Rudy Gay: Winning Outweighs Bigger Contract
Rudy Gay doesn’t have any regrets opting out of his contract with the Kings and taking less money to play for the Spurs, as he discussed with ESPN’s Michael C. Wright during a Q&A session. Gay could have made $14.26MM next season if he had opted in but instead wound up signing a two-year, $17.2MM deal with San Antonio. The Spurs offered the 31-year-old forward their mid-level exception. He’ll make $8.4MM in the first year and has a player option next summer. Gay met with the Clippers during free agency and the Heat, Thunder, Jazz and Warriors were also reportedly interested in him.”Looking at my career, it’s just time to win,” he told Wright. “That’s what it’s mostly about. I’ve been in this league for a little while now, and I haven’t gotten out of my career what I wanted.”
Other interesting tidbits from the Q&A session:
- Gay says he’s medically cleared “to do everything” after recovering from a torn Achilles tendon injury that limited him to 30 games last season. He’ll “definitely be ready” to play by training camp.
- He’s had multiple conversation with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich regarding his role and is eager to prove he’s more than just a scorer. His ability to switch defensively is another aspect of his game that attracted San Antonio. “I’ve been known to get buckets, and I’ve had that stigma of just being a scorer. But I think there’s a lot more to my game. I think I can show that here in San Antonio.”
- Gay has no qualms about playing for the hard-driving Popovich: “You want to play for somebody that you respect on the court and off the court. That’s a guy you’d want to go to battle for, a guy that’s not afraid to say how he feels on the basketball court or off the basketball court.”
Southwest Notes: Anthony, Simmons, Mavericks, Rondo
Houston continues to be the preferred destination for Carmelo Anthony, but former Rockets coach and ESPN commentator Jeff Van Gundy doesn’t see the high-scoring forward as a “natural fit” for the team, relays Marc Berman of The New York Post. Van Gundy, who still lives in Houston, believes the Rockets need to focus on defense in any future transactions. “I think they have a lot on their plate integrating [Chris] Paul and [James] Harden,” Van Gundy said. “They’re not going to be better offensively than they were last year. They were the second-best team in the league offensively. I thought they had defined roles everyone knew.”
Efforts to work out a four-team trade that would send Anthony to Houston are currently on hold as new Knicks GM Scott Perry hopes for a face-to-face meeting with his star player before proceeding. New York officials would like Anthony, who can block any deal with a no-trade clause, to expand the list of teams he is willing to join, which reportedly now just includes the Rockets and Cavaliers.
There’s more this morning from the Southwest Division:
- The Spurs never made a serious attempt to keep Jonathon Simmons, tweets Casey Keirnan of News 4 San Antonio. Simmons agreed to a three-year, $20MM deal with the Magic on Friday after the Spurs pulled his qualifying offer and made him an unrestricted free agent. Despite reports that San Antonio was trying to retain Simmons, the team never made him an offer apart from the QO, sources tell Keirnan.
- The Mavericks are taking an international approach to rebuilding their roster, notes Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. This week’s signing of German star Maxi Kleber could give them as many as seven international players at training camp. Joining roster holdovers Dirk Nowitzki, J.J. Barea, Dwight Powell and Salah Mejri will be Kleber, Nico Brussino and Ding Yanyuhang. However, Brussino’s $1,312,611 salary for next season won’t be guaranteed until Thursday, so he may be somewhere else when camp opens. “You want good players, and it doesn’t matter where you find them,” said president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson. “There are players all over the world. It’s our job to know where they are.”
- After reaching an agreement Saturday with Rajon Rondo, the Pelicans plan to use him and fellow point guard Jrue Holiday as their backcourt starters, according to Marc J. Spears of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Rondo’s friendship with former Kings teammate DeMarcus Cousins was a factor in choosing New Orleans, Spears indicates.
Spurs Sign Brandon Paul
JULY 14, 12:32pm: The Spurs have formally issued a press release making their deal with Paul official.
JULY 13, 2:24pm: The Spurs have reached an agreement with Brandon Paul to add him to the team, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link). Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com adds that the contract will be guaranteed, though no other details of the deal have trickled out yet.
Paul played abroad last season for Anadolu Efes Istanbul where he shot 41.5% from behind the arc. He played for the Cavaliers’ Summer League team in 2017 and the Sixers’ squad during the summer of 2016.
The combo guard spent four years at the University of Illinois before going undrafted in the 2013 draft. During his senior year in college, he scored 16.6 points per game while shooting 40.1% from the field.
Spurs, Suns Discussed Tyson Chandler Trade
Before they renounced Jonathon Simmons‘ rights and made him an unrestricted free agent, the Spurs discussed a sign-and-trade scenario that would have sent Simmons to the Suns in a deal for center Tyson Chandler, writes Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News. It’s not clear if the proposed deal would have been Simmons for Chandler straight up or if other parts would have been involved, but either way, San Antonio backed out of the deal, reluctant to take on Chandler’s contract, per Young.
