Renounced Players: Wednesday
As teams clear cap space to finalize signings and trades, it may mean renouncing Early Bird or Bird rights to their own free agents, in order to remove cap holds from the books. Once a player is renounced, his previous team has no more claim to him that any other team — he could still be re-signed, but it would have to be done using cap space or an exception. Some of those decisions are more notable than others, but for completion's sake, we'll track the latest of these cap-clearing moves right here:
- Mo Williams is the most prominent name among the several whose rights the Jazz renounced today, according to the RealGM transaction log. Al Jefferson, DeMarre Carroll and Earl Watson, who already have deals to join other teams, are also on the list, as are the long-retired Brevin Knight and Greg Ostertag.
- Bobcats are set to re-sign Josh McRoberts, but they won't be using their Early Bird rights to do so, as they've renounced his rights, RealGM shows. The team also renounced their rights to Reggie Williams, who's heading to the Rockets, and it cut ties with DeSagana Diop, Byron Mullens and Jannero Pargo, too.
- Golden State will sign Jermaine O'Neal, so the Suns have renounced his rights, as well as their rights to Wesley Johnson and Diante Garrett, as RealGM notes.
Earlier updates:
- The Hawks have cleared out unwanted cap holds from their books, renouncing their rights to Hilton Armstrong, Erick Dampier, Devin Harris, Dahntay Jones, Randolph Morris, Zaza Pachulia, Johan Petro, Josh Smith, and Etan Thomas, according to RealGM.com's transactions log.
- RealGM.com also has the Trail Blazers renouncing multiple players, including Luke Babbitt, J.J. Hickson, Eric Maynor, and Nolan Smith.
- Most interestingly, according to RealGM.com, the Bucks have renounced their rights to Monta Ellis. That doesn't necessarily preclude a sign-and-trade, but it would mean the team would have to use cap space rather than Ellis' Bird rights to accommodate a deal.
- The Pelicans have renounced their rights to Louis Amundson, Xavier Henry, and Roger Mason Jr., the team announced today in a press release.
- In order to clear cap room for their signings, the Pistons renounced Will Bynum, Jose Calderon, Vernon Macklin, Corey Maggette, Jason Maxiell, and Ben Wallace, according to RealGM's transactions log. The Pistons plan to re-sign Bynum, but removing his $6MM+ cap hold and signing him to a smaller figure using cap space makes the most sense.
- After renouncing their rights to Chauncey Billups and Lamar Odom, the Clippers have also renounced Bobby Simmons, according to RealGM.com's transactions log.
Jazz Acquire Biedrins, Jefferson, Rush, Picks
JULY 10TH, 4:40pm: Utah's agreement with the Warriors has been finalized and has been rolled into a separate deal, both teams confirmed. The breakdown:
- Utah receives Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson, Brandon Rush, two first-round picks (2014 and 2017 from Warriors), three second-round picks (2016 and 2017 from Warriors, 2018 from Nuggets), and cash (from Warriors).
- Denver receives Randy Foye (via sign-and-trade) and a second-round pick (2018 from Warriors).
- Golden State receives Andre Iguodala (via sign-and-trade) and Kevin Murphy.
JULY 5TH, 4:36pm: Both first-rounders the Jazz are acquiring in the deal will be unprotected, tweets Jody Genessy of the Deseret News.
4:01pm: The Warriors will send their 2014 and 2017 first-round picks to the Jazz, tweets Wojnarowski. Multiple second-rounders will also go to Utah in the deal, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter).
3:27pm: Murphy will be sent to the Warriors in the trade, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Meanwhile, Wojnarowski tweets that multiple draft picks are headed to the Jazz, including a 2014 first-rounder.
3:23pm: Brandon Rush is also headed to Utah in the deal, according to Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group. Shedding Rush's salary as well will give Golden State room under the cap to sign Iguodala.
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com adds (via Twitter) that the Warriors will receive a non-guaranteed contract from Utah in the trade. That player will be either Kevin Murphy or Jerel McNeal.
