Kings Eye Hedo Turkoglu
The Kings have emerged as a possibility for free agent Hedo Turkoglu, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Friend and former teammate Vlade Divac is in charge of Sacramento’s front office as vice president of basketball and franchise operations.
The 36-year-old who spent the past two seasons with the Clippers wouldn’t rule out retirement or playing overseas when he spoke about two months ago, but Wojnarowski indicates that the Jim Tanner client now wants to continue his NBA career. He averaged 3.7 points in 11.4 minutes per game across 64 appearances for the Clippers this past season, but he saw only 5.0 MPG in the playoffs, and it’s unclear if the Clips want the 15-year veteran back. Chatter has been scarce about NBA interest in Turkoglu this summer.
Sacramento has 14 fully guaranteed contracts, plus David Stockton on a non-guaranteed deal. The Kings preserved a measure of flexibility when they waived Eric Moreland earlier this week, in advance of Saturday, when his contract was to become fully guaranteed.
Pacific Notes: Lieberman, Moreland, Durant
- The Kings decided one-year veteran Eric Moreland‘s playing style was too similar to that of No. 6 pick Willie Cauley-Stein, helping prompt Sacramento to waive Moreland on Thursday rather than guarantee his salary, as Shams Charania of RealGM writes. Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee wouldn’t be shocked to see Moreland end up with Denver, where former Sacramento GM Pete D’Alessandro, who signed him to the Kings last year, works in the Nuggets front office, but Bill Herenda of CSN California heard early word suggesting that won’t happen (Twitter links).
- The Warriors will surely chase Kevin Durant next summer, when he’s set for free agency, but realistically, they’d have to sign-and-trade for him, and such a deal would probably have to include Harrison Barnes plus more, as Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group posits in a look at Golden State’s chances for the former MVP.
- Golden State has promoted Luke Walton to lead assistant to replace Alvin Gentry, the team announced. Gentry became the head coach of the Pelicans earlier this summer. Walton joined the Warriors coaching staff last year.
- The Suns have officially added Earl Watson, Nate Bjorkgren and Jason Fraser to their coaching staff, the team announced. Watson and Fraser come from the Spurs D-League team while Bjorkgren had coached Phoenix’s D-League affiliate. Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group first reported the addition of Watson, who helped with the Suns’ pitch to LaMarcus Aldridge, his former teammate with the Trail Blazers.
DeAndre Kane Signs In Germany
Germany’s Ratiopharm Ulm announced the signing of guard DeAndre Kane, as writes. The Hawks had Kane on their Summer League team this year and had plans to discuss a free agent deal with the 26-year-old, but that apparently won’t be taking place.
The Celtics, Kings, and Jazz all had their eyes on Kane back in January while he was playing for the Antwerp Giants in Belgium. However, due to a contract that ran through the remainder of the NBA season, he wasn’t eligible to come over as an in-season addition.
In his senior season at Iowa State, Kane averaged 17.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 5.9 assists across 36 games. After helping to vault the Cyclones to the Sweet Sixteen, Kane hit the workout circuit hard and auditioned for a number of teams, including the Kings and Jazz.
Kane first established himself as an intriguing prospect at Marshall, where he played his first three seasons of collegiate ball. He also made a transfer of sorts in his first year overseas – Kane signed on with Russia’s Krasny Oktyabr but joined up with Antwerp following his November release.
Kane averaged 14.4 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 5.4 APG in the EuroChallenge last season.
Kings Waive Eric Moreland
1:15pm: The move is official, the team announced.
12:08pm: The Kings are placing Eric Moreland on waivers rather than guarantee his salary, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). His minimum salary would become fully guaranteed if the Kings don’t release him by the end of Saturday, as the schedule of guarantee dates shows.
The big man who went undrafted out of Oregon State in 2014 saw only two minutes of NBA regular season action before a labral tear in his left shoulder knocked him out for the rest of the season around New Year’s Day. Sacramento had signed him to a three-year partially guaranteed deal for the minimum salary before the season, but no guaranteed money remains on the pact. The 6’11” 23-year-old put up fairly impressive rebounding numbers in seven games while on D-League assignment, averaging 12.7 boards in 28.7 minutes per contest.
The news of Moreland’s impending release is probably an auspicious sign for Kings point guard David Stockton, even though he plays a different position. Sacramento is carrying 14 fully guaranteed contracts, and Moreland would have become the 15th if the Kings had kept him this weekend. That means Stockton, whose salary wouldn’t become guaranteed until January, has an opening on the regular season roster to fight for.
