Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Magic Waive C.J. Watson

July 10th, 2017 at 2:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The Magic have waived C.J. Watson, the team confirmed today (Twitter link). Watson will become an unrestricted free agent later this week, assuming he clears waivers.

Per Basketball Insiders’ salary pages, Watson was set to earn $5MM in 2017/18, but only $1MM of that figure was guaranteed. The Magic would have been on the hook for the remaining $4MM if they’d kept the veteran point guard on their roster beyond today, but by cutting him, the team will only have to pay that $1MM — that amount could be stretched across three seasons, if the Magic so choose.

Watson, who has spent the last two seasons in Orlando, has seen his numbers drop off significantly since joining the franchise. In 95 total games with the Magic, the 33-year-old has recorded 4.5 PPG and 2.1 APG with a shooting line of .371/.301/.867. Prior to his time in Orlando, Watson was a .425/.383/.806 shooter for his career.

While Orlando didn’t announce the move until today, the writing was on the wall for Watson’s release when the team agreed to sign Shelvin Mack earlier in the free agent period.

The Magic currently have about $90.7MM in team salary on their books, which doesn’t account for cap holds and exceptions. If they’re operating as an under-the-cap team, the Magic would have about $8MM in space remaining.

Timberwolves Sign Taj Gibson

July 10th, 2017 at 12:54pm CST by Eddie Scarito

JULY 10: The Timberwolves have officially signed Gibson, the team confirmed today.

JULY 2: The Timberwolves have agreed to sign free agent power forward Taj Gibson, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter). According to Charania, Gibson will receive $28MM on a two-year deal from Minnesota.

The pact doesn’t include an option (player or team) for the second year, per Sam Amick of USA Today (on Twitter). News of the agreement comes on the heels of a report from Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link) that the Wolves’ interest in Gibson had “increased.”

[RELATED: 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker]

By agreeing to join the Wolves, Gibson will reunite with Tom Thibodeau, who coached the forward in Chicago. He’ll also be joining former Bulls teammate Jimmy Butler, who was acquired by Minnesota in a blockbuster trade. The market for Gibson’s services was relatively quiet, with the only other team reportedly interested in him being the Kings.

Inking Gibson will wipe out most, if not all, of Minnesota’s remaining cap room. The Wolves are still armed with their Room Exception, valued at about $4.33MM, which can be used to further bolster their ever-improving roster. However, adding Gibson almost certainly eliminates the Wolves from the Paul Millsap sweepstakes, which may make the Nuggets the frontrunner to land the versatile forward.

The Timberwolves will likely have to renounce their qualifying offer for Shabazz Muhammad in order to sign Gibson, which would make the swingman an unrestricted free agent. Muhammad could – in theory – still return to Minnesota, but the Wolves would no longer have matching rights, allowing him to sign outright with another club.

Gibson, 32, split his time between the Bulls and Thunder last season. He appeared in a total of 78 contests, averaging 10.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 0.9 assists. He shot .515/.231/.715 from the field.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Timberwolves Sign Jeff Teague

July 10th, 2017 at 12:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

JULY 10: The Timberwolves have officially signed Teague, the team announced today.

JUNE 30: The Timberwolves and unrestricted free agent Jeff Teague have agreed to a deal, per Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (via Twitter). It will be a three-year, $57MM deal, per the scribe. The final year is reportedly a player option.

The addition of Teague will continue an extremely busy offseason for Minnesota, with the team having already acquired star swingman Jimmy Butler from the Bulls earlier this week. The Wolves were in desperate need of a point guard, having shipped away Ricky Rubio (Jazz) and Kris Dunn (Bulls) in separate trades.

In 82 contests last season for the Pacers, Teague averaged 15.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 7.8 assists. His career marks are 12.6 PPG, 2.4 RPG and 5.5 APG to go along with a shooting line of .447/.355/.844.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Grizzlies Sign Tyreke Evans To One-Year Deal

July 10th, 2017 at 12:17pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 10: The Grizzlies have officially signed Evans, per the NBA’s transactions log. As confirmed by Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal (Twitter link), Memphis is using its bi-annual exception to complete the signing. That means the Grizzlies have a hard cap this year and won’t be able to use the BAE next year.

JULY 7: The Grizzlies have agreed to a one-year, $3.3MM deal with Tyreke Evans, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

[RELATED: 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker]

The move represents a homecoming of sorts for Evans, who played his college ball at the University of Memphis before being selected fourth overall in the 2009 draft. After spending several years with the Kings, Evans joined the Pelicans in 2013 and eventually returned to Sacramento earlier this year as part of February’s DeMarcus Cousins trade.

Evans, 27, is coming off the least productive season of his NBA career. In addition to being limited to 40 games due to health problems, the veteran guard averaged career lows across the board, including in PPG (10.3), APG (3.1), and FG% (.405). One silver lining for Evans? He has made 36.9% of his three-point attempts over the last two seasons after making just 27.8% in his first six seasons.

Based on the reported terms of Evans’ deal, it sounds like the Grizzlies will complete the signing using the bi-annual exception, which is worth $3.29MM. The team also has more than $3MM of its mid-level exception left over after committing a chunk of it to Ben McLemore, so it’s possible that Evans’ contract will be worth the remainder of the MLE. Either way, Memphis would be hard-capped at $125.66MM for the 2017/18 league year. Unless JaMychal Green receives a mammoth offer sheet, that hard cap shouldn’t have an impact on the Grizzlies’ ability to retain the RFA power forward.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Alfonzo McKinnie Agrees To Deal With Raptors

July 9th, 2017 at 4:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

4:50 PM: The signing is official, according to the team’s Twitter feed.

9:30 AM: The Raptors will sign Alfonzo McKinnie to a multi-year contract with a partial guarantee, according to Blake Murphy of Raptors Republic.

A 6’8″ forward out of Green Bay, McKinnie is currently playing for Toronto’s team in the Las Vegas Summer League. He spent all of last season with the Bulls’ G League affiliate, averaging 14.9 points and 9.2 rebounds in 50 games.

Raptors Sign First-Round Pick OG Anunoby

July 9th, 2017 at 2:01pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Raptors have signed OG Anunoby to a rookie scale deal, according to the team’s Twitter feed. The exact terms were not disclosed, but assuming he signed for 120% of the rookie scale, he’ll make slightly more than $9.75MM over the next four seasons.

The small forward suffered a knee injury part way through his sophomore season at Indiana and it certainly impacted his draft spot. He was expected to be a lottery pick coming into the draft process but ended up going No. 23 overall to Toronto.

It’s unlikely that Anunoby is ready to begin the season, though according to an earlier report, he should be able to get on the court at some point before 2018. Toronto’s wing rotation is currently in flux after losing P.J. Tucker in free agency and trading away DeMarre Carroll to the Nets. The Raptors were able to bring in C.J. Miles via a sign-and-trade, but depth arguably still remains the team’s biggest weakness. Anunoby should be able to help with that once he recovers from his injury.

The Missouri native was impressive on the defensive end during his 16 games with the Hoosiers. He had at least one block or steal in every game he played.

C.J. Miles Headed To Toronto In Sign-And-Trade

July 9th, 2017 at 12:35pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pacers and Raptors have agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that will send free agent C.J. Miles to Toronto, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. Miles will sign a three-year deal with the Raptors worth about $25MM that contains a player option for the final season.

The trade cannot be completed until Toronto moves some salary by sending DeMarre Carroll to Brooklyn, Wojnarowski notes (Twitter link). That deal is contingent on the Wizards matching the Nets’ offer sheet to Otto Porter, which they have announced they will do. However, provisions for Porter’s physical could delay the matching process to as late as Wednesday.

The Miles trade will send point guard Cory Joseph to Indiana in return, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link).

Joseph, who turns 26 next month, played in 80 games for the Raptors last season, averaging 9.3 points and 3.3 assists, mostly as a combo guard off the bench. He will make $7.66MM next season and has a player option worth $8MM for 2018/19. He’ll team with newly-signed Darren Collison as Indiana looks to replace Jeff Teague at the point guard position.

