After signing Derek Fisher to help bolster their backcourt for the playoff push, the Thunder have assigned Reggie Jackson to the Tulsa 66ers of the D-League, tweets Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. Jackson, 21, was a first-round draft pick by the Thunder in 2011 out of Boston College. The first-year guard is currently averaging 3.4 PPG and 1.7 APG in limited action.
The deadline for players to be waived in order to be eligible for the playoffs with another team passed last night, and Chris Kaman, who would have been on the radar of just about every team needing a big man had he been bought out, is still with the Hornets. New Orleans "desperately" tried to trade him before last week's trade deadline, writes Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld, but didn't get a worthy offer. He'll be a free agent at season's end, and wants to sign with a contender then, Kennedy said. Here's the rest of what's shaking around the NBA:
- Guard Donald Sloan, who signed last week with the Cavs, gave reporters a little insight on his contract, as the end of this video on Cavs.com shows. His deal extends into next year, but is guaranteed only until the end of this season.
- Newest Mav Kelenna Azubuike, who drew raves from owner Mark Cuban last night, will start off with the Texas Legends, the Mavs D-League affiliate, notes Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News.
- The Hawks expressed interest in trading for Ramon Sessions before the Cavs wound up dealing him to the Lakers, Kennedy tweets.
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel answered reader questions about the Heat. Despite this week's signing of Ronny Turiaf, much of the talk still revolves around the center position.
- Jason Fleming of HoopsWorld rounds up the players who could sign contracts worth as much as $10MM a year as free agents this summer.
- Syracuse sophomore guard Dion Waiters hasn't made up his mind about whether he'll enter the NBA Draft just yet, but he says the Spurs, Thunder and Jazz have called him in case he wants to give it a go, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY. He's projected to go in the middle of the first round, and could climb into the lottery, Zagoria writes.
6:40pm: The signing is official, the team has announced. Forward Ryan Reid has been waived to clear a roster spot for Fisher.
4:13pm: Derek Fisher and the Thunder have agreed to terms on a contract that will bring the point guard to Oklahoma City for the rest of the season, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Fisher is due to clear waivers within an hour, at which point the two sides are expected to finalize the deal.
According to Stein, Oklahoma City's financial flexibility was a factor in giving them the edge over the Heat for Fisher's services. The Thunder still have a good portion of their mid-level exception remaining, and can offer Fisher part of that amount. The Heat could only have offered the 37-year-old a pro-rated portion of the veteran's minimum.
Fisher joins the Thunder after having been traded by the Lakers and then bought out by the Rockets. In 43 games for the Lakers this season, he averaged 5.9 PPG and 3.3 APG in 25.6 MPG, but became expendable when Los Angeles acquired Ramon Sessions.
The Thunder are scheduled to travel to the Staples Center to face the Lakers on March 29th and April 22nd, so Fisher will get multiple opportunities to face his former team, even if the two clubs don't meet in the postseason.
11:48am: Fisher will sign with the Thunder when he clears waivers tonight, tweets TNT's David Aldridge.
10:03am: Derek Fisher won't clear waivers until later this afternoon, but when he does, it looks as if he'll sign with the Thunder. According to Randy Renner of NBA.com, Fisher was spotted in Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport this morning with GM Sam Presti and other members of the Thunder's front office. ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported yesterday that Fisher was "very close" to commiting to the Thunder.
Fisher, 37, was bought out by the Rockets shortly after Houston acquired him in a deadline deal with the Lakers. The Thunder, Heat, and Spurs were considered potential destinations for the point guard, who also had interest in joining the Bulls. The Thunder emerged as the favorites based on their financial flexibility, the role they can offer Fisher, and the potential opportunity to face the veteran's former team in the postseason.
3:42pm: Fisher is in "advanced negotiations" to sign with the Thunder after he clears waivers, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Oklahoma City has the advantage over Miami because the Thunder have more financial flexibility and can offer Fisher a larger role, says Stein.
3:03pm: Sources close to Fisher expect him to sign with the Thunder if he clears waivers, according to Sam Amick of SI.com (Twitter link).
12:48pm: The Spurs are still expecting to sign Mills and don't plan to talk to Fisher, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
12:08pm: The Celtics and Bulls aren't interested in Fisher, according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports (via Twitter). Berger adds that Fisher is expected to discuss "ideas and concepts" with the Spurs, Heat, and Thunder.
8:05am: The Thunder and Heat have emerged as the favorites to sign Derek Fisher, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Fisher, who was bought out by the Rockets, is expected to clear waivers tomorrow.
The Spurs are also believed to have some interest in Fisher, but San Antonio is still hopeful about completing a deal with Patrick Mills. Stein adds that signing with Chicago is something that "strongly interests" Fisher, but the Bulls are focused on signing a big man, possibly Ronny Turiaf.
According to Stein, there are a couple factors that could work in the Thunder's favor in the race for Fisher: The veteran point guard now shares an agent with Kevin Durant, and Oklahoma City has a good chance to face Fisher's old team in the Western Conference playoffs. Unlike the Heat, however, the Thunder don't have an open roster spot, so they'd need to waive someone to clear room for Fisher.
Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com reports that the Rockets allowed Fisher's agent to speak to "about six teams" during buyout negotiations to gauge interest. Knowing there were contending teams interested in bringing him aboard, the 37-year-old felt comfortable giving up the final year of his contract (Twitter links).
The Thunder are reportedly among the favorites to sign Derek Fisher for the remainder of the season, so Royce Young of Daily Thunder explores whether Fisher would be a worthwhile acquisition for Oklahoma City, eventually concluding that having him on board "probably would do a lot more good than bad." Kevin Durant seems to be in agreement, telling Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman that he'd support the move if the team signed Fisher.
