Jrue Holiday Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Leonard, Bogut, Holiday

October 16th, 2013 at 7:14pm CST by Michael Pina

A few note from around the Western Conference.

After waiving small forwards Corey Maggette and Sam Young earlier this week, the Spurs will enter the season with no legitimate backup for Kawhi Leonard, writes MySanAntonio.com’s Jeff McDonald.
MercuryNews.com’s Tim Kawakami opines on the Warriors and Andrew Bogut, and what’s a fair extension for the former number one overall pick.
Coming off a breakout season as an All-Star with the Sixers, Jrue Holiday heads into 2014 as the franchise point guard for the Pelicans. Hoopsworld.com’s Yannis Koutroupis takes a look at what Holiday needs to do to settle in to his new environment.

Pelicans, Sixers Finalize Trade

July 12th, 2013 at 8:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans and Sixers have officially announced their swap involving Jrue Holiday and Nerlens Noel, a trade that was agreed upon on draft night but held up until after the July Moratorium. The Pelicans bring aboard Holiday and Pierre Jackson, the 42nd pick in last month's draft, in exchange for Noel and a 2014 first-round draft choice. The 2014 pick will remain with the Pelicans if it falls in the top five.

The delay in finalizing the trade stemmed from the Pelicans' inability to absorb Holiday's $9,213,484 salary until the NBA's calendar flipped over to 2013/14 this month, and the newlywed Holiday's honeymoon caused a further holdup. The 23-year-old point guard is now finally entrenched in New Orleans, where he'll begin drawing paychecks from the four-year, $41MM extension he signed last October with the Sixers a few months before making his first All-Star appearance.

Noel, who seemed the odds-on favorite to become the No. 1 pick last month, heads to Philadelphia after slipping to the No. 6 spot in the draft. The 7'0" center from Kentucky will miss the first part of the season recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in his only collegiate season. The 5'10" Jackson, the other 2013 draftee involved in the swap, heads to New Orleans after distinguishing himself as a point guard at Baylor.

That protection attached to the 2014 first-rounder extends in perpetuity, so if the Pelicans wind up with a string of top-five picks over the next few years, they won't have to give them up, as Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. For additional details about the swap, see our post about the initial agreement.

Pelicans To Acquire Jrue Holiday For Noel, ’14 Pick

July 10th, 2013 at 2:08pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 10TH, 2:08pm: The trade between the Pelicans and Sixers is now official, according to Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com (via Twitter). However, Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News says (via Twitter) that it won't be finalized until at least tomorrow, since Holiday is on his honeymoon and is unavailable to complete the paperwork.

JUNE 28TH, 6:17pm: Sixers GM Sam Hinkie has confirmed that the 2014 first-rounder headed from New Orleans to Philadelphia is top-five protected, reports Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link).

1:07am: The deal won't become official until July 10th, tweets Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press. That makes sense, since the Pelicans won't have room to absorb Holiday's salary until their cap room becomes available in July.

JUNE 27TH, 7:52pm: Ford now tweets that the pick headed to Philadelphia is top-five protected for 2014, and ESPN.com's Marc Stein backs up the report (via Twitter).

7:33pm: ESPN.com's Chad Ford tweets that the 2014 first-rounder headed to Philadelphia is top-three protected, while TNT's David Aldridge tweets it's lottery-protected. Given Wojnarowski's assertion that the protection is "light," Ford's report makes more sense, but we'll have to wait for confirmation.

7:26pm: The Pelicans will also receive this year's 42nd overall pick from the Sixers in the deal, tweets Wojnarowski.

7:22pm: After unexpectedly snagging Nerlens Noel sixth overall, the Pelicans will send him to the 76ers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (all Twitter links). The Pelicans will receive Jrue Holiday and will also send a 2014 first-round pick in 2014 to Philadelphia, Wojnarowski reports, adding that the pick is expected to have "light protection" (Twitter link). Chris Broussard of ESPN.com first tweeted that Noel would be on the move.

Odds & Ends: Mavericks, Most Improved, George

January 15th, 2013 at 6:49pm CST by Alex Lee

With six games on the NBA docket tonight, let's round up any odds and ends from around the Association here:

In HoopsWorld's NBA PM column, Alex Kennedy summarizes some of the trade chatter we've heard recently from the Mavericks, Grizzlies, Raptors, Rockets, Lakers, Magic and Jazz.
Speaking of the Mavs, despite Mark Cuban's recent bold proclamations, Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas writes that it is business as usual in Dallas. While some of the Mavs players admit that swirling rumors can be a distraction, Rick Carlisle says it has always been the norm in his time under Cuban.
In a Yahoo Sports video, Greg Anthony and Marc J. Spears discuss the leading candidates for the NBA's Most Improved Player award, specifically mentioning Paul George, James Harden, Greivis Vasquez, Nikola Vucevic and Jrue Holiday as the current contenders.
In the New York Times' Off The Dribble blog, Jim Cavan writes that the Pacers have been one of the few teams that has arguably benefited from losing a superstar to injury this year, citing the emergence of Paul George as a franchise player in Danny Granger's absence as the reason.

