Pacers Re-Sign Lavoy Allen
JULY 11TH: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
“We’re very happy to have Lavoy back,” Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird said. “When he had the opportunity to play, he played well. He fits in with what we’re trying to accomplish here and every day he’s committed to getting better.”
JULY 5TH: The Pacers have reached a deal with Lavoy Allen to keep him in Indiana, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. The two sides reached agreement late last night, according to Candace Buckner of The Star (on Twitter).
The Pacers declined to extend a qualifying offer to Allen on June 30th, but there was still mutual interest in working out a new deal. Less than a week later, the forward found his way back to the Pacers. Allen came to the Pacers in the February deal that brought Evan Turner to Indiana.
In 65 games for the Sixers and Pacers last season, Allen averaged 4.7 PPG and 4.8 RPG in 16.5 minutes per contest.
Pacers Sign Damjan Rudez
JULY 11TH: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
“Damjan is one of the best shooters in Europe,” Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird said. “With his size and knowledge, he can play two positions for us. He has experience, maturity and really knows how to play. He had a number of options, he chose us and we’re thrilled he did. We look forward to having him in a Pacer uniform.”
JULY 2ND: 2:43pm: Rudez will make $1.1MM next season, multiple sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe (Twitter links). That together with the team’s other deals puts the Pacers about $5MM below the projected luxury tax line, Lowe estimates.
11:08am: Deeks confirms Scola’s salary is now roughly 50% guaranteed for this season, though the precise guarantee remains unclear (Twitter link).
10:27am: The move will not affect Scola’s status, as he remains in the team’s plans, a source tells Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter links). Buckner cites Scola as having a $2.5MM partial guarantee, and while Mark Deeks of ShamSports lists that guarantee at $940,946, he adds that it’s subject to increase via bonus clauses. It’s not clear whether those bonuses have taken effect, but Buckner seems to suggest they have.
9:47am: The Pacers have reached agreement on a three-year deal with Spanish league power forward Damjan Rudez, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Rudez will receive a portion of the club’s $5.305MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception, while the team hopes to use the rest of it on C.J. Miles as it pursues the Cavs swingman, according to Wojnarowski.
Indiana was among several teams reportedly interested in the 27-year-old Rudez as of last month. The Raptors, Jazz and Cavs were also in the mix, and Cleveland was apparently working toward a deal with him. He put on quite a shooting display and felt comfortable at a Cleveland mini-camp recently, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. Rudez, variously listed at 6’8″ and 6’10”, was only a part-time starter for CAI Zaragoza this past season, but his 47.3% three-point shooting on 4.1 attempts per game is surely what had teams so excited.
The timing of the deal is curious considering the report from earlier this morning that talks with Lance Stephenson had struck an impasse. Indiana has limited flexibility beneath the projected $77MM tax line, one which the franchise has made a point of not crossing. The addition of another power forward with such tight finances might spell the end of Luis Scola‘s time in Indiana, since his salary of more than $4.868MM is only guaranteed for less than $1MM.
Warriors Sign Shaun Livingston
JULY 11TH: The signing is official, the Warriors announce via press release.
“We are very happy that Shaun made the decision to join our team,” Warriors GM Bob Myers said. “He is a veteran player who, we believe, adds a lot to our roster with his versatility. He possesses the size and skills to play both backcourt positions, which will provide Coach Kerr with added depth and options throughout the season.”
JULY 1ST: The Warriors have reached agreement on a deal with free agent point guard Shaun Livingston, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). It’ll be a three-year deal with a partial guarantee in the final season of the contract, Wojnarowski adds (on Twitter). Livingston will earn $16MM, which is the full midlevel exception, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (on Twitter). Golden State is hard-capped at a projected $81MM after using the full mid-level on Livingston, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
The Spurs, Wolves, Kings, Hornets, and Magic all reached out to the 6’7″ guard at the official start of free agency. The Warriors weren’t as heavily linked to Livingston, but it appears that they have come away with one of the more impressive reserve one guards in this year’s free agent crop.
