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Contract Details: Porter, Rozier, Spurs, Kings, Raptors

July 9th, 2019 at 8:52am CST by Luke Adams

For the first time in several years, a first-round pick has accepted below the standard maximum of 120% of his rookie scale amount, tweets Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights. According to Siegel, No. 30 overall pick Kevin Porter Jr. will only earn 80% of his rookie scale amount during his first season and will continue to get less than 120% of the rookie scale amount in years two through four.

The rookie scale amount this year for the No. 30 pick is $1,613,700, so Porter’s expected salary for his rookie season would have been $1,936,440. Instead, he’ll get just $1,290,960, according to Siegel.

While this is just my speculation, it seems likely that the Cavaliers would have checked in with Porter and his agent before drafting him to see if he’d be okay with that reduced first-year salary, given how rare it is. Porter, the final pick in the first round, will still earn significantly more than the rookie minimum of $898K that many early second-rounder selections will receive, while the Cavs, who are up against the luxury-tax line, will put themselves in better position to avoid potential repeater penalties.

Here are more contract details from around the NBA, all courtesy of Siegel unless otherwise indicated:

Terry Rozier‘s three-year, $56.7MM contract with the Hornets has a declining structure (Twitter link). It starts at $19.9MM in 2019/20 before eventually dipping to $17.9MM by 2021/22.
The base value of Rudy Gay‘s two-year deal with the Spurs is $28MM, with $2MM in annual bonuses to bring the potential total value up to $32MM (Twitter link). DeMarre Carroll‘s deal, meanwhile, only has a partial guarantee of $1.35MM in the third year (Twitter link). The Spurs tacked on that third season when they pivoted to acquiring Carroll via sign-and-trade rather than signing him outright.
Trevor Ariza‘s two-year, $25MM contract with the Kings only has a $1.8MM partial guarantee in year two (Twitter link). Meanwhile, Sacramento’s deal with Dewayne Dedmon has a base value of $40MM over three years, with $300K in annual incentives (Twitter link).
Blake Murphy of The Athletic provides details on a pair of Raptors contracts, tweeting that Patrick McCaw‘s new two-year deal is worth $8MM, while Matt Thomas‘ three-year, minimum-salary contract is non-guaranteed in year three. Both of those deals will come out of Toronto’s mid-level exception — Stanley Johnson‘s might too, though if the team has plans in mind for the rest of the $4.36MM on its MLE, Johnson could be signed using the bi-annual exception instead, notes Murphy.

Kings Re-Sign Harrison Barnes To Four-Year Deal

July 8th, 2019 at 12:53pm CST by JD Shaw

JULY 8: The Kings have officially announced their new deal with Barnes, issuing a press release to confirm the signing.

JUNE 30: The Kings will finalize a four-year, $85MM deal with free agent forward Harrison Barnes, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal will decline annually, accounting for just 14% of the team’s cap during the final season. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirms (via Twitter) that the two sides have agreed to terms.

Barnes, 27, was traded from the Mavericks to the Kings at February’s trade deadline in the third year of the four-year, maximum-salary contract he signed with Dallas back in 2016. For the season, he recorded 16.4 PPG and 4.7 RPG with a .420/.395/.824 shooting line in 77 games (32.9 MPG).

Barnes had a player option for the 2019/20 season that would have paid him more than $25MM, but opted to turn it down. Based on his new deal, it’s clear why he went in that direction — his new contract won’t be quite worth $25MM annually, but it will give him substantially more long-term security than his option would have.

When the Kings acquired Barnes from Dallas during the season, reports indicated that the team viewed him as its answer at small forward. However, head coach Dave Joerger ended up frequently using his new acquisition at the four. Presumably, Sacramento’s front office and new head coach Luke Walton are aligned on how to best use Barnes going forward.

Even after reaching deals with Barnes, Trevor Ariza, and Dewayne Dedmon today, Sacramento still projects to have up to about $13MM in cap space, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks. However, the team could only create that room by renouncing Willie Cauley-Stein‘s cap hold.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Kings Sign Kyle Guy To Two-Way Deal

July 7th, 2019 at 1:19pm CST by clarkcrum

The Kings and rookie guard Kyle Guy have finalized an agreement for Guy to fill one of the team’s two-way contracts for the 2019/20 season, according to an official release from the team (h/t to Jason Jones of The Athletic).

Guy, the 55th overall selection in the 2019 NBA Draft, has already appeared in four Summer League games with the Kings, including a 21-point performance in Sacramento’s Las Vegas Summer League debut against the Chinese National Team.

