Terry Rozier Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Westbrook, Wizards, Rozier, Collins, Bamba

September 29th, 2021 at 1:31pm CST by Luke Adams

Addressing a report that said Russell Westbrook helped engineer his trade to the Lakers, Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard downplayed Westbrook’s desire to leave Washington, suggesting the point guard asked about going to the Lakers, but didn’t want to be traded just anywhere.

“I really have to make sure the record is straight on that,” Sheppard told NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller (link via Matt Weyirch of NBC Sports Washington). “Russell actually never asked to move on. He just said, ‘If I can get to the Lakers, that’d be something I would love to do. If not, I’ll be back here.’ I said, ‘What about the Clippers?’ He said, ‘Hell no.’ So Russell was happy being here and we were very grateful for him being here.”

While Sheppard is being diplomatic, it would’ve been interesting to see whether Westbrook was truly happy to return to the Wizards for another season if the deal with the Lakers hadn’t worked out. The Athletic’s in-depth report earlier this week suggested that Westbrook tried to convince Bradley Beal early in the offseason that both of them should ask out of Washington.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

Two years after joining the Hornets as a free agent, Terry Rozier signed a new long-term extension with the team this offseason and said on Tuesday that he feels like he’s found a home in Charlotte. “When you first get here, you just don’t know what to expect,” Rozier said, according to Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer. “You are on the back-burner trying to find everything out, and then fast forward to now and I love it. I love it. It’s so peaceful. The people are so nice. I say that all the time. It’s different for me and I love it.”
Armed with a new five-year, $125MM contract, Hawks forward John Collins is looking forward to focusing exclusively on his on-court performance without having worry about his contract situation, per Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I don’t have to think about getting traded. I don’t have to think about losing what I built, and I don’t have to think about packing my house up,” Collins said. “… I know I’m going to be here, and I can continue to build. I’m just happy I get to finish, or try to finish, what I started.”
Magic center Mohamed Bamba has struggled to make a consistent impact since entering the NBA in 2018, but he views the arrival of new head coach Jamahl Mosley as an opportunity for a fresh start, writes Julia Poe of The Orlando Sentinel. Mosley wants to see Bamba make better reads on offense and be an anchor on the defensive end.

Hornets Notes: Rozier, Noel, Bridges, Graham

August 28th, 2021 at 1:57pm CST by Eli Cohen

Terry Rozier sees big things ahead for the Hornets after signing his $96MM contract extension, writes Jonathan M. Alexander of The Charlotte Observer.

“Last year we were right there, had our foot in the door, but things got taken away from us due to injury,” Rozier said on Wednesday. “But I think we’re heading in the right direction and I’m just glad to be a part of this.”

Rozier, a career point guard, was moved to shooting guard after coming to Charlotte and responded with the best season of his career. He’s excited for the team’s future, especially going into year two playing alongside LaMelo Ball.

“I think it’s going to be real scary,” Rozier said. “I think it’s great that we’re friends off the court. That’s a plus for us. Real cool friends, like my brother. He just had to get his feet wet last year, and I think he’s ready to show people what that name is about.”

Rozier and team president Mitch Kupchak are also in agreement that the goal for this season is a playoff berth, and even potentially a series win.

We have more news from the Hornets:

Rozier has reasons to be pushing for the team to start experiencing playoff success beyond just on-court ambitions. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter), if the Hornets reach the second round of the playoffs in any of the 2022/23, 2023/24 or 2024/25 seasons, and Rozier plays at least 70 games that year, the fourth year of his extension becomes fully guaranteed.
According to Michael A. Scotto of HoopsHype, center Nerlens Noel had interest in the Hornets before ultimately re-signing with the Knicks, Scotto said on Wednesday’s episode of the HoopsHype podcast. Scotto says that playing alongside Ball as a pick and roll partner was a primary point of interest for the athletic big man.
In the same episode, Scotto adds that given the potentially dry 2022 free agent market, it could behoove Miles Bridges to try to lock down an extension with the Hornets this offseason. He’ll have until October 18 to get something done with Charlotte.
The Pelicans sent $2MM to the Hornets as part of the Devonte’ Graham sign-and-trade, reports Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. The Hornets also received a lottery-protected 2022 pick from the Pelicans in the deal.

Hornets Sign Terry Rozier To Four-Year Extension

August 24th, 2021 at 2:27pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 24: The Hornets have officially signed Rozier to his extension, the team announced today in a press release.

“In his two seasons with the Hornets, Terry Rozier has been an instrumental part of our team,” president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. “Terry is a highly competitive, tough and talented player that has continually improved all aspects of his game. He has provided leadership and an infectious work ethic that has been a tremendous benefit to our younger players. Terry is an important member of our young, talented team and we are thrilled to have him as a member of the Hornets organization for years to come.”

