FRIDAY, 5:03pm: The Grizzlies have officially signed Arthur, the team announced in a release.
MONDAY, 8:00am: Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal identifies the third year of Arthur's deal as a player option, and says the contract will be worth slightly over $9MM.
JULY 13TH, 5:02pm: The Grizzlies have officially re-signed Speights, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 6TH, 8:43am: Speights' two-year deal is actually worth almost $9MM and has a second-year player option, rather than a team option, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal. As I noted below, the terms initially reported seemed awfully team-friendly, so this makes more sense.
The Grizzlies have officially signed first-round pick Tony Wroten, the team announced today (Twitter link via Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal). As the 25th overall pick in this year's draft, Wroten is eligible for a first-year salary of up to $1,110,120.
Wroten, 19, entered the draft after spending a single season at Washington. The 6'6" guard averaged 16.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 30.3 minutes per game in his freshman year.
FRIDAY, 12:15pm: The Grizzlies have officially signed Bayless, the team announced today (Twitter link via Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal).
WEDNESDAY, 8:05am: Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal confirms (via Twitter) that Bayless' contract will start at $3MM, meaning he'll receive the Grizzlies' mini mid-level exception. The deal is for two years, with a player option for the second year, and is expected to be the last of the team's summer transactions, tweets Tillery.
At the start of this year's free agent period, the Grizzlies were pursuing relatively big-name free agents such as Ray Allen, willing to offer the full mid-level exception. At the time, I expressed some skepticism that Memphis could offer the full $5MM mid-level if the team hoped to re-sign Darrell Arthur and Marreese Speights.
Sure enough, since agreeing to terms with both Arthur and Speights, the Grizzlies have turned their focus to the $3MM taxpayer MLE, says Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. According to Tillery, Memphis is eyeing players like Jodie Meeks, Willie Green, and Jordan Farmar.
We're into the home stretch of the July moratorium, and it won't be long before all the moves that have been agreed upon in the last week are made official. In the meantime, teams have two more days to prepare for the next stage of free agency, and the rumors continue to swirl. You can track all of the contract agreements to date using our Free Agent Tracker, and you can follow many of today's free agent rumors right here, with the latest up top….
Earlier updates:
2:47pm: Allen left Miami without giving the Heat an answer on their offer and is "torn" on whether to leave the Celtics, says Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. TNT's David Aldridge adds (via Twitter) that the Grizzlies and Timberwolves are still options, though Allen doesn't have plans to visit either team. I'd guess his decision comes down to Miami and Boston.
FRIDAY, 1:54pm: The Timberwolves are the "dark-horse" in the chase for Allen, tweets Ric Bucher of ESPN.com. As Bucher acknowledges though, Minnesota is an extreme long shot.
Brandon Roy, Jason Kidd, and Jamal Crawford were among the players to reach agreements with new clubs yesterday, while Nicolas Batum and Jeremy Lin agreed to lucrative offer sheets that their current teams are expected to match. What will Friday bring? Here are the latest rumors on a number of free agents still on the market:
Earlier updates:
Happy Fourth of July to all of our American readers! Even though it's a holiday, we're expecting more free agent developments, so we'll be providing our usual updates all day long. Here are a few of Wednesday's more minor free agent rumors, with the latest items added to the top of the page throughout the day….
Earlier updates:
The Clippers had a "positive meeting" with Jamal Crawford in Los Angeles and made the former Blazer a contract offer, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Crawford is still considering a handful of other teams, however, including the Timberwolves, 76ers, Grizzlies, and Suns. Here are a few more Wednesday morning Clippers items: