Kings Acquire Luc Mbah A Moute
10:55pm: The Bucks' press release gives additional detail on one of the picks headed to Milwaukee. The Bucks will receive the higher of Sacramento's own 2016 second-rounder, or the Pelicans' 2016 second-rounder, which the Kings had acquired in a previous transaction.
FRIDAY, 9:45pm: The Kings have officially announced the deal, via press release.
"Luc is one of the premier defenders in the game today, with a proven ability to guard a variety of different scoring threats on a nightly basis," GM Pete D’Alessandro said. "His versatility in this respect will go a long way in helping us improve dramatically on the defensive end of the floor. We’re excited to welcome Luc to the Kings family."
TUESDAY, 2:57pm: The Bucks won't get the Kings' 2018 pick outright, but will have the option to swap second-rounders, says Amick (via Twitter).
2:48pm: The Bucks will receive a 2016 second-round pick and a 2018 second-rounder from the Kings, tweets Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports confirms (via Twitter).
2:31pm: The Kings have reached an agreement with the Bucks that will send Luc Mbah a Moute to Sacramento in exchange for draft considerations, reports Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). According to Sam Amick of USA Today (via Twitter), the Kings will give up a lone second-round pick in the deal.
As Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee wrote overnight, the Kings were still in the market for a small forward, and had the cap space available to take on a player without sending out any salary. Mbah a Moute will make close to $9MM over the next two seasons, including about $4.59MM in 2013/14, a figure Sacramento should be able to absorb using its cap room.
Mbah a Moute, 26, has been remarkably consistent over the course of his NBA career so far. In five seasons with the Bucks, the former second-round pick has averaged between 6.2 and 7.7 PPG each year, along with between 4.4 and 5.9 RPG. However, he hasn't played a full season in either of the last two years, due to knee problems.
Wolves To Sign-And-Trade For Kevin Martin
JULY 11TH 9:13pm: The Timberwolves have officially announced, via the team's Twitter feed, that they've acquired Martin and cash from the Thunder and will send Ridnour and a 2014 second-round pick to the Bucks. The Wolves own the Lakers 2014 second rounder, which is the selection that will go to Milwaukee. Regarding the addition of Martin, Wolves president Flip Saunders said, "He is familiar with Coach Adelman's style of play and had success playing for him in Sacramento and Houston. We expect that to continue in Minnesota." (Twitter link)
The Bucks will send the draft rights to 2003 second round pick Szymon Szewczyk to Oklahoma City in the deal and get cash back from the Thunder, the team tweeted. The Thunder will have until July 11 of next year to acquire a player via the trade exception they picked up in the deal, tweets Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman.
JULY 11TH 10:18am: The Thunder will send cash to the T-Wolves as part of the sign-and-trade for Martin, and create a $7MM TPE, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). It's still not entirely clear what the Wolves are sending out in the trade — either that missing piece has yet to be reported, or the team intends to fold its Luke Ridnour deal into this one.
JULY 10TH: Marc Stein of ESPN.com pegs the deal in the $30MM range, noting that the Wolves and Thunder will roll the agreement into a sign-and-trade that will net Oklahoma City a trade exception. It's unclear exactly what the Thunder are getting in the trade, but presumably, draft picks and/or cash will be headed OKC's way.
JULY 2ND: Kevin Martin has reached agreement with the Wolves on a four-year, $28MM deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). Sam Amick of USA Today (via Twitter) reported earlier tonight that Minnesota offered Kevin Martin a four-year deal in that vicinity. Martin is represented by Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports, according to the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.
Martin, of course, spent last season with the Thunder after coming over from Houston in the James Harden trade. The guard averaged 14.0 PPG while shooting 45% from the floor in 27.7 minutes per contest last season. Martin was a hot commodity this summer and the Blazers and Grizzlies were said to have serious interest in signing him.
It has been a busy day for the Timberwolves, who re-signed Chase Budinger just hours ago. The forward will get a $16MM, three-year deal from Flip Saunders & Co. Martin will pair with Ricky Rubio in the Wolves' backcourt, giving the club one of the more intriguing guard combos in the league.
The Thunder were said to be seeking a sign-and-trade for Martin if they could not retain him, but they'll now watch the guard leave without anything in return.
Odds & Ends: Wolves, Turiaf, Williams, Webster
The Timberwolves appear ready to finalize deals bringing Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer on board, but those aren't the only outside free agents the team targeted. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter), Minnesota has emerged as the frontrunner to sign Ronny Turiaf. I can't imagine Turiaf will earn more than the veteran's minimum, so he shouldn't affect the Wolves' cap outlook if a deal is reached. Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:
- Martin, who trains with Brewer in Florida, was very involved in lobbying Brewer to sign with the Timberwolves, according to Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune (via Twitter).
- Several teams are courting Mo Williams, so there's no guarantee he lands with the Hawks if Atlanta declines to match Jeff Teague's offer sheet, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times.
- According to Martell Webster, he received interest from the Cavaliers, Bucks, Knicks, Clippers, Blazers, and Pelicans ("big-time") before re-signing with the Wizards (Twitter link via Michael Lee of the Washington Post).
- Grantland's Zach Lowe examines seven teams that could use their amnesty provision within the next few days.
- Brandon Bass brushed off questions about a potentially uncertain future with the Celtics, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com writes.
Jeff Teague Ready To Move On From Hawks
After signing an offer sheet with the Bucks last night, Jeff Teague has told Hawks GM Danny Ferry he's ready to move on from Atlanta, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution hears (Twitter link). Milwaukee's offer sheet, which the Hawks will have three days to match, is reportedly worth $32MM over four years.
Vivlamore's report doesn't come as a real surprise, given the news and rumors we've heard on Teague this month. During the first week of free agency, reports suggested that Teague's camp had grown increasingly frustrated by Atlanta's unwillingness to engage in contract negotiations, and that Teague was "nearly unwanted" within the Hawks' organization. Teague added today that the Bucks "embraced" him and made him feel wanted, which is something he didn't experience in Atlanta (Twitter link via Vivlamore).
This isn't the first time in recent years that a restricted free agent has encouraged his previous team not to match an offer sheet. Just last summer, Eric Gordon issued a statement after signing with the Suns, in which he declared that "Phoenix is just where my heart is now." In that instance, the then-Hornets matched Gordon's offer sheet anyway. If they don't have any other viable options and feel that Teague would be a valuable asset at that price, the Hawks may match, but those are two big ifs. As is, Teague doesn't expect the Hawks to match, according to Vivalmore (via Twitter).
Although Teague reportedly signed the Bucks' offer sheet last night, that didn't necessarily start the clock on the Hawks' three days. Atlanta has to formally receive the offer sheet, which sometimes doesn't happen immediately, as we saw with Jeremy Lin and the Rockets and Knicks a year ago. It's not clear if the three-day countdown is already underway or if it'll start at some point today.
Renounced Players: Wednesday
As teams clear cap space to finalize signings and trades, it may mean renouncing Early Bird or Bird rights to their own free agents, in order to remove cap holds from the books. Once a player is renounced, his previous team has no more claim to him that any other team — he could still be re-signed, but it would have to be done using cap space or an exception. Some of those decisions are more notable than others, but for completion's sake, we'll track the latest of these cap-clearing moves right here:
- Mo Williams is the most prominent name among the several whose rights the Jazz renounced today, according to the RealGM transaction log. Al Jefferson, DeMarre Carroll and Earl Watson, who already have deals to join other teams, are also on the list, as are the long-retired Brevin Knight and Greg Ostertag.
- Bobcats are set to re-sign Josh McRoberts, but they won't be using their Early Bird rights to do so, as they've renounced his rights, RealGM shows. The team also renounced their rights to Reggie Williams, who's heading to the Rockets, and it cut ties with DeSagana Diop, Byron Mullens and Jannero Pargo, too.
- Golden State will sign Jermaine O'Neal, so the Suns have renounced his rights, as well as their rights to Wesley Johnson and Diante Garrett, as RealGM notes.
Earlier updates:
- The Hawks have cleared out unwanted cap holds from their books, renouncing their rights to Hilton Armstrong, Erick Dampier, Devin Harris, Dahntay Jones, Randolph Morris, Zaza Pachulia, Johan Petro, Josh Smith, and Etan Thomas, according to RealGM.com's transactions log.
- RealGM.com also has the Trail Blazers renouncing multiple players, including Luke Babbitt, J.J. Hickson, Eric Maynor, and Nolan Smith.
- Most interestingly, according to RealGM.com, the Bucks have renounced their rights to Monta Ellis. That doesn't necessarily preclude a sign-and-trade, but it would mean the team would have to use cap space rather than Ellis' Bird rights to accommodate a deal.
- The Pelicans have renounced their rights to Louis Amundson, Xavier Henry, and Roger Mason Jr., the team announced today in a press release.
- In order to clear cap room for their signings, the Pistons renounced Will Bynum, Jose Calderon, Vernon Macklin, Corey Maggette, Jason Maxiell, and Ben Wallace, according to RealGM's transactions log. The Pistons plan to re-sign Bynum, but removing his $6MM+ cap hold and signing him to a smaller figure using cap space makes the most sense.
- After renouncing their rights to Chauncey Billups and Lamar Odom, the Clippers have also renounced Bobby Simmons, according to RealGM.com's transactions log.
Wolves To Deal Luke Ridnour To Bucks
10:54pm: Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times tweets that a Ridnour-Ekpe Udoh swap, which had been rumored around draft time, could once again materialize. I'd assume that would happen within the framework of this deal, though I'm not sure what that would accomplish for Minnesota, since Udoh's $4,469,548 salary is larger than Ridnour's.
7:41pm: The Wolves have reached an agreement with the Bucks to deal point guard Luke Ridnour to Milwaukee in an arrangement that will allow Minnesota the room it needs to finalize its pact with Corey Brewer, reports Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. No salary will head from the Bucks to the Wolves in the trade, so presumably there will be draft picks and/or cash headed to Minnesota.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported earlier today that the teams were discussing the swap, as the Wolves sought to clear room to bring aboard Brewer along with the rest of their free agent haul. Ridnour, like J.J. Barea, was frequently mentioned in trade rumors over the past few weeks as Minnesota sought to clear its logjam at point guard.
Milwaukee's acquisition of Ridnour gives the team a backup for either incumbent point guard Brandon Jennings, or Jeff Teague, whom the Bucks have coveted. Ridnour is set to make $4.32MM in 2013/14, the final season of his contract.
Bucks Exploring Luke Ridnour Trade
As the Timberwolves continue to explore ways to create enough room to bring aboard Corey Brewer, the Bucks have emerged as a potential destination for trade candidate Luke Ridnour, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Stein reports that the Bucks are prepared to acquire Ridnour from the Wolves, which would allow Minnesota to sign Brewer and acquire Kevin Martin via sign-and-trade (Twitter links).
If the T-Wolves were to send Ridnour to the Bucks, Minnesota would have $47,420,858 in team salary on its books, by my estimation. That figure includes cap holds for Chase Budinger, Nikola Pekovic, Shabazz Muhammad, and Gorgui Dieng. With a cap line of $58,679,000 in play, the Wolves would have about $11.26MM in space to fit in Brewer and Martin.
$11.26MM in cap room would seem to be close to enough to sign both players outright, but Stein's indication that a sign-and-trade deal for Martin is in the works suggests that maybe Minnesota would have to clear a tiny bit more salary. According to Stein (Twitter link), the Thunder are willing to participate in a Martin sign-and-trade in order to acquire a trade exception, but perhaps they'll acquire a small-salary player like Chris Johnson from the Wolves in the proposed deal as well.
From the Bucks' perspective, it's not clear how the potential acquisition of Ridnour would affect their pursuit of Jeff Teague, or the possibility that they bring back Brandon Jennings.
Eric Bledsoe To Suns, Redick To Clippers
JULY 10TH: The Bucks have officially announced that the three-way deal has been finalized (Twitter link). Milwaukee will receive Toronto's 2014 second-round pick (via the Suns), and the Clippers' 2015 second-rounder, which is protected in '15 and '16, but unprotected in '17 (Twitter link). That Raptors pick also has some unusual protection, the details of which can be found at RealGM.com.
JULY 2ND: The Clippers, Bucks, and Suns have reached agreement on a three-team deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). Eric Bledsoe and Caron Butler will go to the Suns, Jared Dudley and J.J. Redick (sign-and-trade) will head to the Clippers and two second-round picks will be sent to the Bucks, according to sources. The Clippers and Suns will each kick in a second-rounder, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times.
