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Celtics Pick Up 2015/16 Options For Three

October 29th, 2014 at 9:21pm CST by Eddie Scarito

OCTOBER 29TH, 9:21pm: Boston has officially exercised the options for all three players, the team announced.

OCTOBER 22ND, 6:00pm: The Celtics will exercise their team options to keep Tyler Zeller, Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk on their rookie scale contracts through 2015/16, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com reports (Twitter link). These moves have been widely expected, as Blakely suggests. Zeller’s $2,616,975 salary for that season is the most expensive of the group. Sullinger is set to make $2,269,260, and Olynyk will collect $2,165,160, as our Rookie Scale Team Option Tracker shows.

Picking up these options increases Boston’s guaranteed salary commitments to approximately $33.5MM for the 2015/16 campaign, with Jeff Green also holding a player option for $9.2MM, which he is likely to exercise. Also not factored into that cap figure is Rajon Rondo, who becomes a free agent next summer, and it’s unclear as to whether the Celtics will attempt to re-sign him or deal him prior to the trade deadline. Rondo currently makes approximately $12.9MM, and will most likely seek an increase on that amount in his next contract.

Zeller was selected with the 17th overall pick by Dallas back in 2012 before being dealt to the Cavaliers. During his two years in Cleveland, Zeller averaged 6.9 PPG and 4.9 RPG while logging 21 minutes per night. He was acquired by Boston on July 10th of this year in a three-way deal involving the Celtics, Cavs, and Nets.

The 7’0″ Olynyk was chosen with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2013 draft, also by Dallas, but his draft rights were traded that night to the Celtics for Lucas Nogueira and two second-rounders. During his rookie campaign last season, Olynyk appeared in 70 contests, including nine starts, averaging 8.7 PPG and 5.2 RPG. After a strong training camp Olynyk is expected to be a major offensive contributor on a rebuilding Celtics squad.

Sullinger was drafted by Boston with the 21st overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. The 6’9″ big man out of Ohio State has been held back by injuries in his young career, but appears to be healthy entering his third year in league. His career numbers are 10.5 PPG and 7.3 RPG, and his career slash line is .440/.268/.771.

Mavs Sign J.J. Barea

October 29th, 2014 at 6:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

6:15pm: Dallas has officially signed Barea, the team has announced.

4:27pm: The Mavericks have reached an agreement with guard J.J. Barea, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News reports. Barea has officially cleared waivers, according to the RealGM transactions log, which frees him to sign with any team. Dallas has an agreement in principle with Barea that is a one year pact for the veteran’s minimum, though it’s unclear if there is any guaranteed money involved in the deal. The Mavs intend to waive Gal Mekel in order to create the required roster space to sign Barea, Sefko notes. Dallas’ roster currently sits at the regular season maximum of 15 players.

Barea will add depth to the Mavs’ backcourt and he will compete for playing time with Jameer Nelson, Devin Harris, and Raymond Felton. Dallas was looking to add another experienced point guard into their backcourt mix, with Harris having a history of injuries and Felton beginning the season injured. Inking the veteran Barea shows that the Mavs have title aspirations this season, since the organization seemed to be high on Mekel’s upside, notes Sefko.

The eight-year vet has appeared in a total of 509 games in his career, and Barea has averages of 8.3 PPG, 2.0 RPG, and 3.4 APG. His career slash line is .419/.347/.798.

Hornets Opt In With Kidd-Gilchrist, Zeller

October 29th, 2014 at 5:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Hornets have exercised their fourth-year option on Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and their third-year option for Cody Zeller, the team has announced. These moves don’t come as a surprise since both players factor heavily into Charlotte’s current rotation and their future plans as well. Kidd-Gilchrist is set to earn $6,331,404 in 2015/16, and Zeller will take home $4,204,200, which brings the team’s current total salary commitment for that season to approximately $33.2MM. That figure doesn’t take into account Al Jefferson‘s $13.5MM, nor Gerald Henderson‘s $6MM player options.

Kidd-Gilchrist was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, and he hasn’t quite lived up to being selected that high, averaging just 8.2 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 1.2 APG for his career. His defense has always been a strength, but it’s on the offensive side of the game where Kidd-Gilchrist has lagged, with a career slash line of .464/.167/.682.

The 7’0″ Zeller was chosen with the fourth overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft and averaged 6.0 PPG and 4.3 RPG during his rookie campaign last season. His shooting numbers were .426/.000/.730, not an excellent percentage of makes for a player of his size. Zeller was the only player to appear in every game for Charlotte last season and was one of just two rookies to play in all 82 contests.

