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Rockets To Trade Asik To Pelicans

June 25th, 2014 at 10:53pm CST by Cray Allred

10:53pm: The pick is protected so that it will only convey to the Rockets next year if it falls between the No. 4 and 20 selections, tweets Feigen.

9:25pm: The Rockets have a deal in place to send Omer Asik to the Pelicans, sources tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The Pelicans will send a protected 2015 first round pick to Houston, who is moving Asik to clear cap space in pursuit of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony (all Twitter links). Sam Amick of USA Today first reported that Houston will also send cash to New Orleans as part of the deal, and Windhorst reports that the amount is $1.5MM (via Twitter).

The Rockets were reported to have deals in place for both Asik and Jeremy Lin, so this is not a shocking development. While a source tells Amick that Lin won’t be moved until the Rockets have a marquee free agent lined up to sign, Asik’s overlapping skill set with starter Dwight Howard makes him a less risky player to part with preemptively. The Turkish big man was shopped by the Rockets last season, but the balloon payment on the upcoming final year of his contract cooled teams from acquiring the elite defender. Of course, Houston was interested in getting back a player to help in their playoff run at the time, which wasn’t a factor in this trade.

The pick from New Orleans has layers of protection, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Feigen says it will likely end up going to the Rockets in the late lottery or as high as No. 20 next year, depending on the Pelicans’ regular season performance. Since New Orleans doesn’t own its 2014 first round pick, the trade would need to be finalized following tomorrow’s draft since teams are prohibited from being without a first round pick in two consecutive seasons.

Amick reports that the teams plan to make the deal official in July, suggesting after the July moratorium, when New Orleans would presumably send back contracts to match the roughly $8.4MM cap hit that accompanies Asik. Eric Pincus of The Los Angeles Times notes that the nonguaranteed contracts on New Orleans’ roster would not equal enough in salary to match Asik’s number and stay under the cap for a valid trade. The Pelicans will have to clear more salary in advance of finalizing the deal, since it would be self-defeating for Houston to take back significant salary as part of the deal (Twitter links).

Jazz Extend Qualifying Offer To Hayward

June 25th, 2014 at 10:35pm CST by Cray Allred

10:58pm: The Jazz announced their move in a team release (H/T Adi Joseph of USA Today).

10:35pm: The Jazz have extended a qualifying offer to Gordon Hayward, making him a restricted free agent, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. The move was expected, and gives Utah the ability to match any offers for the small forward. The team has maintained their confidence in bringing back the former No. 9 pick, and still intend to re-sign Hayward per a tweet from Jody Genessy of Deseret News.

There is mutual interest for Hayward to stay in Utah for the long run, as we detailed in his free agent stock watch post. The Priority Sports & Entertainment client came in sixth in our most recent free agent power rankings, and is sure to generate plenty of interest on the open market. Hayward averaged a career high 16.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 5.2 APG this season, but it came in a year that he experienced by far the most losing as a pro, as the Jazz went just 25-57.

Rudy Gay To Opt In With Kings

June 25th, 2014 at 7:56pm CST by Zachary Links

WEDNESDAY, 7:56pm: Gay has opted in as expected, the team announced.

SUNDAY, 1:35pm: Kings forward Rudy Gay will exercise his $19.3MM contract option for the 2014-15 season, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Meanwhile, Gay will table extension talks until later this summer.

The Kings want to re-sign Gay to a new, long-term deal and they’re expected to sit down with agent Alex Saratsis of Octagon in the near future to get that going. Gay has waffled on his desire to remain in Sacramento but sources tell Wojnarowski that he has been impressed with the commitment of new owner Vivek Ranadive to build a contending team.

By re-upping his deal, Gay will give himself a hefty guaranteed payday while also getting a chance to see how the Kings’ proposed rebuild looks over the course of the next year. If things pan out to Gay’s liking, he can extend his contract with the club through the 2017/18 season, providing he signs the extension after the calendar flips to July. If Gay isn’t confident in the team’s direction, he can pack his bags and go elsewhere in the summer of 2015.

Gay enjoyed something of a mini-resurgence during his time with the Kings last season. In 55 games, the forward averaged 20.1 PPG off of 48.2% shooting from the floor. He also put up a career-high PER of 19.6 after years of criticism from the stats-conscious community over his lack of efficiency.

Knicks, Mavs Swap Chandler, Calderon

June 25th, 2014 at 7:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

7:02pm: The Knicks have officially announced the deal. The only picks changing hands are the two second-rounders for this year moving from Dallas to New York.

