Stephen Curry Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Links: Bledsoe, Kupchak, West

November 15th, 2012 at 11:00pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times focuses on Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe's efforts to develop into a true NBA point guard. With the help of assistant coach Robert Pack and the mentorship of both NBA veterans Chauncey Billups and Chris Paul, the third-year reserve has a prime opportunity to redefine his game as he continues to adjust to the position after being drafted as a two-guard from Kentucky in 2010. Nonetheless, Bledsoe has been playing well to start this season, producing 10.6 PPG, 1.5 steals per game, and shooting 49% from the field, compared to his career averages of 5.9 PPG, 1.0 SPG, and 42.4% overall. Interestingly enough, he is only averaging 18.7 MPG this year with increased production, which is nearly 4 minutes less than what he averaged as a rookie in 2010-11. There have been several links to arrive out of the Pacific Division tonight, and you can find a roundup of them here:

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak admits that there was a "real good chance statistically" of Phil Jackson returning as head coach at one point, but also became wary of complying with the daunting public support as opposed to making a decision that felt right for the team. Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times discusses how team brass did not want to let outside pressure dictate their decision-making during their head coaching search.
NBA legend Jerry West offered his thoughts on the team, saying that he sees some flaws and isn't sure yet if Mike D'Antoni is the right coach to lead them to a championship (Adi Joseph of USA Today reports).
Warriors coach Mark Jackson isn't concerned about the early shooting woes of Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry at this point during the season, according to Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group.
The full transcript of D'Antoni's press conference from this afternoon, courtesy of Trevor Wong from Lakers.com.

Warriors Notes: Curry, Cap, Jefferson, Biedrins

November 1st, 2012 at 3:24pm CST by Luke Adams

It was a big day for the Warriors on Wednesday, as the team locked up point guard Stephen Curry to a four-year, $44MM extension, then went out and beat the Suns in a nailbiter in Phoenix, despite a rough outing from Curry. As the Warriors prepare for tomorrow's home opener against the Grizzlies, let's round up a few notes on the team, courtesy of Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News (all links go to Twitter):

Curry's $44MM deal is fully guaranteed and doesn't contain any injury clauses, according to Kawakami. It'll start at just over $10MM next season.
Kawakami estimates that Curry's extension means Golden State will have about $73.6MM committed to nine players for 2013/14. I'm not sure the team salary heading into the summer will be quite that high — by my count, the Warriors' nine players will cost between $65MM and $66MM, though Kawakami's figure would be within reach if Carl Landry and Brandon Rush each exercised their $4MM player options. Either way, the luxury tax looks like a real possibility.
Despite the Warriors' significant 2013/14 salary commitments, Kawakami doesn't expect big contracts like Richard Jefferson's and Andris Biedrins' to be moved. As he points out, it's hard to move that sort of salary without either taking on longer-term money or giving up draft picks.

Extension Fallout: Gibson, Curry, DeRozan, Evans

November 1st, 2012 at 9:48am CST by Luke Adams

Five players signed contract extensions on Wednesday's deadline day, and that doesn't even include Ty Lawson's new deal, which was completed on Tuesday. With this year's October 31st deadline behind us, let's round up some of the links relating to this year's class of extended players….

Taj Gibson's deal with the Bulls is worth roughly $34MM in guaranteed salary, plus up to $38-39MM with incentives, which are both individual- and team-based, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com (Twitter links).
Gibson probably could have earned a larger contract on the open market next summer, but wanted to stay with the Bulls because he's happy in Chicago, says Sam Smith of Bulls.com.
Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group spoke to Stephen Curry about the process of negotiating a new deal with the Warriors. The piece also includes conversations with team owner Joe Lacob and GM Bob Myers.
DeMar DeRozan was prepared to play out the season with or without a contract extension, but he's happy to have it out of the way, writes Stephen Brotherson of HoopsWorld.
Doug Smith of the Toronto Star feels that the Raptors, in locking up DeRozan, bid against themselves when it wasn't necessary.
Sean Deveney of The Sporting News examines the consequences of a wild week for the Rockets and James Harden, who finalized a five-year maximum-salary extension yesterday.
Having not received an extension from the Kings, Tyreke Evans tells Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee that he's fine with just focusing on his play on the court for the rest of the season.

