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Lakers Trading Wagner, Bonga, Jones To Wizards; AD Waiving Trade Kicker

June 27th, 2019 at 1:20pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers have found a way to maximize their projected cap room for free agency, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the team is sending Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga, and Jemerrio Jones to the Wizards as part of the Anthony Davis trade. Additionally, Davis has agreed to waive his $4MM trade kicker, per Wojnarowski.

As a result of those developments, the Lakers will be able to generate just over $32MM in cap room based on the projected $109MM cap. That’s more than enough space for a maximum salary for a player with less than seven years of NBA experience ($27.25MM), and puts them in the ballpark of the max for a player in the 7-9 year range ($32.7MM).

Here’s how the Lakers’ moves will work once the July moratorium lifts on July 6:

Prior to completing the Davis deal, the Lakers will have approximately $32MM in cap room after accounting for eight players, the cap hold for the No. 4 pick, and three empty roster charges. The team will use that room in free agency, with ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweeting that L.A. is still considering whether it will commit all that money to a single star or split it up among two or three players.

If the Lakers go after a single star, D’Angelo Russell and Kawhi Leonard are among the presumed targets. According to Wojnarowski, players like Danny Green, Terrence Ross, and Seth Curry could be among the club’s targets if it breaks up its cap space.

Once that space is used up, the Lakers will complete its agreements with the Pelicans and Wizards as part of a single three-way trade. In order to acquire Davis, whose salary is $27,093,018, the Lakers will have to send out at least $21,594,415 in total to meet salary-matching requirements as an over-the-cap team. They’ll do so with the following contracts:

To Pelicans:
- Lonzo Ball ($8,719,320)
- Brandon Ingram ($7,265,485)
- Josh Hart ($1,934,160)
To Wizards:
- Moritz Wagner ($2,063,520)
- Isaac Bonga ($1,416,852)
- Jemerrio Jones

Jones’ salary is non-guaranteed, which means it currently counts for $0 for salary-matching purposes. Without it, the Lakers would fall just under $200K shy of the salary they need, since the unsigned No. 4 pick would also count for $0 for matching purposes (draftees who sign rookie contracts can be used for salary matching, but can’t be traded for 30 days). As such, according to Marks (via Twitter), Jones’ salary will be partially guaranteed for $199K, allowing the Lakers to meet the necessary outgoing-salary threshold.

The Wizards, who will use trade exceptions to take on the incoming players, will also receive the Lakers’ 2022 second-round pick, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. In order to officially make it a three-team deal – and to incentivize the Pelicans to sign off – Washington will send $1.1MM in cash to New Orleans, tweets Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. That’s the minimum amount necessary to satisfy the “touch” rules in a three-team trade, tweets Marks.

While the Lakers’ motivation for the deal is obvious, it’s not a bad arrangement for the Wizards either. As an over-the-cap team, Washington didn’t have many other avenues to add talent this offseason, and have several rotation players facing free agency.

The Wizards will now get a chance to take fliers on Wagner and Bonga while also picking up a future second-round pick. They had interest in Wagner leading up to the 2018 draft, according to Wojnarowski, who tweets that the big man will get an opportunity in D.C.

In other Davis-related news, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports that LeBron James has agreed to give up his uniform number (No. 23) to AD in an effort to make the big man as comfortable as possible in Los Angeles. Davis is “extremely grateful,” Haynes adds. It’s not clear yet which number James will wear in 2019/20, but he was No. 6 during his years with the Heat.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Knicks Notes: Free Agency, Fine, Iguodala, Kings Trade

June 24th, 2019 at 6:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks are hoping to land at least one of the marquee free agents — Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard or Kyrie Irving — but if they come up short, they won’t eat up their cap space with multi-year contracts, Ian Begley of SNY TV reports. They don’t want to take on a bad contract in order to accumulate more assets. It’s uncertain if they’d trade for a player with a big contract in his walk year.

Instead, they will most likely sign free agents to one-year deals, much like the Lakers did last summer after LeBron James committed to them, in order to retain cap flexibility. The New York Daily News’ Stefan Bondy reiterates that sentiment, adding that the Knicks could shift gears and go after Anthony Davis, DeMar DeRozan, Draymond Green, Ben Simmons and Pascal Siakam next summer.

We have more on the Knicks:

The team was fined $50K by the league for violating rules regarding equal access for media, according to a league press release. The Knicks did not allow Bondy access to their post-draft press conference on Friday while allowing all other credentialed media who cover the team to attend. The organization has agreed to comply with media access rules in the future.
Warriors forward Andre Iguodala took a jab at the organization and its pursuit of major free agents, including his teammate Durant, Ethan Sears of the New York Post relays. In an interview with CNBC, Iguodala said, “Nobody’s gonna sign with the Knicks, sorry.”
The Knicks gave up $1MM in cash along with the No. 55 pick to the Kings on Thursday, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. New York moved up to the No. 47 spot and chose University of Michigan forward Ignas Brazdeikis. The Kings selected Virginia’s Kyle Guy.

