2014 February | Hoops Rumors

Knicks, Metta World Peace Agree To Buyout

February 24th, 2014 at 3:59pm CST by Cray Allred

MONDAY, 3:59pm: The Knicks announced that the buyout is now official.

2:01pm: The buyout is expected to become official today, USA Today’s Sam Amick tweets.

SATURDAY, 5:29pm: World Peace and the Knicks have come to a buyout agreement, according to Al Iannazzone of Newsday (Twitter link). It’s unclear when the buyout will become official and World Peace will hit waivers.

10:28am: The Knicks are working with Metta World Peace‘s agent on a buyout of his contract, the veteran announced today via Twitter. The small forward signed a two-year deal with the Knicks after the Lakers amnestied him last summer. He was being paid approximately $1.6MM this year, and had a player option for next year at nearly $1.7MM that will also be accounted for in the buyout negotiations. He will likely seek out a contending team to finish out this year, although none have been reported as interested this early in the process.

He had hoped that his time in New York could be a fairytale ending for his career, playing professionally for the first time in his home state. However, he hasn’t been a major part of coach Mike Woodson‘s rotation, playing by far the least minutes of his career at 13.4 a game. His reported disappointment in his reduced role led to some trade speculation on his end, although the Knicks never appeared to have any serious takers for the 34-year-old. Metta World Peace shares an agent with Beno Udrih, who is also working out a buyout agreement with the Knicks. Both are represented by Marc Cornstein of Pinnacle Management Corp. as you can see in our Agency Database.

After a nine-year prime stretch of his career when he averaged 18.7 points per game with the Pacers, Kings, and Rockets, the former Ron Artest was relied on more for his defensive prowess in four years with the Lakers from the 2009/10 season through last year, never scoring more than 12.4 PPG in a season. This year, he’s scored just 4.8 PPG in limited minutes.

Knicks, Beno Udrih Agree To Buyout

February 24th, 2014 at 3:59pm CST by Cray Allred

MONDAY, 3:59pm: The Knicks announced that the buyout is now official.

2:03pm: Udrih and the Knicks are expected to make the buyout official today, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link).

SATURDAY, 5:22pm: Al Iannazzone of Newsday hears that the buyout has been agreed upon. (Twitter link). It is not yet known when the buyouts will be officially announced.

10:50am: A league source confirms with Howard Beck of Bleacher Report that the Knicks are working on a buyout of Udrih’s contract (Twitter link).

10:31am: In addition to the news that New York will buy out Metta World Peace‘s contract, a league source tells Ian Begley of ESPN New York that the team is in discussions to cut ties with Beno Udrih as well (Twitter link).

The veteran backup point guard was signed this offseason to a one-year deal worth roughly $884K. After dissatisfaction with his playing time, and finding himself the source of blame for the Knicks troubles from coach Mike Woodson, Udrih made and then revoked a trade request earlier this season. The Knicks were involved with a lot of talks that included the 31-year-old leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline, but ultimately couldn’t find a trading partner.

Udrih will likely look to catch on with a winning team in need of a backup point guard after clearing waivers. Udrih shares an agent with World Peace. Both are represented by Marc Cornstein of Pinnacle Management Corp., as you can see in our Agency Database.

Nene Averts Season-Ending Injury

February 24th, 2014 at 3:47pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:47pm: Nene has been diagnosed merely with a sprained MCL, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. He’ll be out four to six weeks, but it’s not the season-ender that had been feared, Wojnarowski adds.

10:06am: The Wizards are worried that Nene is done for the season with a left knee injury sustained in Sunday’s game, reports Michael Lee of The Washington Post. The big man will have an MRI and meet with team doctors today, and the extent of the damage to his knee won’t be known until after that. Still, a source tells Lee that, “It doesn’t look good.”

Nene left the game and didn’t return after the injury occurred during the third quarter, and the initial diagnosis is a knee sprain. The timing is particularly unfortunate for the Wizards, since the trade deadline just happened on Thursday. The January 15th deadline to apply for a disabled player exception has long since passed, and even so, the Wizards are hamstrung with a team salary that’s within $2MM of the tax line. Washington also faces a hard cap, so the Wizards couldn’t go more than $4MM into the tax even if they wanted to.

The 31-year-old struggled with plantar fasciitis for much of his first season and a half with the Wizards, but he’s played in 33 straight games, his longest such streak since a March 2012 trade that brought him from Denver. He’s averaging 14.2 points and 5.8 rebounds in 30.1 minutes per game this season, with a 16.4 PER. The Wizards outscore opponents by 2.8 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, and give up 3.9 more points per 100 possessions when he’s on the bench, according to NBA.com. Washington, at 28-28, is fifth in the Eastern Conference, a game and a half back of fourth place but just a game and a half ahead of eighth place in a tightly bunched playoff race.

