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Raptors Tender Qualifying Offer To Nando De Colo

June 30th, 2017 at 10:24am CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors have issued a qualifying offer to Nando De Colo, ensuring that he’ll be a restricted free agent, the team announced today (via Twitter).

Unlike other free agents who have received qualifying offers this month, De Colo didn’t play in the NBA last season. In fact, his last NBA appearance came during the 2013/14 season for Toronto. The 6’5″ guard has spent the last several seasons with CSKA Moscow and doesn’t appear poised to return to the NBA anytime soon.

As such, the Raptors’ QO is purely a bookkeeping move in order to retain their rights to De Colo. If he does decide to return to the NBA at some point, the Raptors will have the opportunity to match any offer he receives. While De Colo’s QO counts against the cap for now, Toronto won’t be on the hook for any extra money at season’s end, assuming the 30-year-old remains overseas.

Mirotic, Felicio Get QOs; Rondo Likely To Be Cut

June 30th, 2017 at 8:29am CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls have tendered qualifying offers to pending free agents Nikola Mirotic and Cristiano Felicio, making them restricted, per RealGM’s transactions log. Mirotic and Felicio are two of Chicago’s four potential RFAs. As previously reported, Joffrey Lauvergne is also receiving a qualifying offer, but Michael Carter-Williams isn’t.

Mirotic, 26, had a solid rookie season for the Bulls in 2014/15, though his numbers haven’t improved much since then. In 2016/17, he averaged 10.6 PPG and 5.5 RPG, shooting 41.3% from the floor and 34.2% from three-point range. His qualifying offer is worth $7,228,063.

Felicio, who will turn 25 next Friday, has a more modest QO of $1,671,382. The big man averaged 4.8 PPG and 4.7 RPG in 15.8 minutes per contest (66 games) last season.

Tendering qualifying offers to both players – and to Lauvergne – gives the Bulls the right to match any offer sheet those RFAs may sign. Those players could also accept the qualifying offer from Chicago, which would put them in line for a one-year deal worth the amount of their QO. The Bulls will have until July 13 to withdraw those QOs, assuming their RFAs remain unsigned.

Meanwhile, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune has the latest update on Rajon Rondo, whose 2017/18 salary will become fully guaranteed for an extra $10MM+ if he remains under contract beyond Friday. According to Johnson, Rondo’s contract structure has prompted the Bulls to include him in some recent trade proposals. However, those scenarios don’t appear to have gained much traction.

Unless the Bulls can find a taker for Rondo today, the veteran point guard is expected to be waived, per Johnson.

Celtics Extend Qualifying Offer To Olynyk

June 29th, 2017 at 7:23pm CST by Austin Kent

The Celtics have extended a qualifying offer to Kelly Olynyk, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe tweets. The 26-year-old center is coming off a year in which he posted 9.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

Given Boston’s position in the middle of some serious free agency pursuits, it’s worth noting that the C’s retain the ability to rescind the offer so long as Olynyk doesn’t accept it first, Himmelsbach adds.

Considering that Olynyk is slated to become a restricted free agent if he doesn’t, it’s unlikely that he would accept the one-year, $7.7MM qualifying deal.

Olynyk is a sharpshooting big man that can make an impact from beyond the arc, a combination in particularly high demand these days, but he doesn’t contribute much outside of his niche.

Regardless, whether or not Boston chooses to match any offer that Olynyk can scrounge up on the open market will largely depend on their success finessing a big name or two over to Beantown this offseason.

Gordon Hayward Declines Player Option

June 29th, 2017 at 4:16pm CST by Austin Kent

Coveted free agent Gordon Hayward has officially notified the Jazz that he’s declining his player option, Marc Stein of ESPN tweets. The announcement is a mere formality considering that the basketball world has already moved on to debating which possible suitor he’ll visit first.

Per Stein in another tweet, Hayward will meet with the Heat first, then the Celtics and finally the Jazz. For more details about the upcoming recruiting appointments, consider clicking over to our previous Hoops Rumors report from earlier in the day.

Hayward, now an official free agent, averaged 21.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game for the Jazz and is among the most prized, reasonably attainable, players on the market.

David Lee Declines Player Option

June 29th, 2017 at 4:08pm CST by Austin Kent

As expected, Spurs big man David Lee has turned down his player option, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. The 34-year-old big man will hit the open market after posting a solid year off the bench for San Antonio.

After playing the 2016/17 campaign on a minimum salary contract, Lee is in line for a raise should he seek one, although his decision to opt out echoes that of fellow Spurs big man Pau Gasol and could possibly just be a means of freeing up cap flexibility for San Antonio.

