- Dalen Terry, the No. 18 pick of the 2022 draft, blanketed Toronto rookie Gradey Dick during the Bulls’ Summer League opener on Friday. It’s exactly the type of growth Chicago’s staff wants to see from Terry, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic writes. “I love that type of energy and effort and accountability to want to be great defensively,” Summer League coach John Bryant said. “Let’s see how it continues. I think he’s a great defender. I think he has the ability to be a great, consistent defender.”
The NBA has announced the five-team groups that will used for the league’s first-ever in-season tournament, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The unveiling took place Saturday during a special episode of ESPN’s “NBA Today” held at “NBA Con” in Las Vegas.
The groups were determined in a draw similar to what is used in soccer’s World Cup. There are six groups — three each from the Eastern Conference and Western Conference — and each conference was split into five pots based on last season’s standings. One team was randomly selected from each of the pots to determine the opening-round matchups.
The results are:
- Group 1: Sixers, Cavaliers, Hawks, Pacers and Pistons.
- Group 2: Bucks, Knicks, Heat, Wizards and Hornets.
- Group 3: Celtics, Nets, Raptors, Bulls and Magic.
- Group 4: Grizzlies, Suns, Lakers, Jazz and Trail Blazers.
- Group 5: Nuggets, Clippers, Pelicans, Mavericks and Rockets.
- Group 6: Kings, Warriors, Timberwolves, Thunder and Spurs.
The tournament will start with group play, which will match each team with the other four in its grouping. Those games will take place on Nov. 3, 10, 14, 17, 21, 24 and 28.
The winner of each group will advance to a knockout round, joined by the team with the best record in each conference among those who didn’t win a group. Quarterfinal games will be played Dec. 4 and 5, hosted by the higher-seeded teams. The four winners in that round will move on to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the Dec. 7 semifinals and the Dec. 9 championship game.
Bontemps points out that all teams will play within their conference until the last game, which guarantees an East vs. West matchup, just like the NBA Finals.
“Everybody’s not going to buy in right away,” admitted Joe Dumars, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations. “So that can’t be the goal that everybody’s going to buy in from day one. These things take time. And I think, as time goes on, I think you can build this up and people can really get into it.”
The championship trophy will be called the NBA Cup, and players will receive $500K each for winning it. Other prize money includes $200K for second place, $100K for losing in the semifinals and $50K for losing in the quarterfinals. The league opted not to provide other incentives, such as a guaranteed playoff spot, for the tournament winner.
We passed along more details on the in-season tournament right here.
The Trail Blazers are believed to be seeking a package in the neighborhood of four first-round picks and two quality players in exchange for Damian Lillard, according to Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian, who spoke to Lillard’s agent Aaron Goodwin about the negotiations. Goodwin reiterated that he’s telling other teams that his client only wants to play for the Heat.
“It’s not fair to a team to allow them to engage in a negotiation that could be futile in the end,” Goodwin told Fentress.
While Lillard may be focused on the Heat, it would require the involvement of at least one more team for the Blazers to get a package anywhere near the level they’re looking for. Having traded its 2025 first-round pick to Oklahoma City, Miami can only currently offer two first-rounders.
As we wait to see if negotiations between Portland and Miami gather any momentum with teams convening at the Las Vegas Summer League, here are a few more trade and free agency rumors from around the NBA:
- League sources tell K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago that Zach LaVine‘s name has come up in preliminary trade discussions with both the Sixers and Trail Blazers. Neither of those conversations gained traction, according to Johnson, who hears that the Bulls‘ asking price for LaVine has been “extremely high.” Still, Johnson says the team has “fluctuated in its belief in LaVine’s consistency as a lead option.”
- Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com hears from sources familiar with the situation that the conversations between the Sixers and Bulls were really just “check-in” talks prior to the draft and didn’t evolve beyond that. So there’s no indication at this point that any multi-team deal involving LaVine and James Harden is on the way, Neubeck writes.
- The Sixers‘ deals with centers Mohamed Bamba and Montrezl Harrell haven’t diminished their desire to retain restricted free agent Paul Reed, a team source tells Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
- The Spurs legitimately considered the possibility of an offer sheet for restricted free agent guard Austin Reaves, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his Lowe Post podcast. The Lakers ultimately re-signed Reaves on a four-year, $54MM deal, which was the most that they could give him directly — another team could’ve tested Los Angeles’ resolve by making a four-year offer worth up to $102MM. “I know San Antonio was going back and forth on it and for whatever reason didn’t do it,” Lowe said.
- After waiving Marko Simonovic, the Bulls still have some work to do, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago notes. They still must resolve Ayo Dosunmu‘s status after extending him a $5.2MM qualifying offer, making him a restricted free agent. The Bulls are perhaps trying to pursue a longer-term deal at a lower price, saving him as a potential sign-and-trade asset, or waiting to see if a suitor comes along with an offer sheet, Johnson writes.
- Bulls forward Justin Lewis has been full participant in summer league camp, Johnson tweets. He’s on track to play in the Las Vegas Summer League after overcoming an ACL tear, which he suffered last August. The former Marquette star, who went undrafted last year, rehabbed the knee at Chicago’s facilities after getting waived, then re-signed with the Bulls on a two-year, two-way deal in March.
