Klay Thompson Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Chandler, Afflalo, Thompson

February 17th, 2015 at 8:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Trail Blazers have been pursuing Nuggets forward Wilson Chandler for weeks and remain the team most interested in trading for him, according to Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post. Portland wants to add a scorer off its bench, Dempsey adds, and Chandler would fit that description. Chandler, who is making $6.76MM this season, is averaging 13.9 points in 31.7 minutes per game for the Nuggets.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

The Blazers are also interested in Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo, and have the most assets among his pursuers to make a trade happen, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Clippers and Heat, among other teams, are also interested in Afflalo, but don’t have the assets to pull off a deal, Wojnarowski continues. Afflalo is making $7.5MM this season and has a player option for the same amount next season.
Enes Kanter could command a contract in excess of $10MM per season as a restricted free agent this summer and the Jazz center wants to protect his Bird rights if he’s dealt, Wojnarowski reports in the same piece. Kanter reportedly turned down a four-year, $32MM offer from Utah last fall. The Jazz are only willing to trade Kanter if they receive a quality young player and a first-round pick before Thursday’s deadline, Wojnarowski continues. In lieu of a trade, Jazz management and Kanter’s representative Max Ergul have been trying to resolve Kanter’s disappointment over his playing time peacefully, Wojnarowski adds.
The decision to sign Klay Thompson to an extension this past fall was relatively easy, but committing money to players is always a nerve-wracking proposition, Warriors GM Bob Myers tells Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group. Kawakami, in that piece and in another, delves into a Warriors front office that thrives on collaboration, with Myers and co-owner Joe Lacob the primary decision-makers who receive tons of spirited input. Assistant GMs Travis Schlenk and Kirk Lacob, consultant Jerry West and coach Steve Kerr have a say on every move from D-League transactions on up, as Kawakami reveals.
Marc Gasol will not rule out returning to the Grizzlies regardless of how they do in the postseason, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. Gasol will be an unrestricted free agent after the season and the Grizzlies have an edge through the CBA because they can offer him a five-year deal while other suitors can only offer four. The Knicks, Lakers and Spurs are among the teams who will pursue Gasol, Amick adds.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Pacific Notes: Cousins, Karl, Thompson, West

February 13th, 2015 at 12:42pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Kings are poised for trade deadline action after resolving their coaching situation, while in Phoenix, suitors are lining up for Goran Dragic. We’ll run through the latest news and notes from a busy Pacific Division here:

DeMarcus Cousins praised new Kings coach George Karl to reporters at All-Star weekend in New York, saying he looked forward to working with him, tweets Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com. The center has expressed exasperation with the team’s coaching turmoil.
Karl was the right choice for the Kings, argues Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee, who also lists Scott Brooks among the names of coaches who would have been candidates for the Sacramento job if the team hadn’t hired Karl.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was largely responsible for halting a proposed blockbuster last summer that would have sent Klay Thompson to the Timberwolves in exchange for Kevin Love, according to Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. Kerr and Warriors team consultant Jerry West talked ownership out of making the swap, which would have also sent David Lee to Minnesota and Kevin Martin to Golden State, Deveney adds. A source close the talks told Deveney that the trade was a done deal until Kerr, who took the job with the expectation of coaching Thompson, and West convinced management not to do it.
The jealousy that the Warriors worried might develop when they gave Thompson a more lucrative extension than Stephen Curry got a few years ago hasn’t developed, and Thompson doesn’t regret agreeing to contract terms that might give him less than the max, as Deveney writes in the same piece.
West, who made his mark as an executive with the Lakers, is confident the Lakers wouldn’t ask him back, as he said on 95.7 The Game, as station host Matt Steinmetz relays (Twitter links). West’s son, Ryan, is the Lakers’ assistant scouting director, notes Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).
Trading Dragic would be a wise move because the Suns are not true title contenders, Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic argues. Bickley believes the Suns should be acquiring trade assets in order to make a future move to acquire a superstar talent rather than adding short-term pieces such as Ray Allen or Amar’e Stoudemire. If the Suns can add a first-round pick by swapping Dragic while concurrently breaking their point guard logjam, they should not hesitate, Bickley concludes.

Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Thompson, Hill, McGee, Davis

December 11th, 2014 at 7:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Klay Thompson didn’t feel the need to test the free agent market, nor to entertain the idea of going to another team where he didn’t have to share the spotlight with another player, like he does now with Stephen Curry on the Warriors, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com writes. “Why go somewhere else and start over when you get a huge contract with one of the best teams in the NBA?” Thompson said. “I think only an idiot would turn that down. I love it here. Love my teammates, the organization, especially the fans, and I never really wanted to go anywhere else.” Thompson inked a maximum salary extension with Golden State in October.