In 18.7 minutes of action this year, Lee posted 7.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

Hornets To Decline Team Option On Ramon Sessions

June 29th, 2017 at 4:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Hornets won’t keep veteran guard Ramon Sessions for another season, according to Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.

Charlotte has elected not to exercise its team option on Sessions, which was worth nearly $6.3MM for 2017/18. Sessions is expected to remain on the roster until midnight in case a trade materializes, then will become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow night.

Sessions, who turned 31 in April, inked a two-year deal with the Hornets last summer that contained the team option. He played a career-low 16.2 minutes per game this season, and his scoring average dipped to 6.2 points per night.

Fellow backup point guard Brian Roberts is also a free agent, Bonnell notes, so the Hornets will have to address that position on the open market.

Clippers Waive Darrun Hilliard

June 29th, 2017 at 3:24pm CST by Arthur Hill

Darrun Hilliard, part of the package the Clippers received from Houston in Wednesday’s Chris Paul trade, has been waived, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times.

Hilliard began Wednesday in Detroit, where he had spent the past two seasons with the Pistons. His non-guaranteed $1,471,382 salary for next season made him a target for the Rockets, who were looking for easily waived players to help match Paul’s salary. Houston acquired Hilliard for cash considerations and sent him to L.A.

The 38th pick in the 2015 draft, Hilliard spent much of the past two years in the G League. He got into 39 games with the Pistons this season, averaging 3.3 points in 9.8 minutes per night.

Warriors Won’t Give Qualifying Offer To McAdoo

June 29th, 2017 at 3:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors won’t submit a qualifying offer to James Michael McAdoo, tweets Chris Haynes of ESPN.com, meaning McAdoo will become an unrestricted free agent.

McAdoo has been with Golden State for three seasons and appeard in a career-high 52 games this year. However, he averaged just 8.8 minutes per night and hasn’t progressed past being a little-used bench player.

The 24-year-old was in the same position last summer, headed toward unrestricted free agency after the Warriors refused to tender a qualifying offer. He re-signed with Golden State in mid-July, receiving a one-year, minimum-salary deal.

Mavericks Trade Jarrod Uthoff To Rockets

June 29th, 2017 at 1:38pm CST by Luke Adams

After completing six trades on Wednesday, the Rockets are back at it today. Houston has acquired forward Jarrod Uthoff from Dallas in exchange for cash considerations, the Mavericks announced in a press release.

[RELATED: 2017 NBA Offseason Trades]

Uthoff, 24, signed a 10-day contract with the Mavs in March, then stuck around for another 10-day contract and a rest-of-season deal. The Iowa alum appeared in just nine games for the team, averaging 4.4 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 12.8 minutes per contest.

On Wednesday, the Rockets appeared to be taking on players with non-guaranteed 2017/18 salaries in order to use them to match salaries in their acquisition of Chris Paul. DeAndre Liggins and Darrun Hilliard were eventually included in that deal with the Clippers, but Shawn Long, Tim Quarterman, and Ryan Kelly weren’t.

Like those players, Uthoff has a non-guaranteed minimum salary for 2017/18. However, because he wasn’t acquired using available cap room, he can’t be aggregated with other players in a trade for two months. We’ll have to wait to see whether he and the other newly-acquired Rockets are actually in the team’s plans for next season, or if they’ll ultimately become salary fodder for another deal at some point.

Uthoff’s ’17/18 salary will become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through July 30.

Clippers’ Luc Mbah A Moute To Opt Out

June 29th, 2017 at 11:18am CST by Luke Adams

Clippers forward Luc Mbah a Moute has decided to turn down his player option for 2017/18 and opt out of his contract, reports Chris Haynes of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The move will ensure that Mbah a Moute becomes an unrestricted free agent on Saturday.

Mbah a Moute, 30, averaged 6.1 PPG and 2.1 RPG with a .505/.391/.678 shooting line for the Clippers in 2016/17, appearing in 80 regular season games (22.3 MPG). While Mbah a Moute’s offensive production is modest, his defensive abilities kept him in the Clippers’ starting lineup for nearly the entire season.

The 2017/18 player option turned down by Mbah a Moute would have been worth $2,302,135. With the NBA’s minimum salaries on the rise, his lowest possible NBA salary for ’17/18 will be $2,116,955, so even if he’s unable to find a team willing to give him more than the minimum, he won’t have to accept much of a pay cut. In all likelihood, Mbah a Moute will be able to top that number, perhaps on a multiyear deal.

The Clippers signed Mbah a Moute last summer using the bi-annual exception, making L.A. the only team ineligible to use the BAE this offseason.