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RFA Rumors: Parker, Gordon, Exum, Smart, Randle

March 30th, 2018 at 12:09pm CST by Luke Adams

Only about a quarter of the NBA’s teams are expected to have meaningful cap room this summer, so restricted free agents hoping for a major payday could have a tough summer, writes Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Last week, we identified eight RFAs we believe have positioned themselves well for long-term contracts, and while we’re still bullish on those players, the RFA market may not be as active overall as it has been in some previous offseasons.

Within his latest piece, Kyler took a closer look at a few specific 2018 restricted free agents, so let’s round up some highlights from his breakdown…

  • Most NBA insiders believe the Bucks will ultimately retain Jabari Parker, according to Kyler, who suggests that – with a new arena on the way – Bucks ownership may not be as worried about the rising cost of team salary as you’d expect.
  • The Bucks and Magic may let the market drive the respective prices on Parker and Aaron Gordon, according to Kyler. With Orlando’s new management group looking to shed cap dollars, the team will be wary of overpaying Gordon. Kyler also notes that the Magic could be open to the possibility of a sign-and-trade if Gordon wants to play elsewhere. However, sign-and-trades can be particularly tricky to pull off for RFAs getting big raises due to the Base Year Compensation rule, so that may be a long shot.
  • The prevailing thought on Dante Exum is that he’ll be back with the Jazz, though likely not on a long-term deal, says Kyler.
  • In order to pry Marcus Smart away from the Celtics, it might take an offer sheet at least in the range of $12-14MM per year, per Kyler.
  • The Kings are worth watching as a possible suitor for Lakers big man Julius Randle, though many people expect the Mavericks to be the team “on Randle’s doorstep” when free agency opens on July 1, Kyler writes.
  • Clint Capela (Rockets), Zach LaVine (Bulls), Jusuf Nurkic (Trail Blazers), and Rodney Hood (Cavaliers) are among the RFAs considered more likely than not to stay with their current teams, according to Kyler. For more details on those players – along with an item on Suns guard Elfrid Payton – be sure to check out Kyler’s full piece.
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Harry Giles Remains Confident About Future

March 29th, 2018 at 12:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

Lakers guard Isaiah Thomas was facing a tough free agent market even before Wednesday’s announcement that he will have season-ending surgery on his right hip, according to Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports.

Only a few teams have the cap room available to give Thomas the kind of contract he was expecting, and most of them aren’t good fits. The Sixers already have Markelle Fultz, the Mavericks are set with rookie Dennis Smith Jr. and the rebuilding Bulls and Hawks aren’t likely to invest heavily in a 29-year-old guard with serious injury concerns.

“No one is going long there [with a deal], in all likelihood,” former Cavaliers GM David Griffin said. “[The hip] is a very significant factor. His whole game is predicated upon quickness and creating shot separation. If he can’t do that, he is a small non-defender.”

The Lakers have expressed interest in re-signing Thomas, but that’s only if they strike out on their primary targets in free agency.

There’s more news from the Pacific Division:

  • Lonzo Ball will have an MRI on his left knee today, but the Lakers rookie isn’t overly concerned about the results, relays Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Ball had to leave last night’s game after being kneed in the back of the leg in the third quarter. “It wasn’t in the spot that I previously hurt that caused me to miss a lot of games, so I wasn’t too worried about it,” Ball said. “It’s just kind of like a bruise. It just hurts, but I should be back soon.”
  • The Kings believe injured rookie Harry Giles has a bright future, but that won’t stop them from drafting a big man if they get an early lottery pick, writes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. Giles, who has sat out the entire season after undergoing three knee operations in four years, tells Alex Kramers of NBA.com he knows he will eventually get a chance to prove himself. “I know that my time is coming,” he said. “It’s not like I’m [thinking], ‘I might not play. I might not do this or do that.’ I know it’s about just me working and getting better. I have to look at it like it’s only getting me ready for when my time really comes.”
  • Kevon Looney is making the most of his playing time with the injury-ravaged Warriors, writes Monte Poole of NBC Bay Area. The third-year power forward/center has finally gotten past the hip problems that required surgery early in his career. “He’s always had that game,” said teammate Andre Iguodala. “But the NBA is all about that confidence and opportunity. He’s feeling better, too. But even when he was hurting with his hips, I could always see his game.”
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Kings Assign Bruno Caboclo to G League

March 23rd, 2018 at 5:52pm CST by Luke Adams
  • The Kings have assigned former first-round pick Bruno Caboclo to their G League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, tweets James Ham of NBC Sports California. Caboclo, 22, has averaged 14.4 PPG and 6.5 RPG in 34 G League games this season; however, he has yet to suit up for the Bighorns, having been traded from Toronto earlier this season.
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Shumpert Unlikely To Test Market

