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Shawn Marion To Retire After Season
Shawn Marion will retire after this season, as he tells Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. The 36-year-old is on a one-year contract with the Cavaliers. The 16th-year veteran believes he could play three more seasons but instead prefers to spend more time with his 8-month-old son, who is his first child, as Marion explains to Coro. His desire to be closer to his son, who’s in Chicago, helped lead him to accept a minimum-salary offer from the Cavaliers, as Marion has said in the past, even though he could have netted more money elsewhere. Marion mulled retirement this summer, according to Coro, as his free agency stretched on for several weeks.
Marion’s defensive versatility has long been his calling card, but Cleveland hasn’t found as much use for him as other teams have in the past, in spite of the defensive shortcomings the Cavs have struggled with this season. Marion is averaging a career-low 22.8 minutes per game despite making 22 starts, and his 5.6 points per contest represents the first single-digit scoring average of his career.
The ninth overall pick of the 1999 NBA draft is a four-time All-Star selection who enjoyed his best days with the Suns, where he was a force on both ends of the floor and on the boards. He peaked with averages of 21.8 PPG and 11.8 rebounds per game in 2005/06, helping Phoenix to a second consecutive Western Conference Finals appearance. The Suns traded him to Miami in February 2008 in the deal that sent Shaquille O’Neal to Phoenix, and the Heat shipped Marion to Toronto a year later. Another trade that summer took him to Dallas, and Marion enjoyed a career renaissance with the Mavs, winning his only title in 2011.
Dallas sought to continue their partnership when his five-year deal worth almost $39.88MM expired this past summer, but the tug of his family drew him north, and surely the presence of LeBron James and Cleveland’s looming acquisition of Kevin Love helped influence his decision. Marion’s financial sacrifice this year makes more sense in the context of the greater than $133.488MM he’d already earned over the course of his career, according to Basketball-Reference. He’ll add this year’s $1,448,490 to that total.
Western Notes: Young, Clippers, Lin, Waiters
Nick Young wants to help the Lakers recruit marquee free agents this summer, but he was worried that there wouldn’t have been room for the club to re-sign him this past offseason if the Lakers had landed a star then, as he tells Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Young said. “I was nervous and scared. I wanted to be here, but I kept hearing all the Carmelo [Anthony] rumors and Kobe [Bryant] having dinner with Carmelo. I knew once they paid him all that money, there would be none for me.”
Young, who inked a four-year, $21.326MM deal with the Lakers in July, told Medina that the Pelicans, Mavs and Bulls also had interest in him, and agent Mark Bartelstein told Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com this summer that there had been contact with the Hawks. There’s more from L.A. amid the latest from the Western Conference:
- Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers expects to use his pair of open roster spots on veterans next month, writes Arash Markazi of ESPN.com, suggesting that the team will again target the post-buyout market as it did last year.
- Dion Waiters, who’s up for a rookie scale extension this summer, says he “couldn’t ask for a better situation” than the one he finds himself in since the trade that sent him to the Thunder, as he tells The Oklahoman’s Darnell Mayberry. “They brought me in since Day One with love,” Waiters said of his new teammates. “It seems like I’ve been here forever. It seems like I’ve been playing with them forever, too. When I came here, we clicked right away.”
- Jeremy Lin has his moments for the Lakers, but he continues to struggle to live up to the backloaded three-year, $25.124MM deal he signed with the Rockets in 2012, much less his dazzling “Lin-sanity” run with the Knicks, as Bill Oram of the Orange County Register examines. Lin is set for free agency this summer.
Lakers Top Forbes NBA Franchise Valuations
The Clippers may have sold for a record $2 billion last year, but they trail four other teams in the annual franchise valuations that Forbes has unveiled for all 30 NBA teams. The Lakers and Knicks, as usual, top the list, followed by the Bulls and Celtics. The Clippers are worth only $1.6 billion, according to Forbes, suggesting that Steve Ballmer overpaid for the club. Still, the rankings reflect dramatic rises in team value, with the average team at $1.1 billion, a 74% spike over last year. That represents the largest jump for a league in any one year since Forbes began compiling team values for the NBA, Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the National Hockey League in 1998, as Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes.com notes.
