Spurs Sign Tony Parker To Extension
1:49pm: Wojnarowski, in his full story, pegs the value of the three-year extension at nearly $45MM, so it appears as though Parker is getting the max of $43,335,938.
1:21pm: The extension covers three seasons, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). That takes it through 2017/18.
12:55pm: The Spurs have signed Tony Parker to a multiyear extension, the team announced via press release. It’s the third extension that Parker has signed with San Antonio over the course of his career. He’s set to make $12.5MM this year in the final season under the terms of his most recent extension. It’s not immediately clear just how long or lucrative Parker’s latest deal is.
There’d been no public talk that the extension had been in the works, as is typical with the San Antonio organization. The news of Gregg Popovich‘s extension earlier this month was similarly sudden. Still, the notion that Parker intends to stick around the Spurs for a while longer is certainly no shock, and the same was the case with Popovich. Parker has been confident that he would remain in San Antonio and told close associates that he had no desire to relocate his family, tweets Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News.
Parker’s salary for this season had been only partially guaranteed for $3.5MM, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports, but as expected the Spurs kept him past June 30th, when the salary became fully guaranteed. The maximum value of an extension that the Creative Artists Agency client could have signed would be $43,335,938 over three years, as Deeks points out via Twitter. That’s much less than Parker could have received if he signed a new contract as a free agent next summer. Just how much a new contract could have given him won’t be known until the NBA sets its maximum salaries next summer, but based on this year’s max for a player of Parker’s experience, he likely would have been eligible for five years and much more than $100MM.
That helps explain why most veterans don’t sign extensions, but Parker and his Spurs teammates have a long history of hometown discounts. Parker lowered his annual pay with his last extension instead of going for the significant raises for which he was eligible.
The 32-year-old point guard is the youngest of a star trio also composed of Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, but even Parker is beginning to advance out of his prime years. He, like the other Spurs mainstays, remains a strong producer, even though his 29.4 minutes per game this season were his fewest since he was a rookie. He averaged 16.7 points and 5.7 assists this past year, another All-Star season that culminated in San Antonio’s fifth championship in franchise history and fourth with Parker in tow.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Several NBA Teams Eyeing Dahntay Jones
AUGUST 1ST: The Wizards were indeed present at the workout, but they don’t have interest in signing Jones, reports Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post (Twitter link).
JULY 30TH: The Kings, Cavs, Spurs, Thunder and Wizards were all in attendance at a workout that Jones held today in Las Vegas, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Between 15 and 20 NBA clubs were set to take a look at him this week, as Kennedy reported earlier this month.
JULY 21ST: Ten-year NBA veteran Dahntay Jones is set to work out for the Knicks and Sixers this week, and in addition to a reported meeting with the Clippers earlier this month, he also worked out for that team, too, as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reports. The shooting guard and Mark Bartelstein client is close with former Nuggets teammate Carmelo Anthony, though New York’s addition of Jones would only add to a logjam at the two-guard that Knicks GM Steve Mills has already publicly acknowledged.
The Knicks are apparently discussing trades involving J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to clear up that position, as we noted Sunday. New York also worked out Jones this past February, seemingly the closest brush that the now 33-year-old had with the NBA last season after the Bulls waived him early in the preseason. Still, that was before the arrival of Knicks team president Phil Jackson, and what attracts the team to Jones now is his competitiveness and leadership, according to Isola.
The Knicks, now as they were in February, are limited to the minimum salary, and the Clippers are similarly hamstrung. The Sixers have ample cap room to use on Jones, but it’s nonetheless unlikely that he’ll warrant any better than a guaranteed minimum-salary contract. He’s averaged 5.6 points in 16.3 minutes per game over his career, and put up 3.4 PPG in 13.0 MPG in 2012/13, his last NBA season.
Nemanja Dangubic Signs With Serbian Team
THURSDAY, 8:06am: The deal is official, the team announced (translation via Carchia). It’s a three-year deal with options that will allow him to jump to the NBA after each season.
WEDNESDAY, 10:55pm: Nemanja Dangubic has chosen to sign with Serbian club KK Crvena Zvezda, reports Emilano Carchia of Sportando. The 54th overall pick in this year’s draft was leaning toward remaining overseas, and he’s reportedly made up his mind and is poised to stick around in Europe for at least one more season.
