Kings Preparing Offer For Marcus Smart?
JULY 10, 8:11am: A source tells Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee that there’s “nothing to” the report of the Kings’ interest in Smart, suggesting that no offer sheet is imminent (Twitter links).
Over the last couple weeks, Sacramento has been linked to Smart, Rodney Hood, and Jabari Parker, all of whom remain available. There was also a report indicating that the team planned to focus on the trade market using its cap room, so it appears there’s no clear consensus on which direction the Kings will go with that remaining space. The club currently has about $19.5MM available.
JULY 9, 8:30pm: The Kings are preparing an offer sheet to Celtics restricted free agent guard Marcus Smart, A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston tweets.
The Kings have been aggressive in free agency, giving Bulls guard Zach LaVine a four-year, $78MM offer sheet that Chicago opted to match. They are apparently intent on upgrading their off-guard position.
It’s unlikely Smart will get an offer anywhere near that amount but it’s also less likely that Boston will match a large multi-year deal. Smart has been frustrated with the lack of offers and by the Celtics’ unwillingness to reach out to him to negotiate a new contract.
Blakely reported on Saturday that Smart was likely to accept the Celtics’ $6.1MM qualifying offer and try his luck as an unrestricted free agent next summer. The Kings’ interest in Smart could change that dynamic.
Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe recently reported that teams are willing to give Smart about $9MM annually, but he is looking for much more.
Smart battled through injuries last season, appearing in 54 regular-season games while averaging 10.2 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 4.8 APG.
Grizzlies Sign Swingman Kyle Anderson
JULY 9, 10:55pm: The signing is official, according to a Grizzlies press release, after the Spurs declined to match.
JULY 6, 8:27pm: Spurs swingman Kyle Anderson has signed a four-year, $37.2MM offer sheet with the Grizzlies, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports. San Antonio has 48 hours to match the offer, which includes a 15 percent trade kicker, on the restricted free agent.
The Grizzlies will use their full mid-level exception on Anderson and become hard-capped if San Antonio fails to match, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.
The Grizzlies targeted Anderson in their quest to upgrade at small forward, Wojnarowski continues. Anderson averaged 7.9 PPG and 5.4 RPG in 26.7 MPG last season. He started 67 of 74 games with Kawhi Leonard sidelined for all but nine games with a quad injury.
The 6’9” Anderson is entering his fifth season in the league and the Spurs have been positive about retaining him, Wojnarowski adds. He’s been a rotation player the last three seasons but has never posted big numbers. He is considered a superior defender, which attracted Memphis’ attention as it tries to restore a defensive mindset.
Pacific Rumors: Bagley, Thornwell, Ariza, Cousins
Kings lottery pick Marvin Bagley III has a pelvic bone bruise and will miss the remainder of summer-league action, Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports tweets. Bagley, who suffered the injury during the Kings’ game against the Suns on Saturday, will be able to resume basketball activities after 1-2 weeks of rest. The 6’11” Bagley was the No. 2 pick in the draft after one season at Duke.
In other news around the Pacific Division:
- The Suns signed Rockets free agent forward Trevor Ariza to provide guidance to a young team, according to an Associated Press report. Ariza left the Western Conference powerhouse for a one-year, $15MM contract with Phoenix. “We need his defensive ability and versatility, his shooting ability but I think as much as anything, maybe more than anything, we need his leadership and his winning pedigree,” GM Ryan McDonough said.
- Sindarius Thornwell and Jawun Evans face a logjam in the Clippers’ backcourt and will have to fight for playing time, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times notes. The duo played a combined 121 games last season but the team currently has eight guards on the roster with the addition of first-round picks Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson. Both Thornwell and Evans have guaranteed contracts worth approximately $1.378MM for next season. “In this game, you can’t worry about nobody else,” Thornwell said. “You can’t come in and worry about what the next man got going on and what the next man is doing.”
- DeMarcus Cousins says he’s not bothered by the reduced offensive role he’ll have with the Warriors, as he told Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “I’m sure there will be many games where I may have, you know, four attempts. Then there may be other games where I’m the leading scorer,” he said. “I look at that as a positive. I don’t have to be the guy. I’ve dealt with that my entire career. I’ve always wanted a team where everything doesn’t rely on me. Now I’m in that position.”
Southwest Notes: Cousins, Mavs, Anderson, Nowitzki
Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry denies that Anthony Davis didn’t want DeMarcus Cousins to return, William Guillory of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Cousins stunned the basketball world by signing a one-year, $5.3MM deal with the Warriors but it had nothing to do with his relationship with New Orleans’ franchise player, according to Gentry.
“Someone said A.D. didn’t want DeMarcus back, and that couldn’t be further from the truth,” the Pelicans’ head coach said. “I don’t know where that came about, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.”
In other news around the Southwest Division:
- The Mavericks don’t plan on having a full roster heading into training camp, Dwain Price of Mavs.com tweets. “Unless something falls in our lap we’ll keep an open roster spot,” owner Mark Cuban told Price.
- Kyle Anderson‘s defensive metrics were a major reason why the Grizzlies gave the small forward an offer sheet the Spurs didn’t match, according to Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com. He ranked fourth in steals percentage, sixth in defensive rating and 13th in steals per game and rated as the league’s second-best defending small forward last season behind the Sixers’ Robert Covington. Offensively, Anderson could be used an additional ball handler and initiate half-court sets, Wallace adds.
- If the Mavericks show significant improvement, Dirk Nowitzki could play beyond next season, Cuban said in a Sirius XM radio interview that was relayed by the Dallas Morning News. The Mavs will re-sign Nowitzki, who is currently a free agent, once they finish their offseason moves after turning down their team option.”I’d say it’s under 50 percent right now (he’ll retire after next season) but if he’s playing 77 games and we’re getting better, and we’re starting to win games? You know what a competitor he is — he’s going to want to come back.”
Atlantic Notes: Bjorkgren, Lima, Bonga, Shamet
Nate Bjorkgren will join Nick Nurse’s coaching staff with the Raptors, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun tweets. This confirms a previous Wolstat report that Bjorkgren, who worked on Nurse’s Iowa staff in the G League, could get an assistant coaching job. Bjorkgren was an advance scout with the Raptors last season after being let go when the Suns fired Earl Watson.
In other news from around the Atlantic Division:
- Power forward/center Augusto Lima is hopeful of signing a contract with the Raptors after having his rights renounced by Real Madrid, international expert David Pick tweets. The Brazilian-born Lima, 26, has been playing in the Euroleague since 2009 and went undrafted in 2013. He averaged 6.4 PPG and 5.8 RPG in 14 games with Liga ACB last season.
- The Sixers will receive $1.5MM from the Lakers to complete the Isaac Bonga deal, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. The Lakers have a 45-day window from July 6 to get that done, Pincus adds. Philadelphia also received the Bulls’ second-round pick in the deal for the 39th pick of this year’s draft. The Sixers are paying $110K to the Nuggets as part of the Wilson Chandler trade, Pincus adds in another tweet. Denver generated a $12.8MM trade exception from the deal.
- First-round pick Landry Shamet will not play in the Sixers’ remaining summer-league games due to a sprained right ankle, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. X-rays were negative and the 6’5” Shamet, the 26th overall pick out of Wichita State, will be reevaluated in approximately three weeks, Pompey adds.
Mavs Sign Luka Doncic To Rookie Contract
The Mavericks have signed No. 3 overall pick Luka Doncic, according to a team press release.
Doncic will receive approximately $6.56MM in his rookie year, rising to $7.683MM in his second year, $8.04MM in his third season and $10.17MM in the fourth year.
[RELATED: Rookie Scale Salaries For 2018 First Round Picks]
Dallas acquired the draft rights to Doncic from the Hawks in exchange for the rights to fifth overall pick Trae Young and a protected 2019 first-round pick.
The 6’7” Doncic is the reigning EuroLeague Most Valuable Player and EuroLeague Final 4 MVP after leading Real Madrid to the 2017-18 EuroLeague title. He is expected to jump immediately into the starting backcourt alongside 2017 lottery pick Dennis Smith Jr.
With Doncic locked up, the top 16 picks in this year’s draft are now officially under contract.
Pelicans Sign Julius Randle
JULY 9: The Pelicans have officially signed Randle, per the NBA’s transactions log. The team’s new deal with Ian Clark has also been finalized, according to the league’s list of official transactions.
JULY 2: The Pelicans have reached an agreement with Lakers free agent forward Julius Randle on a two-year, $18MM contract, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The second year will be a player option, Wojnarowski adds.
The acquisition of Randle would strongly suggest that the Pelicans are not confident in re-signing DeMarcus Cousins. At the very least, adding Randle would give them some insurance if Cousins signs elsewhere. Not only does New Orleans already have superstar Anthony Davis up front but also Nikola Mirotic, who was acquired from the Bulls and jumped into the starting lineup with Cousins sidelined by a season-ending Achilles injury.
Davis was instrumental in recruiting Randle to New Orleans, according to another Wojnarowski tweet. Randle had his rights renounced by Los Angeles per his request earlier on Monday, making him an unrestricted free agent. The Pelicans ironically lost free agent point guard Rajon Rondo to the Lakers shortly before the news of Randle’s agreement broke.
Randle’s opt-out will give him the opportunity to explore the free agent market once again next summer. Randle, a former seventh overall pick, averaged 16.1 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 2.6 APG, and a .558 FG% in 26.7 minutes per game last season.
The Pelicans, meanwhile, may be poised to replace Cousins with Randle and Rondo with Elfrid Payton, who reached an agreement with the team on Sunday. The terms of the two deals strongly suggest that New Orleans will use its mid-level exception to sign Randle and its bi-annual exception to bring Payton aboard.
A two-year signing using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception would be worth about $17.7MM, which matches up with Randle’s reported $18MM agreement. The bi-annual exception is worth $3.382MM and would accommodate Payton’s reported $2.7MM salary.
