Nets Sign Shabazz Napier
JULY 17: The Nets have officially signed Napier, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 14: Shabazz Napier will head to Brooklyn on a two-year deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. The terms of the agreement between Napier and the Nets have not yet been disclosed, but it will feature a second-year team option, per Wojnarowski.
Napier, who is celebrating his 27th birthday today, was the No. 24 overall selection in the 2014 draft. He experienced his best season as a pro during the 2017/18 campaign with the Trail Blazers, averaging 8.7 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 2.0 APG as the first guard off the bench for Portland.
Although he was eligible for restricted free agency this summer, Napier didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Blazers, making him unrestricted. As such, he’ll be able to sign with the Nets outright.
The UConn product will join the Nets and compete for minutes alongside D’Angelo Russell and Spencer Dinwiddie. Brooklyn could use another ball-handler after shipping Jeremy Lin to the Hawks earlier this week.
Having taken on the Kenneth Faried and Darrell Arthur contracts in a trade with the Blazers, the Nets don’t have much cap room left, but may have the flexibility to offer Napier more than the minimum, if they so choose. The team will use its $4.45MM room exception to sign Ed Davis.
Nets Sign Rodions Kurucs To Multiyear Deal
JULY 16: The Nets have officially signed Kurucs, the team announced today in a press release. According to reports from Sportando and The New York Post, his deal is expected to be worth about $7MM over four years.
JUNE 22: The Nets and second-round pick Rodions Kurucs have reached an agreement on an NBA contract, according to international basketball journalist David Pick, who reports (via Twitter) that it will be a four-year deal.
Kurucs, who was selected using the 40th overall pick that initially belonged to the Lakers, had one year left on his contract with Barcelona. However, the Nets and Kurucs’ Spanish club were able to negotiate the terms of a buyout, says Pick.
[RELATED: Full 2018 NBA Draft Results]
While Kurucs’ buyout was believed to be worth upwards of $4MM at one point, his camp was reportedly able to get that figure lowered substantially, per ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz (as relayed by NetsDaily).
Because Kurucs wasn’t a first-round pick, he won’t be subject to the NBA’s rookie scale, but it sounds like he’ll still sign a four-year contract. The Nets will have the flexibility to offer that many years because they’ll start the 2018/19 league year as an under-the-cap team. It’s not yet clear how much Kurucs’ contract will be worth, or how many years will be guaranteed, but the two sides will be able to finalize the agreement in July.
Kurucs was one of two international prospects the Nets selected in the 2018 draft, along with No. 29 pick Dzanan Musa. General manager Sean Marks indicated last night that club also expects to bring over Musa immediately, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link). The Bosnia forward reportedly has a buyout worth about $1MM.
Nets Renounce Rights To Quincy Acy, Milton Doyle
The Nets cleared the way for a few roster moves by renouncing the free agent rights to Quincy Acy and Milton Doyle, tweets Keith Smith of Real GM. The extra cap space will allow them to re-sign Joe Harris and add free agents Ed Davis and Shabazz Napier.
Acy, 27, spent the past year and a half with Brooklyn after signing with the team in January of 2017. He appeared in 70 games last season, starting eight, and averaged 5.9 PPG and 3.7 RPG. He also spent time with the Raptors, Kings, Knicks and Mavericks.
Doyle, 24, signed a two-way contract with the Nets in December. He appeared in 10 NBA games, averaging 3.4 PPG in 12.5 minutes.
Nets Notes: Lin, Faried, Napier, Vezenkov
The Nets weren’t convinced that point guard Jeremy Lin will be physically ready for training camp, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Lin, who was traded to the Hawks on Thursday, is coming off a ruptured patellar tendon that he suffered in last season’s opener.
The 29-year-old point guard hasn’t been medically cleared for three-on-three contact games and may take a while to get ready for five-on-five. He played just 37 games over two years after signing with Brooklyn in 2016 and carried a $12.5MM salary that the team needed to unload before completing a deal with Denver.
