International Rumors | Hoops Rumors

James Michael McAdoo Will Play In Italy

July 15th, 2018 at 12:09pm CST by Arthur Hill

James Michael McAdoo, who won two NBA titles with the Warriors and played briefly for the Sixers last season, has signed with Fiat Torino in Italy, according to Nicola Lupo of Sportando.

McAdoo signed a two-way contract with Philadelphia in August, but was waived in mid-January. He appeared in just three NBA games and played 18 total minutes. He finished the season with the Agua Caliente Clippers of the NBA G League.

Undrafted out of North Carolina, McAdoo signed a 10-day contract with the Warriors in January of 2015 as they were on their way to the first of four straight Finals appearances. He spent much of his time with Golden State in the G League, but got into 52 games during the 2016/17 season.

Georgios Papagiannis May Return To Europe

July 15th, 2018 at 8:22am CST by Arthur Hill

After two unproductive NBA seasons, Georgios Papagiannis is considering a return to the EuroLeague, according to Aharale Weisberg of Walla, an Israeli news site.

Papagiannis is still under contract with the Trail Blazers, but his $1,544,951 salary for next season doesn’t become guaranteed until July 19. He appeared in just one game for Portland after signing with the team in March.

The 21-year-old center was the 13th pick by the Kings in the 2016 draft, but was never able to establish himself in Sacramento. Papagiannis spent most of his time in the G League before being released in February. He appeared in 38 total games for the Kings, averaging 4.2 PPG and 3.2 RPG per night.

If Papagiannis does return to Europe, his former team, Panathinaikos is among the front-runners to sign him, along with Olympiacos.

Pelicans’ Draft Pick Tony Carr Headed To Italy

July 13th, 2018 at 9:16pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pelicans second-round pick Tony Carr has agreed to a deal with Italy’s Fiat Torino, William Guillory of the New Orleans Times-Picayune relays. The news was first reported by Sportando.

Carr has been playing for the Pelicans’ summer-league team. He’ll be coached by longtime NBA and college coach Larry Brown, who took the job with the Italian club last month.

Brown is notoriously tough on point guards, so Carr will get plenty of guidance on how to be a floor leader for a professional team. He’s struggled in summer-league play, averaging 7.0 PPG and 3.8 APG.

The Pelicans will retain his rights and be able to sign him next summer, Guillory notes.

The 6’5” Penn State product, the 51st overall pick, averaged 19.6 PPG, 5.0 APG and 4.9 RPG as a sophomore last season before declaring for the draft.

New Orleans has three other point guards on the roster, Jrue Holiday, Elfrid Payton and Frank Jackson.

European Teams Interested In Luke Babbitt

July 12th, 2018 at 6:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

Veteran forward Luke Babbitt is drawing interest from several EuroLeague teams, according to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. Barcelona and Maccabi Tel Aviv are among the clubs that have checked on Babbitt, Cauchi adds.

Babbitt, 29, started this season with the Hawks before being traded to the Heat at the February deadline. He appeared in 50 total games and averaged 5.2 PPG, but his numbers declined after coming to Miami, where he averaged just 11.2 minutes per night. He was used for just three total minutes in the playoffs.

The 16th pick in the 2010 draft, Babbitt has spent his entire career in the NBA except for a brief overseas excursion during the 2013/14 season. He signed with Nizhny Novgorod in Russia, but left after a few months.

Atlantic Notes: Bjorkgren, Lima, Bonga, Shamet

July 9th, 2018 at 7:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nate Bjorkgren will join Nick Nurse’s coaching staff with the Raptors, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun tweets. This confirms a previous Wolstat report that Bjorkgren, who worked on Nurse’s Iowa staff in the G League, could get an assistant coaching job. Bjorkgren was an advance scout with the Raptors last season after being let go when the Suns fired Earl Watson.

In other news from around the Atlantic Division:

Power forward/center Augusto Lima is hopeful of signing a contract with the Raptors after having his rights renounced by Real Madrid, international expert David Pick tweets. The Brazilian-born Lima, 26, has been playing in the Euroleague since 2009 and went undrafted in 2013. He averaged 6.4 PPG and 5.8 RPG in 14 games with Liga ACB last season.
The Sixers will receive $1.5MM from the Lakers to complete the Isaac Bonga deal, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. The Lakers have a 45-day window from July 6 to get that done, Pincus adds. Philadelphia also received the Bulls’ second-round pick in the deal for the 39th pick of this year’s draft. The Sixers are paying $110K to the Nuggets as part of the Wilson Chandler trade, Pincus adds in another tweet. Denver generated a $12.8MM trade exception from the deal.
First-round pick Landry Shamet will not play in the Sixers’ remaining summer-league games due to a sprained right ankle, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. X-rays were negative and the 6’5” Shamet, the 26th overall pick out of Wichita State, will be reevaluated in approximately three weeks, Pompey adds.

European Teams Interested In Shane Larkin

July 8th, 2018 at 9:50am CST by Arthur Hill

Celtics point guard Shane Larkin has several offers waiting if he decides to return to Europe, according to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando.

Cauchi cites a report out of Spain that Baskonia, where Larkin played two seasons ago, is interested in a reunion. The team is trying to make its roster as strong as possible in preparation for the 2019 EuroLeague Final Four in Vitoria, Spain. Anadolu Efes in Turkey and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel would also like to add Larkin, according to Cauchi.

The 25-year-old is an unrestricted free agent after signing a one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Celtics last summer. He appeared in 54 games and posted a 4.3/1.7/1.8 line. He put up similar numbers in the playoffs before being sidelined by a sprained left shoulder in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

A first-round pick by the Hawks in 2013, Larkin never suited up for Atlanta but spent one season each with the Mavericks, Knicks and Nets. His best season came in 2015/16 when he averaged 7.3 points in 78 games for Brooklyn.

FA Rumors: LaVine, Parker, Jefferson, Beasley

July 6th, 2018 at 3:21pm CST by Luke Adams

While the Bulls and Zach LaVine aren’t necessarily close to a deal, the team has had communication with LaVine and his representatives, writes K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. According to Johnson, the Bulls assured LaVine that speculation they wanted to do a $14MM-per-year deal wasn’t accurate, and have “proactively” negotiated in good faith with his camp on a deal that could be in the range of $18MM annually.

That seems like a very reasonable number for LaVine, particularly since only two other teams can currently offer a deal worth anything close to that, and neither of those teams seems to be pushing hard for the Bulls guard. As Johnson details, the Bulls don’t want to let LaVine get away and aren’t eager to have him play on his qualifying offer, so it seems like there’s a good chance the two sides will eventually get something done.

Here are a few more free agent notes and rumors from around the NBA:

The market for Bucks RFA Jabari Parker hasn’t materialized like he hoped, tweets Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports, noting that there may be some league-wide concern about Parker’s attitude and health.
After being waived by the Pacers, Al Jefferson is considering playing overseas for the 2018/19 season, Indiana president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said today (Twitter link via Tony East of 8 Points, 9 Seconds).
Michael Beasley hasn’t heard from the Knicks since free agency began, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. A source tells Berman that Beasley, who is drawing interest from a couple teams, is “disappointed” in the lack of interest from the Knicks, but understands that they’re “going young.”
Longtime NBA forward Dorell Wright is finalizing an agreement to sign with Lokomotiv Kuban in Russia, tweets international basketball reporter David Pick.

Free Agent Notes: Bucks, Parker, Anderson, Bjelica

July 5th, 2018 at 10:17am CST by Luke Adams

When they agreed to sign Ersan Ilyasova to a three-year, $21MM contract early in free agency, the Bucks committed to hard-capping themselves for the 2018/19 league year. Teams that acquire a player via sign-and-trade or use more than $5.337MM of the mid-level exception will have a hard cap of $129.817MM this year, and Milwaukee will have to take one of those paths to add Ilyasova.

In hard-capping themselves, the Bucks essentially drew a line in their negotiations with Jabari Parker, ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes during an appearance on Adrian Wojnarowski’s Woj Pod. As Marks explains, with that hard cap in place, the Bucks likely won’t be able to offer Parker more than about $15-17MM, which essentially caps the negotiations between the two sides at that point.

