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Bucks Acquire Jared Dudley

August 26th, 2014 at 4:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:11pm: The deal is official, the Bucks announced. It’s Dudley and a 2017 first-rounder to the Bucks and Delfino, Raduljica and the Clippers’ own 2015 second-round pick, which Milwaukee acquired in a previous trade, going to the Clippers.

3:41pm: The 2017 first-round pick going from the Clippers to the Bucks will be lottery protected, a source indicates to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link).

3:07pm: Delfino is only expected to miss part of the coming season, as Wojnarowski writes in his full story after deleting the tweet that indicated Delfino would likely miss the entire season.

2:33pm: The first-rounder headed Milwaukee’s way is a protected 2017 selection, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

2:20pm: The Clippers will also receive their own 2015 second-round pick that Milwaukee had acquired through a previous trade, reports Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link).

1:59pm: The Clippers are sending Jared Dudley to the Bucks, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Carlos Delfino, Miroslav Raduljica head to L.A. while the Clippers also send Milwaukee a future first-round pick, Wojnarowski adds in a second tweet. Delfino, who missed all of last season because of injury, is likely to be out all of this year, too, according to Wojnarowski, making this trade purely about unloading Dudley’s salary from the Clippers’ perspective (Twitter link). Dudley is set to make $4.25MM this season and has an early termination option for the final season of his contract in 2015/16, which is also for $4.25MM.

Delfino originally hurt his right foot while with the Rockets in the 2013 playoffs, and while he signed a three-year, $9.75MM contract last summer with Milwaukee, he’ll never have taken the floor for the club while on that deal. The final season is non-guaranteed, so given L.A.’s apparent motivation to offload salary in the deal, it appears there’s a strong chance that Delfino will end up never having played at all under his contract.

Raduljica will make $1.5MM this season, but his salary for slightly more than that in 2015/16 is non-guaranteed, so the Clippers can cut ties with both he and Delfino next summer and pocket the savings. There was no guarantee that Dudley would have opted in, but the deal gives them greater cost control.

The move is a net gain in salary of $500K for the Clippers this year, moving them less than $1MM beneath their hard cap. The Clippers will end up with 13 players as a result of the transaction, so they won’t have to sign anyone else to meet the regular season roster minimum. The deal will leave the team with $649,228 to spend under the hard cap, according to the figures compiled by Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, so that leaves only room for a prorated contract later in the season.

The Bucks had been carrying 15 guaranteed contracts plus two non-guaranteed deals, one of which is for Kendall Marshall, who’ll probably be part of the team’s rotation. So, the trade will allow the team to keep Marshall without having to unload a fully guaranteed contract.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pelicans Sign John Salmons

August 26th, 2014 at 4:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

AUGUST 26TH: The deal is official, the team announced.

AUGUST 25TH: The contract Salmons initially signed with the Pelicans wasn’t approved by the league, so the veteran re-signed a new contract with New Orleans for the same amount last Friday, reports Pincus (on Twitter). The reason for the league’s disapproval is unknown, but Pincus hypothesizes there could have been an issue with the deferral structure.

AUGUST 12TH: Salmons has finally signed his deal, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The team has yet to make an official announcement. It’s indeed for $2MM, all of which will count against the cap for the Pelicans this year, even though $500K of the payout is deferred, as Pincus adds in a second tweet.

JULY 14TH: The Pelicans will ink a deal with swingman John Salmons, whom the Hawks waived last week after acquiring him from the Raptors, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. New Orleans appears to be choosing a deal with him over Omri Casspi, whom the Pelicans are reportedly likely to release after the trade that brings him and Omer Asik to New Orleans is finalized. It’ll be a one-year, $2MM deal for Salmons, reports Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com (Twitter link). Presumably, it’ll come out of the team’s $2.732MM room exception.

The Joel Bell client split this past season between the Kings and Raptors, receiving a similar amount of playing time with both teams. He averaged 5.2 points in 22.1 minutes, but his 38.7% three-point shooting was a career high outside of his 41.7% mark in 2008/09.

The 34-year-old’s name was reportedly a part of predraft trade talks between the Raptors and Grizzlies, but Memphis apparently wasn’t too motivated to advance the discussion further. It seems like he’ll nonetheless stand a decent chance of starting at small forward for New Orleans, which renounced its rights to incumbent starter Al-Farouq Aminu and has little other means to acquire a replacement.

Jazz Sign Brock Motum

August 26th, 2014 at 3:00pm CST by Cray Allred

TUESDAY, 3:00pm: The deal is official, the team announced.

