Eastern Rumors: Nets, Hardaway, Hornets, Celtics
Before Rudy Gay signed with the Spurs, the Nets expressed interest in the veteran forward, having viewed him as a contingency plan in the event that the Wizards match their offer sheet for Otto Porter, reports Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
With Gay off the board and Porter likely to be retained by Washington, the Nets will be a “strong contender” for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. That’s no surprise, now that the 24-year-old is unrestricted, but for Caldwell-Pope to be an option for Brooklyn, his camp may have to be patient, since the Nets’ cap room may be tied up for a few days until the Wizards make their decision on Porter official.
Here’s more from around the East:
- Before the Knicks swooped in with a $71MM offer sheet, the Hawks were willing to offer Tim Hardaway Jr. a four-year deal in the $48MM range, league sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe. We’ll see if Atlanta is willing to go significantly higher than that to match New York’s offer, or if Hardaway will return to the Knicks.
- The Hornets are in the market for another big man, GM Rich Cho said today (Twitter link via Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer). Charlotte is also evaluating whether to sign a third point guard or keep Briante Weber in that role. Weber has a non-guaranteed contract.
- Raptors president Masai Ujiri said today that he’s comfortable entering the 2017/18 season as a tax team, but there’s still plenty of time to make moves. He’s waiting for the trade market to open up a little, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN 1050.
- The plan for the Celtics has always been to have draft-and-stash prospect Guerschon Yabusele on their roster this fall, a league source tells Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link). As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), Boston will likely need to waive or trade Jordan Mickey and Demetrius Jackson to retain Yabusele’s cap hold.
Pistons Renounce Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
11:04am: The Pistons are renouncing Caldwell-Pope, which will make him an unrestricted free agent, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The timing of the move is interested, since the Nets’ cap room may be tied up for several days as they wait for official word from the Wizards on Porter. We’ll see if Caldwell-Pope waits on Brooklyn or quickly pursues a deal with another team.
11:02am: In the wake of their trade agreement for Avery Bradley, the Pistons are prepared to move on from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, reports Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). According to Ellis, Detroit is looking to add “two more guys” to its roster. But Caldwell-Pope may not be one of them.
[RELATED: Celtics to trade Avery Bradley to Pistons]
Talks between the Pistons and Caldwell-Pope haven’t progressed so far, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN tweeted earlier today. Windhorst noted that there’s a possibility Detroit will pull Caldwell-Pope’s offer and make him an unrestricted free agent. While that hasn’t happened yet, it doesn’t look like the Pistons will match a big offer sheet for KCP.
Caldwell-Pope, 24, is viewed as one of the top two-way wings left on the market, but the qualifying offer he received from the Pistons gives Detroit the opportunity to match any offer sheet he signed. However, having added Langston Galloway, Eric Moreland, and Bradley, the Pistons have upwards of $109MM in salary commitments and have a hard cap of $125.266MM.
While Caldwell-Pope may not receive a maximum salary deal, any offer worth more than about half the max would put the Pistons in a tough spot. And with Galloway and Bradley now in the mix, the team’s need for another guard has diminished — especially since Bradley can provide the sort of three-point shooting and defense that KCP did.
A report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski earlier today suggested that the Pistons may be aggressive in trying to extend Bradley, but the club’s cap situation limits its ability to make a competitive offer. Ellis (Twitter link) hears from a source that Bradley won’t do an in-season extension since the money is too low, but the team still hopes to have him long term in Detroit. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer and the Pistons will hold his Bird rights.
Whether or not Caldwell-Pope’s qualifying offer is rescinded by the Pistons, it may make sense for his camp to wait to see what happens with the Nets and Otto Porter. The Wizards are expected to match Brooklyn’s offer sheet for Porter, and Caldwell-Pope may be next up on the Nets’ wish list.
Wizards Receive Otto Porter’s Offer Sheet From Nets
The Wizards have received Otto Porter‘s four-year, $106.5MM offer sheet from the Nets, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The deal contains a player option on the final year and ESPN’s Zach Lowe reports (Twitter link) that the contract includes a 15% trade kicker.
Porter’s deal has a peculiar wrinkle in it that will have him collect 50% of his annual salary by October 1 every season, Lowe tweets. Such an arrangement is not common in the NBA. ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (Twitter link) that the 50% threshold is the maximum allowed under the CBA.
Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post reports that the Wizards not only plan on matching — they also tie up Brooklyn’s cap space for as long as possible. The deadline for the team to match is July 8 at midnight, but Porter still needs to pass a physical with the Wizards and he’ll have two days to do so once Washington matches the offer.
