Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Donald Sloan, Pacers Agree To Multiyear Deal

July 3rd, 2013 at 10:32am CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers have agreed to terms on a multiyear contract with Donald Sloan, reports Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). It's already the third agreement the Pacers have reached this month, on the heels of deals for C.J. Watson and David West.

Sloan, 25, is a combo guard that has played primarily at the point in the NBA, including a brief and productive run in Cleveland filling in for the injured Kyrie Irving. Assuming the Pacers view him as a point guard as well, Sloan figures to be the third-stringer, behind George Hill and Watson.

Terms of Sloan's deal aren't yet known, but I'd be a little surprised if it was for more than the minimum. Depending on how they signed Watson though, the Pacers should have either the mid-level exception or the bi-annual exception available if necessary.

Sloan is represented by Impact Sports Basketball.

Nets Sign Mason Plumlee

July 3rd, 2013 at 8:42am CST by Luke Adams

The Nets have officially signed first-round pick Mason Plumlee to a rookie-scale contract, the team announced today in a press release. During the July moratorium, first-round picks are permitted to sign contracts with their respective clubs.

Plumlee, 23, will likely receive a 2013/14 salary worth about $1.3MM, as I outlined in our breakdown of salaries for first-round picks. The 22nd overall pick spent four years at Duke, averaging 17.1 PPG and 10.0 RPG in his senior season, and figures to be a big man off the bench for the Nets this season.

Tyler Hansbrough Becomes Unrestricted FA

July 2nd, 2013 at 2:08pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers have agreed to rescind Tyler Hansbrough's qualifying offer, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter). That makes Hansbrough an unrestricted free agent and means there are only 11 restricted free agents left on the market.

The one-year qualifying offer the Pacers extended to Hansbrough prior to free agency getting underway was worth $4,135,391. Even if Indiana has interest in retaining the free agent forward, the Pacers' agreements with David West and C.J. Watson have limited the team's flexibility to continue adding contracts.

Hansbrough will now be free to sign outright with any team, rather than having to sign an offer sheet and waiting to see if Indiana will match.

Pacers Extend QO To Tyler Hansbrough

July 1st, 2013 at 11:33am CST by Chuck Myron

The Pacers have made Tyler Hansbrough a qualifying offer, The Associated Press reports. The one-year offer is worth $4,135,391 and allows the Pacers to match offers for the power forward in restricted free agency.

Indiana's primary offseason goal will be to re-sign David West, but once that's taken care of, the team will attend to other matters, like retaining Hansbrough, his backup. The Pacers enter the offseason with about $49MM in guaranteed salary, though they'll have Hansbrough's full Bird Rights if they wish to go over the cap to re-sign him.

Hansbrough, the 13th pick in the 2009 draft, was originally in line for a QO worth $4,225,423, but because he failed to meet the starter criteria, his offer is slightly smaller.

Richardson To Join Raptors Via Sign-And-Trade

July 1st, 2013 at 10:39am CST by Chuck Myron

Quentin Richardson will head to the Raptors through a sign-and-trade deal that will complete the Andrea Bargnani swap, according to Newsday's Al Iannazzone (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com speculated last night that Richardson or Earl Barron would likely be signed-and-traded to the Raptors to make the numbers in the Bargnani deal work. It's unclear exactly how much Richardson will earn, but it probably won't be the hefty $5MM payday that Keith Bogans is getting to be part of the Celtics/Nets blockbuster.

Still, it seems Richardson is in line for more than the prorated minimum salary he earned after signing with the Knicks at the end of the regular season. The client of Jeff Wechsler spent most of 2012/13 out of the NBA after the Magic cut him at the end of training camp. The 13-year veteran made just one regular season appearance for the Knicks, and got in five of the team's playoff games for a total of only 14 minutes.

Mavericks Decline To Make QO To Collison

June 30th, 2013 at 6:25pm CST by Zachary Links

Point guard Darren Collison is a free agent after the Mavericks refused to make him a qualifying offer, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). The QO would have paid him just over $4.5MM for 2013/14.

