DeAndre Daniels Signs With Australian Team
AUGUST 14th: The deal is now official, according to an announcement on the Wildcats’ website.
AUGUST 9th, 6:05pm: Daniels confirmed that he was headed to Australia to reporters including Chris Robinson of Australian paper the Herald Sun. Daniels said he would play overseas for four months and then return to the Raptors, although in what capacity he would rejoin Toronto is unclear. The Wildcats managing director told Robinson that the deal still isn’t finalized.
AUGUST 7th, 9:52am: The 37th overall pick in June’s draft is believed to be nearing agreement with the Perth Wildcats of Australia, reports Shayne Hope of The West Australian (hat tip to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando). DeAndre Daniels would head down under in lieu of joining the Raptors this year. It’ll likely be a one-year deal, Hope writes.
Toronto GM Masai Ujiri signaled a month ago that his team probably wouldn’t sign Daniels for the upcoming season, and the Raptors had reportedly been helping the small forward find overseas work. Daniels would head to the same Australian team that last year employed James Ennis, the 50th pick in the 2013 draft, but it’s unclear if the Wildcats will give Daniels the same NBA escape clause that they afforded Ennis. Perth would have been on the hook for its salary to Ennis had he signed with the Heat, who owned his NBA rights, at any point last season.
Daniels would be the most highly drafted 2014 second-rounder to head overseas for this coming season, though a pair of first-round picks have done so, as our list of draft pick signings shows. The 22-year-old from Connecticut was a somewhat surprising selection at No. 37, since he was just the 59th-best prospect in the rankings that Chad Ford of ESPN.com compiled, and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress rated him 64th. The 6’8″ Daniels averaged 13.1 points and 6.0 rebounds in 29.0 minutes per game with 41.7% three-point shooting for the national champion Huskies this past season.
Nolan Smith To Sign With Turkish Club
Former Duke star Nolan Smith will sign with Turkey’s Galatasaray, according to David Pick of Eurobasket.com (on Twitter). Smith received partially guaranteed offers from the Bulls and the Thunder for next season but he has apparently chosen to spent the year overseas.
Because Smith had serious interest from at least two NBA clubs, it’s possible that his deal will include an NBA out-clause. Smith played in Croatia last year and averaged 17.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 4.1 APG.
The 26-year-old point guard spent 2011/12 and 2012/13 with the Blazers, averaging 3.3 PPG and 1.2 APG in 9.9 minutes per contest. The former No. 21 overall pick in the draft also had interest from the Hawks back in 2013 and picked up interest from the Celtics and Knicks last summer. One would imagine that he’ll continue to have an in with Oklahoma City as well since head coach Scott Brooks is his godfather.
Earlier today, Galatasaray inked another ex-NBA guard in Carlos Arroyo when they re-signed him to a new contract.
Carlos Arroyo Re-Signs With Turkish Club
Longtime NBA guard Carlos Arroyo has re-signed with Turkey’s Galatasaray, according to an announcement on the club’s official site (partially translated by Sportando). Arroyo, 35, drew interest from NBA clubs this time last year before opting to instead sign overseas.
When Arroyo turned down training camp invites last season, he noted that he wanted to have a larger role than he would with an NBA club. Indeed, he filled a key role for Galatasaray in 2013/14, playing and starting in 25 games and playing 31.7 minutes per contest, which is more burn that he had ever seen in one NBA season.
Over the course of nine NBA seasons with the Raptors, Nuggets, Jazz, Pistons, Magic, Heat, and Celtics, Arroyo averaged 6.6 PPG and 3.1 APG in 18.7 minutes per contest.
Toure’ Murry Close To Deal With Jazz
WEDNESDAY, 5:30pm: The Jazz are finalizing the deal with Murry, writes Stein, who adds that the Lakers were also interested in the guard’s services.
5:53pm: Murry’s agent, Bernie Lee, said the report of a pending deal with the Jazz is “news to him,” notes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link).
