Latest On Kyrie Irving
There’s little chance that the Cavaliers will salvage their relationship with Kyrie Irving, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, who says the team is “acting as if a trade is almost inevitable.” Per Lowe, the Cavs also seem confident that they’ll be able to land a significant haul for Irving, despite the fact that stars like DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George, and Jimmy Butler have returned underwhelming hauls so far this year.
Lowe’s latest piece on Irving explores possible trade scenarios involving the Suns, Celtics, Heat, Knicks, Hawks, Bucks, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Pelicans, and more. While many of those proposed scenarios appear to be speculation on Lowe’s part, they give the impression that the Cavs certainly won’t be limiting themselves to Irving’s reported wish list of four teams as they seek out the best possible deal.
Here’s more from Lowe, along with other updates on Irving:
- The Cavaliers‘ highest priority in an Irving trade is to get a “blue-chip” young player in return, sources tell Lowe. Cleveland’s ideal scenario would be a deal that nets the club that blue-chip player, plus a veteran or two, plus draft picks. In other words, the Cavs are aiming for a trade package that provides the best of both worlds — players that can help the team contend for a championship in the short term, and valuable long-term assets.
- Since Irving made his trade request, the Cavaliers‘ front office has studied every trade involving a star player over the last decade, per Lowe. One particular deal that caught the club’s eye was the one that sent Goran Dragic from Phoenix to Miami for a package that included multiple first-round picks.
- Many teams, including the Celtics, have called the Cavaliers to let them know they want to be kept in the loop as trade talks progress, writes Lowe.
- The Nets still have a chunk of salary cap room remaining and could be an interesting trade partner in a multi-team scenario, but there have been no rumblings yet about their potential participation, according to Lowe.
- The Kings have no interest in moving De’Aaron Fox in a deal for Irving, reports James Ham of CSNBayArea.com.
- One Western Conference team executive tells Chris Mannix of The Vertical that he thinks the Cavaliers may end up having to wait until after December 15 to make a deal, after this year’s free agent signees become trade-eligible. If that happens, it might create an awkward few months in Cleveland, with Irving still on the roster when the season begins.
Nets Interested In Jared Sullinger?
The Nets are in attendance at The Basketball Tournament in order to evaluate Jared Sullinger, according to ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla (h/t Eleven Warriors’ Dan Hope).
Sullinger said he was aware of the Brooklyn’s presence, but wasn’t putting much stock into it. “I didn’t pay attention to it,” said Sullinger (via Net Income of SB Nation). “But I am unemployed at the moment. So just trying to get a job.”
Evan Turner, who played alongside the big man at Ohio State, was also in attendance Sullinger’s game. Turner believes the 25-year-old free agent deserves another chance in the NBA. “The numbers say enough,” said Turner of Sullinger’s game over the weekend. “21 points, 50 percent from the field, 50 percent from the three, all five free throws, nine rebounds, four assists, one turnover for a big man.”
Sullinger signed a one-year, $6MM deal with Toronto last offseason before injuring his foot during the preseason. He was only able to suit up in 11 games for the Raptors and the franchise dealt him to the Suns at the trade deadline. Phoenix subsequently waived him.
Weight has been an issue for Sullinger during his career, but he’s reportedly eating vegan, which has helped him manage this area. The power forward recently told Rob Oller of The Columbus Dispatch that he has this issue under control.
Jared Sullinger Eyes NBA Comeback
Jared Sullinger, who was cut by the Suns in February, is looking to return to the NBA. This weekend Sullinger will display his skills and recent weight loss in Brooklyn at The Basketball Tournament, with several professional teams in attendance, including the Nets, Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors (link via Twitter) passes along, from the mouth of Fran Fraschilla.
Rob Oller of The Columbus Dispatch interviewed Sullinger about the power forward’s struggles, progress, and aspirations. Sully says he weighed as much as 320 pounds when he was with the Celtics. “I lost a year of basketball directly because of what I have done — my weight and my eating habits,” he said. Sullinger explained that his unwillingness to lose weight led Boston to release him in 2016 and the Raptors to trade him to Phoenix in late February. The Suns released him the next day.
Sullinger has now been a vegan for three weeks and is down to a svelte 285 pounds. The grand prize of The Basketball Tournament for many is $2MM, but for Sullinger, the true treasure could be an NBA or overseas contract.
In five NBA seasons, the Ohio State product has averaged 10.8 PPG and 7.5 RPG. In two consecutive seasons for the Celtics, Sully averaged a career-high 13.3 points per contest.
