Eastern Notes: Harris, Satoransky, Leonsis, Heat
Nets shooting guard Joe Harris could double his salary in free agency next summer, according to Michael Scotto of The Athletic. Harris will make $7.67MM during the upcoming season and Scotto notes that veteran shooting guards received well above that figure in free agency this summer. Danny Green signed a two-year, $30MM deal with the Lakers while J.J. Redick got a two-year, $26.5MM contract with the Pelicans.
Harris might get even more, as Scotto points out that several other comparable shooting guards are making between $17.2MM and $20MM this season. The Nets hold Harris’ Bird Rights, giving them the inside track on signing him.
We have more from the Eastern Conference:
- Tomas Satoransky‘s price tag became too much to bear for the Wizards in restricted free agency, as Fred Katz of The Athletic details. The Bulls offered him a three-year, $30MM contract and Washington felt that was too much for a player who’d be a backup once John Wall returned from his Achilles injury. A sign-and-trade was worked out that brought back a 2020 second-round pick and other considerations to Washington. Satoransky wasn’t disappointed. “I always felt like, for me, it was always harder than for others,” he said of his experience in Washington. “I had to always keep proving (myself) to people. And I always felt like, ‘Man, I’ve done enough to have that.’ So, I felt this needs a new start.”
- Wizards managing partner Ted Leonsis will be more visible with a new front office structure in place, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “Our owners are going to be more involved,” Leonsis said. “You constantly have to gauge back and forth: is it good to be involved, or is it not good to be involved? Every agent, every player that I’ve talked to said the more they see Raul Fernandez and Laurene Powell-Jobs and me, the more connected they feel to what our vision and what our ultimate plan is.”
- Any package that the Heat would send out in a potential Bradley Beal and Wall deal with the Wizards would need to include James Johnson, Dion Waiters, Justise Winslow and Kelly Olynyk for salary-matching purposes, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald details. Trading for Beal alone would probably require the Heat to give up their three best assets, Bam Adebayo, Winslow and Tyler Herro, but they wouldn’t realistically be able to attach a draft pick until next June, Jackson adds.
Community Shootaround: L.A.’s Complementary Players
Los Angeles will be the center of the basketball universe during the upcoming season.
The Lakers’ acquisition of Anthony Davis to pair up with LeBron James and the Clippers’ coup in signing Kawhi Leonard and trading for Paul George has created a new level of excitement in Tinseltown.
The flip side to having two superstars is that it’s difficult to surround them with quality pieces due to salary cap restrictions. However, getting the right role players is essential to winning the championship.
The Lakers, of course, had to trade away several young players in order to secure Davis’ services with Kyle Kuzma being the notable exception. They were heavily criticized for some of the veterans they signed to short-team deals last summer but several have returned.
Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were re-signed. The Lakers also brought in a batch of new free agents, including DeMarcus Cousins and Danny Green.
If Cousins can regain some of his All-Star form prior to his Achilles injury two seasons ago, he’d be a steal. But that’s a huge if. Green, of course, was a prominent member of the Raptors’ championship team and is the likely starter at shooting guard.
Avery Bradley, Quinn Cook and Jared Dudley are some of the other reserves signed to fortify the bench.
The Clippers gave up potential star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the George trade but has a little more roster stability with Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and Landry Shamet returning.
They re-signed restricted free agents Ivica Zubac and Rodney McGruder and unrestricted free agent Patrick Beverley, who attracted a lot of interest around the league due to his defensive prowess. JaMychal Green was also re-signed to back up Zubac, while Maurice Harkless was acquired in a trade.
That leads us to our question of the day: Which of the two Los Angeles teams has the best group of role players surrounding their two superstars?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
Pacific Notes: Castleberry, James, Evans, Warriors
Kawhi Leonard will have an ally on the Clippers’ coaching staff. His close friend Jeremy Castleberry will serve as an assistant under Doc Rivers, according to Jabari Young of The Athletic (Twitter link). Castleberry followed Leonard to Toronto after the Spurs traded him to the Raptors last summer. Castleberry played with the star forward in high school and at San Diego State. He was a player development coach in Toronto.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers will do some team bonding ahead of training camp. LeBron James is organizing a team minicamp in September, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (video link).
