Phoenix Suns Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Suns Sign Cameron Johnson, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque

July 6th, 2019 at 9:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

First-round pick Cameron Johnson has signed his rookie scale contract with Phoenix, according to the NBA’s transactions log.

The Suns selected the sharpshooting forward out of North Carolina with the No. 11 pick after trading down from No. 6 in a deal with the Timberwolves. The move represented the biggest surprise in the lottery.

[RELATED: 2019 NBA Draft Pick Signings]

Terms of Johnson’s contract weren’t announced, but under the rookie scale he is eligible to earn $4,033,440, $4,235,160, $4,437,000 and $5,887,899 in his first four seasons.

Phoenix also signed the 24th pick, Ty Jerome, who was acquired in a trade with the Celtics, and Jalen Lecque, who agreed to sign with the Suns shortly after he went undrafted (Twitter link). Like Johnson, Jerome will get a standard rookie scale contract, but terms of Lecque’s deal aren’t known.

Celtics Trade Aron Baynes, Ty Jerome To Suns For 2020 First-Rounder

July 6th, 2019 at 1:32pm CST by clarkcrum

JULY 6: The trade between the Celtics and Suns is now official, Boston announced today (via Twitter).

JUNE 20: The Celtics, who obtained the No. 24 selection from the Sixers earlier tonight, have agreed to trade the pick to the Suns, who have drafted Virginia point guard Ty Jerome (per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN). The Celtics also included big man Aron Baynes in the deal, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

According to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, Boston received a future draft pick from Phoenix in exchange for the rights to draft Jerome, and both Woj and Tim Bontemps of ESPN (link) report that the Suns are sending the Celtics the Bucks’ 2020 first-round pick. All told, the Suns will obtain both Baynes and Jerome, while the Celtics, who were said to be looking to move on from Baynes, pick up a first-rounder in next year’s draft.

The Bucks, of course, are expected to be one of the better teams in the league next season, so Boston’s selection will likely fall near the end of the first round, but they were evidently willing to wait a year for the first-round pick in order to move Baynes.

ESPN’s cap guru Bobby Marks notes that Phoenix is now down to a projected $14MM in cap space after accounting for Baynes’ salary and the cap hold for Jerome, which will surely curtail the level of free agent point guard Phoenix will be able to pursue on the free agent market this summer.

As for the Celtics, salary cap expert Albert Nahmad (link) notes that by trading Baynes and both the No. 20 and No. 24 picks away, Boston now has the ability to increase its cap room to $34.8MM, if Terry Rozier‘s cap hold is renounced (h/t to Marks).

Suns Acquire Saric, Johnson From Wolves For Culver

July 6th, 2019 at 12:55pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: The Timberwolves have officially acquired the draft rights to No. 6 pick Jarrett Culver in exchange for Saric and the rights to No. 11 pick Cameron Johnson, the team announced today in a press release.

JUNE 20: The Timberwolves and Suns have reached an agreement on a trade, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Minnesota is moving up to No. 6. In exchange for the sixth overall pick, Phoenix is receiving Dario Saric and the No. 11 overall pick, says Woj.

It’s the second trade agreement of the day for the Suns, who also reached a deal to send T.J. Warren and the No. 32 pick to the Pacers. Saric will help fill in the gap in the frontcourt created by Warren’s departure, slotting in as a stretch four alongside franchise center Deandre Ayton.

Saric, 25, averaged 10.6 PPG and 5.6 RPG with a .437/.365/.880 shooting line last season in 81 games for the Sixers and Timberwolves. He was part of the package Philadelphia sent to Minnesota in exchange for Jimmy Butler, and has now been dealt twice in the last year.

Meanwhile, new Timberwolves head of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, who wasn’t part of the front office when the team acquired Saric last fall, is showing right away that he’s not afraid to be aggressive. Minnesota is now in position to potentially draft one of the top point guards of the 2019 class — with the Hawks expected to draft De’Andre Hunter at No. 4, at least one of Darius Garland or Coby White should still be on the board at No. 6.

