Bucks Re-Sign Thanasis Antetokounmpo
3:58pm: The Bucks have officially re-signed Antetokounmpo, the team announced in a press release.
2:51pm: Free agent forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo has agreed to re-sign with the Bucks, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The older brother of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thanasis has spent the last four seasons in Milwaukee, averaging 2.7 points and 1.8 rebounds in 8.3 minutes per game (162 games) during that time. Prior to 2019, he primarily played overseas and in the G League, though he did have a brief NBA stint with New York in 2015/16.
According to Charania (Twitter link), Thanasis chose the Bucks over multiple other options, including the Knicks.
Given Thanasis’ limited contributions at the NBA level, it would be a little surprising if multiple teams were vying to offer the 31-year-old a fully guaranteed contract — we’ll have to wait to see what the details of his new deal are. Based on the Bucks’ financial situation, it figures to be worth the veteran’s minimum.
Milwaukee currently has 14 players on guaranteed contracts, so if the team plans to have Thanasis on its regular season roster, he would fill the 15th and final spot, barring additional moves. In that scenario, the Bucks would be carrying two pairs of brothers on their 2023/24 squad, with Brook Lopez and Robin Lopez also under contract.
Udonis Haslem Officially Confirms Retirement
When Udonis Haslem re-signed with the Heat in 2022, he made it clear that the 2022/23 season would be his last, a stance that he didn’t waver from over the course of the year.
On Friday, he made it clear that he hasn’t reconsidered that decision, publishing an Instagram post in which he officially confirmed that he’s retiring as a player.
“I consider myself extremely blessed to say I can leave this game with no regrets,” Haslem wrote as part of a larger statement. “The championships, the accolades, the brotherhood, man it’s hard not to be at peace. Undrafted to a 3x Champion, All-Rookie 2nd Team, Teammate Of The Year, the oldest player to play in an NBA Finals game, Miami Heat’s all-time leading rebounder and longest-tenured player, the list goes on.
“… I will always be the #OG, but now it’s time for the family man and the businessman to get to work… #40, see you in the rafters soon. Until then, #OG out.”
Haslem, 43, joined the Heat as an undrafted free agent in 2003 and spent the next 20 years with the franchise, appearing in 879 regular season games and another 149 postseason contests. He won titles with the club in 2006, 2012, and 2013, averaging 7.5 points and 6.6 rebounds in 24.7 minutes per game over the course of his career.
Although he hasn’t played regular rotation minutes since the 2014/15 season, Haslem had remained a valued member of Miami’s roster since then, signing a series of one-year contracts to remain with the club.
Haslem has been the NBA’s oldest player since Vince Carter retired in 2020, and joins Carter as just one of 10 players in league history to play at least 20 seasons. Unlike most members of that group, Haslem spent all 20 of his seasons with a single team, becoming just the third player in NBA history to play for the same franchise for at least two decades — Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks) and Kobe Bryant (Lakers) are the two others.
Even though Haslem has retired, he has still been around the team this summer, serving as a mentor to its younger players. However, during his final few years as a player, he repeatedly told reporters that he had no desire to become a coach and would prefer to explore the possibility of buying into the Heat as a minority owner.
“I look to take a path of ownership, but to be a working owner, not a guy who crosses his legs and sits on the sideline,” Haslem said in February. “I want to be a guy that connects the dots between the locker room and front office, connects the dots between the front office and the owners.”
Just One Player Who Declined 2023/24 Option Remains Unsigned
Leading up to last month’s June 29 deadline, nine of the veterans who held player options for the 2023/24 season decided to turn down those options, forgoing guaranteed money in favor of the open market.
For the vast majority of those nine players, opting out was the right call.
[RELATED: 2023 NBA Free Agent Tracker]
Fred VanVleet, Draymond Green, Khris Middleton, and Kyle Kuzma landed some of the biggest free agent contracts of 2023. While Green and Middleton technically would’ve earned higher salaries in 2023/24 if they’d opted in, they both locked in multiyear contracts that extend well beyond next season, securing overall guarantees worth $100MM and $95MM, respectively.
Donte DiVincenzo and Jevon Carter got big raises for next season and gained long-term security by opting out. DiVincenzo landed a four-year, $47MM deal after declining a $4.7MM option, while Carter passed on a minimum-salary option in favor of a three-year, $19.5MM contract.
Bruce Brown will earn $22MM in 2023/24 instead of the $6.8MM he would have earned if he had picked up his player option with Denver. Although Brown didn’t receive guaranteed money beyond ’23/24, that’s still a huge win for a player whose career earnings prior to this offseason totaled about $15MM.
Even Montrezl Harrell, who signed a new minimum-salary contract with the Sixers earlier this month, is coming out ahead, since he’ll make more on his new deal ($2,891,467) than he would have if he had exercised his option ($2,760,026).
