Los Angeles Clippers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Clippers, Paul, Ariza, Lakers, Howard

August 7th, 2021 at 12:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The two-year, $21.6MM commitment the Clippers made to Reggie Jackson, including a $10.38MM cap hit next season, will have major tax implications for the team, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. After accounting for new contracts for Jackson and Kawhi Leonard, who is expected to sign for the maximum, the Clippers’ tax bill is projected to be $95MM. Taking into account both salaries and tax penalties, the cost of the roster will be $265MM, says Marks.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

In a separate tweet, Marks provides the specific details on Chris Paul‘s new four-year, $120MM contract with the Suns, confirming a report that the deal includes $75MM in guaranteed money. It will start at $30MM before dipping in year two and increasing again in the third year, which is partially guaranteed for $15.8MM. The structure will allow Phoenix to stay out of the tax in 2021/22 and ensures the deal’s cap hit will be lowest in ’22/23, when potential new contracts for Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges go into effect.
Trevor Ariza, who has signed a one-year deal with the Lakers, said that Russell Westbrook recruited him, Mark Medina of USA Today tweets. Westbrook called Ariza approximately 20 minutes after Westbrook was traded to the Lakers, the veteran forward said. He also said his children urged him to sign with the Lakers.
The Lakers may be stockpiling aging veterans like Ariza, Carmelo Anthony, Wayne Ellington and Dwight Howard to help LeBron James and Anthony Davis win another title, but Howard said there won’t be a lack of energy or enthusiasm, Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes. “I think we have new life, all of us coming together and playing,” he said of the Lakers’ vets. “I think it’s going to provide new life being able to see who we have on our roster, who’s going to be playing alongside of us each and every day. I think we’ll have so much energy it will be hard to contain.”

Clippers Acquire No. 51 Pick Brandon Boston From Pelicans

August 7th, 2021 at 12:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

AUGUST 7: The trade is official, according to a press release from the Pelicans.

New Orleans announced that the second-round pick it received in the deal is the Kings’ 2022 second-rounder. However, that pick was top-54 protected when it was initially sent to the Clippers and is unlikely to convey, so the cash included in the deal is the primary return for the Pels.

JULY 29: The Clippers are adding a late-round selection by trading with the Pelicans for the No. 51 pick, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. L.A. is using the pick to draft Kentucky guard Brandon Boston Jr.

New Orleans will receive cash and a future second-round choice in return, according to Andrew Lopez of ESPN (Twitter link).

The pick originally belonged to the Grizzlies and was included a trade that was agreed to earlier this week, but can’t be finalized until after the moratorium ends. The Clippers also acquired the No. 33 pick tonight in a trade with the Magic.

Boston, 19, played just one season with the Wildcats, averaging 11.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 25 games.

Clippers Sign Keon Johnson To Rookie Contract

August 6th, 2021 at 7:16pm CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers have officially signed first-round pick Keon Johnson to his rookie contract, the team announced today.

[RELATED: 2021 NBA Draft Pick Signings]

Johnson was the No. 21 pick in last Thursday’s draft and was technically selected by the Knicks on behalf of the Clippers. New York and Los Angeles agreed to a draft-night deal that saw the Clips give up a future second-round pick to move up from No. 25 to No. 21 to secure Johnson.

A 6’5″ wing, Johnson spent a single season at Tennessee, averaging 11.3 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 2.5 APG on .449/.271/.703 shooting in 27 games (25.5 MPG).

Back in April, when he declared for the draft, he was listed as the No. 6 prospect on ESPN’s big board and was viewed as a probable lottery pick. However, he remains very raw, especially on the offensive end, and slipped a little as teams in the middle of the first round opted for safer picks.

Unless he signs for less than 120% of his rookie scale amount, which is unlikely, Johnson will earn $2.55MM in 2021/22, as our breakdown of rookie scale salaries shows.

Clippers Sign Justise Winslow To Two-Year Deal

August 6th, 2021 at 6:09pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 8: The Clippers have officially signed Winslow, the team announced today in a press release.

