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Lonnie Walker, Anfernee Simons Get QOs; Kevin Knox Doesn’t

June 29th, 2022 at 5:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs have issued a qualifying offer to guard Lonnie Walker, making him a restricted free agent, according to Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). The qualifying offer will be worth $6,311,564.

Unlike some of this summer’s top restricted free agents, Walker wasn’t a lock to receive that qualifying offer, given the up-and-down season the 23-year-old had in 2021/22. He averaged a career-high 12.1 PPG and 2.2 APG, but saw his shooting percentages dip to 40.7% from the floor and 31.4% on threes, well below his career rates. Furthermore, a report earlier today stated that Walker was unlikely to remain in San Antonio.

By issuing the qualifying offer, the Spurs are at least opening up a path for Walker to return, either by accepting the one-year QO or by negotiating a new deal with the team. However, McDonald says there’s an expectation that Walker will “fully” test the market.

Spurs swingman Joe Wieskamp also received a qualifying offer, making him a restricted free agent, tweets McDonald. Because Wieskamp was promoted from his two-way deal to a standard contract last season, his qualifying offer will be worth approximately $1.8MM ($200K more than his minimum salary).

Here are a few more qualifying offer updates from around the NBA:

  • The Trail Blazers have formally issued a qualifying offer to guard Anfernee Simons, making him a restricted free agent, the team announced in a press release. Simons’ QO is worth $5,758,552, but the 23-year-old is expected to negotiate a far more lucrative long-term deal. Multiple reports have suggested a four-year contract worth in the neighborhood of $80MM is possible.
  • Hawks forward Kevin Knox isn’t getting a qualifying offer and will become an unrestricted free agent, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Knox didn’t get regular minutes last season and his qualifying offer would have been worth $7,228,448, so it comes as no surprise that Atlanta is passing.
  • The Warriors aren’t giving qualifying offers to either Juan Toscano-Anderson ($2,126,991) or Chris Chiozza ($1,968,175), according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). Both players will be unrestricted free agents and are unlikely to remain in Golden State, Slater adds.
  • The Celtics have tendered a two-way qualifying offer to guard Brodric Thomas, making him a restricted free agent, a source tells our JD Shaw (Twitter link). Boston hasn’t reached a deal to fill either of its two-way slots for next season yet, so Thomas could end up taking one of them.
  • Two-way players Jay Scrubb (Clippers) and Trevelin Queen (Rockets) won’t receive qualifying offers and will become unrestricted free agents, according to reports from Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times and Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). Queen, the 2021/22 NBA G League MVP, is expected to receive interest on the open market, per Haynes.
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Celtics’ Sam Hauser To Become Restricted Free Agent

June 29th, 2022 at 5:31pm CST by Rory Maher

The Celtics are declining their $1,563,518 club option on Sam Hauser and instead will make him a restricted free agent, a source tells Keith Smith of Spotrac and CelticsBlog (Twitter link).

While Smith doesn’t outright state that Hauser has been given a qualifying offer, that’s the likely outcome given that he says Hauser will become a RFA. According to Smith, Boston plans to work out a longer contract with Hauser in free agency.

Hauser, 24, signed a two-way contract with the Celtics last August after going undrafted out of Virginia. He was promoted to the 15-man roster in February after trades created multiple roster openings.

The 6’8″ forward played limited minutes in 26 NBA games with Boston, but did convert an impressive amount of his three-point attempts (19-44, 43.2%). Hauser was a G League standout for the team’s affiliate in Maine, putting up 20.2 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.9 APG and 1.1 SPG on .460/.408/.800 shooting in 13 regular season contest (35 MPG).

Hauser will reportedly be among the young players on Boston’s Summer League roster next month.

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Celtics Exercise 2022/23 Option On Juwan Morgan

June 29th, 2022 at 3:41pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics have picked up their option on Juwan Morgan for next season, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac.

Morgan’s contract remains non-guaranteed, Smith adds, and he doesn’t have a guarantee date before early January, when all contracts through the league become guaranteed. The option is worth $1,815,677.

The 25-year-old power forward signed a 10-day deal with Boston in late March and then a standard contract on April 9, one day before the end of the regular season. He got into just one game and played a single game for the Raptors as well on a 10-day contract.

Morgan spent his first two NBA seasons with the Jazz, averaging 1.4 PPG while seeing minimal playing time in 50 total games.

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Jazz Hire Will Hardy As Head Coach

June 29th, 2022 at 3:35pm CST by Luke Adams

JUNE 29: The Jazz have made it official, announcing in a press release that they’ve hired Hardy as their new head coach.

