Here are the D-League transactions from the day:
Chris Bosh has missed over a year of action due to blood-clot issues and a source tells Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that Bosh has not attempted to return this season. Jackson adds that the big man would like to play in the future should his health allow him to. Bosh addressed his situation on Monday during TNT’s Players Only coverage (via Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel). “My health is great. I’m feeling good, still working out, and just really still saying ready,” Bosh said.
Bosh failed his preseason physical with the Heat and team doctors believed his condition would be career-ending. Miami intended to move forward with its future plans, which did not include the big man. Yet, Bosh maintained hope of returning to the team at some point and it caused a strain in the relationship between Bosh and the franchise.
Sources tell Winderman that the Heat have attempted to reach out to Bosh over the past few days, hoping to find some middle ground. The big man hasn’t responded to the team, according to Winderman.
Miami is expected to petition the league for a medical exclusion, which would give Bosh the salary remaining on his deal, but take the amount owed off their future cap. Once the team waives him, an independent physician will determine Bosh’s ability to return to the court. Bosh must make himself available for this evaluation if he wants to receive his remaining salary. Jackson hears that the sides are expected to begin this process sometime during the month of March.
By waiting until after March 1, Miami can assure that Bosh won’t play 25 games this season, a mark that would force his salary back on its cap sheet. With the big man’s salary off the books, Miami could have roughly $38MM in cap space this summer.
Should the Heat use that cap room on players this offseason and Bosh plays 25 games for another team next season, Bosh’s salary would return to Miami’s cap. The franchise would not have to shed salary in that scenario, per league rules, but it would likely cause the team to be in the luxury tax.
Bosh spoke about how his life has been different since being sidelined with the condition.
“I think one of the interesting things that I didn’t anticipate was my mental health,” he said. “And that’s something that as athletes we have to take into regard because we’re used to a set schedule and we’re used to a certain type of world. And that’s something that I’ve really had to work on for my well being.”
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Mavericks acquire Nerlens Noel; Sixers acquire Justin Anderson, Andrew Bogut, and Mavericks’ 2017 first-round pick (top-18 protected).
Hawks acquire Ersan Ilyasova; Sixers acquire Tiago Splitter, Heat’s 2017 second-round pick (top-40 protected), and the right to swap Warriors’ 2017 second-round pick for Hawks’ second-round pick.
Wizards acquire Bojan Bogdanovic and Chris McCullough; Nets acquire Andrew Nicholson, Marcus Thornton, and Wizards’ 2017 first-round pick (top-14 protected).
Raptors acquire P.J. Tucker; Suns acquire Jared Sullinger, Raptors’ 2017 second-round pick, Raptors’ 2018 second-round pick, and cash ($1MM).
Thunder acquire Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott, and Bulls’ 2018 second-round pick; Bulls acquire Cameron Payne, Joffrey Lauvergne, and Anthony Morrow.
[RELATED: Breaking Down The Trades Part 1 & Part 2]
Nuggets acquire Roy Hibbert; Bucks acquire Nuggets’ 2019 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
Nets acquire K.J. McDaniels; Rockets acquire cash ($75K).
Lakers acquire Tyler Ennis and draft rights to Brad Newley; Rockets acquire Marcelo Huertas.
Suns acquire Mike Scott, draft rights to Cenk Akyol, and cash ($500K). Hawks acquire Suns’ 2017 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
There’s not much fantasy news out of these four trades. If K.J. McDaniels makes his way into the rotation in Brooklyn, he’d put himself on the fantasy radar. As of this writing, he’s not. Tyler Ennis could see opportunity down the stretch, but he only saw eight minutes in his debut with the Lakers.
Outside of the fantasy realm, it’s interesting to see Cenk Akyol‘s name in another team press release. Akyol was a draft-and-stash prospect who was selected by the Hawks in the 2005, but he never made the leap to the NBA and he likely never will. His rights have been traded five times over the last 12 years, including twice this season. His rights have been traded for Antawn Jamison and JaVale McGee among other players and prospects.
