And-Ones: Smith, Biyombo, Spurs, Hall, Almansa, Trade Market
The Pistons officially renounced their rights to Wayne Ellington, who has signed with the Lakers, and Dennis Smith Jr., according to the RealGM transactions log. The Hornets renounced four players, including Bismack Biyombo, while the Spurs renounced their rights to a whopping 13 players. San Antonio’s list includes Donatas Motiejunas and David Lee, who haven’t appeared in an NBA game for years. Renouncing those rights allows teams to maximize their cap room in free agency.
We have more from the basketball world:
- Donta Hall has signed with France’s Betclic Elite side AS Monaco, Sportando relays. Hall, who turns 24 on Saturday, played 13 games with the Magic this past season on two 10-day contracts and an end-of-the-season deal via the hardship exception. The power forward also played a total of nine games for the Pistons and Nets in 2019/20.
- Overtime Elite has added another top European prospect. Izan Almansa has signed with the league, Jonathan Givony of ESPN tweets. The 6’9” Almansa, a 16-year old Spanish power forward, is the second player OTE has signed from Real Madrid’s youth program and seventh international prospect.
- While free agency is winding down, the trade market could continue to percolate in the coming weeks, John Hollinger of The Athletic writes. Ben Simmons and Damian Lillard top the list of stars who could be on the move, while the Raptors and Magic are teams to watch, with the latter possibly taking on an onerous contract in order to acquire future assets.
- The ESPN duo of Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks also take a look at unresolved storylines this month involving free agency, the trade market and potential extensions.
Aron Baynes Could Miss Next Season
Free agent center Aron Baynes could miss next season due to a neck injury, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Baynes, who played for the Raptors last season, has severe nerve damage in his neck and is currently in the hospital, says Charania. Baynes, a member of the Australian national team that took the bronze medal at the Olympics, initially injured his neck in a victory over Italy. He suffered a more significant injury slipping in the team bathroom.
The Raptors waived Baynes on Wednesday before his $7.35MM salary for 2021/22 would’ve become fully guaranteed.
Baynes signed a two-year contract with the Raptors during the 2020 offseason after enjoying a career year in Phoenix. He averaged 6.1 PPG and 5.2 RPG in 53 games (18.5 MPG) with Toronto and his shooting percentages (.441/.262/.707) were significantly below his career rates.
However, Baynes was expected to attract interest in the open market from teams looking to add to their frontcourt depth.
Jimmy Butler Signs Max-Salary Extension With Heat
AUGUST 7: Butler has officially signed the extension, according to a team press release.
“Jimmy is the anchor and face of our franchise along with Bam (Adebayo) and Kyle (Lowry),” Heat president Pat Riley said in a statement. “With Jimmy, we get an All-NBA player, an All-NBA Defensive player, tough as nails and a complete player across the board. He’s very deserving of this contract as he continually puts himself at the top of the league at his position. Having him in the HEAT organization has been a great, great coup for us.”
AUGUST 6: The Heat and Butler are in formal agreement on a new four-year extension, reports Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The extension will include a player option for the 2025/26 season, according to Winderman, who says the deal is worth a projected $184MM.
AUGUST 2: Jimmy Butler is expected to sign a four-year max extension with the Heat, Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania of The Athletic report (Twitter link).
Butler can officially sign the extension on Friday. Based on the projected 2022/23 salary cap, the extension will be worth approximately $186.6MM.
The acquisition of Butler in a sign-and-trade with Philadelphia in 2019 propelled the club to the 2020 Finals and he’s looked upon as the leader of a team built on toughness and defense.
There was growing optimism that Butler and the franchise would agree to an extension and that has apparently come to fruition. Butler’s extension is part of a frenzy of planned moves designed to get Miami back to the Finals next season, according to Marc Stein of Substack.
Miami is also acquiring veteran point guard Kyle Lowry and re-signing sharpshooting wing Duncan Robinson.
Injuried limited Butler to 52 regular season games this past season but he still put up big numbers — 21.5 PPG, 6.9 RPG, a career-high 7.1 APG and 2.1 SPG.