Who do you think has a better shot to stick in the NBA, Eric Moreland or David Stockton? Leave a comment to let us know.
Pacific Notes: Hibbert, Crawford, Cousins, Evans
- The Clippers aren’t anxious to trade Jamal Crawford, but trade rumors from earlier this summer, his exclusion from the team’s DeAndre Jordan recruiting effort, and the addition of newcomers at his position are inauspicious signs for his future with the team, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register examines. Crawford seems to be wondering about whether the Clippers still appreciate him, and that doesn’t auger well for team chemistry if he’s still on the roster at the start of the season, Woike believes.
- DeMarcus Cousins is a major fan of Reggie Evans, notes Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, who writes amid a look at the top remaining free agents. Evans, who spent the last season and a half with the Kings, remains unsigned.
- Quincy Acy has a non-guaranteed salary on the second season of his new two-year deal with the Kings instead of a player option, as had previously been reported, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- Undrafted rookie Duje Dukan‘s two-year deal with the Kings is for the minimum salary, Pincus shows on the same page.
Western Notes: Smith, Kings, Durant
Russ Smith‘s minimum salary became fully guaranteed at the end of Saturday when the Grizzlies elected not to waive him. He’d had a $150K partial guarantee on that salary that he picked up July 15th, as the schedule of salary guarantee dates shows.
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- The Kings are parting ways with analytics guru Dean Oliver, Bill Herenda of CSN California confirms. This move is not necessarily an indication that the team is moving away from a data-driven approach. Sacramento is looking to hire someone to replace Oliver, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets.
- The reason behind the move is that vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac wants to assemble his own hand-picked front office cabinet, Stein adds (Twitter link). It was reported yesterday that former Kings star Peja Stojakovic received an offer to join the front office.
- Kevin Durant, who is still recovering from his foot surgery that ended his season, will visit the team USA minicamp next month in Vegas and clearly wants to be part of the program, Sam Amick of USA Today reports (Twitter link). The Olympic games will be in August of 2016, which is roughly a month after Durant is eligible to sign a new contract.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Kings Rumors: Stojakovic, Divac, Jackson
Former Sacramento All-Star Peja Stojakovic has received an offer to join the organization’s front office, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. VP of basketball and franchise operations Vlade Divac reportedly asked Stojakovic to assist him in a player personnel role. Stojakovic worked as a consultant to Divac during summer league, Stein notes. Divac and Stojakovic were teammates on the Kings and in international play.
There’s more out of Sacramento:
- The Kings may have to wait few weeks for Stojakovic’s decision, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. “I asked him to join me,” Divac said, “and in September we’ll probably know.”
- Another former Divac teammate could be in line for a job, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link). Divac is reportedly trying to convince ex-Kings guard Bobby Jackson to accept a role with the organization.
- Sacramento has taken some ridicule for its offseason moves, but Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders argues that the organization is daring to be great. The Kings have formed a potentially unstable mix by adding free agent Rajon Rondo and coach George Karl to an unhappy star in DeMarcus Cousins, who has been the subject of trade rumors, but Divac contends that every move is about building a winner. The team assembled its newly signed free agents on a private plane to summer league games in Las Vegas and emphasized the need for everyone to put aside personal interests and do what’s best for the franchise.
Pacific Notes: James, Rivers, Lakers, Kings
Summer league point guard Mike James impressed the Suns, but the team doesn’t seem to have a need for another point guard, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Multiple teams are in pursuit, according to Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link), but he’s under contract with Laboral Kuxta Vitoria in Spain, Coro points out, suggesting that it would likely require a guaranteed deal with an NBA team to make it worthwhile for him to exercise his buyout clause. James, who’s not to be confused with the 12-year veteran by the same name, is inclined to play one more season in Spain, Charania adds.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Austin Rivers‘ brief tenure with Relativity Sports has met an end, tweets Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal. Rivers joined the agency after splitting with David Falk this past season. Relativity represented him as he came to a two-year deal for nearly $6.455MM to stay with father Doc Rivers and the Clippers.
