Lou Williams Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Mutual Interest Between Heat, Lou Williams

July 3rd, 2015 at 9:21am CST by Chuck Myron

The Heat and Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams have mutual interest, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, while league sources tell Jake Fischer of SI Now that the Kings will begin talks with Williams and Josh Smith today (Twitter link). Williams would have to take a steep discount unless the Heat, who likely have only the $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level to spend above the minimum on outside free agents, can clear quite a bit of salary or pull off a sign-and-trade, and Jackson has received no indication of any ongoing sign-and-trade discussions. The Kings, with plenty of cap flexibility to play with following their agreement on a three-player trade with the Sixers and failed pursuits of Monta Ellis and Wesley Matthews, would appear to have more of a clear shot at Williams, though it’s unclear if he’s as interested in Sacramento as he appears to be in Miami.

The Knicks reportedly reached out to Williams earlier this week. The new client of Wallace Prather was apparently expected to hear from New York and Sacramento, as well as the Lakers and Nets, while Jackson anticipated that he would reach out to the Heat. Williams called re-signing with the Raptors the ideal situation in April, but Toronto, which was reportedly chasing Matthews, largely hasn’t been linked to its own free agent since.

Houston and Smith reportedly have mutual interest, but the Rockets aren’t making much progress with their free agents at this point as they wait to hear LaMarcus Aldridge‘s decision, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle details. Several reports indicated that the Kings engaged in talks with the Pistons about trading for Smith last summer, and Smith has said that he and Rajon Rondo, who’s meeting with the Kings, have spoken on multiple occasions about the possibility of playing together.

Atlantic Notes: Love, Fields, Lin, Bass

July 1st, 2015 at 7:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Celtics would have been bigger contenders to land Kevin Love if the team’s roster wasn’t stocked with still developing players, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald writes. “Look, Kevin’s first choice is to stay with Cleveland, and I have no doubt that’s going to get worked out,” a source close to Love said. “But I think Kevin’s liked Boston for a while as a place to play. If their roster was more ready to win right now, maybe there’s a chance we’re having a different conversation. And maybe he’d be going back to Cleveland no matter what. All I know is that a lot of teams wanted in on him, and Boston was one of the only ones he spoke to.” Love announced his intention to return to the Cavaliers earlier today.

With the free agent signing period now officially underway, here’s the latest rumblings out of the Atlantic Division:

The Knicks have reached out to swingman Landry Fields, who is an unrestricted free agent, Marc Berman of The New York Post relays (Twitter link).
New York has also expressed interest in 2014/15 Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams, who is an unrestricted free agent, Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops tweets.
Free agent point guard Jeremy Lin was contacted by the Knicks, who need to add backcourt depth this summer, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders tweets. The Lakers, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Pacers, Bulls and Clippers have also shown interest in Lin’s services.
The Celtics still aren’t sure if they will re-sign Brandon Bass, but did contact the forward today to let him know the team hasn’t forgotten him, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes (Twitter link).
The Knicks have been in contact with forward Lance Thomas regarding a return to the team, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com relays (via Twitter). The Spurs and Nets have also expressed interest in the 27-year-old, Begley adds.
There is mutual interest between free agent forward Thomas Robinson and the Nets, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily tweets.
The Knicks have expressed interest in K.J. McDaniels, who is a restricted free agent, so the Rockets would have an opportunity to match any offer sheet the forward were to sign, Begley relays (on Twitter).
Members of New York’s front office will meet with free agent center Robin Lopez in Los Angeles this week, Begley tweets.
The Knicks are among the teams interested in guard Wayne Ellington, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News notes (Twitter link). Also interested in the 27-year-old are the the Cavaliers, Warriors, Wizards, Spurs and Hawks.
The Knicks were prepared to offer DeMarre Carroll a similar deal to the four-year, $60MM arrangement he reached with the Raptors, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports (Twitter link). Carroll felt that Toronto’s long-term outlook was better than New York’s, Zillgitt adds.

