Randy Foye Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Thunder Rumors: Durant, Donovan, Foye, Kanter

March 21st, 2016 at 9:29pm CST by Arthur Hill

Heading into free agency, Kevin Durant is asked about a lot of NBA destinations, but he offered a simple answer of “It’s home” when he got that question about Oklahoma City, relays Royce Young of ESPN.com. Whether or not that offers a clue of Durant’s free agency intentions, it’s clear he has developed an affection for the city where he has spent the last eight years of his NBA career. “I’ve always felt that this place meant so much to me,” Durant said. “It has a special place in my heart and my family’s heart as well.”

There’s more out of Oklahoma City:

Billy Donovan has adjusted to the challenge of handling two superstars in his first NBA coaching job, writes Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Donovan had spent 21 years at the college level, and 19 at the University of Florida, before replacing Scott Brooks in Oklahoma City last summer. Donovan has the Thunder, who missed the playoffs in an injury-filled season a year ago, firmly in third place in the West with a 48-22 record. “I just think that there is sort of a down-to-earth part of him that allows him to come in and be excellent at inheriting a hell of a team,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said of Donovan. “That’s a hard job in different ways you look at it. Because it is so veteran and they have been used to success. I thought Scotty did a hell of a job with them, too. It’s not an easy job.”
Randy Foye, who was acquired from the Nuggets at the trade deadline, has helped rejuvenate the bench in Oklahoma City, according to Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman. Foye is a streaky shooter, but he has helped by limiting turnovers and playing strong defense on the perimeter. Strong bench play has also come from center Enes Kanter, whom the Thunder kept last summer by matching a five-year, $70MM offer from Portland.
Still recovering from hip surgery, assistant coach Maurice Cheeks is expected to return to the Thunder bench for home games beginning this week, Slater tweets. Donovan hopes Cheeks can take on full-time duty by the start of next month.
The Thunder have assigned forward Mitch McGary to Oklahoma City Blue in the D-League. He has played 22 games with the Blue this season, averaging 15 points and 9.1 rebounds.

Thunder Notes: Mohammed, Payne, Cheeks, Durant

March 5th, 2016 at 6:20pm CST by Arthur Hill

After veteran center Nazr Mohammed opted to come out of “semi-retirement” and sign with the Thunder, he explained his decision in a post on Sportsblog.com. The 37-year-old hasn’t played in the NBA this season. His last action was with the Bulls in 2014/15, when he appeared in 23 games. Mohammed said he was considering full retirement before Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti called with an offer. “As a young player, your only desire is to be in the NBA,” Mohammed said. “As you get older, your desire is to play for certain organizations with certain circumstances, making it a little tougher to find the right fit. Mine was a combination of all of the above. Most of the teams that I had interest in didn’t need my services, and I didn’t have the desire to go just anywhere. And some teams just didn’t want me.” The 18-year vet was a member of the Thunder team that reached the NBA Finals in 2011/12.

There’s more out of Oklahoma City:

The Thunder’s trade at the deadline that brought Randy Foye from Denver has sharply reduced the playing time of rookie Cameron Payne, writes Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman. Even though Payne is a point guard and Foye is more of a shooting guard, Payne has fallen victim to coach Billy Donovan‘s new substitution pattern that sees Kevin Durant take most of the ball-handling responsibilities when Russell Westbrook is resting.
The Thunder hoped to have assistant coach Maurice Cheeks, who is recovering from hip surgery, back at practice today, but it will be some time before he can be part of games, Slater tweets. “Standing up and down during games, is that good for his hip?” Donovan said. “I’m not sure what the doctor will tell him.”
Durant’s best strategy in free agency may be to follow the example LeBron James set, according to Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders. Beer argues that Durant should maximize his earnings by signing a two-year contract with the ability to opt out in the summer of 2017. By then, the cap is expected to rise and Durant will be a 10-year veteran, which significantly increases the amount he can earn. Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors examined the issue in depth last month.

Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Thunder, Wolves

February 21st, 2016 at 2:56pm CST by Will Joseph

D.J. Augustin proved to have the ability to learn on the fly in his Nuggets debut on Friday and will have to continue to play well because he is the primary backup at point guard, behind Emmanuel Mudiay, Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post writes. Augustin had eight points, six assists and three steals in 19 minutes as the reserve point guard Friday despite dealing with a hectic 24 hours, Dempsey details. Nuggets point guard Jameer Nelson remains out with a wrist injury and there is no clear timetable for his return. The Nuggets acquired Augustin from the Thunder Thursday in exchange for Randy Foye.

Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:

Speaking of Foye, his addition to the Thunder doesn’t seem to move the needle much, but his versatility as a back-up shooting guard and capable point guard gives Oklahoma City another option off the bench, at the very least, Royce Young of ESPN.com explains.
That trade, which involved the Thunder moving Steve Novak as well, helps the franchise from a financial perspective, as Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman details. The Thunder saved about $9.8MM when adding the remaining $1.3MM on Novak’s contract and the $8.5MM taken off the Thunder’s luxury tax bill by clearing him off the books, Slater relays.
Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell deserves to lead the team beyond this season because of the way Minnesota improved heading into the All-Star break, Sid Hartman of The Star Tribune argues. There remains a lot of hope for the second half of the season for the Wolves because their young players have started to mesh well together under Mitchell’s guidance, Hartman adds.

Thunder Notes: Durant, Presti, Additions

February 20th, 2016 at 5:18pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kevin Durant is fine with the Thunder not making a big acquisition at the deadline, Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman writes.

“I trust [GM] Sam [Presti] 100%,” Durant said prior to the deadline. “Whatever he does, I know it’s for the betterment of the organization and team. Whatever he chooses to do, I’m happy with it and I support it.”

Durant will be a free agent at the end of the 2015/16 campaign. He will certainly garner a max contract and earlier in the month, Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors examined Durant’s options for signing one.

Here’s more from Oklahoma City:

The Thunder will save $9.8MM as a result of the Randy Foye trade. However, that wasn’t the primary motivation of making the deal, sources tell Royce Young of ESPN.com. Young adds that the team is doing well financially and planned to be a taxpaying team.
Presti says it would be smart not to underestimate the impact that a rising cap will have on the league, Slater relays via Twitter. “Everyone is affected in different ways,” Presti told Slater. “It isn’t a universal issue for all thirty teams, but we have to find a way to make it work for our organizations.”
The Thunder have an open roster spot after dealing away Steve Novak and D.J. Augustin, and they could be a major player in the buyout market, Slater writes in a separate piece. The team reportedly has interest in Anderson Varejao, whom Portland waived Thursday.

And-Ones: Marks, Foye, Lee

February 19th, 2016 at 11:24pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Thunder GM Sam Presti referred to the trade with Denver that netted the team Randy Foye, as well as saved the team approximately $9.8MM in cap commitments, as “smart business,” Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman relays (Twitter link). “The roster spot clearly gives us some flexibility to survey other opportunities to improve,” Presti said. “Then financially, that obviously wasn’t the intent of the deal, but because of the presence of Dakari Johnson, Semaj Christon and Alex Abrines in the drafts that we’ve had previously, we feel pretty good about those guys. So the draft choices in this particular draft were more valuable to Denver. And the money that we were able to save, the way that we’ve operated here, that allows us to reinvest in the team and clearly our team is going to become more and more expensive.”

