Paul Millsap Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Paul Millsap To Meet With Timberwolves

July 1st, 2017 at 10:22am CST by Luke Adams

Free agent big man Paul Millsap is set to meet with the Timberwolves today, reports Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders (via Twitter). It’s one of two reported meetings for Millsap, who is said to be sitting down with the Suns on Sunday.

Millsap, 32, would be a fascinating addition for a Timberwolves team that has already added Jimmy Butler this offseason and is poised to finalize a contract for point guard Jeff Teague as well. However, taking into account Butler’s salary and Teague’s three-year, $57MM agreement, it doesn’t appear Minnesota would be able to offer Millsap a max contract. Still, if the veteran big man decides he wants to join the Wolves, the team could dump some salary or Millsap could accept a more modest starting salary.

Minnesota was named in a Friday night report as a possible frontrunner with Millsap, along with the Nuggets. Phoenix and Sacramento are also believed to be in the mix for the four-time All-Star, who appears increasingly unlikely to return to Atlanta.

The Timberwolves are actively scouring the free agent market for roster reinforcements, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News, who tweets that the team has also inquired on Justin Holiday.

Free Agent Rumors: Porter, Randolph, Millsap, Holiday

July 1st, 2017 at 2:57am CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards‘ session with Otto Porter ended without an agreement, tweets David Aldridge of TNT. Porter plans to start meeting with other teams this weekend (Twitter link). That creates a potential opening for the Nets, who appear willing to offer the max of four years and $100MM, according to a post on NetsDaily. Philadelphia may also get involved, but the Sixers seem reluctant to make long-term offers. Washington has promised to match any offer for the restricted free agent.

There’s more late-night free agency news:

Aldridge has two more tidbits to pass along. The Cavaliers are interested in Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph and plan to call him today (Twitter link). Also, Blake Griffin‘s decision to re-sign with the Clippers means the Suns will intensify their pursuit of Hawks forward Paul Millsap (Twitter link).
Jrue Holiday met with the Pelicans tonight, but no deal was reached, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. The two sides are expected to get together again in the morning.
The new $201MM supermax contract that the Warriors gave to Stephen Curry doesn’t include a no-trade clause or a player option, according to Anthony Slater of The San Jose Mercury News (Twitter link).
Spurs forward Jonathon Simmons has gotten calls from the Kings, Clippers and Timberwolves and is ready to start holding meetings, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link).
In addition to Simmons, the Clippers plan to meet with Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari on Sunday and Jazz forward Joe Ingles this weekend, relays Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
There’s a strong chance that Celtics‘ power forward Amir Johnson will sign with the Sixers, a source tells Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Johnson has a history with Philadelphia’s president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo, who traded for him in 2009 as GM of the Raptors.
The Kings met tonight with Andre Iguodala and Patrick Patterson, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link).
The Timberwolves have put in a call to Ty Lawson as a possible backup for Jeff Teague, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. The Pelicans, Thunder and Kings have also been in contact with Lawson.
The Grizzlies are the latest team to show interest in Kings guard Ben McLemore, relays Chris Mannix of The Vertical (Twitter link).
The Knicks contacted Suns power forward Alan Williams tonight, posts Ian Begley on ESPN Now. Williams fits New York’s goal of finding players who can contribute on both ends of the floor, Begley notes.

Latest On Paul Millsap

June 30th, 2017 at 11:05pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The competition to sign unrestricted free agent Paul Millsap is heating up. With the forward set to meet with the Suns on Sunday, and Phoenix reportedly gearing up to go after him hard, it appears two teams may have jumped ahead of them in his pecking order, Frank Isola of The New York Daily News relays (via Twitter). According to a source close to the player, the Timberwolves and the Nuggets are the current frontrunners to sign Millsap, per the scribe.

The Wolves are certainly an intriguing option after acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Bulls, though, the team is more in need of a point guard than another scoring forward at this time. Jeff Teague is reportedly set to join the franchise as an unrestricted free agent, and if he is indeed inked, adding Millsap may create complications on offense given Butler’s high usage rate and the continuing development of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins as scoring threats.

Denver would provide Millsap with more of an opportunity to shine individually, especially with the potential loss of Danilo Gallinari this summer, but they are a team further away from contention than the Wolves at this time.

In a fourth consecutive All-Star season last year, Millsap averaged a career high 18.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Suns To Meet With Paul Millsap

June 30th, 2017 at 10:43pm CST by Austin Kent

JUNE 30th, 10:43pm: Phoenix has a meeting set with Millsap for this Sunday, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. With Blake Griffin agreeing to re-sign with the Clippers, this may intensify the Suns’ pursuit of the forward, TNT’s David Aldridge relays (via Twitter).

JUNE 29th, 4:45pm: In addition to their scheduled meeting with Blake Griffin, the Suns will meet with Paul Millsap, John Gambadoro of 98.7 Arizona Sports reports.

The 31-year-old forward is expected to have numerous suitors although most tend to be more established contenders. As Gambadoro notes in his article, Millsap would join a small group of players considerably older than the Phoenix’s young core.

As we discussed yesterday, new Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk is not expected to offer Millsap a full max contract, that puts the ball in the court of teams looking to lure the 12-year veteran away.

