Blazers Pick Up Damian Lillard’s 2015/16 Option
The Blazers have exercised their team option on the fourth year of Damian Lillard‘s rookie scale contract, the team announced. Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer first reported the move (Twitter link). Lillard’s salary of $4.236MM for the 2015/16 season is locked in as a result, and it’s largely a perfunctory transaction, since it would have been shocking if Portland had let go of the budding star. The team will wait until the October 31st deadline draws near to decide on its other rookie scale options, for Thomas Robinson, C.J. McCollum and Meyers Leonard, according to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian (Twitter links).
The 24-year-old Lillard, who won the Rookie of the Year award in 2013, has quickly established himself as one of the league’s best point guards. He made his first All-Star Game and was on the All-NBA Third Team last season. His buzzer-beater at the end of the sixth game of Portland’s first-round series against the Rockets last spring lifted the Blazers to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2000.
Portland had little more than $13MM in commitments for 2015/16 before picking up Lillard’s option. That leaves GM Neil Olshey with plenty of flexibility to secure soon-to-be free agent LaMarcus Aldridge to a new long-term deal and build around the Aldridge-Lillard core.
Suns Sign Zoran Dragic
MONDAY, 12:36pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
“Zoran’s will to win and intensity stand out every time he steps on to the court,” GM Ryan McDonough said in the team’s statement. “He has been a very productive player in Euroleague, ACB and FIBA competitions. He excels defensively and in transition and I think our fans will quickly recognize his passion for the game.”
FRIDAY, 7:55am: Coro clarifies that a total of only $3.4MM will count against the cap for the Suns over the two seasons of the deal (Twitter link), so it appears as though the $4,012,500 figure that was reported earlier includes the $600K that Phoenix is allowed to contribute toward the buyout without it counting against the cap. That would mean the precise cap hits for Phoenix in 2014/15 and 2015/16 combined would come to $3,412,500, close to the figure that Amick reported, as we noted below.
Dragic confirmed the deal to Gal Zbačnik of Kosarki.si, while Unicaja Malaga formally announced Dragic’s departure from the team (on Twitter; translations via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia)
3:36pm: The total value of Dragic’s deal is $4,012,500, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link).
12:26pm: The amount buyout for the BDA Sports Management client was negotiated down to $1MM, reports Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. It’s not entirely clear whether it was Dragic’s camp, the Suns, or both who pushed the Spanish team to lower its demand.
THURSDAY, 11:01am: The Suns are set to sign Spanish league shooting guard Zoran Dragic to a two-year guaranteed deal, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. It’ll be worth a total of $3.5MM, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (on Twitter). Multiple reports from earlier indicated that Dragic had informed Spain’s Unicaja Malaga that he was leaving the team and would pay a buyout of about $1.1MM, with the Suns having placed a two-year offer on the table. Phoenix appears to be using some of its approximately $5.7MM in cap space remaining after Wednesday’s re-signing of Eric Bledsoe.
The 25-year-old will join older brother Goran Dragic on the Suns, and the addition will ostensibly aid Phoenix in its efforts to retain Goran long-term. The Suns beat out the Pacers, Kings, Heat, Magic, Spurs and Mavs, all of whom appeared to show interest in signing Zoran Dragic within the past month. Houston, too, was in the mix earlier this year, and the Rockets were reportedly the leading contender for him as of May. The Rockets have also eyed Goran Dragic, who played a season and a half for Houston earlier in his career.
Zoran Dragic has longed to play in the NBA, though he appeared prepared to begin the season overseas. His buyout costs more than the $600K Excluded International Player Payment Amount that an NBA team can dole out without it counting against the salary cap and without the money essentially coming out of Dragic’s paycheck. Still, a report indicated that Goran Dragic, who’ll make $7.5MM from the Suns this season, would likely pay part of the buyout for his brother.
The recent FIBA World Cup helped the 6’5″ Zoran Dragic make his case for a spot on an NBA roster, as he averaged 12.9 points and 4.0 rebounds in more than 26 minutes per game and made 13 of 30 three-point attempts playing alongside his brother on the Slovenian national team. His numbers had been less impressive last season for Unicaja Malaga, when he put up 10.6 PPG and 2.7 RPG in 20.3 MPG while shooting just 32.7% from behind the arc.
The deal gives the Suns 15 fully guaranteed pacts, as our roster counts show, likely setting the roster for opening night. It further diminishes the chances that Earl Barron and Casey Prather, who’d been with the club on non-guaranteed arrangements, will make it to opening night.
Thunder Sign Richard Solomon, Talib Zanna
The Thunder have signed power forwards Richard Solomon and Talib Zanna, the team announced via press release. Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman was the first to report the deals (Twitter links). The team also confirms previously reported agreements with Lance Thomas and Michael Jenkins. The team has the capacity to give more than the minimum to Solomon and Talib, both of whom went undrafted this past June, but it’s unlikely the Thunder did so. It’s not clear whether there’s any guaranteed money on their respective deals.