Bob Myers Addresses Extension For Stephen Curry

October 31st, 2012 at 9:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Warriors caught many observers off guard when they decided to extend Stephen Curry's contract for four years and $44MM today, not long after the guard suffered yet another ankle injury in the preseason. Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld reported earlier that the team never had any inclination to part ways with Curry, whether they reached an extension agreement or not, and he speculates that the Warriors were motivated by the notion that Curry's hometown Bobcats could make a lucrative offer to him as a restricted free agent next summer (Twitter link). GM Bob Myers explained his decision to reporters, including Brett Pollakoff of ProBasketballTalk.com.

On the role Curry's health played in the decision:

"It’s a big belief in his health; you can bet against it or you can bet on it, and we decided to bet on it. We looked at all the information, we watched him play in the preseason, we watched him practice the last four or five days. I’m well-acquainted with his surgeon, I’ve known him for probably 10 years. With all the information we had, we felt like it was a prudent decision — not knowing what he would have commanded (on the free agent market), and that was certainly part of the process, as in, what would he have gotten if he would have played out this season? And even in some respects, whether he was healthy or not. We’ve seen some players in free agency get some pretty big numbers."

On the consequences of not extending Curry:

He could become a restricted free agent, and get offered a contract of similar or higher value. He could become a restricted free agent, and we’d choose to go in another direction. We’d have to replace the position, and that’s a hard thing to do with what amount of money we would have had. If you look at it on a global level, our options, it wasn’t like if we didn’t do this we’d have the max space to go out and get another guy. We’re thrilled we got the deal done, because we really like him. We really believe in him, and what this does is give us cost certainty in a league that is very uncertain.”

On the pitfalls of restricted free agency:

“The thing to understand about restricted free agency is, when a player enters restricted free agency and receives an offer sheet — and we’ll never know, thankfully, whether (Curry) would have or wouldn’t have — but when a team makes an offer, they have to pay a premium,” Myers said. “They pay beyond market value, and the reason being is, they have to set a bar they think that the team with the right to match won’t commit to. So even if you value a player at $12MM, you’re not going to offer 12 — you’re going to offer 13 or 14. And you saw that in restricted free agency. So to protect against that, to commit to a player we really like for this organization, we made the deal we did and we’re happy with it.”

Extension Rumors: Gibson, Casspi, Curry

October 31st, 2012 at 8:55pm CST by Luke Adams

This year's deadline for extension-eligible fourth-year players to sign new deals is just hours away, arriving at 11:00pm CT today. Blake Griffin, Serge Ibaka, and Ty Lawson came into the day as the only players with new contracts, while Stephen Curry reached an unexpected agreement with the Warriors this morning and James Harden agreed to a maximum deal with the Rockets this afternoon. Will we see any other extensions signed before the night is out? We'll track today's extension-related rumors and rumblings right here:

Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago reports Taj Gibson is seeking a four-year extension worth $40MM while the Bulls are offering $32MM. Sam notes a $36MM figure in the middle would be equal to what fellow forwards Ryan Anderson and Jeff Green got over the summer, and less than the $10MM or more Sam believes Gibson could command as a restricted free agent next summer (All Twitter links).

Earlier updates:

Warriors Sign Curry To Four-Year Extension

October 31st, 2012 at 3:26pm CST by Luke Adams

3:26pm: The Warriors have officially signed Curry to a contract extension, the team confirmed in a press release.

"This is an exciting day for the Warriors and our fans and it certainly exemplifies the commitment of [owners] Joe Lacob and Peter Guber," said GM Bob Myers in the release. "We’re extremely pleased that we have reached an agreement that will enable Stephen to remain a vital part of our team long term. His contributions over the last three years, both on the floor and in the community, have been invaluable to our organization. We certainly expect him to be an integral part of our future success as he continues to evolve as a player in all facets of the game."

