Kings Sign Marco Belinelli
July 13th, 9:58pm: The signing is official, according to the team’s Twitter feed.
July 3rd, 4:05pm: The deal wouldn’t fit within the mid-level exception, Stein notes via Twitter. That exception would only allow for a total of $17,129,640 over three years, and while it’s not uncommon for initial reported figures on deals to be off, this appears to be confirm that the contract will exceed the exception amount. That means the Kings will likely use cap room and lose the ability to create trade exceptions for the three players they’ve agreed to trade to Philadelphia, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders points out (on Twitter).
1:36pm: The Kings and Marco Belinelli have reached agreement on a deal worth $19MM over three years, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The contract will include no option clauses, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Sacramento will likely use part of the cap space it’s set to clear in the wake of its trade agreement with the Sixers, though the deal is cheap enough to fit within the $5.464MM mid-level exception if the Kings choose to operate as an over-the-cap team.
The Hornets had reportedly planned a strong pursuit, and the Warriors had interest, too. The Heat put in a call to express their interest in the client of Sam Goldfeder and Jeff Schwartz, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link), but Miami, like the Warriors, is likely limited to no more than the $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level exception. The Bulls might have gone after him if they’d have failed to sign Mike Dunleavy, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune wrote, but they, too, would likely have been limited to the taxpayer’s mid-level.
Belinelli wanted to re-sign with the Spurs, as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News heard (Twitter link). They were armed with Early Bird rights to bring him back on a deal comparable to the one he’s getting from the Kings, but they’re in hot pursuit of LaMarcus Aldridge, and may well have had to renounce Belinelli’s rights to squeeze Aldridge under the cap.
Sacramento moves on from having missed out on Monta Ellis and Wesley Matthews with a proven three-point marksman who’s nailed 39.2% of his attempts from behind the arc for his career. Still, outside of two seasons in New Orleans, he’s primarily been a reserve during his eight years in the NBA.
Bulls Sign Cristiano Felicio
The Bulls have signed big man Cristiano Felicio, who is from Brazil and is currently playing on Chicago’s summer league team, the Bulls announced in a press release.
“We’ve been impressed with Cristiano’s work ethic and potential,” said GM Gar Forman. “We’re looking forward to working with him and having him come to camp with us this fall.”
K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune tweets Felicio will come to training camp on a make-good deal.
Free Agent Roundup: Thompson, Sloan, Datome
Cavaliers GM David Griffin remains optimistic the team will retain restricted free agent Tristan Thompson, Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio reports. “I think we’ll wind up getting something done,” Griffin told the Cleveland media. Amico opines that Thompson should take the reported five-year, $80MM contract that Cleveland has offered him, given that the club already has three max-level players in LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. It may come down to the Cavs having to match an offer sheet for the power forward, Amico adds.
In other free agent news:
- Donald Sloan is discussing a contract with the Spurs, Bulls and Mavericks, league sources told RealGM’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). Sloan spent the past two seasons with the Pacers and averaged 7.4 points, 3.6 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 53 games last season, including 21 starts.
- The Pistons are looking to re-sign point guard John Lucas III, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. The Magic, Spurs, Mavericks and Clippers are also interested, Stein adds. Lucas would give the Pistons four point guards along with Reggie Jackson, Brandon Jennings and Spencer Dinwiddie.
- Luigi Datome‘s Eurobasket profile has the free agent forward signing with Khimki Moscow but Eurobasket.com’s David Pick is skeptical, adding that Datome might wind up with CSKA Moscow if he plays overseas (Twitter links). Datome played for the Pistons and Celtics last season.
- Fuquan Edwin drew interest from three NBA teams after he scored 16 points and made two steals for the Pelicans’ summer league team, Adam Zagoria of SNY.TV tweets. The former Seton Hall shooting guard played for Guaros de Lara in the Venezuelan league last season.