The move was expected as the Mavericks want to clear up as much space as possible in their pursuit of Dwight Howard. Collison started 47 games for Dallas last season, averaging 12.0 PPG with 5.1 APG and 2.7 RPG. The soon-to-be 26-year-old could still re-sign with the Mavs, but he’ll have to wait and see how things play out with their offseason first.

Hawks Won’t Extend QO To Ivan Johnson

June 30th, 2013 at 3:41pm CST by Zachary Links

The Hawks won’t extend a qualifying offer to Ivan Johnson, making him a free agent this summer, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Hawks GM Danny Ferry was very noncommital in a recent interview when asked if he would give Johnson a QO rather than allowing him to become a restricted free agent.

While Johnson won’t necessarily be back with Atlanta next season, we learned earlier today that teammate Jeff Teague has received the QO from Ferry & Co. Teague’s deal will be worth more than $4.5MM, but the club has apparently decided that the ~$1.2MM needed for Johnson just wasn’t worth it.

Knicks Waive James White

June 30th, 2013 at 1:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

SUNDAY, 1:20pm: The Knicks officially announced that they have waived White.

SATURDAY, 3:32pm: White is negotiating with several teams in China for better money than he could find in the NBA, tweets Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com.

2:56pm: The Knicks will let go of James White and his non-guaranteed salary for next season, agent Bill McCandless tells Shams Charania of RealGM.com (Twitter link). The report indicates the Knicks will be declining a team option on White, but White is listed as having a non-guaranteed deal at ShamSports.com. White's deal was to have become fully guaranteed if he weren't waived on or before June 30th, so that amounts to a team option anyway.

Several other NBA teams are interested in the 30-year-old small forward, and White's representatives are in talks with a team in Europe, Charania writes. White's camp expects additional overseas interest to develop as well.

"I don't know what it will be, but I am sure that James will make more money in 2013-14 than he has in any prior season," McCandless said. "James loved his time with the Knicks, and he’s looking forward to a new team, where assuredly he would play more."

White, who made the two-year veteran's minimum of $854,389 this year, was set to make only the minimum salary for next season, but the team's decision doesn't come as a complete surprise considering White's limited role with the Knicks. White averaged 2.2 points in 7.6 minutes per game over 57 contests in New York this season, though he did make 16 starts when the team was dealing with injuries to its regulars. White and the Knicks had spoken about extending the guarantee deadline on his deal, but when the team came away with Tim Hardaway Jr. in Thursday's draft, that dissuaded the Knicks from changing the terms of the contract, according to Charania.

Nets To Acquire Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce

June 30th, 2013 at 12:55pm CST by Luke Adams

SUNDAY, 12:52pm: The trade can't be made official until July 12th because of a hang-up related to Kris Joseph, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Players typically can't be traded within three months of signing a free agent contract, and Joseph signed with the Nets on April 12th, so presumably that's the reasoning.

FRIDAY, 9:11am: Chris Broussard of ESPN.com has the full breakdown of the trade, via Twitter:

The Nets will receive Garnett, Pierce, and Terry. The Celtics will receive Humphries, Wallace, Brooks, Joseph, Bogans, and 2014, 2016, and 2018 first-round picks. The '14 pick will be the Hawks or Nets selection, whichever is worse. The '16 and '18 picks will be unprotected. The Celtics also have the ability to swap first-rounders with Brooklyn in 2017.

Based on these pieces, Bogans figures to get a 2013/14 salary of more than $2MM in the sign-and-trade part of the deal, by my math, which works out nicely for him.

7:41am: According to Josh Newman of SNYNets.com, Evans has been informed he won't be included in the deal, but MarShon Brooks will be sent to the Celtics instead. Because Brooks' salary is smaller than Evans, that would mean a larger starting salary for Bogans in the sign-and-trade portion of the deal, unless Shengelia is involved in the final agreement.