“Will Hardy is one of the brightest young leaders in the NBA,” Ainge said in a statement. “He understands the importance of setting a vision and creating a culture for players. He places great value on communication, player development and creating the most productive environment for players to succeed. His experience on coaching staffs that have made the NBA Finals and with USA Basketball are invaluable and have helped prepare him for this moment. We couldn’t be more excited for Will to lead the Jazz moving forward.”

JUNE 28: Celtics assistant Will Hardy is closing in on a deal with the Jazz to become the team’s new head coach, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirms (via Twitter) that Hardy has been offered the job and is finalizing a deal with Utah.

Hardy, 34, will receive a five-year contract, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who notes that Hardy will become the youngest active head coach in the league.

Hardy joined the Spurs’ video room as an intern in 2010 and remained with the organization for more than a decade, earning a promotion to Gregg Popovich‘s coaching staff in 2015. He made the move to Boston to become an assistant under Ime Udoka a year ago and spent the 2021/22 season as a Celtics assistant before receiving head coaching consideration from the Kings in the spring.

Hardy, who played college ball at Williams College in Massachusetts, also earned some consideration as a head coaching candidate in 2020, having been linked to the Pacers, Knicks, and Thunder when they were conducting coaching searches.

Marc Stein reported last week that Jazz CEO Danny Ainge wanted to hire an up-and-coming first-time head coach to replace Quin Snyder, who stepped down earlier this month after eight seasons with Utah. Stein added that Utah’s front office was impressed by Hardy and Suns assistant Kevin Young.

A couple days after Stein’s report, Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune wrote that Hardy was a leading candidate for the position, with the Jazz also strongly considering Young. Other finalists included Joe Mazzulla, Adrian Griffin, and Alex Jensen, all of whom met with Jazz ownership this week, sources tell Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

The Jazz have made the postseason six seasons in a row, with a regular season winning percentage no worse than .585 over that span, but have failed to advance past the second round in the West. Utah lost in the first round to Dallas this past season, even though Mavericks star Luka Doncic was injured and missed the first three games of the series.

Hiring a young coach makes sense for Utah, as the team is in somewhat of a transitional phase. The Jazz obviously want to take the next step and become a legitimate title contender, but if they decide to pivot into a rebuild at some point, they’ll already have a coach who has experience working with young players, as Hardy led the Spurs’ Summer League squad from 2015-18.

Rory Maher contributed to this story.

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Celtics Interested In Danilo Gallinari, T.J. Warren

June 29th, 2022 at 10:24am CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics are targeting “high-scoring, small-ball forwards” with their mid-level exception, writes Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. Fischer mentions the Hawks‘ Danilo Gallinari and the Pacers‘ T.J. Warren as possibilities, but adds that others are also under consideration.

Boston can only offer the taxpayer mid-level exception (projected to be worth about $6.4MM) unless it unloads some salary.

Gallinari, who is also rumored to be part of trade talks with the Spurs, could wind up on the free agent market because his contract currently only carries a $5MM guarantee for next season. The 33-year-old averaged 11.7 points and 4.7 rebounds for Atlanta this season while shooting 38.1% from three-point range, but seems unlikely to be retained at his full $21.5MM salary, whether or not he’s traded.

The Heat may also consider Gallinari if they can’t re-sign P.J. Tucker, Fischer says.

Warren has only played four combined games over the past two seasons, but he was a dangerous scorer before being injured and was one of the stars of the Orlando bubble. Warren, 28, is averaging 15.5 points and 4.1 rebounds for his career, including a career-best 19.8 PPG during the 2019/20 season.

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Trade Rumors: Spurs, Hawks, Murray, Collins, Thybulle, Thunder

June 29th, 2022 at 9:05am CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs and Hawks began talking about Dejounte Murray and John Collins prior to the trade deadline in February and have resumed those discussions this offseason, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, who says the conversations remain very fluid.

As Fischer explains, while Collins appeared to be part of those trade talks leading up to the draft, word spread earlier this week that the two teams were discussing a new framework that included Danilo Gallinari and three first-round picks going to San Antonio. However, one league source told Fischer that Collins was once again on the table on Tuesday. Fischer has also heard from sources that the Spurs’ asking price for Murray has gotten as high as four first-rounders.

