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Northwest Notes: Sefolosha, Reed, Withey, T-Wolves

June 30th, 2018 at 11:55am CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz forward Thabo Sefolosha should be fully cleared for basketball activities within six weeks, Tony Jones of the The Salt Lake Tribune tweets. Sefolosha underwent season-ending right knee surgery after appearing in 38 games. His status with the franchise remains cloudy. Sefolosha’s $5.25MM salary for next season becomes guaranteed if he’s still on the roster on Sunday.

In other news around the Northwest Division:

  • The Thunder recently held a free-agent workout that included centers Willie Reed and Jeff Withey, according to Alex Kennedy of Hoops Hype. Reed played 39 games with the Clippers before he was thrown into the Blake Griffin blockbuster with the Pistons. He was traded to the Bulls shortly thereafter and then waived. Withey played nine games with the Mavericks last season. The cap-strapped Thunder will be seeking low-cost alternatives to fill out their bench.
  • Salary-cap issues will force the Timberwolves to be frugal in free agency, the Associated Press reports. They’ll have to find some players on the market willing to team-friendly deals, perhaps for the veteran’s minimum, to fill out the bench, the report adds.
  • Point guard Shabazz Napier played regularly for the Trail Blazers last season but they still decided to let him go rather than giving him a qualifying offer.
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Lakers Plan To Guarantee Ivica Zubac’s Contract

June 30th, 2018 at 11:04am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Lakers plan to guarantee center Ivica Zubac’s contract for next season, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets.

Los Angeles had a Saturday deadline to make the decision. Zubac will make $1,544,951.

The 7’1” Zubac will be entering his third season. He averaged 3.7 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 9.5 MPG while making 43 appearances last season.

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2018 NBA Qualifying Offer Recap

June 30th, 2018 at 10:30am CST by Luke Adams

Players eligible for restricted free agency don’t become restricted free agents by default. In order for a team to make a player a restricted free agent, it must extend a qualifying offer to him by June 29. The qualifying offer, which is essentially just a one-year contract offer, varies in amount depending on a player’s previous contract status.

A qualifying offer is designed to give a player’s current team the right of first refusal. Because the qualifying offer acts as the first formal contract offer a free agent receives, his team then has the option to match any offer sheet the player signs with another club. If a player doesn’t receive a qualifying offer, he becomes an unrestricted free agent and is free to sign with any team — his previous club is given no formal opportunity to match.

You can read more about qualifying offers here.

Listed below are all the players who were eligible to receive qualifying offers this season, with details on which players did and didn’t get them. Our list is based on information from RealGM’s official NBA transactions log, along with various reports leading up to Friday’s deadline.

It’s possible that one or two qualifying offers slipped through the cracks and will be reported later today before free agency officially gets underway — if so, we’ll update this list. For now though, this is what the qualifying offer landscape looks like. The players who received QOs will be restricted free agents on July 1, while the players who didn’t will be unrestricted.

Received qualifying offers:

Players on NBA contracts:

Players on two-way contracts:

Note: Qualifying offers for two-way players are one-year, two-way contracts with a $50K guarantee.

Did not receive qualifying offers:

Players on NBA contracts:

Players on two-way contracts:

Note: Several players on two-way contracts reportedly signed two-year deals, making them ineligible for free agency this summer. They remain under contract.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Heat Expected To Guarantee Rodney McGruder’s Contract

June 30th, 2018 at 10:27am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Heat plan to guarantee swingman Rodney McGruder‘s $1.5MM contract for next season, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports.

The guaranteed kicks in if he’s on the roster through Saturday.

McGruder played 78 games during the 2016/17 season, in which he averaged 6.4 PPG, 3.3 RPG and 1.6 APG. He was limited to 18 games last season due to a stress fracture in his left tibia. He averaged 5.1 PPG upon his return.

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Hawks Waive Guard Isaiah Taylor

June 30th, 2018 at 9:42am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Hawks have waived guard Isaiah Taylor, Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets.

The move saves Atlanta $300K, which Taylor would have received if he had remained on the roster through Saturday. His $1,544,951 salary for next season would have been fully guaranteed if he was still on the roster through July 27th.

The 6’3” point guard appeared in 67 games last season and averaged 6.6 PPG and 3.1 APG.

Atlanta acquired the rights of Oklahoma point guard Trae Young in a draft-night trade with the Mavericks. The Hawks also have last year’s starter, Dennis Schroder, on the roster though he’s been the subject of trade discussions.

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Cavs Plan To Keep Love If James Leaves

June 30th, 2018 at 9:20am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Cavaliers do not plan to trade Kevin Love if they lose LeBron James in free agency this summer, according to Joe Vardon of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Cleveland intends to remain a playoff contender rather than go through a total rebuild if James signs elsewhere once he becomes an unrestricted free agent on Sunday, Vardon continues. The caveat is that no one on the roster is untouchable should James decide to stay.

