- Kyle Anderson‘s defensive metrics were a major reason why the Grizzlies gave the small forward an offer sheet the Spurs didn’t match, according to Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com. He ranked fourth in steals percentage, sixth in defensive rating and 13th in steals per game and rated as the league’s second-best defending small forward last season behind the Sixers’ Robert Covington. Offensively, Anderson could be used an additional ball handler and initiate half-court sets, Wallace adds.
- Free agent swingman Nick Young has received some interest from the Kings, Grizzlies, Rockets, Cavaliers, Jazz, and Timberwolves, among others, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. According to Wolfson, Young views Minnesota as as “good opportunity” but the club’s interest hasn’t been as aggressive as it was a year ago.
The Spurs are declining to match the offer sheet Kyle Anderson signed with the Grizzlies, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). It was previously reported that San Antonio was leaning against matching the four-year, $37.2MM offer.
[RELATED: Grizzlies sign Kyle Anderson to offer sheet]
Anderson will likely become Memphis’ starting small forward, Wojnarowski notes. The 24-year-old has been excellent on the defensive end and the organization views the deal as an investment toward its goal of “recapturing” the Grit and Grind era, Woj writes in a full-length piece on ESPN.com.
Anderson, a UCLA product, enjoyed a more prominent role than expected in 2017/18, with Kawhi Leonard sitting out nearly the entire season. The wing appeared in 74 games, averaging 7.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per contest with an efficient .527 FG%.
The Spurs are already over the cap, committing $105.6MM for the upcoming season with only 10 players under contract. Matching Anderson’s offer sheet would have left the team without much financial flexibility as it aimed to fill out the remainder of the roster. San Antonio still has to consider new deals for its other restricted free agents, Davis Bertans and Bryn Forbes.
Anderson’s departure represents the latest in a string of lost restricted free agents for the Spurs. The club opted to withdraw qualifying offers for Cory Joseph and Jonathon Simmons in 2015 and 2017, respectively, allowing them to sign elsewhere. In 2016, San Antonio opted not to match Boban Marjanovic‘s offer sheet with the Pistons.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
As tonight’s deadline approaches, the Spurs are leaning toward not matching the Grizzlies’ offer sheet for Kyle Anderson, tweets Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express News.
Memphis extended the four-year, $37.2MM offer on Friday, so the clock is winding down on San Antonio’s 48-hour time frame to match the deal. The Spurs have luxury tax concerns, and Anderson’s starting salary could push them to the brink of the tax. The offer sheet also includes a 15% trade kicker.
An injury to Kawhi Leonard created an opportunity for Anderson, who responded with the best season of his four-year career. He appeared in 74 games this year, starting 67, and averaged 7.9 points while establishing himself as a force on defense.
Tony Parker wanted to stay in San Antonio, but the Spurs wouldn’t offer a multi-year deal or guarantee significant playing time, relays Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. Parker hasn’t given up on his goal of playing 20 NBA seasons, but he’ll need three more to get there and it became increasingly clear that wouldn’t happen in San Antonio.
“The Spurs will always be home,” said Parker, who agreed to a two-year, $10MM contract with Charlotte. “San Antonio will always be a big part of my life. At the end, I just felt like the Hornets wanted me more.”
Parker will have a defined role in Charlotte as the primary backup to point guard Kemba Walker. Playing time wouldn’t have been guaranteed with the Spurs, who wanted him to serve primarily in a mentorship role. Parker, who spent 17 years in San Antonio and won four NBA titles, met with longtime teammate Tim Duncan two weeks ago to discuss the decision to leave.
“I never took for granted that what we did was hard,” Parker said. “Me, Manu [Ginobili] and Tim took less money in free agency every time. It’s not easy to have a dynasty. I think some people maybe took it for granted. I don’t think what we did will ever happen again.”
There’s more today from San Antonio:
- The loss of Parker should create more playing time for Derrick White, McDonald writes in a separate story. The former first-round pick can handle either backcourt position, but is being used primarily at point guard during summer league play.
- The Spurs haven’t decided whether to match the Grizzlies’ offer sheet for Kyle Anderson and will probably go right to today’s deadline before making an announcement, McDonald notes in a another piece. Memphis extended a four-year, $37.2MM offer to Anderson on Friday that includes a 15% trade kicker. Anderson, 24, had a career-best season in 2017/18, starting 67 of the 74 games he played and averaging 7.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per night. The Spurs are already near the tax line, and matching Anderson’s deal would move them about $3MM closer on top of his $6.45MM cap hold.
- The decision on Anderson could provide a clue on what the Spurs plan to do with Kawhi Leonard, McDonald tweets. If they plan to keep Leonard and try to fix their strained relationship, the Spurs won’t have significant minutes to offer Anderson. If they expect to trade Leonard before the season starts, there’s no one else on the roster who can fill Anderson’s role on defense.