The Spurs acquired Dangubic’s rights from the Sixers after Philly picked him in the second round, and San Antonio will retain the right to sign the guard until he chooses to come stateside. There wouldn’t be much room in the club’s backcourt for Dangubic if he chose to come over this season anyway, so the move is largely unsurprising.
At just 21-years-old, Dangubic will benefit from the additional playing time he’ll find in the Euroleague next season. He’s the latest in a long line of San Antonio’s “draft-and-stash” players.
Western Notes: Rubio, Nash, Thompson
The Wolves are willing to give Ricky Rubio an extension similar to the four-year, $44MM extension Stephen Curry signed with the Warriors two years ago, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Rubio and agent Dan Fegan are asking for the max over five seasons. We took a look at Rubio and other extension candidates earlier today.
More from out west:
- Steve Nash isn’t under any illusions that his career will last much longer, saying in a Sport TV video that he thinks this coming season with the Lakers will be his last, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
- Klay Thompson was hoping that he would have worked out a contract extension with the Warriors prior to beginning this summer’s Team USA camp, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. He and the Warriors have until October 31st to strike a deal, or he’ll hit restricted free agency in 2015.
- The Spurs have sent Manu Ginobili a letter denying him permission to participate in the FIBA Basketball World Cup later this summer, reports Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation (hat tip to Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News). San Antonio GM R.C. Buford cited the eight-week recovery span required for the stress fracture in Ginobili’s right leg as the reason. The injury was first discovered during the team’s exit physicals after winning the NBA Championship this year.
- The Rockets signing of free agent Jeremy Lin back in 2012 was a solid one, opines Randy Harvey of the Houston Chronicle (Video link), who takes a look back at Lin’s time in Houston. Lin was recently traded to the Lakers in a move to clear cap space for the potential signing of Chris Bosh before he decided to return to the Heat.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Nemanja Dangubic Likely To Remain In Serbia
Spurs second-round draftee Nemanja Dangubic is close to signing with Serbian club KK Crvena Zvezda, the website Novosti.rs reports (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). KK Partizan, another Serbian team, is also pursuing him, but the 54th overall pick from this year’s draft is leaning toward Crvena Zvezda, according to the Novosti.rs report.
The Spurs acquired the rights to Dangubic, a 6’8″ shooting guard, in a draft-night trade with the Sixers. Dangubic, 21, would be the latest in a long line of Spurs “draft-and-stash” players from overseas. It’s no surprise the team isn’t bringing him aboard for this season, given the difficulty that Dangubic would face in finding playing time on a team that’s poised to return nearly everyone from last year’s championship roster.
Dangubic spent the last two years with KK Mega Vizura, another Serbian franchise. He averaged 10.3 points and 3.6 rebounds in 26.2 minutes per game this past season.
And-Ones: Jefferson, Spurs, Sterling
One year after joining the Hornets (née Bobcats) as a free agent, Al Jefferson is happy with the moves the club has made this summer, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. “We just need to continue to build off of what we what we did last year,” Jefferson said. “We know that if we play defense and focus on defense, we will have a chance to win. That’s one of the things that I did last year that I’ve never done before, just really buying in to the defensive end. I believe us finishing sixth in the NBA in defense was the reason why we had the success we had. We just have to continue to build off that.” More from around the NBA..
- The Spurs didn’t just win the championship, they won the offseason too, writes J.A. Adande of ESPN.com. The Spurs didn’t make the most eye-grabbing move of the summer – the Cavs, of course, grabbed that honor – but they did retain four key components of their title run: Tim Duncan, coach Gregg Popovich, Patrick Mills, and Boris Diaw.
- Embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling met with Steve Ballmer and Shelly Sterling, sources tell Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. No settlement was reached, but the two men had what a source described as a “friendly” conversation about the pending sale. This was the first face-to-face meeting between the two men since the sale, which Sterling continues to fight in court.
- A couple of NBA scouts told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter) that they’d love to see URI rising sophomore E.C. Matthews at the Adidas Nations camp. Matthews averaged 14.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 2.3 APG in 32.5 minutes per contest last season under coach Dan Hurley.
Spurs Re-Sign Matt Bonner
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.
