Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Nets Waive Cory Jefferson

July 13th, 2015 at 4:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:20pm: The release is official, the team announced via press release.

4:01pm: The Nets are releasing Cory Jefferson, a source tells Tim Bontemps of the New York Post (Twitter link). The team hasn’t made any announcement, but Bontemps indicates that the move has already taken place. An earlier report showed that Brooklyn had until Wednesday to release him without his non-guaranteed salary becoming partially guaranteed for $150K, but Bontemps says that the effective deadline is today, since his contract has to clear waivers no later than Wednesday if the Nets want to avoid the guaranteed money (on Twitter).

Jefferson, the last pick of the 2014 draft, made it into 50 games this past season, even making a start as he averaged 3.7 points in 10.6 minutes per game. Still, the 24-year-old power forward didn’t appear in any of Brooklyn’s playoff games, and the Nets are well-stocked at his position, with Thaddeus Young Andrea Bargnani, Thomas Robinson and Willie Reed.

The Nets paid cash to the Sixers for Jefferson’s rights on a draft-night trade. That followed Philadelphia’s acquisition of Jefferson from the Spurs, who originally drafted him.

Warriors Re-Sign Leandro Barbosa

July 13th, 2015 at 4:06pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 13TH, 4:06pm: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.

JULY 6TH, 6:08pm: Leandro Barbosa will re-sign with the Warriors on a one-year, $2.5MM contract, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com tweets. The veteran guard was a key reserve on Golden State’s championship team.

The signing comes as somewhat of a surprise, given that the Warriors have already pushed themselves into taxpayer territory by reaching a long-term commitment with restricted free agent Draymond Green. Currently, the Warriors have approximately $99.3MM in salary commitments when Green’s starting salary of $14.26MM is factored in.

The club only has Non-Bird rights on Barbosa and thus will have to use part of the $3,376MM taxpayer mid-level exception to re-sign him. The Warriors can ease their tax burden greatly if they can find a taker for David Lee‘s expiring contract. He’s owed nearly $15.5MM in his remaining year.

The 6’3” Barbosa, who will be entering his 13th season, averaged 7.1 points and 1.5 assists during 66 regular-season games last year and supplied 5.0 points and 0.9 assists per game in 21 postseason appearances. He’ll once again back up Klay Thompson and, at times, Stephen Curry.

Pacers Sign Myles Turner

July 13th, 2015 at 3:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The Pacers have signed this year’s No. 11 overall pick, Myles Turner, to his rookie scale contract, the team announced. The big man from Texas in line for a salary of nearly $2.358MM this season, with almost $10.802MM coming over the four-year span of the contract, presuming he signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale.

A lack of eye-popping offensive numbers, including a scoring average of 10.1 points per game, and an awkward running style cloud Turner’s future, though his gait is apparently correctable. The 7-footer has shown impressive shooting range and played strong defense in his lone college season, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors wrote when he examined Turner’s prospect profile.

The Pacers traded Roy Hibbert and David West opted out and committed to the Spurs, so Indiana has room for fresh blood inside even as the team transitions to a more perimeter-oriented attack. Turner figures to compete for minutes with soon-to-be signee Jordan Hill, among others. It’s unclear just how much flexibility Indiana has, with the terms of Hill’s deal still unknown, but Turner’s signing, which raises his cap hit by nearly $400K, signals that the Pacers are done with major free agent deals this summer.

Clippers Re-Sign Austin Rivers

July 13th, 2015 at 3:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

MONDAY, 3:21pm: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.

SUNDAY, 12:40pm: Austin Rivers has agreed to return to the Clippers as the team’s backup point guard, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports tweets. It’s a two-year, $6.4MM deal, a league source told Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders had reported that Rivers would likely sign a short-team deal with the club (Twitter link). Other teams had offered him multiyear contracts, but he felt as though he could improve his stock if he stayed with the Clippers, Kennedy added (on Twitter).

Clippers coach Doc Rivers made it clear this spring that he wanted to re-sign his son.

