Ekpe Udoh Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Bucks Notes: Bayless, Udoh, Foster

July 31st, 2014 at 6:44pm CST by Cray Allred

The Bucks might not win a lot of games next season, but there are still intriguing storylines in Milwaukee. Jabari Parker‘s play as a favorite to win Rookie of the Year, Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s continued development (including ball handling, as the “Greek Freak” spent time at the point in Summer League), and how new coach Jason Kidd handles a young and athletic roster will all be interesting factors to watch. Here’s a rundown of Bucks notes:

Jerryd Bayless‘ two-year, $6MM contract with the Bucks is fully guaranteed, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
Bayless’ decision to sign with Milwaukee was largely influenced by the presence of Kidd, one of the best point guards in league history, he tells Rich Rovito of The Associated Press. “The thing that was most intriguing was Kidd,” Bayless said. “He can help me in a variety of different ways. There aren’t a lot of guys like him that come around.”
The Bucks renounced their rights to Ekpe Udoh and Marquis Daniels earlier this week, tweets Pincus. Removing those cap holds, in conjunction with their signings of Bayless and rookie Johnny O’Bryant, leave the team nearly $7MM under the salary cap, as Pincus details in his updated salary sheet for Milwaukee.
Greg Foster has left the Sixers assistant coaching staff to join Milwaukee as their second assistant, tweets Bob Cooney of Philadelphia Daily News, confirming an earlier report by Jake Fischer of Liberty Ballers (on Twitter) of Foster’s move.

Central Rumors: Bulls, Udoh, Oden, Jones

July 18th, 2014 at 10:30am CST by Chuck Myron

Pau Gasol said he has no worries about the health of Derrick Rose and added that the Knicks had only long shot to sign him as part of an interview with Jesus Sanchez of Marca.com, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune translates (Twitter links). The Bulls are scheduled to introduce Gasol and Nikola Mirotic to fans in a press conference today after agreeing to deals with both this past weekend, and there’s more from Chicago amid the latest Central Division rumors:

There appears to be mutual interest between the Bulls and point guard Aaron Brooks, as Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com details. Sam’s story reveals that Brooks is considering the team, while the headline and Sam’s tweet indicate that Chicago is eyeing the 29-year-old point guard.
The Lakers’ winning bid for Carlos Boozer was $3.251MM, not just $3.25MM as previously reported, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, giving the Bulls slightly more savings than previously thought. The Bulls will be on the hook for $13.549MM of the $16.8MM remaining on Boozer’s contract, which expires next summer, but it won’t count against the salary cap for Chicago.
Ekpe Udoh has his sights set on joining a contender, and was close to a deal with the Clippers before they struck a deal with Glen Davis, USA Today’s Sam Amick reports (on Twitter). That wouldn’t appear to bode well for any chance the Bucks have of re-signing the big man, who became an unrestricted free agent when Milwaukee declined to make him a qualifying offer.
The Cavs have interest in Greg Oden, but it’s not clear if they’ve spoken with him or have any plans to do so, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. Still, it appears that either the Cavs, LeBron James, or both have been in touch with the free agent center this summer, Amico writes.
A lack of playing time with the Heat was one reason why James Jones decided to bolt for the Cavs, as Jones said in a radio appearance on The Ticket Morning Show in Miami, tweets Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald.

Qualifying Offers: Monday

June 30th, 2014 at 11:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

Teams must decide today whether to tender qualifying offers to their players eligible for restricted free agency or lose the right to match offers from other teams. We’ll round up all of today’s qualifying offer decisions here:

The Pacers declined to tender a qualifying offer to Lavoy Allen, according to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). Still, there’s mutual interest in a new deal, Buckner adds (on Twitter).
The Hawks extended a qualifying offer to Mike Scott, notes Mark Deeks of ShamSports (on Twitter).
No surprise here: Chandler Parsons got his QO from the Rockets, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.
The Pacers won’t extend a QO to Evan Turner, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
Kevin Seraphin officially got his qualifying offer from the Wizards, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com.
As expected, the Warriors won’t extend a QO to Jordan Crawford, according to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
The Hawks have extended a qualifying offer to Shelvin Mack, a source tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
The Bucks have told forward-center Ekpe Udoh he will not be tendered an offer thus making him an unrestricted free agent, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (on Twitter).
The Grizzlies have passed on making a qualifying offer to Ed Davis, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Davis was reportedly a favorite of former CEO Jason Levien, but with Zach Randolph having agreed to an extension, it appears that Davis isn’t quite as highly valued in Memphis as he once was. His qualifying offer would have been worth $4,268,609, a slightly smaller amount than he was originally in line for, as I explained.
No shock here, but the Pistons extended a qualifying offer to Greg Monroe, tweets Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News, preserving their right to match offers for the fifth-rated player in the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings. The qualifying offer is worth nearly $5.5MM, but he’ll command much more than that.
The Pelicans will not give Darius Miller a qualifying offer, reports John Reid of The Times Picayune. The offer would have been worth more than $1.115MM.
The Spurs have tendered a qualifying offer to Aron Baynes, notes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (on Twitter). It’s worth more than $1.115MM, the same amount as Miller’s would have been.
The Knicks have elected not to make a qualifying offer to Toure’ Murry, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). They’d like to re-sign him nonetheless, Stein adds in a second tweet, but other teams have interest, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt says (on Twitter). The offer would have been worth more than $1.016MM.
Othyus Jeffers and Robbie Hummel won’t receive qualifying offers from the Wolves, the team announced (on Twitter). The offers would have been for amounts slightly greater than $1.148MM and $1.016MM, respectively.

