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Blazers Won’t Give Shabazz Napier Qualifying Offer

June 29th, 2018 at 7:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Trail Blazers will not extend a qualifying offer to point guard Shabazz Napier, making him an unrestricted free agent, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets.

It’s somewhat surprising the Blazers would not make the qualifying offer for a rotation player, given it was a modest $3,452,308, Portland did add 19-year-old guard Anfernee Simons in the draft, so perhaps it feels Simons can step into that role. Portland is well over the cap and the decision to let Napier walk could also help it avoid the luxury-tax threshold.

Napier, who led the University of Connecticut to the 2014 championship, has also played for the Heat and Magic. He had his best season as a pro in his second year with Portland, averaging 8.7 PPG and 2.2 APG in 20.7 MPG while appearing in 74 games, including nine starts.

Mavs Decline Nowitzki’s Option, Will Offer New Deal

June 29th, 2018 at 6:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks will decline Dirk Nowitzki‘s $5MM team option in order to open up more salary-cap space, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. Dallas plans to work out a new contract with Nowitzki, who mutually agreed to the decision, Stein adds.

This will give the Mavericks more wiggle room to pursue free agents, with DeAndre Jordan at the top of their wish list after he decided to opt out of his contract with the Clippers.

Dallas could have as much as $28-30MM in cap space, salary-cap enthusiast Albert Nahmad tweets.

Nowitzki has said he’d like to play at least one more season. Among the ways the Mavericks could re-sign him is by using their room-level exception, which is projected at $4.4MM in the first year of the contract.

Magic To Guarantee Khem Birch’s Contract

June 29th, 2018 at 6:23pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Magic have decided to guarantee center Khem Birch‘s $1.38MM contract for next season, Michael Scotto of The Athletic tweets.

Birch, an undrafted 25-year-old Canadian native, was a pleasant surprise in an otherwise dreary season for Orlando. The 6’9” Birch saw action in 42 games and averaged 4.2 PPG and 4.3 RPG in 13.8 MPG.

Birch, who played for UNLV for two seasons, began his pro career in the G League and then moved on to Turkey and Greece. Orlando signed him last summer.

He’ll be the team’s No. 3 center behind Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo unless one of those high-salaried big men is dealt.

DeAndre Jordan To Opt Out, Become Free Agent

June 29th, 2018 at 5:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Clippers center DeAndre Jordan will opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent on Sunday, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.

Jordan can negotiate a long-term contract with the Mavericks, who were engaged in trade talks with the Clippers to acquire him if he opted in. Dallas was unwilling to give up draft picks in a potential trade and preferred to pursue the veteran big man in free agency, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets.

Jordan’s decision to leave $24.1MM on the table still doesn’t give the Clippers a large amount of cap space. In fact, as Bobby Marks of ESPN points out, the maximum amount of room they could open up is $13.6MM but they’d have to waive two point guards, Milos Teodosic and Patrick Beverley, to make that happen. If the Clippers stay over the cap, they’d still their $8.6MM mid-level and $3.4MM bi-annual exceptions at their disposal.

However, they could have as much as $60MM in cap space next summer, Marks adds in another tweet.

Of course, the Mavericks have been down this road before with one of the league’s premier rebounders. Jordan, who averaged 12.0 and a career-best 15.2 RPG last season, famously reneged on a verbal agreement with Dallas in the summer of 2015 to remain in L.A. However, the Mavericks are intent on getting a premier center and probably won’t have a lot of competition to get him to sign the dotted line the second time around.

Qualifying Offer Decisions: Caboclo, M. Brown, Paige

June 29th, 2018 at 1:49pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings won’t tender a qualifying offer to former first-round pick Bruno Caboclo, league sources tell ESPN’s Chris Haynes (Twitter link). Caboclo will become an unrestricted free agent on Sunday.

A qualifying offer, which would have been worth $3.5MM+, was never expected for Caboclo, who has appeared in just 35 games in his NBA career since being picked 20th overall in the 2014 draft.

At the time the Raptors selected him, draft guru Fran Fraschilla infamously referred to Caboclo as “two years away from being two years away,” but after four NBA seasons, the 6’9″ forward doesn’t appear to be on the verge of breaking through. In 10 games (10.0 MPG) with the Kings after being included in a midseason trade, the 22-year-old averaged 2.6 PPG and 2.1 RPG with a .310/.200/.833 shooting line.

Here are a couple more updates on qualifying offer decisions:

The Rockets have issued a qualifying offer to two-way player Markel Brown, tweets Michael Scotto of The Athletic. The one-year, two-way contract offer, which includes a $50K guarantee, will give Houston the opportunity to match an offer sheet for Brown.
Former UNC guard Marcus Paige, who was on a two-way contract with the Hornets, won’t be receiving a qualifying offer from the team, according to a press release. The decision ensures that Paige will become an unrestricted free agent.

Pacers Decline Team Option On Joe Young

June 29th, 2018 at 1:30pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers have decided not to exercise Joe Young‘s option for the 2018/19 season, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The move ensures that Young will become a free agent on July 1.

Indiana could technically still issue a qualifying offer to Young to make him a restricted free agent, but that seems unlikely. Assuming today’s deadline passes with no qualifying offer from the Pacers, the 26-year-old will be unrestricted on Sunday.

Young, who spent three seasons in Indiana, appeared in 127 total games for the club, but never played major minutes, averaging only 8.5 MPG. In 2017/18, he averaged 3.9 PPG and 1.2 RPG in 10.5 MPG, with a .430/.379/.759 shooting line.

The Pacers are one of the only NBA playoff teams projected to have cap room this offseason. Having been linked to a handful of free agent targets, Indiana will now have a little more flexibility to make offers with Young off the books for 2018/19.

Enes Kanter Exercises Player Option

June 29th, 2018 at 1:22pm CST by Luke Adams

JUNE 29, 1:22pm: Kanter has officially picked up his option, his manager Hank Fetic confirms to Begley (Twitter link).

JUNE 29, 9:19am: Kanter plans to exercise his 2018/19 option later today, per Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

JUNE 28, 10:54am: Knicks center Enes Kanter is leaning “heavily” toward exercising the 2018/19 player option on his contract, reports Ian Begley of ESPN.com (via Twitter). According to Begley, Kanter will continue to survey his market in advance of Friday’s deadline, but he’s a strong bet to ultimately opt in.

If Kanter does pick up his option, he’ll be in line for a guaranteed salary worth $18,622,514 next season. He could probably exceed that figure in terms of total value if he were to hit the open market and sign a new multiyear contract. However, in that scenario, he’d almost certainly have to accept a more modest starting salary for 2018/19.

Kanter, a former third overall pick, enjoyed a productive season for the Knicks after coming over in last September’s Carmelo Anthony trade with Oklahoma City. In 71 games (all starts), he averaged a double-double, recording 14.1 PPG and 11.0 RPG.

In the wake of his solid 2017/18 showing, Kanter said in his exit interview with the media that he was leaning toward opting out of his deal to sign a longer-term agreement. However, agent Mark Bartelstein quickly walked back his client’s comments, saying that it was too early to make any decisions. Kanter claimed earlier this week that he’d draw interest from at least four or five teams if he were to opt out.

Assuming Kanter formally exercises his option, it will essentially eliminate the Knicks’ chances of creating cap room for the 2018 offseason, barring major trades or cuts. Kanter’s $18MM+ cap hit would increase New York’s total team salary to approximately $94MM for 10 players. That figure doesn’t count non-guaranteed salaries for Trey Burke or Troy Williams.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Kings’ Garrett Temple Opts In For 2018/19

June 29th, 2018 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Kings guard Garrett Temple has informed Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link) that he’ll exercise his player option for 2018/19. Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee confirms (via Twitter) that the option has been picked up. The move will put Temple in line for a guaranteed salary of $8MM next season.

Temple, 32, enjoyed a solid 2017/18 campaign for the Kings, averaging a career-best 8.4 PPG to go along with 2.3 RPG and 1.9 APG. He also posted a shooting line of .418/.392/.769.

