Pelicans Waive Rashad Vaughn, Mike James
The Pelicans have requested waivers on guard Rashad Vaughn and two-way player Mike James, per an official press release from the team. And according to Scott Kushner of The Advocate, it looks like New Orleans may use the newly acquired roster spot gained from releasing Vaughn to give the team an option to acquire another player in the upcoming buyout market.
Vaughn, who began this season with the Bucks, was acquired by the Nets in exchange for Tyler Zeller earlier this week. Then, on trade deadline day, the Nets traded him to the Pelicans in exchange for Dante Cunningham, giving New Orleans a trade exception worth $2.3MM, the value of Cunningham’s salary.
The 21-year-old former first-round pick played in only one game for the Nets and didn’t suit up for the Pelicans. In Milwaukee, he appeared in 22 games this season, averaging 2.7 PPG in only 7.9 MPG. He will become an unrestricted free agent assuming he clears waivers.
James, whose release was first reported yesterday by David Pick, asked the Pelicans to waive him so that he could return to Panathinaikos B.C. in Greece, where James helped Panathinaikos win both the Greek Cup title and the Greek Basket League championship last season.
Likely most recognized for being the first player in NBA history to have his two-way contract converted into a regular season contract, James put up respectable numbers for the Suns as a rookie earlier this season, averaging 10.4 points and 3.8 assists in 20.9 minutes per game before being waived to make room on the roster for Isaiah Canaan.
Wizards Interested In Derrick Rose
Another team said to be interested in potentially signing newly-waived point guard Derrick Rose is the Wizards, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. According to Wojnarowski, the Wizards may feel that Rose could help fill the hole caused by the injury to John Wall, who will remain out several more weeks while he rehabs his knee following surgery.
Rose will remain on waivers until Monday afternoon, and the Wizards could put in a waiver claim for Rose’s minimum salary contract before then. But, as Bobby Marks of ESPN details, Washington may be wise to wait until Rose becomes a free agent before acquiring him, as putting in a waiver claim would cost the Wizards $2.4MM in tax penalties, while a rest-of-season contract would only increase the tax by $800K.
In any event, the Wizards appear to have some competition for Rose’s services. As we relayed earlier this week, the Timberwolves and Rose’s former coach, Tom Thibodeau, are in the mix to sign Rose as well — Marc Stein of The New York Times is now reporting that Minnesota may look to make a waiver claim.
Rose, still only 29, has had a once-promising career devastated by injuries. The former MVP played only 19.3 minutes per game for the Cavaliers this season, a career-low by far, and has now been both traded and released in the last few days.
Five Key Stories: 2/3/18 – 2/10/18
If case you missed any of this past week’s biggest headlines from around the NBA (e.g. trade deadline), we’ve got you covered with our Week in Review. Below are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last seven days.
The Cavaliers traded away half of their rotation – including former MVP-candidate Isaiah Thomas – in what became a wild day in Cleveland on Thursday. All told, the Cavaliers traded away six players (Thomas, Channing Frye, Jae Crowder, Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, and Dwyane Wade), their 2018 first-round pick (lightly protected – LAL), and a second-round pick in 2020 (SAC) in exchange for four players (George Hill, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, and Larry Nance Jr.) and a heavily protected second-round pick in 2024 (MIA). Frye and Thomas head to the Lakers, Crowder and Rose to the Jazz, while Shumpert is now on the Kings and Wade returns to the Heat. Meanwhile, Joe Johnson was sent from Utah to Sacramento.
Speaking of Johnson, he was bought out by the Kings this afternoon and will sign with the Rockets once he clears waivers on Monday. Johnson, 36, was rumored to be favoring the Celtics or the Warriors after he hit free agency, but has evidently decided to sign with Houston instead. In addition, the Rockets are expected to sign 11-year veteran Brandan Wright after he completes a buyout with the Grizzlies. In order to make room on the roster for the new additions, Houston will waive Bobby Brown, who the team had just signed yesterday, and will need to cut one more player.
In another deadline-day deal, three former lottery selections changed teams in a three-way deal between the Knicks, Mavericks, and Nuggets. The trade will send Emmanuel Mudiay to the Knicks, Devin Harris to the Nuggets, and Doug McDermott to the Mavericks. Additionally, Denver acquired a second-round pick from New York and Dallas acquired a second-round pick from Denver – both in this year’s draft.
