Los Angeles Clippers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Latest On Carlos Boozer

August 21st, 2015 at 12:26am CST by Chuck Myron

7:54am: The Shandong Lions, another Chinese team, are also going after Boozer, as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia indicates via Twitter.

12:26am: The Sichuan Blue Whales and other Chinese teams are expressing interest in Carlos Boozer, and while the Rob Pelinka client is intrigued, he’s still pursuing NBA deals, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). News regarding the 33-year-old has been scarce since a late-July report indicated that the Knicks, Rockets and Mavericks were eyeing him. The 33-year-old has lingered in free agency since July, when the lucrative five-year deal he signed with the Bulls expired. He made $16.8MM last season as a member of the Lakers, though Chicago paid all but the $3.251MM figure the Lakers bid when they claimed him via amnesty waivers.

Few NBA teams have more than the $2.814MM room exception to spend at this point. The Mavs have that amount available, though they already have deals with 20 players, the offseason maximum. The Knicks spent the room exception on Kevin Seraphin and have only the minimum to offer. The Rockets have about $2.274MM worth of their mid-level that they could spend, though doing so would leave the team hard-capped and without the means to give No. 32 pick Montrezl Harrell a market-value contract. Boozer and the Clippers reportedly had mutual interest in July, but they only have the minimum to spend, and while the Spurs, Raptors, Pelicans, Nuggets, Nets, Lakers and Heat have all apparently had interest over the course of the summer, it’s unclear if that’s the case now. Thus, I’d speculate that Boozer is only receiving minimum-salary offers from NBA teams at this point.

Andray Blatche signed a three-year, $7.5MM deal with China’s Xinjiang Flying Tigers this past spring, and a few weeks ago Shavlik Randolph inked a contract for at least $4.5MM over three years, numbers that suggest that Boozer, if he went to China, stands a decent chance to top the $1,499,187 he’d see on an NBA minimum deal. Still, Metta World Peace wound up with less than that in his deal with Sichuan last summer. A Chinese team would nonetheless offer Boozer a chance to double-dip, since the Chinese Basketball Association ends well in advance of the NBA season, giving players an opportunity to latch on with NBA teams at prorated salaries for the stretch run.

Will Joseph of Hoops Rumors examined Boozer’s free agent stock in depth earlier this month.

Where do you think Boozer ends up? Comment to tell us.

And-Ones: Morris, Richardson, Draft

August 19th, 2015 at 9:33pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Darius Morris, who was waived by the Nets at the end of June, has received contract offers from NBA teams and clubs overseas, but thanks to a foot injury suffered during training, he’ll be out of action for a few months, Morris’ agent, Brian Dyke, told international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). The 24-year-old made 38 appearances for Brooklyn during the 2014/15 campaign, logging averages of 2.2 points, 0.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 7.9 minutes per contest.

Here’s more from around the league:

Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders tabs new L.A. arrivals Roy Hibbert and Lance Stephenson as two of six players who appear likely to benefit from having changed teams this summer.
Jason Richardson‘s deal with the Hawks is a one-year minimum-salary arrangement and is without any guaranteed money, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). It has limited injury protection, Pincus also says, so it appears to be an Exhibit 9 contract. Richardson will see $1,499,187 if he sticks for the entire season, but since the deal only covers one season, it would cost the Hawks no more than $947,276, the equivalent of the two-year veteran’s minimum. The league picks up the rest of the tab.
Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress peered into his crystal ball and released his first mock draft for 2017’s big event. The current top three players on Givony’s draft board are forwards Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum, with point guard Dennis Smith rounding out the top-ranked trio.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Trade Candidate: Jamal Crawford

August 19th, 2015 at 12:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Jamal Crawford apparently wishes he were a free agent, as he said on Twitter earlier this summer, but he still has one more season left on his contract. However, if he wants to leave the Clippers, he seems to stand a decent chance of having that happen for him before next July. The Clippers aren’t eager to trade the two-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner, but they reportedly explored the idea around draft time, and they’ve spent the summer upgrading on the wing, with newcomers Lance Stephenson, Paul Pierce and Wesley Johnson. The Knicks have expressed interest, as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reported Tuesday, and the Heat and Cavs were apparently interested as of earlier this summer. Crawford is 35 years old and coming off his fewest minutes per game since the 2002/03 season, but it appears there’s still a market for him.

The Heat called the Clippers about Crawford in early July, as Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com reported then, but as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel points out, that was before Miami signed Gerald Green. Bringing in Crawford and his $5.675MM salary would likely commit the team to paying repeat-offender tax penalties this season, Winderman also asserts, though that would probably depend on the nature of the trade they’d make. The Clippers, like the Heat and the Cavs, are above the tax threshold for now, and that would complicate any move, since the salary-matching constraints are stricter for tax teams.

The Knicks are well outside of tax territory, for a change, but they face other challenges. The Knicks don’t have any trade exceptions, so they’d have to send players to the Clippers to make a trade work. Only four Knicks players — Carmelo Anthony, Jose Calderon, Langston Galloway and Cleanthony Early — are currently eligible for inclusion in trades. First-round picks Kristaps Porzingis and Jerian Grant join them later this month, but that’s still not much to choose from. Calderon seems like the most logical candidate, given that the Clippers would be somewhat short on backup point guard options if Crawford weren’t there anymore, but the Clips would have to send additional salary to New York to make that a match. Porzingis would be an intriguing option for a Clippers team that doesn’t have much young talent coming up the pipeline, but the Knicks would be ill-advised to trade this year’s No. 4 overall pick for a 35-year-old who’s a year away from free agency. As Isola suggested, the involvement of a third team might be necessary if the Knicks are to somehow end up with Crawford.

The Cavaliers also only have four players eligible to be traded — Kyrie Irving, Anderson Varejao, Timofey Mozgov and Joe Harris — but they have a trade exception worth $10,522,500 that they can use to take in Crawford without giving up a player in return. That trade exception is a vestige of the Brendan Haywood contract that the Cavs were thinking about sending to the Clips when Cleveland looked into trading for Crawford in early July, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported then. The exception makes it easier for the teams to facilitate a deal, since the Clippers would have had to include additional salary along with Crawford to take in Haywood’s contract. Still, it would be difficult for the Clippers to give up Crawford without receiving a player who can help them in their quest for a championship this year. Teams only get so many legitimate cracks at a title, and the Clips would surely be loath to downgrade their talent just as they seem as close as they’ve ever been to the Larry O’Brien trophy.

That’s ostensibly why the Clippers aren’t anxious to trade Crawford in the first place. They’re probably not going to do a deal unless it benefits them on the court, and while Crawford could always pout or become a disruptive force in the locker room, he has yet to air his grievances beyond relatively innocuous social media interaction. The Clippers could nonetheless use some size behind DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin. They added Cole Aldrich through free agency, but Aldrich hasn’t proven to be the sort of player who could fill in as the starter for a championship-level team if Jordan or Griffin is injured for any significant stretch of time. That would make Varejao, despite injury concerns of his own, intriguing for the Clippers. It’s unclear just what sort of role a healthy Varejao would play for the Cavs this season, especially with Tristan Thompson‘s free agency still unresolved, but if Thompson comes back, Varejao would be relatively expendable. Of course, the Brazilian is also tight with LeBron James, and the Cavs would have to question the wisdom of sending one of LeBron’s friends to a contending team in a major market with warm weather. The Clips would also have to send additional salary to Cleveland to make a Varejao deal work.

Josh McRoberts and Chris Andersen offer no such salary-matching concerns, and they, like Varejao, would help deepen the Clippers up front. The Heat have no shortage of big men, with McRoberts, Andersen, Chris Bosh, Hassan Whiteside, Amar’e Stoudemire and Udonis Haslem all on the roster, so it would seem fertile ground for a trade is there. I’d contend that if the Heat were to trade McRoberts or Andersen for Crawford, they’d be no more committed to paying the tax than they otherwise would be, since it would entail an almost even exchange of salaries, and Crawford would appear to be a more intriguing trade chip to offer around the league if the Heat can’t find another way to slip under the tax line before the trade deadline. Crawford would give the Heat a strong alternative at shooting guard on the nights that Dwyane Wade can’t go. The addition of Crawford would make it easier for the team to play more small-ball lineups and for Miami to trade Mario Chalmers, currently Miami’s only proven option at the point behind Goran Dragic.

Regardless, it’s a seller’s market for Crawford. The Clippers wield the power, and if they want to mend fences with him, they can always pursue extension talks, as I pointed out earlier. Teams like the Heat, Cavs and Knicks will have to come to Clips coach/executive Doc Rivers, and not the other way around.

What do you think a good trade idea for Crawford might be? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Clippers Notes: Stephenson, Davis, Jordan, Paul

August 19th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks have reportedly emerged as the latest suitor for Jamal Crawford, fueling the idea that the Clippers will trade their sixth man before the start of the season. Still, the Clippers could seek to put an end to such rumors with a new deal for the 35-year-old guard, one of the relatively few around the league who’s eligible for a veteran extension, as I pointed out Tuesday. While we wait to see just what the team will do with Crawford, see the latest from Clipperland:

Trade acquisition Lance Stephenson is confident that his new Clippers teammates will understand his on-court intensity, an in-the-moment leadership style he compares to that of Chris Paul, as Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times examines. The Clippers have been “missing that guy that’s tough and doesn’t bow down to no one,” Stephenson told Bolch. “I’m on a mission to win a chip. I’m on a mission to do great this year. I’m on a mission to prove everybody wrong,” Stephenson said. “I mean, a lot of people are doubting me and saying I’m a bad locker-room guy and all of those rumors, but there’s no facts that I’m a bad locker-room guy, so I’m going to just show everybody and just go hard this year.”
Glen Davis, who said recently that he expects to sign by month’s end and wants to play for a contender, is hopeful that he’ll return to the Clippers, as he told the Gio & Jones show on CBS Sports Radio. “I would love to go back,” Davis said. “Doc [Rivers] and his system works for me. He needs a guy to set picks and do the dirty work and stuff like that. I feel at home there. It’s just about getting [a deal] done.”
Davis also said in the radio spot that he believes Rivers has changed his coaching style over the years, taking a more active approach with a Clippers core that’s younger than the one he had with the Celtics. Big Baby nonetheless suggested that Rivers should give DeAndre Jordan a larger role in the offense, and Davis also chimed in on the notion of a rift between Jordan and Paul, saying that while the two haven’t always seen eye to eye, their issues haven’t been profound. “It was like a false reality,” Davis said. “It was like they had problems but they didn’t have problems. We can hang out and have a good time off the court. It’s just sometimes with players, some players rub each other the wrong way. That’s what it was.”

Knicks Interested In Jamal Crawford

August 18th, 2015 at 12:54pm CST by Chuck Myron

12:54pm: Isola clarifies that the Knicks would have to be creative in constructing a deal for Crawford, suggesting the involvement of a third team would be a possibility (Twitter link).

11:51am: The Knicks have expressed interest in Clippers sixth man Jamal Crawford, a source tells Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). The veteran guard is under contract with the Clippers but has emerged as a trade candidate, with the Clips reportedly having explored Crawford trades around draft time and the Cavs and Heat apparently having been suitors last month. The 35-year-old who spent more than four seasons with the Knicks between 2004 and 2008 is a favorite of Knicks owner James Dolan, GM Steve Mills, assistant GM Allan Houston and Isiah Thomas, a Dolan confidant and WNBA New York Liberty executive who was president of the Knicks during Crawford’s time there, Isola adds (Twitter link). Current team president Phil Jackson would presumably have the final say about a deal that would return Crawford to New York.

The Clippers haven’t been anxious to trade the two-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner, but the trade rumors from earlier this summer, his exclusion from the team’s recruitment of DeAndre Jordan, and new players at his position cloud Crawford’s future, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register wrote a few weeks ago. Crawford has also signaled his concern via social media, as Woike noted. Still, trade acquisition Lance Stephenson, one of L.A.’s additions on the wing, expressed enthusiasm about the idea of playing with Crawford, as Ben Bolch relayed late Monday (Twitter links).