Rivers could not receive more than $3,110,796 this coming season from the Clippers because the Pelicans declined the fourth-year option on his rookie scale contract before this past season. Thus, the Clippers were limited to no more than the amount of that option.

Rivers averaged 7.1 points, 1.7 assists and 2.0 rebounds in 41 regular-season games after joining the Clippers, and 8.4/1.1/1.7 in 14 postseason appearances.

Clippers Sign Cole Aldrich

July 13th, 2015 at 3:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:20pm: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.

MONDAY, 2:23pm: It’ll indeed be for the minimum, tweets Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.

11:59am: Aldrich and the Clippers are still talking, but the expectation is that he’ll indeed sign soon, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. A league source tells Dan Woike of the Orange County Register that the sides are close to agreement (Twitter link).

FRIDAY, 11:11am: The Clippers will sign Cole Aldrich to a two-year deal that includes a player option, reports Derek Wetmore of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (on Twitter; hat tip to 1500 ESPN Twin Cities colleague Darren Wolfson). Aldrich, a Minnesota native, departs the Knicks, with whom he spent 2014/15. He’ll give the Clippers the true backup center they’ve lacked. The contract, once he signs it, will almost certainly be for the minimum salary, since the Clips have no cap room and committed their taxpayer’s mid-level exception to Paul Pierce.

The team had been discussing the idea of adding the big man, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register reported earlier this week, and apparently the return of DeAndre Jordan didn’t dissuade them from the idea. Amar’e Stoudemire has been another big man the team has eyed, but he’s reportedly close to a deal with the Heat.

New York had reportedly remained in contact with Aldrich’s reps, and the Jeff Schwartz client had expressed his affection for the triangle offense. Aldrich, who turns 27 in October, saw more playing time this past season than in any other during his five-year NBA career, making 16 starts and averaging 16.0 minutes per game.

Nuggets Waive Jamaal Franklin

July 13th, 2015 at 8:36am CST by Chuck Myron

The Nuggets have waived Jamaal Franklin, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets and as the RealGM transactions log shows. The team has yet to make any formal announcement, but it appears the move has indeed taken place. Franklin, whom Denver signed during the final week of the regular season to a three-year deal, didn’t have any guaranteed salary remaining on his contract. He’ll become a free agent, assuming he clears waivers.

Franklin’s release may well be part of an effort to clear cap room to accommodate the extension and renegotiation of Wilson Chandler‘s contract. The Nuggets also released their cap holds for Darrell Arthur, Rudy Fernandez, Ian Clark, Wesley Person and Jan Vesely, Pincus notes (Twitter link). Dropping Franklin’s $947,276 minimum salary brings Denver’s cap figure to $64,149,043, based on the data that Pincus has compiled. That leaves $5,850,957 under the $70MM cap to add to Chandler’s $7,171,662 salary, enough to bring it to $13,022,619, which would be a front-loaded figure for the first season of Chandler’s new deal, which reportedly is to give him $46MM over the next for years. That isn’t necessarily the reason for Franklin’s release, as Denver doesn’t have to front-load the Chandler deal. The Nuggets have already officially announced Chandler’s new deal, but RealGM nonetheless doesn’t show the move having taken place just yet, leaving room for Denver to make moves to clear the way for it.

Franklin, who turns 24 this month, is just two years removed from having been the 41st overall pick in 2013. The Grizzlies waived him using the stretch provision last summer, so the Brian Elfus client continue to pick up NBA paychecks through 2018/19. The shooting guard spent time playing in China and for the Lakers D-League affiliate last season before the Nuggets picked him up.

Joel Freeland To Play In Russia With CSKA Moscow

July 13th, 2015 at 8:05am CST by Chuck Myron

MONDAY, 8:05am: The deal is official, the team announced (hat tip to Pick).

FRIDAY, 11:05pm: Freeland has signed a two-year deal with CSKA Moscow, and the pact contains no NBA out clause, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link).

1:33pm: A source tells Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops that Freeland hasn’t agreed to a deal just yet, and will decide within the next two days (Twitter link).