Solomon averaged a double-double as a senior this past season at Cal, notching 11.0 points and 10.2 rebounds in 29.2 minutes per game. Zanna came fairly close as a Pittsburgh senior, with 13.0 PPG and 8.6 RPG in 30.3 MPG, before joining the Sixers for summer league in July.
The moves will give Oklahoma City 18 players for camp. The Thunder have 14 fully guaranteed pacts, leaving Zanna and Solomon to fight with Thomas and Jenkins for the final regular season roster spot, presuming the team carries the NBA-maximum 15 players on opening night.
Celtics Re-Sign Christian Watford
The Celtics have re-signed power forward Christian Watford, the team announced via press release. The statement also confirmed the team’s deals with shooting guard Rodney McGruder and point guard Tim Frazier. The C’s waived Watford on Saturday to accommodate the team’s acquisition of four players in return for Keith Bogans, but they had an agreement to re-sign Watford even as they let him go, since Boston released others to make room. The Celtics had the capacity to exceed the minimum salary with Watford, McGruder and Frazier, but it’s unlikely they’ve done so. The amount of guaranteed money for the trio is unclear.
Watford went undrafted out of the University of Indiana in 2013, spending time in summer league with the Pacers, Mavs, Pistons and Warriors the past two offseasons and heading to Israel’s Hapoel Eilat for the 2013/14 season. He averaged 12.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in 27.9 minutes per game in his final season with the Hoosiers.
The additions, plus the long-awaited official announcement of the C’s deal with Evan Turner, gives Boston 20 players for camp. Presuming Turner’s deal is fully guaranteed, the Celtics have 16 such contracts, plus a partial guarantee to Erik Murphy, meaning the team will have to return to the trading block to avoid having dead money on the books come opening night. It also means that Watford is unlikely to remain for the regular season, though it’s possible the C’s will retain his D-League rights.
Celtics Sign Evan Turner
SEPTEMBER 29TH: The deal is finally official, the team announced via press release. Boston cleared room under the preseason limit of 20 players with a series of moves in the past few days to accommodate Turner.
JULY 21ST: The Celtics and Evan Turner are finalizing a deal for a portion of the mid-level exception, reports Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald (on Twitter). The Pacers made the former No. 2 overall pick an unrestricted free agent when they declined to tender his qualifying offer last month.
The Wolves appeared to be Boston’s primary competition for Turner, who was reportedly Minnesota’s top priority even though the team apparently envisioned signing him to only a one-year deal. The length of his arrangment with the Celtics is unclear.
Boston has more than $78.7MM in commitments on the roster for the coming season, a figure that puts them above the tax line but below the tax apron. The Celtics can waive close to $7.018MM in non-guaranteed salary, but in any case, the team won’t be able to sign Turner to a starting salary exceeding $3.278MM without triggering a hard cap of $80.829MM for this season.
Celtics Waive Malcolm Thomas, John Lucas III
MONDAY, 11:07am: The releases are official, the team announced.
SUNDAY, 4:26pm: The Celtics have waived Malcolm Thomas and John Lucas III, Marc Stein of ESPN.com is reporting (Twitter link). Both players were recently acquired in the trade that sent Keith Bogans to the Cavaliers, and Bogans has since been traded to the Sixers in a move that garnered Cleveland a valuable trade exception. The Celtics, too, were afforded a trade exception for the same $5,285,817 amount when they relinquished Bogans.
A roster move was expected from the Celtics who had 21 players on their preseason roster. That number includes Evan Turner whose signing has not been formally announced yet. This should change shortly now that Boston is down to 19 players after waiving Thomas and Lucas.
The team had waived Christian Watford on Friday, but reports have indicated that the team intends to re-sign the forward this week. So, Watford’s return would put Boston at the preseason limit of 20 players, including Turner, meaning the team’s camp roster is likely set.
Magic Sign Curry, Batts, Crawford For Camp
SEPTEMBER 29TH: All three deals are official, the team announced via press release.
SEPTEMBER 16TH: The Magic are bringing one-year veteran Seth Curry and the undrafted Kadeem Batts and Drew Crawford to camp, according to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). They’ll join fellow camp invitee Peyton Siva, who reportedly agreed to his deal in July. Orlando still has cap space available, but while it could give one or all of Curry, Batts and Crawford more than the minimum, it seems unlikely the team would do that. Siva received a partial guarantee in his pact, so it’s a distinct possibility that the other three will see at least nominal guarantees as part of their contracts.
