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Hornets Likely To Waive Matt Barnes?

June 15th, 2015 at 8:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

8:49pm: Hornets GM Rich Cho specifically mentions Barnes in the club’s official announcement of the trade, praising the forward’s extensive experience in the league. While the kind words certainly don’t serve as evidence that Charlotte intends to retain Barnes, they do indicate there’s at least a chance he isn’t waived.

8:13pm: The Hornets are likely to waive Matt Barnes after the team’s deal to acquire him from the Clippers becomes official, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Barnes is poised to go, at least temporarily, to Charlotte as part of the Lance Stephenson trade agreement, but it appears as though the Hornets prefer to cash in on the savings they’d reap if they release Barnes on or before July 1st. His salary is partially guaranteed for $1MM through that date, but is fully guaranteed for almost $3.543MM after, as Wojnarowski notes (Twitter link).

The trade agreement itself means a net addition of $86K to Charlotte’s ledger for 2015/16, but if the team releases Barnes by that July 1st guarantee date, the two moves put together would take $2.457MM off of Charlotte’s cap for next season. The Hornets would still be hard-pressed to open cap space, with Al Jefferson opting in and Gerald Henderson having $6MM reasons to do so himself. Still, it would give the team additional flexibility to make other deals and spend the full $5.464MM mid-level exception.

Barnes enjoyed his most productive sustained stretch the past three seasons with the Clippers, averaging 10.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in 27.7 minutes per game. He started a career-high 74 games for L.A. this past season, but he’d have a tough time starting in front of former No. 2 overall pick Michael Kidd-Gilchrist in Charlotte.

Clippers Acquire Lance Stephenson

June 15th, 2015 at 8:34pm CST by Chuck Myron

NBA: Preseason-Orlando Magic at Charlotte Hornets

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

8:34pm: The move is official, the Clippers and Hornets have announced.

8:19pm: The NBA has approved of the deal, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, although neither team has yet to officially announce the transaction (Twitter link).

7:22pm: The teams have agreed to the trade, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. The trade is on track to be completed as early as tonight, Stein also tweets. The deal would make Stephenson a Clipper in exchange for Hawes and Barnes. The move indicates that Rivers believes DeAndre Jordan will return to the team, Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com tweets. The Clippers lost confidence in Hawes, and Rivers was never high on Barnes, Markazi also tweets.

6:25pm: It’s Doc Rivers‘ call now, as the Hornets are ready to move forward with the deal, tweets Bonnell, who cites multiple sources.

5:45pm: A decision on the potential deal is expected within the next 48 hours, Chris Broussard of ESPN.com tweets. While the Hornets are ready to pull the trigger, the Clippers are still deliberating, according to Broussard.

5:30pm: The idea goes back to the trade deadline, tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. It’s unclear whether that’s a reference to Wojnarowski’s report about the Clippers scouting Stephenson around that time or if the clubs were indeed talking as far back as February.

5:05pm: The Clippers and Hornets are discussing a trade proposal that would send Lance Stephenson to Los Angeles for Spencer Hawes and Matt Barnes, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The conversation has been ongoing for several days, but no deal is imminent, Wojnarowski cautions. Such a trade would provide the Hornets a chance to escape from their contract with Stephenson, though it would give Charlotte relatively little in return. Stephenson would afford the Clippers the sort of depth and upgrade on the wing that their playoff collapse against the Rockets exposed as a need, providing he returns to the form he displayed with the Pacers, as Wojnarowski notes.

The salaries would match nearly perfectly, whether or not the Clippers and Hornets swap those players this month or in July, when next season’s salary figures take effect. Hawes and Barnes are scheduled to make a little more than $9.086MM next season after combining for about $8.701MM this year. Stephenson is on the books for $9MM this season and another $9MM in 2015/16, with a $9.405MM team option for 2016/17 that would give the Clippers an out after only one season if the mercurial shooting guard can’t reboot his career in L.A., as Wojnarowski points out. In any case, the chance to reap much higher upside for about the same money no doubt intrigues Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers.