Using either exception would hard-cap the Pelicans at $129.82MM for the 2018/19 league year, so while they could go over the cap to re-sign Cousins, their team salary would have to stay below that $129.82MM threshold. Taking into account Randle’s and Payton’s reported agreements, the Pelicans are at approximately $104MM in guaranteed salary for nine players. That total doesn’t include Cousins or non-guaranteed players like Darius Miller ($2.2MM).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Knicks Sign Second-Rounder Mitchell Robinson
6:17pm: Robinson signed a four-year deal with two fully guaranteed seasons and a team option for year four, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. According to Berman, the pact includes about $4.8MM in the first three years, so at least one year is worth more than the minimum. Three years at the minimum would have been worth about $3.9MM. The third year isn’t fully guaranteed (Twitter link).
5:10pm: The signing is official, per a team press release.
3:48pm: The Knicks have reached a multi-year agreement with second-round pick Mitchell Robinson, according to Ian Begley of ESPN.
The contract is expected to be at least thee years, meaning the Knicks will use their mid-level exception to complete. the move. The team has about $2.1MM left on its MLE after signing Mario Hezonja, but it’s certain how much of that amount Robinson will receive.
The 7’1” center, who was the 36th overall pick, didn’t play college ball after committing to Western Kentucky. However, the Knicks have been impressed with his confidence and aggressiveness thus far on their summer-league team, Begley adds.
New York has three other centers on the roster — Enes Kanter, Luke Kornet and Joakim Noah, though it’s unlikely the disgruntled Noah will play again for the franchise.
Pelicans Notes: Jackson, Bluiett, Payton, Trades
Pelicans guard Frank Jackson sprained his left ankle during summer-league action and will be out 2-4 weeks, according to Scott Kushner of the Baton Rouge Advocate. It’s another injury setback for Jackson, an early second-round pick last June. He has yet to appear in an NBA game after undergoing three right foot surgeries. Jackson will make a guaranteed $1.38MM next season.
In other developments involving the Pelicans:
- Rookie swingman Trevon Bluiett has shown a good shooting stroke in summer-league play, William Guillory of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Bluiett scored a combined 50 points on the team’s first two games while making 67% of his 3-point attempts (12-for-18). The Xavier product went undrafted and is trying to earn a roster spot. “He can really shoot, and I like all the shots he’s taking,” assistant coach Kevin Hanson told Guillory. “That’s the biggest thing: he’s got to be concerned about his shot selection. But he’s been good.”
- Playing for his hometown team was an easy decision for point guard Elfrid Payton, Guillory writes in a separate story. Payton, the former Magic and Suns point man, signed a modest one-year, $2.7MM free agent deal to join a playoff contender. “The losing he went through was something different for him,” his college coach Bob Marlin told Guillory. “It’s hard when you’re a competitor and you get to a situation where you lose 50 or 60 games in a year and you’re not used to that.”
- The team is likely to make a trade in the coming weeks, according to Jeff Duncan of the Times-Picayune. The current roster is solid but not enough to concern the top teams in the West, Duncan continues. The Pelicans would like to rid themselves of a bad contract (Alexis Ajinca, Solomon Hill) and improve the rotation, something that will aid their desire to retain Anthony Davis beyond the next two seasons, Duncan adds.
Central Notes: Robinson, Pacers’ Plans, Thomas, Bucks Cap
The addition of swingman Glenn Robinson III filled the Pistons’ biggest need this offseason, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. The Pistons didn’t anticipate an early commitment but a phone call from new coach Dwane Casey as the start of free agency helped to seal the deal with the ex-Pacers wing. Robinson received a two-year, $8.3MM contract. “We didn’t expect we would get Glenn that quickly,” senior advisor Ed Stefanski said. “We felt getting the two-year commitment was huge to us. To find a young wing who can make a shot, they’re hard to find in the league. When the opportunity came up that quickly, we felt we had to make a move. If it wasn’t for him, we would still be out there looking for a guy.”
In other news involving Central Division teams:
- Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard hopes to use a majority of next summer’s cap space on his own free agents, Mark Monteith of Pacers.com reports. Rotation players Thaddeus Young, Darren Collison, Cory Joseph, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Tyreke Evans could all be free agents next summer, which would free up as much as $57MM in cap space, Monteith notes. But Pritchard would prefer to use most of the money to re-sign some of those players, as he told Monteith. “We have the season like we want to have, our free agents will be the priority,” he said. “I think this team has a chance to grow this year. … We already know these guys. They become our priority in free agency.”
- Rookie second-round pick Khyri Thomas could get playing time with the Pistons through his defensive prowess, Rod Beard of the Detroit News writes. The swingman out of Creighton views himself as a defensive specialist. “When I was younger, I didn’t get the ball a lot playing with older people so I just stole the ball to get it,” he told Beard.
- The addition of center Brook Lopez gives the Bucks 13 guaranteed contracts for next season but they’re still $15MM away from being hard-capped, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Lopez reportedly agreed to a one-year deal on Sunday. Milwaukee still has to deal with restricted free agent Jabari Parker‘s status, as he remains unsigned, but they could gain more flexibility since the contracts for Tyler Zeller and Brandon Jennings are not guaranteed, Marks adds.