That leaves just one unsigned player out of the nine who declined player options in June: Derrick Jones Jr.
Jones’ decision was a bit of a surprise, since he said in an April interview that he intended to pick up his $3.36MM player option in order to return to the Bulls. Two months later, word broke that the veteran wing had actually decided to turn it down and would be entering free agency.
Jones has been the subject of a few rumors this month, including being linked to the Mavericks a couple weeks ago. But the fact that he doesn’t yet have a deal in place doesn’t bode especially well for his chances of earning a raise. At this point in the summer, not many players are signing for more than the veteran’s minimum, though Dallas does have the ability to offer a higher starting salary.
Perhaps Jones, who played for the Heat for two-and-a-half seasons from 2017-20, might be interested in taking the Josh Richardson route and returning to his old team in Miami on a minimum-salary deal. But the Heat are in a holding pattern with free agents until they determine one way or another whether they’ll be making a deal for Damian Lillard this offseason.
There’s still a possibility that Jones could sign for more than the $3.36MM he would’ve earned if he had opted in with the Bulls. And even if he has to settle for a minimum-salary contract, it wouldn’t be the end of the world — that sort of deal would pay him $2.7MM, which isn’t far off from the $3.2MM he earned this past season. But that outcome would make him the only one of the nine players who declined options to end up with less guaranteed money than what his option called for.
Wizards Sign Jared Butler To Two-Way Deal
JULY 28: The Wizards have officially signed Butler, according to a press release from the team. The club has one open two-way slot remaining.
JULY 24: The Wizards have agreed to sign free agent point guard Jared Butler to a two-way deal, his agent Mark Bartelstein at Priority Sports informs Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Butler, 22, was selected with the No. 40 overall pick out of Baylor in 2021. He played out his rookie season with the Jazz, who waived him ahead of the 2022/23 season. He joined the Nuggets’ NBAGL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold, at the start of last season, before eventually latching on with the Thunder on a two-way deal this past March.
Across 48 total NBA contests in his two seasons of experience, Butler holds averages of 4.1 PPG on .415/.343/.688 shooting, along with 1.5 APG.
Last year in the NBAGL, he enjoyed significantly more run, and accordingly had more impressive stats. He posted averages of 16.7 PPG, 6.3 APG, 3.3 RPG, and 0.9 SPG in his 27 total games split between the Grand Rapids Gold and the Thunders’ G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue.
Trail Blazers Waive Jeenathan Williams
11:37am: The Blazers have officially waived Williams, the team confirmed today in a press release.
9:52am: The Trail Blazers will waive shooting guard Jeenathan Williams before his salary for the 2023/24 season becomes guaranteed, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Williams’ $1,719,864 salary for ’23/24 is fully non-guaranteed — it would have become guaranteed if he had remained under contract through August 1, as our tracker shows.
Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report previously noted that the 24-year-old was unlikely to be retained through that date.
Williams, who went undrafted out of Buffalo in 2022, spent most of his first professional season with the Salt Lake City Stars, Utah’s G League affiliate. In 32 regular season appearances for Salt Lake City, he averaged 14.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 29.8 minutes per game, posting an impressive .523/.417/.848 shooting line.
That G League performance earned Williams a late-season call-up with the Blazers, who signed him to a multiyear deal on April 1. He played a major role for the lottery-bound club down the stretch, averaging 10.6 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 2.0 APG on .615/.375/.667 shooting in five contests (25.4 MPG), including four starts.
Releasing Williams will leave Portland with 12 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals. If they’d like to keep Williams around without having to guarantee his salary, the Blazers could try to re-sign him on a new non-guaranteed or two-way contract, but he would have to pass through waivers first.
Lakers Notes: LeBron, Buss, Pelinka, Davis, Fudge
Regardless of how much longer LeBron James spends with the Lakers or how his remaining time with the team plays out, the franchise intends to eventually retire his number, team owner Jeanie Buss tells Mark Medina of SportsKeeda.
“The standard for having your jersey retired as a Laker is when a player is inducted into the Hall of Fame. I have absolutely no doubt that LeBron will make it into the Basketball Hall of Fame,” Buss said. “When he does so, then we will retire his jersey. Knowing that he will make it into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he will have his Lakers jersey retired, no doubt about it.”
As Medina observes, James wore a No. 23 jersey during his first three years with the Lakers and will switch back to No. 23 in 2023/24 after wearing No. 6 for the last two seasons. Buss wasn’t prepared to say whether the Lakers would eventually retire both numbers, but stressed that the team would still retire LeBron’s jersey even if he doesn’t finish his career with the franchise.