Eastern Notes: Irving, Nets, Bucks, Raptors

June 30th, 2014 at 2:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

David Blatt‘s hiring as Cavs coach elicited conversations between Kyrie Irving and the team that were more positive in tone than any others to date, a source tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Cavs officials are heading to Irving’s home in New Jersey to present a max extension offer to Irving as soon as the extension window opens tonight, as Broussard notes, confirming a report from earlier this month (Twitter link). Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

The Nets and Bucks won’t be able to trade with each other during 2014/15 as a result of the Jason Kidd deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter).
Some in the Raptors organization are concerned that teams will make offers to Kyle Lowry and Greivis Vasquez at figures that Toronto is unwilling to match, according to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star.
The Raptors failed to waive Tyler Hansbrough by the Sunday guarantee date listed in his contract, so his partial guarantee of $1MM for next season has become a fully guaranteed $3,326,235 salary.
The Wizards had been making Martell Webster available in trade talk before his back surgery, which likely torpedoed movement toward any deal, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
Washington reciprocates Garrett Temple‘s interest in returning, sources tell J. Michael of CSNWashington.com, who deems the point guard’s return to the Wizards as likely.
Soon-to-be restricted free agent Ekpe Udoh has changed agents, going with Brandon Grier and Michael Silverman of Athlete Management Group, USA Today’s Sam Amick tweets. The Bucks big man had previously been with Chris Luchey of CGL Sports.

Stein On Bledsoe, Davis, Turner, Pondexter

October 21st, 2013 at 1:38pm CST by Luke Adams

Gordon Hayward and the Jazz are working on an extension, and it looks like the two sides will work something out within the next 10 days, as ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported overnight. However, Hayward looks like the only member of the draft class of 2010 likely to receive a new deal by the October 31st deadline, in Stein’s view. The ESPN.com scribe examined the remaining extension-eligible players in his latest piece, so let’s round up the highlights….

Besides Hayward, Eric Bledsoe of the Suns and Ed Davis of the Grizzlies appear to be the strongest candidates to re-up with their respective teams. Sources tell Stein that Memphis has been discussing a new deal with Davis’ camp this month.
As for Bledsoe, Stein notes that next year’s free agent crop of point guards looks thin, meaning it may be risky for the Suns to let the ex-Clipper hit the open market, even as a restricted free agent. According to Stein, Favors’ deal may help Bledsoe’s negotiating position, since Utah paid its big man based in part on the expectation that his role and production will increase this season.
Evan Turner is more likely to be traded by the Sixers than extended.
Having spent big already on John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins respectively, the Wizards and Kings probably won’t extend their other fourth-year players this month. Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin are eligible for Washington, while Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson fit the bill in Sacramento.
Greg Monroe (Pistons) and Avery Bradley (Celtics) also continue to look like strong bets to hit free agency next summer.
A new deal for Quincy Pondexter hasn’t been completely ruled out by the Grizzlies, but Ekpe Udoh (Bucks) and Jordan Crawford (Celtics) won’t get extensions, says Stein.

Eastern Rumors: Udoh, Clark, Bargnani

October 11th, 2013 at 7:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

Royce White this evening made his first appearance in any sort of NBA game since last preseason, and though the former first-round pick completed a nifty coast-to-coast layup, he committed four fouls in the span of a minute and 26 seconds. It’s questionable, at best, whether the Sixers will pick up his 2014/15 option by the deadline to do so at the end of this month, as Mark Deeks noted yesterday in a piece for SB Nation. Among the latest chatter out of the East, there’s word on another player who’s unlikely to get good news as a contract-related deadline approaches:

Ekpe Udoh‘s name emerged in trade talks this past summer, which would seem to counter any slim chance he has of receiving an extension to his rookie scale contract before the October 31st deadline. His odds of an extension grew worse today as the Bucks announced that he’ll be sidelined as long as six weeks after undergoing right knee surgery.
Earl Clark and coach Mike Brown only briefly worked together on the Lakers, but Clark says Brown’s presence in Cleveland was a major reason why the forward decided to sign with the Cavaliers, according to HoopsWorld’s Steve Kyler (Twitter link).
Keith Schlosser of Knicks Journal believes Andrea Bargnani won’t have any problems fitting in with Carmelo Anthony on the court, and posits that the three draft picks the Knicks gave up in the trade to acquire the former No. 1 overall pick can easily be recouped through future deals. I’d argue that it’s not so easy to acquire draft picks these days, given that the 2013 trade deadline passed without a single first-rounder changing hands.
We rounded up a few items from the Central Division this afternoon.