Love would end up being more of a focal point in Cleveland’s offensive scheme without James. Prior to being traded to the Cavaliers after James left the Heat to return to his hometown team in 2014, Love posted big numbers with the Timberwolves. He averaged 26.1 PPG, 12.5 RPG and 4.4 APG in his last season there in 2013/14.

Love has two years remaining on his contract, though the final year includes a player option. He’s due approximately $24.1MM next season and $25.6MM in 2019/20. Love averaged 17.6 PPG and 9.3 RPG last season but was forced to the sidelines for 23 games due to a broken hand.

The Cavaliers are also interested in re-signing free agent Jeff Green and could offer him their $5,291,918 taxpayer mid-level exception, Vardon adds. Green was a solid role player while making the veteran’s minimum last season, averaging 10.8 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 78 games.

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Warriors Interested In Jordan, Mavs Remain Favorites

June 30th, 2018 at 8:50am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Warriors intend to make a run at Clippers center DeAndre Jordan in free agency despite their salary-cap restrictions, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets.

Jordan would have to accept their $5.3MM taxpayer mid-level exception, a huge drop from the $24.1MM he left on the table when he decided to opt out on Friday. While Jordan’s salary would be modest, such a move would wind up costing the Warriors closer to $27MM due to luxury taxes, Stein notes (Twitter link). Jordan is close friends with Kevin Durant and a former client of Golden State GM Bob Myers.

Dropping Jordan, one of the league’s premier rebounders, into the Warriors’ starting five would complete a star-studded lineup and ensure they’d be championship favorites once again no matter where LeBron James winds up.

Jordan would have to sacrifice a boatload of money for the opportunity to chase a ring. The Mavericks have made Jordan their top priority and have approximately $28MM to offer him. That makes Dallas a strong favorite to land him, Stein adds (Twitter link).

The chances of Jordan returning to the Clippers, as he did during his last free agent foray in 2015, seem remote. The team even tweeted a ‘Thank You, DeAndre!’ after his opt-out decision. They acquired veteran center Marcin Gortat from the Wizards earlier this week.

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Jabari Parker Receives Qualifying Offer From Bucks

June 30th, 2018 at 8:09am CST by Dana Gauruder

JUNE 30th, 8:09am: The qualifying offers to Parker, Plumlee and Munford have officially been made, according to the RealGM transactions log.

JUNE 29th, 4:37pm: The Bucks have extended a qualifying offer to forward Jabari Parker, making him a restricted free agent, Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets.

The qualifying offer of $4,333,932 comes as no surprise despite Parker’s star-crossed career in which he’s suffered two major knee injuries. He returned from his latest one to play in 31 games last season, including three starts. He averaged 12.6 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 1.9 APG in 24.0 MPG and should be poised to contribute more with a full training camp under his best this fall.

Parker posted averaged of 20.1 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 2.8 APG in 51 games during the 2016/17 season before he tore his left ACL in early February.

It will be interesting to see if the No. 2 overall pick in the 2014 draft received a substantial offer sheet despite his injury history. Parker is still just 23 years old after completing four seasons in the league.

The Bucks also extended qualifying offers to their two-way players from last season, center Marshall Plumlee and point guard Xavier Munford, making them restricted free agents.

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Wizards’ Jason Smith Opts In For Next Season

June 30th, 2018 at 8:04am CST by Arthur Hill

JUNE 30th, 8:04am: Smith has officially opted in, according to the RealGM transactions log.

MAY 16th, 4:20pm: Wizards center/power forward Jason Smith has exercised his $5.45MM option for next season, relays Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington.

The 32-year-old had a player option as part of a three-year, $16MM contract he signed as a free agent in 2016. He appeared in just 33 games this season, averaging 3.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 8.6 minutes per night.

Smith’s decision pushes the Wizards above the $119MM mark in guaranteed salary for next season, dangerously close to the projected $123MM luxury tax. Washington is still waiting on a decision from Jodie Meeks, who can opt out of a $3,454,500 salary.

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Blazers’ Pat Connaughton To Become UFA

June 29th, 2018 at 11:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers will not tender a qualifying offer to Pat Connaughton, reports Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link). Rather than hitting the open market as a restricted free agent on Sunday, Connaughton will be unrestricted.

Connaughton, 25, emerged as a reliable rotation piece for Portland in 2017/18, appearing in all 82 of the team’s regular season games and averaging 18.1 minutes per contest. He chipped in 5.4 PPG, 2.0 RPG, and 1.1 APG with a .423/.352/.841 shooting line.

The Trail Blazers issued a qualifying offer to Jusuf Nurkic, but have decided against doing so for Connaughton and Shabazz Napier, two players who saw regular minutes for the club last season.

Napier’s QO would have been worth $3.45MM, while Connaughton’s would have only been for $1.84MM. However, the cap-strapped Blazers already have $110MM+ in guaranteed money on their books for eight players, so a new deal for Nurkic could put them up against the tax line with several players still to sign. As such, Portland will be cautious about every dollar it spends, and may not have wanted to risk Napier and/or Connaughton accepting their qualifying offers.

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