TUESDAY, 5:31pm: Toure’ Murry is close to signing a two-year, $2MM deal with the Utah Jazz, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Murry had also been pursued by the Heat, and his former team, the Knicks, notes Stein. Murry will be able to provide depth at both guard positions for the Jazz, and will compete for playing time off the bench.
Utah will most likely begin the season with Trey Burke as the starting point guard, and Alec Burks at the two guard position. No. 5 overall pick, Dante Exum, will begin his career at shooting guard, but the franchise hopes he can develop his ball-handling and decision-making skills enough to eventually shift over to the point.
Last year, his first season in the league, Murry appeared in 51 games for the Knicks, and averaged 2.7 PPG, 0.9 RPG, and 1.0 APG, while logging 7.3 minutes a night. His slash line was .434/.417/.590.
Deonte Burton To Join Kings For Camp
WEDNESDAY, 12:52pm: The deal is official, the team announced via Twitter. The Kings refer to Burton as a camp invitee, suggesting his deal is non-guaranteed.
TUESDAY, 5:46pm: Burton signed his deal yesterday, reports Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). Pincus confirms it’s a one-year agreement.
4:13pm: The Kings and undrafted point guard Deonte Burton have reached an agreement, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). It’s not immediately clear whether the deal is a summer contract or carries some kind of guarantee. It’ll likely be a minimum-salary arrangement.
Burton appeared to have a strong chance of becoming a second-round pick heading into the draft, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranked him as the 52nd-best prospect while Chad Ford of ESPN.com listed him at No. 62. The 23-year-old spent summer league with the Wizards, averaging just 1.8 points in 17.3 minutes per contest, but he put up much better numbers as a senior with the Wolf Pack this past season, springing for 20.1 PPG and 4.4 assists against 2.0 turnovers in 38.6 MPG. He also chipped in 4.3 rebounds per contest, impressive considering his 6’1″ size.
The Kings have 15 others already in the fold, as our roster counts show, though that includes a partially guaranteed deal with Eric Moreland and Jeremy Tyler‘s non-guaranteed contract. The team is also thinking about waiving the newly acquired Wayne Ellington, so Burton appears well-positioned for a decent shot at making the opening-night roster.
Burton is not to be confused with the Marquette shooting guard of the same name.
Greg Monroe To Accept Qualifying Offer?
10:56am: Zillgitt suggests in a follow-up story that a sign-and-trade scenario still could surface. Monroe received a pair of max offers this summer from teams other than the Pistons, but neither of those teams could work out a sign-and-trade with the Pistons that would have allowed Monroe to go to one of those clubs without the looming threat that Detroit would match, Zillgitt hears. The Pistons would probably match any offer for Monroe, as Vincent Goodwill surmises via Twitter, and presumably that would include max offers, which would explain why Monroe would be reluctant to ink a max offer sheet.
WEDNESDAY, 8:36am: Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy indicated late Tuesday that neither Monroe nor Falk has informed him of any decision to take the qualifying offer, according to MLive’s David Mayo. Van Gundy also reiterated that he’d prefer Monroe to sign a long-term deal instead, Mayo notes. Other teams don’t appear to have been as concerned that the Pistons would match an offer sheet for Monroe as Monroe himself has been, Mayo writes.
TUESDAY, 7:18pm: The Pistons appear to be holding out hope that Monroe won’t sign his qualifying offer, says Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press (on Twitter), who adds that the team will continue to do so until the 24-year-old actually puts pen to paper.
6:29pm: Greg Monroe has informed the Pistons that he will accept the team’s qualifying offer, reports Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. It was noted earlier that Monroe had been seeking sign-and-trade deals with other teams, rather than looking to sign an offer sheet with another franchise, which the Pistons were likely to match. If Monroe does indeed accept the qualifying offer, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and be free to sign with any team he chooses.
