Dallas Mavericks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southwest Rumors: Harden, Westbrook, Grizzlies, Porzingis, More

December 1st, 2020 at 1:40pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets still expect to begin the season with former MVPs James Harden and Russell Westbrook on their roster, despite a handful of November trade rumors, Shams Charania of The Athletic said during an appearance on Complex’s Load Management podcast.

Although there’s no momentum toward a trade involving either player, Charania dropped a couple interesting tidbits during his podcast discussion about the Rockets stars, mentioning that the Warriors “made a call” about Harden and that the Cavaliers talked to Houston about Westbrook. Based on Charania’s comments, it doesn’t sound like any traction was gained in either case.

Here’s more from around the Southwest:

The Grizzlies are currently carrying 17 players on guaranteed contracts, meaning a couple of those players will have to be traded or released before the start of the regular season. Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian suggests that Mario Hezonja and Marko Guduric appear to be the most likely odd men out.
Confirming a previous report, Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle reiterated today that Kristaps Porzingis (knee) won’t play until at least January, per Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Carlisle did say that Porzingis’ rehab is going well and that the big man is doing “light court work.”
Mavericks rookie guard Tyrell Terry will receive $4.6MM in guaranteed money on his four-year contract, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. While we don’t know the exact terms of Terry’s deal, it sounds like his first three seasons will be guaranteed.
The three-year, minimum-salary contract that second-rounder Tre Jones signed with the Spurs is fully guaranteed for the first two years, as Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports details (via Twitter).

Mavs Sign Josh Green To Rookie Contract

November 30th, 2020 at 3:54pm CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks have officially signed No. 18 overall pick Josh Green to his first NBA contract, the team announced today in a press release.

Green, one of multiple Wildcats to declare for this year’s draft, was the first of three Arizona players selected on November 18, ahead of former teammates Zeke Nnaji and Nico Mannion. In 30 games (30.9 MPG) as a freshman, he averaged 12.0 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.6 APG, and 1.5 SPG with a .424/.361/.780 shooting line.

Assuming he signs for 120% of the standard rookie scale amount, as nearly every first-round pick does, Green will make $2.82MM as a rookie this season. His four-year deal will be worth about $13.64MM in total if his third- and fourth-year options are picked up.

The Mavericks also officially announced their two-way deal with Tyler Bey, which had been previously reported. As our roster counts page shows, Dallas has reached eight other contract agreements that aren’t yet official, so it’s safe to assume the club will be sending out a few more press releases pretty soon.

Southwest Notes: Doncic, Pelicans, Lewis Jr., Mavericks

November 29th, 2020 at 7:35pm CST by JD Shaw

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban recently compared Luka Doncic‘s style of play and charisma to that of one the most entertaining and successful point guards in league history — Magic Johnson.

Doncic, 21, is coming off a breakout season that saw him average 28.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists on 46% shooting. He also led his team to the seventh-best record in the West at 43-32, losing to the Clippers 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs.

“He [Doncic] can pass the ball, see from the top, get where he wants from the court. Knows how to pass to guys on time and on target,” Cuban said in an appearance on the Danger Show (as relayed by Dan Cancian of Newsweek.com).

“Clutch player in crunch time. [He] will take on responsibility against anybody, anytime. Great teammate. Fun Kid. Magic will light things up with a smile, Luka’s the same way for the Mavs. He’s got that charisma that Magic has.”

Here are some other notes from the Southwest Division tonight:

William Guillory of The Athletic explores how much spacing could be a concern for the Pelicans this year. New Orleans has transformed its roster ahead of the 2020/21 season, hiring head coach Stan Van Gundy and his staff, inking Brandon Ingram to a multi-year extension and acquiring Steven Adams to bolster the frontcourt. The team possesses the talent needed to reach the playoffs next season, though it remains unclear whether it has enough shooting to be a legitimate contender.
Pelicans rookie Kira Lewis Jr. is a student of the game at just 19 years old, Christian Clark of Nola.com writes. Lewis was drafted by the team with the No. 13 pick this month, having spent the past two seasons at Alabama. “He’s a student of the game,” former AAU coach Cory Underwood said. “That’s why he’s going to find a way to succeed in the NBA somehow, someway. He’s been doing things like that since he was young. A lot of guys now, you’ll find NBA guys. The Anthony Edwards thing was a big thing. He said he doesn’t watch basketball. A lot of kids don’t watch basketball. Kira Lewis watches basketball.”
Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News examines the five biggest issues the Mavericks will face entering training camp, beginning with a pair of questions related to Kristaps Porzingis. The team still doesn’t have a concrete timetable for Porzingis’ return from injury, with team president Donnie Nelson recently giving an early-January target range for the 25-year-old. The club must also determine whether he’ll primarily play power forward or center this season.

Jae Crowder Signs Three-Year Deal With Suns

November 28th, 2020 at 3:37pm CST by Luke Adams

NOVEMBER 28, 3:37pm: Crowder has officially signed, per team press release.

NOVEMBER 21, 1:03pm: The Suns have reached an agreement to sign Jae Crowder to a three-year contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). The deal will be worth just shy of $30MM, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Phoenix will use its full mid-level exception to complete the signing.

Crowder, who finished the season in Miami, reportedly explored a new deal with the Heat, but was seeking a guaranteed multiyear commitment that the Heat weren’t comfortable with, per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link).

League sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) that Crowder also drew interest from the Mavericks, Timberwolves, Clippers, and Hornets, but that Phoenix’s offer was ultimately too good to pass up.

Crowder, 30, provides value as a three-and-D player who has the size to guard bigger wings. He also played some of his best basketball at exactly the right time in his contract year.

After being traded from the Grizzlies to the Heat at last season’s deadline, the veteran forward made 44.5% of his threes for Miami in 20 games to finish the season, then started all 21 postseason contests as the Heat came within two wins of a title.

Having secured a commitment from Crowder and having traded for All-Star point guard Chris Paul earlier in the week, the Suns are looking like an intriguing playoff contender in the Western Conference this season. The team finished five games below .500 in 2019/20, but had an impressive 8-0 run in the Walt Disney World bubble, increasing expectations for ’20/21.

Paul and Crowder will join a promising group that includes star guard Devin Booker, former No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton, and young wings Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson, among others. The Suns also still hope to re-sign restricted free agent forward Dario Saric, per John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Wright To Pistons, Ariza To Thunder, Johnson To Mavs In Three-Team Trade

November 27th, 2020 at 5:23pm CST by Luke Adams

NOVEMBER 27: The Thunder, Mavericks, and Pistons have officially finalized their three-team trade, according to press releases from the teams. As detailed below, Ariza and Jackson are headed to Oklahoma City, Johnson is going to Dallas, and Wright moves to Detroit.

The Thunder also acquired a 2023 second-round pick (the more favorable of Dallas’ and Miami’s picks) and the Mavs’ 2026 second-rounder in the deal.

NOVEMBER 21: The Thunder, Mavericks, and Pistons have agreed to a three-team trade, according to reports from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links) and Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter links).

The move will send James Johnson from Oklahoma City to Dallas and Delon Wright from Dallas to Detroit. The Thunder will receive Trevor Ariza (from the Pistons), Justin Jackson (from the Mavericks), and – unsurprisingly – some form of draft compensation.

From the Mavericks’ perspective, the deal will allow them to open up a roster spot and add some veteran toughness, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN, who tweets that Dallas intends to keep Johnson on its roster. Moving Wright, who had two years left on his contract, and taking back Johnson’s expiring $16MM deal also allows the Mavs to create some added cap flexibility for the summer of 2021.

The Pistons will reduce team salary for 2020/21 and will reunite Wright with his former coach in Toronto, Dwane Casey. Having signed a three-year deal in Dallas in 2019, Wright had a decent year off the bench, averaging 6.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 3.3 APG in 73 games (21.5 MPG). But he became expendable when the club acquired Josh Richardson earlier this week.

As for the Thunder, I’d be surprised if they have big plans for Ariza or Jackson — they simply saw another opportunity to pick up an extra draft pick to add to Sam Presti‘s constantly-growing collection.

Ariza, who is still technically a member of the Blazers, has now been part of trade agreements that will send him to Houston, Detroit, and Oklahoma City within the last few days. Those deals will all be completed after the transaction moratorium lifts on Sunday.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mavs Sign Tyrell Terry To Four-Year Deal

November 27th, 2020 at 4:14pm CST by Dana Gauruder

DECEMBER 1: The Mavericks have made it official with Terry, the team announced today (via Twitter).

NOVEMBER 27: The Mavericks are expected to give a four-year contract to rookie guard Tyrell Terry, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets.

MacMahon anticipates a pact similar to the four-year, $6.1MM contract that Dallas handed Jalen Brunson prior to his rookie year in 2018.

Terry was the first pick in the second round of this month’s draft. Terry averaged 14.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 3.2 APG and 1.4 SPG in his lone year with Stanford.

Dallas is signing small forward Tyler Bey, who was taken five picks after Terry, to a two-way contract.

NBA Teams With Hard Caps For 2020/21

November 27th, 2020 at 10:30am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA salary cap is somewhat malleable, with various exceptions allowing every team to surpass the $109,140,000 threshold once their room is used up. In some cases, teams blow past not only the cap limit, but the luxury-tax limit of $132,627,000 as well — the Warriors project to have a nine-figure tax bill this season as a result of their spending.

The NBA doesn’t have a “hard cap” by default, which allows a club like 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 ($5,718,000) of the mid-level exception, 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 was set $6MM above the luxury tax line in 2017/18 (the first year of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement) and creeps up a little higher each time the cap increases. For the 2020/21 league year, the tax apron – and hard cap for certain clubs – is set at $138,928,000.

More than half the teams in the NBA have been willing to hard-cap themselves this offseason, and in some cases, it will significantly impact a team’s ability to add further reinforcements later in the league year. The Bucks and Lakers are among the teams right up against the hard cap, which may prevent them from being players in free agency during the season unless they can shed salary.

For other clubs, the hard cap is just a technicality that won’t affect their plans. The Hawks and Thunder are among the hard-capped clubs that will have zero practical concerns about reaching that threshold in 2020/21.

Listed below are the hard-capped teams for the 2020/21 league year, along with how they created a hard cap.

Atlanta Hawks

Acquired Danilo Gallinari from the Thunder via sign-and-trade.

Boston Celtics

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Tristan Thompson.

Charlotte Hornets

Acquired Gordon Hayward from the Celtics via sign-and-trade.

Dallas Mavericks

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Willie Cauley-Stein and Trey Burke.

Denver Nuggets

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on JaMychal Green and Bol Bol.
Using bi-annual exception on Facundo Campazzo.

Detroit Pistons

Acquired Jerami Grant from the Nuggets via sign-and-trade.

Houston Rockets

Acquired Christian Wood from the Pistons via sign-and-trade.

Los Angeles Clippers

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Serge Ibaka.

Los Angeles Lakers

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Montrezl Harrell.
Using bi-annual exception on Wesley Matthews.

Miami Heat

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Avery Bradley and Maurice Harkless.

Milwaukee Bucks

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on D.J. Augustin and Bryn Forbes.
Using bi-annual exception on Bobby Portis.

New York Knicks

Acquired Austin Rivers from the Rockets via sign-and-trade.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Acquired Kenrich Williams, Josh Gray, and Zylan Cheatham from the Pelicans via sign-and-trade.

Phoenix Suns

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Jae Crowder.

Portland Trail Blazers

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Derrick Jones.

Toronto Raptors

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Aron Baynes and Alex Len.

Utah Jazz

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Derrick Favors.

Washington Wizards

Using non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Robin Lopez.

This list could continue to grow during the offseason if other teams acquire a player via sign-and-trade, use more than the taxpayer portion of their mid-level exception, or use their bi-annual exception.

Mavericks Re-Sign J.J. Barea

November 27th, 2020 at 9:25am CST by Dana Gauruder

DECEMBER 1: The signing is official, according to the team’s PR department (Twitter link).

NOVEMBER 27: Shams Charania of The Athletic confirms (via Twitter) that Barea’s new guaranteed one-year deal will be worth the veteran’s minimum. He’ll earn $2.56MM, with a cap hit of $1.62MM.

NOVEMBER 22: Barea will get a guaranteed contract from the Mavs, per Towsend (Twitter link). Considering he’s coming off a one-year, minimum-salary deal, it’s a safe bet that Barea will sign the same contract this time around.

NOVEMBER 21: The Mavericks are planning to re-sign veteran guard J.J. Barea, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News tweets.

Barea, 36, has seen his role diminish and he’s also dealt with some injuries over the past two seasons but he remains a fan favorite. He appeared in 29 regular-season games last season, including six starts, and averaged 7.7 PPG and 3.9 APG in 15.5 MPG.

Dallas agreed to a three-year deal with another free agent guard, Trey Burke, so Barea would many serve as insurance in case of backcourt injuries. It also has Jalen Brunson as a point guard option behind star Luka Doncic.

Dallas has agreed to trade another guard, Delon Wright, in a three-team swap and Townsend speculates the Mavs might make more backcourt moves to clear a logjam. Barea has been on Dallas’ roster since the 2014/15 season.

Haliburton, Covington Were Trade Targets

November 23rd, 2020 at 7:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks tried to trade up in the draft to land guard Tyrese Haliburton, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe (hat tip to RealGM). Dallas attempted to trade multiple picks to lottery teams in the 7-11 range to make that move. Haliburton was ultimately selected at No. 12 by the Kings. The Mavs also tried to work out a deal with the Rockets for small forward Robert Covington, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, but Houston instead chose to deal him to the Trail Blazers.

Free Agency Rumors: Ibaka, Iwundu, Hernangomez, Bazemore

November 22nd, 2020 at 8:08pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Big man Serge Ibaka was not bereft of contending suitors in free agency, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Scotto notes that the Raptors, the team with whom Ibaka spent most of the last four seasons, apparently offered a one-year, $12MM deal to Ibaka for an encore appearance in 2020/21. Toronto was believed to be unwilling to offer multiple years, which would have cut into the team’s projected 2021 cap space.

The Nets also wanted Ibaka, but could only afford a taxpayer mid-level exception, which would have started at $5.7MM this season. Ibaka ultimately inked a two-year, $19MM contract with the Clippers.

Here are more free agency rumors:

Though swingman Wesley Iwundu ultimately opted to sign a two-year, veteran’s minimum contract with the Mavericks, the Hawks, Pelicans and Kings were also in the running for Iwundu’s services this offseason, Scotto reports in the same piece.
The Mavericks and Kings also considered adding reserve center Willy Hernangomez before he agreed to terms with the Pelicans on a one-year, veteran’s minimum deal, per Scotto. Hernangomez’s 2019/20 club, the Hornets, also apparently wanted to re-sign the 26-year-old big man.
Scotto reports that former Kings wing Kent Bazemore also found himself in high demand this offseason before agreeing to a one-year veteran’s minimum deal with the Warriors. The Lakers, Clippers, Bucks, Celtics, Suns, Knicks, Nets, and Hornets were all interested in adding the three-and-D vet this offseason.