Andrei Kirilenko Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Atlantic Notes: Stoudemire, Celtics, Nets

January 13th, 2015 at 4:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Amar’e Stoudemire isn’t sure that he wants to remain with the Knicks amid a rebuilding effort, as he told reporters, including Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks reportedly have no plans to trade Stoudemire, who’s set for free agency at season’s end.

“It’s a very difficult situation at this point,’’ Stoudemire said. “It’s a hard decision for me to make. My loyalty has always been with New York and the Knicks. So it will be tough right now to make a decision as far as going somewhere else at this point. It’s something I have to think about. I’m sure over time I’ll sit and think about the best scenario for myself. For now, I know I’ve been through injuries throughout my career. I have to make sure I’m able to be strong enough and prepared to play for a team contending for a championship. New York is trying to rebuild. Hopefully that will be sooner than later.’’

Stoudemire laments the departure of now-Cavalier Iman Shumpert, who like Stoudemire is a client of Happy Walters, as Berman notes. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

The Celtics are receiving $1,319,236 in cash from the Grizzlies as part of the Jeff Green trade, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
Mikhail Prokhorov lost an estimated $400MM in one day in the midst of global economic trouble late last month, an attorney and adviser to Russian oligarchs tells Stefan Bondy and Mitch Abramson of the New York Daily News. Russia’s economic downturn is reportedly one of the reasons that Prokhorov has reportedly put the Nets up for sale.
An industry consultant tells Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg.com that he believes that the Nets will command a price akin to the $2 billion the Clippers fetched, while a consultant said to Soshnick that he isn’t sure that the Nets are as attractive as the Clippers were.
Some believe that Andrei Kirilenko is giving up the rest of his salary this season to tend to his wife as she endures a difficult pregnancy, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. However, Pompey hears from a Brooklyn source who questioned whether that’s indeed the reason the forward hasn’t played in two months.

Sixers Place Andrei Kirilenko On Suspension

January 9th, 2015 at 1:24pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:23pm: The notion of a handshake deal between Kirilenko and the Sixers that was to result in the team releasing him conflicts with what John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com has heard from the start, Gonzalez tweets. The Sixers never wanted to waive him, according to Gonzalez, echoing his report from last month.

10:33am: Sixers coach Brett Brown confirmed Kirilenko is suspended without pay, tweets Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The suspension costs Kirilenko 1/110th of his salary for this season, worth more than $3.326MM.

9:58am: The team informed the NBA of the suspension earlier this week, Wojnarowski tweets.

9:49pm: Philadelphia indeed suspended Kirilenko, and the suspension is without pay, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).

9:00am: The Sixers placed Andrei Kirilenko on the Suspended List, as Salary Cap FAQ author Larry Coon wrote in a chat for Basketball Insiders and as a source confirms to Hoops Rumors. It appears as though the team suspended Kirilenko, who hasn’t played since November 13th as he’s reportedly been dealing with a medical issue involving his pregnant wife. The 33-year-old forward has yet to report to the team after Philadelphia acquired him on December 11th in a trade with the Nets. Sources tell Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer that the Sixers and Kirilenko had a handshake agreement that the team would release him shortly after the trade, though a Sixers team source tells Ford that no such agreement was in place. Kirilenko’s failure to report to the team within 48 hours of receiving notice of the trade left him subject to a fine, suspension or both from the NBA as well as the Sixers, but signs point to the team having taken the action.

Kirilenko has gone down as one of Philadelphia’s inactive players for every game since the trade, but the Sixers would have had to list him as active for at least five games before they could move him to the Suspended List if he were on league suspension. That’s not the case with a team suspension, which allows the player to be either active or inactive for three games before he may be placed on the Suspended List, as noted in the NBA’s Constitution and By-Laws and as Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ explains.

Kirilenko’s presence on the Suspended List opened a spot on the 15-man roster for the the Sixers to trade for Jared Cunningham on Wednesday without offloading another player. Philadelphia would otherwise have been unable to do so, even though the Sixers quickly waived Cunningham and his non-guaranteed salary after the trade. Sixers coach Brett Brown acknowledged this week that Kirilenko’s absence played a role in the ability to swing the Cunningham trade. It’s not the first time this season that the Suspended List has allowed a team to add a player it otherwise couldn’t have. The Grizzlies briefly carried 16 players in November while Nick Calathes was serving a 20-game league suspension, as I explained.

Most suspensions are unpaid, though there’s no word of whether that’s the case with Kirilenko, nor is it clear how long his time on the Suspended List will last. The Sixers are willing to make some accommodations, but they feel as though the short distance between New York, where Kirilenko and his family have been living, and Philadelphia should allow him to play, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote last month.

