Boston Celtics Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Celtics Shopping Crowder, Smart, Bradley

July 5th, 2017 at 6:11pm CST by Luke Adams

In an effort to clear the cap room necessary to sign Gordon Hayward to his agreed-upon maximum salary contract, the Celtics have been discussing trades involving Jae Crowder, Marcus Smart, and Avery Bradley, sources tell Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. According to the ESPN duo, Boston has discussed “trade concepts” involving those players with at least six teams.

Based on the NBA’s previous salary cap projections, it appeared the Celtics would have enough cap flexibility to move a smaller contract, such as Terry Rozier‘s, in order to create maximum salary room. However, when the cap came in lower than expected, at about $99MM, it all but guaranteed that Boston would have to move one of Crowder, Smart, or Bradley to make a max deal work.

Smart and Bradley are each entering contract years, so Crowder would likely be the most valuable trade chip of the three players. Crowder is under contract for the next three years for a total of about $22MM, making him a bargain. He’s also part of a growing logjam at small forward in Boston, with Hayward joining recent top-three picks Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

According to Jake Fischer of SI.com (Twitter link), the Celtics offered Crowder to late-lottery teams leading up to June’s draft, hoping to acquire a pick and a young player. If the team wasn’t able to land that sort of package then, it’s even less likely now, given Boston’s reduced leverage, but Crowder should still have solid value.

Per Ian Begley of ESPN.com, the Celtics reached out to the Knicks today about Smart, but New York’s level of interest is unclear.

In addition to making a trade, the Celtics will likely have to renounce all their free agents and perhaps part with Jordan Mickey and Demetrius Jackson to make room for Hayward.

Free Agent Rumors: Celtics, Heat, Cavs, Wolves

July 5th, 2017 at 5:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Having landed Gordon Hayward, the Celtics have shifted their focus to adding a rim-protecting big man, and are showing interest in several free agents who fit that bill, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. Currently, the Celtics could only offer the $4.3MM room exception, but if they clear more than the minimum space necessary for Hayward’s deal, they could potentially make a bigger offer.

Speaking of Hayward, Jody Genessy of The Deseret News talked at length with agent Mark Bartelstein about how and why his client’s free agency announcement turned into such a mess on Tuesday. As Genessy details, via Bartelstein, Hayward went back and forth between the Jazz and Celtics before making his final decision.

Here are more free agency updates from around the NBA:

Having reached a deal with Dion Waiters, the Heat have interest in bringing back James Johnson and Luke Babbitt as well, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Bartelstein, who is also Johnson’s agent, will talk to Pat Riley tonight, according to Jackson.
While Richard Jefferson, who is under contract for 2017/18, plans to return to the Cavaliers, James Jones may not, per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. Agent Joel Bell says that neither the Cavs nor Jones have made any decisions, but a source tells Vardon that Jones – who is a free agent – won’t be back in Cleveland next season.
The Timberwolves have touched base with veteran free agent Vince Carter, but there’s nothing “concrete” happening with him for now, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News.
The Mavericks are considering adding German power forward Maxi Kleber, per Sportando (Twitter link). Kleber expects to continue playing for Bayern Munich if he doesn’t make the jump to the NBA.

Knicks Rumors: Rondo, Point Guards, Smart

July 5th, 2017 at 4:29pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have been in touch with free agent point guard Rajon Rondo, according to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). However, the two sides haven’t set up a meeting at this point, per Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog (Twitter link).

While a report on July 1 indicated that New York had reached out to Rondo’s camp, Marc Berman of The New York Post suggests that the club didn’t formally make contact until today (Twitter link). Ian Begley of ESPN.com, who initially reported the team’s contact with Rondo on Saturday, reiterates that account, though he acknowledges that “no substantive conversation” happened over the weekend.

Regardless of when the Knicks first touched base with Rondo and his reps, it’s clear that the team continues to explore all its options as it contemplates adding a veteran guard to the roster. Here’s more on that search:

Some people who have been in contact with the Knicks recently got the impression that the team’s interest in Rondo isn’t particularly strong, per Begley.
The Knicks have heard from the Celtics, who are open to trading Marcus Smart, but it’s not clear whether or not New York is interested in Smart, writes Begley.
Derrick Rose and Shelvin Mack remain on the Knicks’ radar, according to Begley, who hears that the team is on the lookout for a mentor for rookie point guard Frank Ntilikina.

Western Rumors: Gasol, Faried, T-Wolves, Young

July 5th, 2017 at 12:33pm CST by Luke Adams

While a handful of Western Conference teams have made major roster moves so far this offseason, the Grizzlies have been fairly quiet. The team reached an agreement to sign Ben McLemore, but also lost Zach Randolph and has yet to lock up its other free agents like JaMychal Green and Tony Allen.

