- Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman writes that although Paul George did in fact want to be a Laker at this time last year, he is now happy in Oklahoma City after signing a four-year, $137MM max contract with the Thunder on the eve of free agency.
- While it’s probably a bit bold to get too excited about the free agent signing of a backup, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman writes that the addition of 24 year-old center Nerlens Noel on a minimum-salary deal is a low-risk, high-reward move by the Thunder.
12:31pm: Appearing on 92.9 ESPN in Memphis, Evans’ brother said the free agent guard is also meeting with the Warriors and Hornets today, and has yet to be contacted by the Grizzlies (Twitter links via John Martin of 92.9 ESPN).
Evans’ brother said that “if the Grizzlies asked us for a last-minute meeting, we would take it,” but it sounds like the decision could come down to the Thunder, Lakers, Warriors, and Hornets, tweets Martin.
11:36am: Free agent guard Tyreke Evans met with the Thunder on Sunday in Los Angeles and will have a meeting with the Lakers on Monday, reports ESPN’s Chris Haynes (via Twitter).
While it’s not clear yet whether Oklahoma City or Los Angeles are serious suitors for Evans, either team would be a fascinating on-court fit. The Thunder and Lakers have been two of the most active clubs so far in free agency, with OKC having reached agreements with Paul George and Jerami Grant, while L.A. secured commitments from LeBron James, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Lance Stephenson, and JaVale McGee.
Given their activity so far, neither the Thunder nor Lakers could make Evans a lucrative offer as things currently stand. The Thunder project to be well into luxury-tax territory, so they’d have the $5.337MM mid-level exception available if they’re willing to use it — doing so would cost exponentially more in tax penalties.
As for the Lakers, we discussed their cap situation in depth earlier today. For now, they’d only be able to offer Evans a minimum-salary deal, but they could open up more cap room by renouncing Julius Randle or by waiving and stretching Luol Deng.
In addition to the Lakers and Thunder, the Pelicans have been linked to Evans, and the Grizzlies are also believed to have interest in re-signing the unrestricted free agent, who averaged an impressive 19.4 PPG, 5.2 APG, and 5.1 RPG in an injury-shortened 2017/18 campaign.
Before he agreed to a two-year, $16MM deal with the Nets, free agent sharpshooter Joe Harris fielded competitive offers from rival suitors. However, he tells Michael Scotto of The Athletic that his priority was remaining in Brooklyn.
“I had some offers for longer-term deals, but ultimately from the get-go, I had basically said that I wanted to stay in Brooklyn and however we could come to an agreement on that,” Harris said.
Meanwhile, the Nets’ other noteworthy July 1 move involved reaching a contract agreement with Ed Davis, who will ink a one-year, $4.4MM contract with the club. According to Scotto, Davis received interest from the Warriors, Sixers, Thunder, and Trail Blazers before striking a deal with the Nets.
Here are a few more notes on the NBA’s two New York teams:
- The Nets are not actively shopping anyone on their roster in trade talks, a league source tells Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). That includes Jeremy Lin, who has a $12.5MM expiring contract in 2018/19 and will be part of a point guard rotation that also includes Spencer Dinwiddie and D’Angelo Russell.
- Within his report on Mario Hezonja‘s agreement with the Knicks, Marc Berman of The New York Post notes that the forward chose New York over seven other teams, including the runner-up Trail Blazers. “The main reason is David Fizdale. He sold him,” a source told Berman. “The goal is to be here long term and finish his career. He was a fan of the team growing up.” Hezonja’s deal significantly reduces the odds of Michael Beasley returning to the Knicks, Berman adds.
- Nets restricted free agent Milton Doyle has drawn interest from the Timberwolves and an Eastern Conference team, among others, reports Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). A two-way player last year, Doyle could sign an offer sheet with another club, but Brooklyn would have the chance to match it.
LeBron James‘ 2018 free agency was always a two-horse race between the Lakers and Cavaliers, Brian Windhorst of ESPN said on SportsCenter, noting that the meeting with the Sixers earlier today was a mere courtesy.
The decision to move to Los Angeles had been in the back of James’ mind for a while now, leaving the Lakers in the driver’s seat for the past three weeks with little left to do but not blow it.
In the television interview, Windhorst spoke of the exodus of the King’s staffers, who relocated from Miami to the west coast during James’ second stint with the Cavaliers, and the fact that his wife has been looking at Los Angeles schools for the past year.