The Clippers scouted Stephenson shortly before the trade deadline and did some legwork on him earlier in the season, as Wojnarowski reported then, but it didn’t appear as though L.A. was interested in making a play for him just yet. The Nets and Hornets reportedly discussed proposals involving the Brooklyn native on at least two different occasions this past season, but no deal came to fruition. The Heat were apparently among the teams with interest back in December.

Hawes is also coming off a disappointing season, and his contract, which has three years and more than $17.347MM left on it, including a player option for 2017/18, could prove too rich for Charlotte’s tastes, though that’s just my speculation. Barnes’ salary of nearly $3.523MM is only guaranteed for $1MM next season, however.

Nuggets Hire Michael Malone

June 15th, 2015 at 6:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

6:44pm: The move is official, the Nuggets announced in a press release.

1:03pm: The Nuggets and Michael Malone have reached agreement on a deal that will make him the team’s new head coach, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Malone won over GM Tim Connelly and team president Josh Kroenke in his interviews, convincing the Nuggets to pivot from interim coach Melvin Hunt, who had earlier emerged as the favorite to keep the job, as Wojnarowski details. The move is somewhat surprising, given Denver’s hiring of former Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro to a front office position last week. Reports painted conflicting pictures of whether it was D’Alessandro or Kings owner Vivek Ranadive who was the catalyst for Sacramento’s decision to fire Malone as Kings coach in December. Denver’s desire for an up-tempo attack also conflicts with Malone’s defense-first style.

Long-ago Nuggets coach Mike D’Antoni also reportedly interviewed for the Nuggets job, and Wojnarowski earlier this month referred to him as a strong candidate, along with Malone and Hunt. Wizards assistant Don Newman and Trail Blazers assistant David Vanterpool also reportedly interviewed, but Malone was the only one reported to have interviewed twice.

Malone had the Kings off to a 9-5 start, but a bout of viral meningitis for DeMarcus Cousins sent the team into a tailspin, and the Kings fired Malone with their record at 11-13. The coach remained an in-demand commodity, joining the Timberwolves to assist them in an informal capacity at least three different times this past season. The Magic were expected to consider him for their vacancy, a prospect in which he apparently had interest, but it didn’t appear as though Orlando, which ultimately hired Scott Skiles, regarded Malone as highly as it did other candidates.

The Kings were only 39-67 in Malone’s season and change at the helm, though he was well-regarded as an assistant before taking the Sacramento job. He worked as the top aide to Mike Brown with the Cavs, Monty Williams in New Orleans and Mark Jackson in Golden State before ending up with the Kings.

Denver is coming off two disappointing seasons after a 57-win campaign in 2012/13. The Nuggets let go of coach George Karl, who’s now in Malone’s old job in Sacramento, after that season, replacing him with Brian Shaw, but the move didn’t pan out, and Denver fired Shaw on March 3rd. Hunt connected with players as the interim coach, clearing winning their support as he compiled a 10-13 record in his brief time with the team, a higher winning percentage than the club had during the 2014/15 season under Shaw, who went 20-39 this year.

The coaching choice resolves one part of a muddied picture for the Nuggets, with Hoops Rumors readers who voted in a recent poll having been split on whether Hunt, D’Antoni or Malone would end up with the job. The Nuggets will now likely turn their eyes to what Kroenke called “a period of transition” ahead as major changes seem on the horizon for the roster, as I examined in a look at the team’s offseason.

The news also brings an apparent end to NBA head coaching changes this offseason. Denver’s vacancy was the last during a spring and summer in which the Bulls, Magic, Pelicans and Thunder also replaced their bench bosses.

Garrett Temple Opts In With Wizards

June 15th, 2015 at 2:05pm CST by Chuck Myron

JUNE 15TH, 2:05pm: Temple is indeed opting in, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).

