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Month: October 2024

Suns Waive DeJuan Blair

February 22nd, 2016 at 6:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

MONDAY, 6:11pm: The team officially announced today that Blair has been waived (Twitter link).

THURSDAY, 5:15pm: The Suns will waive newly acquired power forward DeJuan Blair, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic reports. The news that Phoenix would waive Blair or Kris Humphries was first relayed by Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. Blair was shipped to the Suns along with Humphries in exchange for Markieff Morris earlier today.

Blair is earning $2MM this season, the remainder of which Phoenix will be on the hook for. The power forward is under contract for 2016/17, but that salary is non-guaranteed, so the Suns won’t have any impact on their salary cap for next season as a result of this move.

The 26-year-old appeared in 29 contests for the Wizards this season and averaged 2.1 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.4 assists in 7.5 minutes of action per outing. His shooting numbers are .412/.000/.385.

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Warriors Sign Anderson Varejao

February 22nd, 2016 at 6:07pm CST by Will Joseph

MONDAY, 6:07pm: The team officially announced the signing via press release.

SUNDAY, 8:32pm: The Warriors have signed Anderson Varejao, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The team has yet to make an official announcement, but Charania indicates the two sides have reached an agreement. Varejao signed at the veteran’s minimum for the rest of the season, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports tweets.

Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported earlier today that Golden State was the front-runner to sign Varejao, with the Spurs also reportedly having had mutual interest. The minimum salary for Varejao will be prorated. So, if he were to officially sign Monday on a deal that covers only the rest of the season, he would receive $458,575, with $289,755 coming from the Warriors and the NBA picking up the rest. Golden State, which is between $10MM and $15MM above the luxury tax threshold, would be in line to pay an additional $724,388 in taxes for the Varejao deal, making the total cost, in combined payroll and taxes, a projected $1,014,143. That number would go down slightly each day the Warriors wait to formally make the signing.

Golden State is currently carrying 15 players on its roster with each contract being fully guaranteed, so a subsequent move will be needed. The Warriors have a need in the frontcourt with Festus Ezeli still out because of arthroscopic knee surgery and Andrew Bogut nursing an Achilles injury.

The Blazers waived the 33-year-old Varejao after acquiring him from the Cavs in a deadline-day trade. He told Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and Cleveland Plain Dealer that he has no hard feelings toward the Cavs and is excited to join the Warriors (Twitter link). Varejao, who has never played for any other team aside from the Cavs, is averaging 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.

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And-Ones: Morris Twins, Gerald Green, Hardaway

February 22nd, 2016 at 5:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris thought their close relationship with Suns owner Robert Sarver, which included invitations to Sarver’s home to work out on his basketball court, would ensure advance warning of the trade that sent Marcus to the Pistons, the twins told Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher. It’s not simply a matter of the trade having separated them, Marcus insists, saying to Bucher that he also would have pulled off the deal that sent him to the Pistons if he thought, as the Suns did, that it would give them a better shot at LaMarcus Aldridge.

“Everybody thinking that we’re upset because we don’t get to play with each other,” Marcus said. “Kieff can’t deal with adversity? We’re from north Philadelphia. This isn’t adversity. This is betrayal.”

The Magic offered Channing Frye for Markieff shortly after the deal that sent Marcus to the Pistons this summer, a league source told Bucher, and the Cavaliers and Bulls were interested in Markieff, too, Bucher hears, also confirming an earlier report that the Pistons held interest in reuniting the brothers. Bucher indicates that the twins were closer with former Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby than with Suns GM Ryan McDonough, suggesting that that the reduction in Babby’s role played a part in the end of the run for the Morrises in Phoenix. See more from around the NBA:

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Magic Waive Jared Cunningham

February 22nd, 2016 at 4:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:30pm: The move is official, the Magic’s public relations department announced via Twitter.

