Western Notes: Durant, Grizzlies, Spurs, Rockets
The Thunder absorbed a pair of discouraging losses to the Clippers and Warriors this week, but while their chances of title contention don’t look as strong as they did a few days ago, Kevin Durant is OK with that, as Royce Young of ESPN.com chronicles (on Twitter). Durant’s comments are particularly resonant against the backdrop of his free agency this summer, observes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com (Twitter link), especially in light of the report that the former MVP regards the Warriors as his top choice outside the Thunder.
“This is an exciting time for me,” Durant said. “I’m happy that we’re going through this because like I said it’s easy to be … we don’t want to be front-runners. That’s not who we are. That’s not who I am. And I’m not going to let the team be that way. When you’re losing, that’s when you really got to show your character and show who you are. We’re going to keep our heads up, all our guys are going to stay positive and keep working and learn from it.”
No team is as much of a front-runner as Golden State is, of course. See more from the Western Conference:
- Injuries have forced the Grizzlies to place a greater emphasis on younger players, from trade acquisitions Lance Stephenson and P.J. Hairston to incumbent reserves like JaMychal Green and Jarell Martin, as The Commercial Appeal’s Ronald Tillery examines.
- Suns interim coach Earl Watson was a major influence on San Antonio’s decision to sign Jonathon Simmons, stemming from his time as Simmons’ coach on the Spurs D-League affiliate last season, notes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News amid a larger look at the unlikely path the shooting guard took to the NBA.
- The Rockets assigned Montrezl Harrell and K.J. McDaniels to the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). They join Sam Dekker, who’s already on assignment from Houston.
Atlantic Notes: ‘Melo, Bargnani, Marks, Colangelo
A market for Carmelo Anthony would exist if the Knicks decide to trade him and he’s willing to waive his no-trade clause, but the Knicks shouldn’t expect to end up with a return that resembles what they gave up to trade for him five years ago, multiple NBA team executives tell Fred Kerber of the New York Post. An exec from an Eastern Conference team suggested New York could get an established player and a pick for ‘Melo, though he raised questions about his health, trade kicker and relative appeal compared to other stars, Kerber relays. That same exec also told Kerber that he doubts Anthony would waive his no-trade clause to go to relatively unappealing teams that the Knicks might view as desirable trade partners. Two of the executives with whom Kerber spoke said the Knicks shouldn’t have re-signed him in 2014 and instead would have been wise to have done a sign-and-trade at the time. See more from the Atlantic Division:
- Andrea Bargnani continues to draw offers from overseas, and Olimpia Milano team president Livio Proli claims that he wants to play in Europe, as Proli said to the Italian outlet Tuttosport, according to Eurohoops.net. The Italian team wants Bargnani for next season, while Turkey’s Galatasaray has made him an offer for the rest of this season, coach Ergin Ataman said, as Eurohoops.net also relays. The former No. 1 pick bought his way off the Nets last month.
- New Nets GM Sean Marks took an unconventional path to his job, but he’s leaning on what he learned from familiar front office stalwarts Pat Riley and Spurs bosses Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford, as Brian Lewis of the New York Post details.
- Bryan Colangelo confirmed to Dave McCarthy of Vice Sports Canada that he was a finalist for the Nets GM vacancy that went to Marks and talked about Bargnani and other players from his tenure as Raptors GM. Colangelo’s name has been linked in speculation to Sixers, where father and chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo is considering a front office addition.
And-Ones: Timberwolves, Gasol, Kings
Talks between Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and Grizzlies part-owner Steve Kaplan about a would-be deal for 30% of the Minnesota franchise have “hit a wall,” sources told Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. The proposed arrangement, which would reportedly involve Taylor eventually ceding control of the Wolves to Kaplan, isn’t dead, Krawczynski hears, but a source who spoke with Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune suggested no deal may ever come to pass. Kaplan has encountered trouble in his effort to sell his Grizzlies stake, a requirement before he buys into the Wolves, Krawczynski’s sources say. Regardless of what happens on that front, Taylor and Kaplan still must sort through issues about how much say Kaplan would have in hiring for the team’s GM and coaching positions and whether Taylor would indeed eventually give up control, Zgoda writes. For now, Taylor is preparing to make decisions about interim GM Milt Newton and interim coach Sam Mitchell on his own and is actively investigating his options, according to Zgoda. See more on the Wolves amid a look around the NBA:
- The Timberwolves are seeking an athletic wing player for their open roster spot, with Mitchell saying he wants someone with NBA experience who’d have a legitimate chance of making the opening night roster next season, Zgoda reports in the same piece. “We have to improve our athleticism,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think we’re a bad athletic team, but we’re not as athletic as we need to be. We need to look at guys who can defend, a guy who can shoot, and see how this team can look if we can spread the floor a little bit more.”
