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Malik Beasley To Sign One-Year Contract With Bucks

July 3rd, 2023 at 6:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Free agent guard Malik Beasley is signing a one-year contract with the Bucks, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

A seven-year veteran, Beasley is signing for the veteran’s minimum of $2,709,849, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. Milwaukee will carry a cap hit of $2,019,706.

Beasley entered the free agent market when the Lakers declined their $16.5MM option on his contract for next season. Beasley had multiple suitors who were seeking a low-cost perimeter option and the Bucks’ interest in him had previously been reported.

A long-range shooting specialist who holds a career mark of 37.8% from deep, Beasley shot just 35.7% last season, including 35.3% with the Lakers. He was acquired from Utah at the trade deadline in the deal involving Russell Westbrook.

Overall, the 26-year-old appeared in 81 games last season, including 27 starts (25.8 MPG). He was a non-factor in the postseason, appearing in 11 games while shooting 26.9% from long distance in 8.3 MPG.

If he regains his previous form, Beasley could play major minutes as the backup shooting guard behind Grayson Allen. Beasley was a 2016 first-round pick for Denver and spent three-and-a-half seasons there before a two-and-a-half-year stint with Minnesota. He’s averaged 10.8 points in 21.9 minutes through 417 regular-season games.

Mason Plumlee Re-Signs With Clippers On One-Year Deal

July 3rd, 2023 at 1:20pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 6: The Clippers have officially completed their new deal with Plumlee, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

JULY 3: Mason Plumlee is re-signing with the Clippers on a one-year, $5MM contract, agent Mark Bartelstein tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

A longtime NBA center, Plumlee was an unrestricted free agent after his three-year, $25MM deal expired at the end of 2022/23.

He’ll be taking a pay cut to return to Los Angeles after making $9.08MM in 2022/23. According to Wojnarowski, the veteran received more lucrative offers from rival suitors in free agency.

The 22nd pick of the 2013 draft, Plumlee has played for the Nets, Trail Blazers, Nuggets, Pistons, Hornets and Clippers over the course of his 10 NBA seasons. He was having a strong season with Charlotte in ’22/23, averaging 12.2 PPG, 9.7 RPG and 3.7 APG in 56 games (28.5 MPG) as a full-time starter, before being sent to L.A. at the February trade deadline.

Plumlee’s role was slightly diminished playing behind Ivica Zubac, but he still brought solid production and size off the bench, averaging 7.5 PPG, 6.9 RPG and 1.7 APG in 23 regular season games (19.9 MPG). Overall, he shot a career-best 68% from the field last season.

A report last week stated that the Clippers might be open to moving Zubac and were comfortable having Plumlee as the starting center. It remains to be seen if that will transpire, but he’s a nice insurance policy to have either way.

The Clippers are one of the league’s top spenders, far above the luxury tax line. However, they held Plumlee’s Bird rights, so they were able to pay him more than the veteran’s minimum.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), the Clippers now have 16 players on standard contracts, including Jason Preston, whose contract is non-guaranteed. The young guard recently agreed to push back his salary guarantee date until July 18.

Plumlee was No. 36 on our list of this summer’s top 50 free agents.

Nets Sign Lonnie Walker To One-Year Deal

July 2nd, 2023 at 3:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 10: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 2: The Nets are signing free agent swingman Lonnie Walker on a one-year contract, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

The Lakers were interested in re-signing Walker but he could find more playing time in Brooklyn. Walker made $6,479,000 in his one season with the Lakers and he became an unrestricted free agent after the season.

The 24-year-old Walker, who played four seasons with San Antonio, appeared in 56 regular-season games (32 starts) with the Lakers. He averaged 11.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 23.2 minutes. He also appeared in 13 postseason contests, averaging 6.2 points in 13.8 minutes.

How exactly Walker slots into Brooklyn’s rotation remains to be seen. The Nets have a glut of wings, so the addition of Walker could signal some other moves.

The team has also parted ways with Patty Mills and Joe Harris this offseason, so there could be a path to minutes even without further roster shuffling, though fellow newcomer Dennis Smith Jr. also figures to have a role in the backcourt.

Eric Gordon Signs Two-Year Contract With Suns

July 2nd, 2023 at 3:05pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 6: The Suns have officially signed Gordon, the team announced in a press release.

“Eric is a winning player who will make our team more dynamic and help us in our pursuit of an NBA championship,” general manager James Jones said in a statement.

JULY 2: The Suns have reached an agreement with free agent guard Eric Gordon, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Gordon had multiple suitors and turned more lucrative offers to join one of the prime contenders for the 2024 championship, Charania adds (Twitter link).

It’s a two-year contract with a player option, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. Due to its salary-cap issues, Phoenix could only offer Gordon the veteran’s minimum after he passed through waivers.