4:13pm: The Magic have waived Jared Cunningham, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). The team hasn’t publicly acknowledged the move, but it took place today, according to Robbins. The release was expected, with Magic-employed beat writer John Denton going so far as to write that Orlando would cut the former 24th overall pick who came via Thursday’s trade with the Cavaliers. The reason Cunningham lingered on the Magic roster for as long as he did is because they were waiting on Channing Frye, who went to Cleveland in the swap, to pass his physical. He did so earlier today, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Cunningham won his way onto the regular season roster for the Cavs with a strong preseason, averaging 12.4 points in 25.3 minutes per game, enough of a case for Cleveland to risk paying approximately $3.8MM in extra luxury tax penalties on top of their $947,276 obligation on his minimum salary. That risk became even more profound when the Cavs kept him past the date in January when his one-year contract became fully guaranteed. His tight bond with LeBron James surely didn’t hurt his case to stick around in Cleveland, but he averaged only 2.6 points in 8.9 minutes during the regular season, and the Cavs ultimately moved off his salary, and all the tax implications connected with it, on the final day possible, shipping him to the Magic.

The 24-year-old is still in line to make his full $981,348 salary, with the Magic on the hook for $947,276 of it and the league picking up the rest. That assumes he clears waivers, however. Every team except Orlando and Cleveland is eligible to claim him off waivers, as long as they have an open roster spot, and he seems like a decent candidate for a claim, given his first-round pedigree, relative youth and preseason performance.

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Pacific Notes: Green, Varejao, Dawson

February 22nd, 2016 at 3:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers reportedly plans to try to re-sign Jeff Green this summer, and he’s glad to be reunited with his former Celtics player for several reasons. Rivers was effusive in his praise of Green to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com, calling him one of the best NBA people ever (Twitter link), and he’s also a fan of what the combo forward can do on the court, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee details.

“I really wanted more length,” Rivers said of his goals going into the trade deadline, according to Jones. “When you look at the teams we have to beat, we need to get longer, more athletic, and we need to increase our shooting. And I think with Jeff we did all three of those things. … I thought of all the things that were offered, he was the best available for us.”

See more from the Pacific Division:
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Pistons, NBA Void Donatas Motiejunas Trade

February 22nd, 2016 at 3:06pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:06pm: The Pistons confirmed the voiding of the trade, via press release.

“Standard with all trades, medical clearance on all players involved is required for completion. Medical clearance was not given on all players and the trade is being rescinded,” Bower said in Detroit’s statement. “In view of privacy considerations relating to medical information, we will have no further comment.”

1:15pm: The Pistons and the NBA are in the process of voiding the three-team Donatas Motiejunas trade, sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The power forward didn’t pass Detroit’s physical, The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski notes (on Twitter), so the deal between the Pistons, Rockets and Sixers is off. Motiejunas, Marcus Thornton and Denver’s 2017 second-round pick will return to the Rockets, the Pistons will get back Joel Anthony and their top-eight protected 2016 first-round pick, while the Sixers will once more have the rights draft-and-stash player Chukwudiebere “Chu” Maduabum. The Sixers released JaKarr Sampson to facilitate the trade, but they won’t get him back, since he’s agreed to a two-year deal with the Nuggets.

Houston had slipped beneath the luxury tax line with the trade, according to The Vertical’s Bobby Marks, so today’s news has negative financial consequences for the Rockets, who are again in line to be taxpayers. The threat that the trade might fall apart grew over the weekend when the Pistons asked for and received an extra 24 hours to examine Motiejunas, who has dealt with lingering back trouble after undergoing surgery in April. The 25-year-old has appeared in only 14 games this season.

The Pistons had latitude to seek a change to the terms of the trade, including the protection attached to the first-rounder that was to go to Houston, according to Marks (Twitter link), but instead it appears they’ve decided, with the NBA’s blessing, to nix it altogether. Rescinding the trade will leave the Pistons and Sixers with one open roster spot apiece while the Rockets will go from two open roster spots to a full 15-man roster. Houston was reportedly among the teams interested in signing veteran rebounder Reggie Evans but now would have to cut somebody to do so.

Teams typically have 72 hours to administer physicals to the players they receive via trade, so it’s possible for deals to fall apart even after clubs formally announce them, even though it’s rare. The Thunder’s doctors didn’t like what they saw when they evaluated Tyson Chandler in 2009, leading the NBA to void Oklahoma City’s trade with the Hornets that year. Pistons GM Jeff Bower was the Hornets GM then, so he’s now seen voided trades from opposite perspectives.

