DeAndre Jordan Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Trade Rumors: Clippers, Mavs, Richardson, Lakers

June 29th, 2018 at 7:37am CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers aren’t overly interested in taking back Wesley Matthews in a trade sending DeAndre Jordan to the Mavericks, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times (via Twitter). Los Angeles’ reluctance to accept Matthews makes some sense — while his salary is a little more affordable than Jordan’s, his contract expires at the same time, and the veteran swingman doesn’t really fill a major need for the Clips.

In order to work out a deal with the Clippers, the Mavericks will have to come up with an alternative trade scenario for Jordan, Stein notes. However, if the two sides can’t reach an agreement, that doesn’t necessarily mean Dallas is out of the running for Jordan, since the standout center could always decline his player option and sign with the Mavs as a free agent. If Dallas can work out a trade for Jordan, the team could theoretically preserve a good chunk of its cap room for another signing.

Here are a few more trade-related rumors from around the NBA:

Several teams called the Heat to inquire about Josh Richardson during the draft, but Miami showed no interest in moving him, sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe. If the Heat hope to re-sign Wayne Ellington or use their mid-level exception, they’ll almost certainly have to shed salary, but Richardson isn’t a player the club is willing to lose.
The Suns made Marquese Chriss available in trade talks on draft night, according to Lowe. The ESPN.com scribe adds that the Suns, who are in the market for a point guard this summer, have yet to show any interest in trading for Dennis Schroder of the Hawks.
Multiple sources tell Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post that the Lakers and Nuggets have discussed a trade that would send unwanted salary and a draft pick to Los Angeles. Reports earlier this week indicated that the Lakers were exploring ways to acquire another first-round pick to sweeten a potential offer for Kawhi Leonard.
In a piece for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks examines some of the more intriguing expiring contracts and trade chips around the NBA.

Mavs Looking To Acquire DeAndre Jordan

June 28th, 2018 at 1:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JUNE 28, 1:42pm: Jordan is the Mavericks’ primary target as free agency approaches, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. According to MacMahon, if a trade agreement can’t be reached and the veteran center declines his option, Dallas plans to pursue him aggressively as a free agent. The interest between Jordan and the Mavs is mutual, sources tell MacMahon.

JUNE 27, 9:28pm: The Mavericks are engaged in talks with the Clippers to acquire center DeAndre Jordan this week, sources told Marc Stein of the New York Times.

This is a case of forgive and forget, as Jordan notoriously backed out on a free-agent deal with Dallas during the summer of 2015 to stay in L.A.

Jordan has a Friday night deadline to decide whether to exercise his $24.1MM player option for next season. If he opts in, Dallas can trade for him before free agency begins on Sunday. Swingman Wesley Matthews and his $18.6MM contract would likely be the centerpiece of any offer, according to Stein.

If Jordan opts out, Dallas could pursue him in free agency along with two other centers, unrestricted free agent DeMarcus Cousins and restricted free agent Clint Capela.

The Clippers have granted permission to Jordan and agent Jeff Schwartz to explore trade scenarios with other teams. It’s a similar scenario to All-Star guard Chris Paul opting in with the team and then getting traded to the Rockets last summer.

Dallas passed on drafting a big man last Thursday and instead made a deal with the Hawks for EuroLeague guard Luka Doncic.

Clippers, Wizards Swap Austin Rivers, Marcin Gortat

June 26th, 2018 at 10:29pm CST by clarkcrum

10:29pm: Both teams have now officially announced the trade.

6:29pm: The Clippers are trading guard Austin Rivers to the Wizards in exchange for center Marcin Gortat, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, making it perhaps even more likely that center DeAndre Jordan is on his way out of L.A.

It was reported earlier today that Jordan, who has yet to decide on his 2018/19 player option, is considering exercising his option in order to facilitate a trade to another team, a la former teammate Chris Paul last season. While nothing has been reported officially, it seems odd that the Clippers would trade for Gortat if they have any expectation of keeping Jordan in Los Angeles.

After drafting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson in the lottery last week, Rivers appears to be a casualty of the Clippers’ guard heavy roster moving forward, especially given his price tag of $12.65MM, which is approximately twice the amount that the Clippers will pay their two rookies combined.

Meanwhile, it had already been reported that the Wizards were hoping to move on from Gortat. The Wizards needed a proven reserve guard to give John Wall and Bradley Beal some backup and, as detailed by Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN, to move on from Gortat from a locker room standpoint. As was highly publicized, Gortat and Wall had an inconsistent relationship, culminating in a public social media spat last season.

The Wizards now figure to enter the free agent period this weekend in search of a center. Ian Mahinmi and Jason Smith are currently under contract for next season.

