Happy Fourth of July to all of our American readers!
With a moment to step back and breathe after a busy first few days of free agency, Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today to field questions about the NBA’s complex new Collective Bargaining Agreement that has loomed over the 2024 offseason and made it more challenging for clubs to complete major moves.
This chat was focused exclusively on questions related to the salary cap and CBA.
The Celtics have one remaining roster spot after agreeing to re-sign Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman. The team has interest in bringing back wing Oshae Brissett, who declined his $2.5MM player option. However, Brissett is still seeking out another team that can offer more playing time, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe reports.
The Celtics still have the option to bring back Brissett on a veteran’s minimum deal or with Non-Bird rights.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
Klay Thompson‘s departure to Dallas broke up Golden State’s longtime big three. It almost happened last summer, according to Draymond Green. In an episode of his podcast (Twitter video link), Green revealed that he briefly thought he would be joining the Grizzlies as a free agent in 2023.
“I called Klay, and I called Steph (Curry), separate calls, and Steve (Kerr) and I was just telling them like ‘Yo, I’m leaving. I’m going to Memphis,’” he said.
Green wound up re-signing with the Warriors on a four-year, $100MM contract.
We have more from the Southwest Division:
The Raptors have agreed to a three-year, $6.11MM contract with forward Jonathan Mogbo, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports (Twitter link).
It’s the maximum amount allowed under the current CBA’s second-round exception, as our breakdown shows. Mogbo will earn about $1.86MM as a rookie, which is equivalent to this year’s minimum salary for a player who already has one year of NBA experience. The third year will be a team option.
Mogbo played last season with San Francisco, averaging 14.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.8 blocks. With the draft split into two rounds last month, Mogbo was the first pick of the second round.
Toronto resisted offers for the pick because they liked Mogbo’s versatility. He’s also a childhood friend of franchise player Scottie Barnes.
Under the previous CBA, over-the-cap teams would have needed to use a chunk of their mid-level exception to give a second-round pick like Mogbo a third year, as we outline in our glossary entry on the second-round pick exception.
A report earlier this week indicated that the Warriors and Spurs are considered the most serious trade suitors for Lauri Markkanen, but they’re not the only teams in the running for the Jazz forward, as Tony Jones of The Athletic confirmed on Wednesday during an appearance on Sactown Sports 1140 (Twitter video link).
“Sacramento is very interested. Sacramento has what the Kings think is a strong offer on the board,” Jones said (hat tip to Bleacher Report). “But at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is what the Jazz think. Utah’s stance on Lauri is the same and it has been the same for a long time: We don’t want to trade Lauri, so you’re going to have to make us trade him.”
In the latest episode of the No Cap Room podcast, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (YouTube link) also mentioned the Kings as a legitimate suitor for Markkanen.
“The Sacramento Kings, to my knowledge, earlier this week were close to a deal. I do think that, based off of conversations I’ve had,” Fischer said. “I can’t say more than that, but there were calls made to people around the NBA that would have indicated that talks have been legitimate there.”
Utah pursued Mikal Bridges before Brooklyn agreed to send him to New York and envisioned adding more impact talent in free agency if they were able to land the Nets’ standout three-and-D forward and pair him with Markkanen, according to Jones. But with Bridges off the board and no obvious opportunities left to upgrade the roster in the short term, Jones wouldn’t be surprised if Utah pivots to trying to keep its top-10 protected pick in a strong 2025 draft.
Still, that wouldn’t necessarily mean trading Markkanen. As Jones points out, even with the former All-Star on the roster, the Jazz project to be among the worst teams in a competitive Western Conference, so they could extend him while continuing to add and develop young talent around him.
Rival teams, recognizing that the Jazz could benefit long-term from leaning even further into their rebuild, are pursuing Markkanen in the hopes of convincing Utah to make a deal, but the price will be high. A previous report suggested the return would probably have to be similar in value to what Brooklyn got for Bridges (four unprotected first-round picks, an unprotected pick swap, and one more lightly protected first-rounder, with only expiring salary attached).
The Warriors and Kings aren’t in position to offer that many draft picks, but they have young players who could be included to strengthen their bids (though Sacramento reportedly remains resistant to including former No. 4 overall pick Keegan Murray in any deal).
“There’s been a lot of noise the last few days and that’s because teams have ramped up,” Jones said. “They’ve actually put tangible offers on the table. Sacramento has a tangible offer on the table; the Golden State Warriors have a tangible offer on the table. The San Antonio Spurs, they’ve expressed a lot of interest.
“To my knowledge, 20 teams around the league have called one way or another about Lauri in the offseason for the Jazz. Interest obviously is there, obviously the noise is there. It’s just a matter of does it meet Utah’s threshold? And it’s going to be a very, very high threshold to have to meet to get the Jazz to trade him.”
