Portland Trail Blazers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Blazers, Nets In Talks About Hollis-Jefferson

June 25th, 2015 at 9:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Blazers and Nets are discussing a potential deal involving the rights to No. 23 pick Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. However, Portland is enamored with the small forward from Arizona, so it’s unclear if the team is willing to give him up.

Nets GM Billy King has made his desire to move up from pick No. 29 quite clear, and has reportedly been dangling Mason Plumlee and exploring trades involving Bojan Bogdanovic. Still, either would represent a larger cap hit than Hollis-Jefferson would for the Blazers, who have their eyes set on free agency with LaMarcus Aldridge reportedly ready to bolt.

And-Ones: Batum, Warriors, Sixers, Clippers

June 25th, 2015 at 5:29pm CST by Zachary Links

The Timberwolves will be on the clock just one hour from now. While we wait with eager anticipation, here’s the latest from around the league:

The Pistons expressed interest in Nicolas Batum before he was shipped from the Blazers to the Hornets, a person with knowledge of the team’s inner workings told Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. Therefore, Ellis expects that Detroit will target a small forward in the mold of Batum in the draft.
While the Warriors would like to move up from No. 30 in the first round, that doesn’t seem likely right now, David Aldridge of TNT tweets.
Tom Moore of Calkins Media (on Twitter) hears that the players union didn’t like the Sixers trading for JaVale McGee at the deadline. That acquisition cost existing Sixers players money since the team had needed to spend more in order to reach the NBA salary floor. The players association is reportedly probing the moves the Sixers have made of late for possible circumvention of collective bargaining agreement tenets.
The Clippers still attempting to purchase a first-round pick, as Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times (on Twitter) hears.
Brandon Jennings expects he’ll be ready for training camp after having suffered a season-ending torn Achilles this past January, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).

Latest On LaMarcus Aldridge

June 25th, 2015 at 3:39pm CST by Zachary Links

On Thursday morning, we learned that the Rockets are planning on getting in the mix for LaMarcus Aldridge this summer, as well as Kevin Love. Of course, Houston will not be alone in that pursuit. Aldridge is reportedly becoming increasingly fond of the Lakers and many other clubs are getting ready to make a play for the four-time All-Star. Here’s the very latest on Aldridge..

A source close to Aldridge told ESPN’s Marc Stein and Chris Broussard that he’s as good as gone from Portland. “He’s gone,” a source close to Aldridge said. “There’s a 99.9 percent chance that he’s out of Portland.” The duo says Aldridge is thinking about signing with the Hawks, which adds him to the list with the Spurs, Lakers, Knicks, and Mavs. The Cavs, they say, are a longshot team. Aldridge to Cleveland would likely mean a sign-and-trade involving Kevin Love.

Earlier updates:

As the Blazers‘ fear of losing Aldridge grows, they’re working to use the No. 23 pick in the draft to acquire a big man either to help replace him or to bolster the frontcourt around him, Jake Fischer of SI Now tweets. There was talk of the Blazers and Sixers discussing a trade that would send the No. 23 pick to Philadelphia in exchange for the 35th and 37th picks (and perhaps more), but Fischer (link) hears the Blazers are interested in using the No. 23 pick to acquire an established big man, not get more picks.
Teams are already preparing to line up for Aldridge, but several execs have begrudgingly acknowledged to Chris Mannix of SI (on Twitter) that the Spurs will be tough to beat.
Jabari Young of CSNNW (on Twitter) hears that Aldridge wants to live in a more diverse area.

Western Rumors: Lakers, Russell, Warriors

June 25th, 2015 at 1:13pm CST by Zachary Links

League sources tell Jake Fischer of SI (on Twitter) that the Lakers were always going to select whoever was available between Karl Towns and Jahlil Okafor at No. 2. The guards they worked out, like D’Angelo Russell, were only brought in as a smokescreen, according to those sources. However, with so much talk about Russell being the pick at No. 2 today, it’s hard to say what their intentions are. Here’s more from the West on one of the NBA calendar’s craziest days..

Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group (on Twitter) heard that one team’s asking price to take David Lee‘s contract off the Warriors‘ hands was Harrison Barnes and the No. 30 pick. As Thompson writes, Warriors management probably laughed that offer off.
At this stage, the Warriors are not working to move Lee’s contract, Jake Fischer of SI tweets. At this point, their looking to move up in the first round, though it’s not clear who their target is. The Warriors own the No. 30 pick in the draft.
Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak will have the final say on what the team does with the pick, assuming they keep it, according to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, who spoke with a person familiar with the situation. The GM will receive input from team executive Jim Buss, Lakers scouting director Jesse Buss, and other scouts, but the last call will be his.
The Timberwolves are looking to acquire an additional first-round pick, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).
The Rockets have had trade discussions with the Timberwolves, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets. Houston likes Ricky Rubio, but Wolfson says that it’s hard to see a match there. However, if the Wolves do move to No. 18, Tyus Jones is probably atop their target list (link). Meanwhile, there have been no talks yet between the Wolves and Mavs, who own the No. 21 pick (link).
The Blazers have internally discussed options to grab Kristaps Porzingis since his ASM pro day, Jake Fischer of SI tweets.

Northwest Notes: Afflalo, Wolves, Thunder

June 24th, 2015 at 8:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Thunder are reaching out to teams with the hope of unloading a contract to solidify their ability to re-sign Enes Kanter and Kyle Singler, both of whom are restricted free agents this summer, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets. OKC has reportedly dealt Jeremy Lamb and his $3,034,356 salary for 2015/16 to the Hornets, so it’s unclear if further moves are in the works. The deal includes Matt Barnes and his $3.543MM salary for next season coming to Oklahoma City, though only $1MM of that amount is guaranteed unless he remains on the roster past July 1st, at which point the team would be on the hook for the entire amount. The Thunder aren’t expected to keep Barnes, though it wasn’t specified if a third team was involved, or if he would simply be released.

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

The Blazers shouldn’t prioritize re-signing unrestricted free agent Arron Afflalo this offseason, opines Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. Freeman notes that Afflalo and Portland were never a good match, with the swingman struggling to find his place and never looking completely comfortable in the Blazers’ system. Couple that with the late-season emergence of C.J. McCollum, and Portland re-signing Afflalo becomes less of a need, regardless of what transpires with fellow unrestricted free agent Wesley Matthews, Freeman concludes.
When asked what the Timberwolves would be targeting in the second round of the draft and in free agency this summer, coach/executive Flip Saunders said backcourt [depth], shooting and ball-handling, Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press tweets. Saunders not mentioning a big man seemingly reinforces the opinion that the team will select Karl-Anthony Towns with the No. 1 overall pick, Krawczynski adds.
The Timberwolves are expected to extend their lease on the Target Center with the city of Minneapolis through 2035, Charley Walters of The Pioneer Press relays (Twitter link).

Hornets Acquire Nicolas Batum

June 24th, 2015 at 8:09pm CST by Eddie Scarito

8:09pm: The trade is official, the Blazers announced. “Nic Batum was a key contributor to all of our recent success,” said Blazers executive Neil Olshey. “He will truly be missed as a person and a player. We wish Nic all the best for the future.”

6:08 pm: The Blazers and Hornets are finalizing a deal that would send Nicolas Batum to Charlotte in exchange for Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henderson, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). The Yahoo! scribe had reported earlier today that the Hornets were seeking to acquire a wing player in advance of the NBA Draft, but Wojnarowski had relayed that the team was aggressively shopping big man Cody Zeller.

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Batum, 26, certainly can be considered an upgrade for Charlotte, despite him coming off a subpar 2014/15 campaign. He appeared in 71 contests for the Blazers, averaging 9.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.8 assists. His career numbers are 11.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 4.8 APG, with a slash line of .446/.363/.834. Batum is set to earn $12,235,750 for the 2015/16 season, and that amount is fully guaranteed.

