Wizards Notes: Leonsis, Beal, No-Trade Clause, Morris
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks previously relayed, Bradley Beal‘s new five-year, maximum-salary contract with the Wizards contains a no-trade clause — making him just the 10th player in league history to receive one. In addition to featuring a no-trade clause, Beal’s $251MM deal includes a 15% trade kicker and a fifth-year player option, according to Marks.
At a press conference to announce the signing, owner Ted Leonsis defended the provisions that were added to Beal’s contract, writes Ava Wallace of The Washington Post.
“If you can show the industry, show the world that you can draft, develop, keep great players, that’s how you start to make your way to become a destination,” Leonsis said.
“There’s a lot of movement, a lot of non-partnership that you see around the league. And for there to be a public statement that essentially says, ‘We have a player that wants to be here and serve out his contract, as do we,’ that allows your general manager to plan, to be able to have the confidence that your best player, your bedrock player, is a part of the process. So that was something that we did, and when the player brings that to you — we’re not naive. I read the press on occasion, and I see what people are thinking. I didn’t take it as a point of leverage; I took it more as a point of partnership. All we can do is show you that we’re in this together.”
Beal’s ability to veto any trade over the span of his deal could make it extremely difficult for Washington to pivot if things go south, Wallace notes.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- Josh Robbins of The Athletic examines the team’s decision to give Beal a no-trade clause. Robbins says it shows how much the Wizards value — and likely overvalue — Beal, as well as Leonsis’ desperation to re-sign Beal and remain competitive, noting that the owner has been adamantly opposed to tanking in the past. As Robbins writes, if Beal decides to asks out at some point, he will have full power to veto a trade if it’s not to his preferred destination — even if the Wizards were hypothetically getting better value from another team.
- In considering Beal’s new contract, Daniel Levitt of FiveThirtyEight.com comes to the conclusion that it leaves the Wizards stuck in mediocrity going forward. Beal’s loyalty to the Wizards is commendable, says Levitt, but his on-court production doesn’t match his large salary, per FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR wins above replacement statistic. As such, it’s hard to envision how the Wizards can become a legitimate contender with so much money tied up in Beal and Kristaps Porzingis the next couple of seasons, when neither player has shown the capability of being the best — or second-best — player on a championship-caliber team, according to Levitt.
- Point guard Monte Morris, whom the Wizards recently acquired in a trade with Denver, is looking forward to teaming up with Beal, Robbins relays in another story for The Athletic. “I’ve always thought Brad was the best two-guard in the league,” Morris said. “I would tell our players he’s amazing, just how quick he is and can get off any shot. (He’s) athletic, and (with) his energy out there and will to win, I’m excited to play alongside him. I hope it’s the same (feeling) on his side. We’re going to get out in transition. I’m going to get him the ball where it needs to go, and that’s my job: to put us in the right situations and positions to be successful and play at a high level.”
Bucks Re-Sign Lindell Wigginton
The Bucks have re-signed guard Lindell Wigginton, the team announced in a press release.
Wigginton, 24, played 19 games (10.5 MPG) as a rookie for Milwaukee last season while on a two-way contract, averaging 4.2 PPG, 1.3 RPG and 1.2 APG. The terms of his new deal were not disclosed, but considering both of the team’s two-way spots are currently occupied (by Sandro Mamukelashvili and AJ Green), Wigginton was likely signed to an Exhibit 10 deal.
An Exhibit 10 contract is a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary contract that makes the player eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he’s waived before the regular season begins and then joins his team’s G League affiliate. It can also be converted into a two-way deal before the season.
The Canadian point guard spent most of last season with the Bucks’ G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, averaging 16.7 PPG, 5.1 RPG and 4.9 APG in 25 total games. After going undrafted out of Iowa State in 2019, Wigginton spent his first two pro seasons playing for the G League’s Iowa Wolves, as well as a couple of international stops in Israel and Canada.
Spurs Sign Malaki Branham To Rookie Scale Contract
The Spurs have signed first-round pick Malaki Branham to his rookie scale contract, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
In 32 games (29.6 MPG) as a freshman for Ohio State, Branham averaged 13.7 PPG, 3.6 RPG and 2 APG on .498/.416/.833 shooting. He was named Big Ten Rookie of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Big Ten Third Team for his efforts.
The 19-year-old put up 15 points and three rebounds on 6-15 shooting in his Summer League debut this evening, a 99-90 loss to the Cavaliers.
Branham was the 20th overall pick by San Antonio and will earn $2,925,600 as a rookie and $14,177,433 over the course of four seasons, assuming he receives 120% of the rookie scale amount, which is standard. As with all first-rounders, both the third and fourth seasons are team options.
