Rockets Trading Marcus Morris?
The Rockets are deciding between a pair of deals, and that's why they've made Marcus Morris inactive for tonight's game, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Grantland's Zach Lowe speculates that whatever deal Houston makes will cut $1.5MM-$2MM from next year's cap figure so the team can fit in a max deal for soon-to-be free agent Dwight Howard (Twitter links). Rockets coach Kevin McHale said earlier today he'd be "shocked" if the team made a deadline move, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle wrote, but when Feigen asked McHale this evening why Morris was inactive, the coach said, "Talk to Daryl," in reference to GM Daryl Morey (Twitter link).
HoopsWorld's Steve Kyler hears Morris is being traded to make room for Terrence Jones, whom we heard this morning the team is open to moving. A deal that would send Jones out is unlikely unless it brings back a major piece, according to Kyler.
If a deal goes down, it would be the sixth straight year that Morey and the Rockets have made a deadline move. Houston is currently 29-26 and in the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. It would be somewhat surprising to see them open up space for a rookie like Jones as they compete for a postseason berth. Lowe believes that, in addition to cap space, the Rockets are looking for a deal that makes them better in the short term than not.
Pacers GM Says Danny Granger Won’t Be Traded
Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld heard from an executive who said Danny Granger was no longer untouchable, and could be dealt before the deadline. Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard responded with a strong denial, saying that executive has it wrong, as Kennedy notes via Twitter.
Most of the talk surrounding Granger of late seemed to indicate a deadline deal is unlikely, with a greater probability that the Pacers would move him in the offseason. That sentiment was echoed by ESPN.com's Chad Ford as he chatted today and shared that rival executives believed the Pacers would likely stick with Granger through the deadline. Ford speculated that the Pacers could trade Granger by tomorrow if the right deal came along, but it appears Indiana is standing pat.
Granger has yet to make his season debut, but appears close to coming back from an injury that the Pacers have called patellar tendinitis. Kennedy hears that Granger actually had a small hole in the cartilage on his knee, which is why he's been unable to return all season. He's due $14MM next season in the final year of his deal, so any team that thinks about taking him on in a trade this summer will no doubt want to see Granger demonstrate he's 100% before the end of the season.
Clippers, Jazz Unlikely To Make Deals
The Clippers and Jazz have been two of the teams most frequently linked to trade talk, with L.A. reportedly involved in the Kevin Garnett sweepstakes while Utah figures out what to do with all of its expiring contracts. They've even been tied together in a rumored Paul Millsap/Eric Bledsoe deal. Still, Marc Stein of ESPN.com is hearing "mostly standing-pat rumbles" when inquiring about both teams (Twitter link). TNT's David Aldridge echoes that sentiment as far as the Clippers are concerned (Twitter link). On top of that, Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said today that the team doesn't expect to make any deals, notes Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
Tax concerns appear to be complicating talks for both teams, Grantland's Zach Lowe tweets. They're both right under the $70.307MM tax line. Lowe's math has both teams a little bit closer to the line than my figures from this weekend, but either way it makes it difficult for those teams to swing trades, likely necessitating them to take back less salary in any deal — something that would have an especially chilling effect on any moves for the Clippers, since they'd probably be looking to add to their team, and Lowe has them at about $150K beneath the tax line.
Just today, we've heard about the Jazz's talks with the Wolves about Paul Millsap and L.A.'s brief call to the Hawks about Josh Smith. Stein cautions that much can change in the next 20 or so hours before the trade deadline, but as of now, it looks like the Jazz and Clippers will move past the deadline with their teams intact.
Pistons Rumors: Bynum, Villanueva, Maxiell
The Pistons have already been in one major trade this season, sending away Tayshaun Prince, thelast link to their 2004 championship team, in a package that brought back Jose Calderon. Here's the latest on whether another deal could be on the horizon, and more from Detroit:
- Mark Bartelstein, the agent for Pistons guard Will Bynum, told Shams Charania of RealGM his client won't be leaving Detroit at the deadline. Bynum, 30, is on an expiring deal, and but it appears the Pistons aren't interested in using him as a trade chip.
- There's little doubt that Charlie Villanueva will exercise his $8.58MM player option for next season, and the power forward gave strong indications to Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press that he won't opt out. "You know what I'm going to do. Think I'm going to leave that money?" Villanueva said (Twitter link).
- MLive's David Mayo estimates there's a 35% chance the Pistons make a trade (Twitter link). He tabs Bynum and Jason Maxiell the likeliest to go, though if Bynum's agent is correct that he won't be dealt, the chances of Detroit making a deal are probably even slimmer.
Eastern Rumors: Jerebko, Stuckey, Ellington
Jonas Jerebko and Rodney Stuckey are the two Pistons players other teams ask about most, and sources tell Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press that while Detroit is likely to wait to make another major move until summer, a smaller deal isn't out of the question. "You have already had the main course. You aren't getting seconds," a source told Ellis, referencing the Jose Calderon/ Tayshaun Prince swap before adding, "You might get dessert."
While we wait to bite into the sweet spot of trade deadline chatter in the days to come, here's more of what we're hearing from the Eastern Conference:
- Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer checks in with Wayne Ellington, who's enjoying his expanded role with the Cavaliers and would like to stay with the team as he eyes restricted free agency this summer.
- Cavs owner Dan Gilbert risks alientating Kyrie Irving if he doesn't get over his frustration from 2010 and make a push for LeBron James in 2014, opines fellow Plain Dealer columnist Bud Shaw.
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel gives his thoughts on why James hasn't put an end to talk about whether he'd return to the Cavs, surmising that James would be wise not to box himself in with more than 16 months to go before he can hit free agency.
- Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com looks at a few questions the Sixers will face heading into the second half regarding trades, Doug Collins and Andrew Bynum.
- Nets center Brook Lopez is angling for a spot on Team USA, as Tim Bontemps of the New York Post observes.
Teams Close To The Tax Line
As Thursday's trade deadline approaches, one of the most pressing concerns for many league executives will be whether a proposed deal will push their teams into or out of the league's luxury tax. This year, the tax threshold is $70.307MM, and any team that finishes the season above that figure must pay the league a dollar for each dollar it exceeds the cap.
Next season, the penalties become even more severe, as taxpaying teams will have to pay at least $1.50 for every dollar over. Teams above the tax "apron," the point $4MM above the tax line, will no longer be able to accept players in sign-and-trade deals as of this summer. In 2014/15, teams that have been taxpayers for at least three years in a row get socked with an even stiffer tax rate of at least $2.50 for each dollar over. Executives who are looking ahead may want to avoid the tax this year to get out of that repeater rate.
The league uses a slightly different formula than its standard team salary measurements to determine which teams must pay the tax, counting only the bonus money the team pays out at the end of the year, rather than projected figures. The NBA also adds the difference between a first- or second-year player's minimum salary and what a third-year player would make to a team's tax figure, moving some clubs a few hundred thousand dollars higher. That means some teams are either slightly closer or farther away from the tax than indicated here, but not by so much that it pushes a club over or under the line.
The Grizzlies have already made a pair of trades that took them from about $4MM over the tax line to more than $8MM below it. So, they're not on either list here showing teams less than $5MM above and below the tax. The numbers have been rounded to the nearest $1K.
Teams less than $5MM above tax line
- Warriors: +$849K
- Celtics: +$1.275MM
- Bulls: +$3.754MM
Teams less than $5MM below tax line
- Spurs: -$749K
- Thunder: -$826K
- Clippers: -$953K
- Pistons: -$1.741MM
- Jazz: -$3.237MM
- Hawks: -$3.378MM
- Raptors: -$3.379MM
- Pacers: -$4.013MM
HoopsWorld, ShamSports and Larry Coon's NBA Salary Cap FAQ were used in the creation of this post.
Kings Rumors: Trades, Arena, Spurs
Talk about Sacramento, Seattle and the future of the Kings dominated the yesterday's joint press conference held by commissioner David Stern and deputy Adam Silver. Stern said that he doesn't believe the tug-of-war between Sacramento and Seattle will ultimately come down to money, as Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty notes, but the Bee's Ailene Voisin believes Stern made it clear that economics are at the heart of the matter. Here's more about whether players or the team itself will soon be departing Sacramento:
- The team has the second-worst record in the Western Conference, at 19-35, but Kings GM Geoff Petrie said "it's very unlikely" he'll trade away any of the team's top players, as Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee notes.
- The NBA vetted Sacramento's arena plan last year, and mayor Kevin Johnson believes that, coupled with a lack of pending lawsuits, gives the city an advantage over Seattle, as Cowbell Kingdom's Jonathan Santiago observes, via Sulia.
- Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News compares the small-market Spurs and Kings, noting that while San Antonio's newer arena has helped keep the Spurs in town, its isolated location on the east side of the city could cause trouble in the future.
Latest On Josh Smith
10:07am: The Suns aren't among the teams making a play for Smith, as Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News writes at the end of his league-wide roundup. They, like other teams, are wary of giving Smith a max deal in the summer, according to Lawrence.
9:00am: The Bucks, Nets, Celtics, 76ers and Wizards are among the many involved in talks for Hawks forward Josh Smith, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Other teams are engaged as well, and there's a strong belief that Smith will be on the move before Thursday's trade deadline, according to Wojnarowski. Smith will be an unrestricted free agent at season's end, and he believes he's deserving of a maximum-salary contract. It appears as though the Hawks are unwilling to meet that demand, and that has apparently sparked interest in a deal.
The Nets were reportedly making a strong push for Smith as recently as a week ago, but it's clear they have competition. The Hawks seem to be in a position of strength, with multiple teams going after a player who's likely the best player on the trading block as the deadline approaches. Atlanta, with less than $18.5MM in firm commitments for next season, looks like it's set up to have the cap room to add a pair of maximum-salary players this summer. Dwight Howard is an Atlanta native, so the Hawks could be a viable option if he elects not to re-sign with the Lakers. When I examined Smith's trade candidacy a couple of weeks ago, I predicted Hawks GM Danny Ferry would hold on to Smith in hopes that he might want to recruit Howard, the best man in his wedding, back to Georgia. Even if that doesn't happen, and Smith signs elsewhere, the Hawks would at least have a ton of cap room to play with.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported a week ago that the Hawks are looking for "a quality young center" in return for Smith. That's an asset the Celtics don't possess, and I'm not sure either the Nets or Hawks would have interest in including Brook Lopez in a Smith deal. Larry Sanders of the Bucks, Kevin Seraphin of the Wizards and Spencer Hawes of the Sixers are young centers who've shown promise, but perhaps not enough to entice Ferry and the Hawks.
Smith is making $13.2MM in the final season of his deal, which includes a 15% trade kicker. Since he signed his contract under the old CBA, the team that acquires him in a trade must pay the extra money. If Smith is traded at Thursday's deadline, the kicker would amount to approximately $1.3MM, or 15% of the prorated amount remaining on his salary this season.
Nuggets Likely To Stand Pat Despite Offers
Many teams want to engage the Nuggets in trade talks before the deadline, given Denver's stockpile of versatile players, but GM Masai Ujiri still appears unlikely to make a move, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). That's in line with coach George Karl's comments from a little over a week ago that there's only a slim chance the team will do a deal. The Nuggets have a $13MM trade exception that's the largest among those set to expire at the deadline, so that could be part of the reason teams continue to try to get the Nuggets to rethink their stance.
The Nuggets have hit the All-Star break in fifth place in the Western Conference, but despite a favorable schedule down the stretch, there are doubts about how far the team can go. Though Denver's front office is "projecting calm," the most common prediction that executives from other teams have about the Nuggets' playoff chances is that they'll be eliminated in the second round, as Grantland's Zach Lowe revealed this week.
Denver gauged the Celtics' interest in trading Kevin Garnett, but KG wouldn't waive his no-trade clause to head there. The Nuggets have fielded plenty of calls about Timofey Mozgov, though they appear unlikely to move the soon-to-be restricted free agent unless they get an overwhelming offer. Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio reported Friday that the Nuggets have interest in J.J. Redick, but conversation about him has dried up of late, since Redick, a free agent this summer, wants to stay in Orlando. Instead, the team could pursue a small-scale deal involving Wilson Chandler, Corey Brewer or Anthony Randolph, Amico wrote.
Mozgov, Brewer and Julyan Stone are the only Nuggets on expiring contracts this year. Andre Iguodala is set to make $16.155MM in the final year of his deal next season, but he has an early-termination option, and whether he exercises that seems likely to be the most significant storyline of the offseason for the Nuggets. He hasn't committed one way or the other, but he's expressed a desire to stick around in Denver.
Jazz, Clippers Interested In Millsap, Bledsoe Swap
There's mutual interest between the Clippers and Jazz in a deal that would have point guard Eric Bledsoe and power forward Paul Millsap trading places, report Ramona Shelburne and Marc Stein of ESPN.com. While Clippers vice president of basketball ops Gary Sacks says the team is not actively shopping Bledsoe or anyone else on the team's roster, it's clear the team is open to making a move of some kind, particularly with Bledsoe, who's also reportedly been at the heart of discussion with the Celtics about Kevin Garnett.
A pair of sources insisted to ESPN that the Clippers wouldn't make a move before the trade deadline, but two other sources gave Shelburne and Stein indications that the Clippers and Jazz will at least explore whether a Bledsoe-Millsap deal is workable. L.A. would have to add close to $6.4MM worth of salary to the deal to make the numbers match, as there's a wide gap between Millsap's $8.6MM take this season and Bledsoe's $1.7MM. Shelburne and Stein hear the Clippers are reluctant to break up their roster, given the team's 17-game winning streak earlier this season.
The Jazz have been giving mixed signals on whether they're more likely to trade Millsap or Al Jefferson, both of whom will be free agents this summer. The Nets appear to have interest in Millsap as well, and the Trail Blazers have also been linked to the power forward. Trading Millsap away would open up minutes for former No. 3 overall pick Derrick Favors at the four in Utah, and Bledsoe would strengthen the team's backcourt, which has been a weakness. Millsap would probably have to come off the bench for the Clippers, unless coach Vinny Del Negro wanted to play him or Blake Griffin out of position.