Fischer agreed that actually prying Markkanen out of Utah will be difficult.
“I’ve still been told that Utah prefers to keep Lauri and renegotiate and extend him,” he said. “They can’t do that though until August 6, so why not spend the next month fielding offers, and telling the Kings, ‘Yeah, we’d do it if you give us Keegan Murray,’ and telling the Warriors, ‘Yeah, give us three picks and Podz (Brandin Podziemski) and whatever.’ … It doesn’t hurt to listen.
“I still don’t think he’s going to get traded. As someone told me (Jazz general manager) Justin Zanik told them, Utah is conducting their business with a 10% chance they’re going to move him.”
After spending the past two seasons as a Lakers assistant, Jordan Ott has agreed to join Kenny Atkinson‘s coaching staff with the Cavaliers, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Ott, who previously worked under Atkinson in Brooklyn, interviewed for Charlotte’s head coaching position this spring. According to Wojnarowski, Ott was a finalist in that process before the Hornets ultimately chose Charles Lee.
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype first reported that Ott was expected to land in Cleveland as an assistant if the Cavs decided to hire Atkinson.
Here are a few more notes from around the Eastern Conference:
JULY 6: Sanogo has officially signed his two-way contract with the Bulls, per a team press release.
JULY 3: After spending the 2023/24 season on a two-way contract with the Bulls, forward/center Adama Sanogo has agreed to return to Chicago on a new two-way deal, reports Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report (Twitter link).
Sanogo, who won a national championship with UConn in 2023, declared for the draft as an early entrant that spring. While he wasn’t selected on draft night, he quickly caught on with the Bulls, signing a two-way contract last July.
Sanogo appeared in just nine games at the NBA level as a rookie, but he was productive in his limited action, racking up 36 points and 36 rebounds in 66 total minutes. He also played well in the G League, averaging a double-double (20.4 points, 12.0 rebounds) in just 29.2 minutes per game across 45 total appearances for the Windy City Bulls. He earned a spot on both the NBAGL All-Rookie Team and the All-NBAGL Third Team.
The Bulls issued a qualifying offer to Sanogo last week, making him a restricted free agent. That QO was equivalent to another one-year, two-way contract, so the 22-year-old will likely just accept that offer.
Once Sanogo officially signs, Chicago will have two of its three two-way slots filled, with Andrew Funk‘s deal from February having carried over for a second season.
Following up on a report from Marc J. Spears stating that Sacramento is a “dark horse” suitor to watch for DeMar DeRozan, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald confirms (via Twitter) that the Kings and Bulls have had discussions about a possible sign-and-trade deal involving the free agent forward.
The Spurs have also emerged as a possibility for DeRozan, Jackson adds. The 34-year-old previously spent three seasons playing for Gregg Popovich in San Antonio from 2018-21.
While Jackson (Twitter link) isn’t entirely ruling out the Heat for DeRozan, he notes that the club’s cap situation makes it impossible to give the forward the kind of contract he’s seeking, so the front office seems more likely to preserve its assets in case a better trade opportunity arises — as a first-apron team, Miami would be in a better position to acquire a player who is already under contract than a free agent like DeRozan via sign-and-trade.
Here are a few more free agent rumors and notes from around the NBA:
The Hornets have signed lottery pick Tidjane Salaun to his rookie scale contract, the team announced today in a press release.
Salaun is headed to Charlotte after spending the past two seasons with Cholet Basket in France’s top basketball league (LNB Elite). In 54 games with the team in 2023/24, the 6’9″ forward averaged 9.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per contest.
The No. 6 overall pick Salaun was one of three French prospects selected in the top half of the 2024 lottery, joining countrymen Zaccharie Risacher (No. 1) and Alex Sarr (No. 2). He’s also one of the youngest players in this year’s draft class — he won’t turn 19 next until next month.
As our breakdown of rookie scale salaries show, Salaun will earn nearly $7.5MM in 2024/25 and approximately $34MM over the next four years, assuming he signed for the usual 120% of the rookie scale amount and eventually has his third- and fourth-year options exercised.
Former Raptors forward Jontay Porter is being charged with a federal felony in connection to the sports betting scandal that caused him to be banned from the NBA in April, according to a report from The Associated Press.
While a specific court date and charges haven’t been specified, the case is known to be related to an existing charge of four men who schemed with a player to cash in on tips from said player (Porter) regarding his plans to exit two games early. The four men appeared in court in June, but haven’t yet entered pleas. They were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the AP.
The NBA’s investigation into Porter found that he tipped off those four men about his health and then exited one game with illness, causing anyone who bet his unders to cash in. He also gambled on games he didn’t play in, including against his own team.
Porter appeared in 26 games with the Raptors last season on a two-way contract. He is not permitted to sign another NBA contract, as per his ban.
We have more from around the basketball world: