Atlanta Hawks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Hawks Don’t Match Knicks’ Hardaway Offer Sheet

July 8th, 2017 at 2:08pm CST by Luke Adams

2:08pm: Tim Hardaway Jr. is now officially a Knick, as Hardaway’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, says that Atlanta has officially not matched, per Marc Berman of The New York Post (link via Twitter).

1:45pm: The Hawks have informed the Knicks that they will not match New York’s offer sheet on Tim Hardaway Jr., reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (link via Twitter).

11:27am: The Hawks don’t intend to match the Knicks’ four-year, $71MM offer sheet for Tim Hardaway Jr., reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. As Wojnarowski notes, the formal deadline for Atlanta to make its decision is still hours away, but Hardaway will ultimately be a Knick — again.

Hardaway, 25, enjoyed the best season of his NBA career in 2016/17, averaging 14.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 2.3 APG in 79 games (30 starts) for the Hawks. He also posted a career-best FG% (.455) and had a .357 3PT%, and was even better after the All-Star break, with 17.5 PPG in 25 contests.

While Hardaway’s production was solid and he still has room to improve, the Knicks’ $71MM offer – which came at a time when most teams didn’t have much cap room available – was a surprise. The Hawks were reportedly willing to do a deal in the four-year, $48MM range for Hardaway, but decided not to match a Knicks offer that would hamper their cap flexibility more significantly. Atlanta will have room left over to pursue another RFA or accommodate another salary dump.

In addition to averaging nearly $18MM annually, the Knicks’ deal with Hardaway includes a fourth-year player option and a 15% trade bonus, according to previous reports. The agreement also calls for the shooting guard to receive 50% of his annual salary by October 1 each year.

With Hardaway in the mix, the Knicks will have little – if any – cap room available to spend on other free agents, though the club will still have its $4.3MM room exception. New York also had to renounce its rights to Derrick Rose, among other free agents, in order to clear the space necessary for Hardaway. That all but rules out the possibility of a reunion between Rose and the Knicks, since the team no longer holds his Bird rights.

Hardaway was originally drafted by New York with the No. 24 pick in the 2013 draft. The Knicks traded him to the Hawks in a 2015 draft night trade that netted them Jerian Grant. Grant was traded to the Bulls during the following offseason as part of a package that brought Rose to the Big Apple.

As Marc Berman of the New York Post wrote earlier today, the Knicks’ brain trust views Hardaway as part of a long-term ‘core four’ for the franchise, alongside Kristaps Porzingis, Willy Hernangomez, and Frank Ntilikina.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Eastern Notes: Hardaway Jr., Celtics, Morris, Hawks

July 8th, 2017 at 10:18am CST by marksuleymanov

The Knicks‘ four-year, $71MM offer sheet to restricted free agent Tim Hardaway Jr. took many by surprise given that New York is prepared to make a lofty investment in a player the team recently traded. Yet, if the Hawks do not match the Knicks’ offer sheet, the team views Hardaway as part of a ‘core four’ alongside Kristaps Porzingis, Willy Hernangomez, and Frank Ntilikina, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes.

Hardaway, just 25 years old, is coming off a solid year in Atlanta, as he averaged 14.5 PPG and 2.8 RPG while shooting .455% from the floor in 79 games. Hardaway was originally drafted by the Knicks in 2013 but was dealt for Jerian Grant after two seasons in the Big Apple. If he does return, Hardaway will fit the Knicks’ current mold of a young, athletic player — something former team president Phil Jackson didn’t necessarily prioritize during his tenure.

As for Ntilikina, the soon-to-be 19-year-old will look to be a sponge in his first few seasons, learning from veterans and experienced youngsters. Bringing back a productive former member of the team would be a good first step.

Below are additional notes around the Easter Conference:

The Celtics have made major upgrades this offseason, none bigger than agreeing to a four-year deal with Gordon Hayward. However, general manager Danny Ainge is still not satisfied with the roster and will pursue upgrades, Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald writes. The team created space for Hayward by rading Avery Bradley to the Pistons for Marcus Morris on Friday, and can now afford to be patient and consider the market before making any other deals.
Speaking of Morris, he will be a missed presence in the Pistons locker room, Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press writes. After coming to Detroit from the Suns in 2015, Ellis writes that Morris’ attitude and intensity resonated with his teammates, fans, and the city of Detroit.
The Hawks have announced the hiring of veteran NBA coach Chris Jent. Jent, who played professionally for 11 seasons, has previously served on coaching staffs for the Sixers, Magic, Cavaliers, and Kings.

