Darius Bazley Signs One-Year Deal With Nets
JULY 16: Bazley has officially signed with the Nets, the team’s PR department tweets.
JULY 14: The Nets are signing free agent big man Darius Bazley to a one-year contract, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Bazley was the No. 23 overall pick of the 2019 draft. He spent his first three-plus seasons with the Thunder prior to being traded to Phoenix at the February deadline.
Like all former first-round picks who have all four years of their rookie scale contract exercised, Bazley was eligible for restricted free agency had the Suns given him a $6.2MM qualifying offer.
They chose not to, making him unrestricted and free to sign with any team. It wasn’t surprising given that Bazley had limited role with Phoenix, only appearing in seven games and a total of 61 minutes down the stretch.
Overall, the 6’8″ forward/center has averaged 9.1 PPG and 5.3 RPG on .411/.310/.673 shooting in 218 career games (118 starts, 3.6 MPG) with the Thunder and Suns. Bazley is still just 23 years old, a high leaper, and has shown flashes defensively. He also handled his inconsistent playing time last season with Oklahoma City very professionally.
Brooklyn technically hasn’t used any of its mid-level exception or bi-annual exception, but I’m guessing Bazley will be on a minimum-salary deal, given the timing of it (two weeks into free agency) and the Nets’ proximity to the luxury tax.
The Nets have focused on youth and athleticism this offseason, also signing Lonnie Walker and Dennis Smith Jr., two more former first-round picks.
As Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes, Bazley will fill Brooklyn’s 15th and final standard roster spot for now. However, the Nets could have another spot open soon. Guard Edmond Sumner, whose non-guaranteed contract becomes fully guaranteed tomorrow after he agreed to push back the guarantee date, sent out a tweet talking about overcoming adversity.
Bulls Sign Torrey Craig
JULY 16: The Bulls have officially signed Craig, the team announced today (via Twitter).
JULY 3: The Bulls are signing free agent forward Torrey Craig to a two-year contract that includes a player option, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
A six-year NBA veteran, Craig is a hard-nosed defensive player often tasked with defending opposing teams’ best players. He’s coming off a solid season with the Suns, averaging 7.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.5 APG and 0.8 BPG in 79 games, including 60 starts (24.7 MPG). All of those figures represented career highs.
Craig, who also shot a career-best 39.5% from deep in 2022/23, just completed a two-year, $10MM contract. It will be interesting to see what he signed for, as Wojnarowski did not initially report a salary figure.
Craig went undrafted in 2014 after four college seasons at the University of South Carolina Upstate. He spent his first three pro seasons playing in Australia before returning stateside in ’17/18, making his NBA debut as rookie for the Nuggets.
The 32-year-old has also had stints with Milwaukee and Indiana, in addition to Phoenix and Denver. Craig was No. 41 on our list of 2023’s top 50 free agents.
Shaquille Harrison Drawing EuroLeague Interest
Free agent guard Shaquille Harrison is drawing “strong interest” from EuroLeague teams, according to a report from Eurohoops.net.
Harrison had eight brief playoff cameos for the Lakers in 2022/23. He signed with L.A. on the last day of the regular season following a 10-day hardship deal with the Trail Blazers.
The 29-year-old was waived by the Lakers at the end of last month before his non-guaranteed contract became fully guaranteed. He has yet to catch on with a new club, and could be heading to Europe for the first time.
Harrison went undrafted in 2016 after four college seasons at Tulsa. He spent his first two pro seasons playing in the NBA G League for the Northern Arizona Suns, Phoenix’s former affiliate team.
He was eventually promoted by the Suns, making his NBA debut as a rookie in 2017/18. In total, Harrison has appeared in 180 regular season games across six seasons with Phoenix, Chicago, Utah, Denver, Brooklyn and Portland, holding career averages of 5.3 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 1.7 APG and 1.0 SPG on .435/.281/.718 shooting in 15.4 MPG.
Harrison also had a 10-day hardship deal with Memphis last year, though he never played a game for the Grizzlies.
Known as strong defender, Harrison spent the majority of the past two seasons in the G League, winning NBAGL Defensive Player of the Year in ’21/22 and finishing third last season.
Scotto’s Latest: Suns, Pacers, Knicks, Wright, Hornets, More
The Suns, Pacers and Knicks recently had exploratory trade talks on a deal that would have sent Cameron Payne to New York, T.J. McConnell to Phoenix, and Evan Fournier and draft picks to Indiana, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Other iterations of the deal included Jordan Nwora, according to Scotto, though it’s unclear where the Pacers forward would have ended up in that framework.
However, the talks on the three-team trade have stalled, Scotto reports. Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports was first to report the Suns and Pacers discussed a deal involving Payne and McConnell, and suggested the Knicks may have been involved as well.