There have been rumors in recent weeks linking the Timberwolves to point guards, since Tyus Jones and Derrick Rose are headed for free agency and Jeff Teague is entering the final year of his contract. We’ll have to wait to see what Rosas has in mind for the No. 6 pick though.

According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Rosas had been trying to move up to No. 4 or No. 5 before ultimately reaching a deal with the Suns for No. 6.

Heat Acquire KZ Okpala’s Draft Rights

July 6th, 2019 at 11:41am CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 6: The Heat have officially acquired Okpala’s draft rights, sending the Pacers their 2022, 2025, and 2026 second-round picks, Miami announced in a press release. The deal technically became a three-team trade, having merged with the Pacers’ acquisition of T.J. Warren from the Suns.

JUNE 20: The Pacers agreed to send the No. 32 pick to the Heat, who selected Stanford small forward KZ Okpala, Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. The Pacers gained the rights to that pick earlier in the day in a trade with the Suns.

Indiana will receive three future second-round picks from Miami. The Heat had traded away their second-round pick.

Indiana also acquired forward T.J. Warren from Phoenix, which used cap room to make that deal in a salary dump. The Suns received cash considerations.

The 6’9” Okpala averaged 16.8 PPG and 5.7 RPG last season.

Suns Trade T.J. Warren To Pacers

July 6th, 2019 at 11:40am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: The trade is official, according to an announcement from the Pacers. It became a three-team trade, with Indiana sending the rights to No. 32 pick KZ Okpala to Miami in exchange for three second-rounders.

JUNE 20: The Pacers and Suns have reached a trade agreement that will send T.J. Warren to Indiana, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski (Twitter links), the Pacers will also acquire the No. 32 overall pick from Phoenix and will take on Warren using cap room, sending cash to the Suns to complete the deal.

The trade looks like a straight salary dump for the Suns, who will move Warren with three years and $35.25MM left on his contract. Phoenix wanted to unload Warren – who will earn $10.81MM in 2019/20 — in order to open up more cap space, per Wojnarowski.

The Suns had a logjam at the small forward position and didn’t project to have much – if any – cap room this offseason, so the trade addresses both issues, though it will cost them a pretty good draft pick and a pretty good player with little return.

Injuries limited Warren to just 43 games in 2018/19, but he was a very effective scorer when he did play, averaging 18.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 1.5 APG, and 1.2 SPG with a .486/.428/.815 shooting line.

Assuming Phoenix keeps the cap hold for restricted free agent Kelly Oubre on its books, the team now projects to have about $21MM in cap room once the trade is finalized in July, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. That space will give the club more flexibility to go after a starting-caliber point guard on the open market, but still won’t be enough for a maximum-salary offer.

As for the Pacers, many of their key rotation players are headed for free agency this summer, so they’ll have plenty of cap room to take on Warren. Acquiring him will also reduce some of the uncertainty surrounding those free agents — the team could have a little added leverage in negotiations with the likes of Bojan Bogdanovic or Thaddeus Young with Warren now under control.

According to Marks, the Pacers will still have nearly $31MM in cap room available once the acquisition of Warren is finalized, though that projection doesn’t account for Bogdanovic’s cap hold.

[RELATED: Pacers eyeing Ricky Rubio]

Indiana now controls three picks in tonight’s draft, adding the No. 32 selection to Nos. 18 and 50. The Suns are left with just the No. 6 overall pick.

Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com first reported earlier today that the Pacers were among the teams with interest in Warren.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Suns Unload High-Risk, High-Reward Asset In Josh Jackson

July 4th, 2019 at 9:28pm CST by Austin Kent

The Phoenix Suns unloaded 2017 fourth-overall pick Josh Jackson on the Memphis Grizzlies yesterday, after a tumultuous but oh-so-promising two-year stint with the franchise. Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic broke down exactly what went wrong for the once-prized prospect.

