- Former fifth overall pick Thomas Robinson didn’t play in the NBA last season, but he’s receiving some interest from teams this offseason, per Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. Kennedy tweets that the Bucks, Clippers, Wizards, and Suns have all expressed some level of interest in the veteran power forward.
The Sixers are interested in veteran free agent guard Jamal Crawford, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Crawford could fortify a bench that has lost Ersan Ilyasovaand Marco Belinelli since the start of free agency. Crawford, 38, averaged 10.3 PPG in 20.7 MPG for the Timberwolves last season. The Pelicans, Cavaliers, Warriors and Nuggets are also reportedly in the mix for Crawford, who opted out of his contract with Minnesota and left $4.54MM on the table.
In other news regarding the free agent market:
- Unrestricted free agent shooting guard Wayne Ellington has drawn significant interest but he’s viewed as a good bet to re-sign with the Heat, Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports tweets. Miami has a cap hold of $8.15MM on Ellington, who appeared in 77 games and averaged 11.2 PPG in 26.5 MPG while shooting 39.2% from long range.
- The Jazz have a strong interest in Nemanja Bjelica, Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune tweets. The Timberwolves pulled their qualifying offer to the power forward in order to sign Anthony Tolliver, thus making Bjelica an unrestricted free agent.
- The Knicks are interested in Alan Williams if he clears waivers, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Suns waived the power forward/center on Monday. The Knicks have also reached out to free agent power forwards Amir Johnson and Trevor Booker, Berman adds.
- Williams hasn’t ruled out a return to the Suns but his agent has already heard from a handful of teams interested in his services, according to Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic. Williams, who appeared in only five games last season due to a knee injury, had a non-guaranteed salary of $5.5MM for next season and will likely get through waivers.
- The Lakers have renounced their free-agent exception rights to guard Andre Ingram and power forward Travis Wear, according to the RealGM transactions log. The Lakers had a cap hold of $1.338MM on Ingram and $1.5MM on Wear. Ingram appeared in two games with Los Angeles last season, while Wear saw action in 17 games.
- The Suns renounced their free-agent exception rights to center Alex Len, according to the RealGM transaction log. The Suns had a $7.96MM cap hold on Len. He appeared in 69 games last season but became expendable when they drafted Deandre Ayton.
4:17pm: The move is official, with the Suns issuing a press release to announce that they’ve waived Williams.
12:19pm: The Suns are waiving big man Alan Williams, reports John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link). Williams will become an unrestricted free agent if and when he clears waivers.
Williams, 25, played well for the Suns in 2016/17, averaging 7.4 PPG and 6.2 RPG in just 15.1 minutes per contest (47 games). His performance earned him a three-year, $16MM+ deal with Phoenix last summer, though only the first year’s salary was fully guaranteed.
Williams’ 2017/18 season was derailed before it began, as a meniscus injury sidelined him for nearly the entire year. He appeared in just five games for the Suns down the stretch.
By waiving Williams, the Suns will no longer be on the hook for his $5.52MM salary for 2018/19. According to Basketball Insiders’ data, the language in the contract called for a $1MM partial guarantee if Williams met certain minute, weight, and body fat requirements, but considering he only played 70 minutes in 2017/18, he presumably didn’t meet those criteria.
Williams’ release will create enough cap room for the Suns to finalize Trevor Ariza‘s reported one-year, $15MM deal, but not much beyond that. By my count, if Phoenix also cuts Shaquille Harrison, who has a non-guaranteed salary, the team could get up to about $4MM in space after signing Ariza.
According to Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic (via Twitter), the Suns haven’t ruled out the possibility of re-signing Williams to a smaller deal after he clears waivers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Suns will meet with star guard Devin Booker to discuss a rookie scale extension, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The meeting, which will include franchise owner Robert Sarver, general manager Ryan McDonough, Booker, and Booker’s agent Leon Rose, will take place on Tuesday.
Booker has been pegged as a potential max player for a while now, and Wojnarowski reiterates that the star guard a strong candidate to procure the highest deal he’s eligible for when the time comes.
While there had been reports that Booker wasn’t pleased with the Suns’ lack of communication when they waived close friend Tyler Ulis, Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic tweets that it likely won’t impact Booker’s desire to remain with the team long-term.
In his third season, the 21-year-old Booker averaged 24.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. Now heading into his fourth, he’ll be joined by the deepest supporting cast of his career, with Phoenix having reached an agreement to sign Trevor Ariza after adding Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges in the draft.