The Bulls are waiving center Marko Simonovic, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The move is official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
The seven-foot Simonovic has only appeared in 16 games over the last two seasons, so the move didn’t come as a surprise.
The 2020 second-round pick signed a multi-year contract in 2021 but his $1,836,096 salary for next season wasn’t guaranteed. Chicago had until Friday to decide whether to give him that full amount, as shown in our list of early salary guarantee dates for 2023/24.
Simonovic played 25 games last season for the G League Windy City Bulls, including 23 starts. He averaged 15.9 points and 9.9 rebounds in 28.3 minutes per game.
Simonovic’s release leaves open a backup center spot behind Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond.
Prior to signing his $7.9MM qualifying offer, Miles Bridges was seeking around $25MM per year in talks with the Hornets, sources tell Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. However, Charlotte was unwilling to approach that figure, which is why Bridges’ representatives quickly opted for unrestricted free agency in 2024.
Bridges was ineligible to be included in a sign-and-trade because he wasn’t on the team’s roster last season, having missed all of 2022/23 after facing a felony domestic violence charge. He agreed to a plea deal and was subsequently suspended by the NBA, who will require him to sit out the first 10 games of ’23/24.
Prior to that incident, Bridges was viewed as one of the top free agents of the 2022 class, having averaged 20.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 3.8 APG on 49.1% shooting in 80 games (35.5 MPG) in ’21/22. There was talk of him receiving $30MM annually in an offer sheet last year, according to Fischer, with the Pacers, Pistons and Grizzlies all linked to the 25-year-old forward.
Here’s more from Fischer’s latest story for Yahoo Sports:
- Hornets restricted free agent forward P.J. Washington might have to wait a while in order to find the type of contract he’s seeking, and it might have to come via sign-and-trade. Marc Stein first reported that the former first-round pick is seeking around $18MM annually. According to Fischer, Washington is looking for $80MM over four years. Fischer writes that several agents seem to be pointing to Keldon Johnson‘s rookie scale extension with the Spurs as a benchmark of sorts in negotiations.
- The Pelicans continue to gauge the trade market for reserve guard Kira Lewis Jr. and starting center Jonas Valanciunas, sources tell Fischer. Lewis is entering the final year of his rookie scale contract and could become a restricted free agent next summer, while Valanciunas’ $15.4MM deal is expiring.
- Fischer hears the recent conversations between the Hawks and Raptors haven’t been very productive when it comes to a potential Pascal Siakam deal. On an unrelated note, Fischer also reports there’s optimism within Atlanta’s organization that the team will be able to extend Dejounte Murray.
- The Raptors have expressed interest in Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu, Fischer reports. However, it’s unclear if they’ll try to make a run at the restricted free agent via an offer sheet or sign-and-trade.
- Like other reporters, Fischer has heard there’s mutual interest in a reunion between the Sixers and restricted free agent big man Paul Reed.
Of the eight free players on our list of top 50 free agents who have yet to reach new deals, five are restricted free agents. Those five restricted free agents are also the only ones still available at all (not including those coming off on two-way deals). Those players are as follows:
P.J. Washington (Hornets)- Grant Williams (Celtics)
- Matisse Thybulle (Trail Blazers)
- Ayo Dosunmu (Bulls)
- Paul Reed (Sixers)
While I’m sure these five players would’ve preferred to agree to lucrative new contracts in the opening hours of free agency, it’s not necessarily an ominous sign that they’ve yet to line up new deals four days later. It can sometimes take a little longer for the market for restricted free agents to develop, but it doesn’t mean they won’t get paid.
A year ago, for instance, Deandre Ayton didn’t sign his maximum-salary offer sheet with the Pacers (which was quickly matched by the Suns) until July 14, two weeks after the start of free agency. Collin Sexton, who received a four-year, $71MM in a sign-and-trade deal that sent him to Utah as part of the Donovan Mitchell blockbuster, didn’t resolve his restricted free agency until September.
The same thing happens with a few restricted free agents just about every year. In 2021, RFAs like Josh Hart (three years, $38MM) and Lauri Markkanen (four years, $67MM) took multiple weeks to reach new contract agreements.
In other words, there’s still plenty of time for Washington, Williams, Thybulle, Dosunmu, and Reed to find deals they like.
Washington, Williams, and Thybulle, in particular, seem like good bets to cash in sooner or later. A report over the weekend indicated that Washington was drawing interest from multiple teams besides the Hornets. Williams has reportedly received interest from Charlotte and Dallas, with the Mavericks also said to be keeping an eye on Thybulle.
It would be a surprise if any of them had to settle for a below-market deal. It sounds like teams are still in the process of figuring out if an offer sheet will be an exercise in futility or if there’s a legitimate chance to pry away one of those players from his current club — and if so, what the price point would be.
There hasn’t been as much chatter about Dosunmu or Reed, but there haven’t been any red flags on either front. Their qualifying offers ($5.2MM for Dosunmu; $2.3MM for Reed) remain in place as one-year fallback options.
