Nikola Mirotic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Latest On Nikola Mirotic, Bobby Portis, Bulls

October 18th, 2017 at 10:41am CST by Luke Adams

In the wake of a physical altercation between Bulls power forwards Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic, the team is expected to be without both players for several games in the near future. As we heard on Tuesday, Mirotic will likely miss a few weeks while he recovers from being punched by Portis, and his teammate is facing a certain suspension.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Portis has a call with the league office today to discuss the incident. K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune indicates (via Twitter) that Portis will be suspended at some point after the Bulls conclude their communication with the NBA.

Mirotic, who has been released from the hospital, suffered two facial fractures and a concussion, and will have to wear a mask when he eventually returns to the court, says Johnson. As for Portis, Johnson tweets that the Arkansas alum is well-regarded for his work ethic and his commitment to the team, but he’ll face a multi-game suspension for his actions.

In his full report on the incident, Johnson cites several witnesses who say that “tensions heightened” between Portis and Mirotic during a team scrimmage. After exchanging words for a few minutes during play, Mirotic and Portis began shoving one another, and Mirotic “once moved in Portis’ direction,” per Johnson. Then Portis landed the lone punch.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes, NBA teams are eligible to apply for a hardship exception granting them an extra roster spot if they have four players on their roster out for at least three games. With Zach LaVine, Cameron Payne, and Mirotic now expected to miss significant time, Chicago could apply for that exception next week – after the team’s third game – assuming Kris Dunn also remains sidelined with his finger injury.

Nikola Mirotic Hospitalized After Altercation With Bobby Portis

October 17th, 2017 at 6:43pm CST by ChrisCrouse

6:43pm: The Bulls are evaluating disciplinary options for Portis, per Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic (Twitter link). Mayberry adds that the league office is also involved while Johnson tweets that the power forward will likely be suspended.

6:23pm: Nikola Mirotic was sent to the hospital after engaging in a physical altercation with teammate Bobby Portis during practice earlier today, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical. Shams adds that at the conclusion of the shoving match, Portis took an alleged “cheap shot” at Mirotic’s face, which resulted in the emergency care.

Mirotic suffered a concussion and multiple fractures in his face, Nick Friedell of ESPN.com tweets. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter) hears that the power forward will be out “a few weeks.”

Bobby Marks of the Vertical (Twitter link) notes that league contracts contain a clause that allows a team to terminate a deal if a violent act is committed. I’d speculate that Portis faces some sort of discipline for the action, though no word of a suspension, fine or release has yet to trickle out.

Assuming Portis remains in Chicago, the team may need him to play extended minutes with his backup currently ailing. No. 7 overall pick Lauri Markkanen is also a candidate to see additional court time.

Central Notes: Bulls, Pistons, Smith

October 12th, 2017 at 4:08pm CST by Austin Kent

The Bulls finally embraced a rebuild this offseason so there will be no shortage of attention paid to how they manage each and every asset from this point forward. Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that the club will be particularly patient with injuries to key young players considering that now more than ever the club can afford to lose ball games.

Between the lingering effects of Zach LaVine‘s 2016/17 ACL injury and preseason setbacks to both Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn, the new look Bulls are awfully banged up ahead of the 2017 season opener and may not even see the court together until as late as December.

“I think it’s just about being patient,” Dunn, acquired in the trade that sent Jimmy Butler from the Bulls to Minnesota, said. “Lauri, he was in Finland, so there was a lot of strain on his back from all the games they played [in the EuroBasket tournament]. Zach, with his injury, you try to take it slow with him because he’s a big piece to this team. And me, I’m just slowly trying to get back. So it’s just a slow thing.”

To that effect, Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg has said that his starting lineup when the season begins on Tuesday will consist of Jerian Grant, Justin Holiday, Nikola Mirotic, Paul Zipser and Robin Lopez.

There’s more from the Central Division:

When Derrick Rose signed a minimum contract with the Cavaliers, he did so as a bet on himself. “I get a chance to reintroduce myself back to the league. I get to bet on myself. That was one of the reasons I came here, I get to bet on myself. And I’m from Chicago, I’ve got that hustling side; it’s in me, man,” he told Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
While Pistons projects Luke Kennard and Henry Ellenson figure to make an impact on the team eventually, they’ll have to beat out defensive-minded veterans Reggie Bullock and Anthony Tolliver for minutes, Keith Langlois of the team’s official site writes. Both Tolliver and Bullock provide plenty of intangible skill that make life easier for the second unit.
The announcement that Dwyane Wade would be the Cavaliers‘ starting shooting guard didn’t go over well with J.R. Smith. “We talked about it,” Smith told Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. “It wasn’t the most positive conversation, but we talked about it and we’ll get through it together.“

Fallout From The Nikola Mirotic Deal

September 26th, 2017 at 6:31pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Nikola Mirotic, who recently came to terms with Chicago on a two-year deal, knew all along that he would play another game with the Bulls, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune tweets. Mirotic added that he was prepared to play under his qualifying offer, which would have paid him approximately $7.23MM this season, if the Bulls didn’t present him with a desirable offer.

Mirotic’s new deal will pay him $27MM over the next two years, though the contract contains a team option for the 2018/19 campaign. He knows that he would have brought home a much larger contract had he hit the market just one year prior, but he remains grateful for the opportunity to play in Chicago.

“If I was in this position like last year, you know, I’m sure that I would get much more pay, but it’s just not about the money, to be honest,’’ Mirotic said (via Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times). “Coming from Europe, I was very happy there with the contract, and it’s more about being happy where you are, feeling comfortable with you and your family. I knew that my wife, my son, would be very happy in Chicago, too, so it was a goal.’’

Here’s more on Mirotic:

Mirotic’s salary for the 2017/18 season is guaranteed for $12.5MM, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link). Lowe adds that the power forward could earn an additional $1MM in incentives this season.
According to Mirotic, the Bulls want to play a different style of offense than they have in the past, Vincent Goodwill of Comcast Sportsnet relays (Twitter links).“We want to play fast. No more holding the ball. We’re not gonna be bad like people think,” Mirotic said. Goodwill believes that Mirotic’s comments were meant as a shot toward Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade, both of whom are no longer on the squad.
Coach Fred Hoiberg indicates that Mirotic will compete with Bobby Portis and No. 7 overall pick Lauri Markkanen for the starting power forward spot, as Cowley relays in the aforementioned piece. The 26-year-old looks forward to earning his spot.“Whatever they ask me to do, I will try to do my best,’’ Mirotic said. “I think playing [the four or five], it depends on the style that Fred looks for in me.”

Bulls Re-Sign Nikola Mirotic

September 26th, 2017 at 12:17pm CST by marksuleymanov

SEPTEMBER 26: The Bulls have officially re-signed Mirotic, the team announced today in a press release. The club’s roster count is now at 19 players, including 13 on guaranteed deals.

SEPTEMBER 24: The Bulls have agreed to re-sign Nikola Mirotic to a two-year, $27MM deal, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical. Mirotic has a right to veto any trade in the first year of his new Bulls deal, Charania adds. Mitrocic’s second year will include a team option, per Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago (Twitter link).

Mirotic, 26, has been a steady scoring presence for Chicago the last three seasons. The Montenegro native averaged 10.6 PPG and 5.5 RPG in 70 games (15 starts) for the Bulls last season. The 6’10” forward was one of the last restricted free agents on the market — with Mirotic returning to Chicago and Alex Len signing his qualifying offer in Phoenix, Grizzlies forward JaMychal Green is now the final unsigned RFA.

Earlier this week, we noted that Mirotic had not made any progress but that his qualifying offer remained on the table. Now, he has a multiyear deal that will keep him in Chicago.

Central Notes: Bucks, Mirotic, Bulls, Collins, Love

September 20th, 2017 at 8:51am CST by ChrisCrouse

The Bucks are looking to improve on their 42-win campaign and they’re banking on continuity to give them a boost in the standings, Matt Velazquez of the Journal Sentinel writes. Milwaukee has hardly made any changes to its roster this offseason, with 13 of 15 players who finished last season with the team still under contract.

“[Continuity is] going to be huge, I think, with training camp being a little shorter,” Bucks head coach Jason Kidd said. “The veteran teams are going to have the advantage — there’s not a lot of time before your first game. Just understanding that continuity is big for us. We’re still young, but hopefully, we feel we’re going in the right direction. Hopefully, we can use that to our advantage early on in the season.”