“I love Jeremy Lin because he represents the underdog in all of us — truly first class on and off the court,” tweeted co-owner Joe Tsai after the deal was completed. “Jeremy is not only exciting to watch, he sets an example for perseverance and leadership. We are great friends, and I will follow his progress no matter where he is.”
There’s more today out of Brooklyn:
- The Nets had been trying for months to acquire Kenneth Faried from the Nuggets, Lewis adds in the same story. Brooklyn officials hoped to make a deal before last month’s draft, but Denver was unwilling to give up this year’s first-rounder, which it used to get Michael Porter Jr. Nets GM Sean Marks improved his bargaining position by unloading Timofey Mozgov to the Hornets and Lin to the Hawks, giving him enough cap room to take on Faried and Darrell Arthur while getting a future first-rounder and second-rounder.
- Today’s agreement with Shabazz Napier will use up the last of the Nets’ remaining cap room, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Brooklyn has 14 players under contract, 13 with guaranteed money, and can now exceed the cap by finalizing deals with Joe Harris under the Early Bird exception and Ed Davis under the room mid-level exception.
- Aleksandar Vezenkov, a second-round pick from 2016, will get a better chance to develop his skills after signing with Olympiacos in Greece this week, according to NetsDaily.com. A stretch four, Vezenkov spent last season with F.C. Barcelona, which allotted more minutes to players who weren’t likely to eventually leave for the NBA. That shouldn’t be a concern with Olympiacos, where Vezenkov will play for former Cavaliers coach David Blatt.
Summer of 2019 Could Change Their Fortunes
- The Nets have positioned themselves to make a big splash next summer, Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype notes. They can create enough salary-cap room to sign two first-tier free agents to go along with two first-round picks, provided that the protections on the pick the Nuggets sent them don’t kick in.
Nuggets Trade Faried, Arthur, Picks To Nets
JULY 13, 8:42pm: The trade is official, according to a Nets press release.
JULY 12, 5:18pm: The Nuggets have found a team willing to take on their unwanted contracts, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports that Denver is sending Kenneth Faried, Darrell Arthur, a protected 2019 first-round pick, and a 2020 second-round pick to the Nets in exchange for Isaiah Whitehead.
It’s a salary-dump deal for the Nuggets, who intend to waive Whitehead after acquiring him, Wojnarowski adds. Whitehead’s salary guarantee deadline was recently pushed back, so his $1.54MM salary for 2018/19 remains non-guaranteed — Denver won’t be on the hook for it.
Having reached a deal with Isaiah Thomas earlier in the night, the Nuggets were poised to have 16 players on guaranteed NBA contracts and were well into luxury-tax territory. Their deal with the Nets will solve both issues, reducing their roster count to 14 players after Whitehead’s release and getting their total team salary below the tax threshold.
Bobby Marks of ESPN.com has the full details, noting that the Nuggets should be about $8.7MM below the tax line after the trade, giving the team room to use the rest of its mid-level exception to fill the last spot on its roster, if it so chooses. So far, Denver has committed $2MM of its MLE to Torrey Craig and is believed to have used about another $1MM on Jarred Vanderbilt.
As Marks observes, trading Faried, Darrell Arthur, and Wilson Chandler (to Philadelphia) projects to save the Nuggets approximately $90MM in salary and tax payments. The team gave up a first-round pick and two second-rounders in those two deals.
The Nuggets have also created three sizable traded player exceptions to work with — those TPEs are equivalent to the salaries for Faried ($13.76MM), Chandler ($12.8MM), and Arthur minus Whitehead ($5.92MM)
Meanwhile, from the Nets’ perspective, they’ll rent their cap room in order to add a pair of draft assets. The big prize is the 2019 first-rounder, which is top-12 protected, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
Coming into the day, Brooklyn didn’t have the cap room necessary to absorb both Faried and Arthur, but the club created that space by trading Jeremy Lin to the Hawks in another deal. It’s not clear whether Faried and/or Arthur are in the Nets’ plans for 2018/19 or if they’ll become buyout candidates.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Faried's Reps Talk To Nets About Role
- The Nets and Kenneth Faried‘s representatives were set to talk this morning to see what the team’s plan is for Faried, per TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link). There have been no indications yet that Brooklyn plans to buy out Faried — if the team offers him a larger role than the one he had in Denver, he may be happy to stick with the Nets for 2018/19.
Nets Trade Jeremy Lin To Hawks
JULY 13: The trade is now official, according to a pair of press releases issued by the Nets and Hawks. Atlanta receives Lin, Brooklyn’s 2025 second-round pick, and the right to swap 2023 second-rounders with the Nets in exchange for Cordinier and a heavily-protected 2020 second-rounder, as detailed below.
[RELATED: Cap implications of the trade for Nets, Hawks]
JULY 12: The Nets have agreed to a trade that will send Jeremy Lin to the Hawks, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal will allow Brooklyn to clear the cap space necessary to take on a pair of expiring contracts from the Nuggets in another deal.
According to Wojnarowski, the Nets will receive Portland 2020’s second-round pick (top-55 protected) and the rights to 2016 draft-and-stash second-rounder Isaia Cordinier in the trade.
In addition to Lin, the Hawks will acquire a 2025 second-round pick and the right to swap picks with the Nets in 2023, Woj adds. His report doesn’t mention anything about first-round picks, so we’ll assume for now that the ’23 pick swap applies to second-rounders.
For the Hawks, adding Lin will mean further bolstering a point guard depth chart that already features leading scorer Dennis Schroder and fifth overall pick Trae Young. Schroder has been frequently cited as a potential trade candidate and Young’s performance in Summer League action has been up and down, so Lin could provide some added stability at the position. His presence also could expedite a Schroder trade, as Wojnarowski reports.
Of course, it may be premature to pencil in Lin for 25-30 minutes per game for the upcoming season, since he’s coming off a major knee injury. The veteran point guard admitted recently that he has yet to play 5-on-5 ball, but fully expects to be ready for training camp. The Hawks plan to keep him, tweets David Aldridge of TNT.
As we detailed earlier today, the Hawks had upwards of $18MM in cap room available, with the flexibility to increase that number to nearly $24MM by renouncing free agents and waiving non-guaranteed players. No additional moves will be required in order to absorb Lin’s $12.5MM expiring contract using their current cap space.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), Lin also had a 10% trade kicker, so if he doesn’t waive it as part of the deal, the Nets would pay that $1.25MM bonus and the 29-year-old’s cap hit would increase to $13.75MM.
General manager Travis Schlenk had said that the Hawks didn’t expect to pursue major free agents, noting that the team’s “free agency is going to be trades.” The acquisition of Lin reflects that plan, though it’s still a somewhat surprising move. Given where the Hawks are in their rebuilding process, it would have made more sense to me if Atlanta had used its cap room to take on the Nuggets’ unwanted contracts and acquired a pair of picks in the process.
That’s exactly what the Nets will do with their newly-created cap room after moving Lin. As we detail in a separate story, shedding Lin’s salary will allow Brooklyn to take on Kenneth Faried and Darrell Arthur from Denver. The Nets will receive a first-round pick and a second-round pick from the Nuggets for their troubles.
Meanwhile, the Nets should still have plenty of depth in their backcourt heading into the 2018/19 season, with Spencer Dinwiddie and D’Angelo Russell capable of handling point guard duties.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cap Impact Of Thursday’s Trades For Nets, Hawks, Nuggets
After a relatively quiet day in terms of NBA transactions on Thursday, a flurry of agreements were reached in the evening. The Nuggets‘ free agent deal with veteran guard Isaiah Thomas kicked off a series of moves that saw Denver agree to send Kenneth Faried and Darrell Arthur to Brooklyn, with the Nets flip Jeremy Lin to the Hawks in order to create the cap room necessary to absorb the Nuggets’ unwanted contracts.