Fantasy questions? Take to the comment section below or tweet me at @CW_Crouse.
Statistics are current through Tuesday afternoon.
It doesn’t make sense for the Sixers to bring Joel Embiid back before the end of the season, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The big man has been sidelined for 17 of the past 18 games with a bone bruise and has also suffered a slightly torn meniscus.
At this point all the Sixers will say is that their rookie is out “indefinitely,” an escalation, we suppose, from the “day-to-day” label he’d been sitting under previously. For Embiid, however, the club should just come out and say that he’ll rest for the remainder of the season.
“It would be great for us as a unit to have him out there as we continue to strive forward toward winning as the season concludes,” general manager Bryan Colangelo said. “But at the end of the day, the health and performance of our athletes is first and foremost, we don’t want to jeopardize the long-term health.”
In the games that he did see this season, Embiid impressed, averaging 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per contest. He was named the Eastern Conference rookie of the month in the first three months of the season and even won Eastern Conference players of the week once in January.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
The Clippers delayed the inevitable, opting not to address their cap room situation at the trade deadline and instead leaving it to the summer. Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes that head coach Doc Rivers and president of basketball operations would have been wise to do something with either Jamal Crawford or Austin Rivers, who will be owed $26MM in 2017/18.
When the free agency period begins this summer, the Clippers will have the tough task of re-signing Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and J.J. Redick. To do so comfortably, they would need to find a way to save money elsewhere. Paul, Deveney writes, could land a deal worth nearly $210MM over five years and isn’t likely to give the franchise a hometown discount.
Of note is that Deveney suggests that the Clippers may not automatically bring back Griffin on such a contract. He writes that if the team doesn’t make progress in the postseason this spring, they may be remiss to invest so much in their oft-injured big man.
Regardless of how the summer transactions play out for the Clippers, they could have been simplified had Rivers opted to address the problem mid-season rather than electing to kick the can further down the road.
There’s more from Deveney:
Though he won’t be able to officially sign until waivers clear on Wednesday, Brandon Jennings is on his way to Washington intent on signing with the Wizards. Chris Haynes of ESPN tweeted that the two parties have come to a verbal agreement, while Mike Wise of ESPN initially reported that such a deal was likely. It was Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical who wrote that the guard is already arranging travel plans to be in D.C. tomorrow.
Jennings and other recently bought out players Andrew Bogut and Jose Calderon won’t be able to sign with new clubs until they clear waivers at 5 PM EST on March 1, as ESPN’s Marc Stein reminds us. At that point, Jennings will be eligible to sign with the Wizards and be a part of their playoff run. Washington had previously been linked to Lakers guard Lou Williams but he was ultimately dealt to the Rockets just prior to the deadline. In Jennings, however, the Wiz gets their prolific reserve scorer at the point guard position.
The Wizards currently have a full 15-man roster, so they’ll need to waive a player to open up a roster spot before Jennings’ signing can become official. It also remains to be seen how much Jennings’ deal will be worth — most free agents signing new deals at this point ink minimum salary contracts, but Washington still has a prorated portion of its room exception available. A minimum salary pact would mean a salary worth about $325K for Jennings, while a deal with the room exception could be worth up to about $2MM.
In 58 games with the Knicks, Jennings averaged 8.6 points and 4.9 assists per game.
Having waived Deron Williams and Andrew Bogut, the Mavericks will be relying on their young players more than ever going forward. As Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com writes, Mark Cuban recognizes the value of Dallas’ 2017 draft pick and acknowledges that going with a young lineup looks like the club is “tanking” to improve that pick. However, Cuban says he doesn’t necessarily expect the team’s young lineup to perform worse than the veteran-heavy lineup.
“In our case, we’re playing our youngest players, but we’re playing them with the expectation that they’re going to win,” said the Mavericks owner. “I think that’s the best type of experience. And if that means we get the eighth pick or the 10th pick instead of the fourth pick, I’ll live with the consequences.”
