Josh McRoberts

Odds & Ends: Kings, White, McRoberts, Suns

Since a deal to keep the Kings in Sacramento fell through last year, there seems to have been no love lost between the Maloof family, which owns the team, and Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson. Lately, though, Johnson has taken a conciliatory tone toward the Maloofs, and Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com believes that could be strategic, since the Maloofs would still have to agree to sell the team to Sacramento investors if the league rejects their pending sale to Chris Hansen's Seattle group. We rounded up more on the Kings sale this morning, and we'll continue to monitor the story in advance of a key meeting coming up on Wednesday. In the meantime, here's more from around the Association:

Odds & Ends: LeBron, Humphries, Gay, McRoberts

Many are buying into the speculation that LeBron James will give serious consideration to returning to Cleveland in the summer of 2014 and Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game (Sulia link) says that he can see it happening.  Bucher believes that James wants to be universally liked, especially in his hometown, and it's hard to imagine that he won't at least think about making peace with the place he still calls home.  Here's more from around the Association..

  • Kris Humphries has been squeezed out of the Nets' rotation for much of the season after inking a two-year, $24MM deal in the offseason.  However, Hump saw eleven minutes against the Clippers on Saturday night and coach P.J. Carlesimo wants to get him back in the rotation, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.  One has to imagine that Humphries will be a trade candidate after this season, though he doesn't have a ton of value at present.  If the big man is back in the mix for the Nets, however, they may prefer to keep him.
  • Raptors coach Dwane Casey believes that the organization will consider shutting down prized acquisition Rudy Gay down for the season, according to the Associated Press.  Gay missed his third game of the month on Saturday due to back issues.
  • Bobcats forward Josh McRoberts is hoping to parlay his playing time into a multi-year pact this summer, writes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.

Recap Of Deadline Trades

A complete recap of trades that were completed before Thursday's trade deadline:

Magic, Bobcats To Swap McRoberts, Warrick

The Magic and Bobcats have agreed to a trade that will send Josh McRoberts to Charlotte and Hakim Warrick to Orlando, reports Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (via Twitter). The Magic are expected to waive Warrick after the deal becomes official, according to Sam Amick of SI.com (Twitter link). It's the second time Warrick has been dealt this season, as the Hornets traded him for Matt Carroll in November.

The Hornets and Warrick had been working on a buyout before the early-season trade, and it appears that's what the Magic will pursue as well. Warrick making $4MM this season, with a team option for $4MM that's likely to disappear unless another club claims him off waivers. McRoberts is making $3.135MM this season in the final year of an expiring deal, so the deal lines up well for salary-matching purposes.

Warrick was averaging 7.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 17.9 minutes per game with the Bobcats this season, and made 14 starts, but has appeared in only one game this month, as a reserve. McRoberts has put up 3.9 PPG, 3.3 RPG in 16.7 MPG this year for Orlando after coming over in the Dwight Howard blockbuster. The 6'10" power forward has shown versatility this season, guarding multiple positions, but he has seen his minutes cut recently as well, getting 14.8 MPG this month after seeing 21.4 MPG in January.

Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors contributed to this post.

Four Teams Finalize Dwight Howard Blockbuster

1:34pm: Ken Berger of CBS Sports has tweeted a number of the details on the traded draft picks in the deal. We've updated the list below to reflect the protection on those picks.

12:19pm: The Magic, Lakers, Nuggets, and 76ers have completed their trade call with the league office, making Dwight Howard a Los Angeles Laker, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). The Magic officially announced the transaction in a press release this afternoon.

The details of the massive four-team swap can be found in our post from yesterday that tracked updates as they came in. But here's a quick recap of how the deal looks from each team's perspective based on what's been reported so far, with players' 2012/13 salaries in parentheses. If anything changes when the teams make their official announcements, we'll update this post to reflect that.

Orlando Magic
Acquire: Arron Afflalo ($7,750,000), Al Harrington ($6,687,400), Josh McRoberts ($3,135,000), Maurice Harkless ($1,731,960), Nikola Vucevic ($1,719,480), Christian Eyenga ($1,174,080), protected 2014 first-round pick from Nuggets1, protected 2015 first-round pick from Sixers2, protected 2017 first-round pick from Lakers3, Warriors' 2013 second-round pick from Nuggets, conditional 2015 second-round pick from Lakers4
Trade: Dwight Howard ($19,536,360), Jason Richardson ($5,799,625), Chris Duhon ($3,250,000), Earl Clark ($1,240,000)

The Magic also create a trade exception worth about $17.8MM in the deal, as outlined here.

Denver Nuggets
Acquire: Andre Iguodala ($14,968,250)
Trade: Arron Afflalo ($7,750,000), Al Harrington ($6,687,400), protected 2014 first-round pick from Nuggets1, Warriors' 2013 second-round pick

Philadelphia 76ers
Acquire: Andrew Bynum ($16,889,000), Jason Richardson ($5,799,625)
Trade: Andre Iguodala ($14,968,250), Maurice Harkless ($1,731,960), Nikola Vucevic ($1,719,480), protected 2015 first-round pick2

Los Angeles Lakers
Acquire: Dwight Howard ($19,536,360), Chris Duhon ($3,250,000), Earl Clark ($1,240,000)
Trade: Andrew Bynum ($16,889,000), Josh McRoberts ($3,135,000), Christian Eyenga ($1,174,080), protected 2017 first-round pick3, conditional 2015 second-round pick4

1 The lesser of the Nuggets' and Knicks' first-rounders.
2 Top-14 protected in 2015, 2016, top-11 in 2017, top-8 in 2018; if the pick still hasn't been conveyed after four years, the Magic will receive 2018 and 2019 second-rounders instead of a first-rounder. The pick cannot be conveyed until the Sixers meet their draft pick obligations to the Heat, which could delay the Magic from getting a first-round pick until 2017.
3 Top-5 protected in 2017 and 2018, unprotected in 2019. The pick cannot be conveyed until the Lakers meet their draft pick obligations to the Suns, which would prevent the Magic from getting a first-round pick if the Lakers fail to make the playoffs the next three years. If that takes place, the Magic will receive 2017 and 2018 second-rounders instead.
4 Top-40 protected; if the pick isn't conveyed in 2015, the Magic will not receive it.

Howard To Lakers, Bynum To 76ers In 4-Team Deal

11:18am: SI.com's Sam Amick tweets that McRoberts will be heading to Orlando in the deal, rather than to Denver. Wherever McRoberts ends up, it seems the Lakers will be shipping him out to make the salary figures work.

10:55am: Coon corrects himself (via Twitter), suggesting that Bynum's and Eyenga's salaries aren't quite enough to absorb Howard's and Duhon's. Here's how it looks from the Lakers' perspective, by my calculations:

  • The team's $1,422,207 traded player exception acquired via Walton can absorb Clark's $1.24MM option.
  • Bynum's $16,889,000 salary and Eyenga's $1,174,080 total $18,063,080. The Lakers can take back 125% (plus $100K) of that amount: $22,678,850.
  • Howard's and Duhon's salaries ($19,536,360 and $3,250,000, respectively) total $22,786,360, just barely too much for the Lakers to absorb. So in order to take on both players, Los Angeles will have to either include another player (perhaps McRoberts or Ebanks) or figure out another way to organize the deal. Assuming, of course, that all the public salary figures for these players are accurate.

We should hear shortly how the Lakers ultimately work things out, since the conference call with the league to finalize the trade is expected to begin momentarily, tweets Ken Berger.

10:26am: Cap expert Larry Coon clarifies (via Twitter) that the trade exception the Lakers acquired when they dealt Luke Walton to the Cavaliers is big enough to absorb Clark's salary, so Los Angeles wouldn't necessarily have to send out any more players in addition to Bynum and Eyenga.

10:08am: The pick heading to the Magic from the Sixers will be lottery-protected for the first two years, top-11 protected in year three, and top-eight protected in year four, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Since the Sixers have already dealt their 2013 first-rounder (lottery protected) to Miami, presumably the one going to Orlando would be for 2015, as Sam Amick of SI.com notes. If the Magic don't get a first-rounder from Philadelphia after four years, they'd get two second-round picks instead, tweets Berger.

9:32am: According to Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld, Josh McRoberts may be headed to Denver in the four-way deal. This makes sense, since by my calculations, the Lakers would be unable to take back Howard, Duhon, and Clark without sending out another player in addition to Bynum and Eyenga.

8:49am: The first-rounder heading from the Lakers to Orlando will be the team's 2017 pick, while the first-rounder from Denver will be the lower of the club's two 2014 first-rounders, tweets TNT's David Aldridge. It's still not clear which first-round pick will be coming from the Sixers, but it figures to be 2015's, since their lottery-protected 2013 first-rounder is ticketed for Miami.

8:26am: Duhon is definitely involved in the four-way deal, as he tells Joshua Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).

FRIDAY, 7:33am: According to Spears, one of the second-rounders heading to the Magic in the trade will be the Warriors' 2013 second-round pick, from the Nuggets (Twitter link). Orlando will receive one more second-rounder, to bring their total haul to five future draft picks, tweets Kennedy.

Additionally, multiple reports indicate that the conference call with the league to confirm the blockbuster deal will happen no later than about noon eastern today.

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Magic Close To Four-Team Howard Blockbuster

9:12pm: Stein says there are still unreported names in the deal, but the Magic are getting Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless and a future first-round pick from each of the other three teams in the deal. The Sixers will get Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson. The Nuggets will get Andre Iguodala, and the Lakers will land Dwight Howard. Pau Gasol is not in the deal, Stein hears (All Twitter links). 

8:59pm: A conference call has been scheduled for Friday morning with the league office to process the deal, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).

7:34pm: Berger says the most likely scenario involves the Magic getting neither Andrew Bynum nor Pau Gasol, adding credence to earlier reports that Gasol won't be a part of the deal (Twitter link).

7:29pm: Various Twitter reports indicate differing levels of confidence that the deal will get done. Chris Broussard of ESPN.com says the deal will happen "barring any last minute snag." ESPN.com colleague Ric Bucher believes the Magic and Lakers are pushing hard to complete the trade, but adds there are still many question marks. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel says the talks are serious, but cautions there are a lot of moving parts. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports "guarded optimism" about the deal.

7:11pm: The deal has "huge legs," a source tells Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com, and the teams have made progress toward its completion today, Lynam tweets

6:55pm: A source close to Gasol says he's not in the trade, Ric Bucher of ESPN.com tweets

6:39pm: Chris Broussard of ESPN.com hears the deal is "very close" and could take place as early as Friday morning. Broussard says that Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles also hears Gasol may not be a part of the trade. Jarrod Rudolph of RealGM.com tweets that there is greater confidence a Howard deal will get done than in the past. The Sixers are willing to take on Bynum even without assurances he'll re-sign next summer, according to the ESPN report.

6:23pm: Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld, in an updated version of an earlier story, says one of the variants of the deal doesn't include Gasol, and it's unclear whether it includes Al Harrington. Devin Ebanks, on a sign-and-trade, and Josh McRoberts may also be a part of the deal.

5:52pm: A source close to the talks tells HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy that reports so far have the teams right, but the deal would likely include different players if it gets done, as the Magic, Lakers, Nuggets and Sixers discuss multiple scenarios. No deal is imminent or near completion, the source says (Twitter links). 

5:41pm: Sixers center Nikola Vucevic would also go to the Magic as part of the deal, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. 

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Odds & Ends: O’Quinn, Gibbs, McRoberts

Here are more of tonight's miscellaneous links: