Ted Leonsis Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Wizards Notes: Porter, Max Deals, Wall

July 23rd, 2017 at 3:15pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Otto Porter re-signed with the Wizards on a massive, four-year, $106MM this offseason. Although he’ll likely remain the third option on the team—behind John Wall and Bradley Beal—owner Ted Leonsis is happy to hand the small forward that kind of deal, as he tells Michael Lee of The Vertical.

“The market spoke, I said, ‘Done,’ ” Leonsis said about Porter’s deal. “There’s not that many transformative free agents out there and a lot of teams are paying a lot of money on free agents and they’re not quite sure how it’s going to work. I felt keeping Otto, maxing Otto, was way lower risk than saying, ‘Let’s let him go and we’ll get someone in free agency.’ I get a lot of emails, a lot of tweets, ‘Cut him loose!’ Oh, really? The coach loves him, teammates love him, he’s one of the best 3-point shooters in the league. Cut him loose? No. That’s not in the plan.”

Here’s more from Washington:

The Wizards are the first team to give out three max contracts to players who were drafted and developed by a single franchise, Michael adds in the same piece. Leonsis envisioned this feat for the organization years ago. “For us, if you articulate a strategy of, ‘We’re going to be bad and we’ll get high draft picks,’ and you realize NBA players come into their prime at 26, 27 years old, you’re hoping that this happens,” Leonsis said. “The worst thing that happens, you use a high pick, he’s a restricted free agent and you’re debating, ‘Do we want to keep him? Is he worth that?’ I said, ‘We want to be a ‘have’ team. ‘Have’ teams do whatever they want.”
Wall and Wizards have a partnership that’s rare in today’s NBA, Chase Hughes of Comcast Sportsnet contends. Hughes argues that the point guard has a devotion to the franchise as well as the City of Washington that’s isn’t typical with the current free agency landscape. Wall recently agreed to a four-year, $170MM extension with the team.

Southeast Notes: Hardaway, Meeks, Mahinmi

November 20th, 2016 at 9:02am CST by Arthur Hill

Tim Hardaway Jr. has developed into a productive bench scorer in his second season in Atlanta, writes Chris Vivlamore of The Journal Constitution. Acquired in a controversial trade with the Knicks on draft day in 2015, Hardway was little used during his first few months with the Hawks. He had two stints in the D-League last December and played just 51 games with the NBA club. Hardaway has became a dangerous scorer, ranking fourth on the team at 12.8 points per night and producing four 20-point games already. “We feel good about identifying Timmy,” said Hawks GM Wes Wilcox. “We were fortunate that the opportunity came up. … You always hope trades make sense for everybody. That’s what you hope because you hope it’s good for the player and the teams that are involved. It’s hard to evaluate stuff, but I’m happy for Tim, and I’m certainly happy for the Hawks.”

There’s more this morning from the Southeast Division:

Magic shooting guard Jodie Meeks participated in full-contract drills Friday for the first time since foot surgery in July, according to Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. “It was the second procedure on the right foot for Meeks, who played just three games for the Pistons last season and was traded to Orlando in June. “It’s just good to be back out there doing some activity,” Meeks said. “I felt pretty good moving, but obviously I’m a little rusty. So it’s going to take some time to get back. I don’t really have a time limit on when I’m going to be back — obviously, as soon as possible, but at the same time get in some better shape.”

Injured center Ian Mahinmi took part in the Wizards‘ shootaround Saturday and hopes to be ready to play by the end of November, reports Candace Buckner of the Washington Post. Mahinmi, who signed a four-year, $64MM deal over the summer, has been sidelined since having surgery Oct. 14 on a partially torn medial meniscus in his left knee. He was encouraged to be able to participate in Saturday’s session, which was his first on-court activity with teammates since the operation. “Obviously it’s not a live full-blown practice but it’s my first time being on the court with everybody. I went through every drill, no restriction,” Mahinmi said. “That’s the goal, to come back before the end of the month, and everything depends on how my knee reacts going into a full-blown practice.”
Wizards owner Ted Leonsis is trying calm fears about a possible move out of the Verizon Center, relays Scott Allen of The Washington Post. Earlier this month, Leonsis used the term “free agent” to describe his status when the building’s mortgage is paid off in seven years. But in a radio interview with WTOP, Leonsis confirmed his commitment to the area. “I apologize, I didn’t mean to scare anybody,” he said. “We love Washington, D.C., and we have a great, mutual respect for our city, and we have a 99-year lease on the land, and it’s been the greatest experience, so we’re very, very committed to Washington, D.C., and I’m grateful for the love that the fan base has shown us, and I hope to return that certainly for the rest of my lifetime.”