Just last week, Millsap was briefly linked to the Suns by Brian Windhorst of ESPN and Gambadoro then offered up Tyson Chandler as a possible player who could be involved in a sign-and-trade between the two franchises.

In a fourth consecutive All-Star season last year, Millsap averaged a career high 18.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Free Agent Notes: Caldwell-Pope, Korver, Millsap, Hill

June 28th, 2017 at 9:28pm CST by Arthur Hill

Coach/executive Stan Van Gundy says keeping restricted free agent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will be the Pistons‘ priority in free agency, tweets Rod Beard of The Detroit News. The Pistons submitted a $4.96MM qualifying offer to Caldwell-Pope earlier this week, giving them the right to match any offer he receives. Van Gundy adds that the team will be searching for a third center at the veterans minimum and would like to find a veteran point guard to back up Reggie Jackson and Ish Smith (Twitter link). “Our main focus in [free agency] is guards,” Van Gundy said, “whether it’s our own guys or whatever we can spend on the MLE.”

There’s more as the free agency countdown continues:

Luxury tax issues could force Kyle Korver out of Cleveland, even though he and the team would like to extend their relationship, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. The Cavaliers may have to part with Korver, who shot a league-best .485 from 3-point range this season, if a large offer comes from another organization. Cleveland topped the $113MM tax threshold by $15MM this year and is facing a luxury tax bill of about $24.8MM, which includes a repeater penalty for exceeding the threshold every year since LeBron James returned. The Cavs currently have 10 players under contract for 2017/18 with a total salary of $128MM. With a projected tax line of $119MM, the team is looking at $29.75MM in taxes without filling up the roster.
Six to eight teams are expected to pursue Hawks forward Paul Millsap, tweets Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution. The Nuggets, Spurs and Rockets are teams that have expressed interest in Millsap, although Houston’s plans may be altered by the package it gave the Clippers today in exchange for Chris Paul. New Hawks GM Travis Schlenk has said the Hawks don’t expect to make a full max offer to Millsap.
Gordon Hayward is hoping the Jazz will re-sign point guard George Hill, relays Jody Genessy of The Deseret News (Twitter link). Utah is hoping for an early meeting with Hill, who averaged 16.9 points in 49 games after coming to the team in an offseason trade. Hayward remains the top priority in free agency, and the Jazz will meet with him Monday after he hears presentations from the Heat and Celtics.

Stein’s Latest: George, Rockets, Spurs, Nuggets

June 25th, 2017 at 7:31pm CST by Austin Kent

News broke Sunday that the Cavaliers, Nuggets and Pacers had discussed a three-way deal that would have sent Paul George to the Cavs and Kevin Love to Denver ahead of the draft. As we wrote about earlie, one variation of the potential deal would have sent Kenneth Faried to Cleveland as well.

In an article published at ESPN shortly thereafter, Marc Stein – who sent the initial tweet Sunday night – goes into more details, sharing information about the pre-draft conversations that took place surrounding the Pacers forward.

Here are some highlights from Stein’s latest piece, co-written with Haynes:

While the conversations between the Cavaliers, Nuggets and Pacers didn’t amount to anything before the draft, Cleveland haven’t abandoned its pursuit of the two-way All-Star. The Cavs legitimately believe that they could convince George to abandon his dreams of playing for his hometown Lakers, something he is expected to pursue when he hits free agency in 2018.
In addition to Cleveland’s ongoing pursuit and the Celtics discussions that came to light on draft day, Stein and Haynes note that the Rockets and Spurs both aggressively pursued George deals before the draft as well.
The Nuggets are looking to upgrade at power forward and it’s the reason why Love was included in the possible three-team deal. Denver similarly intends to make plays for pending free agents Blake Griffin and Paul Millsap.
All of Faried, Wilson Chandler and Emmanuel Mudiay are said to be available. Big man Nikola Jokic and second-year guard Jamal Murray are supposedly untouchable.
The pair also confirm what we wrote about on Friday following a Joe Vardon column at Cleveland.com; the Cavs are expected to pursue Carmelo Anthony should he be bought out by the Knicks.

Spurs Have Interest In Derrick Rose

June 23rd, 2017 at 3:18pm CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs have been linked to Chris Paul multiple times this month, but he’s not the only point guard expected to be on the team’s radar, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com, who tweets that San Antonio also has interest in Derrick Rose. In fact, Shelburne classifies the Spurs’ interest in both Paul and Rose as “strong.”

It’s somewhat hard to imagine Rose landing in San Antonio in free agency, but he’ll likely be significantly less expensive than CP3 as a free agent, and may not require a long-term deal. The Spurs also don’t currently project to have room for a maximum salary free agent, so pursuing Rose as a more affordable alternative is one path the team could take.

Still, while Rose continued to exhibit his ability to get to the basket and score last season, averaging 18.0 PPG, he’s not much of a distributor or a shooter — he recorded just 4.4 APG and made 21.7% of his three-pointers for New York. The Knicks don’t appear all that interested in retaining him this summer, though Phil Jackson said on Thursday night that the club is approaching Rose’s free agency with a willingness to listen (Twitter link via Ian Begley of ESPN.com).