Eastern Notes: Williams, Knicks, Celtics

June 17th, 2015 at 5:50pm CST by Eddie Scarito

There have been reports that the Knicks intend to trade down in the NBA Draft if Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor, and D’Angelo Russell are off the board when New York is set to pick at No. 4 overall. As for what team president Phil Jackson is seeking in return for the fourth pick, in his weekly chat Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) relays that the Knicks want a young veteran player and a pick in the 8 to 14 range. One player who New York has been linked to in that draft range is fast-rising playmaker Cameron Payne of Murray State, who would fill a glaring need for the franchise at the point guard spot.

Here’s the latest out of the Eastern Conference:

Reigning Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams is expected to receive strong interest from teams that include the Kings, Lakers, Knicks, and Nets, providing a clear competition for the Raptors to retain his services, Shams Charania of RealGM writes. Williams is expected to seek a three-year deal in the range of $27MM or four years for $35MM, Charania adds.
The Celtics held workouts today for Kevon Looney (UCLA), Brandon Ashley (Arizona), JayVaughn Pinkston (Villanova), and Maurice NDour (Ohio), Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com relays (Twitter link).
The Wizards will hold workouts on Thursday for Justin Anderson (Virginia), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Arizona), Jordan Mickey (LSU), Aaron White (Iowa), Derek Cooke Jr. (Wyoming), and Maxie Esho (UMass), Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders tweets.
Working out for the Cavaliers today were Josh Richardson (Tennessee) and Olivier Hanlan (Boston College), Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops notes (on Twitter).
The Hornets are hoping that newly acquired Spencer Hawes can help replace the outside shooting the team lost when Josh McRoberts signed with the Heat last offseason, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes. “In the offseason you try to make your team fit better together, and I think that’s what this trade does. Our defense is more than good enough to win and our offense isn’t,” Clifford said. “If you look more specifically into the numbers [the flaw] is our [long] range shooting. What Spencer will do is improve our range shooting and he’s also a very good passer.”

Eastern Rumors: Lou Williams, Boozer, LeBron

June 17th, 2015 at 10:16am CST by Chuck Myron

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald expects Lou Williams to reach out to the Heat, among others, in free agency this summer. Still, the Heat are unlikely to have the cap space to afford the reigning Sixth Man of the Year unless two among Dwyane Wade, Goran Dragic and Luol Deng leave the team this summer, Jackson notes. Otherwise, Miami would be limited to either the $5.464MM non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception or the $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level. Neither would probably be enough to land the Wallace Prather client who’s likely seeking a significant raise on his $5.45MM salary with the Raptors from this past season. Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Someone close to Carlos Boozer told Jackson that he wouldn’t be surprised if the power forward signed with the Heat this summer, though Jackson asserts, as he writes in the same piece, that it would almost certainly be a minimum-salary deal if he were to go to Miami.
LeBron James has taken a detached, passive-aggressive stance to expressing his views on the moves his teams make during offseasons in which he’s been a free agent in the past, but the Cavs want him to give direct input this summer, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com details. James is likely to opt out and sign another two-year deal with a player option on year two, Windhorst writes, seconding what Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group wrote was a widespread expectation during the season, preferring leverage for himself over comfort for the team.
The Knicks would love to acquire an extra pick, whether in the first round or the second, a source told Marc Berman of the New York Post.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo, whom the Knicks drafted 51st overall last year, would consider signing overseas instead of again playing in the D-League, as his did this past season, if the Knicks don’t sign him to their NBA roster this offseason, agent Tim Lotsos tells Berman for the same piece.

Lou Williams Hires Wallace Prather As Agent

May 26th, 2015 at 3:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

Soon-to-be free agent Lou Williams has hired agent Wallace Prather of Perennial Sports and Entertainment, Prather tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). This season’s Sixth Man of the Year had been with Leon Rose of the Creative Artists Agency. Williams said toward the end of the season that he wanted to re-sign with the Raptors and was optimistic that his camp and the team would work out a deal.

Prather’s clients include Derrick Favors and, along with Brian Dyke of Shibumi Sports, Josh Smith. Prather also represents Jordan Adams and Anthony Morrow, as the Hoops Rumors Agency Database shows. Favors just finished year one of an incentive-laden four-year, $48MM extension with the Jazz, while Smith is drawing from both a four-year, $54MM contract he signed with the Pistons in 2013 and the one-year deal for the $2.077MM biannual exception he inked with the Rockets in December upon his release from Detroit. Morrow signed a three-year, $10.032MM deal with the Thunder this past offseason, the same summer in which Adams joined the Grizzlies on a rookie scale contract after going 22nd overall in the 2014 draft.

