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Kevin Durant Signs With Warriors

July 7th, 2016 at 3:06pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 7TH: The signing is official, the team announced.

JULY 4TH: After nine years with the franchise, Kevin Durant has decided to leave the Thunder and will join the Warriors. Durant formally announced his decision on Monday morning in a post on The Players’ Tribune. Per ESPN’s Marc Stein (via Twitter), the deal will be a two-year pact worth about $54.3MM, with a player option for that second year.

“The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it based on the potential for my growth as a player — as that has always steered me in the right direction,” Durant wrote. “But I am also at a point in my life where it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man: moving out of my comfort zone to a new city and community which offers the greatest potential for my contribution and personal growth. With this in mind, I have decided that I am going to join the Golden State Warriors.

“It really pains me to know that I will disappoint so many people with this choice, but I believe I am doing what I feel is the right thing at this point in my life and my playing career,” Durant added.

Although the team wasn’t formally allowed to speak to him until this past Friday, the Warriors’ pursuit of Durant has been ongoing for months, with Golden State players remaining in contact with him, as Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical tweets.

Wojnarowski adds that the Warriors sold Durant on the opportunity to win multiple titles together, and to ease Stephen Curry‘s workload. Durant will join a stacked Golden State roster that will feature not just Curry, but Klay Thompson and Draymond Green as well, creating an incredibly imposing “big four” — all four players earned spots on one of the 2016 All-NBA teams earlier this year.

With Durant on the way, the Warriors will need to clear the cap space necessary to sign him to his new contract. The most logical roster move for Golden State looks like a trade of center Andrew Bogut, who is set to earn $12,681,081 in 2016/17. According to Sam Amick of USA Today (via Twitter), at least three teams have expressed interest in acquiring Bogut.

Meanwhile, restricted free agent Harrison Barnes will also be headed elsewhere as a result of the Durant acquisition. The Mavericks are expected to offer Barnes a max deal when the July moratorium ends on Thursday, so Dallas could very well be his next destination. The Warriors may rescind Barnes’ cap hold, allowing him to sign with the Mavs as an unrestricted free agent — per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link), the team is doing just that with Festus Ezeli‘s QO, which will make him a UFA.

Once the Dubs officially get Durant under contract, the team will likely just have the room exception – worth about $3MM – and the minimum-salary exception to fill out its roster. Given the free-agent prices we’ve seen so far this week, that money may not go far, but it’s also entirely possible that veterans seeking a title will want to join the Warriors’ stacked squad and will be willing to take a pay cut to do so.

As for the teams that failed to land Durant, the Thunder are obviously the most interesting case. With Russell Westbrook a year from free agency himself, Oklahoma City may have to seriously consider the possibility of exploring the trade market for Westbrook, rather than risking having him leave for nothing. However, now that they won’t be paying Durant $26MM+ in 2016/17, the Thunder have a little flexibility to try to go out and fortify the roster with another free agent addition, so GM Sam Presti will have some difficult decisions to make.

The Heat, meanwhile, now have the opportunity to mend fences with Dwyane Wade since the team won’t need a huge chunk of cap space for Durant. The Spurs will likely move on to other free agent pursuits — they’re currently considered a frontrunner for Pau Gasol. The Celtics were at least able to add a top-five free agent over the weekend by reaching an agreement with Al Horford, so they’ve improved their roster this week and still have cap room and assets to make additional moves. As for the Clippers, they were informed earlier in the process that they were out of the running for Durant, and have already begun reaching deals with their own free agents, including Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers.

With Durant eligible for an increased maximum salary a year from now, and Curry’s contract also set to expire next summer, the Warriors are on track to finalize a pair of massive contracts in 2017, assuming Durant does indeed sign a long-term deal with the team at that point.

Because Golden State will only have Durant’s Non-Bird rights in 2017, the club will have to make sure it has enough cap room to fit the former MVP’s new max salary (approximately $35MM) next summer, unless he’s willing to take a much more modest raise. For now, keeping that cap room available doesn’t look like it should be a problem for the Warriors, who only have two guaranteed salaries – Thompson’s and Green’s – on the books for 2017/18

With Durant’s decision now official, the rumor mill for the free agent market figures to come back to life — there had been little free-agent news this morning, as the league waited for the star forward to announce his destination.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mavericks Acquire Andrew Bogut From Warriors

July 7th, 2016 at 9:24am CST by Luke Adams

THURSDAY, 9:24am: The Mavericks have formally confirmed in a press release that they’ve acquired Bogut and a future second-round pick in exchange for a conditional future second-rounder.