A key part of Virginia’s run to a national title last season, Guy averaged 15.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 35.4 minutes per game in 38 games (38 starts) during his junior season for the Cavaliers. He was named All-ACC First Team and Final Four Most Outstanding Player.

Wenyen Gabriel and Troy Williams occupied the Kings’ two-way slots during the 2018/19 season, but Williams is a free agent, so Guy’s deal appears to indicate that he and Gabriel are on track to hold the team’s two two-way slots for the 2019/20 season.

Free Agency Notes: Cap Holds, Williams, Magic, Wizards

July 7th, 2019 at 12:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Nearly half the teams in the NBA renounced their rights to multiple free agents this week as they prepared to make new roster moves official, per RealGM’s transactions log. In some cases, like when the Clippers renounced the rights to Garrett Temple and Wilson Chandler, those free agents already new homes lined up, and removing their cap holds was simply a formality to create cap room for incoming additions.

In other cases, the housekeeping moves were a bit more noteworthy. The Pacers, for instance, renounced Darren Collison‘s Bird rights, so if the 31-year-old – who announced his retirement before the start of free agency – ever attempts an NBA comeback, Indiana will no longer have a leg up to re-acquire him.

Besides those two teams, the Hawks, Bucks, Nets, Jazz, Sixers, Clippers, Pelicans, Lakers, Kings, Celtics, Wizards, and Bulls also renounced various free agents, according to RealGM’s log.

Here are a few more notes related to free agency:

The Lakers have withdrawn their qualifying offer to two-way player Johnathan Williams and renounced his rights, according to RealGM. That doesn’t preclude the Lakers from bringing back Williams on a new two-way deal, but he’ll be able to sign outright with a new team if he so chooses.
At least nine teams are now confirmed to attend the Amar’e Stoudemire/Monta Ellis workout taking place in Las Vegas on Monday, tweets Jordan Schultz of ESPN. We previously relayed word of Stoudemire’s and Ellis’ attempts to make NBA comebacks.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks provides salary cap updates on a pair of Southeast teams, tweeting that the Magic and Wizards are both safely out of luxury tax territory for now. According to Marks (Twitter links), Orlando has $3.5MM in breathing room under the tax line, counting Khem Birch‘s $1.8MM cap hold, while Washington is about $4MM below that threshold after cutting Jonathon Simmons.

Pacific Notes: Leonard, George, Caruso, Kings

July 7th, 2019 at 9:35am CST by Arthur Hill

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George may have permanently altered the perception of the two teams in Los Angeles, writes Arash Markazi of The Los Angeles Times. At one time, Leonard and George were both considered to be future Lakers. They were two stars who grew up in the L.A. area and wanted to leave their smaller-market teams for the comforts of home. That’s where they wound up, but they’re both Clippers.

Markazi recounts the history of the two franchises and how unbalanced the rivalry has been since the Clippers moved west. The Lakers had the stars, the famous fans and the titles, with 33 playoff appearances, 16 trips to the Finals and 10 championships from 1976 to 2011. Over that same time, the Clippers had just three winning seasons and made the playoffs four times.

The “Lob City” years and the purchase of the team by Steve Ballmer helped changed the balance of power as the Lakers fell onto hard times. Now with George and Leonard together on one side of Staples Center and LeBron James and Anthony Davis roaming the other, there finally appears to be a real rivalry.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Lakers will sign Alex Caruso with part of their $4.8MM room exception, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. A full day of signings on Saturday plus the Davis trade left the team a little more than $1MM below the salary cap, and Marks believes that money may be used to give second-round pick Talen Horton-Tucker a contract longer than two years. Dudley, Daniels and Rajon Rondo will all sign veteran’s minimum deals, Marks adds (Twitter link).
The Warriors had “significant interest” in Caruso before he opted to return to the Lakers, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
The Lakers risk another “reality show” season with their flurry of signings in the wake of losing out on Leonard, observes Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. L.A.’s front office was heavily criticized last summer for not surrounding James with more shooters, and although they improved in that area this year with Danny Green, Jared Dudley, Troy Daniels and Quinn Cook, only Green has proven to be a reliable two-way player. Goodwill is also concerned about the lack of young talent, with Kyle Kuzma left as the only prominent player with a chance to improve.
The Kings continue to move toward GM Vlade Divac‘s vision of a faster and deeper team with this year’s free agent signings, notes Jason Jones of The Athletic. Sacramento added veteran help for its young core by re-signing Harrison Barnes and adding Dewayne Dedmon, Trevor Ariza, Cory Joseph and Richaun Holmes.

Kings Retain Yogi Ferrell Through Guarantee Deadline

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

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.

Community Shootaround: Team-Friendly Free Agent Deals

July 4th, 2019 at 6:39pm CST by Austin Kent

It’s the fourth full day of NBA free agency and we’ve finally topped the 100 transaction mark so far this offseason. That means now is as good a time to pore through the deals that have been reported thus far and start analyzing which ones we think may prove to be the biggest bargains.

For a complete list of all the transactions I’m talking about, check out the Hoops Rumors 2019 Free Agent Tracker.

Below are a few of the bargain deals that stand out to me. I encourage you to pore through the complete list on your own and get back to us with the contracts that you think will most favor the NBA teams that inked them.

Young Bigs That Minnesota Bought Low On

MIN – Jordan Bell (1 year, $1.6MM)

MIN – Noah Vonleh (1 year, $2.0MM)

It’s safe to say that there’s a reason Bell didn’t step into significant minutes with the Warriors at any point over the course of the past few seasons. Perhaps he didn’t see eye-to-eye with the coaching staff. In any event, the Wolves will now give the 24-year-old a fresh start in a low pressure environment and perhaps the stark contrast between sunny, 60-win seasons in California and dreary, Minnesota winter slogs to the 35-win plateau will serve as a wake-up call for the talented center.

Vonleh may not have worn out his welcome with any of the teams that he’s played for, but that could be because he hasn’t stuck around long enough with any of them to do it. Vonleh had the dubious distinction of being a raw talent coming out of the draft. That, coupled with his low draft age led to high expectations. Well, we’re four years into Vonleh’s career now and while he hasn’t evolved into much more than a high energy rebound guy, he’s a pretty darn good one. Vonleh has played for four teams in five seasons and is still only 23-years-old.

Guys Who Fill The Stat Sheet When The Stars Align

WAS – Thomas Bryant (3 years, $25MM)

SAC – Richaun Holmes (2 years, $9.8MM)

Bryant didn’t end up sticking with the Lakers team that drafted him but caught on in an infinitely better environment. The 21-year-old’s low-post potential has been evident since his days as a Hoosier but he’s the type of prospect that a team would have to be in an awfully grim position to fully audition in live game action. Enter, the Washington Wizards. The Wiz were so shallow at the five last year that Bryant got the call and immediately developed chemistry with club star Bradley Beal. Don’t get me wrong, I know the NBA isn’t trending in Bryant’s favor, but he averaged 19.9 points and 11.2 rebounds in games where he saw north of 30 minutes and he showed up for the team in crunch time. The fact that Washington will lock him down with an average annual value of $8.3MM is a win. He doesn’t even have to keep the starting spot to outperform that.

The Sacramento Kings suddenly have one of the league’s most interesting frontcourts. That’s mostly due to the two sophomores they’ll return in 2019/20, but also because of the addition of chronically underrated center Dewayne Dedmon and the mysterious, springy 25-year-old Holmes, whom they just poached from the Phoenix Suns. Sacramento’s bigs may not be the best in the league, but if Holmes’ is the fourth-best on the roster, then that’s some solid depth. Holmes will make less than $5MM this year to, for the first time in his career, show what he’s capable of on a team that isn’t just spinning its tires. #ThingsYouNeverThoughtYouWouldSayAboutTheKings

Former All-Stars That Maybe, Just Maybe, Have More In The Tank

DET – Derrick Rose (2 years, $15MM)

WAS – Isaiah Thomas (1 year, $2.3MM)

Rose enjoyed an almost inconceivable comeback season in 2018/19, highlighted by a 54-point performance that will go down as one of the most memorable moments of his already dramatic career. Rose’s ridiculous early season production petered off slightly when the Wolves introduced new head coach Ryan Saunders and his fancy rational rotations but we saw enough throughout the year to know that the former MVP was capable of actually contributing at an elite level again. Rose was thrown into the deep end after six seasons of uncertainty and/or chaos. He’ll provide a badly needed offensive punch for a Detroit Pistons team that isn’t afraid to go all out for a semblance of respectability.

Thomas is two years removed from an All-NBA Second Team performance. While we all should have known that 2017/18 was going to be a wash once details of his hip injury came to light, he didn’t have much more of a chance to prove himself in 2018/19 either. The Nuggets saw years of careful drafting and asset accumulation finally start to pay off last year and rode that to their best finished in a decade, there was no room for trotting out Thomas and hoping for the best. Perhaps IT can benefit from a comeback season on the Wizards like Rose enjoyed in 2018/19. The fact that we’re even considering that as a possibility makes his one-year minimum a bargain.

