And-Ones: Age Limit, Summer League, Hibbert, Toupane
As we’ve relayed previously, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced during an NBA Board of Governors meetings in Las Vegas last week that the NBA is ready to make changes to its age limit, thereby potentially allowing high school seniors the opportunity to jump straight to the NBA once again.
However, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, teams have been told privately by league officials not to expect a change to the age limit until the 2022 NBA Draft at the earliest.
Assuming the 2022 NBA Draft allows high school players to jump directly to the NBA, players entering their freshman year of high school this fall will be the first ones to benefit from this potential rule change.
As for any trades that could be affected by this, no team has as yet traded an unprotected 2022 first-rounder, and the only one that could potentially change hands at this point was sent by the Mavericks to the Hawks in order to move up in this year’s draft and select Luka Doncic.
It will be interesting to see whether teams will be wary of trading draft picks in 2022 and beyond before a final ruling is made on this issue.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:
- In a Q&A piece for ESPN, several different writers spoke about who they believed to be the standouts and disappointments from this year’s NBA Summer League. Wendell Carter, Kevin Knox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Deandre Ayton were among the rookies recognized, while John Collins and Josh Hart were two players who were mentioned as probably too good to have even played in this year’s summer league.
- In an interview with TMZ Sports, former NBA player Roy Hibbert says that he is done playing professional basketball, explaining that “It’s just time to move on.” Hibbert, 31, was named an All-Star as recently as 2014, but saw his impact dwindle over his last few years in the league as he got older and the game got smaller and quicker.
- French forward Axel Toupane, who appeared in 25 total NBA regular season games in 2016 and 2017, has signed with EuroLeague club Olympiacos B.C. after helping lead Zalgiris Kaunas to the EuroLeague Final Four last season, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
Warriors Sign Jonas Jerebko
JULY 12: The Warriors have officially signed Jerebko, the team announced today in a press release. The one-year deal with be worth the veteran’s minimum.
As Mark Medina of The San Jose Mercury News tweets, Golden State’s offseason roster activity figures to be almost over. The team has 13 players under contract and is expected to bring back Patrick McCaw. The Dubs will likely keep their 15th roster spot open to begin the regular season in order to save some money and retain flexibility.
JULY 7: Free agent Jonas Jerebko, who was waived by the Jazz earlier today, plans to sign with the Warriors after he clears waivers on Monday, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Jerebko is expected to clear waivers, as any team who makes a waiver claim for Jerebko would be required to to guarantee his $4.2MM salary for this season. It was already reported by Wojnarowski earlier this morning that there was strong mutual interest between Jerebko and Golden State, so Jerebko’s plans come as no surprise.
Because the Warriors already used their taxpayer mid-level exception on DeMarcus Cousins, have no cap room, and will assuredly be above the apron this season, Jerebko will only be eligible to sign a one- or two-year deal at the minimum salary.
Bucks Sign First-Rounder Donte DiVincenzo
The Bucks have signed first-round pick Donte DiVincenzo to his rookie scale contract, according to a press release issued by the team.
DiVincenzo, 21, was named the Big East Conference’s Sixth Man of the Year last season before leading Villanova to a national championship, earning 2018 Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors along the way. DiVincenzo scored a decisive 31 points on 10-for-15 shooting in the national championship game and averaged 23.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in his two Final Four games.
The Bucks selected DiVincenzo with the 17th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. He figures to receive a first-year salary of approximately $2.48MM, the amount that represents the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale amount for the No. 17 pick in 2018/19.
Like all other first-rounders who sign rookie scale contracts, DiVincenzo will receive two guaranteed years, with team options in years three and four.
Central Notes: LaVine, Pacers, Cavaliers, Calderon
Fresh off the Bulls officially matching the Kings’ fully guaranteed, four-year $78MM offer sheet to Zach LaVine, the 23-year-old combo guard says he is ready to prove all of the doubters wrong who wonder whether he is worth the nearly $80MM in guaranteed money that he will earn from the Bulls, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN.