MONDAY, 8:34pm: The Jazz have agreed to terms with free agent Brock Motum in what is most likely a training camp arrangement, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The Sydney Morning Herald originally reported that Utah had extended a training camp invitation to Motum. Pincus suspects the deal will be non-guaranteed, which would line up with the latest moves out of Utah, as three players have been signed for training camp auditions at partially guaranteed salaries in Kevin Murphy, Dee Bost, and Jack Cooley.

The 6’10” Australian-born forward, who played alongside fellow Aussie Dante Exum for the Jazz in summer league, will face the daunting task of making Utah’s final roster. Motum becomes the 17th player on a team with 13 guaranteed contracts on the books for 2014/15. The Jazz have a blend of youth and veteran talent at the power forward position, with Derrick Favors, Trevor Booker, Jeremy Evans, and Steve Novak on the team. GM Dennis Lindsey indicated that Utah would keep one or two roster spots open below the 15-man minimum for training camp competition, which bodes well for Motum’s chances.

Motum went undrafted in 2013 after finishing his senior year as a Washington State Cougar, and didn’t get any NBA traction beyond draft workouts and a summer league stint with the Sixers. The forward spent last year playing professionally in Italy. In his final college season, he averaged 18.7 PPG and 6.3 RPG.

Hawks Re-Sign Mike Scott

August 26th, 2014 at 9:40am CST by Alex Lee

AUGUST 26TH: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.

AUGUST 25TH: Atlanta hasn’t announced the agreement, but Scott has signed his contract according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (via Twitter). Pincus reports that Scott’s salary is evenly distributed for a total of $10MM across the three years on the deal, and that the first two seasons of the contract are fully guaranteed. The final year is presumably partially guaranteed or completely non-guaranteed.

AUGUST 1ST: Restricted free agent forward Mike Scott has agreed to a three-year, $10MM deal to remain with the Hawks, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has confirmed the report and indicated that the third year is a team option (via Twitter). Atlanta had been working on retaining Scott, though word spread a few days ago that the Aaron Mintz client was considering an offer from Russian powerhouse CSKA Moscow.

At 26 years old, Scott broke into the Hawks’ rotation this past season after playing sparingly in his 2012/13 rookie year. He played in 80 games for Atlanta, starting six and averaging 9.6 points and 3.6 boards in 18.5 minutes per contest. The Hawks selected Scott 43rd overall in 2012 out of Virginia. Scott said in the spring that he wanted to remain with the Hawks, but other NBA teams reportedly felt that they could pry him from Atlanta.

The Hawks also retained fellow restricted free agent Shelvin Mack last week while adding free agents Thabo Sefolosha and Kent Bazemore to a team that took the top-seeded Pacers to a seventh game in the first round of the NBA Playoffs without star center Al Horford. Scott figures to continue to get significant playing time behind starting power forward Paul Millsap, though he will have some tough competition in Adreian Payne, who the Hawks took with the No. 15 selection in June’s draft.

Lakers Sign Jordan Clarkson

August 25th, 2014 at 8:36pm CST by Cray Allred

8:36pm: It is still unknown whether Clarkson’s contract is fully, partially, or non-guaranteed, but the total deal is for two years at the minimum salary, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.

4:26pm: The Lakers have signed rookie Jordan Clarkson, according to a team release. Clarkson was the 46th pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, acquired by Los Angeles from the Wizards on draft night.

Terms of the deal weren’t announced, but it is presumably for the minimum, considering the Lakers are above the cap and have no exceptions to use. The 6’5″ guard averaged 15.8 PPG, 1.2 APG and 5.0 RPG for the Lakers in Summer League, with a slash line of .424/.421/.882 after putting up 17.5 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 3.8 RPG with a .501./281./831 slash line in his junior season with Missouri.

Clarkson’s path to minutes in Los Angeles will be affected by Steve Nash‘s health and how coach Byron Scott determines to use his roster. Scott was open to using Clarkson as a ball-handler when interviewed by Mike Trudell of Lakers.com. Jeremy Lin, Nash, and Kobe Bryant stand as the guards ahead of Clarkson on the roster, with a handful of guard/forward wing players established in front of him as well.

Joel Przybilla Retires

August 24th, 2014 at 5:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Center Joel Przybilla has retired, reports Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter link). The veteran of 13 NBA seasons last played in the NBA with the Bucks in 2012/13, and he didn’t wind up with an NBA deal last season in spite of his optimism in the spring of 2013 that he would find one.