10:59am: Stephen Curry and the Warriors have reached an agreement on a contract extension for the fourth-year guard, a source tells Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group. According to Thompson, Curry's new deal, which will begin in 2013/14, will be worth $44MM over four years, and doesn't include any incentives or bonuses.

Curry himself confirmed the news on his Twitter account, tweeting: "#Dubs Gameday baby. And thanks to Joe Lacob & the Warriors hopefully I can say that for the next 4 yrs. agreed on extension."

The news is a little surprising, considering Curry was slowed during the preseason with ankle issues. After missing significant time last season with ankle injuries, it was assumed the Warriors wanted to take a long look at Curry's health this preseason to determine whether a long-term investment was worth the risk. Despite the fact that Curry missed some time last week with an ankle sprain, it seems the Warriors saw enough to convince them that they should lock up the 24-year-old now, rather than waiting until after the season.

Curry's deal comes on the heels of Ty Lawson signing a four-year, $48MM extension with the Nuggets. The Warriors point guard will earn an annual salary worth $1MM less than Lawson's, matching the $11MM annual salary Rajon Rondo is making on his five-year, $55MM deal with the Celtics.

As for the Warriors, they appear to be headed for luxury-tax territory in 2013/14, even if Curry's deal is backloaded. A $10MM salary for Curry in 2013/14 would put Golden State on the hook for about $58MM for its top five players (by salary) next season, assuming Richard Jefferson and Andris Biedrins pick up their options. Modest salaries for Harrison Barnes, Klay Thompson, Festus Ezeli, and Draymond Green, along with potential $4MM player options for Brandon Rush and Carl Landry, will make it extremely challenging for the Warriors to stay below the tax threshold.

Odds & Ends: Curry, Bulls, Richardson, Grizzlies

October 31st, 2012 at 1:36pm CST by Luke Adams

Despite indications this morning that the Nets/Knicks opener in Brooklyn tomorrow would proceed as planned, the game will be postponed due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy, tweets Greg Anthony of CBS Sports and NBA TV. It's not clear yet whether the Knicks' Friday game at Madison Square Garden or the Nets' Saturday game in Brooklyn will be played. For now, however, it seems the debut of the Barclays Center will have to wait as the city continues to recover.

Here are a few more notes from around the league:

Prior to reaching an agreement on a contract extension for Stephen Curry today, the Warriors and Curry had been discussing a deal with an annual salary ranging from $8.5-10MM, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Golden State upped its offer following Ty Lawson's four-year, $48MM deal with the Nuggets.
The Bulls are monitoring the free agent market in anticipation of being able to add a minimum-salary contract later in November, says Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com. Quentin Richardson is one player under consideration, according to Sam.
The fact that the Bulls haven't been able to pair a second star with Derrick Rose yet hasn't been due to lack of trying, executive VP of basketball operations John Paxson said on ESPN 1000 Chicago (link via ESPNChicago.com).
The Grizzlies never considered undergoing what GM Chris Wallace calls a "voluntary rebuild" this summer, writes Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
One of the main lessons Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert learned from the LeBron James saga was not to let a star player leave in unrestricted free agency without getting anything back for him, according to an Associated Press report.

Odds & Ends: Curry, Gibson, Warriors, Thabeet

October 30th, 2012 at 10:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Stephen Curry didn't want extension talks to go down to the wire, but it appears that's the case, as Curry's comments to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle lead Simmons to conclude that agent Jeff Austin and Warriors GM Bob Myers continue to try to work out a deal (Sulia link). Since Curry left a preseason game after tweaking his ankle ten days ago, we've heard multiple reports suggesting a deal was unlikely. Nothing's final until tomorrow's 11:00pm Central time deadline, and with about 24 hours to go, there's news on another extension-eligible player among notes from the first night of the 2012/13 regular season.

