- The Pelicans remain in the market for an impact guard and an outside shooter, but would likely need to shed salary to add both, tweets Scott Kushner of The Advocate. As Kushner notes, it will be complicated for New Orleans to accomplish all three goals.
JULY 12, 8:28pm: The signing is official, the Cavaliers announced on their website.
JULY 2, 3:09pm: Kyle Korver has agreed to a new three-year, $22MM contract with the Cavaliers, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical. The final season is only partially guaranteed, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
The 36-year-old came to Cleveland in a January deal and provided a needed outside threat. He averaged 10.7 points in 35 games and shot .485 from 3-point range.
The Cavs acquired Korver’s Bird rights when they brought him over from Atlanta, which is fortunate because they don’t have any available cap room to use to re-sign him. The 14-year veteran will get a nice raise from the little more than $5.2MM he made this season.
Several other teams expressed an interest in Korver, including the Pelicans and Bucks, but he decided to remain with the Eastern Conference champions and take another shot at a ring.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Earlier today, we told you the Rockets and Knicks were looking for a fourth team to help finalize a trade involving Carmelo Anthony. The Pelicans have expressed interest in becoming that fourth team, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post.
It’s not clear whether New Orleans would take on the three years and more than $61MM left on Ryan Anderson‘s contract or if he would go to another team. Anderson spent four years with the Pelicans franchise before signing with Houston last summer. The Rockets need to move his salary to make room for Anthony, while the Knicks have no need for Anderson because he plays the same position as Kristaps Porzingis and he goes against their new philosophy of avoiding older players on long-term deals.
Representatives for Anthony would like to see the deal get done this week, Berman adds. Houston has scheduled a press conference for Friday to officially welcome Chris Paul, but Berman sees little chance that the trade will be complete in time for Anthony to make a surprise appearance. Multiple sources tell Berman that no deal will happen until “well after” Friday. He states that the sides are getting closer to an agreement and are still “motivated,” but much work still remains. A proposed three-team trade reportedly “stalled” over the weekend, forcing the Rockets and Knicks to start the process over.
Sources tell Berman that Knicks acting president Steve Mills is so focused on the Anthony negotiations that it has prevented the team from finding a veteran point guard. There is speculation that New York may try to fill the position through the Anthony deal.
Houston’s first attempts to acquire Anthony were unsuccessful, Berman adds, because the Knicks were restructuring their front office after former president Phil Jackson was fired. However, owner James Dolan has now signed off on moving Anthony and plans to make Mills the new team president.
Insiders tell Berman that Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni initially wasn’t on board with acquiring Anthony because of their past differences in New York. However, with Paul, James Harden and Nene all pushing for the move, D’Antoni has been left with no choice.
After signing Thabo Sefolosha earlier today, the Jazz are looking at more moves to beef up their front line, according to Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune.
Utah would like to add another forward and a center to back up Rudy Gobert, Jones relays. The Jazz are trying to trade veteran big man Boris Diaw, whose $7.5MM salary for the upcoming season doesn’t become fully guaranteed until Saturday. If they can’t find a trade partner, they are expected to waive Diaw before the end of the week.
Jones mentions three free agents that Utah is targeting: small forward Dante Cunningham, who spent last season with the Pelicans, power forward Ersan Ilyasova, who was traded from the Sixers to the Hawks at the February deadline, and center Willie Reed, who is coming off a breakthrough season as a backup with the Heat.
Jazz management is especially fond of Cunningham and Reed because they bring toughness and atleticism on defense. Cunningham is also coming off a career-best year from 3-point range, connecting on 39% from long distance.
Sefolosha, who also has a strong reputation as a defender, chose the Jazz because they utilize an international style of offense similar to what he experienced in Atlanta, Jones writes. He started 42 games for Atlanta last season, but Utah may view him as a backup to Joe Ingles.
The Jazz have two options for signing Sefolosha, who will receive $10.5MM over two years, according to a post from Bobby Marks on ESPN Now. They could remain over the cap and use part of their mid-level exception, which would allow them to keep a $3.3MM bi-annual exception and $3.2MM of the MLE. The other option is to waive Diaw and sign Sefolosha with cap room, leaving them with $6MM to spend, along with a $4.3MM room MLE.
JULY 11: The Pelicans have officially signed Jackson, the team announced today in a press release. While terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed by the club, a three-year contract for Jackson – as reported below – would mean dipping into New Orleans’ mid-level exception.
JULY 8: The Pelicans have worked out a three-year deal with second-round pick Frank Jackson, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical. The 31st overall selection out of Duke will get two guaranteed seasons, along with a partial guarantee for the third year.
New Orleans traded the 40th pick and $1.8MM to Charlotte on draft night for the right to move up and take Jackson. He figures to compete for playing time right away in a Pelicans backcourt that is still being rebuilt after it was depleted in the February trade for DeMarcus Cousins.
Jackson, a 6’4″ combo guard, averaged 10.9 points per game during his lone season with the Blue Devils.
- DeMarcus Cousins is entering his walk year and Jrue Holiday is already lobbying him to re-sign with the Pelicans, William Guillory of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes. Holiday stayed with New Orleans by signing a five-year, $126MM deal as an unrestricted free agent. Cousins is no longer eligible for the designated player extension because the Kings dealt him. He can still sign an extension but can make more in free agency, Guillory notes.
- As was expected based on initial reports, Jrue Holiday‘s total earning potential over five years with the Pelicans ranges from $126-150MM based on bonuses (Twitter link).
JULY 6: The Pelicans have officially re-signed Holiday, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 1: The Pelicans have reached an agreement to re-sign point guard Jrue Holiday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports that the two sides have struck a five-year, $126MM deal. Wojnarowski adds that the value of the contract, which includes a fifth-year player option, could increase to approximately $150MM via incentives.
According to Wojnarowski, Holiday met with Pelicans officials with New Orleans late on Friday night in New Orleans, and while they didn’t make a deal immediately, the 27-year-old reached an agreement with the team just a few hours later. Holiday had been expected to meet with the Pacers and/or Knicks if he hadn’t agreed to re-sign with the Pelicans.
As Wojnarowski details, the Pelicans and Holiday developed a strong bond after the way the franchise helped the point guard deal with a family crisis last fall, when he missed the start of the 2016/17 season to care for his wife and newborn child. Head coach Alvin Gentry also has “tremendous trust” in Holiday’s ability to run New Orleans’ offfense, per Woj.
Re-signing Holiday was New Orleans’ top priority this offseason, particularly given the team’s salary cap situation. With more than $85MM in guaranteed salaries already on their books for 2017/18, the Pelicans weren’t in a position to create significant cap room to sign a replacement point guard if Holiday had decided to head elsewhere.
Because they held Holiday’s Bird rights, the Pelicans had the ability to go over the cap to lock him up, and now will have the mid-level ($8.4MM) and bi-annual ($3.3MM) exceptions available to add further reinforcements. They’ll also have a “big three” of Holiday, Anthony Davis, and DeMarcus Cousins for at least the next year, until Cousins’ contract expires in the summer of 2018.
Holiday, the 17th overall pick in 2009, arrived in New Orleans as a result of a draft-day trade in 2013. He has been reliable and productive over the last four years when he gets on the court, though he has been plagued by injuries too, having averaged just 52 games per season. In 2016/17, the UCLA product averaged 15.4 PPG and 7.3 APG.
It will be interesting to see whether the Pelicans express any interest in Justin Holiday this week. The Holiday brothers publicly stated earlier this year that they’d love the opportunity to play together, and Jrue’s older brother is also a free agent this summer.
Jrue Holiday was the No. 14 player on our list of this year’s top 50 free agents. He’s one of several point guards who has already struck an agreement since free agency opened less than eight hours ago. Stephen Curry, Jeff Teague, Patty Mills, and Shaun Livingston also have new deals in hand, leaving Kyle Lowry, George Hill, and Derrick Rose as the top point guards available.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Lakers believe George Hill could provide backcourt depth, improve their outside shooting and serve as a locker room veteran, writes Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News. The 31-year-old free agent met with L.A. officials on Monday, although no deal was reached. Hill could be used as a backup to rookie point guard Lonzo Ball or could be shifted to shooting guard. He averaged a career-high 16.9 points with the Jazz last season and shot .403 from 3-point range.
In their quest for backcourt help, the Lakers also met with Dion Waiters on Sunday and have had several phone conversations with Rajon Rondo. L.A. has spoken to several coaches and players who have worked with Rondo to see how he might handle a mentor’s role with Ball.
There’s more news from the Pacific Division:
- The Timberwolves are the latest team to reach out to Lakers guard Nick Young, Medina notes in the same story. They join the Warriors, Thunder and Pelicans, who have also been linked to the 10-year veteran. Young revived his career this season, becoming a full-time starter and averaging 13.2 points per game.
- The Clippers, Knicks and Magic all contacted Darren Collison before he agreed to a two-year deal with the Pacers Monday night, tweets Sean Cunningham of ABC 10 in Sacramento. The Kings made no effort to keep Collison, he adds.
- A proposed three-team trade that would bring Danilo Gallinari to the Clippers would push the team closer to the repeater tax, posts Bobby Marks on ESPN Now. Adding Gallinari would give L.A. 10 players under contract with $110.4MM in guaranteed salary. The Clippers would hit the repeater tax if their salary tops $119M, so they will have to be careful in assembling the rest of their roster.
- Gary Sacks has resigned as Clippers assistant GM, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Sacks’ contract expired Friday.
11:15am: The Cavaliers and Spurs are also interested in Crawford if the buyout goes through, Haynes tweets, although Atlanta would prefer to trade him. Crawford has more than $17.2MM in guaranteed money over the next two seasons, and the Hawks would want him to give up a significant portion of that before agreeing to a buyout, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link).
9:24am: Once Jamal Crawford gets bought out by the Hawks, there’s a good chance he will sign with the Warriors, according to Chris Haynes and Marc J. Spears of ESPN.com.
Crawford is part of a proposed three-team trade that would send Paul Millsap to the Nuggets and Danilo Gallinari to the Clippers. Crawford would be shipped to the Hawks, along with Diamond Stone, and will petition Atlanta for a buyout, sources told ESPN.
Once he hits the market, Golden State would be favored to sign him with its $5.2MM taxpayer mid-level exception.
Crawford, 37, played for the Warriors during the 2008/09 season and often talks about how much he enjoys the Bay Area, according to Haynes and Spears. The three-time Sixth Man of the Year appeared in all 82 games for the Clippers this season, averaging 12.3 points per night. He has said he will only consider playing for contenders once the buyout is complete.
The Warriors are also pursuing Nick Young, the authors add, with Draymond Green and Kevin Durant playing a part in the recruiting. The 10-year veteran is also in talks with the Pelicans, who can offer more playing time, but Golden State could give Young his first chance to win a title.
The Warriors probably don’t have the resources to add both Crawford and Young, but the ESPN story says there is a “strong possibility” they will land one of them.