Darius Morris Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Motiejunas, Blatt, Lakers, Free Agency

June 7th, 2017 at 3:35pm CST by Luke Adams

Heat president Pat Riley and Lakers president Magic Johnson participated in a panel discussion earlier this week, with Riley joking about how expects to land “a treasure of players” from Johnson in trades. As Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel outlines, Riley also talked about Johnson’s transition to the front office, and the challenges the former Lakers star will face as he adjusts to a role that doesn’t involve much interaction with his players.

“When I went from coaching to the front office, my first three months I was actually in fits, because I had lost control. You lose control of the team and the game, because you’re just selecting players,” Riley said. “And one thing you don’t want to do as president is second-guess your coach too much, go down to the locker room, don’t hang around too much. … [Magic] will sit up there in that box of his, and when things aren’t going good the first, he’s going to want to go down there and be Lonzo Ball‘s mentor.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Donatas Motiejunas has new representation, according to international basketball reporter David Pick, who tweets that the free-agent-to-be has signed with Octagon Sports. Motiejunas was previously repped by Wasserman, but left the agency in the wake of his tumultuous restricted free agency last season.
Former Cavaliers head coach David Blatt, who coached Turkey’s Darussafaka Dogus in 2016/17, may return to Israel for the coming season. David Pick reports (via Twitter) that Maccabi Tel Aviv executives appear ready to offer Blatt a long-term deal in the $3-4MM range. Blatt coached the Israeli club from 2010 to 2014 before he headed to Cleveland.
Ex-Lakers guard Darius Morris tells Rod Beard of The Detroit News (Twitter link) that he has worked out for the Lakers, Grizzlies, and Pistons, and has a session lined up with the Jazz as well.
In a feature for Bleacher Report, Howard Beck examines how free agency decisions by LeBron James and Kevin Durant may have changed the landscape for star players, inspiring more of them to change teams in the future.

And-Ones: Morris, Richardson, Draft

August 19th, 2015 at 9:33pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Darius Morris, who was waived by the Nets at the end of June, has received contract offers from NBA teams and clubs overseas, but thanks to a foot injury suffered during training, he’ll be out of action for a few months, Morris’ agent, Brian Dyke, told international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). The 24-year-old made 38 appearances for Brooklyn during the 2014/15 campaign, logging averages of 2.2 points, 0.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 7.9 minutes per contest.

Here’s more from around the league:

Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders tabs new L.A. arrivals Roy Hibbert and Lance Stephenson as two of six players who appear likely to benefit from having changed teams this summer.
Jason Richardson‘s deal with the Hawks is a one-year minimum-salary arrangement and is without any guaranteed money, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). It has limited injury protection, Pincus also says, so it appears to be an Exhibit 9 contract. Richardson will see $1,499,187 if he sticks for the entire season, but since the deal only covers one season, it would cost the Hawks no more than $947,276, the equivalent of the two-year veteran’s minimum. The league picks up the rest of the tab.
Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress peered into his crystal ball and released his first mock draft for 2017’s big event. The current top three players on Givony’s draft board are forwards Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum, with point guard Dennis Smith rounding out the top-ranked trio.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Nets Waive Darius Morris

June 29th, 2015 at 4:06pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets have waived Darius Morris, the team announced. His minimum salary for next season was to become partially guaranteed for $25K if he had remained under contract through Wednesday. That remains a possibility if he is claimed off waivers in the next two days.

Morris signed with Brooklyn in December, not long after the Blazers let him go at the end of training camp. The Nets gave him a two-year deal for the minimum that was initially non-guaranteed for last season. The former University of Michigan point guard made it past the January date when last season’s salary became guaranteed, but he didn’t stay with Brooklyn long enough to trigger any more guaranteed money.

Western Notes: Miller, Bryant, Smith, Gasol

January 14th, 2015 at 9:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

After initially targeting Darius Miller for a 10-day contract, the Clippers changed their mind and inked Dahntay Jones the following day instead. The reason for the sudden shift in direction, according to Clippers president of basketball operations Doc Rivers, was that after watching Miller work out, Rivers wasn’t happy with the shape that he was in, Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link). Rivers did leave open the possibility of Miller getting a 10-day deal later on in the season, Bolch adds.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

If the Lakers are completely out of playoff contention come March, a likely scenario with the team currently 10 games out of the final playoff spot in the brutally tough West, then Los Angeles might shut down Kobe Bryant for the remainder of the season, Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times reports.
Josh Smith is beginning to find his niche with the Rockets, and the team hopes that adding a potential difference maker without having to raid its core will pay off come playoff time, Michael Lee of The Washington Post writes. Smith also said that he views getting waived by Detroit as “a blessing” because he was given the chance to receive every dime owed him as well as upgrade to a contending team, Lee adds.
Grizzlies big man Marc Gasol will be one of the most sought after free agents next summer, and the veteran is playing the best basketball of his career at just the right time for him to cash in on it, Shaun Powell of NBA.com writes. Powell also examines a number of teams that could entice Gasol, should he choose to leave Memphis, including the Blazers, Hawks, Lakers, and Spurs.