In non-trade related news, Clippers break-out star Lou Williams has signed a three-year contract extension with a partial guarantee in the third year. Williams will make $8MM annually, with the third-year guarantee paying $1.5MM for a total of $17.5MM in guaranteed money. Given Williams’ play so far this season, most pundits estimated a yearly guarantee exceeding that amount, but Williams is reportedly happy in Los Angeles and prefers the stability this new contract provides as opposed to testing the free agent market.
In yet another tough break for Team LeBron, not to mention the Knicks, All-Star forward Kristaps Porzingis suffered a torn ACL in his left knee during Tuesday night’s game against Milwaukee and will miss the remainder of the season. And, despite being able to put weight on the knee after the injury occurred, recovery time could be as long as 12 months.
Here are 11 more worthwhile NBA headlines from last week:
- The Suns acquired Elfrid Payton from the Magic for a second-round pick in this year’s draft. Isaiah Canaan was waived to make room on the Suns’ roster for Payton.
- The Hawks and Marco Belinelli reached an agreement on a buyout, with Belinelli expected to draw interest from plenty of suitors.
- The Knicks traded Willy Hernangomez to the Hornets in exchange for Johnny O’Bryant and Charlotte’s second-round picks in 2020 and 2021.
- The Pistons acquired Jameer Nelson from the Bulls in exchange for Willie Reed and the Bulls’ right to swap second-round picks in 2022.
- The Grizzlies traded James Ennis to the Pistons in exchange for Brice Johnson and a 2022 second-round pick.
- The Bucks acquired Tyler Zeller from the Nets for Rashad Vaughn and a protected 2018 second-round pick. Then, on deadline day, Vaughn was traded by Brooklyn to the Pelicans in exchange for Dante Cunningham.
- The Trail Blazers traded Noah Vonleh to the Bulls, thereby lowering Portland beneath the luxury tax line.
- The Heat acquired Luke Babbitt from the Hawks in exchange for Okaro White, who Atlanta then waived.
- The Kings traded Malachi Richardson to the Raptors in exchange for Bruno Caboclo. Despite an initial report, Caboclo will not be released at this time.
- 76ers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo admitted that it’s possible Markelle Fultz won’t play again this season.
- Nets point guard Jeremy Lin has opted into his $12.5MM player option for the 2018/19 NBA season.
Five Key Stories: 1/27/18 – 2/3/18
If case you missed any of this past week’s biggest headlines from around the NBA, we’ve got you covered with our Week in Review. Here are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last seven days.
In a somewhat surprising, albeit blockbuster move, the Clippers traded star power forward Blake Griffin to the Pistons in a multi-player deal. Detroit sent forward Tobias Harris, shooting guard Avery Bradley, center Boban Marjanovic, its 2018 first-round pick, and a 2019 second-round pick to the Clippers, while Los Angeles sent forward Brice Johnson and center Willie Reed to Detroit in addition to Griffin. The Pistons’ 2018 first-rounder being sent to the Clippers is protected for picks 1-4 in this year’s draft as well as the 2019 and 2020 drafts, assuming it’s not conveyed. The pick is unprotected in 2021.
Despite initially falling apart because New Orleans didn’t want to guarantee Nikola Mirotic’s 2018/19 salary, the Pelicans and Bulls agreed to a trade centered around Mirotic, with his next season’s salary now guaranteed. Omer Asik, Tony Allen, Jameer Nelson, and the Pelicans’ 2018 first-round pick are headed to Chicago in exchange for Mirotic and the Pelicans own 2018 second-round pick that the Bulls originally acquired from New Orleans in a September trade. In order to complete the the trade, the Bulls also waived Quincy Pondexter. The 2018 first-rounder headed to Chicago is top-five protected in 2018, top-eight protected in 2019, top-ten protected in 2020, top-nine protected in 2021, and top-six protected in 2022. Finally, the Bulls will have the option to swap second-round picks with the Pelicans in the 2021 draft.