There are 11 NBA teams worth more than $1 billion just two years after the Lakers and Knicks became the first teams ever to cross that threshold. The Hawks, who are up for sale, are worth $825MM, while the Nets, another team reportedly on the market, have a value of $1.5 billion. Officials from teams around the league often dispute the figures that Forbes puts out, though they’re widely cited as authoritative reflections of what each team is worth.
Here’s the complete list of the Forbes valuations:
- Lakers: $2.6 billion
- Knicks: $2.5 billion
- Bulls: $2 billion
- Celtics: $1.7 billion
- Clippers: $1.6 billion
- Nets: $1.5 billion
- Warriors: $1.3 billion
- Rockets: $1.25 billion
- Heat: $1.175 billion
- Mavericks: $1.15 billion
- Spurs: $1 billion
- Trail Blazers: $940MM
- Thunder: $930MM
- Raptors: $920MM
- Cavaliers: $915MM
- Suns: $910MM
- Wizards: $900MM
- Magic: $875MM
- Nuggets: $855MM
- Jazz: $850MM
- Pacers: $830MM
- Hawks: $825MM
- Pistons: $810MM
- Kings: $800MM
- Grizzlies: $750MM
- Hornets: $725MM
- 76ers: $700MM
- Pelicans: $650MM
- Timberwolves: $625MM
- Bucks: $600MM
Lowe’s Latest: Aldridge, Spurs, Sanders
Grantland’s Zach Lowe spoke with a half-dozen executives from four different teams who brought up the possibility that LaMarcus Aldridge would sign with the Spurs this summer. It’s still unlikely that the All-Star power forward winds up with San Antonio, Lowe asserts, noting that Aldridge pledged this past summer to re-sign with the Blazers when he hits free agency after this season. The Spurs declined to give Kawhi Leonard a max extension this past fall, reportedly in part to preserve flexibility to sign a max-level free agent this summer in case Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili retire. The Blazers have nonetheless always been leery of teams from Aldridge’s native Texas above all other potential suitors for the 29-year-old who hits free agency this coming summer, according to Lowe. A November report indicated that the Mavs planned a run at him, though that was before Dallas acquired Rajon Rondo, and the Mavs would have to renounce their rights to some desirable free agents to chase Aldridge, as Lowe points out.
The Grantland scribe has more tidbits picked up from this past weekend’s D-League showcase in his must-read column, and we’ll focus on the news related to player movement here:
- Larry Sanders will likely miss many more than 10 games on his latest drug-related suspension, according to Lowe, who hears from league sources who expect the Bucks and Sanders to eventually strike up buyout talks. Sanders is in the first year of a four-year, $44MM extension.
- The Celtics have been calling teams in the past week and letting them know that they’re willing to take on cap-eating contracts, Lowe writes. Boston is over the cap but about $11.8MM shy of the luxury tax line this season, and the Celtics have only about $33.5MM in commitments for next season.
- There’s “major skepticism” that the Suns will be able to acquire a first-round draft pick in exchange for Miles Plumlee, Lowe hears. That’s certainly no surprise, though Phoenix is looking for a first-rounder as they shop the big man, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported Sunday.
- Executives from teams around the NBA have tried to sell league brass on an earlier trade deadline, Lowe reports, suggesting that the teams are aiming to move the deadline up by at least a week or two. This year’s deadline is February 19th.
Trade Candidate Series
The February 19th trade deadline is less than a month away, and there’s already been plenty of movement. It figures that there will be plenty more to come, and Hoops Rumors is taking an in-depth look at players who seem like decent bets to change teams. These aren’t players who necessarily will be traded by the deadline, but there’s a distinct possibility that their teams will at least listen to offers if not actively shop them in the coming weeks.
Our Trade Candidate pieces explore why a trade might happen, the likelihood of a deal going down, and potential suitors, along with other relevant details. Last season, we profiled guys who were moved by the deadline, such as Danny Granger, Evan Turner and Andre Miller, along with others who were eventually dealt over the summer, including Arron Afflalo, Thaddeus Young, and Omer Asik.
