Atlantic Notes: Williams, Celtics, Horford, Embiid, Ujiri
The Celtics did not trade for a center but they’ll get another back in action soon. Robert Williams could return by the end of the month, according to Darren Hartwell of NBC Sports Boston. President of basketball operations Danny Ainge said in a radio interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub that Williams, who hasn’t played since December 6 due to a hip injury, should be ready in a few weeks. “Robert Williams is progressing,” Ainge said. “He was out working on the court (Thursday). He’s starting his transition back into all the live action, and we anticipate him being back with us somewhere in the neighborhood of March 1.” Williams was averaging 3.9 PPG, 4.6 RPG and 1.1 BPG in 19 games prior to his injury.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Ainge sat the Celtics stood pat because he couldn’t find a deal that made sense, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston reports. Ainge didn’t want to pay a premium price for a second-unit addition. “I hear people talking about why we didn’t do a deal. A lot of times people want us to get the first- or second-best player on another team,” Ainge said. “Those players are expensive and, if we brought them here, they would be the seventh-, eighth-, or ninth-best player on our team.”
- Forward Al Horford is looking for a silver lining to the Sixers’ four-game losing streak entering Friday’s action, Malika Andrews of ESPN relays. “It’s like finding ourselves,” he said. “Trying to figure it out. I think good is going to come out of this.” Philadelphia has won just nine road games, and center Joel Embiid believes he needs to be a little more upbeat. “I’m trying to get back to the fun Joel,” Embiid said. “Smile a little more. The whole season I told myself I was going to be serious. I felt like everyone looked at [me] in a way that I’m moody or I might not care. I do. I want to win.”
- Even though the Knicks hired Leon Rose as team president, speculation over Masai Ujiri’s future will continue to grow unless he signs a new contract with the Raptors, according to Michael Grange of SportsNet Canada. There have been preliminary discussions between Ujiri and the team’s ownership group but nothing has changed regarding the Raptors president’s desire to put off his contract status until this summer, according to Grange. Ujiri’s contract runs out after next season.
Pistons Trade Andre Drummond To Cavaliers
9:21pm: It’s a done deal, with the Cavaliers and Pistons both issuing press releases to confirm the trade. Detroit announced in a separate release that, as expected, Frazier has been waived to make room on the roster for the incoming players.
1:19pm: The Cavaliers are finalizing a trade with the Pistons that will see them acquire center Andre Drummond, a league source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
According to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer (via Twitter), Detroit will receive Brandon Knight and John Henson, both of whom are on expiring contracts. Cleveland will also send the Pistons a second-round pick, per O’Connor.
The pick will be the lesser of Cleveland’s 2023 own pick or the 2023 second-rounder Golden State owes the Cavaliers, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com tweets.
Drummond, the league’s premier rebounder, holds a $28.75MM option on his contract for next season and he’s expected to opt out and test a weak free agent market. The Pistons reportedly were prepared to retain Drummond after talks with the Hawks and Knicks fell through but ultimately decided to move on and go into rebuild mode. Detroit was looking for a first-round pick for Drummond but settled on the second-rounder, along with those expiring contracts.
The modest haul for Drummond was surprising but Detroit’s front office wanted to avoid the possibility of Drummond opting in, O’Connor adds in another tweet. It also gives Cleveland the opportunity to see how Drummond meshes with the young backcourt of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland.
The Pistons will now have approximately $35MM in cap space this summer, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Cleveland will be close to the cap if Drummond opts in or re-signs with the starting salary in the $29-$30MM range, Marks adds.
Knight is making approximately $15.64MM and Henson has a $9.73MM contract, so the Pistons will shave some money off this year’s cap. They were perilously close to the luxury tax line prior to the proposed deal. Detroit was less than $4,000 under the tax line but moves to $1.7MM under the threshold via this trade, according to Marks (Twitter link).
Drummond has a $857K trade bonus that will be applied to his $27.1MM cap hit for this season, Marks relays in another tweet. Drummond, who has spent his whole career with Pistons since being chosen in the 2012 lottery, is averaging 17.8 PPG and an NBA-best 15.8 RPG this season.
