Free Agent Rumors: ‘Melo, Gasol, Hayward, Jazz
The Knicks made a call to Carmelo Anthony shortly after free agency began overnight to remind him of their desire to keep him in New York, as Al Iannazzone details. That’s not surprising, of course, and while the Knicks feel confident in their ability to reel Anthony back to the Big Apple, his first face-to-face is today with the Bulls. Here’s more from the first day of free agency:
- The Lakers, Bulls, Mavs and Warriors made the first calls to Pau Gasol, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter).
- The Jazz spoke with restricted free agent Gordon Hayward tonight, a league source tells Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (on Twitter). Both sides are expected to continue talks later today. Utah also has high interest in retaining Marvin Williams, Jones says (Twitter links).
- A league source tells Joe Freeman of The Oregonian (on Twitter) that the meeting between the Blazers and Spencer Hawes “went very well.”
- The Lakers, Heat, Bulls and Thunder all reached out to Caron Butler, according to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link).
- K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune adds Kirk Hinrich to the list of free agents with whom the Bulls have had contact since last night (Twitter link).
- After the Hawks called Kent Bazemore and the Celtics followed suit, the Mavs, Lakers and Suns also made contact with him, in that order, Kennedy tweets.
- The Celtics contacted Jordan Hill directly and also spoke to his reps at BDA Sports Management, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News (on Twitter).
- The Rockets will meet with James Johnson, TNT’s David Aldridge tweets.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Cavs Notes: Irving, Hawes, Miles
The Cavs used the No. 1 overall pick on Andrew Wiggins last week, but GM David Griffin is making a concerted effort to engineer other significant upgrades this summer. He’ll also be at work trying to keep some of his club’s existing talent around. Here’s the latest from Cleveland:
- New coach David Blatt is a part of the Cavs’ meeting tonight with extension candidate Kyrie Irving, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
- Stretch big man Spencer Hawes is drawing interest from a bunch of contenders including the Blazers, Rockets, and Mavs, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The Clippers and the incumbent Cavs were previously reported as also being interested in Hawes.
- Unrestricted free agent C.J. Miles will meet with the Pacers on Tuesday, tweets Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Southwest Rumors: ‘Melo, Deng, Harris, Lowry
The Mavs are prioritizing a meeting with Carmelo Anthony before locking in a date with LeBron James, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. That speaks to the belief around the league that LeBron is staying in Miami, Berger adds. There’s more on the Mavs within the latest from the Southwest Division:
- The Mavericks were the first team on the phone with Luol Deng‘s representatives tonight, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
- The Mavs‘ first face-to-face meeting tonight is between owner Mark Cuban and point guard Devin Harris, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
- Rockets GM Daryl Morey has traveled to Philadelphia to meet with free agent guard Kyle Lowry tonight, a league source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). Coach Kevin McHale is also there for the pitch, according to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link).
- Andray Blatche has been telling people around the league that he may end up with the Pelicans, sources tell Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard the Nets big man linked to New Orleans.
Celtics Rumors: Thomas, Bradley, Bazemore
The term “fireworks” has been a popular one to describe the offseason ahead for the Celtics, and with July 4th approaching, it seems like the appropriate time to set some off. Here’s the latest on Boston’s initial forays into free agency:
- The Celtics were the first team on the horn with restricted free agent Isaiah Thomas when free agency started, a source tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). President of basketball operations Danny Ainge made the call.
- Restricted free agent guard Avery Bradley has received calls from the Celtics and 76ers since free agency started, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (on Twitter).
- Unrestricted free agent Kent Bazemore received a personal call from Celtics coach Brad Stevens after midnight, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). The Mavs and Hawks are also showing interest.
Pacific Rumors: Gasol, Clippers, Lakers, Kings
Pau Gasol won’t be having any in-person meetings tonight, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. The big man will be taking calls at his home in Los Angeles instead. The market for him will take shape over the first week of free agency as Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James make their choices. Of course, many free agents will find themselves in a holding pattern until those two decide on where they’ll sign. In the meantime, here’s more news from the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers registered interest in Carmelo Anthony tonight and will be meeting with him on Thursday, a source tells Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link).