A complete list of the players we’ve examined so far during the 2014/15 season is below, in alphabetical order. This list can be found in our right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” and will continue to be updated until the deadline:
Trade Candidate: Reggie Jackson
So much of the intrigue surrounding Reggie Jackson is about potential. Indeed, Jackson’s production alone wouldn’t have prompted some teams around the league to believe that the point guard would receive offers of between $13MM and $14MM a year in restricted free agency this summer, as Adrian Wojnarowski reported at the start of the season. The 24-year-old Jackson believes he can become a star, and evidently he’s not alone. The questions the Thunder face are whether there’s truly enough evidence to suggest he’ll do that, and whether it’s worth paying a premium to see if there’s any way that Jackson and Russell Westbrook can co-exist as elite performers in the backcourt. If GM Sam Presti concludes the answer to either is a no, he’ll encounter the sticky quandary of whether it’s worth keeping him for a run at a title this spring with the knowledge that he can sign elsewhere come July. One of those teams that’s so high on Jackson could come forward with an trade offer that affords the Thunder with enough compensation in return for Jackson to make Presti think long and hard about trading yet another highly regarded backcourt reserve.
The James Harden trade haunts the Thunder, though few would have predicted that Harden would have become quite the prolific scorer he is now for the Rockets. Westbrook didn’t miss a single game during Harden’s tenure with the Thunder, but he’s missed 59 combined regular season and playoff games with Jackson on the team, giving Hinkie a glimpse at Jackson in the lead role that he never had with Harden. The Thunder are 31-27 all-time when Jackson plays and Westbrook doesn’t, though to be fair, Kevin Durant wasn’t around for all of those games, and with a healthy Durant in tow, Oklahoma City was 25-11 with Jackson and without Westbrook last season.
Still, the Thunder would almost certainly plan on having both Jackson and Westbrook around if they were to retain Jackson long-term, since Westbrook’s deal doesn’t expire until the summer of 2017. The Thunder have a net rating of plus 4.4 when Westbrook and Jackson share the floor this season, according NBA.com, and they’re only a plus 1.0 as a team, though the latter figure includes the prolonged absences of Westbrook and Durant. Last season, the Thunder were a plus 7.1 and an eye-popping plus 17.8 with Westbrook and Jackson together, though that’s a sample size of less than 400 total minutes. They only played 161 minutes together across 82 games in 2012/13, and the Thunder’s net rating with both of them on the floor was plus 7.5 compared to plus 11.0 overall.
The track record isn’t vast, and it isn’t conclusive, although Jackson figured Presti had already drawn his conclusion when the point guard thought he was part of the Thunder’s three-team trade with the Cavs and Knicks amid erroneous reports. That swap nonetheless had significant implications for Jackson, since it brought Dion Waiters to town. Waiters, though more of a shooting guard, seems primed to take over the sixth-man role that Jackson has held, and there’s been speculation that Waiters, who’ll still be under his rookie scale contract in 2015/16, is insurance in case Jackson bolts. Durant had some harsh words in response to the assertion that he should help Jackson adjust in the wake of the trade, implying that Jackson should take a mature, professional approach to the reality that confronts him. The most recent dispatch regarding the ever-headstrong Jackson indicates that the Aaron Mintz client is open to signing his qualifying offer this summer to reach unrestricted free agency in 2016.
That wouldn’t necessarily be the worst-case scenario for the Thunder, since that would keep Jackson around for no more than $4.434MM next season and align his free agency with Durant’s, allowing the team cap flexibility in case Durant leaves. Still, the threat of a bloated, player-friendly offer sheet from another team looms, even if the Thunder threaten to match any offer, so Presti can’t count on having Jackson back under any particular terms.
The Knicks, who tried to make Jackson part of the three-team swap, are expected to again attempt to acquire him, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com recently reported, adding that the Thunder are resisting the idea of trading the guard. That could change as the February 19th deadline draws closer, though the Knicks probably don’t have the assets to make it worth Oklahoma City’s while. Another large-market team with a need at point guard possesses a few more assets, but the Lakers don’t appear to be especially likely trading partners, particularly if it would mean helping out the Thunder, a team the Lakers envision competing with should they return to contention anytime soon. The Rockets are without a long-term solution at the point, but the optics of trading another sixth man to GM Daryl Morey‘s team would probably be too much for Presti to bear.
