Atlanta Hawks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Hawks Sign Jaylen Adams To Two-Way Deal

July 1st, 2018 at 10:15am CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 1: The Hawks have officially signed Adams to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.

JUNE 22: The Hawks have reached agreement on a two-way contract with St. Bonaventure’s Jaylen Adams, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The 22-year-old point guard shared Player of the Year honors in the Atlantic 10 as a senior. He averaged 19.1 points and 5.2 assists per game and had a pair of 40-point nights in February.

Adams was a first-team all-conference selection the past three years and earned honorable mention All-American honors this season.

Hawks Sign All Three First-Round Picks

July 1st, 2018 at 9:51am CST by Arthur Hill

The Hawks have reached contract agreements with first-round picks Trae Young, Kevin Huerter and Omari Spellman, according to Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Their first-year salaries will be approximately $5.36MM for Young, $2.25MM for Huerter and $1.62MM for Spellman. All rookie scale deals cover two years, followed by two team option seasons.

Young, the fifth overall pick, was among the nation’s top collegiate scorers at Oklahoma. Atlanta grabbed him after trading down from No. 3 in a draft-day deal with Dallas. Huerter, a 3-point specialist out of Maryland, was taken at No. 19 despite a wrist injury that limited his pre-draft workouts. Spellman is a center with shooting range who won a national title at Villanova.

Hawks Among Those Interested In Zach LaVine

July 1st, 2018 at 12:17am CST by Austin Kent

Count the Hawks among those interested in Bulls guard Zach LaVine, Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago tweets. They’ll join a handful of suitors that also includes the Kings, as we wrote about earlier this week.

Atlanta, like Sacramento, will have plenty of cap space to throw at the restricted free agent. A bidding war between clubs well short of the cap, coupled with the 23-year-old’s hypothetical ceiling, could drive the former slam dunk champion’s forthcoming contract through the roof.

While there are concerns about LaVine’s health following an ACL tear in early 2017, he remains a world-class athlete that averaged 18.9 points per game half-way through 2016/17 before succumbing to the injury.

LaVine performed admirably in just over a third of a season with the Bulls but Chicago may pause at the thought of matching a max or near-max contract offer sheet should either the Hawks or Kings decide to go that high.

It’s worth noting that Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk has been particularly conservative financially throughout his short tenure with the franchise. That said, the chance to net a potential All-Star young enough to build around may prove too much to resist.

Bazemore Available In Trade Talks

June 30th, 2018 at 2:03pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Hawks‘ Kent Bazemore and the Knicks‘ Courtney Lee are both available in trade talks as well, Aldridge adds. The scribe also confirms that there are no untouchable players on the Raptors.

Jabari Parker Likely To Leave Bucks?

June 30th, 2018 at 1:04pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Kings are just one of the teams expected to make a run at Jabari Parker, and some executives within the league view the former No. 2 overall pick to be among the small tier of players below stars such as LeBron James and Paul George.

“Hey, he’s a good player; I mean he’s a really good player,’’ an NBA executive told Gary Woelfel (via Woelfel’s Press Box). “And he’s young.’’

Parker is a restricted free agent, meaning the Bucks can match any rival offer he receives. One longtime NBA executive expects the 23-year-old to see a rather lucrative deal.

“I think some teams will give him $20MM [per season] and there might be some teams that will make it tough on Milwaukee to match and offer him even more,’’ the NBA official tells Woelfel.

“I think Milwaukee would like to keep him for $16MM or something around that figure, trying to use his injury situation to their advantage. But there are teams that need a big-time scorer and nobody doubts he’s a big-time scorer.’’

Another NBA executive speculated that the Sixers could make an offer for Parker should they fail to land a bigger target like James, George or Kawhi Leonard. Woelfel names the Bulls, Jazz, Pacers, Hawks, Suns, and Nets as possibilities as well.

Other NBA executives who spoke with Woelfel believe a sign-and-trade is a more likely scenario for the combo forward. That route would be Milwaukee’s preference rather than being forced to decide between signing Parker to a player-friendly contract or losing him for nothing. “It’s no secret” that the Bucks would be open to receiving an upgrade at point guard or center in such an agreement, Woelfel adds.

The Rockets and Clippers are both high on Parker and could be possibilities if a sign-and-trade were to occur, though it would be hard for Houston to complete a deal and stay under the tax apron if the team retains its own key free agents. Los Angeles and Milwaukee had discussions about Parker at last year’s trade deadline.

Parker likes Milwaukee and he reportedly paid around $1.5MM to redo the warehouse he currently lives in, according to Woelfel’s sources. Those same sources tell the scribe that despite Parker being comfortable in his current situation, it’s more likely he leaves then stays.

“He loves the people there; he loves the city,” the source said. “But I don’t see him staying there. If you’re asking me, it’s 75-25 he goes to another team.’’

Many dominos, such as James coming out of his decision cave, are likely to fall before Parker inks his next contract with a source estimating that a deal won’t take place until late-July or early-August.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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.

Hawks Could Have Interest In Michael Beasley

June 29th, 2018 at 11:33am CST by Luke Adams

As for Beasley, while a return to the Knicks is possible, sources tell Berman that the Trail Blazers, Hawks, and Bucks are among the other teams that could have interest. The Warriors have also internally discussed the possibility of offering Beasley a minimum-salary deal, but it doesn’t look like they’ll do so, Berman adds.

