Nuggets Acquire Arron Afflalo
FRIDAY, 12:18am: The deal is official, the Magic have announced via press release.
THURSDAY, 12:18pm: The Magic have agreed to send Arron Afflalo to the Nuggets for Evan Fournier and the No. 56 pick, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). The Nuggets appear to be absorbing Afflalo into a trade exception, Zach Lowe of Grantland tweets. A quick glance at this summer’s outstanding trade exceptions would indicate that Denver is using the $9.868MM exception from the Andre Iguodala deal to take on Afflalo.
Afflalo is set to earn $7.56MM this season and has a player option for 2015/16 at $7.75MM, but it seems likely that he’ll opt out, effectively making his deal an expiring contract. The haul for the guard may seem light, but that fact could have weighed down his trade value. Afflalo put up a career-high 18.2 PPG this season in 35 minutes per contest. His ~46% field goal percentage was right in line with his career average and his 16.0 PER was a full three points higher than his mark last season.
The deal is something of a homecoming for Afflalo, who played for Denver from 2009/10 through 2011/12. The reunion won’t be short lived, as a source tells Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post (on Twitter) that the 28-year-old will not be flipped to another team in a trade. Afflalo has been mentioned as someone the Nuggets were interested in acquiring for the purposes of flipping him to the Wolves in a Kevin Love deal.
Fournier averaged 8.4 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.5 APG in 19.5 minutes per night in 76 games last season. The shooting guard showed flashes of brilliance in his rookie campaign but didn’t take significant strides forward in 2013/14. Even though he shot well shot well from downtown, his field-goal percentage dropped to 41.9%, down 7.4 percent from the previous season.
Orlando surely likes Fournier but the real motivation for the deal comes in additional flexibility. Following the trade, the Magic have roughly $27.5MM in guaranteed salary on the books for 2014/15.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Western Notes: Wolves, Fournier, Warriors
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor says the team doesn’t intend to trade Kevin Love, reports Andy Greder of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “Actually, I haven’t had any offers. I’m waiting!” GM Milt Newton joked. According to the article, Newton also said that now that the draft lottery was completed it would accelerate the team’s search for a new head coach.
More from the west:
- Former NBA coach Scott Skiles has not been contacted by the Timberwolves for their coaching vacancy, writes Greder in a separate article. Skiles has a lifetime 443-433 record and six playoff appearances across tenures with the Suns, Bulls and Bucks.
- Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post takes a look back at the season that Nuggets shooting guard Evan Fournier had and what the player needs to work on this summer. In 76 games, Fournier averaged 8.4 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.5 APG in 19.5 minutes per night.
- New Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is impressed with Michigan guard Nik Stauskus, tweets Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group. Golden State doesn’t currently hold any picks in this draft, and Stauskus is projected as a late lottery pick.
- With the Lakers coveting a top-three draft pick and instead ending up with the seventh overall pick, this puts the team in a difficult position as to whether or not they should trade the pick or retain it, writes Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report.
Nuggets Exercise Options On Faried, Fournier
4:08pm: The Nuggets have officially announced in a press release that they’ve picked up their 2014/15 options on Faried and Fournier. The release doesn’t include word on Hamilton, so it looks like his option will be declined, though that’s not official yet.
10:16am: The Nuggets have picked up their fourth-year option on Kenneth Faried and their third-year option on Evan Fournier, according to the transactions log at RealGM.com. The club has now locked up Faried for the remainder of his rookie contract, while Fournier will have one more team option for 2015/16.
With Andre Iguodala now playing in Golden State and Danilo Gallinari starting the season on the shelf, the Nuggets will be leaning on Faried and Fournier more than ever this year. Faried will earn a salary of about $1.37MM in 2013/14 before getting a bump to $2.25MM for ’14/15. Fournier, meanwhile, is in line for a guaranteed $1.48MM in ’14/15.
As for the Nuggets’ third rookie scale player, there’s no word yet on Jordan Hamilton‘s fourth-year option, which would be worth about $2.11MM. When Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors examined this year’s rookie contract option decisions, he suggested that Hamilton would be on the bubble, particularly since Denver’s new GM and coach don’t have as strong a stake in the young swingman. The Nuggets have until tomorrow to exercise or decline Hamilton’s option.
To catch up on all of this month’s rookie contract option decisions, check out our tracker.
Western Notes: Evans, Trail Blazers, Fournier
Here are a few notes from around the Western Conference.
- According to a tweet from the Sacramento Bee's Jason Jones, Kings general manager Geoff Petrie says the team hasn't had any significant discussion regarding a contract extension for Tyreke Evans.
- The San Francisco Chronicle's Rusty Simmons tweets that Warriors center Andris Biedrins has never asked for a trade, and, despite recent reports that the team spent the summer trying to move him, believes he can turn his career around with Golden State.
- According to CSNNW.com's Chris Haynes, Ronnie Price and Damian Lillard could have a mentor, protege relationship this season with the Trail Blazers.
- Nuggets 2012 first round draft pick Evan Fournier probably won't be receiving regular minutes with the team this season, but Denver management still preferred he stay in the United States as opposed to another year over in Europe, writes the Denver Post's Benjamin Hochman.
- Mercurynews.com's Tim Kawakami gives his training camp primer for the Warriors.
Nuggets Sign Evan Fournier
The Nuggets have officially signed first-round pick Evan Fournier to a rookie scale contract, according to a team release. While most first-round signings are merely a formality, Fournier's deal is notable since it means the 19-year-old guard will join the Nuggets immediately rather than continuing to play overseas.
As the 20th overall pick, Fournier is eligible to sign for a first-year salary of up to about $1.36MM.
Draft Updates: Wednesday
With eight days left until June 28th, mock drafts continue to roll in, with the latest coming from Tom Zeller of SBNation.com, who projects surprisingly high selections for Kendall Marshall and Evan Fournier, among others. You can find Hoops Rumors' mock draft right here, and you can follow today's draft notes in this post, with the newest updates added up top throughout the day….
- The Nuggets are expected to work out Michael Eric, Evan Fournier, John Jenkins, Doron Lamb, Ramone Moore, and Izzet Turkyilmaz on Thursday, tweets FoxSports.com's Chris Tomasson.
- Mike Tokito from The Oregonian highlights a few prospects that worked out at the Trail Blazer's facility today, including Austin Rivers and Kendall Marshall.
Woelfel On Bucks, Raptors, Ross, Fournier
As teams continue to host players for workouts in the days leading up to the draft, the Bucks are having trouble getting all the prospects they want to see to come to Milwaukee, writes Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times. Although the Bucks have worked out a handful of big men that interest them, they haven't been able to host Austin Rivers, Terrence Ross, Dion Waiters, Jeremy Lamb, Damian Lillard, and Jared Sullinger. Woelfel suggests some of these players are confident they'll be drafted by the time Milwaukee picks at No. 12, while others, particularly the guards, don't view the Bucks as a good fit based on the team's current roster.
Here are a few more notes from Woelfel's piece, including additional items on Lamb and Ross….
Draft Updates: Tuesday
In case you missed it yesterday, we published our first 2012 mock draft. Be sure to check out our projected first round and jump into the comments section to tell us which choices you like or dislike. In the meantime, we'll continue tracking the latest draft news and rumors. Tuesday's updates can be found right here, with the newest items added up top throughout the day….
- John Reid of The Times Picayune writes that the Hornets will likely keep their 10th pick. GM Dell Demps says that he hasn't received any offers warranting any serious consideration to trade the pick and believes that they can come away with a good player at that slot.
- Jared Sullinger will work out for the Cavaliers on Friday, writes Bob Finnan of The News-Herald. Fab Melo is also scheduled for a workout this week and could join Sullinger.
Draft Updates: Friday
Yesterday's roundup of draft links included a ton of updates on workouts and speculation on where certain players may land. We expect more of the same today, so we'll track today's draft notes right here, adding new items to the top of the list throughout the day….
- Anthony Davis has decided to hire Wasserman Media Group to represent him, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The former Kentucky star will work out for the Hornets on Tuesday, tweets Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com.
- The Jazz will host six players on Saturday for a pre-draft workout, according to a team press release. The participants will include Kim English, Jorge Gutierrez, Noah Hartsock, Robbie Hummel, Toure' Murry and Malik Wayns.
Draft Updates: Thursday
The countdown until the 2012 draft is down to two weeks, and this week has been heavy on workouts and trade speculation. We'll track the latest news and rumors on both fronts, along with a handful of other draft-related items, right here. New updates will be added to the top of the page throughout the day….
- According to their official website, the Pacers will work out Evan Fournier, Ashton Gibbs, Travis Hyman, John Jenkins, Josh Owens, and Tony Wroten Jr. on Friday.