Post-Moratorium Official Transactions
The first day after the NBA’s July moratorium is usually among the busiest on the calendar, and this year promises to be no exception. Contract and trade agreements struck during the nine-day moratorium can become official starting today, and many of them assuredly will, leading to a flood of official announcements from teams.
We’ve traditionally brought our posts about agreements during the moratorium to the top of the site when they become official, and that will continue to be the case involving deals in which there are new details to pass along. However, based on reader feedback, we won’t do so today with posts in which the only new information is that the transaction is official. We’ll instead keep those posts in our archives and link to them here, bringing this listing to the top with each simple announcement, just for today. This should help make it easier for you to navigate the site and find the news you’re looking for.
So, each agreement from prior to the end of the moratorium that merely becomes official today will be listed below, with the newest updates on top:
- Cavaliers sign Kyrie Irving to max extension
- Wizards re-sign Marcin Gortat
- Nets acquire Jarrett Jack in trade with Cavs, Celtics
- Raptors re-sign Kyle Lowry
Blazers Sign Steve Blake
5:38pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
11:39am: The Blazers have struck a deal with Steve Blake, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). It’ll be a two-year deal for the biannual exception with a player option for the second season, according to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (on Twitter). The contract will be worth $4.2MM, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, so assuming that’s an estimate, it appears the point guard is getting the full $4,247,465 value of the biannual.
Blake, a client of Joel Bell, was reportedly enamored with the idea of returning to play in Portland, where he spent parts of four seasons with the Blazers over two separate stints. The Lakers, Heat, Wolves and Knicks have all shown interest in the 34-year-old over the course of the offseason, though Minnesota wasn’t as high on him by the time free agency started, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. While Blake spoke of his affection for the Lakers and Warriors, the two teams with which he spent last season, he’s headed back to Portland instead.
The Blazers appear to be using most of their mid-level to sign Chris Kaman, so that’s likely the extent of their free agent spending beyond the minimum salary, unless they can convince Mo Williams to sign for a salary of just 20% more than the roughly $2.77MM he earned last season. That’s the most they can give Williams, with whom the Blazers have only Non-Bird rights.
Renounced Players: Thursday
Many of the agreements signed during the July moratorium were contingent on teams clearing cap space to accommodate them, and to do so, teams must sometimes renounce their Non-Bird, Early Bird or full Bird rights to their own free agents to erase their cap holds from the books. Teams that renounce those rights no longer have the ability to exceed the cap to re-sign those players unless they use an exception like the mid-level or the biannual. The end of the moratorium usually brings about a fair number of renouncements, so we’ll track today’s here, with the latest on top:
- The Mavs have renounced Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion and Vince Carter, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports (Twitter link). That doesn’t mean the Mavs don’t intend to re-sign Nowitzki, as they already agreed to do. Teams that sign players to offer sheets are permitted to rescind their renouncements if the original club matches the offer sheet. In this case, the Mavs will rescind their renouncement of Nowitzki if the Rockets match the offer sheet for Chandler Parsons, and they’ll use cap space to re-sign Nowitzki if Houston doesn’t match.
- The Jazz renounced their rights to Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush, according to Deeks tweets.
- The Hornets renounced Jannero Pargo, Anthony Tolliver, DJ White, Luke Ridnour, Josh McRoberts and Chris Douglas-Roberts, Deeks notes in the same tweet. Just like the Mavs, the Hornets may rescind these renouncement if the Jazz, as they reportedly intend to do, match Charlotte’s offer sheet for Gordon Hayward.
Pacific Notes: Suns, Tucker, Sterling, Lakers
The Suns are more likely to spend wisely this summer now that their chances of landing Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James are all but over, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Phoenix wasn’t expected to offer the max to Gordon Hayward if the team had the chance to meet with him, as was the plan before Hayward inked his offer sheet with the Hornets. Here’s more on the Suns and the rest of the Pacific Division:
- Restricted free agent P.J. Tucker met Wednesday with Suns owner Robert Sarver and Jeff Hornacek, as Coro notes in the same piece, and Tucker’s reps at the Arete Sports Agency plan to continue the dialogue with the Suns today, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.