The death of the trade is a boost to Anthony’s job prospects, since the Sixers were reportedly poised to waive him once the deal was ratified. Still, it’s perhaps a financial loss for him, since he could have latched on elsewhere for a salary that would have gone on top of the $2.5MM he’s seeing this year on his existing contract.

Conversely, it can’t help the earning potential for Motiejunas, who’s set for restricted free agency in the summer. It was a lock that either Motiejunas or fellow soon-to-be restricted free agent Terrence Jones would leave the Rockets this summer, as Zach Lowe of ESPN.com wrote before the trade agreement last week.

The voiding of the trade scraps the pair of trade exceptions, worth $2,288,205 and $947,276, respectively, that the Rockets were able to create. It also kills off a $211,795 trade exception for the Pistons, though that one would have been virtually unusable anyway.

Which team do you think suffers the most because the trade is getting voided? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

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Central Notes: Turner, Frye, Van Gundy

February 22nd, 2016 at 2:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pacers have climbed to fifth place in the Eastern Conference and just how far they go this season rests heavily on how quickly and profoundly Myles Turner continues to develop, coach Frank Vogel told Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star. Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, who took Stanley Johnson at No. 8, three spots before the Pacers drafted Turner, thinks Indiana’s rookie big man looks like a steal, Buckner notes.

“You would have to say fairly that he’s one of the most, if not the most, surprising players in the draft,” Van Gundy said. “I think everybody pretty much knew he was going to be a good player, but I think a lot of people thought it would take more time than this and he’s playing very well.”

Van Gundy had more to say about his own team, as we pass along amid news from the Central Division, where the Pistons aren’t the only ones liable to veto a trade:

  • The Cavaliers are being more cautious than usual as they put Channing Frye through a medical evaluation, cognizant of the heart condition that knocked him out for all of the 2012/13 season, multiple sources told Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, but the Cavs aren’t concerned, a source tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). Cleveland has until Tuesday to finish examining Frye before the trade with the Magic is ratified. The swap is separate from the one in which the Cavs dealt away Anderson Varejao.
  • The Pistons aren’t a top free agency destination, and Van Gundy knows it, which is why he’s willing to pay a premium for talent via trade, as he told TNT’s David Aldridge for the NBA.com Morning Tip. “I think for us, quite honestly, you’ve got to know who you are and where you are,” Van Gundy said. “We knew when we came, or had a pretty good idea when we came, our chances were the draft, which you only get one or two a year, and trades were going to be better for us. Especially in a summer where basically everybody is going to have money. We’re not at the point yet — we haven’t won enough yet, established enough yet, quite honestly — where we’re going to be at the top of the [free agent] list. So we’re going to end up overpaying for lesser players, is where we thought we’d be. And we got a chance to get really good players in trades. It fit exactly what we thought was the best path for us and the best strategy for us.”
  • Van Gundy deflected credit for the team’s trades to GM Jeff Bower and others in the Pistons front office, suggesting that he essentially just rubber-stamps the deals that Bower and company put together, as Aldridge and MLive’s Aaron McMann detail.
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Nuggets Sign JaKarr Sampson

February 22nd, 2016 at 2:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:14pm: The signing is official, the team announced, confirming that it’s a multiyear arrangement (Twitter link). USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt tweets that it contains a partial guarantee for next season, which conflicts with Charania’s report.

10:48am: The contract will be guaranteed for the rest of this season by rule, but it’ll be non-guaranteed for next season, Charania writes in a full piece that also includes confirmation of the deal from agent Seth Cohen.

10:03am: The Nuggets and former Sixers combo forward JaKarr Sampson are finalizing a two-year contract, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The Sixers had wanted to re-sign him after releasing him Thursday to make room for their three-way trade with Houston and Detroit, one that’s held up as the Pistons continue to evaluate the health of Donatas Motiejunas. Detroit is sending Joel Anthony to Philadelphia as part of the swap, and Philadelphia offloaded Sampson to make room for Anthony, whom the Sixers reportedly intend to waive once the trade is finalized.