A plethora of red flags spoiled Jackson’s reputation off the court and eventually that proved to trump even his best performances on it. To Jackson’s credit, he managed to show high-ceiling talent despite playing for three different head coaches with three different playing styles, but the downside proved to much to bear for a young Suns organization that desperately needs to start moving forward.

Jackson averaged 17.0 points and 6.1 rebounds with over a block and a steal per games in games in which he played 30 or more minutes, but those flashes of excellence were few and far between as the Suns swingman struggled with his shot and controlling his emotions.

The Grizzlies, another team in the midst of a rebuild, will hope that a fresh start is enough to put the former Suns prospect back on the right track.

Free Agent Rumors: Holiday, Cousins, Burke, More

July 4th, 2019 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Free agent swingman Justin Holiday has received interest from the Lakers, Clippers, Bulls, Raptors, Pacers, Wizards, Hornets, and Cavaliers, league sources tell Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Given how quickly most of the top players came off the market, Holiday represents one of the more intriguing options available, given his ability to knock down three-pointers (1.8 3PG on 35.4% shooting over the last three years) and defend on the perimeter.

According to Scotto, the Grizzlies are open to the idea of accommodating a sign-and-trade deal involving Holiday, so a team with interest in him could potentially acquire him using a trade exception if it doesn’t want to cut into its mid-level.

Here’s more on a few NBA free agents:

Wizards interim head of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard briefly spoke with free agent big man DeMarcus Cousins in Las Vegas, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post (Twitter link). A previous report indicated there was virtually no chance of Cousins signing with Washington, and Buckner cautions that the conversation was described as small talk, but she still refers to it as an “interesting development.”
The Lakers are in the mix for free agent point guard Trey Burke, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post (Twitter link). Los Angeles still has plenty of roster spots to fill, so it’s not clear how high Burke is on the team’s wish list.
Veteran NBA big man Darrell Arthur, who sat out last season after being waived by Phoenix in October, is considering a comeback and is open to continuing his career overseas, tweets Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, Marc J. Spears, and Ohm Youngmisuk spoke to coaches, scouts, and executives at the Utah and California Summer Leagues to get their thoughts on free agency so far. Among the highlights: McMahon writes that a number of rival executives and scouts believe the Rockets dodged a bullet by not landing Jimmy Butler.
The Suns have formally renounced their free agent rights to several players, including Dragan Bender, Jamal Crawford, Jimmer Fredette, and Ray Spalding, per RealGM’s transactions log.

Free Agent Rumors: Kawhi, Bender, Cousins, Mejri

July 2nd, 2019 at 2:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Despite some buzz on social media that Kawhi Leonard is leaning toward the Lakers, the reigning Finals MVP hasn’t reached a decision, tweets Cris Carter of Fox Sports 1. Carter – who has been an unexpectedly plugged-in source on Leonard since the forward’s days in San Antonio – adds that anyone thinking the Lakers have an edge on the Clippers or Raptors would be “wrong.”

Leonard is the last big star available in free agency, and his decision will have a long-lasting impact on all three franchises. Whichever club lands him will be a contender for the NBA title, while the other two teams will be scrambling to fill out their rosters. Leonard still hasn’t given any indication of when he plans to announce his choice.

Here are some more notes on the third day of free agency:

Now that the Suns have added Frank Kaminsky, they will part ways with Dragan Bender, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link). Bender had a disappointing three years in Phoenix after being selected with the fourth pick in the 2016 draft. He is an unrestricted free agent because the Suns declined his fourth-year option before the start of the season.
The Warriors can’t make an offer similar to the $6.4MM MLE that landed DeMarcus Cousins last summer, notes Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). Golden State is so close to the hard cap that it cannot go much above minimum deals to complete its roster.
Salah Mejri was working out today with the Mavericks‘ Summer League players and remains a possibility to re-sign, tweets Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News.
As cap space dries up, restricted free agents such as Kelly Oubre, Delon Wright and Tyus Jones may benefit by accepting their teams’ qualifying offers and becoming unrestricted next summer in a weaker free agent class, suggests Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).

