Caron Butler Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Kings Waive Caron Butler, Duje Dukan

July 4th, 2016 at 4:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings have waived small forward Caron Butler and power forward Duje Dukan, sources told Shams Charania of The Vertical.

That frees up more roster space, though Butler had already exercised his player option worth $1,551,659 for next season. Deleting Dukan from the roster gives them a little more cap room, since Dukan’s $874,636 contract was not guaranteed.

Butler might have trouble finding a new team if he doesn’t retire, though Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical believes the Heat might have some interest. The Kings obviously would have moved his contract if they could have found a taker. The 36-year-old barely saw the floor during the 2015/16 season, playing a total of 176 minutes in 17 games for the Kings. Most of his absences were primarily the result of DNP-CDs.

Dukan signed with the Kings after going undrafted last June. The University of Wisconsin product spent most of the season with the Kings’ D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, before appearing in one April game with Sacramento. Dukan can still play on the Kings’ summer team even though he’s been waived, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee notes.

Caron Butler Exercises Player Option With Kings

June 21st, 2016 at 10:43am CST by Luke Adams

Veteran small forward Caron Butler has exercised his player option for the 2016/17 season, locking in his contract with the Kings for one more year, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter). The option is worth $1,551,659.

As our list of player option decisions for this year shows, Butler is only the second player who has decided to pick up his option rather than testing the free agent market, joining Cavaliers guard Mo Williams. Considering Butler’s option is only worth the minimum salary, it’s a little surprising he would opt in, but perhaps he figured he’s better off taking that guaranteed money rather than trying to find another team willing to sign him for the minimum.

Butler, who initially entered the NBA as the 10th overall pick in the 2002 draft, barely saw the floor during the 2015/16 season, playing a total of 176 minutes in 17 games for the Kings. Although he was briefly nagged by an ankle problem early in the year, his absences from games were primarily the result of DNP-CDs.

Sacramento reportedly tried to find a trade partner during the season to give Butler an opportunity to play more elsewhere, but ultimately kept him on the roster. The team may again attempt to include the 36-year-old in a deal this offseason — moving his minimum salary shouldn’t be too difficult, assuming there are any teams with interest.

With Butler’s minimum contract now on the books for the 2016/17 season, the Kings are carrying nearly $63MM in guaranteed salary, which doesn’t include the cap hold for their first-round pick. The salary cap is projected to increase to about $94MM.

Pacific Notes: Griffin, Scott, Butler, Booker

February 17th, 2016 at 11:06am CST by Chuck Myron

Blake Griffin apologized profusely as he spoke with reporters Tuesday about what he said was “poor judgment” on his part in an incident with Clippers assistant equipment manager Matias Testi that left Griffin with a broken hand, according to Dan Woike of the Orange County Register. Coach/executive Doc Rivers reiterated that he has no intention of trading Griffin, as Woike relays, but Rivers made no secret of the profound effect the situation has had.

“Your actions have consequences, and it doesn’t take long. You can have a bad minute or two minutes, and it changes everything,” Rivers said, as Woike notes. “And it has. This changes a lot of stuff for our team. I think that’s the lesson here.”

It’s still not completely clear when Griffin will return to play, and the Clippers have reportedly had serious talks with the Magic about acquiring fellow big man Channing Frye. See more from around the Pacific Division:

Some within the Lakers are thinking about how Byron Scott would perform as coach if he had more talent, while others ponder just how effective his hard-line approach with the team’s young players has been, according to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, who writes that the team seems torn about whether to keep the coach for next season. The Lakers are committed to him through season’s end, and while he also has a guaranteed salary for next season, too, his job security beyond this spring is in jeopardy, as the Lakers haven’t been reluctant to eat coaching salaries in the recent past, Bresnahan notes.
Caron Butler is a prime buyout candidate, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. The Kings reportedly promised to trade him in December, but he’s still with Sacramento.
It’s been a forgettable season in Phoenix, but Devin Booker, whom the Suns drafted 13th overall this past June, gives the team reason for optimism, as Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders examines.