MAY 18TH, 12:21pm: Garrett Temple said today that he’s pretty sure he’ll pick up his player option, worth his minimum salary of nearly $1.101MM, to return to the Wizards next season, observes J. Michael of CSNWashington.com (Twitter link). The combo guard just finished his third season with Washington and his first on a two-year contract he signed to stay with the club last summer. An opt-in wouldn’t do much to hurt the Wizards financially, since with nearly $65MM in guaranteed salary for next season already poised to count against a projected $67.1MM salary cap, Washington has little chance of opening cap space no matter what Temple ultimately does with his option.

The one-time journeyman has found a home with the Wizards after he saw action for five different NBA teams across his first two seasons after going undrafted out of LSU. Temple, who turned 29 earlier this month, made 18 starts in 52 appearances for Washington this season and played almost exclusively at shooting guard after having seen a large chunk of his time at the point in 2013/14, as Basketball-Reference shows. His 37.5% shooting on three-point attempts was a career-best mark as he averaged 3.9 points in 14.1 minutes per game. Temple missed nearly two months with a right hamstring injury late in the season, and he wasn’t much of a factor in the playoffs, totaling seven points in 26 minutes across four appearances.

The Wizards seem set at the point, where John Wall and Ramon Sessions have guaranteed salary for next season while the team holds Non-Bird rights on Will Bynum, but there’s no clear backup for Bradley Beal at two-guard aside from Temple. The Wizards would be well shy of the projected $81.6MM tax line even if Temple and Paul Pierce pick up their player options and the team uses the full mid-level exception, so Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld and company are probably pleased with the idea that Temple appears ready to come back at a low cost.

Al Jefferson Opts In, Will Stay With Hornets

June 15th, 2015 at 1:10pm CST by Arthur Hill

MONDAY, 1:10pm: Jefferson has formally opted in, the team announced.

SUNDAY, 8:33am: The Hornets’ Al Jefferson has decided to stay in Charlotte for another season, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Jefferson had until Monday to decide whether to opt in to the final season of his three-year deal or pursue free agency. His agent, Jeff Schwartz, told Stein that he will formally notify the team that Jefferson plans to opt in.

Jefferson, 30, will make more than $13.8MM next season, which will be his third in Charlotte. He had said in April that he was unlikely to opt out, referring to “unfinished business” after the Hornets failed to make the playoffs. Groin and knee injuries limited him to 65 games during the 2014/15 season, and his numbers fell as a result. Jefferson’s scoring average plunged to 16.6 and his rebounding dropped to 8.4 per game, the lowest figures in both categories since his second year in the league with Boston. Jefferson has told reporters that he hopes to be 25 pounds lighter by the start of training camp.

Jefferson was drafted 15th overall by the Celtics in 2004. He was traded to Minnesota in 2007 and then Utah in 2010 before signing a surprising deal with lowly Charlotte in 2013. At the time, the opt-out clause was seen as a way to escape a floundering franchise, but Jefferson led Charlotte to the playoffs in 2013/14 while earning all-NBA third-team honors. By opting in, Jefferson will become part of the 2016 free agency class that will benefit from an expected soaring salary cap propelled by the league’s new TV deal.

Pete D’Alessandro Leaves Kings For Nuggets

June 12th, 2015 at 6:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 6:38pm: D’Alessandro has been officially named as the Nuggets’ Senior Vice President of Business and Team Operations, the team announced in a press release. “As KSE has evolved as a company, my role and duties within the company have evolved as well,” team president Josh Kroenke said. “Pete’s addition to our Operations team is a natural product of that evolution and his experiences over his professional career have put him in a unique position to assist me in multiple areas ranging from league operations to team budgeting. I look forward to his assistance in creating additional synergy between our Business and Team Operations to help take our organization to another level on and off the playing floor. All Basketball Operations remain the same and all Player Personnel inquiries should continue to be directed to [GM] Tim Connelly.”

1:57pm: D’Alessandro’s move back to the Nuggets wouldn’t have a negative effect on Malone’s candidacy, sources tell Wojnarowski for a full story. D’Alessandro wouldn’t be working closely with whomever the team hires as coach, according to Wojnarowski, who writes that Kings owner Vivek Ranadive forced D’Alessandro into dismissing Malone as Sacramento’s coach.