One-Dimensional Bigs That Earned The Room Exception

UTA – Ed Davis (2 years, $9.8MM)

BOS – Enes Kanter (2 years, $9.8MM)

Despite the ancient proverb that board men get paid, that wasn’t the case for Davis, an all around positive force on a 2018/19 Brooklyn Nets team that cleared house to bring in a pair of superstar free agents this week. Davis was reluctantly abandoned by the Trail Blazers last summer too, and will now ply his trade for yet another franchise that’s serious about being taken seriously. Davis just needs 20 minutes of action to pull down 10-12 rebounds a night. He’ll settle in just fine on a Utah Jazz squad that’s betting big on depth.

I am convinced that Kanter was overrated for so long that he became underrated. While anything Kanter does on the offensive end will ultimately be judged by his performance on the other side of the ball, that doesn’t mean he can’t still be utilized effectively on a winning ball club. Kanter averaged 11.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game for the Blazers in the 2019 postseason. They made it to the Western Conference Finals. Complemented by returning big man Daniel Theis, whose expertise skews toward defense, and you’ve got a very interesting, very affordable committee at the five.

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.

Western Notes: Russell, Suns, Beverley, Kings, Rivers, Blazers

July 1st, 2019 at 11:48pm CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves, led by D’Angelo Russell‘s close friend Karl-Anthony Towns, were confident about their ability to get a commitment from Russell in free agency and went into their Sunday meeting with him ready to make the trades necessary to make a deal work, sources tell Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Minnesota was just waiting for the green light from D-Lo to move forward on those trades, but the All-Star point guard instead opted to join the Warriors.

The Suns were viewed as a team that might try to get into the mix for Russell, who has another good friend – Devin Booker – in Phoenix. However, despite Booker’s campaign, Phoenix chose not to pursue the RFA guard, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. According to Rankin, the Suns “apparently felt Russell wouldn’t have been a good influence on Booker off the court.”

The Warriors, with their veteran leaders, apparently had no such qualms about D-Lo, who – by all accounts – matured considerably during his time in Brooklyn.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

After agreeing to sign a three-year, $40MM deal with the Clippers, Patrick Beverley tells Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times that he turned down a more lucrative offer from the Kings to return to L.A. “I got a bigger offer from Sacramento and I took $9-10 million less to come here,” Beverley said. “… It was the right decision. Of course, the human part of you wants to take as much money as you see, but all money isn’t good money. I did what was best for me and my family and I did what was best to stay on a winning team, and I feel like I made the right decision.”
Despite Beverley’s comments, Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link) hears that the Kings offered the veteran guard a guaranteed total of $35MM over three years, with a partial guarantee in year three. Theoretically, it’s possible that Beverley’s claim could still be accurate if that third-year partial guarantee was very small and he’s including the non-guaranteed money as part of Sacramento’s bid.
Before he agreed to return to the Rockets for the veteran’s minimum, Austin Rivers had offers in the range of the $5.7MM taxpayer mid-level exception, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. “Now that the league is wide open, I just saw an opportunity,” Rivers said. “You can’t really put a price on happiness. The goal was to come back to Houston all along. I think we have the team to beat.”
The Trail Blazers have announced Terry Stotts‘ coaching staff for the upcoming season, with Nate Tibbetts replacing David Vanterpool as the team’s associate head coach. Portland has also promoted Jim Moran to the front of the bench and hired former NBA guard Jannero Pargo as an assistant.

Kings Sign Cory Joseph

July 1st, 2019 at 2:24am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: The signing of Joseph is official, tweets James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link).

JULY 1: The Kings have reached an agreement to sign Cory Joseph, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). According to Haynes, the free agent point guard will receive a three-year, $37MM commitment from Sacramento. Sam Amick of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that the third year is partially guaranteed.

The agreement caps a busy day for the Kings, who filled a series of holes on their roster, adding quality depth via the free agent market. In addition to striking a deal with Joseph, the Kings agreed to re-sign Harrison Barnes and will add outside free agents Trevor Ariza and Dewayne Dedmon.

Joseph, who is entering his age-28 season, backed up Darren Collison at the point last season for Indiana, averaging 6.5 PPG, 3.9 APG, and 3.4 RPG in 82 games (25.2 MPG). He struggled a little with his shot, as his .412 FG% was the lowest mark he had posted since his rookie season.

In Sacramento, Joseph figures to back up – and perhaps play alongside – promising young point guard De’Aaron Fox.

The Kings will have to renounce restricted free agent Willie Cauley-Stein in order to accommodate all of today’s contract agreements. Amick confirms that the team has rescinded his qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks indicated after the earlier moves that Sacramento would have about $13MM in space remaining if Cauley-Stein’s cap hold was removed from the books, so Joseph’s deal will use just about all of that space. The Kings still have the room exception available.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.