Sixers Re-Sign Malcolm Thomas
5:04pm: The Sixers have officially re-signed Thomas, the team announced in a press release.
2:02pm: The Sixers will re-sign Malcolm Thomas, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported earlier this week that the team was thinking about bringing back the power forward, who began the regular season with the Sixers. Philadelphia has a full 15-man roster, but the team reportedly intends to waive Ronny Turiaf, whom the Sixers acquired via trade from the Timberwolves last week, as Turiaf is expected to miss the rest of the season as he recovers from right hip surgery. It’s unclear what sort of contract Thomas will receive, though he inked a four-year deal for the minimum salary with a partial guarantee of $474K when he signed with Philadelphia in October.
Thomas found himself on waivers on November 10th, two days after his 26th birthday, when the Sixers elected to reunite with Drew Gordon, whom they had carried during the preseason. Philly released Gordon less than a month later as GM Sam Hinkie continues to churn the roster, much as he did last season. Thomas, who’s played with four other NBA teams since going undrafted out of San Diego State in 2011, averaged 4.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per contest during his five-game stint with the Sixers this season.
Philadelphia has been shorthanded of late, carrying Turiaf for the past few days as well as Andrei Kirilenko, who hasn’t played since the Sixers traded for him December 11th, even as Philly attempts to press him into action. The Sixers have also been without 2014 No. 3 overall pick Joel Embiid all season as he recovers from a broken foot, and Jason Richardson, who hasn’t played since January 2013 because of multiple injuries.
2014/15 NBA Trades
The 2014/15 regular season saw three trades go down within the first two months. More will surely follow, and as the movement continues and the details stack up, we’ll track it all in this post. As we did with the trades from this past offseason and the 2013/14 season, we’ll log all NBA trades as they become official, updating this post with each move.
This post is a simple, easy-to-digest account of the assets that each team acquired in every swap this season, with a link to a full story on each trade embedded in the date. For up-to-the-minute news on trades as well as other roster moves as the offseason continues, follow our transactions-only feeds via RSS and Twitter.
Bookmark this page and refer to it throughout the season, or find it anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features.” The trades are listed in reverse chronological order, with the latest on top:
- The Celtics get Isaiah Thomas.
- The Suns get Marcus Thornton and Cleveland’s 2016 first-round pick (top-10 protected).
- The Rockets get K.J. McDaniels.
- The Sixers get Isaiah Canaan and the less favorable of Minnesota’s and Denver’s 2015 second-round picks.
- The Suns get Brandon Knight and Kendall Marshall.
- The Bucks get Michael Carter-Williams, Tyler Ennis and Miles Plumlee.
- The Sixers get the Lakers’ 2015 first-round pick (top-five protected).
- The Rockets get Pablo Prigioni.
- The Knicks get Alexey Shved, Houston’s 2017 second-round pick and Houston’s 2019 second-round pick.
- The Timberwolves get Kevin Garnett.
- The Nets get Thaddeus Young.
- The Pelicans get Ish Smith, the rights to Latavious Williams, Philadelphia’s 2015 second-round pick (top-55 protected) and $801K cash.
- The Thunder get the less favorable of Sacramento’s 2016 second-round pick (top-55 protected) and New Orleans’ 2016 second-round pick.
- The Pistons get Tayshaun Prince.
- The Celtics get Gigi Datome and Jonas Jerebko.
- The Heat get Goran Dragic and Zoran Dragic.
- The Pelicans get Norris Cole, Shawne Williams, Justin Hamilton and $369K cash (from Miami).
- The Suns get John Salmons, Danny Granger, Miami’s 2017 first-round pick (top seven protected), Miami’s unprotected 2021 first-round pick, and $2.2MM cash (from Miami).
- The Pistons get Reggie Jackson.
- The Thunder get Enes Kanter, Steve Novak, D.J. Augustin, Kyle Singler and Detroit’s 2019 second-round pick.
- The Jazz get Kendrick Perkins, Grant Jerrett, the rights to Tibor Pleiss, Oklahoma City’s 2017 first-round pick (top-14 protected) and Detroit’s 2017 second-round pick.
- The Wizards get Ramon Sessions.
- The Kings get Andre Miller and $839K cash.
- The Sixers get JaVale McGee, the rights to Chu Chu Maduabum and Oklahoma City’s 2015 first-round pick (top-18 protected).
