Spurs Sign Bryce Cotton
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
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
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
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
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: 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.
Grizzlies Sign Jordan Adams
The Grizzlies have signed 22nd overall pick Jordan Adams, the team announced via press release. He’ll likely receive a salary worth more than $1.344MM next season on his rookie scale contract, as our table of salaries for first-round picks shows.
The UCLA shooting guard averaged 17.4 points and 5.3 rebounds with 35.6% three-point shooting for the Bruins this past season, his sophomore campaign. He was the 27th-ranked prospect heading into the draft on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress listings, and No. 28 on the board with Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
Thunder Sign Mitch McGary
The Thunder have signed first-round pick Mitch McGary, according to a press release from the club.
Taken by the Thunder with the No. 21 selection, McGary appeared in 47 games during his two years at Michigan where he averaged 7.8 points and 6.6 rebounds in 20.6 minutes per game. During his freshman season, McGary was named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team after helping lead the Wolverines to the National Title game. During tournament play, McGary averaged 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.7 blocks while shooting .678 percent from the field.
Several teams had their eye on the energetic big man, but OKC reportedly promised to take him at No. 21. He’s likely in line for a salary slightly more than $1.4MM, as our table of salaries for first-round draft picks shows. I took a closer look at McGary in a prospect profile.
Raptors Nearing Deal With Greivis Vasquez
The Raptors are coming close to a deal with restricted free agent Greivis Vasquez, reports Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. An agreement with the point guard would allow the Raptors to retain the top three free agents from last season’s roster, having already come to terms with Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson.
Vasquez said in May that it would be “heartbreaking” if he didn’t wind up returning to the team. Toronto’s brass nonetheless worried it wouldn’t be able to swing deals for both him and Patterson after the leaguewide market began bearing high-priced contract agreements earlier this week. Still, there haven’t been reports linking Vasquez to any other NBA club since the start of free agency.
The Arn Tellem client had his breakout season in 2012/13, averaging 13.9 points and 9.0 assists per contest as the starter in New Orleans, but he was a backup for both Sacramento and Toronto this season amid a pair of trades. He notched just 9.5 PPG and 3.7 APG in 21.5 minutes per game behind Lowry on the Raptors this past season, but it appears he’s about to commit to remaining a reserve for the foreseeable future.
Magic Waive Jason Maxiell
9:30pm: Orlando has officially waived Maxiell, the team announced via press release.
8:53am: The Magic are waiving Jason Maxiell, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). There doesn’t appear to be an official announcement of yet, but presumably one is on the way. Orlando was reportedly trying to find a trade partner to take him before his non-guaranteed contract was to have become fully guaranteed for $2.5MM on July 10th, and apparently the Magic have yet to find a team willing to take on the power forward.
Maxiell’s 3.2 points per game last season were his fewest since he was a rookie as his minutes were cut from 24.8 his final season with the Pistons to 14.4 in his first year with Orlando after he signed with the club last summer. The arrival of Aaron Gordon, the No. 4 overall pick in the draft, figured to further impinge upon the playing time of the 31-year-old Maxiell, who doesn’t quite fit the mold of the franchise’s youth-focused rebuilding approach.
Still, it seems somewhat odd that the Magic apparently have no use for Maxiell at $2.5MM after agreeing earlier this week to sign Ben Gordon to a two-year, $9MM contract. The Andy Miller client is just a year removed from having started 71 games for the Pistons, and he seems in line to recoup most, if not all, of the salary he would have made with Orlando. The timing of the move, nearly a week before his contract guarantee date, gives Maxiell more of a chance to find a new deal on the market.