- A tweet from the Suns’ Jae Crowder created a stir, Jeremy Cluff of the Arizona Republic notes. Crowder wrote “Change is inevitable.. Growth is optional.!! I believe its time for a change… I wanna continue growing!” That fueled speculation that he wants to be traded. Crowder is entering his walk year and has been the subject of trade rumors, particularly involving one of his former teams, the Heat. The Suns are above the tax line and might look to shed some salary.
David McCormack has signed with Besiktas in Turkey, according to a team press release. McCormack was reportedly signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Timberwolves but apparently chose to begin his pro career in Europe.
The undrafted big man out of Kansas was a prominent member of the Jayhawks’ national championship team. He spent all four of his college seasons at Kansas, starting 96 of 132 total games. In 2021/22, he averaged 10.6 PPG and 7.0 RPG in 40 contests (21.9 MPG).
We have more from around the basketball world:
- A total of 10 teams are currently projected to collectively spend $650MM in luxury tax payments next season, according to Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype. That would an NBA record for tax penalties. The Warriors, Nets, Clippers, Bucks, Lakers, Sixers, Celtics, Suns, Nuggets and Mavericks all project as taxpayer teams for the time being.
- The G League’s Oklahoma City Blue will continue to play the Thunder’s Paycom Center next season, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman reports. The Blue also played there last season, having been the only G League team to host their games in an NBA arena. They often had to play late morning or early afternoon games with the Thunder playing there on the same night.
- Former NBA swingman Andrew Harrison has signed with Yukatel Merkezefendi Belediyesi in Turkey, as JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors relays (Twitter link). Harrison has suited up with the Grizzlies, Cavaliers and Pelicans during his NBA career. In his last NBA season, he played a combined 16 games with Cleveland and New Orleans in 2018/19.
Cam Johnson never had a reason to think the Suns might move him this summer, but that changed when news broke about Kevin Durant‘s trade request. In an interview with Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic, Johnson talks about his reaction to hearing rumors that he might be sent to Brooklyn in a Durant deal.
“I’m like, nah man, don’t put me in this,” Johnson recalled. “And next thing you know, whoever it was, Windy (ESPN’s Brian Windhorst) or somebody on the TV was like naming the potential trade targets. Naming DA (Deandre Ayton), me, Mikal (Bridges). And I was like, come on man, but it’s the business. Like I said, it’s the business. If that’s something that gets done, then that was just part of God’s plan and you’ve got to keep on rolling. But like I said, you’ve got to expect a team to do what’s in their best interests and try to win a championship and then on the flip side, we’ve got to do what’s in our best interests to further our careers and try to be our best selves.”
Johnson has been part of two very successful seasons in Phoenix, with the Suns reaching the NBA Finals in 2021 and then posting the league’s best record this year. However, this season had a bittersweet ending with a 33-point loss to Dallas in Game 7 of Western Conference semifinals. Johnson said the sting of that humiliation still hasn’t worn off.
“The silver lining is that you get an extra chip on your shoulder,” he said. “They’re adding up, too, I tell you that much, and it gives you motivation for every workout in the morning and every extra lift, whatever it may be. It’s like, we did get pounded in a Game 7 and yes, that was embarrassing.”
Johnson addresses a few other topics in the lengthy interview:
The rookie scale extension that he’s eligible to receive this offseason:
“There’s a business side of it which you open your eyes to and then there’s the personal side of it which you have to open your eyes to. There’s always a balance between the two. Definitely as the summer goes on, and we can call a spade a spade. All these trade rumors going around. That’s the business side of it and you have to expect a team to do what’s in their best interests and you have to expect individual people, in turn, to do what’s in their best interests, but the bottom line is I’ve really loved my time here and if we can get something done, I’d be very happy about it.”
The Suns’ decision to match Indiana’s four-year, $133MM offer sheet for Ayton:
“It’s awesome. I’m so happy for him. He deserved it. And the money is one thing, but just having him back on the team and the opportunity to continue to build what we have been building is a lot of fun, but he deserves every penny of that. I’m so glad that this organization was able to keep him. I’ve really enjoyed playing with him the past three years and the sky’s really the limit for him.”
The prospect of another season with the same core roster:
“I’d love it. I’d love it. I think there is something to be said about continuity. I think there’s so much that we’ve learned in games from Year 1 to Year 2 to Year 3, I just think back to my rookie year of training camp and from a bird’s eye view, just how basic everything was that we’re talking about and how much it develops and changes as we progress. So, I think that continuity for us is huge.”
- The Suns matched the Pacers’ offer sheet for Deandre Ayton but there are still fences to be mended between the team and its starting center, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his podcast (hat tip to RealGM). “The weirdness of the Ayton situation, both the contract negotiations, the widespread perception, I’m talking widespread around the league that the bridge was pretty much burned between Ayton and the team,” he said. “The comments that Monty Williams made after Game 7 when he pulled Ayton. There’s clearly some mending of fences that has to happen there. Can it happen? Is this just a ‘we’re waiting it out until we can trade him’ situation? That’s another interesting human dynamic.”
JULY 27: The extension is official, the Suns announced (via Twitter).
JULY 23: The Suns and Monty Williams, the NBA’s reigning Coach of the Year, have agreed on a long-term contract extension, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
Williams had two years left on his original five-year contract. He’ll have several more years added to that deal.
Williams was the head coach in New Orleans from 2010-15 and the Pelicans won just two playoff games during that time. Williams was chosen as Phoenix’s head coach after an assistant coaching stint with Philadelphia.
Williams has emerged as one of the league’s premier head coaches. Phoenix reached the 2021 NBA Finals and won a franchise record 64 regular-season victories last season. The Suns, who recently matched Indiana’s offer sheet for center Deandre Ayton, should continue to be a contender for years to come behind All-Star Devin Booker.
Overall, Williams has gone 149-78 (.656) in his three seasons with Phoenix.
6:26am: The Celtics offered Brown, White, and a draft pick to the Nets in exchange for Durant, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports that Brooklyn turned down that offer and countered by asking for Brown, Marcus Smart, multiple draft picks, and possibly one additional rotation player.
The Celtics aren’t currently inclined to include Smart along with multiple other picks or players, but they’re considering their next move in the negotiations, according to Charania, who suggests that Boston has emerged as a “serious” potential landing spot for Durant. No deal is imminent, but the C’s view Durant as a player who could be the missing piece as they pursue a title, Charania writes.
Charania also reports that the Suns “appear to be all but eliminated” from the Durant sweepstakes with Deandre Ayton back under contract and ineligible to be traded.
5:58am: The Celtics are among the teams engaged in discussions with the Nets about a possible Kevin Durant trade, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who hears that Boston has been in “regular contact” with Brooklyn.
It doesn’t appear the two sides have made any significant progress toward a deal, however, with Wojnarowski reporting that Boston isn’t any closer to acquiring Durant than a handful of his other suitors are. However, Woj says that the Celtics’ ability to include Jaylen Brown as a centerpiece in an offer makes the club “formidable in its pursuit.”
The Celtics view All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum as off-limits in any hypothetical Durant deal, per Wojnarowski. As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, that leaves just seven contracts that Boston could trade without restrictions, led by Brown.
Wojnarowski suggests that a Celtics offer could theoretically include Brown and up to three first-round picks (2025, 2027, and 2029), as well as pick swaps in 2024 and 2026.
Because Brown is earning approximately $28.7MM in 2022/23 while Durant is making $44.1MM, the Celtics would have to include about $6.5MM in additional salary in order to meet the NBA’s salary-matching requirements.
Al Horford ($26.5MM), Marcus Smart ($17.2MM), Derrick White ($16.9MM), Robert Williams ($10.9MM), Grant Williams ($4.3MM), and Payton Pritchard ($2.2MM) are Boston’s other movable players, Marks notes. All are expected to be part of the team’s regular rotation in 2022/23.
While Durant hasn’t backed off his request to be traded out of Brooklyn, there’s a sense that the Nets also haven’t gained any real traction in any of their trade talks involving the former MVP, says Wojnarowski. The club continues to seek a return that includes “impactful” players, along with multiple unprotected first-round picks and swaps, sources tell ESPN.
The Raptors, Heat, and Suns are among the other teams believed to have interest in Durant, Wojnarowski writes. The 33-year-old has reportedly identified Miami and Phoenix of two of his preferred landing spots.
It’s unclear how Durant would feel about landing in Boston, but since he has four years remaining on his contract, a team trading for him wouldn’t have to worry about him leaving as a free agent in a year or two.
- The Suns seem committed to being a taxpaying team after matching the Pacers’ offer sheet for Deandre Ayton, and Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic examines whether the roster is good enough to justify that investment. Phoenix currently has $167.1MM in guaranteed salary, well above the projected $150.267MM tax threshold, and is facing a projected $34.8MM tax bill.
JULY 21: Virtus Bologna has formally announced its deal with Lundberg.
