LaMarcus Aldridge Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Mavs Consider Chandler-Jordan Sign-And-Trade

May 27th, 2015 at 2:22pm CST by Chuck Myron

Members of the Mavs front office have tossed around the idea of engineering a sign-and-trade that would send Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to the Clippers for DeAndre Jordan, should Jordan elect to sign with the Mavs this summer, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. The Mavs brass, who talked about the idea in a brainstorming session, according to MacMahon, wants to “do right” by Chandler, who would sign a market value contract with the Clippers as part of the scenario, though Dallas would insist that Felton be a part of such a deal, MacMahon writes. The Clippers appear poised to offer Jordan the max to stay, but the league’s leading rebounder has said the Clips aren’t necessarily the favorites to re-sign him and has apparently made it clear to the Mavs that he’s highly interested in playing for them, as MacMahon previously reported.

The Mavs would seek to re-sign Chandler, a somewhat less athletic version of Jordan at the center position, at market value if they miss on Jordan or sign LaMarcus Aldridge instead, MacMahon writes. Chandler has expressed a desire to return to the Mavs, but the Clippers may well hold appeal as an alternative, since Chandler is a Southern California native and former teammate of Chris Paul, MacMahon notes. The Clippers, given their existing salary commitments for next season, likely won’t have the means to sign Chandler outright. President of basketball operations Doc Rivers would thus be “crazy” not to show interest in a Chandler-Jordan sign-and-trade proposal from the Mavs, MacMahon posits, though a guaranteed long-term deal for Chandler would tie up money the Clips could spend in the summer of 2016 and beyond.

The Clippers have more than $58MM in commitments for next season, not counting more than $6.7MM in non-guaranteed money for mainstays Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes. The luxury tax threshold is projected to come in at $81.6MM, meaning the luxury tax apron, the line the Clippers can’t cross in any sign-and-trade acquisition, is projected at $85.6MM. It’s unclear just how much a market value deal for Chandler would entail, but Felton will be due more than $3.95MM next season once he makes his decision to opt in official, so the mechanics of the sign-and-trade the Mavs are considering could get dicey.

Chandler, a veteran of more than 10 seasons, is eligible for a max that’ll probably come in around an estimated $22MM. Jordan, a seven-year vet, could make about $19MM next season based on those same estimates. They’d be limited to four-year deals and 4.5% raises in any sign-and-trade deals.

Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Young, Nets, Celtics

May 24th, 2015 at 1:58pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Sixers hold the third overall pick in this year’s draft and the team will select the player that they believe will be the best player long-term rather than the player who’s more NBA ready now, Tom Moore of Calkins Media writes.

“We’ll spend all the available time between now and then to try to gain all the information we can to make good decisions,” GM Sam Hinkie said. “By design, we’ll have to make a decision at the end of June. I think it’s really a mistake to make one sometimes much, much earlier.”

Many executives believe the Sixers will take D’Angelo Russell, but selecting Emmanuel Mudiay remains a possibility due to his potential. Moore wonders what the team will do if either Jahlil Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns fall to the third pick. He believes the team would keep Towns, but it would look to trade Okafor, potentially to the Knicks for their fourth overall pick and an additional asset. New York cannot trade a first round pick until 2018, but that might work for Hinkie, who appears to be one of the most patient executives in the league.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Joseph Young will work out for the Nets, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily writes. Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranks the Oregon product as the 40th best prospect, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranks him as the 53rd. Brooklyn holds the No. 29 and No. 41 picks in this year’s draft.
The Celtics need to improve their talents and cannot afford to pass on free agents this summer, Jackie MacMullan of the Boston Globe opines (Video link). MacMullan concedes that a top target, such as LaMarcus Aldridge, could be difficult to obtain, but even if that is the case, the team needs to add players from the next tier of free agents. She suggests Khris Middleton and Tobias Harris as potential targets. DeMarre Carroll could be another option, as Boston reportedly has interest in the forward. The Celtics have slightly more than $40.4MM in guaranteed salary on the books for the 2015/16 against a projected $67.1MM salary cap. The team could sign a few mid-tier free agents in order to improve on their 40-win campaign.

James, Curry, Harden Lead All-NBA Teams

May 21st, 2015 at 10:32am CST by Chuck Myron

LeBron James and Stephen Curry finished atop the voting for the All-NBA Teams, with James Harden, Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol joining them on the first team, the league announced via press release. Russell Westbrook, LaMarcus Aldridge, Chris Paul, Pau Gasol and DeMarcus Cousins comprise the second team. Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Tim Duncan, Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving make up the third team.