Here’s more from around the league:

The Bucks didn’t make a deal prior to Thursday’s trade deadline and a big reason was that the team considers Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker to be virtually untouchable, Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel writes. One of the duo would likely have had to be included in any swap for a big-name player, which was a non-starter as far as the franchise was concerned, notes Gardner. “Those guys are vault guys,” coach Jason Kidd said. “They’re in the vault. You don’t start a conversation with Jabari or Giannis. There’s no conversation to be had, right. So word gets around that those guys are untradeable.“
The Celtics came close to dealing David Lee, who was waived earlier today, and viewed his expiring contract as a means to work a swap for a marquee player at the trade deadline, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes. “We almost had trades a few times, or thought there was a possibility,” team executive Danny Ainge said. “His [Lee] contract was a good way for us to get into a lot of the conversations we had.“
Dmitry Razumov, the chairman of the Nets‘ board of directors, indicated that new GM Sean Marks will guide the team’s search for a new head coach but team ownership will also have input in the process, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com relays (ESPN NOW link). The team is likely to strongly consider San Antonio assistant coach Ettore Messina for the vacant slot, Frank Isola of The New York Daily News opined when Marks’ hiring was first announced.
The Blazers sent $75K to the Heat in exchange for point guard Brian Roberts, which is the minimum allowable amount per league rules, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.

Texas Notes: Howard, Foye, Powell, Anderson

February 19th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The Mavericks and Bulls were among the teams the Rockets spoke to about Dwight Howard in the days leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com, reiterating earlier reports that Houston talked with the Hawks, Celtics, Hornets, Heat and Bucks. The Rockets held out for one “frontline player” and a first-round pick in return, sources told Stein, though it’s not entirely clear whether he means “frontline” as in “frontcourt” or as in “of importance.” GM Daryl Morey provided a hint, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle relays.

“It was going to have to take something significant to make us look at anything and even then we probably wouldn’t have,” Morey said in part.

Morey also said that he believes in the combo of Howard and James Harden and was never close to trading Howard, Feigen notes, but according to Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports, the Rockets understand that Howard and Harden are simply a poor fit on the court. The Rockets and other teams had considerable differences about what a Howard trade would look like, even though executives around the league believe Howard is a better scorer than his numbers in Houston show, Mannix writes. See more from the Texas Triangle:

The Mavericks had some level of interest in Randy Foye before the Nuggets traded him to the Thunder instead Thursday, but the Mavs weren’t going to offer either Devin Harris or Raymond Felton for him, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
The Mavs are always looking for another shooter, president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said, according to Sefko, who indicates in the same piece that the team wouldn’t mind signing a big man, either, as the post-deadline buyout market develops.
Teams offered picks likely to fall in the middle of the first-round to the Mavs for Dwight Powell and Justin Anderson, a source tells Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Presumably that means each of them would have netted that sort of pick individually, and not the two of them as a package.
Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News wouldn’t be surprised to see the Spurs replace former assistant GM Sean Marks with Spurs D-League GM Brian Pauga, also noting that ex-Spurs executive Danny Ferry has been hanging around the team of late (Twitter links). Young made his remarks on the evening before the Nets hired Marks as their GM.

Thunder, Nuggets Swap Augustin, Novak, Foye

February 18th, 2016 at 11:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

November 6, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Randy Foye (4) dribbles the basketball during the first quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Nuggets 119-104. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Terada / USA TODAY Sports Images

8:52pm: The Thunder have acquired Randy Foye from the Nuggets, sending D.J. Augustin, Steve Novak, two second-round picks and cash to Denver, the teams announced, confirming the original report from Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). The second-rounders the Nuggets get are Oklahoma City’s 2016 second-rounder and Charlotte’s bottom-five protected 2016 selection, according to RealGM. Oklahoma City confirms the receipt of a trade exception, which will be worth $3,750,001, the equivalent of Novak’s salary.

It appears to be quite a haul for Foye, who is making $3.135MM on an expiring contract. Foye was said to be available as of mid-December, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported then, and that made sense considering his role had increasingly shrunk with Denver. Foye is averaging career lows in points and minutes per game while shooting a career worst 29.6% from 3-point range, well beneath his career mark of 37.0%. The move to add Foye brings a veteran to the Thunder’s bench, at the very least.

Novak, despite not being used much, proved to be a decent trade chip. The 10th-year veteran is on an expiring contract, and he and the Nuggets will reportedly discuss a buyout. Denver tried to arrange another deal to flip him before the deadline, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports (on Twitter).