- Jacob Evans, the Warriors’ first-round pick in 2018, is honing his skills as a point guard. The former Cincinnati guard talked about his development in a team website post. “It’s been a great transition, honestly,” he said. “Just learning the offense, trying to learn different reads out of it, some different sets, different looks and just trying to put myself in an aggressive attack mentality.” Evans appeared in 30 regular-season games and seven postseason games last season.
- Kris Weems will be promoted to head coach of the Warriors’ G League affiliate in Santa Cruz, Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days reports. Weems has been an assistant with Santa Cruz the past two years under Aaron Miles, who will be promoted to Golden State’s staff, Johnson continues. Ryan Atkinson, Santa Cruz’s assistant GM since 2016, will be named the team’s GM. He previously served as president of basketball operations for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
Clippers Sign James Palmer To Exhibit 10 Deal
AUGUST 6: The Clippers have officially signed Palmer, according to RealGM’s transactions log.
JULY 26: The Clippers are expected to sign guard James Palmer Jr. to an Exhibit 10 deal, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times reports.
The 6’6” Palmer went undrafted after his first two college seasons with Miami and the last two at Nebraska. He averaged 19.7 PPG, 4.2 RPG and 3.0 APG as a senior but made just 31.3% of his 3-point attempts.
He averaged 14.0 PPG in 26.8 MPG over four games with the Suns in summer league play this month. The Clippers signed former Heat guard Derrick Walton Jr. to a similar contract on Friday.
Udonis Haslem Re-Signs With Heat
AUGUST 6: Haslem posted a message on Instagram today confirming that he’ll return to the Heat for the 2019/20 season, and the team has issued a press release announcing that the deal is official. The veteran signed a one-year contract with Miami, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
AUGUST 5: Big man Udonis Haslem is expected to return to the Heat for a 17th season, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports.
Haslem, 39, has indicated he’s strongly leaning toward playing another year. The likely return of Haslem was a major reason why the team waived forward Yante Maten a week ago rather than having another partial guarantee in his contract kick in. The Heat are hard-capped and needed to create enough room for a veteran’s minimum contract.
Haslem would receive a $2.6MM contract but only $1.6MM would count against Miami’s cap. The Heat would look to add another veteran if Haslem decides to retire, Jackson adds. The team currently has 11 players with guaranteed contracts and a handful of others with partially- or non-guaranteed deals.
Haslem’s veteran leadership is valued, but he hasn’t contributed much on the court in recent years. He’s only appeared in 40 games over the last three seasons, including 10 last season. Haslem made an Instagram post in June to answer critics who urged him not to return.
Team Canada Dealing With Depleted Roster
Much has been made of the withdrawals from Team USA by prominent players as it prepares for the FIBA World Cup in China this summer. Team Canada has experienced similar issues.
Canada Basketball unveiled its training camp roster in a press release and many notable names are missing. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dillon Brooks, Brandon Clarke, Luguentz Dort, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Mfiondu Kabengele, Naz Mitrou-Long, Trey Lyles, Dwight Powell, Marial Shayok, Nik Stauskas, and Tristan Thompson were among the invitees who opted not to participate.
Knicks lottery pick RJ Barrett and Nuggets guard Jamal Murray are on the roster but will only participate in training camp. Barrett is dealing with a mild calf strain, while Murray is nursing an ankle injury, Blake Murphy of The Athletic tweets.
Among the NBA players who are on the roster and intend to participate in the tournament are Kings guard Cory Joseph, Heat forward Kelly Olynyk, Magic center Khem Birch and Raptors big man Chris Boucher. Toronto’s Nick Nurse is the head coach of the team, which will play seven exhibition games before its FIBA opener against Australia on September 1.
Western Notes: Cancar, Guduric, Rubio, Bol Bol
Vlatko Cancar will have plenty of competition at the forward spots but the 22-year-old could help the Nuggets in a variety of ways, as Eric Spyropoulos of the team’s website details. While playing on Denver’s summer league team for two years, Cancar has shown that he can handle the ball, knock down outside shots and battle in the lane. He doesn’t bring elite mobility at the defensive end but he uses his basketball IQ and awareness to position himself well, Spyropoulos adds.