The qualifying offer is for $5.479MM, which is significantly below the amount he would have received if Monroe would have signed a long-term deal with the Pistons. The deadline for Monroe to sign the offer is October 1st, notes Zillgitt, and the player cannot be traded without his consent once he does sign. This decision carries some risk for Monroe if he is to suffer a serious injury this year. But so far in his career Monroe has been extremely durable, missing just one of his last 310 games.
The David Falk client’s decision is historic, since he’ll become just the 18th player since rookie scale contracts were instituted in 1995 to sign his qualifying offer. He’ll be the most high-profile player ever to do so, since the maneuver has usually been the domain of restricted free agents who are without more lucrative offers. Wizards big man Kevin Seraphin is the latest player to sign a qualifying offer, having done so last month.
The 6’11”, 24-year old, has been in the league for four seasons, and his career numbers are 14.0 PPG, 9.0 RPG, and 2.3 APG. His career slash line is .508/.000/.678.
Pacers Receive Disabled Player Exception
The NBA has granted Indiana’s request for a disabled player exception in the wake of the Paul George injury, reports Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). It’s worth $5.305MM, meaning Indiana can use that amount to sign a player to a one-year deal or acquire a player on an expiring contract via waiver claim. The Pacers may alternatively use the amount plus $100K to trade for a player, as long as the player’s contract doesn’t extend past this coming season. Still, it’s unlikely the team would use the full amount of the exception, given its tight squeeze against the luxury tax line, one which Larry Bird reiterated today that the club will not cross.
The Pacers had been among the teams limited to signing players for no more than the minimum salary, so the exception will at least give Indiana the power to exceed that amount. Indiana has a team salary of $74,810,552, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports, which puts the club $2,018,448 shy of the tax threshold. The Pacers can afford themselves some breathing room if they release the partially guaranteed contracts of Luis Scola or Shayne Whittington, though Whittington seems a much stronger candidate to go. Donald Sloan has a non-guaranteed minimum salary, but Bird said today that the team intends to keep him beyond Friday, when his contract becomes fully guaranteed, so that’s one fewer avenue to salary flexibility.
Whittington’s rookie minimum salary is only guaranteed for $25K, so the Pacers could increase their room beneath the tax to $2,500,784 if they waive him. That would be more than $1MM in excess of what the Cavs can offer Shawn Marion for this season, since Cleveland can hand out only the veteran’s minimum. The Pacers have continued to make a push to sign Marion, who’s reportedly leaning toward inking with the Cavs instead. Bird said today that he believes Marion wants to sign with a title-contending team. Indiana’s hopes probably vanished when George went down, but Bird also indicated today that he doesn’t intend to make moves that would further weaken the team this year and will instead try to win as many games as possible, as the Star’s Michael Pointer chronicles (Twitter link).
Bird didn’t rule out the chance that George returns to play this season after suffering a compound leg fracture in a Team USA scrimmage earlier this month, but the executive acknowledged that the club expects George to remain out for the year. The league grants a disabled player exception based on a medical prognosis that would put a player out for the balance of the season, but there’s no penalty if the player surprises and returns to action. Any player acquired via the exception may continue to play for the team in that scenario.
Heat Sign Reggie Williams
AUGUST 12TH: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
AUGUST 7TH, 5:53pm: Williams and the Heat have agreed to the deal, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). It’ll be a one-year contract.
5:45pm: Free agent swingman Reggie Williams is nearing a deal with the Heat, reports Adrian 
Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links). Williams will provide Miami with some scoring punch off the bench, notes Wojnarowski. The 6’6″, 27 year-old went undrafted out of Virginia Military Institute back in 2008.
In parts of five seasons in the league, Williams has played for the Warriors, Hornets, and most recently, the Thunder. He appeared in three games last season for Oklahoma City, averaging 3.7 PPG, while making 55.6% of his field goal attempts. Williams also appeared in 25 games for Tulsa in the NBA D-League last year, where he averaged 20.1 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 4.9 APG.
For his career, Williams has averaged 8.5 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 1.6 APG. His career slash line is .460/.371/.743.