AUGUST 19: The Hornets and guard Terry Rozier have agreed to a four-year contract extension, agent Aaron Turner tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The deal, which locks up Rozier through the 2025/26 season, is guaranteed and is for the maximum amount the Hornets could have offered before the 27-year-old reached free agency, according to Charania. That means it’ll start at about $21.49MM in 2022/23 (120% of Rozier’s $17.91MM salary for ’20/21) and will be worth approximately $96.26MM over four years.

Acquired by the Hornets in the sign-and-trade deal that sent Kemba Walker to Boston in 2019, Rozier had enjoyed the two best seasons of his NBA career in Charlotte. In 2020/21, he established new career highs in PPG (20.4), APG (4.2), and FG% (.450), among other categories.

Rozier has also become a reliable threat from beyond the arc, knocking down 39.6% of his 7.5 three-point attempts per game in 132 total contests for the Hornets. He shot three-pointers at a lesser rate (35.4%) on a lesser volume (3.5 attempts per game) during his four years with the Celtics.

Rozier’s play and the emergence of Rookie of the Year LaMelo Ball made the Hornets willing to part with Devonte’ Graham in free agency this summer. Rozier and Ball will lead a talented backcourt that also includes free agent addition Ish Smith and 2021 lottery pick James Bouknight.

A total of seven veteran players have now agreed to contract extensions since the new league year began, with Rozier joining Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler, Julius Randle, and Marcus Smart. Three players – Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – have also finalized rookie scale extensions, as our tracker shows.

Southeast Notes: Nunn, Rozier, Wagner, Garnett

August 21st, 2021 at 5:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

New NBPA president CJ McCollum is unhappy with how the Heat handled Kendrick Nunn during free agency. On August 3, Miami pulled its qualifying offer for Nunn, making him an unrestricted free agent. Appearing on a podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, McCollum charged that the Heat made the decision after most teams with cap space had already allocated their free agent money (hat tip to Brad Sullivan of Heat Nation).

“The Kendrick Nunn situation,” McCollum said. “He was gonna be a free agent. They basically waited until the money dried up, right? You correct me if I’m wrong. Have you (Wojnarowski) seen this happening in the league and not being discussed at all? Where they talk about players forcing their way out, player movement. But then what about the manipulation that goes into some of these situations where teams are waiting for the market to dry up before they release a player’s rights.”

Nunn wound up signing a two-year, $10MM contract with the Lakers that includes a player option for the second season. L.A. used its taxpayer mid-level exception for the deal.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

Terry Rozier‘s four-year extension with the Hornets is an indication of the weakness of next summer’s free agent class, writes Dan Devine of The Ringer. Several big names that could have been on the market in 2022 have already signed extensions, and Charlotte doesn’t have a strong history of attracting free agents. Devine points out that Rozier’s new contract, which could be worth more than $96MM, only ranks 19th among NBA guards, which is in line with his recent production. It also provides some continuity for a team that lost Devonte’ Graham, Cody Zeller and Malik Monk.
The Magic got what they expected from Franz Wagner during Summer League, according to Josh Cohen of NBA.com. The No. 8 pick averaged 8.0 points and 3.8 rebounds in four games and showed good instincts that make up for his limited athleticism.
Assistant coach Marlon Garnett has left the Hawks‘ staff to join the Hornets, tweets Chris Kirschner of The Athletic.

Hornets Notes: Offseason, Monk, Graham, Bridges, Rozier

May 19th, 2021 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Hornets‘ season came to a disappointing end on Tuesday night, as the team’s defense provided little resistance in a 144-117 blowout loss to the Pacers. Indiana made 55.2% of its shot attempts, including 16-of-35 threes (45.7%) en route to the play-in win.

Despite the anticlimactic end, there was plenty to like about the Hornets’ season, says Brendan Marks of The Athletic. LaMelo Ball‘s promising rookie season was the most obvious bright spot, but the development from other young players such as Miles Bridges and P.J. Washington also showed that the club is on the upswing, as Marks writes. And participating in the play-in game at all was a good first step toward developing into a contender.

“It’s just a matter of how do we respond this summer? Do we use this as fuel, or do we feel sorry for ourselves?” head coach James Borrego said after the game. “Part of this is etching this in our memory bank, so as we grow, as we get better, as we work this summer, we don’t forget this moment right now. Next time we’re in this position, we’ll respond better. We’ll be better.”

