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Trade/FA Rumors: Markkanen, Westbrook, DeRozan, Achiuwa, Trent

July 1st, 2024 at 3:44pm CST by Rory Maher

Appearing on SportsCenter, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed a report from his ESPN colleague Brian Windhorst stating that the Warriors are among the teams with interest in trading for Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (YouTube link).

“Utah is not sure it wants to trade (Markkanen), but they have to listen; they’ve been listening,” Wojnarowski said. “And a lot of the teams that missed out on Mikal Bridges from Brooklyn have transferred over to try and see if they can land Lauri Markkanen from Utah. Golden State is one of those teams.”

Here are a few more trade and free agency rumors from around the NBA:

According to Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports (Twitter link), three-time MVP Nikola Jokic has “pushed behind the scenes” for the Nuggets to trade for Clippers guard Russell Westbrook, himself a former NBA MVP. Wind hears Jokic has wanted to play with Westbrook for multiple seasons. Joey Linn of Sports Illustrated confirms (via Twitter) Wind’s reporting, adding that DeAndre Jordan has been supportive of the idea of adding Westbrook as well. According to Linn, the Clips are exploring “several” trade possibilities for Westbrook, and even if he isn’t traded to Denver directly, it’s possible he might eventually land with the Nuggets.
The Bulls and DeMar DeRozan appear destined to part ways, with a source telling Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times that the six-time All-Star will be landing elsewhere. According to Cowley, DeRozan made up his mind to leave once Chicago traded Alex Caruso to Oklahoma City for Josh Giddey. The Bulls have been targeting younger players in free agency, re-signing restricted free agent Patrick Williams and agreeing to a three-year deal with big man Jalen Smith.
While the Knicks chose not to tender a qualifying offer to forward/center Precious Achiuwa, they are still open to a potential reunion with the 24-year-old, a source tells Fred Katz of The Athletic. Ian Begley of SNY.tv hears (via Twitter) interest in a reunion is mutual, but the young big man is also drawing interest from “several” contenders, so he could have multiple options to choose from.
There hasn’t been much news related to Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr., a 25-year-old unrestricted free agent who earned $18.6MM last season. As Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes, GM Bobby Webster said before free agency opened that a return to Toronto was still possible, assuming the terms were agreeable for both sides. “You want to be strategic about what’s tradable, what’s not tradable,” Webster said of Trent. “We have some big contracts coming up in the future, so it’ll just have to be something that makes sense for everyone.”

Bucks Sign Stanley Umude To Two-Way Contract

July 1st, 2024 at 2:58pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 9: Umude has officially signed with the Bucks, according to the NBA’s transaction log.

JULY 1: The Bucks are signing free agent wing Stanley Umude to a two-way contract, confirms Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Will Whitson of The Walk Pod first reported (via Twitter) that Umude was heading to Milwaukee.

A former Arkansas Razorback, Umude went undrafted in 2022 and spent the majority of his first pro season in the NBA G League with the Motor City Cruise, Detroit’s affiliate. He appeared in one game with the Pistons as a rookie in 2022/23 while on a 10-day contract.

Umude returned to the Pistons on an Exhibit 10 training camp deal last summer, receiving a promotion to a two-way contract just before the ’23/24 season opened. The 25-year-old played well in his limited minutes, averaging 5.2 points and 2.1 rebounds while shooting 45.3% in 24 games (12.8 minutes), earning another promotion to a two-year standard contract in February.

Umude sustained a fractured ankle in March, ending his ’23/24 season a few weeks early. The Pistons declined their minimum-salary team option on Umude a couple days ago, making him an unrestricted free agent.

While Umude has good size for a guard/forward and is known for playing hard, he has struggled with scoring efficiency with the Cruise over the past two seasons, seemingly making his (small sample size) NBA three-point percentage more of an aberration. Still, two-way contracts don’t count against the salary cap and Milwaukee needs help on the wing, so it’s a low-risk signing.

Rockets Re-Sign Aaron Holiday

July 1st, 2024 at 2:33pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: The Rockets have officially re-signed Holiday, per the NBA’s transaction log.

JULY 1: The Rockets and veteran guard Aaron Holiday have struck a new deal, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Holiday is signing a two-year, $10MM contract to remain in Houston. The second year will be a team option, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).

