Hoops Rumors Originals: 7/21/18 – 7/28/18
Every week, the writing team here at Hoops Rumors creates original content to complement our news feed. Here are our segments and features from the past seven days:
- In this week’s Community Shootaround series, we asked:
- Whether a move to the Rockets for Carmelo Anthony will bring out the best in his game.
- Whether there are any teams that are a lock to make the playoffs in the Western Conference other than the Warriors and the Rockets.
- Luke Adams took a look at how teams are using their 2018/19 Mid-Level Exceptions and their 2018/19 Bi-Annual Exceptions.
- Luke Adams analyzed how non-guaranteed contracts signed under the new CBA have affected recent trades.
- In his Weekly Mailbag, Arthur Hill answered readers’ questions about the potential steal of the 2018 NBA Draft, additional moves this summer for the Mavericks, and a potential Chandler Parsons for Luol Deng trade.
- Luke Adams listed and discussed the notable free agents still available this summer:
- Luke Adams named the players who can veto trades during the 2018/19 season.
Five Key Stories: 7/21/18 – 7/28/18
Missed any of this week’s biggest story lines? Don’t worry, because we’ve got it covered with our Week in Review. Listed below are some of the most noteworthy reports from the last seven days.
The Rockets signed restricted free agent center Clint Capela to a five-year, $90MM contract. The contract will contain no team or player options. Capela’s new deal falls short of the $100MM he was reportedly seeking, but considering the lack of cap space other clubs were armed with around the league, it looks like a reasonable deal for both player and team. Capela’s new deal will push the Rockets’ team salary well beyond the luxury tax line of $123.733MM.
The Cavaliers signed All-Star Kevin Love to a four-year, $120MM contract extension. As part of the agreement between Love and the Cavs, the 29-year-old big man declined his player option for 2019/20, with the first year of his new deal replacing that option. Factoring in his salary for the 2018/19 season, Love is therefore on track to earn nearly $145MM over the next five seasons. The extension includes no options and is fully guaranteed.
Clippers forward Tobias Harris reportedly turned down a contract extension offer worth approximately $80MM. Harris, 26, will now play out the final year of his current deal and become an unrestricted free agent next summer, when he will be eligible to sign a five-year, $189.7MM with the Clippers or a four-year, $140.6MM deal with another franchise.
After he officially becomes an unrestricted free agent, veteran forward Carmelo Anthony says he plans to sign with the Rockets. Anthony is now a member of the Hawks (see directly below), but Atlanta has made clear their plans to waive him. Because Houston plans to sign Anthony to a one-year, minimum-salary contract, the team will retain its $5.34MM taxpayer mid-level exception.
The three-team trade involving the Thunder, Hawks, and Sixers is now official. Anthony and Justin Anderson are now members of the Hawks, while both Dennis Schroder and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot are now members of the Thunder. Meanwhile, Mike Muscala joined the Sixers.
Here are 11 more notable NBA headlines from the last week:
- The Celtics traded reserve swingman Abdel Nader and cash to the Thunder in exchange for Rodney Purvis, who will be reportedly be waived by Boston.
- Antonius Cleveland, who was waived by the Hawks in order to make room for Anthony, was claimed off waivers by the Bulls.
- The Hawks and Alex Len have agreed to a deal worth a reported $8.5MM over two seasons.
- The Grizzlies traded Jarell Martin and cash to the Magic in exchange for Dakari Johnson and the draft rights to 2015 second-round pick Tyler Harvey.
- The Knicks signed former lottery selection Noah Vonleh to a one-year, partially guaranteed contract.
- It was a busy week for the Hawks, who also agreed to a one-year, minimum-salary contract with Vince Carter.
- Jabari Bird, who played on a two-way contract with Boston last season, signed a two-year, standard NBA contract with the Celtics.
- The Mavericks and Devin Harris have agreed to a one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- The Pelicans signed swingman Troy Williams to a two-year, partially guaranteed minimum-salary deal with a team option on the second season.
- Pat Connaughton and the Bucks have come to an agreement on a two-year contract worth slightly more than the minimum in each season.
- The Thunder and second-round pick Hamidou Diallo have officially reached an agreement on a reported three-year, $4MM contract.
Clippers Re-Sign Montrezl Harrell
July 24: The team has officially re-signed Harrell, according to a team press release.
“Montrezl is a tough, hard-playing, gritty competitor who is committed to winning,” said President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank. “We love his passion and energy, and are very excited to have Trezz back in a Clippers uniform.”