- The Bulls will have to continue to try to build a contender if they want to re-sign Pau Gasol, as he indicated to Marca.com (translation via HoopsHype), reiterating that he’ll opt out and that, all things being equal, he’d prefer to stay with Chicago. Money won’t be his first priority, Gasol also said, adding that the offer from the Bulls should nonetheless reflect that they value his performance.
- The Kings interviewed former Nets assistant GM Bobby Marks on Thursday for a job within their front office, as USA Today’s Sam Amick hears (Twitter link). Marks currently works as a writer for The Vertical on Yahoo Sports.
Cavs, Heat Among Teams Eyeing Marcus Thornton
FRIDAY, 8:28am: Thornton wanted to join the Heat and was disappointed when Udrih went unclaimed, according to Jackson. Miami had strong interest, and Thornton would still like to join the team next month when the Heat are able to sign someone again without going over the tax, but he’d prefer to find a job sooner, Jackson adds.
2:43pm: Thornton is interested in seeing whether the Sixers claim Udrih off waivers to reach the salary floor, a move that would take his entire $2,170,465 salary off Miami’s books for tax purposes and give the Heat enough flexibility to sign him immediately without going over the tax, notes Jackson (Twitter link). Udrih will remain on waivers until Wednesday.
TUESDAY, 12:47pm: The Cavaliers and Heat are among a group of three or four teams with an eye on recently released shooting guard Marcus Thornton, reports Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald first identified the Heat’s interest last week, while Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports wrote Monday that Miami was in talks with the Tony Dutt client. Thornton remains in wait and see mode, according to Watkins, which jibes with Jackson’s report that the 28-year-old is in no hurry to sign. He cleared waivers from Houston this weekend, so he’ll be eligible to take part in the postseason with any playoff-bound team as long as he signs before the end of the regular season.
Tax implications loom large for both Cleveland and Miami. The Cavs are limited to giving out no more than the minimum salary, which would give Thornton about $300K if he signed today and cost the Cavs about $1.1MM in combined salary and luxury tax payments. The Heat couldn’t sign Thornton until about a week to go in the season without going over the tax line again. Beno Udrih gave back $90K of his $2,170,465 salary in Monday’s controversial buyout deal, leaving him with $2,080,465 for the season and the Heat about $41,600 under the tax threshold, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (All Twitter links). They could use a prorated portion of their mid-level to outbid the Cavs, but that would also send Miami zooming back into the tax.
Thornton was part of the failed Donatas Motiejunas trade that was to have sent both to Detroit before it was voided, but the Pistons didn’t plan on using Thornton in the rotation as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press noted. He averaged 10.0 points in 18.8 minutes per game with the Rockets this season. Those numbers are up from last season but well off his career highs of 18.7 points and 34.9 minutes per contest he saw in 2011/12 with the Kings.
Financial Impact Of Deadline, Buyouts: Central
The effects of the trade deadline and buyout season are still being felt around the NBA as teams negotiate with new free agents and fill open roster spots. Hoops Rumors will be taking a team-by-team look at the financial ramifications of all the movement. We began earlier with a look at the Southwest and Pacific divisions, and we’ll continue with the Central Division:
Bucks
The trade deadline is usually the last opportunity for disappointing teams like the Bucks to lower their payrolls, but Milwaukee still managed to cut costs even without making a swap, thanks to some help from the Magic. The Bucks were in position to end up adding to their salary obligations when they waived Chris Copeland to sign Steve Novak to a prorated minimum-salary deal, but when the Magic claimed Copeland off waivers, the full $1.15MM salary on Copeland’s one-year contract went from Milwaukee’s books to Orlando’s. That left the Bucks with only their $295,327 obligation to Novak, and it takes some of the sting away from having lost Novak for the rest of the season when he suffered a sprained MCL just days into his Milwaukee tenure.