4:50pm: The Knicks and Mavs have reached agreement on their rumored trade, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The deal sends Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to Dallas in exchange for Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Shane Larkin, Wayne Ellington, picks Nos. 34 and 51 in Thursday’s draft, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports detailed in earlier reports. It’s unclear if future second-round draft consideration will also head New York’s way.

The Mavs had planned a summer pursuit of Chandler, the center on their 2011 title team, three years after letting him go. Knicks president Phil Jackson seemed to dismiss the notion that he told Felton to expect to be traded, but other reports have indicated the Knicks were in the market for an upgrade at the point, which Calderon provides. Felton slumped this past season, and this week he agreed this week to plead guilty to a felony gun charge in a plea agreement that will allow him to avoid jail time.

The deal removes some of New York’s flexibility for the summer of 2015, since Calderon’s contract calls for him to make in excess of $7.4MM in 2015/16 and more than $7.7MM in 2016/17. J.R. Smith has a player option worth nearly $6.4MM for 2015/16, but the Knicks otherwise don’t have commitments for that season. The trade would allow Dallas more cap flexibility for that summer, since Chandler’s contract is up after next season and Felton’s player option for 2015/16 is about $3.95MM.

Dalembert’s approximately $3.867MM salary is partially guaranteed for $1.8MM next season. He also has a 15% trade kicker on his deal that the Mavs would be responsible for paying. Chandler would receive $500K from the Knicks thanks to a trade kicker in his deal.

Nick Young Opts Out, Will Become Free Agent

June 25th, 2014 at 5:06pm CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 5:06pm: Young has officially opted out, the team announced.

TUESDAY, 12:52pm: Nick Young has let the Lakers know that he’s opting out of his contract for next season to become a free agent in July, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com. The news is not at all surprising, as Young has appeared likely to opt out since at least March, even as he danced around the issue without giving a definitive answer. He’ll hit the market rather than collect the minimum for next season, but there’s mutual interest in a return.

Still, Young wants the Lakers to make him a “priority” this summer, according to McMenamin, suggesting that he’s angling for a significant raise. Just how much interest the Lakers will have in giving him more than the minimum will likely hinge on their pursuit of marquee targets in free agency. The team has reportedly been considering ways to pair LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony in purple-and-gold, and acquiring stars of that ilk would likely erase the cap space necessary to give Young a hefty raise. The Lakers would probably be limited to giving Young a 20% raise via his Non-Bird rights or using the $2.732MM room exception on him.

The 29-year-old Los Angeles native gave his hometown team a discount when he joined the Lakers in free agency last summer, and his numbers benefited from an otherwise injury-hit roster. He averaged a career-high 17.9 points in 28.3 minutes per game as a sixth man, and he shot 38.6% on 5.5 three-point attempts per contest.

Kings Extend Qualifying Offer To Isaiah Thomas

June 25th, 2014 at 11:44am CST by Chuck Myron

The Kings have extended a qualifying offer to Isaiah Thomas, meaning he’ll enter next month as a restricted free agent, the team announced. The offer is for one year at $2,875,131, as I explained this spring, but it will likely serve only as a placeholder for Thomas, who can command a long-term deal for significantly more money on the market.

The news is no surprise, as GM Pete D’Alessandro told reporters this spring that he planned on extending the QO. It’ll allow Sacramento to match offers for the 25-year-old. D’Alessandro has publicly praised Thomas, but the team would like to bring aboard a pass-first point guard this summer, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee notes via Twitter.

An Eastern Conference executive in March pegged the market value of the ASM Sports client at $4-5MM per year. That would fit within the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception, though the Kings, in addition to having the right of first refusal, have full Bird rights on Thomas.

Jonas Jerebko Opts In, Will Remain With Pistons

June 25th, 2014 at 11:20am CST by Chuck Myron

JUNE 25TH: Jerebko has officially opted in, reports Mark Deeks of ShamSports (Twitter link).

MAY 28TH: Jonas Jerebko will exercise his $4.5MM player option to remain with the Pistons next season, as he tells Oskar Pålsson of the Swedish newspaper Borås Tidning (translation via Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News). The news is no real surprise, given the forward’s lack of playing time this past season, but it appeared as though the identity of the team’s next coach would weigh heavily on Jerebko’s decision regarding the option. He expressed pleasure with Detroit’s hiring of Stan Van Gundy, Goodwill notes, and perhaps Jerebko’s comfort with him was the determining factor for the former second-round pick.

The Bill Duffy client‘s choice to opt in pushes Detroit’s commitments to about $38MM for nine players next season, though that still leaves plenty of room for the team to strike new deals with Greg Monroe and Rodney Stuckey or pursue free agents from other clubs. Van Gundy nonetheless would probably prefer not to have to shell out significant money to the 27-year-old Jerebko, whose playing time and production have tumbled each year he’s played since his rookie campaign. He averaged just 4.2 points in 11.6 minutes per game this past season.