“I’m my hardest critic,” LaVine said Sunday during the Bulls’ summer league game against the Lakers in Las Vegas. “There’s nothing that any of you guys can say to me that I [don’t] take harder upon myself. I go back and critique my game every year. I’m used to people sleeping on me, and I’m also used to waking them up as well. I’m happy that I have this contract, and I’m happy that I have a little extra motivation to go out there and prove it to some people that don’t believe in me.”
“At the end of the day, I believe in myself, I believe in my work, and I’m going to show the city of Chicago it’s a good choice and I’m here to stay. I’m going to be their guy, and I’m ready to do whatever to help this team get back to that spot.”
And despite saying publicly that he was disappointed the Bulls hadn’t done more to lock him in as a restricted free agent when the free-agency period opened, LaVine backtracked from those comments after the deal with the Bulls became official, saying that he simply meant he never wanted to sign an offer sheet because he wanted to stay in Chicago so badly.
“I think a lot of that got taken out of context,” LaVine said. “The main thing that I wanted to get my point across was I wanted to just deal with Chicago. I never wanted to get [to] a point of [having to sign] an offer sheet. Regardless of whatever happened, I’m going to put that behind us. I’m happy as hell that I’m going to be able to play for the team that I want to play for.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- The Pacers found unexpected success this past season and the front office deserves credit for avoiding complacency, Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com opines. Indiana brought in Kyle O’Quinn, Tyreke Evans, and Doug McDermott on mid-sized deals, all moves designed to help them compete in a now-weakened Eastern Conference.
- The Cavaliers, who are still searching for another assistant coach on head coach Tyronn Lue‘s bench, interviewed Warriors assistant coach Willie Green and Sixers assistant coach John Bryant recently, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Green has since re-upped with Golden State.
- Because he signed a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract, Jose Calderon likely could have chosen to play wherever he wanted to this upcoming season, opines Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. But he ended up picking the Pistons simply because he believes they can be a good team. And although he’ll likely slot in behind Reggie Jackson and Ish Smith on the depth chart, it’s possible new coach Dwane Casey could play two point guards at the same time, thereby opening up playing time for Calderon.
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
Magic Likely Done In Free Agency
After re-signing Aaron Gordon to his four-year, $76MM deal, using part of their mid-level exception to reach agreements with rookies Melvin Frazier and Isaiah Briscoe, and adding a reliable backup point guard in Jerian Grant to spell incumbent starting point guard D.J. Augustin, the Magic are likely finished adding players to their roster through free agency this summer, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.
“We’re in a pretty good place with our financial flexibility, all things considered, but the roster is done as we sit here today,” Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman says. “We don’t feel like there are any holes that we need to shore up. We can always get better, and we’ll always be on the lookout for ways to get better. At this point, that would come probably more in the form of a trade if we were to do anything for the remainder of the summer.”
The Magic are currently projected to have a team salary around $110.9MM, assuming the team retains the services of backup guard Rodney Purvis, whose $1.4MM salary is non-guaranteed. Per Robbins, Orlando will also look to fill its open slots for two-way contracts and could bring in additional players on training camp deals.
The statement from Weltman all but puts to rest the speculation surrounding Isaiah Thomas, who was reported to be “negotiating a possible deal” with the Magic last week. Per Robbins, Orlando considered Thomas, but negotiations never took place, as the club believes Augustin is fully capable of leading this year’s squad.
“We’re always looking for ways to improve our roster at every position, but we are in capable hands with D.J.,” Weltman said. “D.J. is a very good player and he’s coming off the best year of his career under trying circumstances. D.J. represents what we want to be about: a professional who prepares, who plays for his teammates and who always brings the same personality to the team irrespective of the highs and lows of the season.”
Weltman also added that newly-acquired center Timofey Mozgov is not currently a candidate to be bought out, despite likely being buried on the depth chart behind Nikola Vucevic and heralded rookie Mohamed Bamba. Rather, the team hopes Mozgov will impact the team off the court through his experience and professionalism.
Should the Magic change their mind and decide to re-enter the free-agent fray, they still have nearly $7MM of their mid-level exception remaining after signing both Frazier and Briscoe to deals exceeding two seasons.