Here’s more from the West:

The two-year, $18MM deal the Lakers gave Jordan Hill this summer drew some head-scratches from executives around the league, but Hill is now the player that Los Angeles gets the most trade inquiries about, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reports. Hill had heard all the chatter about him not being worthy of his contract, but shrugged it off, notes Deveney. “I heard all that, but I didn’t pay any attention,” Hill said. “I knew I had the skills to do it, I just needed the minutes. With [Mike] D’Antoni, it was hard for me to find the minutes. He wanted me to do the things he wanted me to do to get the minutes. I couldn’t really do what I wanted to do, to play the way I know I could play. So, things happened and now it’s a whole new year. Now, I am one of the main focal points of the team, so I can go out there and do what I am capable of doing.”
The Nuggets have received very little return on their four-year, $44MM investment in JaVale McGee, and the big man would garner little on the trade market thanks to his bloated contract and injury history, Shaun Powell of NBA.com writes. This is the peril of paying big men large salaries, Powell adds. The scribe also ran down a number of other deals handed out to centers that also haven’t worked out well for the teams writing the checks.
There has been some criticism about how the Pelicans are eschewing the draft in an attempt to build an immediate contender around Anthony Davis so he won’t leave as a free agent when he is eligible, Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM writes. Tjarks doesn’t believe New Orleans needs to worry, and despite a glaring weakness at small forward, the franchise should be able to retain Davis.

Western Notes: Thompson, Kobe, Fesenko

November 5th, 2014 at 1:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

Klay Thompson agreed that the starting salary in his extension with the Warriors couldn’t escalate past the current $15.5MM projection for next season’s 25% maximum salary, even if the max ends up coming in higher, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports. That means the deal will be no more lucrative than $69MM over four years, and Lowe heard from a couple of agents who believe the Warriors acted unfairly in the way they structured Thompson’s deal (Twitter link). Still, it doesn’t appear that it will end up having been a sacrifice for Thompson, since it’s unlikely next year’s salary cap, to which maximum salaries are tied, will reflect any of the revenue from the league’s new $24 billion TV deal, according to Lowe. The league’s salary cap projections for 2015/16 remain around $66-68MM as league office execs favor a gradual phase-in of the TV money that wouldn’t start until 2016, Lowe writes. There’s more on Thompson and the Warriors amid the latest from Western Conference:

The promise of future production, expendability, strong character and the ability to attract fans are a few of the qualities that current and former team executives tell Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher they believe players who sign maximum-salary contracts should possess. All of those execs agree that Thompson is a max player, but their opinions are mixed on Kawhi Leonard, to whom the Spurs decided against giving a max extension.
Kobe Bryant‘s two-year, $48.5MM extension looks like an albatross for the 0-5 Lakers, but Warriors executive and part-owner Jerry West doesn’t agree, as he told KNBR radio, “Whatever they’re paying, he’s earned it,” West said, as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group notes (Twitter link).
Timberwolves camp cut Kyrylo Fesenko has inked with Avtodor of Russia, the team announced (translation via David Pick of Eurobasket.com, on Twitter).

Warriors Notes: Thompson, Green

November 4th, 2014 at 9:20pm CST by Alex Lee

It’s still early, but the Warriors have taken a commanding lead as the still-unbeaten team that Hoops Rumors readers think can unseat the Spurs as NBA champs. The play of Klay Thompson is undoubtedly a big reason why, as the fourth-year guard, fresh off a contract extension, leads the league in scoring. Here is more on the Warriors:

While the official word on Thompson’s extension with the Warriors is that the full value won’t be known until next July, Zach Lowe of Grantland.com reports that it is not technically a maximum contract (via Twitter). Lowe promises further detail to come, but in the meantime says that Golden State did something “interesting” with the deal that differentiates it from other max-type extensions.
Meanwhile, Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group writes that many in Golden State saw stardom coming for Thompson and it, if that is what we’re seeing here, should not come as a big surprise.
We heard earlier tonight that Draymond Green of the Warriors is switching agents. Sam Amick of USA Today, who reported the Green news, writes that Golden State intends to keep their young forward. Amick adds that Green’s move to the Wasserman Media Group was a strategic one, as the Michigan State product preferred the services of an agency — and an agent in B.J. Armstrong — that could properly capitalize on his unique ability to impact a game beyond what shows up in the box score.

