The Rockets have arguably been the Southwest team in the news most often this month, as they've pursued restricted free agents and continued to try to land a superstar like Dwight Howard via trade. For now though, Daryl Morey and the Rockets are playing the waiting game, as they wait to see whether the Knicks will match their offer sheet for Jeremy Lin. In the meantime, here are a few updates on Houston's division rivals….
SUNDAY, 7:11pm: The pact is for 3 years and approximately $30MM according to Yahoo Sports' Marc Spears on Twitter. Spears credits his colleague Johnny Ludden for the report.
WEDNESDAY, 1:53pm: The Spurs officially announced in a press release that they have re-signed Duncan.
TUESDAY, 12:39pm: The contract also includes a no-trade clause, tweets Spears.
12:21pm: Duncan's three-year deal is fully guaranteed and includes a third-year player option, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
With ongoing uncertainty surrounding Jeremy Lin's tenure with the Knicks, ESPNNewYork.com's Jared Zwerling took the liberty of comparing the former Harvard point guard's skill set with the incoming Raymond Felton, who was acquired in a sign-and-trade with Portland last night. According to a few advanced statistics it's evident that Lin would be the better basketball option for New York, but the decision to let him go would be more of a financial one.
As we dig into this Sunday afternoon, here are a few more tidbits from around the league.
The Knicks’ deadline to match Landry Fields’ 3-year, $18.7MM offer sheet from the Raptors is tonight at 11pm CDT. If they match Lin and Fields, the Knicks will have roughly $86MM committed to those two plus Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, and Tyson Chandler for the 2014-15 season, tweets Al Iannazzone of Newsday. Include Jason Kidd and Steve Novak and it’s more than $92MM committed to seven players. The luxury tax penalties really start to get stiff in 2013/14 and that could make the Knicks' decision on Fields a difficult one. Here's more from around the Association..
FRIDAY, 4:37pm: The Spurs have officially signed De Colo, the team announced today in a press release.
TUESDAY, 12:03pm: Nando De Colo will leave Spanish team Valencia BC and sign a two-year deal with the Spurs, Valencia announced today (English link via Sportando). The 6'5" guard was drafted by San Antonio with the 53rd overall pick in the 2009 draft, and the Spurs have held his NBA rights since then.
The Spurs have officially re-signed free agent point guard Patty Mills, according to a team press release. Johnny Ludden of Yahoo! Sports first reported that the Spurs had agreed to a new deal with Mills.
Although the Spurs will bring one international prospect stateside this season, having signed Nando De Colo to a contract, another of the team's top international players doesn't appear headed for San Antonio. Spanish club Regal Barcelona announced today that they have re-signed Erazem Lorbek to a three-year deal to remain with the team (English translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). The Spurs, who hold Lorbek's NBA rights, were said earlier this offseason to be "very close" to a deal with the Slovenian forward, so it's a little surprising to see him re-up with Regal Barcelona.
Let's round up a few more Friday morning odds and ends….
The Spurs were two wins away from an NBA Finals appearance this year, and while some fans may be alarmed that the team fell short of a Finals berth after going 50-16, R.C. Buford explained why there's little need to panic (Jeff McDonald of SpursNation reports). Along with the re-signing of Tim Duncan, Danny Green, Boris Diaw, the team announced the additon of point guard prospect Nando De Colo and appear to be excited at the continued development of Kawhi Leonard. Here's the rest of what we've heard tonight out of the Association..
THURSDAY, 1:20pm: The Spurs have officially re-signed Diaw, the team announced today in a press release.
TUESDAY, 8:15am: The Spurs and Boris Diaw have agreed to terms on a two-year deal that will keep the forward in San Antonio, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). The deal includes a second-year player option and is worth about $9MM total, with incentives that could push Diaw's earnings to $9.2MM, says Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Jose Calderon's name has surfaced as a possible amnesty candidate a few times this offseason, but according to Raptors president Bryan Colangelo, the team doesn't expect to amnesty Calderon or anyone else this week. While Colangelo acknowledged that Calderon wasn't "thrilled" about the trade that brought Kyle Lowry to Toronto, he still views him as a valuable piece on the roster, as Eric Koreen of the National Post writes. Colangelo confirmed that a few teams have inquired on Calderon, and Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld writes that a trade is much more likely than an amnesty. Here are a few more notes from Kyler's HoopsWorld piece: