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And-Ones: Zion, World Cup, Schedule, Marinkovic

July 23rd, 2019 at 1:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

Zion Williamson, one of the top free agents on the shoe endorsement market, has reached a deal with Jordan Brand, he announced today on Instagram. Although terms of the multi-year arrangement were not released, Williamson received offers in excess of $10MM a year from some of Jordan’s competitors, relays Nick DePaula of ESPN.

“I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of the Jordan Brand family,” Williamson said. “Since I was a kid, I dreamed of making it to the league and having the type of impact on the game Michael Jordan had and continues to have today. He was one of those special athletes I looked up to, and I really can’t express how happy and excited I am for this journey.”

The company held an all-employees meeting this morning where the news was disclosed. Digital billboards featuring Williamson are scheduled to be unveiled soon.

There’s more NBA-related news to pass along:

  • FIBA’s decision to move the World Cup to the summer before the Olympics may be responsible for so many stars deciding to skip the event, tweets Michael Lee of The Athletic. He notes that it’s difficult to find elite players who are willing to commit two straight offseasons to international competition. Many of the players who withdrew are sincere about their desire to prepare for the upcoming season, observes Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). With no obvious favorite for the 2019/20 title, many stars are seeking any advantage they can get. Damian Lillard and DeMar DeRozan are the latest players to pull their names out of consideration for Team USA.
  • A summer filled with blockbuster trades and unprecedented free agent movement presents unique challenges for schedule makers, writes Jacob Feldman of Sports Illustrated. The scheduling process usually starts in mid-June, but the league came to an agreement with ESPN and TNT to push it back because of the expected flurry of transactions. The schedule release is still anticipated for its normal time of early to mid-August.
  • Kings second-round pick Vanja Marinkovic will leave his Partizan Belgrade team to sign with Valencia in Spain, tweets international basketball consultant Vedran Modric. It will be a two-year deal with an option for a third season, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (Twitter link).
  • Center Matt Costello, who played briefly for the Spurs during the 2017/18 season, has reached a deal with Spanish club Herbalife Gran Canaria, according to Nicola Lupo of Sportando.
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Favors' Offensive Game Could Expand

July 22nd, 2019 at 8:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Cheick Diallo was squeezed out of New Orleans due to a numbers crunch, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM tweets. The Pelicans didn’t want to lose the young power forward but they essentially had to choose between him and Jahlil Okafor, according to Gambadoro. New Orleans got three players back in the Anthony Davis deal, added three first-rounders including top pick Zion Williamson, and signed free agent guard J.J. Redick. New Orleans did not make a qualifying offer to Diallo, which made him an unrestricted free agent. He signed a two-year contract with the Suns.

  • The Pelicans believe they can turn big man Derrick Favors into a bigger offensive threat than he was with the Jazz, William Guillory of The Athletic writes. Favors was acquired for two second-rounders in a salary dump by Utah. The opportunity to play alongside Jrue Holiday, Zion Williamson and Redick will facilitate the process. Favors will be utilized more often as a passer and be encouraged to develop his 3-point game, Guillory adds.
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No Zion Williamson For Team USA This Summer

July 22nd, 2019 at 1:48pm CST by Luke Adams

In addition to the five Team USA training camp invitees that have already withdrawn from 2019 World Cup consideration, a member of the Select Team has now removed his name from the player pool as well. USA Basketball director Jerry Colangelo tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) that No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson won’t suit up for the program this summer.

As Charania details in a follow-up tweet, Williamson and the Pelicans are focused on making sure the former Duke standout is “fully integrated” in New Orleans this fall.

Williamson had been on track to participate on the Select Team which will scrimmage against Team USA’s training camp roster next month in advance of the World Cup in China. The Pelicans’ big man reportedly would have had a chance to earn a spot on the 12-man roster with a strong showing, but that scenario is no longer in play.

Williamson joins Anthony Davis, James Harden, Bradley Beal, CJ McCollum, and Eric Gordon among the players who have pulled out of Team USA obligations so far this offseason. The program is still waiting on final decisions from Damian Lillard and Kevin Love, tweets Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

While Team USA hasn’t officially announced the list of players who will make up the Select Team in August, reports have indicated that John Collins, Marvin Bagley, De’Aaron Fox, Jarrett Allen, Mitchell Robinson, and Trae Young are among those expected to participate. If more members of the initial 20-man camp roster withdraw, some of those youngsters could receive consideration for the final 12-man roster.

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Pelicans Re-Sign Darius Miller To Two-Year Deal

July 21st, 2019 at 4:30pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 21: New Orleans has officially re-signed forward Darius Miller to a contract, per a team release.

“He has established himself as a versatile, multi-positional shooting threat & we are elated to be in position to continue to grow with him,” Pelicans executive VP of basketball operations David Griffin said of Miller. “His selfless nature, on and off the floor, makes him an ideal fit for us both in the locker room & in our community.”

JULY 3: The Pelicans will bring back veteran forward Darius Miller, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the two sides have agreed to a two-year contract worth $14.25MM. The second year will be non-guaranteed, Woj adds.

Miller, 29, has spent the last two seasons with the Pelicans after playing for two years in Germany. While his numbers dipped a little last season, he has been reliable outside threat in New Orleans since returning stateside, averaging 8.0 PPG on .417/.388/.826 shooting in 151 total games (24.5 MPG).

Outside of Nikola Mirotic, who was dealt to Milwaukee in a mid-season trade, no Pelican made more three-pointers per game last season than Miller (1.9). He’ll have a little help spacing the floor in 2019/20, as New Orleans reached a deal to sign J.J. Redick earlier this week.

Miller had a modest cap hold of about $2.9MM as a free agent, so the Pelicans will keep that hold on their books while using their cap room to add newcomers like Redick and Derrick Favors. They can then go over the cap to re-sign Miller using his Early Bird rights.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), contracts signed using the Early Bird exception must run for at least two years, which explains the non-guaranteed second year on Miller’s new deal.

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Kenrich Williams Receives $200K Contract Guarantee

July 21st, 2019 at 11:40am CST by Arthur Hill
  • Pelicans small forward Kenrich Williams received a $200K guarantee on his contract for 2019/20 by remaining on the roster yesterday, tweets Will Guillory of The Athletic. Williams’ $1,416,852 salary will become fully guaranteed on opening night.
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Sixers Notes: Tax Outlook, Harris, Redick, Korver

July 21st, 2019 at 9:02am CST by Arthur Hill

The Sixers are about to enter their final season for a while of not being a taxpaying team, Derek Bodner of The Athletic writes in detailed breakdown of all the contracts the organization issued since free agency began.

Philadelphia has been among the most active teams this offseason, adding free agents Al Horford, Kyle O’Quinn and Raul Neto, trading Jimmy Butler to the Heat for Josh Richardson, re-signing Tobias Harris, Mike Scott and James Ennis, extending Ben Simmons and giving a four-year contract to former two-way player Shake Milton. Even with all those additions, the Sixers are comfortably below the tax line.

That changes next year when Simmons’ maximum rookie extension kicks in. The Sixers will not only be a taxpayer going forward, but would need to unload significant salary to say below the apron and retain the ability to use their full mid-level exception. The same situation will exist for 2021/22 unless they lose Richardson, who has a player option for that season. Bodner doesn’t expect that to happen, stating that the team is likely to consider keeping Richardson more valuable than having the full MLE.

There’s more this morning from Philadelphia:

  • The Sixers‘ tax status for the upcoming season gave them the freedom to start Harris’ new five-year, $180MM deal with a higher first-year salary than they needed to, Bodner adds in the same story. Instead of beginning with a $31MM salary for 2019/20 and 8% raises the rest of the way, Harris will get a max salary of $32.742MM this year, followed by lower raises in years three and four when the organization will have tax concerns.
  • J.J. Redick, who signed as a free agent with the Pelicans, said on his latest podcast that he expected to retire in Philadelphia, tweets Will Guillory of The Athletic. However, he added, “Sometimes the economics of things don’t work out.” Redick, who spent the past two years with the Sixers, referred to New Orleans as “Duke south” and said he has known new GM Trajan Langdon since his freshman year at the university. He dealt mainly with Langdon in free agent talks, while his agent negotiated with executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin.
  • Kyle Korver strongly considered the Sixers before reaching an agreement with the Bucks yesterday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Korver started his career in Philadelphia, but his relationship with Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer, whom he played for in Atlanta, swayed his final decision.
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Pistons Claim Christian Wood

July 17th, 2019 at 4:08pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pistons have claimed Christian Wood off waivers, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Wood, who has a partial guarantee on his salary that takes effect opening night, was waived Monday by the Pelicans. The power forward/center would be guaranteed $822,679 on his $1,645,357 salary for next season if he remained on the roster for the first game. The full salary won’t be guaranteed until January 10, when all league contracts become guaranteed.

Detroit inherits that contract with the successful waiver claim. The Pistons now have 17 players on their roster with 14 guaranteed contracts – according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link) – and are $223K below the luxury tax.

Wood, 23, is no stranger to the waiver wire. New Orleans claimed him in March after the Bucks let him go. He played just eight games for the Pelicans, but averaged 16.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per night. He has also had brief stays with the Sixers and Hornets since entering the league.

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New Orleans Was Favors' Preferred Destination

July 16th, 2019 at 10:39pm CST by ChrisCrouse
  • The Pelicans were Derrick Favors‘ preferred destination once it was clear the Jazz were moving him, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets. Utah needed to trade Favors in order to accommodate the Bojan Bogdanovic signing.
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Pelicans Notes: Hart, Ball, Ingram, Melli

July 16th, 2019 at 9:04pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Josh Hart spoke with EVP of basketball operations David Griffin shortly after the Anthony Davis, pleading with the executive not to trade him, as he wanted to play for the Pelicans. During a press conference today that introduced Hart, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball, Griffin said that it “meant a lot” to the team to have players who were “equally committed” to the franchise.

“We’re deep with selfless winners,” Griffin said (via Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register). “We’re deep with selfless high-character guys who wanna play any role they need to.”

Rival teams have called the Pelicans about all three former Lakers, according to Griffin, but the franchise has turned down inquiries for each player. The front office feels the trio can be part of the team’s future.

Here’s more from New Orleans:

  • Ball said it was “tough” dealing with trade rumors last season but he learned to deal with those distractions and others while playing in Los Angeles, Will Guillory of The Athletic relays on Twitter. Ball added that he’s excited to get back to playing the style of basketball he’s accustomed to.
  • Ingram said he is “pretty close” to resuming regular basketball activities, as ESPN relays. Ingram is recovering from surgery on his right arm that was performed to address a blood clot. Ingram added that he hasn’t played basketball since March. “I’m eager to pick up a basketball,” the forward added (via Guillory’s Twitter feed).
  • Nicolo Melli, who signed with the Pelicans this offseason, underwent knee surgery this offseason, Emiliano Carchia of Sportnado passes along. Melli agreed to sign with New Orleans via the room exception.
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