The Nets, with whom the Thunder had serious talks regarding Brook Lopez, provide a better avenue. Brooklyn reportedly left negotiations with Oklahoma City unwilling to give up Lopez for a package with Kendrick Perkins as its centerpiece, but Jackson and Perkins together might make the Nets think again. Jackson would serve as a ready replacement at point guard should the team trade Deron Williams, and the Thunder could upgrade without tinkering with their starting five. Still, Jackson’s name hasn’t come up in Lopez talks, so it seems Presti would first have to warm to the idea.
The sticking point for the Nets would probably involve Jackson’s upcoming free agency and the amount of money it would take to retain him, and that’d surely be an issue in any trade the Thunder might explore involving him. It’s tough to get a fair return for a player who might be no more than a rental, even given the right to match offers that’s incumbent with restricted free agency. That’s why Presti has to weigh the needs of maximizing this season against maximizing what he can reap from Jackson in a trade. Oklahoma City still hasn’t risen into the top eight teams in the Western Conference, and while any franchise with Durant, Westbrook and Serge Ibaka has a realistic shot at a title, it’d be an especially difficult task this time around. The Thunder are probably better off taking back a decent return for Jackson if there’s one to be had and if it can enhance their chances of winning it all next season, even if it makes their title odds that much longer for this year.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Grizzlies, Tyrus Thomas Discuss 10-Day Deal
2:14pm: Thomas is among several players Memphis is considering for a 10-day contract, as Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal writes in a subscription-only piece. The chances are 50-50 that the Grizzlies will sign Thomas, sources tell Tillery, who suggests that the greater level of hesitance exists on the power forward’s side, given the team’s deep frontcourt.
8:34am: The Grizzlies and Tyrus Thomas are having serious conversations about a would-be 10-day deal, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The former No. 4 overall pick last week joined the Iowa Energy, the D-League affiliate of the Grizzlies, when the Energy claimed him off D-League waivers, and Memphis worked him out prior to that move, Spears writes. The Grizzlies have an open spot on their NBA roster, so they wouldn’t need to make a corresponding transaction to add the 28-year-old power forward.
Memphis has been interested in Thomas for a while, having reportedly worked him out in November around the same time the Lakers also gave him an audition. Still, the former Bull and Bobcat hasn’t signed an NBA contract since Charlotte waived him using the amnesty clause in the summer of 2013. Thomas had nearly $18.083MM in salary remaining on his deal with the then-Bobcats, and that’s been coming his way even though it doesn’t count against Charlotte’s cap. So, there’s been no pressing financial need for Thomas to get back into the Association, though it appears he’s been making a concerted effort to do since having a cyst removed from his spinal cord last March and hiring agent Roger Montgomery this past fall. Thomas has averaged 14.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in 26.9 minutes per game in two appearances for the D-League Energy.
James McAdoo rejected a 10-day offer from the Grizzlies to sign one from the Warriors instead, and the same was true when JaMychal Green inked with the Spurs, according to Spears, who notes that Memphis has been looking to add a power forward (Twitter link). GM Chris Wallace and company have shown a willingness this season to see what it can get from former top-five picks who’ve fallen out of favor, having signed 2008 No. 2 selection Michael Beasley to a non-guaranteed contract prior to the preseason. Beasley failed to make the regular season roster, but it appears Thomas is close to doing so.
Eastern Notes: Tolliver, Dawkins, Butler
The release of Josh Smith is easily identifiable as the turning point for the Pistons, but the acquisition of Anthony Tolliver, which took place two days later, has benefited the team, too, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic examines. The deal appears to have helped all three sides, with the Suns on a roll just as the Pistons are and Tolliver having seen an uptick in playing time since his arrival in Detroit. Tony Mitchell, the player the Pistons gave up in the deal, has found a new home after the Suns let him go, as we passed along earlier today. There’s more on the Pistons amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:
- The Celtics are reportedly meeting with Andre Dawkins this week as they mull signing him to a 10-day contract, but if they do, he’ll spend most if not all of his time with the C’s on D-League assignment, a league source tells A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com (Twitter link).
- Retirement is far from the mind of 35-year-old Rasual Butler, who credits his time with the Thunder’s D-League affiliate in 2012/13 for his keeping his career aflame and helping spark his sudden resurgence with the Wizards this season, as he tells Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- Celtics coach Brad Stevens admires the Hawks, as Julian Edlow of WEEI.com observes while wondering whether the best path the Celtics can take back to contention involves following Atlanta’s egalitarian approach instead of chasing stars.
- The Pistons are recalling Gigi Datome and Spencer Dinwiddie from the D-League, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Datome averaged 13.3 points in 25.3 minutes per game and made 6 of 13 three-point shots in his first-ever D-League action, while Dinwiddie has put up 13.0 PPG and 5.4 assists per game in 29.8 MPG across seven D-League games this season.
- Heat camp invitee Chris Johnson has signed with Turk Telekom Ankara of Turkey, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The former LSU center, who’s not to be confused with the swingman by the same name from the University of Dayton, played in China earlier this season following his release from the Heat prior to opening night.
Players In Multiple Trades Since 2014 Offseason
Players in NBA trades probably shouldn’t become too comfortable with their new teams. The NBA makes it more difficult for teams to trade players who’ve already been in a swap within the last two months, but 14 players have been traded at least twice since the end of last season. That includes Scotty Hopson, who’s more notable for having been in four trades within a single offseason than for anything he’s done on an NBA court, and Alonzo Gee, who was in three trades between July and September.
The trend figures to continue. The Sixers apparently have an eye on trading Andrei Kirilenko, who came via trade with the Nets in December, and the Celtics are reportedly expected to look for trade partners willing to take on Tayshaun Prince, whom Boston acquired in last week’s Jeff Green swap. Boston has been involved in one trade or another involving eight of the 14 players on this list. The Cavs have had their hands on seven of them.
These players include guys who are no longer on NBA rosters, and others who wound up with yet another NBA team when the club that acquired them in the last of the series of trades put them on waivers, like Gee, who signed with the Nuggets after the Kings let him go. It doesn’t include players whose draft rights were included in trades, since those are often conveyed multiple times.
Here’s the complete rundown, with the players in alphabetical order and links to our posts on each trade:
- Keith Bogans — Celtics to Cavaliers, September 25th; Cavaliers to 76ers, September 27th.
- Wayne Ellington — Mavericks to Knicks, June 25th; Knicks to Kings, August 6th.
- Alonzo Gee — Cavaliers to Pelicans, July 11th; Pelicans to Rockets, July 15th; Rockets to Kings, September 17th.
- Scotty Hopson — Cavaliers to Hornets, July 12th; Hornets to Pelicans, July 13th; Pelicans to Rockets, July 15th; Rockets to Kings, September 17th.
- John Lucas III — Jazz to Cavaliers, July 22nd; Cavaliers to Celtics, September 25th.
- Erik Murphy — Jazz to Cavaliers, July 22nd; Cavaliers to Celtics, September 25th.
- Jameer Nelson — Mavericks to Celtics, December 18th; Celtics to Nuggets, January 13th.
- Travis Outlaw — Kings to Knicks, August 6th; Knicks to 76ers, October 27th.
- *Dwight Powell — Cavaliers to Celtics, September 25th; Celtics to Mavericks, December 18th.
- Anthony Randolph — Nuggets to Bulls, June 26th; Bulls to Magic, July 14th.
- Austin Rivers — Pelicans to Celtics, January 12th; Celtics to Clippers, January 15th.
- Alexey Shved — Timberwolves to 76ers, August 23rd; 76ers to Rockets, December 29th
- Malcolm Thomas — Jazz to Cavaliers, July 22nd; Cavaliers to Celtics, September 25th.
- Brandan Wright — Mavericks to Celtics, December 18th; Celtics to Suns, January 9th.
* — Powell’s draft rights were traded from the Hornets to the Cavaliers on July 12th.