Greivis Vasquez Changes Agents
Soon-to-be free agent Greivis Vasquez has signed with Octagon agent Alex Saratsis after leaving the Wasserman Media Group, reports Liz Mullen of the SportsBusiness Journal (Twitter link). Darren Matsubara had been the representative for the Bucks backup point guard, and for Joel Embiid, who also recently left Wasserman and is reportedly expected to sign with Leon Rose. The departure of Vasquez represents another hit for an agency in transition following the departure of Arn Tellem for a job in the Pistons organization last year.
Vasquez is recovering from right ankle surgery in December that’s poised to keep him out for most of the rest of the season. He was averaging his fewest points per game since his rookie season in 16 contests before the injury, so Saratsis seems likely to face a difficult challenge to equal or better the two-year, $13MM deal Vasquez signed in 2014. Saturday is Vasquez’s 29th birthday, and the memory of his 9.0 assists per game for New Orleans in 2012/13 is receding farther into the past.
Saratsis represents many clients from outside the U.S., including fellow Buck Giannis Antetokounmpo, so he’s a fit for the Venezuelan-born Vasquez in that regard. The four-year, $8MM deal for Kendall Marshall that Saratsis and fellow Octagon agent Jeff Austin helped him find is the largest free agent contract the Sixers have handed out since GM Sam Hinkie came aboard in 2013, and it came after Marshall suffered a torn ACL while playing for the Bucks last season. Vasquez might be loath to settle for $2MM a year, but the Marshall precedent nonetheless seems encouraging.
Pacific Notes: Gay, World Peace, Kelly, Acy
It’s not accurate to say the Kings have Rudy Gay on the block, and Sacramento isn’t actively shopping him, sources tell James Ham of CSN California and CSNBayArea.com, adding that it’s unclear whether the team’s reported offer to the Pelicans of Gay for Ryan Anderson took place. Gay has strong relationship with DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo, Ham notes, adding that Gay recruited Rondo, a longtime friend, when the point guard was a free agent this past summer. Gay has also been linked to the Bulls and the Clippers in the past, according to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, and much has changed since the Kings made him virtually untouchable in trade talk a year ago, Jones adds. He’s struggled to fit into coach George Karl‘s system on the court, Jones writes, noting that the team has had concerns about its depth at two guard all season and speculating that Rondo’s presence might make Gay expendable. See more on the Kings and the rest of the Pacific Division:
- Metta World Peace would like to play in the NBA for another two seasons, though it appears he’ll be OK with whatever the outcome is following the end of his Lakers contract this summer, observes Janis Carr of the Orange County Register. The 36-year-old is meanwhile dispelling his volatile reputation, serving as a mentor for younger Lakers, as Carr details. “I didn’t think he would be that nice of a guy,” rookie D’Angelo Russell said. “But he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.”
- Ryan Kelly is seeing less playing time this season than in his first two years with the Lakers, but he’s confident that he’s a much better player than he was when he arrived in the NBA, Carr notes in a separate piece. He’s on an expiring contract and is set for restricted free agency at season’s end.
- The Kings netted Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray in the same trade with the Raptors a little more than two years ago, and all three are still paying dividends, with Gay and Acy on the roster, and Gray, an assistant for the Pistons D-League team, still a confidant of Acy’s, as The Bee’s Matt Kawahara details.
Cavs Seek Three-And-D Wing Player
Influential Cavs players are open to trading for Markieff Morris, but the front office is instead looking for a defensive-minded wing player who can effectively shoot spot-up jumpers from long range, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer hears. Cavs higher-ups want that three-and-D wing to back up Iman Shumpert, concerned that the way Shumpert plays will again leave him injured, just as he was to start the season with a wrist issue that cost him the team’s first 21 games, Haynes reports.