Branham is the 27th first-round pick from last month’s draft to officially finalize his rookie contract, as shown by our tracker of draft pick signings. Dyson Daniels (Pelicans), Jeremy Sochan (Spurs), and Walker Kessler (Jazz) are the lone holdouts, but there’s no reason to believe they won’t join their fellow first-rounders soon.
Grizzlies, John Konchar Finalize Three-Year Extension
5:00pm: Konchar’s extension is now official, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
11:54am: The Grizzlies are signing John Konchar to a three-year, $19MM extension, his agent George Landberg tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links).
According to Wojnarowski, the deal will be fully guaranteed, and Konchar will now be locked up through the next five seasons, as he still has two years left on his current contract.
As we relayed a few days ago, Konchar’s $2.3MM salary for 2022/23 became guaranteed once he remained on the roster through this past Sunday. He had already been owed a partial guarantee of $840K.
Konchar, 26, went undrafted out of Purdue-Fort Wayne in 2019 after a four-year college career. As shown by Basketball Reference, Konchar is the only known former Mastodon to reach the NBA.
He was a solid role player for the Grizzlies in ’21/22, averaging 4.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 1.5 APG on .515/.413/.551 shooting in 72 games (17.9 MPG). An excellent rebounder for a guard, Konchar holds a career mark of 8.9 boards per 36 minutes.
In addition to his rebounding prowess, Konchar holds impressive career shooting percentages of 61.2% on twos and 40.6% on threes in 134 games (52.2% from the field overall). He’s also an intelligent ball-mover and solid defender, with a career assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.3:1.
De’Anthony Melton, another backup guard, was traded to Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago, so it’s possible that Konchar could have a bigger role next season. Either way, clearly the Grizzlies value his contributions, as evidenced by the fact that Konchar is under contract through ’26/27.
Once the extension becomes official, Konchar won’t be trade-eligible for six months.
And-Ones: Schuler, Musa, Canaan, FA Bargains
Former Trail Blazers head coach Mike Schuler has passed away at age 81, the team announced in a press release. Schuler compiled a 127-84 record over parts of three seasons with the Blazers from 1986-1989, winning NBA Coach of the Year in 1987/88, when Portland went 53-29 in the regular season.
A native of Portsmouth, Ohio, who graduated from Ohio University in 1962, Schuler was a college coach for 16 years before transitioning to the pros. His NBA coaching career spanned 24 years and included stops with the Nets, Bucks, Warriors, Clippers (head coach from ’90-92), Kings and Timberwolves.
Our condolences go out to Schuler’s friends and family.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Former Nets wing Dzanan Musa, who was named the Most Valuable Player of Liga ACB, Spain’s top basketball league, back in May, is close to signing with Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid, according to a report from Eurohoops.net. The 29th pick of the 2018 draft, Musa appeared in 49 games over two seasons with Brooklyn from 2018-20. He’s excelled since returning to Europe, playing for teams in Turkey and Spain over the last two years. Musa averaged 20.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 3.1 APG on .494/.381/.787 shooting in 29 Liga ACB games (32.0 MPG) for CB Breogan this past season.
- Isaiah Canaan, who holds six seasons of NBA experience with the Rockets, Sixers, Bulls, Suns, Timberwolves and Bucks from 2013-19, is signing with Greek team Olympiacos, sources tell Stavros Barbarousis of Eurohoops.net. Canaan spent two seasons with Russian team UNICS Kazan, but left the club when it was suspended from EuroLeague action following the invasion of Ukraine. He finished out last season with Turkish club Galatasaray. Across 235 NBA games (20.4 MPG), Canaan has career averages of 8.1 PPG, 1.9 RPG and 1.9 APG on .371/.351/.836 shooting.
- Jared Dubin of FiveThirtyEight.com explores which teams have leveled up in free agency thus far, and which clubs have found bargains. Adding Danilo Gallinari and trading for Malcolm Brogdon means the Celtics have leveled up, according to Dubin, who also points to the Nuggets, Clippers and Sixers as teams that improved. The Bucks, Raptors, Blazers, Warriors, Kings and Lakers are teams that have found bargains, Dubin writes.
Raptors Re-Sign Chris Boucher To Three-Year Deal
JULY 7: Boucher has officially re-signed with the Raptors, the team announced (via Twitter).
JUNE 30: The Raptors have agreed to bring back big man Chris Boucher on a three-year contract worth a reported $35.25MM, agent Sam Permut tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Toronto is using Boucher’s Bird rights to re-sign him to a deal worth a little more than the full mid-level exception. It’s a fully guaranteed deal, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.
After going undrafted out of Oregon in 2017 at age 24, Boucher has slowly emerged as one of the best player development stories in the NBA. He was the G League MVP and Defensive Player of the year in 2018/19 with the Raptors 905, Toronto’s affiliate, then emerged as a rotation regular in ’19/20, averaging 6.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 1.0 BPG in just 13.2 MPG (62 games).
His development led to a two-year, $13.5MM deal in 2020, which he easily outperformed the last couple of seasons. Boucher averaged 13.6 PPG, 6.7 RPG and 1.9 BPG on .514/.383/.788 shooting in ’20/21 (60 games, 24.2 MPG). His numbers fell off to 9.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 0.9 BPG on .464/.297/.777 shooting in 80 games (21.1 MPG) last season, partially as a result of finger surgery during preseason.
Boucher is an athletic, energetic big man who can block shots and limited opponents to 43.9% shooting this past season. He’s an unusual player in a lot of ways, standing 6’9″ but weighing just 200 pounds. Although Boucher often plays center, he’s capable of switching across multiple positions on defense using his speed and 7’4″ wingspan.
Clearly, the Raptors value Boucher highly, despite his down shooting year and limitations (he has 116 career assists in 123 games). Yet those limitations haven’t been a hindrance, as the team been markedly better when he’s on the court over the last two seasons.
Pelicans Notes: McCollum, Nance Jr., Zion, Graham
It sounds like the Pelicans might be interested in extending the contracts of a couple of mid-season additions. Speaking on his latest Hoop Collective podcast (hat tip to RealGM), ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said he’s heard that New Orleans is interested in coming to agreements with CJ McCollum and Larry Nance Jr., who were both acquired from Portland in February prior to the trade deadline.
“It sounds like CJ McCollum is having some contract extension talks with the Pelicans,” said Windhorst. “I’m not sure when he can actually sign that. I know he signed his last contract extension in 2019.”
“I believe it is next month when they can start talking about that,” said ESPN’s Andrew Lopez. “I know it’s before the season…”
“Maybe they haven’t ‘talked’, but I heard they ‘talked’, don’t tell anybody,” Windhorst replied in a hushed voice.
“I think the Pelicans are also interested in extending Larry Nance’s contract,” Windhorst added. “We’ll see if that gets done.”
McCollum, who turns 31 in September, is under contract for the next two seasons at a combined $69.13MM, while Nance, who turns 30 in January, has one year left on his deal at $9.67MM.
Here’s more from New Orleans:
- Zion Williamson offically signed his five-year, designated rookie max extension on Wednesday. At the press conference to announce the deal, he said he’s determined to show the world that he’s a winning player, Lopez relays in a story for ESPN.com. “I want to prove that I’m a winner,” Williamson said. “It’s as simple as that. I want to win with coach. As well as with my teammates. The ultimate goal is to win the championship. I feel like that’s what we’re all striving for. Like Griff (executive VP of basketball operations David Griffin) said, we’re hungry. Y’all saw this past year what the team did and I’m just excited to add to that.”
- With Williamson locked in for the next six years, the Pelicans could be ‘scary’ for the rest of the NBA, according to Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “Now it’s going to take work to get there,” head coach Willie Green said at Williamson’s press conference. “What groups play well together? How can we take advantage of different mismatches? How can we put all of our guys on the floor and give them an opportunity to be successful? That takes work. But it all comes together at some point throughout the course of the season, and when it does I think we can be a scary team.” Adding Williamson to a group that made an impressive turnaround to reach the postseason after a miserable start will certainly make the Pelicans an interesting team to follow in 2022/23.
- Guard Devonte’ Graham, whom the Pelicans acquired in a sign-and-trade last summer, was arrested for driving while impaired on Thursday morning, Clark writes in a separate piece for NOLA.com. The incident occurred in Raleigh, North Carolina, Graham’s hometown. The 27-year-old averaged 11.9 PPG, 2.3 RPG and 4.2 APG on .363/.341/.843 in 76 games (63 starts, 28.3 MPG) with New Orleans last season. He was limited to just 10 MPG in the team’s first-round playoff loss to Phoenix. Graham is under contract through ’24/25 for a total of $36.3MM, but the final year is only partially guaranteed at $2.85MM, making the guaranteed portion of his deal $26.5MM.
Celtics Notes: Bryant, Trade Exception, Tax, Horford, Davison
The Celtics had an open offer out to Thomas Bryant to fill the backup center spot in the rotation, team sources tell Jared Weiss of The Athletic, but Bryant opted to join the Lakers on a one-year, minimum-salary deal because he has a chance to become the starting center. Other teams that were interested in Bryant’s services included the Raptors, Bucks and Jazz, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, who reported that Bryant was signing with Los Angeles.
Weiss writes that Bryant was taking a wait-and-see approach to how the Kevin Durant situation might play out in case another opportunity arose, but he decided to accept the Lakers’ offer before it disappeared. As Weiss relays, with Bryant off the board and the free agent center options either aging or relatively unproven, it remains to be seen which player Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens might find to fill the backup role.
