Nuggets Acquire Arron Afflalo
FRIDAY, 12:18am: The deal is official, the Magic have announced via press release.
THURSDAY, 12:18pm: The Magic have agreed to send Arron Afflalo to the Nuggets for Evan Fournier and the No. 56 pick, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). The Nuggets appear to be absorbing Afflalo into a trade exception, Zach Lowe of Grantland tweets. A quick glance at this summer’s outstanding trade exceptions would indicate that Denver is using the $9.868MM exception from the Andre Iguodala deal to take on Afflalo.
Afflalo is set to earn $7.56MM this season and has a player option for 2015/16 at $7.75MM, but it seems likely that he’ll opt out, effectively making his deal an expiring contract. The haul for the guard may seem light, but that fact could have weighed down his trade value. Afflalo put up a career-high 18.2 PPG this season in 35 minutes per contest. His ~46% field goal percentage was right in line with his career average and his 16.0 PER was a full three points higher than his mark last season.
The deal is something of a homecoming for Afflalo, who played for Denver from 2009/10 through 2011/12. The reunion won’t be short lived, as a source tells Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post (on Twitter) that the 28-year-old will not be flipped to another team in a trade. Afflalo has been mentioned as someone the Nuggets were interested in acquiring for the purposes of flipping him to the Wolves in a Kevin Love deal.
Fournier averaged 8.4 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.5 APG in 19.5 minutes per night in 76 games last season. The shooting guard showed flashes of brilliance in his rookie campaign but didn’t take significant strides forward in 2013/14. Even though he shot well shot well from downtown, his field-goal percentage dropped to 41.9%, down 7.4 percent from the previous season.
Orlando surely likes Fournier but the real motivation for the deal comes in additional flexibility. Following the trade, the Magic have roughly $27.5MM in guaranteed salary on the books for 2014/15.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Lakers Acquire No. 46 Pick
FRIDAY, 12:06am: The Lakers have officially announced the acquisition of the pick, which was used on Jordan Clarkson (Twitter link). It’s $1.8MM in cash that’s headed to Washington in return, tweets Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.
THURSDAY, 11:44pm: A little less than $2MM is going from the Lakers to the Wizards, a source tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post (Twitter link).
10:55pm: It’s indeed cash headed to the Wizards, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington (on Twitter).
10:37pm: The Lakers and Wizards have struck a deal that sends the No. 46 pick to L.A., tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Former University of Missouri guard Jordan Clarkson is the selection, Wojnarowski adds. It’s not clear what Washington gets out of the arrangement, though I’d assume it’s cash.
Sixers To Acquire Jordan McRae
The Spurs agreed to send the 58th pick to the Sixers, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Philadelphia used the pick on Tennessee shooting guard Jordan McRae, according to RealGM (on Twitter).
Sixers, Magic Swap Elfrid Payton, Dario Saric
9:35pm: The trade is official, the Magic announce via press release. The Magic get Payton, and the Sixers get Saric, a 2015 second-round pick, and the 2017 first-round pick that Philadelphia sent to the Magic in the Howard/Bynum trade.
8:10pm: The Sixers are getting back the 2017 first-rounder they sent to the Magic in the four-team Dwight Howard/Andrew Bynum trade, Wojnarowski tweets. Presumably, that’s the 2017 first-rounder Berger was referring to.
7:55pm: The Sixers are sending 10th overall pick Elfrid Payton to the Magic for Dario Saric, the No. 12 selection, tweets Chad Ford of ESPN.com. Orlando is sending its 2017 first-rounder, top-11 protected, to the Sixers, and that protection goes to top-eight for 2018, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). The Magic will also give up a 2015 second-round pick, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter).
Bulls Acquire Doug McDermott From Nuggets
9:28pm: The trade is official, the Bulls announced via press release. It’s McDermott and Randolph to Chicago, while Jusuf Nurkic (the 16th pick) and Gary Harris (the 19th pick) head to Denver along with the least favorable of the Bulls’ pair of second rounders in 2015 (Chicago has both its own second-round pick and Portland’s second-rounder that year).
8:58pm: Anthony Randolph is also set to go to Chicago in the swap, tweets Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post.
8:15pm: The Bulls are also sending a future second-round pick to Denver, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link).
7:48pm: The Nuggets will trade Doug McDermott to the Bulls after taking him 11th overall, reports Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link). The Nuggets get picks Nos. 16 and 19 in exchange, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
Cavs Draft Andrew Wiggins No. 1 Overall
The Cavs have drafted Andrew Wiggins with the No. 1 overall pick. The Plain Dealer first reported the pick (Twitter link). Wiggins was reportedly the preference of owner Dan Gilbert, while the front office was said to like Jabari Parker better. Parker will go to the Bucks at No. 2, Milwaukee officials have said, according to Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). The Cavs don’t intend to trade Wiggins now that they’ve drafted him, tweets Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
The Kansas small forward entered the college season as the consensus No. 1 pick, but an underwhelming showing allowed doubt to creep in, and Cleveland seemed uncertain about Wiggins and Parker until today. Wiggins joins fellow Canadian and now Cavs teammate Anthony Bennett as the only two from their country to have ever been drafted No. 1 overall.
Rockets To Trade Asik To Pelicans
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
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
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
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.