Here’s more from the Central Division:

Nikola Mirotic remains on the market, albeit as a restricted free agent, and executive Bulls VP of Basketball Operations John Paxson indicates that the power forward’s qualifying offer is still on the table, as Nick Friedell of ESPN.com tweets. The power forward will make approximately $7.23MM this upcoming season should he accept his qualifying offer, and has until October 1 to do so.
The Bulls hired Doug Collins as a senior advisor on Tuesday, and he expects to do just that — advise. During his introductory press conference, the former head coach indicated that he won’t return to the sidelines to coach the Bulls “under any circumstances,” and stressed that he won’t have decision-making power in the front office (Twitter links via K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune).
Tyronn Lue won’t commit to Kevin Love as his starting center, though the Cavaliers coach said the UCLA product will be more involved in the offense this upcoming season.“Right now we’re just trying to get all of our pieces together and right now Tristan [Thompson]‘s our starter,” Lue tells Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. “I’m just thinking we’re going to run a lot more stuff through Kevin, more at the elbows, like we’ve done the last year and a half. Just trying to figure out with our new pieces and our new players and just see what works best for us.”

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Central Rumors: Pistons, Cavs, Bulls, Mirotic

July 11th, 2017 at 1:50pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons are considering free agents like Jonas Jerebko and Anthony Tolliver for one of their open roster spots, according to Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter links). Ellis adds that the team has also engaged with a handful of other players as it weighs how to fill that spot.

Having traded away Marcus Morris and lost Aron Baynes in free agency, the Pistons could use some frontcourt depth, but their ability to add another free agent is somewhat limited. Having already used their full mid-level exception, Detroit could make an offer with its $3.29MM bi-annual exception, but otherwise could only offer the minimum.

Here’s more from around the Central:

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert met with assistant GM Koby Altman for dinner on Monday night to discuss the future of the club’s front office, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). After losing David Griffin, the Cavs pursued Chauncey Billups to fill their head front office position, but haven’t been linked to any candidates since Billups turned them down. It’s possible Altman – who has essentially been the acting GM this offseason – will be offered the permanent job at some point, though that’s my speculation.
The Bulls remain optimistic about getting a deal done with restricted free agent Nikola Mirotic, per GM Gar Forman (link via Sam Smith of Bulls.com). “We want Niko back and we think Niko wants to be in Chicago,” Forman said. “Usually when you have those two things, at the end of the day there’s usually a way to get something done.”
Forman also discussed the Bulls‘ rebuilding process, expressing no regrets at moving Jimmy Butler last month, per Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com.
The Bulls continue to operate as an over-the-cap team, having signed Justin Holiday to a deal using part of their mid-level exception ($4.6MM of $8.4MM), tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Chicago could create between $25-30MM in cap room by renouncing Mirotic’s cap hold and various exceptions – including the trade exception from the Butler deal – but there has been no reason to do that so far, since the club hasn’t made any big-money acquisitions.

Central Notes: Pistons, Felder, Mirotic

July 9th, 2017 at 5:57pm CST by Austin Kent

There’s little doubt that the Pistons will benefit in the short-term from bringing Avery Bradley in as a replacement for the much costlier Kentavious Caldwell-Pope but make no mistake, Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News writes, they’re taking a big risk.

While Bradley is further along in his development as a perimeter stopper and boasts a more capable offensive game, the Pistons gave up considerable long-term security knowing that Bradley will hit the market as an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Essentially, Wojnowski adds, the Pistons were ready to shake things up and move on from the 24-year-old Caldwell-Pope but in doing so expose themselves to a greater threat of ultimately losing Bradley for nothing. Considering the upside after a stagnant 2016/17, it’s a gamble that a team in Detroit’s position couldn’t turn down.

There’s more from the Central Division:

The Cavaliers have brought in Jose Calderon to man their backup point guard position but that doesn’t mean Kay Felder is entirely out of the running, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes. “Whoever plays the best will play,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “It’s not like Kay is out of it. He’s just got to continue to grow, get better, and he’s going to continue to get better.“
A panelist of Bulls writers discussed the prospect of restricted free agent Nikola Mirotic returning to Chicago, with ESPN’s Nick Friedell ultimately saying that the Bulls may have a pre-established limit to how much they’ll spend to retain the big man’s services and if he can land that from another organization, they’ll let him leave.
A solid performance in the Orlando Summer League helped Eric Moreland land a job as the No. 3 center for the Pistons. “I think he’s an active big that really understands pick-and-roll defense,” Pistons associate head coach Bob Beyer told Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.

