Timberwolves Waive Cole Aldrich
The Timberwolves have waived backup center Cole Aldrich, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Aldrich’s $6.96MM contract, already guaranteed for $2.06MM, was scheduled to become fully guaranteed if Aldrich remained on Minnesota’s roster past today. Accordingly, the Wolves saved $4.9MM by cutting ties with Aldrich.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes, Minnesota will have the option to stretch the amount still owed to Aldrich over three years, which would open up an additional $1.37MM in cap room this summer.
Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News predicts that the Wolves will stretch Aldrich’s contract in order to avoid potential tax penalties should the team choose to use the full value of its MLE.
Aldrich, 29, averaged a career-low 0.6 PPG in only 21 games this past season. Throughout his eight-season career, he has averaged 3.1 points in 10.0 minutes per contest.
Lakers Plan To Guarantee Ivica Zubac’s Contract
The Lakers plan to guarantee center Ivica Zubac’s contract for next season, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets.
Los Angeles had a Saturday deadline to make the decision. Zubac will make $1,544,951.
The 7’1” Zubac will be entering his third season. He averaged 3.7 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 9.5 MPG while making 43 appearances last season.
Jabari Parker Receives Qualifying Offer From Bucks
JUNE 30th, 8:09am: The qualifying offers to Parker, Plumlee and Munford have officially been made, according to the RealGM transactions log.
JUNE 29th, 4:37pm: The Bucks have extended a qualifying offer to forward Jabari Parker, making him a restricted free agent, Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets.
The qualifying offer of $4,333,932 comes as no surprise despite Parker’s star-crossed career in which he’s suffered two major knee injuries. He returned from his latest one to play in 31 games last season, including three starts. He averaged 12.6 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 1.9 APG in 24.0 MPG and should be poised to contribute more with a full training camp under his best this fall.
Parker posted averaged of 20.1 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 2.8 APG in 51 games during the 2016/17 season before he tore his left ACL in early February.
It will be interesting to see if the No. 2 overall pick in the 2014 draft received a substantial offer sheet despite his injury history. Parker is still just 23 years old after completing four seasons in the league.
The Bucks also extended qualifying offers to their two-way players from last season, center Marshall Plumlee and point guard Xavier Munford, making them restricted free agents.
Wizards’ Jason Smith Opts In For Next Season
JUNE 30th, 8:04am: Smith has officially opted in, according to the RealGM transactions log.
MAY 16th, 4:20pm: Wizards center/power forward Jason Smith has exercised his $5.45MM option for next season, relays Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington.
The 32-year-old had a player option as part of a three-year, $16MM contract he signed as a free agent in 2016. He appeared in just 33 games this season, averaging 3.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 8.6 minutes per night.
Smith’s decision pushes the Wizards above the $119MM mark in guaranteed salary for next season, dangerously close to the projected $123MM luxury tax. Washington is still waiting on a decision from Jodie Meeks, who can opt out of a $3,454,500 salary.
Rockets Extend Qualifying Offer To Clint Capela
The Rockets extended a qualifying offer to center Clint Capela, making him a restricted free agent, Keith Smith of RealGM tweets.
Capela’s qualifying offer is worth $4,749,591. The move was a mere formality, since Capela has emerged as their most important frontcourt component.
Capela averaged 13.9 PPG, 10.8 RPG and 1.9 BPG in his fourth season. He was a finalist for the league’s Most Improved Player award.
The Rockets might have an easier time than expected locking up Capela. There aren’t many teams who are both looking for a center and have enough cap room to put together a serious offer sheet. The Mavericks, who are in the market for a quality big man, have their sights set on DeAndre Jordan. The Suns were a possibility until they drafted Deandre Ayton.
The Rockets also gave two-way player Markel Brown a qualifying offer, making the 6’3” guard a restricted free agent as well.
Blazers Won’t Give Shabazz Napier Qualifying Offer
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
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
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
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
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.