Pacers Trade Collison, Jones To Mavs For Mahinmi
THURSDAY, 4:51pm: Indiana announced the deal through an official press release.
WEDNESDAY: The Pacers have traded Darren Collison and Dahntay Jones to the Mavs for Ian Mahinmi, who will sign a four-year, $16MM contract as part of the deal, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com (Twitter links). Jones is due $2.9MM next season and Collison about $2.3MM, so, as John Hollinger of ESPN.com points out, that eats into the amnesty bid the team could make for Elton Brand (Twitter link). Presumably, this also takes Dallas out of the running for Aaron Brooks.
The Pacers are expected to either match Roy Hibbert's offer sheet from the Blazers or sign him outright, so Mahinmi will likely be the backup center for the team. Indiana also has 7'0" Miles Plumlee, the team's first-round draft pick.
Mavericks Officially Amnesty Haywood
Odds & Ends: Nets, Brooks, Heat, Turiaf, Blazers
It's been another busy day of NBA free agency, and no team has been busier than the Nets, who've either signed, re-signed, acquired or traded 13 players today, according to the count of New York Times reporter Howard Beck (Twitter link). Many of those moves came as the team finalized earlier deals, like the swap for Joe Johnson, but some of the news was fresh, like the four-year extension for Brook Lopez. It doesn't appear GM Billy King and company are finished, either, as they're reportedly discussing a sign-and-trade deal for Antawn Jamison. We have plenty more on the moves to come here:
Latest On Nicolas Batum
10:51pm: If the Blazers and Wolves fail to work out a trade and the Wolves sign Batum to an offer sheet, the Wolves will have to make a series of moves to do so, given what's expected to be a $10MM first-year salary in Minnesota's offer to Batum, reports Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune.
The moves would include buying out Brad Miller and Martell Webster and using the amnesty clause to waive Darko Milicic, Zgoda says, adding the Wolves may also have to trade a player. Luke Ridnour, J.J. Barea and Wesley Johnson are possible trade candidates in that scenario. Ridnour or a draft pick could be headed to the Bulls in a deal that would send Kyle Korver to the Blazers.
6:33pm: Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com has Olshey's comments on the possibility of a sign-and-trade for Batum.
You don't close the door to anything in this league,” the Blazers GM said. "But, from what I can see, as far as what they can viably offer as of today, I would think Nicolas would have more value than what they can put in a sign-and-trade.”
Latest On Magic Coaching Search
With the Nets, who had been the leading contenders for Dwight Howard, out of trade talks for now following the re-signing of Brook Lopez, the team has begun to focus on its head coaching search. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports former Pistons coach and current Sixers assistant Michael Curry has been added to the list of candidates for the position.
Elton Brand Hoping Mavs Claim Him
Elton Brand, who was placed on waivers using the amnesty clause earlier tonight by the Sixers, wants the Mavs to put in a claim for him, reports David Aldridge of TNT (Twitter link). Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com hears the Mavs will make a "very aggressive bid" for Brand.
Brand is owed $18.16MM for next season. Though it won't count on the salary cap for the Sixers, they'll still have to pay it unless a team puts in a claim for all or part of Brand's salary in the next week. If more than one team puts in a claim, the team that bids highest gets Brand, and the amount of the bid goes on that team's salary cap.
Earlier tonight, John Hollinger of ESPN.com estimated the amount the Mavs could bid at $9.2MM, but revised that to $4.3MM after the Mavs agreed to trade for Darren Collison and Dahntay Jones (Twitter links).
Rockets Consider Using Amnesty On Luis Scola
While an earlier report suggested the Rockets are trying to trade Luis Scola to clear space for a Dwight Howard deal, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle says the team is considering using the amnesty clause on him, likely within the next 48 hours. Scola is set to make close to $8.6MM next year, and has another guaranteed year worth $10.2MM after that. He also has a non-guaranteed $11MM season tacked on the end of his deal.
Trade talks between the Magic and the Rockets grew "serious" Wednesday before the Magic backed off, Feigen writes. The Rockets will be careful to preserve assets conducive to a deal as they pursue free agents like Aaron Brooks and others.
Pacers Seeking Sign-And-Trade For D.J. Augustin
8:43pm: Rick Bonnell tweets that a trade sending Augustin to the Pacers is unlikely, while Conrad Brunner of Fox Sports Indiana wonders, via Twitter, if Tyler Hansbrough might be part of such a deal.
7:41pm: The Pacers are pursuing a trade with the Bobcats for restricted free agent point guard D.J. Augustin, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Indiana has considered simply tendering Augustin an offer sheet, but prefer to make a trade, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter links). The Pacers just agreed to take on Ian Mahinmi in a sign-and-trade that sent out Dahntay Jones and Darren Collison.
The Pacers agreed to a five-year, $40MM deal with George Hill already this month, so unless they decide to go small, either Hill or Augustin would come off the bench. The Pacers have apparently had their eyes on Augustin for a while, as Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star says they tried to acquire him as part of a deal that included T.J. Ford a couple of years ago (Twitter links).
Nets Sign Brook Lopez To Four-Year Extension
8:33pm: Howard Beck of the New York Times has the details on Lopez's contract, which includes a player option in the fourth year. Lopez will get $13.668MM for the coming season, $14.694MM in 2013/14, $15.719MM in 2014/15 and, the option is for $16.774MM in 2015/16. (Twitter links)
7:47pm: The Nets have announced the contract is official, via Twitter.
Hawks, Jazz Swap Marvin Williams, Devin Harris
JULY 11, 5:46pm: The deal is now official, tweets Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune.
JULY 2, 6:10pm: The Hawks and Jazz have agreed to deal Marvin Williams for Devin Harris, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. It's the second deal of the day for new Hawks GM Danny Ferry, who agreed to ship Joe Johnson to the Nets earlier.