There's "growing speculation" the Bulls will let the deadline pass without signing Taj Gibson to an extension, reports Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Andrew Bogut believes "a lot is riding on this year" for the Warriors, and Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group says much of that is riding on Bogut's shoulders. Fellow Bay Area News Group scribe Monte Poole goes the other way, suggesting Curry is the focal point of the team.
Thunder coach Scott Brooks has confidence in Hasheem Thabeet, and his performance in the preseason was one reason the team included Cole Aldrich in the trade, as John Rohde of The Oklahoman chronicles.
The Bobcats are counting on offseason trade acquisition Ben Gordon to be their go-to scorer at the end of games, writes Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer.
With a year still to go before his five-year max extension kicks in, the Clippers want to make sure Blake Griffin stays healthy for the long haul by incorporating more mid-range shooting into his arsenal, as Elliott Teaford of the Los Angeles Daily News examines.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reportedly had to be talked into waiving Delonte West, and Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com notes the affection he has for the troubled guard (Twitter link).
The James Harden trade has the Rockets thinking playoffs, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle documents.

Amick On Holiday, Curry, Evans, Jennings, Gibson

October 30th, 2012 at 8:38am CST by Luke Adams

Tomorrow is the last day for fourth-year players eligible for extensions to finalize new deals with their respective teams, and we're expecting at least a couple players to be extended. James Harden appears to be a lock, and Ty Lawson is making progress on an extension with the Nuggets. Will any other extension-eligible players sign new contracts? Former SI.com scribe Sam Amick weighs in for his new outlet, USA Today:

Unlike Lawson, Jrue Holiday doesn't seem to be moving any closer to a deal with his team, the Sixers, as agent Tony Dutt explains: "We've had conversations, but I don't feel like any progress has been made. We haven't talked in a while."
A gap remains in talks between the Warriors and Stephen Curry. Given Curry's ankle issues, he likely hasn't done enough this preseason to prove he's worthy of a significant long-term commitment.
Tyreke Evans remains unlikely to be extended by the Kings, as team president Geoff Petrie indicated earlier this month: "In Tyreke's case, you can make X (amount of money) now, but if you want to make X-plus, then certain things have to happen."
A source close to Brandon Jennings says an extension isn't likely for the Bucks guard, but cautioned that anything could happen.
Taj Gibson's agent continues to negotiate with the Bulls on a new deal for his client.

Kyler On Extension Candidates

October 25th, 2012 at 9:47am CST by Luke Adams

Last week, both TNT's David Aldridge and ESPN.com's Marc Stein passed along rumors and rumblings they'd heard about this offseason's extension candidates. With just six more days for Ty Lawson, Taj Gibson, and other extension-eligible players to work out new deals with their teams, Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld throws his hat into the ring, rounding up a few of the latest updates:

James Harden would like to end speculation about his contract situation, and that could mean he accepts an offer worth less than the max from the Thunder, says Kyler. A contract that includes incentives is a possibility.
The Kings are unlikely to lock up Tyreke Evans this month, and could even explore trading him prior to this season's deadline. Kyler hears from sources close to Evans that he'd welcome free agency "if only to find a situation that believes in him as a player."
The Warriors still like Stephen Curry and figure to retain him beyond this season, but an extension probably won't happen within the next week. Given Curry's ankle issues, it's simply too hard to value him fairly.
DeMar DeRozan appears headed for restricted free agency, and the Raptors would like to see a "big leap" from him this season before committing too heavily next summer.
Brandon Jennings is "far from secure" in Milwaukee, and the Bucks could consider trading him before the deadline, according to Kyler.
Kyler hears that the 76ers have offered Jrue Holiday an extension in the neighborhood of $9MM annually, but that's Holiday's camp turned it down, expecting to see a bigger payday in free agency.
Lawson still appears to be one of the players most likely to be extended, and Kyler says the Nuggets could include incentives in their offer.
The Bulls are likely to extend Gibson, who wants to stay in Chicago, though that doesn't necessarily mean he'll accept a hometown discount.