The Nets were facing an uphill battle to keep Livingston in Brooklyn. The guard’s decision to sign with the Nets for the veteran’s minimum last summer was largely tied to his relationship with coach Jason Kidd, who will now be manning the sidelines in Milwaukee. Since Brooklyn is a taxpaying team and only own Livingston’s Non-Bird Rights, the Nets were only able to offer him a contract with a starting salary of $3.278MM through the taxpayer’s mid-level exception, which is smaller than the non-taxpayer’s version he’ll be receiving. After resurrecting his career last season, Livingston found a much better payday elsewhere. His Non-Bird rights would have afforded him just 120% of the minimum salary for next season, which meant it was taxpayer’s mid-level or bust for Brooklyn.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Magic Sign Ben Gordon
JULY 11TH: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
“Ben brings valuable experience to our team,” GM Rob Hennigan said in the team’s statement. “His competitiveness and ability to score and stretch the floor adds versatility to our backcourt and overall roster. We are excited to welcome Ben to the Orlando Magic family.”
JULY 2ND: The Magic and Ben Gordon have struck a deal on a two-year, $9MM arrangement, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The second year is a team option, according to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link). That’s a shocking amount for the shooting guard who ended last season out of the league after Charlotte waived him in March.
Orlando has made several cap clearing moves in recent days, but it’s nonetheless odd to see the team lob such a high-dollar offer Gordon’s way. There are no real teeth to the NBA’s minimum team salary rules, since the penalty for not reaching that amount holds that a team simply must distribute the difference between its team salary and the salary floor among its players.
The deal is a coup for agent Raymond Brothers. The Bulls, Clippers, Rockets and Thunder reportedly had interest in Gordon when he and the Bobcats were working on their buyout, but Charlotte wound up waiving him one day too late for him to participate in the playoffs with another team, an oddly timed move. Gordon was apparently reluctant to sign with some of those interested teams anyway, since they were dangling two-year deals that would have prevented him from hitting free agency this summer. As it turns out, that reluctance was wise.
Gordon, 31, played in just 19 games this past season, averaging career lows in points per game (5.2), minutes per game (14.7), and three-point shooting (27.6%), among a host of other categories. Once a feared sixth man, the Pistons dealt him to Charlotte in a 2012 deal that ultimately cost them the No. 9 overall pick this year to rid themselves of the last two years of his five-year, $58MM contract.
Hawks Waive John Salmons
FRIDAY, 7:53am: The Hawks have indeed waived Salmons, the team announced via press release. The release states that the team officially made the move Thursday, so the guaranteed portion of Salmons’ salary remains only $1MM.
THURSDAY, 1:49pm: Atlanta continues to explore its options regarding Salmons, Vivlamore writes in an updated version of his story, noting on Twitter that the possibility of trading Salmons still exists.
1:36pm: The Hawks will waive John Salmons by the end of today, a source tells Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Today’s the last day the Hawks can waive him before his $1MM partially guaranteed salary becomes fully guaranteed for $7MM, as our schedule of contract guarantee dates shows.
The Joel Bell client agreed to delay that date from July 1st before the trade that sent him from the Raptors to the Hawks became official, and while that seemingly gave Atlanta a window to see if it could flip the 34-year-old swingman, it appears no such swap is in the works. Salmons will almost assuredly clear waivers and become a free agent in two days, and while he no longer boasts a double-digit scoring average, as he did for four straight seasons earlier in his career, he remained a part of the rotations in Sacramento and Toronto this past season, splitting the year between both the Kings and Raptors. He averaged 5.2 points and shot 38.7% from three-point range in 22.1 minutes per game overall in 2013/14.
The move will free up cap flexibility for the Hawks, who’ve pursued Luol Deng, among others, so far this month. It’s flexibility that Atlanta’s likely been planning for all along, since they weren’t expected to keep Salmons from the moment they acquired him.
Blazers Sign Chris Kaman
JULY 10TH: The deal is official, the team announced.
JULY 3RD, 10:54pm: Sam Amick of USA Today (on Twitter) has the full breakdown. Kaman gets $4.8MM in year one and $5MM in year two with only $1MM guaranteed. That gives him a total of $9.8MM if he completes the contract.
