Lakers Notes: Scott, Kelly, Henry, Johnson
There are a few notable links to pass along regarding the Lakers tonight, and you can find them below:
- Medina also confirms the earlier report that Scott will be interviewing with Kupchak and Buss tomorrow. Their meeting will likely involve discussions about the team’s personnel following their recent roster moves, although no offers or contract negotiations regarding the head coaching job are expected yet (Twitter links).
Earlier updates:
- GM Mitch Kupchack and Jim Buss will meet with Byron Scott tomorrow, sources tell Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link). As we noted last month, Scott appears to be the leading candidate to be the team’s next head coach.
- Ryan Kelly is expected to reach a deal with the team soon, tweets Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
- Medina adds that while the Lakers like Xavier Henry, no deal is imminent. As for Wesley Johnson, it appears unlikely that he’ll be kept.
- In another piece, Medina writes that it isn’t clear if they’ll make a bid for recently-amnestied forward Carlos Boozer. He also says that the team is expected to sign 2014 second-round pick Jordan Clarkson soon.
- If L.A. does plan to go after Boozer, Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times explains how L.A. can clear some cap room to make a more competitive bid during the waiver period.
Hornets Interested In Lance Stephenson
9:29pm: Stephenson will meet with Hornets brass in Las Vegas tomorrow, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders.
9:13pm: The Hornets are looking into possibly signing Lance Stephenson, reports Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. As Bonnell mentions, the team hadn’t shown much interest in Stephenson once free agency began; however, having lost out on Gordon Hayward after Utah decided to match the Hornets’ offer sheet for the young forward, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that they’d target another prominent free agent swingman.
Earlier this month, talks between Stephenson and Indiana reached an impasse, as the 6’5 guard chose not to accept a five-year, $44MM deal. Yesterday, we heard that the Pacers couldn’t increase their offer for more than what they’ve already presented to Stephenson. Today, Pacers owner Herb Simon gave Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star a brief description about where the franchise currently stands with respect to negotiations. “We made him a wonderful offer and they didn’t think it was enough so it’s a simple situation” (Twitter link).
Celtics To Keep Phil Pressey
The Celtics have guaranteed Phil Pressey’s contract for 2014/15, a source tells Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Today was the last day that the team could waive his non-guaranteed salary for this season before it became fully guaranteed. The 5’11 guard signed a three-year deal last summer worth $2.25MM, although only $490K was fully guaranteed. Pressey will earn roughly $816K this upcoming season.
Pressey appeared in 75 games last season, averaging 2.8 PPG, 3.2 APG, and nearly one steal per game in 15.1 MPG. The 23-year-old guard struggled with his shot however, shooting 30.8% from the field and 26.4% from beyond-the-arc.
Western Notes: Terry, Love, Williams
Jason Terry may still be under contract with the Kings for one more season, but he isn’t ruling out an eventual return to the Mavericks, as both Tim MacMahon (via Twitter) and Bryan Gutierrez of ESPN Dallas note. The former Dallas guard was a guest on 103.3 FM’s Fitzimmons and Friedo Show and expressed his desire for a reunion.
“I won’t rule out returning back to Dallas. It’s my home and my heart…I bleed blue. I’m a Maverick.” Terry added that championships are his driving force as he finishes out his career. “I want to get back on a team that has a realistic shot to win a championship, and I think Dallas is doing those types of things.
Here’s more out of out of the Western Conference this evening:
- Terry also commented on the current state of the Kings and his plans for the near future. “(They’re) in transition right now. For me, at this point in my career, I want championships…I wouldn’t say it’s rebuilding, but a building process…DeMarcus Cousins (is) a huge talent. (His attitude is) a little shaky. Rudy Gay (is) not a proven winner in this league but a tremendous talent and a guy you can build around…I think there will be some more conversations with my agent and the Sacramento Kings to get a better picture of where they are headed and what they’re trying to accomplish.”
- An increasing number of executives around the league expect the Timberwolves will trade Kevin Love before the start of the season, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The Warriors and Wolves have resumed their trade talks involving Love after having hit a stalemate earlier, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. Minnesota believes Golden State will eventually relent and be willing to trade Klay Thompson in a deal for Love, and that the Cavaliers will come around to including Andrew Wiggins in their offers, sources tell Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal.
- The Mavericks are still looking for another point guard and have spoken with free agent Mo Williams, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports; team president Donnie Nelson doesn’t seem too optimistic about their chances of landing him, notes Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star Telegram (Twitter link).
- Nelson later acknowledged that the team won’t have any money to make a play for Carlos Boozer (Twitter link).