Redick's brand new deal will pay him $27MM over the next four years, Wojnarowski (link) hears from sources. The shooting guard will also get a trade kicker in his contract, Wojnarowski tweets.
The Clippers were in the market for a shooter this summer and they get a tremendous one in the former Bucks guard. Redick averaged 14.1 PPG last season for the Bucks and Magic, though his downtown shooting dipped to 36.6% versus his 40% clip from the previous six seasons. It's also worth noting that Redick attempted 5.8 threes per game, versus 3.1 prior to 2012/13.
Bledsoe is a major acquisition for the recently-crowned GM Ryan McDonough. The 23-year-old guard will team up with No. 5 overall pick Alex Len for the Suns who are hoping to recover from a rough 2012/13 campaign. The Clippers were extremely high on Bledsoe and his potential, but even ardent supporter Chris Paul acknowledged earlier this year that he would likely be traded to fill a greater need. Bledsoe was stellar last season, averaging 8.5 PPG and 3.1 APG in 20.4 minutes per contest, serving primarily as Paul's understudy. Bledsoe's addition figured to change things for point guard Goran Dragic and may also effect last year's first-round pick Kendall Marshall.
The Suns also get Butler in the swap and they'll pay him $8MM in his upcoming walk year. The veteran averaged 10.4 PPG last season, his lowest mark since his sophomore campaign in 2003/04. He started all 78 games that he played in for the Clippers last season but played just 24.1 minutes per contest. One has to imagine that he'll see a good amount of burn for the rebuilding Suns.
Dudley started 50 games (79 played in total) for the struggling Suns last season, averaging 10.9 PPG and 3.1 RPG. The 6'7" forward has a reasonable contract as he earns $4.25MM in each of the next two seasons and can make the same amount in 2015/16 if he triggers his player option. While he's not the centerpiece of the deal for L.A., he can certainly be a valuable addition to their bench.
As for the Bucks, this deal is something of a head-scratcher. Milwaukee parted ways with Tobias Harris in a six-player deal to acquire Redick back in February and five months later, they have just two second-round picks to show for it.
Bucks Readying Offer Sheet For Jeff Teague
There are strong indications that the Bucks are preparing an offer sheet for restricted free agent Jeff Teague, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter). Stein adds (via Twitter) that the threat of an offer sheet could lead the Hawks and Bucks to ramp up talks on a potential sign-and-trade.
Throughout free agency, Milwaukee has been said to covet Teague, and the Hawks have been linked to both Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings, making a sign-and-trade deal a realistic possibility. However, it appears the Bucks' interest in Teague may be stronger than Atlanta's interest in either Ellis or Jennings. The Hawks also don't seem all that enthused by the possibility of re-signing Teague and are have shown some interest in Mo Williams as an alternative, according to Stein (via Twitter), so it will be interesting to see what the team decides to do in this situation.
There are a few points worth mentioning on a potential offer sheet for Teague from Milwaukee. First, if Teague officially signs an offer sheet from the Bucks, the teams will no longer have the option of working out a sign-and-trade — the Hawks would have three days to either match the offer or let Teague walk to the Bucks. Additionally, as Zach Lowe of Grantland points out (via Twitter), Milwaukee would likely have to make at least one corresponding roster move to clear space for a competitive offer for Teague. That could mean amnestying Drew Gooden, or renouncing their rights to Jennings and Ellis.
In other words, there's some incentive for both sides to negotiate a sign-and-trade here, so the rumblings that the Bucks are readying an offer sheet may be just a tactic to move those negotiations forward.
Odds & Ends: Stiemsma, Brewer, Bucks
A few random notes from around the league on this busy Tuesday evening.
- After having his rights renounced by the Timberwolves, free agent center Greg Stiemsma has found interested suitors in about 12 teams around the league, according to a tweet by USAToday's Sam Amick. The Pelicans are one of those teams.
- The Timberwolves are pursuing Corey Brewer and are trying to trade Luke Ridnour to make signing him possible, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein.
- According to Gery Woelfel of JournalTimes.com, there's growing chatter that the Bucks are aggressively pursuing Hawks restricted agent point guard Jeff Teague, and would let Brandon Jennings walk if they can get him.
- Woelfel is also reporting that the Bucks are interested in Gary Neal.