Heat Sign Bam Adebayo To Maximum-Salary Extension
NOVEMBER 28, 3:18pm: Adebayo has officially signed the contract, according to a team press release.
NOVEMBER 24, 2:39pm: The Heat and Adebayo have agreed to terms on the extension, reports ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link). It’s straight five-year deal, with no player or team option, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link).
Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) confirms that Adebayo’s new maximum-salary extension will have Rose Rule language and could start at up to 30% of the 2021/22 cap rather than 25%, as detailed below.
NOVEMBER 24, 12:29pm: The Heat are moving forward with a contract extension for fourth-year big man Bam Adebayo, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press confirms (via Twitter) that the club is in the process of extending Adebayo’s deal.
Adebayo was one of two dozen players eligible for a rookie scale extension entering the offseason. Coming off a breakout year, he looked like one of the most deserving candidates for a new deal, along with Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, and De’Aaron Fox, all of whom have agreed to maximum-salary extensions in recent days.
However, the Heat’s salary cap situation complicated the team’s decision. Miami has been focused on preserving as much cap room as possible for the 2021 offseason, and a new deal for Adebayo will increase his cap charge from a hold worth about $15MM to a new salary worth at least $28MM (f he gets the max), eliminating the possibility of a max-salary slot for a free agent.
The fact that the Heat are now moving forward on an extension for Adebayo could mean a number of things. Maybe Adebayo wasn’t waiting a year for his new contract; maybe the Heat remain confident that if a star like Giannis Antetokounmpo is available and wants to play in Miami next year, they’ll be able to figure it out even without the necessary cap room, like they did for Jimmy Butler in 2019; or maybe the Heat believe Antetokounmpo is becoming more likely to sign a super-max extension with the Bucks and remain in Milwaukee.
According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link), someone who knows Giannis well told him that the reigning MVP would be impressed by the Heat extending Adebayo early rather than making him wait until next year. Still, if Antetokounmpo is moving closer to accepting a deal with the Bucks, Adebayo’s agent Alex Saratsis would certainly know about it — he also represents Giannis.
Whatever the thinking, it’s good news for Adebayo, who was a full-time starter for the Heat in the first time in 2019/20 and responded with an All-Star performance, averaging 15.9 PPG, 10.2 RPG, and 5.1 APG in 72 games (33.6 MPG).
He also helped anchor Miami’s defense, blocking 1.3 shots per game and averaging 1.1 steals as well. His play was crucial in helping the Heat reach the NBA Finals, though his ability to contribute in that series against the Lakers was compromised by a neck injury.
The Heat are expected to give Adebayo a five-year maximum-salary contract that will match the ones signed by those other young stars from his draft class, as Winderman reports. That would put the 23-year-old on track to earn at least $163MM and as much as $195.6MM over the life of the deal, based on current cap projections. The new contract will begin in 2021/22, once his rookie deal expires.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Thon Maker Signs With Cavaliers
NOVEMBER 29: The signing is official, according to the Real GM Transactions Page.
NOVEMBER 28: Center Thon Maker is signing with the Cavaliers, Michael Scotto of Hoops Hype tweets.
It’s a training camp deal, according to Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Twitter link). Maker became an unrestricted free agent when the Pistons failed to extend him a qualifying offer. He’ll look to make a strong enough impression to gain a spot on Cleveland’s 15-man roster.
The 23-year-old appeared in 60 game last season for Detroit, averaging 4.7 PPG and 2.8 RPG in 12.9 MPG. Maker began his career with the Bucks in 2016 after being selected with the 10th pick of the draft, but he never lived up to his lottery pick status. Detroit acquired him midway through the 2018/19 season.
NBA Sends Teams COVID-19 Safety Guide Ahead Of Training Camp
As the NBA prepares for the start of training camp, the league sent all teams a 134-page “Health and Safety Protocol Guide” as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage around the world.
The 2020/21 season will not take place inside a bubble like the resumption of the 2019/20 campaign in which a campus was established in Disney World Resort in Florida. Therefore, as teams play at their home arenas and travel for other games, the league is instituting protocols with the hopeful expectation of limiting the spread of COVID-19.
Here are some of the known outlines in the guide:
- Per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link), if a player tests positive for COVID-19, there are two ways for him to be cleared for a return: At least 10 days passing since the initial positive test or symptom onset or two negative PCR tests 24 hours apart. Bontemps adds that once a player is cleared, he must spend two days working out solo with nobody else present. The player also may not use the locker room or change clothes and must wear a mask and get a cardiac screening.
- Bontemps further states that players who test positive cannot exercise for at least 10 days and then monitored during individual workouts for two days. Therefore, even an asymptomatic player would miss at least 12 days.
- Bontemps also notes that there are no criteria listed for how many positive tests or any other metric that would require a shutdown of play. As has been the case with the NFL and MLB, it would be a fluid situation.
- Per the New York Times’ Marc Stein (Twitter link), with training camps to open Tuesday, individual workouts will be capped at four players and four team staff members at a time. Everyone participating must register three negative PCR tests.
