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Western FA Rumors: Lakers, Canaan, Wolves, Kings

July 12th, 2017 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

After committing all of their remaining cap room, the Lakers continue to debate how to address their point guard spot, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The team has explored possible free agent targets who could be veteran mentors for Lonzo Ball, but with just the $4.3MM room exception remaining, L.A. may no longer have the flexibility to sign some of those players.

Per Shelburne (Twitter link), the Lakers still have Rajon Rondo on their radar, but are debating signing a younger player such as Ian Clark, Tyler Ennis, or Isaiah Canaan for that backup point guard job. It’s not clear whether Rondo and/or Clark would be willing to sign a one-year deal worth the room exception — their respective markets were believed to be more robust, but it’s possible that has changed as free agency nears the two-week mark.

Here are a few more free agency notes from around the Western Conference:

Speaking of Isaiah Canaan, his camp has “touched base” with the Timberwolves, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News, who tweets that Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson are believed to have put in a good word for their former Chicago teammate.
The Kings reportedly made a maximum salary offer to Otto Porter earlier in free agency, but J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com hears from multiple sources that there was confusion about whether Sacramento put such an offer sheet on the table. “We just talked,” Kings GM Vlade Divac said of Porter. This may just be an issue of semantics — perhaps the Kings expressed a willingness to go up to the max, but didn’t draw up a formal offer sheet. Porter eventually got his max offer sheet from Brooklyn anyway.
The Warriors made quick work of 2017 free agency, retaining virtually all their key players and adding a couple interesting new pieces. However, they’ll face a tricky situation next summer when Patrick McCaw becomes eligible for restricted free agency. Anthony Slater of The Bay Area News Group examines the challenge of McCaw’s looming free agency and speaks to the 21-year-old guard about it.

George Hill Contract Details

July 11th, 2017 at 3:37pm CST by Luke Adams

George Hill‘s deal with the Kings is frontloaded, with a $20MM cap hit in year one and $19MM in year two. Hill’s third-year salary of $18MM is only guaranteed for $1MM (Twitter link).

Hill Convinced Kings Truly Want To Win

July 11th, 2017 at 8:06am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings’ promise that they were not in tank mode next season helped to sway point guard George Hill to sign with them, according to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. Hill signed a three-year, $57MM contract to join Sacramento. “A couple of teams I was in talks to really weren’t focused on winning,” Hill said. “A couple teams wanted to win. Sacramento called and said we have a lot of young guys but we’re not here to tank, we want to win and we want to do it the right way and if we take our lumps and bruises, we’ll take our lumps and bruises but we’re trying to win.”
DeMarcus Cousins is entering his walk year and Jrue Holiday is already lobbying him to re-sign with the Pelicans, William Guillory of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes. Holiday stayed with New Orleans by signing a five-year, $126MM deal as an unrestricted free agent. Cousins is no longer eligible for the designated player extension because the Kings dealt him. He can still sign an extension but can make more in free agency, Guillory notes.

Free Agent Rumors: Dedmon, Teague, Timberwolves, Heat

July 10th, 2017 at 9:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Hawks are interested in free agent center Dewayne Dedmon, Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders tweets. They are also looking at Willie Reed, Scotto passes along in the same tweet via Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. The Nets and Celtics have also been mentioned as possibilities for Dedmon, who played for the Spurs last season. Reed, who played for the Heat last season, met with the Clippers on Friday and has drawn interest from several other clubs.

In other developments involving free agency:

The Kings and Nuggets along with his former team, the Pacers, were interested in Jeff Teague before he signed with the Timberwolves, Darren Wolfson of KSTP-TV tweets via his colleague Joe Schmit. The Kings wound up signing point guard George Hill, while the Nuggets spent most of their free agent money on power forward Paul Millsap. Teague signed a three-year, $57MM deal with Minnesota.
Timberwolves coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau is still shopping for two wings and a point guard to upgrade their bench, Wolfson notes in a separate tweet. However, Thibodeau has likely filled one of those wing spots with Jamal Crawford, who agreed to a two-year contract after negotiating a buyout agreement with the Hawks and being placed on waivers. Crawford has cleared waivers and is expected to sign sometime this week, Chris Haynes of ESPN tweets.
The Heat are in discussions with forwards Luke Babbitt and Udonis Haslem, according to an Associated Press report. Those deals, if completed, would likely be veteran minimum, the report adds. Babbitt appeared in 68 games, including 55 starts, for the injury-depleted Heat last season. Haslem saw action in just 16 games.

Kings Sign Vince Carter

July 10th, 2017 at 6:00pm CST by ChrisCrouse

JULY 10th, 6:00pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 6, 7:36pm: The Kings have agreed to a one-year, $8MM deal with Vince Carter, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).

The 40-year-old swingman previously said he would like to play two more seasons in the league. Many assumed he would opt to join a contender in hopes of winning a ring. Instead, he’ll join Sacramento and become a veteran mentor for its young squad.

Carter isn’t the only veteran the Kings have added this week. George Hill and Zach Randolph both agreed to come to Sacramento. The organization has eight players on rookie contracts, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, so balancing the roster with veterans seems to be the team’s latest priority.

Carter played a key role for Memphis during the final year of a three-year contract last season. He averaged 8.0 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

Photo Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Zach Randolph Signs With Kings

July 10th, 2017 at 5:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 10th, 5:58pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 4th, 12:26pm: The Kings will sign Zach Randolph to a two-year, $24MM deal, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. Both seasons are fully guaranteed, according to David Aldridge of TNT (Twitter link).

Randolph, who will turn 36 later this month, spent the past eight years in Memphis. His role with the Grizzlies was diminished this season as he lost his starting job and saw his playing time reduced to about 24 minutes per night.

The Cavaliers had also been linked to Randolph and were reported to be greatly interested in adding the bruising power forward. However, Cleveland is well over the cap and couldn’t have offered nearly as much as Sacramento did.

Today’s signings of Randolph and George Hill leave the Kings with $25.3MM in cap space, posts Bobby Marks on ESPN Now. That will be cut further by the upcoming addition of Bogdan Bogdanovic, who is expected to get $27MM over three years. That doesn’t leave enough for a reported max offer to Otto Porter, so the Kings may have decided to move in a different direction.

In addition to what he provides on the court, Randolph can serve as a mentor to the Kings’ young big men, Willie Cauley-Stein, Georgios Papagiannis and Skal Labissiere. For Memphis, it’s the latest move away from their grit-and-grind tradition as veteran guard Tony Allen is also considered unlikely to return.

Sacramento will be the fifth franchise for Randolph, a 16-year veteran who started his career with the Trail Blazers and had brief stints with the Knicks and Clippers.

Kings Sign George Hill

July 10th, 2017 at 4:13pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 10th, 4:13pm: The Kings have officially announced the Hill signing via press release. The three-year deal, $57MM contract is guaranteed for $40MM, according to Amick (Twitter link).

JULY 4th, 3:47pm: The third year of Hill’s deal will be partially guaranteed, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.

12:32pm: The Kings and free agent point guard George Hill have reached an agreement on a three-year, $57MM contract, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical.

Although injuries limited Hill to 49 games in 2016/17, he was excellent when he played, comfortably establishing a new career high in PPG (16.9) for the Jazz despite averaging fewer minutes per game than he had with the Pacers. The 31-year-old provided solid defense and shot over 40% from downtown for a second straight season. In Sacramento, he’ll act as a veteran mentor to the team’s new point guard, De’Aaron Fox, and his ability to play off the ball should allow both guards to share the court at times.

Hill reportedly received interest from the Lakers, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Pacers, Knicks, and Spurs, among other teams. However, many of those teams didn’t have the cap flexibility to make him the sort of offer he has now received from the Kings, and some clubs – such as the Lakers – may have not been willing to go up to three years.

Hill’s former team, the Jazz, wasn’t viewed as a serious contender for the veteran point guard after the team acquired Ricky Rubio from the Timberwolves last week. At least one report suggested that losing Hill may adversely affect Utah’s chances of retaining Gordon Hayward, but Hayward reportedly likes the idea of playing with Rubio as well, so Hill’s formal departure may not have a major impact on his decision.

