keeping track of all of the trades from this summer as they become official, updating this post with each transaction.
You can see the full picture of the movement across the NBA landscape this summer using this post, the free agent tracker and our list of the 2015 draft pick signings. For up-to-the-minute news on trades as well as other roster moves as the offseason continues, download our free iOS or Android app or follow our transactions-only feeds via RSS and Twitter.
Trades are listed here in reverse chronological order, with the latest on top. So, if a player has been traded multiple times (as often happens with draft picks), the first team listed as having acquired him is the one that ended up with him. For more details on each trade, click the date above it. Note that this list only includes trade agreements that have become official, so agreed-upon deals, like the David Lee swap and the Sixers/Kings trade, won’t be included until they’re finalized.
- The Warriors get Jason Thompson.
- The Sixers get Gerald Wallace, cash, and the right to swap the less favorable of Miami’s 2016 first-round pick and Oklahoma City’s 2016 first-round pick with Golden State’s 2016 first-round pick.
- The Trail Blazers get Brendan Haywood, Mike Miller, the more favorable of the Lakers’ 2019 second-round pick and Minnesota’s 2019 second-round pick, and Cleveland’s 2020 second-round pick.
- The Cavaliers get $75K cash.
- The Magic get Shabazz Napier and cash.
- The Heat get Orlando’s 2016 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
- The Celtics get David Lee.
- The Warriors get Gerald Wallace and Chris Babb.
- The Celtics get Zoran Dragic, Miami’s 2020 second-round pick and $1.5MM cash.
- The Heat get Boston’s 2019 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
- The Pacers get the rights to Rakeem Christmas.
- The Cavaliers get the Lakers’ 2019 second-round pick.
- The Rockets get Ty Lawson and a 2017 second-round pick.
- The Nuggets get Kostas Papanikolaou, Pablo Prigioni, Joey Dorsey, Nick Johnson, Houston’s 2016 first-round pick (lottery protected) and $440K cash.
- The Trail Blazers get Maurice Harkless.
- The Magic get Portland’s 2020 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
- The Celtics get Perry Jones III, Detroit’s 2019 second-round pick and $1.5MM cash.
- The Thunder get Boston’s 2018 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
- The Pistons get Steve Blake.
- The Nets get Quincy Miller.
- The Pacers get Chase Budinger.
- The Timberwolves get Damjan Rudez.
- The Sixers get Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, Nik Stauskas, Sacramento’s 2018 first-round pick (top-1o protected) and the right to swap first-round picks in 2016 and 2017.
- The Kings get the rights to Arturas Gudaitis and the rights to Luka Mitrovic.
- The Mavericks get Zaza Pachulia.
- The Bucks get Dallas’ 2018 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
- The Lakers get Roy Hibbert.
- The Pacers get the Lakers’ 2019 second-round pick.
- The Wizards get Jared Dudley.
- The Bucks get Washington’s 2020 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
- The Spurs get Ray McCallum.
- The Kings get San Antonio’s 2016 second-round pick.
- The Knicks get Kyle O’Quinn (sign-and-trade).
- The Magic get the right to swap 2019 second-round picks and cash.
- The Pistons get Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock and Danny Granger.
- The Suns get Detroit’s 2020 second-round pick.
- The Hawks get Tiago Splitter.
- The Spurs get the rights to Georgios Printezis and Atlanta’s 2017 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
- The Raptors get Luke Ridnour and $250K cash.
- The Thunder get the rights to Tomislav Zubcic.
- The Clippers get 2015 No. 56 pick (Branden Dawson).
- The Pelicans get $630K cash.
- The Trail Blazers get No. 54 pick (Daniel Diez).
- The Jazz get cash.
- The Suns get Jon Leuer.
- The Grizzlies get 2015 No. 44 pick (Andrew Harrison).
- The Trail Blazers get Mason Plumlee and 2015 No. 41 pick (Pat Connaughton).
- The Nets get Steve Blake and 2015 No. 23 pick (Rondae Hollis-Jefferson).
- The Knicks get 2015 No. 35 pick (Guillermo Hernangomez).
- The Sixers get New York’s 2020 second-round pick, New York’s 2021 second-round pick, and cash.
- The Hawks get Tim Hardaway Jr.
- The Knicks get 2015 No. 19 pick (Jerian Grant).
- The Nets get 2015 pick No. 39 (Juan Vaulet).
- The Hornets get Brooklyn’s 2019 second-round pick, the less favorable of Brooklyn’s and Cleveland’s 2018 second-round picks, and $880K cash.
- The Timberwolves get 2015 pick No. 24 (Tyus Jones).
- The Cavaliers get 2015 pick No. 31 (Cedi Osman), 2015 pick No. 36 (Rakeem Christmas) and Minnesota’s 2019 second-round pick.
- The Wizards get 2015 pick No. 15 (Kelly Oubre).
- The Hawks get 2015 pick No. 19 (Jerian Grant), Washington’s 2016 second-round pick and Washington’s 2019 second-round pick.
- The Bucks get Greivis Vasquez.
- The Raptors get the Clippers’ 2017 first-round pick (lottery protected) and 2015 pick No. 46 (Norman Powell).
- The Hornets get Jeremy Lamb.