The Suns have made Morris “very available” for a trade, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote last month, amid a losing season, a benching, and a back-and-forth that included a summer trade demand, a media day backtracking, and a suspension for throwing a towel at coach Jeff Hornacek. Cavs players nonetheless think he’d be solid if veteran voices LeBron James, Richard Jefferson and James Jones were in his ear, according to Haynes. However, the Cavs brass is worried Morris would upset team chemistry, Haynes hears. The players also like the idea of adding Morris as insurance behind Kevin Love, Haynes writes. Love, like Shumpert, has had trouble with injuries in the past.
The Cavs have an open roster spot after trading Joe Harris to the Magic this week, a move that helped reduce Cleveland’s massive projected tax bill. The team is nonetheless in line to shell out about $170MM between payroll and taxes, and trading for Morris and his $8MM salary using its $10,522,500 trade exception would send that figure about $25MM higher, putting the Cavs in position to break the record of the 2013/14 Nets, who laid out more than $193MM, for the most money spent in a single season. The alternative would be to send matching salary to Phoenix, but either way, the Suns would likely want assets the Cavs simply don’t have, Haynes posits. The Suns are reportedly looking for young players or draft picks in exchange for Morris, and the Cavs have unloaded many such assets since going into win-now mode upon LeBron’s 2014 return.
Three-and-D wing players are tough to find on the trade market. The Suns have rugged defender P.J. Tucker, a career 35.5% 3-point shooter, but they’ve given no indication that they’re prepared to deal him yet.
Which do you think the Cavs need more, a three-and-D wing or Morris? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Nate Robinson To Audition For Chinese Team
FRIDAY, 9:37am: The Flying Tigers won’t be signing Robinson, Pick hears (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 8:46am: Nate Robinson will work out soon for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, as sources tell Nick Bedard of Basketball Buddha and as international journalist David Pick confirms (Twitter link). The three-time NBA slam dunk champ has been on the market since clearing waivers from the Pelicans, who surprisingly waived him two days after he started for the team on opening night. It’s unclear what sort of deal it would take for Xinjiang to land the Aaron Goodwin client, though with the team tied for first place, a signing for the rest of the normally brief Chinese season is liable to keep Robinson off the market until late March if the Flying Tigers make the finals.
The 31-year-old Robinson has yet to play professionally overseas, having appeared in the NBA each season since he was the 21st overall pick in 2005. An injury helped keep him from finishing the season in the NBA last year, when the Clippers decided against re-signing him after his pair of 10-day contracts expired. Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said his team preferred Toney Douglas, whom New Orleans signed the day after Robinson’s October release.
The Flying Tigers have former NBA big man Andray Blatche in the midst of a three-year deal. They also have ex-Lakers player Andrew Goudelock, who’s been playing well, but both Bedard and Pick speculate that he would be the one to go should the team sign Robinson (Twitter link).
Atlantic Notes: DeRozan, Hollins, Mills, ‘Melo
DeMar DeRozan has made no secret of his affection for Toronto, and he tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post that just because the Raptors have a history of star players leaving doesn’t mean he’ll follow suit. DeRozan is poised to turn down his player option worth only slightly more than $10MM and hit free agency this summer.
“One thing I never did was look at anybody else, what they did or what they followed, honestly,” DeRozan said to Lee. “I always stuck to what I believe in and what I’m comfortable with. If I see a hundred people walking left, that don’t necessarily mean I’m going to walk left. I may see this clear path and want to stay right.”
See more from the Atlantic Division:
- Nets higher-ups were angry about the way former coach Lionel Hollins would pin blame on his players, sources tell Brian Lewis of the New York Post, and several sources who spoke with Andy Vasquez of The Record couldn’t identify a single player on the team who was fond of Hollins. Many players thought the coach talked down to them and found it hard to respect him because of that, Vasquez writes.
- Knicks GM Steve Mills is very much involved with player personnel in his role under team president Phil Jackson, as agents tell Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that Mills is the go-to guy when they talk to someone from the Knicks. James Dolan has done little meddling with Jackson around, and the team hasn’t had substantive talks regarding a Carmelo Anthony trade this year, Deveney adds.
- Nerlens Noel has long been a fan of Ish Smith, but the point guard has helped Jahlil Okafor‘s offensive game, too, observes Keith Bodner of Philadelphia magazine. The No. 3 overall pick has put up impressive numbers, albeit in a small sample size, since the Sixers traded for Smith on December 24th, as Bodner examines.
Nets Eye Danny Ferry For GM Job
FRIDAY, 8:31am: Ferry “isn’t the likeliest candidate” for the position, a source told Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
THURSDAY, 7:58am: The Nets are looking at Danny Ferry as they search for their next GM, sources tell Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). Bondy words his report a bit differently in his full story, where he writes that two sources outside the direct search told him they expect the team to look at Ferry as well as Bryan Colangelo, whom Marc Stein and Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com reported earlier that the Nets are considering. Bondy’s tweet says the team is indeed looking at both Ferry and Colangelo. In any case, no one has emerged as the top candidate and the search has just begun, Bondy hears.
It’s no shock to see Ferry emerge as a candidate, as TNT’s David Aldridge pointed to the ties between Ferry and former GM Billy King, who remains with the organization. The Nets are indeed consulting King about the candidates to replace him in the GM job, Bondy hears from sources, confirming an earlier report that owner Mikhail Prokhorov had downplayed. Ferry’s father, Bob Ferry, serves as a scout for the Nets, and Prokhorov interviewed Danny Ferry for the GM job in 2010 before hiring King.
The younger Ferry comes with the baggage of the racially charged comments he uttered in a 2014 conference call while GM of the Hawks that led to a prolonged leave of absence and ultimately a buyout that ended his three-year tenure in Atlanta this past spring. Ferry nonetheless earned plaudits for his construction of last season’s 60-win Hawks team, and his close ties to the Spurs organization, where he served as a player and later a front office official, can’t hurt. He put together rosters that won 66 and 61 games in back-to-back years as GM of the Cavs, a job he held from 2005 to 2010.
John Calipari has also drawn mention as a candidate for the Nets’ front office vacancy as well as their open coaching job, but Prokhorov indicated that he’d rather have separate people in those positions. CEO Brett Yormark, a Calipari advocate, is one of three Nets officials conducting the search, according to Bondy, along with team chairman Dmitry Razumov and board member Sergey Kushchenko, who’s a trusted aide to Prokhorov. That conflicts with a report from Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, who wrote that Razumov and Irina Pavlova, president of Prokhorov’s ONEXIM Sports and Entertainment holding company, were in charge of the search. In any case, Prokhorov wants to hire a GM before he hires a coach, league sources tell Bondy.
Do you think the Nets should hire Ferry? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
And-Ones: Baron Davis, Jeff Green, Magic, Draft
Baron Davis is drawing NBA interest, his agent tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link), cautioning that he has not yet signed with the D-League, as reported, but plans to do so. The Todd Ramasar client has full confidence the D-League will lead him back to the NBA, where he hasn’t played since the 2011/12 season, as Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher details.
“When someone asked me [when I’d make my comeback] before, I didn’t want to answer,” Davis said to Bucher. “If I make it in the NBA or wind up playing overseas, I will be at peace. I know the NBA is the place for me because I have the game and now I have the confidence in my body. The last six years I was hurt and in pain and I wasn’t myself. I’m moving a lot faster and better than I did then.”
Davis spawned confusion two summers ago when he made a film that appeared to poke fun at the idea of him returning to the NBA, Bucher notes. Multiple NBA executives thought Davis wasn’t serious about a comeback, though one assistant GM told Bucher that as long as Davis is engaged and in shape, he merits consideration. The Mavs have been linked to him, but owner Mark Cuban has said the team’s interest exists only at the D-League level. See more from around the NBA:
- Jeff Green has frustrated at least one prominent Grizzlies teammate, as a “guy who matters” on the team “wanted to wring his neck” Tuesday, when Memphis lost to the Rockets and Dave Joerger benched Green for the second half, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal said in a podcast. Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk has the transcription. Green has struggled on the court and his attitude “hasn’t been the best,” Tillery also said.