Atlantic Notes: Larkin, Morris, Aldemir

December 16th, 2014 at 1:19pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Atlantic Division is home to the teams with the NBA’s two highest payrolls — the Knicks and the Nets — as well as the Sixers, who have the lowest. All three of them are under .500, and the Knicks, with 21 losses, have suffered just one fewer defeat than Philadelphia has. Here’s more on a trio of teams with different approaches and similar results:

Shane Larkin wants to re-sign with the Knicks next summer even though they declined their 2015/16 team option on his rookie scale contract, as Larkin tells Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com. “I love it here. I want to be here,” Larkin said. “Obviously, I want to help bring the Knicks back to what they used to be.” The Knicks haven’t dismissed the possibility, but declining the option hamstrings the team, which can’t pay more than the $1,675,320 value of his option if they were to re-sign him, as Feldman points out, examining the risky play of ceding control over young talent in exchange for cap flexibility.
The non-guaranteed minimum-salary deal that the Nets gave Darius Morris last week covers two seasons, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The salary for 2015/16 becomes partially guaranteed for $25K if he remains on the roster through July 1st, and there are additional guarantee dates later in the year that further raise that guaranteed amount, as Pincus shows on the Basketball Insiders Nets salary page.
Furkan Aldemir received a signing bonus of nearly $306K, Pincus reports (Twitter links). His base salary is $2.8MM in the first, third and fourth years of his four-year contract and $2.7MM in year two, Pincus adds. The first two seasons are fully guaranteed, so the cap hits for the signing bonus, which by rule are spread over the guaranteed seasons of the deal, come to $2.96MM for this season and $2.84MM for next, as Pincus also reveals.
The amount of guaranteed money going to Aldemir signals the gravity of his signing amid an otherwise low-risk strategy for Sixers GM Sam Hinkie, writes John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News. Aldemir’s ability to develop will be a key bellwether for the success of Hinkie’s tenure, Smallwood believes.

Nets Sign Darius Morris

December 11th, 2014 at 2:19pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets have signed Darius Morris, the team announced. The point guard had been a free agent since shortly after the Blazers waived him at the end of the preseason. Multiple reports had indicated that the Nets had a player they were ready to sign once the completion of today’s Andrei Kirilenko trade opened a roster spot, so it appears that was Morris. It’s a non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary, reports Reed Wallach of NetsDaily (Twitter link). It’s not clear whether it runs only for this season or if it includes 2015/16 as well, but the Nets are limited to using only the minimum-salary exception to sign players, so the deal for Morris can’t cover more than two seasons.

The 23-year-old Morris has been on an NBA regular season roster every season since the Lakers drafted him 41st overall out of the University of Michigan in 2011. He started 17 games for the Lakers in 2012/13, but he averaged only 14.2 minutes per game over the course of that season, one in which the team sent him on multiple D-League assignments. The Brian Dyke client saw 16.1 MPG over a 12-game stretch with the Sixers last year, but Philadelphia let him go less than a month into the season, and he later surfaced on 10-day contracts with the Clippers and Grizzlies.

The addition of Morris restores Brooklyn to a full 15-man roster, though only 11 of the team’s contracts are fully guaranteed. Brandon Davies, acquired in the Kirilenko trade, is on a non-guaranteed pact, while Cory Jefferson and Jerome Jordan are on partially guaranteed arrangements that are de facto non-guaranteed deals, since they’ve already earned more than the amounts of their guarantees.

Blazers Waive Diante Garrett, Darius Morris

October 25th, 2014 at 12:24pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Blazers have officially waived Diante Garrett and Darius Morris, the team announced via Twitter. These moves reduce Portland’s preseason roster count to 15, meaning they won’t be required to release any other players prior to the regular season beginning. Morris’ contract didn’t come with any guaranteed cash, but the team will owe Garrett $30K per their arrangement.

Garrett was on the fringe of the rotation for the Jazz last season, averaging 3.5 points and shooting 37.5% from three-point range in 14.8 minutes per game. That was after a season in which he spent the entire campaign on the Suns roster but only appeared in 19 contests.

The 23-year-old Morris reportedly turned down an offer from a Serbian team earlier this summer and took his shot at making the Blazers squad. In 94 career contests, the 6’4″ point guard has averaged 3.7 PPG and 1.5 APG. His career slash line is .399/.354/.653.

