Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

David West Re-Signs With Warriors, Will Retire In 2018

July 6th, 2017 at 8:00pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: The Warriors have officially re-signed West, according to RealGM’s transactions log.

JULY 1: Veteran big man David West has agreed to return to the Warriors on a one-year contract, according to David Aldridge of TNT (via Twitter). Aldridge reports that the 2017/18 season will be West’s last year in the NBA.

The details of West’s deal aren’t yet known, but a minimum salary contract seems likely. West’s minimum salary for 2017/18 is $2,328,652 but the Warriors would only need to pay $1,471,382, as outlined in Hoops Rumors’ minimum salaries chart for next season.

West, 38, sought an NBA championship the last two seasons; he was unsuccessful in his lone season with the Spurs but finally captured the once elusive gold as a member of this season’s Warriors team. In 68 games off Golden State’s bench, West averaged 4.6 PPG and 3.0 RPG while playing just under 13 minutes per game.

Once a perennial 20 PPG threat with the Hornets and a solid contributor with the Pacers, West has embraced his role as a veteran leader and it paid dividends last season. He will give it one more try for another ring next season before calling it a career after what would be 15 NBA seasons.

Spurs Sign Rudy Gay

July 6th, 2017 at 7:49pm CST by Luke Adams

7:49pm: The Spurs have officially signed Gay, the team announced in a press release.

7:15pm: The Spurs have reached an agreement with free agent forward Rudy Gay, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter). According to Wojnarowski, Gay’s new deal with San Antonio will be a two-year contract worth $17MM+ and will feature a second-year player option (Twitter link).

Since striking a deal to bring back point guard Patty Mills shortly after the new league year got underway, the Spurs have been fairly quiet this week as they waited out the first couple waves of free agency. However, Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that the team “worked hard” to close a deal with Gay over the last 72 hours.

Gay, who will turn 31 in August, averaged 18.7 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 30 games for the Kings this past season before going down with an Achilles injury. Despite the injury, the veteran forward elected to decline a player option for 2017/18 that would have paid him approximately $14.26MM.

Gay will earn less than that for the Spurs this season, as San Antonio will use its mid-level exception to complete the signing. The mid-level for a non-taxpaying team like the Spurs is worth $8.406MM in 2017/18, and Gay’s two-year total will be $17.232MM. Although he’ll take a pay cut, the UConn alum seemed frustrated with the organization in Sacramento, and is likely thrilled to be joining a championship contender in San Antonio.

Despite committing to Gay, the Spurs retain the flexibility to match an offer sheet for Jonathon Simmons, who is still on the restricted free agent market.

As for Gay’s other suitors, the Jazz were said to have interest, as were the Heat and Thunder. However, Utah has been working to land Jae Crowder from the Celtics, while Oklahoma City used its mid-level exception on Patrick Patterson and Miami used its remaining cap room on Kelly Olynyk.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mavericks Re-Sign Dirk Nowitzki

July 6th, 2017 at 7:42pm CST by Arthur Hill

7:42pm: The Mavericks have officially re-signed Nowitzki, the team announced today in a press release.

1:15pm: The Mavericks are finalizing a two-year, $10MM deal with Dirk Nowitzki, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. The second season will be a team option, so Nowitzki could be a free agent again next summer.

That marks a serious reduction for Nowitzki, who could have made $25MM next season if the Mavericks hadn’t declined his option, but owner Mark Cuban seems likely to make up for it at some point. Nowitzki has been with the franchise for 19 seasons and has shown a willingness to be flexible with his contract to help the team create cap space.

Dallas has $45MM in combined cap holds for Nowitzki and Nerlens Noel, so this new deal should give the team some flexibility.

Nowitzki was slowed by an early-season Achilles injury this year, but returned to average 14.2 points and 6.5 rebounds in 54 games. He turned 39 last month, but hasn’t given any indication that retirement is near.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Wizards Receive Otto Porter’s Offer Sheet From Nets

July 6th, 2017 at 6:40pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Wizards have received Otto Porter‘s four-year, $106.5MM offer sheet from the Nets, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The deal contains a player option on the final year and ESPN’s Zach Lowe reports (Twitter link) that the contract includes a 15% trade kicker.

Porter’s deal has a peculiar wrinkle in it that will have him collect 50% of his annual salary by October 1 every season, Lowe tweets. Such an arrangement is not common in the NBA. ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (Twitter link) that the 50% threshold is the maximum allowed under the CBA.

Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post reports that the Wizards not only plan on matching — they also tie up Brooklyn’s cap space for as long as possible. The deadline for the team to match is July 8 at midnight, but Porter still needs to pass a physical with the Wizards and he’ll have two days to do so once Washington matches the offer.