With James already in hand, Magic Johnson simply had to close the deal and, as ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne adds, was actually at James’ residence when free agency officially began.
There’s more out of Los Angeles tonight:
- One name to keep an eye on as a potential Lakers addition is free agent big man Chris Bosh, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. Bosh played alongside James for four years in Miami but has been out of the game since February, 2016 after being diagnosed with life-threatening blood clots. A comeback would require some additional paperwork but a successful return would not impact the Heat’s payroll.
- There’s a chance that Brook Lopez ends up back in Los Angeles now that much of the team’s available cap space has been tied up in James and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Keith Smith of RealGM tweets. Lopez was under contract for $22MM with the Lakers in 2017/18 and averaged 13.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
- The Lakers are one of three teams that Nerlens Noel has narrowed his free agency decision down to, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets. Noel is represented by Rich Paul, the same agent that represents James and Caldwell-Pope. The Wizards and Thunder are the other two teams on Noel’s short list.
The Thunder and Paul George agreed to a four-year deal worth $137MM at the start of free agency and according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com (Twitter link), the team will have the option to offer George an even bigger raise in two years.
Under the new CBA, the team can offer George an extension after the second anniversary of the deal, meaning PG13 can sign a four-year max deal in 2020 that locks him in for seven seasons. The total value of the potential seven-year pact would come in at an estimated $290MM based off of future salary cap projections.
The team’s ability to re-sign George was shocking to some, as many expected the 5-time All-Star to leave OKC for Los Angeles, a city he’s been linked to for quite some time. It’s possible that the team’s ability to offer the max extension at the halfway point of the four-year contract was part of George’s motivation to stick around, though that’s merely my speculation.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Rockets will meet with Michael Carter-Williams, league sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link). While Houston appears to be looking into ancillary parts for its team, the franchise hasn’t given up hope on pursuing LeBron James.
- The Jazz and Pelicans have both expressed interest in Trevor Booker, Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype reports (Twitter link). The Wolves, Rockets, Knicks, and Spurs also have an eye on the big man.
- The Bulls have interest in Jabari Parker, Kennedy tweets. Chicago is one of several teams expected to pursue the former No. 2 overall pick.
- The Wolves are looking to sign Dante Cunningham, sources tell Chris Haynes of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Minnesota has eyes for a bevy of veteran free agents to fill it’s five open roster spots.
Plenty of teams will have interest in Lance Stephenson once the higher-profile free agents are signed, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. The Pacers remain open to bringing back the 27-year-old swingman after declining their team option on him this week. Wolfson lists the Timberwolves, Knicks, Sixers and Lakers as other interested teams, but says there are more.
Stephenson appeared in all 82 games for Indiana this season, averaging 9.2 points per night. He would have made $4.36MM in 2018/19 if the Pacers had picked up his option.
There’s more free agent news to pass along:
- Timberwolves coach/executive Tom Thibodeau has talked to Pistons free agent Anthony Tolliver, according to Wolfson (Twitter link). Tolliver shot 44% from 3-point range this season, and Minnesota sees him as a possible replacement for Jamal Crawford. The Wolves also like his locker room presence, which could be valuable if Cole Aldrich doesn’t come back.
- JaVale McGee has said he wants to return to the Warriors, but he is also getting interest from the Lakers, Pelicans and Thunder, tweets TNT’s David Aldridge. Because of luxury tax concerns, Golden State is unlikely to offer more than a veteran’s minimum contract, while the other teams have more financial flexibility. McGee averaged 4.8 PPG and 2.6RPG this season, but his numbers rose after he became a starter after the All-Star break. This is the third straight summer of free agency for McGee, who has spent the past two seasons with the Warriors.
- The new contract for Luke Kornet is a sign that Kyle O’Quinn won’t return to the Knicks, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. He adds that the Sixers are showing “heavy interest” in O’Quinn, who spent the past three years in New York as a backup center.
- The Knicks are hoping to re-sign Isaiah Hicks, who was on a two-way contract this season, tweets ESPN’s Ian Begley. New York gave him a qualifying offer last week, making him a free agent and giving the team the right to match any offer. Hicks appeared in 18 NBA games, averaging 4.4 points per night.
- A scheduled meeting between Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and the Clippers has been moved from today to Monday, tweets Chris Haynes of ESPN.
JULY 7: The signing is official per a news release from the team.
