Raptors Acquire Luke Ridnour
10:45am: The Raptors say (on Twitter) they’ve also acquired cash in the transaction.
10:15am: The deal is official, the Thunder announced via press release.
9:47am: The Raptors and Thunder have agreed to a trade that sends Luke Ridnour to Toronto, reports Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman (Twitter links). The rights to draft-and-stash prospect Tomislav Zubcic go to Oklahoma City, Mayberry adds. The Thunder will also get to create a trade exception worth $2.75MM that they can use to acquire a player who makes up to $100K more than that amount, as Mayberry notes. Ridnour’s salary is non-guaranteed if he’s waived before the end of July 10th, and it appears as though the Raptors intend to release him unless they, too, can find a taker for him, according to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star (on Twitter).
It’ll be the fourth time in a week that Ridnour will be involved in a trade, once the deal becomes official. The Magic sent him to the Grizzlies, who shipped him to the Hornets, who conveyed him to the Thunder.
Zubic, whom the Raptors drafted 56th overall in 2012, is a 6’10” center who averaged 7.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 18.4 minutes per game for Croatia’s KK Cedevita.
Biyombo To Become Unrestricted Free Agent
The Hornets won’t make a qualifying offer to Bismack Biyombo, so the former seventh overall pick will become an unrestricted free agent Wednesday, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The value of the offer declined from $5,194,227 to $4,045,894 when he failed to meet the starter criteria this season, but even that apparently wasn’t enough of an enticement for Charlotte to retain its right to match competing bids for him.
Biyombo’s qualifying offer was a borderline case, and with Noah Vonleh off to Portland in the Nicolas Batum trade, there seemed a greater chance the Hornets would do what they could to keep him around. Charlotte and Biyombo can still sign a new deal, and the Hornets retain his Bird rights, so they can exceed the cap to re-sign him if they wish.
Nets Waive Darius Morris
The Nets have waived Darius Morris, the team announced. His minimum salary for next season was to become partially guaranteed for $25K if he had remained under contract through Wednesday. That remains a possibility if he is claimed off waivers in the next two days.
Morris signed with Brooklyn in December, not long after the Blazers let him go at the end of training camp. The Nets gave him a two-year deal for the minimum that was initially non-guaranteed for last season. The former University of Michigan point guard made it past the January date when last season’s salary became guaranteed, but he didn’t stay with Brooklyn long enough to trigger any more guaranteed money.
Thunder Expected To Re-Sign Kyle Singler
The Thunder are expected to re-sign Kyle Singler, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). Oklahoma City has made a qualifying offer worth slightly more than $2.725MM to retain the right to match competing bids for the soon-to-be restricted free agent, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reported (Twitter link). Spears suggests the deal will be as long as three years, though the sides can’t discuss contract terms or length prior to Wednesday.
The sides have reportedly held mutual interest, and Singler, a client of Greg Lawrence and outgoing Wasserman agent Arn Tellem, quickly took a liking to new coach Billy Donovan. Singler played under former coach Scott Brooks for the final two months of the season after the midseason trade that brought him in from the Pistons.
Paul Pierce Opts Out From Wizards
JUNE 29TH, 3:29pm: Pierce has officially opted out, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).
JUNE 27TH, 2:43pm: Pierce has confirmed his decision via The Players’ Tribune (Twitter link).
JUNE 20TH, 5:07pm: Wizards forward Paul Pierce plans to opt out of his deal with the team for the 2015/16 campaign, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports, though he intends to continue to play in the NBA next season, a source told Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. The veteran has a player option worth $5,543,725 that he’s poised to bypass, and doing so would make him an unrestricted free agent come July 1st. Pierce was non-committal regarding whether or not he would return for an 18th season in the wake of Washington’s elimination from the NBA playoffs.
“I haven’t really thought about it,” Pierce said at the time. “I don’t even know if I am going to play basketball anymore. These seasons get harder and harder every year, every day. Summers get even harder when you start getting back in shape. I’m 37 years old. I’m top two or three oldest in the league.” Pierce had indicated that he would take some time and discuss the matter with his family before making his call on next season. “I have been playing this game [for] like 32 years. Since I was a little kid. Probably going to be the hardest thing to do is put the game down. But I know that time is coming one day. I am not sure if it is this year or next year. I will sit down with my family and figure things out,” Pierce said.
The question now is which team Pierce will suit up for in 2015/16, with Castillo writing that he’ll either re-sign with the Wizards or join his former coach Doc Rivers in Los Angeles with the Clippers. The Clippers can offer Pierce the taxpayer mid-level exception worth slightly less than $3.4MM, while Washington could offer Pierce a new deal starting in excess of $6MM once he opts out, Stein notes. The interest is mutual between the Clippers and Pierce, a league source told Robert Morales of the Long Beach Press-Telegram earlier this month.
The link between the Clippers and Pierce dates back to last year, as Pierce informed TNT’s David Aldridge this past fall that he saw the Clippers as his favored alternative to re-signing with the Nets before sign-and-trade talks between the Clips and Brooklyn broke down. Pierce has also said that he feels a connection with the younger players on the Wizards and with the city of Washington.
Pierce appeared in 73 contests for the Wizards this past season, averaging 11.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 26.2 minutes per night. His career numbers through 1,250 games are 20.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 3.74 APG. The 37-year-old’s shooting numbers are .447/.371/.806.
