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Hawks Acquire Kirk Hinrich In Three-Team Deal

February 18th, 2016 at 11:53pm CST by Chuck Myron

Jennifer Stewart / USA Today Sports Images

4:16pm: The Bulls traded Kirk Hinrich to the Hawks as part of a three-team swap that also involved the Jazz, all three teams announced. Chicago, in its first trade since July 2014, gets Justin Holiday from the Hawks and Denver’s unprotected 2018 second-round pick from the Jazz, who acquired it from the Nuggets in 2013. Utah receives Shelvin Mack from the Hawks.

Hinrich returns to Atlanta, where he spent a season and a half as part of the two-year hiatus in his Bulls career from 2010-12. The 35-year-old is in his 13th NBA season and his 11th with Chicago. However, he’d never had such a limited role, with his minutes only at 15.9 per game this season, by far a career low. Any playing time he gets in Atlanta figures to come at the wing instead of the point guard spot, since the Hawks held on to Jeff Teague and Dennis Schröder in spite of rumors about both, and Teague in particular.

Atlanta did end up dealing away Mack, its third-string point guard, who, like Hinrich, is playing the fewest minutes he’s ever seen in his career at 7.5 a game. The 25-year-old Mack, a fifth-year veteran, becomes the most experienced point guard for the Jazz, who’ve de-emphasized the position in the wake of the offseason injury to Dante Exum that wiped out his season. Utah’s reported talks about swapping point guards Ty Lawson and Trey Burke fell through. Mack has a non-guaranteed salary of more than $2.433MM for next season.

Holiday, the other player the Hawks gave up, picked up a championship with the Warriors last summer and shortly thereafter signed a two-year fully guaranteed deal for the minimum salary with Atlanta. His minutes are down slightly but his shot attempts and scoring are off markedly from last year’s numbers. The primary benefit for Chicago, aside from the pick, is the financial savings, as the Bulls subtract the $1,907,664 difference between Hinrich’s and Holiday’s salaries from their payroll. That also clears the Bulls of nearly $2.9MM in projected luxury tax penalties. The deal allows Chicago to create a trade exception equivalent to Hinrich’s $2,854,940 salary.

Atlanta gets to create a trade exception worth the equivalent of Holiday’s $947,276 salary, since Mack’s $2,433,333 pay is a close match with Hinrich’s, even though a 15% trade kicker that Chicago is paying Hinrich gives him a slight bump on his salary. The Jazz remain under the cap, using a slice of the roughly $7.6MM in cap room they had entering deadline day to take in Mack’s salary.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com broke the news that Hinrich was headed to Atlanta (Twitter link), while Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reported the Jazz were getting Mack and giving up a second-round pick (Twitter link). K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune relayed that Holiday was going to the Bulls and that all the pieces were part of the same three-teamer, rather than separate deals (Twitter link). Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution pegged the second-round pick going to Chicago as Denver’s 2018 second-rounder. RealGM shows that the pick carries no protection.

Pelicans Acquire Jarnell Stokes From Heat

February 18th, 2016 at 11:52pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:17pm: The Heat traded Jarnell Stokes and a little more than $700K in cash to the Pelicans for New Orleans’ top-55 protected 2018 second-round pick. It’s a money saving move for the Heat, even though they’re the ones relinquishing cash. It offloads the team’s remaining salary commitment to Stokes and lowers the team’s projected tax hit by about $2.1MM. Miami wound up wiping out its entire projected tax bill in the Brian Roberts trade. New Orleans is contemplating a buyout with Stokes, according to Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate (Twitter links).

Stokes is making the minimum salary of $845,059, with a non-guaranteed minimum salary for next season also on his contract. The power forward who went 35th overall in the 2014 draft originally signed a three-year deal with the Grizzlies, who traded him and that contract to the Heat in the Mario Chalmers swap this past November. It’s because he’s on a three-year deal that the Pelicans can’t absorb him using the minimum-salary exception, which is just for two-year deals. The same is true of the disabled player exception they have for relief from Quincy Pondexter‘s injury, which is just for a one-year deal. Thus, the Pelicans took him into the $947,276 trade exception they created in December when they offloaded Ish Smith, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter), reducing its value to a virtually unusable $102,217.

The Heat meanwhile create a new trade exception equivalent to the $845,059 salary for Stokes, as Pincus points out. Miami seemingly had little use for the power forward who appeared for a total of only 14 minutes across five games at the NBA level while a member of the Heat. He meanwhile logged 494 minutes in 16 D-League contests on assignment to Miami’s affiliate. He spent enough time with the Sioux Falls Skyforce that he was named a D-League All-Star.

