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Bulls Sign Ayo Dosunmu, Marko Simonovic

August 13th, 2021 at 1:38pm CST by Luke Adams

6:53pm: Dosunmu received a guaranteed two-year, $2.48MM contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. That’s a minimum-salary deal, which would leave the mid-level open for Simonovic.

1:38pm: The Bulls have officially locked up a pair of second-round picks, signing guard Ayo Dosunmu and forward/center Marko Simonovic to their first NBA contracts, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

Dosunmu, 21, played his college ball at Illinois, spending three years with the Fighting Illini before declaring for the draft following his junior season. He averaged an impressive 20.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 5.3 APG on .488/.390/.783 shooting in 28 games (35.1 MPG) in 2020/21 and was selected 38th overall by the Bulls in the 2021 draft.

Simonovic, meanwhile, was the No. 44 pick in the 2020 draft, but played in Serbia for one more season before making the leap to the NBA. The 21-year-old big man, who confirmed earlier this week that he’d be signing with the Bulls, put up 15.7 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 1.7 APG, and 1.0 SPG in 25 games (31.6 MPG) for Mega Basket in the Adriatic League in 2020/21.

Terms of the two deals aren’t yet known, but the Bulls had less than $1MM of their mid-level exception left after signing Alex Caruso using most of the MLE. That means they’ll be able to give one of their rookies a three- or four-year deal, but will be limited to two years for the other (via either the bi-annual exception or the minimum salary exception).

The Bulls now have 12 players on under contract, with Lauri Markkanen‘s restricted free agency still to be resolved.

Dosunmu Struggling Offensively In Summer League

August 12th, 2021 at 9:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bulls second-rounder Ayo Dosunmu is off to a rough shooting start in the summer league, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times notes. He’s shooting 7-for-24 (29%) from the field through three games. “The advice I got was go out there and play hard,’’ said Dosunmu, the 38th overall selection. “Just try to learn something new each game. That’s the best way you’re going to get better.”

And-Ones: Draft Picks, Hammon, Luxury Tax, Gortman, Spurs

August 12th, 2021 at 2:48pm CST by Luke Adams

Executives around the NBA don’t love the idea of having teams forfeit second-round picks as a result of tampering investigations, like the Bucks did a year ago, writes ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Insider link). As Givony explains, the thinking is that late second-rounders don’t have a ton of value to begin with, so taking away those picks hurts would-be draftees as much as it hurts teams.

“Why are we punishing players by reducing the number of picks that are made in the NBA draft?” one executive said to Givony. “Players work their entire careers to get to the point that they can hear their names called on draft night. It’s completely unfair to them to have fewer bestowed that honor because of backroom shenanigans that are entirely out of their control.”

Givony suggests some execs would like to see the NBA find a way to avoid having fewer than 60 picks in future drafts by redistributing any forfeited picks. For instance, a team that wins a midseason tournament could earn an extra second-round pick, or a forfeited pick could be awarded to the team that employs the winner of the league’s new Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award.

“How cool would it have been if (inaugural winner) Carmelo Anthony went up to the podium at the 60th pick and announced that the Portland Trail Blazers have drafted someone?” one Eastern Conference executive said to Givony. “That would have been a great moment at Barclays Center, shedding light on the work he’s done, and tying it to the start of a young player’s NBA career, who could maybe follow in his footsteps.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Speaking to Doug Feinberg of The Associated Press, Spurs assistant Becky Hammon said she can’t wait for a time when it’s considered normal for NBA teams to interview and hire women for head coaching jobs. Hammon, one of the few women to receive head coaching consideration, added that she wants to be hired for the right reasons. “Please don’t hire me to check a box. That’s the worst thing you can do for me,” she said. “Hire me because of my skill sets and coaching, who am I as a person, hire me for those.”
Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link) provides a breakdown of the projected tax penalties for the eight teams currently above the tax line. While some clubs may shed salary over the course of the season to reduce those bills, the current numbers are staggering, especially for the Warriors ($184MM), Nets ($131MM), and Clippers ($125MM).
Five-star prospect Jazian Gortman, a guard based in South Carolina whom ESPN ranks fifth in the 2022 recruiting class, has signed with Overtime Elite, the league announced on Wednesday in a press release.
RealGM has the details on the draft picks involved in a pair of Spurs trades – with the Pacers (Doug McDermott) and Bulls (DeMar DeRozan) – this week. Most notably, the first-round pick Chicago is sending San Antonio will be top-10 protected in 2025 and top-eight protected in two subsequent years. That pick would be pushed back by a year if the Bulls’ 2023 first-rounder falls within in its top-four protection and isn’t conveyed until 2024.

NBA Teams With Hard Caps For 2021/22

August 12th, 2021 at 1:19pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA salary cap is somewhat malleable, with various exceptions allowing every team to surpass the $112,414,000 threshold once their cap room is used up. In some cases, teams blow past not only the cap limit, but the luxury-tax line of $136,606,000 as well — the Nets and Warriors, for instance, project to have nine-figure tax bills this season as a result of their spending.

The NBA doesn’t have a “hard cap” by default, which allows clubs like Brooklyn and Golden State to build a significant payroll without violating CBA rules. However, there are certain scenarios in which teams can be hard-capped, as we explain in a glossary entry.

When a club uses the bi-annual exception, acquires a player via sign-and-trade, or uses more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception (three years, starting at $5,890,000), that club will face a hard cap for the remainder of the league year.

When a team becomes hard-capped, it cannot exceed the “tax apron” at any point during the rest of the league year. The tax apron for 2021/22 was set at $143,002,000.

So far, over a third of the teams in the NBA have been willing to hard-cap themselves this offseason. Some teams will have to be aware of that hard cap when they consider any roster move for the rest of the season, but for others it’s just a technicality that won’t affect their plans.

Listed below are the hard-capped teams for the 2021/22 league year, along with how they created a hard cap.

Chicago Bulls

Acquired Lonzo Ball from Pelicans via sign-and-trade.
Acquired DeMar DeRozan from Spurs via sign-and-trade.
Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Alex Caruso.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Acquired Lauri Markkanen from Bulls via sign-and-trade.

Dallas Mavericks

Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Reggie Bullock.
Used bi-annual exception on Sterling Brown.

Houston Rockets

Acquired Daniel Theis from Bulls via sign-and-trade.

Miami Heat

Acquired Kyle Lowry from Raptors via sign-and-trade.
Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on P.J. Tucker.

New Orleans Pelicans

Acquired Devonte’ Graham from Hornets via sign-and-trade.
Acquired Garrett Temple from Bulls via sign-and-trade.

New York Knicks

Acquired Evan Fournier from Celtics via sign-and-trade.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.

San Antonio Spurs

Acquired Doug McDermott from Pacers via sign-and-trade.

Toronto Raptors

Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Khem Birch.

Washington Wizards

Acquired Spencer Dinwiddie from Nets via sign-and-trade.
Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Isaiah Todd.

This list, which could continue to grow, will continue to be updated throughout the 2021/22 league year as necessary. It can be found anytime in the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site, or in the “Features” menu on our mobile site.

Bulls Notes: Caruso, Dosunmu, Simonovic, Valentine, Williams, DeRozan

August 11th, 2021 at 6:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Alex Caruso‘s four-year, $37MM contract has a $3MM guarantee in the fourth season, ESPN’s Bobby Marks reveals in an Instagram video. The Bulls used up $8.6MM of their $9.536MM mid-level exeption for Caruso’s first-year salary, giving them just enough room to sign No. 38 overall pick Ayo Dosunmu, Marks adds.

We have more on the Bulls:

Second-round pick Marko Simonovic had an impressive summer league debut, contributing 13 points and five rebounds in 15 minutes against New Orleans, Sam Smith of the team’s website writes. “This is everything new for me,” said Simonovic, a 6’11” power forward. “I’m coming from Europe and everything is different. But I feel really good and people tell me I look good. I think next season I can help the team.”
The Bulls have renounced their rights to Denzel Valentine and Cristiano Felicio, according to the RealGM transactions log. While that doesn’t rule out the possibility of re-signing those players, Chicago needed to renounce the rights to them and seven other players to complete all its off-season moves. Felicio signed with a club in Germany earlier this week.
Patrick Williams believes he can learn plenty from DeMar DeRozan, Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago writes. “He’s a really good wing in this league. Mostly, I want to be at the level that he’s at,” Williams said. “When he gets here, I’ll definitely ask him some questions about how he plays in the mid-post and kind of what he sees after an important possession. I’m definitely excited to learn from not only him but everyone else as well.” DeRozan was officially acquired on Wednesday.
In turn, DeRozan is impressed with the talent level on the roster, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic writes. “Great organization. The history behind it is definitely amazing. But for sure, the talent,” he said. “Looking at players like Zach (LaVine), I’ve been a fan of Zach since he’s been in the league. Just looking at the overall squad. Seeing (Nikola) Vučević there, that was my teammate in college. So, it’s been great.”

