It appears that several teams remain interested in adding veteran free agent Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan, but are trying to gauge his market. Jordan Schultz of ESPN reports (Twitter link) that the Clippers would like to sign DeRozan, as would the Spurs if the price is right.
Schultz notes that there are other clubs interested in DeRozan, but – assuming he’s is not offered an overwhelming deal – the former four-time All-Star will take his time in determining a destination.
Here are more free agency rumors from around the NBA world:
- With Lonzo Ball now headed to the Bulls in a sign-and-trade deal as a restricted free agent, another team that had been floated as a potential destination, the Celtics, will most likely not attempt to move on from guard Marcus Smart, tweets Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. Murphy adds (Twitter link) that Smart is hoping to earn a four-year, $80MM contract extension from Boston.
- Veteran guard Goran Dragic , who is expected to be sent from the Heat to the Raptors in an upcoming sign-and-trade for veteran free agent point guard Kyle Lowry, is hoping to be rerouted to the Mavericks, per Michael Grange of Sportsnet (Twitter link). The details of a sign-and-trade agreement between Miami and Toronto have not yet been fully reported.
- Now that the news has broken that newly-minted NBA champion P.J. Tucker will be joining the Heat rather than return to the Bucks in free agency, Sam Amick of The Athletic notes a big part of the reason was Milwaukee’s exorbitant projected tax bill if Tucker had returned. The Bucks appear hopeful to replace Tucker’s versatile defensive contributions by agreeing to a deal with former Celtics forward Semi Ojeleye.
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of contract Smart gets. It’ll reflect how much teams value defense monetarily.
I don’t think he is worth that 80/4 he is seeking. Maybe 60/4
Man, it really hurts to see Goran go. Hopefully they can return to each other. Ext year, after a year with his countryman/mentee, especially after the Heat made sure he got paid. I am going to miss the fun atmosphere of those home Heat-Mavs games though, with the Slovenian fans, but we’re still in a pandemic anyway
That number for Marcus Smart, as much of a fan of him that I am, is a little excessive. I could see 4/$60, but we’ll see how he looks at the primary PG for them, with different spacing around him. His offensive numbers could improve
I’m a fan of Ojeleye. I think he should be good depth for them at the 4, and he can put the ball on the floor a little more than Tucker
Boston going backwards. They let Kemba leave for Horford and Brown, flipped Brown, a young promising centre for Richardson and then let Fouriner leave aswell.
Might not sound like much but Fouriner and Kemba are two good scorers of the ball and Horford and Richardson aren’t, although they are better defensively I don’t think it’s been a step forward at all.
If they were to have got Lonzo then atleast you could see them trying to get better and build for the future. Lonzo is a playmaker, great defender and efficient shooter from time to time.
Looks as if they won’t get any kind of big fish or even much in terms of role players in FA.
They had these moves in mind for flexibility next summer…also no guarantee Kemba stays healthy over these next 2 seasons. Although I am disappointed they dealt Brown, thought he was a nice piece in that trade.
As we’ve seen in recent years with teams like the Heat, Knicks, Mavericks, etc. It’s always a good idea to gut the current roster to create space for potential future superstars signing with you. That’s really worked out for those teams.
Wouldn’t say they are going backwards. They simply had to deal with the reality of some prior mistakes. It was going to happen sooner or later and they clearly do not want to be in the tax right now.
They will be okay if Stevens can get creative and realign things in a year or two. But this year looks like it’s going to be a bridge year
As a Boston fan I am disappointed. I hope Langford Nesmith and Pritchard Blossom this year or it will be long. Robert Williams must be a stud too.
Tucker is a bigger loss than people are crediting. He was the primary defender on Durant, even CP3. Relying Ojeleye is risky, think they need to add another defender.