Trade/FA Rumors: Lillard, LaVine, Sixers, Reed, Reaves, Spurs
The Trail Blazers are believed to be seeking a package in the neighborhood of four first-round picks and two quality players in exchange for Damian Lillard, according to Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian, who spoke to Lillard’s agent Aaron Goodwin about the negotiations. Goodwin reiterated that he’s telling other teams that his client only wants to play for the Heat.
“It’s not fair to a team to allow them to engage in a negotiation that could be futile in the end,” Goodwin told Fentress.
While Lillard may be focused on the Heat, it would require the involvement of at least one more team for the Blazers to get a package anywhere near the level they’re looking for. Having traded its 2025 first-round pick to Oklahoma City, Miami can only currently offer two first-rounders.
As we wait to see if negotiations between Portland and Miami gather any momentum with teams convening at the Las Vegas Summer League, here are a few more trade and free agency rumors from around the NBA:
- League sources tell K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago that Zach LaVine‘s name has come up in preliminary trade discussions with both the Sixers and Trail Blazers. Neither of those conversations gained traction, according to Johnson, who hears that the Bulls‘ asking price for LaVine has been “extremely high.” Still, Johnson says the team has “fluctuated in its belief in LaVine’s consistency as a lead option.”
- Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com hears from sources familiar with the situation that the conversations between the Sixers and Bulls were really just “check-in” talks prior to the draft and didn’t evolve beyond that. So there’s no indication at this point that any multi-team deal involving LaVine and James Harden is on the way, Neubeck writes.
- The Sixers‘ deals with centers Mohamed Bamba and Montrezl Harrell haven’t diminished their desire to retain restricted free agent Paul Reed, a team source tells Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
- The Spurs legitimately considered the possibility of an offer sheet for restricted free agent guard Austin Reaves, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his Lowe Post podcast. The Lakers ultimately re-signed Reaves on a four-year, $54MM deal, which was the most that they could give him directly — another team could’ve tested Los Angeles’ resolve by making a four-year offer worth up to $102MM. “I know San Antonio was going back and forth on it and for whatever reason didn’t do it,” Lowe said.
Rockets Sign Fred VanVleet To Three-Year Contract
JULY 7: The Rockets have officially signed VanVleet, the team announced today in a press release.
As previously noted, VanVleet’s three-year deal includes a third-year team option.
JUNE 30: Fred VanVleet is leaving Toronto, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter links), who hears from agents Rich Paul and Erika Ruiz that the free agent point guard will join the Rockets on a three-year, maximum-salary contract.
The No. 2 player on our list of 2023’s top 50 free agents, VanVleet is the first free agent to land a max deal this summer, Wojnarowski notes. The agreement will pay him a total of $128.5MM across three seasons, including a starting salary of $40.8MM in 2023/24, which will eat up a huge chunk of Houston’s cap room.
It’s a massive payday for VanVleet, who began his NBA career in 2016 as an undrafted free agent on a minimum-salary contract. Over the course of seven seasons in Toronto, he evolved from little-used reserve to key rotation member on a championship team to All-Star starting point guard.
The former Wichita State standout signed a four-year, $85MM contract during his last foray into free agency in 2020, but opted out of that deal after the third year in order to secure an even larger payday.
VanVleet is coming off a down season, having made a career-worst 34.2% of his three-point attempts in 2022/23 as his defense also took a step back. However, it appears the Rockets are willing to chalk up his struggles to nagging injuries and bad luck rather than assuming it’s the beginning of a downward trend. The 6’1″ guard has never been a great finisher around the rim, but he was a career 38.2% three-point shooter prior to last season and has been an asset on defense in the past.
The Rockets had more cap room (approximately $64MM) than any other team in the NBA entering free agency, putting them in position to aggressively pursue their preferred targets. While James Harden was mentioned earlier in the year as a candidate to return to Houston, VanVleet had clearly become the team’s top point guard target in the days leading up to free agency.
With the Raptors doing their best to bring back VanVleet, the Rockets apparently had to tack on an extra season to the two-year, maximum-salary offer they were said to be preparing for the 29-year-old in order to secure his commitment. Even with $40MM earmarked for VanVleet, Houston still has about $25MM in cap room available to continue making moves.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear how the Raptors intend to address their suddenly gaping hole at point guard. The club had spent the last year or two seeking a reliable backup for VanVleet and will now have to find a new starter too.
[UPDATE: Raptors to sign Dennis Schröder]
As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, Toronto could try to work out a sign-and-trade with Houston to generate a huge trade exception. However, there’s no reason for the Rockets to agree to that unless they’re incentivized to do so, so the Raptors would probably have to give up a second-round pick or two to make it happen.