JULY 20: Free agent shooting guard Gabriel Lundberg, who finished the 2021/22 season with the Suns, is set to join Italian team Virtus Bologna, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (Twitter link). According to Carchia, Lundberg’s new deal will be the most lucrative ever for a Danish player.
Lundberg, who has played professionally in international leagues since 2014, left CSKA Moscow earlier this year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and signed a two-way contract with the Suns in March. He appeared in four NBA games for Phoenix, averaging 3.3 PPG and 2.8 APG in 11.0 minutes per contest.
The Suns didn’t issue a qualifying offer to Lundberg last month, so he became an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Phoenix reportedly offered him a Summer League roster spot, but the 27-year-old said he didn’t want to accept that offer without getting any further guarantees, and instead opted to return to Denmark.
Home of Glory, which first reported that Virtus Bologna was pushing to sign Lundberg, stated that the veteran guard also received interest from several other European teams, including Fenerbahce in Turkey (Twitter link).
Although some reports have mentioned the Warriors as a possible suitor for Nets star Kevin Durant, Golden State doesn’t appear to have made “serious overtures” for the two-time Finals MVP, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. While Fischer hints that the two teams have at least talked, he says little traction has been generated.
The Heat, meanwhile, continue to focus on acquiring either Durant or Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell before moving on to other business. Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation tell Fischer that Miami is prioritizing Durant over Mitchell.
Here’s more from Fischer:
- Knicks personnel have projected confidence that they’ll be able to acquire Mitchell without including RJ Barrett in their offer, according to Fischer, who hears from sources that the Jazz may not be eager to give Barrett a lucrative long-term extension anyway.
- While both Barrett and Tyler Herro are considered candidates for maximum-salary rookie scale extensions, Fischer says NBA executives believe the Heat guard is a better bet than the Knicks forward to sign a new deal this offseason (rather than in 2023 free agency). “They always seem to pay their guys,” one assistant GM said of the Heat.
- According to Fischer, league personnel continue to classify Suns forwards Jae Crowder and Dario Saric as potential trade candidates. Both players are on expiring contracts for a Phoenix club whose team salary is now well above the tax line.
Of the players eligible for rookie scale extensions this offseason, Spurs forward Keldon Johnson became the first to sign a new deal worth less than the maximum. According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link), Johnson’s new four-year contract will have a base value of $74MM, with $1.5MM in annual unlikely incentives that could push the total value of the deal to $80MM.
Johnson’s contract will serve as a point of comparison for many of the other extension-eligible players who will be negotiating with their respective teams this summer and fall, Fischer writes in a full story for Bleacher Report.
For instance, representatives for De’Andre Hunter figure to seek a similar deal for their client, though the Hawks may be reluctant to invest heavily in a player who has appeared in just 76 games in the last two seasons due to injuries. One cap strategist who spoke to Bleacher Report said Hunter’s injury concerns “are very real,” and sources tell Fischer that the 24-year-old and Atlanta are approximately $20MM apart in their discussions about a four-year extension.
Johnson’s extension with San Antonio is worth roughly the same amount annually as deals signed by sharpshooters like Davis Bertans, Duncan Robinson, and Joe Harris, and all four of those deals will be reference points when Cameron Johnson and the Suns discuss a new deal, according to Fischer, who suggests an extension for Johnson could easily surpass $15MM per year.
Here are a few more notes from Fischer on rookie scale extension candidates from around the NBA:
- There’s a sense that the Warriors may be best off waiting on an extension for Jordan Poole unless they can get a team-friendly rate this offseason, Fischer writes. “What’s the upside in locking him in now?” the team cap strategist said. “He’s not Luka Doncic or Donovan Mitchell, who’ve proven they can carry a team. He’s close. If he does it again, you pay him. But prior to this year he was a borderline rotation player.”
- Cap experts who spoke to Fischer believes that the Celtics‘ four-year extension for Robert Williams (worth $48MM, plus $6MM in incentives) will be a benchmark for their extension talks with Grant Williams. However, rival executives don’t think the C’s will want to spend much more on Grant than they did on Robert.
- The Trail Blazers and Nassir Little may both be motivated to work out a new deal this summer. As Fischer explains, Little could increase his value (and his price tag) in 2022/23 if he’s part of Portland’s new-look starting lineup, but his injury history might make him inclined to take a guaranteed payday sooner rather than later.
- There has been no traction on extension talks between the Sixers and Matisse Thybulle, sources tell Bleacher Report. Fischer also classifies Bulls guard Coby White as a player who is unlikely to sign an extension before the season.