- The Nuggets get Cenk Akyol.
- The Trail Blazers get Arron Afflalo and Alonzo Gee.
- The Nuggets get Will Barton, Victor Claver, Thomas Robinson, and a 2016 first-round pick (top-14 protected).
- The Timberwolves get Adreian Payne.
- The Hawks get Minnesota’s 2017 first-round pick (top-14 protected).
- The Hornets get Mo Williams, Troy Daniels and $344,462 cash.
- The Timberwolves get Gary Neal and Miami’s 2019 second-round pick.
- The Clippers get Austin Rivers.
- The Celtics get Shavlik Randolph, Chris Douglas-Roberts and the Clippers’ 2017 second-round pick.
- The Suns get Reggie Bullock.
- The Nuggets get Jameer Nelson.
- The Celtics get Nate Robinson.
- The Grizzlies get Jeff Green and Russ Smith.
- The Celtics get Tayshaun Prince, Austin Rivers, $1,319,236 cash (from the Grizzlies), and Memphis’ 2017 first-round pick (top-10 protected).
- The Pelicans get Quincy Pondexter and Memphis’ 2015 second-round pick.
- The Suns get Brandan Wright.
- The Celtics get Minnesota’s 2015 first-round pick (top-12 protected).
- The Sixers get Jared Cunningham, $300K cash and the rights to Cenk Akyol.
- The Clippers get the rights to Serhiy Lishchuk.
- The Cavaliers get Timofey Mozgov and the less favorable of Chicago’s 2015 second-round pick and Portland’s 2015 second-round pick.
- The Nuggets get Memphis’ 2015 first-round pick if it falls anywhere from No. 6 to No. 14 and Oklahoma City’s 2015 first-round pick (top-18 protected).
- The Thunder get Dion Waiters.
- The Cavaliers get Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Oklahoma City’s 2015 first-round pick (top-18 protected).
- The Knicks get Lance Thomas, Lou Amundson, Alex Kirk and Cleveland’s 2019 second-round pick.
- The Pistons get Anthony Tolliver.
- The Suns get Tony Mitchell.
- The Rockets get Corey Brewer and Alexey Shved.
- The Timberwolves get Troy Daniels, Sacramento’s 2015 second-round pick as long as it’s within the top 49 picks (via Rockets), Houston’s 2016 second-round pick (top-45 protected), and $1MM cash (via Rockets).
- The Sixers get Ronny Turiaf, Houston’s 2015 second-round pick, and the rights to Serhiy Lishchuk.
- The Mavericks get Rajon Rondo and Dwight Powell.
- The Celtics get Brandan Wright, Jameer Nelson, Jae Crowder, Dallas’ 2015 first-round pick if it falls anywhere from No. 4 to No. 14, and the move favorable of Dallas’ 2016 second-round pick and Memphis’ 2016 second-round pick.
- The Sixers get Andrei Kirilenko, Jorge Gutierrez, Brooklyn’s 2020 second-round pick, the right to swap Cleveland’s 2018 second-round pick with Brooklyn’s 2018 second-round pick, and $1MM cash.
- The Nets get Brandon Davies.
Trade archives:
Josh Smith Rumors: Tuesday
The sudden popularity of Josh Smith around the league in the wake of the shocking decision the Pistons made Monday to waive their highest-paid player is indicative of just how much a player’s contract defines his value. His next team will almost certainly have him at a fraction of the cost the Pistons will continue to shell out through 2019/20. Certainly, there are better fits for him than the crowded frontcourt in Detroit, too. Smith won’t come off waivers until Wednesday, but there should be no shortage of updates today about where he’ll be playing soon. We’ll track the latest in this thread, much like we did on Monday, with any additional news added to the top:
- Howard went on record with reporters, including Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston, about his recruiting pitch to Smith (Twitter links). “Have I been in his ear? Yeah, I’ve been in his ear,” the Rockets center said. “The only thing I told him was that if you want to win this would be a great place for you. We’ve won together in AAU. Let’s try to get us one in the big leagues.”
11:37pm update:
- The Clippers have reached out to Smith’s representatives, reports Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). Clippers officials are still “gauging interest,” Woike writes, though it’s unclear if they’re trying to assess Smith’s level of interest or still debating their own willingness to sign him. There were multiple reports going back and forth Monday about whether the Clippers truly wanted Smith.