Central Rumors: Drummond, Butler, Pacers
The Pistons will begin extension talks with center Andre Drummond this summer with the aim of signing him to a long-term deal, most likely for the max, Terry Foster of the Detroit News reports. The Pistons want to lock up their franchise player even though they could have more flexibility to sign free agents and make trades next summer by waiting to re-sign him when he’s a restricted free agent, Foster continues. The incentive for Drummond is to get the guaranteed money now in case he suffers a significant injury, Foster adds. Money is apparently no object to get an agreement. “We have until the end of October so we will get into those talks in the next couple of weeks,” Pistons president of basketball operations and coach Stan Van Gundy said during a press conference. “What you are talking about there is more timing than anything. It is not like you will be haggling over dollars, so it is a different situation.”
In other news around the Central Division:
- Van Gundy admitted he took “a little bit of a gamble” with his commitment to point guard Reggie Jackson, who has never started a full season, John Niyo of the Detroit News writes. Jackson, a restricted free agent, agreed to a five-year, $80MM deal without any options to be the team’s floor leader going forward. Van Gundy wanted to have Jackson for the long haul. “You’ve got to weigh in future years,” Van Gundy told the Detroit media. “Most of the guys who signed free-agent contracts [this July], they’ve got an out after year three or four. We were willing to pay more money to not have the out.”
- Jimmy Butler received a $4.6MM signing bonus when he re-signed with the Bulls, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. Butler stayed put with a five-year deal worth approximately $95MM. A 5% trade kicker is another element to the contract, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- The Pacers will use cap room to re-sign guard Rodney Stuckey since they renounced his non-Bird rights, Pincus reports. They also renounced their rights to Andrew Bynum, David West and Luis Scola, among others, Pincus adds (Twitter links). Stuckey agreed to a three-year, $21MM deal to remain with Indiana.
Jimmy Butler Re-Signs With Bulls
JULY 9TH, 11:25am: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
“We are thrilled that Jimmy has committed to remain a Chicago Bull for years to come,” GM Gar Forman said in the press release. “As one of the leagues rising stars, we look forward to his continued growth and him being a major contributor to our team’s continued success.”
JULY 1ST, 1:21pm: Jimmy Butler and the Bulls are finalizing a max contract for five years with a player option after year four, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links). It’ll be worth an estimated $95MM, according to Wojnarowski, with the precise value to be determined, when the deal can become official at the end of the July Moratorium next week. Other teams pursuing him have given up the chase, Wojnarowski adds. The client of Happy Walkers and Steve McCaskill was strongly leaning toward taking Chicago’s five-year offer, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com had reported earlier, and it long appeared as though the Bulls would keep him, with the power to match offers and the willingness to pay the max.
The restricted free agent reportedly intended to seek short-term offer sheets, but wound up re-signing with Chicago on a deal that won’t allow him to choose free agency until 2019. Still, when the Bulls tendered a maximum qualifying offer, that meant Butler couldn’t sign an offer sheet that would let him into free agency sooner than 2018, and he apparently put off meetings with the Lakers, Sixers and Mavs when that offer from Chicago came in. The only recourse would have been to sign his standard qualifying offer, worth less than $4.434MM, and while that would have let him into unrestricted free agency next summer, it would have been a profound financial sacrifice for this coming season.
Butler already gambled on himself when he passed up $11MM salaries on a proposed extension with Chicago this past fall. The former 30th overall pick apparently would have settled for between $12.5MM and $13MM a year at that point, but his performance this season, which earned him this year’s Most Improved Player of the Year award, sent his value skyrocketing.
The result will cost the Bulls even more than the difference between what he might have taken in an extension and an estimated $16MM starting salary for this coming season. Chicago, which also agreed to a three-year, $14.4MM deal with Mike Dunleavy today, is almost certain to pay a stiff tax bill, since it entered free agency with $63MM already against a tax threshold likely to land somewhere around $82MM when the league sets it at the end of the moratorium.
Central Notes: Smith, Bulls, Johnson
The Cavaliers are still interested in re-signing unrestricted free agent J.R. Smith, who has not met with any other teams yet, Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report tweets. Smith is reportedly seeking a three-year commitment on his next deal after opting out of his contract for 2015/16. Cleveland has also explored dealing for Nets veteran Joe Johnson, who could fill the scoring void that would be left by Smith’s departure, but those talks are considered dead for the time being.
Here’s more out of the Central Division:
- The Bulls announced that Randy Brown and Charlie Henry have been hired as assistant coaches, and that Mike Wilhelm will be retained as an assistant coach on Fred Hoiberg’s coaching staff.
- Some eyebrows were raised when the Pistons selected Stanley Johnson in this year’s NBA Draft with Justise Winslow still available, but the rookie is showing during Summer League play that he’s ready for the NBA, Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders writes. It’s Johnson’s toughness that has stood out, a trait that the forward believes led to Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy taking him, Brigham notes. “I don’t think Stan would draft somebody that’s soft,” Johnson said. “I’m not going to let anybody punk me on the court just because I’m 19 years old and new to this. You’re not going to disrespect me. I have no tolerance for that type of stuff. I’ve had some stupid fouls, and I’ve got to get better at that. But I’m going to get my respect, especially in the Summer League.”
- The Pistons will miss more than just Greg Monroe‘s on court production according to point guard Reggie Jackson, Terry Foster of The Detroit News relays. “He was like a big brother to me,” Jackson said. “And he was a role model also. We are going to miss what he brings to the table, and we wish him the best with the Bucks.” Monroe has agreed to a three-year, maximum salary deal with Milwaukee.
And-Ones: Lee, Randle, Bulls, Clippers
Clippers guard J.J. Redick vented his frustrations with his team’s offseason during an interview with Bleacher Report Radio, Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times relays. When asked to grade Los Angeles’ free agent moves, Redick said, “Is there an F-minus?” The veteran continued expressing his disappointment, saying, “Listen, we had one priority this summer and that was to re-sign D.J. [DeAndre Jordan] and we missed out on that, so barring some miracle, [the] makeup of our team is completely different now.” The center agreed to a four-year, $80MM deal with Dallas last week.
Redick noted the myriad of ways in which the Clippers will miss Jordan, referring to the big man as, “such an integral part of what we did, not just defensively but offensively with his screening, his rolling, his offensive rebounds. His presence down low essentially made teams either commit to the three-point line when Blake [Griffin] or Chris [Paul] penetrated or commit to him, and that either opened up lobs for him or threes for guys like me and Jamal [Crawford] and Matt [Barnes].”
Here’s what else is happening around the league:
- Free agent Kevin Seraphin is receiving interest from the Mavericks, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops relays (Twitter link). The 25-year-old center has also had inquiries from the Lakers, Wizards, Suns and Spurs, Scotto adds.
- The Lakers‘ first round draft pick of a year ago, Julius Randle, participated in his first organized practice with the team since he suffering a broken leg in his NBA debut last season, Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com writes. Randle, who is on track to be recovered by the start of the 2015/16 season, has lost weight while getting stronger, which should improve his quickness and production, Holmes adds. “The credit goes to my coaches for staying on me and not letting this downtime being injured be a step in the wrong direction,” Randle said. “I’m taking advantage of it the most that I could. It’s also me with my drive and will and people supporting me. The credit goes to all of them.“
- The proposed trade that would send David Lee to the Celtics can save the Warriors roughly $5MM in salary and an additional $18MM in luxury tax, which makes the deal worth doing for Golden State, even if Lee’s presence will be missed, Daniel Leroux of The Sporting News writes.
- The Bulls missed a major opportunity to take advantage of a still developing Cavaliers roster and reach the NBA Finals, a feat that has grown even more difficult with the improvements that Cleveland, not to mention the Bucks and Raptors, made this offseason, Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com writes.
Bulls Sign Bobby Portis
The Bulls have signed Bobby Portis to a rookie scale contract, the team announced in a press release (h/t to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders). Portis was the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft.