While we wait to see where the veteran point guard lands, let's check out a few more items from out of the Northwest….
- The Jazz don't plan to make use of their empty roster spot to add another player this season, GM Kevin O'Connor tells Brian T. Smith of the Salt Lake Tribune.
- Nuggets president Josh Kroenke was frustrated by reports that suggested Denver signed Nene with the intention of trading him, writes Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post. "I want to squash that right now," Kroenke said. "This organization is not in a situation where we can take a $60-plus million gamble like that…. Our initial plan was to have Nene around for quite a while. It hurt me to see that [people] thought that I would view someone like that."
- Acting Trail Blazers GM Chad Buchanan said that releasing Mehmet Okur is a possibility if the team needs to clear a roster spot. Given Okur's season-long back injury, the contract will qualify for about $2MM insurance coverage (Twitter links via Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge).
- In a piece for Blazer's Edge, Jeff Kramer of Storytellers Contracts explains how the Blazers' trades last week affected their potential cap room this summer.
After Derek Fisher and the Rockets reached an agreement on a buyout this weekend, Fisher's business manager Jamie Mior released a statement explaining the decision:
"After much discussion and expressing their desire to welcome Derek to their team this season as well as the 2012-2013 season, the Houston Rockets and Derek have negotiated a buyout. Derek's desire to win a sixth championship is what drives him and will continue to drive him as he moves forward. We thank the Houston Rockets front office for their interest, time and their absolute professionalism. There will be no further comment at this time."
While we wait to see if Fisher clears waivers this Wednesday, rumors about which teams are interested in signing him have already surfaced. Let's round up a few of them….
- ESPN.com's John Hollinger (via Twitter) notes that Fisher declining his $3.4MM option for next year means that the Rockets were essentially paid $200K to acquire a first-round pick.
- The Blazers aren't interested in Fisher, tweets Mike Tokito of The Oregonian.
- The Rockets' buyout of Fisher paid him for the rest of this season, but he opted out of all $3.4MM next year, a person with knowledge of the deal told Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).
- According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein, the Thunder are deciding whether to make a formal bid for Fisher.
- The Clippers aren't interested, says Stein.
- Fisher has strong interest in joining the Bulls or Heat, according to Stein, but it's unclear to what extent that interest is reciprocated.
- Stein adds that the Spurs have some interest, since their signing of Patrick Mills is being held up — according to Stein, the Blazers have yet to renounce Mills' rights, which is odd, since the team tweeted on Saturday that it was done.
- Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld (via Twitter) cautions that there's no guarantee Fisher will play for another club this year. The veteran is weighing the option of re-joining the Lakers in a coaching or front office capacity, tweets Kyler. Fisher, of course, can't re-sign with the Lakers as a player this season.
A month after parting ways with agent Aaron Goodwin, Kevin Durant has signed with Rob Pelinka of Landmark Sports Agency, reports Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal (Twitter link).
Pelinka represents a number of NBA stars, including Durant's teammate in Oklahoma City, James Harden. Landmark's list of clients also features Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer, Eric Gordon, and Andre Iguodala, among others.
Durant is in the first season of the five-year extension he signed in the summer of 2010, so Pelinka doesn't figure to negotiate a new contract for the Thunder star anytime soon. Durant's current deal expires in 2016.
A few teams got a first look at their new acquisitions tonight, while others still await players to arrive and take physicals in their new cities. It's a league that's still in flux less than 36 hours after the trade deadline. Let's take a look at what's going on as everyone gets settled:
- Marquis Daniels of the Celtics and Brian Cook of the Wizards are buyout candidates, says agent Mark Bartelstein via Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports. (Twitter link)
- The Thunder have assigned forward Ryan Reid to the Tulsa 66ers of the D-League, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando, via Twitter. Oklahoma City signed the undrafted 25-year-old forward to a partially guaranteed two-year contract before the season, but he's only appeared in five games so far, scoring a total of eight points in 17 minutes. The 6'8", 232-pound Reid played 48 games with Tulsa last year, averaging 8.5 points and 5.8 rebounds while posting a 14.7 PER.
- According to Alex Raskin of HoopsWorld, Nets GM Billy King is confident his team can re-sign Deron Williams this summer, even though the point guard said today he will not opt in to the final season of his deal, a la Dwight Howard.
- Marcus Camby, who sees himself playing four more years, wants to finish his career with the Rockets, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
- Tommy Dee of Sheridan Hoops takes a look at the NBA prospects of Cincinnati's Yancy Gates.
- ESPN's Chad Ford believes NCAA tournament hero C.J. McCollum of Lehigh is a "serious draft sleeper" (Twitter link). Ford reported a few weeks ago that scouts had McCollum pegged as a late first-round or early second-round selection (Insider only).
- J.A. Adande of ESPN looks at what we've learned from the trade deadline. The most significant takeaway is that it pays to have a Plan B, Adande says.
The most pressing news out of the Northwest Division tonight surrounds the three-team deal apparently in the works between the Lakers and two Northwest teams: the Blazers and Timberwolves. It continues to be held up by the Blazers, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link), who are seeking a draft pick. Here's more from around the division:
- The Blazers took an embarrassing 42-point loss to the Knicks tonight, and John Canzano of The Oregonian thinks the problems can be traced to the front-office turmoil of the past few years.
- The Thunder like the view from the top, and unlike last year, when they acquired Kendrick Perkins and Nazr Mohammed, they aren't likely to make any deals before the deadline, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. As a result, the team has largely avoided the distractions that other teams encounter this time of year, coach Scott Brooks told fellow Oklahoman writer John Rohde.
- The Jazz are in contention for a playoff spot, but it will be better for them in the long run to make a deal before the deadline, even if it's a short-term negative, opines Patrick Kinahan on NBA.com.