With their window of contention potentially closing, would the Grizzlies consider moving Marc Gasol? Two league executives suggest to Chris Mannix of The Vertical that Gasol is a player worth keeping an eye on as a possible trade candidate. Mannix’s note is tucked away in a larger piece about the Celtics‘ next moves, and as he points out, Gasol would make a lot of sense as a target for Boston. However, there’s no indication that any talks have happened or that Memphis is even considering such a roster shake-up, so it sounds like speculation at this point.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Teams are calling the Nuggets to inquire about Kenneth Faried, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. With Paul Millsap arriving in Denver, the Nuggets’ frontcourt is getting crowded, and the team probably wouldn’t mind getting out from under Faried’s contract, so a trade remains a possibility.
Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News, who reported on Tuesday that the Pacers might be interested in working out a sign-and-trade deal with the Timberwolves for C.J. Miles, suggests that Indiana is further along on a Miles sign-and-trade scenario with another team (Twitter link). Meanwhile, Minnesota is waiting on Nick Young, having made him a two-year offer that is likely worth the room exception, tweets Wolfson.
In other Timberwolves news, first-round pick Justin Patton won’t be participating in Summer League with the club, having suffered a foot fracture during a workout, the team announced on Tuesday. Patton underwent surgery to repair a broken fifth metatarsal in his left foot and will be sidelined indefinitely, per the team.

Celtics Rescind Kelly Olynyk’s Qualifying Offer

July 4th, 2017 at 7:30pm CST by Luke Adams

In the wake of their agreement with Gordon Hayward, the Celtics have started making moves to create cap room for Hayward’s maximum salary contract. That means that Boston has pulled Kelly Olynyk‘s qualifying offer, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Olynyk initially received a qualifying offer worth about $4.19MM from the Celtics in June. That offer didn’t lock the two sides into anything, but it made the 26-year-old center a restricted free agent, and created a $7.74MM cap hold on Boston’s cap. The Celtics need to clear that $7.74MM cap hold to help make space for Hayward, opening the door for Olynyk to sign outright with another team.

According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), there will be a “strong” market for Olynyk, who averaged 9.0 PPG and 4.8 RPG in a part-time role for the Celtics last season. The seven-footer’s ability to make an outside shot (.368 career 3PT%) should appeal to several teams.

The Hawks and Pacers will be on the list of potential suitors for Olynyk, per Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link).

Where The Gordon Hayward Situation Stands

July 4th, 2017 at 5:46pm CST by Luke Adams

We still don’t have official word from Gordon Hayward‘s camp on where he’ll sign, but it has been an eventful day on the Hayward front.

After a report from Chris Haynes of ESPN – which was confirmed by several other reputable journalists – indicated that Hayward planned to sign with the Celtics, subsequent reports from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and others suggested it wasn’t a done deal after all.

Mark Bartelstein, Hayward’s agent, issued a statement confirming that his client hadn’t finalized his decision. While Bartelstein said they’d expect to announce a decision today, he added that, in the wake of this afternoon’s drama, “We’ve got to kind of regroup here a bit.” Meanwhile, Jazz president Steve Sparks issued a statement that read, in part, “We trust Gordon and his agent that no decision has been made.”

Although Hayward is not ready to confirm reports on his free agent destination yet, it sounds like the Heat may be out of the mix. Wojnarowski reported this afternoon on ESPN that Hayward eliminated the Heat from consideration on Monday night (Twitter links via Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald).

Bartelstein has not addressed that report, and a source tells Anthony Chiang of The Palm Beach Post (Twitter link) that the Heat haven’t been formally informed that they’re out of the running. However, Jackson tweets that a Hayward associate told him this morning that Miami was a long shot.

If the Heat are out, that would narrow the group of finalists for Hayward to the Celtics and the Jazz, with Boston seemingly holding the major edge based on today’s initial reports. It’s possible that details are still being sorted out in regard to Hayward’s contract and the Celtics’ cap situation, since Boston currently doesn’t have room to accommodate their reported maximum salary offer for the star forward.

Still, while the Celtics look like the heavy favorite, the Jazz appear to be holding on to hope. Jody Genessy of The Deseret News (Twitter link) acknowledges that Hayward was leaning toward the Celtics, but has been told by multiple sources that the 27-year-old “never fully made up his mind.”

Meanwhile, Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune, who heard earlier from a source that Hayward has “changed his mind four times in the last four days,” confirmed this afternoon (via Twitter) that neither the Celtics nor the Jazz were informed of Hayward’s decision in an official capacity today.

As we continue to wait for resolution, here’s our chronological roundup of today’s earlier Hayward updates.

Gordon Hayward Decision on Hold?

July 4th, 2017 at 2:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

2:34pm: Hayward has changed his mind four times since Saturday, a source tells Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). Agents are speculating to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that a sign-and-trade or possibly a separate Celtics deal is holding up a formal announcement (Twitter link).

2:25pm: Boston’s offer is $127.8MM over four years, with a player option likely after the third season, reports A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.

2:05pm: The leak regarding Hayward’s decision may lead to a delay in his announcement, Himmelsbach tweets, with Bartelstein suggesting the situation may not be resolved today. “That was the goal,” he said, “but now we’ve got to kind of regroup here a bit.”

Jazz president Steve Starks has tweeted a statement that reads, “We trust Gordon and his agent that no decision has been made. Good communication all day and a great relationship.”

