- New Lakers center Marc Gasol discussed his fit with his new club, especially with regard to how he intends to contribute on the defensive end of the floor, according to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times. “I know we’re going to have great communication,” Gasol said. He also discussed his expected on-court meshing with Finals MVP LeBron James. “I’m a first pass kinda guy. But somebody — he’s gonna score too at his will whenever he decides to score, he’s gonna be able to score.”
The Lakers have brought back forward Kostas Antetokounmpo on a new two-way contract, the team announced today.
Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s younger brother spent the 2019/20 season with the Lakers on a two-way deal. Although he logged just 20 total minutes in five games at the NBA level, Kostas was a full-time starter for the South Bay Lakers in the G League, averaging 14.1 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 1.3 BPG on 62.3% shooting in 38 games (25.5 MPG).
The Lakers didn’t issue Antetokounmpo a qualifying offer before last week’s deadline, so he would’ve been free to join any team in unrestricted free agency. But he’ll return to the club instead, alongside fellow two-way player Devontae Cacok.
[RELATED: 2020/21 NBA Two-Way Contract Tracker]
In bringing back Antetokounmpo and Cacok, the Lakers are one of two teams not turning over either of their two-way slots. The Celtics (Tacko Fall and Tremont Waters) are the other.
Free agent swingman Glenn Robinson III has received interest from several playoff teams, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, who identifies the Lakers, Clippers, Rockets, Nets, and Jazz as the teams eyeing Robinson.
Robinson, who turns 27 in January, began last season with the Warriors and played some of the best basketball of his career in Golden State. In 48 games (all starts) for the Dubs, he averaged 12.9 PPG and 4.7 RPG on .481/.400/.851 shooting in 31.6 minutes per contest.
After being traded from Golden State to Philadelphia at February’s deadline, Robinson saw his role cut back significantly and his numbers dipped accordingly (7.7 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 19.3 MPG). He only logged 36 total minutes in the 76ers’ first-round playoff series, a four-game sweep at the hands of Boston.
While Robinson is unlikely to start for a playoff team in 2020/21, he’d offer solid depth on the wing for any of the potential suitors listed above. Not all of those clubs are limited only to minimum-salary offers, but it won’t be a surprise if the former Michigan Wolverine ends up signing for the minimum.
The NBA has denied the Lakers‘ request to remove Luol Deng‘s dead money from their salary cap, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). As a result, Deng’s $5MM cap hits will remain on the team’s books this season and in 2021/22.
The Lakers requested last month to have Deng’s salary remove from their cap. The Collective Bargaining Agreement allows teams to remove cap charges for a waived player who hasn’t played in the NBA for at least one year if an independent doctor determines that the player sustained a career-ending injury during his time with the team.
However, that was always going to be a difficult case for the Lakers to make. Deng announced his retirement in the fall of 2019 after being let go by L.A. a year earlier, but his 2018 buyout with the team was reported at the time as a cap-related move, with no career-ending injury mentioned.
The veteran forward subsequently signed with Minnesota and played 22 games for the Timberwolves during the ’18/19 season before retiring.
The Lakers likely recognized it was a long shot to have Deng’s salary excluded from their cap, but figured it was worth a try. The team is right up against a hard cap this season and could’ve benefited from an extra $5MM of flexibility in the summer of 2021 as well.
The Lakers have waived recently-acquired big man Jordan Bell, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register tweets.
Bell was thrown into the deal that sent veteran center JaVale McGee to the Cavaliers for salary-matching purposes. The Lakers made the move to open up extra space under the hard cap for Marc Gasol.
Bell had a non-guaranteed salary of $1,762,796 and the Lakers needed to only guarantee a portion of that figure to make the trade number work. John Hollinger of The Athletic suggests (via Twitter) that Bell’s guarantee was about $580K, which will likely now be stretched across three seasons.
After spending his first two seasons with Golden State, Bell played in a total of 29 games with Minnesota and Memphis last season. He never played a game in Cleveland, as he signed with the Cavaliers in June.
