Nets To Acquire Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce
SUNDAY, 12:52pm: The trade can't be made official until July 12th because of a hang-up related to Kris Joseph, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Players typically can't be traded within three months of signing a free agent contract, and Joseph signed with the Nets on April 12th, so presumably that's the reasoning.
FRIDAY, 9:11am: Chris Broussard of ESPN.com has the full breakdown of the trade, via Twitter:
The Nets will receive Garnett, Pierce, and Terry. The Celtics will receive Humphries, Wallace, Brooks, Joseph, Bogans, and 2014, 2016, and 2018 first-round picks. The '14 pick will be the Hawks or Nets selection, whichever is worse. The '16 and '18 picks will be unprotected. The Celtics also have the ability to swap first-rounders with Brooklyn in 2017.
Based on these pieces, Bogans figures to get a 2013/14 salary of more than $2MM in the sign-and-trade part of the deal, by my math, which works out nicely for him.
7:41am: According to Josh Newman of SNYNets.com, Evans has been informed he won't be included in the deal, but MarShon Brooks will be sent to the Celtics instead. Because Brooks' salary is smaller than Evans, that would mean a larger starting salary for Bogans in the sign-and-trade portion of the deal, unless Shengelia is involved in the final agreement.
Meanwhile, Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that Nets GM Billy King, head coach Jason Kidd, and point guard Deron Williams all reached out during the draft to pitch him on the trade.
FRIDAY, 12:53am: Because Bogans needs to be signed-and-traded, no deal between Brooklyn and Boston can be made official until July 10th, but the agreement appears on track to be approved by all involved parties.
By my math, if Shengelia is not in the trade, Bogans will need to be signed to a starting salary of $1,731,294 in order for the Nets to send out as much outgoing money as the CBA requires for Garnett, Pierce, and Terry.
THURSDAY, 10:20pm: Kris Joseph will be included in the deal, heading to Boston, and the Celtics will also have the option to swap 2017 first-round picks with Brooklyn, tweets Wojnarowski. Joseph's contract is non-guaranteed, so the C's could waive him after acquiring him if they so choose.
10:10pm: Shengelia is not part of the latest version of this deal, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). I'll have to double-check the math, but I believe the Nets would need to include at least one more player to make the salaries work if they're taking on Terry as well.
9:58pm: Kevin Garnett will agree to waive his no-trade clause to accommodate a deal that will send him and Paul Pierce to the Nets, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). As part of the agreement, Brooklyn will guarantee KG's full salary for 2014/15, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Garnett's $12MM salary for that season had only be guaranteed for $6MM up until this point.
It's not entirely clear which players will be involved in the deal, but it looks like Jason Terry will be headed to the Nets along with Garnett and Pierce. Boston is expected to acquire Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Keith Bogans (via sign-and-trade), Reggie Evans, and Tornike Shengelia. The Celtics will also receive 2014, 2016, and 2018 first-round picks, with no protection on the '16 or '18 selections, according to today's earlier reports.
Due to all the moving pieces involved, the two sides won't be able to formally complete the deal until July 10th, when the July moratorium lifts. When it becomes official, it will mark the next step in a full-scale rebuilding process for the Celtics, who also allowed Doc Rivers to join the Clippers in exchange for a 2015 first-round pick.
Wolfson On Mayo, Budinger, Belinelli, Iguodala
Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities covers a broad spectrum of Minnesota sports in his weekly Scoops column, but with the NBA draft just completed and free agency about to start, his focus this week is on the Timberwolves. Let's dive in:
- Wolfson writes that Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders may meet with O.J. Mayo this week, and Wolfson adds via Twitter that there's a strong belief that the meeting will indeed take place, around the same time Saunders meets with Chase Budinger.
- Minnesota is also considering Marco Belinelli.
- The Wolves are unlikely to go after Andre Iguodala, and his high price tag isn't the only reason.
- A source tells Wolfson that while the Wolves like Bucks big man Ekpe Udoh, who was rumored this week to be part of a trade for Luke Ridnour, the team is getting plenty of offers for Ridnour, and Minnesota may wind up with a more attractive player than Udoh in return.