The Spurs are the one team that still has enough cap room to make a strong play for any of those top RFAs, if they so choose. The Rockets may also be able to offer more than the full mid-level, depending on how all their moves shake out, and teams below the tax apron are free to try to negotiate sign-and-trades.
It has become pretty rare for restricted free agents to change teams via offer sheets, but sign-and-trade deals aren’t uncommon — they get the player to his preferred landing spot while ensuring that his old team picks up an asset or two.
There are still several unrestricted free agents whose landing spots will be worth watching too, including Christian Wood, Kelly Oubre, Hamidou Diallo, Jaylen Nowell, and Dario Saric. But at this point in free agency, it’s the RFA market that looks more intriguing.
The Pistons didn’t have the “loud and exciting” free agency that some fans were anticipating, but they’ve added veteran depth to their young roster, according to James L. Edwards of The Athletic, who notes that former lottery picks like Marvin Bagley III, James Wiseman, and Killian Hayes project to be low enough on the depth chart that they’ll have to earn their minutes.
Edwards does believe that all three of Bagley, Wiseman, and Hayes are candidates to be traded before or during the 2023/24 season. While more established veterans like Bojan Bogdanovic or Alec Burks could theoretically be moved too, none of the public statements made by general manager Troy Weaver about the team’s roster suggests that’s in the cards at this point, Edwards writes.
Here’s more from around the Central:
- The Cavaliers‘ 2023 offseason hasn’t been as splashy as in 2022, when the club acquired Donovan Mitchell. However, the team has accomplished virtually everything it set out to do by lining up deals to add a starting-caliber wing (Max Strus), a frontcourt shooter (Georges Niang), and a reserve center (Damian Jones), says Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The club also re-signed its own top free agent, Caris LeVert, and will bring in a player Koby Altman has targeted in the past: Ty Jerome. Cleveland tried to sign Jerome to a two-way contract a year ago, per Fedor, but he joined Golden State instead.
- The Cavaliers announced minor some changes within their front office, having promoted Brendon Yu to be the team’s director of scouting. Yu previously held the position of Cleveland Charge general manager, a role that will be taken over by Liron Fanan, the first female G League GM in team history.
- Some of the top forwards on the free agent market – including Harrison Barnes and Kyle Kuzma – may have used the Pacers‘ interest as leverage to get better deals with their own teams, notes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Still, even if it wasn’t Indiana’s Plan A in free agency, Bruce Brown and Obi Toppin represent solid additions who won’t necessarily compromise the team’s financial flexibility beyond 2023/24, as Dopirak details.
- Besides being able to play both forward spots and defend multiple positions, Torrey Craig will also bring some much-needed shooting to the Bulls, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. As Mayberry observes, Chicago has ranked dead last in the NBA in each of the two seasons. Craig, who agreed to a two-year deal with the team, made a career-best 39.5% of his attempts from beyond the arc last season.
The Bulls have applied for a disabled player exception due to Lonzo Ball‘s knee injury, which is expected to sideline him for the entire 2023/24 season, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Chicago confirmed the news (Twitter link via K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago). VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas previously stated the team didn’t expect Ball to play next season.
Ball underwent a third left knee surgery in March — a cartilage transplant — after two previous surgeries were unable to clear up persistent discomfort when he tried to ramp up his on-court activities. The 25-year-old has been sidelined since January 14, 2022, when he originally tore his meniscus.
A disabled player exception grants an over-the-cap team some extra spending power when it loses a player to an injury deemed more likely than not to sideline him through at least June 15, 2024.
The exception is worth either half the injured player’s salary or the value of the mid-level exception, whichever is lesser. In this case, Ball’s ’23/24 salary is $20.46MM, so Chicago’s DPE would be worth $10.23MM if the NBA grants the request.
As we explain in our glossary entry, the disabled player exception can be used to sign a free agent, to claim a player off waivers, or to acquire a player in a trade. The exception can only be used on a single player and can only accommodate a player on a one-year deal. A free agent signee can’t get a multiyear contract, and any trade or waiver target must be in the final year of his contract.
Although the disabled player exception gives a team extra cap flexibility, it doesn’t open up an extra spot on the 15-man roster. The club must have a roster spot available to use the DPE to add a player.
Ball holds a $21.4MM player option for ’24/25, the final year of his contract.
JULY 10: The signing is official, according to a team press release.
JUNE 30: Guard Jevon Carter is joining the Bulls on a three-year deal, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. The Bulls are using a portion of their $12.4MM mid-level exception to secure Carter’s services.
Woj says the deal is worth $20MM, while Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report say it’s around $19MM (Twitter link), so there may be incentives within the deal. Chicago is now projected to be $9MM below the luxury tax and are hard-capped, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. The Bulls are also $15MM below the first tax apron.
Carter is coming off a career year in which he appeared in all but one of Milwaukee’s regular-season games. The defensive-minded Carter started 39 of those games. Overall, he averaged 8.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists.
Carter entered the free agent market by declining his $2.24MM option. Financially, it was obviously the right move for Carter, who now joins a seemingly crowded Bulls backcourt, depending on their other moves this offseason. Chicago has also reached an agreement with its own free agent guard, Coby White.