Curry had reportedly been weighing overseas opportunities earlier this summer, but he’ll be in an NBA camp for the second straight autumn after joining his brother, Stephen Curry with the Warriors for the 2013 preseason. Seth Curry later resurfaced briefly with the Grizzlies and on a 10-day contract with the Cavs, but he saw action in just two NBA regular season games and spent most of the season in the D-League.
Batts, a 6’9″ power forward, spent the past four seasons playing at Providence, where he put up 12.3 points and 7.4 rebounds in 30.6 minutes per game as a senior before joining the Magic’s summer league team in July. He put up 9.3 PPG and 5.3 RPG in 19.8 MPG for the summer Magic.
Crawford, like Curry, has NBA bloodlines, since he’s the son of NBA referee Danny Crawford. The younger Crawford comes from Northwestern, where he put up 15.7 PPG and 6.4 RPG in 36.6 MPG as a senior. The 6’5″ shooting guard spent summer league with the Pelicans, averaging just 2.0 PPG and 1.8 RPG in 11.8 MPG.
The Magic had been carrying 16 deals, including 14 fully guaranteed pacts. That leaves Siva’s partially guaranteed arrangement and a non-guaranteed contract for Dewayne Dedmon that becomes partially guaranteed for $250K if he makes it to opening night.
Magic Sign Peyton Siva
SEPTEMBER 29TH: The team followed up with a formal announcement via press release, finally making the deal official.
JULY 29TH: Free agent point guard Peyton Siva has agreed to a deal with the Magic, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The 23-year-old guard recently participated in NBA summer league competition for the Pistons before being waived two weeks ago. According to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, it appears that Siva will be brought to training camp on a partially-guaranteed contract before eventually being waived and sent to Orlando’s D-League affiliate in Erie. The money from the partial guarantee will be used to supplement his D-League salary (Twitter links).
With the ability of Victor Oladipo to play point guard and the addition of playmaker Elfrid Payton via the draft, there doesn’t appear to be much room left for another young point guard on Orlando’s roster. The team also added veterans Luke Ridnour and Ben Gordon via free agency and traded for shooting guard Evan Fournier, which more or less has the team set in their backcourt rotation. It seems likely that the Magic would look to keep Siva’s rights in the D-League, which would keep him away from the D-League draft if the former Louisville star indeed decided to sign an NBDL contract. The partial guarantee could be an incentive to entice Siva to play for the Bayhawks rather than head to Europe for a more lucrative salary.
After being drafted 56th overall in 2013, the Andy Miller client played out the 2013/14 season for Detroit on a partially guaranteed deal, appearing in a total of 24 games. Siva averaged 2.3 PPG and 1.4 APG in 9.3 MPG, shooting just 31.6% from the field and 28.0% from long range.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Wizards Officially Announce Six Camp Deals
The Wizards have officially announced the signings of Vander Blue, Xavier Silas, David Stockton, Rasual Butler, Damion James and Daniel Orton. The team statement is an acknowledgement of reports regarding all six, all of whom had already agreed to join the team for training camp.
They’re all non-guaranteed arrangements for the minimum salary. The length of Orton’s deal is unclear, but the rest are on one-year contracts, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, so that makes them eligible for Exhibit 9 Contracts that limit the team’s liability if they’re injured during training camp.
The group of six joins 13 Wizards with fully guaranteed pacts, along with Glen Rice Jr., whose minimum salary pact is partially guaranteed for $400K, roughly half its value. A report from J. Michael of CSNWashington last week seemed to indicate that James and Silas had an edge for the team’s 15th regular season roster spot, though Michael wrote earlier that there’s a decent chance the team won’t carry a full complement of players for opening night.
Earl Watson To Retire
Point guard Earl Watson is retiring as a player and will become a coach for the D-League affiliate of the Spurs, reports Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer. The 35-year-old spent 13 seasons in the NBA after the SuperSonics drafted him 39th overall in 2001, and the Mark Bartelstein client played out a one-year guaranteed contract for the minimum salary with the Trail Blazers last season.
The former UCLA Bruin mounted a darkhorse campaign to fill the Jazz’s head coaching vacancy this offseason, picking up an endorsement from Gordon Hayward, but it’s unclear if Watson received an interview for the job that went to Quin Snyder. In any case, Watson will join the reigning champs despite never having played for San Antonio. He instead appeared with the Grizzlies, Nuggets, Thunder, Pacers and Jazz in addition to his time with the Sonics and Blazers. His best performance came with the Sonics in 2007/08, Seattle’s final year of NBA basketball, when he averaged 10.7 points and 6.8 assists against 2.2 turnovers in 29.1 minutes per game while shooting 37.1% from behind the arc.
That was the only season in which he had a double-digit scoring average, and one of just two years in which he started more than half of his team’s games. Still, Watson racked up nearly $42.8MM over his playing career, according to Basketball-Reference.