Thunder Sign Deonte Burton To Two-Way Contract
The Thunder have signed former Iowa State guard/forward Deonte Burton to a two-way contract, tweets Keith Smith of RealGM. The Thunder also officially announced the signing.
Burton, 24, went undrafted in 2017 before signing with Wonju DB Promy of South Korea’s KBL, where he started 63 games and averaged 23.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game last season.
He is currently playing for the Thunder in the Las Vegas Summer League, who are coached by Mark Daigneault. Daigneault also coaches the Thunder’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, where Burton is likely to spend most of his time next season.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 6/30/18 – 7/7/18
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:
- Luke Adams took a deep dive into the Lakers’ cap situation.
- The salary cap for the 2018/19 league year was officially announced, meaning the following CBA-related figures were set:
- In this week’s Community Shootaround posts, we asked:
- Will a superteam be formed in L.A.? Specifically, how many of the three – LeBron James, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard – will end up on the Lakers during the 2018/19 season.
- After the first day of free agency, what deal do you believe to be the best deal of the day?
- In our two Polls this week, we asked:
- If not the Lakers, which team will Leonard end up playing for after all the dust settles?
- Should the NBA adopt a 1-16 Playoff Seeding?
- We introduced the 2018 NBA Free Agent Tracker to help our readers navigate the free agency frenzy.
- After the first three days of free agency, we recapped the reported signings:
- On July 2, we reminded our readers of the 30 free agents still available from our Top 50 free agents of 2018.
- On July 4, we again listed some notable free agents yet to sign a new contract.
- Luke Adams broke down the following in regard to free agency:
- Three teams (Hawks, Bulls, Kings) left with cap space.
- Five teams (Pelicans, Bucks, Timberwolves, Spurs, Knicks) now hard-capped.
- We began tracking which rookies drafted in the 2018 NBA Draft have signed contracts.
- We notified our readers of the end of the July Moratorium.
Five Key Stories: 6/30/18 – 7/7/18
If you missed any of this week’s biggest free agent signings, don’t worry because we’ve got it covered with our Week in Review. Listed below are some of the most noteworthy signings and other stories from the last seven days.
The most sought-after free agent this summer, all-time great LeBron James, is taking his talents to Hollywood after agreeing to a four-year, $154MM maximum salary contract with the Lakers. The fourth year of the contract will contain a player option, meaning James will remain in Los Angeles at least through the 2020/21 season barring a trade. James also considered re-signing with the Cavaliers – and met with the Sixers as a mere courtesy – but ultimately made a decision based on what he believed to be the best situation for him and his family moving forward. Since making his decision, the Lakers have also begun to fill out their roster with other free agents, including Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, and JaVale McGee.
In one of the more shocking free agency developments in recent memory, All-Star big man DeMarcus Cousins has signed with the Warriors on a one-year, $5.3MM deal. Cousins, who is coming off a torn Achilles suffered during the 2017/18 season, apparently received a two-year offer for $40MM from the Pelicans earlier this year, but after not accepting, saw his market shrink to the point where he reportedly had to call Warriors’ GM Bob Myers after receiving no offers from any other teams. For Cousins, signing a one-year deal will allow him to rebuild his value and return to the free agent market next summer in the hopes of a more lucrative contract.
The Thunder and Carmelo Anthony have decided to part ways, with both the team and Anthony’s camp expected to work together to figure out whether Anthony will be traded, waived and stretched, or bought out and stretched. Both sides hope to have a plan in place and executed before the summer ends. While Oklahoma City is making this move in an effort to cut costs, Anthony is also on board because recognizes that he’d be in line for a reduced, and perhaps back-up role, if he remains with the Thunder. The early favorites to land Anthony once he becomes a free agent are the Rockets, Heat, and Lakers.