At that point, Washington would have two days to announce that Porter has passed the physical. That means the Georgetown product’s offer sheet could theoretically stay on the Brooklyn’s cap through July 12.
[RELATED: Nets, Otto Porter agree to max offer sheet; Wizards plan to match]
The Wizards – one of three franchises (along with Charlotte and New Orleans) to never pay the tax – will be over the luxury tax line once they match the offer sheet. The club now intends to complete its reported deal with Jodie Meeks using part of the taxpayer mid-level exception rather than the bi-annual exception, to avoid being hard-capped.
The Nets have been aggressive with restricted free agents since Sean Marks took over GM duties. Last year, the team presented Allen Crabbe, Tyler Johnson, and Donatas Motiejunas with lucrative offer sheets, but didn’t ultimately land any of those players.
Brooklyn isn’t the only team that was hoping to steal Porter away from Washington. The Kings presented Porter with a max offer last weekend, though the small forward decided to meet with other teams before signing. Sacramento then went in another direction, using most of its available cap room on Zach Randolph and George Hill.
Southeast Notes: Meeks, Porter, Reed, Magic
The Wizards will use their mid-level exception instead of their bi-annual exception to sign Jodie Meeks, tweets Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. The change was made to avoid being hard-capped by the expected re-signing of Otto Porter. Meeks will still receive $7MM over two seasons; the money will just come from a different source (Twitter link). The Wizards still haven’t received the Nets’ offer sheet for Porter, adds J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic (Twitter link).
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- The Clippers, Warriors, Hawks, Sixers and Pacers all remain in the market for Heat back-up center Willie Reed, tweets David Aldridge of TNT. Miami also hopes to re-sign him.
- The Magic’s new management team is taking a cautious attitude toward rebuilding, relays Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando has been quiet during the first week of free agency, despite coming off a 29-53 season and having up to $15.1MM available to spend. “There’s a lot less money in the free-agent market this year than there was last year,” said Jeff Weltman, the team’s new president of basketball operations. “And so, the approach that we’ve taken is to kind of wait and see how some of that shakes out towards the next phase of free agency and see which players we may be able to get into discussions with at that point. But we’ve been touching base with a lot of guys and just kind of gauging the market.”
- The Hornets have promoted Buzz Peterson to assistant GM, the team announced on its website. A former standout at North Carolina and a head coach at five colleges, Peterson had been serving as the Hornets’ senior advisor to basketball operations. “He brings a wide breadth of basketball knowledge to the position, having been involved in the game at various levels for close to three decades,” said Charlotte GM Rich Cho. “I’m excited to be working more closely with Buzz in his new role and look forward to his continued contributions to our basketball team.”
Pacers, Nets, Others Interested In Kelly Olynyk
The Pacers, Nets, Kings, and Jazz are among the teams “coming on strong” for Kelly Olynyk, according to Sam Amick of USA Today, who reports (via Twitter)
Gordon Hayward‘s decision on Tuesday likely helped jump-start the market for several other free agents, but none were impacted as directly as Olynyk. In order to help create cap room for Hayward’s maximum salary contract, the Celtics withdrew Olynyk’s qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent rather than an RFA.
Olynyk is now eligible to sign outright with a new team, which has created significant interest around the league. The Pacers, Nets, Kings, and Jazz all have cap room left over, and would each likely be able to offer more than the mid-level exception, though Brooklyn may want resolution on Otto Porter‘s offer sheet first, and Indiana is trying to shed some salary, per Amick.
Olynyk, 26, appeared in 75 regular season games for the Celtics last season, averaging 9.0 PPG and 4.8 RPG and once again showed off an ability to make an outside shot (.368 career 3PT%). His most memorable performance in Boston came in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Wizards, when he helped the C’s seal the series with a 26-point outburst.
Nets, Otto Porter Agree To Max Deal; Wizards Plan To Match
9:05pm: The Wizards had hoped to work out a more cap-friendly deal with Porter, but they still intend to match the Nets’ offer, reports Chris Mannix of The Vertical (via Twitter).
8:42pm: The Nets and Otto Porter have reached an agreement on a four-year, maximum salary deal, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Because Porter is a restricted free agent, Brooklyn will have to sign Porter to an offer sheet, and the Wizards will have the opportunity to match it.
Porter, who can receive up to $106,524,975 on a four-year deal, reportedly received such an offer from the Kings over the weekend as well. However, Porter didn’t accept that offer right away, opting to meet with other teams instead, and Sacramento used its cap room to reach deals with George Hill and Zach Randolph. In the wake of Gordon Hayward‘s departure from Utah, Porter had reportedly lined up a meeting with the Jazz, but Brooklyn swooped in with a max offer and struck a deal with the RFA forward.