Williams, with Rose’s representation, signed a three-year deal with the Hawks in 2012 for the value of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception worth a total of nearly $15.7MM. A torn ACL prematurely ended his first season with Atlanta, and he struggled to regain his form after coming back last season. The Hawks shipped him to the Raptors in a cost-cutting move last June, and he blossomed in Toronto, scoring a career high 15.5 points per game, 5.1 better than his output last season.

Atlantic Notes: Williams, Bogdanovic, Varnado

April 21st, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Lou Williams paid dividends for the Raptors, and it seems he believes the trade that brought him to Toronto this year was mutually beneficial. The guard reiterated Monday after winning the Sixth Man of the Year award that he wants to re-sign with the Raptors in free agency, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca observes.

“[Staying in Toronto] would be ideal for me,” he said. “Just the culture that they’re building here, just the identity that this team and this town has, I really want to be a part of it. I look forward to it. I don’t want to say hopefully we get something done, I’m really positive that we will get something done. I don’t see why not, at this point. So I just look forward to the future here.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

Bojan Bogdanovic struggled in his NBA playoff debut, but a player who has European postseason experience, as Bogdanovic does, has a measure of added value, notes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. Bogdanovic is in his first NBA season after signing with the Nets for the taxpayer’s mid-level exception in the summer.
Jarvis Varnado, who was in camp with the Sixers this past fall, has signed to play in Puerto Rico with Piratas de Quebradillas, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports. Varnado also spent time with the Lakers D-League affiliate this season.
The Sixers, who’ll pay Furkan Aldemir nearly $2.837MM in guaranteed salary next season, didn’t invest much in the former draft-and-stash prospect, but it still seems like too much for a player who showed limited skills, as John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com examines.

Lou Williams Wins Sixth Man Of The Year

April 20th, 2015 at 11:41am CST by Chuck Myron

11:41am: The NBA has released the ballot of each of media member who voted, in keeping with a transparency practice that began last year.

11:14am: Soon-to-be free agent Lou Williams has won this year’s Sixth Man of the Year award, the league announced via press release and on Twitter. Isaiah Thomas, whom the Suns signed to a four-year deal last summer and dealt at the deadline to the Celtics, finished second, with last year’s winner, Clippers guard Jamal Crawford, coming in third.

Williams finally looked back to his normal self this season for the first time since tearing his right ACL in January 2013. He was a strong fit for the Raptors despite the presence of fellow guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, affirming GM Masai Ujiri‘s decision to absorb Williams’ salary in a swap with the Hawks just before the 2013/14 season officially ended last June. The 28-year-old Williams, who made $5.45MM this year, averaged a career-high 15.5 points in just 25.2 minutes per game.

Williams, a Leon Rose client, will look to further boost his stock in the postseason. He’s expressed a preference to return to Toronto, and the team will have his Bird rights. He won the award by a fairly wide margin, garnering 78 first-place votes to 33 for Thomas and topping Thomas 502-324 in total points. Media members cast the ballots, and the NBA assigned five points for each first place vote, three for a second-place vote and one for a third-place vote. Crawford, Andre Iguodala, Nikola Mirotic, Marreese Speights, Corey Brewer and Taj Gibson were the others who drew first-place votes.

Atlantic Notes: Williams, Knicks, Green

March 10th, 2015 at 5:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Raptors guard Louis Williams‘ strong play in the final year of his deal has put him in the running for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award. When discussing his past, present, and future with Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com, Williams relayed that his free agent preference this summer is to remain in Toronto. “Absolutely. I already tried to get them to go do it — get an extension,” Williams said. “But at this point in my career, I want to play somewhere where the fans appreciate you, your team is serious about winning and create something special. We have an identity, and I love it. It’s perfect for my personality. I’ve always been the underdog, I’ve always been overlooked. I’ve always been the guy where it was like we’ll see what he does and then we’ll check on Lou. That’s been my career.”

