4:00am: Indiana is believed to be offering Ellis a deal in the three-year, $32MM range, Wojnarowski reports.
1:25am: Ellis and his family are traveling to Indiana to meet with Pacers officials on Wednesday, Wojnarowski relays (via Twitter).
1:06am: The Hawks, Nuggets and Kings are calling on Ellis tonight, too, a source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link).
JULY 1ST, 12:31am: Ellis is “gathering traction” in talks with the Pacers, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Bird is determined to reach a deal and the Pacers are pushing hard, Wojnarowski adds (on Twitter).
JUNE 30TH, 11:22am: The Kings have interest in Ellis, too, Broussard hears (Twitter link).
12:11pm: Interest is mutual between Ellis and the Heat, and the shooting guard also plans to talk to the Hawks, reports Shams Charania of RealGM, who suggests that Ellis would generally prefer to sign with an East Coast team.
JUNE 24TH, 10:15am: The Pacers and Heat are interested in signing Monta Ellis, who’s opting out of his contract with the Mavs to become a free agent, a source tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Interest from both would presumably hinge on other option decisions. The Heat would be unlikely to have the cap space necessary to chase Ellis if Dwyane Wade opts in to his $16.125MM salary for next season or if the sides work out a new deal. The same is the case with the Pacers and both Roy Hibbert and David West, who also hold player options.
Ellis, a Relativity Sports client is surely seeking more than the $8.72MM he would have seen on his player option with the Mavs. The shooting guard has until midnight tonight to change his mind and opt in, but that would be unforeseen. The Heat have only about $43MM committed for next season against a projected $67.1MM cap, but they have a lucrative offer earmarked for Goran Dragic and also seemingly have interest in retaining Luol Deng, who has a player option worth $10.152MM. A continued partnership with Wade, who’s reportedly open to leaving the team amid tense negotiations, would presumably push the team well into tax territory, though Miami is reportedly shopping Mario Chalmers and Chris Andersen in an effort to clear salary. Ellis would ostensibly be a replacement for Wade at the shooting guard position in Miami.
Indiana, unlike Miami, doesn’t have a star entrenched at two-guard, though with $36MM in guaranteed salaries on the books, Hibbert’s option of more than $15.514MM and West’s, worth $12.6MM, would largely close the door on any chance the Pacers have at opening cap room without making a trade. The deadlines both face to decide on their respective options aren’t until next week, GM Kevin Pritchard said, according to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link), and it’s unclear what they’ll choose to do. Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird earlier this spring seemed to encourage Hibbert to opt out as Indiana seeks a faster style of play.
Ellis should be on the top of the Heat’s priority list if Wade decides to go elsewhere. If they get Dragic to come back a combo of either him with Wade/Ellis for a full season will be fun to watch along with Bosh and Whiteside down low.
Well I think wade is gone because dragic is not worth a max contract at all
Monta is a better player than Wade is at this point, so if I was Riley, I would much rather pay Monta 11 or 12mm instead of Wade at 18mm+.
This could kill Wade’s leverage over the Heat in contract discussions.
Lol
Wade at 60 games. Is more value able the n ellis at 82
As a heat fan, I would prefer Danny Green for multiple reasons.
“Prefers the East ehhh?” That should tell you something right there. #soft