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Kings Interested In Matt Bonner

July 14th, 2015 at 8:51am CST by Chuck Myron

Free agent Matt Bonner has become a subject of interest from the Kings, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The longtime Spur was reportedly thinking about retirement this spring, though he said last year that he wanted to play for several more seasons. Little chatter has surrounded the 35-year-old’s free agency this month, even though he made 19 starts this past season, the second most of his 11-year career.

Bonner made the minimum salary in 2014/15, and it would seem difficult for him to command more this time around. Sacramento is reportedly closing in on a deal with Luc Mbah a Moute that would be its sixth free agent agreement of the month, so Bonner is down the team’s list of priorities.

In spite of the Red Rocket’s appearances in the starting lineup, his play declined this past season. His 36.5% accuracy from behind the arc showed proficiency, but it was his first sub-40% three-point shooting season in five years. His 10.1 PER was a career low.

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Western Notes: Brooks, Dumars, Bonner, Draft

May 5th, 2015 at 12:41pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Nuggets are intensifying their search for a new coach this week after having spent the past few weeks focused on scouting and the draft, reports Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. They’ll likely chat with former Thunder coach Scott Brooks, among others, Dempsey writes amid a mailbag column, though it’s unclear if he’ll receive a formal interview. The hiring process is expected to last most if not all of May and GM Tim Connelly will collaborate with team president Josh Kroenke, son of owner Stan Kroenke, on the decision, as Dempsey details in his first piece. There’s more on the Nuggets amid the latest from around the Western Conference:

  • New rumors have surfaced suggesting that the possibility of the Pelicans hiring Joe Dumars remains in play for what would be a supervisory role above GM Dell Demps, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes. Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher first linked the former Pistons exec to New Orleans in January.
  • Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News lists Matt Bonner among the Spurs contemplating retirement. Bonner, who turned 35 last month, signed a one-year deal for the minimum to return to San Antonio last summer.
  • Dempsey believes that if Nuggets end up with the No. 7 pick, their likeliest first-round position as the lottery odds show, they’d try to trade it for a pick higher in the order or attempt to deal for a second top-seven pick, as the Post scribe writes in the mailbag column linked above.
  • Former Michigan State swingman Russell Byrd will be among the draft prospects at a workout the Jazz will hold Wednesday, sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). Byrd is unlisted in the rankings that Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and Chad Ford of ESPN.com compile.
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Western Notes: Lakers, Bonner, Taylor

August 28th, 2014 at 1:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Projecting the playoff teams in the Western Conference would be difficult enough if it weren’t for the unresolved saga involving Eric Bledsoe and the Suns, but Phoenix is the true X-factor in the equation as it stands. The Suns were 28-15 when Bledsoe played last season, a winning percentage of .651 that would have made them the West’s sixth seed. They were just 20-19 without him, which dragged the team down far enough to miss the playoffs. Of course, there are plenty of other unknowns still at play in the West, and we’ll round up the latest here:

  • The inclusion of Toney Douglas and Bobby Brown among those in Tuesday’s Lakers workout was somewhat curious, since they both have deals to play in China, but both contracts contain NBA escape clauses, as USA Today’s Sam Amick explains. Douglas intends to head to China regardless and views the audition as an early tryout for when he returns stateside after the Chinese season ends, agent David Falk tells Amick. Brown is interested in joining the Lakers right away if given the opportunity, Amick adds, and presumably so are the rest of the hopefuls who took part in the workout.
  • Matt Bonner only re-signed with the Spurs for one year, but the 34-year-old would like to play until he’s 40, as he tells Jonathan Demay of the French-language website Basket USA (translation via Jeff Garcia of Project Spurs).
  • Two Western Conference teams invited former University of Wisconsin point guard Jordan Taylor to camp, but he turned them down to take a deal with Israel’s Hapoel Holon instead, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. A trip to camp with an NBA team would have been a first for the 24-year-old, who spent summer league with the Bucks.
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And-Ones: Barea, Bledsoe, Bonner, Beasley