Although the exact amount that Booker will be eligible to make in 2019/20 and beyond won’t be set until next season’s cap figures are revealed, a max deal would be worth 25% of the cap. With the current cap projection for 2019/20 set at $109MM, that would result in a $158MM deal over the course of five seasons.
The parties would also have the freedom to negotiate a clause that would allow Booker to earn as much as 30% of the cap in the event that he qualifies for an All-NBA team in 2019. Such was the case with the deal between the Sixers and Joel Embiid, who would have received a 30% max if he had earned a spot on the All-NBA First Team — he narrowly missed out.
Booker and the Suns will have until the day before the 2018/19 regular season begins to reach an agreement on a rookie scale extension. If they don’t come to terms, Booker will be on track to become a restricted free agent next summer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
1:25pm: Booker wasn’t upset with the Suns’ front office over the fact that Ulis was waived, but the “lack of communication” regarding the move upset him, a source tells Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links).
12:22pm: The Suns waived guard Tyler Ulis on Saturday before his salary for 2018/19 could become guaranteed, and the move isn’t sitting well with one noteworthy Sun. According to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter), Devin Booker is upset with Phoenix’s front office over the release of Ulis, his best friend.
Booker, who is entering his fourth NBA season, is now eligible for a contract extension for the first time in his career. He and the Suns could come to an agreement anytime between now and the start of the 2018/19 regular season, and a new deal would keep Booker off the restricted free agent market in 2019.
It remains to be seen whether Booker’s unhappiness with the front office will have any real impact on those contract negotiations. While it probably isn’t a great time for the franchise to upset its star scorer, players eligible for rookie scale extensions generally don’t turn down maximum-salary offers, as Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic observes (via Twitter). And Phoenix is expected to put that sort of offer on the table.
It would be a surprise if Ulis’ release creates an irreparable rift in the relationship between Booker and the Suns, but it’s still something worth watching as the club looks to lock up the 21-year-old to a long-term deal.
The Nets have pushed back the salary guarantee date for Isaiah Whitehead and the Suns have done the same for Davon Reed, according to reports. Both players were initially on track to have their salaries for 2018/19 guaranteed if they remained under contract through Saturday.
[RELATED: NBA Salary Guarantee Dates For Summer 2018]
Whitehead, a former second-round pick who has spent his first two NBA seasons in Brooklyn, has a non-guaranteed $1,544,951 salary for 2018/19. According to Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Nets have moved his guarantee date to July 31, so Whitehead will receive his full salary if he remains on the roster through the end of the month.
The move will allow Brooklyn to assess how much cap room it has after acquiring and negotiating a buyout with Dwight Howard — if the team wants to maximize its space at that point to try to add a certain player via trade or free agency, Whitehead could be waived to create a little more flexibility. If not, he has a decent chance of sticking with the club.
As for Reed, Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic reports (via Twitter) that the Suns have pushed back the guarantee date for his $1,378,242 salary until after the conclusion of Summer League, giving the young guard a chance to play for the Suns in Las Vegas.
Reed, a second-round pick in 2017, only appeared in 21 games in his rookie year due to a knee injury, so the Suns probably want to take a closer look at him this summer before making any final decisions. The 23-year-old’s salary is reportedly partially guaranteed for $689K, so it wouldn’t cost Phoenix much to keep him around. The Suns already parted ways with one young guard, cutting Tyler Ulis on Saturday.
The Suns are targeting Rockets forward Trevor Ariza, Clippers guard Avery Bradley and Lakers forward Julius Randle, tweets Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer.
Phoenix will have about $18MM in cap space to work with after waiving Tyler Ulis earlier today. Ariza and Bradley are both unrestricted free agents and would provide a needed boost to the Suns’ defense. Randle is restricted, and the Lakers will have the chance to match any offer sheet he receives.
Ariza, 33, has spent the past four seasons in Houston and was a steady two-way player on a team that won 65 games this year. He averaged 11.7 points during the season and shot 37% from 3-point range.
Bradley, 27, was known as one of the league’s top defensive guards in Boston, but his game took a downturn after trades to the Pistons and then to the Clippers. A sports hernia limited him to just six games in L.A.
Randle is the youngest of the group at 23. After the Lakers decided not to give him an extension, he responded with a 16.1/8.0/2.6 season that has made him a popular free agent target.