March 19th, 2018 at 6:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • Kings guard Iman Shumpert will likely opt in to the final year of his contract, according to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. Shumpert has a $11MM player option but has only appeared in 14 games this season due to knee and foot injuries, which would depress his value on the open market, Jones opines. He is unlikely to play again this season since the Kings are evaluating their younger players, Jones adds. Shumpert is recovering from plantar fasciitis. Shumpert was part of the multi-team trade that sent George Hill to the Cavaliers at the February deadline.
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Carter Says Situation With Kings Changed

March 17th, 2018 at 6:13pm CST by Arthur Hill
  • Vince Carter has become a mentor with the Kings in his 20th NBA season and is offering his younger teammates advice on how to lengthen their careers, according to Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. Carter, who has a one-year deal with the Kings, may be on the move again this summer as he searches for more playing time. “I’m not going to sit here and deny that I want to play more,” he said. “Things changed. We aren’t winning and the younger guys need to get better. I get that, but at the same time, I try to make the best of it. That way if it doesn’t work out here, I can still play on another team, maybe a contending team, in a lesser role.”
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Potential Free Agents; Temple Likely To Stay

March 11th, 2018 at 4:54pm CST by clarkcrum
  • The Kings have officially been eliminated from playoff contention, leading Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee to analyze the team’s plan of attack in free agency this summer. Jones opines that while certain restricted free agents like Aaron Gordon, Rodney Hood, Julius Randle, and Clint Capela may be appealing, their current teams will all but assuredly match any reasonable offers the Kings may put on the table.
  • In another piece for The Sacramento Bee, Jones notes that he doubts a scenario where Garrett Temple leaves the Kings this offseason. Temple, who has an $8MM player option for next season, is unlikely to find more money on the open market, and has become an important locker room voice for a young Sacramento team.
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California Notes: Ball, Lillard, Joerger, Sampson

March 10th, 2018 at 1:05pm CST by marksuleymanov

For the second time this season, the Lakers were visibly upset with Nuggets guard Jamal Murray. Head coach Luke Walton said that Murray’s trash talk was “disrespectful” and several Lakers players were just as critical, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk writes.

In particular, Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball said the Lakers did not forget Murray’s antics from Dec. 2 when he forcefully dribbled past Ball late in the game. Ball’s teammate Julius Randle fouled Murray as a sign of frustration.

“We remembered it,” Ball said. “It’s a punk move. But like I said, we’re not going to get into it. [Murray will] do whatever he’s going to do.”

This is an out of character statement from Ball, who is normally even-tempered and speaks highly of his opponent. However, with two separate incidents with Murray in the last three months, it’s clear that Ball and the Lakers agree that Murray’s antics are out of line.

“Like I said, he going to do the circus stuff — I’m not feeding into it,” Ball said.

Check out other news from California’s teams:

  • California native Damian Lillard lit up the Staples Center earlier this week, scoring 39 points in a victory over the Lakers. He will not be a free agent until 2021, so the possibility of the Lakers trying to lure Lillard to Los Angeles is far away and far-fetched. However, Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register writes that Lillard’s performance is indicative of how having superstars on the roster change the entire dynamic of a team.
  • When the Kings hired Dave Joerger as head coach, he was 53 wins shy of 200 for his career. It has taken him nearly two full seasons to reach the milestone; the Kings have not played well and their roster has generally been underwhelming. Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee relays that Joerger hopes to continue building something with the Sacramento.
  • JaKarr Sampson has bounced between the G League and the Kings as a two-way player this season. Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee profiled Sampson, who still lives with his mother, earns a modest $75K salary and hopes to latch on the Kings full-time. By his own words and that of his peers, Sampson’s energy has made him a favorite with the Kings organization and its fans.
  • The Kings have not made the postseason in over a decade as the organization tries to figure out a path to compete. Dennis Chambers of Basketball Insiders examines the steps the team can take to improve and eventually compete for the postseason.
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NBA Teams With 2017/18 Cap Room Still Available

March 9th, 2018 at 3:33pm CST by Luke Adams

At this point in the NBA league year, most of the discussion about cap room focuses on how much teams will have in July. While 2018/19 cap space will be extremely valuable for teams looking to make a splash in free agency or on the trade market, there aren’t many reasons teams need ’17/18 cap room at this point — free agency is all but over, the trade deadline is behind us, and even the deadline for renegotiating contracts has passed.

Still, 2017/18 cap room isn’t entirely useless, even this late in the season. The current league year runs through June 30, so if a team wants to complete a trade before, during, or right after this year’s draft, having cap room available to accommodate a salary could come in handy.

Additionally, teams with cap room have fewer restrictions when it comes to signing free agents — if a club wants to take a flier on a prospect during the final few weeks of the ’17/18 regular season, it could use cap space to sign that player to a lightly-guaranteed contract that stretches across three or four seasons.