Pacific Notes: Rondo, Butler, Barnes, Ezeli

January 11th, 2016 at 5:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Rajon Rondo has earned the complete trust of DeMarcus Cousins, which is no easy task, TNT’s David Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Rondo, who’s on a one-year, $9.5MM contract, is “the most unselfish player I’ve ever played with,” Cousins told Aldridge. Rondo said to Aldridge that he signed with the Kings in part to mentor the center, adding that he’s wanted to play with Cousins for the past four or five years. It’s all cast against the backdrop of a Sacramento team that’s just two games out of a playoff spot, and the presence of Caron Butler has had much to do with the team’s improvement, Rondo contends. The Kings reportedly promised to trade Butler last month, but he’s still with the team. See more from the Pacific Division:

Warriors assistant GM Kirk Lacob, the son of co-owner Joe Lacob, hinted at the team’s willingness to pay whatever it takes to re-sign Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli in restricted free agency this summer as he spoke in a recent radio appearance on 95.7 FM The Game’s “NBA This Week” show. Host Matt Steinmetz has the transcription. “Both those guys are a part of the core,” Lacob said in part. “Hopefully we’ll have this team for a number of years to come. If it costs a lot of money, it’s going to cost a lot of money. It probably will. A lot of our players have come up in free agency the last year or two and if they continue to perform we’re going to continue to pay them. We’re 34-2 [now 35-2], we’re trying to get a second championship here. There’s a lot of room for improvement of course, but there’s a lot of power to continuity.”
Numbers suggest that Julius Randle is on track to have a career similar to that of Drew Gooden, a sign that he’s not on the path to stardom the Lakers hoped for him, writes Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com in an Insider-only piece co-authored with Chad Ford. D’Angelo Russell is the only one among the Lakers’ young players who has a strong chance to become an above-average starter, Pelton contends.
The Lakers have recalled Tarik Black and Ryan Kelly from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). They went down to the D-Fenders together on Friday. Black averaged 11.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in two D-League games this weekend, while Kelly posted averages of 26.0 points and 6.5 boards a night.

Central Notes: Pachulia, Jackson, Butler

December 29th, 2015 at 4:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Zaza Pachulia had mixed feelings when the Bucks dealt him to the Mavericks during the offseason but he wound up in a better situation, Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes. Pachulia has thrived with his new club, while Milwaukee has floundered without his leadership on and off the court, Gardner continues. “I really was sad to leave all that we were doing last year,” Pachulia told Gardner. “I had such a great relationship with these guys and the coaching staff. … I remember how sad they [Bucks players] were when they heard I got traded. I was making the game easier for them. So I was thinking I was doing something right.” Pachulia would have backed up the Bucks’ prized free agent, Greg Monroe, at center but has emerged as a starter with Dallas, averaging a double-double, Gardner adds.

In other news around the Central Division:

Point guard Reggie Jackson came to the Pistons during the trade deadline last season with questions about his character after complaining about his role with the Thunder. That didn’t give Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy any concerns when he made the deal. “You look at Reggie’s situation, there was really nothing bad there,” Van Gundy told the assembled media last week, including Hoops Rumors. “He was a guy that was looking for an opportunity to play more and he was sort of villifed for that. I guess people wanted him to be happy being a backup his entire career.”
Jimmy Butler has put himself in a sticky situation by trying to become the Bulls’ leader with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah still in the locker room, Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com opines. Butler’s power play shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a problem but it remains to be seen how he handles being the team’s best player, Feldman adds. Feldman was commenting on an assertion by ESPN.com’s Nick Friedell during a podcast with Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post that Butler has “really rubbed some people the wrong way ” with his recent actions and that Butler has not earned the trust of his teammates to be their leader.
The Bucks’ interest in veteran small forward Caron Butler is now “on hold,” Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. The Kings had promised to try and trade Butler, who played 78 games for the Pistons last season but has appeared in just nine with Sacramento.

And-Ones: Holmes, D-League, Butler

December 18th, 2015 at 10:26pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kings coach George Karl says that he had spoken with small forward Caron Butler weeks ago about his decreased playing time, and he cited the solid play of Omri Casspi as the primary reason for the change, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee relays in a series of tweets. The coach thinks of Butler as insurance at small forward, and he is aware that the veteran has spoken to team executive Vlade Divac about the situation, Jones notes. Jones also relays that all indications still point to the team trading Butler, as was reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com earlier this week.

Here’s more from around the league:

Lakers camp cut Jonathan Holmes underwent surgery today to repair a torn labrum and he is expected to require approximately five months of recovery time, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays in a series of tweets. Holmes had suffered a dislocated right shoulder during the preseason and as a result Los Angeles will be on the hook for his entire salary of $525,093 for the 2015/16 campaign, not just his partial guarantee of $100K, Pincus notes. The combo forward is expected to be ready for action in time for summer league play, the Basketball Insiders scribe adds.
Front office officials have been unusually reluctant to talk trades recently because so many teams are so close together in the standings, giving rise to playoff hopes around the league, an NBA GM said to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
The Mavericks have reassigned center Salah Mejri and swingman Justin Anderson to the Texas Legends, their D-League affiliate, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com relays (on Twitter). This will be the fourth jaunt to the D-League on the season for both players.