Mavs Waive Gal Mekel

October 29th, 2014 at 5:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

5:00pm: Dallas has officially placed Mekel on waivers, the team has announced.

WEDNESDAY, 4:00pm: The Mavs intend to waive Mekel once Barea officially clears waivers today, reports Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.

TUESDAY, 6:10pm: Mavs owner Mark Cuban confirmed that Mekel would be the odd man out if Barea clears waivers and returns to Dallas, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com.

MONDAY, 2:26pm: The Mavs will waive point guard Gal Mekel to accommodate their planned signing of J.J. Barea, a source tells Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link). The move is presumably contingent on Barea clearing waivers, which seems highly likely given Barea’s guaranteed salary of nearly $4.52MM for this season, though that’s just my speculation. In any case, the Mavs would be on the hook for minimum salaries both this year and next for Mekel should he clear waivers. Dallas couldn’t defray Mekel’s salary of more than $816K for this year using the Stretch Provision, but the team could spread the $947K and change that he’s owed for 2015/16 over a period of three years.

The Mavs had reportedly been trying to trade Mekel in an effort to clear roster space without eating guaranteed salary, but those efforts have apparently come up short. The point guard, now 26, saw action in just 31 games for Dallas as a rookie last season, averaging 2.4 points in 9.4 minutes per game. The Israeli native went undrafted in 2009, but the Mavs signed him to a fully guaranteed three-year contract for the minimum salary in 2013 after he won a championship with Israel’s Maccabi Bazan Haifa that season and drew attention from several other NBA teams.

The Dallas roster would remain at 15 as a result of releasing Mekel and adding Barea, though Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports wrote 10 days ago that the Mavs were seeking to open up a spot beneath the 15-man regular season maximum in his report about the team’s interest in trading Mekel. Charlie Villanueva‘s non-guaranteed contract gives Dallas some degree of flexibility, however. It remains to be seen whether the Mavs will guarantee any salary in Barea’s pact.

Jazz, Enes Kanter Break Off Extension Talks

October 29th, 2014 at 12:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

12:49pm: Ergul cited Kanter’s potential for growth this season with new Jazz coach Quin Snyder as well as the influx of TV money into the league as reasons why he and his client walked away from negotiations, as Ergul told Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter links). Ergul praised Lindsey and Snyder and pointed to Kanter’s satisfaction with the franchise’s direction, Falk notes, which suggests strong interest in a deal next summer.

12:11pm: The Jazz and Enes Kanter have decided against signing an extension by Friday’s deadline, agent Max Ergul tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. That sets the forward/center up to become a restricted free agent next summer. The Jazz continue talks with fellow extension-eligible Alec Burks, according to Wojnarowski.

“We have mutually agreed with Utah to concentrate on the season and look at our options again in the summer,” Ergul told Wojnarowski. “Enes likes Utah and the organization very much, and now he can concentrate on continuing to grow as a player and helping them win.”

Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey acknowledged extension talks with both Kanter and Burks a month ago and spoke of his desire for a long-term commitment to the two of them, suggesting that he’d continue to pursue that even if they weren’t able to close on extensions. Still, neither has the sort of star potential that’s usually associated with players who sign rookie scale extensions, as I noted when I examined the extension candidacies of both Kanter and Burks.

Fellow big men Derrick Favors, who signed a four-year, $48MM extension a year ago, and Rudy Gobert, who’s entering the second season of his rookie scale contract, complicate the notion of Kanter’s future in Utah, since there’s only so much playing time to go around. The Jazz have about $40.3MM on the books for 2015/16, and while deals for both Kanter and Burks would probably leave the team with significant leftover cap room, Utah has several other former first-round picks who’ll become extension-eligible in the years ahead, which threatens to put a squeeze on the club’s flexibility.

Clippers Opt In For 2015/16 With Reggie Bullock

October 29th, 2014 at 9:56am CST by Chuck Myron

The Clippers have picked up their team option for 2015/16 on Reggie Bullock‘s rookie scale contract, according to the RealGM transactions log. The team has yet to make an official announcement. Bullock will make more than $1.252MM that season, as our Rookie Scale Team Option Tracker shows. The team has been facing a Friday deadline to make its decision.

Bullock wasn’t particularly impressive as a rookie last season, but it’s nonetheless no surprise to see the Clippers keep him for another year, as I suggested during the offseason. The 25th pick in the 2013 draft averaged just 2.7 points in 9.2 minutes per game as a rookie, and he saw similar playing time during the preseason this month. Still, the 23-year-old shows promise, and the Clippers are weakest at the wing positions, where Bullock plays.

Exercising the option puts the Clippers at nearly $58.9MM in commitments for 2015/16, though that entails fully guaranteed salary for only six players. The team has partially guaranteed salary out to Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes for that season, and if they remain on the team and Jordan Farmar picks up his player option worth close to $2.2MM, it adds approximately $8.7MM to the team’s ledger. DeAndre Jordan is also poised to hit unrestricted free agency next summer, so the Clips will have a tough time avoiding the tax.

Bucks Guarantee Contract Of Kendall Marshall

October 28th, 2014 at 4:17pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bucks had until January to make the call, but the Bucks have decided to guarantee the contract of guard Kendall Marshall, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Marshall’s contract was a non-guaranteed pact, but he’s now guaranteed to earn $915K for the season.

Marshall has impressed in training camp and figures to be the first point guard off of the bench this year. New head coach Jason Kidd knows a thing or two about the point guard position and the organization is clearly high on the 23-year-old.

The Bucks claimed Marshall over the summer shortly after he was waived by the Lakers in a cap clearing move. The UNC product never hit his stride with the Suns, but he revived his career last season when he averaged 8.0 PPG, 2.9 RPG, and 8.8 APG while playing 29 minutes per game for the Lakers.

Hornets Push For Extension With Kemba Walker

October 28th, 2014 at 3:47pm CST by Chuck Myron

Hornets owner Michael Jordan intends to sign an extension with Kemba Walker rather than let him hit free agency and said that he’s hopeful that the “real conversations” between the sides bear fruit in advance of Friday’s deadline, as he tells Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (All Twitter links). Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported earlier this month that Charlotte was in talks with the Jeff Schwartz client.

Executives around the league often say that Walker isn’t a “championship point guard,” as Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote about a month ago, though the 24-year-old hasn’t had much chance to show what he can do in meaningful games during his three years with the team. Last year’s playoff appearance was his first, and he held steady at 17.7 points per game during the 2013/14 regular season in spite of the addition of marquee free agent Al Jefferson. The Hornets are poised to return to the postseason this year, but it appears Jordan is anxious to strike a deal before skeptical executives have a chance to drive up the point guard’s value next summer.

The Hornets only have about $45.2MM in guaranteed salary for 2015/16 even with Walker’s extension. That doesn’t include a $13.5MM player option for Jefferson nor a $6MM player option for Gerald Henderson, however.

Photo courtesy USA Today Sports Images.

Knicks Opt In With Tim Hardaway Jr. For 2015/16

October 28th, 2014 at 3:23pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks have exercised their option to keep Tim Hardaway Jr. on his rookie scale contract through 2015/16, the team announced (Twitter link). He’ll make close to $1.305MM that season, as our Rookie Scale Team Option Tracker shows. Reports indicated that New York would pick up Shane Larkin‘s 2015/16 team option, too, but it appears that’s still up in the air.

Hardaway impressed in his rookie season after the Knicks made him the 24th overall pick in the 2013 draft. The 6’6″ shooting guard averaged 10.2 points in 23.2 minutes per game across 81 appearances, earning an All-Rookie First Team selection.

New York, which has targeted next summer for a free agent push, has about $32.7MM in commitments for 2015/16 as a result of today’s move. That doesn’t include Larkin’s option or a new deal for Iman Shumpert, who’d hit restricted free agency if he and the Knicks don’t sign an extension by the end of Friday.

Jazz Signed, Then Waived Tre’ Bussey

October 27th, 2014 at 10:39pm CST by Cray Allred

MONDAY, 10:39pm: Bussey was indeed signed and then waived by the Jazz after working out with the team in Salt Lake City, reports Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (via Twitter). Genessy adds that the Idaho Stampede, Utah’s D-League affiliate, didn’t retain Bussey’s rights due to a complication, which is why he filed to enter the D-League draft. The Jazz signed him Thursday and waived him Friday, according to the RealGM transactions log.

SUNDAY, 2:15pm: Bussey never actually signed with the Jazz, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM, despite interest from Utah. However, he has filed to enter the D-League draft.

SATURDAY, 5:52pm: Although no team announcement was made regarding the signing of Tre’ Bussey, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets that the rookie has been waived. Three Eye Sports reported that Bussey was signed yesterday (on Twitter). It’s likely that Utah inked the Georgia Southern product with the sole intention of releasing him and securing his D-League rights.

In his senior year, Bussey averaged 16.2 PPG with a slash line of .457/.385/.662. The 22-year-old told Gino Pilato of DLeagueDigest.com earlier this month that he is hoping to develop an NBA-caliber game at point guard in the D-League.