The younger brother of fellow NBAers Jrue Holiday and Justin Holiday, Aaron played a regular rotation role off the bench in Houston last season, averaging 6.6 points, 1.8 assists, and 1.6 rebounds in 16.3 minutes per game across 78 appearances. He posted a solid shooting line of .446/.387/.921.

After spending his first three NBA seasons in Indiana, Holiday has bounced around the league in recent years, spending time in Washington, Phoenix, and Atlanta in addition to Houston. This will be the first time since his Pacers days that the 27-year-old will return to a team for a second season.

Because he signed as a free agent with the Rockets last season, Holiday only has Non-Bird rights this summer, meaning the team can’t give him a deal worth more than 20% above the veteran’s minimum without using a different exception. As a result, Houston has to dip into either its mid-level exception or bi-annual exception to complete the signing.

Using the non-taxpayer MLE to sign Holiday to a starting salary worth a little less than $5MM would leave the Rockets with about $8MM of that exception left over. Using the bi-annual exception would result in a maximum two-year total of about $9.57MM for Holiday and would leave the MLE untouched. Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link) hears the club plans to take the latter route, using the BAE to bring back the reserve guard.

Warriors Sign De’Anthony Melton To One-Year Contract

July 1st, 2024 at 2:04pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 8: Melton has officially signed his contract with the Warriors, the club confirmed today in a press release (Twitter link).

JULY 1: The Warriors are signing free agent guard De’Anthony Melton to a one-year, $12.8MM contract, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link).

As cap expert Yossi Gozlan observes (via Twitter), Golden State can complete the deal by using either the non-taxpayer mid-level exception or via sign-and-trade. Either scenario will hard-cap the Warriors at the first apron, which is set at $178.1MM in 2024/25.

$12,822,000 is the full value of the non-taxpayer MLE for next season.

According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Warriors have long been fans of Melton and believed he wasn’t optimally utilized when they faced Memphis in the playoffs a couple years ago.

A 6’2″ combo guard with a 6’8″ wingspan, Melton earned $8MM last season in the final campaign of a four-year, $35MM contract that declined over time. He’ll earn a raise next season with Golden State and an opportunity to boost his value ahead of 2025 free agency if he performs well with the Warriors.

Melton has been a valuable role player over the past four seasons, averaging 10.3 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 2.7 APG and 1.5 SPG while shooting 38.3% from three-point range in 240 regular season games over that span (24.5 MPG). The primary reason the 26-year-old only received a one-year deal is he was limited to just 38 games last season with the Sixers due to a back injury, making the signing somewhat risky for Golden State.

Still, if Melton is healthy, he could provide an infusion of youth, defense and athleticism to the Warriors. And his salary is large enough that even though they’ll only have his non-Bird rights a year from now, they could still make him a competitive offer in 2025 free agency, assuming things go well for both sides.

The 46th pick of the 2018 draft, Melton has played for Phoenix, Memphis and Philadelphia over the course of his six NBA seasons.

Clippers Sign Nicolas Batum To Two-Year Deal

July 1st, 2024 at 1:42pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 9: Batum’s new deal with the Clippers has been finalized, per the NBA’s official transaction log. In case you missed it, the veteran forward said he received interest from 17 teams as a free agent.

JULY 1: Free agent forward Nicolas Batum is returning to Los Angeles, having agreed to a two-year, $9.6MM contract with the Clippers, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Veteran reporter Marc Stein first reported (via Twitter) that the Clips were a “strong contender” to land the 35-year-old, who also drew interest from the Spurs and Warriors, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links).

Based on the reported terms, it seems very likely that L.A. will use the bi-annual exception to sign Batum. If that’s the case, the exact value of the two-year pact will be $9,569,400.

Batum has long been a highly versatile player who can fulfill multiple roles on both ends of the court. He has a great feel for the game and is a very smart ball-mover and passer, on top of being a strong three-point shooter — he has converted 39.8% of his long-distance looks over the past four seasons.

After an ill-fated yet highly lucrative stint with Charlotte from 2015-20, Batum had a career renaissance with the Clippers from ’20-23. He spent most of last season with Philadelphia, however, after he was traded to the Sixers in the James Harden deal. Kelly Iko of The Athletic reported yesterday that Batum would not be returning to Philly.

