Gustavo Ayon Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Gustavo Ayon To Play In Spain

September 9th, 2014 at 10:43am CST by Chuck Myron

TUESDAY, 10:43am: The contract will cover three seasons, Pick hears (Twitter link).

MONDAY, 3:09pm: It’s a multiyear deal, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com. There will be several outs in the contract, Pick hears, though it’s unclear whether any of them pertain to the NBA (Twitter links).

10:02am: Free agent center Gustavo Ayon has agreed to play for Real Madrid in Spain, reports Igor Minteguia of Solobasket.com (translation via HoopsHype). It’s not immediately clear just how lucrative the deal is or just what sort of escape clauses the contract will contain to allow him to return to the NBA sometime soon.

The Spurs had reportedly been interested in him, among other potential free agent targets, but overseas options had reportedly been proving more lucrative than any stateside offers for the Emilio Duran client. Ayon spent the past three seasons in the NBA after signing a three-year, $4.5MM deal with New Orleans shortly after the lockout. He averaged 5.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game as a rookie but didn’t match those numbers in either of his next two seasons. It appeared he had an opportunity to head to China before Real Madrid gave him the chance to return to Spain, where he played before entering the NBA.

Former Raptors point guard Dwight Buycks, who signed with Valencia, also jumped to Spain this summer after having played in the NBA this past season. The 29-year-old Ayon will join fellow NBA veterans Andres Nocioni, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez among the notable names on Madrid’s roster for the coming season.

And-Ones: Bledsoe, Ayon, Gallinari

September 6th, 2014 at 9:41pm CST by Cray Allred

Derrick Rose continued to struggle offensively in Team USA’s victory over Mexico today, but both Rose and coach Tom Thibodeau insisted to reporters including K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune that his passiveness and shooting woes will not carry over in the Bulls‘ season.

“Being here is great,” said Rose. “It’s getting me a chance to really get in condition and get in that rhythm I’ve been talking about. Me getting better individually defensively and seeing how I can read the game and affect the game without scoring.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Despite looking into sign-and-trade options for disgruntled restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe, the Suns are still prioritizing signing the point guard long-term, and would likely increase their four-year, $48MM offer if negotiations were revisited, reports Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Bledsoe’s agent has been unwilling to discuss any deal for less than the max.
Gustavo Ayon is still in contract discussions with Real Madrid, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). The big man is deciding between a variety of NBA and international opportunities.
Danilo Gallinari tells La Gazzetta dello Sport (translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando) that he regrets having The Steadman Clinic of Vail perform the surgery on his torn ACL in late 2012. The Nuggets small forward was expecting a relatively quick recovery, but ended up sitting out all of last season after needing additional surgeries. Gallinari referenced Russell Westbrook‘s repeat surgeries with Steadman, along with other athletes’ bumpy recoveries, as another strike against the clinic’s reputation.

Western Notes: Rivers, Cousins, Ayon

September 6th, 2014 at 12:45pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Austin Rivers believes this coming season will be his breakout year, John Reid of the Times Picayune writes. The Pelicans guard said, “I was constantly working the entire summer. I gained 10 pounds and I’ve got stronger in my upper body. This is my year. But I think at the end of the day, I think we all now understand we can only control what we can control. At the end of the day, we let all of the guys in the front office do their jobs. We just stick to what we do. We play.” Rivers has career averages of 7.0 PPG, 1.8 RPG, and 2.2 APG. His career slash line is .390/.346/.601.

Here’s more from the west:

DeMarcus Cousins tells Chris Kudialis of The Sacramento Bee that he hopes Team USA experience for him and Rudy Gay will pay dividends for the Kings this coming season. “My thing is just taking in as much as I can from this experience and taking it back home,” Cousins said. “I’m being led by some of the best players in the league here, and I want to use everything I learn to make myself better.”
With the Warriors signing GM Bob Myers to an extension recently, Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders looks back at Myers’ biggest moves since arriving in Golden State.
Gustavo Ayon prefers to play in the NBA next season, but the offers he has received from European teams have been more lucrative to this point, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). Stein believes that Ayon, whom the Spurs recently expressed interest in, will head overseas unless the offers improve. Ayon played in 26 games for the Hawks last season, averaging 4.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.1 APG.

Cray Allred contributed to this post.

Spurs Interested In Ayon, Baynes

August 29th, 2014 at 6:14pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Spurs have interest in signing power forward Gustavo Ayon, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). The Spurs preseason roster count currently stands at 17 players, after the recently announced deals with Josh Davis, Bryce Cotton, and JaMychal Green

Ayon, the 6’10”, 29 year-old played in 26 games for the Hawks last season, averaging 4.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.1 APG. In three NBA seasons his career numbers are 4.7 PPG and 4.4 RPG. His career slash line is .536/.000/.504. Most recently, Ayon played for Mexico in the Centrobasket Championship, and was named tournament MVP.

San Antonio’s interest in Ayon is in addition to still desiring to re-sign center Aron Baynes, who is their first priority, notes Stein (Twitter link), The 6’10”, 27 year-old appeared in 53 games for the Spurs last season, averaging 3.0 PPG and 2.7 RPG. Baynes is a restricted free agent, and has mulled inking a deal over in Europe, rather than signing his qualifying offer, worth slightly more than $1.115MM.

And-Ones: Love, Wolves, Ayon

August 24th, 2014 at 10:06pm CST by Zachary Links

Trading Kevin Love may have been an inevitability, but Wolves General Manager Milt Newton is glad that the team didn’t jump at the first offer they got, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. “We told all the teams from Day 1, we’re happy to coach him for this last year,” Newton said. “They realized we weren’t going to give him away. What that did was made teams put their best foot forward to start with and see if it could get better from there.” More from around the NBA..

Gustavo Ayon previously hinted that he had his eye on an NBA deal, but it doesn’t sound like that’s in the cards, at least so far. The big man told Basket4US (translation courtesy of HoopsHype) that he only has an offer from China at the moment. Late last week he told another Spanish outlet, Récord, that he had no NBA offers.
There are still a few notable players left on the free agent market, and Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders runs down the remaining salary cap room for each franchise.
Ojars Silins had his contract with Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia of the Euroleague extended until June 2015, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Silins went undrafted this year despite being projected as a possible second round pick. This extension will still allow Silins to try and catch on with an NBA team next summer.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Eastern Notes: Bulls, Raptors, Ayon

August 4th, 2014 at 10:15am CST by Chuck Myron

The Eastern Conference playoff field for the upcoming season is difficult to predict. The Cavaliers and the Bulls seem like locks, but beyond that, all bets are seemingly off. A majority of Hoops Rumors readers believe the Pacers, conference finalists the last two years, will miss the postseason entirely this time around in the wake of Paul George‘s injury. Here’s the latest from the East:

Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf is prepared to move on after a report of discord between the team and star Derrick Rose, as Reinsdorf said Sunday in a radio appearance with Bruce Levine and Barry Rozner on WSCR-AM, notes Blake Schuster of the Chicago Tribune. Reinsdorf vehemently denied the existence of any tension, and Rose has also walked back some of his comments in the report.
The Raptors are assisting DeAndre Daniels in his efforts to find a team in Europe where he can play this season, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has indicated that he’s anxious for Daniels, whom Toronto drafted 37th overall in June, to see playing time overseas, as Wolstat reported a month ago.
Free agent center Gustavo Ayon has dropped hints in the past that seemed to indicate that he envisioned a return overseas, but he tells the Mexican news agency Notimex that he’s prioritizing an NBA deal this summer over playing in Europe (translation via HoopsHype, hat tip to Gigantes del Basket). Ayon indicated that he’s turned down NBA offers and plans to choose a team after the FIBA World Cup concludes in September. The Hawks declined to tender a qualifying offer last month, making him an unrestricted free agent.

And-Ones: Sterling, Parker, Crawford

July 1st, 2014 at 9:44am CST by Chuck Myron

Attorneys for Donald Sterling will argue that wife Shelly Sterling exerted undue influence on one of the two doctors who examined Donald and declared him mentally incompetent, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com details. Donald’s mental competency is no longer on trial. Instead, the probate trial between the Sterlings will center on whether Shelly followed the rules of the Sterling family trust, according to Shelburne. Those rules required that two mental health experts submit letters to the effect that Donald was mentally incompetent before allowing Shelly to take full control of the trust, Shelburne writes. Shelly agreed to sell the Clippers in May to Steve Ballmer, claiming that she fully controlled the trust, but Donald is fighting the sale. Here’s more from around the league:

