Hoops Rumors Originals

We’re nearly six weeks into the NBA’s 2019 free agent period, and the market has been just about picked clean. None of our top 50 free agents of 2019 remain on the board, and news of free agent signings within the last week or two has focused primarily on non-guaranteed training camp invitees.

Still, our list of remaining 2019 free agents features some interesting names. Roster spots around the NBA are becoming scarce, but a number of unsigned players could help out contending teams. Some of these players could sign in the coming days or weeks, while others may have to wait for injuries to open up opportunities.

In a series of posts, we’re taking a closer look at some of the most noteworthy free agents still on the board, breaking them down by position. That series started on Thursday when we focused on a handful of the best free agent guards available. It continues today with a list of some of the most intriguing veteran wings on the open market.

Let’s dive in…

• Iman Shumpert: Shumpert is one of the few free agents left who can say he played regular minutes for an NBA title contender last season. He averaged 15.4 minutes per contest in Houston’s six games against Golden State in the Western Conference Semifinals. Using him as a sign-and-trade chip would be the Rockets‘ best chance to land Andre Iguodala via trade and would assure Shumpert of another eight-figure salary, so I suspect he has been willing to wait to see if that’s still a possibility. Otherwise, he’ll likely get a minimum-salary deal somewhere before the season begins.
• Carmelo Anthony: We’ve covered Anthony’s desire to return to the NBA extensively in recent weeks. Now, it’s a matter of seeing whether a team is willing to take a shot on him. Many of the clubs that we’d normally view as logical suitors are considered long shots – the Lakers reportedly don’t have much interest, while the Heat are hard-capped – so it’s certainly not a lock that the 10-time All-Star will be on a roster when training camps open next month.
• Thabo Sefolosha: Although Sefolosha isn’t a volume three-point shooter, he has knocked down 36.7% of his outside attempts over the last four years, and plays solid defense. At age 35, he may have slowed a step, but he could still be a useful piece for a team seeking a role player or insurance policy on the wing.
• Jodie Meeks: His playoff role was the definition of “limited” (he averaged 4.7 minutes per game in 14 postseason contests), but Meeks was still a contributor for the NBA-champion Raptors. He’s also a career 37.3% three-point shooter. The veteran swingman may need to accept a partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed contract, but he should be in camp with an NBA team. The Clippers and Hornets are said to have some interest.
• Jonathon Simmons: It feels like eons ago that Simmons was turning heads in the 2017 postseason for the Spurs after Kawhi Leonard went down with an ankle injury vs. Golden State. He has been okay since then, averaging 10.6 PPG, 2.9 RPG, and 2.4 APG in 125 games (24.7 MPG) for the Magic and Sixers. Simmons could be a decent flier at the minimum.
• Corey Brewer: Brewer looked so good on a series of 10-day contracts with the Sixers and Kings last season that Sacramento offered him $2MM on a rest-of-season deal at the end of February to secure him for the season’s final six weeks. If he doesn’t find a new NBA home by opening night, Brewer could do what he did last year and try to catch on somewhere midway through the season. He’d be a solid plug-and-play option for a team hit with injuries.

Michael Beasley appears unlikely to return to the NBA anytime soon. He was hit with a five-game suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy and is reportedly leaning toward a return to China. Another former top-10 pick, Luol Deng, may be nearing the end of the road — the 34-year-old was hampered by Achilles issues last season and has played just 23 games in the last two years.

Luc Mbah a Moute is another player who has been slowed by health problems, but he was a key rotation player for the Rockets in 2017/18. If he can get healthy, he should receive NBA interest. Dante Cunningham is more of a stretch four than a wing, but he continues to post solid shooting numbers as he bounces around from team to team (.462 3PT% in 64 games for the Spurs in 2018/19, albeit on just 65 attempts).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

We’re nearly six weeks into the NBA’s 2019 free agent period, and the market has been just about picked clean. None of our top 50 free agents of 2019 remain on the board, and news of free agent signings within the last week or two has focused primarily on non-guaranteed training camp invitees.

Still, our list of remaining 2019 free agents features some interesting names. Roster spots around the NBA are becoming scarce, but a number of unsigned players could help out contending teams. Some of these players could sign in the coming days or weeks, while others may have to wait for injuries to open up opportunities.

In a series of posts, we’ll be taking a closer look at some of the most noteworthy free agents still on the board, breaking them down by position. That series starts today with a list of some of the most intriguing veteran guards on the open market.