AUGUST 6: The Clippers are in agreement with free agent forward Justise Winslow on a two-year deal, his agents Austin Brown and Erika Ruiz tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

The Clippers are using the taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Winslow, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times tweets. According to Greif, there are no options on the deal’s second season.

Winslow became an unrestricted free agent at the beginning of the month when Memphis declined a $13MM option on his contract.

Winslow’s career has been sidetracked by hip and back injuries but, if healthy, he could jump into the Clippers’ rotation. He appeared in just 11 games with Miami during the 2019/20 season. He was traded to the Grizzlies in February 2020 but didn’t make his team debut until late February this year.

Winslow had trouble scraping off the rust, averaging 6.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 1.9 APG in 19.5 MPG while shooting 35.1% from the field in 26 games.

In his last full season, Winslow averaged 12.6 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 4.3 APG in 2018/19 while being used at times as a point forward. Winslow, 25, provides a boost at the wing spot, which is much needed since Kawhi Leonard is expected to miss most of next season after undergoing knee surgery.

Clippers Re-Sign Reggie Jackson To Two-Year Deal

August 6th, 2021 at 11:43am CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 11: The Clippers have officially re-signed Jackson, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

AUGUST 6: Free agent point guard Reggie Jackson intends to sign a two-year, $22MM deal to return to the Clippers, agents Aaron Mintz and Erika Ruiz tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

That figure (which will actually come in around $21.6MM) is the maximum the capped-out Clippers can pay Jackson using his Early Bird rights, as Woj and Bobby Marks of ESPN note (Twitter link). Early Bird contracts must cover at least two years without a player or team option.

After settling for a minimum-salary contract last offseason, Jackson was rewarded with a significant raise for his strong play in 2020/21. The 31-year-old averaged 10.7 PPG with a .433 3PT% and was even better in the playoffs, putting up 17.8 PPG on .484/.408/.878 shooting.

He played in key role in helping the Clippers defeat Utah in the Western Conference Semifinals and push the Suns to six games in the Western Finals after Kawhi Leonard went down with an ACL injury in round two.

The Pelicans, Celtics, Knicks, and Nuggets were reported as potential suitors for Jackson, but a return to Los Angeles had always been considered the most likely scenario for the veteran guard. Jackson will be an important part of a backcourt that once again projects to include Rajon Rondo, Patrick Beverley, and Terance Mann.

The Clippers, meanwhile, still have one more major item on their free agency to-do list, as star forward Kawhi Leonard has yet to agree to a new deal with the team. He’s widely expected to do so sooner or later, but it remains to be seen what the exact terms of his new agreement will look like.

Pacific Notes: DeRozan, Clippers, Curry, Vogel

August 5th, 2021 at 7:26pm CST by Luke Adams

About an hour before word broke on Tuesday that DeMar DeRozan had agreed to join the Bulls via sign-and-trade, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported that DeRozan intended to meet with the Clippers. So did that meeting actually happen before DeRozan reached a deal with Chicago? Haynes shared some details in the latest episode of his Posted Up with Chris Haynes podcast.

“The Clippers’ brass were on their way to DeMar’s house,” Haynes said. “Things got a little bit more interesting with the Bulls, it looked like a deal was going to get done with Chicago, and DeMar DeRozan’s agent Aaron Goodwin called the Clippers out of courtesy and was like, ‘You know what, let’s not waste anybody’s time. Out of respect to you guys, let’s cancel this meeting. (DeRozan)’s going to go elsewhere.'”

Haynes added that the Clippers were going to have to do “a ton of work” on their roster to be able to make DeRozan a competitive offer, suggesting that the veteran wing – who received an $85MM commitment from Chicago – wouldn’t have been willing to settle for the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.9MM), which was all L.A. realistically had at its disposal.

“DeMar DeRozan was not going to any team and taking the mid-level. He wasn’t,” Haynes said. “Not the full mid-level, not the taxpayer mid-level. He wasn’t having it.”