Bulls
The Bulls made a trade for the first time since July 2014, and in so doing they created a credit that will help them make another swap come the summer. Chicago wound up with a trade exception worth $2,854,940, the equivalent of Kirk Hinrich‘s pretrade salary. That’s even though the Bulls brought in Justin Holiday via the swap. Holiday is on a two-year contract for the minimum salary, so Chicago absorbed him into the minimum salary exception. That allows the Bulls to treat the offloading of Hinrich as its own, “non-simultaneous” deal, in the parlance of NBA trade regulations. The Bulls also realized a savings of $1,907,664 in payroll and $2,861,496 in projected tax penalties, though the $141,068 trade kicker they had to pay Hinrich takes away from that. Chicago took a nibble from its cap flexibility for next season, since Holiday’s $1,015,696 salary is guaranteed.
Cavaliers
It remains to be seen whether the separate trades that sent out Anderson Varejao and Jared Cunningham and brought in Channing Frye gave Cleveland better production on the court, but it’s certain that they saved the team heaps of money, at least in the short term. Frye’s $8,193,029 pay is $2,392,801 less than the combined total of Varejao’s $9,638,554 salary and Cleveland’s $947,276 obligation to Cunningham. The Cavs saved a whopping 3.75 times that amount in projected luxury tax payments, a figure that comes to $8,973,004. That’s a total savings of $11,365,805 in combined salary and payroll, less the $1,176,824 trade kicker Cleveland had to pay Varejao. Still, the ability to save about $10MM all told explains why the Cavs swallowed hard and traded away Varejao despite his close relationship with LeBron James and long tenure with the team. Frye will still have $15,227,883 over two years left on his contract after this season, while Varejao was only guaranteed $9,361,446 beyond this season and Cunningham was on a one-year deal. So, it’s an investment of long-term money for the Cavs, but it’s understandable, since it’s unlikely they’ll be so deep into the tax in years to come, when the salary cap and tax threshold will be much higher. The Cavs spent a tiny fraction of their savings on a 10-day contract for Jordan McRae, who’ll see $30,888 at a total cost to the team of $146,718 in combined salary and projected tax.
Pistons
The math for Detroit became considerably simpler when the Donatas Motiejunas trade came apart. That left only one swap, and the Tobias Harris deal was about as even an exchange of salaries as can be as far as this season is concerned. The Pistons dropped $244,497 from their payroll when they sent Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova to the Magic for Harris and his precisely $16MM salary, but the long-term effects paint an entirely different story. Harris is due $48MM over three years after this season, while the only guaranteed obligation to the players Detroit relinquished was a $400K partial guarantee for Ilyasova. The Pistons seemed likely to pick up Ilyasova’s full guarantee of $8.4MM had they kept him, but the deal is nonetheless a significant expenditure for the long term. Detroit has been quiet in the buyout market, investing in only a $49,709 10-day contract for Justin Harper.
Pacers
Indiana stood pat through the deadline and buyout season, though the team has reportedly agreed to sign Ty Lawson and is poised to complete a buyout, for an unknown amount, with Chase Budinger.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Nuggets Sign Axel Toupane To 10-Day Deal
THURSDAY, 2:49pm: The signing is official, the team announced via press release. The contract will cover five games, against the Nets, Mavs, Knicks, Suns Wizards.
TUESDAY, 9:36am: The Nuggets plan to sign Raptors affiliate player Axel Toupane to a 10-day contract, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The 23-year-old swingman has been playing for Toronto’s D-League team since the Raptors cut him from the NBA roster at the end of the preseason. Denver has an open roster spot and a need on the wing with Danilo Gallinari expected to miss the next month after tearing two ligaments in his right ankle, as The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported overnight.
Toupane is averaging 14.6 points and 5.6 rebounds in 29.7 minutes per game for Raptors 905, Toronto’s D-League outpost. It’s his first season in North America, as he spent the past several years with Strasbourg IG in his native France. He went scoreless in about 22 minutes of preseason action spread over two games on the NBA roster this past fall.
He’ll bolster the team’s depth in the wake of the Gallinari injury, one that presents a serious challenge to Denver’s ability to compete, in part because fellow small forward Wilson Chandler was already out for the season. The 27-year-old Gallinari is in the midst of a career year, fresh off a renegotiation and extension that ties him to Denver until at least the summer of 2017, when he can opt out. The eighth-year veteran’s 19.5 points per game are by far a career high, and he’s the leading scorer for the Nuggets, who have faint playoff hopes as they sit six games back of the eighth-place Rockets.