Here are a few more notes from Weiss about Boston’s plans for the rest of the roster:
- The Celtics are still considering ways to use the $17,142,857 traded player exception (created by the Evan Fournier sign-and-trade to New York last summer) that expires on July 18, as our tracker shows. However, Weiss reports that the team is unlikely to use it on a high-salary player due to luxury tax concerns. According to Danny Leroux of The Athletic, Boston is $20.2MM over the tax line with 12 players on the standard roster, which amounts to a $45.8MM tax bill. If the team used the full $17.1MM trade exception, that bill would nearly triple, per The Athletic.
- The backup center spot will be important for next season because the Celtics plan to limit Al Horford‘s minutes in the regular season, including sitting out “most” back-to-backs, team sources tell Weiss. Horford turned 36 last month and appeared in 92 games last season (regular season and postseason combined), so ensuring that he’s as spry as he was in the playoffs in 2021/22 is certainly a logical move for a team that hopes to compete for a title again next season.
- JD Davison, whom the Celtics selected 53rd in the draft a couple of weeks ago, will sign a two-way deal with Boston, but sources tell Weiss that Davison will be given the opportunity to earn a standard roster spot over the coming months. Brodric Thomas, who was on a two-way contract with the Celtics last season and is currently a restricted free agent, will also be given a chance to win one of the final roster spots, according to Weiss.
Suns’ Devin Booker Signs Four-Year Super-Max Extension
JULY 6: Booker has officially signed his contract extension with the Suns, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. Booker confirmed as much, tweeting, “Signed sealed delivered.”
JUNE 30: Devin Booker is set to sign a four-year, super-max extension with the Suns as early as next week, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link).
The 13th pick of the 2015 draft, Booker has spend his entire seven-year career with Phoenix. He’s been an All-Star each of the past three seasons, but more importantly, at least from a financial perspective, Booker was named to the All-NBA First Team last season, which made him eligible for the super-max, also known as the Designated Veteran Extension.
The 25-year-old is still under contract for a total of $69.83MM through 2023/24, so his extension won’t kick in until ’24/25. The deal will tentatively be worth $214MM from 2024-28, per Charania.
Booker led the Suns to a 64-18 regular season record last season, the best mark in the NBA by a full eight games. However, the team fell to the Mavericks in the second-round of the playoffs, losing in embarrassing fashion at home in Game 7.
Despite the disappointing ending, in many other ways it was a resounding success for both Booker and the Suns, who set a franchise record for wins. Booker averaged 26.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 4.8 APG and 1.1 SPG on .466/.383/.868 shooting in 68 regular season games (34.5 MPG) while showing improved defense.
Booker has also been an impressive postseason performer over the past couple seasons, helping lead the team to the Finals in ’20/21. He’s averaged a combined 26.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 4.5 APG on .448/.356/.900 shooting in 32 career playoff games (39.2 MPG).
Heat Re-Sign Caleb Martin To Three-Year Deal
9:25pm: The Heat have officially re-signed Martin, the team announced in a press release.
“Caleb is a multi-position player with tremendous energy that had a career year with us,” Heat president Pat Riley said in a statement. “He works hard and deserves this as much as any young player in the league. We are extremely happy he has decided to come back.”
11:26am: One of the NBA’s top remaining restricted free agents is coming off the board, according to Anthony Chiang, who reports (via Twitter) that the Heat and forward Caleb Martin are in agreement on a three-year contract worth “about” $20.5MM.
The Heat only held Martin’s Non-Bird rights entering this offseason, limiting their ability to offer him much of a raise after he finished the 2021/22 season on a minimum-salary contract. The terms reported by Chiang indicate that Miami will use the taxpayer portion of its mid-level exception to re-sign Martin and ensure that he gets a substantial pay bump.
As our breakdown of this season’s MLE values shows, a three-year deal worth the full taxpayer mid-level exception would top out at about $20.4MM. Martin’s deal will be fully guaranteed, sources tell Chiang (Twitter link).
Martin emerged as an important piece off the bench in Miami this past season, averaging 9.2 PPG and 3.8 RPG on .507/.413/.763 shooting in 60 games (22.9 MPG), which earned him a promotion from his two-way contract. He opted to just have his two-way deal converted into a rest-of-season contract rather than negotiating a multiyear deal, perhaps recognizing that he’d have a better chance of securing a raise in the offseason than he would have in February.
It turned out to be shrewd move by Martin and his representatives, as the $20.4MM in guaranteed money dwarfs his career earnings to this point. With P.J. Tucker‘s departure to Philadelphia, the 26-year-old Martin could be in line for a bigger role with the Heat in 2022/23.
As John Hollinger of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), signing Martin at the taxpayer mid-level exception likely means Miami will fill out the remainder of its roster with minimum-salary players in order to stay below the tax apron and maintain financial flexibility.