D’Alessandro, who went as far as to talk contract terms with St. John’s, will answer to Kroenke in his job with the Nuggets, and Connelly will be able to consult him as a resource, Wojnarowski writes.

WEDNESDAY, 12:14pm: Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro has accepted an offer to join the Nuggets front office, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. He’ll work in a supporting role under team president Josh Kroenke with both the Nuggets and the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter links). Nuggets GM Tim Connelly is apparently on board with the idea, as Wojnarowski refers to him in another tweet as a “huge proponent” of the move. D’Alessandro, who worked for the Nuggets until leaving for the Kings two years ago, had the opportunity to join St. John’s University as athletics director but chose to return to Denver instead, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link).

The move is an ominous sign for the candidacy of Michael Malone for the Nuggets coaching job, notes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). D’Alessandro was in charge of Sacramento’s front office when the Kings fired Malone in December. The Kings hired Vlade Divac as vice president of basketball and franchise operations in March, shifting control of player personnel to him and away from D’Alessandro. The departure of adviser Chris Mullin for the St. John’s coaching job reportedly restored some power to D’Alessandro, but it nonetheless appears as though it wasn’t enough to convince him to stay in Sacramento.

The now 46-year-old D’Alessandro served in Denver’s front office under GM Masai Ujiri for three years after he was the assistant GM for the Warriors for three seasons prior to that. The Nuggets were reportedly leaning toward hiring him as GM in 2013 when he instead jumped to the Kings.

Rockets To Pick Up Papanikolaou’s Option

June 12th, 2015 at 10:19am CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets will exercise their team option to keep Kostas Papanikolaou under contract for next season, sources tell Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia. Still, Papanikolaou’s salary of nearly $4.798MM wouldn’t become guaranteed until October 4th, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders first revealed, even if Houston indeed picks up its team option by the deadline to do so later this month. That deadline is June 29th, unless the sides negotiated an earlier date.

Thus, the move to keep him under contract for now comes as no surprise, as declining the option wouldn’t give the Rockets much more benefit than they could otherwise reap. The Rockets would have Non-Bird rights to re-sign him if they declined the option and could make him a restricted free agent with a qualifying offer of close to $6MM, but that qualifying offer would entail guaranteed salary. Even if the Rockets didn’t extend a qualifying offer, his cap hold would be more than $5.757MM unless they renounced his rights. In short, picking up the option would give the Rockets the most flexibility possible while still allowing them to have the final say on whether Papanikolaou plays for them next season.

Carchia suggests a trade is a possibility, and indeed, a non-guaranteed salary as large as Papanikolaou’s represents a useful trade chip for salary matching purposes, particularly if Rockets GM Daryl Morey does business with a team that wants to clear cap room. Houston made a lucrative bet on the Greek forward last summer, and while he cracked the rotation in the first half of the season, the acquisition of Josh Smith cut off most of his playing time, as Carchia points out. Papanikolaou averaged 6.1 points and 3.9 rebounds in 24.6 minutes per game before Smith joined the team and 2.3 PPG, 1.5 RPG and just 12.1 MPG in 21 appearances afterward.

Pistons Acquire Ersan Ilyasova

June 11th, 2015 at 3:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:11pm: The trade is official, the Pistons and Bucks have announced. “Ersan Ilyasova is a player we have coveted since we got to Detroit,” said Van Gundy. “Not only is he a proficient three-point shooter that can stretch the floor, he is a high-energy, hard-playing guy who fits extremely well with how we want to play. We are excited about what he can add to our team. We appreciate the contributions of Caron and Shawne. Caron, in particular, is difficult to say goodbye to. Not only did he play well for us, his leadership went above and beyond. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a single player have a more a positive impact on a team than Caron did on ours. He is a special person and we will always respect and appreciate what he did here.”