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Grizzlies To Keep Nick Calathes
The Grizzlies will keep Nick Calathes on their roster next season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The 6’6 guard reportedly had a couple of offers from Europe worth $6.5MM over three years; his salary for next season will be on the books for roughly $816K. The salary, which had been non-guaranteed, is fully guaranteed after the Grizzlies failed to waive him after the close of business today.
Memphis wasn’t expected to let him go, as coach Dave Joerger indicated last month that the guard would remain with the team. The Grizzlies tried and failed to find someone else they felt would be an upgrade on Calathes, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link), and that’s in spite of the team’s new deal with Beno Udrih.
Calathes will have to miss the first 13 games of the season to serve the rest of his 20-game league suspension after allegedly testing positive for Tamoxifen, a banned athletic supplement.
Hornets Sign Gordon Hayward To Offer Sheet
THURSDAY, 7:58am: Hayward has officially signed the offer sheet, the Hornets announced via press release, starting the three-day matching period. The Jazz will likely wait all three days to match, tweets Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 7:05am: It’ll be an offer sheet for the max that runs four years with a player option for the final season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. It’ll also include a 15% trade kicker, Wojnarowski adds. The option and the trade kicker appear to be designed to dissuade the Jazz from matching, but the Jazz have been adamant that they will match, according to Wojnarowski.
Indeed, Utah has been so intent on matching any such deal that the Jazz consider the offer sheet a “non-issue,” a source tells Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link). Several teams called the Jazz about a sign-and-trade for Hayward to see if there was some way of preventing them from matching, but the Hornets never did, Wojnarowski writes, and there’s no chance Charlotte and Utah will arrange a sign-and-trade at this point, Genessy tweets.
TUESDAY, 11:36pm: Gordon Hayward has agreed to a major offer sheet with the Hornets, tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Terms of the agreement haven’t been disclosed, although it’s highly likely that Charlotte is offering more than the four-year, $48MM deal that Hayward turned down from the Jazz last fall. As we noted earlier, the Hornets were content with their meeting with Hayward; however, Utah is expected to match any offer for the 6’8 forward.
Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune (via Twitter) notes that Hayward can’t officially sign anything until July 10th; at that point, the Jazz would have three days to match the offer, and Falk maintains that all indications so far is that they will.
Kings Sign Nik Stauskas
WEDNESDAY, 7:48am: The deal is official, the team announced.
TUESDAY, 11:57pm: Eighth-overall pick Nik Stauskas has signed his rookie deal with the Kings. The 20-year-old guard confirmed the contract signing via his Twitter account and posted a picture on Instagram of himself signing the contract. Earlier, we heard that Stauskas was expected to officially sign with the Kings at some point today. Based on our table of projected salaries for 2014 first-round draft picks, the former Michigan sharpshooter will earn roughly $2.7MM in the first year of his deal, assuming that he signed for 120% of the rookie scale amount.
Stauskas blossomed during his sophomore season in college, increasing his scoring average from 11.0 PPG in 2012/13 to 17.5 PPG. More impressively, the 6’6 guard maintained a consistent shooting percentage from the field and long distance – around 47.0% and 44.0%, respectively – with more minutes and an increased number of shot attempts per game relative to his freshman season. Despite his offensive talent, there have been some concerns about Stauskas’ ability to defend at the NBA level. As Zach Links of Hoops Rumors noted, Stauskas will have an opportunity to thrive as an effective role player if he can make some signifcant improvements defensively early in his career.
Latest On Donald Sterling
After no-showing at a probate trial hearing involving the pending sale of the Clippers yesterday, Donald Sterling arrived in court this afternoon to testify. There are a handful of noteworthy items to pass along from some who are covering the trial today, and you can find them below:
- Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (via Twitter) says that this case is scheduled through Thursday afternoon, and although there’s no guarantee that a ruling would be made by then, the judge clearly understands the time frame of the sale. As Linda Deutsch of the Associated Press notes, the NBA owners are expected to vote to approve Shelly Sterling’s agreement with Steve Ballmer on July 15th, which is also the day that Ballmer’s offer to buy the team is set to expire.
- Donald claims that he can get between $2.5 to $5 billion if he sold the Clippers, tweets Dan Woike of the Orange County Register.
Earlier updates:
- Donald had initially agreed to the sale of the team because he thought that the league would then waive the fine and lifetime ban levied against him, according to Shelburne and Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter links).
- Donald’s wife Shelly had been authorized to negotiate the sale because Donald thought that she would ultimately keep her portion of the team, tweets Shelburne.