10:55am update:
- Just about every playoff-bound team has reached out to Smith’s representatives, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com, who cautions that in some cases it’s largely a matter of the team performing its due diligence (Twitter link). One exception, according to Broussard, is the Hawks, Smith’s original NBA team.
8:57am updates:
- The Rockets have strengthened their position as the favorites to land Smith, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Dwight Howard wants Smith, his close friend, on the team and is serving as Houston’s lead recruiter, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com details.
- Rajon Rondo, another friend of Smith’s, said they talk almost every day, and the new Mavs point guard publicly made his pitch for the ex-Pistons forward, as Stein relays in the same piece. “I think we can use an athletic big,” Rondo said late Monday. “They traded me for Brandan Wright. Besides Tyson [Chandler], our other bigs are perimeter shooters. Josh brings a lot to the game — his intangibles, he can make plays, rebound, defend. He’d be a good fit anywhere, but especially here I think he’d be a good fit.”
- Mavs owner Mark Cuban confirmed the team is going after Smith, as Stein also notes. “Josh is super talented and he fits the profile of the guy we love to bring in here,” Cuban said. “He’s one of those guys that gets a bad rap … and we have a great track record of bringing the truth out about guys like that: Monta [Ellis], Stack [Jerry Stackhouse], Jet [Jason Terry].”
- Smith, a client of Brian Dyke and Wallace Prather, is set to meet with his representatives this afternoon, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
Pacific Notes: O’Neal, Suns, Rondo, Kings
Family concerns will matter more than the relationships Jermaine O’Neal has with any city or team when the 36-year-old center decides whether to return to the NBA, and if so, which club he’ll play for, as O’Neal detailed today on his verified Twitter account (links here). O’Neal lives in Dallas and has reportedly long wanted to play close to home, and the Mavs are the apparent favorites to land him. The Warriors, for whom O’Neal played last, as well as the Clippers and Cavs are also said to be interested in the 18-year veteran. Of those teams, Golden State is the only one for which O’Neal has played previously, so it would seem that his remarks today are a harbinger that he won’t be returning to the Bay Area, though that’s just my interpretation. Here’s more news related to Pacific Division teams:
- People around the league sense that the Suns would be more willing to deal Isaiah Thomas than Eric Bledsoe or Goran Dragic, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes. Rival executives have picked up the impression that Dragic is the one among those three point guards whom Phoenix would most like to keep, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported this weekend.
- The Mavs are “extremely confident” that Rajon Rondo will re-sign with the team, but the Lakers, among others, would love for the point guard to hit free agency, as Sam Amick of USA Today says in a video report. The Lakers were involved in trade talks with the Celtics about Rondo, and Chris Mannix of SI.com indicated last month that the Lakers are likely to pursue him in free agency.
- Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro and former Kings coach Michael Malone weren’t on speaking terms during the months leading up to Malone’s dismissal, according to Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. Tyrone Corbin knows he’s only a short-term solution, according to Voisin, though Chris Broussard of ESPN.com hears that Corbin will have a legitimate opportunity to coach the team (Twitter link), as D’Alessandro has publicly insisted. In any case, Voisin implores the team to hire George Karl.
- Miroslav Raduljica and Shandong of the Chinese Basketball Association have agreed to a buyout in which the center gave up $300K of his $1.5MM deal, reports Nick Bedard of Basketballbuddha.com. The Clippers, in a series of money-saving moves this summer, acquired Raduljica from the Bucks and quickly waived him via the stretch provision.
Sixers Push Andrei Kirilenko To Play
The Sixers have asked Andrei Kirilenko to report to the team, but he continues to hold out, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The 33-year-old forward, whom Philadelphia acquired via trade from the Nets on December 11th, hasn’t appeared in a game since November 13th as he tends to a family medical issue involving his wife. The Sixers are willing to make some accommodations for him so he can deal with the matter, but they believe that the short distance between New York, where the Kirilenkos live, and Philadelphia should allow him to play, Wojnarowski adds.
Sixers GM Sam Hinkie has informed the Marc Fleischer client that the team doesn’t intend to waive him, Wojnarowski hears. Rumors before the trade indicated that the Sixers were poised to release Kirilenko shortly after they obtained him, but instead Philadelphia has hung onto him, and the team would like to trade Kirilenko at the deadline, as John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com reported earlier this month. However, most other teams are set against trading for him because they believe he’ll simply become available as a free agent at some point this season, according to Wojnarowski. Kirilenko is in the final year of a contract that pays him a guaranteed $3.326MM this season, but it’s unlikely that Philadelphia will fail to either waive or trade him before the deadline, Wojnarowski writes.
Kirilenko has reportedly targeted February for a return to action, but he’s subject to a fine or a suspension if he doesn’t report to the Sixers. Players acquired via trade during the season have 48 hours to report, a threshold that Kirilenko has long since crossed. Both the league and the team may levy punishment if he continues to sit out, since failure to report following a trade is one of the rare instances in which a player is subject to a double penalty, as Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ points out.
Pistons Notes: Smith, Drummond, Van Gundy
Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy spoke earlier this month of a four-day break in the team’s schedule as the point at which he’d examine where the team was and make changes, if necessary. Monday was the first of those four days, and Van Gundy wasted no time, waiving Josh Smith and using the stretch provision to somewhat ease the pain of the remainder of his four-year, $54MM contract. Here’s more on the upheaval in the Motor City:
- The Kings offered weaker proposals to the Pistons for Smith in recent weeks than they had over the summer, as Sacramento began to insist on receiving a first-rounder in the near future instead of one that wouldn’t come until a few years from now, reports Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. The Pistons countered with second-round picks that would end up with Sacramento in the near term, but the Kings weren’t receptive to that, Ellis adds.
- Jeff Schwartz, who recently became the agent for center Andre Drummond, will be keeping a close eye on how the Pistons’ situation develops to ensure his newest client has a bright future in Detroit, notes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (Twitter links). Drummond will be up for a rookie scale extension this coming summer.
- Former Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars approached owner Tom Gores a few years ago about using the stretch provision to rid the team of Ben Gordon instead of trading him, but Gores wasn’t willing to go along, Free Press scribe Drew Sharp writes. This time, Gores didn’t make the same mistake, as Sharp argues.
- Releasing Smith is an expensive proposition and a painful admission of a mistake, but it’s the right decision for the Pistons, MLive’s David Mayo believes.
- The passion and temerity that makes Van Gundy a successful coach didn’t serve him well in the way he handled Smith as an executive, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller believes.
Alex Lee contributed to this post.
Kings Interested In Kosta Koufos
TUESDAY, 9:29am: The Grizzlies have “kicked around” the idea of relinquishing Koufos in a trade, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes.
MONDAY, 8:25am: The Kings are one of multiple teams to have called the Grizzlies about Kosta Koufos, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The Cavs are another, as Windhorst’s ESPN colleague Marc Stein wrote earlier this month, and Windhorst confirms Stein’s suggestion that Dion Waiters was a part of talks between Cleveland and Memphis as the Cavs make him available to other teams as part of a quest to add defense. Koufos is making $3MM this season in the final year of his contract.
Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro said earlier this season that he had paused his usual aggressive stance on the trade market, but with a coaching change already having taken place in Sacramento, it appears the Kings are ready to make some roster moves. Sacramento reportedly made the initial inquiry in talks with the Nets about Deron Williams. They continued to have interest in Rajon Rondo up until he was dealt, though they found Boston’s asking price too high for their liking, according to a report. They were also apparently interested in Ricky Rubio before the season and maintain their interest in Josh Smith. All of those players, aside from Smith, are point guards, so it appears they’re operating on a different track with Koufos, whom the Kings presumably envision as a backup to DeMarcus Cousins. Sacramento went 2-8 over a recent 10-game stretch while Cousins was out with viral meningitis.
Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger suggested recently that Memphis had no desire to make a move, which advanced an earlier report indicating that it would be surprising if the Grizzlies shook up a team that started the season as one of the NBA’s best. Memphis has lost back-to-back games to Eastern Conference heavies Chicago and Cleveland, but it’s not clear if that’s enough to spur the front office into action. Waiters’ trade value isn’t strong at current partly because teams believe he’s unwilling to accept a bench role, according to Windhorst. That would appear to indicate that the Grizzlies aren’t particularly enamored with what Cleveland has to offer, though there’s been no indication of the way Memphis, specifically, regards Waiters. The third-year guard is up for an extension to his rookie scale contract this coming summer.
Josh Smith Rumors: Heat, Clippers, Lakers
Pistons coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy pulled a stunner today, waiving Josh Smith. Reports quickly identified the Clippers, Mavs and Kings as suitors for Smith in free agency once he clears waivers, as expected, and more clubs are lining up for a chance to obtain him on the cheap. There’s plenty of news rolling in related to Detroit’s bold move and what happens next with the tweener forward, and we’ll pass along the latest in this thread, with any additional updates posted on top:
- The Heat have formally applied for a disabled player exception from the league after losing Josh McRoberts for the year, reports Marc Stein of ESPN. While the exception, which would be worth $2.653MM, hasn’t been granted yet, the Heat are hopeful they’ll have it before Smith makes his decision (Twitter links here).
9:46pm update:
- The Clippers will have interest in Smith if he clears waivers, ESPN’s Arash Markazi hears from multiple team sources. Markazi adds that the team can only offer Smith the veteran’s minimum and would likely cut Jared Cunningham to make room on its roster. Cunningham’s contract becomes guaranteed on January 10th and he is likely to be released before then either way, per Markazi.
8:51pm update:
- Should Smith clear waivers, the Lakers will have a significant financial advantage over most of his other suitors, writes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. The disabled player exception they received from Steve Nash‘s season-ending injury allows the Lakers spend up to $4.85MM on a single player, per Pincus, which is more than twice what most other teams can offer. Pincus adds that the Lakers should have the cap space next summer to re-sign Smith.
7:14pm updates:
- There is a strong belief among Rockets players, even beyond Howard, that they’ll convince Smith to sign in Houston, reports Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
- Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said that Smith “fits the profile of the type of guys we love to bring in,” reports Bryan Gutierrez of Mavs Outsider. Cuban added that the Mavs would use Smith more down low than on the wing should they add him, per Gutierrez (Twitter links).
- While it’s hardly a surprise, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports that the Sixers, flush in cap space, have zero interest in claiming Smith off waivers (via Twitter).
4:05pm update:
- The Grizzlies have expressed interest in Smith, too, Grantland’s Zach Lowe hears, acknowledging that it’s nonetheless a long shot for him to wind up in Memphis (Twitter link). The Grizzlies couldn’t pay him any more than the minimum.
3:49pm update:
- The Lakers would like Smith to play for them, according to Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link), but they wouldn’t fall into the category of a playoff-bound team, the only sort that Smith is reportedly considering (below).
1:55pm update:
- Teams that aren’t headed for the playoffs are out of the running for Smith, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. That stance would appear to damage the chances of the Kings most of all among the clubs that reports have so far linked to the forward.
1:40pm update:
- Smith was “fixated” on finding a way to join the Rockets before he signed with Detroit in 2013, according to Wojnarowski, who writes in a full piece.
1:05pm updates:
- The Heat are in the running for Smith, Stein reports (on Twitter). Miami has only the minimum to give.
- Houston will allow Smith to choose whether he wants a one-year or two-year deal, Amick hears (Twitter link). The biannual exception limits contracts to no more than two seasons, and the Rockets are without a way to sign him to a longer deal.
12:39pm update:
- The Rockets are taking an aggressive stance in their pursuit of Smith, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link). They attempted to trade for him but couldn’t find a workable salary match that didn’t involved Howard or James Harden, Wojnarowski adds in a second tweet.
12:28pm updates:
- Houston will offer Smith its $2.077MM biannual exception, reports Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). The Rockets are optimistic about their chances to land Smith, given their status as a contender, the opportunity to offer him a large on-court role, and their financial advantage of having the biannual while others are limited to the minimum salary, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.
- No one has been a bigger fan of Smith in recent months than Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, according to Stein (Twitter link).
12:17pm updates:
- The Clippers would like to research the matter more thoroughly before committing to a pursuit of Smith, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). Though Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears the Clippers are indeed interested, coach/executive Doc Rivers said he doesn’t know quite yet what his team will do, as he told reporters, including Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
- The Rockets do have interest in signing Smith, Wojnarowski reports (Twitter link). Stein reported earlier that Houston, which has the $2.077MM biannual exception to spend, was still thinking about whether it wanted to go after Smith, who’s a friend of Dwight Howard‘s. Howard has said in the past that he and Smith have had conversations about playing together again as they did when they were AAU teammates, notes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- The Kings were the only team to express interest in trading for Smith as the Pistons sought to move him in recent weeks, Stein tweets. The Pistons refused to part with draft picks in any deal or take on burdensome contracts in return, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
- Derrick Williams was alongside Jason Thompson in the Kings‘ earliest trade proposals to the Pistons regarding Smith over the summer, and Carl Landry later replaced Williams in those offers, according to Stein (on Twitter). Van Gundy turned them down because he wanted to coach Smith before cutting ties, Stein adds (Twitter link).