Wizards Notes: Grunfeld, Morris, Wall

April 30th, 2016 at 8:51pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Wizards owner Ted Leonsis is firmly behind team president Ernie Grunfeld, as well as the rest of the front office, and he explained his rationale for not making broader changes, writes Jerry Brewer of The Washington Post. “Because we were executing to the plan,” Leonsis said. “If we had varied from the plan and the plan didn’t work, then I think it would’ve been in my realm of responsibility to take a look. But we were executing a plan that we agreed to when I bought the team five years ago.”

Here’s more from Washington:

During exit interviews, many of the players on the Wizards indicated that they liked and admired Markieff Morris and that they wanted to play alongside him on the court, according to Leonsis, as J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic passes along.
Leonsis also compared the Wizards‘ deal to acquire the power forward to the 2013 deal for Marcin Gortat, as Michael writes in the same piece. “Was [the Morris trade] on strategy or off strategy? Who did we get for Gortat? Would I trade Gortat for [Tyler] Ennis? The answer is yes,” Leonsis said. The Suns received the No. 18 selection of the 2014 draft as a result of the Gortat trade and they selected Ennis. Washington owes its first-rounder, currently slotted as the No. 13 pick, to Phoenix as part of the Morris trade, as long as the lottery doesn’t move the pick into the top nine.
Newly hired coach Scott Brooks believes John Wall has a chance to grow his game even further and bring the Wizards to new heights, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post writes. “He has another level, maybe two or three levels. Not only from a basketball standpoint, [but] from a leadership standpoint.” Brooks said. “He has the ability to be one of the best players in the game,”

And-Ones: Langdon, Wizards, Fournier

September 14th, 2015 at 10:28pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Cavaliers will hire Spurs scout Trajan Langdon as their Director of Player Administration, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). He will replace Raja Bell, who is leaving to spend more time with his family, Wojnarowski adds. The change was confirmed by Chris Haynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group, who spoke to Bell. “I had so much fun with those boys and the Cavaliers’ organization, but it was just time to be with my family,” said Bell, who served in that role for one season. “It was the right thing to do right now, but I definitely enjoyed my time there.”

In other news around the league:

Wizards owner Ted Leonsis had reached a tentative deal with Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel E. Bowser to build a $56.3MM practice facility, Jonathan O’Connell of the Washington Post reports. Officials said the city plans to construct and own the facility, which will also include an arena for the WNBA Washington Mystics, while Leonsis would contribute $10MM to aid the surrounding neighborhood, O’Connell continues. Leonsis has been pushing for a state-of-the-art venue to replace the existing practice facility at the Verizon Center in order to attract high-profile free agents next summer, including Kevin Durant, who grew up in nearby Prince George’s County, O’Connell adds.
Suns forward Markieff Morris and his brother, Pistons forward Marcus Morris, have a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday in Phoenix, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic tweets. They face felony aggravated assault charges for their alleged roles in a January brawl at a Phoenix recreation center. The duo would be suspended a minimum of 10 games if they are found guilty of a felony and could also face a suspension if they’re guilty of a misdemeanor, former NBA executive Bobby Marks tweets.
Magic swingman Evan Fournier could have competition for minutes and a sixth-man role this season from rookie Mario Hezonja, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reports. Both have similar skills, though playing them together on the second unit is intriguing because it could give Orlando some second-unit firepower, Schmitz continues. Fournier needs to improve defensively and increase his strength to get more playing time, Schmitz adds. He is eligible for an extension until the start of the regular season, and we recently examined his chances of getting it in our Extension Candidate series.