John Konchar‘s new deal with the Grizzlies, which will use part of the team’s mid-level exception, is guaranteed for the first two seasons, according to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). In 2022/23, only $840K of Konchar’s full $2.3MM salary is guaranteed, and his $2.4MM salary for ’23/24 is non-guaranteed, Smith adds.
Konchar was one of a handful of Grizzlies who signed a multiyear contract that isn’t fully guaranteed on the back end. As Smith explains (via Twitter), De’Anthony Melton‘s four-year contract, which has a descending structure, only has a partial guaranteed of $1.5MM on his $8MM salary for 2023/24.
Meanwhile, Jontay Porter, who got a three-year deal, has a partial guarantee of $300K on his $1.95MM salary for 2021/22, then has a non-guaranteed $2MM salary in ’22/23, per Smith (Twitter link). Porter’s contract also came out of Memphis’ MLE.
Here are a few more contract details from around the Western Conference, all courtesy of Smith:
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s new three-year deal with the Lakers is worth about $39.12MM in total and features exactly $30MM in guaranteed money. Only $4.89MM of $14MM is guaranteed in year three (Twitter link).
- Rodney Hood, who re-signed with the Trail Blazers, will earn $10.05MM in 2020/21 and then will have to be retained through June 23, 2021 in order to have his second-year salary of $10.85MM guaranteed (Twitter link).
- As expected, the three players who were signed-and-traded from the Pelicans to the Thunder for salary-matching purposes in the Steven Adams trade received three-year contracts with only the first year guaranteed. Zylan Cheatham ($1,445,697) and Josh Gray ($1,620,564) will make the minimum, while Kenrich Williams gets $2MM (Twitter links).
Montrezl Harrell decided to sign with the Lakers because he wasn’t convinced the Clippers wanted to keep him, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Speaking to the media for the first time since accepting a two-year, $19MM offer to change teams, Harrell indicated that he would have remained with the Clippers if he believed they were interested.
“I feel that if you spend your career in any place long enough, you’re going to want to still keep playing there and keep growing there,” he said. “So, of course I still have great respect for those guys and for that organization. But like I said, as far as they wanted me back, obviously it doesn’t seem that way, does it?”
The new deal for the reigning Sixth Man of the Year contains a player option for 2021/22 that could have him back on the market in July. Some observers have suggested his connection to Klutch Sports prompted him to join fellow clients LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but Harrell said that wasn’t a factor.
“As far as my decision, it didn’t have any effect, because at the end of the day, my decision doesn’t affect neither one of those guys’ lives as far as their living conditions,” he said. “I have a family I have to provide for, so my decision was my decision.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Any further roster upgrades for the Clippers may have to come through trades, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times, who identifies Ivica Zubac, Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams as their best assets. A rival executive tells Greif that Zubac would likely bring the greatest return because he’s only 23 and can still develop his game. Zubac is under contract for three more seasons at a total of $21MM. Williams, who is in the final year of his deal at $8MM, may have limited trade value because of his age and defensive liabilities. Executives who Greif spoke to believe it would be difficult to unload Beverley’s contract, which pays him $27MM over the next two seasons, and the Clippers would likely have to attach draft picks to move him.
- After being traded from Phoenix to the Warriors, Kelly Oubre appeared to take a shot at Suns owner Robert Sarver, notes Nick Friedell of ESPN. “I can play for an owner — somebody who actually cares about the organization and not just the perception of the organization on the media end of it,” Oubre said in a radio interview.
- New Kings general manager Monte McNair looked for versatile players in the draft and tried to alter the roster to better fit De’Aaron Fox‘s timeline, writes Greg Wissinger of The Sacramento Bee. That’s why he pursued 25-year-old Wesley Iwundu and 26-year-old Willy Hernangomez, although both signed with other teams.
The Lakers will sign shooting guard Kevon Harris, tweets Ben Stinar of Forbes. No details were given on the deal, which was confirmed by his agent, Billy Davis. It’s likely a training camp contract, although the team does have a two-way slot still available.