Zach Lowe of ESPN.com reported that the Heat had traded Stokes (Twitter link), and Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports revealed that he was going to the Pelicans (on Twitter). Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel tweeted that a highly protected draft pick was going Miami’s way, with Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald adding that it’s a second-rounder (Twitter link). RealGM provided pick specifics. Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported the cash involved (via Twitter).

Sixers Waive JaKarr Sampson

February 18th, 2016 at 11:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito

11:45pm: Sampson has officially been waived, the team announced.

5:54pm: The Sixers will waive swingman JaKarr Sampson to clear a roster spot for incoming trade acquisition Joel Anthony, Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports (Twitter link). Philadelphia will be on the hook for the remainder of Sampson’s $845,059 salary for 2015/16. Sampson was under contract for next season but his salary for 2016/17 is non-guaranteed, which means there will be no impact on next season’s payroll as a result of the move.

Sampson, 22, appeared in 47 games for Philadelphia this season, including 18 starts. He is averaging 5.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 14.7 minutes per appearance. His career numbers since going undrafted out of St. John’s in 2014 are 5.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists to accompany a slash line of .423/.230/.654.

Philadelphia agreed to acquire Anthony earlier today as part of a three-team trade with Detroit and Houston, which would have pushed the Sixers to 16 players on their roster, one over the regular season maximum.

Blazers Waive Tim Frazier, Anderson Varejao

February 18th, 2016 at 5:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

5:00pm: Portland has waived Varejao, the team announced (on Twitter).

3:38pm: Frazier has officially been waived, the Trail Blazers announced.

12:29pm: The Trail Blazers will waive Tim Frazier to accommodate the trade acquisition of Anderson Varejao, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), and likely waive Varejao once the trade goes through, according to Vertical colleague Adrian Wojnarowski (on Twitter).

Frazier, 25, is earning $845,059 this season, the remainder of which Portland will still be on the hook for. The point guard has appeared in 35 games for the Blazers this season, including one start. He averaged 1.5 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 7.8 minutes per contest.

Originally inked as an unrestricted free agent last March, Frazier posted averages of 1.9 points, 1.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 8.5 minutes in parts of two seasons with the Trail Blazers.

Nuggets To Work Buyout With J.J. Hickson

February 18th, 2016 at 4:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Nuggets will do a buyout with J.J. Hickson no later than March 1st, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Stein indicates that Denver has already committed to place Hickson on waivers by that date, though he says Hickson’s situation is the same as that of Steve Novak, whom Stein previously indicated would merely engage in buyout talks with the Nuggets. Regardless, the Hickson news is no surprise, as Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reported earlier this week before the trade deadline that Hickson was almost certain to end up with a buyout.

The 27-year-old power forward is making $5,613,500 on an expiring deal, so it appears he’ll be giving up some of that money to secure his release in time to latch on with a playoff team. Players who hit waivers after March 1st aren’t eligible to appear in the postseason for another club.

Stein reported in January that Denver was actively shopping Hickson, about a month after Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders wrote that the Hickson was said to be available. The Jeff Schwartz client and his representatives at Excel Sports Management pushed hard for a trade, according to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops (on Twitter), but none materialized before the 2pm Central time deadline today.

Hickson has appeared in just three games since December 8th. He averaged 7.9 points and 4.8 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per game across 17 appearances this season prior to that date, with coach Michael Malone going so far as to put him in the starting lineup on nine occasions.

Kings Fire Assistant Coach Vance Walberg

February 17th, 2016 at 8:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

8:58pm: Karl was opposed to firing Walberg, but will be able to appoint his successor, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. Divac said the team may hire a defensive coach. He added that a roster shakeup is still possible before Thursday’s trade deadline (Twitter link).

Divac plans to make at least one roster move Thursday, and actually expected it to happen today, tweets James Ham of CSNBayArea. Divac also emphasized that he is performing the organization’s GM duties (Twitter link).

8:08pm: The Kings have fired assistant coach Vance Walberg, tweets Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Sacramento was expected to dismiss head coach George Karl last week, but decided to keep him in place for now, so a staff shakeup wasn’t a surprise, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.

“This was a tough decision made after consideration of what is best for the team moving forward,” said GM Vlade Divac in the team’s formal announcement of the move. “We want to thank Vance for his contributions to the organization and wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”

Walberg, who had been on the Kings’ bench since last February, was a “scapegoat” for the team’s failure, tweets Chris Haynes of The Cleveland Plain Dealer. Haynes charges that the coaching staff has been subject to as much “turmoil” and “dysfunction” as the rest of the organization. Sacramento entered the All-Star break at 22-31, four and a half games out of the last playoff spot in the West.

