Derek Fisher will be returning to the Thunder next season, according to NewsOk.com's Darnell Mayberry. The contract is a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum of roughly $1.4MM.
Over the past two seasons, Fisher has appeared in 44 games for the Thunder, giving them veteran leadership and filling in in the past for injured guards such as Eric Maynor and Russell Westbrook.
The 39-year-old veteran averaged 8.7 PPG in 11 playoff games last season.
The Grizzlies have claimed Josh Akognon off waivers from the Mavericks, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Memphis assumes Akognon's minimum-salary contract as a result. Dallas decided this weekend to let go of Akognon to accomodate their deal with free agent Monta Ellis, whose three-year, $25.08MM deal became official yesterday, Stein also tweets. The team also has an outstanding agreement with Wayne Ellington, but presumably that will become official soon, too.
The same cap crunch also forced the team to waive Bernard James, but he went unclaimed and the Mavs re-signed him. Akognon originally joined the Mavs on a 10-day contract in April after putting up impressive scoring numbers in China. He put up 29.0 points per game this past season in the Chinese league and 28.2 in 2011/12, and while he was drawing heavy interest from China following the Mavs' decision to waive him, it appears he'll get his wish to remain in the NBA.
The Alpha Basketball Agency client was the Mavs' leading scorer in the Las Vegas Summer League at 17.5 PPG, and he shot 39.1% on 46 total attempts from behind the arc. The 5'11" guard may provide another outside shooter for the Grizzlies in case they miss out on their pursuit of Mike Miller. The claim probably won't affect the team's plans to chase Miller or another free agent, since the Grizzlies can absorb him using the minimum-salary exception. Indeed, Stein tweets that Akognon's pickup doesn't affect their pursuit of the former Heat sharpshooter, whom Memphis is pushing hard to sign.
The Warriors have waived Dwayne Jones, Scott Machado and Kevin Murphy, the team announced today. Jones and Machado were late-season signings from this past spring, while Murphy joined the team as part of a three-team trade two weeks ago.
All three were on non-guaranteed minimum-salary contracts, but they all would have received at least a partial guarantee if Golden State hadn't waived them on or before August 1st. The contracts for Jones and Machado would have become fully guaranteed if they had stayed on the roster past that date, while Murphy's would have been guaranteed for $75K.
The team's roster is at 13 players, which gives Golden State plenty of flexibility heading into training camp. Teams can have as many as 20 players on their camp rosters, a limit that shrinks to 15 for the regular season. The Warriors have a hard cap this season, but the subtraction of a few minimum-salary players won't make too much of a difference considering they were more than $7MM shy of the hard cap before today's moves.
None of the three saw significant playing time last season. Jones and Machado didn't make it into any regular season games with the Warriors, instead appearing only briefly during the playoffs. Machado did play in six regular season contests during his stint with the Rockets in 2012/13. Murphy spent 2012/13 with the Jazz, who made him the 47th pick of the 2012 draft.
A sprained calf led to an abbreviated summer league stint for former Trail Blazer Nolan Smith, but he's still expected to join the Celtics for training camp, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. The Knicks were also considering Smith. Presumably, the 21st pick in the 2011 draft will join Boston on a non-guaranteed contract that amounts to the chance to try out for the 2013/14 regular season roster.
The Blazers changed management in between Smith's first and second seasons, and new GM Neil Olshey elected not to pick up their option for Smith's third year. That made the former Duke standout an unrestricted free agent entering the summer. He was a trade candidate this past season, and by April, when a report identified the Thunder, Bulls and Hawks as teams likely to have interest in him, it was clear he wouldn't be re-signing with the Blazers.
Smith played just 12.3 minutes per game as a rookie, and he saw even less action this past season, racking up just 7.2 MPG. He notched 20.6 points per game as a senior at Duke, so the Celtics clearly hope that he can once more summon that scoring touch if given a chance.
The Mavericks have signed 43rd overall pick Ricky Ledo, the team announced via press release. Dallas acquired the rights to Ledo from the Bucks, via the Sixers, as our rundown of offseason trades shows.
Ledo attended Providence University, but he never played for their team after the NCAA ruled him academically ineligible. Still, the shooting guard impressed teams during pre-draft workouts. He averaged 7.3 points and 3.8 rebounds this month on the Mavs summer league team.
Agent Seth Cohen of the Verus Management Team first tweeted news of the deal this afternoon. The Mavs haven't yet reached an agreement with their other draft pick, 18th overall selection Shane Larkin, who suffered a broken ankle in summer league.
JULY 23RD: The Warriors have officially signed O'Neal, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 9TH: Free agent big man Jermaine O'Neal will sign with the Warriors on a one-year deal, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein (Twitter links). We had heard over the weekend that Golden State had interest in the Arn Tellem client, and that he was expected to make a decision soon.
The agreement with O'Neal is the latest move in a busy week for the Warriors. In addition to coming to terms with O'Neal, Golden State agreed to sign Andre Iguodala, Toney Douglas, and Marreese Speights, and will send $24MM+ in expiring contracts to the Jazz.
According to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (via Twitter), O'Neal's contract will be worth $2MM, which exceeds the minimum salary for a veteran with his experience. That means Golden State will either be signing O'Neal using the bi-annual exception or part of the mid-level exception. A sign-and-trade is also a possibility, but appears much less likely.
