Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Nuggets Sign Erick Green

August 1st, 2014 at 11:59am CST by Alex Lee

AUGUST 1ST: The deal is official, the team announced.

JULY 26TH, 7:51pm: Green’s three-year contract is non-guaranteed, as detailed on Basketball Insiders’ Eric Pincus’ salary sheet for the Nuggets, coming in at $2,332,826 of total salary.

FRIDAY, 7:55am: Green signed his contract with the Nuggets on Thursday, according to the RealGM transactions log, though the team has yet to announce the deal.

THURSDAY, 2:20pm: It’ll be a three-year deal for Green, the 46th pick in last year’s draft, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets. That means Denver will use a portion of its mid-level exception to complete the signing.

WEDNESDAY, 8:06pm: After a strong summer league showing, Erick Green will sign a multi-year deal with the Nuggets, reports Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops (hat tip to Sportando). The Virginia Tech product played for Italy’s Mens Sana Siena last season after being selected by Utah in the second round of the 2013 NBA Draft (his rights were then traded to Denver). Green averaged 11.5 points on 51 percent shooting in 28 games for Siena last season, helping to lead the team to the seventh game of the Italian finals.

Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post confirms the deal, writing that Green will likely fill the team’s need for a third point guard behind Ty Lawson and Nate Robinson. As Dempsey notes, Green averaged 16.6 points, 3.0 boards and 2.6 assists per game for the Nuggets this summer, in turn convincing the team that he was capable of handling point guard duties in the NBA. His scoring ability was likely never in doubt, as the 23-year-old was the leading scorer among Division I players in his final season in Blacksburg.

The financial terms of the deal are not yet known, though the original report indicates that the pact will extend beyond one year. After adding Gary Harris in the draft and Arron Afflalo via trade, the signing of Green currently puts the Nuggets’ roster at 14 players. Denver also selected international prospects Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic in June, though it is unclear if either will play for the team this season.

Bucks Sign Johnny O’Bryant

July 31st, 2014 at 5:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

THURSDAY, 5:35pm: The final year of O’Bryant’s contract is actually non-guaranteed salary, rather than a team option, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.

6:40pm: O’Bryant’s deal is for three years, with the third year being a team option, reports Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

WEDNESDAY, 5:02pm: The Bucks have signed Johnny O’Bryant, the 36th pick in this year’s draft, the team announced. Exact terms of the contract were not announced. He’ll compete for playing time with Ersan Ilyasova and John Henson, though O’Bryant seems destined to spend significant time in the NBA D-League this season to help him develop.

The 6’9″ power forward had appeared in five games for the Bucks during Summer League play in Las Vegas, where he averaged 8.2 points and 5.4 rebounds in 18.2 minutes per contest. He saved his best game for last, when he posted 10 points and 10 rebounds against the Warriors Summer League entry.

O’Bryant played for three seasons at LSU, where he averaged 12.7 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 1.3 APG for his career. He earned First Team All-SEC honors in 2013 and 2014.

Nuggets Sign Jusuf Nurkic

July 31st, 2014 at 3:30pm CST by Alex Lee

JULY 31ST: The signing is official, the Nuggets announced.

JULY 23RD: The Nuggets have signed 16th overall pick Jusuf Nurkic, reports Mark Deeks of ShamSports (via Twitter). Nurkic will likely be making more than $1.7MM this season, as our table of salaries for 2014 first-round picks shows.

Denver’s other first rounder, Gary Harris, signed his deal with the team earlier this month. However the situation with Nurkic, a 19-year-old international prospect from Bosnia, was less clear as his addition to the Nuggets roster faced the obstacle of a $1.77MM buyout due to his overseas club. Eventually, Nurkic and KK Cedevita (of Croatia) agreed to spread the buyout over two seasons. With Denver paying the $600K Excluded International Player Payment Amount this upcoming season, that would put Nurkic on the hook for about $285K in 2014/15 and the full $885K in 2015/16, meaning he will pocket roughly $1.42MM in his first season in the NBA.

At 6-foot-11 and 280 pounds, Nurkic is a traditional center that rocketed up draft boards due to his size and touch around the basket. As Denver GM Tim Connelly indicated after the draft, the Bosnian is a “long term play” although he does possess the skill level that could allow him to have an impact sooner than some think.

Nuggets Sign Gary Harris

July 31st, 2014 at 3:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 31ST: The team has followed up with a formal announcement, making the signing official.

JULY 9TH: The Nuggets have signed 19th overall pick Gary Harris, according to Aaron J. Lopez of Nuggets.com (Twitter link). Harris will likely be making a little more than $1.5MM this season, as our table of salaries for 2014 first-round picks shows.

