Kendrick Nunn Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat’s Bet On Kendrick Nunn Paying Off

November 1st, 2019 at 3:59pm CST by Luke Adams

As the Heat made their major roster moves in July, Kendrick Nunn‘s chances to secure a spot on the team’s 15-man regular-season squad appeared to be in jeopardy. At that time, Nunn only had a $50K partial guarantee on his deal, and Miami’s offseason maneuvers had imposed a $138.93MM hard cap on the team, leaving little breathing room below that cap.

Without the flexibility to add a 15th man to their roster, the Heat would have to make the most of their other 14 roster spots. Presumably, that would mean carrying 14 players capable of playing real minutes, and it wasn’t clear that an undrafted rookie such as Nunn fit that bill. Waiving him would only cost Miami $50K, and would give the club the flexibility to bring in a minimum-salary veteran who could contribute immediately.

However, the former Oakland University standout – who ranked second in the NCAA in scoring in 2017/18, behind only Trae Young – impressed the Heat in Summer League play. Nunn averaged 24.0 PPG in two Summer League games in Sacramento, then 21.0 PPG in four Las Vegas contests. When the team kept him under contract through August 1, allowing his partial guarantee to increase to $150K, it became clear that he was in position to earn that 14th and final roster spot.

Three months later, Nunn isn’t just the Heat’s 14th man — he’s their leading scorer.

Through the first five games of his NBA career, the 24-year-old is averaging 22.4 PPG on .518/.484/1.000 shooting and has played a key role in Miami’s 4-1 start. According to ESPN, he has scored more points in his first five NBA games than all but two players (Kevin Durant and Jerry Stackhouse) who have debuted in the last 25 years.

While Nunn almost certainly won’t keep up this pace, he’s no longer at risk of losing his roster spot, meaning his $1,416,852 minimum salary should become fully guaranteed in January. At that price, he could be one of the NBA’s best bargains both this season and next, when he has a $1,663,861 non-guaranteed salary.

Assuming he plays out that contract, Nunn will be on track to become a restricted free agent during the summer of 2021 with two seasons’ worth of NBA games under his belt. However, as cap expert Albert Nahmad pointed out earlier this week (via Twitter), Miami won’t just have Early Bird rights on Nunn at that time. Because he signed his current contract with one day left in the 2018/19 regular season, he’s credited with an extra year of service.

That means the Heat will have full Bird rights on Nunn by the time he’s eligible for free agency, meaning they could offer him anything up to the max. With only his Early Bird rights, they would have been limited to making him an offer in the mid-level range, and would’ve opened the door to a potential back-loaded offer sheet like the one they were forced to match for Tyler Johnson in 2016.

After five games, it’s far too early to say with any certainty that the Heat will even need that sort of financial flexibility to sign Nunn to his next contract. But if he continues to produce and increase his value, his current contract will make him an ideal asset for Miami to carry into 2021’s free agent period. The Heat reportedly want to make a run at stars that summer and could maximize their cap space by keeping Nunn’s minimum-salary cap hold on the books as they pursue top free agents. Once they’ve used up all their cap room, they could go over the cap to re-sign him.

Again, it’s worth stressing that Nunn’s hot streak likely won’t last — he’s not going to shoot .518/.484/1.000 all season. It’s entirely possible that by the All-Star break, the Heat’s investment won’t look quite as savvy as it does now.

Still, ESPN’s Zach Lowe says several clubs around the NBA are “kicking themselves” for not rolling the dice on Nunn. That group includes the Warriors, who had him on their G League roster for most of the 2018/19 season after waiving him last fall.

According to Lowe, some teams tried to entice Nunn earlier in the year by promising a training camp deal for this fall, but the Heat went a step further, signing him to a multiyear deal at the very end of the ’18/19 season. That bet is paying off in a big way for Miami now.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

And-Ones: Wade, China, Stoudemire, Contracts

October 23rd, 2019 at 11:04am CST by Luke Adams

Six months after retiring as a player, Dwyane Wade is employed in a new capacity. According to an official press release (via NBA.com), Wade has reached a multiyear, multi-platform agreement with WarnerMedia, and will become a basketball commentator for TNT this season.

In addition to appearing on the network’s NBA broadcasts, Wade will make studio appearances during Turner Sports’ and CBS Sports’ NCAA tournament coverage later in the season.