[SOURCE LINK]

Trade Rumors: Clippers, Mavs, Richardson, Lakers

June 29th, 2018 at 7:37am CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers aren’t overly interested in taking back Wesley Matthews in a trade sending DeAndre Jordan to the Mavericks, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times (via Twitter). Los Angeles’ reluctance to accept Matthews makes some sense — while his salary is a little more affordable than Jordan’s, his contract expires at the same time, and the veteran swingman doesn’t really fill a major need for the Clips.

In order to work out a deal with the Clippers, the Mavericks will have to come up with an alternative trade scenario for Jordan, Stein notes. However, if the two sides can’t reach an agreement, that doesn’t necessarily mean Dallas is out of the running for Jordan, since the standout center could always decline his player option and sign with the Mavs as a free agent. If Dallas can work out a trade for Jordan, the team could theoretically preserve a good chunk of its cap room for another signing.

Here are a few more trade-related rumors from around the NBA:

Several teams called the Heat to inquire about Josh Richardson during the draft, but Miami showed no interest in moving him, sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe. If the Heat hope to re-sign Wayne Ellington or use their mid-level exception, they’ll almost certainly have to shed salary, but Richardson isn’t a player the club is willing to lose.
The Suns made Marquese Chriss available in trade talks on draft night, according to Lowe. The ESPN.com scribe adds that the Suns, who are in the market for a point guard this summer, have yet to show any interest in trading for Dennis Schroder of the Hawks.
Multiple sources tell Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post that the Lakers and Nuggets have discussed a trade that would send unwanted salary and a draft pick to Los Angeles. Reports earlier this week indicated that the Lakers were exploring ways to acquire another first-round pick to sweeten a potential offer for Kawhi Leonard.
In a piece for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks examines some of the more intriguing expiring contracts and trade chips around the NBA.

Lowe’s Latest: James, Thunder, RFAs

June 28th, 2018 at 7:56pm CST by Austin Kent

The Lakers may not necessarily need a star in place to lure LeBron James, Zach Lowe of ESPN writes in a massive round-up of free agency notes. If James were to sign in Los Angeles alongside the team’s existing young stars and plethora of cap space they’d immediately become one of the league’s most appealing destinations for the next 12 months.

The comment comes in response to the notion that the Lakers are growing desperate to acquire Kawhi Leonard from the Spurs prior to James’ opt-in deadline tomorrow at 10:59pm CST. As things stand, both the Celtics and Sixers appear poised to offer better packages than what Lowe speculates L.A. might.

The King’s decision will have a ripple effect on the rest of the league, especially the Eastern Conference. If the Raptors, for example, were to watch James head to the West, it would make keeping their current core in place more appealing considering that their path to the Finals would be hypothetically easier.

Here’s a taste of the rest of Lowe’s findings:

If the Thunder can convince Paul George to return to Oklahoma City, it will be a monumental victory for general manager Sam Presti. If he leaves, the club would be forced to at least think about blowing the current squad up and trading Russell Westbrook.
Only six teams have notable amounts of potential cap space and half of those – the Hawks, Bulls and Kings – are telling teams that they’re interested in using that space to absorb bad contracts and pick up assets.
It’s unclear that there will be much of a market for Derrick Favors beyond, potentially the Mavs. It may make more sense for the big man to stay with the Jazz after finally starting to click alongside Rudy Gobert in Quin Snyder‘s offense last season.
The two best candidates to sign a qualifying offer this summer and approach next summer as unrestricted free agents are Celtics guard Marcus Smart and Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic. Lowe writes that Nurkic turned down a “rich” four-year extension last fall but might have a hard time finding a team willing to offer more than the mid-level exception this summer.
It stands to reason that Aaron Gordon, Zach LaVine and Jabari Parker will yield significant offers from the Magic, Bulls and Bucks respectively but none of those teams have reason to offer a max contract right away.
The Pacers could make life harder for the Magic by putting together an offer in the $20MM range for Gordon. Lowe writes that there has been “mild discontent for years” about Gordon’s role in Orlando’s offense.
The Nuggets tried “feverishly” to trade for a second first-round pick last Thursday in the hopes of nabbing Zhaire Smith. Denver’s 2019 first-rounder was on the table in those talks.

For more free agency notes, including some potential contract extension candidates and the reasoning behind Nikola Jokic not getting a player option in the fifth year of his new deal with the Nuggets, check out the full feature at ESPN.

Hawks’ Delaney, Lee, Magette To Become UFAs

June 27th, 2018 at 2:23pm CST by Luke Adams

The Hawks won’t tender qualifying offers to Malcolm Delaney, Damion Lee, or Josh Magette, meaning all three players will become unrestricted free agents, tweets Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Michael Scotto of The Athletic first reported the team’s decisions on Delaney and Magette (Twitter links).

Delaney and Lee had been on standard NBA contracts in Atlanta, so their qualifying offers would have been worth $3.125MM and approximately $1.54MM respectively. Instead, they’ll reach the open market and will be free to sign outright with any team.

Delaney, 29, has served as a backup point guard for the Hawks over the last two seasons. In 54 games in 2017/18, he averaged 6.3 PPG and 3.0 APG with a .382/.371/.804 shooting line. Lee, meanwhile, joined the roster late in the season and played well, averaging 10.7 PPG and 4.7 RPG in 15 games (11 starts).

As for Magette, he was one of two Hawks players on a two-way contract last season, splitting his time between Atlanta and Erie. While he averaged a double-double (15.1 PPG, 10.1 APG) in 36 games for the G League’s BayHawks, he struggled with his shot (.374 FG%, .300 3PT%).