The Wizards have an open roster spot, so they could pursue someone on the buyout market, as long as that player comes cheaply. They can’t sign any free agents for more than the minimum salary, and while they could use one of their trade exceptions to snag a player off waivers, that’s an unlikely proposition. Former Wizard Antawn Jamison is among a group of forwards that have either already hit free agency or have been linked to possible buyouts that includes Metta World Peace, Earl Clark and Charlie Villanueva.

Clippers Interested In Metta World Peace

February 24th, 2014 at 3:46pm CST by Chuck Myron

Metta World Peace‘s buyout from the Knicks is expected to become official today, and the Clippers have interest in signing him as a free agent, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Amick cautions that it’s not a “slam dunk” that the former Ron Artest will wind up back in L.A. The Clippers still have a pair of open roster spots after signing Glen Davis today to get back to the league-minimum 13 players.

The Clippers would be limited to offering World Peace the minimum salary. He’d help shore up depth along a front line that lost reserves Antawn Jamison and Byron Mullens at the trade deadline. It would be a return to familiar territory for the 34-year-old, who spent the last four seasons in L.A. with the Lakers.

World Peace took to Twitter to reveal that he’s already put pen to paper on his buyout agreement with the Knicks, so assuming the team makes an announcement today, he’ll be set to clear waivers on Wednesday. It seems unlikely that any team will submit a waiver claim for the 15th-year veteran’s contract, which pays him $1.59MM this season and includes a player option for slightly more next season.

Southwest Rumors: Nowitzki, Grizzlies, Daye

February 24th, 2014 at 2:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets are apparently on the mind of Charlie Villanueva as the possibility of a buyout from the Pistons looms, while the Grizzlies are interested in Lester Hudson, who last played in the NBA two years ago with Memphis. Here’s the rest of what we’re hearing from the Southwest Division:

Dirk Nowitzki said last month that he’ll probably re-sign with the Mavericks on a two- or three-year deal this summer, but the 35-year-old can envision a series of one-year deals after that, keeping him in the NBA past his 40th birthday. Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has the details.
The Grizzlies were willing to make a trade that put them a hair over the tax line, but they weren’t going to give up Ed Davis, an object of desire for many teams, as TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his latest “Morning Tip” column for NBA.com.
Austin Daye was overjoyed when he heard about Thursday’s trade that sent him to the Spurs, telling reporters, including Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News, that he screamed into his pillow in a moment of exuberance upon hearing the news. Daye, whose contract is partially guaranteed for next season, said the Spurs have been one of his favorite teams since childhood, McDonald adds (Twitter links).

Grizzlies, Knicks, Clippers Eye Lester Hudson

February 24th, 2014 at 1:06pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Grizzlies, Knicks and Clippers have expressed interest in Chinese league guard Lester Hudson, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.com. Hudson is still playing with the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers in the Chinese Basketball Association postseason, but he’ll be avaiable to return stateside before the conclusion of the NBA’s regular season.

Hudson, who’s played parts of three seasons in the NBA, has been a standout in China this year, averaging 26.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists for the team with the second best record in the league. It’s the third straight strong showing in China for the 29-year-old who spent camp this past fall with the Jazz.

The former second-round pick made his most significant impact in the NBA in 2011/12, the last time he appeared during the regular season. Hudson averaged 12.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 24.2 minutes per contest in a 13-game stint with the Cavs. Cleveland elected not to re-sign him for the season after his first 10-day contract expired, instead offering only another 10-day deal. That drew the ire of agent Keith Glass, who rebuffed the Cavs when they put a contract that covered the rest of the season on the table after the second 10-day was up. Hudson wound up inking for the rest of the year with Memphis.

Glen Davis Signs With Clippers

February 24th, 2014 at 1:05pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Clippers have officially announced their signing of Glen Davis. The team was considered the frontrunner for Davis thanks to his ties to coach Doc Rivers, for whom Davis played with the Celtics, plus the power forward’s desire to play for a contender. Davis, whose contract covers the rest of the season, is the only player on the Clippers roster to have won an NBA title. A number of other teams, including the Nets, Bulls, Heat, Spurs, and Warriors, were also interested in signing Davis.

After deciding not to extend Sasha Vujacic another 10-day contract and trading Antawn Jamison and Byron Mullens, the Clippers roster stood at 12 before the addition of Davis. The roster flexibility was created in part to give the Clippers the opportunity to sign players on the buyout market, like Davis, who’s a client of John Hamilton of Performance Sports Management.

Orlando was trying to trade Davis at the deadline but was unable to find a taker. Davis is due the remainder of his $6.4MM salary this season and $6.6MM in 2014/15. The 28-year-old is coming off of a year in which he averaged 15.1 PPG and 7.2 RPG with a 15.0 PER in an injury-shortened 2012/13. So far in 2013/14, Davis has been hampered by injuries. He’s averaged 12.1 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 30.1 minutes per contest this season.

According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter Link), the Magic didn’t use the stretch provision on Davis, and are taking the full hit on his $6.6MM salary during the 2014/2015 season. Kyler also tweeted that the team had told Davis last weekend of its intention to negotiate a buyout of his contract and waive him. It hasn’t been announced how much, if any, of his salary he relinquished in the buyout.