“I’m thrilled and grateful to be joining the WarnerMedia family with many exciting opportunities ahead,” Wade said in a statement. “I have great respect for TNT’s team of analysts and their longstanding commitment to quality sports coverage. After sixteen seasons in the NBA, I look forward to connecting with my fans in this new role and bringing my own perspective to the game I love.”

Here’s more from around the NBA and the rest of the basketball world:

Chinese state television didn’t air the NBA’s opening-night games on Tuesday, while Chinese streaming partner Tencent only showed the Lakers/Clippers game, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and Brian Windhorst. CCTV typically shows the league’s opening-night doubleheader, but Tuesday’s decision is a signal that the ongoing NBA/China controversy is far from settled. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this week that the league has “no choice but to engage” China, as Ben Cohen of The Wall Street Journal details.
Speaking of China, former NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire has signed the Fujian Sturgeons of the Chinese Basketball Assocation, according to reports from Roi Cohen of Sport5 and Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (Twitter links).
ESPN’s Bobby Marks provides some financial details on the rookie scale extensions signed on Monday, outlining (via Twitter) exactly how much bonus money is included in five of those deals. Marks also identifies four players who will receive increased partial guarantees as a result of remaining under contract with their respective teams through Wednesday (Twitter link). Those players are Christian Wood (Pistons), Jordan McRae (Wizards), Kendrick Nunn (Heat), and Trey Burke (Sixers).
In a conversation with Max Resetar of SLAM, good friends Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, and D’Angelo Russell joked about eventually teaming up. “When we’re all on the same team—I ain’t gonna tell you which team because I don’t know—we’re gonna do this again,” Russell said of the joint interview. While we probably shouldn’t assume the trio is destined to form a Big Three down the road, it’s worth noting that both Towns and Booker tried to recruit Russell to their respective teams when he was a free agent this summer.

Heat Notes: Butler, Reed, Nunn, Johnson

October 6th, 2019 at 8:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Heat fans have already embraced Jimmy Butler, which was evident during an intrasquad scrimmage, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald notes. Fans broke out a “We love Jimmy” chant during the proceedings.

“I think the fan base feels the same way we do about Jimmy,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We just feel that he has Heat DNA, that he was meant to play here and meant to put on a Miami Heat uniform. He has a magnetic personality that the fan base is really going to enjoy and he’s a very good basketball player.”

We have more on the Heat:

Guard Davon Reed is competing for a two-way deal but he hopes to eventually receive a standard contract, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes. Reed, who spent most of last season with the Pacers’ G League affiliate, was signed to an Exhibit 10 contract in September. “I can do a lot of different things,” he said. “There’s a lot of facets to my game. Most important, I’m going to put my team first. I think my energy, my effort, my talking and just my game will show.”
Guard Kendrick Nunn led the Heat’s summer league team in scoring and Miami seems inclined to keep him on the regular roster, according to Khobi Price of the Sun Sentinel. Nunn will receive a $450K guarantee if he’s on the opening night roster. “We were fortunate to get somebody of his quality,” Spoelstra said. “He also was a fit with us in terms of the culture fit, the work ethic, the drive – there’s a long lineage of non-drafted Miami Heat players who have come through our player development program and he’s the next notable one.”
The biggest mystery regarding the James Johnson saga is whether both the forward and the team can eventually move past this moment, Winderman writes in a mailbag piece. Johnson hasn’t been allowed to participate in camp yet because he didn’t meet the team’s weight goal set for him.

Heat Notes: Roster, Nunn, Adebayo, Mulder

September 21st, 2019 at 3:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

Because of hard-cap restrictions, Miami’s training camp roster is virtually set now that Daryl Macon has been signed to the 20th spot, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The Heat can’t exceed a $138.9MM salary limit, and they are so close to that figure that they can’t offer players like Macon more than an Exhibit 10 contract. As things currently stand, Miami will be limited to 14 players on its final roster, with the remaining six battling for a pair of two-way contracts.

The only way to create some flexibility would be to waive Kendrick Nunn, who has just a $150K guarantee on his $1,416,852 salary. However, Winderman doesn’t expect that to happen because the rookie guard showed promise in Summer League and the front office can’t afford to waste $150K. Miami can’t convert Nunn’s contract to a two-way deal without first waiving him and taking the chance that he might be claimed by another team.

There’s more from Miami:

At 22, Bam Adebayo has most of his career ahead of him, but he already feels like a “Heat Lifer” after the team picked up the fourth-year option on his rookie-scale contract, relays Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Adebayo became the first player from the 2017 draft class to earn that distinction, as Miami made it official more than a month ahead of the October 31 deadline. “They’re pushing me to be more of a leader,” Adebayo said. “So, yeah, I do feel like I’ve become a Heat Lifer type of guy and just being more involved and having like a (Udonis Haslem) responsibility when it comes to my teammates.”
Team USA won’t have many good memories from this year’s World Cup, but Adebayo believes he benefited from his experience as part of the Select Team in Las Vegas, Chiang adds. “Just the atmosphere, because everybody that comes from different teams are like No. 1 or No. 2 options,” Adebayo explained. “So just being out there with a lot of guys and just hearing the stories from the locker room, their perspective and just sharing mine. It’s just like a cool ordeal.”
Mychal Mulder, who signed with the Heat earlier this week, was named to the G League Elite Roster for the 2019 NBA G League International Challenge in Uruguay, Winderman tweets. However, he skipped the event to focus on training camp.

12 NBA Salary Guarantees To Watch In October

September 6th, 2019 at 11:29am CST by Luke Adams

The majority of the NBA players who are currently on non-guaranteed contracts won’t have their salaries for 2019/20 become fully guaranteed until January 10. That’s the league-wide salary guarantee date and the default deadline that applies to players who haven’t negotiated an earlier salary guarantee date.

Still, some players did negotiate an earlier trigger date, and the majority of those deadlines will arrive in October. At least a dozen players around the NBA are believed to have partial or full guarantees that will go into effect in October.

Now, it’s worth noting that salary guarantee dates are somewhat malleable. If the player’s camp agrees, a team can quietly move that deadline back, giving the club more time to make a decision on whether or not to fully invest in its player for the 2019/20 season. The player doesn’t necessarily have to agree, but he may be on board with postponing that deadline if the alternative is being waived and receiving none of his salary.

Most of our information related to salary guarantee dates is coming from the salary database at Basketball Insiders, and BI hasn’t published all the details on the latest signings from around the NBA yet. In other words, there could be a few more recently-signed players who have October salary guarantee dates.

For now though, these are the 12 players believed to have salary guarantee dates coming up next month:

Full guarantees:

Ivan Rabb (Grizzlies): Partial guarantee of $371,758 increases to full guarantee of $1,618,520 salary if not waived by October 19.
Chris Boucher (Raptors): Partial guarantee of $125,000 increases to full guarantee of $1,588,231 salary if not waived by first day of regular season.
Malcolm Miller (Raptors): Partial guarantee of $150,000 increases to full guarantee of $1,588,231 salary if not waived by first day of regular season.
Duncan Robinson (Heat): Partial guarantee of $1,000,000 increases to full guarantee of $1,416,852 salary if not waived by first day of regular season.
Kenrich Williams (Pelicans): Partial guarantee of $200,000 increases to full guarantee of $1,416,852 salary if not waived by first day of regular season.

Partial guarantees:

Christian Wood (Pistons): $1,645,357 salary becomes partially guaranteed ($822,679) if not waived before first day of regular season.
Trey Burke (Sixers): Partial guarantee of $405,000 increases to $810,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $2,028,594).
Jordan McRae (Wizards): Partial guarantee of $400,000 increases to $600,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $1,645,357).
Dragan Bender (Bucks): Partial guarantee of $300,000 increases to $600,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $1,678,854).
Ben McLemore (Rockets): Partial guarantee of $50,000 increases to $500,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $2,028,594).
Kendrick Nunn (Heat): Partial guarantee of $150,000 increases to $450,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $1,416,852).
William Howard (Jazz): Partial guarantee of $50,000 increases to $250,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $898,310).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Heat Notes: Free Agency, Leonard, Okpala, Mooney

August 22nd, 2019 at 10:33am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat won’t be in the market for any of the remaining free agents unless they trade someone from their current roster, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The hard cap that the team has been operating under since the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade has put a severe limit on its flexibility. Miami is already uncomfortably close to its $138.9MM limit.

That means potential additions such as Jamal Crawford, J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony are off the table unless the Heat make another move to open space. They could release Kendrick Nunn, whose contract isn’t fully guaranteed, but Winderman considers that unlikely. If they decide to trade someone in exchange for a lesser salary, Winderman identifies Meyers Leonard, who will earn $11.3MM this season, as a possibility. He adds that they may try to move Goran Dragic by the deadline or save their next significant moves for next summer.