Based on the wording of Charania’s report, it sounds like Porter hasn’t formally signed an offer sheet from Brooklyn quite yet. However, he is eligible to do so during the moratorium. If he makes it official with the Nets, the clock for the Wizards to make their decision would begin on July 6 when the moratorium ends. Washington would have until the end of the day on July 8 to match the offer.
Long considered a probable suitor for Porter, the Nets had an excess of cap room and showed in 2016 that they’re willing to dive into the RFA market in search of long-term assets. Last year, Brooklyn had offer sheets for Allen Crabbe, Tyler Johnson, and Donatas Motiejunas matched by the Trail Blazers, Heat, and Rockets, respectively. The club will be hoping for better luck this time around, though the RFA market has been slow to develop, so if the Wizards match on Porter, the Nets could go shopping for another target or two.
As for the Wizards, they’ve been widely expected to match any offer for Porter, but the Nets will put them to the test with this offer. Washington entered the free agent period with approximately $94MM in guaranteed money on the cap for 2017/18 and has since struck deals with Jodie Meeks and Mike Scott that figure to add nearly $5MM more to the books. As such, Porter’s deal, with its first-year cap hit of $24.77MM, will take the Wizards over the tax line if they match.
Washington reportedly intended to use the bi-annual exception to complete Meeks’ deal, but may instead choose to use a portion of the taxpayer mid-level exception to avoid becoming hard-capped at $125.266MM for the ’17/18 league year.
Porter, who has steadily improved his production in each of his four NBA seasons, had his best year as a pro in 2016/17, averaging career bests in PPG (13.4), RPG (6.4), and SPG (1.5), while posting an incredibly efficient .516/.434/.832 shooting line. I ranked him eighth overall in Hoops Rumors’ list of this year’s top 50 free agents.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Free Agent Rumors: Wolves, Young, Knicks, Gay
Although the Warriors remain an option for Nick Young, several other teams are in the mix, per Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link). Oklahoma City and New Orleans have been mentioned as possible landing spots, and Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link) says the Timberwolves have also inquired.
As Wolfson notes in a separate tweet, Minnesota has reached out to Gerald Green as well. The Timberwolves are “casting a wide net” for wing options, in the hopes that a bigger name falls into their lap for the $4.3MM room exception, says Wolfson.
Here are more free agency updates from around the NBA:
- According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), the Knicks have told multiple agents that they believe they’re closing in on a deal with a guard. Kyler suggests that mystery guard may be Derrick Rose or Shelvin Mack. Of those two, Mack seems like the more probable candidate, as a Sunday report suggested that Knicks GM Steve Mills isn’t bullish on bringing back Rose.
- Rudy Gay was “impressed” by the Clippers‘ presentation to him on Sunday, but no deal is in place between the two sides, tweets Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. The team met with Danilo Gallinari on the weekend as well.
- Appearing on Zach Lowe’s ESPN podcast for the first time, cap guru Bobby Marks expressed skepticism that the Nets will go after Pistons restricted free agent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as aggressively as they pursued RFAs a year ago. Brooklyn has frequently been linked to KCP and Otto Porter, but there has been no word yet about a Nets offer for either player. Brooklyn was scheduled to meet with Porter today, according to Matt Moore of CBSSports.com.
Nets Consider Offers For Porter, Caldwell-Pope, Ingles
After J.J. Redick announced an agreement with the Sixers this afternoon, the Nets are turning their sights toward a trio of restricted free agents, reports Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
Armed with $28.5MM in cap space, Brooklyn will consider Wizards forward Otto Porter, Pistons shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jazz forward Joe Ingles. Any offer sheet the Nets submit to any of them can be matched by their current team, but that won’t deter Brooklyn GM Sean Marks.
“We have an analytic value,” he said. “We have a scouting value placed on these players, and if we feel comfortable with an offer to these players, whether restricted or unrestricted, we’ll make those deals. But we’re not going to go chase things.”
The Nets submitted sizable offer sheets to Portland’s Allen Crabbe and Miami’s Tyler Johnson last summer and to Houston’s Donatas Motiejunas in December. All three were matched, leaving the Nets empty-handed.
There are questions about the availability of this year’s targets as well. The Wizards have vowed to match any offer that Porter brings them. However, Washington’s attempt to re-sign him in late-night negotiations ended without a contract, and there are reports that Brooklyn would be willing to offer $106MM over four years, starting at $24.75MM for 2017/18. Porter is expected to hold several meetings with several teams starting Sunday.