While multiple reports in recent weeks have indicated Collins will likely be on the move this offseason, it’s unclear which teams represents his most likely landing spots outside of San Antonio. Fischer writes that the Kings, Trail Blazers, Celtics, and Nets all conveyed “some level” of interest around the draft, but adds that it doesn’t appear the Hawks have made progress in talks with any of those teams.

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

  • As the Sixers continue to explore the trade market for possible deals, the two teams that have been linked most often to swingman Matisse Thybulle are the Trail Blazers and Mavericks, according to Fischer.
  • The Thunder still technically have unused 2021/22 cap space that could be used to absorb unwanted salary and they remain interested in exploring scenarios that use that space and net them assets, sources tell Fischer. That window will close in less than 48 hours when the NBA’s new league year begins.
  • With Russell Westbrook officially under contract for the 2022/23 season, a trade remains possible and would be the Lakers‘ preference, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. However, the Lakers remain averse to attaching a first-round pick to Westbrook to move him, so they’re currently planning to have him start next season on their roster, sources tell Buha.
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New York Rumors: Knicks, Brunson, Burks, Nets, Claxton, Kyrie

June 28th, 2022 at 8:36am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have “legitimate optimism” about their chances of signing free agent point guard Jalen Brunson, Ian Begley of SNY.tv reports, citing people in touch with the organization since the draft.

Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report conveyed a similar sentiment during his latest podcast, suggesting that the Knicks may have moved ahead of the Mavericks as the favorites to lock up Brunson long-term this offseason (hat tip to HoopsHype).

As Begley observes, the Knicks still have some work to do if they want to create the cap room necessary to make Brunson a strong offer — trading either Alec Burks or Nerlens Noel may be the most likely path to opening up that space.

Burks underwent foot surgery this spring after the Knicks’ season ended, and while that procedure has reportedly hurt his trade value, Begley says there are still multiple teams with some interest in the veteran guard, including the Celtics.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams:

  • Fred Katz of The Athletic spoke to 16 officials in NBA front offices to get a sense of how much they’d be willing to offer RJ Barrett in extension talks this offseason if they were running the Knicks. According to Katz, the responses ranged from $15-30MM per year, with no one saying they would go up to the max. A four-year, $100MM offer was the most-cited suggestion, Katz adds.
  • In the latest episode of his Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said that restricted free agent center Nic Claxton appears likely to remain with the Nets (audio link via Jac Manuell of Nets Republic). “The word is amongst executives, I’ve talked to a couple of executives today who believe that Nic Claxton will be back with the Nets, that that’s been worked out,” Windhorst said. “I shouldn’t say it’s been worked out. There’s an understanding.”
  • In the same podcast, Windhorst wondered whether or not the standoff between the Nets and Kyrie Irving has truly been put to bed after Irving announced he’ll pick up his player option for 2022/23. “I was told that the option pick-up came as a total surprise to the Nets, that they found out when everybody else did,” Windhorst said, per NetsDaily. “… The people that I talk to in the league are skeptical that Kyrie is going to be ‘all for one and one for all’ on this. … The people who are in the business to earn the business are telling me, ‘No, Kyrie actually has leverage here,’ because now he’s making the $36 million, he’s got his money and he can make life hell.”
  • In an Insider-only story for ESPN.com, Kevin Pelton considers what’s next for the Nets now that Irving has decided to opt in.
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Madar Decommits From Celtics' Summer League Squad, Kabengele Joins

June 26th, 2022 at 10:20pm CST by JD Shaw
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Will Hardy A Leading Candidate For Jazz Coaching Job

June 25th, 2022 at 4:16pm CST by JD Shaw

The Jazz view Celtics assistant Will Hardy as a leading candidate for the team’s vacant head coaching job, according to Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake City Tribune. Larsen notes that Utah’s decision-makers reportedly favor a young candidate to replace Quin Snyder.

Snyder left the Jazz earlier this month after an eight-year stint. Utah has interviewed roughly 15 candidates for the position, searching for the right replacement to guide the team back into contention.

Hardy started his NBA career with the Spurs as a video intern in 2010. He was the team’s video coordinator from 2013 to 2015, then became an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich. He was hired by the Celtics when former Spurs assistant Ime Udoka took that head coaching job last year.

In addition to Hardy, the Jazz are also strongly considering Suns assistant Kevin Young, according to Larsen. The 40-year-old was an assistant coach with the Sixers from 2017-20, then was hired by current Suns head coach Monty Williams. Before that, he served as an assistant at Utah Valley University and coached in the G League.

Marc Stein previously identified Hardy and Young as two candidates who impressed the Jazz during the first round of interviews.

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