The Pistons will have to open up a roster spot before making the trade official since it is at the 15-man limit. It’s likely that Tim Frazier, who has served as the No. 3 point guard behind Derrick Rose and Reggie Jackson, will be waived unless Detroit makes another trade, Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press tweets.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Buyout Rumors: Ellington, Jackson, Jazz
Veterans on the trading block that teams were unable to move by Thursday’s deadline could still wind up with other teams. Below are updates on some of those players:
- The Knicks will look into buying out shooting guard Wayne Ellington, Ian Begley of SNY-TV tweets. Ellington signed a two-year, $16MM contract with New York last summer but the second year is only guaranteed for $1MM. Ellington, 32, has appeared in just 24 games this season, averaging 4.0 PPG in 14.1 MPG. He’s a 37.7% career shooter from beyond the arc.
- A buyout of point guard Reggie Jackson is an option for the Pistons but is termed “premature” for the time being, Yahoo Sports’ Vince Goodwill tweets. Jackson, who is making over $18MM in the final year of his deal, has missed a good chunk of this season with a back ailment. He is close friends with Andre Drummond, who is headed to Cleveland.
- The Jazz will be one of the contenders scouring the buyout market both domestically and internationally, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets. Utah explored several deals the past two days but couldn’t find one that made sense, Jones adds.
- The Cavaliers are apparently uninterested in buying out center Tristan Thompson. Get the details here.
Cavs Don’t Plan On Buying Out Tristan Thompson
The Cavaliers do not plan to buy out center Tristan Thompson despite agreeing to a trade for Pistons center Andre Drummond, David Aldridge of The Athletic tweets.
Thompson, who is making approximately $18.5MM this season, will become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Thompson was on the trading block, with Cleveland reportedly seeking a first-round pick for the 28-year-old. Thompson’s camp was hoping he would be dealt and now finds himself in a tricky situation the last two months of the season with the addition of Drummond.
Clients of Klutch Sports – which represents Thompson – typically don’t negotiate buyouts, but he and the people around him “definitely wanted him out of Cleveland,” Joe Vardon of The Athletic tweets. It’s unclear whether that desire has waned now that he wouldn’t get to take his Bird rights with him to a new destination.
Prior to adding Drummond, the Cavs were open to re-signing Thompson this summer, according to Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The front office had internal discussions about a contract extension but Thompson’s demands were too high. The team’s brass also wanted to keep its options open for the offseason. A sign-and-trade involving Thompson this summer is a possibility, Fedor adds.
Thompson is averaging 11.9 PPG and 10.4 RPG in 31.0 MPG this season.
Magic To Waive Forward Amile Jefferson
The Magic plan to waive forward Amile Jefferson, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets.
Orlando needs to open up a roster spot to make room for incoming forward James Ennis. The Magic agreed to acquire Ennis from the Sixers for a second-round pick on Thursday.
Jefferson, 26, has made 18 mostly brief appearances with the Magic this season, averaging 0.8 PPG and 1.3 RPG in 4.1 MPG. He also appeared in 12 games with Orlando last season.
Jefferson signed a two-year contract with Orlando in early November after playing for the team on a two-way deal last season. However, the second year of the minimum contract was not guaranteed. Jefferson, who was on a two-way contract with the Timberwolves for a good portion of the 2017/18 season, spent a majority of this season in the G League.
With Jefferson on his way out, it appears Orlando will retain Gary Clark for now. His second 10-day contract with the club expires on Friday night, so the club would have to re-sign him to a rest-of-season deal to keep him beyond that point.
Lakers Notes: Smith, Collison, Buyouts
The Lakers are expected to give free agent guard J.R. Smith a post-trade deadline audition, perhaps as soon as next week, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets (story first reported by Brandon ‘Scoop’ Robinson of Heavy.com).
Smith hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since November 19, 2018, the last of 11 games he played with the Cavaliers last season. The 34-year-old Smith has averaged 12.5 PPG in an NBA career that began during the 2004/05 season.
The Lakers remain the favorite to sign free agent point guard Darren Collison if he chooses to return to the league after retiring last summer. They’ll also be looking into the buyout market for reinforcements, Stein adds.
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- The team did not make a deal prior to Thursday’s deadline and still has a full roster, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin notes in a tweet. McMenamin also relays they’ll look into signing Collison and see what develops in the buyout market.
