The Rockets have arguably been the Southwest team in the news most often this month, as they've pursued restricted free agents and continued to try to land a superstar like Dwight Howard via trade. For now though, Daryl Morey and the Rockets are playing the waiting game, as they wait to see whether the Knicks will match their offer sheet for Jeremy Lin. In the meantime, here are a few updates on Houston's division rivals….
3:52pm: The Hornets have matched the offer sheet, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports, via Twitter. In a statement released by the Hornets (via John Reid of The Times-Picayune) Gordon backtracked from his earlier comment that "Phoenix is just where my heart is now."
"There is always a business element to the NBA when dealing with contracts, but I never lost my appreciation for the New Orleans Hornets,'' Gordon said in the statement. "I look forward to going on the court this season to make our team successful.''
SATURDAY, 3:17pm: The Hornets are about to release a statement announcing that they've matched Gordon's offer sheet, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 5:07pm: Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports Gordon has signed the offer sheet, according to the Suns (Twitter link).
The Knicks’ deadline to match Landry Fields’ 3-year, $18.7MM offer sheet from the Raptors is tonight at 11pm CDT. If they match Lin and Fields, the Knicks will have roughly $86MM committed to those two plus Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, and Tyson Chandler for the 2014-15 season, tweets Al Iannazzone of Newsday. Include Jason Kidd and Steve Novak and it’s more than $92MM committed to seven players. The luxury tax penalties really start to get stiff in 2013/14 and that could make the Knicks' decision on Fields a difficult one. Here's more from around the Association..
The July moratorium came to an end late last night, and a number of teams didn't waste any time in finalizing moves. The Lakers' acquisition of Steve Nash was the first transaction to become official, followed closely by the Knicks' signing of J.R. Smith, Deron Williams' contract with the Nets, and Blake Griffin's five-year extension with the Clippers. We're expecting more deals to be formally announced today, but there are plenty of free agents still on the market too. We'll be tracking the latest news on those guys right here, with the newest items added to the top of the page throughout the day….
- The Nets are considering Kenyon Martin and Craig Smith and discussing a sign-and-trade for Antawn Jamison, clouding Kris Humphries' future with the team, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
- The Pacers are targeting unrestricted free agent Gerald Green as their wing player off the bench, and are expected to offer him a three-year, $10MM contract, according to Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star. O.J. Mayo and Courtney Lee are out the team's price range at the moment (All Twitter links).
Earlier updates:
While the NBA's salary cap and luxury tax figures remained the same for the coming season, the maximum salary that a player can earn was bumped up slightly for 2012/13. According to Larry Coon's CBA FAQ, the changes are as follows:
O.J. Mayo wasn't the Suns' top target when free agency began, but he may become the team's number one priority very soon. ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports (via Twitter) that if the Hornets match the Suns' offer sheet on Eric Gordon, Phoenix is expected to aggressively court Mayo.
There seems to be little doubt that the Hornets intend to match the Suns' offer sheet and keep Gordon, as both Ric Bucher of ESPN.com and John Reid of the Times Picayune reported earlier on Tuesday. As such, the Suns figure to have a good chunk of cap space left over to use on Mayo, who is seeking a contract worth more than the mid-level exception.
The Pacers are also said to be very interested in Mayo.
Restricted free agents that have agreed to sign offer sheets with new teams can begin doing so as soon as 11:00pm CST tonight. When a player officially signs an offer sheet, his old team has a three-day window to decide whether or not to match it and bring him back.
When a player formally signs an offer sheet, it means only two options are in play for him: He either ends up on the team whose offer he signed, or returns to his old club. Sign-and-trades are no longer an option. So, for restricted free agents like Eric Gordon and Nicolas Batum, who seem to prefer to change teams, it may be worthwhile to explore sign-and-trade possibilities once more before locking into those offer sheets and putting their futures in the hands of the Hornets and Trail Blazers, respectively.
Here are a few restricted free agents that reportedly agreed to sign offer sheets whose situations are worth keeping an eye on:
Shortly after receiving an offer sheet from the Suns and flatly stating that his "heart is in Phoenix," free agent Eric Gordon expanded on those comments while speaking with reporters today. The two-guard says that he will play in New Orleans if the club matches the four-year, $58MM offer sheet but won't be happy about it, writes Jimmy Smith of the The Times-Picayune.
The U.S. squad for the 2012 Olympics has been hit hard by injuries, but Team USA isn't the only country that will see NBA players miss the London games. Already facing concerns over Tony Parker's health, France will be without Joakim Noah this summer, the Bulls big man told L'Equipe (French link). K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune confirms the news, noting that Noah will miss the Olympics to rest and rehab the ankle he sprained in the playoffs.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA on Independence Day….
TUESDAY, 11:41am: Blake Griffin is expected to take Chris Bosh's spot on the U.S. roster, tweets Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com. As Goodman adds in a second tweet, that would leave five players competing for the final two spots.