- Bojan Dubljevic, whom the Wolves took 59th overall, will remain in Europe for at least two more years.
- Another rumor around draft time had the Wolves swapping the No. 26 pick for MarShon Brooks, but such a deal was "never that close," Wolfson writes.
- Greg Stiemsma has left agent Mike Naiditch, and the Priority Sports Agency will now handle his representation.
Atlantic Notes: Copeland, Pierce, Nets, Raptors
Chris Copeland is a restricted free agent this summer after the Knicks offered him a qualifying offer for one year at $988,872 on June 26th. Shams Charania of RealGM.com reports that the 6'8" Copeland would like to remain in a Knicks uniform despite interest from other NBA teams and overseas clubs, like FC Barcelona. Copeland's agent, John Spencer, told Charania:
"Returning is very much an option […] He turned down several options to play, turned down enormous money to get an NBA opportunity last year. He wants to play and wants to contribute. The Knicks are a good organization, with Mike Woodson and the list goes on.
“There’s a chance another team will potentially pick him up, obviously, but the Knicks gave Chris the opportunity to play and he’s loyal because of that.”
The Knicks would only be able to offer Copeland the mini midlevel exception if he returned next season. There's more from Knicks-land, including their escalating rivalry with the team across the East River, who made a splash with a certain blockbuster trade on draft night.
- Marc Berman at the New York Post says the Knicks aren't ready to relinquish supremacy of New York quite yet, despite the Nets' splashy moves to acquire Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. But they'll have to make some counter moves if they want to compete with the refurbished Brooklyn squad.
- Roderick Boone at Newsday writes that with the addition of Pierce and Garnett after the NBA's moratorium ends on July 9th, the Nets will be well over the NBA's salary cap, which limits any more moves by GM Billy King.
- Gary Dzen of the Boston Globe says goodbye to Celtics all-timer Paul Pierce.
- Amar'e Stoudemire made a bid on the Israeli basketball team Hapoel Jerusalem, reports ESPNNewYork's Jared Zwerling.
- About the possible Raptors–Clippers trade for Eric Bledsoe, Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com says (Twitter) that a Bledsoe and Caron Butler swap for Andrea Bargnani and DeMar DeRozan works, via ESPN's trade machine, but RealGM tweeted back that the salaries wouldn't be within 125% and $100,000 by July 1st, so the Clippers would need to send more.
Odds & Ends: Howard, Korver, Thunder
The Lakers are in limbo as they await Dwight Howard's free agent decision, writes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. The situation isn't entirely new to L.A. though as they went through a similar in 2004 when Kobe Bryant gave some thought to leaving the team but staying in the same building by signing with the Clippers. Ultimately, an eleventh-hour phone call from the late Jerry Buss kept him in purple-and-gold. Here's the latest from around the Association..
- The Nets are among the club's with interest in Kyle Korver but they're far from alone in that, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Brooklyn's extremely high payroll also limits them in their pursuit of the free agent sharpshooter.
- The Thunder's draft was underwhelming to some, but star Kevin Durant likes OKC's haul and believes that most of the criticism comes from a lack of name recognition, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. The Thunder took Pitt center Steven Adams at No. 12, traded up three spots to take Colorado forward Andre Roberson at No. 26, took Alex Abrines out of Spain at No. 32, and acquired Grant Jerrett, originally the 40th pick out of Arizona by Portland.
- Undrafted free agent Laurence Bowers will play for the Grizzlies' summer league team, according to Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld (on Twitter). The Missouri forward has promise but is viewed as a tweener.
New York Notes: Nets, Garnett, Knicks, Howard
Here's the latest out of New York, where the Nets have managed to capture the backpages of the tabloids..
- Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov isn't afraid to gamble with the team's future in order to win right now, writes Roderick Boone of Newsday. While Garnett and Pierce can't be expected to produce as they did in their primes, something has to be said for Brooklyn's gusto in acquiring them.
- The Knicks' summer league squad, which will feature Iman Shumpert and rookie Tim Hardaway Jr., figures to be among the best this year, writes Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com.
- The Nets dodged a bullet by not landing Dwight Howard last summer, writes Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News. Lawrence would prefer to see Kevin Garnett crawling up and down the Nets' court rather than watch the inconsistent efforts of Howard.