There’s more this morning from Miami:

Second-round pick KZ Okpala wouldn’t object to spending time in the G League if it’s necessary to get consistent playing time, relays Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Jackson notes that a similar path worked for Josh Richardson, who played four games for Sioux Falls as a second-round pick in 2015. “I trust the staff and whatever they say is best,” Okpala said. “I believe in that and will go into it with a good foot forward.”
Free agent guard Matt Mooney, who agreed to sign an Exhibit 10 deal with the Grizzlies last week, received the same offer from the Heat, Jackson notes in the same story. It’s a similar situation to Rayjon Tucker, who recently joined the Bucks, as both players worked out for Miami and were interested in two-way contracts. However, the Heat have decided to let players in training camp compete for two-way deals.
Jackson rates the Heat’s potential interest in six players recently identified by former Hawks GM Wes Wilcox as among the most likely to be traded: Chris Paul, Kevin Love, Bradley Beal, Andrew Wiggins, Andre Iguodala and Devin Booker. Miami’s interest in Beal is well known, and he would be at the top of the list if he becomes available. The Heat had discussions about Paul, but won’t make a deal unless they get their two first-round picks back from Oklahoma City. Jackson doesn’t believe Miami would want Love because of his age, contract and injury history, while Iguodala fits better on an immediate contender. However, Jackson sees Booker and Wiggins as possible targets in the future if the Heat can’t land another star in free agency.

Southeast Notes: Winslow, Chalmers, Isaac, Wall

August 21st, 2019 at 9:39am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Heat will need to use Justise Winslow at either point guard or power forward to optimize their other main wing options, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel opines in his latest mailbag. Putting Winslow at the ‘one’ or ‘four’ would allow coach Erik Spoelstra to play rookie Tyler Herro and Dion Waiters more often with the team’s top player, Jimmy Butler. If Winslow ends up playing regularly at small forward, Spoelstra would have to choose between Herro and Waiters as a mainstay in the rotation, Winderman adds.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

A reunion between the Heat and point guard Mario Chalmers is unlikely at this point, Winderman writes in another mailbag post. Chalmers, 33, is aiming for an NBA comeback after playing in Italy last season. However, even if the Heat are interested, they’d have to release Kendrick Nunn in order to create a roster spot for Chalmers since the team is hard-capped, Winderman notes.
Entering his third season, Magic forward Jonathan Isaac is brimming with optimism over his team’s future after it reached the playoffs last season. Isaac likes the team’s continuity after it re-signed key free agents Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross, as he told John Denton of the team’s website. “We’re all hyped up for the season,’” he said. “And I’m sure as guys get together and start playing again, we’ll have more of those talks about, ‘Hey, we can go even farther than we did last (season).'”
The Wizards are closely monitoring John Wall‘s rehab process as he works his way back from a ruptured Achilles, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington reports. They are even providing owner Ted Leonsis with daily progress reports. “I used to start my day reading the Washington Post. Now I start my day reading [and watching] my daily John Wall exercise video,” Leonsis told Hughes.

Derrick Jones’ 2019/20 Salary Becomes Guaranteed

August 1st, 2019 at 7:38pm CST by Luke Adams

Derrick Jones‘ $1,645,357 salary for the 2019/20 season has become fully guaranteed as a result of the Heat standing pat today. The small forward had an August 1 guarantee deadline on his deal, which meant that if he remained under contract through today’s waiver deadline (5:00pm ET) and didn’t agree to push that date back, he’d be assured of receiving his full salary for the coming season.

Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel wrote earlier today that a source close to the situation stressed there were “no plans” to make any roster moves that would allow the Heat to avoid Jones’ guarantee.

Jones had a promising season for the Heat in 2018/19, averaging 7.0 PPG and 4.0 RPG in 60 games (19.2 MPG). On the opening night of free agency a month ago, it appeared that the 22-year-old might be Dallas-bound as part of the multi-team trade that would ultimately land Jimmy Butler in Miami. However, that deal fell through, with reports indicating that the Heat didn’t want to part with Jones. Now, it looks like a near-lock that he’ll be part of the team’s regular season roster in 2019/20.

August 1 also represented a guarantee deadline for a handful of other players around the NBA. It’s possible that one or more of these players agreed to push his deadline back at the request of his team, but nothing along those lines has been reported.

Unless we hear otherwise, we’re assuming the following players received full or partial guarantees by remaining under contract through today’s waiver deadline:

Dwayne Bacon (Hornets): $1,618,520 salary becomes fully guaranteed (Twitter link via ESPN’s Bobby Marks).
Deonte Burton (Thunder): $1,416,852 salary becomes fully guaranteed (Twitter link via Marks)
Kendrick Nunn (Heat): $50,000 partial guarantee increases to $150,000 (link via Winderman). Nunn is no longer eligible to sign a two-way contract with Miami. His full salary is $1,416,852.

Heat Notes: Salary Guarantees, Two-Way Players, Westbrook, Adebayo

July 28th, 2019 at 10:26am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat face three roster decisions this week that will determine how much flexibility they will have heading into training camp, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Thursday is a salary guarantee date for Derrick Jones Jr., Kendrick Nunn and Yante Maten, and with Miami operating under a hard salary cap, every dollar the team spends will be important.

Jones’ $1.6MM salary will become fully guaranteed August 1, and the Heat are almost certain to keep him, according to Winderman. Jones, 22, has made great strides since joining the organization as a two-way player in December of 2017. He was a rotation player last season, averaging 7.0 PPG in 60 games, and his promising future and low salary appear to make this an easy decision.

Nunn also seems likely to be retained, Winderman adds. He was signed on the final day of the regular season and played well in Summer League in both Sacramento and Las Vegas. He cashed in a $50K guarantee on his $1.4MM salary on July 1 and will have that guaranteed bumped to $150K on Thursday, then to $450K if he makes the opening-night roster.

Maten has already received a $100K guarantee and is due for another $50K on Thursday ($150K in total). Because he is already guaranteed more than $50K, he is ineligible for two-way status, and a shaky Summer League performance may make him expendable.

There’s more this morning from South Florida:

The Heat are one of just two teams that haven’t filled any two-way slots yet, and Winderman suggests they could go to two of the three players who will come to camp on Exhibit 10 contracts — Chris Silva, Jeremiah Martin and Kyle Alexander. All three were signed at the end of Summer League.
Even if the Heat had increased their offer for Russell Westbrook, it may not have been enough, Winderman observes in a separate story. The Thunder were willing to give Westbrook his first choice, which was to play alongside his long-time friend James Harden in Houston. Also, the Rockets parted with a generous package of draft picks that was better than what Miami had available.
The invitation to Team USA’s World Cup camp gives more exposure to Bam Adebayo, which should boost his trade value at least slightly, Winderman writes in another story. Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk will both have the chance to improve through this summer’s international competition.

Heat Notes: Butler, Adebayo, Nunn, Paul

July 21st, 2019 at 12:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat won Jimmy Butler over in their free agent meeting by emphasizing a commitment to conditioning, toughness and winning, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Team president Pat Riley made a “strong impression” during the four-hour presentation on June 30 and was focused on getting a definitive answer before it was over. Butler had more meetings scheduled, but canceled them and committed to Miami.

Butler was being sought by other teams in better position to contend right away, such as the Clippers, Lakers and Rockets, or he could have stayed with the Sixers, but he liked the idea of being the first star for the Heat to build around. He also remembered the words of former Bulls teammate Dwyane Wade.

“He would always say, ‘It would be a place for you,” Butler recalled. “The type of guy you are, the mentality you have, the Heat culture, it just fits.’ We laugh about it now, but looking back it’s like: Damn, he kind of called how it could happen and how this would be a place that just fits me to a T.”

Here’s more from South Florida:

Bam Adebayo tells Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel that he expects a different atmosphere this season with Wade and Josh Richardson both gone and Butler now serving as the team leader. “Instead of J-Rich and the goofiness, it’s kind of Jimmy Butler,” the 22-year-old Adebayo said. “So it’s kind of more serious. He’s older than us.”
Kendrick Nunn‘s outstanding Summer League performance may not translate into more playing time once the season starts, Winderman observes in a separate piece. Nunn averaged 21.0 PPG in four games and ranked third in assists in Las Vegas at 6.3 per night. However, Winderman notes that his breakthrough wasn’t as dramatic as Derrick Jones Jr.‘s last summer, and Jones didn’t have a significant role during the regular season while the roster was at full strength. Winderman forecasts more playing time for first-round pick Tyler Herro.
Bradley Beal‘s situation in Washington could affect the Heat’s willingness to trade for Chris Paul, Winderman suggests in another story. Beal will become a free agent in 2021 if he turns down a three-year, $111MM extension offer that the Wizards can make starting Friday. Miami wouldn’t have enough cap space to pursue Beal if it takes on Paul’s sizable contract. A source tells Winderman that the Heat would demand multiple first-round picks to accept Paul.