Here’s more on the Hornets:

While he declined to identify specific players or positions that the team will be targeting in the offseason, Borrego expressed confidence that Charlotte will be an attractive destination for free agents this summer, per Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter links).
One of the Hornets’ own free agents, Malik Monk, is open to re-signing with the team, he said today. “If they want me here, I’d love to be here,” Monk said (Twitter link via Bonnell). “But I want to feel wanted.” Monk will be a restricted free agent as long as the Hornets issue him a $7MM qualifying offer.
Devonte’ Graham‘s free agency and potential contract extensions for Bridges and Terry Rozier are among the issues facing the Hornets this offseason, writes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link). In his own preview of Charlotte’s offseason, Bonnell notes that finding a solution at center and adding shooting will be among the club’s top priorities.

Kupchak Was Surprised To Get Hayward

May 3rd, 2021 at 9:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Hornets president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak didn’t think the team had much of a chance at landing Gordon Hayward in free agency last offseason, Chris Sheridan of Basketball News reports.

While the team had the means to create enough cap room for Hayward, the Hornets were surprised that he opted out of his contract with Boston, let alone wanted to go to Charlotte. Hayward signed a four-year, $120MM contract and officially came to Charlotte via a sign-and-trade.

“I didn’t think he would opt out of that and want to leave Boston,” Kupchak said. “That doesn’t happen very often so when that was happening, even at the very end, even though we tried and we did everything we could do — and it was a good feeling that he was going to come to Charlotte — there was a big part of me that said, ‘This just doesn’t happen very often, that a player of this caliber will go to a small market.’ So I wasn’t really sure until we got his signature that he was going to come… That just kind of happened.”

A similar scenario unfolded a year earlier when the Hornets agreed with Terry Rozier on a three-year, $58MM contract and worked out a sign-and-trade with the Celtics after Kemba Walker chose Boston in free agency.

Kupchak has taken heat for overpaying for Hayward and Rozier, but he shrugs it off.

“It’s kind of hard to shake me up, you know? There might have been some criticism; I didn’t follow it that closely at the time,” Kupchak said. “But you’ve got to weigh everything: the draft, free-agent signings, trades. You really have to wait four or five years to look back on it and that’s when you know really whether you made a mistake or you didn’t make a mistake.”

Hayward was enjoying an All-Star level season (19.6 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 4.1 APG) before suffering a foot injury in early April. Rozier is averaging 20.3 PPG, 4.2 RPG and 4.1 APG this season.

Mannix’s Latest: Clippers, Rubio, Magic, Celtics, Horford, More

March 16th, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers remain in the market for help at the point guard position, with Hornets veteran Terry Rozier among the players who has drawn “strong internal interest,” according to Chris Mannix of SI.com. Mannix adds that George Hill and Ricky Rubio are among the other possible trade candidates in play for the Clippers, who have limited draft assets to use as sweeteners.

The Magic, who are also seeking point guard help, have kicked the tires on Rubio lately as well, per Mannix. That lines up with a Monday report from Jake Fischer of SI.com, who said Orlando had discussed a trade with the Timberwolves that would involve Rubio and Aaron Gordon.

Magic head coach Steve Clifford, who coached Kemba Walker in Charlotte, remains a big fan of the Celtics point guard, but Walker is unlikely to be on the move by March 25, says Mannix.

Here’s more from Mannix’s latest round-up of trade-related rumors:

Reports on Monday indicated that a trade is more likely than a buyout for LaMarcus Aldridge, and that the Celtics are focusing on the Spurs‘ big man. However, Mannix cites league sources who believe a buyout is the most likely outcome for Aldridge, and adds that Boston isn’t interested in trading for the veteran Spur.
While the Thunder are open to listening to inquires on Al Horford, they’re happy with how he has performed this season and won’t be looking to just give him away, Mannix writes.
Rival executives view the Heat as the favorites to land Rockets forward P.J. Tucker, per Mannix.
Tom Thibodeau has urged the Knicks‘ front office to be active at the deadline, and the club may pursue upgrades, but so far New York has shown little appetite for moving any of its top young players or taking on long-term salary, Mannix reports.
While Michael Porter Jr. is presumed to be off-limits, Gary Harris, Will Barton, and Bol Bol are among the Nuggets believed to be available as the team seeks a complementary piece for Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, according to Mannix.

New York Notes: Oladipo, Rozier, Ball, Rose, Claxton

March 6th, 2021 at 10:56am CST by marksuleymanov

As the surging Knicks near the trade deadline, Rockets’ forward Victor Oladipo remains a target for the team, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. It was reported back in early February that New York was eyeing the 28-year-old ahead of free agency.

Oladipo has already been traded once the season, having been involved in the four-team deal that sent James Harden to Brooklyn. Set for free agency at the end of the year, Oladipo has put up his best numbers since the 2018/19 season in his time between the Pacers and Rockets. In 24 games, Oladipo is averaging 20.0 PPG, 5.2 RPG and 4.5 APG.