Still, Jerebko shot 41.9% from behind the arc this year for a team that otherwise suffered from a lack of outside shooting, and he started 73 games for the Pistons as a rookie before tearing his right Achilles tendon and missing all of 2010/11. Former Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars signed him to a four-year, $18MM contract after that missed season, but Jerebko never returned to the role he had as a rookie, and he clashed with then-coaches Lawrence Frank and Maurice Cheeks.

Andrei Kirilenko Opts In With Nets

June 24th, 2014 at 9:22am CST by Zachary Links

TUESDAY, 9:22am: Kirilenko has officially opted in, the team announced via press release.

MONDAY, 5:57pm: Forward Andrei Kirilenko has decided to opt in with the Nets for next season at $3.3MM, a source tells David Aldridge of NBA.com (on Twitter). Kirilenko inked a one-year deal with a player option with the Nets last summer that caused quite a bit of controversy in NBA circles.

AK47 turned down a $10MM+ player option with the Timberwolves to sign a one-year, ~$3.1MM deal with Brooklyn that included a player option at roughly the same total. Almost instantly, executives were in an uproar and accusations of impropriety starting flying quickly. The league looked into the matter though and, ultimately, the Nets and Kirilenko were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Kirilenko walked from a big payday with the Wolves and didn’t really boost his value in his first season with the Nets. In 45 games, Kirilenko averaged 5.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.6 APG in 19.0 minutes per night. The 33-year-old was dogged by back trouble early in the season and had something of an up-and-down year after that. The Nets were 30-15 in the games that Kirilenko played in but coach Jason Kidd took the veteran out of the game plan for more than one postseason contest.

LeBron James To Opt Out, Hit Free Agency

June 24th, 2014 at 8:27am CST by Chuck Myron

LeBron James will opt out of his contract and become a free agent next month, agent Rich Paul has told the Heat, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). That means he’ll exercise his early termination option to get out of his contract that called for him to make $20.59MM next season and another $22.1125MM in 2015/16. It also opens the possibility that the four-time MVP will change teams and invites suitors to make pitches beginning a week from today.

The chances that he’d opt out appeared better than that he’d opt in, but while James reportedly has some hard feelings about what he perceives as Miami owner Micky Arison’s spending cutbacks this past season, most reports suggest that the Heat will likely retain him. That’s not a given, as the Rockets, Clippers, Cavs and others line up bids for the player in the top spot of the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings, but the decision from James is far from a death knell for his tenure in Miami.

The opt-out decision keeps the alive the notion that James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh could all re-sign at discounts to allow the Heat to court Carmelo Anthony, or perhaps Kyle Lowry or another top-tier free agent. James is determined to push the Heat to spend money and improve their roster, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Still, Miami’s abillity to do so will have much to do with whether Wade, Bosh and Udonis Haslem follow suit and opt out of their deals, as well as just how much of a discount that trio plus James are willing to take, as I explained when I looked at the offseason ahead for the Heat.

Just how much James can make on his next deal will depend on where the NBA sets the maximum salary for a player of his experience following the July moratorium, as our Luke Adams examined before the season. While it seems likely that he’d be limited to an amount that’s slightly less what he’d have made if he’d exercised his option, it appears as though James is prioritizing the chance to win over gathering every last dollar available. If that’s so, it mitigates the advantage the Heat have to offer a contract with higher raises than other teams can offer. Miami can also offer a fifth year, while other clubs are limited to four.

Channing Frye Opts Out Of Deal With Suns

June 23rd, 2014 at 6:52pm CST by Zachary Links

As expected, Channing Frye has decided to opt out of the final year of his deal with the Suns, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Marc Stein of ESPN.com heard from a source yesterday that this was “99%” likely to happen.

The Suns have a desire to re-sign Frye, sources tell the Yahoo scribe, but much will be determined about that viability through the draft and possible trades. The Warriors and Cavs have the big man on their radar, according to yesterday’s report from Stein.

Frye will have his suitors with several teams on the lookout for a stretch four, but he has previously said that he’d like to work out a new contract with Phoenix. The 31-year-old missed all of 2012/13 with an enlarged heart but wound up playing and starting in all 82 of the Suns’ regular season games last season. Frye averaged 11.1 PPG with 5.1 RPG and 0.8 BPG in 28.2 minutes per contest. He’s had slightly better marks in those categories and in PER, but he was nonetheless a bright spot for the Suns last season.