Zach Links contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports first reported that Davis had a deal, and that it covered the rest of the season. Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times noted that Davis was set to take a physical and sign with the team today (Twitter link).

Hoops Rumors Featured Feedback

February 24th, 2014 at 12:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

Readers are the lifeblood of Hoops Rumors. We know that you’re passionate about the NBA, and that’s why we’re starting a new regular feature in which we’ll highlight the best comments from Hoops Rumors and the Hoops Rumors Facebook page. Share your reaction to and insight on the news and rumors around the league, and you’ll have a chance to see your name here.

It’s easy to sign up and start commenting on Hoops Rumors. First, read our Commenting Policy. Then, scroll to the bottom of any post, and you’ll see the word “Login” on the right side atop the comments section. Click the word and choose whether you want to comment using a Disqus account or your existing Facebook, Twitter or Google account. If you don’t have a Disqus account and you want to create one, just choose that option and click “Need an account?” at the bottom right of the box that pops up.

To get us rolling, reader Z…. tells us why he thinks the Pacers scored big with their trade for Evan Turner:

This is an amazing deal for the Pacers. They get scoring off the bench that they really needed, but more importantly, they added a young, athletic wing with length who should flourish in their defensive system, and should really contribute against the Heat, who desperately need an athletic wing themselves. It also gives them insurance for Lance Stephenson when they may not be able to keep him in the offseason.

Pau Gasol always seems to find himself in trade chatter, but the Lakers have yet to pull the trigger. In reaction to another batch of rumors about the four-time All-Star, dc21892 gives an explanation for why L.A. has been so hesitant to pull the trigger:

Gasol wouldn’t be as scrutinized if he wasn’t being paid so much. He can still be a key contributor on a shorter deal, with less money in the offseason. L.A. is going to be looking at adding more star power to that roster, having a healthy Kobe on somewhat of a discount next year (compared to this year at least) and if they can retain Gasol for cheap, they’re in good shape. They also have a top draft pick.

The Cavs entertained trades for Luol Deng before the deadline, and Jon Zimmer, via Facebook, encouraged the Suns to get involved:

The Suns should take a long look at this. Luol could be the upgrade they are looking for, and the Cavs would likely be willing to take back Emeka Okafor‘s expiring and one of their late picks to make it happen. Luol has a lot more left in him than Gasol, and the Cavs would be much less stubborn at the negotiating table than the Lakers.

We appreciate everyone who adds to the dialogue at Hoops Rumors, and we look forward to seeing more responses like these from you!

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Hoops Rumors Featured Feedback

Charlie Villanueva Open To Buyout, Eyes Rockets

February 24th, 2014 at 11:48am CST by Chuck Myron

FEBRUARY 24TH: Villanueva would consider joining the Rockets if he and the Pistons reach a buyout agreement, tweets Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times.

FEBRUARY 21ST: Charlie Villanueva would consider a buyout if the Pistons want to negotiate one, as he tells reporters, including Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News. The 29-year-old wasn’t in many trade rumors leading up to the deadline as the Pistons were unable find a new home for his expiring contract, which pays $8.58MM this season.

“Anything’s possible. Right now, it is what it is,” Villanueva said. “I wish I could help this team in any way possible, but they’re going in a different direction. It’s part of the business, but if it presented itself, that’s something we’d look at, for sure.”

The Excel Sports Management client has played sparingly for Detroit this season, averaging just 8.9 minutes in 14 appearances. He’s never averaged as many as 24 minutes a game for the Pistons after signing a five-year, $37.7MM deal in 2009 that’s sparked widespread criticism of president of basketball operations Joe Dumars.

Jazz Rejected Offer Of First-Rounder For Williams

February 24th, 2014 at 11:20am CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz rebuffed “one or two” trade proposals before the deadline that would have netted them a late first-round pick in return for Marvin Williams, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com writes in his latest Insider-only “Tank Rank” piece. There were apparently other intriguing offers on the table as well, but Utah chose to hang on to the ninth-year veteran in hopes of re-signing him this summer, Ford writes.

No first-round picks changed hands at the deadline for a second straight year, so it seems odd that Williams, who’s averaging just 10.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game on a team with a 19-36 record, could have netted the Jazz such a return. Williams was the No. 2 overall pick in 2005, but he’s never lived up to his draft position. He’s still just 27 years old, and has canned a career-high 40.1% of his three-point attempts this season, serving as a fairly productive stretch power forward.

Utah will have its own first-round pick plus Golden State’s unprotected first-rounder this year, and the Warriors pick stands a decent chance to become a lottery selection, since the W’s are only two and a half games up on the ninth-place Grizzlies. Utah also has an unprotected first-rounder coming its way from Golden State in 2017, and while the Jazz, who don’t owe any first-rounders, are well-stocked for the draft, it’s surprising that they’d turn down another first-round pick, even if it was destined to fall in the 20s.

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