Zach LaVine Signs Five-Year Max Deal With Bulls
JULY 7: LaVine has officially signed, the team tweets.
“We are pleased that Zach remains with the Bulls,” executive VP Arturas Karnisovas said in the statement. “His work ethic and character have helped him to become one of the top players in the NBA.”
JULY 1: The Bulls and guard Zach LaVine are in agreement on a five-year, maximum-salary contract that will include a fifth-year player option, agent Rich Paul tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
As our chart of maximum salaries for 2022/23 shows, LaVine will earn approximately $43MM per year on his new deal, which will have a total value of $215,159,700.
LaVine has emerged as one of the NBA’s most talented scorers since last reaching free agency in 2018. An All-Star in each of the last two seasons, the 27-year-old averaged 24.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 4.5 APG on .476/.389/.853 shooting in 67 games (34.7 MPG) in 2021/22, despite battling a left knee issue that forced him to undergo arthroscopic surgery this spring.
When he was a restricted free agent in 2018, LaVine signed a four-year, $78MM offer sheet with the Kings, which Chicago matched. He significantly outplayed that deal and has long been earmarked for a maximum-salary contract this offseason. His health problems this past season raised some questions about whether that max deal would still be on the table, but the knee injury is reportedly not considered a long-term concern.
LaVine was linked to a number of rival suitors earlier in the offseason and didn’t agree to terms with the Bulls right when free agency opened on Thursday, but was always most likely to remain in Chicago — especially with the team willing to offer a fifth year that other teams couldn’t. The Bulls sweetened the pot further by making that fifth year a player option. That option, which applies to the 2026/27 season, will be worth $48,967,380.
LaVine, who was the No. 2 free agent on our top-50 list, has now received the second-largest commitment among free agents this offseason. Our No. 1 free agent, Bradley Beal, also agreed to a five-year, maximum-salary contract, but Beal is eligible for a higher level of max because he more years of NBA service than LaVine.
The Bulls’ projected 2022/23 team salary remains below the tax line, but the team would likely cross into the tax if it uses its full mid-level exception.
Aron Baynes To Work Out For Teams Friday
Free agent center Aron Baynes, who suffered a serious injury during the Tokyo Olympics last summer, will work out for NBA teams Friday in Las Vegas, Brian Windhorst of ESPN reports.
It’s the next step in a remarkable recovery by the 35-year-old Baynes. He suffered a spinal cord injury after a freak fall while playing for the Australian national team.
As he revealed in January, Baynes ran to the bathroom between the third and fourth quarters of Australia’s game against Italy but didn’t return, prompting a concerned staff member to look for him. That staffer found Baynes in the locker room near the bathroom, sprawled on the floor with blood on his uniform and two puncture marks in his upper arm (possibly caused by two towel hooks on the wall).
Baynes, who had landed on his head and neck after slipping off the rim during a dunk attempt in warmups three days earlier, may have hit his head again when he fell on his way to the bathroom. He was unable to stand up or walk under his own power and was quickly rushed to a Japanese hospital, where he stayed for the rest of Australia’s Olympic run, worried that he might be paralyzed. Scans showed internal bleeding was putting pressure on his spine.
Baynes was in hospitals in Tokyo and Brisbane for nearly two months last summer as he learned to walk again, according to Windhorst. He began playing basketball again in January after regaining his strength through daily physical therapy.
Baynes has played nine seasons in the NBA and averaged 6.1 PPG and 5.2 RPG with the Raptors during the 2020/21 season.
Grizzlies, John Konchar Finalize Three-Year Extension
5:00pm: Konchar’s extension is now official, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
11:54am: The Grizzlies are signing John Konchar to a three-year, $19MM extension, his agent George Landberg tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links).
According to Wojnarowski, the deal will be fully guaranteed, and Konchar will now be locked up through the next five seasons, as he still has two years left on his current contract.
As we relayed a few days ago, Konchar’s $2.3MM salary for 2022/23 became guaranteed once he remained on the roster through this past Sunday. He had already been owed a partial guarantee of $840K.
Konchar, 26, went undrafted out of Purdue-Fort Wayne in 2019 after a four-year college career. As shown by Basketball Reference, Konchar is the only known former Mastodon to reach the NBA.
He was a solid role player for the Grizzlies in ’21/22, averaging 4.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 1.5 APG on .515/.413/.551 shooting in 72 games (17.9 MPG). An excellent rebounder for a guard, Konchar holds a career mark of 8.9 boards per 36 minutes.
In addition to his rebounding prowess, Konchar holds impressive career shooting percentages of 61.2% on twos and 40.6% on threes in 134 games (52.2% from the field overall). He’s also an intelligent ball-mover and solid defender, with a career assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.3:1.
De’Anthony Melton, another backup guard, was traded to Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago, so it’s possible that Konchar could have a bigger role next season. Either way, clearly the Grizzlies value his contributions, as evidenced by the fact that Konchar is under contract through ’26/27.
Once the extension becomes official, Konchar won’t be trade-eligible for six months.
Suns’ Devin Booker Signs Four-Year Super-Max Extension
JULY 6: Booker has officially signed his contract extension with the Suns, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. Booker confirmed as much, tweeting, “Signed sealed delivered.”
JUNE 30: Devin Booker is set to sign a four-year, super-max extension with the Suns as early as next week, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link).
The 13th pick of the 2015 draft, Booker has spend his entire seven-year career with Phoenix. He’s been an All-Star each of the past three seasons, but more importantly, at least from a financial perspective, Booker was named to the All-NBA First Team last season, which made him eligible for the super-max, also known as the Designated Veteran Extension.
The 25-year-old is still under contract for a total of $69.83MM through 2023/24, so his extension won’t kick in until ’24/25. The deal will tentatively be worth $214MM from 2024-28, per Charania.
Booker led the Suns to a 64-18 regular season record last season, the best mark in the NBA by a full eight games. However, the team fell to the Mavericks in the second-round of the playoffs, losing in embarrassing fashion at home in Game 7.
Despite the disappointing ending, in many other ways it was a resounding success for both Booker and the Suns, who set a franchise record for wins. Booker averaged 26.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 4.8 APG and 1.1 SPG on .466/.383/.868 shooting in 68 regular season games (34.5 MPG) while showing improved defense.
Booker has also been an impressive postseason performer over the past couple seasons, helping lead the team to the Finals in ’20/21. He’s averaged a combined 26.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 4.5 APG on .448/.356/.900 shooting in 32 career playoff games (39.2 MPG).
Heat Re-Sign Caleb Martin To Three-Year Deal
9:25pm: The Heat have officially re-signed Martin, the team announced in a press release.
“Caleb is a multi-position player with tremendous energy that had a career year with us,” Heat president Pat Riley said in a statement. “He works hard and deserves this as much as any young player in the league. We are extremely happy he has decided to come back.”
11:26am: One of the NBA’s top remaining restricted free agents is coming off the board, according to Anthony Chiang, who reports (via Twitter) that the Heat and forward Caleb Martin are in agreement on a three-year contract worth “about” $20.5MM.
The Heat only held Martin’s Non-Bird rights entering this offseason, limiting their ability to offer him much of a raise after he finished the 2021/22 season on a minimum-salary contract. The terms reported by Chiang indicate that Miami will use the taxpayer portion of its mid-level exception to re-sign Martin and ensure that he gets a substantial pay bump.
As our breakdown of this season’s MLE values shows, a three-year deal worth the full taxpayer mid-level exception would top out at about $20.4MM. Martin’s deal will be fully guaranteed, sources tell Chiang (Twitter link).
Martin emerged as an important piece off the bench in Miami this past season, averaging 9.2 PPG and 3.8 RPG on .507/.413/.763 shooting in 60 games (22.9 MPG), which earned him a promotion from his two-way contract. He opted to just have his two-way deal converted into a rest-of-season contract rather than negotiating a multiyear deal, perhaps recognizing that he’d have a better chance of securing a raise in the offseason than he would have in February.
It turned out to be shrewd move by Martin and his representatives, as the $20.4MM in guaranteed money dwarfs his career earnings to this point. With P.J. Tucker‘s departure to Philadelphia, the 26-year-old Martin could be in line for a bigger role with the Heat in 2022/23.
As John Hollinger of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), signing Martin at the taxpayer mid-level exception likely means Miami will fill out the remainder of its roster with minimum-salary players in order to stay below the tax apron and maintain financial flexibility.
Trail Blazers Sign Anfernee Simons To Four-Year Contract
JULY 6: Simons’ new deal is now official, the Trail Blazers confirmed in a press release.
“Anfernee is already one of the league’s top shooters and this past season he showed elite ability as a shot creator and distributor,” GM Joe Cronin said as part of a larger statement. “We are excited for him to continue the growth he has shown in his first four seasons in Portland.”
The team announced its new deal with center Jusuf Nurkic within the same release.
JUNE 30: The Trail Blazers and restricted free agent guard Anfernee Simons have agreed to a four-year contract worth $100MM, agent Bill Duffy tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Reports leading up to free agency suggested Simons would likely be in line for a deal worth $80MM over four years, so it appears he did better than anticipated. It’s also possible that $100MM is the max Simons could earn on the new contract after incentives and the base value is lower.
Simons, who turned 23 earlier this month, had a breakout fourth season with Portland, posting career-highs in points (17.3), rebounds (2.6) and assists (3.9) in 57 games (30 starts, 29.5 minutes per night). He also had a very respectable .443/.405/.888 shooting line, good for a 58.3 true shooting percentage.
While Simons certainly earned a significant raise on the $3.9MM he made last season, there are some questions about how he might fit next to another ball dominant player like fellow guard Damian Lillard. Simons’ emergence came on the heels of injuries to Lillard and CJ McCollum, who was later traded to New Orleans.
For example, Simons averaged 12.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists on .426/.385/.935 shooting (55.1% true) in 27 games (24.1 minutes) as a reserve in 2021/22, versus 22 points, 2.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists on .452/.415/.871 shooting (60% true) in 30 games (34.3 minutes) as a starter. He functioned as the primary ball-handler while starting and thrived in the role.
Simons is an excellent athlete, but he’s not very strong and has been a poor defender to this point in his career. Still, he’s young and could improve with time.
Knicks, Pistons Complete Jalen Duren, Kemba Walker Trade
The Knicks and Pistons have officially completed their part of the draft-night trade involving Kemba Walker and No. 13 overall pick Jalen Duren, according to a press release from the Knicks.
Although the deal was initially reported as a three-team trade involving New York, Detroit, and Charlotte, the Hornets and Knicks finalized their half of the swap on draft night — the Hornets acquired a protected 2023 first-round pick and four future second-rounders in exchange for the rights to Duren.
The trade finalized today sends Walker and the rights to Duren to the Pistons in exchange for the Bucks’ 2025 first-round pick (top-four protected), which Detroit officially acquired earlier today from Portland in its Jerami Grant deal.
The move is the first step toward ensuring that the Knicks have the cap room necessary to completed their signings of Jalen Brunson and Isaiah Hartenstein. Detroit and New York also agreed to a separate trade that will send Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel to the Pistons, creating additional space for the Knicks.
While Walker is on the Pistons’ roster for the time being, he’s expected to hit the waiver wire sometime soon. A report last Thursday indicated that the two sides were finalizing a buyout agreement.
Luguentz Dort Re-Signs With Thunder On Five-Year Deal
JULY 6: Dort’s new deal with the Thunder is now official, the team announced in a press release.
JUNE 30: The Thunder are re-signing restricted free agent Luguentz Dort to a five-year, $87.5MM contract, Dort’s agent Thad Foucher tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
The barrel-chested Dort, who turned 23 in April, has showed continuous improvement after going undrafted out of Arizona State in 2019. He averaged 6.8 PPG and 2.3 RPG on .394/.297/.792 shooting in 36 games (22.8 MPG) as a rookie, with those averages increasing to 14 PPG and 3.6 RPG on .387/.343/.744 shooting in 2020/21 (52 games, 29.7 MPG).
Dort averaged 17.2 PPG and 4.2 RPG on .404/.332/.843 shooting in 51 games (32.6 MPG) last season. His shooting numbers seem fairly mediocre, but the majority of Dort’s shots come from three or at the rim, and he gets to the line a good amount, so his 54.1% true shooting percentage is actually decent.