It’s a bit of a surprise that the Hornets would deal away Vonleh, the team’s lottery selection of a year ago. The 19-year-old only appeared in 25 contests for the Hornets after getting off to late start due to a preseason sports hernia injury. The immediate conclusion would be that Vonleh was acquired by the Blazers to protect themselves in the event that unrestricted free agent LaMarcus Aldridge departs this offseason, but the deal was made with Aldridge’s knowledge, and was done independently of his free agent decision, Wojnarowski tweets. Vonleh averaged 3.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per contest this past season, and is set to earn $2,637,720 in 2015/16.

Henderson, 27, recently picked up his $6MM player option for next season, and is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. He appeared in 80 games for Charlotte during the 2014/15 campaign, and averaged 12.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 28.9 minutes per contest. His shooting numbers last season were .437/.331/.848.

Celtics To Pursue Paul Pierce, Robin Lopez

June 24th, 2015 at 3:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:45pm: The Celtics consider a frontcourt tandem of Love and Lopez a “dream scenario,” but it’s not one they expect to happen as of right now, Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops tweets.

1:45pm: The Celtics plan to pursue Paul Pierce and Robin Lopez as complementary players to sell Kevin Love on the idea of signing with Boston, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The Celtics have about $40MM on the books against a projected $67.1MM cap already, and if they sign Love to a deal starting at an estimated max of $18.96MM, they’d be hard-pressed to find room for both Pierce and Lopez without making salary-clearing trades. They also face a stiff challenge from the Clippers for Pierce, as the Clips seek to offload bench players in deals that could net them trade exceptions to allow them to sign-and-trade for the 37-year-old small forward, but Pierce is “in play” for the C’s if they can get Love, Wojnarowski adds (on Twitter).

Pierce told Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald in December that he would probably speak with president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and co-owner Wyc Grousbeck about a role with the Celtics for after his playing days. Pierce would like to become a GM someday, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (on Twitter). It appears that Boston has a different sort of return planned for him if the circumstances are right. Pierce intends to play next season, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post reported, and he’s turning down a player option worth nearly $5.544MM on the contract he signed last summer with the Wizards, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com.

The Clippers will have only the $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level to spend on outside free agents if they re-sign DeAndre Jordan for the max. They could aggregate bench players to create a trade exception for larger than that amount, as Wojnarowski suggests, though doing so would require the team to find willing trade partners, and they’d also have to convince the Wizards to go along with the plan if they want to sign-and-trade for Pierce. The Nets reportedly resisted the Clips’ efforts to construct sign-and-trade scenarios involving Pierce last year.

Lopez has said he’d prefer to re-sign with the Blazers, though Portland is in flux. Many executives around the league expect LaMarcus Aldridge, for whom Lopez has been a strong complement, to leave the Blazers, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote today.

Suns To Pursue Kevin Love; Blazers Eye Him

June 24th, 2015 at 2:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Suns promise to be an aggressive suitor with Kevin Love headed for free agency, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, and the Blazers are likely to go after him if LaMarcus Aldridge leaves Portland, according to Marc Stein of ESPN. Many executives around the league expect Aldridge to depart, Stein writes, leaving room for Love, an Oregon native.

The Cavs remain the front-runners for Love, who’s insisted repeatedly that he wants to stay in Cleveland, Wojnarowski tweets, but the possibility remains that he’ll listen to pitches from the Celtics and Lakers, Wojnarowski adds. He doesn’t mention either Phoenix or Portland in that context, and it’s unclear if either team would be on Love’s wish list if he changes his mind about the Cavs. LeBron James doesn’t intend to put on a recruiting effort to keep Love, believing that the power forward understands the opportunity he has to continue with a Cleveland team that appears poised to be a perennial contender, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group (Twitter link).

Phoenix has only about $43MM in guaranteed salary against a projected $67.1MM cap, and while much of that appears to be earmarked for a new deal for Brandon Knight, his cap hold is less than $8.885MM, so Phoenix won’t necessarily have to contend with an eight-figure number on the books for him as it goes after other free agents. It still knocks the team out of max-level territory for Love, so Phoenix likely would have to either renounce Knight or swing a trade. Conflicting reports paint a somewhat confused picture about whether the Suns are shopping Eric Bledsoe.

The Blazers have only about $25MM in commitments for next season with three fifths of their starting lineup bound for free agency. Still, Damian Lillard‘s rookie scale contract runs through next season, and while he’ll seek a max extension this summer that wouldn’t kick in until 2016/17, he seemingly remains an alluring would-be partner for another star if Aldridge indeed departs.

Western Notes: Barton, Buycks, Blazers

June 23rd, 2015 at 10:49pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Nuggets have tendered Will Barton a qualifying offer worth $1,181,348, making the guard a restricted free agent this offseason, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link). The move was expected since both sides have previously expressed a desire for the player to return to Denver next season. The 24-year-old saw sparse playing time with the Blazers over his first two and a half seasons in the league, but the deadline trade that sent him to Denver this February provided him with more opportunities to get on the court. He averaged 11.0 points in 24.4 minutes per game over 28 appearances for the Nuggets.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

The Warriors are exploring options regarding trading up from the No. 30 overall pick in the draft, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com tweets. Which player the team could be targeting with such a move is unknown, Howard-Cooper adds.
The chances that the Lakers will select Duke big man Jahlil Okafor with the No. 2 overall pick have increased since last week, Chad Ford of ESPN.com relays (on Twitter). Ford pegged the odds at 70% last Friday, and now has them at 80% that Los Angeles nabs Okafor on Thursday night.
The Lakers have informed free agent guard Dwight Buycks that they are interested in re-signing him for next season, David Pick of Eurobasket.com tweets. Buycks, who inked a single 10-day deal with the team this past season, was reportedly set to be signed for the remainder of the 2014/15 campaign before a hand injury knocked him out for the remainder of the team’s contests.
The Blazers will work out UNLV shooting guard Rashad Vaughn on Wednesday, reports Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times.
Woelfel adds the Warriors to the list of teams that have worked out UNLV big man Christian Wood.
Working out for Portland today were Darion Atkins (Virginia), Javonte Green (Radford), Charles Jackson (Tennessee Tech), Jordan Railey (Washington State), Satnam Singh (India), and Gary Bell Jr. (Gonzaga), the Blazers announced.
Virginia swingman Justin Anderson is scheduled to work out for the Grizzlies on Wednesday, Chris Vernon of ESPN 92.9 FM relays (Twitter links). Vernon also dispels the notion that Memphis made a draft promise to LSU big man Jarell Martin, and says that Martin shut down scheduling any further workouts for other reasons.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Sixers, Blazers, Pacers, Hawks Talk Pick Swaps

June 23rd, 2015 at 2:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Sixers and Trail Blazers have spoken about a trade that would send the No. 23 pick to Philadelphia in exchange for the 35th and 37th picks and perhaps more, sources tell Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links). The Pacers and Hawks have had exploratory talks about a swap of the 11th and 15th picks, presumably with other assets involved, Kennedy also hears, citing league sources. Philadelphia is willing to trade up from the No. 3 spot to acquire D’Angelo Russell, league sources tell Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, who writes within his Draft Buzz column.

Jahlil Okafor earlier this month became the focus of the Lakers at the No. 2 pick, as Chris Mannix of SI.com reported, so a willingness from Philly to trade up for Russell would indicate some doubt from the Sixers that the Lakers indeed prefer the Duke center. Karl-Anthony Towns appears to be headed to the Timberwolves with the No. 1 pick, though he’s denied a report that Minnesota has already told him he’ll be their choice.

Philadelphia leads the NBA with six picks in this year’s draft, five of which are in the second round. The Blazers appear focused on free agency, with LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews, Robin Lopez and Arron Afflalo among the soon-to-be free agents on the roster, so moving off the nearly $1.004MM cap hold for a first-round pick would presumably have some value to them.

Willie Cauley-Stein has said that Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird called him a $100MM player, so it would appear Indiana has strong interest in him. Concerns about Cauley-Stein’s health threaten to push him out of the top 10, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress wrote in his mock draft this week, though it would seem a stretch if he were still available at No. 15. The Hawks are worried that they won’t be able to bring back the duo of Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll in free agency, but trading up for a higher pick wouldn’t help them create more cap space unless they gave up salary in such a deal.