MONDAY, 6:11pm: The Mavs will receive a conditional 2019 second-round draft choice along with Bogut, a league source told Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

3:37pm: The Mavs are sending a future second-round pick to Golden State as part of the deal, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical.

1:35pm: The Warriors and Mavs are now in agreement on a trade involving Bogut, Stein reports (via Twitter).

1:29pm: The Warriors and Mavericks are in the “final stages” of negotiations on a trade that will send Andrew Bogut to Dallas, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein (Twitter links). There are still some details to be sorted out, but it looks like a deal will get done, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Stein had reported earlier today that the Mavs had emerged as a strong potential suitor for Bogut, in the wake of Kevin Durant‘s agreement with Golden State.

Because the Warriors need to clear cap room, the Mavs won’t be sending back any salary in the proposed deal, and will absorb Bogut into their own cap space. The other parts of the deal aren’t known yet.

Dallas will have to send something to Golden State in the deal, but it could just be a heavily-protected future draft pick or the NBA rights to a previously-drafted player. If draft picks are involved in the swap, I’d expect the Mavs to land the better pick, since they’re essentially doing the Warriors a favor, allowing Golden State to clear the room necessary for Durant.

A former No. 1 overall pick, Bogut remains a solid presence in the middle when he’s healthy. His 5.4 PPG for the Warriors this past season represented a career-low, but he contributed 5.3 RPG and 1.6 BPG to go along with a .627 FG%. Golden State obviously didn’t lean on Bogut for offense, but the team seemed to miss his rim protection and rebounding in the NBA Finals after he went down with a knee injury.

In addition to finalizing a deal for Bogut, the Mavericks are attempting to secure an agreement with Harrison Barnes, and will look to re-sign Dirk Nowitzki, per Wojnarowski.

Meanwhile, with a probable landing spot lined up for Bogut’s $12.68MM salary, the Warriors intend to fully guarantee Shaun Livingston‘s $5.78MM salary for the coming season, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Southwest Notes: Mavs, Beaubois, Duncan, Rockets

July 6th, 2016 at 5:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Unlike a year ago, the Mavericks don’t anticipate any snags before the moratorium is lifted on Thursday, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. Last summer, Dallas looked like a huge winner in free agency before DeAndre Jordan changed his mind and re-signed with the Clippers. This year should feature a lot less drama, as Dallas is expected to finalize a trade sending Jeremy Evans to Indiana before moving on to its committed free agents. The Mavericks will complete deals with Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut and re-sign Deron Williams and Dwight Powell. The team may decide to shed some more salary, with Sefko mentioning backup center JaVale McGee as a possibility.

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

Former Maverick Rodrigue Beaubois will be given a chance to make the roster next season, posts Tim McMahon on ESPN Now. The 28-year-old point guard spent four years in Dallas at the start of the decade, but hasn’t played in the NBA since 2013. He spent this season with Strasbourg in France.
Tim Duncan hasn’t made an official announcement about his future, but Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News notes that his career could end with him being waived by the Spurs. Waiving Duncan and stretching his $6.4MM salary over the next three seasons would not only help San Antonio’s cap situation, it would make sure Duncan gets all the money owed to him. All signs point toward Duncan retiring, but McDonald says if he comes back the Spurs will be able to fit him and new free agent signee Pau Gasol under their cap.
Today’s deal with Nene makes the Rockets‘ battle for roster spots more interesting, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Houston now has 13 players under contract for 2016/17, and must decide by August 1st whether to pick up a $1,015,696 option on reserve point guard Andrew Goudelock. The 27-year-old appeared in just eight games after signing with the Rockets in March when he completed his season in China. Combo forward Michael Beasley is in the same position, but a source told Feigen that Houston intends to keep him. The 13 roster spots don’t include restricted free agent Donatas Motiejunas or second-round draft pick Chinanu Onuaku (Twitter link).
There is “growing skepticism” that Alessandro Gentile will join the Rockets next season, tweets international journalist David Pick. It was reported last month that the Italian wing player, whose rights belong to Houston, was interested in playing for new coach Mike D’Antoni.