- According to the Jerusalem Post, Amare Stoudemire is in talks to join a group purchasing Israeli basketball club Hapoel Jerusalem. The big man spent a portion of the 2010 offseason exploring his Jewish roots in Israel.
Keith Bogans To Get $5MM In 2013/14
There's still a lot of debate over who the winner is in the Nets/Celtics swap, but one player in the deal has undoubtedly come out on top. Keith Bogans, who earned just $854K with the Nets last season, will see a substantial raise next season thanks to being included in the deal in a sign-and-trade.
In order to make the numbers work, the veteran will earn $5MM next season with the Celtics under his new contract, tweets Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. The guard/forward will get a three-year deal, so it will be roughly $15MM over three seasons , with the final two unlikely to be guaranteed (link).
By Pincus' math (link), the Celtics will also receive a $7.37MM trade exception in the swap for part of Kevin Garnett's salary. None of these numbers are set in stone, however, as they are only approximations until the deal can be consummated on July 10th.
The early thinking on Bogans' contract is that he is allowed to receive up to the average league salary as a player with bird rights, which comes out to roughly $5.2MM (link). However, a raise of 20% or more in his salary triggers the Base Year Compensation rule of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which is designed to prevent teams from using players in a sign-and-trade for the express purpose of salary matching.
Under BYC, the player's outgoing salary is either his previous salary or 50% of his new salary, whichever is greater. Bogans will see ~$5MM in 2013/14 under the new deal, but his salary for the purposes of the trade will be calculated as ~$2.5MM. Regardless, the 33-year-old will see a raise of about $4.2MM next season thanks to the blockbuster deal.
Nets Interested In Jason Collins, Kyle Korver?
SATURDAY, 8:11am: While two reports have shot down the Nets' potential interest in Collins, a source confirmed to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News that the club has discussed signing the center, despite not really having a need for another big man.
FRIDAY, 7:34pm: Tim Bontemps of the New York Post also hears the Nets have no interest in signing Collins, backing up Broussard's report (below). In addition, Wojnarowski's story appears to have been updated to reflect that the team may not be as interested in Collins as it had been now that Reggie Evans is no longer a part of Brooklyn's mega-deal with the Celtics.
1:55pm: The Nets also have interest in signing free agent sharpshooter Kyle Korver, according to Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com. It's unlikely that Korver would sign for the minimum, but perhaps the Nets could lure him to Brooklyn with their $3.18MM mini mid-level exception.
Of course, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com notes (via Twitter), the Nets will be so far in the tax next season that a $3MM mid-level player could end up costing the team in the neighborhood of $15MM in total.
Meanwhile, a source tells ESPN.com's Chris Broussard that it's "very doubtful" the Nets sign Collins (Twitter link).
12:58pm: Now that they've reached an agreement with the Celtics to acquire Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry, the Nets are looking to fill out their roster with minimum-salary veterans to avoid increasing their tax bill even more. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, one target for a bench spot in Brooklyn will be free agent big man Jason Collins.
Collins, 34, has a history with new head coach Jason Kidd and new assistant Lawrence Frank, as Kidd and Collins were teammates on Frank's Nets teams several years ago. Wojnarowski writes that there's reason to believe Collins would have a "strong comfort level" in returning into an organization that knows him well and values his defense and his tough style of play.
The Celtics had Collins on their roster for part of the 2012/13 season before sending him to Washington in a deadline trade, so Garnett, Pierce, and Terry are former teammates of the veteran center as well. According to Wojnarowski, KG was "extremely frustrated" when Collins was dealt to the Wizards in February.
Collins made public his sexuality earlier this year, making him the first openly gay male athlete in a major North American sport. The announcement came after the regular season ended, so Collins didn't technically become the NBA's first active gay player, but he could earn that distinction if he ends up signing with Brooklyn this summer.
Odds & Ends: Brown, Granger, Brooks, Cavs
It's been a relatively quiet post-draft night around the NBA, but such inactivity won't last long. Teams can negotiate with free agents from other clubs starting Monday, and we'll likely find out the destinations for most of the top available talent in the week ahead. Here's what we know now:
- Spurs assistant Brett Brown is a candidate for both of the league's remaining head coaching vacancies, but while the Sixers have strong interest in hiring him, Brown is "extremely" interested in the Celtics job, a source tells Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe.