Kirilenko’s wife is enduring a difficult pregnancy and the 13th-year veteran has wanted to stay home with her rather than play for the Nets or the Sixers, league sources tell Ford. The Nets told the Sixers prior to the trade that Kirilenko wouldn’t report and that he hoped to become a free agent, Ford hears. The Nets believed that the Sixers agreed to release Kirilenko after the trade, a source tells Ford, who also writes that Brooklyn had other trade options that would have given the Nets just as much, if not more, had Kirilenko been willing to play. Philadelphia declined to put Kirilenko through a physical before OKing the trade, according to Ford, who wonders why the Sixers wouldn’t have given him a checkup if they expected Kirilenko to hit the court. In any case, some teams have grown leery of doing business with Sixers GM Sam Hinkie, league sources tell Ford.

The issue involving Kirilenko’s wife won’t be resolved until February, as Kirilenko told reporters early last month. The trade deadline is February 19th. Regardless of whether the Sixers trade or waive him, it’s unlikely that Kirilenko remains on the roster past the deadline, Wojnarowski wrote late last month. The Cavs, Clippers and Rockets apparently held interest in Kirilenko earlier this season, and there were conflicting reports about whether the Jazz were in the mix.

Kirilenko’s agent and the Sixers did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Hoops Rumors.

Sixers Push Andrei Kirilenko To Play

December 23rd, 2014 at 11:41am CST by Chuck Myron

The Sixers have asked Andrei Kirilenko to report to the team, but he continues to hold out, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The 33-year-old forward, whom Philadelphia acquired via trade from the Nets on December 11th, hasn’t appeared in a game since November 13th as he tends to a family medical issue involving his wife. The Sixers are willing to make some accommodations for him so he can deal with the matter, but they believe that the short distance between New York, where the Kirilenkos live, and Philadelphia should allow him to play, Wojnarowski adds.

Sixers GM Sam Hinkie has informed the Marc Fleischer client that the team doesn’t intend to waive him, Wojnarowski hears. Rumors before the trade indicated that the Sixers were poised to release Kirilenko shortly after they obtained him, but instead Philadelphia has hung onto him, and the team would like to trade Kirilenko at the deadline, as John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com reported earlier this month. However, most other teams are set against trading for him because they believe he’ll simply become available as a free agent at some point this season, according to Wojnarowski. Kirilenko is in the final year of a contract that pays him a guaranteed $3.326MM this season, but it’s unlikely that Philadelphia will fail to either waive or trade him before the deadline, Wojnarowski writes.

Kirilenko has reportedly targeted February for a return to action, but he’s subject to a fine or a suspension if he doesn’t report to the Sixers. Players acquired via trade during the season have 48 hours to report, a threshold that Kirilenko has long since crossed. Both the league and the team may levy punishment if he continues to sit out, since failure to report following a trade is one of the rare instances in which a player is subject to a double penalty, as Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ points out.

Beck’s Latest: Kings, Knicks, Suns, Nets, Rockets

December 15th, 2014 at 2:57pm CST by Chuck Myron

There will be chatter aplenty between now and the February 19th trade deadline, but not all of it will truly constitute trade rumors, as Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck cautions. However, when multiple voices speak in unison, there’s usually a grain of truth involved, and Beck has plenty of tidbits he’s heard from a variety of sources around the league. We already passed along the news that the Pistons are putting Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings on the block, but that’s not the only item of note. We’ll pass along the rest of the highlights here and encourage you to read Beck’s full piece for more:

The Kings head coaching job is George Karl‘s if he wants it, as both Beck and Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee hear (Twitter links). Alvin Gentry and Mark Jackson are also “prime candidates,” according to Beck, though it’s not clear if the Kings are targeting either of them. Karl said to Tom Byrne of SiriusXM NBA Radio today that, “If they’re interested in me, I’m interested in them (Twitter link). Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first identified Karl as the front-runner for the job, which Tyrone Corbin is expected to assume on an interim basis.
Executives around the league tell Beck that the Knicks are making all of their players except for Carmelo Anthony available, as Beck writes in his piece. A similar scenario is in place for New Orleans, where the Pelicans are open to trading everyone outside of Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Omer Asik and Ryan Anderson, Beck hears.
Many executives expect the Suns to trade one of Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas, according to Beck.
The Nets would probably only move one or two of Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson, team sources tell Beck. The Rockets asked Brooklyn about Andrei Kirilenko before the Nets traded him to the Sixers last week, Beck also hears.
There’s conflicting intel on the Nuggets, whom many executives view as top candidates to become sellers, while one Western Conference exec tells Beck that the Nuggets like their team and aren’t inclined to move anybody. In any case, there’s plenty of interest in Wilson Chandler and Timofey Mozgov, executives have said to Beck.
Many executives and scouts identified Thaddeus Young, Mo Williams and David Lee among likely trade candidates, Beck writes.

Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Kirilenko, Nets, ‘Melo

December 12th, 2014 at 12:36pm CST by Chuck Myron

Sixers coach Brett Brown referred today to a “fluid” situation, wouldn’t address questions regarding Andrei Kirilenko and Jorge Gutierrez, and said there’s “high probability” that the team will make a “subtle, small announcement” before tonight’s game, observes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Sixers on Thursday announced the acquisition of both Kirilenko and Gutierrez, and Philadelphia reportedly has held some interest in keeping as a potential asset for the trade deadline, even though reports prior to the trade indicated that Philly intended to waive him. While we wait to see what Philly’s plans are regarding Kirilenko, here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

The amount of cash the Nets sent the Sixers in the Kirilenko trade is $1MM, tweets Robert Windrem of NetsDaily. That leaves the Nets with a total of $2.3MM they can send out in trades between now and the end of June, as the NetsDaily scribe points out.
Carmelo Anthony was forceful in his insistence that he doesn’t want to leave the Knicks as he addressed an earlier report that he would be open to waiving his no-trade clause, one that both he and his agent denied. Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com has the details. “Come on, man. After all the work I did to get here and get back here? If I was to get up and want to leave now that would just make me weak, make me have a weak mind,” Anthony said. “I’ve never been a person to try to run from any adversity or anything like that so I’m not going to pick today to do that.”
Luc Mbah a Moute and K.J. McDaniels, both free agents at season’s end, join Michael Carter-Williams and Robert Covington as the Sixers whom the team should prioritize keeping, opines Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News.

Sixers Acquire Andrei Kirilenko

December 11th, 2014 at 12:42pm CST by Eddie Scarito

12:40pm: The Sixers also receive cash, as Philadelphia announced in its press release. The 2018 second-rounder that the Sixers would send to Brooklyn if the teams swapped second-round picks that year would be Cleveland’s pick, the Sixers also note.

THURSDAY, 12:28pm: The trade is official, the Nets announced via press release. The Sixers get Kirilenko, Gutierrez, Brooklyn’s 2020 second-round pick and the right to swap 2018 second-rounders. The Nets receive Davies, and Brooklyn’s statement also confirms the creation of a pair of trade exceptions. The statement values them at $3.4MM and $916K, respectively, but it would appear as though they’re actually worth precisely $3,326,235 and $816,482, the equivalents of the salaries for Kirilenko and Gutierrez, respectively. The Nets can use them to trade for players with salaries of up to $100K more than those amounts any time between now and a year from today.

WEDNESDAY, 8:18pm: The Sixers and Nets have agreed to a trade that would send Andrei Kirilenko to Philadelphia, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Also heading to the Sixers is the Nets’ 2020 second round pick, the right to swap second-rounders in 2018, and cash. In return the Nets will receive Brandon Davies. The deal is expected to be finalized on Thursday, and Brooklyn is also likely to send another minor player to the Sixers as well, Wojnarowski notes in a separate tweet. That player might be Jorge Gutierrez, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily reports (Twitter link).

Philadelphia is expected to waive Kirilenko and his guaranteed salary, worth more than $3.3MM. The Nets will save themselves nearly $12MM in salary and tax payments as a result of the deal, not counting Davies’ non-guaranteed salary of $816,482. Brooklyn isn’t planning on waiving him immediately, and will give Davies a look, reports Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News (Twitter links). The Nets are also working on signing a free agent wing player in addition to this trade, Bondy adds.

The 33-year-old Russian’s future is unclear, since Kirilenko has been dealing with undisclosed family issues that kept him away from the Nets, as well as clouded the trade talk surrounding him since it was unclear if he would be willing and able to report to any team that acquired him. The Jazz have been mentioned as potential suitors, though today’s signing of Patrick Christopher increased Utah’s roster count to the league-maximum fifteen players, which means the team would need to make a roster move to accommodate Kirilenko if it was still interested in his services. Wojnarowski’s article also lists the Cavs and the Clippers as teams that may be interested in signing Kirilenko.

In 12 NBA seasons, Kirilenko has averaged 11.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. His career slash line is .474/.310/.754. He appeared in just seven games for Brooklyn this season, logging just 0.4 points in 5.1 minutes per contest.

The 23-year-old Davies is in his second season in the NBA after going undrafted out of BYU in 2013. His career numbers are 3.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game. His shooting numbers are .417/.225/.640.