- Spencer Hawes is a free agent target for the Clippers, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. The Clips targeted him at the trade deadline.
- The Clippers are interested in bringing back Darren Collison, Glen Davis, and Danny Granger in that preferred order, Markazi also reports (on Twitter).
- One of the top off-season priorities for the Clippers is upgrading at small forward and they will reach out to Paul Pierce and Trevor Ariza, Markazi tweets. Clippers coach/president Doc Rivers will recruit his former pupil Pierce while Chris Paul will work on his former teammate Ariza (link).
- The Lakers like Ariza, Kyle Lowry, Luol Deng, and Chandler Parsons, but won’t offer any of them deals longer than one or two years, tweets Mark Medina of the Daily News.
- The Kings will look to add a point guard even if they re-sign restricted free agent Isaiah Thomas, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee.
Qualifying Offers: Monday
Teams must decide today whether to tender qualifying offers to their players eligible for restricted free agency or lose the right to match offers from other teams. We’ll round up all of today’s qualifying offer decisions here:
- The Pacers declined to tender a qualifying offer to Lavoy Allen, according to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). Still, there’s mutual interest in a new deal, Buckner adds (on Twitter).
- The Hawks extended a qualifying offer to Mike Scott, notes Mark Deeks of ShamSports (on Twitter).
- No surprise here: Chandler Parsons got his QO from the Rockets, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.
- The Pacers won’t extend a QO to Evan Turner, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
- Kevin Seraphin officially got his qualifying offer from the Wizards, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com.
- As expected, the Warriors won’t extend a QO to Jordan Crawford, according to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
- The Hawks have extended a qualifying offer to Shelvin Mack, a source tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
- The Bucks have told forward-center Ekpe Udoh he will not be tendered an offer thus making him an unrestricted free agent, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (on Twitter).
- The Grizzlies have passed on making a qualifying offer to Ed Davis, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Davis was reportedly a favorite of former CEO Jason Levien, but with Zach Randolph having agreed to an extension, it appears that Davis isn’t quite as highly valued in Memphis as he once was. His qualifying offer would have been worth $4,268,609, a slightly smaller amount than he was originally in line for, as I explained.
- No shock here, but the Pistons extended a qualifying offer to Greg Monroe, tweets Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News, preserving their right to match offers for the fifth-rated player in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings. The qualifying offer is worth nearly $5.5MM, but he’ll command much more than that.
- The Pelicans will not give Darius Miller a qualifying offer, reports John Reid of The Times Picayune. The offer would have been worth more than $1.115MM.
- The Spurs have tendered a qualifying offer to Aron Baynes, notes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (on Twitter). It’s worth more than $1.115MM, the same amount as Miller’s would have been.
- The Knicks have elected not to make a qualifying offer to Toure’ Murry, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). They’d like to re-sign him nonetheless, Stein adds in a second tweet, but other teams have interest, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt says (on Twitter). The offer would have been worth more than $1.016MM.
- Othyus Jeffers and Robbie Hummel won’t receive qualifying offers from the Wolves, the team announced (on Twitter). The offers would have been for amounts slightly greater than $1.148MM and $1.016MM, respectively.
Free Agency Primer
The clock is ticking down toward the start of free agency, and we at Hoops Rumors have been preparing for months to help you sort through the chaos that always ensues this time of year. Here’s a look at all of the ways you can find out more about NBA free agency through Hoops Rumors:
- The Hoops Rumors 2014 Free Agent Tracker helps you stay on top of all the action, and as July unfolds, it will provide tools to sort free agents by team, salary, contract length and other variables.
- Our 2014 Free Agents list shows this summer’s free agents alphabetically by position, and it will be continually updated as the names dwindle to give you an idea of who’s still available.
- We previewed the summer for all 30 teams in our Offseason Outlook Series.
- See how the top free agents stack up in our 2014 Free Agent Power Rankings, and how those rankings have evolved in the months leading up to the start of free agency.
