Magic Sign Aaron Gordon, Elfrid Payton
10:01am: Their contracts are indeed for 120% of the rookie scale, as Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel tweets.
9:44am: The Magic have signed No. 4 overall pick Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton, the 10th overall pick, the team announced via press release. Official signings with first-round picks are one of the few maneuvers allowed during the July moratorium. They’re both presumably getting the standard 120% of the rookie scale, so Gordon will likely make slightly more than $3.992MM this season while Payton will probably draw nearly $2.398MM, as our table of salaries for first-round picks shows.
Orlando pulled a surprise with its choice of Gordon, a power forward from Arizona, while Dante Exum and Marcus Smart were still on the board, but the team filled its need for a point guard not long after, swinging a trade to acquire Payton. Orlando gave up No. 12 pick Dario Saric, a 2017 first-rounder and a 2015 second-rounder to the Sixers in exchange for the point guard from Louisiana-Lafayette.
Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors gave the Magic an A for their draft, one in which they also netted No. 56 overall pick Devyn Marble. Still, he pointed to the risk involved with Gordon when he examined him as part of our Prospect Profile Series.
Southeast Rumors: Wizards, Heat, McRoberts
Plenty of teams are hoping for a chance to pitch to LeBron James, but the Wizards aren’t one of them, as owner Ted Leonsis explained in an appearance on 106.7 The Fan today. Scott Allen of The Washington Post has the transcription.
“You’d have to have cap space and you’d have to renounce all your free agents,” Leonsis said. “Then you’d have to be able to call their agent and say, ‘Would you think he would consider coming here?’ So, I never understood the grandstanding. Some of the bloggers have said, just get in the mix and throw your name out there. OK, so you generate positive pixels and it creates these faux expectations, and LeBron is in total control of his future. LeBron will do what LeBron wants to do. We have to be able to control what we want to control, and right now our main targets are retaining our players.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast Division:
- The Heat‘s top two targets for outside improvement appear to be Kyle Lowry and Luol Deng, but neither seem likely to end up with the team, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Deng is unwilling to take a discount to go to Miami, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com, probably putting him out of reach (Twitter link).
- Hornets free agent power forward Josh McRoberts and the Blazers have mutual interest in a deal, as Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com hears.
- The Wizards would like to bring back free agent point guard Garrett Temple, but they face competition from the Heat, Magic and Bulls, who have also expressed interest, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
- The Hawks are interested in re-signing Elton Brand, but the Knicks are eyeing him, too, writes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Latest On Greg Monroe
10:27am: The Cavs, too, are considering a run at Monroe, according to Stein (Twitter link).
9:52am: There’s a “high possibility” the Pistons will swing a sign-and-trade if Monroe gets a max offer from another team, a source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link).
TUESDAY, 12:58am: The Hawks also contacted Monroe tonight, a source close to the situation tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball insiders (on Twitter).
9:48pm: The Blazers also have serious interest in a sign-and-trade for Monroe, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
8:53pm: The Pistons have made it known that they want to keep Greg Monroe but won’t rule out a sign-and-trade if his price tag gets to be too high, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein adds (link) that the Hawks are one team that keeps coming up as a potential suitor for Monroe when he officially becomes a restricted free agent.
You can add the Magic to the list of teams that are said to have interest in the big man, Stein tweets. Monroe, who is ranked fifth in Chuck Myron’s Free Agent Power Rankings for this summer, figures to have many suitors in the coming weeks. However, the big man doesn’t sound all that eager to take a free agency tour.
“Most people would rather, if possible, not to have to go through it and just re-sign with the team they are with so you can have some stability and be secure,” Monroe said earlier this month. “Right now it’s like the draft process all over again. You don’t know if you will have to change cities or where you will end up. It’s a good thing that there are teams out there that want me. But at the end of the day, if I didn’t have to do it, I wouldn’t have a problem with that either.”
And-Ones: Sterling, Parker, Crawford
Attorneys for Donald Sterling will argue that wife Shelly Sterling exerted undue influence on one of the two doctors who examined Donald and declared him mentally incompetent, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com details. Donald’s mental competency is no longer on trial. Instead, the probate trial between the Sterlings will center on whether Shelly followed the rules of the Sterling family trust, according to Shelburne. Those rules required that two mental health experts submit letters to the effect that Donald was mentally incompetent before allowing Shelly to take full control of the trust, Shelburne writes. Shelly agreed to sell the Clippers in May to Steve Ballmer, claiming that she fully controlled the trust, but Donald is fighting the sale. Here’s more from around the league:
- The Spurs kept Tony Parker through Monday, unsurprisingly, but doing so means his $3.5MM partial guarantee is now a fully guaranteed $12.5MM salary for 2014/15.
- Jamal Crawford of the Clippers had his $1.5MM partial guarantee bumped to a full guarantee of $5.45MM when he remained on the roster through Monday.
- Kosta Koufos remains on the Grizzlies, so his $500K partial guarantee is now a $3MM full guarantee.
- Parker’s teammate Austin Daye is also still with the Spurs, so his $250K partial guarantee is a fully guaranteed minimum salary.
- The Hornets kept Jeffery Taylor around, so his minimum salary went from non-guaranteed to fully guaranteed.
- It appears as though the Magic are officially under the cap, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). That means Orlando loses access to a $6,077,280 trade exception it could have reaped from last week’s Arron Afflalo deal.
- The Hawks didn’t give big man Gustavo Ayon a qualifying offer by Monday’s deadline, making him an unrestricted free agent, notes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). There weren’t reports of qualifying offers to James Southerland of the Pelicans, Adonis Thomas of the Sixers and Bernard James of the Mavs, so presumably they’re all unrestricted free agents as well.
