Knicks Sign Luke Kornet To Two-Way Contract
The Knicks have formally signed undrafted free agent big man Luke Kornet to a two-way contract, the team announced today (via Twitter). Teams are permitted to finalize two-way contracts during the July moratorium, so the deal is official.
A 7’0″ center who played his college ball at Vanderbilt, Kornet was ranked 69th on DraftExpress’ list of 2017’s top 100 prospects. In his senior year in 2016/17, he averaged 13.2 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 2.0 BPG, chipping in 1.5 threes per game, though he made just 32.7% of his shots from outside.
Two-way contracts are a new addition to the NBA this year, a result of negotiations on the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement. In addition to carrying 15 players on their regular season roster, teams will be allowed to have two more players on two-way deals — those players will spend most of their time in the G League, but can be called up to the NBA roster and can’t be poached by rival NBA teams. Our full FAQ on two-way contracts can be found here.
While Kornet may not seen much action with the Knicks this season, it appears he’ll go down as the first player in NBA history to officially sign a two-way contract. The agreement was first reported last month by ESPN’s Chris Haynes.
Grizzlies Sign Ben McLemore To Two-Year Deal
JULY 6: The Grizzlies have officially signed McLemore, according to the NBA’s transactions log.
JULY 2: The Grizzlies are finalizing a deal with Ben McLemore, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The pact, Chris Haynes of ESPN adds, is said to be for two years at $10.7MM.
The 24-year-old shooting guard has strung together four underwhelming seasons with the Kings after getting picked seventh-overall in the 2013 NBA Draft. In 2016/17, however, he posted 8.1 points per game in just 19.3 minutes of action.
There isn’t much standing between McLemore and a larger role in Memphis, USA Today’s Jeff Zilgitt suggests, noting that he’ll likely see significant minutes with his new ball club. The swingman does, after all, boast the physical tools to be a decent perimeter defender and is a capable three-point shooter.
McLemore was eligible to be a restricted free agent this summer, but didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Kings, allowing him to sign with any team as an unrestricted free agent.
Based on the terms of the agreement, it appears the Grizzlies will use the full taxpayer mid-level exception on McLemore — a deal with that MLE would top out at $10,643,600 over two years, and would allow the Grizzlies to avoid being hard-capped.
I doubt Memphis will go too far into the tax, if they even exceed that tax line at all. But if the team wants to try to bring back JaMychal Green, Zach Randolph, and Tony Allen, it will get expensive. The Grizzlies are projected to have more than $98MM in guaranteed salary on their 2017/18 cap after taking McLemore’s deal into account. That doesn’t include Green, Randolph, Allen, or the team’s other free agents.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Wolves Pull Muhammad’s Qualifying Offer
As had been anticipated, the Timberwolves officially pulled the qualifying offer they sent to Shabazz Muhammad, Chris Haynes of ESPN tweets. Now the swingman will hit the market as an unrestricted free agent.
Earlier today we wrote about how the Taj Gibson signing has impacted the situation in Minnesota. As a result, Muhammad’s representation didn’t waste any time informing other teams of his client’s anticipated status change.
Muhammad has seen his role decrease slightly over the course of the last two seasons and that would have inevitably continued in 2017/18 with Jimmy Butler now on board.
Still just 24-year-old, Muhammad should have no trouble finding suitors after nearly posting a third-consecutive season with double-digit points per game. Per 36 minutes, he averaged 18.3 points and 5.2 rebounds.
Malik Monk Signs Rookie Contract With Hornets
The Hornets have signed 11th-overall pick Malik Monk, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer tweets. The 19-year-old will make $2.9MM in 2017/18.
After averaging 19.8 points per game in his one and only season with Kentucky, Monk will set out to provide Kemba Walker with much needed backcourt support, although he may need to scale his way up the depth chart before he does.
For details of Monk’s rookie deal, worth $15.7MM in all, check out our chart breaking down the pay scale for all first-round picks.
Celtics Waive Tyler Zeller
Tyler Zeller, whose $8MM salary would have become fully guaranteed today, has been waived by the Celtics, tweets Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com.
The move was expected as Boston is concentrating on opening cap space to provide flexibility in free agency. Zeller now becomes an unrestricted free agent and is free to sign with any team.
The fifth-year center spent the past three seasons with the Celtics after being acquired from Cleveland in a 2014 deal. Zeller, 27, played 51 games this season, averaging 3.5 points and 2.4 rebounds.
Nene Agrees To New Deal With Rockets
July 6: The signing is official, according to the team’s website.
“The Rockets bring out the best in me,” said Nenê. “I love the entire organization from my teammates and coaches, to management and ownership. We have great leader in James Harden and will continue to work hard to bring another championship to Houston.”
July 2: After an earlier misstep, Nene has reached an agreement to stay with the Rockets, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. The deal will pay him $11MM over three years, a source tells Wojnarowski.
The veteran center had agreed to a four-year, $15MM deal with Houston early on Saturday, but that was voided because of an age restriction. Because he will turn 35 before the season starts, Nene is restricted to a three-year contract under the over-38 rule.
Nene was reported to be upset by the loss of one year and about $4MM off his negotiated deal and was “back to square one” on Saturday, ready to talk with other teams. The maximum amount the Rockets can pay Nene using his Non-Bird rights is $10,954,440 over three years, so it appears the two sides struck a deal for those terms.
The Rockets appear poised to use their mid-level exception on P.J. Tucker and draft-and-stash prospect Zhou Qi, so if they use Non-Bird rights to bring back Nene, they’d still have their bi-annual exception available, along with some trade pieces.
Appearing in 67 regular season games for the Rockets last season, Nene averaged 9.1 PPG and 4.2 RPG in just 17.9 minutes per contest, shooting 61.7% from the floor. His season came to a premature end when he suffered a left adductor tear halfway through Houston’s second round series against the Spurs.
Rockets Sign P.J. Tucker To Four-Year Deal
JULY 6, 10:29am: The Rockets have jumped the gun a little on the end of the July moratorium, issuing a press release announcing Tucker’s signing about a half-hour before the moratorium ends.
JULY 1, 11:52pm: The Rockets are expected to sign Tucker using their mid-level exception, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Assuming the team uses part of its MLE on Zhou (as noted below) and offers the rest to Tucker, the veteran’s contract could be worth up to about $32.6MM.
11:36pm: The Rockets have reached a deal with free agent forward P.J. Tucker, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter). Tucker had met with the Raptors when free agency opened, and had a sit-down with the Kings scheduled for Sunday, but it appears that meeting will be canceled now that Tucker has committed to Houston on a four-year, $32MM deal, per Charania (Twitter link).
Tucker, who started the 2016/17 season in Phoenix, was traded to the Raptors in a deadline deal and was a key piece for a Toronto team that was eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals. For the season, Tucker averaged a modest 6.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 1.4 SPG in 81 games (27.6 MPG), providing value with his tough defense and his ability to make the occasional three-pointer (.357 3PT%).
The Rockets had been on the lookout for a defensive-minded wing who could complement the team’s backcourt of James Harden and newly-acquired Chris Paul. Houston reportedly made an offer to Andre Iguodala today, but Iguodala elected to remain in Golden State. The Rockets were also said to be in serious talks with the Cavaliers for Iman Shumpert, though it’s possible their deal with Tucker could make the Rockets pump the brakes on those Shumpert discussions.
[RELATED: Clippers trade Chris Paul to Rockets]
Based on the reported terms of the Tucker deal, the Rockets may be committing the rest of their mid-level exception to the 32-year-old after agreeing to sign Zhou Qi using part of it. However, there are multiple ways Houston could complete the deal. A sign-and-trade is another possibility, if the Rockets don’t need to use their non-guaranteed contracts in a Shumpert trade with Cleveland. A Tucker sign-and-trade could – in theory – create a trade exception for Toronto and would allow the Rockets to retain most of their MLE.
A report earlier today suggested that the Raptors weren’t overly confident about their chances of retaining Tucker, but remained optimistic about bringing back Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hornets Sign Michael Carter-Williams
JULY 7, 10:11am: The Hornets have officially signed Carter-Williams, according to the team.
JULY 1, 5:34pm: Carter-Williams’ one-year deal will be worth $2.7MM, per Chris Haynes of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
We’ll see how Charlotte’s cap situation plays out, but that salary would fit into any exception above the minimum. If the Hornets use the bi-annual exception, it would create a hard cap at just over $125MM for the season.
5:19pm: Free agent point guard Michael Carter-Williams has agreed to sign with the Hornets, Jeff Goodman reports on ESPN Now. The deal, which will be for one year, according to Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer (via Twitter), can become official after the July moratorium ends on Thursday.
[RELATED: 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker]
Carter-Williams had been eligible for restricted free agency, but didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Bulls in June, making him an unrestricted free agent. As such, the Hornets can sign him outright, though the team won’t have any cap room — MCW will have to sign using an exception. Depending on the terms of the deal, it could be the mid-level ($8.4MM), bi-annual ($3.3MM), or minimum salary exception.
A former lottery pick and NBA Rookie of the Year back in 2013/14, Carter-Williams has played for three teams in his first four NBA seasons, and has seen his usage and his production fall off since his days with the Sixers. After being acquired by Chicago in a preseason trade with the Bucks last fall, Carter-Williams appeared in 45 games for the Bulls in 2016/17, averaging just 6.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 2.5 APG on 36.6% shooting (18.8 minutes per game).
Carter-Williams reportedly received interest from the Thunder, Mavericks, Pelicans, Knicks, and the Rockets, in addition to the Hornets. With Ramon Sessions and Brian Roberts both on the unrestricted free agent market, Carter-Williams appears to have the inside track to be Kemba Walker‘s backup at the point in Charlotte.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Suns No Longer Pursuing Millsap; Nuggets May Be Favorites
The Suns will no longer pursue Hawks power forward Paul Millsap, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com.
Phoenix has opted to use its available cap to take on salary dumps paired with assets, Wojnarowski adds. The Suns are committing to a youth movement are open to dealing any of the veterans on their roster.
The Nuggets, who have a meeting tonight with Millsap, may now be the favorites to sign him, tweets David Aldridge of TNT. The Timberwolves, who reportedly met or will meet with Millsap, may have also pulled out of the running, Aldridge suggests.
Gary Harris will be joining team president Josh Kroenke, president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and coach Michael Malone in their appeal to Millsap, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Denver is still open to re-signing Danilo Gallinari if its pursuit of Millsap doesn’t work out, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link).
The Kings are another possibility, although Amick says they remain a long shot, at least for now (Twitter link).
Celtics Likely To Waive Tyler Zeller
The Celtics will likely part ways with Tyler Zeller on Sunday, per a report from Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald (Twitter link).
The center’s $8MM salary for 2017/18 is set to become fully guaranteed tomorrow, so waiving him will certainly provide the team with greater cap flexibility as it looks to make a splash in free agency this summer. Boston won’t be on the hook for any of that amount if it does indeed make him an unrestricted free agent as Murphy’s sources suggest.
The 27-year-old appeared in 51 games last season, including five starts, and averaged 3.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 10.3 minutes per outing. His shooting line for the campaign was .494/.000/.564.