Anthony Davis Trade Likely To Become Official July 6

June 20th, 2019 at 7:11pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pelicans’ decision to move the No. 4 pick to the Hawks today makes it likely that the Anthony Davis trade to the Lakers will be finalized on July 6, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The Lakers emerged from the lottery with the No. 4 pick and agreed to trade it to the Pelicans as part of the Davis deal. New Orleans reached an agreement to forward the pick to the Hawks just prior to the draft.

Lakers GM Rob Pelinka and the Pelicans’ top executive, David Griffin, agreed that if a third team was looped into the Davis trade, the teams would make the deal official on July 6.

The Davis deal could theoretically be delayed until July 30, as newly-drafted players can’t be dealt for 30 days after signing a contract. Waiting those 30 days would be advantageous to the Lakers for cap-related reasons. However, it would have been unrealistic for the Lakers to expect the Pelicans and Hawks to wait that long to bring in those traded players.

Pelinka was already on board with making the trade official on July 6 before New Orleans came to an agreement with Atlanta, according to Wojnarowski.

Thus, the Lakers won’t be able to count the No. 4 pick’s salary slot for salary-matching purposes in the AD trade. In order to maximize their cap room, they’ll have to use the cap room first by signing free agents, then make the Davis deal as an over-the-cap team under salary-matching guidelines.

The Lakers are offering the contracts of Moritz Wagner, Jemerrio Jones, and Isaac Bonga to teams as part of the Davis deal in order to make the salaries match up. The Hawks don’t necessarily have to be part of the Davis deal, since the Pelicans could make that trade separately after the trade with the Lakers becomes official.

Davis could also waive most or all of his $4MM trade bonus, something that he’s not necessarily expected to do. In a scenario where the Lakers get Davis to agree and find a taker for each of the three aforementioned players as part of a larger AD deal, Los Angeles could have roughly $32MM in cap space.

Pelicans Select Zion Williamson With Top Pick

June 20th, 2019 at 6:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Zion Williamson‘s ascension as the top prospect in the draft became official when the Pelicans selected him with the No. 1 pick on Thursday night.

Williamson has been regarded as the best player in the draft since early in his lone college season at Duke. He’s the most highly touted prospect to enter the league in several years and with good reason. Williamson often looking like a man against boys with the Blue Devils, averaging 22.6 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 2.1 APG, 2.1 SPG and 1.8 BPG in 30.0 MPG over 33 games.

He had a minor setback late in the season when his shoe infamously came apart against arch-rival North Carolina on February 20. He suffered a knee injury but returned to action in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

With the impending trade of franchise player Anthony Davis to the Lakers, Williamson will immediately become the face of the New Orleans franchise. He’ll join a mostly young core that includes Jrue Holiday and three players in the agreed-upon deal with the Lakers, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and Brandon Ingram.

Under the rookie scale wage, Williamson can earn a max of $9,744,840 in his first year, according to RealGM. The base salary for the top pick is $8.12MM but players can receive up to 120% of the scale salary.

Williamson is the first Blue Devil selected with the top pick since Kyrie Irving in 2011. Prior to that, a Duke player hadn’t been taken with the No. 1 pick since Elton Brand in 1999.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Western Notes: Rockets, No. 4, Davis, Holiday

June 20th, 2019 at 2:49pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Houston intends to aggressively pursue Jimmy Butler in free agency and Kelly Iko of The Athletic hears that the Rockets will be just as determined to land Butler now as they were in prior to Minnesota dealing him to the Sixers. GM Daryl Morey reportedly offered four first-round picks in exchange for Butler during the season.

It’s no secret that the Rockets are looking to shake up their roster this offseason. They continue to discuss trades involving Clint Capela, and Iko hears that they’ve discussed sending him to the Pelicans for the No. 4 overall pick. In that scenario, Houston would look to insert that pick into a package in order to land another player.

Here’s more from Houston and rest of the Western Conference:

The Rockets had interested in trading for Anthony Davis and reached out to the Pelicans prior to New Orleans making the deal with the Lakers. Houston was aware that it wasn’t high on Davis’ preferences and that a trade was not likely to happen.
The Lakers could have asked Davis if he’d waive his trade bonus of roughly $4.1MM in order to make salary-matching easier, but they never broached it during negotiations, league sources tell Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck. Los Angeles is still attempting to maximize its cap room for an additional star after agreeing to the Davis deal.
Several NBA executives are skeptical that the Lakers can build a title-winning team around Davis and LeBron James after the haul they just gave up, Beck relays in the same piece. “[The] Lakers overpaid by a significant margin, given the conditions,” one executive said, adding, “Never let your GM be in a spot where he needs to make a trade to save his job.”
The Suns are not interested in Aaron Holiday, Phoenix-based radio host John Gambadoro tweets. J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star identified the Suns as one of a handful of teams that has interest in acquiring the Pacers point guard, mentioning the Timberwolves, Bulls, and Hawks as well.

Knicks Rumors: Paul, Davis, Free Agency, Ntilikina

June 19th, 2019 at 2:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Conflicting reports on the dynamics between Chris Paul and James Harden surfaced on Tuesday, with one report describing their relationship as “unsalvagable,” while GM Daryl Morey declared that everything is fine in Houston.

Regardless on exactly where things stand, the Rockets may be stuck with the pairing for the foreseeable future. There’s “not a team in the league” that’s eager to trade for Paul, Shams Charania of The Athletic said on a recent radio appearance (h/t E.Jay Zarett of Sporting News). The veteran point guard will make approximately $38.5MM next season, $41.4MM in 2020/21, and just over $44.2MM on a 2021/22 player option.

“Even some teams that they’ve called, I’m told, as just a [salary] dump, like, ‘We’ll give you Chris Paul for free,’ those teams are like ‘We’re good,'” Charania said (video link). “So the value just is not there right now.”

The Knicks are apparently one team that has passed on the idea of taking on Paul, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who reports that the Rockets recently explored the idea of trading CP3 into New York’s cap space. The Knicks rebuffed that offer, per O’Connor.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

Before the Pelicans agreed to trade Anthony Davis to the Lakers, the Knicks “made overtures” for Davis to join them as a free agent in 2020, a league source tells Howard Beck of Bleacher Report. New Orleans wasn’t believed to be fond of the Knicks’ assets, and New York recognized the futility of trying to acquire AD via trade, Beck notes.
In a follow-up tweet, Beck wonders if the Knicks’ efforts imply that they don’t expect to land two stars in free agency this summer — the team almost certainly wouldn’t have cap room for Davis in 2020 if two free agents sign max deals this summer.
Marc Berman of The New York Post, who has previously reported that the Knicks are expected to explore trading Frank Ntilikina for a draft pick, reiterates that the club is “extremely open” to such a deal. New York is still hoping to land a late first-round pick or an early second-rounder for Ntilikina, says Berman.

Chris Crouse contributed to this post.

Lakers Looking To Move Additional Players In Anthony Davis Deal

June 18th, 2019 at 7:40pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Lakers are trying to expand the Anthony Davis trade in order to carve out maximum salary room, sources tell ESPN duo Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Los Angeles is offering the contracts of Moritz Wagner, Jemerrio Jones, and Isaac Bonga to teams as part of the Davis deal in order to make cap room.

The Lakers would likely still need Davis to waive most or all of his trade bonus, something that he’s not necessarily expected to do. In a scenario where the Lakers get Davis to agree and find a taker for each of the three aforementioned players as part of a larger AD deal, Los Angeles would be looking at roughly $32MM in cap space. The Lakers would use the cap space before officially completing the Davis deal.

Players like Jimmy Butler and Kemba Walker are eligible to receive a projected $32.7MM starting annual salary on a max deal. Under the projected $109MM salary cap, the Lakers will likely need a third star to make a slight financial sacrifice regardless of any additional moves, as I previously detailed.

Western Notes: Lakers, Barnes, Rockets, Belinelli

June 18th, 2019 at 3:15pm CST by Luke Adams

Two major factors related to the Anthony Davis deal will contribute to how much cap room the Lakers have available in free agency this summer. One is the timing of the trade’s completion, while the other is Davis’ trade bonus.

While we don’t yet have definitive word on when the Lakers and Pelicans will finalize the AD blockbuster, early reports suggest it will likely happen on July 6, which would cut into L.A.’s projected cap space by several million dollars. If Davis chooses not to waive his trade bonus, that would reduce the Lakers’ flexibility by about another $4MM, and ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne views that as the most likely scenario, as she said on The Jump on Monday (video link).

“My understanding is he doesn’t intend to waive that [bonus],” Shelburne said. “He’s due the $4MM and he’s going to keep it.”

Shelburne acknowledges that “things could change” before the deal is officially completed, but if the Lakers finalize the trade on July 6 and Davis gets his $4MM trade bonus, it would leave L.A. with about $23.7MM in cap room, not nearly enough for a maximum-salary contract.