Curry, the league’s MVP, and James each received 645 points through a system in which five points are awarded a first team vote, three points go for a second team vote and one point is given for a third team vote. The duo garnered 129 first team votes each, making them unanimous first team selections. They were followed closely by Harden, with 125 first team votes and 637 points, and Davis, who had 119 first team votes and 625 points. Marc Gasol, who’s heading into free agency, wasn’t as widely seen as a first-teamer by the media members who cast their ballots, rounding out the squad with 65 first-team votes and 453.

Every member of the second team received at least one first team vote, and Thompson and Irving were the only members of the third team not to get a first team vote. Al Horford also received a first team vote even though he didn’t make any of the teams. The NBA will soon display the votes of each media member on its website, but the league has already distributed the information via press release, so click here to check it out in PDF form.

Northwest Notes: Garnett, Aldridge, Abrines

May 19th, 2015 at 11:20am CST by Chuck Myron

The Timberwolves got their apparent wish to receive Thaddeus Young in the final version of the Kevin Love trade instead of the Heat’s protected first-round pick this year, and Minnesota flipped Young for Kevin Garnett at this year’s trade deadline. The Sixers, who ended up with that protected Miami pick instead, have about a 9% chance to end up with it as a lottery pick this year, as the lottery odds show. Still, it’s more likely that it ultimately winds up going to Philadelphia next year as a late first-rounder, given the Heat’s strong chance to field a better team next season. Wolves coach and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders doesn’t have any regrets about trading for a aging superstar who’s mentoring rookies and veterans alike, as he told Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck in part two of a lengthy oral history on Garnett.

“What KG brings, the other things, how he might help these other guys analytically be better, is more important than a low first-round pick or whatever it is,” Saunders said.

Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:

LaMarcus Aldridge finally had the surgery on his left thumb that he put off in late January, the Trail Blazers announced. He’s expected to be able to return to basketball activity in about eight weeks, and while that would carry into July, when he’s set to become a free agent, it shouldn’t affect his stock, given how well he played while he was dealing with the injury, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The Spurs, Mavs, Knicks, Lakers and Celtics are reportedly among the teams gearing up for a run at the Blazers star.
Thunder draft-and-stash prospect Alex Abrines has officially signed an extension with Barcelona of Spain that carries through the 2018/19 season, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi). Jose Ignacio Huguet of Mundo Deportivo first reported the deal, though it remains unclear what sort of NBA outs, if any, are in the contract.
The Thunder let some of the top shooting prospects know that shooting is an area of need for the team, and Oklahoma City’s interviews at the combine also revealed that the club is focusing on point guards, as The Oklahoman’s Darnell Mayberry examines.

Spurs Expected To Pursue Aldridge Before Gasol

May 18th, 2015 at 2:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Spurs are widely expected to focus their attention on LaMarcus Aldridge first before turning their attention to fellow free agent target Marc Gasol, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The understanding as of two months ago was that Gasol would be San Antonio’s No. 1 target, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reported then, though that was before a series of reports that made it clear that Portland’s star is strongly considering a move elsewhere. Stein indeed deems Aldridge as the more “gettable” free agent, though it’s not entirely clear whether San Antonio would prefer Aldridge over Gasol, all things being equal.

The Spurs are the team that Memphis fears most, Stein writes, cautioning that it’s premature to anoint San Antonio the most likely non-Memphis destination for the Spanish center given the expectation that the Spurs will attempt to woo Aldridge first. Most teams around the league predict that Gasol will wind up re-signing with the Grizzlies given his strong ties to the city of Memphis and his desire to win a title, according to Stein. Still, Gasol has given little precious little indication of his thinking, Stein notes.

The Knicks have long been linked to Gasol as a suitor, but former Knick and current Gasol teammate Beno Udrih recently posited that New York is out of the running. Many of Gasol’s comments about Memphis have made his love for the city undeniable, but Gasol in February refused to rule out the Knicks or any other team.

Memphis has Gasol’s Bird Rights and can give the 30-year-old a five-year deal with 7.5% raises, while other teams are limited to four-year contracts with 4.5% raises. Still, the expected leaps in the salary cap over the next couple of years stand to mitigate that advantage if the Arn Tellem client is confident he can still warrant maximum-salary consideration in another year or two. The Spurs will have the flexibility to make a maximum-salary bid on Aldridge, Gasol or another sought-after free agent this summer, but it may well require Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili to retire or take drastically reduced salaries, as I explained.