From a salary cap perspective, the salaries of Rivers and Gortat match nicely, with Gortat scheduled to make $13,565,218 next season, only $915,218 more than Rivers. Assuming the swap is made official before the new league year begins on Sunday, the Wizards will create a trade exception worth $957,609, the difference between the two players’ 2017/18 salaries.

The Wizards will also save about $1.4MM in luxury tax penalties by taking on Rivers’ salary in exchange for Gortat’s, as noted by ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Both Rivers and Gortat are in the final year of contracts, and will become unrestricted free agents next summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Southwest Notes: Mavericks, Spurs, Morey, Gasol

June 26th, 2018 at 7:14pm CST by clarkcrum

Despite perhaps winning the 2018 NBA Draft with the selection of some pundits’ top-ranked player, Luka Doncic, Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram doesn’t see the Mavericks making the playoffs next season, writing that Dallas will likely end up picking in the NBA Draft Lottery for a second straight summer in 2019.

The projected lineup of Dennis Smith Jr., the aforementioned rookie Doncic, Harrison Barnes, Dirk Nowitzki and a center-to-be-named-later, while an improvement, is not enough to crack the top eight of Western Conference, in Engel’s opinion, even if that new center is potential free agent DeAndre Jordan or free-agent-to-be DeMarcus Cousins.

Despite the hype surrounding Doncic and his experience playing with professionals overseas, he will still be an NBA rookie next season, and as Mavericks’ president Donnie Nelson puts it, that means “he’s going to get his rear end handed to him.” Add in the fact that Smith Jr. is also still only 20 years old, and you’re left with one of the youngest – albeit most talented – backcourts in the NBA, which is probably not enough in the deep Western Conference.

There’s more from the Southwest Division.

With Danny Green choosing to opt in for the 2018/19 season, the Spurs are situated to be near the projected salary cap line of $101MM at the beginning of free agency, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN. Marks adds that in addition to renouncing free agents Tony Parker and Rudy Gay, the Spurs would also likely need to unload some heftier contracts like those belonging to Green and Pau Gasol in order to create cap room this summer.
Per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, Rockets’ general manager Daryl Morey said the team wasn’t really close to making a deal to move up in last week’s NBA Draft, but that there was an opportunity to move into the No. 20 to No. 25 range.
Pau Gasol is doubtful that the Spurs and Kawhi Leonard can mend their relationship, telling EpDeportes, via Jeff Garcia of Spurs Zone, “I do not know if the situation can be rectified after Kawhi’s request to leave, I do not know if a multi-million dollar offer would fix it, he has not talked to him for a long time, he’s a very reserved player.”

DeAndre Jordan Mulling Opt-In To Facilitate Trade?

June 26th, 2018 at 11:31am CST by Luke Adams

Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, one of several players who has yet to decide on his 2018/19 option, is weighing a number of options in advance of Friday’s deadline, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times (via Twitter). According to Stein, one option Jordan is considering involves exercising his option in order to facilitate a trade to another team.

Opting in to accommodate a trade is what Jordan’s former teammate Chris Paul did a year ago, when the Rockets lacked the cap room to sign CP3 outright. If Jordan is interested in joining an over-the-cap team, he could negotiate an agreement with the Clippers that would see him traded to that new team. However, as was the case last year with the Clippers, Rockets, and Paul, all three parties would have to be on board with the arrangement.

The Mavericks are among the teams with potential trade interest in Jordan, according to Stein, though he adds (via Twitter) that one source describes a Jordan-to-Dallas trade as a “long shot.” As we heard earlier this week, the Mavs appear ready to let bygones be bygones in regard to Jordan’s 2015 free agency debacle. A free agent that summer, Jordan committed to Dallas, then backed out of the agreement to re-sign with the Clippers.

Jordan’s player option for 2018/19 is worth $24,119,025, so if he opts in, that figure would need to be taken into account in trade negotiations — a trade partner would have to either match salaries or have the cap room to accommodate that amount.

If Jordan decides to opt out, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Mavericks Notes: Free Agency, Centers, Doncic

June 24th, 2018 at 8:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks were one of the NBA’s worst rebounding teams in 2017/18, and this year’s draft class featured plenty of quality big men — especially at the top. However, Dallas used its top-five pick on a play-making guard/forward (Luka Doncic, and selected a point guard (Jalen Brunson) with its second-rounder.

As such, it was no surprised that president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson agreed on draft night that the Mavs’ priority in free agency will be finding a center (Twitter link via Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com). Head coach Rick Carlisle echoed that assessment.