THURSDAY, 8:51am: Joel Freeland has agreed to sign a guaranteed deal with Russia’s CSKA Moscow, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Freeland had reportedly set a deadline of Friday to find an NBA deal before he committed to playing overseas, but it appears he’s making the jump a day early. The British big man’s contract with the Blazers ended last month, and Portland didn’t make a qualifying offer.

The Rafa Calvo client didn’t expect the Blazers to make that offer, but he expressed a preference to stay in the NBA. He’ll instead move to one of Europe’s most prominent clubs. Chema de Lucas of Gigantes del Basket first reported CSKA Moscow’s interest.

Freeland, 28, didn’t have much of a role during his three seasons with the Blazers, though he did make eight starts this past year while averaging 3.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 12.8 minutes per game.

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Thunder Match Blazers’ Offer For Enes Kanter

July 12th, 2015 at 8:10pm CST by Will Joseph

8:10pm: Oklahoma City has announced the move is official via press release.

7:40pm: The Thunder have informed the Trail Blazers they have matched Portland’s $70MM offer sheet for restricted free agent Enes Kanter, reports Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski (on Twitter). Enes’ deal includes a player option on the fourth year and a 15% trade kicker bonus, Wojnarowski reports in a full story.

The expectation around the league was that the Thunder would match, according to Royce Young of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The deadline is today. The Blazers signed Kanter on Thursday to an offer sheet worth the max over four years, with a player option on year three. It was an easy decision to match, Wojnarowski tweets, because Oklahoma City offered Kanter about $62MM and always planned for the possibility of a max offer sheet.

Oklahoma City has about $79MM in salary commitments for this coming season. That puts them well above the $70MM cap, and the new deal for Kanter pushes the team far beyond the $84.74MM tax threshold. If they don’t make any other moves, the Thunder would have roughly a $24MM luxury-tax payment due at the end of next season, Young writes in a full story. The Thunder, according to Young, who cites league sources, are likely to shop forwards Steve Novak and Perry Jones III to help alleviate some of the pending financial hit.

Kanter, 23, excelled after Oklahoma City acquired him from the Jazz. He averaged 15.9 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per game last season with the Thunder and Jazz. Thunder GM Sam Presti had expressed interest in re-signing the big man.

“We traded for Enes last season with the intention of keeping him as a member of the Thunder for several years to come, and we are excited that he will continue with us,” Presti said the press release. “He adds valuable depth to our roster, diversity to our frontcourt and the dimension that he brings offensively will positively impact our team.”

Bulls Sign Cristiano Felicio

July 12th, 2015 at 5:04pm CST by Will Joseph

The Bulls have signed big man Cristiano Felicio, who is from Brazil and is currently playing on Chicago’s summer league team, the Bulls announced in a press release.

“We’ve been impressed with Cristiano’s work ethic and potential,” said GM Gar Forman. “We’re looking forward to working with him and having him come to camp with us this fall.”

K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune tweets Felicio will come to training camp on a make-good deal.

Wizards Sign Alan Anderson

July 12th, 2015 at 4:41pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

JULY 12, 4:41pm: The deal is official, the Wizards announce.

JULY 7, 4:25pm: The Wizards and unrestricted free agent Alan Anderson have reached an agreement on a contract, David Aldridge of TNT reports (Twitter links). Anderson will receive part of Washington’s mid-level exception, which the team held in hopes of signing David West, Aldridge adds. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter) notes that the contract will be a one-year, $4MM pact.

The Nets had reportedly made keeping the forward a priority, but instead lose the 32-year-old to Washington, where he’ll join a team more likely to contend in the Eastern Conference. Anderson bypassed his player option for 2015/16 worth $1,333,484 with the Nets, and was reported to be seeking an annual salary of $3MM-$4MM from a contending team. This deal certainly checks off both of those boxes for the veteran, with the Wizards a team on the rise, and a franchise in need of help at the wing with the departure of Paul Pierce to the Clippers.

Anderson appeared in 74 games for the Nets last season, including 19 as a starter. He averaged 7.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists, with a slash line of .442/.348/.812. His career numbers through 287 games with the Hornets, Raptors, and Nets are 7.9 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 1.2 APG.