Walberg started his NBA career as an assistant to Karl in Denver in 2012. He also served as an assistant with the Sixers before joining the Kings.

Pistons Acquire Tobias Harris

February 16th, 2016 at 11:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports Images

2:58pm: The Pistons have acquired Tobias Harris from the Magic for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova, the teams have formally announced. ESPN’s Chris Broussard first reported it was a done deal shortly after Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops reported the sides were in talks (Twitter links), while Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports, USA Today’s Sam Amick and Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel added detail (All Twitter links).

“We are pleased to welcome Tobias Harris to our organization,” Pistons GM Jeff Bower said in Detroit’s release. “Tobias adds good versatility as a ball-handler and scorer who can play both forward positions. He also has good experience for a young player and will fit well with the young core we have assembled on our roster. We appreciate the contributions made by Brandon and Ersan to our organization and wish them well moving forward.”

The deal represents a nearly even exchange of salaries for this season, with Harris’ $16MM going to the Pistons and $16,244,497 headed to Orlando, but a long-term cost savings for the Magic, since Jennings is on an expiring deal and Ilyasova is guaranteed only $400K for next season. Harris signed a four-year, $64MM deal this past summer.

Detroit appeared to be one of the leading contenders for Harris as free agency got underway in the offseason, but the team hadn’t emerged as a trade suitor this year until today. Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported last week that the Magic were open to trading the 23-year-old Harris, cautioning that they weren’t shopping him. However, a serious discussion took place recently between the Magic and Clippers involving Harris, Blake Griffin and other players, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. The Magic had been on the lookout for veterans, according to Stein, and Jennings, who’s 26, and Ilyasova, 28, ostensibly fit that bill.

“Brandon and Ersan are two veterans that will help balance our roster and provide valuable experience to our team,” Magic GM Rob Hennigan said as part of his team’s statement. “Both players bring scoring, competitiveness and added depth to our roster. We want to thank Tobias for his contributions, both on and off the court.”

Power forward has been the unsettled spot for the Pistons, who were high on Ilyasova but saw him instead as a backup, as ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported as he identified the team’s interest in Ryan Anderson. The acquisition of Harris would presumably take the Pistons out of the running for other power forwards the team has been linked to, including Markieff Morris and Al Horford, though Detroit will still have significant cap flexibility for next summer, when only about $64MM in guaranteed salaries will be on the books against a cap that many around the league reportedly believe will surge to $95MM.

The Magic meanwhile reduce their guaranteed salary commitments to only about $44MM for next season, giving them plenty of spending power. They had an open roster spot before the trade, so they didn’t have to offload anyone to make the two-for-one exchange.

Hornets Acquire Courtney Lee In Three-Teamer

February 16th, 2016 at 11:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

Bruce Kluckhohn / USA TODAY Sports Images

6:45pm: Courtney Lee is headed to Charlotte as part of a three-team deal involving the Grizzlies, Heat and Hornets, all of whom have officially announced the trade that Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports originally reported. The Heat pick up Brian Roberts in the deal, while Lee is the only asset going to the Hornets, but the Grizzlies come away with two players and four second-round picks.

From Charlotte, the Grizzlies receive P.J. Hairston, Charlotte’s 2018 second-rounder and Brooklyn’s 2019 second-rounder, which the Hornets acquired this past summer. From Miami, Memphis gets Chris Andersen, Miami’s second-rounder for 2017, with top-40 protection, plus Boston’s 2019 second-rounder with top-55 protection that Miami acquired this past summer. USA Today’s Sam Amick and Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal reported the details of the picks changing hands (All Twitter links).

“We are excited to be adding a quality veteran wing player to our roster in Courtney Lee,” Charlotte GM Rich Cho said in his team’s press release. “Courtney has proven to be a team defender, a consistent outside shooter and a solid scorer in our league for the past eight years. Particularly in terms of experience, he adds depth to our roster in a position of need for us and we expect him to fit in to our system and contribute right away.”

The Memphis-bound Hairston had started on the wing for Charlotte in place of Kidd-Gilchrist while he dealt with an earlier shoulder injury that kept him out for the season’s first few months, so presumably Lee will slide into that spot alongside soon-to-be free agent Nicolas Batum. All four players involved are on expiring contracts, with Lee’s worth $5.675MM, Anderson making $5MM, Roberts getting close to $2.854MM and Hairston seeing more than $1.201MM. The Grizzlies won’t be able to re-sign Hairston to a deal with a starting salary of more than $1,253,160 for next season because the Hornets declined the team option they had for next year on his rookie scale contract.

