Qualifying Offers: Monday
Teams must decide today whether to tender qualifying offers to their players eligible for restricted free agency or lose the right to match offers from other teams. We’ll round up all of today’s qualifying offer decisions here:
- The Pacers declined to tender a qualifying offer to Lavoy Allen, according to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). Still, there’s mutual interest in a new deal, Buckner adds (on Twitter).
- The Hawks extended a qualifying offer to Mike Scott, notes Mark Deeks of ShamSports (on Twitter).
- No surprise here: Chandler Parsons got his QO from the Rockets, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.
- The Pacers won’t extend a QO to Evan Turner, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
- Kevin Seraphin officially got his qualifying offer from the Wizards, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com.
- As expected, the Warriors won’t extend a QO to Jordan Crawford, according to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
- The Hawks have extended a qualifying offer to Shelvin Mack, a source tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
- The Bucks have told forward-center Ekpe Udoh he will not be tendered an offer thus making him an unrestricted free agent, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (on Twitter).
- The Grizzlies have passed on making a qualifying offer to Ed Davis, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Davis was reportedly a favorite of former CEO Jason Levien, but with Zach Randolph having agreed to an extension, it appears that Davis isn’t quite as highly valued in Memphis as he once was. His qualifying offer would have been worth $4,268,609, a slightly smaller amount than he was originally in line for, as I explained.
- No shock here, but the Pistons extended a qualifying offer to Greg Monroe, tweets Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News, preserving their right to match offers for the fifth-rated player in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings. The qualifying offer is worth nearly $5.5MM, but he’ll command much more than that.
- The Pelicans will not give Darius Miller a qualifying offer, reports John Reid of The Times Picayune. The offer would have been worth more than $1.115MM.
- The Spurs have tendered a qualifying offer to Aron Baynes, notes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (on Twitter). It’s worth more than $1.115MM, the same amount as Miller’s would have been.
- The Knicks have elected not to make a qualifying offer to Toure’ Murry, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). They’d like to re-sign him nonetheless, Stein adds in a second tweet, but other teams have interest, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt says (on Twitter). The offer would have been worth more than $1.016MM.
- Othyus Jeffers and Robbie Hummel won’t receive qualifying offers from the Wolves, the team announced (on Twitter). The offers would have been for amounts slightly greater than $1.148MM and $1.016MM, respectively.
Spurs Likely To Keep Austin Daye
The Spurs have the option of dumping Austin Daye‘s contract before the clock strikes midnight, but they’re going keep him instead, according to Shams Charania of RealGM. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter) first reported that the Spurs were not expected to waive Daye.
Daye is set to earn a little over $1MM next season but only $250K of that was guaranteed. Acquired in a trade in February, the 26-year-old averaged 4.1 points and 1.4 rebounds in 14 games for the Spurs. Daye has averaged 5.4 points and 2.7 rebounds over his five NBA seasons, including his time with the Pistons, Grizzlies, and Raptors.
Sixers Waive James Anderson
The Sixers announced that they have waived guard James Anderson, tweets Tom Moore of Calkins Media. Anderson’s salary would have become fully guaranteed if he was on the roster on July 1st, so Philly saves about $1MM by cutting him loose.
Anderson, a former first round pick of the Spurs, played in a career-high 80 games under former San Antonio assistant Brett Brown last season. Anderson averaged 10.1 PPG and 3.8 RPG with a PER of 10.9.
Pistons Decline Option On Chauncey Billups
The Pistons announced that they have declined Chauncey Billups‘ $2.5MM team option for next season. The move has long been expected.
Billups, 38 in September, saw just 19 games of action for the Pistons last season. His averages of 3.8 PPG and 2.2 APG in that limited run show that he is nowhere near the player that he once was. The veteran is reportedly leaning heavily toward retirement.
If this is indeed the end of the line for Billups, the guard has a long, productive career to look back on. Over the course of 17 seasons, Billups averaged 15.2 PPG and 5.4 APG while capturing a championship and earning upward of $100MM in salary.
The club also confirmed that they extended a qualifying offer to Greg Monroe.
Magic Claim Willie Green
The Magic have claimed guard Willie Green off waivers, a source tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (on Twitter). Green, of course, was recently waived by the Clippers.
The Clippers cut Green loose in advance of the date where his contract would have become guaranteed for the 2014/15 season. In 55 games last season (nine starts), Green averaged 5.0 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 15.8 minutes per contest.
Magic Waive Jameer Nelson
The Magic have waived Jameer Nelson, the team announced via press release, confirming a report from Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The team was facing a July 15th deadline to either waive him or guarantee his full $8MM salary. His $2MM partial guarantee for next season will remain on Orlando’s books.
