Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Thunder Decline Grant Jerrett’s Option, Make QO

July 9th, 2014 at 8:52pm CST by Zachary Links

JULY 9th: Oklahoma City is indeed interested in locking up Jerrett with a multiyear deal, tweets Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman.

JUNE 30th: The Thunder have made the unusual decision to decline Grant Jerrett‘s option while also extending him the qualifying offer, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com. The team option would have been worth $816K while the QO is worth ~$1.16MM and is guaranteed.

Oklahoma City could be seeking to lock up Jerrett to a long-term deal while his value is fairly low. The same thing probably could have been accomplished for less money without the qualifying offer, but going with the QO gives OKC the maximum amount of control over him this summer. If the Thunder pitch Jerrett on a new deal, it would probably be largely non-guaranteed.

Our own Chuck Myron predicts that Jerrett will re-sign on a multiyear deal for the amount of his qualifying offer that includes at least a partial guarantee in year two to entice him to take a multiyear deal rather than just signing the QO. Or, Jerrett could wind up back with the Thunder on a deal similar to the one Robert Sacre signed with the Lakers last summer, when he was in virtually the same position. Sacre took a deal for the minimum salary from the Lakers instead of the value of his qualifying offer, but the first two years of his contract are guaranteed, assuring him of more money in the end than his QO would have given him.

Raptors Waive Julyan Stone

July 9th, 2014 at 8:22pm CST by Chuck Myron

8:22pm: In addition to the new teams mentioned, the Raptors remain a possibility to sign Stone, per Charania.

WEDNESDAY, 5:53pm: Stone has cleared waivers and is now discussing a possible deal with the Sixers, Bucks, and Kings, a league source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Presumably, any deal would slot Stone on a team’s training camp roster and be partially or non-guaranteed, although that’s just my speculation at this point.

MONDAY, 2:49pm: The Raptors have waived point guard Julyan Stone, the team announced (on Twitter). Stone’s non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract was to have become fully guaranteed if he remained on the roster through today, so Toronto saves some cash and some room under the tax line with the move.

Stone’s relationship with Raptors GM Masai Ujiri dates to their time together with the Nuggets, with whom the 25-year-old spent the first two seasons of his career. Still, even news that fellow reserve guard Nando De Colo had turned down Toronto’s offer to accept a deal to play in Russia wasn’t enough to keep Stone on the roster as the Raptors seek to re-sign Greivis Vasquez and stay below the tax threshold.

Raptors Sign Bruno Caboclo

July 9th, 2014 at 6:50pm CST by Chuck Myron

6:50pm: Toronto has made the signing official in a team release. Whether Caboclo received the full 120% rookie scale salary has yet to be revealed, but presumably that’s the case.

11:13am: The Raptors have signed surprise No. 20 overall pick Bruno Caboclo, as Caboclo revealed on his verified Twitter account (hat tip to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun). He’s likely in line for a salary worth $1.458MM this season, assuming he signs for the standard 120% of the rookie scale, as our chart of salaries for 2014 first-round picks shows.

Wolstat wrote last week that the 18-year-old Caboclo was likely to join the team for the coming season, even though there seemed to be a strong chance the unheralded small forward would remain out of the NBA for another year or two. The 6’8″ Brazilian wasn’t on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress final rankings of the top 100 prospects in the 2014 draft. Still, the Jazz and Suns were reportedly interested in him as well, and though the Raptors had promised to draft him 37th overall, they did so at No. 20 to get the jump on Phoenix and Utah.

The Raptors are also likely to add another recent first-round pick from Brazil for next season after acquiring the rights to 7-footer Lucas Nogueira from the Hawks late last month.

Spurs, Gregg Popovich Agree To Extension

July 9th, 2014 at 3:34pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Spurs have reached agreement on a multiyear extension with Gregg Popovich, the team announced. The league’s reigning Coach of the Year also carries a strong front office presence, and decisions are made in tandem with GM R.C. Buford, who won this year’s Executive of the Year honor. The length of the extension is unclear, but Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports hears that Popovich, 65, is eager to coach another four or five years (Twitter link).

Popovich is fresh off having won his fifth championship for San Antonio, and this past season was the second time in three years and third time overall that he won Coach of the Year. He’s poised next season to win his 1,000th game as an NBA head coach, all of them having come with the Spurs.