The forward out of Arkansas will earn more than $1.391MM this coming season in the first year of a four-year deal, presuming he receives the standard 120% of the rookie scale. The arrangement will likely will call for him to receive $1,453,680 in 2016/17, $1,516,320 the following year, and $2,494,346 in the final season.
Portis appeared in 36 games for the Razorbacks last season, averaging 17.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks, with a slash line of .536/.467/.737. His career averages are 15.0 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 1.5 BPG.
Latest On Patrick Beverley
FRIDAY, 5:26pm: The talks between the Kings and Beverley are progressing, and the two sides could be nearing a deal, Kennedy tweets.
1:05pm: New York is ramping up its pursuit of the point guard, and the sides have been talking a lot, Kennedy reports (on Twitter).
12:26pm: The Cavs contacted Patrick Beverley, Kennedy reports (on Twitter), while the Kings, Mavs and Knicks have all called him, too, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 12:07am: The Knicks have “major interest” and Beverley is interested in them, too, a source tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
TUESDAY, 1:43pm: The Mavericks, Knicks, Bulls, Cavs will challenge the Rockets in their efforts to re-sign Patrick Beverley, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Kennedy confirms that Houston continues to have interest in the point guard, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote this spring that the Rockets were determined to have him come back.
The Rockets have the right to match all offers after having extended a qualifying offer today worth slightly more than $2.725MM, according to fellow Basketball Insiders scribe Eric Pincus (on Twitter). That was largely a procedural move, as the Bill Duffy client appears poised to command much more after having played for just the minimum salary the past few seasons in Houston.
The Bulls and Cavs would appear to be long shots, since they’re both poised to go into tax territory, likely limiting them to the $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level exception. The Mavs and Knicks can clear max-level cap room, though Beverley probably isn’t their first priority. The Rockets are in the mix for marquee names, as usual, but GM Daryl Morey thinks the team will most likely remain above the cap and focus on re-signing its own free agents. Even if it doesn’t, it would be relatively easy to retain Beverley’s Bird rights, since his cap hold is equivalent to his qualifying offer.
Jimmy Butler Ponders Max Offer From Bulls
10:46am: The Bulls are open to a player option, Johnson reports (Twitter link).
9:17am: The Happy Walters client is strongly leaning toward Chicago’s five-year offer instead of a shorter deal, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
12:48am: Butler wants a player option in any deal that he signs, and while he may shop himself to other teams if the Bulls don’t grant that request, Chicago would still match any offer, according to K.C. Johnson the Chicago Tribune (Twitter links).
WEDNESDAY, 12:12am: The swingman is thinking about doing a five-year max deal that includes a player option on the last season with the Bulls, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.
TUESDAY, 11:09am: Butler put off meetings with the Lakers, Celtics, Sixers and Mavs when the Bulls made their max qualifying offer and is now deciding how many years to sign for on a deal with Chicago, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
MONDAY, 3:43pm: The Bulls have given Jimmy Butler a maximum qualifying offer, meaning other teams can’t sign him to an offer sheet that runs fewer than three years, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links). Those three years can’t include an option. Opposing teams would otherwise be limited to offer sheets of at least two years had Chicago merely extended a standard qualifying offer. The Bulls have also made the standard QO, worth nearly $4.434MM, that Butler can accept if he is intent on reaching unrestricted free agency as quickly as possible, though that would entail great financial sacrifice this season.
The max qualifying offer, by rule, is a fully guaranteed five years with a starting salary at the max and 7.5% raises. It can’t include any option years. The Bulls and Butler are free to negotiate different terms, but it nonetheless raises the stakes, with Butler reportedly wanting to sign a short-term deal with the Lakers.
David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune reported back in January that the Bulls planned a max offer for Butler, so today’s news is no surprise. Still, paying an estimated max salary of around $19MM to Butler next season will likely send the Bulls, who already have about $63MM in guaranteed salary for 2015/16, into tax territory, with the tax line projected to come in at $81.6MM.