Robbins suggests the move is a precursor to a pursuit of experienced players in free agency, perhaps speeding up Orlando’s slow-moving rebuild. The Magic waived Doron Lamb earlier today, traded Arron Afflalo last week, and are reportedly looking to rid themselves of Jason Maxiell, paving the way to plenty of cap flexibility.
The team’s acquisition of rookie point guard Elfrid Payton on draft night Thursday seemed a harbinger of Nelson’s departure. Nelson had nonetheless maintained his role of starting point guard even with the team experimenting with Victor Oladipo at the point last season. The 32-year-old has spent his entire 10-year NBA career with the Magic, and had been the last remaining player from the 2009 Finals team.
Nelson averaged 12.1 points and 7.0 assists against 2.4 turnovers in 32.0 minutes per game last season. The Steve Mountain client seems like a decent fit for the taxpayer’s mid-level exception of $3.278MM, or perhaps more if he’s willing to sign a short-term deal.
Magic Waive Doron Lamb
The Magic have waived Doron Lamb, the team announced, confirming a report from Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. His minimum-salary contract was set to go from non-guaranteed to fully guaranteed if the team hadn’t waived him by the end of Tuesday.
The 22-year-old shooting guard hits unrestricted free agency after his second season in the league, having averaged 3.6 points in 13.1 minutes per game for Orlando this past year. He came to the Magic as part of the J.J. Redick trade with the Bucks at the deadline in 2013.
Milwaukee made the Arn Tellem client the 42nd overall pick in 2012, but last season’s production to similar to his output as a rookie. He’ll likely be in the market for another minimum-salary deal, perhaps with a partial guarantee.
Rockets Decline Option On Troy Daniels
The Rockets have turned down their team option on postseason revelation Troy Daniels, the team announced. The team intends to extend a qualifying offer to the swingman today, just as it will with Chandler Parsons, to make both of them restricted free agents in hopes of retaining them for next season, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Rockets brass will pitch marquee free agents on the idea of having both Daniels and Parsons back, Feigen adds (Twitter links).
Daniels was set to make the one-year veteran’s minimum of $816,482 on the option next season. His qualifying offer will be worth $200K more than that. There’s a decent chance he’ll command more than the minimum after emerging as a key rotation player in the playoffs, averaging 7.8 points on sizzling 53.3% three-point shooting in the final four games of Houston’s first-round loss to the Blazers. Even if that sample size proves too small to merit a raise, the qualifying offer means he’ll represent a slightly larger cap hit on Houston’s books as the team chases LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and other stars in free agency.
The Rockets signed Daniels shortly after the trade deadline, cutting Ronnie Brewer to make room. He only appeared in five regular season games, but dazzled in the D-League, putting up 21.9 PPG and shooting 40.1% from behind the arc.
Rockets Decline Chandler Parsons’ Option
MONDAY, 8:19am: Houston has officially declined the option, the team announced.
SATURDAY, 12:58pm: The Rockets have informed Chandler Parsons that they’ve declined his team option for the 2014/15 season, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The news doesn’t come as much of a shock since we heard earlier this month that the team had planned on making such a move and letting Parsons hit restricted free agency.
It’s very likely that Parsons will be back in Houston next season. If the team had picked up their 2014/15 option worth roughly $960K, Parsons would hit unrestricted free agency during the summer of 2015, and Houston would risk losing the sharpshooting wing to a rival suitor. Electing to decline the team option will make Parsons a restricted free agent this summer, meaning the Rockets can match any offer sheet presented to him.
In three years with Houston, Parsons has averaged 14.1 points per night and shot 47.3% from the floor. He’s proven himself to be one of the most valuable players selected in the 2011 draft, despite slipping out of the first round. Parsons played more minutes than any member of the Rockets last season.
By declining the team option, Houston will likely have to pay Parsons significantly more next season than they would have otherwise, but it appears they’re willing to sacrifice a bit of flexibility in order to keep Parsons on the squad long-term.
Charlie Adams contributed to this post.
Francisco Garcia Opts Out
JUNE 30TH: Garcia has informed the team that he has turned down his option and will hit free agency, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
JUNE 22ND: Francisco Garcia intends to opt out of his contract for 2014/15 with the Rockets, agent Aaron Goodwin tells Sam Amick of USA Today (on Twitter). Garcia would have earned $1.3MM with Houston next season but he’ll take a look elsewhere in hopes of a better deal.
Garcia, 32, averaged 5.7 points in 19.7 minutes per game over 55 regular season appearances for the Rockets, but his minutes dried up in the playoffs. He saw 18 minutes in Game 1 against the Blazers, four minutes in Game 2, and was squeezed out of the picture for the rest of the series in favor of Troy Daniels.
The Rockets have full Bird Rights on the swingman and they’ll have extra flexibility now that he is opting out. Garcia is a nice bench piece, but Houston is thinking much bigger with their sights set on Carmelo Anthony.