Spurs Make Jonathon Simmons Unrestricted FA
1:00pm: Having spoken to Simmons’ representatives, Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link) says they are no longer in talks with the Spurs. Referring to today’s move as “last call,” Young strongly suggests a reunion isn’t in store for Simmons and San Antonio.
Meanwhile, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter) that Simmons is in talks with “several” other clubs, while Charania confirms the UFA guard is focused on signing elsewhere.
11:27am: The Spurs continue to negotiate with Simmons as an unrestricted free agent, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
If that’s the case, it seems the team may have simply rescinded Simmons’ qualifying offer rather than renouncing his rights entirely. Withdrawing Simmons’ QO would leave the Spurs with his Early Bird rights, while renouncing him would leave only the bi-annual exception or Non-Bird rights for a new deal.
11:04am: In a surprising move, the Spurs have renounced Jonathon Simmons, making him an unrestricted free agent, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Today is the last day for teams to withdraw qualifying offers for restricted free agents, so San Antonio made the move just before the deadline.
A former undrafted free agent out of Houston, Simmons played a career-high 78 games for the Spurs last season, averaging 6.2 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 1.6 APG in a part-time role for the club. Although he has played just two years in the NBA, Simmons will turn 28 in September.
Despite his age and his modest production last year, however, the 6’6″ swingman has been viewed as one of the more intriguing players on the shooting guard market, given his two-way potential and his ability to play a key role for the West’s second-best team. Simmons also took on a larger role in the postseason, averaging 15.3 PPG and 3.3 APG in the Warriors’ four-game sweep of the Spurs.
The Kings, Clippers, Knicks, and Timberwolves are among the teams that have expressed interest in Simmons since free agency got underway, though most of those clubs no longer have the flexibility to make a competitive offer. Sacramento still has some room left, and under-the-cap clubs like the Nets and Sixers could be worth watching as well.
The Spurs’ decision to renounce Simmons is somewhat unexpected, considering the team was said to be preparing an offer in the range of $9MM annually for him at the start of free agency. However, San Antonio may have viewed Simmons as a non-essential piece after using the mid-level exception to bring Rudy Gay aboard.
Jaron Blossomgame To Join Austin Spurs
1:30pm: Blossomgame will be joining the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s G League affiliate, but not on a two-way contract, according to Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com. Wright indicates that Blossomgame will get a standard G League contract, as the Spurs retain his NBA rights. That will give the club the flexibility to add two other players on two-way contracts.
10:39am: Reports of Blossomgame signing a two-way contract are “not accurate,” per Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link).
It’s not clear whether the Spurs intend to sign Blossomgame to an NBA contract or if no decision has been made yet. Since he was a draft pick, San Antonio holds Blossomgame’s NBA rights, so the two sides figure to work something out at some point.
8:27am: The Spurs will sign 2017 second-round pick Jaron Blossomgame to a two-way contract, according to Chris Reichert of 2 Ways & 10 Days (via Twitter). The deal is not yet official.
Blossomgame, a 6’7″ forward, was ranked as the 50th-best prospect in this year’s draft class by DraftExpress. In his senior season at Clemson, Blossomgame averaged 17.6 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 33 games. The Spurs made him the 59th overall pick in the draft last month.
As we’ve detailed, two-way contracts are a new addition to the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement that allow teams to control two extra players who primarily play for the club’s G League affiliate. They can be called up to the NBA roster, but only for up to 45 days per season.
Blossomgame is the third late-second-round pick to agree to a two-way contract, along with the Pacers’ Edmond Sumner (No. 52) and the Suns’ Alec Peters (No. 54). I expect most second-round selections will avoid having to sign two-way deals, but I wouldn’t be surprised if teams picking late in the draft spoke to players and agents before draft day to see if they’d be amenable to doing a two-way deal.
Spurs Sign Rudy Gay
7:49pm: The Spurs have officially signed Gay, the team announced in a press release.
7:15pm: The Spurs have reached an agreement with free agent forward Rudy Gay, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter). According to Wojnarowski, Gay’s new deal with San Antonio will be a two-year contract worth $17MM+ and will feature a second-year player option (Twitter link).
Since striking a deal to bring back point guard Patty Mills shortly after the new league year got underway, the Spurs have been fairly quiet this week as they waited out the first couple waves of free agency. However, Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that the team “worked hard” to close a deal with Gay over the last 72 hours.
Gay, who will turn 31 in August, averaged 18.7 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 30 games for the Kings this past season before going down with an Achilles injury. Despite the injury, the veteran forward elected to decline a player option for 2017/18 that would have paid him approximately $14.26MM.