- The deals that Caron Butler, Quincy Acy, and Seth Curry agreed to with the Kings are all two-year, minimum salary arrangements that are fully guaranteed the first year and include player options for the second season, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
- The performance of the Lakers‘ Summer League squad was underwhelming, leaving some around the league skeptical of the long-term future of a number of the team’s younger prospects, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. “You don’t want to draw any conclusions from a few summer games obviously,” one league executive told Deveney. “But I think in general, the way to put it is that they probably value their assets more than the rest of the league values them. Everyone gambles on young guys. You just don’t know. For [the Lakers], they could all turn out to be fine, but they’re a long way from that now.”
- The new Kings arena cleared another legal hurdle Friday, as a judge issued a ruling in favor of the city of Sacramento and against plaintiffs who asserted that the team and the city struck a side deal, writes Tony Bizjak of The Sacramento Bee. The arena is already under construction.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Southwest Notes: Curry, Fredette, McDaniels
The competition in the Western Conference is fierce, and Rockets GM Daryl Morey acknowledges that even in the wake of the Ty Lawson trade, his team isn’t the favorite, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle relays. Still, the Rockets made a key step forward, as Feigen examines.
“People always used to say our point guard position was terrible, the worst, whatever,” Morey said. “I always pointed out that Pat Beverley was a really good player. He’s just maybe suffering compared to all these perennial All-Stars we go against in the West. Obviously, we’re still going to be going against those very difficult All-Stars, but Ty Lawson is somebody who gives you a top-10 point guard in the league, somebody who can really help us.”
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- The Pelicans only made a “token offer” to Seth Curry that included a partial guarantee, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). A previous report indicated that they were close to a deal with him for a guaranteed contract. Curry signed a two-year, fully guaranteed contract with the Kings.
- New Orleans didn’t want to re-sign Jimmer Fredette, Wojnarowski says in the same tweet. The ex-Pelicans guard signed with the Spurs instead. Still, Fredette faces a challenge to find his niche in San Antonio, where he’ll have to prove he’s capable of replacing Marco Belinelli‘s shooting and beat out Kyle Anderson and Jonathon Simmons for minutes, as Jay Yeomans of the Deseret News examines.
- The three-year contract that K.J. McDaniels signed with the Rockets includes a team option on the final season and starts at $3.19MM, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. That first-year salary figure means Houston is essentially prevented from using any more of its mid-level exception without triggering an $88.74MM hard cap.
- Maurice Ndour‘s contract with the Mavericks is for three years, with this season’s salary and half of next season’s guaranteed, league sources tell Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link).
- Nikola Milutinov, this year’s No. 26 overall pick, is negotiating with Olympiacos of Greece, sources tell Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia. The Spurs draftee had reportedly been close to a deal with Panathinaikos, another Greek team, but Panathinaikos landed Miroslav Raduljica instead. Regardless, the Spurs won’t sign him this season.
Pacific Notes: Lee, Stephenson, Pierce
The Celtics agreed to take David Lee from the Warriors in exchange for Gerald Wallace more than two weeks ago, but the move has still yet to officially take place. That should change by Monday, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link), and the Celtics sent a press release detailing an introduction of “offseason additions” scheduled for that day. While we continue to wait for the formal trade, here’s more from around the Pacific Division:
- Duje Dukan‘s deal with the Kings is for two years, with the first season being fully guaranteed and year two carrying a partial guarantee, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com tweets.
- Clippers swingman Lance Stephenson said that nagging injuries and his game being too similar to Kemba Walker‘s were contributing factors to his down season with the Hornets last year, and led to him being dealt to Los Angeles, Jared Zwerling of BleacherReport writes. When asked why he was traded, Stephenson told Zwerling, “It just didn’t work. I felt like me and Kemba do the same type of stuff, and it just didn’t click. Kemba is like a smaller me. He dominates the ball and he’s a playmaker. And then my jump shot wasn’t falling, so it was a tough season. I had toe and groin injuries. I’m telling you, this was worse than my rookie year when I didn’t even play. I was really mentally down. I was trying everything to try to figure out what I can do to help this squad.“
- Veteran forward Paul Pierce said he chose to sign with the Clippers because he wanted another shot at winning a title, and wants to end his career playing in Los Angeles, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post relays. “I’m at the point in my career where it’s winding down,” said Pierce. “I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I wanted another opportunity to win a championship. I thought just being here would be a great fit. I’m a veteran. I could be another voice in the locker room and I can just pretty much fill any role that they need me to play. If I didn’t think the Clippers were close then, no matter home or not, I probably wouldn’t have made this decision. “
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.