Western Notes: Russell, Suns, Beverley, Kings, Rivers, Blazers

July 1st, 2019 at 11:48pm CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves, led by D’Angelo Russell‘s close friend Karl-Anthony Towns, were confident about their ability to get a commitment from Russell in free agency and went into their Sunday meeting with him ready to make the trades necessary to make a deal work, sources tell Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Minnesota was just waiting for the green light from D-Lo to move forward on those trades, but the All-Star point guard instead opted to join the Warriors.

The Suns were viewed as a team that might try to get into the mix for Russell, who has another good friend – Devin Booker – in Phoenix. However, despite Booker’s campaign, Phoenix chose not to pursue the RFA guard, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. According to Rankin, the Suns “apparently felt Russell wouldn’t have been a good influence on Booker off the court.”

The Warriors, with their veteran leaders, apparently had no such qualms about D-Lo, who – by all accounts – matured considerably during his time in Brooklyn.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

After agreeing to sign a three-year, $40MM deal with the Clippers, Patrick Beverley tells Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times that he turned down a more lucrative offer from the Kings to return to L.A. “I got a bigger offer from Sacramento and I took $9-10 million less to come here,” Beverley said. “… It was the right decision. Of course, the human part of you wants to take as much money as you see, but all money isn’t good money. I did what was best for me and my family and I did what was best to stay on a winning team, and I feel like I made the right decision.”
Despite Beverley’s comments, Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link) hears that the Kings offered the veteran guard a guaranteed total of $35MM over three years, with a partial guarantee in year three. Theoretically, it’s possible that Beverley’s claim could still be accurate if that third-year partial guarantee was very small and he’s including the non-guaranteed money as part of Sacramento’s bid.
Before he agreed to return to the Rockets for the veteran’s minimum, Austin Rivers had offers in the range of the $5.7MM taxpayer mid-level exception, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. “Now that the league is wide open, I just saw an opportunity,” Rivers said. “You can’t really put a price on happiness. The goal was to come back to Houston all along. I think we have the team to beat.”
The Trail Blazers have announced Terry Stotts‘ coaching staff for the upcoming season, with Nate Tibbetts replacing David Vanterpool as the team’s associate head coach. Portland has also promoted Jim Moran to the front of the bench and hired former NBA guard Jannero Pargo as an assistant.

Free Agent Rumors: P. Gasol, Mavs, Wolves, Wright, More

July 1st, 2019 at 6:45pm CST by Luke Adams

Pau Gasol, whose contract with the Bucks is up, continues to recover from a procedure on his left foot, but he wants to continue his NBA career next season, he tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

“My recovery from surgery has been smooth and I expect to be fully cleared for basketball activities in early August,” Gasol said. “I cannot wait to start training again.”

Gasol, who is an unrestricted free agent, is the only one of Milwaukee’s free agents who has yet to reach an agreement this week. There has been no indication that the Bucks are seeking a reunion.

Here are a few more free agency notes and rumors:

The Mavericks are among the teams that have expressed “strong interest” in Delon Wright, league sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Darren Wolfson of SKOR North tweets that the Timberwolves have also inquired on Wright. Wright is a restricted free agent, so the Grizzlies would have the chance to match an offer sheet.
The Timberwolves continue to kick the tires on free agent point guard T.J. McConnell, according to Wolfson, who tweets that the Sixers, Heat, Lakers, Grizzlies, Suns, Wizards, and Pacers have also checked out McConnell. Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (via Twitter) notes that McConnell could be a target for Miami if the team trades Goran Dragic.
The Thunder are among the teams that have expressed some interest in veteran guard Jodie Meeks, a league source tells Brett Dawson of The Athletic (Twitter link). Dawson’s report came shortly before Oklahoma City agreed to terms with Alec Burks, so it’s not clear if the club remains interested in Meeks.
In a text message to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link), Enes Kanter explains that he considered re-signing with the Trail Blazers, but didn’t feel as if they gave him enough time to make his decision. Kanter agreed to a two-year deal with Boston.