The Spurs believe they can sign Aldridge, who’s considering them as well as the Mavericks and a new deal with the Blazers, as Stein recently reported. The Knicks and Lakers are apparently planning to become Aldridge suitors, too, as are the Celtics.

Celtics Eyeing Aldridge, Matthews

May 13th, 2015 at 5:49pm CST by Zachary Links

Celtics GM Danny Ainge has made it clear that he will explore every avenue to improve his team this summer and it sounds like he has at least one very bold idea in mind. The Celtics will be “open to putting together some type of package deal” for Blazers free agents LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews, according to A. Sherrod Blakely on CSNNE’s Celtics Talk TV (h/t Jay King of MassLive.com).

Many believed that Aldridge would wind up staying put in Portland, but speculation grew over the course of the season that he might look elsewhere. In particular, a pair of Texas teams – the Spurs and Mavericks – have been heavily connected to the big man. One has to imagine that playing in Boston would hold appeal for most players, but the C’s would also have to convince Aldridge that they’d be ready to compete for a championship in the immediate future. As Blakely notes, Aldridge is looking for a team that can give him a great chance of going deep in the playoffs.

When asked to handicap the odds of Aldridge donning green and white next season, Blakely handicapped the odds at 35-40%. That figure may sound optimistic, but Aldridge and Matthews are friendly and the guard’s inclusion could help convince the former No. 2 overall pick to join the C’s.

Matthews, meanwhile, could be a solid fit for the Celtics, independent of Aldridge. If his Achilles checks out, the Celtics might feel that the 28-year-old could provide them with the shooting that they need.

Western Notes: Thunder, Blazers, Spurs

May 3rd, 2015 at 9:17pm CST by Will Joseph

It would behoove Tim Duncan to convince LaMarcus Aldridge to join the Spurs this summer, Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News writes. The Spurs are reportedly at the top of Aldridge’s list. Duncan, 39, would have a more realistic shot at another title playing alongside Aldridge, a native of Texas, if Duncan decides he wants to play next season, Harvey adds. Harvey also speculates that since Aldridge already has a list of teams in May, the star forward conceivably will be on the move.

There’s more from the Western Conference:

Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard’s intention to seek a maximum contract extension from the team this offseason is a shrewd move and one that makes Portland’s offseason even trickier, John Canzano of the Oregonian opines. Lillard is basically using Aldridge’s free agency as leverage, Canzano writes. If the team says no to Lillard, it seemingly sends a signal to Aldridge that it’s not invested in competing, Canzano adds. As reported last week, Lillard has no plans to consider agreeing to an extension for less than the designated maximum.
Thunder GM Sam Presti said he was looking for a coach with tactical gumption and Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman writes the executive found one in former Florida coach Billy Donovan. The new coach wants to put an emphasis on unselfish ball movement and a lot of offensive freedom for players, Mayberry adds, which is similar to what the Thunder tried to implement last season before injuries helped derail expectations. More creativity would benefit the Thunder, Mayberry writes, and the consensus among those the reporter interviewed is that Donovan is the man who can add that aspect to the team. Another important part of the hire is that Donovan has solid experience working with players like Russell Westbrook, who is very talented, but has an emotionally charged personality, Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman writes.

Celtics Likely To Seek DeMarcus Cousins

May 1st, 2015 at 2:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:21pm: The Celtics have been enamored with Cousins for years, but Ranadive almost certainly wouldn’t approve a trade that sends him out, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee.

8:23am: The “early word” indicates that the Celtics will try to trade for DeMarcus Cousins this summer, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Indeed, the Celtics will likely be in the hunt for just about every marquee player who might become available in the months ahead, Stein writes, echoing comments that president of basketball operations Danny Ainge made Thursday. LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Monroe, Paul Millsap and Omer Asik are among the many free agents whom Boston is expected to make a run at, as A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com details. Reports conflicted about whether Boston made a run at trading for Cousins before the deadline.

A person familiar with Kings coach George Karl‘s thinking told Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck in February that the Kings didn’t rule out trading their All-Star center at the deadline, and Karl said last month that there were no untouchables on the roster. However, Vlade Divac, whom the Kings installed in March as the head of their basketball operations, is enamored with Cousins and wants the 24-year-old’s time in Sacramento to continue, and owner Vivek Ranadive has bristled at the assertion that Cousins is a trade candidate.

The Celtics have about $40MM in guaranteed salary for next season against a projected $67.1MM cap, but opening cap space would force the team to renounce its unmatched reserve of trade exceptions. None of them, even the one worth nearly $13MM left over from the Rajon Rondo trade, would be large enough to acquire Cousins and his max deal, though the exceptions could help the Celtics structure a larger-scale multiplayer deal involving Cousins or another star. Boston’s store of draft picks loom as significant trade assets, too, as Stein points out, and those won’t disappear if the Celtics decide to use cap space in July, unlike the trade exceptions.