Zach LaVine, one of the top restricted free agents on the market this summer, received a substantial offer sheet from the Kings worth $78MM over four seasons. The Bulls, who have both a plethora of potential cap room and LaVine’s Bird rights, are expected to match the Kings’ offer within the 48-hour deadline. The Bulls decision to match the Kings’ offer came relatively quickly considering the fact that the only offer they had made to LaVine prior was reportedly lower by a significant amount. The purported contract for LaVine contains no options and is fully guaranteed.
Another prominent restricted free agent, forward Kyle Anderson, has signed a four-year $37.2MM offer sheet with the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies, who are over the cap, plan to use the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Anderson, and become hard-capped in the process, should the Spurs opt not to match the offer sheet. The offer from Memphis also includes a 15 percent trade kicker.
Here are 10 more notable NBA headlines (among many others) from the last week:
- The Nuggets and Sixers completed a trade that sent Wilson Chandler and the Nuggets’ 2021 second-round selection to Philadelphia. The Sixers will also have the right to swap second-round picks with Denver in 2022.
- Despite a story rumoring that Jimmy Butler and Kyrie Irving have interest in playing together in the near future, the Timberwolves plan to offer Butler a multi-year contract extension.
- The Suns and Devin Booker have met to discuss a potential five-year, $158MM maximum contract extension.
- After being traded from the Hornets, Dwight Howard and the Nets have finalized a buyout agreement that will allow Howard to sign a deal with the Wizards.
- The Warriors and Kevin Durant came to an agreement on a two-year, $62MM contract with a player option in season two.
- Chris Paul and the Rockets have agreed on a four-year, maximum-salary contract worth nearly $160MM.
- The Thunder have officially signed Paul George to a four-year, $137MM contract with a player option in the final season.
- Long-time Spurs stalwart Tony Parker has agreed to sign with the Hornets and former assistant coach James Borrego for $10MM over two seasons.
- DeAndre Jordan has officially signed a one-year, $22.9MM contract with the Mavericks.
- The Suns have officially signed swingman Trevor Ariza to a one-year, $15MM contract.
Kings Waive Nigel Hayes
The Kings have placed the contract of forward Nigel Hayes on waivers, reports James Ham of NBC Sports California. Hayes’ deal was non-guaranteed until January 10, so the Kings will not be on the hook for any of Hayes’ salary, nor will the team incur a cap hit.
Hayes, who was scheduled to earn $1.38MM this season, was a casualty of the Kings’ offer sheet to Zach LaVine. To clear the required $19.5MM in cap space to fit LaVine’s offer, the Kings were also forced to renounce their rights to Vince Carter and Bruno Caboclo, whose combined cap holds totaled nearly $17MM.
It’s also likely that the acquisition of Marvin Bagley and Harry Giles’ expected return from injury made Hayes expendable; however, per Ham, Hayes remains a member of the Kings’ Las Vegas Summer League team. Accordingly, Sacramento may still plan to bring him back at a later date.
Hayes, 23, played nine games during his rookie season in 2017/18, where he averaged 3.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in 13.6 minutes per game.
Yogi Ferrell Expected To Accept Qualifying Offer
The Mavericks expect reserve guard Yogi Ferrell to sign his $2.92MM qualifying offer and re-enter free agency as an unrestricted free agent next summer, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
Per MacMahon, the Mavs are reticent to sign Ferrell to any deal that would increase his cap hold because the team may need all of its remaining cap space to sign Dirk Nowitzki if the team is able to find a free-agent bargain upon which to use its $4.4MM room exception. The Mavs can still create about $7MM in cap space.
However, the Mavs are still confident they can retain Ferrell for his QO because he has stated previously that he would like to remain with the Mavericks, the team who gave him his first real opportunity in the NBA after signing him to a 10-day contract during the 2016-17 season.
Moreover, it’s possible given the market for restricted free agents so far this summer that $2.92MM is the best offer Ferrell has received. As such, it makes sense that Ferrell is leaning towards signing his qualifying offer.
The 25-year-old Ferrell was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team after the 2016/17 season, but saw his numbers reduced last season with the addition of rookie first-round pick Dennis Smith Jr. He’ll likely compete with J.J. Barea for backup minutes should he remain in Dallas as the within report suggests.