Mike Conley Returns To Jazz On Three-Year Contract
AUGUST 6: Conley’s deal with the Jazz is now official, the team announced in a press release. General manager Justin Zanik said in a statement that the team is “excited” to bring Conley back and that he has made a “profound impact both on and off the court” during his time in Utah.
The team also officially announced its new deals with Rudy Gay and Hassan Whiteside.
AUGUST 2: The Jazz have reached an agreement with free agent point guard Mike Conley on a three-year contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
According to Charania, the deal is worth $68MM. Agents Steve Heumann and Jess Holtz of CAA Basketball told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski the contract is worth $72.5MM (Twitter link), suggesting that it could include incentives or bonuses.
A report surfaced over the weekend that Jazz were on track to lock up the veteran on a three-year deal. Bringing him back was Utah’s top offseason priority.
As a team with luxury tax concerns, the Jazz needed to shed salary to improve that situation and retain Conley. Utah made a deal to dump a contract last week, having traded Derrick Favors to Oklahoma City.
Conley, 33, struggled in his first year in Utah in 2019/20, but the longtime Grizzlies guard turned things around this past season, averaging 16.2 PPG, 6.0 APG, and 3.5 RPG with a .444/.412/.852 shooting line in 51 games (29.4 MPG). He earned his first All-Star appearance in his 14th NBA season.
Conley was forced to miss games during the postseason due to a hamstring injury, which led to a disappointing finish for a team that had the league’s best regular season record.
Knicks Sign Second-Rounder McBride
The Knicks have officially signed second-round pick Miles McBride, the team’s PR department tweets.
McBride, the 36th overall pick, was acquired in a draft-night trade with the Thunder. The 6’2” guard averaged 15.9 PPG, 4.8 APG and 1.9 SPG in 29 games last season with West Virginia. He also made 41.4% of his 3-point attempts. McBride played two seasons with the Mountaineers.
Terms were not disclosed, but the team has ample cap room to sign McBride to a contract that covers three or four seasons. McBride is currently on the Knicks’ summer league squad.
Northwest Notes: Jazz, Nuggets, Martin Sr., Timberwolves
The Jazz’s free agent moves were designed to make them a more complete playoff team, Tony Jones of The Athletic writes. Signing Rudy Gay in free agency and trading for Eric Paschall will allow Utah to match up better against small-ball lineups. The was something the Jazz struggled with when the Clippers went small against them in the postseason. The Jazz are also looking to sign their own restricted free agent, Trent Forrest, to a two-way deal, according to Jones.
We have more from the Western Conference:
- The Nuggets began their summer league mini-camp on Friday following a COVID-19 related pause, Kyle Frederickson of the Denver Post reports. Denver’s first three practices were canceled due to health and safety protocols after a positive test and subsequent contact tracing.
- Kenyon Martin Sr. is back in the NBA as an assistant coach with the Nuggets’ summer league team, Marc Spears of The Undefeated tweets. He’s hoping to remain in the league in a coaching capacity.
- In a detailed interview with the Timberwolves‘ buyers, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic tells of how former baseball All-Star Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore made their deal with Glen Taylor. The transfer of ownership will be gradual process and Lore prefers it that way. “Glen had the team for almost 30 years. We’re thinking similarly,” Lore said. “We’re going to have this team for at least the next 30 years. … We don’t think we have all the answers. We’re not ready, quite frankly, to be making all the decisions right now.”
Clippers Sign Justise Winslow To Two-Year Deal
AUGUST 8: The Clippers have officially signed Winslow, the team announced today in a press release.
AUGUST 6: The Clippers are in agreement with free agent forward Justise Winslow on a two-year deal, his agents Austin Brown and Erika Ruiz tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
The Clippers are using the taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Winslow, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times tweets. According to Greif, there are no options on the deal’s second season.
Winslow became an unrestricted free agent at the beginning of the month when Memphis declined a $13MM option on his contract.
Winslow’s career has been sidetracked by hip and back injuries but, if healthy, he could jump into the Clippers’ rotation. He appeared in just 11 games with Miami during the 2019/20 season. He was traded to the Grizzlies in February 2020 but didn’t make his team debut until late February this year.
