Garnett Plans To Return For 2014/15
Kevin Garnett plans to return for his 20th NBA season next year, a league source tells Ohm Youngmisuk. The Nets have been planning as if the future Hall-of-Famer would not retire, and GM Billy King reiterated as much to reporters including Youngmisuk today. “I think he’s preparing earlier this year than he did last summer,” said King.
Garnett will play out the final year of his contract in Brooklyn, drawing a $12MM salary. Garnett and Paul Pierce were traded to the Nets before the season as the Celtics kickstarted a rebuilding effort, and they helped Brooklyn advance to the second round for the first time since the 2006/07 season. Now the question will become whether this is his final year as a pro, or whether he will consider signing at a significantly lower salary next offseason.
At age 37, Garnett played the fewest games and total minutes of his career under the cautious approach of coach Jason Kidd in the 2013/14 season. While the dip in playing time accounted for decreased production, he was also less effective in the minutes he did play. He turned in a career-low .441 shooting percentage and per-36 scoring average. Still, he remains an elite rebounder and a post defense presence, and is lauded as one of the best teammates and fiercest competitors in the league.
Broussard’s Latest: LeBron, Griffin, Harden
The Clippers aren’t among the top choices for LeBron James, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com, who nonetheless wouldn’t rule them out completely. Broussard doubts that James would head there until Donald Sterling is formally ousted as owner of the club, and there’s also concern about how well James would fit on the court with friend Chris Paul, though Broussard doesn’t specify if that’s a concern of James’. Still, Heat president Pat Riley believes acquiring Blake Griffin via sign-and-trade would be the best outcome if James decides to leave Miami, Broussard reports. The ESPN scribe identifies the Heat, Cavs, Rockets, Knicks and Nets as having better chances than the Clippers do of landing James, given the four-time MVP’s preferences, and he has a few bombshells in his report, as we detail.
- If the Rockets clear enough cap room to sign one of LeBron and Carmelo Anthony, their next step would be to dangle James Harden to acquire the other via sign-and-trade. The Knicks and the Heat would be receptive to trading for Harden in that scenario, Broussard adds.
- Chris Bosh appears sold on Miami, but it’s questionable whether he’d want to stay if James leaves, Broussard writes.
- Riley is planning a run at Thunder center Kendrick Perkins, according to Broussard. I’d assume it would involve pursuing him via free agency in the event that Oklahoma City amnesties him, rather than pursuing him via trade, though that’s just my speculation.
- Broussard hears there’s a decent chance that the Warriors would be willing to acquire Jeremy Lin if he’s part of a package with Chandler Parsons.
- The Nets would prefer trading Deron Williams rather than Joe Johnson in an effort to clear room for James, Broussard says.
Nets Seeking New Deal With Alan Anderson
GM Billy King told reporters, including Tim Bontemps of the New York Post, that he’d like to re-sign Alan Anderson (Twitter link). King confirmed earlier today that Anderson will opt out of his minimum-salary deal for next season, and the GM added that he was expecting the move.
Bringing Anderson back will be a tall order, since the Nets only have his Non-Bird rights. Those will allow Brooklyn to give him no more than a 20% raise without dipping into the mid-level exception, which the team likely has set aside for fellow Non-Bird free agent Shaun Livingston, whom King has identified as the team’s top priority.
Anderson started a career-high 26 games this past season and averaged 7.2 points in 22.7 minutes per contest. The Mark Bartelstein client is a year removed from notching 10.7 PPG for Toronto and figures to draw interest at more than the minimum this summer.
Alan Anderson To Opt Out
WEDNESDAY, 11:49am: Nets GM Billy King says that Anderson will indeed opt out, as he told reporters, including Newsday’s Roderick Boone (Twitter link).
TUESDAY, 6:56pm: Tim Bontemps of the New York Post also confirms Anderson’s plan to opt out, adding that it doesn’t preclude the 6’6 guard from coming back to the Nets (Twitter links).
5:49pm: Nets shooting guard Alan Anderson plans to opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent this summer, a league source tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (Twitter link). The five-year veteran signed a two-year deal worth $2.01MM last summer and would have earned $1.06MM in 2014/15 had he opted in.