Here are the teams that still have cap space available for the 2017/18 season, along with their estimated total room:

  • Dallas Mavericks: $14,240,776
  • Chicago Bulls: $11,325,670
    • Note: The Bulls are technically operating an over-the-cap team, but could use this cap room if they renounce their exceptions.
  • Phoenix Suns: $6,749,365
  • Indiana Pacers: $5,423,615
  • Orlando Magic: $3,669,889
  • Sacramento Kings: $3,465,472
  • Brooklyn Nets: $3,128,440
    • Note: The Nets are technically operating an over-the-cap team, but could use this cap room if they renounce their exceptions.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders, along with our own data, was used in the creation of this post.

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Kings Eyeing Mario Hezonja As Free Agent Target?

March 5th, 2018 at 1:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Mario Hezonja, who is playing some of the best basketball of his NBA career as of late, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and he’s beginning to look like an intriguing target. According to various reports, the Kings are one team that’s expected to have interest in Hezonja when he reaches the open market.

Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee recently wrote that Hezonja has “fans in Sacramento’s front office” and figures to be a target for the Kings this offseason. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders has expressed a similar sentiment, tweeting today that the club is a “real and viable threat” to land Hezonja. Kyler later tweeted that he continues to hear the Kings “have eyes” for the third-year forward, who was linked to Sacramento in trade rumors last October.

Hezonja, the fifth overall pick in the 2015 draft, struggled during his first two seasons in Orlando, but has looked better this year, particularly in recent weeks. For the season, the 23-year-old is averaging 9.1 PPG and 3.4 RPG with a shooting line of .463/.348/.826. In his last 15 games, Hezonja has boosted those averages to 14.7 PPG and 4.3 RPG on .473/.412/.868 shooting.

It remains unclear what sort of contract Hezonja will land in free agency. Cap space won’t be plentiful around the NBA, and the Croatian’s career track record will make teams wary of investing significant money. But he’s also just 23 years old, and if he continues to show signs of putting it all together, there should be teams willing to aggressively roll the dice on him.

Orlando’s level of interest in re-signing Hezonja hasn’t been reported, but if the forward finishes the season strong, bringing him back will be tricky for the Magic. Because the team turned down the fourth-year option on Hezonja’s rookie contract last fall, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent, and Orlando won’t be able to offer a starting salary of more than $5,167,231, the amount of that declined option.

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Update On Open NBA Roster Spots

February 28th, 2018 at 12:03pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier this month, we identified the NBA teams with open roster spots. Since then, clubs have completed a flurry of 10-day signings, and a couple players have even received rest-of-season deals.

However, there are still plenty of teams around the league with openings on their respective rosters, which could come in handy with Thursday’s de facto buyout deadline around the corner. Once March 1 comes and goes, teams will have a better idea of which players will or won’t have postseason eligibility the rest of the way, creating a clearer picture for how to fill those open roster spots.

In the space below, we’ll take a closer look at teams with an open roster spot, breaking them down into three categories. Each of the clubs in the first group actually has a full 15-man roster right now, but in each instance, one of those 15 players is only a 10-day contract. With those contracts set to expire soon, it’d be very easy and inexpensive for these teams to create an opening if they need to.

Teams with full 15-man rosters who are carrying at least one player on a 10-day contract (10-day player noted in parentheses):

The next list of teams includes the clubs with one open spot on their roster and no players on 10-day contracts. These clubs each have 14 players on standard, full-season NBA deals, leaving one spot open for either a 10-day player or a rest-of-season signing.

Teams with one open roster spot:

  • Charlotte Hornets
  • Chicago Bulls
  • Los Angeles Clippers
  • Los Angeles Lakers
    • Note: The Lakers will create a second opening when they officially waive Corey Brewer.
  • Memphis Grizzlies
  • Minnesota Timberwolves
  • Oklahoma City Thunder
  • Sacramento Kings
  • Toronto Raptors

Finally, the last group of teams features four clubs that have been grouped together before. These four teams saw their roster counts slip to 13 players around the time of the trade deadline, and each had to add a player to get back up to the NBA-mandated minimum of 14. To reach that minimum, each team signed a player to a 10-day contract. That means these four franchises still only have 12 or 13 players on full-season contracts, with at least one player on a 10-day deal.

Teams with one open roster spot, plus at least one player on a 10-day contract:

  • Atlanta Hawks
  • Cleveland Cavaliers
  • Portland Trail Blazers
    • Note: 13 full-season contracts, plus Brandon Rush on 10-day contract.
  • Washington Wizards
    • Note: 13 full-season contracts, plus Ramon Sessions on 10-day contract.

For roster-count details on all 30 teams, be sure to check out our roster count page, which we updated daily throughout the 2017/18 season.

Note: Roster info current as of Wednesday, February 28 at 12:00pm CT.

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