Roy Hibbert Opts In With Pacers
MONDAY, 3:06pm: The Pacers have received the opt-in paperwork from Hibbert, according to Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star (on Twitter), though the team has yet to make an official announcement.
THURSDAY, 10:06pm: Roy Hibbert is opting in for next season with the Pacers, a source tells Grantland’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link). He has filed the paperwork, adds Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter), though the Pacers have yet to make an official announcement. The Pacers have been aggressively shopping the center with the thought that he would indeed pick up the more than $15.514MM coming his way on the option, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported earlier.
The Pacers are likely to continue to try and deal the 28-year-old, though there isn’t likely to be a strong market for an offensively limited center with mediocre rebounding numbers who carries such a large cap hit. One NBA assistant coach told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that Hibbert might be a worthy gamble for another team if the big man could be motivated to stay in shape. “The last two years, he has dropped off in the second half of the season,” the assistant said. “With big guys like that, the first thing you think of is conditioning. If you can make sure he is in shape for all 82 games, maybe give him time off here and there, he would be worth the risk.”
Hibbert appeared in 76 contests last season, averaging 10.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks in 25.3 minutes per games. His lifetime numbers through 533 contests are 11.1 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 1.9 BPG, with a slash line of .464/.273/.748.
Warriors Pick Up Option On Marreese Speights
The Warriors have picked up their $3.815MM team option on Marreese Speights, the team announced. The move is no surprise, as GM Bob Myers said last week that he was inclined to do just that.
The option nonetheless adds to an already profound salary crunch for the Warriors, giving the team about $82.6MM in guaranteed salary, a figure greater than the projected $81.6MM tax line. That’s without a new deal for Draymond Green, so it would seem that Golden State’s apparent efforts to trade David Lee and his salary worth nearly $15.494MM. Still, tax calculations are based on a team’s salary on the last day of the regular season, so the Warriors have some time to play with.
Luol Deng Opts In With Heat
1:30pm: The move is official, the Heat announced (on Twitter).
1:03pm: Deng has apparently changed course, as agent Herb Rudoy tells TNT’s David Aldridge that he’s opting in, not out (Twitter link).
11:08am: The Heat expect Luol Deng to turn down his player option worth nearly $10.152MM and hit free agency, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). The deadline for him to do so is today. Stein also hints that the Heat also expect Dwyane Wade to turn down his player option worth $16.125MM, as Wade has hinted he’ll do. Goran Dragic, who already turned down his $7.5MM player option, is “basically a lock” to stay with the Heat, Stein writes, but the same isn’t true of either Deng or Wade.
Heat president Pat Riley made it clear last week that he wants Deng back, even in the wake of Miami’s choice of fellow small forward Justise Winslow with the No. 10 pick. Deng, 30, expressed his love for the Heat organization back in April, citing its medical staff. Still, that was before Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported that Wade is open to leaving the Heat, throwing Miami’s offseason plans a curveball.
People around the league this spring expressed doubt to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders that Deng could find a salary better than what his option would give him for this coming season. Still, the Interperformances client will probably be able to find a deal that would lock in a greater total of money, albeit over a longer period of time, though that’s just my speculation.
Miami only has about $43MM in guaranteed salaries for next season, but new deals for Dragic, Wade and Deng threaten to push the team beyond the projected $81.6MM tax line. The Heat would pay repeat-offender tax penalties if they’re above the tax line at the end of the 2015/16 regular season.
Magic Waive Ben Gordon
MONDAY, 1:06pm: Orlando has officially waived Gordon, the team announced via press release.
SATURDAY, 9:25pm: Ben Gordon will be waived by the Magic, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. If he clears waivers, Gordon will become an unrestricted free agent. The 32-year-old guard appeared in 56 games with Orlando last season, all off the bench, and averaged 6.2 points per game.
Gordon signed with the Magic as a free agent last summer, agreeing to a two-year, $9MM deal, but the second year was only fully guaranteed if he was not waived before Wednesday. By parting ways with Gordon, Orlando will have an estimated $14.5MM in available salary cap space.
Gordon has averaged nearly 15 points per game in his 11-year NBA career. Before coming to Orlando, he played for the Bulls, Pistons and Bobcats.
Kirk Hinrich Opts In With Bulls
1:32pm: The move is official, the team announced via press release.
11:30am: Austin confirmed to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune that Hinrich has indeed opted in (Twitter link).
9:08am: Kirk Hinrich has decided to opt in and stay with the Bulls for next season, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). He’ll make nearly $2.855MM next season, the final one on his two-year deal.
The move allows the team to keep the long-tenured guard and avoid using its limited funds to replace him. Chicago already had about $60.2MM in guaranteed salaries against a projected $67.1MM salary cap and $81.6MM tax line. A new max deal for Jimmy Butler would likely add nearly $16MM to Chicago’s books, giving the team season-long tax concerns unless it makes a salary-clearing trade.
Hinrich, 34, started 22 games this past season, though he set career lows with averages of 5.7 points and 24.4 minutes per game, in large measure because Derrick Rose was relatively healthy. The Jeff Austin client, set to enter free agency as the cap surges next summer, may well see a larger role this coming season if fellow backup point guard Aaron Brooks departs in free agency.