Harris, 23, averaged 17.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game in his senior season at Stephen F. Austin. He was named Southland Conference Player of the Year.
Harris will face long odds to earn a spot on the Lakers’ roster, but he should be a candidate for their G League affiliate if that league is able to operate this season.
The Cavaliers are close to finalizing a deal to bring back Matthew Dellavedova for another season, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who reports that the veteran guard has agreed to the parameters of a one-year contract. The agreement will give Dellavedova $2.1MM for the upcoming season, along with a one-year Bird restriction and the option to veto any trade.
Dellavedova, 30, is expected to serve as a back-up point guard and a veteran leader on a youthful team. Fedor states that several other teams expressed interest, including the Lakers, but Dellavedova opted for Cleveland, where he has spent most of his seven-year NBA career.
The signing will give the Cavaliers 14 players under contract, and the final roster spot may not be filled right away, Fedor adds. The team will explore potential signings heading into training camp, but may opt for the flexibility of keeping a spot open.
There’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Mike D’Antoni considered retirement after leaving the Rockets following their playoff exit, writes Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. D’Antoni was convinced to keep coaching when he got an offer from the Nets to join the staff of first-time head coach Steve Nash, who orchestrated D’Antoni’s offense when they were together in Phoenix. “He’s going to make it easy for Steve,” said Warriors assistant Leandro Barbosa. “Mike is one of the best coaches that I ever played for. He’s also one of the best from an offensive standpoint. He knows a lot of plays, he knows a lot of tricks, I think he’s going to be awesome for Kyrie (Irving) and (Kevin) Durant.”
- Darren Erman, who coached the Celtics’ G League affiliate last season, will join the Knicks as an assistant to Tom Thibodeau, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Erman spent four years as associate head coach with the Pelicans.
- The Nuggets will receive $110K from the Pistons in the sign-and-trade that sent Jerami Grant to Detroit, according to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). The Pistons shipped $250K to the Jazz in the deal for Tony Bradley, Pincus adds (Twitter link).
NOVEMBER 24: Gasol has signed his contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that it’s a straight two-year, minimum-salary deal, with no player or team option on year two.
Gasol will earn about $2.56MM in 2020/21 and $2.69MM in ’21/22.
NOVEMBER 22: The Lakers have reached an agreement to sign free agent center Marc Gasol, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe of ESPN, who first reported that the two sides were finalizing a deal, say it’ll be a two-year pact (Twitter links).
A former Defensive Player of the Year and three-time All-Star, Gasol has seen his numbers fall off significantly during the last year-and-a-half in Toronto. He averaged just 7.5 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 44 games (26.4 MPG) in 2019/20.
However, while he’s no longer as prolific a scorer as he was during his days with the Grizzlies, Gasol can still knock down three-pointers (38.5% in ’19/20) and facilitate an offense from the top of the key. He also remains a very effective defender, which will be important in Los Angeles. Montrezl Harrell, the Lakers’ other big frontcourt free agent addition, is far more effective on offense than on defense.
It appears likely that Gasol will get a minimum-salary deal from the Lakers, who are up against a hard cap. The team agreed to trade JaVale McGee to the Cavaliers, but will have to take back some salary in that deal. Plus, giving Gasol more than the minimum would require the Raptors to accommodate a sign-and-trade agreement.
Because the Lakers are offering a two-year contract, the first-year cap hit will be about $2.56MM instead of $1.62MM. The NBA partially reimburses teams for one-year minimum-salary veteran contracts, but not for two-year deals.
After completing this series of roster moves and filling out their roster with minimum-salary signings, the Lakers project to be about $1.3MM below the hard cap, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.
Gasol was drafted by L.A. way back in 2007 but was traded to Memphis in a package for his brother Pau Gasol and never appeared in a game for the Lakers. Thirteen years later, he’ll finally suit up for the franchise.
Meanwhile, the Raptors – having lost both Gasol and Serge Ibaka in free agency – have pivoted by securing a commitment from free agent center Aron Baynes. The team is also re-signing RFA big man Chris Boucher.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.