Kings Looking To Trade Caron Butler

December 16th, 2015 at 7:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Kings have promised small forward Caron Butler that they will trade him in the near future, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). The impetus for a potential trade is to send Butler to a team that can offer him more playing time than he currently receives in Sacramento, Stein adds. A deal is expected to be completed within the next two weeks, and the Bucks have emerged as the likely destination for Butler, according to the ESPN scribe’s sources.

Butler played a half-season for the Bucks back in 2013/14 and was briefly on their roster following this year’s Ersan Ilyasova trade. He is earning $1,499,187 for the season, and his contract includes a player option for 2016/17 worth $1,551,659. It’s unclear who or what Milwaukee would send to Sacramento in return for Butler if a deal were to be agreed upon between the two parties. With Eric Moreland likely to miss significant time after suffering a fracture in his left foot today, the Kings could look to add some depth in the frontcourt, though that is merely my speculation.

The 35-year-old has appeared in just eight contests for Sacramento this season, including one start. He is averaging 2.5 points in 10 minutes per game on 39.1% shooting. His career numbers through 13 NBA campaigns are 14.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists. His slash line is .434/.349/.847.

Pacific Notes: Rondo, Butler, Kobe, Dawson, Wilcox

December 1st, 2015 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The negative experience he had with the Mavericks left Rajon Rondo “hungrier” than before, though he never doubted himself, as he told Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Rondo contends the back injury the Mavs said he suffered in the playoffs this past spring, reportedly a ruse that Rondo and the Mavs concocted to allow Rondo to save face, was legitimate, though he admitted to MacMahon that he probably could have played through it. The point guard who signed with the Kings on a one-year deal has “nothing but love” for the Dallas organization, he said to MacMahon, and doesn’t hold a grudge even toward Rick Carlisle, with whom he clashed.

“Every relationship doesn’t work,” Rondo said to MacMahon. “It just didn’t work. No excuses. No pointing the finger at anybody. It made me stronger, made me appreciate just playing the game, especially playing at a high level. I never doubted myself. It just didn’t work. Try to keep staying positive, but things just didn’t work out for the best for either side. And that’s just part of it. Every player, every coach doesn’t always see eye to eye. Every team doesn’t fit every person’s style of play.”

See more out of the Pacific Division here:

Caron Butler grew up in Wisconsin as an admirer of George Karl‘s turn-of-the-century Bucks teams and sees a lot of the rumors surrounding Karl and DeMarcus Cousins as hype, as the Kings small forward told Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times. “Everybody is not going to be comfortable with everything, whether it’s with their roles or whatever,” Butler said. “But if you come together and find the median in it, you can find ways to win. And that’s what’s we’re trying to do and that’s what all NBA teams try to do. Opinions are going to be voiced at times and sometimes they’re well-documented because they come from certain people. I don’t think that’s fair all the time. We had a great team meeting and got things together and have been moving forward ever since.’’
Kobe Bryant‘s accomplishments on the basketball court speak for themselves, but it’s his relentless will that sets him apart, observes Eric Koreen of The National Post.
The Clippers recalled C.J. Wilcox and Branden Dawson from the D-League late Monday, the Suns affiliate announced. Wilcox and Dawson went to Phoenix’s D-League team because the Clippers don’t have an affiliate of their own, and the pair hooked up with the Suns through the league’s flexible assignment system.

Pacific Notes: Rivers, Butler, Russell, Randle

November 23rd, 2015 at 10:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Doc Rivers said the slow start for the Clippers is “on me” and insisted that the team doesn’t have chemistry problems in spite of heated conversation in the locker room after Sunday’s loss, which dropped the team to 6-7, notes Jovan Buha of Fox Sports (All Twitter links). Rivers’ coaching took some criticism from Hoops Rumors readers in Sunday’s Community Shootaround, as did the roster he assembled as the team’s president of basketball operations. Still, it’s early, and the Clippers have had the poor luck of running into the still-unbeaten Warriors twice so far this season. See more from around the Pacific Division:

Caron Butler credits the team meeting the Kings had amid the tumult and rumors after they started 1-7 for sparking the club to a 4-2 record since, reports Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. “Behind closed doors we addressed some things and we came together. Because of that, we’re playing great basketball right now,” Butler said. “It’s about camaraderie; when things go bad, you figure it out. Whatever it is, you figure it out and you move forward, and that’s what we did.”
Butler has been a free agent four times, but he hasn’t returned to the Lakers since the team traded him away in 2005. Still, he considers Kobe Bryant a “brother for life” and remains in contact with his long-ago Lakers teammate, as he details to Pincus for the same piece. “Being up under the wing of Kobe Bryant and the relationship that we built over that time, I learned a lot about the game of basketball,” Butler said. “I took the things that I learned from him, and that’s why I had the success that I had in my career.”
Lakers coach Byron Scott is urging patience with top-10 picks D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle, pointing to the end of next season, notes Janis Carr of the Orange County Register. The Lakers are under pressure to win in the near future, as Jeanie Buss is holding brother Jim Buss to three-year timeline for a return to contention. “With D’Angelo, it might be sometime toward the end of next season where he says, ‘Man, I’m starting to get it.’ Same thing with Julius. We’re going to just be patient and keep working them the way we’ve been working them and try to bring them along,” Scott said.

Vlade Divac Denies Asking Players If Karl Should Go

November 12th, 2015 at 6:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

6:45pm: Divac said the idea he asked the players if they wanted Karl fired is a misconception, notes Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee.

“You guys make my job hard,” Divac said to reporters. “There is partial truth to a lot of what has been reported, but much of it was off. First of all, I never asked the players if I should fire Coach or said I was thinking of doing that. I walked into the locker room after [Monday’s] game and said, ‘OK, you guys don’t want to play with Coach? What’s the problem?’ I wanted to catch them by surprise a little bit and get them to talk openly about what was going on. Then the coaches came in, and we talked some more. I think it was very positive for everyone.”

THURSDAY, 10:15am: A league source who spoke with Ken Berger of CBSSports.com disputes the idea that Divac asked Kings players if the team should get rid of Karl, though he doesn’t mention Bratz’s involvement. We have more on the Kings drama right here.

6:43pm: Divac answered affirmatively when Marc J. Spears asked him if Karl’s job is safe (Twitter link).

“Yeah,” Divac said. “Yeah. Nothing has changed, really. 1-7, we all know we’re better.”

The blame for Cousins’ tirade doesn’t rest on Karl’s shoulders, Divac also told Spears, who earlier passed on a statement from Cousins apologizing for his outburst (All four Twitter links). Divac wouldn’t say whether the team is disciplining Cousins in any way for the tirade, Spears notes (Twitter link).

“Most important thing we had after the meeting was we were on the same page, bottom line, on how to improve. That’s positive stuff,” Divac said.

5:36pm: Karl wanted to suspend Cousins for two games after the center’s Monday night verbal tirade, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee relays. According to Jones, Divac told the coach that he did not have authority to suspend Cousins, and Divac refused to grant Karl permission to impose the suspension.

3:15pm: Karl is indeed in jeopardy of losing his job as soon as this week, USA Today’s Sam Amick reports. Meanwhile, owners who have minority shares in the Kings are more frustrated than ever with Ranadive in large measure because he isn’t consulting with them on decisions, Amick hears from a source.

WEDNESDAY, 2:46pm: Kings vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac and assistant GM Mike Bratz asked players during Tuesday’s team meeting whether they thought he should fire coach George Karl, reports Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead. The players weren’t sure how to respond, McIntyre adds, though Caron Butler said after the meeting that the players are behind the coach. DeMarcus Cousins verbally lit into Karl after Monday’s loss to the Spurs, though he later felt a level of regret about having done so, McIntyre also hears. Divac is under pressure as Vivek Ranadive’s interest in hiring John Calipari to both coach the team and run the front office has ramped up in recent months, according to McIntyre.

Cousins asked a couple of teammates if he had been too hard on Karl, who simply walked away at the end of the center’s rant, and they advised him not to “scream and curse” at his coach the way he had, as McIntyre details. Karl and Cousins have had an up-and-down relationship, at best, since Karl took over the team in February, with the two saying over the summer that they had patched up their differences following reports indicating that Karl wanted the team to trade Cousins and had sought to do so. Kings officials are reportedly concerned with Karl’s low energy amid a 1-7 start.

Ben McLemore expressed confusion during Tuesday’s team meeting about his role, though teammates told him it was to hit 3-pointers and defend, and that those are the responsibilities of everyone aside from Cousins and Rajon Rondo, as McIntyre details.

The Kings denied a report over the summer indicating that they had reached out to Calipari at that point, and Calipari has continually maintained that he isn’t interested in returning to the NBA, despite persistent rumors to the contrary. The team’s decisions to draft Willie Cauley-Stein, whom Calipari coached at Kentucky, and sign Rondo, who played at Kentucky before Calipari became coach there, were mostly because of Ranadive’s friendship with Calipari, McIntyre writes.

How do you see the Kings saga playing out? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.