Warriors To Rescind Harrison Barnes’ QO

July 4th, 2016 at 12:16pm CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors are set to renounce restricted free agent forward Harrison Barnes, now that Kevin Durant is headed to the Bay Area, reports ESPN’s Marc Stein (Twitter link). Withdrawing their qualifying offer to Barnes would remove his $9,683,495 cap hold from the Warriors’ books, and would make Barnes an unrestricted free agent. We heard earlier today that Golden State will do the same for Festus Ezeli, making him a UFA as well.

[RELATED: Kevin Durant to sign with Warriors]

The Mavericks had been expected to put a four-year, maximum-salary offer sheet for Barnes when the July moratorium comes to an end, and Dallas remains “full steam ahead” on its plans to offer Barnes that contract, according to Stein. Now that he won’t be a restricted free agent, Barnes will be free to sign with the Mavs outright, rather than waiting to see if Golden State would match an offer sheet.

There hasn’t been confirmation yet that Barnes has formally agreed to terms with the Mavericks, so it’s possible that another team – perhaps one that missed out on Durant – that appeals more to Barnes could swoop in to match Dallas’ offer. But it looks for now as if the former seventh overall pick will probably sign with the Mavs later this week.

The Mavericks have also emerged as a strong potential trade destination for Andrew Bogut, per Stein (Twitter links). Golden State will almost certainly have to move Bogut to accommodate Durant’s new deal, and the team would like to send the veteran center to a destination he likes, according to Stein, who adds that Barnes and Bogut are good friends.

One NBA team executive tells Sam Amico of Amico Hoops (Twitter link) that his club previously had interest in Bogut, but is no longer interested in making a trade. “I’m not helping [the Warriors],” the exec said. While that’s a noble stance, there figures to be at least one team willing to acquire Bogut — the trade cost figures to be cheap, and Bogut’s salary isn’t exorbitant compared to what some free agent centers will sign for this week.

Warriors May Seek To Deal Andrew Bogut

June 29th, 2016 at 5:27pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Warriors are growing increasingly frustrated with the unreliability of Andrew Bogut and may look to trade the center this offseason, Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com relays. Golden State may need to clear cap space for a pursuit of unrestricted free agent Kevin Durant and Bogut is the player the team most prefers to part ways with if the need arises, Poole adds. But even if Durant doesn’t join the team, the Warriors may still explore the possibility trading Bogut.

Golden State has grown weary of Bogut’s propensity for injuries, but the team is also not pleased with the production it received from the big man during the postseason when he was on the court, Poole notes. In 52 minutes over the first four games of The Finals, Bogut snagged just 12 rebounds, while Cavs big man Tristan Thompson, who during the same span played 110 minutes, grabbed 37 rebounds and backup center Timofey Mozgov grabbed seven rebounds in 21 minutes, Poole writes. Bogut was sidelined the final two games due to a bone bruise. The team is also displeased with Bogut’s lack of aggressiveness on the offense end, which is something other NBA teams have begun to exploit, according to the scribe.

Bogut, who is entering the final year of his contract, is set to earn $12,681,081 in 2016/17. He appeared in 70 games for the Warriors this season and averaged 5.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 20.7 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .627/1.000/.480.

Pacific Notes: Hornacek, Bogut, Lemon Jr.

May 25th, 2016 at 6:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jeff Hornacek, who is reportedly set to become the Knicks new head coach, was sabotaged during his tenure with the Suns by injuries and a toxic environment created by the trade demands of Markieff Morris, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “There were circumstances around him that caused us to not meet expectations more than his style of coaching or ability to coach,’’ Mark West, Phoenix’s vice president of player relations, told Berman. “If you look at a thin slice of the pie and not the whole body of work, [Knicks president] Phil Jackson is smarter than that. I’m sure he didn’t judge it over Jeff’s career in basketball. He was in a tough spot. It unraveled. We won 48 games his first year, lost some of those players that helped achieve those goals, and it went the other way.”

Discussing what Hornacek has to offer as a coach, West said, “He has a combination of different influences since being in the league — Cotton Fitzsimmons with the up-and-down, run-and-gun the Suns played — and playing for Philly in the East, more grinding, half-court set-it-up. With Utah, it was a blend of both. The best thing about Jeff is incorporating different styles, but he’s better coaching the up-and-down. He’ll morph the team to what they need to do.’’