Clippers, Knicks, Others Renounce UFAs

July 8th, 2017 at 9:45am CST by Luke Adams

Several NBA teams have renounced their unrestricted free agents, eliminating any form of Bird rights the team had on those players, per RealGM’s transactions log. Here’s a breakdown of which teams renounced their UFAs and what those moves might mean:

Los Angeles Clippers

Players renounced: Alan Anderson, Jeff Ayres, Brandon Bass, Glen Davis, J.J. Redick, Hedo Turkoglu, and Ekpe Udoh.
The thinking: Redick has a new deal in place elsewhere and the other players probably aren’t candidates to return. With a hard cap in place after signing-and-trading for Danilo Gallinari, the Clips will have to keep team salary below $125.266MM for the rest of the 2017/18 league year.

New York Knicks

Players renounced: Ron Baker, Justin Holiday, Derrick Rose, and Sasha Vujacic.
The thinking: The Knicks needed to clear cap room to fit in Tim Hardaway Jr.‘s offer sheet, so these moves aren’t really a surprise. The one interesting name is Baker — the club also withdrew its qualifying offer to him. He has reportedly agreed to a deal with New York already, but if the team doesn’t need his QO or FA rights to complete that signing, it may just end up being a two-year, minimum salary contract that could be finalized once the Knicks use up their cap room on other players.

Atlanta Hawks

Players renounced: Jose Calderon, Kris Humphries, Ersan Ilyasova, Paul Millsap, and Thabo Sefolosha.
The thinking: The Hawks kept cap holds for Hardaway and Mike Muscala on their books, but it appears none of the players noted above are in their plans going forward. Atlanta needed to clear its cap room to take on Jamal Crawford and Diamond Stone in a trade with the Clippers, so the Hawks also had to renounce their five trade exceptions as well.

Detroit Pistons

Players renounced: Aron Baynes and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
The thinking: With a $125.266MM hard cap now in place, the Pistons will have to keep team salary below that figure for the rest of the league year.

Brooklyn Nets

Players renounced: K.J. McDaniels
The thinking: McDaniels’ cap hold likely had to be eliminated from the books in order to fit Otto Porter‘s offer sheet.

Phoenix Suns

Players renounced: Ronnie Price
The thinking: I don’t see any obvious reason that the Suns needed to renounce Price’s minimum salary cap hold, but there’s no reason to keep it on the books either — if the team wants to eventually re-sign Price, it can use cap room or the minimum salary exception to do so.

Hawks Request Waivers On Jamal Crawford

July 7th, 2017 at 6:28pm CST by Austin Kent

7:28pm: The Hawks have formally requested waivers on Crawford, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets.

The Cavs appear to be the frontrunners of all the teams mentioned to be in the hunt for Crawford’s services. Per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, the veteran guard is “theirs to lose.” Crawford will be able to officially finalize a deal with the Cavs or another team once he clears waivers.

5:37pm: The Hawks have finalized a contract buyout with Jamal Crawford, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. The 36-year-old was acquired in the three-way deal that sent Danilo Gallinari to the Clippers.

Particularly interested in the news will be the Cavaliers and Celtics who, along with the Timberwolves, Bucks and Wizards, are reported to be in the mix for the services of the combo guard. David Aldridge of TNT notes that the Lakers could be in pursuit as well.

In 82 games for L.A. last season, Crawford posted 12.3 points per game. The veteran has spent each of the past five seasons with the Clippers and has long been one of the league’s most impactful reserves.

If a contending team like the Cavs or C’s lands the three-time Sixth Man of the Year, it may drastically bolster their shot at competing in the East.

Upon news of the buyout, which was also promptly reported by ESPN’s Chris Haynes, Sam Amick of USA Today notes that the Wolves, Wizards and Cavs are out front in the race to land the guard’s services.

Hawks Renounce Rights To Ilyasova

July 7th, 2017 at 4:19pm CST by Austin Kent

The Hawks have renounced the free agent rights to Ersan Ilyasova, Keith Smart of RealGM tweets. Ilyasova’s cap hold had been set at $12.6MM.

Atlanta’s front office has been busy today, already signing big man Mike Muscala to a deal, so it appears as though they could be hard at work mapping out their approach to the post-Paul Millsap era.

Having renounced Ilyasova’s Bird rights, they’ll no longer be able to bring him back without using an exception or their cap room.

The oft-underutilized 29-year-old played 26 games with Atlanta last year, his fifth club in two seasons, and will now find his way onto yet another roster in time for 2017/18.

Eastern Rumors: Nets, Hardaway, Hornets, Celtics

July 7th, 2017 at 11:30am CST by Luke Adams

Before Rudy Gay signed with the Spurs, the Nets expressed interest in the veteran forward, having viewed him as a contingency plan in the event that the Wizards match their offer sheet for Otto Porter, reports Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).

With Gay off the board and Porter likely to be retained by Washington, the Nets will be a “strong contender” for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. That’s no surprise, now that the 24-year-old is unrestricted, but for Caldwell-Pope to be an option for Brooklyn, his camp may have to be patient, since the Nets’ cap room may be tied up for a few days until the Wizards make their decision on Porter official.

Here’s more from around the East:

Before the Knicks swooped in with a $71MM offer sheet, the Hawks were willing to offer Tim Hardaway Jr. a four-year deal in the $48MM range, league sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe. We’ll see if Atlanta is willing to go significantly higher than that to match New York’s offer, or if Hardaway will return to the Knicks.
The Hornets are in the market for another big man, GM Rich Cho said today (Twitter link via Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer). Charlotte is also evaluating whether to sign a third point guard or keep Briante Weber in that role. Weber has a non-guaranteed contract.
Raptors president Masai Ujiri said today that he’s comfortable entering the 2017/18 season as a tax team, but there’s still plenty of time to make moves. He’s waiting for the trade market to open up a little, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN 1050.
The plan for the Celtics has always been to have draft-and-stash prospect Guerschon Yabusele on their roster this fall, a league source tells Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link). As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), Boston will likely need to waive or trade Jordan Mickey and Demetrius Jackson to retain Yabusele’s cap hold.

Clippers, Hawks, Nuggets Agree On Three-Way Deal

July 6th, 2017 at 5:13pm CST by Luke Adams

July 6: The trade is official, according to a Hawks team press release.

July 4: The Clippers, Hawks, and Nuggets are in agreement on a three-way deal that will send Danilo Gallinari to the Clippers in a sign-and-trade arrangement, reports Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The deal has been discussed extensively, and there was an expectation it would get done, but it hadn’t been formally agreed upon until now. It can be made official when the moratorium ends on Thursday.

Based on the terms reported, the trade is expected to look like this:

Clippers receive: Gallinari (sign-and-trade, three-year deal worth $65MM)
Hawks receive: Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone, first-round pick from Clippers (Rockets’ 2018 first-rounder), cash.
Nuggets receive: Second-round pick from Hawks (it will be the Wizards’ 2019 second-rounder, tweets Vivlamore)

The key piece in the transaction is Gallinari, a free agent forward who turns 29 next month. He has had some trouble staying on the court in recent years, appearing in just 175 total games over the last four seasons, but he’s a versatile and effective scorer when he plays, averaging 18.2 PPG with a shooting line of .447/.389/.902 in 2016/17. The Clippers envision him sharing the frontcourt with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

The Clippers didn’t have the cap room to sign Gallinari outright, and the Nuggets didn’t want to take back salary in a sign-and-trade since they’re preserving their space to finalize Paul Millsap‘s signing. That opened the door for the Hawks to enter the mix and nab a future first-round pick – along with a young prospect in Stone – for their willingness to take on Crawford’s contract.

While Crawford will land in Atlanta as part of this three-way deal, there’s a belief that he’ll seek a trade or buyout. A trade will be tricky to complete, and the Hawks would likely want Crawford to forgo a significant chunk of the $17MM+ in guaranteed money remaining on his deal in order to buy him out. If the two sides can work something out though, the Lakers, Warriors, Spurs, and Cavaliers are among Crawford’ possible landing spots.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Jamal Crawford

July 6th, 2017 at 4:21pm CST by ChrisCrouse

4:21pm: The Celtics are also among the teams Crawford would consider if he’s bought out, tweets Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders.

3:52pm: Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype (Twitter link) hears that in addition to the Wolves, Cavs, and Wizards, the Bucks would be in the mix for the shooting guard’s services in the event of a buyout. Kennedy mentions the Lakers as well, though Spears’ report (noted below) suggests the mutual interest between L.A. and Crawford has faded.

2:45pm: The three-team trade between the Nuggets, Clippers, and Hawks is expected to be finalized today and Jamal Crawford will work with Atlanta on a buyout agreement shortly after landing on the team, Chris Haynes of ESPN.com tweets.

It initially appeared that the shooting guard preferred to sign with the Lakers given his home in Los Angeles and his relationship with No. 2 overall pick Lonzo Ball. However, Marc J. Spears of the Undefeated reports (Twitter link) that neither Crawford nor the Lakers have much interest in working on a deal. The scribe adds that 37-year-old is expected to have interest from the Wolves, Cavs, and Wizards once a buyout is completed.

The Warriors were considered front-runners to sign Crawford earlier in the week, but the team opted to sign Nick Young to bolster its second unit. Crawford played for the Warriors during the 2008/09 season.

Atlanta is under no obligation to reach a buyout agreement with the shooting guard and the team could decide to trade him or keep him on the roster. It was reported earlier in the week that if Crawford wanted a buyout, he would have to give up a “significant portion” of his salary. He’s set to make over $17.2MM in guaranteed salary over the next two seasons.

Southeast Notes: Meeks, Porter, Reed, Magic

July 6th, 2017 at 2:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards will use their mid-level exception instead of their bi-annual exception to sign Jodie Meeks, tweets Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. The change was made to avoid being hard-capped by the expected re-signing of Otto Porter. Meeks will still receive $7MM over two seasons; the money will just come from a different source (Twitter link). The Wizards still haven’t received the Nets’ offer sheet for Porter, adds J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic (Twitter link).

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Clippers, Warriors, Hawks, Sixers and Pacers all remain in the market for Heat back-up center Willie Reed, tweets David Aldridge of TNT. Miami also hopes to re-sign him.
The Magic’s new management team is taking a cautious attitude toward rebuilding, relays Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando has been quiet during the first week of free agency, despite coming off a 29-53 season and having up to $15.1MM available to spend. “There’s a lot less money in the free-agent market this year than there was last year,” said Jeff Weltman, the team’s new president of basketball operations. “And so, the approach that we’ve taken is to kind of wait and see how some of that shakes out towards the next phase of free agency and see which players we may be able to get into discussions with at that point. But we’ve been touching base with a lot of guys and just kind of gauging the market.”
The Hornets have promoted Buzz Peterson to assistant GM, the team announced on its website. A former standout at North Carolina and a head coach at five colleges, Peterson had been serving as the Hornets’ senior advisor to basketball operations. “He brings a wide breadth of basketball knowledge to the position, having been involved in the game at various levels for close to three decades,” said Charlotte GM Rich Cho. “I’m excited to be working more closely with Buzz in his new role and look forward to his continued contributions to our basketball team.”

Eastern Rumors: Ellington, Haslem, Smart, Hawks

July 6th, 2017 at 8:20am CST by Luke Adams

The belief among Heat players is that Wayne Ellington will be back with the team next season, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Ellington is a candidate to be released within the next 48 hours or so, since his $6.27MM salary for 2017/18 – currently non-guaranteed – will become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract.

Even if the Heat ultimately decide that they need to waive Ellington to create some extra cap room for another move, that doesn’t necessarily rule out his return — the team could eventually re-sign him to a deal worth the $4.3MM room exception, if he’s open to accepting a pay cut.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Reynolds provides another Heat-related tidbit, tweeting that Udonis Haslem is on the Cavaliers‘ radar. Haslem, who has spent his entire career in Miami, wants to stay with the Heat, and that looks like the most probable outcome. But a conversation between Haslem and the Cavs is likely, per Reynolds.
On Wednesday, an ESPN report indicated that the Celtics had called the Knicks about Marcus Smart, but New York’s level of interest in Smart was unclear. Following up on that story, Marc Berman of The New York Post reports that the Knicks do indeed have interest in Smart and are considering trade options as a way of filling part or all of their remaining cap space.
Italian forward Nicolo Melli received a contract offer from the Hawks, according to international basketball journalist David Pick (Twitter link). However, Pick reports that Melli has turned down that offer and will sign a multiyear pact with Fenerbahce in Turkey. Per Sportando (Twitter link), Melli’s new deal isn’t done yet, but will be within a few days.
The Raptors are the latest team to line up a deal to add a sponsored patch to their jersey, according to TSN’s Rick Westhead, who reports that Toronto has signed a three-year agreement with insurance company Sun Life Financial. The deal will pay Raptors ownership more than $5MM annually, sources tell Westhead. The list of NBA clubs that have agreed to jersey sponsorship deals can be found here.