Yogi Ferrell Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Free Agent Rumors: Batum, Thomas, Mudiay, Ferrell, Briscoe

November 23rd, 2020 at 5:39pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Hornets plan to waive Nicolas Batum and use the stretch provision on his $27.1MM contract for the upcoming season in order to sign Gordon Hayward, unless they can figure out a sign-and-trade deal that would save them from stretching Batum.

Assuming he’s released, Batum shouldn’t have trouble finding a new home. His agent, Jeremy Medjana, told Basket Session that the Warriors, Jazz, Clippers, Bucks and Raptors are interested in signing him once he clears waivers (hat tip to Frank Urbina of HoopsHype). Batum, who has played for Charlotte the past five seasons, only appeared in 22 games last season.

Here are more free agency notes and rumors:

Former MVP candidate Isaiah Thomas said his latest hip procedure was a success and he’s eager to prove it, the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach reports. Thomas says he feels like his former self in workouts. “I was blowing by people,” he said. “I haven’t blown by anybody since I had a Celtics uniform on.” Thomas was waived after the Wizards traded him to the Clippers in February and remains unsigned.
Reserve point guards Emmanuel Mudiay and Yogi Ferrell are generating some interest on the free agent market, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. Both players could likely be had for the veteran’s minimum.
Point guard Isaiah Briscoe hopes to return to the NBA, according to Hoops Rumors’ JD Shaw (Twitter link). Briscoe went undrafted out of Kentucky in 2017, but made it onto the Magic’s roster for the 2018/19 season. He spent the 2019/20 season in Poland playing for King Szczecin. In 39 games with Orlando, Briscoe averaged 3.5 PPG, 2.2 APG, and 1.9 RPG, across 14.3 MPG.

Alex Kirschenbaum contributed to this post.

Kings Notes: Hield, Brewer, Ferrell, Vassell

October 9th, 2020 at 7:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Buddy Hield might be unhappy but with his four-year extension kicking in, he has no leverage if the Kings want to keep him, Jason Jones of The Athletic points out. Hield has a $24.5MM cap hit next season, so any potential trade partner would have to believe he’d be a major impact player to take on his contract.

Sacramento’s front office would probably be best off holding onto Hield and seeing how the situation plays out, Jones continues. Corey Brewer and Yogi Ferrell, who couldn’t crack the rotation, are the most likely Kings players to depart this offseason, Jones adds.

We have more on the Kings:

Hield’s flaws and off-the-court antics make it difficult to trade him, Sean Deveney of Forbes.com opines. Deveney suggests that Hield tends to get overly emotional off the court and doesn’t handle adversity well in the locker room. He also doesn’t perform well when defenses focus on him and he’s also a subpar defender, Deveney notes.
Florida State wing Devin Vassell should be a strong consideration if he’s available with the No. 12 overall pick, according to James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area. Vassell has the versatility to play either wing spot and he adds length, athleticism and energy to his 3-and-D skill set. Vassell is currently ranked No. 16 among best available prospects by ESPN.
The Kings officially added Alvin Gentry to their coaching staff on Wednesday. Get the details here.

Kings Notes: Joseph, Ferrell, Barnes, Bagley

August 31st, 2019 at 7:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

Cory Joseph‘s uncertain relationship with Team Canada has drawn most of the headlines this summer, but the eight-year veteran will have a new role once the World Cup is over, writes James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area. Joseph joined the Kings on a three-year, $37MM contract last month, and he’ll be counted on to back up burgeoning star De’Aaron Fox.

Joseph is among several experienced players that GM Vlade Divac added in an effort to fix a defense that ranked 26th last season in points allowed and 20th in defensive rating. Joseph, among the league’s best perimeter defenders at point guard, posted a 6.5/3.4/3.9 line last season, but Ham expects those numbers to increase as he leaves the methodical Pacers for the faster-paced Kings.