- Before Larry Bird returned this week as Pacers president of basketball ops, the team appeared to favor keeping Danny Granger rather than trading him this summer. Bird is on board with that plan, notes Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star.
- The Nets tried to trade MarShon Brooks during the draft for a second-round pick, but when they found no one willing to do such a deal, they substituted him for Reggie Evans in the Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce blockbuster, reports Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
- The Cavaliers are looking for a center, small forward and backup point guard, and they're willing to swing a trade to fill those needs, tweets Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.
- The Rockets timed renovations to their home arena to coincide with free agency, so potential players could see the franchise's upgrades in action, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle details.
- Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News speculates on potential trade targets for the Pistons, who've had Wilson Chandler of the Nuggets "on their radar" for a while, Goodwill writes.
- Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside identifies five players left undrafted Thursday whose chances of making the NBA could benefit from a D-League stint.
- Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer figures the kind of deal Brandon Jennings gets in restricted free agency this year could set the bar for Kemba Walker, whose rookie-scale contract with the Bobcats is up in 2015 (Twitter link).
Eastern Notes: Sixers, Nets, Deng, Webster
Based on the direction in which the Sixers are heading, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel doesn't expect the Heat to ever see the lottery-protected first-round pick they acquired a year ago for Arnett Moultrie. With Jrue Holiday on his way to New Orleans and the Sixers not expected to re-sign Andrew Bynum, the young roster is unlikely to earn a playoff spot in 2014, thereby keeping its first-rounder. If Philadelphia's first-rounder lands in the lottery in '14, the Sixers will instead convey their 2015 and 2016 second-rounders to Miami.
Here are a few more Friday updates from around the Eastern Conference:
- The Nets have agreed to terms with three assistant coaches, the team announced today in a press release. Lawrence Frank, Roy Rogers, and Eric Hughes will join Jason Kidd's staff.
- Scott Gleeson of USA Today has an interesting behind-the-scenes look of draft day from Nerlens Noel's perspective, including Noel's reaction to slipping to No. 6 and being traded to the 76ers. Sean Deveney of the Sporting News has a similar look at Thursday's events from the perspective of Philadelphia's other first-round pick, Michael Carter-Williams.
- Trade rumors have swirled around Luol Deng in recent weeks, but Bulls GM Gar Forman says Deng remains a "big piece of what we're doing moving forward," as Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald writes.
- After the Wizards drafted a pair of wings last night, J. Michael of CSNWashington.com wonders if there will be room for the team to bring back Martell Webster.
Nets, Celtics Discussing KG/Pierce Deal
5:45pm: Although the two teams would like to resolve the situation soon, Garnett "doesn't want to be pressured into a quick decision," a source tells Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
5:28pm: Boston Globe scribes Baxter Holmes and Gary Washburn are both reporting (via Twitter) that the deal appears close, pending Garnett's decision. Meanwhile, Howard Beck of the New York Times tweets that the '16 and '18 first-rounders in the proposed swap would be unprotected.
5:22pm: A source tells A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com that KG is expected to touch base with Pierce before making a decision on whether or not to waive his no-trade clause (Twitter link).
4:45pm: The proposed deal has been presented to Garnett to waive his no-trade clause, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter). While the move couldn't be finalized until July 10th, the Nets and Clippers are hoping to reach an agreement in principle well before then, tweets Stein.
4:29pm: If a deal was to be made, the first-rounders going from the Nets to the Celtics would be Brooklyn's 2014, 2016, and 2018 picks, tweets Wojnarowski.
4:19pm: No agreement is expected to be reached tonight, but the talks definitely have momentum, says Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (via Twitter).
4:12pm: The talks between the Nets and Celtics have now reached the ownership level, according to Wojnarowski, who says that Jason Terry has joined Garnett and Pierce as part of the package (Twitter link). On the other side, the Nets would include Reggie Evans, Keith Bogans (via sign-and-trade), and one more minimum-salary player, tweets Wojnarowski.