August 25th, 2014 at 2:42pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavs are probably better off for having lost LeBron James in 2010 than they would be if he had never gone to Miami since it gave them the chance to accumulate assets through rebuilding, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller argues. That helps explain why the Sixers, one of the other teams in the Kevin Love deal, are so aggressively stripping their roster, Ziller suggests. Still, Cleveland was remarkably lucky in the lottery, nabbing three No. 1 overall picks in four years, so it’s tough to say that another team can easily mimic the path of the Cavs. Here’s more from around the league:

  • The only players on the Wolves who are off-limits for a trade are the ones who just came aboard in the Love deal, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune writes within a chat with readers. J.J. Barea remains on the block after the Wolves failed to convince the Sixers to take him on in the Love trade, Zgoda also writes.
  • The Wolves like Eric Bledsoe quite a bit, but it’s tough to see a scenario in which they’d sign-and-trade for the Suns restricted free agent, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Phoenix reportedly made a last-ditch effort at a Bledsoe-for-Love swap, but Minnesota rejected that idea.
  • Backcourt mate Goran Dragic is hopeful that Bledsoe will be back with the Suns next season, as he tells Erildas Budraitis of RealGM.
  • Matt Bonner says there were several teams that inquired about him during his free agency this summer, but he let all of them know that he was waiting to see about a deal with the Spurs first, as he tells Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News. Bonner re-signed with the Spurs last month to a one-year deal for the minimum.
  • The Heat let Michael Beasley know they wouldn’t rule out re-signing him, but that’s standard practice for the team, which hasn’t made any offer to the forward, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The Heat isn’t high on bringing him back for several reasons, Jackson hears.
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Spurs Re-Sign Matt Bonner

July 21st, 2014 at 11:50am CST by Zachary Links

JULY 21ST: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.

JULY 13TH: 4:40pm: It’s a one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.

4:17pm: Matt Bonner sent a text to Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News (on Twitter) saying, “I’m coming back.”  Presumably, this means that Bonner has re-signed with the defending world champions.

There has been mutual interest in a reunion between the Spurs and Bonner and little talk of another team making a run at the forward.  The Red Rocket has spent the last eight seasons with the Spurs, averaging 5.9 PPG and 3.2 RPG in silver and black.  Last season, Bonner averaged 3.2 PPG and 2.1 RPG in 11.3 minutes per contest, the least amount of playing time he’s seen in his NBA career.

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Free Agent Rumors: ‘Melo, Ariza, Stephenson

July 7th, 2014 at 6:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers aggressively pitched to Carmelo Anthony the idea that he can be the star of the team once Kobe Bryant‘s contract expires in 2016, as Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com hears (Twitter link). ‘Melo was to have taken the weekend to make his free agent choice, but it appears he still hasn’t made up his mind. Here’s more from a wild Monday of free agency:

  • The Cavs, Lakers, Heat and Mavs are all pursuing Trevor Ariza, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. The Wizards are presumably still in the hunt, as well. The swingman is seeking salaries of $9-11MM, Berger adds.
  • The Mavs have indeed shown interest in Lance Stephenson, reversing their previous stance against signing him, reports Chris Broussard of ESPNDallas.com, but it’s still very unlikely the shooting guard will end up in Dallas, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. The Pacers‘ recent five-year, $45MM offer disappointed the Alberto Ebanks client, who’s begun shopping for other teams, Broussard writes.
  • The Celtics are also interested in Stephenson, Broussard adds (via Twitter).
  • Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter) continues to hear that the Thunder are ahead of the Heat in the Anthony Morrow chase.  Along with Pau Gasol, Morrow has been a prime OKC target in free agency.
  • A Chinese team offered Sebastian Telfair a two-year, $7MM deal as word of an impending deal with the Thunder leaked, agent Joel Bell tells Shams Charania of RealGM. Telfair passed that up to strike a one-year, minimum-salary agreement with the Thunder.
  • Paul Pierce‘s representatives are telling teams that he’s looking for a two-year deal worth $9-10MM per season, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com (on Twitter). The Jeff Schwartz client is waiting to see if teams are willing to offer more money once the first-tier free agents come off the board, Mannix adds (Twitter link).
  • The Nets, Trail Blazers and Spurs have worked out free agent Ivan Johnson, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  • The Hornets are among the teams set to meet with unrestricted free agent Kent Bazemore, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders.
  • Free agent Matt Bonner has remained in contact with the Spurs on a possible reunion and is waiting for the roster to unfold, sources tell RealGM’s Shams Charania (on Twitter).  No other clubs are in the mix for him yet.
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Free Agent Rumors: Lowry, Gasol, Parsons, Ariza