There’s more from Sacramento:

Yogi Ferrell will also be competing for minutes in a now-crowded Kings backcourt, Ham adds in a separate story. Ferrell won the back-up point guard spot after signing with Sacramento last summer, but the addition of Joseph seems to leave him without a clear role. He can play either backcourt position, but the team is also deep at shooting guard with Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic. Even though the Kings picked up his $3.2MM option for this season, Ferrell’s playing time may be reduced.
It didn’t take long for Harrison Barnes to win the confidence of his World Cup coaches, relays Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Barnes is the only player on Team USA with a championship ring, which he collected with the Warriors in 2015, and the only one with a gold medal, which came in the 2016 Olympics. “Pop (head coach Gregg Popovich) trusts him,” said USA assistant Steve Kerr, who coached Barnes for two seasons with Golden State. “Pop talks about it all the time with our staff. He knows he can count on him to make the right play and to execute under pressure.”
Marvin Bagley and Hield are getting some experience with a well-respected tutor, notes Jordan Ramirez of NBA.com. They are spending part of the summer at UCLA with Rico Hines, who has worked with James Harden, Kevin Durant and many other star players. “Getting on the court, being around him, he’s an unbelievable person, first and foremost,” said Trevor Ariza, who signed with the Kings last month. “He’s a gym rat as well. He’s always in the gym. We’re always in the gym. We’re always looking to get better.”

Pacific Notes: Jackson, Clippers, Ferrell

July 4th, 2019 at 9:28pm CST by Austin Kent

The Phoenix Suns unloaded 2017 fourth-overall pick Josh Jackson on the Memphis Grizzlies yesterday, after a tumultuous but oh-so-promising two-year stint with the franchise. Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic broke down exactly what went wrong for the once-prized prospect.

A plethora of red flags spoiled Jackson’s reputation off the court and eventually that proved to trump even his best performances on it. To Jackson’s credit, he managed to show high-ceiling talent despite playing for three different head coaches with three different playing styles, but the downside proved to much to bear for a young Suns organization that desperately needs to start moving forward.

Jackson averaged 17.0 points and 6.1 rebounds with over a block and a steal per games in games in which he played 30 or more minutes, but those flashes of excellence were few and far between as the Suns swingman struggled with his shot and controlling his emotions.

The Grizzlies, another team in the midst of a rebuild, will hope that a fresh start is enough to put the former Suns prospect back on the right track.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

While it’s quite likely Anthony Davis will make up the $4MM trade kicker he agreed to waive on his way to the Lakers with other opportunities, Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times writes that it’s a sign of his commitment to the new franchise.
Despite the hoopla surrounding the mad pursuit of free agent Kawhi Leonard, life continues to go on for all the teams awaiting an answer. Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register writes that a contingent of Clippers players and staff are hard at work ensuring that the team will be prepared for the upcoming season.
The deadline for the Kings to dump point guard Yogi Ferrell has come and gone. He’ll remain with the franchise. Earlier today we wrote about how the club parted ways with Frank Mason III, Sacramento’s other potential third-string point guard.

Kings Waive Frank Mason III

July 4th, 2019 at 1:29pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings have parted ways with a 2017 second-round pick, announcing today in a press release that guard Frank Mason III has been released. Mason will become an unrestricted free agent on Saturday if he goes unclaimed on waivers.

Mason, 24, was selected by the Kings with the 34th overall pick in the 2017 draft. He had a promising rookie season, averaging 7.9 PPG and 2.8 APG with a .360 3PT% in 52 games (18.9 MPG), but lost his place in the regular rotation last season.

As Jason Jones of The Athletic notes (via Twitter), Mason was supposed to play for the Kings in the California Summer League this week, but was held out of action due to a sore right hip. His $1.62MM salary isn’t scheduled to become fully guaranteed for 2019/20 until October 15, per Basketball Insiders, so Sacramento won’t be on the hook for that cap hit.

With De’Aaron Fox starting at the point in Sacramento and Cory Joseph being brought aboard to provide depth at the position, Mason became expendable for the Kings. However, the team plans to retain point guard Yogi Ferrell, according to Jones (Twitter link). Ferrell’s $3.15MM salary for 2019/20 will become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through today, which appears to be a lock.