In 78 games played last year, Anderson averaged 7,2 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 22.7 MPG while shooting 40.0% from the field overall and 33.9% from beyond the arc.
Nets Owner Plans To Reel In Spending
Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has agreed to curb his record-setting spending on the team going forward in an effort to enhance the value of the club as minority owners seek to sell a 20% share of the franchise, Josh Kosman of the New York Post reports. Prokhorov plans on turning the Nets into a non-taxpaying team by 2015/16 as he seeks a valuation of $1 billion for the club.
A recent report indicated that Prokhorov was listening to offers for his controlling interest, though his intent was apparently to find out just what he could get for it rather than actually selling it. The part of the team that is up for grab is that owned by real estate developer Bruce Ratner’s Forest City Enterprises, according to Kosman, who echoes a report from last month.
The $1 billion valuation that both Prokhorov and Ratner’s company are apparently seeking is just half of what former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer agreed to pay for the Clippers, but the difference is that the Nets are “far from” profitable, unlike the Clippers, Kosman writes. The Nets are predicting a profit of $50MM for 2016/17, according to Kosman.
Brooklyn’s payroll came to nearly $103MM this season, and with luxury tax included, the outlay is in the range of $190MM. The team has more than $45,937,663 already on the books for 2015/16, the year it aims to get out of the tax, not counting a more than $16.7MM player option for Brook Lopez. It’ll be difficult for Prokhorov to achieve his cost-cutting goal, and a source expressed skepticism to Kosman that Prokhorov will stick to his austerity plan.
Grizzlies Interview Four For GM-In-Waiting Gig
Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace and representatives of owner Robert Pera have interviewed four candidates to become the team’s player personnel director and serve as a GM-in-waiting, reports Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Nets assistant GM Bobby Marks, Pacers vice president Peter Dinwiddie, Knicks director of pro personnel Mark Hughes and former Raptors and Knicks GM Glen Grunwald have all had meetings with the club, which envisions one of them eventually replacing Wallace, Berger writes.
There’s been plenty of confusion regarding the future of the Grizzlies front office ever since Pera ousted former CEO Jason Levien and installed Wallace as the interim head of the basketball operations department. A report last week indicated that Wallace would remain as GM for the “foreseeable future.” While that seemed to indicate that Wallace would stay in charge, Wallace retained his GM title even as he was stripped of control of the front office under Levien’s regime. A more recent report hinted that Wallace’s future has yet to be decided, referring to him only as a front-runner to retain control of the front office, though Berger’s dispatch seems to indicate that Wallace will remain in power for at least a while after the team makes its hire.
Grunwald probably has the lengthiest resume of the group, as none of the other candidates have been in charge of a team’s front office. An earlier report indicated that Knicks director of player personnel Mark Warkentien was also a candidate. The team apparently asked for permission to interview Thunder assistant GM Michael Winger, but Winger short-circuited that attempt and let Memphis know he’s not interested.
Andrei Kirilenko Opts In With Nets
TUESDAY, 9:22am: Kirilenko has officially opted in, the team announced via press release.
MONDAY, 5:57pm: Forward Andrei Kirilenko has decided to opt in with the Nets for next season at $3.3MM, a source tells David Aldridge of NBA.com (on Twitter). Kirilenko inked a one-year deal with a player option with the Nets last summer that caused quite a bit of controversy in NBA circles.
AK47 turned down a $10MM+ player option with the Timberwolves to sign a one-year, ~$3.1MM deal with Brooklyn that included a player option at roughly the same total. Almost instantly, executives were in an uproar and accusations of impropriety starting flying quickly. The league looked into the matter though and, ultimately, the Nets and Kirilenko were cleared of any wrongdoing.
Kirilenko walked from a big payday with the Wolves and didn’t really boost his value in his first season with the Nets. In 45 games, Kirilenko averaged 5.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.6 APG in 19.0 minutes per night. The 33-year-old was dogged by back trouble early in the season and had something of an up-and-down year after that. The Nets were 30-15 in the games that Kirilenko played in but coach Jason Kidd took the veteran out of the game plan for more than one postseason contest.