At that point, Washington would have two days to announce that Porter has passed the physical. That means the Georgetown product’s offer sheet could theoretically stay on the Brooklyn’s cap through July 12.

The Wizards – one of three franchises (along with Charlotte and New Orleans) to never pay the tax – will be over the luxury tax line once they match the offer sheet. The club now intends to complete its reported deal with Jodie Meeks using part of the taxpayer mid-level exception rather than the bi-annual exception, to avoid being hard-capped.

The Nets have been aggressive with restricted free agents since Sean Marks took over GM duties. Last year, the team presented Allen Crabbe, Tyler Johnson, and Donatas Motiejunas with lucrative offer sheets, but didn’t ultimately land any of those players.

Brooklyn isn’t the only team that was hoping to steal Porter away from Washington. The Kings presented Porter with a max offer last weekend, though the small forward decided to meet with other teams before signing. Sacramento then went in another direction, using most of its available cap room on Zach Randolph and George Hill.

Pelicans Re-Sign Jrue Holiday To Five-Year Deal

July 6th, 2017 at 6:35pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: The Pelicans have officially re-signed Holiday, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 1: The Pelicans have reached an agreement to re-sign point guard Jrue Holiday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports that the two sides have struck a five-year, $126MM deal. Wojnarowski adds that the value of the contract, which includes a fifth-year player option, could increase to approximately $150MM via incentives.

According to Wojnarowski, Holiday met with Pelicans officials with New Orleans late on Friday night in New Orleans, and while they didn’t make a deal immediately, the 27-year-old reached an agreement with the team just a few hours later. Holiday had been expected to meet with the Pacers and/or Knicks if he hadn’t agreed to re-sign with the Pelicans.

As Wojnarowski details, the Pelicans and Holiday developed a strong bond after the way the franchise helped the point guard deal with a family crisis last fall, when he missed the start of the 2016/17 season to care for his wife and newborn child. Head coach Alvin Gentry also has “tremendous trust” in Holiday’s ability to run New Orleans’ offfense, per Woj.

Re-signing Holiday was New Orleans’ top priority this offseason, particularly given the team’s salary cap situation. With more than $85MM in guaranteed salaries already on their books for 2017/18, the Pelicans weren’t in a position to create significant cap room to sign a replacement point guard if Holiday had decided to head elsewhere.

Because they held Holiday’s Bird rights, the Pelicans had the ability to go over the cap to lock him up, and now will have the mid-level ($8.4MM) and bi-annual ($3.3MM) exceptions available to add further reinforcements. They’ll also have a “big three” of Holiday, Anthony Davis, and DeMarcus Cousins for at least the next year, until Cousins’ contract expires in the summer of 2018.

Holiday, the 17th overall pick in 2009, arrived in New Orleans as a result of a draft-day trade in 2013. He has been reliable and productive over the last four years when he gets on the court, though he has been plagued by injuries too, having averaged just 52 games per season. In 2016/17, the UCLA product averaged 15.4 PPG and 7.3 APG.

It will be interesting to see whether the Pelicans express any interest in Justin Holiday this week. The Holiday brothers publicly stated earlier this year that they’d love the opportunity to play together, and Jrue’s older brother is also a free agent this summer.

Jrue Holiday was the No. 14 player on our list of this year’s top 50 free agents. He’s one of several point guards who has already struck an agreement since free agency opened less than eight hours ago. Stephen Curry, Jeff Teague, Patty Mills, and Shaun Livingston also have new deals in hand, leaving Kyle Lowry, George Hill, and Derrick Rose as the top point guards available.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Kings Sign First-Round Pick Justin Jackson

July 6th, 2017 at 5:54pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Kings have signed Justin Jackson to a rookie scale deal, according to NBA.com. Jackson will take home nearly $13.5MM over the next four years, assuming he signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale.

Sacramento traded down from the No. 10 pick in order to select Jackson with the No. 15 selection as well as Harry Giles with the No. 20 overall selection. Outside of their draft night trade, the Kings also nabbed De’Aaron Fox with the No. 5 overall pick and Frank Mason III with the No. 34 overall pick.

Jackson spent three seasons at UNC where he helped lead the team to a national title last year. As a junior, he earned the ACC Player of the Year award in a season where he scored 18.3 points per game while pulling down 4.7 rebounds.

Clippers, Hawks, Nuggets Agree On Three-Way Deal

July 6th, 2017 at 5:13pm CST by Luke Adams

July 6: The trade is official, according to a Hawks team press release.