It should be noted that Williams would have been unable to ink an extension with the Raptors since he is currently on a three-year deal. The collective bargaining agreement stipulates that a player can only ink a contract extension if he is signed to a deal of four years or greater in length.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

When asked by Mazzeo about the trade that sent him from the Hawks to the Raptors, Williams said, “I knew it was coming. I just knew my experience in Atlanta was coming to an end. It was either gonna be I was leaving after my contract was up or they were gonna trade me, and that’s just how things were going. We had a coaching change and I had missed the first [eight] games of that season, and the Hawks head coach Bud [Mike Budenholzer], he just was very honest and upfront with me and just said, ‘I’ve gotten more comfortable with this other guy and he’s probably gonna play the minutes.’ I had to respect that because the coach has a job to do.“
The Knicks may have difficulty luring free agents to New York because of the restrictions that the triangle offense imposes on players’ athleticism, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes.
Jeff Green, who holds a $9.2MM player option for next season, is still very close with his former Celtics teammates, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com relays (Twitter link). Green is especially close with Avery Bradley, Blakely adds. It’s unknown if this camaraderie could lead Green back to Boston, or if the team would have any interest in re-signing the forward if he opts out of his current deal.

Atlantic Notes: Rondo, Nets, Young

December 31st, 2014 at 2:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

Rajon Rondo will return to Boston as a Celtics opponent for the first time Friday, and he hasn’t quickly forgotten his more than eight seasons in green, as he made clear today to reporters, including Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com (All Twitter links). Rondo thanked co-owner Wyc Grousbeck and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge for the chance to have been a Celtic, calling the C’s “one of the best franchises in sports history.”

“Hopefully I won’t be too emotional. I’ll try not to cry a little bit,” Rondo said, as Sneed also tweets. “I’m very excited to go back. Those fans are amazing.”

The threat of Rondo’s impending free agency at season’s end surely played into Ainge’s decision to trade him to Dallas, but Rondo’s comments seem to indicate that he was in no hurry to leave Boston. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

The Nets are discussing numerous deals with several teams, but it’s not certain that Brooklyn will trade Deron Williams, Brook Lopez or Joe Johnson, league sources tell Robert Windrem of NetsDaily. A lot of the proposals the Nets are talking about would add to the payroll, at least for the short term, the NetsDaily scribe also hears.
The Celtics have sent James Young to the D-League, the team announced. It’s the seventh D-League assignment of the season already for this year’s No. 17 overall pick.
The Atlantic Division has the worst combined winning percentage of any division in the league, but it boasts two of the 10 underrated offseason acquisitions on Alex Kennedy’s list for Basketball Insiders. Raptors trade steal Lou Williams and Sixers draft find K.J. McDaniels are giving their teams much more than expected.

Eastern Notes: Williams, Heat, Bucks

September 4th, 2014 at 6:37pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Lou Williams has a renewed sense of purpose this season after being traded to the Raptors, Holly MacKenzie of NBA.com writes. On joining Toronto, Williams said, “I think one of the best benefits of it is being in a position where you feel wanted. When they traded for me and had the conversation, they want me here. It wasn’t a money thing. It wasn’t just something to do. They felt they had a void they needed to fill coming off the bench and I’m excited to help. I feel wanted. I feel like I have a responsibility with this basketball team and that’s the best way I can operate.”

Here’s more from around the east:

The Heat announced that former head coach and longtime assistant coach Ron Rothstein has retired from coaching. Miami also announced that assistant coach Bob McAdoo will become a scout for the team as well as a community liaison. “Both Ron and Bob were instrumental in the success of the Heat and their contributions to our three championships cannot be overstated,” said team President Pat Riley. “They are Heat lifers and I’m happy that they will continue to be an important part of the organization as they evolve into their new roles within the Heat family.”
Howard Eisley will be joining coach Randy Wittman‘s staff with the Wizards, the team announced. Eisley has spent the last four seasons as an assistant for the Clippers.
Marc Lasry, the co-owner of the Bucks, thinks that it will take three to five years to turn around the franchise’s fortunes, Don Walker of the Journal-Sentinel writes.