2:57pm: The Warriors have reached an agreement on a salary-dump trade with the Jazz, according to Adrian Wojnarowksi of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Andris Biedrins and Richard Jefferson will be heading to Utah in the deal, reports TNT's David Aldridge (via Twitter).
Rumors relating to the Warriors' trade talks with the Jazz had been swirling all day, as Golden State looked for a way to clear cap space to make a run at Dwight Howard and/or Andre Iguodala. The team ended up reaching an agreement to bring Iguodala aboard, and hasn't been entirely ruled out of the race for Howard.
Nuggets Acquire Randy Foye In Three-Way Deal
WEDNESDAY, 4:37pm: The Nuggets and Jazz have issued press releases officially announcing the three-way deal. Denver will send the Jazz a future second-round pick, as previously reported, but will also receive a future second-rounder from the Warriors in the deal. As I predicted yesterday, Golden State's trade with Utah has also been rolled into this one. In all, the deal looks like this:
- Utah receives Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson, Brandon Rush, two first-round picks (2014 and 2017 from Warriors), three second-round picks (2016 and 2017 from Warriors, 2018 from Nuggets), and cash (from Warriors).
- Denver receives Randy Foye (via sign-and-trade) and a second-round pick (2018 from Warriors).
- Golden State receives Andre Iguodala (via sign-and-trade) and Kevin Murphy.
TUESDAY, 3:30pm: The Nuggets, not the Warriors, will send the Jazz a 2018 second-rounder in the trade, according to Genessy (via Twitter).
This strongly suggests to me that the Warriors and Jazz will be folding their earlier agreement into this deal, since not doing so would mean there are no outgoing pieces coming from Golden State. As noted below, folding the two deals into one should allow the Warriors to keep a $11MM+ TPE rather than a $9MM one.
MONDAY, 3:20pm: The Warriors, Nuggets, and Jazz have agreed to a three-way trade that will send Randy Foye to Denver and Andre Iguodala to Golden State via sign-and-trades, according to Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. Genessy reports that the Jazz will receive a 2018 second-round pick from the Warriors in the deal. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported late last night that the three teams were involved in "advanced discussions."
According to Wojnarowski's initial report, Foye will receive a three-year, $9MM contract from the Nuggets, with a team option on the third season. ESPN.com's Marc Stein first reported late last night that Foye and the Nuggets were closing in on a verbal agreement. Meanwhile, the deal will mean yet another pick headed to Utah from the Warriors, who are already set to send the Jazz multiple picks in another trade agreement.
Over the weekend, I explained why the Warriors would likely pursue a sign-and-trade agreement with Denver rather than sign Iguodala outright, despite having already agreed to a four-year contract with him. In that piece, I suggested that Golden State would take on Iguodala using the $11,046,000 trade exception the team will create by moving Richard Jefferson, allowing the club to retain its other TPEs and the full mid-level. However, by incorporating Utah into this deal, the Warriors may be able to combine their two agreements with the Jazz into one trade, allowing them to keep the slightly larger Jefferson TPE rather than the $9MM exception for Biedrins.
For Denver, the agreement will allow the team to add Foye and create a trade exception worth Iguodala's new salary. Since the Nuggets project to be an over-the-cap team, it looks like they'll have to use some of that Iguodala TPE in order to acquire Foye, but there still should be $8MM+ left on it when the dust settles.
Hawks Sign Paul Millsap To Two-Year Deal
JULY 10TH: The Hawks have officially signed Millsap, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 5TH: The Hawks have agreed to a deal with power forward Paul Millsap, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It's a two-year deal, Vivlamore adds via Twitter. Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld first reported the two sides were in serious discussions. The pact will total $19MM, according to Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link).
Millsap, a client of agent DeAngelo Simmons, gets a slight bump from his $8.6MM salary this past season, and presumably will be playing power forward next to Al Horford in Atlanta. Horford is one of just three returning Hawks players who entered the summer with guaranteed contracts, though Atlanta re-signed Kyle Korver earlier this week. The Hawks, armed with plenty of cap space, figure to be active now that Dwight Howard is heading to Houston instead of his hometown, and the team has already been linked to a possible sign-and-trade involving Josh Smith and Omer Asik.