- The Suns originally planned to let 50th overall pick Alec Brown sign overseas for this coming season, but that was before fellow stretch power forward Channing Frye agreed to a deal with the Magic, Phoenix GM Ryan McDonough said, as Coro observes. Brown is drawing interest from a team in Spain in case he doesn’t end up on the Suns this year, according to Coro.
- Donald Sterling vowed never to sell the Clippers and threatened to maintain lawsuits against the NBA for the rest of his life, making those remarks during testimony Wednesday in probate court, as Linda Deutsch of The Associated Press details. The trial continues today to determine whether Sterling’s wife, Shelly, has the right to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
- Kobe Bryant said he would welcome former teammate Byron Scott as coach of the Lakers, citing their “tremendously close relationship” over the years, notes Sean Lewis of The Associated Press. Bryant also said that he was “extremely proud” of the team’s efforts to rebuild its roster, Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding observes.
- The Lakers remain in contact with free agent Kent Bazemore, tweets Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops.
Mavs Rumors: Williams, Carter, Blair, Marion
There’s strong mutual interest between the Mavs and Mo Williams, with Mavs GM Donnie Nelson having called him “the perfect fit in many respects,” reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Presuming the Rockets don’t match the Mavs’ offer sheet to Chandler Parsons, Dallas would like to re-sign Vince Carter for the $2.732MM room exception, but if Carter doesn’t bite, the Mavs would strongly consider using it on Williams, MacMahon writes. There’s more on Williams amid the latest from Dallas:
- If Carter does take that room exception, the Mavs are holding out hope that they can convince Williams to sign for the minimum salary, since he lives in the area and wants to be near his family, MacMahon tweets. Portland’s deal today with Steve Blake indeed gives the Blazers less of a shot to re-sign Williams, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com, but Bartelstein cautioned that there’s still a chance the combo guard stays in Portland.
- The Mavs are also targeting DeJuan Blair for the minimum, and that would be the only price they’d be willing to pay for him, MacMahon also tweets.
- Teams have been checking in with Shawn Marion, but there’s been no movement of any substance toward a deal, and the Mavs will remain in play if they miss out on Parsons, reports Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link).
- Ivan Johnson is a part of the Mavs’ summer league team, but there’s mutual optimism that his relationship with the team will continue into the fall, MacMahon writes in a separate piece. “He’s more than just a summer league guy for us,” Mavs GM Donnie Nelson said. “We’re definitely taking a peak, and we like what we see.”
Bulls, Nikola Mirotic Close To Deal
A deal between the Bulls and European prospect Nikola Mirotic is almost done, a source tells Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com. The terms are unclear, but his buyout from Real Madrid of Spain, which will cost the equivalent of more than $3MM, can be spread out over multiple seasons, Sam writes, making it much more feasible for the 6’10” forward to join the Bulls this year. Mirotic has reportedly already decided to come to the NBA for next season, though it appears he’s been seeking assurances from the Bulls that they won’t trade his rights.
Mirotic is the most intriguing of the NBA’s draft-and-stash prospects, with interest only growing since he became the 23rd overall pick in the 2011 draft. He put up modest numbers of 12.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per game for Real Madrid this past season, but he shot 40.9% from behind the three-point line.
The Bulls aren’t bound by the rookie scale, since it’s been three years since Mirotic was drafted, but they can only pay $600K of his buyout this season, meaning the rest would have to come out of Mirotic’s salary. Still, if Real Madrid is willing to spread the buyout payments, it might not require a salary larger than the $5.305MM mid-level exception to bring him stateside. Estimates have varied from well above that amount to only $3MM.
The Bulls will probably hold off until they know definitively that they’re out of the running for Carmelo Anthony before striking a deal with Mirotic, although that’s just my speculation. Anthony appears likely to re-sign with the Knicks, but he has yet to deliver his final decision.
Jazz Acquire Steve Novak
JULY 10TH: The trade is official, the Jazz announce via press release. The second-round pick going to Utah is New York’s 2017 selection that the Raptors acquired in a previous trade.
JULY 4TH: The Raptors and Jazz have struck an agreement on a trade that sends Steve Novak and a second-round pick to Utah, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Utah is giving up Diante Garrett, but Toronto plans to waive Garrett and his non-guaranteed minimum salary after the trade is official following the July moratorium, which runs through Wednesday, Wojnarowski adds.
