Cavs Pursuing Kevin Love
12:33pm: Multiple executives from around the league indicated to Ken Berger of CBSSports that Wiggins would be in play in a Cavs trade for Love, which runs counter to earlier reports (Twitter link).
FRIDAY, 8:09am: Belief that the Cavs wouldn’t part with Wiggins in a trade for Love continues to grow, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities, and a Cavs source told Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio on Thursday that Wiggins is untouchable (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 5:07pm: Rival executives tell Chris Mannix of SI.com that the Wolves are giving no indication that they are in a rush to make a deal with Cleveland (Twitter link).
4:24pm: Wiggins would have to be part of any deal for Love, Krawczynski tweets.
4:01pm: The Cavs are indeed pursuing a trade for Love contingent on their ability to sign James, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
1:24pm: The Cavs spoke to agent Rich Paul, the representative for LeBron James, about trade scenarios that would allow Cleveland to acquire Kevin Love, report Sam Amico and Zac Jackson of Fox Sports Ohio. Cavs officials told Paul that engineering such a trade wouldn’t be easy, a source tells Amico and Jackson, and the source added that Cleveland is reluctant to include Andrew Wiggins in a Love trade. Wiggins’ camp doesn’t believe the Cavs are considering trading him, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (Twitter link).
Cleveland and Minnesota have reportedly engaged in exploratory discussions regarding Love, but those apparently came to an end when the Cavs learned that Love, who can hit free agency next year, wouldn’t re-sign with them. That would change if the Cavs can sign James, as Love is “100%” on board with the idea of staying in Cleveland long-term to play with the four-time MVP, as ESPN’s Chris Broussard reported late last month.
There’s plenty of competition for Love, and Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders seems in no rush to deal his star power forward, even though it’s clear he wants to leave Minnesota. It’s indeed difficult to imagine Saunders giving the OK to deal with Cleveland that didn’t include Wiggins, as Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press observes (on Twitter), but the Cavs aren’t without other intriguing trade assets, one of which I explained Tuesday.
LeBron James Rumors: Friday
As agent Rich Paul pushes for the return of LeBron James to the Cavs, Cleveland executives were told to clear max cap room for him, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The execs pressured their counterparts with the Celtics and Nets to finish the final paperwork on this week’s three-team trade, Wojnarowski reports. The Cavs believed they had to get that cap room open as quickly as possible Thursday, and they started calling the agents of players who would serve as role players on a contending team, as Wojnarowski hears. They operated with the belief that James would be coming, as the Yahoo! scribe chronicles, pointing out that yet they hadn’t received confirmation from James himself. While the Cavs, Heat, and most of the rest of the league simmer at a virtual standstill awaiting this year’s version of The Decision, here’s the latest on the No. 1 player in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings:
- Wade is still unsure of which team James will sign with after riding with James on a flight from Las Vegas to Miami within the past several hours, Wojnarowski tweets.
Earlier updates:
- One executive called described Paul’s meetings with teams last week as a waste of time, Wojnarowski notes in the same piece linked at the top of this post.
- James left Wednesday’s meeting with Heat president Pat Riley and GM Andy Elisburg unconvinced, but James and Heat teammate Dwyane Wade have been spending time together over the last day or so, as Wojnarowski details.
- A source tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com that one of the reasons that James remains undecided is that he’s still stung by the infamous comic sans letter that Cavs owner Dan Gilbert wrote in response to James’ departure for Miami in 2010. The idea that the letter is a sticking point in any return to the Cavs would be news to the Cleveland organization, which has never received any such indication, tweets Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.
And-Ones: LeBron, Novak, Hibbert, Butler
The Heat and Cavs expect LeBron James to make his decision on where to sign before he gets on his flight to Brazil this weekend, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. It’s likely that any decision James makes will impact where Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, and Chandler Parsons find themselves next season as well. While much is seemingly tied to the four-time MVP’s choice, odds are low anything is decided tonight. Let’s catch up on the rest of the league while we wait on LeBron and the 2014 edition of “The Decision”:
- The Raptors are finalizing a buyout with Lucas Nogueira‘s team in Spain, writes Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (on Twitter). We had heard earlier this week that Toronto was likely to bring over Nogueira and Bruno Caboclo prior to the start of 2014/15.
- The $9.8MM trade exception that the Warriors had created from the Richard Jefferson deal with the Jazz expired tonight, as David Aldridge of NBA.com observes (via Twitter).
- The Steve Novak trade, which became official today, allows the Raptors to create a $3,445,947 trade exception equivalent to Novak’s salary. The three-teamer between the Nets, Cavs and Celtics that was also formalized today allows the Nets to create a diminutive $741,160 trade exception equal to the difference between Marcus Thornton’s salary and the sum of the salaries for Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev. The Cavs could end up with trade exceptions out of the deal, too, but they’re poised to open cap room, so those exceptions would disappear when they officially dip below the cap.
- The Bucks and Pacers have had discussions for a trade including Roy Hibbert, writes Gery Woefel of the Racine Journal Times. Milwaukee is interested in acquiring Hibbert, says Woelfel, but it isn’t clear if Indiana is interested in any packages the Bucks could put together.
- Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris‘ rookie deals expire after 2014/15, and as a result, the duo became extension eligible this summer. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel hears discussions about new contracts between the Magic and the young big men will pick up some time around Labor Day.
- Caron Butler is being pursued by the Clippers and Thunder, tweets Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Butler, of course, has spent time with both organizations.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Nets Acquire Jarrett Jack In Deal With Cavs, Celts
10:06am: The second-rounder going from the Celtics to the Cavs is for 2015, according to Cleveland’s official announcement on the trade. It’s top-55 protected, and if it doesn’t fall within the final five picks of the second round, Boston’s obligation regarding the pick will be extinguished.
THURSDAY, 9:21am: The trade is official, the Nets announce.
“Jarrett is a proven NBA veteran who will add versatility to our backcourt,” Nets GM Billy King said in the team’s statement. “The team had a need in that area and we are excited that we were able to secure Jarrett to fill that role. Sergey is a player who we have followed closely for several years. He is a versatile forward and will be a welcome addition to our roster.”
WEDNESDAY, 10:02am: The Cavs will receive the draft rights to Ilkan Karaman, Christian Drejer and Edin Bavcic from the Nets, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. They were second-round picks in 2012, 2004 and 2006, respectively. The first-rounder going from Cleveland to Boston is top-10 protected in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and becomes unprotected for 2019, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link).
9:46am: The Cavs, Nets and Celtics will complete a three-team trade that sends Jarrett Jack to the Nets and opens up the cap flexibility necessary for Cleveland to give LeBron James a max contract, as Baxter Holmes of The Boston Globe confirms (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported that the clubs were on the verge of a deal. Sergey Karasev will go to the Nets as well, while Marcus Thornton, Tyler Zeller, and a first-round pick are headed to Boston. The first-rounder the Celtics are getting is for 2016, as Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reported, and Holmes says that pick is coming from the Cavs (Twitter link). The Celtics send a future second-round pick to the Cavs, Holmes tweets.
It appears as though the Celtics will slip Thornton, who’s set to make $8.575MM next season, and Zeller, set for slightly more than $1.5MM, into the nearly $10.3MM trade exception left over from last year’s Paul Pierce trade, as Goodman pointed out. The Cavs No. 1 option is using the max-level cap flexibility the deal creates to chase LeBron, but if not, they’ll reportedly go after second-tier free agents, with Trevor Ariza apparently among their targets.
Cleveland and the Nets were reportedly working for weeks on a trade involving Jack and Thornton, but with the Cavs uninterested in taking back Thornton’s salary, the involvement of a third team became necessary. The Hawks were among the teams the Cavs were reaching out to, but the idea of acquiring Thornton was apparently a turn-off for them. Enter the Celtics, who’ve been looking to acquire assets necessary to enhance their standing for a Kevin Love trade.
The Nets end up with a backup point guard to replace Shaun Livingston, who signed with the Warriors. They also receive Karasev, just a year removed from having been the 19th overall pick in the 2013 draft, to help inject youth into a veteran-laded team. The Nets believe Jack could even start next to Deron Williams, as Livingston did for much of last season, while they were eyeing Karasev during the draft last year, TNT’s David Aldridge tweets.
And-Ones: Dragic, Tolliver, Bogdanovic, Aldridge
Dahntay Jones has met with the Clippers, and has received interest from the Knicks, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Here’s more from around the league:
- Zoran Dragic has signed a two-year contract extension with his Spanish League team, the Euroleague announced (H/T Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). NBA teams including the Rockets had shown interest in the brother of Goran Dragic. The original deal had a $500K NBA buyout clause for the upcoming season, although it is unclear if the extra years will feature the same flexibility.
- Free agent Anthony Tolliver has been in serious discussions with six teams, including the Clippers, Cavs, Pistons, Spurs, Wizards, and Hornets, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.
- Bogdan Bogdanovic and the Suns signed a declaration that the 2014 draft pick will not play in the NBA this season, a formality that clears his rookie scale cap hold from the team’s books, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports. Bogdanovic is signed overseas and can’t opt out until at least 2016.
- LaMarcus Aldridge‘s choice to seek a new deal with the Blazers as a free agent next summer was one of two options presented him by Portland owner Paul Allen and GM Neil Olshey last month, reports Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. The Blazers brass suggested the All-Star consider a three-year, $55MM extension he could sign immediately, or wait to become eligible for a five-year, $108MM max deal as an unrestricted free agent. “I don’t want it to be perceived that I’m not happy or I’m not staying on because I’m not signing a three-year deal,” Aldridge said. “It’s just financially smarter to wait … and I’m looking forward to signing the five-year deal when the chance comes.”
- Considering the recent max offers extended to Gordon Hayward and Chandler Parsons, it seems certain that Klay Thompson will also merit a max deal when he becomes a free agent. Tim Kawakami of Bay Area News Group hears that the Warriors have budgeted measures to find room for the shooting guard, should he not be traded away in a deal for Kevin Love.
Hawes Signs With Clippers
JULY 9th, 11:26pm: The team announced that Hawes has officially signed the contract. No mention of a sign-and-trade was mentioned in the release.
7:27pm: Doc Rivers is trying to arrange a sign-and-trade with the Cavaliers for Hawes, which would preserve the Clippers midlevel exception which the team would then use to target Paul Pierce, tweets Wojnarowski.
JULY 4th, 6:26pm: Free agent Spencer Hawes has reached agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers, league 
sources have told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The deal is for four-years, $23MM, according to Wojnarowski’s tweet. Hawes was one of the more desirable big men on the market after a season that saw him average 13.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG, and 1.2 BPG while splitting time between the Cavaliers and the Sixers.
According to Wojnarowski’s article, Hawes was determined to sign with a contender, and he had visited seriously with the Suns and Trail Blazers before settling on the Clippers offer.
The Clippers had recruited Hawes hard for the full midlevel exception and worked with his agent, Greg Lawrence of Wasserman Media Group, on a deal that includes a player option for the fourth year and a 15 percent trade kicker, sources told Wojnarowski.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Eastern Rumors: Ariza, Celtics, Sixers
The Wizards have spoken with Luol Deng, but remain committed to re-signing Trevor Ariza, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Here’s more from the East:
- Washington is prepared to offer Ariza a raise from last year’s $7.7MM salary, but not upwards of $9MM, which is what the small forward is reportedly seeking, writes Michael Lee of The Washington Post. Both Ariza and the Wizards have anticipated waiting until LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony make their decisions before any progress for Ariza can be made.
- J. Michael of CSNWashington.com tweets that Ariza is assured of receiving more more money from another team, but that the Wizards hope he will want to remain in Washington for less.
- The Bulls are now being linked as suitors for Ariza by Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
- The Rockets are weighing whether to match Chandler Parsons‘ offer sheet with the Mavs, or pursue Ariza at a lower price, tweets Broussard.
- The Celtics like the newly acquired Tyler Zeller, but don’t have long term plans for Marcus Thornton, whom they acquired in the same three-team trade, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Washburn says it’s likely Boston will deal away Thornton’s contract or let it expire.
- Before the Celtics agreed to take part in today’s swap, the Cavs reached out to the Magic and just about every other team in the league as they sought a third team to take Thornton in a three-team deal with the Nets, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe.
