Lakers To Amnesty Metta World Peace
The Lakers are set to use the amnesty clause on the contract of Metta World Peace barring some late change, according to Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register (on Twitter). The forward's contract calls for him to make about $7.73MM in 2013/14.
Even without Dwight Howard in the picture, the Lakers are well into luxury tax territory and cutting MWP loose with the amnesty provision will save them about $21.5MM in total. Peace, of course, has a reputation as a tenacious defender but his performance has been in decline as of late and he's certainly not worth the cost for a club that doesn't figure to contend in 2013/14.
Using the clause on MWP means that the Lakers will eliminate his cap hit from the books while still paying him his full salary. For a refresher on the amnesty clause, check out the full explanation in the Hoops Rumors glossary.
Wizards Sign Otto Porter, Glen Rice Jr.
The Wizards have locked up their 2013 draft picks, according to Michael Lee of the Washington Post, who reports (via Twitter) that Otto Porter and Glen Rice Jr. have signed their respective deals.
Porter, the third overall pick, will be on a standard rookie-scale contract, which figures to pay him about $4.28MM in his first NBA season, as our chart of rookie salaries shows. Rice, on the other hand, was a second-round pick (35th overall), meaning he isn't subject to the same scale.
The terms of Rice's deal aren't known, but the Wizards are believed to have committed their mid-level exception to Martell Webster and their bi-annual exception to Eric Maynor. If that's the case, it would leave room for just a minimum-salary contract for Rice.
Celtics Sign Kelly Olynyk
The Celtics announced that they have signed first-round pick Kelly Olynyk. The 7'0" forward was the 13th overall pick in the 2013 draft.
Olynyk was a consensus All-American and the West Coast Conference Player of the Year during the 2012-13 season for Gonzaza. He averaged 17.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 26.4 minutes per game, while finishing third in the nation in field goal shooting at 62.9%.
Olynyk’s draft rights were acquired from Dallas in exchange for the draft rights to Lucas Nogueira and two future second round draft picks. If C's go to 120% of the rookie scale, Olynyk will earn $2MM in his first year.
Wolves Waive Stiemsma, Gelabale
The Wolves announced that they have waived center Greg Stiemsma and forward Mickael Gelabale. Both moves have been expected for some time.
Both players had contracts for the 2013/14 season that were said to become guaranteed if they were still on the Wolves’ roster at the end of the month. Stiemsma was set to earn $2.69MM next season while Gelabale would have made $916K. According to the Hoops Rumors schedule of guarantee dates, Stiemsma would have had his contract locked in on July 17th while Gelabale would have been guaranteed on the 22nd.
Stiemsma, a former Celtic, averaged 4.0 PPG and 3.4 RPG in 15.9 minutes per game last year. Gelabale, who spent several years overseas, scored 5.0 PPG in 17.9 minutes per contest.
Magic Sign Victor Oladipo
The Magic have signed No. 2 overall pick Victor Oladipo, the team announced via press release. His rookie-scale figure is close to $4MM, so he’s likely to receive a first-year salary equal to 120% of the scale amount, like most first-round picks. That would give him slightly more than $4.76MM, as our salary chart for this year’s first-rounders shows.
The signing of first-round picks is one of the few transactions allowed during the July Moratorium, so the move is official. Oladipo gives the Magic a high-energy defender with a rapidly improving offensive game. When I examined his potential this spring, I figured Oladipo would continue his rise on draft boards around the league, and he wound up just one pick shy of the top spot.
He was a full-time starter for just one season in high school and two at Indiana University, but the 21-year-old wound up eclipsing fellow shooting guard prospect Ben McLemore in the eyes of the Magic, who have appeared ready to deal Arron Afflalo to clear a space in the lineup for Oladipo.
Devin Harris To Sign With Mavs
10:27pm: Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com reiterates our contention that Harris will likely spend a lot of time at shooting guard next to Calderon in the Mavs' backcourt. MacMahon notes that Harris spent half his time next to Jeff Teague at shooting guard last season with the Hawks, so the transition won't be difficult. Acquiring Harris also allows the Mavs to bring their rookie guards, Shane Larkin and Gal Mekel, along more slowly.