Toronto appears to be making the move to clear room beneath the projected $77MM luxury tax line to accommodate a deal for Greivis Vasquez and perhaps other signings, with space tight following the team’s agreements with Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson. The team is reportedly closing in on a deal with Vasquez, but it only has roughly $7.5MM in flexibility beneath the tax threshold.
Novak was little-used in Toronto this past season after having been an integral part of the Knicks rotation the previous two years. He averaged just 10.0 minutes per game, but as usual, he was stellar from behind the arc, nailing 42.6% of his three-point attempts. He led the league with a 47.2% three-point percentage in 2011/12, and that summer he signed a four-year, $15MM deal that made him a pricey luxury at the end of the bench this past season for the Raptors.
Utah uses its ample cap flexibility to pick up one of the league’s premier three-point shooting specialists. Novak will make nearly $3.446MM this coming season and $3.75MM in 2015/16, but it seems like Utah is OK with the commitment as it slowly rebuilds.
Celtics Notes: Love, Rondo, Trade Exception
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge believes that Kevin Love would like to play in Boston, but he also understands that the presence of Rajon Rondo isn’t enough to attract the power forward, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald hears. Instead, it seems Love may be casting his eye southward. An NBA GM told Bulpett that his players have been talking about the possibility that if the Wolves don’t trade Love, he’ll opt out of his contract next summer and sign with the Heat.
“I don’t know what to think anymore, but guys are saying there’s no way Love stays with Minnesota,” the GM said. “And if they don’t trade him, he’ll just opt out next summer and go play with LeBron [James] in Miami.”
That assumes, of course, that James would still be in Miami himself. Love has been a hot topic of conversation in Boston ever since his weekend getaway to the Hub a month ago, and there’s more on Love and an incumbent Celtics star amid the latest on the C’s:
- The Wolves haven’t given the Celtics the names of any players they’d like Boston to get to sweeten the Celtics’ offer for Love, Bulpett writes in the same piece. Minnesota reportedly isn’t attracted to any combination of assets the Celtics currently hold.
- Rajon Rondo isn’t certain if he’ll mimic Carmelo Anthony‘s multi-city free agency tour when it’s his turn to hit the market next summer, as he tells Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe. For now, Rondo seems committed to the Celtics. “Obviously everybody is waiting on [Anthony] and LeBron, so I’m not anxious at all,” Rondo said. “I have a lot going on here. I can only worry about what I can control — that’s myself and my game. Obviously, nothing’s happened, but I still trust Danny [Ainge]. Danny wants to win, so we’ll make something happen.”
- Regardless of whether they can hook Love, the C’s will hold off on trading Rondo unless they receive an overwhelming offer, Bulpett hears.
- The Celtics deftly used every bit, and then some, of the $10,275,136 trade exception they had left over from last summer’s Nets trade to facilitate their three-way trade with the Nets and Cavs that became official this morning. The salaries for Marcus Thornton and Tyler Zeller, the players headed to Boston, total $10,278,760, but the NBA allows teams to exceed their trade exceptions by up to $100K to get deals done.
Nets Acquire Jarrett Jack In Deal With Cavs, Celts
10:06am: The second-rounder going from the Celtics to the Cavs is for 2015, according to Cleveland’s official announcement on the trade. It’s top-55 protected, and if it doesn’t fall within the final five picks of the second round, Boston’s obligation regarding the pick will be extinguished.
THURSDAY, 9:21am: The trade is official, the Nets announce.
“Jarrett is a proven NBA veteran who will add versatility to our backcourt,” Nets GM Billy King said in the team’s statement. “The team had a need in that area and we are excited that we were able to secure Jarrett to fill that role. Sergey is a player who we have followed closely for several years. He is a versatile forward and will be a welcome addition to our roster.”
WEDNESDAY, 10:02am: The Cavs will receive the draft rights to Ilkan Karaman, Christian Drejer and Edin Bavcic from the Nets, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. They were second-round picks in 2012, 2004 and 2006, respectively. The first-rounder going from Cleveland to Boston is top-10 protected in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and becomes unprotected for 2019, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link).