Here are a few more updates from around the Pacific:

Speaking to Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic after news of his new $215MM extension with the Warriors broke, Stephen Curry said he loves the players Golden State drafted last Thursday and was happy to hear the team was pursuing veteran free agents this week, even if top targets like Patty Mills and Nicolas Batum are headed elsewhere. “I would be disappointed if there was ever a vibe that you’re complacent or that you’re not proactive and looking to always get better,” Curry said. “So if you’re telling me we’re trying to go after Batum, we’re trying to go after Patty, and things didn’t line up like that, then that’s just how the league works. But if there’s ever a situation where you don’t feel that commitment from upstairs, then we have issues. I haven’t felt that this summer.”
Thompson adds in the same story that the fourth year on Curry’s extension was a “minor sticking point,” given its unprecedented cap hit, but the Warriors ultimately relented. Curry, who will turn 38 during the 2025/26 season, will earn a staggering $59.6MM that year.
Now that the Lakers have nearly finished filling out their roster with a handful of free agent commitments, the next big question for the franchise to answer is Frank Vogel‘s status, writes Bill Oram of The Athletic. Vogel is a candidate for an extension, since he’s entering the final year of his contract as the team’s head coach.

Free Agency Rumors: R. Jackson, Cavaliers, Suns, Wizards

August 4th, 2021 at 7:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

Reggie Jackson is getting a lot of interest on the free agent market after his strong playoff run, but the Clippers remain hopeful about re-signing him, tweets Jordan Schultz of ESPN.

Jackson, 31, is coming off a strong season and playoff run with the Clippers — he topped 20 points nine times during the playoffs and shot a career-high 43.3% from three-point range last season. Los Angeles holds his Early Bird rights and can offer him a starting salary worth up to nearly $10.4MM.

Money will be a key factor in Jackson’s decision, according to Schultz (via Twitter), who adds that the Pelicans may be a “sleeper team” in the race for the veteran point guard. New Orleans general manager Trajan Langdon is known to be a fan of Jackson.

There’s more news on free agency:

After completing a trade for Ricky Rubio, the Cavaliers are still searching for another point guard, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Sources tell Fedor that Cleveland has looked at Raul Neto, who played for the Wizards last season, and Brad Wanamaker, who finished the season with the Hornets. Fedor lists a few other names still on the market, such as Frank Ntilikina, Ryan Arcidiacono, Tim Frazier, Jeff Teague, Elfrid Payton and Mike James. The Cavs still have their $9.5MM mid-level exception left, along with the flexibility to open spots on the roster.
Neto is among the backcourt options the Suns might consider in completing their roster, tweets John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7. Some others are Elfrid Payton, Dante Exum, Quinn Cook and Ryan Arcidiacono. Up front, Phoenix will likely look at Paul Millsap and possibly Isaiah Hartenstein, although Gambadoro isn’t sure about a potential reunion with Aron Baynes (Twitter link).
The Wizards have remade their roster in the past week, but the major moves may be done for now, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). He notes that the Spencer Dinwiddie trade will leave Washington too close to the luxury tax line to consider using its mid-level exception.

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

August 3rd, 2021 at 3:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Free agent wing DeMar DeRozan is expected to sign a three-year, $85MM contract with the Bulls, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).

According to Charania, the Bulls and Spurs are finalizing a sign-and-trade deal that will send DeRozan to Chicago in exchange for Thaddeus Young, a future first-round pick, and two second-round picks. Al-Farouq Aminu will go to San Antonio in the deal too, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Wojnarowski also provides the details on the draft picks headed to the Spurs, reporting (via Twitter) that the future first-round pick will convey in 2025 at the earliest, since the Bulls owe their 2023 first-rounder to Orlando. The second-rounders Chicago is sending to San Antonio are the Lakers’ 2022 pick and the Bulls’ own 2025 pick, Woj adds.

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links), who first reported DeRozan was nearing a deal with Chicago, says his three-year deal will be fully guaranteed.