JUNE 30: After reaching an agreement to retain Paul George, the Thunder aren’t done. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Oklahoma City has reached an agreement with forward Jerami Grant on a three-year contract worth $27MM. Grant will have a player option on the third season, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link).
Thunder officials had feared that Grant would get a better offer elsewhere, notes Alex Kennedy of Hoops Hype (Twitter link). However, Oklahoma City was able to keep him in the mix even after committing a four-year max deal to George.
The 24-year-old forward just completed his second straight productive season in OKC, averaging 8.4 points and 3.9 rebounds as a valuable member of the Thunder’s reserve squad. He was particularly solid in the postseason — in the first round against the Jazz, the Thunder had a +8.9 net rating when Grant was on the court, and a -17.1 net rating when he sat.
Oklahoma City had a memorable night on the free agent front, but also an expensive one. Grant’s new contract, plus the four-year, $137MM deal for George, represents a lot of new money for a team that already had luxury tax concerns.
It could be a sign that management intends to either pursue a buyout with Carmelo Anthony or waive him and use the stretch provision on his $27.9MM salary. Alex Abrines, Patrick Patterson, and Kyle Singler are other candidates to be traded or waived to cut costs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
According to Marc Stein of The New York Times, there’s growing reason to believe that the Thunder may have a verbal agreement with Paul George considering that the soon-to-be free agent is currently partying with Russell Westbrook and members of the club’s front office at an Oklahoma City house party.
With less than two hours until teams and players can formally negotiate, Stein tweets that the Thunder will have fooled many if the two parties don’t come to an agreement on a two- or three-year max deal quickly.
It was Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports who first reported that members of the team’s front office were in attendance at the shindig but ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has since tweeted that Thunder general manager Sam Presti had specifically wanted to hold the team’s meeting with the free agent in Oklahoma City as part of it’s year-long recruiting effort to retain him.
As Royce Young of ESPN writes in a feature on the party, Westbrook is hosting the 500-person get-together that has been branded as a “summer hype house party”.
According to Young, Westbrook flew eight hours from Hawaii, where he was vacationing with his family, in order to host the event.
The NBA has set the salary cap for the 2018/19 league year, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, who reports (via Twitter) that the cap will be $101,869,000. The luxury tax threshold will be $123,733,000, Charania adds. Meanwhile, the minimum salary floor will be $91,682,000, according to the NBA.
The finalized cap figure comes in just slightly higher than what we expected. For virtually the entire 2017/18 league year, the NBA had projected that the cap for next season would be $101MM, with a luxury tax line of $123MM. The official figures are slightly higher than that, which is good news for teams looking to maximize their cap room, as well as clubs headed for tax territory.
As we detailed earlier this week, many other cap figures, including minimum and maximum salaries and several exceptions, are tied to the percentage of the salary cap increase. Here are some in-depth details on those numbers:
- Maximum salaries for 2018/19
- Minimum salaries for 2018/19
- Values of 2018/19 mid-level, room, bi-annual exceptions
Here are a few more key cap-related figures:
- Estimated average salary for 2018/19: $8,838,000 (Twitter link via Larry Coon)
- Maximum starting salary for certain veteran extensions: $10,605,600 (Twitter link via Jeff Siegel)
- Maximum cash a team can send, receive in trades in 2018/19: $5,243,000 (Twitter link via Coon)
- Tax apron: $129,817,000 (Twitter link via Coon)
Meanwhile, the NBA has also issued updated cap projections for the next two seasons, per Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Those projections are as follows:
- 2019/20: $109MM cap, $132MM tax line
- 2020/21: $116MM cap, $141MM tax line
According to cap expert Larry Coon (Twitter link), the Cavaliers ($50.7MM), Warriors ($32.3MM), Thunder ($25.4MM), and Wizards ($7MM) finished the 2017/18 season as taxpayers, while the Bulls ($3.4MM) and Mavericks ($3.3MM) were charged for finishing below the salary floor.
- The Thunder recently held a free-agent workout that included centers Willie Reed and Jeff Withey, according to Alex Kennedy of Hoops Hype. Reed played 39 games with the Clippers before he was thrown into the Blake Griffin blockbuster with the Pistons. He was traded to the Bulls shortly thereafter and then waived. Withey played nine games with the Mavericks last season. The cap-strapped Thunder will be seeking low-cost alternatives to fill out their bench.