- The NBA has no plans of rescinding Donald’s lifetime ban, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
- Another reason why Donald is fighting the sale is that he believes he can get the same deal that the Lakers got with Time Warner and radio stations, per Shelburne (via Twitter).
- Donald said that he was in the process of negotiating a TV deal with FOX at the time he was banned, says Shelburne (Twitter link).
And-Ones: Crawford, Hayward, 76ers
With a logjam at the guard spots and limited payroll flexibility, the Warriors are willing to help Jordan Crawford find his next team with a sign-and-trade deal, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. The source added that the former Xavier guard has drawn interest from the Bulls, Mavericks, Lakers, Knicks, and Nets (Twitter links).
You can find more of tonight’s miscellaneous news and notes below:
- The Hornets were pleased with their meeting with Gordon Hayward today, but the Jazz maintain that they’ll match any offer sheet for the 24-year-old forward, tweets NBA.com’s David Aldridge.
- 76ers GM Sam Hinkie said that he’s involved in plenty of conversations, but not as many as the media has been reporting, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Hinkie doesn’t think the addition of a high-profile guard will hurt Michael Carter-Williams‘ confidence, adding that the 2013/14 Rookie of the Year is the team’s point guard of the future.
- Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will not be in attendance during LeBron James‘ meeting with Pat Riley tomorrow, a source tells Zac Jackson of FOX Sports Ohio.
- ESPN’s Marc Stein says he’s been strongly advised to dismiss rumblings that Nike has purchased billboards in Cleveland in anticipation for LeBron’s eventual free agency decision; however, It doesn’t mean that LeBron has ruled out a return to the Cavaliers either (Twitter links).
- Former Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin will join the Kings as an assistant coach, a source tells Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune. A week ago, we relayed that Corbin was set to interview for a spot on Michael Malone’s coaching staff.
- Nik Stauskas is slated to sign his rookie deal with Sacramento today, tweets Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee.
- Timberwolves president/head coach Flip Saunders admits that he should have sent Chase Budinger to the D-League last season for a rehab assignment last season, noting that the swingman’s return from knee surgery has been a tough transition (Twitter link via Nate Sandell of 1500 ESPN).
- The Knicks added Joshua Longstaff and Rasheed Hazzard to Derek Fisher‘s coaching staff, notes Jonah Ballow of NYKnicks.com. Longstaff was previously a Thunder assistant, while Hazzard formerly worked for the Lakers.
- Former Oakland star Travis Bader signed a deal with ASVEL in France but would be allowed to opt out of his contract if he can make an NBA roster, writes Brian Calloway of the Detroit Free Press.
Eastern Notes: LeBron, Monroe, Magic, Bulls
LeBron James is scheduled to meet Wednesday with Heat president Pat Riley in Las Vegas, league sources told ESPN’s Chris Broussard. A few days ago, we passed along that the free agent superstar was planning to have a sitdown with Riley at some point this week. Here’s what else has been buzzing in the Eastern Conference this evening:
- Pistons president/head coach Stan Van Gundy reiterated that restricted free agent Greg Monroe is still part of the team’s future plans, reports David Mayo of MLive. Mayo also explains how Detroit could potentially create an additional $4.5MM in cap space this summer by making other moves in free agency first before signing Monroe to a new contract.
- In their final move of this summer’s free agency, the Magic aim to land a third point guard to back up Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.
- The Bulls’ pursuit of Pau Gasol is dependent on what Carmelo Anthony decides to do in free agency, reports Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, who hears that the wait has become “frustrating” for Chicago’s front office.
- When Knicks head coach Derek Fisher spoke with Carmelo last week, he guaranteed that the team would be better next season with the new system, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. Fisher, who hasn’t spoken with Anthony since Thursday’s meeting, wouldn’t say whether he felt good or not about New York’s chances of retaining the star forward.
- In another piece, Berman writes that Anthony has held out faint hope that Knicks president Phil Jackson can clear the necessary cap space this summer to bring LeBron James to New York. Doing so would at the least require New York to find takers for Amar’e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani in salary dump deals.
- Having completed his workout for the Raptors, former NBA swingman Yakhouba Diawara will be auditioning for the Bucks next, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket (Twitter link).
- Celtics guard Rajon Rondo recently spoke with Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe and brushed off speculation that the arrival of rookie point guard Marcus Smart could affect his future in Boston. “I don’t think (anything) of it… I can be here today, gone tomorrow. You never know. For me to get bent out of shape, or to feel threatened by the Celtics drafting a point guard, it means nothing.”