8:04pm: Although the deal can't be made official until Wednesday when the NBA's July moratorium is lifted, ESPNDallas.com's Tim MacMahon says the Mavs struck a deal today to bring Devin Harris back to Dallas for a three-year deal in excess of $9MM. With Harris' and Jose Calderon's deal, the Mavs have solved their backcourt problems from last year.
The 30-year-old Harris averaged 9.9 PPG and 3.4 APG in 24.5 MPG during part-time starting duties with the Hawks last year. But Harris primarily played as the off-guard when Jeff Teague was in the game at the same time. This might be how the Mavs choose to use him in conjunction with Calderon.
6:40pm: Marc Stein of ESPN.com is hearing that Hawks unrestricted free agent Devin Harris is "closing in" on a deal to go back to the Mavs for a three-year deal worth $9MM plus (Twitter).
Harris is repped by Excel Sports Management, as shown in the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.
Jazz Sign Trey Burke, Rudy Gobert
4:45pm: The Jazz also announced their official signing of Burke.
SATURDAY, 2:48pm: The Jazz have officially signed Gobert, according to their website.
FRIDAY, 8:35am: The Jazz have signed their two first-round picks to rookie contracts, according to Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld (via Twitter). While no official announcement has been made by the team yet, Pincus hears that Trey Burke and Rudy Gobert have been locked up.
The formal signing of a first-round pick is one of the few transactions that's allowed during the July moratorium. With the move, Burke's and Gobert's cap holds will be replaced by 120% of their respective amounts, assuming they each signed the maximum allowable rookie deal, which virtually all first-rounders do.
As our chart of likely first-round salaries shows, that would mean a first-year salary of about $2.44MM for Burke and $1.08MM for Gobert. Overall, the newly-signed contracts will amount to an increase of about $600K on the team's 2013/14 books. That difference should be negligible as Utah pursues free agents, since the club still has more than $25MM in cap room.
Blazers Waive Sasha Pavlovic
The Blazers have waived Sasha Pavlovic, the team announced via Twitter. Pavlovic's deal extended through 2014/15, but both years left on it were non-guaranteed, meaning Portland doesn't owe him any more money after paying him $1,232,713 this past season. Pavlovic was acquired last summer as part of a three-team sign-and-trade arrangement, and he seemed to be included in the deal simply to make the salaries match. Since players who are signed-and-traded must be given three-year deals, that's what Pavlovic got, but the lack of guaranteed money allows the Blazers to part ways with him now.
The Dan Fegan client will hit the free agent market, unless another team puts in a claim for him, which would be unlikely. He was in and out of Portland's rotation this past season, averaging 2.6 points in 13.5 minutes per game. With the team's acquisition of C.J. McCollum at the draft and its agreement today to sign Dorell Wright, the Blazers added depth at the wing positions, likely eliminating any need to keep Pavlovic around.
Pavlovic was set to earn close to $1.4MM this season and nearly $1.5MM in 2014/15, so his release figures to give the Blazers a little more wiggle room under the cap. Still, it'll be a tight squeeze if they want to sign anyone else, given their trades for Robin Lopez and Thomas Robinson. Portland's best weapon left might be its $2.65MM room exception.
Nets To Sign Bojan Bogdanovic?
SATURDAY, 1:51pm: Bogdanovic pegged his chances of joining the Nets at only 50% or slightly higher when speaking to a Croatian radio station today, as noted on the website Sportnet (translation via Nets Daily). Bogdanovic denied that a deal had been signed, though no deal can be officially signed until the July Moratorium is up on Wednesday, anyway.
FRIDAY, 8:23pm: Bogdanovic will get a three-year deal with a starting salary of about $2.4MM, tweets Howard Beck of The New York Times. That would leave close to $800K on the mini mid-level for the Nets to sign someone else. That wouldn't be enough room to bring on a player for as much as the two-year veteran's minimum salary, but as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News points out on Twitter, the Nets may prefer to let that money go unspent so they can save on their already-hefty luxury tax bill.
8:03pm: The Nets have reached agreement on a deal that will bring 2011 second-round pick Bojan Bogdanovic to the team for the coming season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The team acquired the draft rights to the Bosnia and Herzegovina native shortly after he was taken 31st overall by the Heat two years ago.
When it appeared the Nets would use their mini mid-level to sign Kyle Korver, it looked like Bogdanovic would not be coming stateside this season, since the rookie minimum salary would have been all Brooklyn would have had left to give him. With Korver heading back to the Hawks instead, that frees up as much as $3.183MM to give to Bogdanovic as a starting salary.
The 6'8" small forward maintained interest in playing for the Nets even as it appeared he wouldn't get the chance to do so right away. He averaged 14.3 points per game and shot 38.7% from three-point range this past season for Fenerbahce Ulker in Turkey.
Dwight Howard To Sign With Rockets
10:01pm: Howard, as promised, took to Twitter (or Twitlonger, to be precise) to reveal his choice of the Rockets.
"I've decided to become a member of the Houston Rockets. I feel its the best place for me and I am excited about joining the Rockets and I'm looking forward to a great season. I want to thank the fans in Los Angeles and wish them the best."
9:36pm: It appears Howard has picked the Rockets once and for all. The Lakers have released a statement from GM Mitch Kupchak:
"We have been informed of Dwight's decision to not return to the Lakers. Naturally we're disappointed. However, we will now move forward in a different direction with the future of the franchise and, as always, will do our best to build the best team possible, one our great lakers fans will be proud to support. To Dwight, we thank him for his time and consideration, and for his efforts with us last season. We wish him the best of luck on the remainder of his NBA career."
Of course, nothing's official until July 10th, when the league's July Moratorium is up, but presumably, Howard will be headed to Houston.
9:33pm: HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy hears from a source close to Howard that he's decided to join the Rockets after all (Twitter link).
8:46pm: On ESPN's SportsCenter, Chris Broussard is reporting that Howard has told the Lakers he's changed his mind, and both the Lakers and Rockets have 50-50 chances, according to multiple reports (All Twitter links).
6:32pm: Howard is flying from Colorado to L.A. to speak with Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak tonight, Bresnahan tweets.
5:47pm: Asik has no interest in backing up Howard if D12 does indeed come to Houston, and that could force a trade, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The Hawks would listen to a sign-and-trade proposal involving Smith, Windhorst adds (Twitter links).
5:41pm: If Howard does sign with the Rockets, Mannix expects the team to try to flip Omer Asik, possibly as part of a deal for Josh Smith (Twitter link). Pincus believes the Rockets may still need to create a little more cap room to sign Howard outright to a max deal, though that won't be official until the salary cap is set next week, when the July Moratorium ends (Twitter link).
5:36pm: Houston GM Daryl Morey tweets that while he is "excited & cautiously optimistic" that Howard might choose Houston, he and the team have not been informed of his decision (hat tip to HoopsWorld's Eric Pincus).
5:31pm: As it stands at the moment, Fegan appears to be the one putting the brakes on the story, telling Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times that, "Based on my most recent conversation wirh Dwight, it’s inaccurate" that he has chosen Houston (Twitter link). Howard had been leaning toward Houston, but with his back issues, he's wondering if leaving $30MM is the right idea, Bresnahan tweets.
5:21pm: Multiple sources tell Wojnarowski that Howard has chosen the Rockets, but that he is still finalizing details of the agreement (Twitter link). Chris Mannix of SI.com says that he's been told Howard is wrestling with the idea of passing up the extra $30MM or so that the Lakers could offer, but if all things were equal, he'd go to Houston (Twitter link). Kennedy echoes that sentiment via Twitter. The Lakers and Rockets are the only two teams that haven't been notified they're out of the running, Wojnarowski notes (on Twitter).
5:15pm: A decision is coming tonight or tomorrow, tweets Kennedy.
5:12pm: A source close to Howard tells Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld that no decision has been made, although it's unclear whether that source spoke to Kennedy before or after news broke that he would sign with the Rockets (Twitter link). While Berger and TNT's David Aldridge both confirm Howard will sign with the Rockets (Twitter links), agent Dan Fegan tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that "Dwight has not finalized his decision" (Twitter link).
4:55pm: The most-discussed free agent of the summer has finally made his decision. After spending the week meeting with five different teams and weighing his options at a Colorado resort, Dwight Howard has opted to sign with the Rockets, reports Sam Amick of USA Today.
Howard has begun personally calling teams to tell them of his decision, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. The Warriors have already received one of those calls from Howard, according to Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). The Hawks and Lakers appeared to be the other teams in the running at the very end, with the Mavericks having been officially eliminated earlier.
Chuck Myron contributed to this story.