2:13pm: The Bucks and Pistons have agreed to a trade that will send Ersan Ilyasova to Detroit for Caron Butler and Shawne Williams, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The move will give Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy a new stretch power forward of the sort that he so often employed when he was coach of the Magic. It’ll also set up Butler, a Wisconsin native, for his second stint with the Bucks after he spent the first half of the 2013/14 with Milwaukee, providing the Bucks keep him. Williams is also a stretch four who started 22 games for the Heat early this past season, but he saw little playing time in Detroit after the Pistons claimed him off Waivers.

Mar 24, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova (7) during the game against the Miami Heat at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Milwaukee won 89-88. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The swap will give the Bucks a chance to clear salary, Wojnarowski notes (on Twitter). Butler is due $4.5MM next season, but that salary wouldn’t become guaranteed until June 30th. Williams likewise is without a guarantee for next season, but his minimum salary wouldn’t become fully guaranteed until January. Ilyasova is due a fully guaranteed $7.9MM next season, with $400K of his $8.4MM salary for 2015/16 guaranteed.

The deal is a further signal that soon-to-be free agent Greg Monroe will be elsewhere next season, tweets Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, since Ilyasova plays his position. It also ostensibly gives the team more motivation to acquire a small forward, with the power forward slot accounted for and Butler on his way out of town, Ellis surmises.

It doesn’t appear as though either team will have a chance to create a trade exception, since Milwaukee is under the cap and the Pistons need both the salaries of Butler and Williams to match for Ilyasova. The Bucks will instead have the chance to benefit from an additional chunk of cap flexibility equivalent to Ilyasova’s salary. That gives Milwaukee only about $36MM in commitments for next season against a projected $67.1MM cap, leaving enough room to re-sign restricted free agent Khris Middleton to a max deal and still have enough money left over for another marquee restricted free agent. Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times speculates that the Bucks will prioritize the addition of a perimeter shooter to offset the loss of what Ilyasova delivered in that regard (Twitter link).

Ilyasova acknowledged that trades are a part of the business when Woelfel asked for his reaction to the news (Twitter link). That Milwaukee would send him out is no surprise, since his name has been in rumors almost ever since he re-signed with the Bucks on a five-year, $40MM deal in July 2012. The team dangled him in trade talk as recently as the deadline in February, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported then.

The 28-year-old Ilyasova is coming off a bounceback season in which he shot 38.9% from three-point range and averaged 11.5 points per game, but he did so in just 22.7 minutes per night, his lowest since he was a rookie in 2006/07. Butler, 35, put up 5.9 PPG in 20.8 MPG for Detroit. Williams saw less than 10 MPG for the Pistons after knocking down 39.5% of his three-pointers in 21.0 MPG for the Heat. Should the Bucks seek outside shooting, they could do worse than keeping Williams on the minimum salary, though that’s just my speculation.

Lon Babby To Reduce Role With Suns

June 10th, 2015 at 12:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

12:59pm: The move came at Babby’s behest, according to a statement he made as part of a Suns press release confirming the transition that the team has on its website.

“I am grateful that [owner] Robert [Sarver] has accommodated my wish to reduce my work load, while remaining a vital part of the Suns organization,” Babby said. “At this stage of my career, I welcome the flexibility that comes with this new role, a flexibility that will enable me to do other things that are important to me both personally and in the community. I feel particularly confident in making this transition because of the quality of leadership in place within the organization.”

The press release doesn’t indicate that McDonough will assume Babby’s job title of president of basketball operations. McDonough will nonetheless take on added responsibilities, as will assistant GMs Pat Connelly and Trevor Bukstein, the team said.

12:07pm: Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby will move into a role as senior adviser and GM Ryan McDonough will become the team’s head of basketball operations on August 1st, reports Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). Babby has held the president’s title since the 2010/11 season, when he and former GM Lance Blanks came aboard. Phoenix replaced Blanks with McDonough in 2013.

It’s not immediately clear whether Babby, who signed a two-year deal to stick with the Suns in 2013, is choosing to make this transition or if the team is pushing him aside. Phoenix has pivoted away from the Steve Nash era under his watch, but the team has yet to make the playoffs since Babby came aboard. McDonough appears to have had plenty of influence since his hiring, experimenting with a point guard heavy roster the last two seasons, with mixed results.