Within a piece for The New York Daily News, Stefan Bondy offers another seemingly far-fetched Spurs-Knicks scenario, suggesting that a trade involving Carmelo Anthony and LaMarcus Aldridge could make sense for both sides, with Aldridge reportedly unhappy in San Antonio. However, Bondy acknowledges there’s no guarantee Anthony would waive his no-trade clause to join the Spurs, and I’m not sure he’d be a fit in San Antonio anyway.

A source tells Bondy that another possible Aldridge trade possibility to watch for is a sign-and-trade scenario involving Hawks big man Paul Millsap.

Hawks Exploring Sign-And-Trade For Paul Millsap

June 21st, 2017 at 11:49am CST by Arthur Hill

11:49am: Tyson Chandler is a candidate to go to Atlanta if the Suns are part of a sign-and-trade for Millsap, tweets John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 in Phoenix.

11:09am: After trading Dwight Howard Tuesday, the Hawks are exploring their options involving free agent forward Paul Millsap, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (hat tip to Slam Magazine). Windhorst said Atlanta has reached out to teams about a possible sign-and-trade, with the Suns, Kings and Nuggets all expressing interest.

New Hawks GM Travis Schlenk suggested last week that the team may not be willing to make a max offer to Millsap, who turned 32 in February. The Hawks can sign Millsap to a five-year deal worth about $205MM, while other teams are limited to four seasons and about $152MM.

Millsap is coming off his fourth straight All-Star season, averaging 18.1 points and 7.7 rebounds in 69 games. He made a little more than $20MM this season.

A Millsap deal would signal a full rebuilding job for the Hawks, who are on a string of 10 straight postseason appearances.

Rockets Target Paul, Griffin, Millsap, Lowry

June 21st, 2017 at 1:41am CST by Arthur Hill

1:41pm: In an effort to create cap space, the Rockets are making Beverley, Anderson and Lou Williams all available in trades, Stein writes in a full story. Williams will make $7MM next season in the final year of his contract.

12:33pm: The Rockets will chase several of the top free agents on the market this summer, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Sources tell Stein that Houston plans to pursue Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Paul Millsap and Kyle Lowry.

Paul, who is expected to opt out of a nearly $24.3MM salary, will be the top point guard on the market and is rumored to have strong interest from the Spurs, among others. Griffin is expected to use an early termination option and give up a salary of nearly $21.4MM. The Hawks are reluctant to offer Millsap a maximum deal and have reportedly talked to other teams about a sign-and-trade. Lowry is a former Rocket who was traded to Toronto in 2012.

All four players will be seeking max offers, which mean the Rockets, who currently have a maximum of $11.7MM to operate with, will have to clear significant cap room. Houston reportedly is seeking to trade starting guard Patrick Beverley, which would save about $5.5MM and create a backcourt opening for Paul or Lowry. Finding a taker for Ryan Anderson (nearly $19.6MM next season) or Eric Gordon (more than $12.9MM) would open a lot more.

Hawks Unlikely To Offer Paul Millsap Full Max

June 15th, 2017 at 8:56am CST by Luke Adams

Hawks principal owner Tony Ressler has suggested that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to lock up free-agent-to-be Paul Millsap this summer, but acknowledged after adding Travis Schlenk to Atlanta’s front office that the new GM will have final say on basketball decisions. And, as Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, Schlenk doesn’t sound like he’s ready to put a full maximum salary contract offer on the table for Millsap.

“We are going to make Paul our best offer,” Schlenk said, per Vivlamore. “Will he have better offers? I don’t know. Do we want to keep Paul? Sure. I said last week, if you are building a team with all the things I’ve said, Paul checks all those boxes. He’s a hard-worker. He’s a good guy. He’s high-character. Skilled. He does all that stuff. We’d like to have him. The reality is, he might get better offers than we can make him.”

[RELATED: Hawks hire Travis Schlenk as GM]

While Millsap could get the same starting salary from any NBA team, the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement allows the Hawks to offer the veteran big man more years and higher raises than any of the other 29 teams. As we detailed last month, based on a $101MM salary cap, the Hawks could go up to five years and $205MM+ for Millsap. Rival teams could offer $152MM+ over four years.

However, Schlenk’s suggestion that Millsap “might get better offers than we can make him” suggests that the Hawks won’t simply max him out. That approach to Millsap’s free agency probably makes sense. The former second-round pick is already 32 years old, and while he’s earned spots on four straight All-Star teams, he’s not exactly a perennial MVP candidate — having him on the books at age 36 for $46MM+ wouldn’t be ideal.

With Millsap’s Bird rights in hand, the Hawks have some flexibility in negotiations with Millsap, particularly in that fifth year. Last summer, for instance, the Grizzlies signed Mike Conley to a five-year contract that is only partially guaranteed in year five but is still worth more than what any other suitor could have offered. The Hawks could find a similar compromise, though it sounds as if another team willing to offer the full four-year max for Millsap could have a decent chance of luring him away from Atlanta.

Schlenk has met with Millsap’s agent twice since being hired by the Hawks, according to Vivlamore.