The fiery sideline boss is 967-443 since taking over the coaching duties for the Spurs in 1996/97. He preceded Buford as GM, having begun in that role in 1994, and he held both the GM and head coaching titles for several years until Buford took over the day-to-day business of running the team.

In a market where coaches with no prior experience are receiving five-year, $25MM deals, Popovich’s value is seemingly several times more lucrative. It’s unclear how much Popovich is receiving on the deal, but it seems likely that, as many of his players have done, he’s working for less than he’s worth.

Spurs Sign Bryce Cotton

July 9th, 2014 at 2:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:35pm: Cotton’s guarantee is only for $50K, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.

WEDNESDAY, 8:38am: The contract is “nominally guaranteed” for the first season and non-guaranteed for 2015/16, according to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. It’ll become fully guaranteed if he makes the opening night roster, McDonald adds, though I suspect that full guarantee would apply to this coming season, and not 2015/16 (Twitter links).

MONDAY, 6:23pm: Cotton has officially signed with the Spurs, the team announced.

SUNDAY, 8:55am: A source tells Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News that Cotton remains unsigned (Twitter link). Young suggests that the deal on the table from the Spurs is just a summer league arrangement and says that Cotton is on the lookout for something more.

JULY 2ND, 11:24am: The deal is expected to be formally signed on Wednesday, Charania writes in his full piece, and since minimum-salary contracts are some of the few that can become official during the July moratorium, that suggests that Cotton is indeed getting the minimum. Several teams offered to draft him if he agreed to play overseas next season, but he rejected those entreaties, according to Charania, who identified the Mavs as another team that had interest. The second season is fully guaranteed if he makes the team out of training camp, Charania adds, presumably referring to this year’s training camp.

11:11am: The Spurs and undrafted Providence guard Bryce Cotton have agreed on a partially guaranteed two-year deal, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Presumably the arrangement is for the minimum salary, or something close to it.

San Antonio worked out Cotton prior to the draft, and while the team held multiple late second-round picks at one point, it wound up trading two of them and using the 54th overall pick on Nemanja Dangubic. I wouldn’t be surprised if the shoulder injury to Patty Mills, which may keep him out for up to seven months, played a role in Cotton’s deal.

Cotton notched 21.8 points, 5.8 assists and 2.4 turnovers per game in his senior season with the Friars. He also averaged 39.9 minutes per outing, nearly the length of an entire college game.

Kings Sign Nik Stauskas

July 9th, 2014 at 7:48am CST by Ryan Raroque

WEDNESDAY, 7:48am: The deal is official, the team announced.

TUESDAY, 11:57pm: Eighth-overall pick Nik Stauskas has signed his rookie deal with the Kings. The 20-year-old guard confirmed the contract signing via his Twitter account and posted a picture on Instagram of himself signing the contract. Earlier, we heard that Stauskas was expected to officially sign with the Kings at some point today. Based on our table of projected salaries for 2014 first-round draft picks, the former Michigan sharpshooter will earn roughly $2.7MM in the first year of his deal, assuming that he signed for 120% of the rookie scale amount.

Stauskas blossomed during his sophomore season in college, increasing his scoring average from 11.0 PPG in 2012/13 to 17.5 PPG. More impressively, the 6’6 guard maintained a consistent shooting percentage from the field and long distance – around 47.0% and 44.0%, respectively – with more minutes and an increased number of shot attempts per game relative to his freshman season. Despite his offensive talent, there have been some concerns about Stauskas’ ability to defend at the NBA level. As Zach Links of Hoops Rumors noted, Stauskas will have an opportunity to thrive as an effective role player if he can make some signifcant improvements defensively early in his career.

Nando De Colo To Play In Russia

July 9th, 2014 at 7:27am CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 7:27am: The deal is official, the team announced. CSKA’s statement indicates that the contract includes an option for a third season, but it’s unclear whether that’s a team or a player option.

MONDAY, 1:23pm: Wojnarowski’s full story indicates that De Colo turned down a two-year offer from Toronto, though just how much money was a part of it remains unknown.

12:54pm: Guard Nando De Colo has turned down an offer from the Raptors and will sign with Russia’s CSKA Moscow, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). De Colo was reportedly offered a two-year deal for the equivalent of $4.08MM, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia (Twitter link).