The Nuggets can’t receive an additional disabled player exception and already spent the one they had for Chandler in their deadline-day trade for D.J. Augustin and Steve Novak. A wrist injury threatens to sideline Jameer Nelson for the season, but Denver is still one long-term injury shy of qualifying for a 16th roster spot via hardship.
And-Ones: Perkins, Butler, Labissiere, Vesely
Players on the Cavaliers were furious when the team let Kendrick Perkins leave in free agency this summer and instead signed Sasha Kaun, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer said in an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” (video link; transcription via Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk). They valued Perkins for his emotional leadership and the role of enforcer that he played, even though he doesn’t offer much else on the court at this point in his career, as Haynes detailed. Perkins is averaging 11.3 minutes per game in 15 appearances for the Pelicans on a one-year deal this season. See more from around the NBA:
- The offer the Celtics reportedly made to the Bulls for Jimmy Butler left much to be desired from Chicago’s end, and the talks didn’t advance from there, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune hears (Twitter links).
- Former No. 1 draft prospect Skal Labissiere has continued to plummet in rankings, coming in only 19th in the latest mock draft from Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, notes Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. However, the University of Kentucky big man returned to the starting lineup Tuesday after a late-December benching and tallied 11 points and eight rebounds, numbers well above his averages of 6.4 points and 3.0 boards per game.
- Jan Vesely recently drew an offer from an NBA team for the equivalent of between $7.7MM and $8.8MM, according to an official from his Turkish team, Fenerbahce Ulker, notes Eurohoops.net. The official indicated that Fenerbahce wants to keep the former NBA sixth overall pick, and Vesely has no intention of leaving for an NBA team in the near future, tweets international journalist David Pick. Few NBA teams have the capacity to hand out contracts of that amount this late in the season, so I’d speculate that it was meant as an offer for the summer, when teams have much more to spend.
Atlantic Notes: Bennett, Fredette, Jackson
Anthony Bennett‘s camp thought the Raptors never gave him the opportunity to develop and feels coach Dwane Casey doesn’t trust young players, Sportsnet’s Michael Grange writes. GM Masai Ujiri acknowledged Bennett didn’t get as much of a chance in Toronto as the Raptors thought he would, and Casey admitted he probably could have done a better job of finding minutes for the former No. 1 overall pick, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun notes. Still, Grange contends minutes were available for Bennett had he shown he deserved them and believes that while Bennett went on four D-League assignments, he could have approached them more vigorously. See more from the Atlantic Division, with Bennett poised to come off waivers from Toronto at 4pm Central today:
- Jimmer Fredette is expected to rejoin the Knicks D-League affiliate now that his 10-day contract with New York is up, reports Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. The Knicks reportedly have no intention of re-signing the former BYU star to the NBA roster.
- Knicks team president Phil Jackson hasn’t given any indication that he wants to leave the team, interim coach Kurt Rambis said to reporters, including Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com (ESPN Now link).
- Nets GM Sean Marks insists owner Mikhail Prokhorov is on board with a slow rebuild, with Marks telling Brian Lewis of the New York Post that Prokhorov’s willingness to take a patient approach with the roster was clear while he was interviewing for the GM job. The owner reportedly believed as of a few weeks ago that the team could quickly return to contention this summer and said in January that, “I’m sure for the next season, we’ll be, I hope, [a] championship contender.”
- Marks also spoke of a desire to find players for next season via 10-day deals the rest of the way this year and said that while he’s open to hiring a coach who runs a system unfamiliar to him, he’ll insist on someone he already has a relationship with, as Lewis relays in the same piece.
- The Celtics assigned rookie R.J. Hunter to the D-League today, the team announced (Twitter link). That’s trip No. 3 for last year’s No. 28 pick.
Pacers, Ty Lawson Deep In Talks
12:27pm: Lawson has gained traction in conversation with two other teams, but the talks with the Pacers are the most serious, league sources told Charania for a full story.
12:00pm: The Pacers and Ty Lawson are in “strong discussions” about a would-be signing, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Lawson is due to clear waivers from the Rockets at 4pm Central today following a buyout deal that beat Tuesday’s deadline for the point guard to remain playoff-eligible for other teams. Indiana has about $1.9MM left on its room exception, while the prorated minimum would give Lawson only about $300K.
The team has appeared to have interest in an upgrade at the point, reportedly offering George Hill to the Hawks for Jeff Teague before last month’s trade deadline. Hill is a combo guard, like backups Rodney Stuckey and Joe Young, so the addition of Lawson would give the team the pure point guard it lacks. Lawson averaged 9.6 assists against just 2.5 turnovers per game last season before bottoming out with Houston this year. He dished out just 3.4 assists per game with the Rockets, and his 5.8 points per contest are a career low as he faded to a bench role behind Patrick Beverley. It was largely a matter of lost confidence, people around the Rockets reportedly believe.
Indiana would have to waive someone to make room for Lawson, since the team is at the 15-man roster limit, and every Pacer is signed through at least the end of the season. The team is just a game and a half up on ninth-place Washington in the fight for the playoffs, but Indiana has emphasized long-term development on the end of its bench. Rakeem Christmas, last year’s 36th overall pick, has spent most of the season in the D-League and has still yet to appear in an NBA game, while second-year man Shayne Whittington has logged just 10 NBA minutes this season amid heavy D-League playing time. Christmas has a full guarantee of slightly more than $1MM for next season, but Whittington’s contract carries no guarantee beyond this season.
How Players Fared Financially In Buyouts
Ten players relinquished part of their salaries in buyout deals between the trade deadline and Tuesday’s de facto buyout deadline, and none of them have benefited financially as much as David Lee has. The 11th-year veteran gave up just $458,575 of the $15,493,680 he originally had coming to him from the Celtics and scored a deal worth the $2,085,671 that the Mavericks had left on their room exception, a profit of $1,627,096. Add to that the tax advantage of working in Texas, a state with no income tax, instead of Massachusetts, and it’s easy to see how the Mark Bartelstein client has every reason to be glad about his new team.
The others on this year’s buyout list didn’t fare nearly as well. Steve Novak, another Bartelstein client, gained $8,017 between his Nuggets buyout and Bucks contract, but he’s the only player other than Lee known to have come out ahead. Kris Humphries pulled off an even exchange, while everyone else so far appears to have lost money. The enchantment of the Heat loomed large, as Beno Udrih relinquished $90K to help the Heat avoid the tax, and with an injury that’s expected to keep him out until at least May, his prospects are bleak for finding a contract to offset that loss. Joe Johnson signed a deal that gives him $2,585,519 less than what he gave up from his Nets contract to play in Miami. That’s the largest loss in terms of raw dollars among those recently doing buyouts, though Florida is another state without an income tax, so that’s a mitigating factor.
It’s possible that other players will arrange buyouts between now and the end of the season, but less motivation exists to do so, since Tuesday was the final day for players to hit waivers and retain eligibility to participate in the playoffs with another team.
Here’s a look at the known financials of the buyouts from the past two weeks. The figures reflect pretax amounts.
- David Lee, Celtics (forfeited $458,575) — Signed with Mavericks (contract worth $2,085,671)
- Steve Novak, Nuggets (forfeited $416,886) — Signed with Bucks (contract worth $424,903)
- Kris Humphries, Suns (forfeited $1MM) — Signed with Hawks (contract worth $1MM)
- J.J. Hickson, Nuggets (forfeited $396,242) — Signed with Wizards (contract worth $366,337)
- Beno Udrih, Heat (forfeited $90K) — Free agent
- Andrea Bargnani, Nets (forfeited $1,551,659 combined for this season and next) — Free agent
- Joe Johnson, Nets (forfeited $3MM) — Signed with Heat (contract worth $414,481)
- Andre Miller, Timberwolves (forfeited unknown amount*) — Signed with Spurs (contract worth $396,844)
- Ty Lawson, Rockets (forfeited unreported amount) — On waivers (scheduled to clear today at 4pm Central)
- Kevin Martin, Timberwolves (forfeited unreported amount) — On waivers (scheduled to clear today at 4pm Central)
* — The amount of Minnesota’s obligation to Miller went down by $256,333 as part of the buyout deal, but that doesn’t account for any reduction in the amount the league pays Miller. The 17th-year veteran was on a one-year contract for the minimum salary, so the Wolves were only responsible for the equivalent of the two-year veteran’s minimum salary, worth $947,276 for the full season. The NBA was to pick up the tab for the difference between that and Miller’s full $1,499,187 salary for veterans of 10 or more years, but it’s unclear how much the league avoids paying as a result of the buyout.
The Basketball Insiders Salary Pages were used in the creation of this post.