Draft Notes: Bucks, Wiggins, Payton, Hood
Bad news for Joel Embiid and Dante Exum. Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry says that it would be “hard to take Embiid” given his foot injury and indicated that it’ll come down to either Jabari Parker or Andrew Wiggins, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel. Here’s the latest draft news from around the league..
- League sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports that the Kings are seriously considering Louisiana-Lafayette product Elfrid Payton Jr. at No. 8 and few expect him to slip past the Magic at No. 12.
- Duke sharpshooter Rodney Hood is back with the Hornets for a second attempt at a workout tomorrow, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (on Twitter). Hoops Rumors chatted with Hood back in May about the draft process and his NBA goals.
- K.J. McDaniels will also receive a second audition for the Hornets and he’ll be joined by UCLA’s Jordan Adams, Missouri’s Jabari Brown, Jarell Eddie of Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh’s Lamar Patterson (Twitter links).
- Former North Carolina wing P.J. Hairston is working out today for the Bulls, who may end up trading one or both of their first-round picks, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY. Chicago is currently slated to pick at Nos. 16 and 19.
- Former Syracuse forward C.J. Fair will audition for the Thunder today, the Pistons tomorrow, and the Nets on Wednesday, Zagoria tweets.
- The Bulls have Michigan State’s Adreian Payne matching up against Chad Posthumus of Morehead State in a workout today, according to Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops (via Twitter).
- The Wizards will look to take the best player available when they’re called at the podium but J. Michael of CSNWashington.com hears that they’re favoring size.
Atlantic Notes: ‘Melo, Garnett, Felton, Draft
Neither New York team has a pick in either round of Thursday’s draft, but it seems there’s a decent chance that will change. The Knicks are thinking about trading Iman Shumpert for the first-rounder they’re seemingly intent on landing, and the Nets have scheduled workouts for this week with a bunch of potential second-round prospects, as we detail below amid the latest from the Big Apple:
- Carmelo Anthony has opted out of his deal with New York, but it wasn’t news to the Knicks. He told the team three weeks ago that he still planned to opt out and reiterated as much during their meeting a little more than a week ago, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks nonetheless like their chances of re-signing him, Berman also notes.
- The Nets are quietly optimistic that Kevin Garnett will return next season, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. His willingness to play out the final year of his contract, worth $12MM, is reportedly key to the future of soon-to-be free agent Paul Pierce, as Stein notes.
- Raymond Felton avoided jail time as part of a plea agreement to resolve felony gun-related charges stemming from a February incident, reports Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com. The Knicks point guard has been a part of trade rumors.
- C.J. Fair, Semaj Christon, James Michael McAdoo, Johnny O’Bryant III, Xavier Thames, Ronald Roberts Jr., Langston Hall, Branden Frazier, Cameron Clark, Kyle Casey, Akil Mitchell, Cory Jefferson and Artem Klimenko are all working out for the Nets this week, the team announced.
Contract Details: Knicks, Pelicans, Heat, Bulls
August 1st will be a key date for many teams and players in the NBA, as Mark Deeks of ShamSports details in the latest update to his salary database. Knicks guard Shannon Brown and Melvin Ely of the Pelicans have their minimum-salary contracts fully guaranteed if their respective teams don’t waive them by the end of that day, Deeks reports. It’s also the day when Justin Hamilton of the Heat earns a partial guarantee of $408,241 and Bulls big man Lou Amundson has his deal partially guaranteed for $300K if they’re not waived, according to Deeks. The salary data guru has a few more revelations, as we note below:
- Hamilton’s partial guarantee increases to $612,362 should the Heat elect not to waive by the end of December 1st.
- Lamar Odom‘s deal becomes fully guaranteed if he remains on the Knicks roster past September 10th.
- The Knicks have another deadline to consider on September 15th, the final day they can waive Jeremy Tyler without owing him a $100K partial guarantee.
- Jorge Gutierrez receives a $25K partial guarantee if he sticks with the Nets past September 26th.
- Jarvis Varnado‘s deal with the Sixers is already partially guaranteed for $75K.