Babby is a former player agent whose clients included Tim Duncan, Ray Allen and Grant Hill. McDonough, who spent several years in the Celtics organization before joining the Suns, was Boston’s assistant GM for the three seasons prior to his move to Phoenix.

Bulls Officially Hire Fred Hoiberg

June 2nd, 2015 at 2:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Bulls have formally hired Fred Hoiberg as coach, the team announced via press release. Chicago’s preference for the Iowa State head man was a poorly kept secret and his hiring has been widely expected in the wake of the team’s dismissal of Tom Thibodeau last week. Hoiberg is receiving a five-year, $25MM contract, figures that Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reported Saturday and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports confirmed Monday.

Feb 14, 2015; Ames, IA, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach Fred Hoiberg paces the court against the West Virginia Mountaineers at James H. Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones beat the Mountaineers 79-59. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Courtesy USA Today Sports Images

“In Fred, we feel that we’ve got a guy who has a terrific package of skills: a winning coach, a natural leader and a great communicator,” Bulls GM Gar Forman said in the team’s statement. “He is a guy that has played in the league, has been an executive in the league and has had unparalleled success coaching at Iowa State—winning multiple Big 12 Championships, consistently having nationally ranked teams and NCAA Tournament teams. There is no question that we think he’s the right fit and that he will maximize the potential of this team.”

Hoiberg’s teams at Iowa State have ranked in the top 30 in estimated offensive efficiency among Division I schools each of the past three seasons, according to Sports-Reference. That’s a sharp contrast to Thibodeau, who’s strength is on the defensive end. The new Bulls coach guided Iowa State for the past five years after he spent four seasons in the Timberwolves front office following a 10-year NBA playing career that included a four-year tenure in Chicago.

Only 42 years old, Hoiberg underwent open heart surgery in April, helping fuel some doubt about whether he would jump to the NBA this year. Still, Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard last month framed the idea of Hoiberg becoming an NBA coach as a matter of when and not if. The Bulls spoke to Hoiberg about his interest in joining their team during the season, even as Thibodeau was still coaching, as Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv reported.

“I am very excited and thankful for the opportunity to coach the Chicago Bulls. Everyone back in Ames [Iowa] knows what Iowa State means to me and my family. I am closing a special chapter in my life and beginning a new one here in Chicago,” Hoiberg said in the team’s statement. “Being a head coach in the NBA has always been a goal of mine and to be able to do it at this time with the Bulls was the right fit for me. Having played in the league for 10 years, and then worked in a front office of an NBA team for four years, I am ready to begin this next phase of my career and help this team win an NBA championship.”

Alvin Gentry, whom the Pelicans hired this past weekend, was expected, prior to Thibodeau’s dismissal, to be a front-runner for the Bulls vacancy, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, and Bulls assistant Adrian Griffin was in the mix for the head job, too, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported. Nonetheless, the job was Hoiberg’s to lose, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune wrote when the Bulls fired Thibodeau, and sources told Randy Peterson of The Des Moines Register that Hoiberg would accept if offered. Forman appears to have been the driving force from Chicago’s end, having been “obsessive” about the pursuit, as Wojnarowski wrote.

Johnson wrote over the weekend that Hoiberg was expected to accept the Bulls coaching job prior to the start of the NBA Finals on Thursday. The notion that Hoiberg would be Chicago’s next coach seemed undeniable, even as he declined to mention the Bulls by name as he spoke to reporters before boarding a plane to Chicago late Monday, and even as the Bulls sent out a press release Monday night promising a “major announcement” today.

The Bulls job will be Hoiberg’s first NBA head coaching position after he went 115-59 in his five seasons at Iowa State, qualifying for four NCAA Tournaments and making one Sweet 16 appearance. He joins Billy Donovan, who went from Florida to the Thunder, as the second college coach this offseason to jump into his first NBA head coaching job.

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