International Notes: Bertans, Hamilton, Babbitt
Davis Bertans has signed a three-year contract worth just under €2MM with Spanish team Baskonia, tweets Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The deal has an NBA-out clause in each season that the Spurs, who own Bertans’ rights and have eyed the Latvian for the near future, could pay for without it counting against the cap, presuming it is at or below the $600,000 maximum allowed. Here’s more from around the world:
- Ryan Richards, the Spurs 2010 second-round draft pick, has signed with an Austrian club, the Zepter Vienna team website announced (transcription via Trapani).
- Russian team Lokomotiv Kuban is looking to add Justin Hamilton and Milan Macvan next season, reports Enea Trapani of Sportando. Hamilton has a non-guaranteed salary that the Heat can fully waive prior to August 1st, and partially waive before December 1st. Macvan was drafted by the Cavs in 2011, and has been cool to Cleveland’s interest in bringing him to the NBA.
- Spanish team Unicaja Malaga has offered Luke Babbitt a $980,000 contract if the Pelicans don’t retain him, notes Trapani in a separate report. That amount is nearly identical to Babbitt’s fully non-guaranteed salary in New Orleans, which becomes partially guaranteed at $100,000 if the Pelicans don’t waive him before July 22nd.
Arnovitz On Lockout, Rockets, Suns, LeBron
While members of June’s coveted draft class have yet to wow executives in the NBA summer leagues, it hasn’t curbed the chatter among the league’s decision-makers in Las Vegas, writes ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz. Arnovitz provides a plethora of big-picture issues being regularly discussed in the desert. Let’s round them up here:
- Between the hefty prices that NBA franchises have fetched this offseason and a new television deal for the league on the horizon, insiders have been “downright giddy” in Vegas this week. Soaring revenues have resulted in teams investing in technology and analytics, though there is a growing fear that the NBA could be headed for another lockout in 2017.
- Speaking of lockouts, the CBA negotiated during the last one has successfully limited the lengths of contracts in the NBA while simultaneously making it more difficult to plan for the long term, according to some executives. By limiting risk, shorter contracts have flooded the marketplace with bidders, in turn driving up the prices on free agents.
- The reactions to the Rockets‘ offseason have been mixed, according to Arnovitz. On one hand, GM Daryl Morey has essentially traded Chandler Parsons, Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin and first and second round draft picks for Trevor Ariza, a first round pick and a trade exception. On the other hand, Morey has landed two max players in two years while maintaining the cap space to add another. However, there is sentiment that Morey’s analytics-based approach might eventually discourage future targets from coming to Houston.
- The Spurs are still undoubtedly the model franchise of the NBA, though there is a buzz about what the Suns are building in Phoenix. Citing several insiders, Arnovitz writes that the Suns are adding assets while simultaneously producing an exciting product for their fans.
- LeBron James‘ return to Cleveland hasn’t evoked nearly as much gossip among league insiders as his departure did, but one general manager expressed appreciation for the Cavaliers‘ star “carrying” the NBA right now from a business standpoint.
- The analytics movement continues to devalue the mid-range game, resulting in widespread approval of Channing Frye‘s four-year, $32MM deal with the Magic and even some support for the three-year, $19.5MM deal that Jodie Meeks signed with the Pistons.
Mavs Re-Sign Devin Harris
JULY 17TH, 6:35pm: The deal is official, the Mavericks announced via a team release.
JULY 5TH, 8:50pm: Dwain Price of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter link) is reporting that Harris’ deal is the same as the 3-year, $12MM that Patty Mills received from the Spurs.
2:16pm: A source tells Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (on Twitter) that the deal is actually four years in length and worth $16MM.
1:42pm: Harris’ deal will be worth roughly $9MM over three seasons, hears Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com (Twitter link).
1:15pm: The Mavericks and Devin Harris are finalizing a three-year deal, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Re-signing Harris became the team’s top priority after they traded Jose Calderon to the Knicks, Stein mentions.
Harris joined the Mavs on a one-year, minimum salary pact last season and performed well for Dallas coming off the bench. He averaged 7.9 points and 4.5 assists in 20.5 minutes per contest. Although those numbers are a far cry from the figures he was able to put up in his All-Star 2008/09 campaign, he proved himself as a still-capable contributor.
Stein doesn’t mention how much the contract will be worth, but it’s likely more than the minimum Harris agreed to last season. Of course, no deal can become official until July 10, when the league-wide moratorium on signings and trades expires.