Marks observes that the situation is similar to what the Pistons did last year with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Detroit also had a hard cap after using most of its MLE, and could only go up to a certain point for Caldwell-Pope, who reportedly turned down an offer worth a total of $80MM-ish and ended up settling for a one-year, $18MM deal with the Lakers. If Parker can’t find a lucrative offer sheet with another team, he’ll have to be wary of ending up in a similar spot, so it will be interesting to see whether he can work out a multiyear deal with the Bucks or if he’ll consider signing his one-year qualifying offer.

Here are a few more free agent notes and rumors:

The Spurs want to retain restricted free agent Kyle Anderson and intend to work on a deal for him, Wojnarowski said in his podcast.
Nemanja Bjelica had six total offers that were all somewhat comparable to the one he agreed to with the Sixers, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. According to Wolfson, head coach Brett Brown and the opportunity to make a deep playoff run were factors in Bjelica’s choice.
While there were rumblings that Greek forward Kostas Papanikolaou was mulling an NBA return, he’ll remain with Olympiacos. The team officially announced a new deal for Papanikolaou today (hat tip to Sportando).

Free Agent Notes: Clippers, Harrell, Papanikolaou

July 4th, 2018 at 11:44am CST by Luke Adams

We heard earlier today that the Clippers, who already have veteran centers Marcin Gortat and Boban Marjanovic under contract, are exploring the idea of adding Kyle O’Quinn, having met with him on Tuesday. In addition to their pursuit of O’Quinn, the Clips also maintain interest in re-signing Montrezl Harrell, reports Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Harrell is currently a restricted free agent.

As they weight their options at center, the Clippers will also have to be wary of their roster limits. The team entered the offseason with 12 players under contract, not counting rookies Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson. L.A. also reached deals with Mike Scott and Avery Bradley, increase the team’s tentative roster count to 16. Adding O’Quinn or re-signing Harrell would bump that total to 17, meaning two players would have to be waived or traded at some point.

Milos Teodosic, who has a partially guaranteed contract, and C.J. Williams, who is on a non-guaranteed contract, may be at risk of losing their roster spots with the Clippers, though that’s just my speculation.

Here are a few more free agent notes from around the league:

Dwight Howard is on track to sign with the Wizards when he officially becomes a free agent, but before he reached a deal with Washington, the veteran was said to have interest in the Warriors. In an appearance on Zach Lowe’s ESPN podcast (hat tip to RealGM), Tim Kawkami of The Athletic suggested the idea of adding Howard was internally discussed in Golden State, but he “was a ‘no’ in a lot of precincts of the Warriors.” We previously heard that the Dubs’ interest in Howard was tepid at best.
Former NBA forward Kostas Papanikolaou, who appeared in 69 total games for Houston and Denver between 2014 and 2016, is considering the possibility of an NBA return, tweets Ian Begley of ESPN.com. Papanikolaou played for Olympiacos in Greece last season.
One former NBA contributor who won’t be returning from Europe anytime soon is veteran guard Rudy Fernandez. The ex-Blazer signed a new two-year deal with Real Madrid in Spain, and said in a statement that he hopes to spend the rest of his career with the club.
In an informative piece for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks takes a team-by-team look at every club’s free agency situation, examining cap exceptions available, outstanding contract decisions, and much more.

Joffrey Lauvergne Finalizes Deal With Fenerbahce

July 4th, 2018 at 8:23am CST by Luke Adams

Former Spurs big man Joffrey Lauvergne officially has a new team, according to agent Misko Raznatovic, who tweets that his client has signed a two-year contract with Turkey’s Fenerbahce. The club has officially confirmed the signing as well (via Twitter).

Lauvergne, who signed a minimum-salary contract with the Spurs a year ago, played just 9.7 minutes per contest in 55 games for the club, averaging 4.1 PPG and 3.1 RPG.

Although Lauvergne had a player option for 2018/19 and could have remained in San Antonio, he turned down that option, with reports at the time suggesting he was on track to complete a deal with Fenerbahce. While it’s not clear how his new salary will compare to his $1.656MM option, Lauvergne will be on track for a larger role in Turkey.

Lauvergne has had a well-traveled professional career since 2009, playing for teams in France, Spain, Serbia, and Russia before arriving in the NBA in February 2015. Over the course of his four-season NBA career, Lauvergne was unable to find a long-term home or a consistent role, having spent time with Denver, Oklahoma City, and Chicago in addition to San Antonio.