Representatives of the Jazz will meet with free agent big man Derrick Favors Sunday afternoon in Atlanta, writes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune.
Favors has received interest from other teams and wants to see what happens with DeAndre Jordan and DeMarcus Cousins before making a commitment, according to Jones. The Jazz plan extensive discussions with Favors, who lives in the Atlanta area.
Both sides are confident that Favors will return to Utah, tweets Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. He cites the Suns as a team that might take a chance on Favors, but adds that Phoenix needs a point guard and is in the market for Toronto’s Fred VanVleet.
Favors, 26, has been in Utah since arriving in a 2011 trade. He averaged 15.8 points and 9.2 rebounds in 77 games this season and played particularly well when starting center Rudy Gobert was sidelined by injuries.
The Jazz have said they will place a priority on keeping Favors, along with restricted free agents Dante Exum and Raul Neto. They must also decide by Sunday whether to guarantee a $5.25MM contract for Thabo Sefolosha, with Jones stating that Sefolosha’s camp is confident they will.
4:17pm: The move is official, the Suns announced on Twitter.
3:05pm: Phoenix will waive point guard Tyler Ulis, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The decision is the latest in a series of cost-cutting moves for the Suns, who are also cutting ties with Elfrid Payton and Alex Len. Phoenix is maximizing cap room to be aggressive in free agency, with the Bucks’ Jabari Parker and the Celtics’ Marcus Smart as possible targets.
Getting rid of Ulis will save the team $1.54MM for next season. A decision on whether to guarantee his 2018/19 salary was originally due by June 24, but he agreed to let the Suns delay the move until today.
A second-round pick in 2016, Ulis spent two years in Phoenix. He played 71 games this season, starting 43, but the Suns are hoping for a point guard upgrade in free agency, according to Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link). They drafted Elie Okobo and have Brandon Knight returning from injury, so there may not have been playing time available for Ulis.
The Suns still have to make decisions on non-guaranteed salaries for Alan Williams ($5.52MM), Shaquille Harrison ($1,378,242) and Davon Reed ($1,378,242 with a $689,212 guarantee).
The Kings are just one of the teams expected to make a run at Jabari Parker, and some executives within the league view the former No. 2 overall pick to be among the small tier of players below stars such as LeBron James and Paul George.
“Hey, he’s a good player; I mean he’s a really good player,’’ an NBA executive told Gary Woelfel (via Woelfel’s Press Box). “And he’s young.’’
Parker is a restricted free agent, meaning the Bucks can match any rival offer he receives. One longtime NBA executive expects the 23-year-old to see a rather lucrative deal.
“I think some teams will give him $20MM [per season] and there might be some teams that will make it tough on Milwaukee to match and offer him even more,’’ the NBA official tells Woelfel.
“I think Milwaukee would like to keep him for $16MM or something around that figure, trying to use his injury situation to their advantage. But there are teams that need a big-time scorer and nobody doubts he’s a big-time scorer.’’
Another NBA executive speculated that the Sixers could make an offer for Parker should they fail to land a bigger target like James, George or Kawhi Leonard. Woelfel names the Bulls, Jazz, Pacers, Hawks, Suns, and Nets as possibilities as well.
Other NBA executives who spoke with Woelfel believe a sign-and-trade is a more likely scenario for the combo forward. That route would be Milwaukee’s preference rather than being forced to decide between signing Parker to a player-friendly contract or losing him for nothing. “It’s no secret” that the Bucks would be open to receiving an upgrade at point guard or center in such an agreement, Woelfel adds.
The Rockets and Clippers are both high on Parker and could be possibilities if a sign-and-trade were to occur, though it would be hard for Houston to complete a deal and stay under the tax apron if the team retains its own key free agents. Los Angeles and Milwaukee had discussions about Parker at last year’s trade deadline.
Parker likes Milwaukee and he reportedly paid around $1.5MM to redo the warehouse he currently lives in, according to Woelfel’s sources. Those same sources tell the scribe that despite Parker being comfortable in his current situation, it’s more likely he leaves then stays.
“He loves the people there; he loves the city,” the source said. “But I don’t see him staying there. If you’re asking me, it’s 75-25 he goes to another team.’’
Many dominos, such as James coming out of his decision cave, are likely to fall before Parker inks his next contract with a source estimating that a deal won’t take place until late-July or early-August.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.