June 30th, 2014 at 12:07pm CST by Chuck Myron

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:

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Odds & Ends: Paul, NBPA, Butler

August 22nd, 2013 at 7:42pm CST by Ryan Raroque

In discussing Chris Paul's election as the new NBPA president, ESPN's Brian Windhorst writes that neither Paul nor former union vice president Jerry Stackhouse would commit to a timetable nor discuss whether a search firm was in place to find a replacement for ex-NBPA executive director Billy Hunter. Stackhouse, who will remain active with the union in an advisory role, said they aren't in a rush but have already identified a number of candidates. Windhorst also says the union would ideally want a new executive director in place by February 1st, when Adam Silver is set to begin his job as the new commissioner. Here are more of tonight's miscellaneous news and notes, along with more from the above piece:

  • Some comments from Paul: "I've been thinking about (running) for a while on and off…I've had a lot of dialogue about it with committee members. I wouldn't have taken on the role if I was going to do it alone."
  • There are a few specific issues that were tabled during the 2011 CBA which still need to be resolved, especially blood testing for performance enhancing drugs (including human growth hormone) and the current age limit to declare for the NBA draft. 
  • Lakers guard Steve Blake and Bobcats forward Anthony Tolliver were added as new members to the executive committee, joining Paul, Roger Mason Jr., Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, James Jones, Matt Bonner, and Willie Green.
  • The union has turned to Deloitte Financial Advisory Services to examine its structure and will make necessary changes, such as adding a human resources and information technology department (J.A. Adande of ESPN.com).
  • Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today notes that the NBPA has hired Reilly Partners to help with restructuring and forming a job description for the executive director position, and that two names have surfaced as potential candidates for the opening: former NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson and former NBA and Madison Square Garden executive Steven Mills. 
  • Suns forward Caron Butler says he's looking forward to being a mentor to teammate Michael Beasley, gives his thoughts on the Clippers, and talks about how he's approaching the upcoming season in Phoenix. Butler adds that no one from the Clippers front office has spoken to him since he was notified by his agent about being traded, but insists there's no ill will: “I don’t leave with bitterness or anything, but a phone call would have helped the situation…But it’s cool, it’s no hard feelings because that’s the nature of the business" (NBA.com's Jeff Caplan). 
  • Hoopsworld's Alex Kennedy looks at a list of 11 of the top 13 players drafted this past June and discusses their chances at winning Rookie of the Year.
  • In the same piece, Kennedy relays a clip from Gary Payton's interview on FOX Sports, in which the Hall of Fame point guard reveals that he may have had something to do with Allen Iverson's "practice" rant on the 76ers several years ago: "(Iverson) asked me…'How do you keep your body is so good of a shape, and don’t get hurt, and stay always on the court?’ And I just told him for real, my coach George Karl didn’t let me practice. So that was it. I said, ‘You have to stop practicing." While watching the actual rant, Payton recalled thinking: ‘Don’t say it like this! Don’t do it like that, Allen…When he said it, I said, ‘No, that was not our conversation.’”
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Western Notes: Rockets, Iguodala, Clippers