10:32pm: The Blazers have reached agreement on a two-year, $10MM deal with Chris Kaman, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). The second year of the deal is partially guaranteed (link).
Kaman, 32, played in just 39 games last season for the Lakers thanks to a calf injury and averaged 10.4 PPG and 5.9 RPG. The big man has missed quite a bit of time over the course of his career due to various injuries but has still provided a big presence and double digit scoring in most of his NBA campaigns. For his career, Kaman has averaged 11.7 PPG with 7.9 RPG. Kaman’s career PER is a so-so 14.7 but he has comfortably topped that number in each of his last five seasons.
Kaman’s deal might indicate an inflated market for free agent bigs. Surely, a deal of this size for Kaman bodes well for higher-caliber frontcourt players like Channing Frye and Spencer Hawes.
Celtics Sign James Young
JULY 10TH: The Celtics have announced the signing of James Young via a team release. They confirmed the signing of fellow first round pick Marcus Smart in the same communication. Boston nabbed Young out of Kentucky with the No. 17 pick in June’s draft after securing Smart with the sixth selection. The athletic sharpshooter is likely to receive a salary worth a tick above $1.674MM, as our chart of salaries for first-round picks shows.
Young scored a team-high 20 points in a losing effort for the Wildcats in the National Championship game against Connecticut. He was also named second team All-SEC as a freshman. On a Celtics team with a dearth of wing players, Young figures to get playing time right away. Some draftniks expected him to flirt with the top ten, which might bode well for Boston considering their recent draft history. Celtics GM Danny Ainge has landed players like Al Jefferson, Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley and Jared Sullinger at similar stages of previous drafts. Young’s athleticism and polished jumper could make him a steal at 17.
Our Eddie Scarito took a look at Young a few months ago in our Prospect Profile series.
Celtics Sign Marcus Smart
JULY 10TH: The Celtics have made the signing of Smart official in a team release. Whether he received the full 120% rookie scale salary has yet to be revealed, but presumably that’s the case.
JULY 8TH: The signing took place three days ago, according to Deeks, who adds that an official announcement might not ever take place. The Bulls made no announcement when they signed Derrick Rose to his rookie deal, as Deeks points out (Twitter links).
7:49am: The Celtics have signed Marcus Smart, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports. There’s been no public announcement from the team, but Smart has been playing in summer league for the club. As the No. 6 pick from this year’s draft, he’ll likely receive a salary worth slightly more than $3.283MM this year, as our chart of salaries for first-round picks shows.
The 6’3″ Smart finally joins the NBA after a surprising decision to sit out the 2013 draft and return for his sophomore season at Oklahoma State. An incident in which he shoved a fan during a game caused a stir, but it didn’t seem to have much of an effect on his draft stock, as he was only the second point guard to come off the board. The Celtics already have Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley in the backcourt, but president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has expressed confidence that Smart can co-exist on the floor with both of them.
Smart, 20, averaged 18.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 32.7 minutes per game this past season. He drained just 29.9% of his three-point attempts, prompting Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors, who examined Smart’s Prospect Profile, to point to the improvement of his outside shooting as a key bellwether for his career.
Rockets Receive Mavs Offer Sheet For Parsons
6:03pm: The three-day clock on the Parsons offer sheet will begin tonight at 11pm CDT, reports Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star Telegram (Twitter link), giving the Rockets until Sunday at that time to match. In a separate tweet, Price reports that the deal will pay Parsons $14.7MM next season, $15.36MM in 2015/16 and $16.02MM in 2016/17 for a total of $46.08MM over three years. Price also confirms the third year is a player option.
1:59pm: The Rockets have received the signed offer sheet from the Mavs, USA Today’s Sam Amick reports, so the possibility of a sign-and-trade is out and Houston’s three-day window to match will begin (Twitter link).
1:24pm: Parsons indeed signed the offer sheet, Wojnarowski clarifies, but it simply hasn’t been delivered to the Rockets, meaning it’s not official yet, and the clubs can continue to work toward a sign-and-trade (Twitter link).
12:55pm: Dallas and Houston are indeed in talks about a sign-and-trade involving Parsons, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Wojnarowski also says Parsons has yet to sign an offer sheet, repeating what Nelson told reporters earlier today. That’s in spite of the earlier report to the contrary and photos of Parsons signing paperwork that Mavs owner Cuban posted to a social media site, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News observed.
11:57pm: Nelson told reporters that the plan is to submit the offer sheet by the end of the night, notes Jeff Caplan of NBA.com (on Twitter), so it appears that’s the deadline for working out a sign-and-trade.
11:52pm: A possible sign-and-trade is in play for the Mavs and Rockets regarding Parsons, which is why Dallas is hesitating to submit the offer sheet, tweets Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
11:36am: Mavs GM Donnie Nelson said the team hasn’t submitted any offer sheets, tweets Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. That suggests that while Parsons may have indeed signed the offer sheet, the Mavs haven’t officially given the Rockets notice, as required, to begin the three-day matching period.
10:37am: If the Rockets sign Bosh, they intend to match the offer sheet for Parsons if they can before their time to do so runs out, a source tells Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). If they don’t sign Bosh, Houston is undecided on matching, Feigen adds.
THURSDAY, 8:04am: Parsons has signed the offer sheet, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com writes, but there’s been no announcement from the Mavs, so it’s unclear whether the Rockets have been officially notified and their three-day window to match the offer sheet has begun. The value of the trade kicker is the maximum 15%, according to Spears (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 8:06pm: The deal includes a trade kicker, tweets Spears.
5:56pm: The Mavs and Chandler Parsons have reached an agreement on an offer sheet for three years and approximately $46MM. The third year is a player option, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Marc Stein of ESPN.com was the first to report the agreement (on Twitter), and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has confirmed the pending deal (via Twitter). The max salary for a player of Parsons’ status on a three-year deal would be $46,228,710, as we learned earlier today, so Dallas has offered the max or close to it to the small forward.
Parsons will sign the offer sheet when the league moratorium is lifted at 12:01am EDT, a source tells Spears (Twitter link), and the Rockets will have three days to match the deal for their restricted free agent. Houston will be faced with a 72-hour window to resolve its pursuit of Chris Bosh if they want to retain both Parsons and add the Heat veteran, as Parsons currently minuscule cap hold will turn into a massive amount of salary if they match Dallas’ offer. The Rockets would no longer have room to sign Bosh at the max level in that scenario.
Houston chose to decline the slender $960K team option for Parsons this season in a move that preserved their right to match offers for the third-year forward in restricted free agency rather than see him become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Houston has planned on retaining Parsons through this process, although the outcome of their respective pursuits of Carmelo Anthony, Bosh, and LeBron James could have altered those plans. GM Daryl Morey has been in contact with the agents for Trevor Ariza, Luol Deng, and Paul Pierce today, tweets Wojnarowski and Sam Amick of USA Today, three small forwards that would make sense as contingency plans in the event Houston doesn’t match Dallas’ offer. As it stands, Houston hasn’t been notified that they are out of the running on Anthony or James, but don’t appear to be front runners for either star.
Blazers Sign Steve Blake
5:38pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
11:39am: The Blazers have struck a deal with Steve Blake, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). It’ll be a two-year deal for the biannual exception with a player option for the second season, according to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (on Twitter). The contract will be worth $4.2MM, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, so assuming that’s an estimate, it appears the point guard is getting the full $4,247,465 value of the biannual.
Blake, a client of Joel Bell, was reportedly enamored with the idea of returning to play in Portland, where he spent parts of four seasons with the Blazers over two separate stints. The Lakers, Heat, Wolves and Knicks have all shown interest in the 34-year-old over the course of the offseason, though Minnesota wasn’t as high on him by the time free agency started, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. While Blake spoke of his affection for the Lakers and Warriors, the two teams with which he spent last season, he’s headed back to Portland instead.
The Blazers appear to be using most of their mid-level to sign Chris Kaman, so that’s likely the extent of their free agent spending beyond the minimum salary, unless they can convince Mo Williams to sign for a salary of just 20% more than the roughly $2.77MM he earned last season. That’s the most they can give Williams, with whom the Blazers have only Non-Bird rights.