The 25th pick of the 2008 draft, Batum spent his first seven NBA seasons in Portland. The 16-year veteran will be playing for his native France in the Paris Olympics later this month.

Celtics’ Ownership Group To Put Team Up For Sale

July 1st, 2024 at 12:37pm CST by Rory Maher

12:37pm: The Celtics confirmed in a press release that the majority ownership group plans to sell of its shares in the team (Twitter link via Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston).

“The controlling family of the ownership group, after considerable thought and internal discussion, has decided to sell the team for estate and family planning considerations. The managing board of the ownership group expects to sell a majority interest in 2024 or early 2025, with the balance closing in 2028, and expects Wyc Grousbeck to remain as the Governor of the team until the second closing in 2028.”

12:13pm: On the heels of their record-setting 18th NBA championship, the Celtics will be hitting the market, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Sources tell Wojnarowski that the team’s majority ownership group, led by Wyc Grousbeck, intends to make the franchise available for sale.

Grousbeck has been the team’s Governor since his Boston Basketball Partners group purchased the Celtics for $360MM back in 2002. Boston has won two NBA titles under his stewardship, in 2008 and just a few weeks ago.

A source tells Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe that while Grousbeck is selling his stake in the Celtics, other minority shareholders are expected to remain invested in the team (Twitter link).

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, the Celtics could be the most expensive team in NBA history in 2025/26, when a potential super-max extension for Jayson Tatum kicks in. Grousbeck will be looking to sell his stake just as severe roster-building restrictions are implemented in the new CBA.

As of December, Sportico had the Celtics ranked as the fourth-most valuable franchise in the NBA, with a valuation of $5.12 billion. That figure seems likely to have risen in the past eight months, given the team’s on-court success.

Grousbeck, 63, is a Massachusetts native who has built his wealth through various investments over the past few decades. His father, Irving, is a billionaire who co-founded Continental Cablevision.

Bucks Sign Delon Wright To One-Year Deal

July 1st, 2024 at 11:28am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 7: Wright has officially signed with the Bucks, according to the NBA’s transaction log.

JULY 1: The Bucks and free agent guard Delon Wright have agreed to a one-year contract, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Wojnarowski pegs the value of the deal at $3.3MM. As a second-apron team, Milwaukee has no access to the mid-level or bi-annual exception and can only offer veteran-minimum contracts to outside free agents. Since Wright has nine years of NBA experience, his contract figures to actually be right around $3MM, as our breakdown of this year’s minimum salaries shows.

Wright, 32, has played for eight teams across his nine NBA seasons, including the Wizards and Heat in 2023/24. He averaged 4.5 points, 2.5 assists, and 1.8 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game across 47 total appearances for the two clubs last season, then took on an increased role in the postseason for Miami, averaging 8.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 26.8 MPG while making 6-of-10 three-pointers.

While Wright is a solid ball-handler and will make the occasional outside shot (.354 career 3PT% on 1.9 attempts per game), his value stems more from his play on the other side of the ball. His size and length are above average for a guard, and he’s comfortable switching and defending multiple positions.

While there’s no confirmation yet that Patrick Beverley won’t be back with the Bucks, Wright could end up playing a similar role to the one Beverley did, providing the team with a defensive-minded backup for Damian Lillard at the point.

FA/Trade Rumors: Lakers, Klay, Mavs, DeRozan, Markkanen, Bey, Bullock

July 1st, 2024 at 11:05am CST by Luke Adams

LeBron James and agent Rich Paul talked to the Lakers last week and conveyed that the star forward would be willing to accept a pay cut in 2024/25 in the event that the team was able to land one of the players on a “short list” of free agent targets, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst confirmed on Monday’s Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link).

Previous reporting identified three of those possible Lakers targets as James Harden, Klay Thompson, and Jonas Valanciunas. Of the three, only Thompson is still on the board after Harden reached a deal to re-sign with the Clippers and Valanciunas agreed to terms with the Wizards, and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on SportsCenter on Sunday night (YouTube link) that James called Thompson right when free agency opened.