Cavaliers Sign Emoni Bates To Two-Way Deal
The Cavaliers have officially signed second-round pick Emoni Bates to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.
A former consensus five-star recruit and one of the top high school prospects in the country, Bates saw his stock slip when he averaged 9.7 points per game on .386/.329/.646 shooting as a freshman at Memphis in 2021/22, then was arrested on gun charges in September 2022.
Bates ultimately had his felony charge reduced to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to 18 months of probation. The 6’10” forward had a bounce-back season on the court in 2022/23 after transferring to Eastern Michigan, putting up 19.2 PPG on .405/.330/.782 shooting in 30 games (33.8 MPG). He declared for the draft as an early entrant following his sophomore year and was selected 49th overall by Cleveland.
While he’s no longer viewed as a future NBA star, the former High School Player of the Year still has intriguing upside. He’ll likely begin his professional career by seeing plenty of action for the Cleveland Charge, the Cavaliers’ G League affiliate, as a rookie.
The Cavaliers, who also confirmed the signings of Isaiah Mobley and Craig Porter to two-way deals, have become the second NBA team to fill all three two-way slots, joining the Lakers. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement allows clubs to carry up to three players on two-way contracts instead of just two.
Rockets Sign Jeff Green To Two-Year Contract
JULY 7: The Rockets have officially signed Green, the team announced today in a press release.
As we relayed in a separate story, the terms of Green’s deal have reportedly been amended — it’s now a two-year, $16MM contract, with a non-guaranteed second year. He was signed into Houston’s cap room.
JULY 1: The Rockets and free agent forward Jeff Green have agreed to a one-year, $6MM contract, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Green, who will turn 37 in August, is entering his 16th NBA season, but showed with the Nuggets in 2022/23 that he still has a little left in the tank. He averaged 7.8 points and 2.6 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game across 56 appearances.
Green’s three-point percentage dipped to 28.8% last season, but he has a career 33.7% rate and can defend multiple frontcourt positions. He played rotation minutes during Denver’s championship run, appearing in all 20 playoff games and averaging 17.2 minutes per night.
The Nuggets were open to a reunion with Green, but not at the salary he’s getting from Houston, tweets Mike Singer of The Denver Post.
It has been a busy day for the Rockets, who have agreed to a series of moves that will eat up most of their cap room, including a free agent deal with Jock Landale, a sign-and-trade for Dillon Brooks, and a trade for Patty Mills, who will be rerouted as part of the Brooks sign-and-trade. Depending on how Houston structures its transactions, Green could either be signed into cap space or the room exception.
The Rockets likely envision Green as a player who can be a leader in the locker room and provide some veteran savvy on the court.
Rockets Notes: Brooks Deal, Green, Harden, Martin
The Rockets‘ multi-team sign-and-trade deal for Dillon Brooks will expand further to include the trade agreement between Houston and the Clippers involving Kenyon Martin Jr., according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required).
Houston’s deal that sends TyTy Washington and Usman Garuba to the Hawks will also be part of the Brooks sign-and-trade with the Grizzlies. With the Clippers involved and the Thunder set to take on Patty Mills in the complex transaction, it will be at least a five-team trade.
The Rockets, who acquired a second-round pick from Brooklyn for Mills and are getting two more from the Clippers for Martin, will send out five second-rounders in the deal — two to Atlanta and three to Oklahoma City. Those three picks going to the Thunder haven’t been reported yet, so it’s possible they’ll just be the three selections that Houston is receiving from the Nets and Clippers.
As we wait for the Rockets to complete their offseason moves, here are a few more notes out of Houston:
- Jeff Green‘s contract with the Rockets, originally reported to be worth $6MM for one year, will actually be for $16MM over two, with a non-guaranteed second year, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. Marks adds that Green’s first-year cap hit will be $8MM. If that figure is precise, rather than rounded, it means the forward will have to be signed using cap room rather than the room exception, which maxes out at $7.7MM.
- The hiring of Ime Udoka as head coach was a major factor in the Rockets’ decision to pivot away from James Harden and toward Fred VanVleet in free agency, a league source tells Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. “From everything we’ve gotten out of there, it was a matter that Ime didn’t want him,” the source said. “At the beginning, were they thinking about Harden? Yeah. But then they hired Ime, and Ime said, ‘It’s not going to work here.'”
- Appearing on The IkoSystem podcast, Kenyon Martin Jr. spoke to Kelly Iko of The Athletic about the trade that will send him from the Rockets to the Clippers. Martin said that he appreciates the opportunity the Rockets gave him and added that Houston “will always have a place in my heart,” but admitted he’s looking forward to returning home to Los Angeles, where he was born and raised (Twitter audio clip).
Kings Renegotiate, Extend Domantas Sabonis’ Contract
JULY 7: The Kings have officially renegotiated and extended Sabonis’ contract, the team confirmed in a press release.
JULY 1: The Kings are renegotiating Domantas Sabonis‘ 2023/24 salary and signing him to a long-term contract extension, agents Greg Lawrence and Jason Ranne tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Sacramento will use $8.6MM in cap room to give Sabonis a raise on this year’s salary – from $22MM to $30.6MM – and will tack on four new years to his expiring contract. According to Wojnarowski, the deal will be worth $217MM over five total seasons, including $195MM in new money.
There won’t be any team or player options in the new contract, tweets Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
After being acquired in a blockbuster trade involving Tyrese Haliburton at the 2022 deadline, Sabonis thrived in his first full season in Sacramento, averaging 19.1 points, 7.3 assists, and a league-leading 12.3 rebounds in 34.6 minutes per game across 79 contests despite sustaining an avulsion fracture to his thumb in December.
In addition to earning the third All-Star nod of his career, the 27-year-old made an All-NBA squad for the first time, claiming the center spot on the Third Team. Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox led the Kings to a 48-win season and their first playoff berth since 2006.
Contract renegotiations are rare in the NBA and can only be completed when a team has cap space and intends to increase a player’s salary rather than reducing it. The Kings created additional spending flexibility on draft night by agreeing to send Richaun Holmes to Dallas in a salary-dump trade.
There was some speculation that Sacramento may be preparing to make a run at a top-tier free agent with that extra cap space, but Sacramento has instead focused on its own players, extending Harrison Barnes earlier in the week and agreeing to new deals with Trey Lyles and now Sabonis.
The Kings’ one notable deal with a player who wasn’t on the 2022/23 roster is a three-year, $20MM commitment to EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov. Vezenkov, who is expected to slot into Sacramento’s room exception, wasn’t technically a free agent since the club held his draft rights.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), without a renegotiated 2023/24 salary, Sabonis would have been eligible for a maximum-salary extension of $138MM over four years. That may not have been enough to prevent him from testing the market in 2024, since he would’ve been eligible for a significantly higher salary – and an extra year – at that point.
Interestingly, the only other NBA player to get a renegotiation and extension since 2017 is Sabonis’ former frontcourt partner in Indiana, Myles Turner, Marks observes (via Twitter). Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson is also expected to join that group.
Willy Hernangomez Expected To Join Barcelona
After spending the last seven seasons in the NBA, Willy Hernangomez is expected to head back home to continue his playing career. FC Barcelona has submitted an offer sheet for the Spanish big man, per a press release from Spain’s ACB league.
Although Real Madrid – Hernangomez’s former team before he arrived in the NBA – has the right to match Barcelona’s offer, Madrid doesn’t intend to take advantage of its opportunity to do so, reports Stavros Barbarousis of Eurohoops.net. That will clear a path for Hernangomez to end up in Barcelona.
The 35th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Hernangomez arrived in the NBA with the Knicks in 2016. He spent a season-and-a-half in New York before moving onto Charlotte and then New Orleans, where he has played for the last three seasons.
A backup center for the Pelicans, Hernangomez appeared in 135 games across three seasons, averaging 8.0 points and 6.3 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per contest. New Orleans declined its $2.6MM team option for the 2023/24 season on the 29-year-old’s contract last month, putting him on track to return to Europe.
It’s possible Hernangomez will reunite with his brother Juancho Hernangomez in Barcelona. According to Barbarousis, the team has made an offer to Juancho, who spent part of last season with the Raptors before being waived in February.
Latest On NBA’s New In-Season Tournament
The semifinals and the final of the NBA’s first ever in-season tournament will take place on December 7 and 9 in Las Vegas, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
The Dec. 9 championship game – which will represent an 83rd in-season contest for the two participants – won’t count as a regular season game, but the quarterfinals and semifinals will.
As Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tweets, when the NBA releases its schedule for 2023/24 in a few weeks, each team will initially be scheduled to play 80 regular season games. The 22 teams that don’t make it to the knockout stage of the in-season tournament will have two games added to their schedule during the season, while the four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each have one game added.
The final four teams won’t require additional games on their schedule, since they’ll each play at least two in the knockout stage of the tournament.
As previously reported, leading up to the knockout stage of the tournament, each of the NBA’s 30 teams will play four “group stage” games (two at home and two on the road) during the first few weeks of the regular season — these games will take place on two designated days of the week.
The NBA notes within its new Collective Bargaining Agreement that teams will be divided into three groups of five per conference (six groups in total) based on the previous year’s regular season standings.
