Nemanja Nedovic Signs With Valencia
FRIDAY, 8:06am: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link). The pact runs through June 2016, according to the club. It’s unclear whether there are any NBA escape clauses involved.
THURSDAY, 5:01pm: Nemanja Nedovic has cleared waivers after being released by the Warriors and has signed a deal with Valencia of Spain, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports (Twitter link). The length and terms of the deal have not been released. Nedovic was also reportedly being pursued by Efes, Laboral Kuxta, and Fenerbahce Ulker.
Valencia had shown interest in Nedovic prior to his release from Golden State after the Warriors had declined his rookie scale team option for 2015/16. Golden State is still on the hook for Nedovic’s 2014/15 guaranteed salary, worth more than $1.1MM, though set-off rights could allow the Warriors to reduce that amount, depending on how much Nedovic makes in Europe this season.
Nedovic, 23, appeared in 24 games with the Warriors last season as a rookie, averaging 1.1 points in 5.9 minutes per contest. He didn’t see any regular season action this year after averaging 9.2 points, 2.6 assists and in 15.9 minutes in the preseason.
Western Notes: Brooks, Warren, Livingston
Former Lakers guard MarShon Brooks‘ time with Olimpia Milano of Italy may be coming to an end, David Pick of Eurobasket reports (Twitter link). It is unclear if this means Brooks will be waived by the Italian team or if a buyout arrangement is being discussed. The 25-year-old shooting guard was pursued by the Pacers, Kings and an unnamed “title-contending team” from the east prior to Brooks inking his overseas deal this summer, and with the rash of early season injuries Brooks could have a number of NBA opportunities if he returns stateside.
Here’s more from out west:
- The Suns assigned T.J. Warren to the D-League earlier today but his stint shouldn’t be a long one, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes. “T.J. is going to be a great player,” head coach Jeff Hornacek asserted. “This team has a lot of guys at his spot right now, but he’s going to be around. He’s going to be a factor. He’s got great hands. He knows how to score, but the transition [defensively] has been pretty good, too.” The first-rounder out of North Carolina State has only seen one minute of NBA action thus far this season.
- Shaun Livingston will face off against the Nets tonight, his former team, and he discussed why he chose to sign with the Warriors this summer, Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News writes. “It was about putting myself in the best position to win, and also to get the value as a player. Your market value,” Livingston said. “That was my case. I was hoping to [finally get a big offer] and ideally that was the thought process going into free agency, but, man, I’ve been in a couple of situations where I thought I was going to get paid and I was going to come back and it just didn’t work out. I mean, my injury [in 2007], that year I was supposed to get an extension and I didn’t. I had a good a year with the Wizards [in 2009/10] and then they end up getting John Wall with the first pick.”
- With his excellent numbers filling in for the injured Russell Westbrook, the Thunder‘s Reggie Jackson is generating a market value that will test the team’s willingness to match any offer sheets he is likely to receive this summer, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports opines. It’s not clear exactly how much Jackson will command on his next contract but Wojnarowski suggests that the annual salary could be in the $13MM-$14MM range.
Latest On Nemanja Nedovic
THURSDAY, 9:52am: The GM of Turkey’s Fenerbahce Ulker met with Nedovic’s camp, Pick tweets, casting another European team in the race for the ex-Warrior who’ll come off waivers today unless an NBA team submits a claim.
WEDNESDAY, 11:51am: Spain’s Laboral Kuxta is also among the interested teams, though Valencia is the front-runner, writes Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net.
10:07am: Efes is heavily pursuing Nedovic, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link).
9:51am: Nemanja Nedovic has struck a deal with Valencia of Spain contingent on him clearing NBA waivers after the Warriors released him Tuesday, a source tells Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia. Marc Stein of ESPN.com confirms that a deal with Valencia is in place (Twitter link), but Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net cautions that Anadolu Efes of Turkey would have the edge for the 23-year-old point guard if the team made a push to sign him.
The Misko Raznatovic client asked the Warriors to waive him so that he could seek more playing time with a team in Europe, Stein tweets, and Nedovic’s camp has been letting NBA teams know that he intends to play overseas for the near future, as the ESPN scribe also notes. Raznatovic told Ivan Bogunović of Mondo.rs in Nedovic’s native Serbia that Nedovic is headed to a Euroleague team, though he didn’t specify whether it would be Valencia, Efes, or another club (translation via Carchia). Nedovic told Novosti.rs, another Serbian outlet, that he still harbors NBA dreams but that he’s heading to Europe because his priority is to go where he can find playing time (translation via Carchia). Nedovic didn’t appear in any regular season games with the Warriors this season.
Valencia appeared to have interest in Nedovic prior to his release from the Warriors, who signaled that the 23-year-old wasn’t in their long-term plans when they declined his rookie scale team option for 2015/16 before last month’s deadline to pick it up. Golden State will nonetheless be on the hook for his 2014/15 guaranteed salary, worth more than $1.1MM, as long as he clears waivers. Set-off rights could allow the Warriors to reduce that amount, depending on how much Nedovic makes in Europe this year.
Warriors Waive Nemanja Nedovic
The Warriors have waived guard Nemanja Nedovic, the team announced via a press release. This comes on the heels of a report from Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group that relayed the team was in talks with Nedovic about a way to allow him to move on from the team. According to Leung, the Warriors were interested in a buyout or possible trade rather than an outright release. It is not yet clear if the two sides reached an agreement on a buyout prior to Nedovic being waived.
Unless Nedovic is claimed off waivers, which is unlikely, Golden State is on the hook for Nedovic’s $1.1MM salary for this season, and this move reduces the team’s roster count to 14 players. It was apparent that the point guard wasn’t in their long-term plans after the team declined to pick up their third-year team option for Nedovic last month. For his part, Nedovic has seemingly been the subject of attention from overseas. Valencia of Spain has targeted Nedovic as a replacement for Dwight Buycks, who reached a buyout arrangement with the Spanish club last week, according to PlazaDeportiva.com (Translation via HoopsHype).
Nedovic, 23, appeared in 24 games with the Warriors last season as a rookie, averaging 1.1 points in 5.9 minutes per contest. He hasn’t seen any regular season action this year after averaging 9.2 points, 2.6 assists and in 15.9 minutes in the preseason.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
Pacific Notes: Young, Davis, Kerr, Clippers
Nick Young has begun shooting without a cast, reports Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com, giving the Lakers hope that one of their top scorers could return soon. Young signed a new four-year, $21.5MM contract with the team in July, but underwent surgery last month on a torn radial collateral ligament in his right thumb. He has not played this season, and he has not been cleared to return to practice. “He was able to handle the ball today and shoot,” said Lakers coach Byron Scott. “There’s still no contact. Hopefully next week sometime he’ll be able to go through a full day of contact and scrimmaging and then we’ll go from there.” Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers‘ Ed Davis can’t wait for the chance to prove himself against the Grizzlies Tuesday night in Memphis, Markazi tweets. “It’s a lot of motivation going back there because they gave up on me,” Davis said. “It’s a team I definitely want to get a win against.” Davis saw limited playing time during his season and a half in Memphis. He joined the Lakers as a free agent in July on a contract that pays him $981,084 this season with a player option for more than $1.1MM in 2015/16.
- Steve Kerr, the first-year head coach of the Warriors, told Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic that he looked to a former teammate for inspiration. Kerr’s role model was Jeff Hornacek, who led the surprising Suns to a 48-34 record last season as a rookie coach. Kerr and Hornacek played together on the 1988/89 Suns. “I looked at Jeff and the job he did last year and the success he had, and I drew inspiration from that,” Kerr said. “I still watch him and watch his team with a lot of respect. They do a lot of really innovative things offensively, and they play hard.”
- There seems to be a sense of relief, rather than focus, among the Clippers, opines Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report. A mid-summer ownership change allowed the team to close the book on the Donald Sterling era, but Ding says the team is lacking its “Lob City energy” on offense and is slow in making rotations on defense.
Western Notes: Bryant, Garrett, Craft, Smith
Kobe Bryant needs to take a step back and allow some of his teammates to take charge of the Lakers, opines Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. Coach Byron Scott agrees. “I’ve talked to a couple individuals about just being a little bit more assertive, not relying on Kobe as much,” Scott said. “You guys can ask Kobe this. I think he wants to get those guys to step up. He really does. Take shots when they have them. Not defer to him as much.” Earlier this week in a loss to the Suns, Bryant took 37 shots, while the rest of the team’s starters combined to take only 35.
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Diante Garrett will be returning to the Iowa Energy, who are the D-League affiliates of the Grizzlies, the team announced. The Blazers recently waived the Iowa State product after spending just a month on their roster.
- Aaron Craft is mulling a contract offer from Partizan Belgrade of the Serbian League, Orazio Cauchi of Sportando reports. Craft spent training camp with the Warriors and was set to play for Golden State’s D-League affiliate this season. Though the amount of Partizan Belgrade’s offer to Craft has not been reported, it’s likely for more than the guard would have earned playing in Santa Cruz this season, though that is just my speculation.
- Ish Smith is excited to be the newest member of the Thunder because of his relationship with his new teammates, writes Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman. “I’m really good friends with a lot of guys, played against them. Russ (Russell Westbrook), (Kevin Durant), Lance (Thomas), all in the ’06 class, so I know a lot of them,” Smith said.
- Canada is producing basketball prospects at unheard of rates, writes Dave Skretta of the Associated Press. Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett of the Wolves are the past two No. 1 overall NBA draft picks and are each of Canadian descent. Many, including Bennett, have attributed their interest in basketball to watching Vince Carter when he was on the Raptors. “That’s when we seen him doing all these types of dunks,” Bennett said of watching Carter. “We just had a love for his game.”
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Kobe, Silver, Kerr
Kobe Bryant told Gregg Downer, his high school coach, in July that he planned to retire when his contract expires in 2016, as Downer tells Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Bryant spoke in 2012 of perhaps retiring in 2014, so much can happen in two years, and the Black Mamba hasn’t made any definitive public statement. Still, there have been no shortage of hints that the 2015/16 season, which would be Bryant’s 20th, will be his last, and the latest dispatch only advances that presumption. While we wait to see what happens with the 36-year-old who leads the league in scoring so far, here’s the latest from around the league:
- Adam Silver defused a situation that might have become a contentious dispute as the union and the league totted up revenues this past July, satisfying the concerns of the players, sources tell Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck. It’s an example of the more player-friendly approach that Silver has attempted to take since inheriting the commissioner’s office from David Stern, as Beck examines. “Any opportunity where it’s possible to accommodate the players, I’m looking to do that, both as a sign of good faith, but also because it’s better business,” Silver said.
- Thunder GM Sam Presti touted the importance of the draft as a tool for small-market teams to improve as he successfully campaigned against lottery reform, but Silver doesn’t see it as inordinately crucial, as he told Harvey Araton of The New York Times. “I am concerned by the often cited conventional wisdom that finishing at the bottom [in order to acquire better draft picks] presents the only reliable path for some teams to build a championship roster,” Silver said. “The draft is structured to help the teams with the worst records, but it’s an imperfect system. In fact, many top picks do not transform their teams.”
- Steve Kerr has yet to complete the sale of the small portion of the Suns that he owns, tweets Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group. Kerr must divest that stake within a league-mandated timeframe after having taken the Warriors head coaching job.
And-Ones: White, Kerr, Green
Metta World Peace insisted that he had offers from NBA teams before he signed with China’s Sichuan Blue Whales, as he said today in an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show (video link). World Peace, who turns 35 this month, added that he plans to return to the NBA, perhaps later this season when the Chinese schedule is over, but he said that he’d “rather play in Angola” than sign this season with the Knicks or Lakers, his two most recent teams.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The one-month deal that D.J. White signed with Laboral Kutxa Vitoria of the ACB is set to expire this weekend, and the forward is looking to catch on with an NBA team, David Pick of Eurobasket reports (Twitter link). The Sixers are the only team currently rumored to be in the market for another big man, though with the way injuries are piling up this season, that could change in a flash. White’s last taste of NBA action came last season when he appeared in two games for the Hornets.
- Rookie head coach Steve Kerr has made a number of risky decisions involving his starting lineups, but they have all worked out thus far, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. The Warriors head man is revitalized by his return to competition, notes Amick. Kerr weighed in, saying, “I’m alive. I love feeling this way. I love the competition. I love being part of the group. I love trying to build something together. The intensity — you can’t even come close to matching. On TV, you’re talking about what somebody else is doing. Now we’re talking about what we’re doing. So we’re in the fight, and that’s what makes it fun.”
- ESPN basketball analyst Jeff Van Gundy has nothing but praise for Warriors forward Draymond Green, Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com writes. Van Gundy suggested that Green, who is set to become a restricted free agent next summer, would command an annual salary between $10MM-$12MM, Poole notes. For his part, Green was quick to dispel any discussion of his next contract, saying, “But it’s four games into the season. If I start worrying about $10 (million) or $12MM right now, I’m going to get $2 (million).”
Western Notes: Green, Bryant, Rondo
Draymond Green‘s representation switch to the Wasserman Media Group could help the Warriors re-sign the forward, who is set to become a restricted free agent next summer, Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group writes. GM Bob Myers is a former player agent who worked with and was mentored by Arn Tellem, the head of Wasserman, notes Leung. In an interview with 95.7 The Game, Myers said, “So if Arn says, ‘Hey, I got this much money (from another offer),’ he’s not going to lie to me, so there’s value in that. And here’s the other thing I do know. If it’s a tie, we’ll win. Not only just because he’s restricted, but Arn, we’ve known other a long time, so he’s not going to hurt us. If he can help, that’s great.”
Here’s more from way out west:
- With the Lakers season seemingly over before it began, talk has turned to the possibility of Kobe Bryant potentially waiving his no-trade clause and being dealt. Chris Mannix of SI.com believes this would be the smart move from a basketball standpoint for both the team and Bryant, but Los Angeles has plenty of business and economic reasons to hold onto their star. Mannix cites the franchise’s high ticket prices and fanbase that isn’t keen on rooting for a team without a marquee attraction as the main reasons the Lakers would keep Bryant.
- Despite the Lakers‘ potential interest in signing Rajon Rondo, the point guard will likely realize that the Celtics’ outlook seems rosier, Ben Rohrbach of WEEI 93.7 writes. Boston’s roster has more talent the Los Angeles’, and the Lakers are more likely to deal Bryant than to acquire Rondo, Rohrbach opines.
- Not every player who signs to play in Los Angeles and ends up in Salt Lake City would appreciate the move, but Joe Ingles is content after the Jazz claimed him off waivers from the Clippers and paired him with Dante Exum, his teammate from the Australian national squad. Jody Genessy of the Deseret News has the details. “I don’t regret anything about what happened or what I did or anything,” Ingles said. “I did all I can to make the team and wasn’t what they [the Clippers] wanted or good enough or whatever it was, so it worked out perfectly. I’m very happy here (with Utah). It’s been great.”
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Thompson, Kobe, Fesenko
Klay Thompson agreed that the starting salary in his extension with the Warriors couldn’t escalate past the current $15.5MM projection for next season’s 25% maximum salary, even if the max ends up coming in higher, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports. That means the deal will be no more lucrative than $69MM over four years, and Lowe heard from a couple of agents who believe the Warriors acted unfairly in the way they structured Thompson’s deal (Twitter link). Still, it doesn’t appear that it will end up having been a sacrifice for Thompson, since it’s unlikely next year’s salary cap, to which maximum salaries are tied, will reflect any of the revenue from the league’s new $24 billion TV deal, according to Lowe. The league’s salary cap projections for 2015/16 remain around $66-68MM as league office execs favor a gradual phase-in of the TV money that wouldn’t start until 2016, Lowe writes. There’s more on Thompson and the Warriors amid the latest from Western Conference:
- The promise of future production, expendability, strong character and the ability to attract fans are a few of the qualities that current and former team executives tell Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher they believe players who sign maximum-salary contracts should possess. All of those execs agree that Thompson is a max player, but their opinions are mixed on Kawhi Leonard, to whom the Spurs decided against giving a max extension.
- Kobe Bryant‘s two-year, $48.5MM extension looks like an albatross for the 0-5 Lakers, but Warriors executive and part-owner Jerry West doesn’t agree, as he told KNBR radio, “Whatever they’re paying, he’s earned it,” West said, as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group notes (Twitter link).
- Timberwolves camp cut Kyrylo Fesenko has inked with Avtodor of Russia, the team announced (translation via David Pick of Eurobasket.com, on Twitter).