Let’s dive in…

• Shaun Livingston: When Livingston was waived by the Warriors a month ago, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said the veteran point guard was “determined” to continue playing. If that’s the case, it’s surprising that a player with his championship experience hasn’t found a new NBA home yet. A June report had indicated that Livingston would seriously consider retirement, so that scenario shouldn’t be ruled out. Golden State will likely offer him a role with the team if he chooses to retire.
• Jeremy Lin: Although he was a member of the NBA champion Raptors last season, Lin wasn’t part of the club’s postseason rotation, playing garbage-time minutes in eight playoff games. The 30-year-old expressed frustration with his free agency last month, wondering aloud if the NBA has “given up” on him. However, he also doesn’t appear ready to seriously pursue overseas options — talks with CSKA Moscow reportedly broke down in late July.
• J.R. Smith: Although he sat out most of the 2018/19 season, Smith was technically under contract with the Cavaliers up until last month. He’s a free agent now and met with the Bucks before they signed Kyle Korver. I expect a team in need of outside shooting help to roll the dice on Smith at some point in the coming months, but that’s not a lock.
• Jamal Crawford: The only update we’ve heard on Crawford so far this offseason is that the Suns renounced his free agent rights. However, he said back in the spring when the regular season was winding down that he had no plans to retire this year, so the lack of summer rumors doesn’t mean he has given up on finding a new NBA contract. In April, the 39-year-old said that finding a good fit would be his top priority this offseason. We’ll have to wait to see if that fit is still out there for him.
• Chasson Randle: Randle emerged as the Wizards’ backup point guard following John Wall‘s injury last season, and played pretty well in a part-time role, averaging 5.5 PPG and 2.0 APG with a .400 3PT% in 49 games (15.2 MPG). That performance hasn’t earned him a new NBA contract yet, but given how few point guard options are left on the market, I’d expect a suitor to come calling this fall, especially once clubs start to get hit by injuries.

Raymond Felton, Devin Harris, and Jose Calderon are among the other veteran point guards still available. All three have been productive backups in the past, but they’re now 35, 36, and 37 years old, respectively. Their days as regular rotation players are probably nearing an end, if they’re not over already.

Isaiah Canaan never seems to be any team’s first choice as a backup at the point, but he has suited up in regular season games for six different clubs over the last four seasons. It wouldn’t be surprising if he adds a seventh (and maybe an eighth) team to that list in 2019/20. Isaiah Briscoe, who briefly claimed the backup role in Orlando last season before suffering a torn meniscus, could be an interesting developmental project for a team if he’s healthy — he’s only 23 years old.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, and they’ve become even rarer in recent years. To be eligible to negotiate a no-trade clause, a player must have at least eight years of NBA experience and four years with his current team. Even if a player qualifies, his team is unlikely to restrict its flexibility by including a no-trade clause in his deal.

Still, even though there’s not a single NBA player with an explicit no-trade clause in his contract at the moment, there are several who will have the ability to veto trades in 2019/20.

A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year deal with an option year – is given no-trade protection. So is a player who signs an offer sheet and has that offer matched by his previous team. Players who accept one-year qualifying offers after their rookie contracts expire also receive veto power.

So far, no player has met the second or third of those guidelines in 2019/20, but there are plenty who have met the first one. Here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the ’19/20 league year:

No-trade clauses

• None

Players whose offer sheets were matched

• None

Players accepting qualifying offers

• None

Players re-signing for one year (or two years, with a second-year player/team option)

• J.J. Barea (Mavericks)
• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Lakers)
• Vince Carter (Hawks)
• Michael Carter-Williams (Magic)
• James Ennis (Sixers): Accepted trade
• Gerald Green (Rockets): Accepted trade
• JaMychal Green (Clippers)
• Shaquille Harrison (Bulls)
• Udonis Haslem (Heat)
• Rodney Hood (Trail Blazers)
• JaVale McGee (Lakers)
• Nerlens Noel (Thunder)
• Theo Pinson (Nets)
• Austin Rivers (Rockets)
• Rajon Rondo (Lakers)
• Brad Wanamaker (Celtics)

If any of the players who re-signed for one year approves a trade during the 2019/20 league year, he’ll have Non-Bird rights at season’s end instead of Early Bird or full Bird rights. That’s what happened to Rodney Hood last season — he lost his Bird rights when he approved a trade from Cleveland to Portland. In order to re-sign him this summer, the Trail Blazers had to use their taxpayer mid-level exception, since his Non-Bird rights weren’t enough.

Any player who consents to a trade will retain his veto ability on his new team, and would have to approve a subsequent deal as well.