Aldridge On Raptors, Varejao, LeBron, Thunder

December 17th, 2012 at 12:25pm CST by Chuck Myron

TNT's David Aldridge checks in as usual on a Monday with his Morning Tip column at NBA.com, and this week's edition is full of trade rumors as talk heats up around the league. Here's a digest of Aldridge's latest scuttlebutt, with a heavy focus on the Raptors.

While Andrea Bargnani's elbow injury will keep him out for a month, delaying trade talk, one rival GM is convinced he'll eventually be leaving the Raptors, feeling as though there's no doubt GM Bryan Colangelo will trade him.
The Raptors are leery of adding another international player, according to Aldridge, which would make them reluctant to trade for Pau Gasol.
Aldridge speculates the Raptors won't deal Jose Calderon to the Lakers, and instead ship him somewhere for a draft pick to create a massive trade exception. Aldridge writes that such a trade exception would be $15.6MM, but I believe it would be closer to $10.6MM, reflecting Calderon's salary.
A league executive speculates that the Cavs will hold on to Varejao through the summer of 2014, when LeBron James can become a free agent, so they can make a pitch to their erstwhile superstar. In any case, the Cavs have set Varejao's asking price too high for other teams' tastes, as they often do with their many of their players, according to Aldridge.
Though the Thunder are reportedly content to stand pat for now, Aldridge believes they could try to move the Raptors pick they got from the Rockets in the James Harden trade, speculating that one of their targets could be Varejao.
Aldridge spoke with a GM who joins the seeming consensus that the Jazz are more likely to deal Paul Millsap than Al Jefferson. The GM believes Jefferson is a better fit with Derrick Favors.
The Bucks want an upgrade at small forward, and Aldridge thinks the team is more likely to move "one of its undersized four or oversized threes" than trade Brandon Jennings or Monta Ellis.
The Wizards are open to trading one of their big men for veteran help at the point, where they're woefully thin in John Wall's absence.
The Pacers are willing to tinker, but aren't putting Paul George or George Hill on the table.
No one aside from Jrue Holiday is off-limits as the Sixers seek a big man, though it would take a lot to pry Thaddeus Young or Evan Turner from their hands.

Atlantic Notes: Shumpert, Sixers, Celtics

November 25th, 2012 at 2:47pm CST by Sean Highkin

The latest news and notes from around the Atlantic Division:

The Knicks could use Iman Shumpert and Amare Stoudemire in their lineup, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post.
Jrue Holiday, who signed a four-year extension last month, is so far rewarding the confidence the Sixers showed in him, observes John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
John Rohde of the Oklahoman catches up with former Thunder guard Royal Ivey, now with the Sixers.
Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald writes that Celtics rookie forward Jared Sullinger is motivated by his slide out of the draft lottery.
The Boston Herald also catches up with Glen Davis, who finds Magic coach Jacque Vaughn a nice change of pace from the Celtics' Doc Rivers.

Sixers, Jrue Holiday Agree To Extension

October 31st, 2012 at 11:54pm CST by Chuck Myron

11:54pm: The team has sent out a press release confirming the deal.

"Jrue is both an outstanding player and an important part of our future," owner Josh Harris said. "We are very excited to keep a player of Jrue's caliber in Philadelphia and truly look forward to further building the 76ers legacy around his leadership."

11:13pm: The Sixers and Jrue Holiday have agreed to an extension, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Stein reports the deal is worth four years and $41MM, but Sam Amick of USA Today hears that incentives could bring the deal to $46MM (Twitter links).The extension appeared to be a 50-50 proposition earlier today, when Holiday was reportedly seeking $12-13MM annually, so it appears the team got him to make some concessions.

The deal was reached with seven minutes to spare before the 11pm Central deadline for rookie-scale extensions, tweets TNT's David Aldridge. It comes on the heels of extensions for fellow point guards Ty Lawson and Stephen Curry, and his could be the least lucrative of the three depending on whether he reaches the incentives. The Sixers will likely have about $45.5MM on the books for 2013/14, meaning a new max deal for Andrew Bynum would put them over the cap at about $63.5MM, giving them fairly limited flexibility next summer.

Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors predicted an offer worth $40MM over four years back in August, but said he wouldn't have been surprised if Holiday declined that offer and played out the season to show off for suitors in restricted free agency. The 22-year-old UCLA product saw his numbers decline virtually across the board last season, including a dip from 6.5 assists per game to 4.5 in less than two fewer minutes per contest. Still, his scoring per 36 minutes has increased with each season in the league, just as his turnovers per 36 minutes have gone down.

Extension Rumors: Gibson, Casspi, Curry

October 31st, 2012 at 8:55pm CST by Luke Adams

This year's deadline for extension-eligible fourth-year players to sign new deals is just hours away, arriving at 11:00pm CT today. Blake Griffin, Serge Ibaka, and Ty Lawson came into the day as the only players with new contracts, while Stephen Curry reached an unexpected agreement with the Warriors this morning and James Harden agreed to a maximum deal with the Rockets this afternoon. Will we see any other extensions signed before the night is out? We'll track today's extension-related rumors and rumblings right here:

Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago reports Taj Gibson is seeking a four-year extension worth $40MM while the Bulls are offering $32MM. Sam notes a $36MM figure in the middle would be equal to what fellow forwards Ryan Anderson and Jeff Green got over the summer, and less than the $10MM or more Sam believes Gibson could command as a restricted free agent next summer (All Twitter links).

Earlier updates:

Kyler On Harden, Jennings, Holiday, Rockets

October 30th, 2012 at 10:50am CST by Luke Adams

Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld shared a few updates on extension-eligible players in his NBA AM column this morning, and also tweeted a few notes about the Rockets' options in free agency next summer. Let's dive right in and round up the highlights….

James Harden and the Rockets will almost certainly reach an agreement on a five-year extension today or tomorrow. It's just a matter of whether it will be for the true max or slightly below that.
If Tyreke Evans, who won't be extended this week, struggles early in the season, he could become a trade candidate for the Kings.
According to Kyler, Brandon Jennings' camp is seeking an extension worth $9-10MM annually, which the Bucks aren't interested in. Those numbers are a little surprising to me — I'd think the Bucks wouldn't mind a deal in that neighborhood, while Jennings would be seeking something closer to the max.
The Sixers and Jrue Holiday don't appear headed for an extension this week. Kyler says Philadelphia's offer was worth about $8-9MM annually.
The "broad strokes" are there for an agreement between Ty Lawson and the Nuggets. Now it's just a matter of working out the final value of the contract.
The odds of Taj Gibson and the Bulls reaching an extension agreement today or tomorrow are about 50/50 at best.
The Hawks have told Jeff Teague that he's still part of their long-term plans, but the team wants to maintain flexibility next summer, so he won't be extended now. The Bobcats have a similar stance with Gerald Henderson and Byron Mullens.
In a series of tweets, Kyler says the Rockets are unlikely to be serious players for Josh Smith in free agency next summer, unless they trade for him. The fifth year that the team holding Smith's Bird Rights will be able to offer could be a dealbreaker, according to Kyler, who adds that the forward appears happy with the Hawks for now.
Kyler expects the Rockets to take a similar approach to what they did this past offseason, pursuing restricted free agents and perhaps making a poison pill offer or two. Paul Millsap could also be a potential target, says Kyler (Twitter links).

Amick On Holiday, Curry, Evans, Jennings, Gibson

October 30th, 2012 at 8:38am CST by Luke Adams

Tomorrow is the last day for fourth-year players eligible for extensions to finalize new deals with their respective teams, and we're expecting at least a couple players to be extended. James Harden appears to be a lock, and Ty Lawson is making progress on an extension with the Nuggets. Will any other extension-eligible players sign new contracts? Former SI.com scribe Sam Amick weighs in for his new outlet, USA Today:

Unlike Lawson, Jrue Holiday doesn't seem to be moving any closer to a deal with his team, the Sixers, as agent Tony Dutt explains: "We've had conversations, but I don't feel like any progress has been made. We haven't talked in a while."
A gap remains in talks between the Warriors and Stephen Curry. Given Curry's ankle issues, he likely hasn't done enough this preseason to prove he's worthy of a significant long-term commitment.
Tyreke Evans remains unlikely to be extended by the Kings, as team president Geoff Petrie indicated earlier this month: "In Tyreke's case, you can make X (amount of money) now, but if you want to make X-plus, then certain things have to happen."
A source close to Brandon Jennings says an extension isn't likely for the Bucks guard, but cautioned that anything could happen.
Taj Gibson's agent continues to negotiate with the Bulls on a new deal for his client.