The Jazz renounced their rights to Millsap earlier today after absorbing the expiring contracts of Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins and Brandon Rush. That rendered Utah unable to make a competitive bid to retain Millsap, since the Jazz are up against the cap.
2013 Amnesty Primer
Today is the last day of the July moratorium, which means NBA teams can officially resume full activity beginning tomorrow. In addition to signaling the end of the moratorium, July 10th also marks the first day that teams are eligible to amnesty players. This year's amnesty period will run from the 10th until the 16th — after that, teams that still haven't used their amnesty clause won't get another chance to do so until next July.
With amnesty week upon us, here's a refresher on how the process works, which teams still have the amnesty option available, and which players remain amnesty-eligible….
How does it work?
The amnesty provision provides a team an opportunity to clear a bad contract from its books for salary cap and luxury tax purposes. Although a team still has to pay the remainder of the amnestied player's salary, as it would for any released player, the player's salary no longer counts against the team's cap (except for minimum payroll purposes) when the amnesty clause is used. For instance, if and when the Lakers amnesty Metta World Peace, they'll still pay him his full $7,727,280 salary for 2013/14, but will remove that figure from the cap, significantly reducing the team's tax bill.
The amnesty provision can be used on any player, as long as the following rules are observed:
- A team can only amnesty one player — not one player per season.
- The amnesty provision can only be used on a player who signed his contract prior to July 1st, 2011. If a contract was signed, extended, or renegotiated after that date, the player cannot be amnestied.
- A team can only use its amnesty provision on a player who was on its roster on July 1st, 2011. If a player was traded after that date, he cannot be amnestied.
- The amnesty clause can only be used during the seven days following the July moratorium. If a team doesn't amnesty a player during that week, it won't get another chance to do so until the following July.
- A team that has yet to use its amnesty clause can do so in any of the next three years. The 2015/16 season is the last year in which a player can be amnestied under the current CBA.
Amnestied players are placed on waivers, but the waiver rules are slightly different than usual. An under-the-cap team can still place a full waiver claim on an amnestied player, if it doesn't mind being on the hook for the rest of the player's contract. However, clubs also have the option to submit partial waiver claims, in what essentially amounts to an auction for the player's services. If no team places a full claim, the team with the highest partial claim is awarded the player. If two teams bid the same amount, the club with the worse record wins out. If neither a full or partial claim is submitted, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent.
For a few more details on the amnesty process, check out our complete explanation in the Hoops Rumors glossary.
Which teams still have the amnesty provision available?
Exactly half of the NBA's 30 teams have used the amnesty provision in the last two offseasons, leaving 15 clubs with the option of amnesty still at their disposal. These are the teams still in play, per our amnesty provision tracker:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Boston Celtics
- Charlotte Bobcats
- Chicago Bulls
- Detroit Pistons
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Miami Heat
- Milwaukee Bucks
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Sacramento Kings
- San Antonio Spurs
- Toronto Raptors
- Utah Jazz
The Pelicans no longer have any amnesty-eligible players left on their roster, and reports have suggested the Bobcats will amnesty Tyrus Thomas, while the Lakers will amnesty World Peace. That would leave just 12 teams with the amnesty option available.
Which players are still eligible to be amnestied?