- Sixers GM Sam Hinkie acknowledged that his team is in position to help other clubs with its ample cap flexibility, pointing to that as a way to faciliate trades, as he told Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News as part of a Q&A.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
‘Melo Wants To Play With LeBron On Knicks
1:59pm: Heat assistant GM and salary cap expert Andy Elisburg will also be at Miami’s meeting with LeBron, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
12:31pm: James and agent Rich Paul will meet with only Riley today, according to Broussard, who corrects his earlier report that Spoelstra, Arison and Wade would take part (Twitter link).
11:51am: Several teams believe Anthony is delaying his decision until he knows what James is going to do, as Ian Begley and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com write. There’s been a strong belief of late that Anthony is likely to choose between the Lakers and Knicks, the ESPN scribes say. The Lakers are waiting on both Anthony and James, but they’re beginning to get impatient, worried that they’ll miss out on Pau Gasol and Trevor Ariza, among others, as they hesitate, according to Begley and Shelburne. The Lakers, like the Suns and Cavs, have explored the notion of clearing cap room both Anthony and James, but they haven’t gotten far, according to the ESPN report.
10:38am: There’s still a belief among GMs that James will end up re-signing with the Heat on a one- or two-year max contract, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. That conflicts with Mannix’s report that James is seeking a three-year commitment.
8:47am: Carmelo Anthony dreams of playing with LeBron James on the Knicks, a friend of Anthony’s tells Marc Berman of the New York Post. Berman reported earlier this week that the Knicks were worried that Anthony was hesitating to make a decision while the possibility still exists that he could join James on the Heat or the Lakers, but it appears that ‘Melo’s ideal setting for that scenario would instead be New York. Still, Anthony’s friend says the Knicks star hasn’t made up his mind about returning to New York.
Most NBA executives are confident that Anthony will return to the Knicks, given the inherent financial advantage of re-signing with the team, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Still, money won’t be the only factor in the decision, a person close to Anthony tells Isola. Anthony worked out with Thunder star Kevin Durant in Los Angeles recently, and Durant gave Anthony a strong endorsement of new Knicks coach Derek Fisher, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Knicks president Phil Jackson is attempting to clear cap room to facilitate Anthony’s long shot hopes of teaming with James in New York, as Berman hears from Anthony’s friend. The Knicks have reportedly shopped Amar’e Stoudemire, and perhaps Andrea Bargnani as well, to open up space. Yet there’s a growing belief that Jackson would be open to a sign-and-trade with another team should Anthony decide to play elsewhere, Isola writes.
The friend of Anthony’s who spoke to Berman insists that James is fond of Jackson and would like the chance to play with ‘Melo. Another source tells Berman that the buzz surrounding the possibility that James would sign with the Cavaliers is coming from the Cavs themselves in an effort to enhance their reputation. The Mavs expect another meeting with LeBron’s representatives again this week in Las Vegas, although it isn’t clear whether or not LeBron will attend, a source tells Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
James is meeting today with Heat president Pat Riley, and Chris Broussard of ESPN.com hears coach Erik Spoelstra, owner Micky Arison and Dwyane Wade will also be in attendance (Twitter link). Miami’s contingent enters the sitdown with “nervous anticipation” and no real sense of how James will react to the club’s offseason moves, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com. James is looking for a three-year commitment in his next deal, Mannix adds (Twitter link), contradicting earlier reports that indicated he would look for an opt-out after one season.
Ryan Raroque contributed to this post.
Cavs Eye Chandler Parsons As LeBron Fallback
The Cavs harbor strong interest in Chandler Parsons, and he would be the team’s first target should LeBron James decide to sign elsewhere, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The Cavs are going after Ray Allen, Mike Miller and James Jones in an effort to woo LeBron, but Parsons appears to be an option for them independent of the four-time MVP, since Cleveland has more than $20MM in cap flexibility after today’s agreement to unload Jarrett Jack.
Parsons, a restricted free agent, is in high demand, as the Mavs are apparently readying an aggressive courtship of the small forward once they know for sure they won’t land LeBron or Carmelo Anthony. The Suns, Celtics, Lakers, Bulls and Wolves have also been linked to him since the start of free agency, but the Rockets can match any team’s offer.