O'Neal, 34, has had problems staying on the court throughout his NBA career, but was productive in the games he played for the Suns last year. In 55 contests (18.7 MPG), O'Neal averaged 8.3 PPG and 5.3 RPG to go along with a 16.7 PER.
JULY 23RD, 2:45pm: The Mavericks have finally made the Ellis signing official, announcing the deal today in a press release.
JULY 12TH, 3:36pm: The deal is expected to be in the $28MM range, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.
2:47pm: The Mavericks and Monta Ellis have reached an agreement that will land the free agent guard in Dallas, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Ellis will receive a three-year deal that figures to be worth between $25-30MM overall, depending on how the Mavs' cap situation shakes out.
It was just two days ago that GM Donnie Nelson told reporters that the Mavs likely wouldn't be too involved in the Ellis sweepstakes, but it appears that was just a smoke screen. The Kings, Hawks, and Bobcats were cited as other potential suitors for the free agent guard.
Ellis reportedly parted ways with longtime agent Jeff Fried recently, after being disappointed by the lack of interest he was receiving on the open market. Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports was expected to replace Fried as Ellis' rep, though players typically have to wait 15 days before hiring a new agent, so it's not clear if Fegan negotiated the deal with the Mavs.
Even if Ellis receives $30MM from the Mavs for three years, he'll be earning a lesser annual salary than he could have received from the Bucks. The 27-year-old turned down an $11MM player option to hit the open market, and reportedly turned down a three-year, $36MM extension offer from Milwaukee last season.
According to Stein, the Mavericks continue to negotiate with Samuel Dalembert, and could pursue other bigs as well, but Dallas may be capped out after Ellis' deal, leaving just the $2.65MM room exception to offer non-minimum players.
The Spurs are in the process of withdrawing their qualifying offer to Gary Neal, making him an unrestricted free agent, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter). The move increases the likelihood that Neal will end up landing with a team besides San Antonio, with Stein adding (via Twitter) that the free agent guard is expected to be "snapped up quickly."
Neal's one-year qualifying offer was worth about $1.12MM, and allowed the Spurs to match any bids for him. Had Neal signed an offer sheet with another club, the Spurs would have had three days to decide whether to match it or let him walk. Now, the 28-year-old will be able to sign outright with a rival suitor.
Neal has posted nearly identical numbers in his three seasons in San Antonio, with his averages ranging from 9.5 to 9.9 PPG in 21.1 to 21.8 MPG. However, after posting a 41.9% three-point rate in each of his first two years, that mark fell to 35.5% in 2012/13.
It's not clear where Neal will land once he becomes an unrestricted free agent, but Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times reported a couple weeks ago that the Bucks were one of four interested teams.
MONDAY, 5:26pm: The Clippers announced that the deal has been signed.
SATURDAY, 6:02pm: Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times reports that Mullens is expected to sign his contract on Monday or Tuesday next week (Twitter link).
5:46pm: Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Clippers and Mullens have agreed to a two-year deal worth $2MM. The second year will be a player option.
WEDNESDAY, 10:01pm: The deal would include a player option for 2014/15, and is on track to be finalized late tonight or on Thursday, Wojnarowski writes.
9:16pm: The Clippers and Byron Mullens are close to an agreement on a two-year deal, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Wasserman Media Group client became an unrestricted free agent when the Bobcats declined to tender a qualifying offer last month. The Lakers had interest in Mullens at the start of free agency, but may have moved on after adding Chris Kaman and re-signing Robert Sacre.
The Mullens signing would have to take place for the minimum salary, since the Clippers are over the cap and split their mid-level exception between Matt Barnes and Darren Collison. The Clips don't have their bi-annual exception, having used it to sign Grant Hill last summer. Bringing Mullens aboard may take the team out of the running for Antawn Jamison and Lamar Odom, two other big men who had been Clippers free agent targets.
Mullens is a 7'0" three-point gunner who could give the Clippers some floor spacing on offense if he continues to improve his touch. He's a career 30.1% shooter from behind the arc, and made 31.7% of his 3.9 three-point attempts per game this past season.
MONDAY, 4:17pm: The Celtics have officially signed Pressey, according to a press release.
THURSDAY, 12:05am: The contract includes some guaranteed money, Washburn writes.
WEDNESDAY, 9:42pm: The Celtics and Phil Pressey have agreed to a multiyear deal, tweets Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. The team and the undrafted point guard from Missouri were reportedly working toward a contract this weekend, after the two sides put together an arrangement for summer league.
Washburn reported shortly after the draft that he expected the team to "immediately go after" Pressey, and the Celtics had him in the fold for summer league by the next morning. A more formal contract took a little longer, but Pressey has at least earned a chance to showcase his skills in Celtics training camp. Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reported this weekend that the two sides were talking about a one-year deal, and though it now appears his contract will cover at least two seasons, it's not clear how much of a guarantee is involved.
The 5'11" Pressey averaged 9.4 points, 6.6 assists and 4.0 turnovers per game in five summer league contests in Orlando last week, but he was more impressive in college, where SEC coaches voted him first-team all-conference this past season. Both Chad Ford of ESPN.com and Jonathan Givony had him within the top 60 in their final rankings before the draft, so it was somewhat surprising that a team didn't use a second-round pick on him.