- Our Free Agent Stock Watch Series goes in depth on some of the most intriguing free agents, examining how the market is shaping up for each of them.
- Agents will play a critical role in the weeks and months ahead, as always, and our Agency Database shows who’s representing whom.
- We broke down how much money LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony can make if they sign maximum-salary contracts this year.
- Our Hoops Rumors Glossary has you covered if you want clarity on the difference between Early Bird rights and Non-Bird rights, how much a team can spend using the Mid-Level Exception, or answers to a litany of other questions.
Magic Waive Jameer Nelson
The Magic have waived Jameer Nelson, the team announced via press release, confirming a report from Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The team was facing a July 15th deadline to either waive him or guarantee his full $8MM salary. His $2MM partial guarantee for next season will remain on Orlando’s books.
Robbins suggests the move is a precursor to a pursuit of experienced players in free agency, perhaps speeding up Orlando’s slow-moving rebuild. The Magic waived Doron Lamb earlier today, traded Arron Afflalo last week, and are reportedly looking to rid themselves of Jason Maxiell, paving the way to plenty of cap flexibility.
The team’s acquisition of rookie point guard Elfrid Payton on draft night Thursday seemed a harbinger of Nelson’s departure. Nelson had nonetheless maintained his role of starting point guard even with the team experimenting with Victor Oladipo at the point last season. The 32-year-old has spent his entire 10-year NBA career with the Magic, and had been the last remaining player from the 2009 Finals team.
Nelson averaged 12.1 points and 7.0 assists against 2.4 turnovers in 32.0 minutes per game last season. The Steve Mountain client seems like a decent fit for the taxpayer’s mid-level exception of $3.278MM, or perhaps more if he’s willing to sign a short-term deal.
Eastern Notes: Irving, Nets, Bucks, Raptors
David Blatt‘s hiring as Cavs coach elicited conversations between Kyrie Irving and the team that were more positive in tone than any others to date, a source tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Cavs officials are heading to Irving’s home in New Jersey to present a max extension offer to Irving as soon as the extension window opens tonight, as Broussard notes, confirming a report from earlier this month (Twitter link). Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- The Nets and Bucks won’t be able to trade with each other during 2014/15 as a result of the Jason Kidd deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter).
- Some in the Raptors organization are concerned that teams will make offers to Kyle Lowry and Greivis Vasquez at figures that Toronto is unwilling to match, according to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star.
- The Raptors failed to waive Tyler Hansbrough by the Sunday guarantee date listed in his contract, so his partial guarantee of $1MM for next season has become a fully guaranteed $3,326,235 salary.
- The Wizards had been making Martell Webster available in trade talk before his back surgery, which likely torpedoed movement toward any deal, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- Washington reciprocates Garrett Temple‘s interest in returning, sources tell J. Michael of CSNWashington.com, who deems the point guard’s return to the Wizards as likely.
- Soon-to-be restricted free agent Ekpe Udoh has changed agents, going with Brandon Grier and Michael Silverman of Athlete Management Group, USA Today’s Sam Amick tweets. The Bucks big man had previously been with Chris Luchey of CGL Sports.
Magic Looking To Unload Jason Maxiell
The Magic are expected to waive big man Jason Maxiell if a few days if they can’t find a trade partner for him, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). His non-guaranteed salary for 2014/15 becomes fully guaranteed for $2.5MM if he’s not waived by the end of July 10th, as our Schedule of Contract Guarantee Dates shows.
Maxiell played in just 34 games for Orlando last season after signing a two-year, $5MM contract to leave Detroit last summer. He averaged 3.2 points and 14.4 minutes per contest, numbers he’d eclipsed in every previous season since 2006/07. The Magic’s drafting of power forward Aaron Gordon at No. 4 overall Thursday seemed to further push the 31-year-old Maxiell out of the picture in Orlando.
It seems unlikely that the Magic would use the cap flexibility they would free up by waiving Maxiell to add a marquee free agent, given the team’s slow approach to rebuilding. Still, there appears to be little reason for Orlando to keep a scarcely used veteran around at more than the minimum salary.