The Mavericks continue to be considered a strong contender for Thompson, but would have to negotiate a sign-and-trade agreement with the Warriors in order to acquire him into the $16MM+ trade exception they’re creating in the Tim Hardaway Jr. deal. According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter video link), a third team may be needed in that scenario to take on an outgoing player from Dallas. While Begley doesn’t mention any specific names, that outgoing Mavs player would almost certainly be either Josh Green or Maxi Kleber.

Even if Thompson ends up in Dallas, the Lakers may still have other names on that “short list” of targets that the team discussed with James, per Windhorst.

“I think there’s more than three,” Windhorst said on the Hoop Collective podcast. “I think DeMar DeRozan is on that list as well, and there may be another one or so.”

Here are a few more trade and free agency rumors from around the NBA:

During that same episode of the Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link), Windhorst suggested that teams who have talked to the Jazz believe Lauri Markkanen could be had for the right price. According to Windhorst, the Warriors are “definitely investigating” Markkanen and the Spurs may also be among the teams with interest. “The teams who are negotiating with the Jazz do think there’s a good chance they’re going to move him,” Windhorst said (hat tip to RealGM). “Sometimes, (Jazz CEO) Danny Ainge will act like he’s going to do a trade and then there’s no trade. Maybe that will happen again here. But the teams negotiating think (he’s available).”
Despite not tendering him a qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent, the Hawks remain in discussions with forward Saddiq Bey, according to Brad Rowland of Locked on Hawks and Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter links). Bey will likely miss most or all of next season due to a torn ACL, so if Atlanta wants to keep him, it makes more sense to discuss a longer-term deal without the risk that the 25-year-old will accept his one-year, $8.5MM QO.
Free agent wing Reggie Bullock has met with the Suns, Nuggets, Clippers, and Sixers so far in free agency, according to Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link), who says the veteran swingman is expected to talk to more teams in the coming days. Bullock’s market figures to be for the vet minimum.

Blazers Re-Sign Justin Minaya To Two-Way Contract

July 1st, 2024 at 9:49am CST by Luke Adams

Justin Minaya, who spent last season in Portland on a two-way contract, is returning to the Trail Blazers on a new two-way deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal is official, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

Minaya, 25, appeared in 34 games for the Blazers last season, but played a very limited role. He averaged 1.8 points and 1.6 rebounds in 11.2 minutes per contest, shooting just 29.7% from the field and 24.5% from beyond the three-point line.

The 6’5″ forward, known more as a defender than a scorer, was more effective in the G League for the Rip City Remix, appearing in 20 Showcase Cup and regular season games and averaging 13.7 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 4.0 APG, and 1.5 SPG with a .438/.336/.606 shooting line.

The Blazers didn’t issue Minaya a qualifying offer prior to Saturday’s deadline, but evidently still want him in the organization going forward. He’ll fill one of Portland’s three two-way slots, and Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Twitter link) says he wouldn’t be surprised if big man Ibou Badji ends up filling one of the other two-way openings.

Tobias Harris Signs Two-Year Deal With Pistons

July 1st, 2024 at 9:21am CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 8: Harris has officially signed his contract with the Pistons, per the NBA’s transaction log.

JULY 1: The Pistons have reached a two-year, $52MM agreement with free agent forward Tobias Harris, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). There are no options on either side, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Harris, 31, ranked 16th on our list of the top 50 free agents this summer. He can play either forward spot and will bring much-needed shooting to Detroit, along with a veteran presence for a young locker room.

Harris was a reliable scorer and valuable all-around player during his five-plus years in Philadelphia. He averaged 17.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists this season with a shooting line of .487/.353/.878.

The move marks a return to Detroit for Harris, who played for the Pistons from February of 2016 to January of 2018. He was well-traveled before landing with the Sixers, being drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats in 2011 and spending time with four other franchises in his first eight years in the league.

This is the first signing for a Detroit team that headed into free agency with more than $58MM in cap room, and it’s the first major roster addition under new head of basketball operations Trajan Langdon.

The Pistons project to have roughly $26.5MM remaining, estimates Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype (via Twitter), factoring in a cap hold for Simone Fontecchio. They hold Early Bird rights on the 28-year-old small forward and can offer him a new deal worth up to $58MM over four years.

Langdon appeared on the verge of making another significant move on Sunday night, as the Pistons reportedly neared a max extension with Cade Cunningham, the top pick in the 2021 draft.