1:50pm: The Celtics haven’t heard from Hayward yet, but they aren’t denying the report from ESPN, tweets Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. Sources are telling Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe that the move is a formality and the teams just need to be notified (Twitter link).

1:40pm: Conflicting information is beginning to filter out concerning Gordon Hayward. David Aldridge of TNT claims Hayward has not reached a decision and is still weighing his options (Twitter link). Hayward’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, says the same thing to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. “Gordon hasn’t made a decision yet,” Bartelstein said. “We are still working through it.” (Twitter link).

1:19pm: Gordon Hayward will announce today that he’s signing with the Celtics, tweets Chris Haynes of ESPN.com.

The All-Star forward, who spent his first seven NBA seasons in Utah, was considered the top prize left on the free agent market. The Celtics, Jazz and Heat all held meetings with him over the past three days. The move will reunite him with Brad Stevens, his college coach at Butler.

Boston’s belief that it had a shot at Hayward affected its decision to be conservative in its pursuit of Jimmy Butler and Paul George, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).

With about $27MM in cap space, the Celtics don’t have quite enough cap room to sign Hayward to a full max deal. Hayward could agree to accept a little bit less, or the Celtics could try to move some salary before the moratorium ends on Thursday. One path, Blakely tweets, is to pull their qualifying offer for Kelly Olynyk, renounce all their free agents, waive Jordan Mickey and Demetrius Jackson and trade away one other contract.

Hayward, 27, is coming off his best season, setting careers highs with 21.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. He gives the Celtics another dangerous shooter who can stretch defenses and share the scoring load with Isaiah Thomas.

Free Agent Rumors: Hayward, Knicks, Rose

July 3rd, 2017 at 9:12am CST by Luke Adams

While there have been indications that Gordon Hayward will make a decision on his new team Tuesday or Wednesday, a source close to the player tells Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald that Hayward may actually inform teams of his decision as early as tonight. Hayward met with the Heat on Saturday and the Celtics on Sunday, so all that’s left on his schedule is a Monday sit-down with the Jazz. While there was speculation earlier in the process that another team might enter the picture for Hayward, it appears he’ll decide between his three long-reported suitors.

Here’s more on free agency from around the NBA:

A source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post that the Knicks have told some agents their free agent plans are being held up to some extent, as they weigh their decision on whether to trade Carmelo Anthony. A report late on Monday night indicated Anthony is open to waiving his no-trade clause to join the Cavaliers or Rockets.
The Knicks have considered the possibility of seeking a sign-and-trade deal involving Derrick Rose in order to get something back for him, tweets Ian Begley of ESPN.com. Sign-and-trades are pretty rare, but can make sense when a player wants to join an over-the cap team — the Bucks, with whom Rose is meeting today, currently fit that bill.
The Nuggets‘ pitch to Paul Millsap included an appearance from Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, according to Nick Kosmider of The Denver Post, who says Marshall praised the city and told Millsap what it’s like to win in Denver. While it’s not clear if Marshall’s argument was a deciding factor, Millsap did commit to the Nuggets on Sunday night.
The Timberwolves‘ approach to free agency this summer has shown that the organization is transforming into a Tom Thibodeau-style team, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com explains. Having agreed to sign Jeff Teague and Taj Gibson, the Wolves still have their room exception available as they scour the market for shooting help.

Celtics Waive Tyler Zeller

July 2nd, 2017 at 4:13pm CST by Arthur Hill

Tyler Zeller, whose $8MM salary would have become fully guaranteed today, has been waived by the Celtics, tweets Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com.

The move was expected as Boston is concentrating on opening cap space to provide flexibility in free agency. Zeller now becomes an unrestricted free agent and is free to sign with any team.

The fifth-year center spent the past three seasons with the Celtics after being acquired from Cleveland in a 2014 deal. Zeller, 27, played 51 games this season, averaging 3.5 points and 2.4 rebounds.

Clippers Considering Sign-And-Trade Offer For Gallinari

July 2nd, 2017 at 2:21pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers are looking for a team with cap space that would be willing to facilitate a sign-and-trade with the Nuggets involving Danilo Gallinari, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.

Gallinari met with L.A.’s contingent Saturday night and hasn’t announced a decision yet on where he plans to sign. However, Amick states that the Clippers want to be ready with a trade offer for Denver in case he does opt to come to Los Angeles.

Nine teams expressed interest in meeting with Gallinari when free agency began, but it’s not certain how many face-to-face sessions he intends to have before making a final decision.

The Kings, who were among those teams, have apparently elected not to pursue Gallinari any more, Amick adds (Twitter link). A return to Denver remains in play for the 28-year-old forward.

The Celtics haven’t held a formal meeting with Gallinari, but they have made contact and consider him a backup plan in case Gordon Hayward signs elsewhere, according to Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald (Twitter link).

Gallinari appeared in 63 games this year, the most since missing the entire 2013/14 season after surgery on his left ACL. He averaged 18.2 points per night and shot .389 from 3-point range, his best performance in that category since coming to Denver in 2011.