The Spurs kept Tony Parker through Monday, unsurprisingly, but doing so means his $3.5MM partial guarantee is now a fully guaranteed $12.5MM salary for 2014/15.
Jamal Crawford of the Clippers had his $1.5MM partial guarantee bumped to a full guarantee of $5.45MM when he remained on the roster through Monday.
Kosta Koufos remains on the Grizzlies, so his $500K partial guarantee is now a $3MM full guarantee.
Parker’s teammate Austin Daye is also still with the Spurs, so his $250K partial guarantee is a fully guaranteed minimum salary.
The Hornets kept Jeffery Taylor around, so his minimum salary went from non-guaranteed to fully guaranteed.
It appears as though the Magic are officially under the cap, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). That means Orlando loses access to a $6,077,280 trade exception it could have reaped from last week’s Arron Afflalo deal.
The Hawks didn’t give big man Gustavo Ayon a qualifying offer by Monday’s deadline, making him an unrestricted free agent, notes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). There weren’t reports of qualifying offers to James Southerland of the Pelicans, Adonis Thomas of the Sixers and Bernard James of the Mavs, so presumably they’re all unrestricted free agents as well.
The Wolves hired Ryan Saunders as an assistant coach, the team announced (on Twitter). Saunders, the son of Wolves head coach/executive Flip Saunders, had served the last five seasons as a Wizards assistant.

Gustavo Ayon Done For Season

February 28th, 2014 at 11:40am CST by Chuck Myron

Center Gustavo Ayon had surgery today on his right shoulder and he’ll miss the rest of the season, the Hawks announced. The news is a blow to a team that’s perilously thin on the front line as it fights to hold on to the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks are already without Al Horford for the rest of the season, and they’re missing Paul Millsap and Pero Antic, who are out with short-term injuries.

Atlanta recently signed bought center Mike Muscala out of his Spanish league contract and signed the 2013 second-round pick Thursday to shore up the team’s inside presence. The team has lost 10 out of 11 games to fall from third place to eighth in the East. The Hawks hold a lead of three and a half games on the Pistons for the final playoff spot, and they’ve been using DeMarre Carroll as a small-ball power forward in the starting lineup, with Elton Brand at center.

The Hawks still have a $5.15MM trade exception for Horford they could use to add a player between now and March 10th. It seems unlikely they’ll use the exception unless an intriguing big man comes available on the buyout market, since most free agents at this point would command no more than the minimum salary.

Ayon has been out since February 18th, when he injured the shoulder against the Pacers. He’s making $1.5MM this season in the final year of a three-year contract, and he’ll be a restricted free agent this summer if the Hawks make a qualifying offer worth $1.875MM.

Eastern Notes: Ayon, Cavs, Heat, Bucks

September 4th, 2013 at 10:47am CST by Luke Adams

While the Heat, Pacers, Bulls, Nets, and Knicks are generally viewed as locks to earn postseason spots in the Eastern Conference, those final three spots are up for grabs, and Lang Greene of HoopsWorld argues that the Raptors are being overlooked as a contender. In his NBA AM piece, Greene takes a look at the Raps, writing that they'll be competing with clubs like the Pistons, Hawks, Wizards, Cavs, and Bucks for those last few playoff berths in the East. Here are a few more Wednesday items out of the conference:

Even when he was released by the Bucks, Gustavo Ayon didn't consider returning to Europe, as he tells Gonzalo Aguirregomezcorta of ESPNDeportes.com. The Hawks ultimately claimed Ayon off waivers, and the Mexican big man is looking forward to trying to carve out a larger role in Atlanta.
The Cavaliers are still working to finalize the details, but they'll hire Steve Hetzel to coach their D-League squad, the Canton Charge, according to Bob Finnan of the News-Herald. Hetzel has served as the Pistons' player development coach for the last several seasons.
Ira Winderman's Wednesday mailbag for the South Florida Sun Sentinel is an all-Michael Beasley edition, but Winderman can't fathom the Heat looking into bringing back its former second overall pick.
The Bucks have officially announced the assistant coaches who will be a part of Larry Drew's staff in 2013/14.

Hawks Claim Gustavo Ayon

July 29th, 2013 at 9:10am CST by Zachary Links

MONDAY, 9:10am: The Hawks have confirmed the move in a press release.

SUNDAY, 7:02pm: The Hawks have claimed Gustavo Ayon off of waivers, a league source tells Shams Charania of RealGM. Ayon tipped the signing earlier in the afternoon, writing "Go Atlanta Hawks" on his Facebook page earlier in the afternoon.

The Bucks released Ayon on Thursday due to their glut in the frontcourt, but the 6'10" big man received heavy interest due to his inside presence and affordable $1.5MM contract. Ayon is expected to get a fair trial to earn a spot in a Hawks rotation that has lacked a young, developing center alongside Al Horford, Charania writes. The 28-year-old has averaged 4.8 PPG and 4.3 RPG in two NBA seasons for three different clubs.