“It would mean a lot (if LeBron retires as a Laker). But it won’t change his contributions to Lakers history,” Buss said. “… A player like Shaquille O’Neal has meant so much to Lakers history, but he wasn’t a Laker when he retired from the NBA. But that didn’t change what his part of Lakers history was. When he retired from the NBA, we retired his Lakers jersey.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- In her full interview with Medina, Buss addressed a wide range of Lakers-related topics, including her thoughts on the team’s finish in 2022/23, Rob Pelinka‘s performance, and much more. Regarding Pelinka, Buss explained why she stood by the club’s head of basketball operations when he was facing criticism for the acquisition of Russell Westbrook: “I always felt then and now that Rob was the right person to be in charge of our front office. I continued to do so. Every decision that is made isn’t always the perfect one. But it’s the decision you make after that that counts. We had a roster that didn’t work and wasn’t working. But you can’t change things overnight in the NBA. But you can set yourself up by making the next right decision. That’s exactly what Rob did. … Every decision, you have the opportunity to make the next right decision. That’s what Rob has proven.”
- Asked about a possible contract extension for Anthony Davis, Buss declined to discuss the subject in any depth. However, in deferring to Pelinka, she hinted that she’d be on board with a new deal for Davis: “Rob said it best. Our intention is that we want to keep continuity with our team. I’ll leave it at that.”
- The two-way contract that undrafted rookie Alex Fudge signed with the Lakers will cover two years rather than one, Hoops Rumors has learned. Fudge is the sixth player to sign a two-year two-way deal this offseason, as our tracker shows.
International Notes: Embiid, Mykhailiuk, M. James, Onuaku, A. Brown
Appearing on SiriusXM NBA Radio (Twitter audio link), Team USA managing director Grant Hill confirmed that he’s talked to Joel Embiid about the possibility of playing for the U.S. at the 2024 Olympics and will continue to pursue the Sixers center.
Embiid is a citizen of both the U.S. and France, in addition to Cameroon, so he has plenty of options if he determines he wants to compete internationally next summer. If he were to decide to play for France alongside young phenom Victor Wembanyama, it would further upgrade a squad that Hill already expects to be one of Team USA’s top competitors.
“France is a team that’s probably been our toughest opponent, at least in the last (few years),” Hill said. “They beat us in the opening game in the Olympics in ’21, and then in a very close, hard-fought win, we beat them in the gold medal game. And then you think about Wembanyama and the potential of others (joining the team)… It’s not easy.”
Here’s more from around the international basketball world:
- Free agent wing Svi Mykhailiuk is drawing interest from Greek club Panathinaikos, according to a report from SDNA.gr (hat tip to BasketNews.com). A 2018 second-round pick who has appeared in 252 regular season NBA games over the past five seasons, Mykhailiuk is reportedly focused on finding another NBA opportunity, but if none materializes, Panathinaikos figures to be among his top suitors in Europe.
- Veteran guard Mike James decided not to exercise the NBA opt-out clause in his contract and will remain with AS Monaco, as Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com details. James was mentioned early in the offseason as a possible Suns target and there was speculation he may opt out after Kemba Walker joined AS Monaco, but it appears he’ll stick with the team for at least one more season.
- Big man Chinanu Onuaku and forward Anthony Brown are among the former NBA players who recently signed new contract overseas. Onuaku completed a deal with Spanish club Joventut Badalona (press release), while Brown is rejoining Turkey’s Bursaspor Basketbol (Twitter link).
Celtics Notes: Brown, Brissett, Banton, Madar, Begarin
The trade kicker on Jaylen Brown‘s new super-max extension with the Celtics is worth either 7% of his remaining salary or $7MM, whichever is lesser, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
Brown’s trade kicker won’t be relevant until at least the 2025/26 season, since a player is ineligible to receive a full trade bonus if it would push his salary beyond his maximum. He’ll be earning the max (35% of the cap) in ’24/25, but not necessarily in seasons beyond that, since the cap could increase at a greater rate than his contract does.
Brown will receive 8% annual raises, so if the cap rises by 10% per year, he’d be earning below the max in later years of the extension. His trade kicker would ensure he earns as much as $7MM in extra money if he’s dealt at that point.
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- After signing the richest contract in NBA history, Brown is feeling more pressure to use his wealth to make a “tangible impact” off the court rather than to win a championship on it, as Weiss details within the same Athletic story. “The first thing that came to mind is like ‘Dang, look what all you can do with it now,'” Brown said. “Like how much you can invest into your community, what you can build with it, what you can change, how many lives you can touch, and what you can do in real-time.”
- As long as the Celtics are at full strength, Brian Robb of MassLive doesn’t expect there to be too many minutes available for newcomers like Oshae Brissett, Dalano Banton, and Jordan Walsh. Of the three, Brissett probably has the best chance to earn a rotation role, according to Robb, who believes Banton will be more of a defensive specialist and developmental project.