The 7’1″ Przybilla started most of his nearly 600 NBA games, though he never averaged more than 6.4 points per contest. He was instead well-regarded for his work on the boards, having led the league during the 2008/09 season in total rebound percentage, a measure of the percentage of rebounds a player grabbed while on the floor, according to Basketball-Reference. He was also a rim-protecting presence, as he averaged 1.4 blocks in just 19.8 minutes per contest over the course of his career.

Przybilla was a 1998 McDonald’s All-American who attended the University of Minnesota before the Rockets picked him ninth overall in the 2000 draft. Houston promptly traded his rights to the Bucks, the team that will go down as the one with which he both made his debut and played his final game. He also appeared with the Hawks, Blazers and Bobcats. The BDA Sports Management client walks away from the game having earned more than $44.7MM in the NBA, as his Basketball-Reference page shows.

Cavs Officially Acquire Kevin Love

August 23rd, 2014 at 1:07pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers have officially acquired Kevin Love in a three-team deal that’s the blockbuster trade of the summer, the Wolves announced. The Wolves receive Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett from Cleveland and Thaddeus Young from the Sixers as part of the deal, while Philadelphia comes away with Luc Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved from Minnesota and the Heat’s 2015 first-round pick from Cleveland. The agreement has reportedly been in place for weeks, but the inclusion of Wiggins kept it from becoming official until today. That’s because Wiggins, this year’s No. 1 overall draft pick, couldn’t be traded within 30 days after the Cavs signed him to his rookie scale contract on July 24th.

Love is the only asset going Cleveland’s way in the deal, but the Second-Team All-NBA power forward is the centerpiece of the trade. He joins LeBron James as the marquee additions for Cleveland in a landmark offseason, one that’s left them the favorites to win the Eastern Conference championship after four straight seasons outside the playoffs. Love is expected to opt out of his contract next summer after making more than $15.7MM this season, but the Cavs will have his Bird Rights and are heavy favorites to re-sign him, just as they are with James, who also possesses a player option for 2015/16. Love’s ability to hit free agency in 2015 helped precipitate the trade, as he’s made it clear that he had no intention of staying with Minnesota beyond the coming season.

The Warriors, Bulls, Celtics, Nuggets, Lakers, Kings, Knicks, Rockets, Wizards and Suns have all been linked to Love in various reports at one point or another since mid-May, when the Wolves ramped up their efforts to trade him. It appeared even before James decided to sign with Cleveland that Love would like to join the Cavs if it meant he could play with James, and James reportedly reached out to Love to reciprocate his interest in becoming teammates. The Warriors appeared to come closest to beating out Cleveland for Love, but Golden State’s unwillingness to include Klay Thompson left the sides at a stalemate, particularly once the Cavs relented to Minnesota’s insistence that Wiggins be part of any deal that would ship Love to Cleveland.

Still, others made strong pushes, including the Celtics, particularly in the wake of Love’s weekend visit to Boston around the beginning of June, but the Wolves showed disinterest in dealing with the C’s. The Suns reportedly made a call Friday to see if Minnesota would send Love their way in a sign-and-trade arrangement involving Eric Bledsoe, but the Wolves were unmoved.

Wiggins is the marquee attraction for Minnesota, and he joins Chris Webber as the only No. 1 overall picks since the merger to change teams before playing a single regular season game for the franchises that drafted them. Wiggins had a somewhat disappointing season at Kansas after having been the consensus favorite a year ago to become the top pick, creating doubt that lingered almost until the draft began about whether he, fellow Jayhawk Joel Embiid, or Jabari Parker would go No. 1 overall. Still, Wiggins possesses superstar potential, some of which he put on display in the summer league last month, when he showed off his athleticism as part of Cleveland’s squad.

There were conflicting reports about whether Bennett would join Wiggins in heading to Minnesota or be rerouted to Philadelphia, but it became clear on Thursday that Bennett would become a Timberwolf. Bennett’s performance as a rookie was thoroughly underwhelming and he’ll have a tough time living up to having been the No. 1 overall pick in 2013. Still, there’s hope that he can become a key component on a winning team after having been widely projected as a mid-lottery selection before the Cavs surprisingly took him with the top pick.

The Wolves have reportedly been enamored with Young for a while, and they’ll have a chance to plug him into the starting lineup as Love’s replacement at power forward for at least one season. Young, like Love, can opt out of his contract and become a free agent next summer, but he probably wouldn’t draw nearly as many suitors, and he’s never expressed unwillingness to play in Minnesota. Young will make more than $9.4MM this season, and if he opts in, he’ll receive almost $10MM in 2015/16.

