The Pelicans offered Chris Paul a $100MM contract early in free agency, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on today’s episode of The Hoop Collective podcast. Windhorst believes the Pelicans’ offer helped convince the Suns to add a fourth year to their offer — that fourth year is not guaranteed, but it’s not clear if New Orleans’ offer would have been fully guaranteed either.
According to Windhorst, after new Pelicans head coach Willie Green tried to help recruit him, Paul entertained the idea for some time before ultimately committing to the Suns.
On the same episode of The Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne stated that Alex Caruso was willing to go back to the Lakers for three years and $30MM, but that the Lakers weren’t willing to higher than about $7MM per year for the veteran guard. Concerns about an exorbitant luxury-tax penalty factored into that decision, per Shelburne.
We have more free agency rumors:
- Khem Birch could be nearing a return to the Raptors, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link). Grange reports that there’s “growing momentum” toward the two sides reaching a deal. The 28-year-old center was extremely productive in his 19 games for the Raptors after coming over in a trade, and has turned himself into a solid starting center over the last couple seasons.
- Add the Cavaliers to the list of teams interested in Danny Green, reports ESPN’s Jordan Schultz. Schultz also confirms, in a follow-up tweet, that the Lakers remain interested in a reunion with Green, which Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports previously reported. It doesn’t appear the Lakers will be able to offer Green more than the veteran’s minimum though.
- Following their deal with Victor Oladipo, the Heat remain interested in a low-cost veteran guard who will be healthy at the start of the season, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link), who names Lou Williams as a player who would “welcome” interest from the team.
Lou Will to the Heat would be a very solid pick up. Just a dependable back up scorer
Well, the Lakers need defense and shooting; Green isn’t as good as he used to be, but he’s older, so he should fit right in – sign him.
Danny Green is only 34, so he might not be old enough for LA.
But he’s already aged a full year since their last time they won with him. More confusing is that they dumped him because he didn’t give the contribution they expected. Age brings unfortunate senility.
Tough to lose Caruso, but that seemed like a foregone conclusion after they traded for Westbrook and acquired that contract. Caruso is a good player and deserved to get a paid.
Bulls overpaid him for sure, but I’m glad he got paid.
They overpaid DeRozan way more
DeRozan went from “will he take the MLE to play with friends?” to “I’m getting 28+ mill a year KMA” in just 24 hours lol
Danny Green makes sense for Cleveland, and obviously for the Lakers, who still need a 3 and D wing, among others, but I doubt they get him, considering I still think its doubtful he doesnt get paid…Heat also badly need someone at that spot
So now Lou Williams? What roster spots do the Heat have left? Are they not going to address the wing spot or the floor spacing big? Are they getting rid of both Achiuwa and Okpala? I guess that’s possible. I’d prefer Okpala over Markieff Morris…UD isnt retiring for some reason, is he?
CP3 is only getting $27M more with his new contract than he would if he had opted in. Less than 60% of his new deal is guaranteed money. Smart move by Phoenix.