Let’s round up a few more notes and updates from around the Western Conference…

While Harrison Barnes will turn down his $25MM+ player option for the 2019/20 season, the Kings are confident they’ll be able to keep Barnes in the mix with a new long-term contract, a source tells James Ham of NBC Sports California.
Kelly Iko of the Athletic examines and downplays the rumors of discord between Rockets stars James Harden and Chris Paul. “If it’s the middle of September and issues aren’t resolved, then that would be different, but it’s not,” a team source told Iko. “Chris and James want to win a championship.”
After Spurs assistant Ettore Messina accepted a job running Olimpia Milano as their president and head coach, veteran guard Marco Belinelli was asked if he’d consider joining Messina in Italy, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays. Belinelli didn’t rule out the possibility down the road, but said he’d like to sign at least one more NBA contract after his deal with San Antonio expires in 2020.
Tony Jones and Omari Sankofa II of The Athletic dig into whether there’s a match for a Mike Conley trade between the Jazz and Grizzlies.

Latest From Charania: Davis, Beal, Irving, Conley, Suns

June 17th, 2019 at 3:16pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks discussed a trade package for Anthony Davis that included Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith, Thursday’s No. 3 overall pick and other draft compensation, but they never fully offered forward Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports. The Pelicans weren’t particularly high on either Knox or Robinson anyway but the Knicks were reluctant to jeopardize their future flexibility because they weren’t convinced Davis would re-sign with them.

Contrary to other reports, the Celtics were open to discussing Jayson Tatum and the future first-rounder owed by the Grizzlies in a trade package for Davis but didn’t want to part with both of those assets, Charania continues. Boston’s unwillingness to give up multiple major assets tipped the scale in the Lakers’ favor. The Nets also made a bid, Charania adds, but the Pelicans weren’t enamored with their available assets, especially since the Nets couldn’t include restricted free agent D’Angelo Russell.

Here are more highlights from Charania:

The Rockets were willing to get involved in three-team scenarios in Davis trade talks with Clint Capela being dangled.
The Pelicans are monitoring the Wizards’ interest in trading All-Star guard Bradley Beal.
The Celtics and impending free agent Kyrie Irving will meet soon, possibly before the draft, to discuss his future with the organization.
The Grizzlies have ramped up trade talks involving point guard Mike Conley. The Jazz are the leading contenders for Conley’s services.
The Suns have discussed moving the No. 6 pick, as well as forwards T.J. Warren and Josh Jackson, in separate trade packages.

Rockets Plan To Keep Spending, Add Another Top Player

June 17th, 2019 at 1:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Rockets are planning to keep their starting five intact and will attempt to “add a third star or a top mid-level player to our core,” GM Daryl Morey said in an ESPN Radio interview on Monday.

Reports surfaced late last month after the Rockets were eliminated by the Warriors during the conference semifinals that Morey had made available everyone on his roster with the possible exception of James Harden. Morey declared on the Golic & Wingo show that he plans to keep the core group of Harden, Chris Paul, Clint Capela, P.J. Tucker and Eric Gordon intact while adding another impact player to the mix.

Morey says he’s been given the green light from owner Tilman Fertitta to upgrade the roster, despite major luxury tax issues. The salaries next season for the above five players alone add up to approximately $115MM.

He also believes that with significant injuries to Warriors’ stars Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson and despite the pending trade of Anthony Davis to the Lakers, the Rockets should be considered the Western Conference’s premier team.

“We feel like we should be the favorite in the West, and we’re going to do moves to show people that we should be the favorite in the West, and that’s going to create a little tension when we do that,” Morey said. “But at the end of the day, we’re going to have at least our starting five back, which again most teams are scrambling to keep it together and we’re going to spend mid-level, we’re going to spend into the tax. We’re going to be one of the most expensive rosters, like we were last year and this year, and we’re going to be right there.”

Morey also addressed a few other issues:

He downplayed any disconnect between his superstar guards. An in-depth story from ESPN’s Tim MacMahon detailed the turmoil within the organization, including the tension between their two best players due to the differences in their preferred playing styles and personalities. “Two competitive superstars at that level, there’s going to be times when they are extremely competitive, extremely focused on how do we get to that next level, and when we don’t there’s going to be frustration,” Morey said.
He expressed optimism that the organization will reach a contract extension agreement with coach Mike D’Antoni, who is entering the final year of his deal. D’Antoni’s agent indicated a week ago that there was a lack of progress. “He’s going to be our coach next year. We’re hoping to work things out for the future right now; if we don’t, we’re going to work it out after next season,” Morey said.
He insisted that Paul had not asked for a trade, though his contract would be tough to move anyway. Paul has three years and approximately $124MM remaining on his deal, which includes a player option in the final season.