Western Notes: Diaw, ‘Melo, Cuban, Blazers

October 10th, 2014 at 4:38pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Boris Diaw‘s contract with the Spurs has some creative additions included in it, Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com notes (Insider subscription required). Diaw’s deal begins at $7.5MM and decreases by $500K during the second and third years, ensuring San Antonio is paying the premium up front, when Diaw’s performance will be at its peak, notes Elhassan. The contract also includes up to $500K in annual bonuses if Diaw meets certain weight requirements throughout the season. Lastly, Elhassan notes that the final year of the deal has a guarantee date of July 15, 2017. This will give the Spurs flexibility to cut Diaw should his performance no longer befit his pay, and the later guarantee date means the Spurs can enter 2017 free agency without needing to make a decision on Diaw’s status. Diaw’s third year is partially guaranteed, notes Elhassan, and has a guarantee date of June 30th, 2016.

Here’s the latest from around the league:

Carmelo Anthony visited with the Mavs shortly after they acquired former teammate Tyson Chandler, but Chandler tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post that he wasn’t aggressive in his attempts to recruit ‘Melo to Dallas. “It wasn’t strong,” Chandler said. “I didn’t ever think he was coming. I didn’t think Carmelo was ever leaving New York. I talked to him because it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t. But I never thought he was going anywhere. I thought if anywhere he was going it was to the Lakers. But when the Lakers didn’t have a strong enough roster to tempt him.”
Darius Morris and Diante Garrett joined the Blazers this summer with the understanding that they’d have legitimate chances to making the opening-night roster even though they aren’t among the 15 on the team with fully guaranteed deals, The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman writes. The team would probably waive Victor Claver‘s guaranteed contract if it elected to keep Morris or Garrett, Freeman speculates. Garrett’s $30K partial guarantee gives him a slight edge over Morris, who has no guaranteed money.
Mark Cuban raised the idea of eliminating guaranteed money from contracts in response to Kevin Durant‘s suggestion that the league abolish maximum salaries, but Durant isn’t on board with the Mavs owner’s idea, observes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Darius Morris To Join Blazers For Camp

September 24th, 2014 at 10:43pm CST by Chuck Myron

SEPTEMBER 24TH, 10:43pm: The deal is official, the team announced.

AUGUST 22ND, 1:13pm: The team has yet to make an official announcement, but Morris has signed his contract, according to the RealGM transactions log.

AUGUST 21ST, 2:29pm: The Blazers and point guard Darius Morris have reached agreement on a non-guaranteed deal that will bring the three-year veteran to training camp, reports Joe Freeman of The Oregonian (Twitter link). He’ll join Diante Garrett and James Southerland, who inked non-guaranteed contracts with Portland earlier this month. Morris is surely receiving a deal for the minimum salary, since the Blazers are limited to paying no more than that.

Morris reportedly turned down an offer from a Serbian team earlier this summer, and that seemed to suggest that NBA teams were interested. Still, there hasn’t been much chatter surrounding the 23-year-old, who had stints with the Sixers, Clippers and Grizzlies last season but didn’t sign another NBA contract after his 10-day deal with Memphis expired in February. He’s nonetheless been one of the top ball distributors remaining on the market, as I noted earlier today, and he also made his way onto our list of the top available free agent scorers.

Morris, like Garrett and Southerland, faces long odds of making the opening-night roster in Portland, since the Blazers have 15 players with guaranteed deals. The Blazers dropped their one-to-one D-League affiliation with the Idaho Stampede this offseason, so even if Portland cuts Morris after camp but elects to retain his D-League rights, the Blazers wouldn’t be able to exert much influence over his continued development.

Contract Details: Inglis, Heat, Jazz, Hamilton

August 24th, 2014 at 10:54am CST by Chuck Myron

The pace of signings is slow this time of year, but teams continue to add to their rosters. Eric Pincus reveals some previously unreported details about a handful of these signings within his latest updates to the salary pages at Basketball Insiders, so we’ll pass along the news here:

The Bucks are giving 31st overall pick Damien Inglis guaranteed salaries of $820K this season and $855K for 2015/16, both amounts that are more than the minimum, as Pincus notes (Twitter link). It’s a three-year deal in all that features a non-guaranteed season at the minimum salary in the contract’s final year. Milwaukee used part of its cap space to accommodate the signing.
Tyler Johnson‘s minimum salary with the Heat this season is guaranteed for $75K, while his minimum salary for next season is without a guarantee, according to Pincus. Reggie Williams is receiving a non-guaranteed minimum salary in his pact with the Heat this year, as Pincus also reveals.
The Jazz gave Dee Bost a $65K guarantee this season, while the other two years of his three-year contract for the minimum salary are non-guaranteed, Pincus reports. Pincus also notes that the team gave Jack Cooley a three-year deal for the minimum, though it remains unclear whether any of Cooley’s pay is guaranteed. Utah used cap space rather than the minimum-salary exception on Bost and Cooley, since the minimum-salary exception only allows for two-year deals.
The Raptors have the means to shell out more than the minimum salary, but they didn’t give Jordan Hamilton any more than that, as Pincus documents. Hamilton’s deal is reportedly partially guaranteed, but just how much he’s guaranteed remains unknown.
Darius Morris is on a one-year deal with the Blazers, Pincus shows.