The Sixers, having shed other well-paid veterans in an aggressive rebuilding effort over the past 15 months or so, had reportedly sought a future first-round pick for Young in advance of the trade deadline in February, so this deal facilitates that apparent desire. The Heat’s 2015 first-round pick that’s coming from the Cavs is protected for the top 10 picks the next two years, but it would become unprotected for 2017, according to RealGM. In a coincidental twist, the Heat originally traded that pick to Cleveland in the sign-and-trade that brought LeBron to Miami in 2010.

Philadelphia also reaps Mbah a Moute, who’s already close with Embiid, whom the Sixers drafted third overall in June. Mbah a Moute has mentored Embiid, a fellow native of Cameroon. Mbah a Moute is on the books at nearly $4.4MM for the upcoming season, but he, like Shved, who’ll make nearly $3.3MM, is on an expiring contract, ensuring the Sixers won’t be stuck with their salaries past next summer. That wouldn’t have been the case with Young, who might have opted in.

The Wolves had sought to unload Mbah a Moute, Shved, as well as J.J. Barea, all of whom are on fairly player-friendly deals. Minnesota can create a trade exception worth $4,644,503 as part of the transaction, with the figure equivalent to the difference between Love’s salary and the combined salaries of Wiggins and Bennett. The trade appears to leave the Wolves with a haul that’s about as impressive as possible for a team that’s surrendering the only established superstar in the deal, and most Hoops Rumors readers gave the team high marks for the package it’s receiving.

The move drops Cleveland’s roster count by one, to 17, while the Sixers net one more player to reach a total of 15. Still, Philadelphia is carrying only seven players on fully guaranteed contracts, fewer than every other team in the league. Minnesota remains at 15 players, all of whom have fully guaranteed deals, meaning the Wolves are no closer to creating an opening for second-round pick Glenn Robinson III, as they’ve hoped to do, or finding a spot for Dante Cunningham, with whom talks have picked up.

Photo courtesy USA Today Sports Images. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports originally reported that Cleveland and Minnesota had an agreement in principle. Mark Perner of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote of the Sixers’ involvement in the swap and Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune nailed down the final structure of the trade. Wojnarowski also noted Minnesota’s interest in unloading Mbah a Moute, Shved and Barea. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter links), Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (Twitter links), Dan Barreiro of KFAN Sports Radio (Twitter link) and Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter link) provided additional detail.

Cavs To Acquire Kevin Love

August 23rd, 2014 at 12:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

AUGUST 23RD, 12:40pm: The teams have completed their trade call with the league, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link), so an official announcement is expected to come shortly.

10:28am: A source close to Stein says the teams will make it one three-way swap rather than two separate trades, as long as there aren’t any last-minute changes (Twitter link).

AUGUST 22ND, 8:48am: The latest dispatch from Marc Stein of ESPN.com indicates that the arrangement could turn out to be two separate deals after all, and Wojnarowski appears to suggest the same in his story. Sam Amick of USA Today casts it as one three-team swap, however, which puts him in accordance with Zgoda’s report from late Thursday. In any case, it appears clear that Love will end up in Cleveland, Wiggins, Bennett and Young will head to Minnesota, and Mbah a Moute, Shved and the Heat’s 2015 first-round pick are destined for Philadelphia.

11:08pm: The three-team deal will be finalized on Saturday, the day the 30-day restriction on trading Wiggins expires, Zgoda reports. Zgoda confirms the previously-reported specifics of the deal and adds that the Wolves will also receive a trade exception believed to be worth at least $4 million. The deal will be announced on Saturday after the completion of a call with the league office.

3:08pm: It’ll go down as a three-team deal, rather than one separate transaction involving Love and another involving Young, as Dan Barreiro of KFAN Sports Radio and Krawczynski both expect (Twitter link). Based on the most recent reports, that wound send Love to the Cavs, while the Wolves would get Young, Wiggins and Bennett, with the Sixers set to receive Mbah a Moute, Shved, and the 2015 first-round draft pick that Cleveland had acquired from the Heat.

2:40pm: The Wolves are in line to send Mbah a Moute and Shved to the Sixers, according to Zgoda (Twitter link). The Star Tribune scribe wrote a few weeks ago that the Wolves wanted to send Barea to Philadelphia, but Zgoda clarifies today that Barea isn’t part of the arrangement. Zgoda also speculated earlier this month that Shabazz Muhammad could be a part of the deal, but it’s “highly unlikely” that Muhammad will be involved, Wolfson tweets.