- The Magic accepted cash via trade for the third time since July 1st on Tuesday, when the Cavs gave them $934,614 in the Joe Harris deal, but they still have $1,286,686 remaining against the $3.4MM limit for the season, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links).
- The NCAA’s rule change to push back the date underclassmen can withdraw until 10 days after the NBA combine is a sensible move because it helps players more than it hurts college coaches, opines Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Bonnell wonders if it will also lead NBA officials to start working out underclassmen at their colleges instead of having the prospects go to NBA sites, since the NCAA probably wouldn’t want NBA teams paying the travel costs for players who could return to play in college.
2015/16 Trades
The trade deadline is five weeks from today, but some teams are off to a head start. As we did with last year’s offseason trades and the in-season swaps from 2014/15, we’ll be keeping track of all the trades from this season as they become official, updating this post with each transaction.
Trades are listed here in reverse chronological order, with the latest on top. For more details on each trade, click the date above it. For up-to-the-minute news on trades as well as other roster moves as the offseason continues, download our free iOS or Android app or follow our transactions-only feeds via RSS and Twitter.
- The Thunder get Randy Foye.
- The Nuggets get D.J. Augustin, Steve Novak, Oklahoma City’s 2016 unprotected second-round pick, Charlotte’s 2016 second-round pick (bottom-five protected) and $1,169,559 cash.
- The Clippers get Jeff Green.
- The Grizzlies get Lance Stephenson and the Clippers’ 2019 first-round pick (lottery protected).
- The Pistons get Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton.
- The Rockets get Detroit’s 2016 first-round pick (top-eight protected) and the rights to Chukwudiebere Maduabum.
- The Sixers get Joel Anthony and Denver’s 2017 unprotected second-round pick.
- The Wizards get Markieff Morris.
- The Suns get Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair and Washington’s 2016 first-round pick (top-nine protected).
- The Trail Blazers get Brian Roberts and Miami’s 2021 second-round pick.
- The Heat get $75K cash.
- The Cavaliers get Channing Frye.
- The Magic get Jared Cunningham and Cleveland’s unprotected 2020 second-round pick.
- The Trail Blazers get Anderson Varejao and Cleveland’s top-10 protected 2018 first-round pick.
- The Cavaliers get their own 2020 second-round pick (unprotected; Portland had acquired it in a previous trade).
- The Hawks get Kirk Hinrich.
- The Bulls get Justin Holiday and Denver’s unprotected 2018 second-round pick.
- The Jazz get Shelvin Mack.
- The Pelicans get Jarnell Stokes and $721,300 cash.
- The Heat get New Orleans’ 2018 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
- The Hornets get Courtney Lee and $542,714 cash (from Memphis).
- The Grizzlies get P.J. Hairston, Chris Andersen, Charlotte’s 2018 second-rounder, Brooklyn’s 2019 second-rounder (from Charlotte), Miami’s 2017 second-round pick (bottom-40 protected) and Boston’s 2019 second-round pick (from Miami, top-55 protected).
- The Heat get Brian Roberts.
- The Pistons get Tobias Harris.
- The Magic get Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova.
- The Rockets get Josh Smith, the rights to Sergei Lishouk and $456,921 cash.
- The Clippers get the rights to Maarty Leunen.
- The Cavaliers get Portland’s 2020 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
- The Magic get Joe Harris, Sacramento’s 2017 second-round pick (top-55 protected) and $934,614 cash.
- The Sixers get Ish Smith.
- The Pelicans get Denver’s 2016 second-round pick and Philadelphia’s 2017 second-round pick.
- The Grizzlies get Mario Chalmers and James Ennis.
- The Heat get Jarnell Stokes and Beno Udrih.
Trade archives:
The Basketball Insiders salary pages and the RealGM traded picks database were used in the creation of this post.
Scotto’s Latest: Anderson, Gay, Morris, Motiejunas
The Pelicans rejected a trade proposal from the Kings of Ryan Anderson for Rudy Gay, league sources told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, a signal that Sacramento is making Gay available. New Orleans has reportedly been listening to offers about Anderson but not shopping him, and coach Alvin Gentry has said it’s unlikely the Pelicans trade him this season. A straight-up exchange of Anderson for Gay trade would move the Pelicans to within $1MM of the luxury tax threshold, so it’s not surprising New Orleans said no. Scotto heard more about Anderson and several other trade candidates, as we’ll summarize here:
- The Pistons are expected to pursue Anderson in free agency, league sources told Scotto. Stan Van Gundy said in October that Anderson, incumbent Pistons power forward Ersan Ilyasova and Kevin Love are in a class by themselves among those who combine effective rebounding and 3-point shooting.
- The Suns, who reportedly engaged in talks with the Pelicans about a swap of Markieff Morris for Anderson, now prefer young players or draft picks in exchange for Morris, Scotto’s league sources say.
- The Clippers are making Josh Smith available for a trade, according to Scotto, essentially a reprise of earlier this season, when Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports reported the Clips had gauged interest in him. Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers denied that earlier report, however.
- The Rockets have taken Donatas Motiejunas off the trade market, but Terrence Jones remains available, Scotto reports. Houston earlier had talks with Phoenix about a swap of Jones and Corey Brewer for Morris, as Scotto revealed, and those discussions were serious, Marc Stein of ESPN.com later added. Brewer becomes eligible to be traded Friday.
- Scotto adds the Mavericks to list of teams with interest in trading for Timberwolves shooting guard Kevin Martin.
Central Notes: Dudley, Morris, Baynes
Jared Dudley believes the Bucks made the right move for themselves when they traded him to the Wizards and Zaza Pachulia to the Mavericks this past summer, even though they did so for virtually nothing in return other than cap space, observes Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Dudley thinks he came out well, too, lauding the Bucks for placing Pachulia and him in “great situations,” Gardner relays.
“Even if me and Za were there, you have to incorporate Jabari [Parker] back in,” Dudley said. “He still would have been playing 28, 29 minutes. For the long-term approach for them, they’re doing it the right way. You have to see if Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and Jabari can coexist.”
See more from the Central Division:
- Marcus Morris is fond of Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, whom he believes has given him a more clearly defined role than Jeff Hornacek did with the Suns, as Morris told Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Morris responded harshly when Washburn asked him about Suns owner Robert Sarver’s criticism of “millennial culture” and Morris’ twin brother, Markieff, saying the owner “doesn’t even know basketball.” Marcus also hinted that the Suns will indeed trade his brother. “He’s in good spirits,” Marcus said to Washburn about Markieff. “Whatever team he ends up going to, he’s still going to be that same player. He’s just excited to see what’s next and where he’s going. Some things were said about him in the press and I know that’s totally wrong. People talk about adversity; coming from where we come from [Philadelphia] is adversity. This is small stuff. He’ll get over it fast.”
- Van Gundy was quick to point to Aron Baynes‘ strong free-throw shooting as one of the reasons the Pistons signed him to a three-year, $19.5MM deal this summer, and that’s indeed been paying dividends to offset Andre Drummond‘s struggles at the line, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press notes.
- The Bulls don’t have enough to put a scare into the league’s true title contenders, so it’s imperative for the team to make a trade, posits Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com. No NBA team has gone longer without making a trade than the Bulls, who haven’t pulled off a swap since July 14th, 2014, though they’re reportedly gauging interest in Pau Gasol and others.