The Pistons have also stated that they plan to keep Caldwell-Pope, but their signing today of Langston Galloway and the drafting of Luke Kennard indicates that a backup plan is being formed in case Caldwell-Pope becomes too expensive.
The Nets have arranged a meeting with Ingles, although Lewis sees him as a secondary option in case the attempt at Porter is unsuccessful. The Washington Post is reporting that Ingles may have a four-year, $60MM offer from the Magic, but Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel says the team’s interest in Ingles is being overstated (Twitter link).
Free Agent Rumors: Iguodala, Noel, Roberson, Ingles
The Heat are one of three teams scheduled to meet with free agent Gordon Hayward, which could put several free agency plans on hold. For Miami free agent James Johnson, being patient is not a problem, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes.
“I’m a patient guy,” Johnson said to Jackson at a recent golf tournament. “They can take as long as they want. My mindset is winning. I think Hayward can help us win and I’m all for it. They brought me here for a reason and I know they’re going after Hayward for a reason and I think his statistics and his numbers that he [produces], he fits in the best here.”
Johnson, 30, developed into a solid two-way player last season, averaging 12.8 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and shot nearly 48% from the floor. However, if Miami does lure Hayward to South Beach, retaining both Johnson and Dion Waiters would be problematic from a financial standpoint. Stretching Josh McRoberts‘ salary and several other moves would have to be made to re-sign both players. However, Johnson has reiterated he does not mind waiting to see how the Heat’s plan develop.
Here are some other free agency rumors circulating around the NBA:
- The Rockets‘ meeting with two-time NBA champion and free agent Andre Iguodala is scheduled for this morning, according to Chris Haynes of ESPN (via Twitter).
- In a separate tweet, Haynes reports that the Knicks and Bucks have inquired on free agent swingman Ben McLemore.
- Restricted free agent Nerlens Noel can speak to other teams, but appears very likely to remain in Dallas. It’s likely a matter of “how much and when” the Mavericks get a deal done with the swingman, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon (via Twitter).
- With Paul George headed to Oklahoma City, the Thunder are more likely to retain restricted free agent Andre Roberson, according to ESPN’s Royce Young (via Twitter).
- The Nets have secured a meeting with free agent Joe Ingles, sources tell Adam Joseph of 16WingsARing (via Twitter).
- We heard on Friday night that the Cavaliers have interest in Zach Randolph. That interest is mutual, writes Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.
Free Agent Rumors: Porter, Randolph, Millsap, Holiday
The Wizards‘ session with Otto Porter ended without an agreement, tweets David Aldridge of TNT. Porter plans to start meeting with other teams this weekend (Twitter link). That creates a potential opening for the Nets, who appear willing to offer the max of four years and $100MM, according to a post on NetsDaily. Philadelphia may also get involved, but the Sixers seem reluctant to make long-term offers. Washington has promised to match any offer for the restricted free agent.
There’s more late-night free agency news:
- Aldridge has two more tidbits to pass along. The Cavaliers are interested in Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph and plan to call him today (Twitter link). Also, Blake Griffin‘s decision to re-sign with the Clippers means the Suns will intensify their pursuit of Hawks forward Paul Millsap (Twitter link).
- Jrue Holiday met with the Pelicans tonight, but no deal was reached, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. The two sides are expected to get together again in the morning.
- The new $201MM supermax contract that the Warriors gave to Stephen Curry doesn’t include a no-trade clause or a player option, according to Anthony Slater of The San Jose Mercury News (Twitter link).
- Spurs forward Jonathon Simmons has gotten calls from the Kings, Clippers and Timberwolves and is ready to start holding meetings, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link).
- In addition to Simmons, the Clippers plan to meet with Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari on Sunday and Jazz forward Joe Ingles this weekend, relays Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
- There’s a strong chance that Celtics‘ power forward Amir Johnson will sign with the Sixers, a source tells Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Johnson has a history with Philadelphia’s president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo, who traded for him in 2009 as GM of the Raptors.
- The Kings met tonight with Andre Iguodala and Patrick Patterson, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link).
- The Timberwolves have put in a call to Ty Lawson as a possible backup for Jeff Teague, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. The Pelicans, Thunder and Kings have also been in contact with Lawson.
- The Grizzlies are the latest team to show interest in Kings guard Ben McLemore, relays Chris Mannix of The Vertical (Twitter link).
- The Knicks contacted Suns power forward Alan Williams tonight, posts Ian Begley on ESPN Now. Williams fits New York’s goal of finding players who can contribute on both ends of the floor, Begley notes.