Dort’s hallmark comes on the defensive end of the court, where his strength, toughness and versatility really shine. He’s an excellent athlete with a strong frame (6’3″, 215 pounds) and is capable of switching across multiple positions.
A report last week indicated that Oklahoma City would pick up Dort’s team option for ’22/23, which would have made him an unrestricted free agent in 2023, but clearly they had a change of heart after examining the amount of salary cap space rival teams will have next summer. Instead the Thunder chose to decline the option, making him a restricted free agent.
The modern NBA is dominated by wings capable of playing both sides of the ball, so his contract aligns with the value teams place on players of his mold. Considering his trajectory and the fact that he’s only entering his fourth season, there’s a good chance that it will be a very reasonable deal for both sides for years to come.
Trail Blazers Waive Eric Bledsoe
5:20pm: The Trail Blazers have officially placed Bledsoe on waivers, per a press release. He’s on track to become an unrestricted free agent on Friday.
9:41am: The Trail Blazers intend to waive Eric Bledsoe in the coming days, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who says several teams are expected to register interest in Bledsoe as a free agent.
Bledsoe had been under contract for $19.38MM in 2022/23, but only $3.9MM of that money is fully guaranteed. If the point guard were to remain under contract through July 10, his full salary would become guaranteed, so Portland will officially waive him before that happens.
Bledsoe, 32, began the 2021/22 season with the Clippers, appearing in 54 games (29 starts) for L.A. and averaging 9.9 PPG, 4.2 APG, and 3.4 RPG in 25.5 minutes per contest. However, he was sent to Portland in the Norman Powell/Robert Covington trade prior to the trade deadline.
Bledsoe never actually appeared in a single game for the Blazers. The team announced in March that he was being shut down for the season after receiving a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection to address the tendinopathy in his left Achilles tendon.
The Blazers were in tank mode after the trade deadline and were shutting down just about veteran on their roster who had a minor ailment, so there’s no reason to think that Bledsoe’s Achilles issue is significant enough to hinder his ability to catch on with a new team once he reaches free agency.
Portland will have the option of applying Bledsoe’s $3.9MM in dead money solely to the 2022/23 cap or stretching it into increments of $1.3MM across three seasons. Stretching that cap hit could be something the Blazers consider, given their proximity to the luxury tax line.
Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype (Twitter link) estimates that Portland’s team salary is approximately $3.7MM above the tax threshold, but we’ll need to wait for the official details to come in on contracts for Anfernee Simons, Jusuf Nurkic, and Gary Payton II to know for sure.
Lakers Sign Thomas Bryant To One-Year Deal
4:02pm: The Lakers have officially signed Bryant, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. The big man told reporters today that he’s fully recovered from the ACL tear he suffered in early 2021.
“(It feels) 100 percent great,” Bryant said (Twitter link via Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group). “Not good. Great.”
6:01am: The Lakers have reached an agreement with free agent center Thomas Bryant and will sign him to a one-year contract, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Haynes doesn’t provide any specifics on the financial terms, but given that Los Angeles has committed to using its taxpayer mid-level exception on Lonnie Walker and is ineligible to acquire a player via sign-and-trade without shedding significant salary, it’s safe to assume it will be a minimum-salary deal.
Bryant, who will turn 25 later this month, began his NBA career with the Lakers, having been acquired from Utah in a draft-night deal in 2017. The 42nd overall pick appeared in just 15 games as a rookie with L.A. and was waived in the summer of 2018.
The Wizards claimed Bryant off waivers and the big man spent the next four seasons in D.C., though his time there was marred by injuries. After a promising 2019/20 season in which he averaged 13.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 1.1 BPG in 46 games (36 starts), Bryant suffered a torn ACL early in the ’20/21 campaign. That injury resulted in him playing just 37 games over the last two seasons.
Now fully recovered from his ACL tear, Bryant drew interest from the Raptors, Celtics, Bucks, and Jazz this offseason, sources tell Haynes.
The former Indiana Hoosier could be an intriguing bounce-back candidate entering the 2022/23 season. According to Haynes, he’ll be given the opportunity to earn a spot in the starting lineup with his new team in Los Angeles.