Here’s more from Scotto’s latest article for HoopsHype:
- League sources tell Scotto that the Hornets are on the hunt for a backup point guard after Dennis Smith Jr. signed with the Nets in free agency. As Scotto previously reported, Charlotte had interest in Aaron Holiday, but he wound up signing with the Rockets. According to Scotto, one player on Charlotte’s radar is Wizards guard Delon Wright, who will make $8.2MM next season in the final year of his contract. The Wizards traded for Tyus Jones and Jordan Poole, and Wright was signed by the previous front office regime. The 31-year-old has already seen his name pop up in a few other trade rumors this offseason.
- Scotto recently spoke to a handful of second-round picks at Summer League about their goals entering their rookie seasons. Those players are Nuggets guard Jalen Pickett, Celtics forward Jordan Walsh, and Mouhamed Gueye and Seth Lundy of the Hawks. Walsh, the No. 38 pick of the 2023 draft, has high expectations for himself, he told Scotto. “If I get a chance to play with these guys and help the team, I want to be on the All-Defensive First or Second Team or Defensive Player of the Year,” Walsh said. “My goals are defensively oriented and winning a championship, which is No. 1. If I’m able to accomplish any of those things, I’d feel my rookie year went pretty well.”
- In case you missed it, we passed along some Raptors rumors and free agent rumors from Scotto as well.
Free Agent Rumors: Oubre, Jones, Brooks, Smith, Giles
The Mavericks are actively looking to improve their roster and have shown “exploratory interest in several free agent forwards,” including veterans Kelly Oubre and Derrick Jones Jr., league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
Although Dallas technically still has a good chunk of its full mid-level exception available, the team has yet to sign first-rounder Olivier-Maxence Prosper, and once that occurs the Mavs will be pretty close to the luxury tax line. They do have an open standard roster spot and could offer a free agent more money than the veteran’s minimum, but not much more unless other moves are made.
On a related note, Scotto confirms that the Mavs continue to shop Tim Hardaway Jr. and JaVale McGee in trade talks. Recent rumors have indicated Dallas tried to package Hardaway and McGee to the Pistons for Bojan Bogdanovic and Killian Hayes.
Scotto hears Detroit was looking for “essentially two first-round picks” in exchange for Bogdanovic last season, though Hayes could available with a glut of guards on the Pistons’ roster.
Here are more free agent rumors from Scotto:
- Free agent guard Armoni Brooks, who has been playing well for the Nets in Summer League, could be a candidate for a two-way deal from Brooklyn, according to Scotto. However, if that doesn’t transpire, the 25-year-old has also drawn interest from “multiple EuroLeague teams,” Scotto reports. Brooks holds two years of NBA experience with the Rockets and Raptors. He played for Atlanta’s G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks, in 2022/23.
- League sources tell Scotto that the Hornets offered Dennis Smith Jr. more than the veteran’s minimum to return to Charlotte, but the Nets reached out to the point guard right after free agency opened and he saw an opportunity for more playing time in Brooklyn. The fact that he was a priority for the Nets also appealed to the former lottery pick, says Scotto.
- The Pistons, Cavaliers, Knicks and Bucks were among the teams who watched Harry Giles‘ recent workout in Las Vegas, sources tell Scotto. Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News recently reported that members of the Timberwolves attended as well, which Scotto confirms. A former first-round pick, Giles has been out of the league the past two seasons after playing with the Kings and Trail Blazers from 2018-21. Still just 25 years old, Giles recently discussed his attempt to make it back into the NBA.
Nets Waive Edmond Sumner
JULY 15: The Nets have confirmed that they’ve waived Sumner (Twitter link).
“When they counted me out, Brooklyn gave me a shot to prove myself again,” Sumner said in a tweet of his own. “For that it’s always love. Had a ball hooping again! Story continues.”
JULY 14: The Nets are expected to waive guard Edmond Sumner before his non-guaranteed deal becomes fully guaranteed tomorrow, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
As our tracker shows, Sumner would have locked in his $2,239,943 salary for 2023/24 had he remained with the Nets beyond July 15.
Sumner recently sent out a tweet talking about overcoming adversity, which was a hint this news was coming. However, he played pretty well last season for Brooklyn after missing all of 2021/22 following a torn Achilles tendon. The 27-year-old averaged 7.1 PPG, 1.5 RPG and 1.3 APG on .461/.356/.917 shooting in 53 games (13.9 MPG) with the Nets.
An athletic combo guard, Sumner showed he still had his quickness in ’22/23 following the major injury, and he’s expected to draw interest on the open market, according to Scotto.
Assuming he clears waivers without being claimed, Sumner will become an unrestricted free agent. Any team interested in placing a claim could do so using the minimum salary exception, but would have to be willing to fully guarantee his 2023/24 salary.
Sumner is a former second-round pick, selected 52nd overall in 2017. He spent his first four seasons with the Pacers, first on a two-way deal before he was promoted to a standard contract. He played his college ball at Xavier.
Southwest Notes: Cissoko, Spurs, Zion, Griffin, Rockets
No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama has understandably drawn much of the attention in San Antonio, but fellow Spurs rookie Sidy Cissoko has been impressive in Summer League as well, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscriber link).
The young French forward was the 44th overall pick of last month’s draft and isn’t known as a top scorer, but he knows he can still impact the game.
“I know I am a rookie and a second-round pick, so I know I won’t get 20 shots a game,” he said. “I am just trying to do my best with my defense and try to help the team in other ways. I know my role. I know what to do.”
At 6’7″ and 225 pounds, the 19-year-old can be a real deterrent defensively, according to Orsborn, and he’s also a creative play-maker. Cissoko averaged 12.8 points, 3.5 assists, 2.8 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.0 block on .457/.304/.645 shooting in 28 games last season with the G League Ignite (29.3 minutes).
“I just try to help the team first with my defense,” Cissoko added. “You can get minutes playing defense. When you play defense, the offense will come along.”
Here’s more from the Southwest:
- The Spurs are contemplating building a new arena in downtown San Antonio in order to showcase Wembanyama, sources tell Greg Jefferson and Madison Iszler of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). As the two writers detail, the Spurs’ lease on their current arena, the AT&T Center, expires in 2032. However, it needs renovations and there’s belief that a downtown arena would generate revenue for the county, though it would also leave the current arena vacant. The Holt family owns the Spurs, and it also owns a stake in the San Antonio Missions, a Double-A baseball team. The idea would be to put a potential new stadium for the Missions next to the Spurs’, with bars surrounding both, according to The Express-News.
- Top Pelicans executive David Griffin is hopeful Zion Williamson is on the right track this summer after being plagued with injuries over his first four seasons, according to Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. “I think first of all he’s trying to do the right things,” Griffin said. “I think when you start from that place, that’s good. He’s got incredible potential to be sort of game-changing for even the league as a whole. But at the same time the volatility around the injury situation has been really severe. So at this point it’s going to be a function of how can we get him in the best place to succeed, and what’s he willing to do to ensure that happens? And I think right now his head’s in the right place, and we’ll just have to hope for the best.” Griffin also discussed the team’s offseason moves, among other topics.
- The Clippers recently acquired Kenyon Martin Jr. in a trade with the Rockets, and he had nothing but good things to say about his time in Houston in a thank you message on Twitter.
Heat Notes: Dragic, Lillard, Vincent, Smith
In an interview with local media in Slovenia, free agent point guard Goran Dragic revealed he had knee surgery during the 2022/23 season, which is why he was released by the Bulls and only played seven games after he signed with the Bucks, per of Siol.net. Dragic previously said he was dealing with left knee soreness.
“I played really well until the middle of the season, then I had problems with a knee injury, so after that, it was kind of all agreed that they would bring Patrick Beverley to Chicago, and I went to Milwaukee. Then I also underwent knee surgery, which until now no one knew,” Dragic said (hat tip to BasketNews.com).
The 37-year-old said he’d like to return to the Heat if he’s able to, writes Lenart.
“The main desire is to return to Miami,” Dragic said. “Now everyone is waiting for Damian Lillard to decide where he will go next, so everyone is off to a slow start. When this is known, the movement for the other players will open as well.
“We are in talks with a few clubs, but much more will be known in a few days when the news will be released. You will see.”
However, there’s “nothing imminent” on a deal between the Heat and Dragic, a source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (via Twitter). If a deal were to happen, it would likely be closer to training camp, according to Jackson.
“The Dragon” played seven seasons with Miami from 2014-21, making his lone All-Star appearance in ’17/18. He played 58 total games last season, averaging 6.3 points and 2.6 assists on .421/.359/.689 shooting.
Here’s more out of Miami:
- As of mid-week, apparently the Trail Blazers had been “unmotivated” to seriously engage with the Heat on a potential Lillard trade, according to Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). Jackson’s reporting isn’t very surprising. Blazers GM Joe Cronin recently said a deal could take “months,” while other reports have stated there hasn’t been much progress in talks.
- Appearing on JJ Redick‘s The Old Man and the Three podcast, Gabe Vincent discussed his decision to join the Lakers and leave Miami, as Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes. “It was very difficult,” Vincent said of leaving the Heat. “The relationships that I have with those guys are, to me, lifelong. Even the guys that I played with, to the staff, to the front office. I got to know all of them very well and closely. So it wasn’t an easy decision.” Financial constraints were the obstacle, with Vincent later telling Chiang he’d miss his teammates and will always look back fondly on his time with the organization.