Berman notes that some people are wary of Oladipo’s physical condition, even though he is two years removed from a season-ending ruptured quad tendon back in January 2019. But, paired with first-time All-Star Julius Randle, Oladipo could give the Knicks an offensive jolt as they contend for a postseason spot.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams:

In the same piece, Berman notes that people within the Knicks organization fear the team does not have a definitive option at point guard. Elfrid Payton has been injured and inconsistent when healthy, exciting rookie Immanuel Quickley is seen more like a sixth man, Derrick Rose has also been coming off the bench, and Frank Ntilikina only recently reentered the rotation. The Knicks have reportedly kept tabs on Hornets’ Terry Rozier and Pelicans’ Lonzo Ball.
Despite flying back with the team after registering multiple negative COVID-19 tests following an inconclusive result, Rose sat out the Knicks‘ last game before the All-Star break on Thursday due to the health and safety protocols, Steve Popper of Newsday writes. It remains to be seen when Rose can rejoin the Knicks on the court.
Amid his solid display in the Nets‘ last few games, NetsDaily examines whether Nicolas Claxton can help offset the loss of Jarrett Allen, who the team traded as part of the Harden deal.

Southeast Notes: Brown Jr., Rozier, Winslow, Vucevic

February 7th, 2021 at 7:16pm CST by JD Shaw

Wizards forward Troy Brown Jr. described his experience with COVID-19 on Sunday, giving a behind-the-scenes look on the subject – including Washington’s recent outbreak – in an article for BasketballNews.com.

The Wizards had nine players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols at one point last month, with half of its roster contracting the virus. Brown provided valuable perspective into what it was like for him and his teammates as they made it through an unprecedented situation.

“When they told me that I tested positive, I wasn’t surprised,” Brown wrote in his story. “I had already started quarantining, so it wasn’t a shock; the positive test just confirmed my suspicions. I’ve taken COVID very seriously and been very safe since this all started, but I still got it. When I got the news, I wasn’t too scared. I don’t know if I’ll have any long-term issues that are related to COVID, but I try not to worry about that since it’s out of my control. My mindset is this: It happened and I can’t do anything about it, so I’m just trying to stay as positive as I can, live day-by-day and not worry.”

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer examines how Terry Rozier might be affected if LaMelo Ball continues to start for the Hornets. Ball started in his third game on Sunday, finishing with 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists to help defeat the Wizards.
Just one year after being traded to Memphis, Justise Winslow‘s health issues have made it difficult to judge the deal that sent him from the Heat to the Grizzlies, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel writes. Winslow has yet to appear in a game for his new team and is currently dealing with a hip injury.
The Magic are hoping that Nikola Vucevic is rewarded with an All-Star spot this season, Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel writes. “I think every person on the team is rooting for him to be an All-Star,” teammate Cole Anthony said. “I think 100%, he deserves it.” Vucevic has averaged a career-high 23.1 points per game in 24 contests, also averaging 11.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per contest. His 42% shooting mark from 3-point range is the highest of his career.

Knicks Still Interested In Victor Oladipo?

February 3rd, 2021 at 1:31pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks are among the teams with interest in Rockets guard Victor Oladipo and will be keeping an eye on him leading up to next month’s trade deadline and potentially beyond, league sources tell A. Sherrod Blakely of Bleacher Report.

Marc Berman of The New York Post reported back in October that the Knicks would likely have trade interest in Oladipo during the 2020 offseason, but later wrote during the first week of free agency that their interest had cooled. At the time, Berman suggested GM Scott Perry was more enthusiastic than president of basketball operations Leon Rose about the idea of acquiring Oladipo.

Much has changed in the two-plus months since that report. For one, Oladipo has already been traded once from the Pacers to the Rockets, though there has been no indication that a long-term deal with Houston is a certainty — the 28-year-old remains on track for free agency this summer.

Oladipo has also looked more like his old self this season after an underwhelming return from a quad tendon injury in 2019/20, boosting his numbers to 20.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game this year after posting just 14.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 2.9 APG last season. If Rose’s reservations were related to Oladipo’s health and his subpar ’19/20 showing, it’s possible some of those concerns have been alleviated.

Within his report, Blakely notes that two league officials he spoke to believe the 9-13 Knicks are more inclined to be a buyer than a seller at this season’s trade deadline, and may try to land a high-scoring guard. Besides Oladipo, Hornets guards Terry Rozier and Devonte’ Graham are worth watching, Blakely says. New York has had interest in Rozier in the past, Graham is in a contract year, and LaMelo Ball looms as Charlotte’s point guard of the future.

Generally speaking, the Knicks would like to acquire young veterans who can help lead the team’s young core while growing along with that core, according to Blakely.