While there are 35 players still eligible to be amnestied, some are likelier candidates than others. I examined a few of this summer's potential amnesty candidates back in March, but here's the complete list of players that technically remain amnesty-eligible, along with the total money left on their deals:
- Atlanta Hawks: Al Horford ($36MM)
- Boston Celtics: Rajon Rondo ($24.86MM), Avery Bradley ($2.51MM)
- Charlotte Bobcats: Tyrus Thomas ($18.08MM)
- Chicago Bulls: Joakim Noah ($36.7MM), Carlos Boozer ($32.1MM), Luol Deng ($14.28MM)
- Detroit Pistons: Charlie Villanueva ($8.58MM), Greg Monroe ($4.09MM)
- Los Angeles Lakers: Kobe Bryant ($30.45MM), Pau Gasol ($19.29MM), Metta World Peace ($7.73MM), Steve Blake ($4MM)
- Memphis Grizzlies: Zach Randolph ($34.3MM), Mike Conley ($26.08MM)
- Miami Heat: LeBron James ($61.77MM), Chris Bosh ($61.77MM), Dwyane Wade ($60.49MM), Mike Miller ($12.8MM), Udonis Haslem ($8.96MM), Joel Anthony ($7.6MM)
- Milwaukee Bucks: Drew Gooden ($13.37MM), Larry Sanders ($3.05MM)
- New Orleans Pelicans: No players eligible
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Kevin Durant ($56.99MM), Kendrick Perkins ($18.63MM), Nick Collison ($4.83MM), Thabo Sefolosha ($3.9MM)
- Sacramento Kings: John Salmons ($14.58MM), DeMarcus Cousins ($4.92MM)
- San Antonio Spurs: Tony Parker ($25MM), Matt Bonner ($3.95MM)
- Toronto Raptors: Amir Johnson ($13.6MM), Linas Kleiza ($4.6MM)
- Utah Jazz: Derrick Favors ($6.01MM), Gordon Hayward ($3.45MM)
FA Updates: Brewer, Teague, Hawks, Knicks, Lucas
With the July moratorium scheduled to be lifted tomorrow, free agent contracts can finally become official, and tomorrow should be a busy day, as teams and players formally finalize their agreements from the last nine days. However, there are still plenty of players on the market in search of a new team, or a deal with their old team. Here's the latest on a few of them:
- Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets that the Timberwolves have spoken to Corey Brewer's reps, and Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune hears from a source close to Brewer that the Wolves "would love him" (Twitter link).
- The Bucks' interest in Jeff Teague is "undeniable," but it's not clear if the Hawks are ready to take back Brandon Jennings or Monta Ellis in a sign-and-trade, says ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter).
- After passing along a handful of Knicks updates this morning, Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com provides a couple more. According to Zwerling, there's still mutual interest between the Knicks and Aaron Brooks, and the team also has some interest in Shawne Williams, though there's "nothing firm" there (Twitter links).
- Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports that John Lucas III met with the Jazz in Orlando yesterday, and hears from agent Bernie Lee that Lucas will meet with another team today in his hometown of Houston. According to Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune (via Twitter), four teams, including the Jazz, are interested in the free agent point guard.
- Before he agreed to sign with the Pistons, Italian forward Gigi Datome drew interest from the Celtics, Bucks, Rockets, Suns, Spurs, and Grizzlies, tweets Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
Lowe On Howard, Wizards, Teague, Pelicans
The surprise of the summer might not have been Dwight Howard's departure from the Lakers, but the quickness with which he decided to join up with the Rockets. We're just a week into the free agency period, but executives are already taking the time to survey the entire landscape outside of their own milieu. Zach Lowe of Grantland checked in with basketball people to get their take on things and unearthed some very interesting tidbits..
- Lowe wonders why more clubs didn't put their toe in the water for Dwight Howard. His educated guess after poking around is that the Wizards gave it a go while the Bulls, who were once a rumored trade destination, did not. The Bulls have a stern culture, very good talent already on hand, and a tax complication, so Howard would have been a longshot and maybe not the best idea anyway.
- The Jazz could have used their cap space this summer to sign Jeff Teague, who sources say is nearly unwanted in the Hawks organization. We've heard previously that the point guard was upset with the lack of communication he's had with Atlanta this summer.
- Pelicans owner Tom Benson has told the front office that the team needs to take a significant step forward this season, according to several sources around the league. That would help to explain their sizable commitment to Tyreke Evans this summer.
- Other execs have pointed out that the Rockets tend to be sort of annoying, especially around draft day. Daryl Morey & Co. make many, many phone calls, poking the market and chasing tiny deals that move them two spots up in the draft or add an extra second-round pick. People knocked Morey for burning up the phone lines to chase the No. 9 seed a year ago and didn't seem long for Houston, but he has turned a roster with zero top-50 talent into a roster with two top-15 players.
- As much as Houston says they want to hang on to center Omer Asik, Lowe would be surprised to see him finish the year with the Rockets.
Warriors, Nuggets, Jazz In Advanced Trade Talks
The Warriors, Nuggets, and Jazz are in "advanced discussions" on a three-way deal that would result in two players being signed-and-traded, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. According to Wojnarowski, the move would involve Andre Iguodala heading to Golden State via sign-and-trade, Randy Foye going to Denver via sign-and-trade, and a Warriors second-round pick heading to the Jazz.
If the deal were to be agreed upon, Foye would receive a three-year, $9MM contract from the Nuggets, with a team option on the third season, says Wojnarowski. ESPN.com's Marc Stein first reported late last night that Foye and the Nuggets were closing in on a verbal agreement. Meanwhile, the deal would mean yet another pick headed to Utah from the Warriors, who are already set to send the Jazz multiple first- and second-round picks in a separate agreement.
Over the weekend, I explained why the Warriors would likely pursue a sign-and-trade agreement with Denver rather than sign Iguodala outright, despite having already agreed to a four-year contract with him.
In that piece, I suggested that Golden State would take on Iguodala using the $11,046,000 trade exception the team will create by moving Richard Jefferson. That would create a trade exception worth the same amount for the Nuggets, though they may have to use a portion of it to acquire Foye. We'll have to wait to see if an agreement is reached before determining how all the cap details will work.
Free Agency Rumors: Odom, Brand, Tinsley
The Mavs will bring back point guard Devin Harris, but they're also considering another former guard, this one from their title-winning 2011 team: Jose Barea.
Earlier this month, there were rumors of a sign-and-trade involving O.J. Mayo and either the Wolves' J.J. Barea or Luke Ridnour. This came before the Mavs locked up their point guard slot by signing Jose Calderon.
Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com says (via Twitter) the Mavs have $8MM in cap space after Jose Calderon signed with them and O.J. Mayo signed with the Bucks, but there are ways to increase that figure, he notes. We already reported that the signing of Calderon likely knocks Barea out of the running for a return to the Mavs in a sign-and-trade since the Mavs have their point guard now and Mayo is gone.
Here's what else is happening around this busy Saturday night, including more Mavs' rumors as they go with plan B after failing to sign Dwight:
- Besides bringing Harris back, the Mavs are also looking at re-signing Elton Brand, reports McMahon of ESPNDallas.com. McMahon also mentions their interest in Jermaine O'Neal, as previously iterated.
- The Lakers, fresh off the disappointing exit of free agent Dwight Howard, are looking at Elton Brand and Lamar Odom, reports ESPNLosAngeles' Ramona Shelburne (Twitter links). But interest levels for Odom are hard to determine on both sides, and they may not be able to afford Brand, Shelburne continues.
- Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune says (via Twitter), that besides the Nets, the Jazz were among Jamaal Tinsley's primary suitors. Oram says Tinsley remains interested in returning to the Jazz.
- In the first three years of Chris Grant's position as the Cavs' general manager, he spent less than $7MM in free agency. This summer he's spent $34MM counting option years, tweets the Akron Beacon Journal's Jason Loyd.
Jazz Sign Trey Burke, Rudy Gobert
4:45pm: The Jazz also announced their official signing of Burke.
SATURDAY, 2:48pm: The Jazz have officially signed Gobert, according to their website.
FRIDAY, 8:35am: The Jazz have signed their two first-round picks to rookie contracts, according to Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld (via Twitter). While no official announcement has been made by the team yet, Pincus hears that Trey Burke and Rudy Gobert have been locked up.
The formal signing of a first-round pick is one of the few transactions that's allowed during the July moratorium. With the move, Burke's and Gobert's cap holds will be replaced by 120% of their respective amounts, assuming they each signed the maximum allowable rookie deal, which virtually all first-rounders do.
As our chart of likely first-round salaries shows, that would mean a first-year salary of about $2.44MM for Burke and $1.08MM for Gobert. Overall, the newly-signed contracts will amount to an increase of about $600K on the team's 2013/14 books. That difference should be negligible as Utah pursues free agents, since the club still has more than $25MM in cap room.