The Celtics don’t have any player who’s truly off-limits for a trade either, according to Stein, though among the C’s under contract, Ainge has a particular soft spot for Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley, the ESPN scribe points out. Sources told Blakely that Smart and Tyler Zeller are the least likely players to leave Boston via trade, as we noted earlier. Ainge is also high on soon-to-be free agents Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko, Stein writes, as previous reports have indicated.

Latest On LaMarcus Aldridge

May 1st, 2015 at 12:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

LaMarcus Aldridge is indeed thinking of signing with the Spurs or Mavericks, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears, advancing his report from last week that those two teams believe they have a shot to lure him back to his native Texas. San Antonio is “near or at” the top of the Arn Tellem client‘s list, Stein writes, though he suggests the Cavaliers would come into the picture if Kevin Love were to somehow depart and the Cavs found a way to sign-and-trade for Aldridge. Stein reiterates that the Knicks and Lakers plan to go after Aldridge as well. A. Sherrod Blakely of CSSNE.com named the Blazers power forward as one of many marquee free agents the Celtics are expected to pursue this summer.

Aldridge spoke of an “amazing” nine years in Portland and said he’s “not trying to have that end” in a season-ending media session Thursday. It nonetheless seems as if more executives around the league believe that the former No. 2 overall pick will leave Portland in free agency this summer than think he’ll re-sign as he pledged to do last summer, according to Stein. Aldridge, who turns 30 this summer, said “we’ll see” when ESPN’s Chris Broussard asked him recently if the Blazers remained the front-runners for him, Stein notes. Aldridge first seemed to hint at dissatisfaction when he reflected to Michael Lee of The Washington Post on a time when he felt the Blazers didn’t support him, and he told Lee that he wondered how easily the team could move on without him.

Some Blazers observers think Damian Lillard‘s growing stature on the team bothers Aldridge, according to Stein. Still, Lillard, who’s reportedly insisting on a max extension this summer, has said he believes Aldridge will be back. Some Blazers are worried that Aldridge will leave, as The Oregonian’s Jason Quick reported, and one of them told Quick a few weeks ago that he thought it was a 50-50 proposition whether the All-Star power forward would re-sign.

Aldridge On Free Agency, Surgery, Olshey

April 30th, 2015 at 7:41pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and while Portland certainly wishes to re-sign its star, the competition to secure his services is likely to be stiff indeed. Both the Spurs and the Mavericks are expected to pursue the native Texan, and the Knicks and Lakers are also expected to make a run at inking the 29-year-old. In his exit interview with the media Aldridge touched upon a number of subjects, and here or some of the highlights (hat tip to Sean Meagher of The Oregonian for the transcription)…

On what will be most important to him when making his free agency decision:

“I’m not gonna get into the details of it, but I think I’m gonna go home and just relax and talk to my family and my agent and just go from there. Of course I love being here, I’m thankful for everything this city has given me and for my time here. It’s been an amazing nine years; of course I’m not trying to have that end. When the time comes we’ll sit down, my agent and [GM] Neil Olshey and [owner] Paul Allen, we’ll just figure it out.”

On if his thinking regarding re-signing with the Blazers has changed since last summer:

“I haven’t thought about it since then. The season just ended. I have to sit back and reflect on everything that just happened. Look back on the season and the things that are important to me. I wouldn’t say things have changed, I just think that I’m gonna do my due diligence. I’m just gonna go through the process.”

On if he was looking forward to the free agency process:

“Um, yes and no. I think every player wants to be wanted. Obviously if I said I don’t want to be wanted, does that mean you’re one of the top players in your position. It’s always good and bad that comes with it and I have to deal with it. But I’m looking forward to getting rest right now and then figure the rest out.”

On if he will require offseason surgery to repair damage to his thumb:

“I don’t know yet. I have to get it looked at again.”

On his relationship with Olshey:

“I would say it’s good. I would say he is different than most other GMs I’ve dealt with … other than when Chad [Buchanan] subbed in, I thought Chad had some Neil qualities in him as far as putting players first and trying to make sure the players have everything that they wanted and needed and trying to make sure guys are happy. Neil has brought a new culture to this team, to this city. He came in and he redid the whole facility, the whole arena. I just think he wants players to be happy at their jobs and at the arena and stuff like that. That was new for me and I enjoyed that.”