Warriors Notes: Thompson, Green
It’s still early, but the Warriors have taken a commanding lead as the still-unbeaten team that Hoops Rumors readers think can unseat the Spurs as NBA champs. The play of Klay Thompson is undoubtedly a big reason why, as the fourth-year guard, fresh off a contract extension, leads the league in scoring. Here is more on the Warriors:
- While the official word on Thompson’s extension with the Warriors is that the full value won’t be known until next July, Zach Lowe of Grantland.com reports that it is not technically a maximum contract (via Twitter). Lowe promises further detail to come, but in the meantime says that Golden State did something “interesting” with the deal that differentiates it from other max-type extensions.
- Meanwhile, Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group writes that many in Golden State saw stardom coming for Thompson and it, if that is what we’re seeing here, should not come as a big surprise.
- We heard earlier tonight that Draymond Green of the Warriors is switching agents. Sam Amick of USA Today, who reported the Green news, writes that Golden State intends to keep their young forward. Amick adds that Green’s move to the Wasserman Media Group was a strategic one, as the Michigan State product preferred the services of an agency — and an agent in B.J. Armstrong — that could properly capitalize on his unique ability to impact a game beyond what shows up in the box score.
Western Notes: Moreland, Green, Lucas, Hancock
There are six Western Conference teams in action tonight on a slate that includes a matchup of unbeatens between the Rockets and Heat, who also went head-to-head in the pursuit of Chris Bosh this past offseason. Let’s take a look at what’s going on out west before tonight’s action gets underway:
- The Kings have assigned undrafted rookie forward Eric Moreland to the Reno Bighorns, the team announced today. Moreland, who signed a three-year deal with Sacramento in July, had yet to touch the floor in four games for the Kings after impressing this summer. His contract is guaranteed for $200K this season and is non-guaranteed for the two years beyond that.
- Draymond Green, who will become a restricted free agent next summer, has switched agents, reports Sam Amick of USA Today (via Twitter). Green was previously represented by Herb Rudoy of Interperformances, as our Agency Database shows, and will now be under the care of B.J. Armstrong and Arn Tellem of the Wasserman Media Group, according to Amick. Green originally signed a three-year pact with the Warriors as a rookie, the third year of which became guaranteed on August 1 when he remained on the Golden State roster.
- The Grizzlies’ deal with Kalin Lucas, struck earlier today, is non-guaranteed for one year but will become fully guaranteed at some point in January, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (via Twitter). Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders confirms it is a minimum salary deal worth the prorated amount of $486,446 (via Twitter).
- Luke Hancock, who was waived by the Grizzlies in October, signed with Panionios B.C. of Greece, the team announced today (translation via Sportando). Memphis brought Hancock into camp on a non-guaranteed deal in September before parting ways with the undrafted rookie out of Louisville.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Durant, Rockets, Thompson
The message in HBO’s “Kevin Durant: The Offseason” documentary shows the Roc Nation Sports agency’s heavy hand in Durant’s affairs and paints the reigning MVP as a player who’s eager to win, even if it means leaving the Thunder in 2016, as Ben Golliver of SI.com opines. Even though Durant says as the film’s credits roll that he has “no doubts” about the Thunder’s ability to win a championship eventually, the film makes it clear he’s ready to seek a title elsewhere if any such doubts creep in. We passed along more on Durant this morning, and there’s another Durant-related item amid the latest from the Western Conference:
- The Rockets are among the many teams planning a run at Durant when he can become a free agent in 2016, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com says in a video report.
- The maximum salaries for 2015/16 won’t be known until July, but the league is estimating that the 25% max that Klay Thompson is set to receive in his extension from the Warriors will give him a $15.5MM salary for next season, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). That would mean $69MM over the life of the four-year deal, as Pincus also illustrates. That’s up significantly from the $14.746MM that 25% max signees received for this season. Kyrie Irving is also in line for the $15.5MM starting salary in his five-year max extension, though he has a better chance than Thompson does to trigger the Derrick Rose rule, which he and the Cavs agreed would give him a max worth approximately 27.5% of the salary cap.
- Cory Joseph acknowledges that it wasn’t surprising when he didn’t sign an extension with the Spurs when he was eligible before the end of last month, and the ever-optimistic point guard looks ahead to restricted free agency as an opportunity. Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News has the details.
And-Ones: Cavs, D-League, Temple
Not surprisingly, three of the NBA’s four unbeaten teams reside in the Western Conference, where the Warriors, Rockets and Grizzlies are all 3-0. The East’s lone unbeaten is the franchise that’s won the last four conference championships, but it’s nonetheless surprising to see the Heat back atop the conference standings after they lost LeBron James this past summer. While we wait to see if Miami will continue to reign without King James, here’s the latest from around the league:
- The Cavs feel like they made concessions in their final extension offer to Tristan Thompson, which exceeded $48MM over four years, but neither side has any hard feelings in the wake of the failed negotiations, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.
- NBA teams kept the D-League rights to 47 players cut during camp this year, the D-League announced, listing all of them. The Mavs, Warriors and Suns used all four spots available to each NBA team to reserve the rights to such players, so they can’t keep the D-League rights to anyone they waive during the regular season, unlike the rest of the teams in the NBA. Renaldo Balkman, Bernard James, Doron Lamb, Hasheem Thabeet, Peyton Siva, Malcolm Lee and Earl Barron are this year’s “affiliate players” with NBA experience.
- Garrett Temple refrains from drinking, smoking and tattoos, and he’s convinced the straight-arrow approach has helped him win jobs during his career, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post observes. Injuries to others have thrust Temple into the starting lineup for the Wizards, who re-signed him this summer for two years at the minimum salary.
Western Notes: Warriors, Thompson, Rubio
Golden State knows what Klay Thompson means to their team and didn’t want to risk ruining their relationship with the shooting guard by waiting until the offseason to make a reasonable offer, writes Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press. Gonzalez notes that before the $70MM extension was agreed to, players on the Warriors would look at GM Bob Myers, rub their fingers together and say; “Pay the man,” in reference to Thompson. “I’ve never see a team rally around a player so much to get him paid,” Myers said. “It says a lot about Klay and what he means to this franchise.” With the league’s television contract set to expire and the new deal expected to increase the salary cap, the Warriors are expecting Thompson’s performance to exceed the value of this deal.
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Even though negotiations went to the deadline, Myers said giving Thompson a contract extension was an easy decision, according to Diamond Leung of The San Jose Mercury-News. Thompson received a four-year max deal that makes him the first Golden State player signed through the 2018/19 season. “This contract is well deserved, and I think that’s the best compliment I can give Klay,” Myers said, giving a nod to Thompson’s work ethic. “He earned it.”
- Wolves owner Glen Taylor’s relationships with Ricky Rubio made the decision to open up his checkbook easier, writes Andy Greder of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “[Taylor’s] a great guy who really stepped up in this situation,” Rubio said. “Me and him talking, just man to man, clears things up.” When Rubio’s extension kicks in, he will be the team’s highest paid player, earning about $14MM per year.
- Alec Burks had no intention of leaving Utah and is excited to be part of the Jazz’s bright future, writes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. “I had him tell the Jazz I wanted to be here. I want to be a part of the future,” Burks said of his discussions with agent Andy Miller. “I see something bright in the future.” Utah and Burks signed an extension worth $42MM over four years, with “reachable” incentives that could bring the value of the deal to $45MM.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post
Warriors Sign Thompson To Max Extension
The Warriors have agreed to an extension with Klay Thompson, the team has announced. Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link) was the first to report the agreement. The 
deal is a four-year max extension, and it contains no options, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. The estimated value is in the $70MM range, but the exact figure won’t be known until the league sets the new maximum salary amount in July.
The two sides beat tonight’s deadline to ink a deal while fielding trade offers from the Kings, who reportedly offered anyone on their roster aside from DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay, Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports notes. There were also concerns that Golden State owner Joe Lacob wouldn’t be comfortable shelling out the max for a player, especially when comparing it to the team-friendly deal that Stephen Curry is signed to. According to a report from Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com earlier this month, the Warriors were offering Thompson annual salaries of about $13MM in its proposals, though the sides had been getting closer in recent weeks.
Thompson had expressed a preference for the security of an extension rather than a one-year deal next summer that would allow him to hit unrestricted free agency when the league’s new $24 billion TV deal kicks in and player salaries are expected to increase markedly. He is a potential two-way superstar, and in 230 career games he has averages of 16.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 2.2 APG. His career slash line is .435/.409/.828.
The Warriors had approximately $62MM in guaranteed salary committed for the 2015/16 season before coming to terms with Thompson, and that doesn’t account for Brandon Rush‘s $1,270,964 player option, or any money needed to re-sign Draymond Green. By adding Thompson’s max-level salary to the equation the team might seek to unload David Lee, who is set to make $15,012,000 this season, and $15,493,680 in 2015/16. If the Warriors wait until next summer they could try to flip Lee’s expiring contract for some cap relief, though that is purely my speculation.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Latest On Warriors, Klay Thompson
3:28pm: Optimism surrounds the talks, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com, who indicates that the Warriors continue to receive trade inquiries about Thompson from other teams. Coach Steve Kerr today told reporters, including Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group, that he’s “quietly confident” that the team will reach an extension with the shooting guard by tonight’s deadline (Twitter link).
OCTOBER 31ST, 1:05pm: The sides were $3MM apart on annual salaries three weeks ago, but that gap has since closed to between $1MM and $1.5MM, according to Poole (Twitter links). A report from overnight indicated that negotiations remained open.
OCTOBER 25TH: The Warriors continue to resist making Klay Thompson a maximum-salary extension offer, frustrating the shooting guard and his camp, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The Warriors have come close to the max, but a source close to Thompson called the notion of the rising star taking a deal worth less than the max “absurd.”
Warriors owner Joe Lacob isn’t comfortable with shelling out the max, Spears writes, echoing a report from Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com earlier this month that indicated the team was offering annual salaries of about $13MM in its proposals. A maximum offer would come to about $85MM over five years or $66MM over four based on this year’s figures, though those numbers will likely be higher when the league reveals its maximum salaries in July. Until then, the precise amount the Warriors would have to pay Thompson in a max deal is unknown. Maximum salaries go up and down with the cap, and a report from Sean Deveney of The Sporting News this week suggesting that the league’s $66.5MM cap projection is a conservative one, that might be at the root of Lacob’s hesitancy.
Friday is the deadline for the sides to reach a deal, and Thompson has expressed a preference for the security of an extension rather than a one-year deal next summer that would allow him to hit unrestricted free agency when the league’s new high-revenue TV deal kicks in come 2016. It’s most likely that the Warriors would prefer to sign the Bill Duffy client to a long-term deal rather than a one-year pact if he were to become a restricted free agent next summer. Still, Thompson’s desire for security after his name was in Kevin Love trade rumors for much of the summer was one reason I thought the sides would agree to an extension for less than the max, as I wrote when I examined Thompson’s extension candidacy.
Extension Rumors: Butler, Rubio, Thompson
The 11:00pm Central deadline for rookie-scale extensions is only about half a day away, and there’s sure to be action in the hours ahead as decisions loom for the remaining eligible players. Here’s the latest as of this morning:
- The Bulls and Butler were apart by $2.5MM in average annual value as they talked Thursday, Johnson reports. Butler’s camp doesn’t see a deal happening before the deadline, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (on Twitter), which isn’t surprising considering the gap.
- The Wolves are willing to sign Rubio to a four-year extension worth $52MM, and the team would perhaps be on board with going up to $54MM, according to Wolfson (Twitter link). Agent Dan Fegan has reportedly been seeking the maximum salary for his client, which would likely entail at least $66MM over four years, but Rubio would take $58MM, Wolfson says.
- There’s “plenty of pessimism” surrounding the talks between Tristan Thompson and the Cavs as a gap remains in their proposals, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (via Twitter).
Earlier updates:
- Ricky Rubio is more likely than not to sign an extension with the Wolves as advanced negotiations have taken place between the sides over the past few weeks, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. That echoes an earlier report from Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities, who heard from people outside the organization who believed Rubio and the team would ultimately settle on a four-year, $52MM deal.
- Agent Brian Elfus has been in San Antonio negotiating with the Spurs this week, as Stein writes in the same piece, but Kawhi Leonard is nonetheless unlikely to sign an extension, Stein says, seconding a report from ESPN colleague Chris Broussard. Stein hears the Spurs prefer to take Leonard to restricted free agency next summer to maintain maximum financial flexibility. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote earlier this week that the Spurs were reluctant to give Leonard the maximum salary he’s seeking.
- Talks are continuing between the Warriors and Klay Thompson and the Cavs and Tristan Thompson, Stein reports.
- Brandon Knight and Norris Cole appear unlikely to receive extensions, according to Stein, though talks are still going on between the Bucks and Knight’s agent, Arn Tellem, a source tells Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Stein seconds earlier reports indicating that Jimmy Butler, Reggie Jackson and Iman Shumpert also seem unlikely to sign extensions.
- The Bulls are going to have to increase their offer to Butler to entice him to sign, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. It’s unclear what the Bulls have on the table, but as of a week ago the sides were “millions apart,” as Johnson wrote then.
Pacific Notes: Jordan, Thompson, Ballmer
DeAndre Jordan is set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer, but his comments to Dan Woike of the Orange County Register make it clear that he enjoys playing for coach Doc Rivers, who doubles as president of basketball operations for the Clippers. “Doc, and he knows this, has changed my career from whatever it was to whatever it is now and into whatever it’s going to be,” Jordan said. “I owe him a lot. He gave me a chance without even knowing me as a person or as a player to be on this team and to be a piece. I feel like I owe him a lot for believing in me before we even had one practice or one conversation.”
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Warriors GM Bob Myers expects negotiations to continue into the season regarding Klay Thompson‘s extension, Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group writes. With the regular season getting underway Tuesday night, it is to be assumed that Myers was referring to the talks continuing from then up until the 11pm deadline this Friday.
- For his part, Thompson is also willing to continue negotiating with the Warriors up until the deadline, tweets Marcus Thompson of The Bay Area News Group. Klay Thompson has expressed a preference for the security of an extension rather than a one-year deal next summer that would allow him to hit unrestricted free agency in 2016.
- Steve Ballmer has been a breath of fresh air for the Clippers organization in the wake of this summer’s Donald Sterling scandal that led to the former owner’s ouster, as Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report writes in his profile of the franchise’s new owner.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Warriors Pick Up Barnes Option, Decline Nedovic
The Warriors have exercised their fourth-year team option for Harrison Barnes, the team has announced in a press release. The team also intends to decline their third-year option for Nemanja Nedovic, the press release noted. With Golden State also picking up their team option for Festus Ezeli earlier today, the Warriors now have an estimated $62MM in guaranteed salary commitments for the 2015/16 season. That figure doesn’t include Klay Thompson, who is currently in talks with the team regarding a contract extension.
The 22-year-old Barnes has appeared in 160 games, including 106 as a starter, in his three seasons in Golden State. He has averaged 9.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 1.3 APG, and his career slash line is .418/.349/.737. Barnes, who was selected with the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 2012 NBA Draft, was a First Team All-Rookie selection in 2012/13.
Nedovic, 23, appeared in 24 games with the Warriors last season as a rookie, averaging 1.1 points in 5.9 minutes per contest. It’s not a surprise that Golden State would decline their option on Nedovic, seeing as he is currently buried on the depth chart as the fourth point guard.