Gay will earn less than that for the Spurs this season, as San Antonio will use its mid-level exception to complete the signing. The mid-level for a non-taxpaying team like the Spurs is worth $8.406MM in 2017/18, and Gay’s two-year total will be $17.232MM. Although he’ll take a pay cut, the UConn alum seemed frustrated with the organization in Sacramento, and is likely thrilled to be joining a championship contender in San Antonio.
Despite committing to Gay, the Spurs retain the flexibility to match an offer sheet for Jonathon Simmons, who is still on the restricted free agent market.
As for Gay’s other suitors, the Jazz were said to have interest, as were the Heat and Thunder. However, Utah has been working to land Jae Crowder from the Celtics, while Oklahoma City used its mid-level exception on Patrick Patterson and Miami used its remaining cap room on Kelly Olynyk.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
RFA Rumors: Mirotic, Noel, Simmons, Green
A handful of restricted free agents have made out well so far this year on the open market. Tony Snell, Joe Ingles, Cristiano Felicio, and Andre Roberson got lucrative new multiyear deals from their respective clubs, and Otto Porter reportedly has a maximum salary offer sheet in place with the Nets, though the Wizards have yet to receive it.
Still, there are a number of RFAs still on the market as league-wide cap room begins to dwindle. Sean Deveney of The Sporting News takes a closer look at six big-name RFA still seeking a new contract, so let’s dive in and round up the highlights…
- Prior to free agency, rival executives estimated that Nikola Mirotic would seek something in the range of $20MM annually. However, the Bulls‘ power forward may have to settle for something closer to $12MM per year, according to Deveney, who notes that team owner Jerry Reinsdorf has played “hardball” in these situations in the past.
- Deveney predicts that the Mavericks and Nerlens Noel will eventually negotiate a deal in the four-year, $85MM range.
- The Spurs are expected to match reasonable offers for Jonathon Simmons, which could mean something in the range of $30MM over three years, per Deveney. The Kings and Knicks have expressed interest in Simmons.
- Grizzlies RFA JaMychal Green has drawn some interest from the Bulls and he may be a backup plan for the Spurs depending on what happens with Simmons, says Deveney, adding that Memphis still wants to retain Green.
- Bojan Bogdanovic‘s price tag is “quickly dropping,” according to Deveney. The Wizards RFA was believed to be seeking something in the range of $50MM over three years, but that doesn’t seem realistic at this point. The Kings may be Bogdanovic’s best bet if they don’t land another small forward, writes Deveney.
Spurs Sign First-Round Pick Derrick White
The Spurs have signed Derrick White to a rookie scale deal, according to a team press release. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but if White signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale, he’ll take home roughly $8.54MM over the next four seasons.
White was the No. 29 overall pick out of the University of Colorado. During his lone season with the school, he was named Pac-12 All-Conference First-Team, All-Defensive Team, and All-Tournament Team.
The guard played three seasons of Division II basketball for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs prior to landing in the Pac-12. He’s that school’s all-time leader in career points and assists. White is currently playing for San Antonio’s summer league squad in Utah.
Warriors Considered Front-Runners For Jamal Crawford
11:15am: The Cavaliers and Spurs are also interested in Crawford if the buyout goes through, Haynes tweets, although Atlanta would prefer to trade him. Crawford has more than $17.2MM in guaranteed money over the next two seasons, and the Hawks would want him to give up a significant portion of that before agreeing to a buyout, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link).
9:24am: Once Jamal Crawford gets bought out by the Hawks, there’s a good chance he will sign with the Warriors, according to Chris Haynes and Marc J. Spears of ESPN.com.
Crawford is part of a proposed three-team trade that would send Paul Millsap to the Nuggets and Danilo Gallinari to the Clippers. Crawford would be shipped to the Hawks, along with Diamond Stone, and will petition Atlanta for a buyout, sources told ESPN.
Once he hits the market, Golden State would be favored to sign him with its $5.2MM taxpayer mid-level exception.
Crawford, 37, played for the Warriors during the 2008/09 season and often talks about how much he enjoys the Bay Area, according to Haynes and Spears. The three-time Sixth Man of the Year appeared in all 82 games for the Clippers this season, averaging 12.3 points per night. He has said he will only consider playing for contenders once the buyout is complete.
The Warriors are also pursuing Nick Young, the authors add, with Draymond Green and Kevin Durant playing a part in the recruiting. The 10-year veteran is also in talks with the Pelicans, who can offer more playing time, but Golden State could give Young his first chance to win a title.
The Warriors probably don’t have the resources to add both Crawford and Young, but the ESPN story says there is a “strong possibility” they will land one of them.