Meanwhile, Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that Nets GM Billy King, head coach Jason Kidd, and point guard Deron Williams all reached out during the draft to pitch him on the trade.

FRIDAY, 12:53am: Because Bogans needs to be signed-and-traded, no deal between Brooklyn and Boston can be made official until July 10th, but the agreement appears on track to be approved by all involved parties.

By my math, if Shengelia is not in the trade, Bogans will need to be signed to a starting salary of $1,731,294 in order for the Nets to send out as much outgoing money as the CBA requires for Garnett, Pierce, and Terry.

THURSDAY, 10:20pm: Kris Joseph will be included in the deal, heading to Boston, and the Celtics will also have the option to swap 2017 first-round picks with Brooklyn, tweets Wojnarowski. Joseph's contract is non-guaranteed, so the C's could waive him after acquiring him if they so choose.

10:10pm: Shengelia is not part of the latest version of this deal, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). I'll have to double-check the math, but I believe the Nets would need to include at least one more player to make the salaries work if they're taking on Terry as well.

9:58pm: Kevin Garnett will agree to waive his no-trade clause to accommodate a deal that will send him and Paul Pierce to the Nets, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). As part of the agreement, Brooklyn will guarantee KG's full salary for 2014/15, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Garnett's $12MM salary for that season had only be guaranteed for $6MM up until this point.

It's not entirely clear which players will be involved in the deal, but it looks like Jason Terry will be headed to the Nets along with Garnett and Pierce. Boston is expected to acquire Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Keith Bogans (via sign-and-trade), Reggie Evans, and Tornike Shengelia. The Celtics will also receive 2014, 2016, and 2018 first-round picks, with no protection on the '16 or '18 selections, according to today's earlier reports.

Due to all the moving pieces involved, the two sides won't be able to formally complete the deal until July 10th, when the July moratorium lifts. When it becomes official, it will mark the next step in a full-scale rebuilding process for the Celtics, who also allowed Doc Rivers to join the Clippers in exchange for a 2015 first-round pick.

Rockets Waive Delfino, Brooks

June 30th, 2013 at 12:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

JUNE 30TH: Houston has waived Delfino and Brooks, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, taking his cue from Rockets GM Daryl Morey, who bid them farewell via Twitter. The Rockets were reportedly trying to trade both of them before their contracts became guaranteed at the end of today, but apparently found no takers.

JUNE 16TH: The Rockets have told the agents for Carlos Delfino and Aaron Brooks that the team will not pick up the options on their contracts for next season, reports Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The same is true for Francisco Garcia, as Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston reported last month that the team will decline his option as well. The result is a savings of $11.908MM that the Rockets plan to put toward their pursuit of a marquee free agent.

Technically, Delfino and Brooks have non-guaranteed contracts for next season that would become fully guaranteed if they're not waived by June 30th, according to ShamSports.com. Essentially, that amounts to a team option on both. Delfino was set to make $3MM and Brooks $2.508MM, while Garcia's team option is worth $6.4MM next season.

The moves could be some of the last under the current phase of the team's roster construction, as Feigen details. If the team signs a big-time free agent this summer, with Dwight Howard as its primary target, it will shift toward an emphasis on veterans. The Rockets would prefer to avoid the luxury tax in coming seasons, but they're willing to go deep into the tax to keep many of their own players who are set to hit free agency in 2015, including Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons and Patrick Beverley.

GM Daryl Morey and company will emphasize to free agents that the team has all of its future first-round picks, after having given up this year's first-rounder, and note that those draft choices can be traded for veterans. They'll also point to the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions the team will have once it goes over the cap as a means to acquire additional veterans.

In the past few seasons, Houston has turned over its roster in pursuit of superstars, but the team appears confident it will soon have a core it can build around for the long haul. The team pursued a similar veterans-first strategy in the early days of Morey's leadership, when Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming were star players.