As we detailed on Thursday, the Hawks and Nets were two of the only teams with any cap room still available. The Nuggets, meanwhile, entered Thursday with one of the NBA’s highest projected payrolls, and were looking for a way to get out of luxury-tax territory. The 2018/19 cap outlooks for all three teams were altered significantly by last night’s trade agreements.
With the help of salary data from Basketball Insiders and information from cap experts Bobby Marks and Albert Nahmad, here’s a breakdown of how each team involved in last night’s action will be impacted from a cap – and tax – perspective:
Atlanta Hawks
There are a few factors to consider when determining exactly how much cap room the Hawks still have available. For one, we’re still not sure whether or not Lin is waiving his trade kicker as part of his move to Atlanta. If he doesn’t waive that trade kicker – and he’d have no real reason to – his bonus will increase his cap hit from $12.5MM to $13.75MM, cutting into the Hawks’ cap space.
Atlanta also still has Jaylen Morris and Antonius Cleveland under contract. Both players are on modest non-guaranteed salaries worth $1.38MM apiece.
If we assume that Lin’s trade kicker will increase his cap hit and Morris and Cleveland remain on the Hawks’ roster, the team projects to have about $7.7MM in cap space remaining. However, that number would increase to nearly $10.5MM without Morris and Cleveland.
Brooklyn Nets
Most of the Nets‘ leftover cap room will be eaten up by Faried’s and Arthur’s salaries. After Brooklyn completes its reported deal with second-round pick Rodions Kurucs, the team will have less than $3MM in cap space available.
The Nets still haven’t finalized their contract agreements with Joe Harris and Ed Davis, since it makes sense to use up all their cap room before they use their Early Bird rights to go over the cap for Harris and sign Davis with the room exception.
If Brooklyn determines that it will have no use for its remaining $2-3MM in cap space, the club could complete those signings after officially locking up Kurucs. However, GM Sean Marks figures to explore all options with that leftover cap room before going over the cap by signing Harris and Davis.
Denver Nuggets
There are plenty of moving parts in play for the Nuggets, who still have to finalize Thomas’ signing and waive Isaiah Whitehead, whose non-guaranteed contract will be acquired in the trade with the Nets. We also don’t have final, official figures for new contracts for Nikola Jokic, Will Barton, and Jarred Vanderbilt.
Based on what we know though, it appears the Nuggets will have a team salary of about $115MM after waiving Whitehead and signing Thomas, putting the team approximately $8.7MM below the tax line.
As Nahmad observes (via Twitter), Denver has a few unlikely incentives to consider for Jokic, Paul Millsap, and Gary Harris. The 2018/19 cap hits for those players would increase if they earn their incentives, so the Nuggets will want to leave a little breathing room to account for that. Still, the team has flexibility to use its full mid-level exception.
So far, the Nuggets have used a reported $2.84MM of their mid-level to sign Torrey Craig and Vanderbilt, which would leave about $5.8MM of the $8.64MM exception available. Denver could also technically use its $3.382MM bi-annual exception, though the team would become hard-capped if it uses any of its BAE or uses more than the taxpayer portion ($5.337MM) of the mid-level.
No Extension Talks Yet With D'Angelo Russell
- The Nets haven’t had any extension talks with D’Angelo Russell, according to Michael Scotto of The Athletic. Russell, who was acquired in a trade with the Lakers last summer, put up some impressive numbers in first 12 games with Brooklyn before being sidelined by a left knee injury. He posted a 20.9/4.7/5.7 line on 46% shooting prior to the injury, which required arthroscopic surgery. Russell, 22, will make $7.02MM in the upcoming season and will be a restricted free agent next summer if no extension deal is reached.
- Japanese star Yuta Watanabe is making a bid for an NBA job with his performance for the Nets‘ summer league team, writes Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. Watanabe averaged 9.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in four summer league games. “It’s great for me,” he said. “Great experience, but it’s still summer league. I still have a lot to go, so my goal is not here.”