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Clippers held workouts today for A.J. English (Iona), Gary Payton II (Oregon State), Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Danuel House (Texas A&M), Marshall Plumlee (Duke) and Josh Scott (Colorado), Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times relays (via Twitter).
The Warriors saved $4MM in luxury tax penalties as a result of Andrew Bogut not being named to the NBA’s All-Defensive team, Bobby Marks of The Vertical notes (on Twitter). Golden State’s tax bill for 2015/16 is now $14.9MM and Bogut’s cap hit for next season drops to approximately $11MM, Marks adds.
The Clippers are bringing in point guard Walter Lemon Jr. for their veteran mini-camp, Michael Scotto of Bleacher Report tweets. Lemon Jr. spent last season with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Pacers’ D-League affiliate, averaging 13.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 24.7 minutes per outing.

Western Notes: Curry, Bogut, Snyder, Stotts

May 9th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The announcement of the MVP award will take place in the next few days, sources told Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The sources confirmed the obvious, telling Stein that Stephen Curry was the voters’ choice, but it remains to be seen if he’ll become the first unanimous MVP winner. It’s also unknown whether Curry will be recovered from his sprained right MCL in time to play in Game 4 tonight in Portland. Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Sunday deemed the point guard doubtful, nonetheless adding that Curry will take part in the team’s shootaround today, as Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group relays.

See more from the Western Conference:

Rumors have linked the Warriors to Kevin Durant for months, but it would take a significant roster overhaul to fit a max contract for Durant onto Golden State’s payroll, and Andrew Bogut, one of those whom the team might have to give up to get the former MVP, believes the front office should think twice before disrupting team chemistry. Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group relays that and more from their interview. “Yeah. Look, you hear certain rumors about certain guys in the offseason. It’s unfortunately not up to us; it’s up to management and the owners,” Bogut said. “But for a franchise that hasn’t had a lot of success, to all of a sudden have a lot of success and then try to, you know, break the atom, it can go both ways, and I’ve seen that. It’ll be interesting to see what they do. Sometimes you don’t want to tinker with things that are going well because, as you know, it can go both ways. Sometimes you can get a guy, hey, this can put us over the top. But we feel like we’re at that point. It’s interesting. But there’s a lot of ego that goes into getting certain guys here and some teams want big names. Not just us. Even with good chemistry and a good program, some teams want that big superstar name to draw.”
The Jazz‘s decision to sign coach Quin Snyder to an extension was wise, in part because Gordon Hayward is entering the final season of his contract preceding his ability to opt out in 2017, contends Brad Rock of The Deseret News. The players have bought in, and a coaching change between now and next summer would have given Hayward reason to leave, Rock believes.
The Trail Blazers haven’t had any negotiations about an extension with Terry Stotts, but Game 3 against Golden State served as another reminder why he deserves one and that it won’t be surprising if the extension happens soon after Portland’s postseason is over, posits The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman. “He’s got our trust,” Damian Lillard said. “I think all season long, he’s counted on so many guys, he’s shown his faith in so many guys, and everybody on this team is behind him 100%.”

And-Ones: Young, Russell, Bogut, Draft

March 31st, 2016 at 1:23pm CST by Chuck Myron

A source close to Nick Young tells Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News that D’Angelo Russell hasn’t apologized directly to him, which conflicts with an earlier report that Young had accepted an apology from the rookie for secretly recording his statements about women other than his fiancee. Young chose not to be in the room when Russell apologized to the team as a whole for the incident, Medina hears. Other Lakers teammates indicated through their remarks Wednesday that they’re ready to move past the tension that’s existed since Russell’s recording went public, but Young declined to address the matter beyond a brief statement, as Medina details. “I don’t want to get into my personal life right now,” Young said. “I think it’s best me and D’Angelo handle the situation we have in a private manner outside of the media. I think it’s something we do need to sit down and talk about. That’s about it. What happened is what happened. We have to work on it.”

See more from around the NBA:

Andrew Bogut reiterated recently that he’d like to reach an extension deal with the Warriors in the offseason, reports Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. Bogut becomes eligible to formally sign an extension October 25th, just as the regular season begins. He first spoke publicly of his desire for an extension in December with Sam Amick of USA Today.
Rutgers freshman point guard Corey Sanders will enter the draft without an agent, he announced via Twitter (hat tip to Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com). The lack of an agent allows him to return to college ball if he withdraws by May 25th. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress pegs him as just the 73rd-best freshman prospect, and he’s not listed in Chad Ford’s ESPN Insider rankings.
The Vertical’s Bobby Marks, a former NBA executive, delves into the inner workings of draft promises, a fairly common phenomenon in which a team lets a player know it’ll draft him if he’s available at a certain draft slot. It’s unheard of for teams to renege on promises, and early promises sometimes prompt supposedly long-shot prospects to declare for the draft, knowing the team has their back, as Marks details.