Pacific Notes: Lakers, Giles, Ferrell, McMillan

August 18th, 2018 at 7:42pm CST by Arthur Hill

Lakers president Magic Johnson is getting rave reviews from owner Jeanie Buss on the job he has done in remaking the team, relays Dan Feldman of NBC Sports. Johnson’s standout move was luring free agent LeBron James to L.A., but he also cleared away a lot of cap space and convinced a series of veterans to accept one-year deals so the Lakers can take another big swing in free agency next summer.

“I have complete faith in Magic Johnson in terms of his ability to be a leader, to know how to put together a winner,” Buss said this week in an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show. “And I have patience. And I think what he’s done has exceeded my expectations, how quickly they’ve kind of turned around the roster.”

There’s more today from the Pacific Division:

Harry Giles still hasn’t seen any NBA action, but he has been the most intriguing Kings story of the summer, notes Noel Harris of The Sacramento Bee. The Kings were extremely cautious with Giles after making him the 20th pick in the 2017 draft, sitting him out the entire season to make sure his knees were fully recovered from a series of surgeries that date back to high school. Giles was impressive in Summer League action and was picked as the Rookie of the Year favorite by ESPN’s Kevin Pelton.
Yogi Ferrell may have a prominent role off the bench in the Kings‘ backcourt, writes James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area in an examination of the team’s potential guard rotation. Sacramento was able to land Farrell in free agency after he pulled out of an agreement with the Mavericks in search of more guaranteed money. Ham expects newly acquired Ben McLemore to be bought out or traded and notes that the team would like to move Iman Shumpert, but is having trouble finding a taker for his $11.4MM salary.
Jamelle McMillan is enjoying a homecoming after being added to the Suns‘ coaching staff, writes Cody Cunningham of NBA.com. The son of Pacers head coach Nate McMillan, Jamelle played four seasons at Arizona State before starting his coaching career. At age 29, he is one of the NBA’s youngest assistants.

Yogi Ferrell Discusses Backing Out Of Deal With Mavs

July 24th, 2018 at 9:29pm CST by ChrisCrouse

It might be fair to say that not many people back out of deals with Mark Cuban, but over the last four years, he’s had two NBA contracts disintegrate from his hands. DeAndre Jordan backed out of an agreement with the Mavericks during the 2015 offseason – an event that caused a Twitter-Emoji party – and this offseason, Yogi Ferrell had a change of heart after initially making an agreement.

“I decided I needed the chance in my career. With my style of play, I feel like it fits better with the Kings than the Mavericks,” Ferrell said on The Jim Rome Show (h/t SportsDay).

Dallas had reportedly told Ferrell that he’d occupy the backup shooting guard spot when he made the verbal agreement to re-sign with the club. It’s unclear the exact role the Ferrell will now play in Sacramento.

The combo guard will get a bump in salary on the Kings compared to what he would have received in the Mavs’ deal. Sacramento is paying him $6.2MM over two seasons, though the second year is not guaranteed. Dallas’ contract would have paid him $5.3MM over two years with the same stipulation on the second year of the deal.

“Cuban, he was the one that gave me my first opportunity in the league,” Ferrell said. “Coach [Rick] Carlisle is a great coach. When he first put me in, I’ll never forget my first practice he told me I was gonna start. The next day we were playing the Spurs, so everything was coming pretty quickly.

“I was fortunate they were able to put me in the position that they were in. There were no hard feelings.”

Kings Sign Guard Yogi Ferrell

July 23rd, 2018 at 11:02pm CST by Luke Adams

11:02pm: The signing is official, per team press release.

JULY 23, 7:11pm: The second year of the contract is not guaranteed, Tim McMahon of ESPN tweets.

JULY 20, 3:04pm: The Kings and free agent guard Yogi Ferrell have reached an agreement on a deal, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Ferrell had initially agreed to a two-year contract with the Mavericks, but backed out of that agreement earlier today.

“We felt uncomfortable and will weigh our options,” Ferrell’s agent Cervando Tejeda told Charania at the time.

Sacramento’s deal with Ferrell will be worth $6.2MM over two years, according to Charania (Twitter link). His initial two-year pact with Dallas was said to be worth $5.3MM, with only the first season guaranteed.

While it’s not clear whether Ferrell’s new deal with the Kings will be fully guaranteed, it passes an important threshold — the 25-year-old received a $2.9MM qualifying offer last month, which made him a restricted free agent until the Mavericks withdrew it. His contract with the Kings will allow him to exceed that figure in 2018/19, whereas his initial deal with Dallas wouldn’t have.

Ferrell, a former Indiana standout, appeared in all 82 games for the Mavs last season, averaging 10.2 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 2.5 APG with a .426/.373/.796 shooting line. In Sacramento, he figures to slot into a backcourt that features De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Frank Mason, and Ben McLemore. Bogdan Bogdanovic may also see time at the two.

Nemanja Bjelica, the only other free agent to back out a verbal agreement this offseason, as far as we know, was also said to be discussing a possible deal with the Kings. It’s probably no coincidence that both Ferrell and Bjelica gravitated to Sacramento as they sought larger paydays — as we outlined earlier this afternoon, the Kings have much more cap flexibility for 2018/19 than any other team. Ferrell’s new deal will only use up a small amount of their $20.5MM in cap space.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Devin Harris To Return To Mavericks?

July 22nd, 2018 at 8:58pm CST by clarkcrum

According to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News, the Mavericks are looking towards veteran free agent guard Devin Harris as a replacement signee for Yogi Ferrell, who reneged on a deal with Dallas to sign a more lucrative contract in Sacramento.

Harris, 35, was essentially drafted by the Mavericks with the No. 5 overall selection in the first round of the 2004 NBA Draft and played in Big D for three and a half seasons before being traded to the Nets in a deal that brought Jason Kidd to Dallas.

Harris returned to the Mavericks for the 2013/14 campaign and played an additional four and a half seasons in Dallas before being traded to the Nuggets midway through last season in a deal that brought Doug McDermott to the Mavs.

In his 14 NBA seasons, Harris has averaged 11.1 points and 4.1 assists per game with a career shooting line of .481/.327/.798.

Pacific Notes: Stephenson, Ariza, Harrell, Ferrell

July 22nd, 2018 at 10:22am CST by Arthur Hill

Headed to his seventh team in five years, new Laker Lance Stephenson is hoping he can land a long-term contract next summer, relays Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports. Stephenson expected a longer stay in Indiana after appearing in all 82 games last season. However, after teammate Thaddeus Young opted in to a $13.7MM deal and Doug McDermott was added in free agency, the Pacers elected to decline their $4.3MM option on Stephenson. He wound up signing a one-year, $4.5MM deal with L.A.

“I’m definitely looking for a long-term contract after this,” Stephenson said. “I’m trying to find a home. I’ve been moving a lot and to different teams. I’m trying to find a place where I can actually call home and feel comfortable, and actually get a nice place and stay there for a while.”

There’s more this morning from the Pacific Division:

The Suns contacted free agent forward Trevor Ariza in the first minute of free agency, he says in a video interview tweeted by the team. The former Rocket agreed to change teams after receiving a one-year, $15MM offer from Phoenix. “Sometimes things run their course and it’s time for a new start and new beginning,” Ariza explained. “There were a lot of options for me, but the one that … showed the most promise was this one. I’m excited to be here. I’m happy to be here. It’s closer to home [in Los Angeles] for me.”
The new two-year, $12MM contract for Montrezl Harrell leaves the Clippers about $500K below the tax line, but sets up a difficult roster decision, Bobby Marks posts on ESPN Now. Re-signing Harrell gives L.A. 16 guaranteed contracts, along with non-guaranteed deals for Patrick Beverley ($5,027,028) and C.J. Williams ($1,378,242). Neither becomes fully guaranteed until January 10.
The Kings finalized a three-year, $20.5MM contract with Nemanja Bjelica on Saturday, but not an expected deal with Yogi Ferrell, notes salary cap expert Albert Nahmad (Twitter link). He speculates that Sacramento could be examining its options with $14MM in remaining cap space and may use the room mid-level exception to sign Ferrell to a two-year, $6.2MM deal at a later date.