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
George Hill and the Jazz reportedly won’t reach an agreement on a contract extension on Tuesday, which is the last day this season that teams can renegotiate contracts. However, both sides remain interested in getting something done eventually, and agreed to resume discussions in the summer, per Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune.
According to Jones, the Jazz are “prepared to do whatever it takes” to retain Hill beyond this season. However, they’ll have plenty of competition for the veteran point guard in the offseason. Sources tell Jones that Hill is expected to have as many as 12 teams looking to sign him in free agency, and Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com tweets that Hill has been advised he can get a better deal this summer than what Utah can offer now. In the offseason, rival teams could offer a four-year contract, while the Jazz could make a five-year offer. Today, Utah only could have offered a three-year extension.
Here’s more from around the Northwest division:
Less than a week after making his debut for the Pelicans, DeMarcus Cousins is facing his first suspension as a member of the team. The NBA announced today in a press release that, after receiving his 18th technical foul of the season on Sunday, Cousins has been suspended for one game without pay.
NBA rules call for an automatic one-game suspension after a player’s 16th technical foul of the season, plus additional one-game bans for every two technical fouls after that. Cousins was initially suspended for one game earlier this month as a member of the Kings after picking up his 16th technical of the 2016/17 campaign. He has since been hit with two more techs.
Cousins will miss the Pelicans’ next game on Wednesday night against the Pistons. He’ll also lose 1/110th of his salary for the season, the usual amount for a single-game suspension. Based on his salary of nearly $17MM, that works out to about $154K.
1:09pm: Hill and the Jazz won’t reach an agreement on a contract renegotiation-and-extension before tonight’s deadline, reports Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). That doesn’t rule out a long-term deal for Hill in Utah this summer though, as the club will hold his Bird rights when he hits the open market in July.
12:16pm: The Jazz are engaged in active discussions with George Hill about a potential contract extension, league sources tell Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. As MacMahon details, the two sides are attempting to work toward an agreement before tonight’s deadline for contract renegotiations.
[RELATED: NBA deadlines to watch this week]
Hill indicated earlier in the season that he’d be “very interested” in discussing an extension with the Jazz, and while he hasn’t publicly addressed his contract situation recently, reports continue to suggest he’s receptive to the idea of a long-term stay in Utah. According to MacMahon, the Jazz are “determined” to lock up Hill to a multiyear deal this summer if the two sides don’t reach an agreement today.
Although veteran players can sign contract extensions right up until the end of June, a standard extension offers very modest raises on a player’s current-year salary, making it an unappealing option for someone like Hill, who is earning $8MM in 2016/17. However, as we detailed earlier today, a renegotiation-and-extension would allow Utah to increase Hill’s salary for this season and then tack on up to three additional years onto his deal.
[RELATED: Salary Cap Snapshot: Utah Jazz]
The Jazz currently have a league-high $13.64MM in salary cap room, so they could bump Hill’s salary up to about $21.64MM this season, then give him 7.5% raises in subsequent years. The maximum amount that the Jazz could offer Hill would be about $88.31MM in new money to lock him up through 2019/20, though I’d be surprised if the club is willing to go quite that high. Utah has a number of key players on track for new deals soon, including Rudy Gobert‘s extension set to go into effect in 2017/18 and Gordon Hayward likely to opt out this summer, and going up to the max for Hill would limit the team’s flexibility going forward.
Still, an extension for their starting point guard is a priority for the Jazz. According to MacMahon, one reason Utah declined to place a waiver claim on Deron Williams this week was because the team wanted to use that room on a contract for Hill instead. Derrick Favors is also eligible for a renegotiation-and-extension, but a Monday report suggested that the Jazz aren’t currently focusing on a new deal for Favors, who has one more year left on his contract.
After being acquired from the Pacers in an offseason trade, Hill has battled injuries a little this season, appearing in just 34 games for the Jazz. However, he has been a major part of the club’s success, recording a career-high 17.7 PPG to go along with 4.0 APG and a .413 3PT%. Utah has a 25-9 record when Hill takes the court, compared to a 12-13 mark when he sits.