- The Thunder get Luke Ridnour and Charlotte’s 2016 second-round pick (bottom-five protected).
- The Grizzlies get Matt Barnes.
- The Hornets get Luke Ridnour.
- The Hornets get Nicolas Batum.
- The Trail Blazers get Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henderson.
- The Grizzlies get Luke Ridnour.
- The Magic get the rights to Janis Timma.
- The Clippers get Lance Stephenson.
- The Hornets get Matt Barnes and Spencer Hawes.
- The Pistons get Ersan Ilyasova.
- The Bucks get Caron Butler and Shawne Williams.
Trade archives:
Northwest Rumors: Kanter, Aldridge, Matthews
Thunder GM Sam Presti said shortly before receiving official notice of Portland’s max offer sheet to Enes Kanter that he intended to match any offer for him and had planned in advance for the sort of offer sheet to which the Trail Blazers signed the big man, as Presti told The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater. Presti added that Kanter, during a meeting with the Thunder on Tuesday, had expressed a desire to remain in Oklahoma City. The Thunder have until Sunday to follow through and exercise their right to pull their prize trade deadline acquisition back to OKC. Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:
- Other teams simply weren’t interested in doing sign-and-trades for LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews, according to Blazers GM Neil Olshey, as Mike Tokito of The Oregonian relays (on Twitter). Aldridge and Matthews have officially signed outright with the Spurs and Mavericks, respectively.
- Olshey also said that an extension for Meyers Leonard was a subject of discussion but made it clear that he wants the former lottery pick around for the long term, Tokito tweets. It’s unclear if the Blazers are having internal conversations about an extension or have begun talks with Leonard’s reps at the Creative Artists Agency. The sides have until October 31st to sign a rookie scale extension or Leonard will be set for restricted free agency next summer.
- The Blazers renounced their Non-Bird rights to Alonzo Gee, among other players who’ve since signed elsewhere or have already retired, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- The Jazz have arranged to pay the maximum $625K toward the buyout of draft-and-stash prospect Tibor Pleiss from his contract with Barcelona of Spain, as José Ignacio Huguet of Mundo Deportivo reports (translation via Rick Saldaña; hat tip to Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune). Pleiss traveled to Utah and engaged in contract talks with the Jazz, though his trip ended before a deal could be struck, notes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link). Still, Pleiss and the Jazz maintain mutual interest, according to Genessy (on Twitter).
Southeast Notes: Dragic, White, Hawks
All five Southeast Division teams made official moves Thursday. Check out our transactions log for a full recap of the first day following the July Moratorium. Here’s more from around the division:
- Goran Dragic never spoke with other teams during his free agency, tweets Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post. Dragic wanted to remain in Miami and believes in team president Pat Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra, Lieser adds, and he was willing to give the Heat a discount to make it happen. “I could get more [money], but it doesn’t matter,” Dragic said, as Lieser relays (Twitter links). “The most important thing is that I’m happy, and I’m happy to be here and surrounded with all the coaches and all the players. I don’t want to be miserable on the court.”
- The Wizards could receive an outside shooting boost this season from Aaron White, whom the team selected with the No. 49 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft, writes Ben Standig of CSNWashington.com. Speaking about being drafted by Washington, White said, “I love this fit for me. Their style fits in my style. It should be a good match.“
- The Hawks renounced their rights to Elton Brand and John Jenkins to clear cap space Thursday for their flurry of official moves, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. They also renounced DeMarre Carroll and Pero Antic, who’ve signed elsewhere, and Gustavo Ayon, whose rights they’d retained even though he signed a multiyear deal overseas this past September.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
Raptors Seek Extensions With Valanciunas, Ross
The Raptors will work to sign Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross to rookie scale extensions before the October 31st deadline to do so, reports Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link). The team sees it as a matter of paying now versus paying later, but that they’re willing to pay at all beyond this coming season, the last on the contracts for both, is noteworthy, particularly for Ross. Toronto earlier today signed DeMarre Carroll to a four-year, $60MM contract, further crowding the team’s wing positions, where DeMar DeRozan occupies the starting two guard spot.
Toronto reportedly listened to trade offers for Ross this past season and apparently gave thought to trading Valanciunas, too. Ross suffered a regression this past season, his third since becoming the eighth overall pick in 2012, averaging fewer points and minutes per game than he did in his sophomore campaign. His three-point shooting percentage also dipped. Valanciunas saw his playing time decrease slightly, too, but he still upped his scoring average, an efficiency shown in his 20.6 PER.
Eric Koreen of the National Post suggested this spring that it was likely that Toronto would explore an extension for Valanciunas, and indeed it appears that’s what GM Masai Ujiri intends to do with the Leon Rose client. Ujiri affirmed his commitment to the big man at the end of this past season, calling him “a huge part of our team” going forward, and the organization seemed to pin the slow development of the former No. 5 overall pick on the team’s staff of assistant coaches, which has since undergone changes.
The early read on DeRozan is that he’ll probably opt out next summer, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe recently wrote, so an extension for Ross, an Aaron Mintz client, would provide insurance in case DeRozan bolts. Ross and Valanciunas would be set for restricted free agency a year from now if the Raptors don’t sign them to extensions.