Denver’s other first-round pick, 16th overall selection Jusuf Nurkic, is reportedly working on a buyout from his overseas club and remains unsigned, though the latest report indicates that he’s likely to join the Nuggets this year. Both came via trade from the Bulls in a deal in which the Nuggets surrendered the rights to No. 11 pick Doug McDermott.

Harris, a 6’4″ shooting guard, averaged 16.7 points in 32.3 minutes per game this past season, with 35.2% shooting from behind the three-point line. Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors, who examined the prospect profile of Harris, cast the former Michigan State Spartan as a strong value for teams picking 10th through 15th, suggesting that he’s a steal for the Nuggets at No. 19.

Bucks Sign Jerryd Bayless

July 31st, 2014 at 10:34am CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 31ST: The deal is official, the Bucks announced (on Twitter).

JULY 17TH: The Bucks and Jerryd Bayless have reached a deal, as the Phoenix native tells Mark McClune of Phoenix CBS affiliate KPHO-TV (Twitter link; hat tip to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported Tuesday that the sides were nearing an agreement, and they had been discussing a two-year arrangement between $6-7MM with no option clauses, according to Gardner.

Bayless spent the bulk of last season with the Celtics after an early-January trade brought him from Memphis, and he quickly identified Boston as a place he wanted to stay for the long term. The client of Excel Sports Management reiterated that stance on multiple occasions during what appears to have been a brief tenure with the Celtics, and coach Brad Stevens appeared to lobby the front office for his return. The Celtics had Early Bird rights on the combo guard that would have given them the means to make an offer equal to or greater than what he seems to have netted from the Bucks, but ultimately it looks like the sides couldn’t reach a deal.

Milwaukee appears to be technically operating over the cap, though the team has eyed using its flexibility to open up space and make an offer to Eric Bledsoe, among other targets. A competitive offer for Bledsoe would likely require the team to trade some of its guaranteed salary, and there have been conflicting reports about Milwaukee’s willingness to trade Ersan Ilyasova. A two-year deal for Bayless with a starting salary that’s roughly half of the $6-7MM figure that Gardner floated for the total value of the deal could be a fit for part of the $5.305MM mid-level, should the Bucks stay above the cap. Otherwise, Milwaukee would likely have to use cap room.

Wizards Waive Melvin Ely

July 31st, 2014 at 7:42am CST by Chuck Myron

THURSDAY, 7:42am: There’s been no formal announcement from the team, but the move has indeed taken place, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter) and the RealGM transactions log.

WEDNESDAY, 4:26pm: The Wizards are waiving power forward Melvin Ely, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Ely came to Washington from the Pelicans as part of the three-team sign-and-trade that sent Trevor Ariza to the Rockets. His non-guaranteed minimum salary has been scheduled to become fully guaranteed at the end of Friday, but it appears the Wizards are releasing him before that happens.

New Orleans brought the 36-year-old back into the NBA after a three-year absence from the league with a contract signed with just two days to go in the season. The inclusion of the non-guaranteed 2014/15 salary made it plain that the Pelicans intended to use him as trade fodder, and his contract proved key in the team’s ability to acquire Omer Asik, as I explained earlier.

Washington has been less than $200K shy of the tax line, but dropping Ely will allow the team to open up more than $1.3MM of extra space beneath the threshold, room to add another minimum salary or two. The Wizards are also hard-capped, so even if they go over the tax line, they can’t go more than $4MM into the tax at any point this season.

Byron Mullens To Sign With Chinese Team

July 30th, 2014 at 8:34pm CST by Charlie Adams

Byron Mullens has reached an agreement to sign with the Shanxi Brave Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association, reveals a report from Sina.com (translation via Orazio Cauchi of Sportando). Mullens hit the free agent market in late June after turning down a minimum salary player option that would have kept him with the Sixers for the 2014/15 season.

After a lackluster start to his 2013/14 campaign with the Clippers, Mullens was shipped to Philadelphia and put up respectable numbers, albeit while seeing limited action. Mullens averaged 16.7 minutes per night over the course of 18 games, putting up nightly marks of 6.8 points and 3.3 boards.

The Wasserman Media Group client didn’t seem to draw much attention from NBA teams this offseason, as evidenced by the lack of activity found on his Hoops Rumors rumor page. It remains to be seen if there’s an NBA escape clause in the big man’s contract that could bring him back to the US should a stateside club show interest. The CBA’s regular season ends in February, so Mullens could still be a late season addition to a team if he indeed lacks an NBA-out in his deal. The length of the new pact hasn’t been disclosed.