As we noted earlier this week when we listed the NBA’s longest-tenured head coaches, there were several changes in the coaching ranks this spring, but none of those changes impacted the 10 head coaches who had been employed the longest. There hasn’t been quite the same level of continuity in NBA front offices, however.

Since we put together last summer’s list of the league’s longest-tenured heads of basketball operations, Wizards president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld and Pelicans general manager Dell Demps are among the top executives who have been replaced.

Grunfeld had been the NBA’s fifth longest-tenured head of basketball operations, having been Washington’s top decision-maker since 2003. Demps had been in his position since 2010 and ranked in the top 10 too. Other displaced top execs such as Ryan McDonough (Suns), Chris Wallace (Grizzlies), and Tom Thibodeau (Timberwolves) had also held their jobs for several years.

In other words, this year’s list of the NBA’s longest-tenured heads of basketball operations features some new faces.

While only one person holds a team’s head coaching job, that same team could carry a variety of front office executives with titles like general manager, president of basketball operations, or executive VP of basketball operations. In some cases, it’s not always which clear which executive should be considered the club’s head of basketball operations, or which one has the ultimate final say on roster decisions. That distinction becomes even more nebulous when taking into account team ownership.

For our list of the longest-tenured GMs/presidents in the NBA, we’ve done our best to identify the top exec in each front office, but if a situation isn’t entirely clear-cut, we’ve made a note below.

Without further ado, here’s the list of the NBA’s longest-tenured heads of basketball operations, along with their respective titles and the dates they were hired or promoted:

1. Gregg Popovich, Spurs (president): May 31, 1994
   • R.C. Buford has had a significant voice in personnel moves since becoming GM in 2002 (he was promoted to CEO this year), but Popovich still has final say on those decisions.
2. Pat Riley, Heat (president): September 2, 1995
3. John Paxson, Bulls (executive VP): April 14, 2003
   • GM Gar Forman has played a major part in personnel decisions since his hiring in 2009, but Paxson is still viewed as the head of basketball operations, reporting only to ownership.
4. Danny Ainge, Celtics (president): May 9, 2003
5. Donn Nelson, Mavericks (GM/president): March 19, 2005
   • Owner Mark Cuban is also heavily involved in basketball decisions and ultimately has final say.
6. Daryl Morey, Rockets (GM): May 6, 2007
7. Sam Presti, Thunder (GM/executive VP): June 7, 2007
8. Bob Myers, Warriors (GM/president): April 24, 2012
9. Neil Olshey, Trail Blazers (president): June 4, 2012
10. Dennis Lindsey, Jazz (GM): August 7, 2012
11. Masai Ujiri, Raptors (president): May 31, 2013
12. Tim Connelly, Nuggets (president): June 17, 2013
13. Vlade Divac, Kings (GM): March 3, 2015
14. Sean Marks, Nets (GM): February 18, 2016
15. Kevin Pritchard, Pacers (president): May 1, 2017
16. Jeff Weltman, Magic (president): May 22, 2017
17. Travis Schlenk, Hawks (GM): May 25, 2017
18. Jon Horst, Bucks (GM): June 16, 2017
19. Koby Altman, Cavaliers (GM): June 19, 2017
20. Steve Mills, Knicks (president): June 28, 2017
21. Lawrence Frank, Clippers (president): August 4, 2017
22. Mitch Kupchak, Hornets (GM/president): April 8, 2018
23. Ed Stefanski, Pistons (senior advisor): May 24, 2018
24. Elton Brand, Sixers (GM): September 18, 2018
25. Tommy Sheppard, Wizards (GM): April 2, 2019
    • Sheppard assumed the job on an interim basis on April 2, 2019. He was named the permanent GM on July 22, 2019.
26. Rob Pelinka, Lakers (GM): April 9, 2019
    • Pelinka has been the Lakers’ GM since February 2017, but was below Magic Johnson in the front office hierarchy until Johnson resigned on April 9, 2019.
27. James Jones, Suns (GM): April 11, 2019
    • Jones began serving as the Suns’ co-interim GM alongside Trevor Bukstein in October 2018, but was named the lone, permanent head of basketball operations on April 11, 2019.
28. Zach Kleiman, Grizzlies (executive VP): April 11, 2019
    • Jason Wexler was named team president on April 11, 2019 and oversees both the basketball and business operations. However, Kleiman is viewed as Memphis’ primary basketball decision-maker.
29. David Griffin, Pelicans (executive VP): April 17, 2019
30. Gersson Rosas, Timberwolves (president): May 3, 2019

Information from Basketball-Reference was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

We’re over a month into 2019’s NBA free agent period, and with news of contract agreements and signings continuing to trickle in, Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players are heading to which teams this offseason.