DeMarre Carroll Looks Forward To 'Team-Ball'
- Recently acquired Nets forward DeMarre Carroll took another shot at the Raptors, telling Brian Lewis of the New York Post in so many words that the roster in Toronto just isn’t built to share the ball. “I had my share of iso already, so team-ball is my forte,” Carroll said. “You got two great All-Stars, two great players. That’s how they play. They were playing that way before I came, and they’re going to be playing that way long after I leave. They’re not changing that for me.“
Nets Sign Guard Yakuba Ouattara To Two-Way Contract
The Nets have signed guard Yakuba Ouattara to a two-way contract, according to a team press release.
The 6’3” Ouattara played for AS Monaco Basketball in the French LNB Pro A League last season. He appeared in 32 games and averaged 11.8 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 23.9 MPG. Ouattara is a prolific 3-point shooter, as he shot 40% from long range and 51.4% overall.
Ouattara, 25, is a Ghana native but a member of the French national team. He has spent his entire professional career, which began in 2012, in France.
Teams are allowed to dole out a pair of two-way contracts per season and the Nets reportedly gave their other two-way deal to forward Jacob Wiley.
Nets Sign First-Rounder Jarrett Allen
The Nets have officially signed rookie big man Jarrett Allen to his first NBA contract, the team announced today in a press release. The former Texas Longhorn was the 22nd overall pick in last month’s draft.
Like his fellow first-rounders, Allen will receive a four-year contract that features two fully guaranteed seasons, follow by a pair of team options on years three and four. Assuming he signed for the full amount allowed by the NBA’s rookie scale and plays out the four-year deal, Allen will earn just over $10MM over the life of the contract.
[RELATED: Rookie contracts for 2017 first-round picks]
With Allen now under contract, all but two of this year’s first-round picks have signed their rookie deals, as our tracker shows. Thunder swingman Terrance Ferguson and Sixers center Anzejs Pasecniks are the only two first-rounders who haven’t inked NBA deals. Pasecniks is set to play overseas for at least one more year, while the delay on Ferguson may be related to FIBA clearance, following his time in Australia.
Atlantic Notes: Lin, Nets, Valanciunas, Miller, Raptors, Jackson, Celtics
Jeremy Lin boldly stated that his Nets will make the playoffs this upcoming season while answering questions from fans in an Instagram Live video, relays A.J. Neuharth-Keusch of USA Today Sports.
“We’re making the playoffs. I don’t care what anybody else says to me,” said Lin. He went on to say, “We’re gonna do some serious damage next year… I’m pretty sure he’ll (D’Angelo Russell) start (at shooting guard), but it will be pretty interchangeable. And then when one of us is out of the game, the other person most likely will have the ball in their hands. It will probably be a little bit combo guard-esque.”
This offseason the Nets have added Russell, as well as DeMarre Carroll and Timofey Mozgov. Brooklyn will be coming off a season in which it finished 20-62, dead last in the NBA standings. Lin played in just 36 games due to injury, but averaged a furtive 14.5 PPG to go with 5.1 APG and 3.8 RPG. Furthermore, Lin managed to put up those strong numbers in a mere 24.5 minutes per contest.
- Raptors president Masai Ujiri addressed rumors that the team is trying to unload center Jonas Valanciunas, via Josh Lewenberg of The Sports Network. Ujiri said that he believes in Valanciunas’ talent and values his offensive rebounding. While admitting that the team looked at trading Valanciunas when they were in the tax, the team is now “very comfortable” keeping JV.
- Raptors guard Malcolm Miller underwent right ankle surgery, the team announced via press release (link via Twitter). Miller is expected to miss the next 12 weeks. He signed the team’s first two-way contract on July 9.
- Also via Josh Lewenberg of The Sports Network, the Raptors president says the team will “add a couple of different players. Maybe they’re non-guarantees, I don’t know.”
- The Celtics employed a creative use of the stretch provision on the contract of Demetrius Jackson, reports Bobby Marks of ESPN. A day prior to waiving the former Notre Dame guard, Boston exercised the 2019/20 non-guaranteed team option on Jackson. This allowed Boston to stretch the contract over seven years rather than five, lowering the cap hit per year to $92,857 instead of $130,000.
Jacob Wiley's Long Road To The NBA
- Now signed to a two-way contract with the Nets, recently acquired Jacob Wiley has an opportunity he never envisioned as recently as six months ago. Brian Lewis of the New York Post has penned an excellent feature on the forward’s tumultuous path.
Atlantic Notes: Anthony, Nets, Raptors
The Knicks have, at least for now, pulled Carmelo Anthony from the trading block and are not actively shopping their All-Star scorer. If the Knicks really wanted to trade Anthony, the team could have sent him to the Rockets if taking Ryan Anderson‘s contract in return was not a hurdle. As Frank Isola of the New York Daily News writes, dealing Anthony for a player who does less on the court and guaranteed more money the next three years is not a wise move.
Anthony, 33, has two years, $54MM left on his deal whereas Anderson, 29, has three years, $61MM left. Reports have suggested the Knicks are seeking a third, possibly fourth, team to complete a deal. After naming Steve Mills president and acquiring Scott Perry from the Kings to be the team’s new general manager, it’s clear that New York is going in a new direction. Owner James Dolan said as much in a statement regarding the team’s new hire.
“Today marks a culture change for our organization where we reestablish the pride, work ethic and responsibility that comes with playing for the Knicks and representing New York,” Dolan said (via ESPN). “I’m confident that Steve is the right person to take on this role, and ensure that we return to one of the elite teams of the NBA. He’s got an ambitious plan that centers on building a young team focused on player development, communication and teamwork.”
The Knicks still have an abundance of options with Anthony: They can hold onto Anthony and hope he plays well and trade him midseason if the team is out of contention; keep pursuing trades until the team finds a good fit; and, less ideally, buyout Anthony for cap relief. It’s a complicated situation for all and Anthony, with his no-trade clause and trade kicker, has all the power.
Here are additional notes around the Atlantic Division:
- The Nets have 10 guards in their organization and acquiring additional size this offseason remains a priority, per Fred Kerber of the New York Post. Kerber mentions Shabazz Muhammad and JaMychal Green as possible targets for Brooklyn as the team continues its search for upgrades in the frontcourt.
- One of the newest Nets, DeMarre Carroll, tells Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun that he expected a trade this offseason. In the candid interview, Caroll discussed why he did not fit into the Raptors’ offense the way he imagined and why it became frustrating playing for the team.
Raptors Trade DeMarre Carroll To Nets
JULY 13: The trade is now official, the Nets and Raptors announced today in a pair of press releases. Brooklyn receives Carroll, the Raptors’ 2018 first-round pick, and the less favorable of the Lakers’ and Magic’s 2018 second-round picks. The Raptors receive Hamilton and create an $11.8MM trade exception.
JULY 8: The Raptors have agreed to trade DeMarre Carroll to the Nets in a salary-dump deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. According to Wojnarowski, Brooklyn will receive first- and second-round picks for 2018 from the Raptors, and will send Justin Hamilton to Toronto.
Even though they lost P.J. Tucker and Patrick Patterson in free agency, the Raptors’ new agreements with Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka pushed them into luxury-tax territory. Team ownership had expressed a willingness to pay the tax in certain scenarios, but in this case, Toronto was believed to be looking for a way back below that threshold, having also reportedly shopped Cory Joseph and Jonas Valanciunas.
In Carroll, the Nets will be landing a veteran swingman who has battled health issues since leaving the Hawks in 2015. Carroll signed a lucrative four-year deal with the Raptors that summer, but only appeared in 26 games in his first season with the franchise, and never appeared to be back to his old self in 2016/17, despite starting 72 games. In 26.1 minutes per contest last season, Carroll averaged 8.9 PPG and 3.8 RPG, with a shooting line of .400/.341/.761.
Carroll is owed $14.8MM in 2017/18 and $15.4MM in 2018/19, while Hamilton’s expiring contract is worth just $3MM. However, having had their offer sheet to Otto Porter matched by the Wizards, the Nets will have an excess of cap room to accommodate a salary dump of this nature, and should still have $15MM+ available if they want to pursue another free agent or take on another contract.
Meanwhile, the Raptors project to get out of tax territory by moving Carroll, and should have the flexibility to retain Joseph and Valanciunas, who are key pieces in their rotation. The team also still has its full mid-level exception available, though team salary isn’t very far below the $119.266MM tax line, and using more than the taxpayer MLE would create a hard cap of $125.266MM. As such, the club may not be eager to use that MLE.
Hamilton, 27, will head to Toronto in the swap, coming off a career year for Brooklyn. The veteran center averaged 6.9 PPG and 4.1 RPG in 64 games (18.4 MPG) for the Nets. He also made a career-best 0.9 threes per game, albeit at a mediocre 30.6% rate. Hamilton could be an interesting addition to Toronto’s frontcourt, but the Raptors figure to be on the lookout for help on the wing, with big-bodied swingman Carroll and Tucker both moving on this summer.
As for the draft picks changing hands in this deal, the Raptors’ first-round pick heading to the Nets will be lottery-protected, per Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (Twitter link). Toronto has already traded its own 2018 second-round pick, but holds the rights to the less favorable of the Lakers’ and Magic’s second-rounder, so that figures to be the other selection headed to Brooklyn.
The deal won’t be finalized until the Nets’ cap room for the Porter offer sheet officially opens back up.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.