The Cavs have also reportedly eyed Trevor Ariza for their cap space in the event they don’t land LeBron. Channing Frye was also a target, but he already agreed to a deal with the Magic.
Nets, Cavs, Celtics Close To Jarrett Jack Trade
9:38am: The Cavs will probably end up with a future second-round pick when the deal gets done, according to Stein (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 9:35am: An agreement is close on a three-way deal involving Cleveland, Brooklyn and Boston that would send Jack to the Nets, Stein tweets. Karasev would go to Brooklyn as well. The Celtics would receive Thornton, Tyler Zeller and a first-round pick, Stein adds (on Twitter). It’s unclear what the Cavs would get, but it appears as though they would receive the cap flexibility to acquire LeBron. Boston would be using its nearly $10.3MM trade exception to acquire Thornton, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com, who adds that the first-rounder the Celtics are getting is for 2016 (Twitter link).
10:23am: The Hawks are among the teams the Cavs have recruited as a potential landing spot for Thornton, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter links). The Hawks have nonetheless shown little interest in Thornton, Berger adds (on Twitter).
8:51am: The Cavs, who had reportedly been shopping Jack and draft picks, are now doing the same with Thornton and picks on the assumption they’d be able to get Thornton from the Nets, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports details. Cleveland is also making Sergey Karasev available in trades, Wojnarowski adds.
JULY 7TH, 7:59am: The Cavs and Nets have a deal in place contingent upon finding a third team to absorb Thornton, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports said Sunday on Fox Sports Radio, and as Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio confirms. The Suns, Mavs and Timberwolves are among the teams potentially interested in Thornton, Amico hears. Cleveland has been shopping Jack and dangling a draft pick to go along with him, as Wojnarowski reported this weekend, and one way or another, the Cavs intend to trade Jack before the coming season begins, a source tells Amico. Unloading Jack has become key to Cleveland’s efforts to clear max cap room for LeBron James, as we passed along earlier.
JULY 2ND, 9:56pm: As predicted by ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, the Nets and Cavs are revisiting talks of a Thornton-Jack swap, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com.
1:43pm: The Kings are interested in Jack, too, but they’re holding off until they know what happens with restricted free agent Isaiah Thomas, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.
JULY 1ST, 8:14pm: The loss of Shaun Livingston is likely to resurrect the Thornton-for-Jack trade talks, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
JUNE 23RD, 8:01am: Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio is also hearing denials of Thornton-Jack talks, though Jack’s name has come up as the Cavs discuss potential trades with other teams, Amico says.
SATURDAY, 3:47pm: League sources deny that the Nets and Cavs have discussed a Thornton/Jack swap, tweets Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops.
2:36pm: The Nets and Cavs are discussing a trade that would center around Marcus Thornton and Jarrett Jack, reports Marc Stein of ESPN. Cleveland is interested in freeing up cap space by shedding Jack’s contract, which is guaranteed through 2015/16, in favor of Thornton’s expiring pact, says Stein, who adds that Brooklyn is among the few teams in the league undeterred from acquiring Jack’s extended deal.
Jack signed a $25MM contract with the Cavs last summer after a successful 2012/13 campaign in which he came off the bench behind Stephen Curry for the Warriors. His 2013/14 season was a disappointing one however, as the point guard shot just 41% from the floor and posted a career-low 11.5 PER.
Thornton was acquired by the Nets at last season’s trade deadline, and he proved to be a valuable asset for Brooklyn, averaging 12.3 points per night in just 23.8 minutes per contest. He’s set to enter free agency after the 2014/15 season.
According to Stein, the Nets fear they’ll lose free agent-to-be Shaun Livingston this offseason after a year in which the often-injured point guard exceeded expectations on a minimum-salary contract, and the club is looking to replace his production by acquiring Jack from the Cavs. Brooklyn, deep in the luxury tax, would only be able to offer Livingston a three-year deal in the neighborhood of $10MM using the taxpayers mid-level exception. The Timberwolves are one team rumored to be interested in Livingston that can make a more lucrative offer.