To this end, we continue to update our Free Agent Tracker, a feature we’ve had each year since our inception in 2012. Using our tracker, you can quickly look up deals, sorting by team, position, free agent type, and a handful of other variables.

A few notes on the tracker:

• Some of the information you’ll find in the tracker will reflect tentative agreements, rather than finalized deals. As signings become official, we’ll continue to update and modify the data as needed.
• Similarly, contract years and dollars will sometimes be based on what’s been reported to date, so those amounts could be approximations rather than official figures. Salaries aren’t necessarily fully guaranteed either.
• Our tracker will continue to be updated with the latest moves right up until opening night. Signings completed after the season begins won’t be included.
• If you’re viewing the tracker on our mobile site, be sure to turn your phone sideways to see more details.

Our 2019 Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features,” and it’s also under the “Tools” menu atop the site. On our mobile site, it can be found in our menu under “Free Agent Lists.”

The tracker will be updated throughout the offseason, so be sure to check back for the latest info. If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.

Our lists of free agents by position/type and by team break down the players who have yet to reach contract agreements.

Although the NBA’s head coaching carousel continued to turn during the 2018/19 season and 2019 offseason, most of the league’s longest-tenured head coaches remained in no danger of losing their jobs.

Of the seven head coaches who have been replaced since we listed the NBA’s longest-tenured coaches last July, none had held their position since before June 2015. Fred Hoiberg (12th) and Tyronn Lue (14th) at least ranked in the top half of last year’s longest-tenured list, but none of the other five displaced coaches had more than three years on the job. Igor Kokoskov got just one year in Phoenix before being dismissed.

The names atop the list of longest-tenured coaches may be unchanged, but given the turnover in the head coaching ranks, it’s time we update our list.

Here’s the current breakdown of the NBA’s longest-tenured head coaches by team, sorted by the date they were hired:

1. Gregg Popovich, Spurs: December 1996
2. Erik Spoelstra, Heat: April 2008
3. Rick Carlisle, Mavericks: May 2008
4. Terry Stotts, Trail Blazers: August 2012
5. Doc Rivers, Clippers: June 2013
6. Brad Stevens, Celtics: July 2013
7. Brett Brown, Sixers: August 2013
8. Steve Kerr, Warriors: May 2014
9. Quin Snyder, Jazz: June 2014
10. Billy Donovan, Thunder: April 2015
11. Alvin Gentry, Pelicans: May 2015 (remained Warriors assistant through playoffs)
12. Michael Malone, Nuggets: June 2015
13. Kenny Atkinson, Nets: April 2016 (remained Hawks assistant through Atlanta’s playoff run)
14. Scott Brooks, Wizards: April 2016
15. Nate McMillan, Pacers: May 2016
16. Mike D’Antoni, Rockets: June 2016
17. David Fizdale, Knicks: May 7, 2018
18. James Borrego, Hornets: May 10, 2018
19. Lloyd Pierce, Hawks: May 11, 2018
20. Mike Budenholzer, Bucks: May 17, 2018
21. Steve Clifford, Magic: May 30, 2018
22. Dwane Casey, Pistons: June 11, 2018
23. Nick Nurse, Raptors: June 14, 2018
24. Jim Boylen, Bulls: December 2018
25. Ryan Saunders, Timberwolves: January 2019
26. Luke Walton, Kings: April 2019
27. Monty Williams, Suns: May 3, 2019 (remained Sixers assistant through Philadelphia’s playoff run)
28. John Beilein, Cavaliers: May 13, 2019
29. Frank Vogel, Lakers: May 13, 2019
30. Taylor Jenkins, Grizzlies: June 2019

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team creates original content to complement our news feed. Here are our original segments and features from the past seven days:

• In our Community Shootaround posts, we asked if Kawhi Leonard intentionally harmed the Lakers or Raptors in free agency, which Eastern Conference team is most underrated heading into next season, if and where Thunder guard Chris Paul will be traded next season, how the league should handle tampering violations and which pair of teammates are the best in the league.
• In his weekly mailbag, Arthur Hill tackled a variety of topics, including tampering issues around the league, Paul’s future and the possibility of Joe Johnson returning to the NBA.
• Luke Adams took a closer look at non-guaranteed contracts on a team-by-team basis, the amount of players on each team’s current roster, rules relating to offseason roster limits, a handful of offseason storylines still worth watching and the coaching changes that took place during the offseason.
• Chris Crouse previewed the 2K League Finals.
• We reviewed all the contract extensions handed out this summer.