Each group will feature one team that finished top three in the conference the year before; one that finished between fourth and sixth; one that finished between seventh and ninth; one that finished between 10th and 12th; and one that finished between 13th and 15th. Using that criteria, the groups will be determined based on random drawings.
For instance, it would be possible for one of the three Western groups this season to feature the Nuggets (last year’s No. 1 seed), Warriors (6), Lakers (7), Mavericks (11), and Spurs (15). A hypothetical Eastern group could consist of the Celtics (2), Knicks (5), Heat (7), Bulls (10), and Magic (13).
While we know the six group winners and the top two “wild card” finishers will advance to the eight-team knockout stage, the NBA still hasn’t clarified what the tiebreakers will look like. That’s an important detail, since a four-game group stage won’t give teams much room to distance themselves from one another.
Contract/Cap Notes: Middleton, Lopez, C. Johnson, Watanabe, More
The three-year contract Khris Middleton signed with the Bucks only has a base value of about $93MM, well below the reported figure of $102MM, reports ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter).
As Marks explains, the deal features approximately $9MM in total incentives — $2MM are currently considered likely to be earned, while the other $7MM are unlikely (meaning Middleton and/or the Bucks didn’t achieve the criteria last season). For now, the forward’s annual cap hits, which take into account his base salaries and likely incentives, will be $29.3MM, $31.7MM, and $34MM.
Meanwhile, Brook Lopez‘s two-year, $48MM contract with the Bucks has a declining structure, according to Marks. The veteran center will earn $25MM in 2023/24 and $23MM in ’24/25.
Here are a few more contract and cap details from around the NBA:
- Marks also has the specifics (via Twitter) on Cameron Johnson‘s four-year contract with the Nets, which includes several incentives and declines in years two and three before rising again in year four. Johnson has base salaries of $24.5MM, $22.5MM, $20.5MM, and $22.5MM, with annual bonuses of $4.9MM, $4.5MM, $4.1MM, and $4.5MM. Currently, a total of $4.4MM of those incentives are considered likely, while the other $13.6MM are unlikely.
- The Suns‘ deal with Yuta Watanabe is a two-year, minimum-salary agreement with a second-year player option, confirms Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). That was the common structure on the contracts Phoenix offered to free agents — Eric Gordon, Keita Bates-Diop, and Drew Eubanks received similar deals.
- A pair of two-way contracts that have been signed early in the 2023/24 league year will cover two seasons instead of just one. Craig Porter‘s deal with the Cavaliers and Jaylen Martin‘s agreement with the Knicks are each for two years, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter links).
- A handful of teams using cap room this season have renounced their free agent rights to one or more players in order to maximize their space. According to RealGM’s transaction log, the Pacers (George Hill), Kings (Terence Davis, Jeremy Lamb, Corey Brewer), Pistons (Hamidou Diallo, Rodney McGruder, and Buddy Boeheim), and Thunder (eight players, including Dario Saric, Jared Butler, and Nick Collison) all renounced players. In some cases, those cap holds had been on teams’ books for multiple seasons — they won’t be there going forward.
Pacers Trade Chris Duarte To Kings
JULY 6, 8:15pm: The Pacers and Kings have officially completed the trade sending Duarte to Sacramento. The Kings put out a press release confirming the move.
JULY 6, 2:43pm: The Pacers and Kings are in agreement on their Duarte trade, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who reports that the deal is expected to be finalized today.
Indiana will receive Dallas’ 2028 second-round pick and Sacramento’s own 2030 second-rounder, reports Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link).
JUNE 30, 9:41am: The Kings and Pacers are nearing an agreement on a trade that will send wing Chris Duarte to Sacramento, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, Indiana would receive draft compensation in the deal.
Duarte, 26, was the 13th overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Oregon. He had a promising rookie season in 2021/22, averaging 13.1 PPG with a .369 3PT% in 55 games (28.0 MPG), but took a step back in his second year in the NBA.
The 6’6″ swingman battled injuries that limited him to 46 games in 2022/23 and his numbers dipped to 7.9 PPG with a .316 3PT%. The emergence of rookie Bennedict Mathurin and the addition of another former lottery pick, Aaron Nesmith, resulted in Duarte playing a diminished role (19.5 MPG) even when he was available.
The Kings appear willing to bet that Duarte can recapture his rookie former and will take on his $4.1MM guaranteed salary for 2023/24. They’ll have to make a decision by October 31 on his $5.9MM option for the ’24/25 season. If that option is picked up, Duarte would become extension-eligible during the 2024 offseason.
The Pacers also reportedly discussed Duarte in their trade talks with the Hawks about De’Andre Hunter.