- The Spurs made a front office move over the weekend, adding former Pistons director of player personnel Adam Glessner, according to Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link).
The Grizzlies became the latest team to formally lock up their first-round pick to his rookie scale contract on Sunday, announcing in a press release that they’ve signed Jaren Jackson Jr.
Jackson, the fourth overall pick in the 2018 draft, elected to go pro after spending just one season at Michigan State. As a freshman, the 6’11” forward/center averaged 10.9 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and an impressive 3.0 BPG in just 21.8 minutes per contest. He also showed an ability to make outside shots, with a .396 3PT%.
As the No. 4 overall pick, Jackson figures to earn a first-year salary of approximately $5.9MM. That’s the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale amount for the fourth overall pick. His deal will feature two guaranteed years, with team options on the third and fourth seasons.
Three of this year’s top-five picks have now officially signed their rookie scale contracts, with Jackson joining Marvin Bagley III (Kings) and Trae Young (Hawks).
JULY 6: The Knicks have officially signed Hezonja, according to the NBA’s transactions log.
JULY 1: The Knicks have agreed to a one-year, $6.5MM pact with small forward Mario Hezonja, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The 23-year-old comes off of a career-best season in which he averaged 9.6 points in 22.1 minutes per game for the Magic.
Prior to the 2017/18 season, the Magic elected not to pick up the 2015 fifth-overall pick’s fourth-year option and the Croatian swingman responded with a notable increase in production. In 11 February contests, for example, Hezonja averaged 15.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
As we relayed earlier today, Marc Berman of The New York Post had reported that the Knicks had put an offer on the table for Hezonja worth a portion of the club’s $8.641MM mid-level exception. These reported terms would fall in line with that, leaving enough of the MLE available for New York to ink second-round pick Mitchell Robinson, something the club had been set on doing.
While Hezonja had reportedly been seeking a multiyear deal, the Knicks want to retain as much cap flexibility as possible for the 2019 offseason, and only plan on offering one-year guarantees this summer.
The buy-low addition of Hezonja, a young, recent lottery pick, will add depth to New York’s rotation. Hezonja will compete with Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee for minutes on the wing, assuming the latter remains on the roster.
[RELATED: Knicks looking to trade Courtney Lee?]
The move will give the Knicks three of the top seven draft picks from 2015. Kristaps Porzingis (No. 4) and Emmanuel Mudiay (No. 7) were also top selections in that draft.
According to a subsequent Wojnarowski tweet, the Blazers, Kings and Grizzlies were also in the mix for Hezonja’s services.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
JULY 11: The Grizzlies have officially signed Omri Casspi, the club announced in a press release.
JUNE 30: The Grizzlies have agreed to add forward Omri Casspi on a one-year deal, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports. Memphis would mark the 30-year-old’s seventh NBA stop since 2011.
Casspi’s one-year deal will be a fully guaranteed, minimum-salary contract, tweets Chris Herrington.
In 53 games for the Warriors prior to being cut late in the season, Casspi averaged 5.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Despite the modest numbers in 2017/18, however, Casspi has carved out a nine-year career as a solid depth piece and should help a Grizzlies team intent on returning to contention for a playoff spot.
A number of teams are interested in the services of Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope following his one-year stint in Los Angeles, Michael Scotto of The Athletic tweets.
Although the Grizzlies are the only team that Scotto specifically names, ESPN’s Chris Haynes adds that the Clippers will go so far as to meet with the swingman on July 1.
In 74 games with the Lakers, Caldwell-Pope averaged 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per contests but while his career stat lines appear to have stagnated, he’s a renowned 3-and-D option still just 25 years old.
As things stand, the Grizzlies have approximately $9MM in cap room for this season, which would be considerably less than the $18MM he signed on for with the Lakers last summer.
The Clippers, with DeAndre Jordan‘s $24.1MM player option now off the books, will be able to offer slightly more than Memphis, approximately $14MM. In that situation, it’s likely that he’d replace pending free agent Avery Bradley.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Clippers aren’t interested in bringing Bradley back, however, as Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times reports. Bradley and the Clippers will also be in touch on July 1.
Ironically, the Pistons essentially replaced then-restricted free agent Caldwell-Pope with Bradley last summer when the opportunity to acquire the latter from the Celtics came up ahead of the Gordon Hayward deal.
- The Grizzlies have interest in re-signing Tyreke Evans, but there’s a belief that he’ll be too expensive for Memphis to retain him, according to Spears. The Grizzlies don’t have Evans’ Bird rights, so they can only offer him their mid-level exception.
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