Ben Gordon To Exercise Player Option
To no one's surprise, Ben Gordon has decided to exercise his player option for 2013/14, keeping him under contract for one more season, reports Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (via Twitter).
Gordon's decision will ensure his $13.2MM salary becomes guaranteed for next year, significantly cutting into the Bobcats' available cap space. Charlotte acquired the veteran guard last summer for Corey Maggette, who would have hit free agency this offseason. In exchange for picking up the extra salary, the Bobcats should land a pretty attractive draft pick, especially if the Pistons continue to miss the postseason. The first-rounder Charlotte received in the Gordon/Maggette swap is top-eight protected in 2014 and top-one protected in 2015.
We heard last night that rival executives are skeptical the Celtics will keep Kris Humphries after acquiring him from the Nets, and Chris Mannix of SI.com said to keep an eye out for the Bobcats. Gordon and Humphries have been connected in trade rumors before, so it's possible, perhaps even likely, that Gordon won't spend the entire '13/14 season with the Bobcats.
Boris Diaw Exercises Player Option
FRIDAY, 1:31pm: Diaw's agent, Doug Neustadt, confirms that his client is opting in, telling Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link) that the letter has been sent to the team.
THURSDAY, 8:25pm: Boris Diaw expects to opt in for the final year of his contract with the Spurs, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Diaw's 2013/14 player option would pay him a guaranteed $4,702,500 if he exercises it.
Given Diaw's production in 2012/13 (5.8 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 11.9 PER), he'd be very unlikely to land a deal with a higher annual salary than the $4.7MM he'll receive from San Antonio, so it'd be pretty surprising if he decided to opt out. Assuming he makes the decision official, he'll become the second Spur to pick up his player option this week, as Patty Mills exercised his on Monday.
Bucks Make Qualifying Offer To Brandon Jennings
The Bucks have formally extended a qualifying offer to Brandon Jennings, GM John Hammond confirmed today (Twitter link via Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Because Jennings met the starter criteria this past season, his QO will be worth $4,531,459, a slight bump up from what it would have been otherwise.
There have been a few rumblings lately suggesting the Bucks wouldn't mind signing-and-trading Jennings, or keeping Monta Ellis over him. However, Hammond indicated today that the team intends for Jennings to remain a Buck, according to Gardner (via Twitter). Hammond went on to say that the club hopes to negotiate with its young guard, and if a deal can't be reached with Jennings directly, the plan would be to match a rival offer sheet (Twitter links via Gardner).
It's unclear at this point whether Jennings prefers to stay in Milwaukee long-term or play elsewhere. While the Bucks have the majority of the control over his current situation, Jennings could accept his one-year qualifying offer, which would make him an unrestricted free agent next summer. Jennings suggested back in March that he'd consider that possibility.
Wolves Exercise Option On Dante Cunningham
The Timberwolves have exercised their team option to retain Dante Cunningham for the 2013/14 season, the team announced today (Twitter link). The decision will ensure that Cunningham is guaranteed his $2.18MM salary for next year.
Cunningham, 26, was one of the few Wolves to stay healthy last season, appearing in 80 games for the club and recording averages of 8.7 PPG and 5.1 RPG. While Cunningham's production wasn't spectacular enough, it was solid enough to make him a good value at $2.18MM.
The Wolves will also face a couple more decisions on current players in July. Greg Stiemsma's $2.69MM salary for next year will be guaranteed if he's not waived on or before July 17th, while Mickael Gelabale's minimum-salary deal will be guaranteed if he's not released on or before July 22nd.
Jerryd Bayless To Exercise Player Option
Jerryd Bayless has decided to exercise his player option for 2013/14, keeping him under contract with the Grizzlies for another season, tweets ESPN.com's Marc Stein. The option will guarantee Bayless a $3.135MM salary for next year.
As Stein tweets, the decision comes as a bit of a surprise, since Bayless would have had a good chance to at least match that $3.135MM amount in free agency, if not exceed it. Instead, he'll be off the market, and will return to a Grizzlies backcourt that is facing the possibility of losing unrestricted free agent Tony Allen.
Bayless' now-guaranteed contract increases the Grizzlies' total team salary to about $61MM for 2013/14, which means that re-signing Allen at a fair rate will limit the Grizzlies' flexibility to make many additional moves. As we saw this past season, Memphis' new ownership group seems reluctant to go into the tax, and the tax line is expected to be at about $71.6MM for next year.
Ricky Ledo To Mavs, Nate Wolters To Bucks
11:27am: The Mavs' press release announcing the trade indicates that Ledo's rights were acquired by Dallas from the Sixers, so perhaps Atlanta wasn't involved as a middle-man after all. In exchange for Ledo, the Mavs sent Philadelphia the Nets' 2014 second-rounder that Dallas had originally acquired from Boston earlier in the evening.
FRIDAY, 10:56am: The Bucks have officially announced the acquisition of Wolters (Twitter link). According to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (via Twitter), Milwaukee sent a future second-round pick and Ledo to the Sixers in order to snag Wolters. From there, tweets Gardner, Ledo's rights went from Philadelphia to Atlanta to Dallas.
THURSDAY, 11:14pm: We'll have to wait for official confirmation from the various teams involved in these deals to determine where everyone ended up, but by my estimation, it looks like the Bucks landed Wolters, the Mavs acquired Ledo, and the Hawks ended up with Muscala.