June 30th, 2013 at 12:08pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets have been expected to waive Carlos Delfino and Aaron Brooks before their salaries become fully guaranteed at the end of today, but Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears the team is still pursuing 11th-hour trade possibilities for the two, despite the slim chance they'll find a deal (Twitter links). That's just one of many news items out of the West with free agency less than 12 hours away:

  • With a host of teams vying for Andre Iguodala, Nuggets GM Tim Connelly and coach Brian Shaw will meet with Iguodala on Monday in Los Angeles, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
  • Doc Rivers is downplaying talk of a trade involving Eric Bledsoe or anyone else, as Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times notes. The Clippers have interest in retaining Lamar Odom and Matt Barnes, Turner reports, adding that the Lakers are also high on Barnes.
  • Though the Clippers reportedly prefer Andrea Bargnani to DeMar DeRozan, Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun notes that Rivers has always held DeRozan in high regard (Twitter link).
  • O.J. Mayo is expected to turn down his $4.2MM player option for next season, and while his preference is to return to Dallas, the Mavs won't receive a discount, tweets Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com.
  • Carl Landry's first priority will be to re-sign with the Warriors, but he believes there will be about half a dozen teams pursuing him, and he expects the Blazers to be one of them, the power forward tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com. Landry reciprocates Portland's interest.
  • The Suns won't be in the market for big-ticket free agents, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. The team prefers to keep its cap flexibility to accomodate an enticing trade possibility or next year's crop of free agents. The Suns will be in contact with Wesley Johnson, one of their own free agents, Coro says.
  • New Kings GM Pete D'Alessandro is promising an "aggressive" approach to the offseason, as Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee observes. The Kings won't simply let restricted free agent Tyreke Evans go without matching his offer or working out a sign-and-trade, writes Voisin, who pegs his market value at between $8MM and $10MM per year.
  • Yesterday was the deadline for the Spurs to waive Matt Bonner before his $3.945MM salary for next season, which had been partially guaranteed for $1MM, became fully guaranteed. So, Bonner will be back, unless the team waives him via amnesty, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News points out as he examines the Spurs' offseason.
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Kyler On Blatche, Daye, Landry, Pacers, Spurs

April 29th, 2013 at 11:34am CST by Luke Adams

History was made this morning, as Jason Collins publicly came out as the first active male athlete to announce that he's gay. Collins, who hopes to continue his playing career, will be a free agent this summer, looking for a contract from a team in need of frontcourt help. In his latest piece for HoopsWorld, Steve Kyler looked at a few other big men facing free agency, exploring what their respective futures might hold. Let's check out the highlights….

  • Andray Blatche is still being paid by the Wizards through next season, so he won't necessarily be seeking the highest salary offered this summer. However, if he can secure a multiyear deal, he may lean toward that opportunity, says Kyler.
  • Although he's eligible for restricted free agency, Austin Daye is unlikely to receive a qualifying offer from the Grizzlies. Kyler doesn't expect the ex-Piston to be back in Memphis next season.
  • Carl Landry remains likely to opt out of his last year with the Warriors in search of a longer-term contract.
  • The Pacers won't hold full Bird rights on David West, but West's Early Bird rights will be more than enough to make him a competitive offer. Kyler thinks West and the Pacers are likely to work out a deal fairly quickly that will keep the power forward in Indiana.
  • Kyler notes that trading Danny Granger would help give the Pacers the flexibility to bring back both West and Tyler Hansbrough, who is eligible for restricted free agency. Kyler expects the Pacers to issue a qualifying offer to Hansbrough and match any reasonable offer.
  • Antawn Jamison is unlikely to re-sign with the Lakers, and if Earl Clark returns, it will have to be for not much more than the $1.24MM he made this year, says Kyler.
  • Boris Diaw, who has a player option, and Matt Bonner, whose deal is only partially guaranteed, both figure to be back with the Spurs next season. However, Kyler says DeJuan Blair is "done in San Antonio," which echoes what we heard yesterday.
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