9:46am: The Cavs, Nets and Celtics will complete a three-team trade that sends Jarrett Jack to the Nets and opens up the cap flexibility necessary for Cleveland to give LeBron James a max contract, as Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe confirms (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported that the clubs were on the verge of a deal. Sergey Karasev will go to the Nets as well, while Marcus Thornton, Tyler Zeller, and a first-round pick are headed to Boston. The first-rounder the Celtics are getting is for 2016, as Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reported, and Holmes says that pick is coming from the Cavs (Twitter link). The Celtics send a future second-round pick to the Cavs, Holmes tweets.
It appears as though the Celtics will slip Thornton, who’s set to make $8.575MM next season, and Zeller, set for slightly more than $1.5MM, into the nearly $10.3MM trade exception left over from last year’s Paul Pierce trade, as Goodman pointed out. The Cavs No. 1 option is using the max-level cap flexibility the deal creates to chase LeBron, but if not, they’ll reportedly go after second-tier free agents, with Trevor Ariza apparently among their targets.
Cleveland and the Nets were reportedly working for weeks on a trade involving Jack and Thornton, but with the Cavs uninterested in taking back Thornton’s salary, the involvement of a third team became necessary. The Hawks were among the teams the Cavs were reaching out to, but the idea of acquiring Thornton was apparently a turn-off for them. Enter the Celtics, who’ve been looking to acquire assets necessary to enhance their standing for a Kevin Love trade.
The Nets end up with a backup point guard to replace Shaun Livingston, who signed with the Warriors. They also receive Karasev, just a year removed from having been the 19th overall pick in the 2013 draft, to help inject youth into a veteran-laded team. The Nets believe Jack could even start next to Deron Williams, as Livingston did for much of last season, while they were eyeing Karasev during the draft last year, TNT’s David Aldridge tweets.
Jusuf Nurkic To Join Nuggets This Season?
THURSDAY, 7:49am: KK Cedevita has announced Nurkic’s depature from the club (on Twitter; hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Cedevita agreed to allow his buyout to be spread over two seasons, so the Nuggets will pick up $650K and Nurkic will pick up the remaining $135K of this season’s tab, according to David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter links). The most Denver could pay without the money coming out of Nurkic’s NBA rookie scale contract would be $600K, so it would seem Nurkic may actually wind up paying $285K this season, assuming Pick’s figures are correct.
WEDNESDAY, 9:23am: Nurkic has decided to leave KK Cedevita in Croatia, and he’s working on a way to pay his buyout, which is the equivalent of $1.77MM, Pick tweets.
SATURDAY, 1:14pm: Contradicting previous reports, Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post hears that Nurkic’s buyout will not be an issue, and the first-round selection will join the Nuggets this season (Twitter link). Denver continues work on getting Nurkic over for summer league, but they’ve had little luck thus far, Demspey reveals in another tweet.
THURSDAY, 8:42am: Pick’s latest tweet indicates the buyout is worth 1.3 million euros, the equivalent of more than $1.774MM, seemingly making it even tougher for Nurkic and the Nuggets to reach a deal. He could only make less than $1.763MM on a rookie-scale contract with Denver next season, as our table of salaries for first-round picks shows.
7:37am: Nurkic is unlikely to sign with the Nuggets for next season, but the main hangup involves his buyout from KK Cedevita, his club in Croatia, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. The buyout would cost the equivalent of more than $1.36MM, according to Pick, which exceeds the $600K Excluded International Player Payment Amount. That means the difference would come out of Nurkic’s paycheck from the Nuggets were he to sign with the team this year.
JULY 2ND, 5:00pm: The Nuggets are insisting that No. 16 overall pick Jusuf Nurkic play in the NBA summer league if they’re to sign him this summer, but the center wants to spend the summer playing for his native Bosnia instead, Dejan Maksimovic of Nezavisne.com reports (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
Nurkic rocketed up draft boards in the weeks leading up to the June draft and even had some buzz of being a late lottery pick. While he’s not fully polished, many believe that Nurkic could blossom into one of the top big men to come out of this draft. The Nuggets liked Nurkic enough to trade the No. 11 pick (Doug McDermott) to Chicago for Nurkic (No. 16) and Gary Harris (No. 19).