The Suns waived Greg Monroe as part of a buyout agreement after being unable to find any worthy trades on the market. Monroe, who was sent to the Suns earlier this season in the move that landed Eric Bledsoe in Milwaukee, had seen inconsistent minutes while competing for playing time with Tyson Chandler and Alex Len. The details of the buyout agreement are not yet known, but Monroe will likely retain a large chunk of his salary, as Phoenix would still be nearly $9MM under the cap even if it paid Monroe’s full $17.88MM cap hit.
Speaking of Monroe, he will sign with the Celtics on a one-year, $5MM deal after becoming a free agent today. The Celtics and Pelicans were believed to be the frontrunners for Monroe, who is from New Orleans, but while the Pelicans offered Monroe the opportunity to be their starting center, the big man will presumably instead head to Boston because he’ll make more money and have a better chance to win a title. Boston was able to take advantage of its $8.4MM disabled player exception – awarded after Gordon Hayward went down in the team’s season opener – while New Orleans was unable to do so because DeMarcus Cousins went down after the Jan. 15 deadline to apply.
LeBron James steadfastly denied an ESPN story about him being open to talking to the Warriors during his free agency this offseason. The report cautioned that there’s no indication Golden State would be interested, but that James would listen to a pitch out of respect for the team’s “winning culture.” James vociferously denied the story yesterday, calling it “nonsense” and a “non-story”, claiming his only focus at the moment is becoming a champion again and not to trust any rumors coming directly from his mouth.
Here are 11 more NBA headlines from the last week worth noting:
- Thunder swingman Andre Roberson ruptured his left patellar tendon and will miss the remainder of the season.
- Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left hand and will be out for about eight weeks.
- Wizards point guard John Wall underwent a successful arthroscopic debridement procedure on his left knee and will miss about six to eight weeks of action.
- Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks after suffering a partially torn left quadricep tendon.
- Grizzlies guard Tyreke Evans will not play until after the trade deadline or Memphis trades him, whichever comes first. The Bulls did the same thing with Nikola Mirotic.
- Another Grizzlies guard, point guard Mike Conley, underwent successful surgery to smooth a small bone protrusion in his left heel and will miss the remainder of the season.
- Suns guard Isaiah Canaan suffered a gruesome left ankle fracture – a la Gordon Hayward – and will be out for the remainder of the season.
- Knicks center Joakim Noah and head coach Jeff Hornacek got into a heated exchange and, as a result, Noah will not return to the team until further notice.
- Injuries to All-Stars means All-Star replacements. Paul George, Andre Drummond, and Goran Dragic will replace DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall, and Kevin Love, respectively (links click here).
- Bucks forward Jabari Parker made his debut last night after missing the last year with a torn ACL.
- The Pelicans are finalizing a 10-day contract with former second overall pick Emeka Okafor.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 1/27/18 – 2/3/18
Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team creates original content to complement our news feed. Below are the original segments and features from the past week:
- Two substantial trades occurred this week, and Luke Adams delivered an in-depth analytical salary cap analysis of both the Blake Griffin trade and the Nikola Mirotic trade.
- As part of our Community Shootaround series, we focused on the following questions:
- In light of news that Mike Conley is out for the season, should the Grizzlies trade cornerstone Marc Gasol and begin the rebuilding process?
- Who will benefit the most from the blockbuster trade involving Griffin – the Clippers or the Pistons?
- In his Weekly Mailbag, Arthur Hill answered readers’ questions on a potential – and now completed – Pelicans‘ trade for Mirotic, and potential trades for Tyreke Evans and Aaron Gordon.
- We took a look at the two teams remaining below the 2017/18 salary floor – the Mavericks and the Bulls.
- Our 2018 Free Agent Stock Watch focused on the Bulls.
- Luke Adams also dove into a deep analysis of the 2017/18 disabled player exceptions granted so far this season.
- With the trade deadline now less than a week away, we identified several players in the Pacific division who could be on the move.
Thunder Interested In Avery Bradley
In the wake of losing All-NBA defender Andre Roberson to a ruptured left patellar tendon for the remainder of the 2017/18 season, the Thunder are interested in trading for newly-acquired Clippers guard Avery Bradley, reports Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post.
Bradley, who is in the final year of his contract, likely doesn’t fit into the Clippers’ long-term plans, and Oklahoma City appears interested in taking advantage of a potential deal as a result.
Long considered an elite man-to-man defender in this league, Bradley would be able to step in for Roberson admirably, while at the same time giving the Thunder an upgrade on the offensive side of the ball, where Bradley is a career 36.8 percent shooter from long range (Roberson’s career three-point percentage is 25.7%).
Despite the Thunder’s interest, however, it’s difficult to envision a plausible scenario in which a potential trade would occur. The Clippers are building for the future and the Thunder don’t have a first-round pick to trade until 2022 at the earliest.
Also, Bradley is making $8.8MM this season and the Thunder’s best pieces for salary-matching purposes include some combination of Alex Abrines, Patrick Patterson, and Kyle Singler, none of whom are on an expiring deal or overly productive.
The Thunder would likely have to throw promising rookie Terrance Ferguson into any plausible deal in order to realistically pique the Clippers’ interest, and the Thunder are thus far unwilling to do so, per Bontemps.
Cavs Willing To Surrender Nets Pick
Despite rumors to the contrary, Terry Pluto of the The Plain Dealer hears that the Cavaliers have indeed entertained the idea or trading the Nets‘ 2018 first-round pick (currently 8th in our 2017/18 NBA Reverse Standings), but only for the right return.
Pluto reports that the Cavs will only trade the all-but-assured lottery selection in exchange for a younger player who is under contract for a couple of seasons. A short-term answer who can become a free agent this summer, like Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, will not entice the team to surrender Brooklyn’s pick.
On the other hand, an expiring contract like Jordan’s would make sense in exchange for the Cavs’ own 2018 first-rounder opines Pluto, who suggests a deal that would send Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye, and their own first-round pick to Los Angeles in exchange for Jordan would work within the salary cap. Whether the Cavs or Clippers would be interested in such a deal remains to be seen.
As for the Brooklyn pick, a previously mentioned trade candidates from a rebuilding team who is relatively young, under contract through this offseason, and has already been linked to the Cavs is Hawks swingman Kent Bazemore. However, it’s hard to believe the Cavs giving up a potential lottery pick for Bazemore at this point.
Suns Buy Out Greg Monroe
FEBRUARY 1, 4:06pm: The Suns have officially waived Monroe, according to a press release issued by the club. He’s on track to clear waivers on Saturday.
We rounded up several rumors on Monroe’s next landing spot earlier today.
JANUARY 31, 9:53pm: The Suns and Greg Monroe have reached an agreement on a buyout, tweets Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN adds that there will be “significant interest” around the league in signing Monroe to a rest-of-the-season contract once he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
The timing of the deal is a bit peculiar with the trade deadline about a week away, but Bordow surmises that a worthy deal likely wouldn’t have materialized for Monroe anyway, so the timing really didn’t matter to Phoenix. Wojnarowski adds that the Suns did in fact exhaust all trade possibilities before agreeing to the buyout.
Monroe, who was sent to the Suns earlier this season in the move that landed Eric Bledsoe in Milwaukee, had seen inconsistent minutes since arriving in Phoenix, with Tyson Chandler and Alex Len also vying for minutes at the five. Monroe has been viewed as a candidate to be traded or bought out since the Suns acquired him — a trade would have been challenging due to his $17.88MM cap hit.
Earlier in the evening, John Gambadoro of ArizonaSports.com opined that a buyout could be forthcoming after Monroe was not in attendance for tonight’s game against Dallas. Multiple sources indicate that the Celtics, who possess an $8.4MM disabled player exception, are a team to watch in the Monroe sweepstakes, with Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports reporting that the interest is expected to be mutual.
Helping Boston is the fact that its disabled player exception – acquired as a result of the season-ending injury to Gordon Hayward – does not prorate throughout the season. As detailed by ESPN’s Bobby Marks, this is different from the mid-level exception that most teams would utilize to offer Monroe a salary over the minimum.
In addition to the Celtics, another team said to be interested in Monroe is the Pelicans, per Bordow. New Orleans is in a position to make the playoffs and just lost All-Star DeMarcus Cousins for the rest of the season. Moreover, a potential deal for Nikola Mirotic just fell through after New Orleans refused to guarantee Mirotic’s 2018/19 salary.
New Orleans is over the cap and wouldn’t be able to offer a free agent more than the prorated portion of the bi-annual exception — even that would be tricky due to the team’s hard cap and tax ramifications. Still, Monroe is from the New Orleans area, so the Pelicans may be hoping that he is willing to take some sort of hometown discount. In addition, New Orleans could offer him a starting position, while the Celtics would almost certainly bring him off the bench.
The Thunder could also be a dark horse in the Monroe sweepstakes, according to Mannix. Meanwhile, the Bucks are ineligible to re-sign Monroe after trading him earlier in the league year.
Atlantic Notes: Fultz, Porzingis, Powell
The issue with the shooting shoulder of Sixers rookie Markelle Fultz has taken an interesting turn, reports Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Fultz, who has missed all but four games this season, was apparently upset with his head coach Brett Brown after it was reported that Brown classified Fultz’s injury as “psychosomatic”.
Fultz took to social media to air his frustrations, while Brown insisted that he was misquoted, that he has never wavered from the narrative that Fultz’s shot is being affected by a shoulder injury, and that Fultz’s shoulder still hurts sometimes when he rises to shoot a jump shot.
Brown understands Fultz’s frustration, but believes Fultz will ultimately accept the misunderstanding. “Last night’s erroneous reporting was disappointing,” Brown said, “(but Markelle) knows the organization. He knows me. It doesn’t require much more to be said than that.”
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Kristaps Porzingis is planning to use his first All-Star game appearance as a recruiting opportunity, reports Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. One of his first targets? Team LeBron teammate Kyrie Irving, who is from the New York area and listed the Knicks as a preferred destination before being traded to Boston.
- After not playing in three of the team’s previous four games and having being relegated to mop-up duty lately, Raptors guard Norman Powell played well in a come-from-behind win against Minnesota last night, and his teammates weren’t surprised one bit, writes Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, who reports that Powell is still a popular locker room figure.
- The Nets have benched veteran center Tyler Zeller in favor of youngsters Jahlil Okafor and Jarrett Allen, reports Brian Lewis of the New York Post. While head coach Kenny Atkinson wouldn’t confirm the move as permanent, Allen started in Zeller’s place in last night’s loss to the Knicks after Zeller had started 33 of the last 34 games.
Thunder Notes: Roberson, George, Abrines
A top-five ranked defense took a major hit Saturday evening when Thunder swingman and 2017 NBA All-Defensive Second Team member Andre Roberson had his season end abruptly after rupturing his left patellar tendon. Erik Horne of The Oklahoman opines that the team has two good options: make a trade, or seek a difference maker on the buyout market later this month.
A trade may be difficult, as the Thunder don’t have a first-round pick to trade until 2024, and not many attractive assets with whom the team would be willing to part. The Thunder do have two trade exceptions acquired in the Paul George trade, but the larger of the two exceptions is only worth $2.5MM – an amount unlikely to fit a salary equal to Roberson’s value.
Should the team test the buyout market, Horne mentions Andrew Bogut as a potential option to maintain the team’s defensive prowess, with more names to materialize after the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
Here’s more on the Thunder:
- George initially being omitted as an All-Star ending up working out in the Thunder’s favor, writes Royce Young of ESPN. George, who will make his fifth All-Star Game appearance in his hometown of Los Angeles on Feb. 18, received an outpouring of support from teammate Russell Westbrook after being overlooked for this year’s event, and George clearly noticed. Now, the two L.A. natives will be teammates on Team LeBron, and it stands to reason that the closer the two become, the more likely it is that George will remain in Oklahoma City.
- If the Thunder are unable and/or opt not to replace Roberson via trade or free agent acquisition, look for second-year player Alex Abrines to step up his role for the team, reports Brett Dawson of the The Oklahoman. Head coach Billy Donovan stated before yesterday’s game that he “definitely” wants to find more minutes for Abrines, saying of the Spaniard, “I’ve got to find ways to get him on the floor and help him because I think he can help our team.”
- In his latest piece for Bleacher Report, NBA Capologist Eric Pincus analyzes whether the Thunder will dole out the cash necessary to keep George in Oklahoma City should he wish to stay. Facing the repeater tax and Carmelo Anthony‘s all-but-assured decision to opt in next season, the Thunder could be faced with a roster costing somewhere between $250MM and $300MM.