It’s a fascinating turn of events for the Bulls and for DeRozan, who had reportedly been planning to meet with the Clippers despite their limited cap flexibility. Because acquiring a player via sign-and-trade hard-caps a team at the tax apron, a sign-and-trade for DeRozan likely wasn’t an option for the Clippers, who project to be taxpayers.

However, the Bulls, who had already agreed to acquire Lonzo Ball via sign-and-trade and had two sizeable – and expendable – expiring contracts belonging to Young and Aminu, were in a far better position to make DeRozan an aggressive offer. And they did just that, agreeing to a deal that will add DeRozan to a core that now includes Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic, and Ball.

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. Opponents will have a tough time stopping lineups featuring him, LaVine, and Vucevic, though it won’t be the most stout group defensively.

Based on their reported moves, the Bulls still have about $19.5MM in breathing room below the tax and $26MM below the hard cap, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, who notes (via Twitter) that the team still holds Lauri Markkanen‘s Bird rights.

The Spurs, who have free agent deals in place with Zach Collins and Doug McDermott, still have about $6MM in projected cap space to work with, Marks adds.

DeMar DeRozan Plans To Meet With Clippers

August 3rd, 2021 at 2:30pm CST by JD Shaw

Free agent shooting guard DeMar DeRozan plans to meet with the Clippers on Tuesday, according to a report from Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes.

DeRozan, a native of Compton, California, is also receiving interest from the Bulls, Haynes confirms. Any agreement between DeRozan and Chicago would likely feature a sign-and-trade, one that could land sharpshooting big man Lauri Markkanen in San Antonio.

As Haynes notes, the Clippers don’t have the cap space to sign DeRozan outright, meaning they would need to be creative in landing his services. The team only has a $5.9MM mid-level exception and probably can’t realistically acquire DeRozan via sign-and-trade since it would create a hard cap on the team’s spending.

DeRozan remains one of the league’s most accomplished scorers and top players still available in free agency. He held per-game averages of 21.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and a career-high 6.9 assists last season, also shooting 49.5% from the floor.

The downside to signing DeRozan, of course, is his three-point shooting. He’s only made 35 threes in his last three seasons, though he remains a lethal mid-range scorer who can finish through traffic and create looks for teammates. He’ll be entering his 13th season.

Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard is likely to miss part of next season rehabbing a partially torn ACL, making DeRozan more appealing for Los Angeles as it looks to return to the playoffs in the spring.

Free Agency Rumors: DeRozan, Smart, Dragic, Tucker

August 3rd, 2021 at 1:28am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

It appears that several teams remain interested in adding veteran free agent Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan, but are trying to gauge his market. Jordan Schultz of ESPN reports (Twitter link) that the Clippers would like to sign DeRozan, as would the Spurs if the price is right.

Schultz notes that there are other clubs interested in DeRozan, but – assuming he’s is not offered an overwhelming deal – the former four-time All-Star will take his time in determining a destination.

Here are more free agency rumors from around the NBA world:

With Lonzo Ball now headed to the Bulls in a sign-and-trade deal as a restricted free agent, another team that had been floated as a potential destination, the Celtics, will most likely not attempt to move on from guard Marcus Smart, tweets Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. Murphy adds (Twitter link) that Smart is hoping to earn a four-year, $80MM contract extension from Boston.
Veteran guard Goran Dragic , who is expected to be sent from the Heat to the Raptors in an upcoming sign-and-trade for veteran free agent point guard Kyle Lowry, is hoping to be rerouted to the Mavericks, per Michael Grange of Sportsnet (Twitter link). The details of a sign-and-trade agreement between Miami and Toronto have not yet been fully reported.
Now that the news has broken that newly-minted NBA champion P.J. Tucker will be joining the Heat rather than return to the Bucks in free agency, Sam Amick of The Athletic notes a big part of the reason was Milwaukee’s exorbitant projected tax bill if Tucker had returned. The Bucks appear hopeful to replace Tucker’s versatile defensive contributions by agreeing to a deal with former Celtics forward Semi Ojeleye.