New York has spent its cap room and doesn’t have a trade exception, so it would have to relinquish salary for a Crawford trade to work. The Clippers would no doubt want a player who can help them make a push for the title this year if they were to relinquish Crawford, though that’s just my speculation. Crawford is due to make $5.675MM this coming season, so salary matching would be based on that figure. Tax considerations may well come into play, since the Clips are about $11MM above the $84.74MM tax line. Conversely. the Knicks are roughly the same distance under the tax line.

Players who signed new contracts are off-limits for a trade until at least December 15th, so the only Knicks eligible for inclusion in a deal for now are Carmelo Anthony, Jose Calderon, Langston Galloway and Cleanthony Early. Anthony, who has a no-trade clause, almost certainly wouldn’t be included. First-round picks Kristaps Porzingis and Jerian Grant become trade-eligible later this month, and the Knicks are allowed to trade draft-and-stash signee Thanasis Antetokounmpo as soon as early September.

Given the constraints, do you see a workable deal that could land Jamal Crawford with the Knicks? Leave a comment to share your ideas.

Western Rumors: Lawson, Davis, Jazz

August 17th, 2015 at 10:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

New Nuggets coach Michael Malone said the club made a “good move” by dealing troubled point guard Ty Lawson to the Rockets last month, Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post reports. The Nuggets received a protected 2016 first-round pick, four players and cash for Lawson in the trade. “We wish Ty well. I mean that sincerely. That’s not just coach talk,” Malone said to Jhabvala. “We all wish him well. But it was a move that we felt was a good move for us. I hope he’s able to get his life in order, and when he does, we all know he’s a special player.” Malone added to Jhabvala that he had input on the deal. Lawson has completed his court-ordered 30-day stint in an alcohol rehabilitation program, according to Mark Berman of FOX26 Sports in Houston. Happy Walters, Lawson’s agent, told Berman via text message that Lawson was released on Monday afternoon. Lawson entered the program after being charged with two DUIs in seven months.

In other news around the Western Conference:

Glen Davis expects to sign a contract by the end of the month, he told SI.com’s Maggie Gray (video link). Davis, one of the remaining unrestricted free agents on the market, said in the interview that he doesn’t want to play for a rebuilding club. “I want to go on a team that’s competing for a championship,” he said. The Clippers have shown interest in re-signing Davis.
Treveon Graham’s three-year, minimum-salary contract with the Jazz has a $75K guarantee, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. The former VCU shooting guard signed with Utah on Monday.

Latest On Dorell Wright

August 17th, 2015 at 8:46am CST by Chuck Myron

Dorell Wright is mulling an offer from a Chinese team, a source tells international journalist David Pick (Twitter link), news that comes on the heels of Sunday’s report from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that Wright and the Heat have been in talks. Miami has yet to make an offer, Jackson noted, though it’s been more than a month since Wright publicly expressed interest in returning to the Heat, his original NBA team, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel points out.

Wright, a native of Los Angeles, has held interest in playing for the Lakers or the Clippers, as Jabari Young of CSNNW.com wrote in late June. The Wasserman Media Group client is talking to several teams, according to Jackson, but it’s unclear if either L.A. franchise is one of them. The Raptors drafted Wright’s brother, Delon, with the No. 20 overall pick this year and signed him to a rookie scale contract, but no reports have legitimately linked Dorell to Toronto this year.

It’s possible that Dorell is using the apparent interest from China to spur the Heat and other NBA teams to make offers, though that’s just my speculation. In any case, free agency has proven more difficult for him this summer than it did the last time he was on the market, in 2013, when he signed a two-year, $6.135MM deal with with Trail Blazers. The 29-year-old was merely on the fringe of the rotation for two years in Portland and has seen his minutes per game decline in each of the past four seasons, from 38.4 in 2010/11 to 12.3 this year. Still, he sank 38.0% of his three-point attempts in 2014/15, the second best percentage of his 11-year NBA career.

Do you think Dorell Wright ends up in the NBA this season, or do you see him in China? Leave a comment to weigh in.

And-Ones: Jordan, Rondo, Kings

August 16th, 2015 at 10:30pm CST by Will Joseph

The Knicks did not ultimately factor in DeAndre Jordan‘s decision this summer, but Jordan said it had nothing to do with the team’s presentation, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports. Jordan met with the Knicks but re-signed with the Clippers.

“The Knicks had a great presentation,” Jordan said. “Phil Jackson speaks for himself with his resume. [Coach Derek Fisher] did a great job. The whole team, I felt like they had a plan — for the organization, and they had a plan for me, which was cool. But nothing was wrong with their presentation. It was great.”

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

Rudy Gay believes his friend and new teammate Rajon Rondo is motivated to prove doubters wrong, Berger writes in the same piece. Rondo signed a one-year, $10MM pact with the Kings in July. Rondo will be coming off a down year in terms of production.
The Kings have hired longtime NBA sabermetrician Roland Beech to head up their analytics department, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports. Beech replaces Dean Oliver, who was let go in July.

Western Notes: Cousins, Karl, Davis, Williams

August 12th, 2015 at 2:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

Rumors about turmoil between DeMarcus Cousins and Kings coach George Karl were overblown, Cousins insisted Tuesday, as Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee observes. The snake and grass emojis that the All-Star tweeted earlier this summer, shortly after the report that Karl wanted to trade him, seemed to indicate otherwise, but it appears their relationship has improved since then.

“There were some things that had to be ironed out,” Cousins said, “but at the same time, I wouldn’t make it as big as it was made out to be. Me and him [Karl] are on the same page, working on our relationship, and getting better every day. That’s all that matters. Things are a lot better. We’re trying to understand each other better. We’re going to make things happen, positive things happen.”

See more from the Western Conference:

Former Pelicans coach Monty Williams still won’t express dismay over his firing earlier in the offseason, even though it separated him from Anthony Davis, the New Orleans star with whom he shares an uncanny bond, writes Jimmy Smith of The Times Picayune. Williams, now a Thunder assistant, still talks with Davis but insists that he’s careful to leave most of the tutelage to new Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry, Smith notes. Still, Williams makes it clear that he’ll always be friends with Davis, according to Smith.
The Clippers roster is built to win in the playoffs more so than any other among Western Conference teams, according to metrics that Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com put together for an Insider-only piece. That’s thanks to the addition of depth to the team’s star core, Doolittle writes. The Lance Stephenson trade and the signings of Paul Pierce, Josh Smith and others bolstered the strong but thin existing group.
Warriors GM Bob Myers may be the reigning Executive of the Year, but Spurs GM R.C. Buford, who won the award in 2014, is still the league’s top front office boss, opines Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders. That’s not surprising given San Antonio’s free agent haul, which includes LaMarcus Aldridge and a minimum-salary deal for David West.

And-Ones: Durant, Conley, Sterling

August 10th, 2015 at 9:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kevin Durant plans to to participate in USA Basketball’s workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday during its minicamp in Las Vegas, Durant’s agent Rich Kleiman of Roc Nation Sports, and manager Charlie Bell informed Sam Amick of USA Today. Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony could also participate in Tuesday’s workout, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. Durant will not participate in the team’s showcase game on Thursday, Amick adds. Thunder GM Sam Presti released a statement on Monday night saying that Durant had reached the stage where he could participate in non-contact drills, according to ESPN.com’s Royce Young (Twitter link). Durant played just 27 games last season because of a fracture in his right foot which required three surgical procedures. Anthony was limited to 40 games because of a knee injury.

In other news around the Western Conference:

Not many people think Mike Conley will leave next summer, when he’s set to hit free agency, according to TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Marc Gasol hinted last month that Conley assured him he’ll be just as committed to the Grizzlies as Gasol was during his free agency process this year.
Former Clippers owner Donald Sterling has filed a lawsuit against V. Stiviano and the website TMZ over the infamous recording made by Stiviano that led to the sale of the team, Dan Woike of the Orange County Register reports. Sterling and his attorneys maintain the recording in which Sterling made racist remarks was obtained illegally and without his knowledge, Woike adds. Sterling has also filed a $1 billion federal suit against the league.
The league has pushed back its schedule release from Tuesday to Wednesday, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).