Western Notes: Parsons, Speights, Miller, Harris

March 31st, 2016 at 11:38am CST by Chuck Myron

It’s a long shot, but it’s possible that Chandler Parsons returns to play this season, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban revealed Wednesday, according to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. “If we make a run and get to the second round [of the playoffs], there’s a chance,” Cuban said. The team’s press release that followed the right knee surgery Parsons had last week referred to the procedure as a season-ender, but Chandler shared Cuban’s optimism Wednesday, saying on the team’s television broadcast of Wednesday’s victory over the Knicks that rehab will be a “piece of cake,” as Townsend also relays. Parsons said he’d be in a brace for two or three weeks and made reference to a four-to-six week timetable for his recovery. Still, he laughed when told of Cuban’s remark and said he wouldn’t count on his return at any point in the playoffs, Townsend tweets.

See more from the Western Conference:

Andrew Bogut is bullish on the free agent stock of teammate Harrison Barnes, and the Warriors center also thinks reserve big men Festus Ezeli and Marreese Speights are in line for major paydays when they hit the market this summer, as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group relays. “[Speights has] been absolutely huge for us this season, and someone’s obviously going to give him a lot of money,” said Bogut, who’s under contract through next season. “Hopefully, it’s us.” Speights spoke with Hoops Rumors about his contract year before it began.
The Timberwolves signed Andre Miller, Kevin Garnett and Tayshaun Prince last summer in part to provide veteran assistance for their young core, but Miller nonetheless criticized the Wolves last week on a podcast with The Vertical’s Chris Mannix for relying too heavily on their young players, notes Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Miller bought his way out of Minnesota and signed earlier this month with the Spurs. “There was no way I was going to stay in Minnesota on a team that never had any goals, from what I thought,” Miller said. “I didn’t want to sit there and let this be my last year. There were no expectations in Minnesota with that team and which way they wanted to go. It wasn’t communicated, so I was like, ‘If this is my last year, I can’t go out like this.’ ”
The Nuggets no longer feel an urgency to make an upgrade at two-guard after Gary Harris delivered in what was a vital season for his hopes of securing a long-term starting position, observes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Harris, the 19th pick in the 2014 draft, is under contract for two more years.

Western Notes: Bogut, Duncan, Green, Burks

March 21st, 2016 at 4:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors and Andrew Bogut have a lot of money riding on whether the center earns a spot on the All-Defensive team, according to Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Bogut’s contract states that he must play at least 65 games and become a member of either the first or second All-Defensive team to collect a $1.8MM bonus. If he earns the bonus, Golden State would be on the hook for nearly $4MM in additional tax penalties, bringing the team’s total tax bill to an estimated $18.8MM. Bogut’s cap hit for next season would fall from $12.6MM to $11MM if he doesn’t get the bonus, giving the Warriors an extra $1.6MM to spend over the summer. Bogut needs to play in five more games to satisfy that part of the bonus requirement. Golden State tweeted that he will miss tonight’s contest with a left foot issue, but coach Steve Kerr said Bogut underwent an MRI and isn’t expected to be out long, tweets Ethan Strauss of ESPN.com.

There’s more news from the Western Conference:

At least two other Western teams are also waiting to see if players collect significant bonuses, Marks writes in the same piece. Tim Duncan is due to get an additional $750K once the Spurs reach 62 wins, which will raise his salary for this season to $6MM and push San Antonio’s tax bill from about $3.8MM to $4.9MM. The Clippers can save $1.1MM in luxury taxes relating to a Jeff Green bonus if they fail to reach 56 wins. He will receive $450K if L.A. gets to that victory total.
The Jazz are debating whether to let Alec Burks return to action before the end of the season, writes Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. Burks has been out since breaking his left fibula in December. He has been traveling and working out with the team, but it’s not clear if he’ll be ready before the season is over. “We don’t want to box him in or box ourselves in as far as what makes sense [for Burks’ return],” said coach Quin Snyder. “There’s so many other variables that could be included in that, but it’s certainly possible [he won’t return]. Hopefully, he could be back soon.”