July 19: Restricted free agent center Montrezl Harrell has agreed to a two-year, $12MM deal to return to the Clippers, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. According to Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times, Harrell’s contract will be fully guaranteed.
Harrell, 24, was one of the last remaining restricted free agents on the market with a reasonable potential to sign a significant deal. Only Clint Capela and Rodney Hood now remain.
An over-the-cap team, the Clippers had already split their entire non-taxpayer mid-level exception on forwards Luc Mbah a Moute and Mike Scott, but were able to re-sign Harrell using his Bird rights.
Harrell had a breakout season in 2017/18, playing in 76 games while averaging 11.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per contest and shooting a blistering 63.5 percent from the field. His 24.73 PER was good enough for 12th best in the entire NBA among qualified players.
The Clippers lost big man DeAndre Jordan in free agency to the Mavericks, but did acquire center Marcin Gortat from the Wizards in a trade for Austin Rivers. Accordingly, Harrell and Gortat will now seemingly compete for time at the center position for the Clippers in 2018/19, with Boban Marjanovic providing reserve minutes.
Nets, D’Angelo Russell Extension Unlikely
As we noted earlier this summer, the Nets still hadn’t had any rookie-scale extension talks with D’Angelo Russell after about a week into free agency. Now, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, it appears that an extension is unlikely given Brooklyn’s plan to be a major spender in free agency next summer.
The Nets’ deadline to sign Russell, 22, to an extension is the last day before the start of the regular season, but even if no extension is agreed to, the Nets will still be able to make Russell a restricted free agent in the summer of 2019 by tendering him a $9.16MM qualifying offer next June.
“For now we’re going to see how this group plays together, how it all unfolds,” said general manager Sean Marks said. “But — again, I’m not going to rule out anything — as we stand now, this is the group and we have no plans to make any crazy changes, whether that’s an extension or signing or trade anyone else. But things happen quickly.”
Russell, the No. 2 overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft, averaged 20.9 points, 5.7 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game before getting hurt last season, but given the plan to maximize cap space and the fact that Russell will be under team control as a restricted free agent, Lewis opines that the Nets would be prudent to stand pat and let the market set the price for Russell next summer.
Only one other member of the 2015 NBA Draft class – Devin Booker – has signed a rookie-scale extension so far this summer, but Karl-Anthony Towns, Bobby Portis, and Larry Nance Jr. are among those considered strong candidates for new deals.
Northwest Notes: Schroder, Lillard, Towns, Crowder
In an extended analytical piece, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer takes a look at how the Thunder‘s soon-to-be acquired point guard Dennis Schroder will fit with incumbent starter and All-Star Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City’s backcourt.
Consistently ranked near the bottom of the league in passing metrics, Thunder head coach Billy Donovan has regularly spoke about how he wants better ball movement on offense. But, as Donovan admits, “There’s a balance between [giving the ball to your stars] and then trying to play faster with more ball and player movement.”
Enter Schroder, who can create against a defense with his quickness perhaps better than any other point guard the Thunder have had in recent years outside of Westbrook, including Reggie Jackson.
Only time will tell whether or not Westbrook and Schroder will be able to play together, but if they can, Donovan will be able to install more pace and ball-movement concepts featuring multiple ball handlers running the show, rather than relying on Westbrook alone, which should help the Thunder be less one-dimensional against the better Western Conference teams come playoff time.
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- While the Trail Blazers may not have been able to bring in as much talent as they had hoped for during this summer’s free agency period in an effort to improve upon last season, Damian Lillard says that he’s ready and excited for the upcoming season and that he has a “deeper connection” with the city of Portland that goes beyond basketball, per Sean Meagher of The Oregonian.
- As part of a Wolves’ mailbag, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic opines that although the relationship between Karl-Anthony Towns and the Timberwolves could obviously use some work right now, the opportunity for repair remains, as Towns likely would have cancelled his recent basketball camp in the Twin Cities had he already completely written off Minnesota as a long-term home.
- After struggling on-court to adjust to a new role and new teammates at the beginning of last season and coping off-court with the death of his mother from cancer, Jae Crowder finally feels at home with the Jazz, writes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t difficult,” Crowder told The Tribune. “It was hard being thrown into the fire. But, from Day One, the locker room and my teammates [in Utah] were great. The coaching staff was great. … It helped build toughness.”
Contract Details: Smart, Gay, Grant, Ilyasova
Marcus Smart‘s new deal with the Celtics will increase in value each season, beginning with an approximate salary of $11.7MM in 2018/19 and ending with a salary of nearly $14.4MM in 2021/22, per Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
The total value of the contract is $51,999,900, $100 shy of the reported value of $52MM, and it is fully guaranteed with no options.
Here are a few more details on contracts signed this summer, courtesy of Pincus:
- The Spurs‘ agreement with Rudy Gay is worth $10,087,200, the highest allowable salary San Antonio was permitted to pay him via his non-Bird rights (Twitter link).
- Ersan Ilyasova‘s new deal with the Bucks will pay him an even $7MM over three seasons, with a yet-to-be determined guarantee amount and date on year three.
- The agreement between Jerami Grant and the Thunder is worth just shy of $27.4MM, with a player option valued at approximately $9.3MM for the 2020/21 season.
Devin Harris To Return To Mavericks?
According to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News, the Mavericks are looking towards veteran free agent guard Devin Harris as a replacement signee for Yogi Ferrell, who reneged on a deal with Dallas to sign a more lucrative contract in Sacramento.
Harris, 35, was essentially drafted by the Mavericks with the No. 5 overall selection in the first round of the 2004 NBA Draft and played in Big D for three and a half seasons before being traded to the Nets in a deal that brought Jason Kidd to Dallas.
Harris returned to the Mavericks for the 2013/14 campaign and played an additional four and a half seasons in Dallas before being traded to the Nuggets midway through last season in a deal that brought Doug McDermott to the Mavs.
In his 14 NBA seasons, Harris has averaged 11.1 points and 4.1 assists per game with a career shooting line of .481/.327/.798.
Tobias Harris Declines Clippers’ Extension Offer
After ongoing amicable discussions between player and team, Clippers forward Tobias Harris has reportedly decided to turn down a contract extension offer worth approximately $80MM and play out the final season of his current deal in Los Angeles, according to David Aldridge of TNT.
Because the maximum amount the Clippers could have offered in the first season of an extension is only 120% of Harris’ 2018/19 salary, which equates to $17.76MM, and raises are limited to 8%, the maximum value of the extension offer was $79.56MM. Based upon the $80MM figure reported by Aldridge, it therefore appears as though the Clippers offered Harris the most money they possibly could under NBA rules.
Nevertheless, Harris, 26, will now play out the final year of his current deal and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. He will be eligible to sign a five-year, $189.7MM with the Clippers or a four-year, $140.6MM deal with another franchise, whereas as explained above, he could have only earned $94.4MM over the next five years if he had excepted the extension offer.
Still, it’s still a bit surprising to see Harris turn down such a lucrative offer when next year’s free agent crop is turning heads already and big deals like we saw in the summer of 2016 just aren’t coming around as often. Only time will tell whether Harris made the right call.
Hornets To Sign Isaiah Wilkins To Camp Deal
The Hornets have agreed to a training camp deal with Isaiah Wilkins, the stepson of NBA legend Dominique Wilkins, reports Michael Scotto of The Athletic.
Wilkins averaged 6.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.2 steals as a senior last season at Virginia before being named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. He managed to shoot 48.5% from the field but only a disappointing 17.6% from three.
While it’s unlikely that Wilkins ends up on the Hornets’ 15-man regular season roster, he’s probably a good bet to end up playing for the team’s G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 7/14/18 – 7/21/18
Every week, the writing team here at Hoops Rumors creates original content to complement our news feed. Here are our segments and features from the past seven days:
- In this week’s Community Shootaround post, Arthur Hill asked whether Jabari Parker will be able to revive his career in Chicago and turn the Bulls into a winner again, or if the signing is a reckless gamble on a player whose knees will always be a concern.
- Luke Adams took a look at the early maximum salary projections for the 2019/20 season.
- Luke Adams checked in on the 13 2018 NBA Draft selections who have yet to sign an NBA contract.
- In his Weekly Mailbag, Arthur Hill answered readers’ questions about the potential of rookie Trae Young, the future of Jahlil Okafor, and some potential Clippers’ re-signings.
- Luke Adams broke down the financial impact of the blockbuster trade between the Spurs and Raptors involving Kawhi Leonard and DeMar DeRozan.
- As part of our Hoops Rumors Glossary, Luke Adams wrote about Exhibit 10 Contracts.
- And finally, Luke Adams analyzed the maximum starting salary that each of the NBA’s 30 teams can offer an outside free agent right now.