Western Notes: Durant, Rockets, Thompson

November 4th, 2014 at 12:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

The message in HBO’s “Kevin Durant: The Offseason” documentary shows the Roc Nation Sports agency’s heavy hand in Durant’s affairs and paints the reigning MVP as a player who’s eager to win, even if it means leaving the Thunder in 2016, as Ben Golliver of SI.com opines. Even though Durant says as the film’s credits roll that he has “no doubts” about the Thunder’s ability to win a championship eventually, the film makes it clear he’s ready to seek a title elsewhere if any such doubts creep in. We passed along more on Durant this morning, and there’s another Durant-related item amid the latest from the Western Conference:

The Rockets are among the many teams planning a run at Durant when he can become a free agent in 2016, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com says in a video report.
The maximum salaries for 2015/16 won’t be known until July, but the league is estimating that the 25% max that Klay Thompson is set to receive in his extension from the Warriors will give him a $15.5MM salary for next season, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). That would mean $69MM over the life of the four-year deal, as Pincus also illustrates. That’s up significantly from the $14.746MM that 25% max signees received for this season. Kyrie Irving is also in line for the $15.5MM starting salary in his five-year max extension, though he has a better chance than Thompson does to trigger the Derrick Rose rule, which he and the Cavs agreed would give him a max worth approximately 27.5% of the salary cap.
Cory Joseph acknowledges that it wasn’t surprising when he didn’t sign an extension with the Spurs when he was eligible before the end of last month, and the ever-optimistic point guard looks ahead to restricted free agency as an opportunity. Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News has the details.

Western Notes: Warriors, Thompson, Rubio

November 2nd, 2014 at 11:28am CST by ChrisCrouse

Golden State knows what Klay Thompson means to their team and didn’t want to risk ruining their relationship with the shooting guard by waiting until the offseason to make a reasonable offer, writes Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press. Gonzalez notes that before the $70MM extension was agreed to, players on the Warriors would look at GM Bob Myers, rub their fingers together and say; “Pay the man,” in reference to Thompson. “I’ve never see a team rally around a player so much to get him paid,” Myers said. “It says a lot about Klay and what he means to this franchise.” With the league’s television contract set to expire and the new deal expected to increase the salary cap, the Warriors are expecting Thompson’s performance to exceed the value of this deal.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Even though negotiations went to the deadline, Myers said giving Thompson a contract extension was an easy decision, according to Diamond Leung of The San Jose Mercury-News. Thompson received a four-year max deal that makes him the first Golden State player signed through the 2018/19 season. “This contract is well deserved, and I think that’s the best compliment I can give Klay,” Myers said, giving a nod to Thompson’s work ethic. “He earned it.”
Wolves owner Glen Taylor’s relationships with Ricky Rubio made the decision to open up his checkbook easier, writes Andy Greder of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “[Taylor’s] a great guy who really stepped up in this situation,” Rubio said. “Me and him talking, just man to man, clears things up.” When Rubio’s extension kicks in, he will be the team’s highest paid player, earning about $14MM per year.
Alec Burks had no intention of leaving Utah and is excited to be part of the Jazz’s bright future, writes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. “I had him tell the Jazz I wanted to be here. I want to be a part of the future,” Burks said of his discussions with agent Andy Miller. “I see something bright in the future.” Utah and Burks signed an extension worth $42MM over four years, with “reachable” incentives that could bring the value of the deal to $45MM.

Arthur Hill contributed to this post

Warriors Sign Thompson To Max Extension

October 31st, 2014 at 6:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Warriors have agreed to an extension with Klay Thompson, the team has announced. Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link) was the first to report the agreement. The deal is a four-year max extension, and it contains no options, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. The estimated value is in the $70MM range, but the exact figure won’t be known until the league sets the new maximum salary amount in July.

The two sides beat tonight’s deadline to ink a deal while fielding trade offers from the Kings, who reportedly offered anyone on their roster aside from DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay, Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports notes. There were also concerns that Golden State owner Joe Lacob wouldn’t be comfortable shelling out the max for a player, especially when comparing it to the team-friendly deal that Stephen Curry is signed to. According to a report from Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com earlier this month, the Warriors were offering Thompson annual salaries of about $13MM in its proposals, though the sides had been getting closer in recent weeks.

Thompson had expressed a preference for the security of an extension rather than a one-year deal next summer that would allow him to hit unrestricted free agency when the league’s new $24 billion TV deal kicks in and player salaries are expected to increase markedly. He is a potential two-way superstar, and in 230 career games he has averages of 16.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 2.2 APG. His career slash line is .435/.409/.828.

The Warriors had approximately $62MM in guaranteed salary committed for the 2015/16 season before coming to terms with Thompson, and that doesn’t account for Brandon Rush‘s $1,270,964 player option, or any money needed to re-sign Draymond Green. By adding Thompson’s max-level salary to the equation the team might seek to unload David Lee, who is set to make $15,012,000 this season, and $15,493,680 in 2015/16. If the Warriors wait until next summer they could try to flip Lee’s expiring contract for some cap relief, though that is purely my speculation.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Warriors, Klay Thompson

October 31st, 2014 at 3:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:28pm: Optimism surrounds the talks, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com, who indicates that the Warriors continue to receive trade inquiries about Thompson from other teams. Coach Steve Kerr today told reporters, including Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group, that he’s “quietly confident” that the team will reach an extension with the shooting guard by tonight’s deadline (Twitter link).

OCTOBER 31ST, 1:05pm: The sides were $3MM apart on annual salaries three weeks ago, but that gap has since closed to between $1MM and $1.5MM, according to Poole (Twitter links). A report from overnight indicated that negotiations remained open.

OCTOBER 25TH: The Warriors continue to resist making Klay Thompson a maximum-salary extension offer, frustrating the shooting guard and his camp, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The Warriors have come close to the max, but a source close to Thompson called the notion of the rising star taking a deal worth less than the max “absurd.”

Warriors owner Joe Lacob isn’t comfortable with shelling out the max, Spears writes, echoing a report from Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com earlier this month that indicated the team was offering annual salaries of about $13MM in its proposals. A maximum offer would come to about $85MM over five years or $66MM over four based on this year’s figures, though those numbers will likely be higher when the league reveals its maximum salaries in July. Until then, the precise amount the Warriors would have to pay Thompson in a max deal is unknown. Maximum salaries go up and down with the cap, and a report from Sean Deveney of The Sporting News this week suggesting that the league’s $66.5MM cap projection is a conservative one, that might be at the root of Lacob’s hesitancy.

Friday is the deadline for the sides to reach a deal, and Thompson has expressed a preference for the security of an extension rather than a one-year deal next summer that would allow him to hit unrestricted free agency when the league’s new high-revenue TV deal kicks in come 2016. It’s most likely that the Warriors would prefer to sign the Bill Duffy client to a long-term deal rather than a one-year pact if he were to become a restricted free agent next summer. Still, Thompson’s desire for security after his name was in Kevin Love trade rumors for much of the summer was one reason I thought the sides would agree to an extension for less than the max, as I wrote when I examined Thompson’s extension candidacy.

Extension Rumors: Butler, Rubio, Thompson

October 31st, 2014 at 11:54am CST by Chuck Myron

The 11:00pm Central deadline for rookie-scale extensions is only about half a day away, and there’s sure to be action in the hours ahead as decisions loom for the remaining eligible players. Here’s the latest as of this morning:

The Bulls and Butler were apart by $2.5MM in average annual value as they talked Thursday, Johnson reports. Butler’s camp doesn’t see a deal happening before the deadline, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (on Twitter), which isn’t surprising considering the gap.
The Wolves are willing to sign Rubio to a four-year extension worth $52MM, and the team would perhaps be on board with going up to $54MM, according to Wolfson (Twitter link). Agent Dan Fegan has reportedly been seeking the maximum salary for his client, which would likely entail at least $66MM over four years, but Rubio would take $58MM, Wolfson says.
There’s “plenty of pessimism” surrounding the talks between Tristan Thompson and the Cavs as a gap remains in their proposals, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (via Twitter).

Earlier updates:

Ricky Rubio is more likely than not to sign an extension with the Wolves as advanced negotiations have taken place between the sides over the past few weeks, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. That echoes an earlier report from Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities, who heard from people outside the organization who believed Rubio and the team would ultimately settle on a four-year, $52MM deal.
Agent Brian Elfus has been in San Antonio negotiating with the Spurs this week, as Stein writes in the same piece, but Kawhi Leonard is nonetheless unlikely to sign an extension, Stein says, seconding a report from ESPN colleague Chris Broussard. Stein hears the Spurs prefer to take Leonard to restricted free agency next summer to maintain maximum financial flexibility. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote earlier this week that the Spurs were reluctant to give Leonard the maximum salary he’s seeking.
Talks are continuing between the Warriors and Klay Thompson and the Cavs and Tristan Thompson, Stein reports.
Brandon Knight and Norris Cole appear unlikely to receive extensions, according to Stein, though talks are still going on between the Bucks and Knight’s agent, Arn Tellem, a source tells Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Stein seconds earlier reports indicating that Jimmy Butler, Reggie Jackson and Iman Shumpert also seem unlikely to sign extensions.
The Bulls are going to have to increase their offer to Butler to entice him to sign, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. It’s unclear what the Bulls have on the table, but as of a week ago the sides were “millions apart,” as Johnson wrote then.