Atlantic Rumors: Kirilenko, Sixers, Nets, Knicks

December 11th, 2014 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Earlier reports have suggested that Andrei Kirilenko would be interested in playing again in February, once a family matter involving his wife is resolved, but it’s an iffy proposition whether Kirilenko will play at any point this season, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt hears (Twitter links). Sixers officials are trying to convince Kirilenko that he should remain with Philadelphia once the trade goes through, though he’s not pleased with the idea, as John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com hears (Twitter link). The Sixers, who see Kirilenko as a valuable asset whom they could flip at the February 19th trade deadline, according to Gonzalez, would ultimately have the power to keep Kirilenko on the roster this season no matter how he feels about it once the Nets trade is complete. However, it looks as though they’d prefer to give his roster spot to someone they could put on the court if Kirilenko’s not willing to play for them. There’s plenty more on the Kirilenko trade amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:

The Nets have an agreement to sign a player to fill the roster vacancy that the Kirilenko trade is set to create, tweets Robert Windrem of NetsDaily . That advances an earlier report from Tim Bontemps of the New York Post, who heard the team had someone lined up for that opening (Twitter link). The identity of the soon-to-be signee is unknown, but it’s not an eye-catching name, according to the NetsDaily scribe.
Brooklyn will be able to create a $3.3MM trade exception from the Kirilenko deal, a league source tells Windrem (Twitter link). The precise value of that exception will probably be $3,326,235, equivalent to Kirilenko’s salary, since the identical minimum salaries of Brandon Davies and Jorge Gutierrez would essentially cancel each other out, but that won’t be entirely clear until after the trade is official.
Knicks teammates Carmelo Anthony and Tim Hardaway Jr. confirmed that they engaged in an argument during last week’s loss to the Nets, but they don’t think it’s emblematic of a rift between the two of them, as a report Wednesday portrayed it to be. Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com has the details.
Anthony also denied that other players are holding him entirely responsible for the team’s struggles, and he also says that he and the other Knicks players don’t harbor doubts about the triangle offense, as Begley relays in the same piece.

Eastern Notes: Payne, Nets, Raptors

December 9th, 2014 at 8:42pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Hawks re-assigned Adreian Payne to the D-League on Sunday night, but instead of heading to Fort Wayne, the rookie was sent to the Austin Toros, the Spurs’ affiliate instead, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. This was due to the maximum allowance of four NBA players already being on assignment to the Mad Ants at the time, though three of those players were recalled Monday, Vivlamore notes. In his two previous stints with Fort Wayne, Payne has appeared in a total of six games, averaging 13.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 31.3 minutes per contest.

Here’s more from the East:

This flexible assignment to Austin for Payne actually works in his and Atlanta’s favor since Austin runs a very similar system to the one the Hawks use, Vivlamore adds. “It’s not the same system that we run here [Atlanta],” Payne said of his previous assignments in Fort Wayne. “It’s different. It’s just like coming from college when you learn a different system.”
With the Nets reportedly willing to trade Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson, Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) runs down which teams would be the best fit for each. Doolittle opines that Williams would look good in a Pacers uniform, the Lakers would suit Lopez just fine, and Johnson could fit in with the Pelicans.
The Raptors have no intention of utilizing the remaining $4,583,432 of the trade exception they created from the Rudy Gay trade, which expires tonight, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets.
If the Nets do indeed trade Andrei Kirilenko to the Sixers for a player with a non-guaranteed contract, Brooklyn would be able to create a trade exception worth $3.3MM, Robert Windrem of Nets Daily reports (Twitter link).

Nets, Sixers Revisit Andrei Kirilenko Talks

December 9th, 2014 at 3:47pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:47pm: It could be months before Kirilenko will be prepared to sign a deal with another team should the Nets trade him and the Sixers waive him, Wojnarowski writes in a full story. The Nets would probably receive a player on a non-guaranteed contract if they and the Sixers were to agree to a trade, though that remains a matter of discussion, the Yahoo! Scribe adds. Wojnarowski implies that the Nets are the team that’s making the harder push to complete the deal, though that’s just my interpretation.

2:55pm: The Nets and Sixers are again trying to come to terms on a deal that would send Andrei Kirilenko to Philadelphia, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The Nets would give up a second-round pick as a sweetener, Wojnarowski says in a second tweet, though it’s unclear what Philly would relinquish. The Sixers would waive Kirilenko and his guaranteed salary, worth more than $3.3MM, if they were to acquire him, Wojnarowski adds, mirroring last month’s report from Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com, who originally reported the talks. Such an exchange would save Brooklyn nearly $12MM in salary and tax payments, assuming the Nets don’t take a guaranteed salary back in return, Wojnarowski notes (Twitter link).