Cancar, a 2017 second-round pick who spent the last two seasons overseas, signed a three-year contract. The first two years are guaranteed and the Nuggets used part of their mid-level exception to secure him, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. They are now $979K below the luxury tax line, Marks adds.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- The addition of Marko Guduric further muddles the Grizzlies’ wing rotation, David Cobb of the Memphis Commercial Appeal writes. He’ll join a group that includes shooting guards Grayson Allen, Dillon Brooks and Josh Jackson as well as forwards Jae Crowder, Solomon Hill, Kyle Anderson and Bruno Caboclo. Guduric’s two-year, $5.3MM contract put the Grizzlies close to $128MM in salary commitments and gives them a full camp roster, Cobb adds. Guduric, who shot 47.7% from long range in Turkey last season, signed the contract on July 31.
- New Suns point guard Ricky Rubio believes he can make Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton even more productive, as he told Cody Cunningham of the team’s website. “I can help them reach the level they deserve,” Rubio said. “Deandre, Devin Booker, I’ve been talking to them the last couple days and they’re really excited. Can’t wait to jump on the court and start working with them.” Rubio was signed to a three-year, $51MM contract to fix Phoenix’s issues at the point guard position.
- Nuggets rookie big man Bol Bol has moved around quite a bit for a 19-year-old but he feels at home in Denver, as he told Kendra Andrews of The Athletic. “I’m happy to be here,” Bol said. “I really like the city. I’m happy to be in a bigger city again.”
Sam Dekker Signs With Russian Team
AUGUST 5: Lokomotiv Kuban has officially confirmed its deal with Dekker (Twitter link).
AUGUST 3: Forward Sam Dekker is close to an agreement with Russia’s Lokomotiv Kuban, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando tweets.
Like several other NBA veterans, Dekker didn’t attract much interest in the free agent market this summer and was forced to explore overseas options.
Dekker became an unrestricted free agent when the Wizards declined to extend a $3.91MM qualifying offer. Dekker wound up in Washington via a three-team December deal that also involved the Bucks and Cavaliers.
The 18th overall pick in the 2015 draft has struggled to find his footing in the NBA after a stellar college career at Wisconsin. He’s averaged 5.5 PPG and 3.0 RPG in 15.5 MPG while playing 200 NBA games for Houston, the Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland as well as the Wizards.
He made just 28.8% of his 3-point attempts during his four NBA seasons and knocked down only 28.6% in 38 games off the bench for Washington. Dekker averaged 6.1 PPG and 3.0 RPG in 16.3 MPG after the trade.
Hoops Rumors Originals: 7/27/19 – 8/3/19
Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team creates original content to complement our news feed. Here are our original segments and features from the past seven days:
- In our Community Shootaround posts, we asked if Kawhi Leonard intentionally harmed the Lakers or Raptors in free agency, which Eastern Conference team is most underrated heading into next season, if and where Thunder guard Chris Paul will be traded next season, how the league should handle tampering violations and which pair of teammates are the best in the league.
- In his weekly mailbag, Arthur Hill tackled a variety of topics, including tampering issues around the league, Paul’s future and the possibility of Joe Johnson returning to the NBA.
- Luke Adams took a closer look at non-guaranteed contracts on a team-by-team basis, the amount of players on each team’s current roster, rules relating to offseason roster limits, a handful of offseason storylines still worth watching and the coaching changes that took place during the offseason.
- Chris Crouse previewed the 2K League Finals.
- We reviewed all the contract extensions handed out this summer.
Warriors Sign Devyn Marble To Exhibit 10 Deal
The Warriors have signed swingman Devyn Marble to an Exhibit 10 contract, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando tweets.
Marble, 26, averaged 13.3 PPG in 34 games for Italy’s Aquila Basket Trento last season. He was the 56th overall pick in the 2014 draft and was acquired by the Magic in a draft-night deal with the Nuggets. He appeared in 44 games with Orlando before he was traded during the summer of 2016 to the Clippers, who quickly waived him.
Marble played briefly in Greece before joining Trento in January 2017.
The Warriors had 16 players on the roster prior to the signing, so they’ll bring in a few more players before camp begins.