Central Notes: Pistons, Love, Bucks, Stephenson
Greg Monroe and agent David Falk have made it clear that they don’t want any trade this season, though the Pistons have asked about Monroe’s willingness to approve a trade, writes Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News. Monroe has the right to block any deal because he signed his qualifying offer in the offseason, and he’d lose his Bird rights if he were to be traded. There have been conflicting reports about whether the Pistons are shopping Brandon Jennings, but Goodwill writes that he is indeed on the block. The team’s brass is setting a high price for its assets, but other front offices have yet to meet those demands, according to Goodwill, who wrote his piece before today’s Josh Smith bombshell. We’ve been tracking the latest on Smith all day, and as we continue to do so, here’s more news from the Central Division:
- Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders insists that had it not been for the offer from the Cavaliers, he wouldn’t have traded Kevin Love this year, as Saunders told reporters, including Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter link). There were simply no other proposals he liked, despite seemingly fevered interest from half of the league’s teams.
- Saunders also seemed to confirm that Love had forced his way off the Wolves, as Krawczynski relays in a full piece. “Minnesota people are pretty loyal,” Saunders said. “When you turn on Minnesota they don’t forgive you.” Still, Saunders added that he has no hard feelings, Krawczynski tweets.
- Bucks owners Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry saw the Milwaukee franchise as a “blank slate,” Krawczynski writes in another piece, adding that the ownership duo has quickly revamped the business side of the team and is very pleased with how their roster is taking form. “It’s better than the Spurs. Those are the old guys,” Edens told Krawczynski. “Would you trade Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and Jabari [Parker] and all the rest of the young guys for them?”
- While initial reports had Edens and Lasry pledging $100MM towards a new arena in Milwaukee, the actual number the owners have agreed to commit has since grown to $150MM, reports Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Walker reminds us that former Bucks owner Herb Kohl agreed to kick in $100MM himself and that there might be additional private capital coming. Whatever amount on top of that is required to build the arena will come from public financing, Walker says, adding that the team faces an NBA-mandated deadline of fall 2017 to have the new facility in place.
- Pacers players aren’t embracing the idea of bringing Lance Stephenson back to the team, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). Indiana’s front office was reportedly cool to the idea as the Pacers engaged in preliminary talks with the Hornets about trading for the shooting guard.
Alex Lee contributed to this post.
Celtics Notes: Randle, Rondo, Trade Exceptions
The refusal of the Lakers to include Julius Randle in a trade for Rajon Rondo helped prevent the Celtics and Lakers from completing a deal involving the point guard, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports amid his weekly power rankings. The teams had harbored mutual interest in engineering a swap involving Rondo, Spears adds. The Lakers took Randle one spot after the Celtics drafted Marcus Smart, Rondo’s replacement, in the draft this year, though Randle played in only one game before suffering a broken leg that’s expected to be season-ending. Here’s more on the Celtics:
- Rondo was never going to re-sign with Boston if it meant enduring more rebuilding, and the presence of the Lakers as a potential suitor for Rondo in free agency this summer worried the Celtics, as TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.
- The Celtics took Jae Crowder‘s $915,243 salary into the $3.8MM Joel Anthony trade exception rather than the $1,334,092 that they had left of the Kris Humphries trade exception, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). That was the missing bit of information regarding the C’s deft use of trade exceptions in the Rondo deal, which I explained in detail last week. The Anthony exception, which expires October 17th, 2015, is now worth only $152,757, since Boston used it to take in Jameer Nelson‘s $2.732MM salary, too. Check out our complete list of the active trade exceptions for teams around the league.
- The 2016 second-round pick that the Mavs owe the Celtics as part of the Rondo trade will be the better of Dallas’ own pick and Memphis’, which the Mavs acquired in a previous deal, Pincus also reports (Twitter link).