- The Wolves hired Ryan Saunders as an assistant coach, the team announced (on Twitter). Saunders, the son of Wolves head coach/executive Flip Saunders, had served the last five seasons as a Wizards assistant.
Spurs, Wolves, Kings, Calling On Livingston
The Spurs, Wolves, Kings, Hornets, and Magic are among the teams that called on Shaun Livingston after the official start of free agency, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. At this point, it appears that it will be a challenge for the Nets to keep the point guard.
The Nets are already extremely limited in the contract they can offer Livingston thanks to their luxury tax situation. Now, with a wide range of suitors, the odds get even slimmer for Brooklyn. The departure of coach Jason Kidd reportedly doesn’t bode well for the Nets’ chances to retain Livingston either.
Southeast Rumors: Ariza, Gortat, Ferry, Lewis
The latest out of the Southeast Division..
- Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report (on Twitter) hears that Trevor Ariza is after a deal in the $8-11MM per year range and likes the idea of playing in a warm-weather city. Still, staying with the Wizards is an intriguing option for him.
- The Wizards spent the evening reaching out to their own free agents, Marcin Gortat, Ariza, and Drew Gooden, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.
- Ariza has significant interest from clubs, including the Cavs, and Wizards coach Randy Wittman will be in Los Angeles tomorrow morning to meet with him, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. A league source close to Ariza tells Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter) that his potential destinations include the Suns, Clippers, Lakers, Heat, Mavs, Jazz, Cavs, and Wizards.
- Hawks‘ GM Danny Ferry plans to be “very aggressive” in free agency, a source tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).
- Heat free agent forward Rashard Lewis is expecting interest from the Heat, Pacers, Thunder, Raptors, and Spurs, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).
- So far the Hornets have not expressed interest in Luol Deng, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (on Twitter).
- The Hawks were the first team to call unrestricted free agent Kent Bazemore after midnight, a source tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). The Hawks are really high on the Lakers free agent.
- Unrestricted free agent Trevor Booker has attracted interest from several teams, including the Heat, Wolves, Jazz, Nets, Knicks, Magic, and Wizards, sources tell Michael Lee of the Washington Post (on Twitter).
Magic Claim Willie Green
The Magic have claimed guard Willie Green off waivers, a source tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (on Twitter). Green, of course, was recently waived by the Clippers.
The Clippers cut Green loose in advance of the date where his contract would have become guaranteed for the 2014/15 season. In 55 games last season (nine starts), Green averaged 5.0 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 15.8 minutes per contest.
Magic Looking To Unload Jason Maxiell
The Magic are expected to waive big man Jason Maxiell if a few days if they can’t find a trade partner for him, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). His non-guaranteed salary for 2014/15 becomes fully guaranteed for $2.5MM if he’s not waived by the end of July 10th, as our Schedule of Contract Guarantee Dates shows.
Maxiell played in just 34 games for Orlando last season after signing a two-year, $5MM contract to leave Detroit last summer. He averaged 3.2 points and 14.4 minutes per contest, numbers he’d eclipsed in every previous season since 2006/07. The Magic’s drafting of power forward Aaron Gordon at No. 4 overall Thursday seemed to further push the 31-year-old Maxiell out of the picture in Orlando.
It seems unlikely that the Magic would use the cap flexibility they would free up by waiving Maxiell to add a marquee free agent, given the team’s slow approach to rebuilding. Still, there appears to be little reason for Orlando to keep a scarcely used veteran around at more than the minimum salary.
Free Agent Rumors: Lowry, Gasol, Parsons, Ariza
Raptors GM Masai Ujiri is likely to make a strong push to re-sign Kyle Lowry just as free agency begins tonight to prevent the Heat and Rockets from having a chance to jump in, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Here’s more free agency chatter with 11 hours left to go until negotiations can begin:
- Pau Gasol will meet with the Thunder, Bulls and Warriors, reports Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, who suggests the big man hasn’t ruled out a meeting with Lakers brass, either.
- Chandler Parsons would be on board with a sign-and-trade to the Wolves if the money is on the mark, a source close to Parsons tells Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Minnesota reportedly has interest in Parsons as a fallback trade target in a Kevin Love swap.
- The Rockets, Mavs, Lakers, Clippers, Cavs, Raptors, Suns and Pistons are all suitors for Trevor Ariza, as Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders hears (Twitter link).
- The Rockets and Mavs are gearing up to sign Jordan Hill, as are the Lakers, Hill’s incumbent team, Wojnarowski tweets.
- The Magic are likely to make a play for Rodney Stuckey, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press writes.
- Kent Bazemore is anticipating interest from the Suns, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter).
- Matt Bonner is interested in a return to the Spurs, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News observes (Twitter link). “I’d love to be back, especially if everybody is coming back.”
- Damian Lillard would like to see the Blazers go after Channing Frye, Vince Carter, Spencer Hawes and Ariza after re-signing Mo Williams, the point guard tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com. Carter would be open to signing with Portland, Haynes hears.
Magic Waive Doron Lamb
The Magic have waived Doron Lamb, the team announced, confirming a report from Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. His minimum-salary contract was set to go from non-guaranteed to fully guaranteed if the team hadn’t waived him by the end of Tuesday.
The 22-year-old shooting guard hits unrestricted free agency after his second season in the league, having averaged 3.6 points in 13.1 minutes per game for Orlando this past year. He came to the Magic as part of the J.J. Redick trade with the Bucks at the deadline in 2013.
Milwaukee made the Arn Tellem client the 42nd overall pick in 2012, but last season’s production to similar to his output as a rookie. He’ll likely be in the market for another minimum-salary deal, perhaps with a partial guarantee.