Warriors Waive Hilton Armstrong

July 30th, 2014 at 4:56pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:56pm: Golden State has officially placed Armstrong on waivers, the team announced via press release.

4:23pm: The Warriors are waiving center Hilton Armstrong, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Armstrong’s minimum-salary deal has been to set to become fully guaranteed if the team doesn’t waive him by the end of Friday, but it appears Golden State will do so.

The 29-year-old signed four different contracts this past season with the Warriors, who first added him in December and later inked him to a pair of 10-day deals. They secured him for the balance of the season with a week to go before the playoffs, tacking on the non-guaranteed 2014/15 salary. It was the first NBA action in three years for the former No. 12 overall pick, but he saw fewer than 100 minutes in the regular season. He made it into all seven games of Golden State’s playoff series against the Clippers, but he only saw 17 total minutes across those appearances.

The move gives the hard-capped Warriors some extra wiggle room, as they had been roughly $4.5MM beneath the tax line and $8.5MM under the tax threshold, the latter of which is the line they can’t cross. That room will come in handy if the team, which has been involved in Kevin Love talks, needs to accommodate salary in a trade. The Warriors can open up nearly another $1MM if they waive Draymond Green by the end of Friday, but they’ll almost certainly not do that.

Heat Re-Sign Chris Bosh

July 30th, 2014 at 4:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 30TH: The deal is finally official, the team announced, after Bosh spent much of the month traveling overseas.

“Chris Bosh is a two-time NBA champion and one of the most versatile big men in the league,” Heat president Pat Riley said. “His unique skillset makes him one of the best players in the game today. I’ve always felt he was committed to this organization, this staff and this city. I think he’s going to have the opportunity of a lifetime leading this team next season and having the nine-time NBA All-Star back in the fold was a big key for us. We are very blessed to have him.”

JULY 11TH: The Heat and Chris Bosh are finalizing an agreement on a five-year deal for the maximum salary, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The Rockets believed they would get Bosh to commit to their offer of the maximum, which by rule was only for four years, with lower annual raises, but the Henry Thomas client ultimately spurned Houston to remain with the Heat. The new max deal will include a starting salary of $20,644,400, and total $118,705,300 over the life of the contract.

Bosh and his wife love living Miami, and their affection for South Florida was a strong factor in the decision, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. It’s a major victory for the Heat and team president Pat Riley, who’ll know the team will at least keep one of its three stars after LeBron James bolted for the Cavs. The Lakers and Bosh reportedly had mutual interest, too, but ultimately it came down to a decision between the Rockets and Heat.

Before the Rockets made their push, Bosh seemed like a strong bet to return to Miami, having said publicly that he would return. Still, that seemed to hinge on the return of LeBron, and when he left for Cleveland, Bosh seemed destined to follow the four-time MVP out of Miami.

Instead, the Heat will retain the No. 3 player in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings. As Charlie Adams of Hoops Rumors wrote when he examined Bosh’s free agent stock, Bosh had plenty of leverage to secure a lucrative payday in a destination of his choice after establishing himself as an athletic force defensively and a versatile scorer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Wolves Sign Mo Williams

July 30th, 2014 at 4:19pm CST by Zachary Links

WEDNESDAY, 4:19pm: The deal is official, the team announced (via Twitter).

MONDAY, 4:10pm: Mo Williams and the Wolves have reached agreement on a one-year, $3.75MM deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).

The free agent guard had chiefly been connected to the Mavs of late, but Dallas instead used the $2.732MM room exception it had earmarked for a potential deal with the ex-Blazer on Jameer Nelson. The Wolves are almost certainly using part of their $5.305MM mid-level exception on this deal, one that will give Williams more than he would have made with the Mavs.

Williams, 31, had made re-signing with Portland his “only goal” at the outset of free agency after he turned down a $2.77MM player option. The capped out Blazers used their exceptions on Chris Kaman and Steve Blake, leaving only the Non-Bird rights they held on Williams to give him no more than a 20% raise, and it became clear within the second week of free agency that the chances for a return were slim.

The Wolves have been looking at the Mark Bartelstein client for a few days now, as John Krawczynski of The Associated Press notes (on Twitter). Team president Flip Saunders & Co. see Williams as a strong fit to play on the second unit alongside rookie dunking machine Zach LaVine. In 74 games for the Blazers last season, Williams averaged 9.7 PPG and 4.3 APG in 24.8 minutes per contest. Williams also turned in a career-low 41.7% field goal percentage and 11.8 PER, numbers that he’ll look to improve on this season.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.