Memphis, Charlotte and Miami are all dealing with significant health issues, too. Marc Gasol has a broken foot, while Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is out for the season with a torn labrum in his shoulder, and mystery surrounds the status of Chris Bosh as he deals with another blood clot. Miami is also missing Tyler Johnson until at least April, if not the rest of the season.

The Grizzlies had reportedly been testing the market for Lee, though they apparently rejected a proposal from the Timberwolves of Lee for Kevin Martin several weeks ago, before Gasol went down. Andersen had been a trade candidate for months, with the latest dispatch indicating that Miami was aggressively trying to trade him as repeat-offender tax penalties loom. The trade as reported lowers the Heat’s payroll by about $2.1MM, but Miami would still need to trim roughly another $3.4MM to sneak under the tax line.

Kings Reverse Course, Decide To Keep George Karl

February 9th, 2016 at 2:26pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:26pm: Karl thought Divac was about to fire him when the GM called the coach at lunch today, but instead the two engaged in a conversation that lasted about five minutes and left Karl still in his job as head coach, Spears writes. It appears that brief dialogue constitutes the meeting between Divac and Karl that previous reports alluded to.

12:37pm: The Kings have scrapped plans to fire George Karl before the All-Star break and will keep the coach instead, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The about-face came after Karl met with GM Vlade Divac today, Stein adds (on Twitter).

“George is our coach and we’re collectively working through our issues,” Divac said in a statement to ESPN, according to Stein, who initially reported the team’s plan to fire the coach.

It’s highly unlikely that the team will fire Karl during the All-Star break, at least, as he agreed during his meeting with Divac to make a renewed effort, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Improving the team’s defense was a key topic the two discussed, according to Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), with transition defense, guarding 3-pointers and a lack of energy among specific topics, reports Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (on Twitter).

The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski hears that the Kings had never made the decision to fire Karl, and that owner Vivek Ranadive had leaned toward canning him but Divac talked him out of it (Twitter link). That runs counter to Stein’s report that Divac was the one who was behind Karl’s impending dismissal. It’s Divac’s preference that Karl coach through the remainder of the season, Amick tweets. Divac said in November that Karl would remain coach for the rest of 2015/16, though former Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro said the same of interim coach Tyrone Corbin last season before the team replaced in with Karl in February 2015.

Today’s news represents the latest turn of events in a back-and-forth saga involving Karl’s job security, which first came into question in June. The Vertical’s Chris Mannix reported Monday that the front office had lost nearly all confidence in the coach and that multiple players were upset with him. An “obvious disconnect” exists between the players and Karl, with many in the locker room not on board with the coach, Jones tweets.

Kings To Fire George Karl

February 8th, 2016 at 9:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Kings plan to fire coach George Karl, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. After months of rumors, Stein said sources told him the team has made a decision and the move will be made in the “coming days,” most likely after the team’s final game before the All-Star break, which will be Wednesday in Philadelphia.

Feb 5, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl watches play between the Brooklyn Nets and the Kings during the second half at Barclays Center. The Nets defeated the Kings 128-119. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Noah K. Murray / USA Today Sports Images

The move verifies a report earlier today by Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports that the front office has lost faith in Karl and the players have tuned him out. The Kings fell to 21-31 with tonight’s 20-point loss in Cleveland and are currently five games behind the Jazz for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

Stein writes that the decision to replace Karl is being made by GM Vlade Divac, and that former Kings player and current assistant Corliss Williamson is the “overwhelming favorite” to take over as interim coach. Sources tell Stein that Divac only wants an interim coach right now and wants to take his time with the coaching search.

Karl had been under fire even before he was formally hired to coach the Kings a little less than a year ago. Sources told Stein that discontent has been growing lately over Karl’s defensive schemes, his philosophy on practice and his overall leadership.

Point guard Rajon Rondo, who came to Sacramento as a free agent last summer and has been among Karl’s biggest supporters, appeared to jump ship earlier today, complaining about the coach’s decision to make this morning’s shootaround optional, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. “With optional shootarounds, it’s tough … When three or four guys show up for shootaround this morning, how can you expect to win?” Rondo said.

Karl has $6.5MM guaranteed cash left on the four-year, $15MM deal he agreed to last year, not counting this season’s $3.25MM salary. The Kings will be seeking their ninth coach since 2006/07, the most in the league since that time. When the firing becomes official, Karl will be the sixth coach to be let go this season.

Was it time for a change in Sacramento? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.