- It’s believed that Collison’s preference is the Lakers over the Clippers, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer tweets. Collison is expected to make a decision on whether to un-retire after the All-Star game. He doesn’t want to leave the Southern California area, meaning the Lakers or Clippers would be the main players for his services. The Nuggets and Sixers also reportedly have interest in Collison if he’s willing to move away from the area.
Rockets Inquire About Thompson, Wood
Wizards Have No Plans To Trade Bertans
The Wizards have given forward Davis Bertans assurances that he won’t be traded, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington tweets.
GM Tommy Sheppard has taken a hard stance against dealing Bertans, an unrestricted free agent after this season. Sheppard hopes to re-sign Bertans this summer, Hughes adds.
The 6’10” Bertans has enjoyed a breakout season in his first year with Washington after spending his first three seasons with the Spurs. He’s averaging 15.0 PPG and 4.6 RPG in 40 games this season, including four starts, while making 42.9% of his 3-point attempts. Bertans was acquired last July as part of a three-team swap.
Multiple teams inquired about Bertans but the Wizards have maintained that they view him as a long-term part of their plans despite his free agent status. Their asking price for Bertans was two first-round picks, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer (via Twitter).
Rockets Not Motivated By Luxury Tax Concerns?
FEBRUARY 4: Contradicting his original report, Young tweets that he’s been told that Fertitta has given Morey the go-ahead to make deadline deals without financial restrictions. The Rockets’ owner isn’t satisfied with the team’s place in the standings so far and wants to upgrade the roster, Young adds.
While that may be true, Houston is close enough to the tax line that it still wouldn’t be a surprise if the club ducks below it in the coming days.
FEBRUARY 3: The Rockets are looking to shave enough salary off their payroll to avoid the luxury tax, Jabari Young of CNBC.com reports.
The Rockets have been actively engaged in trade talks, most notably dangling center Clint Capela, who is in the early stages of a five-year, $90MM contract. Moving Nene, who has a non-guaranteed $10MM salary for next season, would also contribute greatly toward that goal. The Rockets have approximately $139.9MM in contractual obligations and owner Tilman Fertitta wants to get below the $132MM tax line.
Some league executives believes Rockets GM Daryl Morey is being pressured by Fertitta to decrease salary while simultaneously trying to keep the franchise in championship contention, according to Young.
Fertitta has denied in the past that he’s motivated by luxury tax concerns but the team’s moves the past two years have the look of a franchise trying to dodge the tax, Dan Feldman of NBC Sports notes. The way Houston’s 2018 offseason played out, and the curious moves it make prior to last year’s trade deadline, had the appearance of a team with tax concerns, Feldman continues.
Players like Gerald Green, Thabo Sefolosha and Tyson Chandler making the veteran’s minimum could be traded and replaced by players making partial-season minimums, Feldman notes. By tossing in assets to move contracts, the Rockets will hinder their chances of upgrading the team, Feldman adds.
Trade Rumors: Covington, Randle, Henson, Celtics
The Clippers are among the teams pursuing Timberwolves forward Robert Covington, Sean Deveney of Heavy.com reports. A package of their first-round pick this year, forward Maurice Harkless, and a young player such as Jerome Robinson or Terance Mann could be enough to secure Covington, Deveney continues. Grizzlies forward Andre Iguodala, Suns center Aron Baynes and Magic guard D.J. Augustin are among the other potential targets for the Clippers, Deveney adds.
We have more trade chatter:
- The Knicks have engaged in trade talks with the Hornets involving forward Julius Randle, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer tweets. Charlotte would be a surprising landing spot for Randle, who has a guaranteed $18.9MM salary for next season. However, the Hornets have three frontcourt players with large expiring contracts and will need reinforcements.
- The Knicks had talks with the Cavaliers which included center John Henson but those discussions have died down, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. Henson has an expiring $9.7MM contract.
- Celtics GM Danny Ainge would like to strengthen the team’s bench but doesn’t see the center position as a major weakness, Jacob Camenker of NBC Sports Boston relays. The Celtics are reportedly one of the teams interested in acquiring Rockets center Clint Capela. Ainge indicated the roster “probably too many really young guys” but claimed he’s content with Daniel Theis, Enes Kanter, and Robert Williams manning the middle. “We’re not getting beat at the center position,” Ainge said. “We’re getting 17, 18 points per night. We’re getting double-figure rebounds. We’re just doing it as a team.”