Miles, a 30-year-old swingman, will serve as a replacement for Carroll and provide Toronto with some additional outside shooting. A 12-year veteran, Miles is coming off another productive season — in 76 games, he averaged 10.7 points and 3.0 rebounds, and shot a career-best 41.3% on three-pointers. He will be getting a raise from the $4.58MM he made last season.

The Raptors will be hard-capped at $125.266MM for the 2017/18 league year as a result of acquiring a player in a sign-and-trade deal, and may also have to rely on a pair of youngsters – Delon Wright and Fred VanVleet – as the backup point guards behind Kyle Lowry.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Shelvin Mack Signs Two-Year Deal With Magic

July 9th, 2017 at 12:22pm CST by Austin Kent

JULY 9, 12:22: The deal is official, according to a tweet from the Magic.

JULY 7, 6:51pm: The Magic are finalizing a deal with free agent guard Shelvin Mack, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The two-year pact is said to be worth $12MM, at an even $6MM per year (according to Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune).

In 55 games for the Jazz last season, Mack posted 7.8 points per game, a far cry from the 12.7 he put up in ten extra minutes the year prior.

Over the course of a six-year career, Mack has established himself as a solid backup guard capable of playing both the one and the two. In Orlando he’ll fit in well behind Elfrid Payton, perhaps sharing spot starter duties with D.J. Augustin.

The move could signal that C.J. Watson, the team’s other point guard option, could be waived in the coming days. Watson’s deal isn’t guaranteed for 2017/18 if Orlando waives him prior to July 10, as is laid out in our official NBA Salary Guarantee Dates list.

Bulls Pull Qualifying Offer For Joffrey Lauvergne

July 8th, 2017 at 10:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Bulls have rescinded their qualifying offer to Joffrey Lauvergne, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical. The move makes him an unrestricted free agent, and Charania notes that several teams are already expressing interest.

The qualifying offer was $2,137,149 and Lauvergne had a $3,248,466 cap hold, so Chicago frees up a little bit of money by letting him go.

The Bulls acquired the third-year center/forward from Oklahoma City in a trade at the February deadline. He played 20 games with Chicago, averaging 4.5 points and 3.4 rebounds in about 12 minutes per night.

Lauvergne was selected by Memphis with the 55th pick in 2013 and was traded to Denver on draft night. He spent two years with the Nuggets before being dealt to the Thunder in 2016. He earned a little more than $1.7MM last season.

Wizards Match Offer Sheet For Otto Porter

July 8th, 2017 at 9:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards announced they will match the Nets’ four-year, $106.5MM offer to Otto Porter, tweets Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. Porter still has to pass a physical before the move becomes official, notes David Aldridge of TNT (Twitter link).

Washington had until 11pm Central to decide on the offer sheet, so the Wizards beat the deadline by about two hours. They had vowed to match any offer, even as Porter was negotiating with other teams.

The new contract will make Porter the team’s highest-paid player next season with a $24.8MM salary, Buckner notes. It also pushes Washington above the luxury tax line for the first time ever.

The Wizards have $126.5MM in salary committed for the upcoming season with 13 guaranteed contracts and two non-guaranteed, along with an $11.4MM tax bill, posts Bobby Marks on ESPN Now.

The Nets’ offer to Porter includes a 15% trade kicker and a player option for the fourth year, along with a provision stating that Porter will receive half of his annual salary by October 1st of each year.

By matching, Washington brings backs a key piece of last season’s roster, as Porter appeared in 80 games, all as a starter, and averaged 13.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per night. He has been with the franchise since being taken with the third pick in the 2013 draft and has been a regular starter for the past two seasons.

For the Nets, it’s the latest in a string of misses in restricted free agency. Over the past 12 months, Brooklyn has submitted offer sheets to Allen Crabbe, Tyler Johnson, Donatas Motiejunas and Porter, and all were matched by their current teams.

Tonight’s decision won’t free up the Nets’ cap room right away. Porter has two days to undergo the team physical, then the Wizards have two more days to report the results to the league. So it’s possible that Brooklyn’s cap situation will not be resolved before Wednesday. Brooklyn will have $28.3MM once the process is complete, Marks posts.