Nets Notes: Carroll, Free Agents, Aldrich, Draft Pick

July 9th, 2017 at 10:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Brooklyn GM Sean Marks got Raptors president Masai Ujiri to sweeten the deal involving DeMarre Carroll as they talked during Saturday’s games at the Las Vegas Summer League, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Toronto’s original offer involved just Carroll and a first-round pick, but Marks was able to convince Ujiri to send along a second-rounder and take back the $3MM contract of Justin Hamilton.

The deal provides needed cap relief for the Raptors, while giving the Nets a replacement for Otto Porter after the Wizards announced their intention to match Brooklyn’s four-year, $106.5MM offer sheet. The trade may not be finalized before Thursday while the Nets wait for the Wizards to conduct Porter’s physical and report the results to the league.

There’s more today out of Brooklyn:

With nearly $17MM left in cap space along with a $4.3MM room exception, the Nets will move on to other targets in free agency, Lewis adds. They were believed to be interested in Pistons’ guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but the Carroll trade prevents them from making a max offer. Caldwell-Pope turned down $80MM over five years from Detroit, but his options may be limited now as fewer teams have cap room to work with. Other possibilities for Brooklyn are C.J. Miles, Dewayne Dedmon, Nikola Mirotic or another restricted free agent in JaMychal Green. Coach Kenny Atkinson sees the value in having an older player around. “I do think [Marks and I] both agree that we don’t want to go in with a totally young roster,” he said. “We do need that veteran support. If it’s the right position where somebody can help us, it’s definitely something [to consider].”
Saturday’s deal may end the Timberwolves’ hopes of getting the Nets to take on Cole Aldrich’s salary, Lewis notes in the same piece. Minnesota wants to unload Aldrich, who will make $7.3MM in the upcoming season and nearly $6.9MM in 2018/19, to create enough cap room to sign Miles. However, Marks wouldn’t agree to the deal unless the Wolves threw in Oklahoma City’s 2018 first-rounder.
The second-rounder the Nets will receive in the Carroll deal will probably be the lower of the Magic or Lakers picks, according to a tweet from NetsDaily. Brooklyn already has the rights to the Pacers’ 2018 second-rounder if Indiana misses the playoffs.

RFA Rumors: Mirotic, Noel, Simmons, Green

July 6th, 2017 at 5:06pm CST by Luke Adams

A handful of restricted free agents have made out well so far this year on the open market. Tony Snell, Joe Ingles, Cristiano Felicio, and Andre Roberson got lucrative new multiyear deals from their respective clubs, and Otto Porter reportedly has a maximum salary offer sheet in place with the Nets, though the Wizards have yet to receive it.

Still, there are a number of RFAs still on the market as league-wide cap room begins to dwindle. Sean Deveney of The Sporting News takes a closer look at six big-name RFA still seeking a new contract, so let’s dive in and round up the highlights…

Prior to free agency, rival executives estimated that Nikola Mirotic would seek something in the range of $20MM annually. However, the Bulls‘ power forward may have to settle for something closer to $12MM per year, according to Deveney, who notes that team owner Jerry Reinsdorf has played “hardball” in these situations in the past.
Deveney predicts that the Mavericks and Nerlens Noel will eventually negotiate a deal in the four-year, $85MM range.
The Spurs are expected to match reasonable offers for Jonathon Simmons, which could mean something in the range of $30MM over three years, per Deveney. The Kings and Knicks have expressed interest in Simmons.
Grizzlies RFA JaMychal Green has drawn some interest from the Bulls and he may be a backup plan for the Spurs depending on what happens with Simmons, says Deveney, adding that Memphis still wants to retain Green.
Bojan Bogdanovic‘s price tag is “quickly dropping,” according to Deveney. The Wizards RFA was believed to be seeking something in the range of $50MM over three years, but that doesn’t seem realistic at this point. The Kings may be Bogdanovic’s best bet if they don’t land another small forward, writes Deveney.