July 4: The Clippers, Hawks, and Nuggets are in agreement on a three-way deal that will send Danilo Gallinari to the Clippers in a sign-and-trade arrangement, reports Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The deal has been discussed extensively, and there was an expectation it would get done, but it hadn’t been formally agreed upon until now. It can be made official when the moratorium ends on Thursday.

Based on the terms reported, the trade is expected to look like this:

Clippers receive: Gallinari (sign-and-trade, three-year deal worth $65MM)
Hawks receive: Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone, first-round pick from Clippers (Rockets’ 2018 first-rounder), cash.
Nuggets receive: Second-round pick from Hawks (it will be the Wizards’ 2019 second-rounder, tweets Vivlamore)

The key piece in the transaction is Gallinari, a free agent forward who turns 29 next month. He has had some trouble staying on the court in recent years, appearing in just 175 total games over the last four seasons, but he’s a versatile and effective scorer when he plays, averaging 18.2 PPG with a shooting line of .447/.389/.902 in 2016/17. The Clippers envision him sharing the frontcourt with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

The Clippers didn’t have the cap room to sign Gallinari outright, and the Nuggets didn’t want to take back salary in a sign-and-trade since they’re preserving their space to finalize Paul Millsap‘s signing. That opened the door for the Hawks to enter the mix and nab a future first-round pick – along with a young prospect in Stone – for their willingness to take on Crawford’s contract.

While Crawford will land in Atlanta as part of this three-way deal, there’s a belief that he’ll seek a trade or buyout. A trade will be tricky to complete, and the Hawks would likely want Crawford to forgo a significant chunk of the $17MM+ in guaranteed money remaining on his deal in order to buy him out. If the two sides can work something out though, the Lakers, Warriors, Spurs, and Cavaliers are among Crawford’ possible landing spots.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pacers Waive Rakeem Christmas

July 6th, 2017 at 5:03pm CST by Luke Adams

5:03pm: The Pacers have officially waived Christmas, per the NBA’s transactions log.

10:17am: In his full story on Christmas’ pending release, Agness clarifies that the forward’s salary would have become guaranteed if he remained under contract beyond July 6, which is why the team is making the move today.

10:03am: The Pacers plan to waive Rakeem Christmas before the end of the day on Thursday, league sources tell Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports (Twitter link).

Christmas, 25, made his NBA debut for the Pacers in 2015/16, then appeared in 29 regular season games for the team last season. Christmas saw limited minutes in those games, averaging 2.0 PPG and 1.9 RPG in 7.6 minutes per contest.

Christmas’ 2017/18 salary, worth the minimum, was reportedly only guaranteed for $50K, per Basketball Insiders, so the Pacers will clear most of it from their cap. The 6’9″ forward’s full salary was scheduled to become guaranteed on August 1.

The Pacers waived Monta Ellis on Wednesday, stretching his contract in order to create nearly $9MM in cap room for 2017/18. The team also renounced its free agent rights to Aaron Brooks, Lavoy Allen, and Jeff Teague, per RealGM’s transactions log.

Teague has a deal lined up with Minnesota, so that move isn’t a surprise, but there didn’t seem to be any pressing need to renounce Brooks or Allen. There also was no apparent rush to cut Christmas quite yet, so it’s possible the Pacers have a move or two up their sleeves with their newly-expanded cap room.

Spurs Sign First-Round Pick Derrick White

July 6th, 2017 at 4:15pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Spurs have signed Derrick White to a rookie scale deal, according to a team press release. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but if White signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale, he’ll take home roughly $8.54MM over the next four seasons.

White was the No. 29 overall pick out of the University of Colorado. During his lone season with the school, he was named Pac-12 All-Conference First-Team, All-Defensive Team, and All-Tournament Team.

The guard played three seasons of Division II basketball for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs prior to landing in the Pac-12. He’s that school’s all-time leader in career points and assists. White is currently playing for San Antonio’s summer league squad in Utah.

Suns Sign Second-Rounder Davon Reed

July 6th, 2017 at 3:48pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns have made it official with one of their second-round picks, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed rookie guard Davon Reed to his first NBA contract. Reed’s deal was reported by Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link).

An ACC All-Defensive player for Miami in 2016/17, Reed averaged 14.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 2.4 APG in his senior season, making 39.7% of his three-point attempts. Reed was one of three players selected in last month’s draft by the Suns, who also nabbed Josh Jackson with the fourth overall pick and selected Alec Peters at No. 54.

Terms of Reed’s new deal aren’t yet known. As the No. 32 overall pick, he won’t be subject to the NBA’s rookie scale. However, he’s still a good bet to earn more than the minimum — last year, before the NBA’s minimum salaries jumped, the Suns drafted Tyler Ulis with the 34th overall pick and signed him to a four-year, $4MM contract with two fully guaranteed years.