While Temple’s numbers were respectable, he almost certainly would have been unable to match his $8MM option salary on the open market, so his decision doesn’t come as a surprise. Sacramento had been planning for Temple to opt in, and should still have more cap room available than most NBA teams next week.

The Kings, who have been linked to free agents like Jabari Parker, Zach LaVine, and Mario Hezonja, project to have approximately $18.7MM in cap room, assuming they don’t trade or release any players with guaranteed contracts.

Spurs’ Joffrey Lauvergne Won’t Pick Up Player Option

June 29th, 2018 at 1:08pm CST by Luke Adams

Spurs big man Joffrey Lauvergne has decided not to exercise his player option for the 2018/19 season, and is now on track to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News first reported in mid-June that Lauvergne was considering declining his player option, which is worth $1,656,092. Orazio Cauchi of Sportando confirmed earlier today that the 26-year-old was leaning toward opting out.

Both of those reports suggested that there was a good chance Lauvergne would continue his career overseas, and it appears that will be the case. In a second tweet, Wojnarowski confirms a report from Istanbul-based reporter Ismail Senol, who says (via Twitter) that the big man will sign with Turkish team Fenerbahce.

Lauvergne, who signed a minimum-salary contract with the Spurs a year ago, played just 9.7 minutes per contest in 55 games for the club. He averaged 4.1 PPG and 3.1 RPG. Over the course of his four-year NBA career, Lauvergne was unable to find a long-term home or a consistent role, having spent time with Denver, Oklahoma City, and Chicago as well.

As our player-option decision tracker shows, Lauvergne is just seventh veteran to turn down a player option this offseason.

LeBron James Won’t Exercise Player Option

June 29th, 2018 at 9:42am CST by Luke Adams

LeBron James‘ agent Rich Paul has informed the Cavaliers that James won’t exercise his $35.61MM player option for the 2018/19 season, reports Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. As a result, James will reach the open market as an unrestricted free agent this Sunday.

While the move ensures that James will be free to sign with any team that can afford him next week, his decision isn’t necessarily bad news for the Cavaliers. LeBron’s only realistic path to joining certain over-the-cap teams would have been via an opt-in and trade. Becoming an unrestricted free agent will make it extremely challenging for potential suitors like the Rockets or Heat to find a way to acquire him.

James’ decision looks like good news for teams with cap room, such as the Lakers and Sixers, who will have the opportunity to sign the four-time MVP outright. Los Angeles could have enough cap space for two maximum-salary free agents, while Philadelphia would have to make a roster move or two – likely involving Jerryd Bayless – to create the room necessary to offer LeBron a maximum-salary contract, which is currently projected to start at $35.35MM.

As for the Cavs, they remain in the mix for James since they hold his Bird rights, which allow them to go over the cap – and into the tax – to re-sign their star forward. Cleveland is the only team eligible to offer LeBron a five-year contract, which would be worth a projected $205MM+. James could sign a four-year contract with another team, though in recent years he has shown a preference for shorter-term deals that allow him to maximize his flexibility.

With James now on track to officially become a free agent on Sunday, the real fun is set to begin. The Lakers and Sixers, LeBron’s top two non-Cleveland suitors, are said to be considering strong pushes to acquire Kawhi Leonard from the Spurs. While San Antonio won’t rush into a deal involving Leonard, L.A. and Philadelphia reportedly believe that trading for Leonard would improve their chances of winning the LeBron sweepstakes, so both teams could be aggressive in the coming days.

For what it’s worth, Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports reported on Thursday that Leonard has reached out to James to express interest in playing alongside him. According to Schultz, Kawhi pointed out that his defensive ability would alleviate the pressure on LeBron on that end of the court.

Even if the Lakers don’t land Leonard, the team’s cap flexibility makes L.A. an intriguing landing spot for LeBron, with Vardon reporting that James’ interest in joining the Lakers is “strong.” The Lakers are considered a serious suitor for free agent forward Paul George, and have a strong young core of players if they want to target another veteran star in a trade.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.