Wolves To Deal Luke Ridnour To Bucks

July 10th, 2013 at 7:41pm CST by Chuck Myron

10:54pm: Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times tweets that a Ridnour-Ekpe Udoh swap, which had been rumored around draft time, could once again materialize. I'd assume that would happen within the framework of this deal, though I'm not sure what that would accomplish for Minnesota, since Udoh's $4,469,548 salary is larger than Ridnour's.

7:41pm: The Wolves have reached an agreement with the Bucks to deal point guard Luke Ridnour to Milwaukee in an arrangement that will allow Minnesota the room it needs to finalize its pact with Corey Brewer, reports Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. No salary will head from the Bucks to the Wolves in the trade, so presumably there will be draft picks and/or cash headed to Minnesota.

Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported earlier today that the teams were discussing the swap, as the Wolves sought to clear room to bring aboard Brewer along with the rest of their free agent haul. Ridnour, like J.J. Barea, was frequently mentioned in trade rumors over the past few weeks as Minnesota sought to clear its logjam at point guard.

Milwaukee's acquisition of Ridnour gives the team a backup for either incumbent point guard Brandon Jennings, or Jeff Teague, whom the Bucks have coveted. Ridnour is set to make $4.32MM in 2013/14, the final season of his contract.

Wolfson On Mayo, Budinger, Belinelli, Iguodala

June 30th, 2013 at 10:04am CST by Chuck Myron

Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities covers a broad spectrum of Minnesota sports in his weekly Scoops column, but with the NBA draft just completed and free agency about to start, his focus this week is on the Timberwolves. Let's dive in:

Wolfson writes that Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders may meet with O.J. Mayo this week, and Wolfson adds via Twitter that there's a strong belief that the meeting will indeed take place, around the same time Saunders meets with Chase Budinger.
Minnesota is also considering Marco Belinelli.
The Wolves are unlikely to go after Andre Iguodala, and his high price tag isn't the only reason.
A source tells Wolfson that while the Wolves like Bucks big man Ekpe Udoh, who was rumored this week to be part of a trade for Luke Ridnour, the team is getting plenty of offers for Ridnour, and Minnesota may wind up with a more attractive player than Udoh in return.
Bojan Dubljevic, whom the Wolves took 59th overall, will remain in Europe for at least two more years.
Another rumor around draft time had the Wolves swapping the No. 26 pick for MarShon Brooks, but such a deal was "never that close," Wolfson writes.
Greg Stiemsma has left agent Mike Naiditch, and the Priority Sports Agency will now handle his representation.

Mid-Draft Rumors: Noel, 76ers, Warriors, Suns

June 27th, 2013 at 7:46pm CST by Luke Adams

You can follow tonight's draft picks right here, but we're hearing plenty of other rumblings outside of the picks themselves. Let's round up a few….

One executive whose team passed on Nerlens Noel told Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link) that the Kentucky big man is actually healthier than Anthony Bennett or Alex Len, so injury concerns weren't the reason Noel slipped.
The blockbuster trade the Sixers made, acquiring Noel and a 2014 first-rounder for Jrue Holiday, signals one reason the team hasn't hired a coach yet, tweets Broussard. With a rebuild seemingly on the way, the 76ers wanted a new head coach to know what he was getting into.
The Warriors are receiving calls on Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes, but value both players "very, very, very highly," according to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News (via Twitter).
The Suns drafted Alex Len to keep him, and have no deals in place, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
A Luke Ridnour/Ekpe Udoh swap between the Timberwolves and Bucks won't happen tonight, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
The Cavs are in the process of trying to move up from No. 19, tweets Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio.

Bucks Notes: Jennings, Udoh, Ridnour

June 27th, 2013 at 1:07pm CST by Zachary Links

This figures to be a very interesting offseason in Milwaukee following Monta Ellis' decision to opt out and several other moving parts. Here's the latest on the Bucks..

The Bucks are letting it be known that Brandon Jennings is available for the right price, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times (via Twitter). If the Bucks do decide to get rid of Jennings, Woelfel (Twitter link) expects them to make a major push for a point guard in free agency.
More from Woelfel, who hears that a swap involving the Bucks' Ekpe Udoh and the T'Wolves' Luke Ridnour is being discussed. Ridnour spent two seasons in Milwaukee prior to his last three in Minnesota.