Gordon became a free agent when the Clippers declined to guarantee his $20.9MM salary for next season. The Clippers had luxury tax issues and decided to give Gordon’s minutes to younger players.

Gordon now becomes at least a key second-unit performer on a potentially powerhouse team. He could be the leading scorer off the bench while playing alongside Cameron Payne or Damion Lee in the backcourt. It’s conceivable Gordon could slide into the starting unit with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal at the wing positions. He’s been a starter in 627 of 818 career NBA regular-season games.

After clearing waivers, Gordon had narrowed his choices to the Suns, Warriors and Rockets, according to Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Warriors had made Gordon their top backcourt target on the free agent market via a veteran’s minimum deal, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets. However, the pathway to minutes in Golden State’s backcourt — with the addition of Chris Paul — would have been murkier than the Suns’ current situation.

L.A. acquired Gordon from the Rockets in a three-team deal at the trade deadline. He averaged 11.0 PPG and shot 42.3% from three-point range in his 22 regular season games with the Clippers and put up similar numbers in the playoffs.

Gordon joins a host of other free agents who have reached agreements with the Suns in the early days of free agency. The Suns have also secured the services of Drew Eubanks, Keita Bates-Diop, Josh Okogie, Lee, Yuta Watanabe and Chimezie Metu.

The addition gives Phoenix a full 15-man roster. The Suns’ roster now exceeds $250MM in total payroll and luxury tax penalties, Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype notes (Twitter link).

Rockets To Acquire Patty Mills, Flip Him To Thunder

July 2nd, 2023 at 1:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JULY 2, 1:00pm: Mills will be heading to the Thunder, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Oklahoma City will receive unspecified draft compensation as part of the deal.

JULY 2, 8:58am: Mills’ eventual destination remains a mystery for now. Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian (Twitter link) says his understanding is that the veteran guard won’t be headed to the Grizzlies.

According to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle, the Rockets traded for Mills in order to acquire an extra second-round draft pick. That’s not quite the same as saying the Nets are sending a single second-rounder to Houston as part of the deal, but that’s our working assumption for now.

JULY 1, 9:02pm: Mills won’t be staying with Houston, according to Iko, who tweets that the veteran guard will be included in an expanded version of the Brooks sign-and-trade and will be rerouted to a different team. It’s not clear at this point if that team will be the Grizzlies or another club.

JULY 1, 5:39pm: The Rockets continue to fill out their previously youth-heavy roster with more seasoned additions early in the 2023 offseason.

Shams Charania and Kelly Iko of The Athletic report (Twitter link) that Houston is putting the finishing touches on a trade for sharpshooting Nets veteran combo guard Patty Mills.

It’s unclear exactly what the Rockets are sending to Brooklyn in the deal, but the Nets aren’t taking back any players, per NetsDaily (Twitter link).

The 6’1″ vet remains a reliable catch-and-shoot option even 14 years into his NBA career. Last season for a playoff-bound Brooklyn team, the 34-year-old Saint Mary’s alum averaged 6.2 PPG on .411/.366/.833 shooting splits, 1.4 APG and 1.1 RPG across 14.2 MPG, his lowest output since the 2012/13 season.

Mills was a huge bench contributor on two NBA Finals-bound Spurs clubs in 2013 and 2014, winning it all in ’14. A deal for him would mark just the latest move clearly made with an eye towards expediting Houston’s timeline.

The Rockets, a team already loaded with recent lottery picks, have also inked experienced free agents Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Jock Landale during this free agency period. Houston also signed controversial former Celtics head coach Ime Udoka with an eye toward professionalizing its locker room identity.

2023 NBA Free Agency: Day 2 Recap

July 2nd, 2023 at 12:30am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s free agent market remained active on Saturday after a busy Friday, but the most significant headlines of the day involved players who were already under contract.

Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard made the day’s biggest news by submitting a long-awaited trade request to the team. Lillard is reportedly focused on landing with the Heat, but Portland will survey the market, and there are questions about whether Miami will the assets to get a deal done without involving a third team.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s two most lucrative contract agreements were extensions rather than free agents deals. The Hornets and guard LaMelo Ball reached an agreement on a five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension, while Kings center Domantas Sabonis agreed to a renegotiation and extension that will add four years and $195MM in new money to his deal.

Listed below are the rest of the highlights from around the NBA on Saturday.

Free agent agreements

Most of these deals aren’t yet official, so the reported terms could change — or agreements could fall through altogether. Generally speaking though, teams and players are on track to finalize these agreements sometime after the moratorium ends on July 6.

[RELATED: 2023 NBA Free Agent Tracker]

Note: Some of these salary figures may include options, incentives, or non-guaranteed money.