“July 1 is right around the corner,” Carlisle said this week, per Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. “We’ll address it. There will be options. This organization with Mark (Cuban) at the helm is always going to be opportunistic and be in a mode to make things happens, when they’re the right kinds of things.

Here’s more on the Mavs:

As Sefko relays, Carlisle is ready to pencil in Doncic as part of the Mavericks’ starting lineup right away, adding that he thinks the No. 3 pick and last year’s lottery choice Dennis Smith Jr. “will complement each other extremely well.”
In a separate article for The Dallas Morning News, Sefko explores which big men might be targets for the Mavericks in the coming days or weeks.
One name on Sefko’s list is DeAndre Jordan, who committed to the Mavs the last time he reached free agency in 2015, only to back out of that agreement and re-sign with the Clippers. Jordan can become a free agent again next weekend, and while it seems unlikely that he’d end up in Dallas, Mike Fisher of 247Sports.com hears from a source that the Mavs wouldn’t avoid the veteran center out of principle.
Dwain Price of Mavs.com takes an extended look at the Mavs’ decision to move up in the draft and nab Doncic, the player the club targeted throughout the pre-draft process. “At one point we thought that there might be a slight chance he could fall to us,” Carlisle said of the Real Madrid star. “But then a couple of days ago it was pretty clear that there was no way that that was going to happen. He’s just too good, and so we made this deal — we moved up.”

DeAndre Jordan Interested In Joining Rockets?

June 7th, 2018 at 11:13pm CST by marksuleymanov

With DeAndre Jordan considering whether to turn down his 2018/19 player option and test free agency this summer, the Rockets are believed to be one of his preferred destinations, sources tell Kelly Iko of Rockets Wire.

One source tells Iko that Jordan spoke to several Rockets players throughout the 2017/18 season to express his interest in playing for his hometown team. The last time he hit free agency in 2015, Jordan agreed to play for the Mavericks, a team in his home state, before pulling out of the agreement to re-sign with the Clippers.

After a now-infamous postgame locker room altercation between Rockets and Clippers players in January, Jordan interacted with several Rockets players on their team bus to voice his frustration with Los Angeles, Iko’s source claimed. A few weeks later, Blake Griffin was shipped to Detroit as the Clippers shifted their strategy.

Jordan, 29, enjoyed a strong season with the Clippers, averaging 12.0 PPG and 15.2 RPG in 77 games. While those numbers are strong, the Rockets appear committed to 24-year-old restricted free agent Clint Capela at center. Team owner Tilman Fertitta has said that Houston will match any offer sheet extended to Capela, so unless the team has a change of heart, Jordan does not have a direct path to the Rockets.

Southwest Rumors: Jordan, Anderson, Leonard, Mavs Pick

May 22nd, 2018 at 5:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks are unlikely to pursue DeAndre Jordan again, according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. Jordan was listed among the big men Dallas would seek out in free agency in a story from The Ringer. Sefko cannot imagine owner Mark Cuban going after the Clippers center after Jordan backed out on a verbal agreement with the Mavs three summers ago.

Seth Curry‘s return to the Mavericks seems less likely than it did late in the season, Sefko adds, speculating that the Warriors or another legitimate contender will secure the guard’s services. Curry will be an unrestricted free agent in July.

In other developments around the Southwest Division:

Ryan Anderson continues to be the odd man out in the Rockets‘ rotation, Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle reports. The high-priced power forward has only played 14 minutes during the first three games of the Western Conference Finals and his status is unlikely to change. “Ryan’s ready to go, but it’s a different type of series,” coach Mike D’Antoni told the media. “So he’ll just have to wait until his time.”
Kawhi Leonard‘s image has taken a big hit but it won’t be difficult to repair, according to Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express News. Marketing experts believe Leonard can patch things up with Spurs fans if he remains with the team and tells them that his past issues with the staff and front office are behind him. Doing charitable work in the community would also hel mend fences, Orsborn adds. Leonard only played nine games this past season due to a quad injury, even though the team’s medical staff cleared him to play the second half of the season.
The Mavericks are in a tricky spot in the lottery, Sefko writes in a separate piece. Deandre Ayton, Luka Doncic, Marvin Bagley III and Jaren Jackson are likely to be drafted ahead of Dallas’ pick at No. 5, Sefko continues. If that’s the way the draft it unfolds, there’s no obvious choice at No. 5 and Dallas doesn’t have the assets to move up, Sefko adds.