- Dru Smith is back with the Heat, on his fourth two-way deal in under two years, after finishing last season with the Nets on a two-way contract. He spoke this week about why he keeps ending up in Miami, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required). “I think it’s because I’m a good fit,” Smith said. “I think just the way the Heat like to play, the style of basketball they like to play, I think it fits my game well. I think I’m lucky to be here. I’m thankful to have this opportunity again.”
Pacers GM Buchanan Talks Brown, Goals For Next Season, More
Entering the offseason, the Pacers knew they’d have to take a “unique” angle in order to sign their top free agent target, swingman Bruce Brown, as general manager Chad Buchanan recently explained to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
“What other teams are willing to pay him? And what we were willing to pay him is a big, significant gap,” Buchanan told The Athletic. “We knew that maybe it’s a little more than the market would say, but it was the way we as an organization and as a team have to approach free agency sometimes. We got to be a little creative. We got to maybe go deeper with a pay to get a guy, but it was the guy we wanted.
“We wanted to do what it took to get him, and working with his agents, right at the strike of free agency and talking about ‘OK, where were the other teams at? Where would we need to come in to get Bruce to turn down some of these other options from other more established teams than us?’ We’re a young team, and for Bruce to come in and leave a championship team and some other teams (that) are after him to come to play for a young team, we realize it was gonna probably take a unique way to approach luring him to us.”
Brown almost certainly took less total money to sign with the Pacers, inking a two-year, $45MM contract. However, a short-term deal allows him to hit the open market sooner, which could be a plus. And as Buchanan alluded to, Indiana was willing to give him more money in 2023/24 than rival clubs, and his contract includes a team option in year two, giving both sides flexibility — the Pacers could free up cap space next summer if things don’t work out.
The 26-year-old’s strong defense, willingness to “do the dirty work,” and overall versatility appealed to Indiana, according to Buchanan. The team knows it needs to improve defensively to reach its goal of a postseason berth next season.
“If we can become a top-20 defense, I think we would make a pretty good jump, have a chance to make a good jump. And competing for a playoff spot, I think we’d love to be in that position this year,” Buchanan said as part of a larger quote. “If it’s a play-in, playoff, wherever it is.”
Indiana has been linked to Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, a two-time All-NBA member, a couple times over the past week. However, when Vorkunov asked Buchanan if the Pacers were finished were their offseason moves, he replied that while they’re always looking to improve the roster, they’re not yet ready to push their chips in the middle in a major win-now move.
“I don’t think a team’s done until you’re done,” Buchanan said. “We’ll always try to be opportunistic when we can on anything. But I don’t think we’re like aggressively pursuing anything right now. … Obviously, some big names out there … could get moved still this offseason, and if that filters down and impacts other teams, if it impacts us, we’ll consider it. But, if it doesn’t, we’re also happy with this group now.
“We’re not going to rush things to try to jump and go all in right now. I don’t think that’s where we’re at. We don’t have that. We’re not one player away from being a championship-caliber team. I think we realize it takes time and it takes guys developing and growing.”
Dante Exum Signs With Mavericks
JULY 14: Exum has officially signed with the Mavericks, the team announced today (via Twitter).
JULY 1: Free agent guard Dante Exum is signing a guaranteed contract with the Mavericks, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). According to veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein (via Twitter), Exum will be receiving a one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum.
As Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets, former Jazz GM and current Mavs front office adviser Dennis Lindsey drafted Exum No. 5 overall back in 2014.
Exum, who turns 28 in a couple weeks, battled major injuries during his NBA career and was limited to just 245 regular season appearances across seven years (2014-21) in Utah and Cleveland. He spent the past two seasons playing internationally after being cut by the Rockets in October 2021.
Known as a strong defensive player, Exum helped Australia win a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which actually took place in 2021 due to the pandemic. He struggled with his shot throughout his NBA career, posting a .407/.305/.764 slash line, but that has changed in Europe.
In 18 EuroLeague games with Spanish club Barcelona in 2021/22, Exum averaged 6.8 PPG and 2.6 RPG on .500/.526/.837 shooting in 17.8 MPG. He had a larger role this past season with Serbian squad Partizan, averaging 13.3 PPG, 2.8 APG and 2.4 RPG on .544/.424/.859 shooting in 33 EuroLeague contests (22.9 MPG).
Exum reportedly sustained a ruptured tendon in his toe in late April during the EuroLeague playoffs after being slammed to the court by ex-NBA player Guerschon Yabusele, who plays for Real Madrid. Yabusele received a five-game suspension. Partizan was up 2-0 in the best-of-five series, but wound up losing the next three games without Exum. Madrid went on to narrowly win the championship.
Presumably Exum has recovered by now. If he maintains his shooting turnaround, his defensive versatility could be a nice fit for Dallas if he can stay healthy.