- Within the same mailbag, Robb writes that the Celtics remain high on draft-and-stash players Yam Madar (the No. 47 overall pick in 2020) and Juhann Begarin (No. 45 in 2021) despite not feeling that either is NBA-ready yet. Robb speculates that those former second-rounders could be logical additions to fill back-end roster spots on the cheap in future seasons as super-max deals for Brown and Jayson Tatum hit the team’s books.
- Longtime voice of the Celtics Mike Gorman will retire after the 2023/24 season, per NBC Sports Boston. The veteran play-by-play man has been calling Celtics games since 1981. “Celtics Nation… you are the best and there is no other group of dedicated fans I would have chosen to take this ride with,” Gorman said as part of a larger statement. “I very much look forward to my final season with all of you — and thank you again for allowing me to be a part of your lives.”
Pelicans Notes: Williamson, Ingram, Alvarado, Lewis
William Guillory and John Hollinger of The Athletic take stock of where things stand for the Pelicans entering 2023/24, with both writers noting that it will be a critical season for the organization.
New Orleans doesn’t have much choice but to see whether or not a core of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram can be successful together, according to Hollinger, despite the duo only playing 12 games together over the past two seasons. However, he would seriously consider trading one of them next summer if the team has another disappointing season.
As Guillory points out, the Pelicans will be facing salary cap difficulties in both the short and long term, so the pressure entering ’23/24 will be much higher than in previous years. Finding a replacement at center for Jonas Valanciunas, who is entering the final year of his contract, should be a priority going forward if the team doesn’t plan to retain him, according to both authors.
Here’s more on the Pelicans:
- Technology company Ankr PBC has filed a civil lawsuit against Williamson, his stepfather and his mother, writes Brett Martel of The Associated Press. The lawsuit alleges Williamson and his family failed to pay back $1.8MM of a $2MM loan. Ankr had hoped Williamson would be a spokesperson for the company, with his stepfather, Lee Anderson, serving as his representative during negotiations, per Martel. Anderson is the person who requested the loan a couple years ago, the lawsuit states.
- Jose Alvarado is still recovering from the stress reaction in his right tibia, which he sustained in February, and the injury will prevent him from representing Puerto Rico during the upcoming World Cup, according to Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Pelicans sources tell Lopez that the move is precautionary, but it certainly seems somewhat problematic that a recent MRI indicated Alvarado’s tibia isn’t fully healed after five months. The point guard’s minimum-salary contract for 2023/24 is fully non-guaranteed, as we noted earlier today. That’s not to say he’s in any danger of being released — prior to going down with the leg injury, he was a regular part of the Pelicans’ rotation, averaging 9.0 points, 3.0 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 21.5 minutes per night (61 games).
- Former lottery pick Kira Lewis remains a trade candidate worth monitoring, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, who notes that dumping Lewis’ salary would take New Orleans out of luxury tax territory. The 22-year-old returned from a torn ACL last season, averaging 4.6 points and 1.3 rebounds in limited action (9.4 minutes per night in 25 games).
Spurs Interested In Evan Fournier?
In addition to a few playoff hopefuls, the Spurs have also shown some interest in trading for Knicks wing Evan Fournier, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv.
As Begley outlines, Fournier shares an agent with fellow Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 overall pick of last month’s draft. Fournier spoke last week about being intrigued by the possibility of joining San Antonio.
The 30-year-old’s $18.9MM pseudo-expiring contract (he has a team option worth $19MM in 2024/25) wouldn’t be viewed favorably by rival teams after he was pulled from New York’s rotation early last season. Fournier appeared in just 27 games in ’22/23, averaging 6.1 PPG and 1.8 RPG while shooting career worsts of 40.4% on twos and 30.7% on threes.
On the other hand, Fournier started all 80 of his games in ’21/22, averaging 14.1 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.1 APG and 1.0 SPG while converting the fourth-most three-pointers in the league (241, a career high). He holds a career mark of 37.9% from beyond the arc.
After making multiple deals this offseason, the Spurs no longer have the salary cap room to accommodate Fournier’s salary outright, Begley notes — they’d have to send salary back to adhere to the NBA’s trade rules. The Knicks also haven’t shown any inclination to attach draft assets to move off Fournier’s contract, Begley adds, but presumably would be more open to doing so if they could get a potential rotation player or two in return.
Fournier has come up in a couple other trade rumors this summer, but he remains on the Knicks’ roster for now, although he certainly hopes that isn’t the case when the season starts. It’s worth noting that Begley’s article is a week old, and a report a few days ago indicated Fournier could eventually become a buyout candidate if New York can’t trade him.
Begley’s mailbag column also touches on a handful of other topics. For example, he expresses skepticism that the Knicks were ever seriously interested in Bulls guard/forward Zach LaVine this offseason, despite having exploratory trade talks on the two-time All-Star at the February deadline. Begley also hears the Raptors were shutting down trade inquiries on OG Anunoby — a player the Knicks like — earlier this month.