Augustin, who’s making $3MM in the final season of his contract, will likely serve as a backup to Emmanuel Mudiay for the Nuggets, with Jameer Nelson battling a potentially season-ending wrist injury. Through 34 appearances with the Thunder this season, Augustin has averaged 4.2 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 15 minutes per game.

The deal saves Oklahoma City an estimated $9.8MM in combined luxury taxes and salary, notes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Denver used the $5,224,719 disabled player exception it received for Wilson Chandler to accommodate the uneven exchange of salaries.

Will Joseph contributed to this post.

Thunder, Nuggets Discuss Randy Foye Trade

February 18th, 2016 at 11:49am CST by Will Joseph

The Thunder and Nuggets are in advanced talks on a trade involving Randy Foye, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports (on Twitter). Wojnarowski reported yesterday that Foye’s eminently positive locker room presence appeals to the Nuggets, so it will be interesting to see what it takes to acquire him.

Foye is making $3.135MM on an expiring contract. Foye was said to be available as of mid-December, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported then. His role has increasingly shrunk with Denver. Foye has also been linked to the Heat.

Northwest Notes: Rubio, Martin, Foye, Green

February 17th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Bucks coach Jason Kidd, who holds sway over the team’s personnel decisions, has a longstanding admiration for Ricky Rubio, and while the Timberwolves haven’t been looking for Rubio trades, they’re likely to do so this summer, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Other recent reports have indicated that Rubio is currently on the block, though Minnesota doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to deal him for the time being, judging by Wojnarowski’s reporting. See more from Minnesota amid the latest from around the Northwest Division:

Timberwolves shooting guard Kevin Martin is unlikely to end up in a trade unless he turns down his player option, worth nearly $7.378MM for next season, league sources told Wojnarowski for the same piece. Martin probably won’t do that, since he’d have a tough time making up that money on the free agent market this summer.
Randy Foye‘s eminently positive locker room presence appeals to the Nuggets, who won’t be quick to give him up, according to Wojnarowski. The Heat reportedly have interest, and Wojnarowski suggests others do as well.
Erick Green, whose second 10-day contract with the Jazz expired Sunday, will return to the D-League affiliate of the Kings, a league source tells Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter link).
Joey Dorsey, whom the Nuggets acquired in the Ty Lawson trade this past summer and later waived in a buyout, has left Turkey’s Galatasaray and will sign with Barcelona of Spain, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter links).

Heat Interested In Randy Foye

February 16th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The Heat have been looking into inexpensive 3-and-D wing options, including Nuggets shooting guard Randy Foye, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. Foye was said to be available as of mid-December, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported then, and that’s no surprise, given his shrinking role in Denver. He’s averaging career lows in points and minutes per game while shooting a career worst 29.6% from 3-point range, well beneath his career mark of 37.0%.

Foye is making $3.135MM on an expiring contract, so Miami would have to match for that salary, and given the Heat’s position as a tax team and the repeat-offender tax penalties they face if they don’t ditch roughly $5.5MM from their payroll by season’s end, they have incentive to send salary Denver’s way. The Heat have been aggressive in trying to trade a player on the end of their bench, especially Chris Andersen and Jarnell Stokes, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported around the same time that fellow Herald scribe Ethan Skolnick heard Miami had explored trading for Omri Casspi. It’s unclear if the Nuggets would want either Andersen, whom they amnestied in 2012, or Stokes, who’s spent enough time in the D-League this season to be named one of its All-Stars. Neither of them have a salary that would work in a one-for-one swap involving Foye, with Anderson’s $5MM pay too large and Stokes’ minimum salary too small.

Concern over the health of Chris Bosh clouds Miami’s trade deadline plans. The Heat have reportedly spoken with the Rockets about a swap involving Hassan Whiteside and Dwight Howard, but Miami isn’t sold on Howard’s character and the way he’d fit with the Heat, Lowe adds.