Word of Sacramento’s agreement with Hill broke around the same time that it was reported the team would also sign Zach Randolph to a two-year pact worth $24MM. The Kings entered the free agent period with only about $44MM in commitments on their 2017/18 cap for their incumbent players and their three 2017 first-round picks.

However, with deals now in place for Hill, Randolph, and Bogdan Bogdanovic, the Kings appear to no longer have room for a reported max offer for Otto Porter unless they’re able to shed a contract or two. That could bode well for Porter’s return to the Wizards, perhaps at a more reasonable rate than Washington anticipated, though the Nets continue to lurk and could put a big offer sheet on the table.

The terms on Hill’s new three-year, $57MM deal are identical to the reported terms on Jeff Teague‘s agreement with the Timberwolves, so that deal likely served as a reference point during discussions between the Kings and Hill’s camp.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Clippers Sign Milos Teodosic

July 10th, 2017 at 3:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 10, 3:27pm: Teodosic has officially signed his contract with the Clippers, according to a tweet sent out by his agency.

JULY 6, 1:44pm: European point guard Milos Teodosic has reached an agreement with the Clippers, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. It will be a two-year, $12.3MM contract with a player option on the second season (Twitter link).

Several teams have been in competition for the 30-year-old, who is considered to be one of the top players outside the NBA. He was reportedly seeking a three-year deal worth $25MM to $30MM, but his new contract is substantially less, at least in the first season.

The Heat, Kings, Nuggets, Jazz, Nets, Bulls and Timberwolves were among the other teams that expressed interest. Minnesota offered its room exception, but understood that he could get more money elsewhere, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. Brooklyn decided that Teodosic’s defensive shortcomings made him a poor candidate for big money or big minutes, according to NetsDaily (Twitter link).

A star with Serbia at the 2016 Olympics, Teodosic made his current team, CSKA Moscow, one of the best in the Euroleague. He has averaged 16.1 points per game over the past two seasons and 6.5 assists over the last three. The Russian squad was hoping to keep him, but admitted that it couldn’t compete financially with NBA teams.

Teodosic’s signing may end the Clippers’ interest in Derrick Rose, who met with the team on Wednesday. With Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams already on the roster, there doesn’t seem to be any room for Rose.

NBA Teams With Cap Room Remaining

July 10th, 2017 at 11:08am CST by Luke Adams

We’re only on the 10th day of the NBA league year, but already, the number of teams with cap room still available is dwindling.

Clubs without cap room remaining could create space at some point — the Knicks, for instance, used the last of their cap room to finalize Tim Hardaway‘s offer sheet, but may try to clear salary by trading Carmelo Anthony and/or Courtney Lee. For now though, only a handful of teams have a useful amount of cap space left.

Those teams with cap room are listed below, along with an informal breakdown of what their situation looks like. Many deals haven’t yet been finalized, so these figures our based on our projections, with the help of information from Basketball Insiders and HeatHoops.

Teams with cap room remaining:

Atlanta Hawks: With agreed-upon deals for Mike Muscala and Tyler Dorsey not yet official, the Hawks retain about $18-19MM in cap room. And that’s not counting whatever amount of money Jamal Crawford was willing to give up in his buyout, so that figure may creep a little higher.
Brooklyn Nets: The Nets remain in a holding pattern with Otto Porter, but after he officially moves over to the Wizards’ books and Brooklyn completes its trade for DeMarre Carroll, the team should have about $16-17MM in cap room. The Nets could create a little more space by waiving one or more non-guaranteed players.
Denver Nuggets: Once the Nuggets’ signing of Paul Millsap becomes official, the team won’t have much cap flexibility left, though that could change if Mike Miller is waived and/or Mason Plumlee is renounced. If both of those players remain on the cap, Denver will only have about $2MM in room. If they move on from both players, the Nuggets could get up to about $11MM+ in space.
Indiana Pacers: Assuming the Pacers stretch Monta Ellis‘ salary, as has been reported, they should have in the neighborhood of $7-8MM in remaining cap room, even after finalizing the acquisitions of Darren Collison, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Cory Joseph.
Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers have approximately $17MM in cap room left, though they’d have to renounce their remaining unrestricted free agents to make use of all that space.
Orlando Magic: The Magic could have retained their exceptions and cap holds and stayed over the cap, but it looks like they’re operating under the cap, signing Shelvin Mack with room instead of the mid-level exception. Orlando doesn’t have much space available, but could get up to $8MM+ in room by waiving C.J. Watson, and could increase that number a little more by cutting other non-guaranteed players.
Philadelphia 76ers: The Sixers’ remaining cap room will depend on the exact numbers for J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson, but it figures to be in the neighborhood of $16-17MM.
Phoenix Suns: Alex Len‘s $12MM+ cap hold is a significant factor in the Suns’ remaining cap room. If they were to renounce Len, the Suns could get up to about $23MM in room, with the ability to create even more by waiving non-guaranteed contracts. However, if they keep Len on the books, Phoenix’s cap room is below $11MM, and will be reduced further when Alan Williams‘ new deal becomes official.
Sacramento Kings: Deals for George Hill, Zach Randolph, Vince Carter, and Bogdan Bogdanovic will use up most of the Kings’ space, but the team should still have room in the $8-10MM range after those signings become official.

Teams that went under the cap, but have used all (or virtually all) of their room:

Boston Celtics
Miami Heat
Minnesota Timberwolves
New York Knicks

These teams went below the cap this summer to accommodate big-money moves. In some cases, those deals aren’t yet official, but when they’re finalized, they’ll eliminate any cap room these teams have left. A couple of these clubs have already committed their room exception to certain players, with the Celtics on track to sign Aron Baynes and the Wolves lining up a deal with Jamal Crawford.

Teams that are operating over the cap, but could create some cap room:

Chicago Bulls
Dallas Mavericks
Utah Jazz

These teams are currently operating as over-the-cap clubs in order to retain their full mid-level, bi-annual, and trade exceptions, but there could be scenarios in which it makes more sense to renounce those exceptions and dip below the cap.

In the Bulls’ and Mavs’ cases, it would likely only happen if they don’t retain top RFAs (Nikola Mirotic and Nerlens Noel, respectively). Meanwhile, the Jazz could only create up to about $12MM in room if they were to waive their non-guaranteed contracts and wait to sign Joe Ingles.

Note: Items on Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic were edited after publication to adjust figures.

Pacific Notes: Gallinari, Randolph, Ingram

July 9th, 2017 at 9:24pm CST by Austin Kent

Expect the system the Clippers have in place to complement the skills of newly acquired Danilo Gallinari, Tyler Blint-Welsh of the Los Angeles Times writes.

“One of the reasons I chose [the Clippers] is because of the team that we have,” he said. “So I have no doubt that I’m gonna fit in.”

The versatility that Gallinari brings to the franchise will help the squad play positionelss basketball, something ever more important in today’s evolving NBA. Having such options on the perimeter should make life easier for Clippers big men Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan in the post.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Lakers shut Brandon Ingram down for the Summer League as a precautionary measure, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News writes. The second-year forward gave his team a scare when he suffered a cramp in his leg toward the end of Friday’s Vegas league contest but the injury is minor.
When the Kings added Zach Randolph they added the type of veteran that will benefit their young players. Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee interviewed Randolph’s former coach with the Grizzlies about what he brings on and off the court. “This is a process,” Lionel Hollins said, “And the process is enhanced by the quality of your veterans. You can’t have guys who sit on the bench, get paid and don’t help their young teammates. You have to have the right veterans because that will help the young players move up faster. So the young kids better come ready out there, because Zach is going to teach them how to be tougher, more physical and professional.“
The decision that Kevin Durant made to take less money that what he was eligible for allowed the Warriors to retain their core and club general manager Bob Meyers is quick to applaud him for the gesture. “I can pretty much unequivocally say without it, we’re not looking at the team we have right now. What Kevin did shows who he is, shows what he’s about and I think it’s clear that that’s winning,” Myers told the Associated Press.