10:54pm: As confusion abounds, the Mavs have confirmed they acquired Ledo from the Sixers, tweets Katz.
10:50pm: ESPN.com's Andy Katz breaks it down (via Twitter): The Sixers selected Nate Wolters at No. 38 as part of the Glen Rice Jr. trade, then traded Wolters to the Bucks for Ledo. Philadelphia then sent Ledo to the Hawks, and according to Katz, Ledo could be on the move yet again (Twitter link).
10:46pm: Various reports are now suggesting that Ledo will end up landing in Philadephia or Atlanta, so we may have to wait this one out to get total clarity.
10:32pm: The Mavericks have agreed to acquire the 43rd overall pick from the Bucks and will use it to select Ricky Ledo, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (via Twitter). According to Goodman (via Twitter), the Mavs will send pick No. 44 to Milwaukee, and the Bucks will select Mike Muscala.
It had been previously reported that the 44th overall pick was ticketed for Atlanta in an earlier deal, though that trade was said to be"still evolving," so maybe the Mavs were able to keep the pick out of the swap.
Wolves Extend Qualifying Offer To Nikola Pekovic
Amidst all the draft craziness yesterday, the Timberwolves made a procedural move, submitting a qualifying offer to Nikola Pekovic, the team announced (via Twitter). The one-year offer, worth $6,046,500, officially makes Pekovic a restricted free agent this summer.
Like the other top restricted free agents on the market, Pekovic won't be accepting the qualifying offer, but it ensures that the Wolves will have the opportunity to match a rival offer sheet for the big man. Although Minnesota has insisted that retaining Pekovic is the club's top priority this summer, the 27-year-old figures to receive long-term offers in the neighborhood of at least $12MM annually.
In his third season in the NBA in 2012/13, Pekovic averaged a double-double, establishing career-highs in PPG (16.3) and RPG (10.0), among other categories.
Minor Moves: Nuggets, Leslie, Pressey, Daniels
With the 2013 draft in the books, there are still plenty of intriguing prospects that were not among the 60 players who heard their names called on Thursday night. Many of those guys will be snapped up quickly for Summer League rosters, while others could sign outright with an NBA team.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported a handful of signings late last night, and it's my understanding that these are actual free-agent contracts rather than just Summer League invites, though that's not entirely clear. Either way, the agreements will provide these undrafted free agents a chance to audition for a possible NBA roster spot. Here's a recap:
- Kennedy has corrected his earlier report (linked below), tweeting that Harris is simply playing for the Nuggets in Summer League action, and not signing with the team yet. I imagine that may be the case for Howell and some of the other players listed below as well, though it seems as if Covington, at least, will ink an actual contract with the Rockets. We'll likely have to wait until July for official word.
Earlier updates:
- Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld reports (via Twitter) that undrafted free agents Richard Howell and C.J. Harris will sign with the Nuggets. Again, players don't necessarily have to be under contract with a team to play for a Summer League squad, so Kennedy's wording suggests that Howell and Harris will ink deals to earn a pair of Denver's 20 summer roster spots, though that's not 100% certain.
- Former N.C. State forward C.J. Leslie has reached an agreement on a deal with the Knicks, reports Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Leslie had been ranked the 40th-best prospect available by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com and 41st by ESPN.com's Chad Ford.
- Phil Pressey, a 5'11" point guard out of Missouri, has reached an agreement on a deal with the Celtics, tweets Wojnarowski. Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reported last night that Boston figured to "immediately go after" Pressey once he went undrafted.
- Former VCU guard Troy Daniels has agreed to a free agent deal with the Bobcats, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Daniels averaged 12.3 PPG and shot 40.3% on three-pointers in his final season with the Rams.
- Rodney Williams, Ford's 80th overall prospect in this year's class, has agreed to a deal with the 76ers, tweets Wojnarowski. The 21-year-old forward is coming off four years at the University of Minnesota.
- Robert Covington will sign a two-year, partially-guaranteed contract with the Rockets, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com (via Twitter). According to Givony's sources, the guarantee for the former Tennessee State forward will be "substantial" — likely around $150K.
Raptors To Decline Option On John Lucas III
The Raptors have elected to decline their team option on John Lucas III for the 2013/14 season, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter). The decision will make Lucas an unrestricted free agent next week, and Stein believes the veteran point guard could end up back in Chicago, where he played before joining the Raptors last summer.
Lucas' team option for next season was worth a modest amount, about $1.57MM, so it's a little surprising that Toronto turned it down. The decision leaves Kyle Lowry as the only real point guard left on the Raptors' roster, since Sebastian Telfair is also headed for free agency, so that figures to be an area the team will focus on in July.
In 63 games with the Raptors, Lucas averaged 5.3 PPG and 1.7 APG while playing 13.1 minutes per contest.
Grizzlies, Nuggets Swap Arthur, Koufos
FRIDAY, 1:14am: The Nuggets have officially announced the trade in a press release.
THURSDAY, 10:42pm: The Grizzlies and Nuggets have reached an agreement on a trade that will send Darrell Arthur and the 55th overall pick to Denver in exchange for Kosta Koufos, reports ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter).
Arthur will earn about $3.23MM next season, while Koufos makes an even $3MM, so the Nuggets take on a little salary in the deal. As Stein tweets, the Denver front office wasn't happy that George Karl started Koufos over JaVale McGee last season. Even with Karl gone, the Nuggets have ensured that it won't happen again next year.