De Colo is a restricted free agent, giving the Raptors the opportunity to match offers from other NBA teams, but the international market isn’t bound by that. The Raptors, who agreed to trade Steve Novak to the Jazz last week to free up room beneath the luxury tax line, are trying to secure a deal with Greivis Vasquez, and there was a strong chance they wouldn’t have been able to give De Colo what the Russian team apparently offered.

Bucks Sign Jabari Parker

July 8th, 2014 at 7:05pm CST by Ryan Raroque

7:05pm: Parker’s contract is worth $22.3MM over the next four seasons, and his first year salary will indeed be $4.9MM, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel.

6:57pm: Jabari Parker signed his rookie deal with the Bucks today, a source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Assuming that he signed for 120% of the rookie scale, Parker projects to earn around $4.9MM in the first year of his deal, as our table of salaries for this year’s first-round picks details. The former Duke Blue Devil is the first among the top three picks of this year’s draft to sign his rookie contract.

The second-overall pick didn’t have much of an opportunity to showcase himself in this year’s NCAA tournament, as Duke – a number three seed – was upset in the opening round by 14th-seeded Mercer. As Charlie Adams of Hoops Rumors pointed out, Parker still has ample room to develop and has to get used to playing against longer, athletic opponents; however, Parker’s tremendous offensive skill set and readiness to compete at the NBA level immediately makes him a fine prospect to work with nonetheless.

Timberwolves Sign Zach LaVine

July 8th, 2014 at 2:06pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:06pm: The Wolves have officially signed LaVine, the team announced (Twitter link).

11:28am: LaVine indeed signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale, Wolfson tweets.

11:16am: No. 13 overall pick Zach LaVine has signed his rookie scale contract with the Wolves, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). He’s likely receiving nearly $2.056MM for the coming season, assuming he signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale, as our table of salaries for this year’s first-round picks shows.

There were conflicting reports that Minnesota had given LaVine a promise that they would select him 13th, though the 6’6″ UCLA shooting guard wound up with the Wolves regardless of whether it was preordained. He was one of three players from his school to go in this year’s first round, as Jordan Adams followed at No. 22 to the Grizzlies and the Spurs spent the 30th pick on Kyle Anderson.

LaVine, 19, averaged 9.4 points and shot 37.5% from three-point range in 24.4 minutes per game during his freshman season with the Bruins this year. He’s a raw prospect who’ll require patience from the Wolves, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors detailed.

Zach Randolph Signs Extension With Grizzlies

July 7th, 2014 at 6:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 7th: Memphis has officially confirmed Randolph’s signing via press release.

JUNE 30TH: It’s official – Randolph delivered his $16.5MM player option to Memphis today and inked his two-year, $20MM extension, a league source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).

JUNE 27TH: The Grizzlies and Zach Randolph have struck a deal on a two-year, $20MM extension, agent Raymond Brothers confirms to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal was the first to report that the two sides had reached an agreement (Twitter link). Randolph is opting in to his contract as a part of the arrangement, Wojnarowski writes. He’ll collect more than $16.9MM in salary for next season as a part of his existing deal, and the extension will kick in for 2015/16.

Negotiations had reportedly hit a snag over money earlier this week, but the talks otherwise seemed to indicate momentum toward a deal. The extension will keep Randolph from free agency, where it appeared as though the 32-year-old would have been able to command a three-year, $30-35MM deal from Memphis or other suitors. He was 10th in the most recent edition of the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings.

Randolph spoke on multiple occasions within the past year of his affection for Memphis, and it seemed like GM Chris Wallace‘s reinstatement as the head of the team’s basketball department made those feelings mutual between the team and the power forward. Former CEO Jason Levien had been a fan of backup Ed Davis and reportedly made at least two attempts to trade Randolph. Randolph’s new deal casts the future of Davis in limbo as he’s set to enter restricted free agency.

The Grizzlies will likely be over the cap entering free agency next week, as they’ll have more than $65.9MM in guaranteed salary for 2014/15 with Randolph opting in. The Grizzlies will have about $35MM in salary on the books entering July 2015, when Marc Gasol is set to hit free agency.