Denver has two open roster spots after having released J.J. Hickson and Steve Novak on Friday, so the Nuggets don’t have to make a corresponding move to add Sampson. It’ll likely be a minimum-salary contract, since that’s all Denver could give unless Hickson and Novak gave back large portions of their respective salaries in their buyout deals. Sampson was making the minimum salary, worth $845,059 to him as a one-year veteran, on his contract with Philadelphia. Assuming his new deal is also worth the minimum, it’ll be pro-rated, and thus too small for Philly to reap any savings via set-off. So, Sampson is poised to receive whatever the Nuggets give him on top of his full $845,059 from the Sixers.

Sampson, 22, is in his second NBA season after going undrafted out of St. John’s in 2014 and winning a spot on the Sixers despite a four-year contract that originally contained only $50K in guaranteed salary. He started 32 games as a rookie and 18 this season, with a career scoring average of 5.2 points per game. His numbers are virtually identical this year to those from last year, except his 3-point shooting. He made 24.4% on 127 total attempts last season, a woeful performance that’s led him to much fewer shots behind the arc this year, as he’s attempted only 34 and made just six.

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Eastern Notes: Morris, Teague, Middleton, ‘Melo

February 22nd, 2016 at 12:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

Ex-Suns coach Jeff Hornacek gave one of the most positive reviews about Markieff Morris that the Wizards encountered when they asked around the league about Markieff Morris prior to last week’s trade, sources told TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip for NBA.com. Wizards coach Randy Wittman said he only heard “rave reviews,” while Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley, former teammates of Morris who are now on the Wizards, told the front office that Morris wouldn’t be a problem, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post details. See more from the Eastern Conference as the ramifications of the trade deadline continue:

  • The Bucks reportedly had at least passing interest in Jeff Teague, but they weren’t willing to part with Khris Middleton to get a deal done, league sources told Aldridge for the same piece. Milwaukee reportedly held tight to Middleton in talks about Ricky Rubio, too. The Hawks were trying to score both a starter and a first-round pick in would-be trades involving Teague, sources told USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt last week (Twitter link).
  • Meanwhile, the Pelicans were the team that clung to one of their players in their talks with the Bucks, as the conversation between those teams involving Greg Monroe fell apart when New Orleans refused to give up Jrue Holiday, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
  • Several teams think that if the Knicks don’t make much progress in their rebuilding by the middle of July, Carmelo Anthony would be willing to waive his no-trade clause, Deveney writes in the same piece. The Knicks spoke with the Rockets about Ty Lawson before the trade deadline, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post.
  • The retention of Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside this summer would almost assuredly mean the end to Luol Deng‘s time with the Heat, observes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, who writes in his mailbag column. Front office executives around the league were led to believe that Deng was available on the trade market before last week’s deadline, as USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt noted (on Twitter).
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Heat, Rockets, Celtics Eye Reggie Evans

February 22nd, 2016 at 11:25am CST by Chuck Myron

The Heat, Rockets and Celtics have expressed interest in free agent rebounding specialist Reggie Evans, reports Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). Evans, 35, has been out of the NBA since his contract with the Kings expired this past summer.

Miami has two open roster spot but is at a disadvantage, since it can’t sign a player before March 6th without creeping back above the luxury tax line. Houston is also poised to open two roster spots, but the Rockets are in limbo as they await more medical exams from the Pistons on Donatas Motiejunas, and the possibility exists that Detroit will void its trade with Houston. The Celtics have only one open roster spot but no mitigating concerns of the sort the Heat and Rockets are dealing with.

Evans, a 13-year veteran, averaged 3.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in 16.3 minutes across 47 appearances last season. That translates to 14.1 rebounds per 36 minutes, a rate even better than his career 13.3 per-minute mark in that category. He would seemingly be of greatest benefit to the Rockets among the trio of teams Hamilton invokes, since Houston is 24th in rebounding rate, according to NBA.com. The Celtics are 20th while the Heat are ninth, though the uncertain health of Chris Bosh clouds their interior rotation.

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