A family matter involving Kirilenko’s wife was to have made any deal unlikely until the February trade deadline drew closer, as Wojnarowski reported a little more than a week ago. However, Wojnarowski’s latest dispatch and another recent rumor dredging up talk that the Jazz were in play for the 33-year-old seem to indicate that there’s momentum for a deal to happen soon. The discussions with Philadelphia, which Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com originally reported last month, represent Brooklyn’s only deal in the works at the moment, Wojnarowski adds. That’s in spite of the Jazz rumor and today’s report indicating that the Nets are willing to trade Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson.

Talks between the club never truly appeared to cease, as Wojnarowski wrote earlier this month, though it appeared at that point that they no longer involved Sergey Karasev, who was involved in the discussions that Youngmisuk reported in November. Reports have indicated that the Cavs and Clippers also hold interest in Kirilenko. He received limited playing time early in the season and hasn’t appeared in a game since November 13th, though he’s returned to practice with the club after an absence of a few days, apparently to deal with the family issue. He doesn’t join the team for road trips, however. The Nets have reportedly been seeking a defensive-minded wing player for a while, so it’s somewhat odd that they would be anxious to unload Kirilenko, who’s made his mark primarily on the defensive end over the course of his career.

Jazz Enter Andrei Kirilenko Trade Picture?

December 5th, 2014 at 6:24pm CST by Chuck Myron

DECEMBER 5th, 6:24pm: Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (Twitter link) reports that league sources have informed him that it is “very possible” the Jazz will acquire Kirilenko in exchange for Evans and Murry when the players are eligible to be dealt on December 15th. The Russian forward had returned to the Nets on December 1st after leaving the team to deal with an undisclosed family matter back in New York. This absence clouded the trade talk surrounding Kirilenko, since teams were unsure if he would be willing and able to report to them in the event of a deal.

4:22pm: A source tells the Nets Daily scribe that the Nets and the Jazz haven’t spoken about Kirilenko, and a second source also casts doubt on Stein’s report, Windrem also writes.

NOVEMBER 24th, 8:37am: One of the options in play for the Nets should they opt to trade Andrei Kirilenko would be swapping him to the Jazz for Toure’ Murry and Jeremy Evans, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Such a deal couldn’t take place until December 15th at the earliest, because Murry signed with Utah in the offseason. The Utah possibility advances the notion that the Sixers aren’t the only team in the mix for the 33-year-old Russian-born forward. Reports Friday indicated that preliminary talks had taken place between Brooklyn and Philadelphia, but little progress has taken place in those discussions, according to Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com.

Nets swingman Sergey Karasev was also a part of the conversation involving the Sixers, but Stein didn’t mention him with regard to the Jazz. The Russian ownership of the Nets is enamored with Karasev, who like Kirilenko hails from their country, writes Robert Windrem of Nets Daily. That’s a sentiment apparently shared by others around the league, as an NBA front office source suggested to Lynam that the Nets would probably be able receive a future first-round pick for Karasev, while another told her that Brooklyn was more likely to merit two future second-rounders for him. The Nets are on the lookout for draft picks and are unlikely to relinquish the ones they already have, particularly their first-round picks, according to Windrem, and teams are offering picks for Kirilenko, Windrem writes in a separate piece. The Cavs are reportedly sniffing around Kirilenko, but it’s not clear if they’re among those putting picks on the table.

Murry has been on D-League assignment since November 13th, averaging 14.5 points in 30.3 minutes per game for the Idaho Stampede. The second-year guard has yet to play in a game for Utah after spending last season with the Knicks and signing with the Jazz in the offseason for two years and $2MM, with only $250K of this year’s $1MM guaranteed. Evans, a combo forward, is in his fifth NBA season, all of which have been with the Jazz, and he has seen just 13 minutes of action across five appearances for Utah so far this year. He’s making nearly $1.795MM in fully guaranteed salary in the final season of a three-year contract.

Kirilenko makes more than $3.326MM in fully guaranteed salary this season on an expiring deal, so the structure of the possible Utah swap would be a money-saver for the Nets in raw salary as well as luxury tax. He makes about $531K more than Murry and Evans combined, and the Nets could save more if they cut Murry after they traded for him. Murry will have earned more than his $250K partial guarantee by December 15th, but the Nets could still save about $712K of his $1MM salary. Brooklyn would have to drop a player to accommodate such a deal with Utah, since they’re at the 15-man roster limit, as our roster counts show. It’s unclear if the Jazz, Kirilenko’s original team, would waive him after acquiring him as the Sixers would reportedly be likely to do.