Winslow had trouble scraping off the rust, averaging 6.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 1.9 APG in 19.5 MPG while shooting 35.1% from the field in 26 games.
In his last full season, Winslow averaged 12.6 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 4.3 APG in 2018/19 while being used at times as a point forward. Winslow, 25, provides a boost at the wing spot, which is much needed since Kawhi Leonard is expected to miss most of next season after undergoing knee surgery.
Omer Yurtseven Signs Two-Year Contract With Heat
Omer Yurtseven, who has excelled in summer league play, has signed a two-year contract with the Heat, according to a team press release.
Luke Glass, the son of Yurtseven’s agent Keith Glass, told ESPN’s Bobby Marks of the big man’s agreement with the team (Twitter link). Yurtseven will receive about $3.5MM across two seasons, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets, which likely means it’s a minimum-salary deal. Just the first year is guaranteed, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets.
Yurtseven averaged 26 PPG and 13.5 RPG in two California Classic Summer League games. Glass received multiple phone calls from other teams during and after those games, according to Jackson. However, remaining with Miami was always Yurtseven’s first choice.
Miami declined its $1.5MM option on Yurtseven, a 23-year-old center, at the beginning of free agency. However, that was at the seven-footer’s request.
“I asked them when we signed to not exercise the August 1 option, so that when they gave me the option, they could go back to me and do a new deal,” Glass said to Jackson. “They kept their word.”
Miami signed Yurtseven at the end of the last season, allowing him to travel with the team for its first-round series against Milwaukee in May. Yurtseven, a member of Turkey’s national team, went unselected in the 2020 draft.
Yurtseven appeared in 14 G League games last season with Oklahoma City, averaging 15.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per contest. He also recorded five double-doubles during that span.
Celtics Holding Discussions With Dennis Schröder
4:34pm: Although there’s mutual interest between the Celtics and Schröder, he’s still considering a few options, a source tell Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link). Himmelsbach adds that if Schröder ends up in Boston, it’s unlikely to happen via sign-and-trade.
1:28pm: The Celtics are holding negotiations with Lakers free agent guard Dennis Schröder, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report tweets.
Boston has been shopping for a point guard since trading Kemba Walker to Oklahoma City in a salary dump. It’s likely that the Celtics would dangle their mid-level exception to Schröder, whose value declined after a subpar postseason performance against Phoenix. Boston could theoretically pursue a sign-and-trade with the Lakers, but there would be a number of hurdles to clear to make that type of transaction.
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, confirming the Celtics’ interest in Schröder, hears that the team could offer a one-year deal or a two-year deal with a player option.
Schröder’s foray into free agency has been a disappointment. He reportedly turned down a four-year, $84MM extension offer from the Lakers and bet on himself that he’d receive on the open market.
The door closed on a return to Los Angeles when the team agreed to acquire Russell Westbrook from the Wizards. Other clubs have not made an offer near what Schröder had hoped. The Knicks thought about signing Schröder but were lukewarm about that prospect even before they agreed to sign Walker (once he clears waivers) on a two-year deal in the $8-9MM annual range, according to Marc Stein of Substack.
If he fails to reach an agreement with Boston, it’s possible that Schröder could look to return to one of his former teams. according to Stein. The Thunder could give him a one-year contract above the $9.536MM mid-level exception that most teams can offer, though it’s unknown whether OKC would be interested in signing him.
Oklahoma City could use Schröder as a trade chip, while he could try to pump up his value and re-enter the market again next summer.
Pistons Waive Rodney McGruder
The Pistons have waived veteran wing Rodney McGruder, according to James Edwards III of The Athletic.
McGruder’s $5MM contract would have become guaranteed if he had remained on the roster through August 15 (Twitter links). By releasing him before then, Detroit won’t carry any dead money on its cap as a result of the transaction.
The move was expected, as the club needs to trim down its roster to officially add free agents and draft picks. McGruder was acquired in a three-team deal last November but played sparingly in his lone season in Detroit. He saw action in 16 games, including two starts, averaging 5.7 PPG in 12.1 MPG.
McGruder, 30, entered the league in 2016. He played three seasons with Miami and one for the Clippers before the trade last fall. He’ll look to latch on to another team as an unrestricted free agent.