Dillon Brooks, Rockets agree to four-year, $80MM contract (sign-and-trade).
Max Strus, Cavaliers agree to four-year, $63MM contract (sign-and-trade).
Austin Reaves, Lakers agree to four-year, $53.8MM contract.
Donte DiVincenzo, Knicks agree to four-year, $50MM contract.
Brook Lopez, Bucks agree to two-year, $48MM contract.
D’Angelo Russell, Lakers agree to two-year, $37MM contract.
Jock Landale, Rockets agree to four-year, $32MM contract.
Moritz Wagner, Magic agree to two-year, $16MM contract.
Dwight Powell, Mavericks agree to three-year, $12MM contract.
Jalen McDaniels, Raptors agree to two-year, $9.3MM contract.
Russell Westbrook, Clippers agree to two-year, $7.9MM contract.
Jeff Green, Rockets agree to one-year, $6MM contract.
Ty Jerome, Cavaliers agree to two-year, $5MM contract.
Thomas Bryant, Heat agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
Jaxson Hayes, Lakers agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
Patrick Beverley, Sixers agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
Dante Exum, Mavericks agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
Alex Len, Kings agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
Sandro Mamukelashvili, Spurs agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
Jack White, Thunder agree to two-year contract.
Jae Crowder, Bucks agree to one-year contract.
Dennis Smith Jr., Nets agree to one-year contract.
Heat sign Orlando Robinson to minimum-salary contract.

Trades

Knicks agree to trade Obi Toppin to Pacers for two second-round picks.
Rockets agree to trade Kenyon Martin Jr. to Clippers for two second-round picks.
Rockets agree to trade Usman Garuba, TyTy Washington, two second-round picks, and cash to the Hawks for the draft rights to Alpha Kaba.
Spurs to acquire Cedi Osman, Lamar Stevens, and a second-round pick; Heat to acquire a second-round pick in the Max Strus sign-and-trade agreement with the Cavaliers.
Rockets to acquire Dillon Brooks in a sign-and-trade agreement that includes Josh Christopher going to the Grizzlies and Patty Mills going from the Nets to an unknown team. There will be more details to come on this one.
Jazz agree to trade Damian Jones to Cavaliers.

Other notable deals

Vasilije Micic, Thunder agree to three-year, $23.5MM contract.
Sasha Vezenkov, Kings agree to three-year, $20MM contract.
Several first-round picks signed their rookie scale contracts, including No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs.

Previously:

NBA 2023 Free Agency: Day 1 Recap

Latest On Damian Lillard

July 1st, 2023 at 8:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin will try to accommodate the trade request Damian Lillard made earlier today, but he will also operate in the best interests of his own team, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Rival front offices believe Cronin is looking for a “star-level” return and he’s willing to consider other teams besides Miami, which is Lillard’s preferred destination.

Cronin confirmed that sentiment in a statement he issued after the Lillard news was made public, saying, “We have been clear that we want Dame here, but he notified us today he wants out and he’d prefer to play someplace else. What has not changed for us is that we’re committed to winning, and we are going to do what’s best for the team in pursuit of that goal.” (Twitter link)

Tyler Herro, who has four years and $120MM left on his contract, is considered a vital part of any Heat deal for salary matching purposes. However, sources tell Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) that Cronin doesn’t view Herro as a good fit with his roster and would try to find a third team to take him if Lillard is traded to Miami. The Nets have been considered as a team that might take on Herro’s contract, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link).

There’s also a sense that the Blazers won’t rush into a deal and will take their time to make sure they get the best return for Lillard, tweets Mark Medina of Sportsnaut.

Many teams are interested in acquiring Lillard, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, who names the Sixers, Clippers and Jazz among them. Amick reiterates that a third team would likely have to get involved for a trade with Miami to work.

Amick also examines what led to Lillard’s trade request, saying he was ready to ask for a deal when he and his agent met with Cronin on Monday. Cronin was able to talk Lillard into waiting to see what the team was able to do in free agency, but when no major additions took place Friday night, Lillard called coach Chauncey Billups and decided it was time to move on.

Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer also has doubts that Lillard will end up in Miami, stating that the Heat’s potential best offer would be “one of the worst trades in NBA history.” He believes Miami would be willing to accept Jusuf Nurkic‘s contract along with Lillard, while sending back Herro, Kyle Lowry, Jaime Jaquez, Nikola Jovic, first-round picks in 2028 and 2030 and a pick swap in 2029. O’Connor points out that the deal wouldn’t give Portland a collection of valuable picks or young talent to build around.

O’Connor lists eight teams that he believes should be aggressively pursuing Lillard, starting with the Sixers. Philadelphia has indicated that it’s not willing to part with Tyrese Maxey, but if that changes, O’Connor views Maxey, two future first-rounders, a pick swap and expiring contracts as better than what Miami can offer. He points out that Sixers president Daryl Morey can pick up more trade assets by sending James Harden to the Clippers before addressing Lillard.