12:09pm: Three sources tell Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun that Young will go to the Wolves but Bennett won’t be heading to the Sixers, advancing the earlier reports (Twitter links).

12:00pm: The belief around the league is that Young will wind up with Minnesota, according to Wolfson (Twitter link).

AUGUST 21ST, 8:46am: Sixers GM Sam Hinkie wants to acquire the first-rounder that the Cavs are shipping out in the deal, Zgoda tweets. Zgoda wrote a few weeks ago that the Wolves hoped to send that pick, likely the Heat’s 2015 first-round selection as we noted below, to Philly as part of a package for Young, so it seems a fair bet that the pick winds up with the Sixers.

AUGUST 20TH: Zgoda casts doubt on the notion that Bennett will end up with the Sixers as part of the deal (Twitter link). That would suggest that Bennett isn’t heading to Philadelphia any time soon as part of a separate transaction, as I explained.

AUGUST 8TH: 2:22pm: Young says the Sixers haven’t given him or agent Jim Tanner any notification that he’ll be traded, as Lynam writes in her full piece.

10:54am: Young tells Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com that, “I have not been traded,” though that could be a matter of semantics, as no trade is yet official (Twitter link).

9:16am: Fellow Daily News scribe Bob Cooney seconds the news that Young is headed to Minnesota and Bennett will go to Philadelphia, but he suggests the move will take place as a separate transaction (Twitter link). Still, it would make more sense if it were part of the Love trade, since the salaries in a standalone Young-Bennett swap wouldn’t meet the NBA’s salary-matching requirements.

FRIDAY, 8:08am: The Sixers will indeed be a part of the deal, as they’ll acquire Bennett from the Cavs and send Young to the Wolves, a source tells Mark Perner of the Philadelphia Daily News. Bennett will give Philadelphia three of the top 11 picks from the 2013 draft, joining Nerlens Noel and reigning Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams. Young figures to slide in as Love’s replacement at power forward in Minnesota, though he has the chance to opt out and hit free agency in 2015, just like Love.

THURSDAY, 2:58pm: John Lucas III, whom the Cavs acquired from the Jazz last month, isn’t a part of the Love trade as it stands, but there’s a decent chance Cleveland will send him out in the deal with the Wolves, tweets USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt.

12:51pm: The potential that a third team becomes involved still exists, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter link). Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune suggested earlier today that the possibility remained in play. The Wolves continue to work with the Sixers, Krawczynski also tweets, and Zgoda outlined what Minnesota would want to accomplish in a arrangement that would net them Thaddeus Young, as we passed along.

12:35pm: The protected 2015 first-rounder going to Minnesota will likely be the Heat’s pick, Wojnarowski tweets. Miami owes that selection to the Cavs from the LeBron James sign-and-trade in 2010, according to RealGM.

11:56am: There’s no agreement regarding a new max deal for Love, reports Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Berger hears from two sources who suggest that Love will wait to see what James does with his ability to hit free agency next summer.

8:26am: The Wolves and Cavs have reached an agreement in principle on a deal that will send Kevin Love to the Cavs for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a protected 2015 first-round pick, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Cleveland is doing the deal with a firm commitment from Love that he will opt out of his contract next summer and re-sign with the team for the max, Wojnarowski adds. Surprisingly, there’s no third team involved, in spite of a string of rumors indicating that the Wolves were high on acquiring Thaddeus Young from the Sixers. The swap can’t become official until August 23rd, the first day following the 30-day period in which the Cavs are barred from trading Wiggins after signing him to his rookie scale contract.

The teams had agreed to the precise terms weeks ago, but the Cavs and Wolves are staying silent until they can formalize the trade, sources tell Wojnarowski. The Cavs feared the Bulls would instead trade for Love and block the path to the Eastern Conference title, and that helped prompt Cleveland to close on the deal, Wojnarowski hears. That’s in spite of Chicago’s last formal offer having come before the draft in June, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). That conflicts with a report from late July that indicated that the Bulls had offered Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott. Chicago stayed in contact with the Wolves, but the Bulls understood that when the Cavs made Wiggins available, it would have required them to make too strong an offer to compete, Johnson adds (on Twitter).

Cavs officials were also cognizant that it would be difficult for them to clear the cap space necessary to sign Love as a free agent next summer without his Bird rights, according to Wojnarowski. The trade will allow Cleveland to have those Bird rights, which will let the team exceed the cap to re-sign him.

The Wolves had sought to unload some of their player-friendly contracts in a Love trade, and they still hold out hope of parting with J.J. Barea, Luc Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved in subsequent moves, according to Wojnarowski. Minnesota is also still trying to acquire Young from the Sixers, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities, but it’s unclear if the efforts are related at this point.

The agreement ends more than two months of intense Love-related rumors after Love made it clear to the Wolves that he would hit free agency next summer and Minnesota began to seriously consider trades. The Bulls and Warriors appeared at the top of Love’s list of preferred destinations at that point. Golden State remained a prime contender for weeks, but their decision against including Klay Thompson in a deal appears to have scuttled any chance Love would end up in the Bay Area. Love made a high-profile visit to Boston around the first of June, but Minnesota wasn’t interested in any assets the Celtics had to offer.

Love reportedly made Cleveland his top choice following the return of LeBron James to the Cavs, and even before the four-time MVP left Miami, Love indicated that he would be 100% on board with joining the Cavs if James were also on the team. James reportedly reached out to Love to tell him he’d like for them to play together in Cleveland and appeared to signal to Cavs management that he wanted them to trade for the All-Star power forward. James conspicuously left Wiggins’ name out of the essay he co-authored with Lee Jenkins of SI.com when he announced his decision to return to Cleveland.

The addition of Love, a 25-year-old three-time All-Star, puts the Cavs squarely in the title race this season. Just as the trade can’t be finalized until August 23rd, Love’s commitment to sign a five-year max contract with the team next summer can’t be official until next July, so much of the arrangement relies on everyone involved keeping their word. James can opt out of his deal with the Cavs and hit free agency next summer, too, so there are few concrete certainties. Still, it appears the Cavs are well-positioned for the future even as they relinquish consecutive No. 1 overall draft selections in Wiggins and Bennett. Wiggins, in particular, makes parting with Love easier to swallow for Minnesota, and his vast potential means there’s a decent chance the Wolves will ultimately emerge with a better return for having traded a superstar than any other team to have done so.

The Nuggets, Suns, Lakers, Rockets, Kings, Knicks, and Wizards were among the other teams connected to Love throughout the process, but the Cavs had emerged as clear front-runners in recent weeks. Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com suggested in a radio appearance a few days ago that Cleveland and Minnesota had a handshake agreement in place. The vast majority of Hoops Rumors readers who voted in our poll even before Windhorst’s comments believed Love would be with the Cavaliers by the start of the season.

Photo courtesy USA Today Sports Images.

Cavs Sign Dwight Powell

August 23rd, 2014 at 10:21am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Cavaliers have signed second-round draft pick Dwight Powell, the team has officially announced. The 6’11 forward out of Stanford was selected by the Hornets with the No. 45 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft. Powell was then traded along Brendan Haywood to the Cavs for Scotty Hopson.

Powell played four seasons for Stanford, and appeared in 136 games, averaging 10.8 PPG and 6.3 RPG, while playing 26.2 minutes a night. He was a two-time First Team All-Pac 12 selection during his college career. Last season he averaged 14.0 PPG, 6.9 RPG, and 3.1 APG.

During this year’s Las Vegas Summer League, Powell played in three games, and averaged 5.0 PPG and 3.7 RPG, while logging 11.3 minutes per night.

Hawks Re-Sign Shelvin Mack

August 22nd, 2014 at 2:47pm CST by Chuck Myron

AUGUST 22ND: The Hawks have finally formalized the deal, making an official announcement via press release.

JULY 25TH: The Hawks and Shelvin Mack have struck agreement on a three-year, $7.3MM deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The contract will include a team option on the final season, Wojnarowski adds.

Mack had been one of five remaining unrestricted free agents across the league, but as I noted earlier this week, the market for the 24-year-old combo guard appeared quiet. He’d said in May that he would like to return to Atlanta, but hadn’t been heard from since.

It looks like Atlanta will use some of its ample cap space to complete the deal and bring back a significant contributor from last season’s playoff team. Mack averaged 7.5 points and 3.7 assists in 20.4 minutes per game during the regular season, and upped his scoring to 8.1 PPG in just 16.9 MPG during the postseason. It was the 2011 34th overall pick’s best season to date after he bounced around to three teams in his first two years in the league.

Mack played point guard behind Jeff Teague last season, and while he’s also seen time at two-guard in the NBA, the move to re-sign Mack poses questions about point guard Dennis Schröder, whom the Hawks drafted 17th overall in 2013.

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