Bulls Officially Acquire DeMar DeRozan From Spurs Via Sign-And-Trade

August 11th, 2021 at 3:27pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls and Spurs have officially finalized the sign-and-trade deal sending veteran forward DeMar DeRozan to Chicago, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

DeRozan confirmed (via Twitter) that his deal with Chicago, which was first reported last Tuesday, is now done, while the Bulls and Spurs issued press releases announcing the move. DeRozan reportedly received a fully-guaranteed three-year, $85MM commitment from Chicago

In exchange for the four-time All-Star, the Spurs received forwards Thaddeus Young and Al-Farouq Aminu, a future protected first-round pick, the Lakers’ 2022 second-round pick, and the Bulls’ 2025 second-round pick. The earliest the Spurs will receive that first-round pick from Chicago is in 2025, since the Bulls owe a top-four protected 2023 first-rounder to Orlando.

The move punctuates a productive offseason for the Bulls, who also landed Lonzo Ball in a sign-and-trade with New Orleans and signed Alex Caruso using the mid-level exception. They’ll join a group led by Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic as Chicago looks to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

While DeRozan’s lack of a three-point shot (he has made 35 in the last three seasons) is an oddity for a wing in the modern NBA, his mid-range game is deadly and he has become a legitimately dangerous play-maker, averaging a career-best 6.9 assists per game in 2020/21 to go along with his 21.6 PPG and 4.2 RPG. Opponents will have a tough time stopping lineups featuring him, LaVine, and Vucevic, even if it won’t be the most stout group defensively.

The Sixers, Suns, Trail Blazers, Warriors, Celtics, Clippers, and Knicks were reportedly among the teams to express interest in DeRozan, but some of those clubs went in different directions and several didn’t have the ability to match or top the Bulls’ offer to the 32-year-old.

With Ball, DeRozan, and Caruso officially locked up, the Bulls will focus on resolving Lauri Markkanen‘s contract situation. The restricted free agent forward is reportedly looking for a fresh start away from Chicago, but the Bulls won’t want to let him walk without getting an asset or two in return.

The Spurs, meanwhile, are now free to move forward on completing the rest of their reported free agent signings, including Zach Collins, Bryn Forbes, and Jock Landale.

The DeRozan deal had been the last trade reported during the 2021 offseason that hadn’t yet been finalized. All of this month’s reported trades are now official.

Contract Details: Clippers, THT, Ball, Nwaba, Bembry, Raptors

August 10th, 2021 at 2:52pm CST by Luke Adams

After reporting over the weekend that the Clippers used about $3.9MM of their taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Justise Winslow, ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Instagram video) confirmed today that the team used the leftover portion of that MLE to sign second-round picks Jason Preston and Brandon Boston Jr. to three-year deals, with Preston getting a little more than the rookie minimum.

Keith Smith of Spotrac shares those salary figures down to the dollar, tweeting that Winslow’s first-year salary is $3,902,439 while Preston’s is $1,062,303. Combined with Boston’s rookie minimum of $925,258, those three salaries add up to exactly $5.89MM, the amount of the taxpayer mid-level exception.

Here are a few more details on new contracts from around the NBA:

While Talen Horton-Tucker‘s three-year deal with the Lakers was initially said to be worth $32MM, the year-by-year breakdown provided by Smith works out to a total of $30.78MM (Twitter link).
Lonzo Ball‘s four-year deal with the Bulls also came in slightly lower than expected, according to Smith, who says it has a base value of $80MM, with $1MM in annual unlikely incentives (Twitter link).
David Nwaba‘s three-year, $15MM contract with the Rockets has two fully guaranteed seasons followed by a third-year team option, according to Marks (Instagram video).
DeAndre’ Bembry‘s minimum-salary deal with the Nets has a partial guarantee of $750K for now, tweets Smith. That number will increase to $1.25MM on December 15 before becoming fully guaranteed in January.
Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter links) shares some Raptors contract details, reporting that Gary Trent Jr.‘s deal has a base value of $51.84MM, with $250K in annual unlikely incentives. Murphy adds that Ishmail Wainright got a $250K guarantee in 2021/22 – plus a $125K guarantee in ’22/23 – on his minimum-salary contract, while Yuta Watanabe‘s minimum-salary deal is now partially guaranteed for $375K. Watanabe would get his full guarantee if he makes the regular season roster.

Fischer’s Latest: Markkanen, DeRozan, Hield, Hart, Suns, More

August 10th, 2021 at 11:58am CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans, Mavericks, Celtics, and Timberwolves are among the teams that have shown interest in Bulls restricted free agent Lauri Markkanen, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, who hears from sources that the price tag on the power forward would be about $15MM per year.

Landing Markkanen would be a challenge for any of those teams, however, as they’re all over the cap and would have to acquire the RFA forward via sign-and-trade. New Orleans has a traded player exception big enough to fit Markkanen, but the other teams would likely to have rely on salary-matching or offer him a lower salary (Dallas has a TPE worth $10.872MM, while Boston has one worth $9.72MM). Acquiring a player via sign-and-trade also results in a hard cap, which the Celtics are reportedly resisting.

On top of all that, Fischer confirms a previous report that the Bulls are seeking a first-round pick to accommodate a Markkanen sign-and-trade and don’t want to take on any salary, preferring any contracts to be rerouted to a third team. If they maintain that stance, the Bulls would make it very difficult for Markkanen to do anything but accept his $9MM qualifying offer.

“Chicago is playing this masterfully from no other perspective than a contract management standpoint,” a team capologist told Fischer. “It won’t do any favors relationship-wise, but they’re bleeding his market based on their tax situation, and nobody else can offer him any kind of money without them.”

As we wait to see what happens with Markkanen, it’s worth noting that the Hornets – previously rumored to be eyeing the forward – weren’t listed by Fischer as one of the teams in the hunt, and president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak told reporters today that the team is likely done with its “heavy lifting” this offseason (Twitter link via Rod Boone of SI.com).

Here’s more from Fischer:

The Sixers, Suns, Trail Blazers, Warriors, Celtics, and Knicks were among the teams that expressed interest in DeMar DeRozan before he reached a deal with the Bulls, per Fischer. However, New York agreed to sign Evan Fournier and most of the other teams would’ve had to figure out complicated sign-and-trade arrangements to accommodate DeRozan, who never really entertained the idea of signing for the mid-level exception, sources tell Fischer.
The Pelicans and Kings discussed the possibility of swapping Buddy Hield and Josh Hart (via sign-and-trade) as part of New Orleans’ trade with Memphis, Fischer writes. It’s unclear if anything along those lines is still being considered now that the Pelicans’ deal with the Grizzlies has been completed — base year compensation rules would complicate a one-for-one swap.
The Suns are weighing their options for their final open roster spot and have gauged the trade value of 2020 lottery pick Jalen Smith, sources tell Fischer.
The Raptors will meet with Goran Dragic‘s camp at Summer League in Las Vegas to further discuss the point guard’s situation, according to Fischer.
Zach LaVine has told Bulls staffers he’s committed to improving defensively next season, Fischer says.

Marko Simonović To Suit Up For Bulls This Year

August 9th, 2021 at 4:53pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Power forward/center Marko Simonović has verified recent rumors that he will be joining the Bulls for the 2021/22 season, his first in the NBA, tweets Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic.

Along with forward Patrick Williams, Simonović was part of the first draft class selected by the Bulls’ then-new front office team of president Arturas Karnisovas and GM Marc Eversley. The 6’11” big man, most recently with the Serbian club KK Mega Basket of the Adriatic Basketball Association, was chosen with the No. 44 pick in 2020.

In 25 games for Mega Basket during the 2020/21 season, Simonović averaged 15.7 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 1.7 APG, and 1.0 SPG.

The 21-year-old’s shot diet indicates potential as a floor-spreading big man who will not fear contact inside, operating as a reserve for a new-look Chicago team heavy on versatile scorers and passers. Simonović connected on 47.3% of his field goal looks last season, including 34.9% of his 5.2 three-point attempts a game. He also converted 77.8% of his free-throw tries.

Chicago is reportedly using a chunk of its mid-level exception to sign Alex Caruso, but could save a portion of that MLE for Simonović’s deal.

Cristiano Felicio Signs With German Team

August 9th, 2021 at 10:00am CST by Luke Adams

Former Bulls forward/center Cristiano Felicio has signed a one-year contract with German club Ratiopharm Ulm, the team announced today in a press release.

Felicio, a Brazilian big man who went undrafted in 2014, initially signed a two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Bulls in 2015, then re-upped on a four-year, $32MM deal in 2017.

That investment, which was questioned even at the time, didn’t produce positive returns for Chicago, as Felicio appeared in just 155 games across the last four years, averaging 4.2 PPG and 3.7 RPG in 14.1 minutes per contest off the team’s bench. He hasn’t played regular rotation minutes since the 2018/19 season.

Making the move to Germany will give Felicio an opportunity to once again see consistent playing time and to rebuild his value. However, it’s unclear whether he’ll make his way back to the NBA down the road or if he’ll continue playing in international leagues for the foreseeable future.