Photo courtesy USA Today Sports Images.
Steve Ballmer Formally Becomes Clippers Owner
The sale of the Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has formally taken place and the NBA’s Board of Governors has already given its official approval of the transfer, the league announced (hat tip to Dan Woike of the Orange County Register on Twitter). The news appears to bring an end to a saga that began when recordings of racially charged remarks from longtime Clippers owner Donald Sterling surfaced shortly after the playoffs began, though Sterling still has lawsuits pending against the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver. Ballmer is buying the team for a record price of $2 billion.
“I am humbled and honored to be the new owner of the Los Angeles Clippers,” Ballmer said in a statement that the Clippers released on their website. “Clipper fans are so amazing. They have remained fiercely loyal to our franchise through some extraordinary times. I will be hard core in giving the team, our great coach, staff and players the support they need to do their best work on the court. And we will do whatever necessary to provide our fans and their families with the best game-night experience in the NBA.”
Attorneys for Sterling had anticipated that a California judge could at any time issue a final order that affirmed that Sterling’s wife, Shelly, had the authority to strike a deal with Ballmer to sell the team, as she did in May. The judge had ruled in his preliminary decision that the sale could go through even if Donald Sterling were to appeal.
The Board of Governors interviewed Ballmer on July 15th, and voted unanimously last week to approve him as owner, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (All Twitter links). That gave Ballmer the opportunity to close on the sale whenever he became comfortable with the legal situation surrounding it, Shelburne writes. Ballmer had asked for a written order from a judge affirming Shelly Sterling’s right to sell as part of his original purchase agreement with her, and Ballmer has received that order, Shelburne also tweets. The judge has yet to issue a final order in the case, but Ballmer is apparently satisfied with the written order he has in hand, Shelburne adds (on Twitter).
Donald Sterling’s battle to hang on to ownership of the team cast doubt on the willingness of Doc Rivers to continue as coach and president of basketball operations, but Rivers, in the team’s statement, expressed his commitment to the club in the wake of today’s news
“This is an amazing new day in Clippers history,” Rivers said. “I couldn’t be more excited to work together with Steve as we continue to build a first-class, championship organization. I am already inspired by Steve’s passion for the game, his love of competition and desire to win the right way and I know our players and fans are going to be inspired as well.”
Clippers players Chris Paul and Matt Barnes as late as last month were publicly discussing the notion that they would boycott until Donald Sterling was removed as owner. Still, Silver won widespread praise for the lifetime ban and $2.5MM fine he imposed on the embattled owner in April. That maneuver nonetheless didn’t wrest control of the team from Donald Sterling, who originally purchased the franchise in 1981.
Shelly Sterling reportedly negotiated the right to retain up to 10% of the team that would be controlled by a charitable foundation on which she would serve as chair as part of her deal with Ballmer, but it’s not clear whether she exercised that right.
Josh Childress Signs With Australian Team
Eight-year NBA veteran Josh Childress has inked a deal to play this year with the Sydney Kings of Australia, the team announced. Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net reported Monday that Childress was leaning toward taking the deal. It’s not clear what, if any, sort of NBA escape clauses the contract provides for, but it didn’t appear as though the swingman received strong interest from any NBA club following his release from the Pelicans in December.
Childress, 31, appeared in just four games with New Orleans last year, and he played sparingly for the Nets during the previous season. His last significant NBA action came during the 2011/12 campaign, when he logged 14.5 minutes per game in 34 appearances for the Suns, who amnestied him the following the summer. He was once one of the NBA’s premiere sixth men, averaging 13.0 points and 6.2 rebounds in 36.8 minutes per game for the Hawks in 2006/07, his best statistical season.
The Chris Emens client will probably be competing against DeAndre Daniels, this year’s 37th overall pick, who’s close to a deal with Australia’s Perth Wildcats. Childress joins 11 others who played in the NBA last year and have come to agreement with overseas teams since the start of July, as our Free Agent Tracker shows.