Lakers Sign D’Angelo Russell To Two-Year Deal

July 1st, 2023 at 6:48pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

July 7: Russell’s new contract is now official, the Lakers announced (Twitter link via Jovan Buha of The Athletic).

July 1: The Lakers and point guard D’Angelo Russell have reached an agreement on a two-year contract that will be worth $37MM, his agents at CAA Basketball tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. According to Wojnarowski, Russell will hold a player option for 2024/25 as part of the deal.

Los Angeles acquired the 6’4″ vet, whom the Lakers initially drafted with the second pick in 2015, from the Timberwolves this past February. The Russell acquisition headlined a flurry of tactical moves designed to improve the club’s positional balance and add more shooting around stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

The 27-year-old performed exceptionally well as a supplemental scorer and passer upon being installed as L.A.’s starting point guard. Across his 17 healthy regular season contests with Los Angeles, he averaged 17.4 PPG on .484/.414/.735 shooting splits, plus 6.1 APG and 2.9 RPG.

The playoffs were a different story. His jump shooting took a major dive, and opposing teams often targeted him on defense. Russell averaged 13.3 PPG on a .426/.310/.769 slash line, 4.6 APG, 2.9 RPG and 0.7 SPG in the playoffs.

Yesterday’s announced signing of ex-Heat point guard Gabe Vincent, a better defender who enjoyed a much better postseason, made Russell’s future in Los Angeles seem a bit more tenuous. Though Russell’s contract makes it seem like he will at least begin the season as the team’s starter, one wonders if that will be the case at the end of the season.

Rockets To Trade Kenyon Martin Jr. To Clippers

July 1st, 2023 at 6:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers have agreed to trade for Rockets forward Kenyon Martin Jr., according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), who reports that Houston will receive two second-round picks in the deal.

The two second-rounders will be the Clippers’ own 2026 pick and the Grizzlies’ 2027 pick, tweets Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times.

The Clippers have a $2,134,843 trade exception they can use to absorb Martin’s salary.

Martin spent three years in Houston after being acquired from the Kings, who selected him with the 52nd pick in the 2020 draft. He served as a valuable bench player for most of his time with the rebuilding Rockets, but became a full-time starter by the end of last season. He posted career highs with 12.7 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 56.9% from the field.

Martin is also an electrifying leaper who frequently posted highlight-worthy slams. He participated in this year’s Slam Dunk Contest, but didn’t get past the preliminary round.

The 22-year-old forward will get his first experience on a contender in L.A. He’ll provide additional depth behind Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, who both have a long history of battling injuries.

On Thursday, the Rockets picked up Martin’s $1.93MM option for 2023/24, so he’s set to be unrestricted free agent next summer. He will become eligible to sign a four-year extension worth up to $75MM six months after the trade is finalized.

ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk points out that Clippers president Lawrence Frank has a connection to Martin after being his father’s coach with the Nets (Twitter link).

Russell Westbrook Re-Signs With Clippers

July 1st, 2023 at 5:41pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 6: Westbrook’s new deal with the Clippers is official, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

JULY 1: Russell Westbrook will re-sign with the Clippers for nearly $8MM over two years, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Westbrook will receive a player option for the second season, Wojnarowski adds.

L.A. will use the Non-Bird exception for Westbrook, who joined the team in February after being traded to the Jazz and negotiating a buyout. The Clippers are limited to a 20% raise for Westbrook over the veteran’s minimum contract he played under last season.

He will receive $3,835,738 for the 2023/24 season and $4,027,525 for the following year if he exercises the option. The deal gives Westbrook a chance to opt out and test the market again next summer as an unrestricted free agent.

Westbrook struggled through the season and a half he spent with the Lakers, but he was able to revive his reputation somewhat with the cross-town Clippers. He became a full-time starter again after the move and averaged 15.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 7.6 assists in 21 games while helping the team avoid falling into the play-in tournament.

The Clippers were “eager” to keep Westbrook after his late-season performance, Wojnarowski adds.

The former MVP and nine-time All-Star is considered a shoo-in Hall of Famer, but his standing around the league has fallen in recent years due to his declining shooting percentage, his penchant for turnovers and the number of times he has changed teams. After spending the first 11 seasons of his career in Oklahoma City, the Clippers marked Westbrook’s fifth team in six years.

He also became a scapegoat for an underachieving Lakers team, and trade rumors started circulating shortly after he was acquired in a 2021 deal. The Lakers had to part with a future first-round pick to send him to Utah, but before that happened, he experienced a coaching change and was made a full-time bench player for the first time in his career.

Clippers management was originally cool on the idea of adding Westbrook in February, but they relented after lobbying from Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.

L.A. was considered to be among the front-runners to land Chris Paul after the Suns traded him to Washington last month, but the Warriors snagged Paul by agreeing to part with Jordan Poole. The Clippers indicated that they would have considered re-signing Westbrook even if they had traded for Paul.