Combine Notes: Porter, Bamba, Young, Hutchison

May 21st, 2018 at 10:58am CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers have their eyes on Michael Porter Jr. and are hoping to use their picks at No. 12 and 13 to trade up in the draft, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. The Missouri forward, who missed almost the entire season with a back injury, could give L.A. a reliable scorer in the frontcourt. O’Connor notes that team owner Steve Ballmer stopped his session with the media at the combine to listen to Porter’s interview.

Porter, who is projected at No. 8 to the Cavaliers in the latest mock draft by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, told reporters he had combine interviews scheduled with 13 teams, including the Clippers. He also stated that he believes he’s “the best player in the draft.”

L.A.’s challenge is finding a team willing to trade down. O’Connor cites the Grizzlies, Mavericks, Magic and Bulls — who hold picks four through seven — as teams in need of multiple assets. However, it’s not clear if any of them is willing to move back in the draft, and O’Connor has heard that Memphis is planning to keep its No. 4 pick. The Grizzlies are looking for size, O’Connor adds, but are the only team in the top eight not to ask for a meeting with Texas center Mo Bamba.

O’Connor’s recap on the combine is filled with interesting tidbits. Here are a few of the highlights:

Bamba believes he could form a dangerous combination with Mavericks point guard Dennis Smith Jr., but Dallas may not be interested. With Dirk Nowitzki returning for another season, the Mavs will try to rebuild quickly to put a contending team around him. That means targeting a free agent big man such as DeAndre Jordan, DeMarcus Cousins or Julius Randle, which would make a scorer like Porter more attractive in the draft. O’Connor notes that Cousins’ agent, Jarinn Akana, has strong ties to the Mavericks. Of his 12 clients, five have played in Dallas and another was with its G League affiliate, Jaleel Cousins, who is DeMarcus’ brother.
The Knicks are interested in Oklahoma point guard Trae Young if he falls to the ninth pick. They see him as a good fit alongside last year’s first-rounder, Frank Ntilikina, who can take on the tougher defensive matchup and help space the floor for Young to drive to the basket. However, the Magic at No. 6 and the Cavaliers at No. 8 both need point guards, so Young could be off the board before New York’s selection.
It still isn’t clear who made a draft promise to Boise State forward Chandler Hutchison, but O’Connor was told he won’t drop into the late first round. Hutchison, who is expected to be taken between the 18th and 24th pick, held workouts for the Timberwolves and Bulls before withdrawing from the combine. It may or may not be a clue, but Hutchison’s agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports, is a friend of Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and has represented many Chicago players.
Kostas Antetokounmpo showed a lot of similarities to his older brother Giannis Antetokounmpo in his combine workouts. Kostas, 2o, could be a second-round pick and may be a valuable asset for a team to have when Giannis hits free agency in 2021.

Cavaliers Notes: Smith, D. Jordan, James, Draft Pick

May 16th, 2018 at 9:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

J.R. Smith won’t face any repercussions from the league for a hard foul on Al Horford in Tuesday’s Game 2, according to an ESPN report. Horford was in the air late in the fourth quarter when Smith shoved him from behind, causing him to crash to the court. The officials called a flagrant 1 on Smith after a video review.

Smith agreed with the call when interviewed after the game, admitting he “blatantly” shoved Horford.

“It wasn’t like I was trying to low-bridge him or something to make sure he didn’t get it. It was a good, hard foul,” Smith said. “I can understand why they gave me a flagrant.”

There’s more today from Cleveland:

Smith has been through a lot of scrapes in his 14-year career and doesn’t mind playing the role of villain in playoff road games, relays A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston. “I don’t want the opposing fans to like me,” he said. “That’s not why I’m here. They can chant and scream all they want.”
LeBron James and coach Tyronn Lue both wanted to trade for Clippers center DeAndre Jordan at the deadline, according to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic. Lue felt the team needed a rim protector to anchor the defense.
The trades the Cavaliers made instead in February are letting them down in the conference finals, notes Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com. George Hill managed just three points in 33 minutes of Game 2 and couldn’t contain Celtics guard Terry Rozier. Rodney Hood didn’t take a shot from the field in 11 minutes, while Larry Nance Jr. was scoreless and Jordan Clarkson didn’t play.
The Nets’ first-rounder the Cavaliers acquired in the Kyrie Irving trade will strengthen their position whether LeBron James stays or not, contends Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. The Cavs will have 14 of their 17 players under contract for next season if James returns, but they have minimal guarantees beyond that, which will make rebuilding easier if it becomes necessary. Vardon suggests the team might try to trade Kevin Love again this summer and speculates that the Hornets could be interested in the No. 8 pick as a way to part with Kemba Walker‘s contract.
A podcast on Cleveland.com examines whether James’ future with the organization is tied to how the team performs in the conference finals.