- Anyone participating in training camp must quarantine from at least Nov. 27 – Dec. 2, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews (Twitter link). Testing will begin today, Andrews adds in a separate tweet.
- The NBA will establish a hotline to report safety and protocol violations, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. A hotline was also set up inside the campus in Orlando.
- As shown in a graphic tweeted by Charania, the protocols will include keeping six feet or more of distance and face masks being required at all times outside of eating/drinking, practicing or playing on the court, or while enclosed in an office with nobody else around. Additionally, daily testing will be required. Finally, virtual educations and awareness sessions are shown as a requirement.
- USA Today’s Mark Medina tweets that for the upcoming season, every NBA team will have an infectious disease specialist, infection control specialist, rapid testing coordinator, testing officer, testing manager and contact tracing officer, two contact tracers and team protocol enforcement officer. He adds that teams will also have two face mask enforcement officers, a player liaison, facility hygiene officer, arena health and hygiene manager, health education and awareness officer and travel safety officer.
- Teams will be allowed to pay housing for players in order to isolate those who test positive, according to Bontemps. Normally, they are prohibited to pay for housing since it’s considered a way to circumvent the salary cap.
- Travel parties will be limited of 45 people, including up to 17 players, Bontemps adds.
Knicks Sign Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
1:04pm: The signing is official, according to the team’s PR department (Twitter link).
9:16am: The Knicks have agreed to a one-year deal with veteran forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The deal is expected to be an Exhibit 10 contract for Kidd-Gilchrist, per Newsday’s Steve Popper (Twitter link), which is essentially a non-guaranteed, one-year minimum-salary deal.
Regarded as a solid defender, Kidd-Gilchrist has ties to the current Knicks organization as current president Leon Rose represented him at CAA and is longtime friends with executive vice president and senior basketball adviser William Wesley. The 27-year-old appeared in just 25 games between the Hornets and Mavericks last season after spending the first seven seasons of his career with the Charlotte organization.
The Kentucky product was taken second overall by the then-Charlotte Bobcats in the 2012 NBA Draft and subsequently developed into a solid starter for the team. After three solid seasons, the Hornets rewarded Kidd-Gilchrist with a four-year, $52MM contract extension in August 2015.
Right shoulder injuries limited him to just seven games in his first season post-extension in 2015/16 but Kidd-Gilchrist returned to start 81 games and then 74 games in the two campaigns proceeding it. However, starting in 2018, Kidd-Gilchrist lost his starting role whilst battling a barrage of injuries.
Ultimately, Kidd-Gilchrist fell out of the rotation and was waived by the Hornets earlier this year before latching on with Dallas for 13 games down the stretch.
Wright To Pistons, Ariza To Thunder, Johnson To Mavs In Three-Team Trade
NOVEMBER 27: The Thunder, Mavericks, and Pistons have officially finalized their three-team trade, according to press releases from the teams. As detailed below, Ariza and Jackson are headed to Oklahoma City, Johnson is going to Dallas, and Wright moves to Detroit.
The Thunder also acquired a 2023 second-round pick (the more favorable of Dallas’ and Miami’s picks) and the Mavs’ 2026 second-rounder in the deal.
NOVEMBER 21: The Thunder, Mavericks, and Pistons have agreed to a three-team trade, according to reports from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links) and Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter links).
The move will send James Johnson from Oklahoma City to Dallas and Delon Wright from Dallas to Detroit. The Thunder will receive Trevor Ariza (from the Pistons), Justin Jackson (from the Mavericks), and – unsurprisingly – some form of draft compensation.
From the Mavericks’ perspective, the deal will allow them to open up a roster spot and add some veteran toughness, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN, who tweets that Dallas intends to keep Johnson on its roster. Moving Wright, who had two years left on his contract, and taking back Johnson’s expiring $16MM deal also allows the Mavs to create some added cap flexibility for the summer of 2021.
The Pistons will reduce team salary for 2020/21 and will reunite Wright with his former coach in Toronto, Dwane Casey. Having signed a three-year deal in Dallas in 2019, Wright had a decent year off the bench, averaging 6.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 3.3 APG in 73 games (21.5 MPG). But he became expendable when the club acquired Josh Richardson earlier this week.
As for the Thunder, I’d be surprised if they have big plans for Ariza or Jackson — they simply saw another opportunity to pick up an extra draft pick to add to Sam Presti‘s constantly-growing collection.
Ariza, who is still technically a member of the Blazers, has now been part of trade agreements that will send him to Houston, Detroit, and Oklahoma City within the last few days. Those deals will all be completed after the transaction moratorium lifts on Sunday.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NBA Announces 2020 Preseason Schedule
The NBA has officially released the full schedule for its 2020 preseason, which will tip off on Friday, December 11. The preseason slate features 49 total games and runs through Saturday, December 19.
As the league explains in its press release, every team will play at least one home game and one road game. There are some clubs playing as many as four games, while others just play two or three.
The full schedule, which begins with a five-game slate that include a Lakers/Clippers matchup, can be found right here.
The NBA indicated in its announcement that the schedule for the first half of the 2020/21 regular season (December 22 through March 4) will be released “in the coming days.” The schedule for the second half (March 11 to May 16) will be announced during the latter portion of the first-half schedule, according to the league.
Knicks Add Austin Rivers Via Sign-And-Trade
The Knicks have officially completed their addition of Austin Rivers in a sign-and-trade deal with the Rockets rather than signing him outright, announcing the move today in a press release.
The move also sends the draft rights of three players – guard Sergio Llull, forward Tadija Dragicevic, and forward Axel Hervelle – to New York. In exchange, the Rockets receive the draft rights to guard Issuf Sanon and create a modest trade exception.
Rivers had agreed over the weekend to sign a three-year, $10MM deal with the Knicks. The final two years of his new contract are non-guaranteed, which is permitted under sign-and-trade rules.
The inclusion of Llull in this deal is the most interesting new piece of information. The Rockets have long attempted to get the Spanish guard, who was selected 34th overall in the 2009 draft, to come stateside and play in the NBA, but he has preferred to remain in his home country with Real Madrid — he has played for the EuroLeague club since 2007.
At age 33, Llull seems increasingly unlikely to ever make the move to the NBA. That’s even more true of Dragicevic and Hervelle, who were drafted in 2008 and 2005, respectively, and are in their mid-30s now. However, their rights could be useful as filler in future trades.
Sanon, who has played for Slovenian and Ukrainian teams since being drafted in 2018, is still a candidate to eventually sign an NBA contract. He was the 44th overall pick two years ago and is still just 21 years old.
Of course, the only player of immediate importance in the deal is Rivers, who will add some veteran experience to the Knicks’ backcourt in 2020/21. He averaged 8.8 PPG and 2.6 RPG on .421/.356/.703 shooting in 68 games (23.4 MPG) for the Rockets last season.
New York will technically be hard-capped as a result of acquiring a player via sign-and-trade. The team remains far below the cap for the time being though, so it’s fair to assume that $138.93MM hard cap won’t become an issue in 2020/21.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nets Re-Sign Tyler Johnson
After joining the Nets for the NBA’s summer restart in Orlando, guard Tyler Johnson has signed a new contract to return to Brooklyn, the team announced today in a press release. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Johnson, 28, was sent from Miami to Phoenix at the 2019 trade deadline and appeared in 44 total games for the Suns, including 31 in 2019/20. Formerly a solid rotation player with the Heat, Johnson had a down year in Phoenix and was released following the trade deadline.
The Fresno State alum bounced back nicely as a member of the Nets, having signed as a substitute player when a number of Brooklyn players pulled out of the restart. Johnson averaged 12.0 PPG, 3.0 APG, and 3.0 RPG on .405/.389/1.000 shooting in eight seeding games (24.3 MPG), then added 13.8 PPG on .457/.393/1.000 shooting in the club’s four playoff contests.
If Johnson makes the Nets’ regular season roster as the team’s 15th man, he’ll add extra depth to an impressive group of ball-handlers that already includes point guards Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Bruce Brown, as well as Kevin Durant and Caris LeVert.
Kings Sign Frank Kaminsky
NOVEMBER 30: The deal is official, according to a press release issued by the Kings.
NOVEMBER 26: The Kings have agreed to sign free agent forward/center Frank Kaminsky to a one-year contract, his agent Kevin Bradbury tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Kaminsky’s one-year deal with Sacramento is non-guaranteed, per Jason Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Kaminsky, 27, averaged 9.7 PPG and 4.5 RPG on .450/.331/.678 shooting in 39 games (19.9 MPG) for Phoenix in 2019/20. A patella stress fracture shortened his season, however, and he played a very limited role during the Suns’ 8-0 run in the bubble at Walt Disney World. The team declined his $5MM option for 2020/21 last week.
Having lost Alex Len and Harry Giles in free agency, Sacramento has fortified its frontcourt by agreeing to a deal with Hassan Whiteside on Wednesday and now lining up a contract for Kaminsky.
The two incoming veterans will join a rotation that also features Richaun Holmes, Marvin Bagley, and Nemanja Bjelica up front.
Marco Belinelli Signs With Virtus Bologna
Free agent shooting guard Marco Belinelli is headed back overseas to continue his playing career, as Italian team Virtus Bologna confirmed today in a press release that it has signed Belinelli to a three-year contract.
Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport first reported Belinelli’s agreement with Virtus Bologna, indicating that the veteran sharpshooter didn’t receive any offers he liked from NBA teams (hat tip to Sportando).
The 18th overall pick in the 2007 draft, Belinelli has spent 13 years in the NBA, playing for nine different teams during that stretch. The 34-year-old accepted a reduced role for San Antonio in 2019/20, averaging 6.3 PPG on .392/.376/.828 shooting in 57 games. His 15.5 minutes per contest last season represented his lowest mark since his rookie year in ’07/08.
By returning to his home country of Italy, Belinelli will reunite with his first professional team — he began his career with Virtus Bologna in 2002 at age 16.
It’s not clear whether or not Belinelli’s new deal will have NBA outs. Either way, it’s possible he has played his last NBA game.