Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Mavericks Sign Reggie Bullock

August 2nd, 2021 at 7:24pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 6: The Mavericks have officially signed Bullock, the team announced in a press release. There had been whispers that the Knicks and Mavs might explore a sign-and-trade arrangement, but Dallas ended up signing the veteran wing outright.

AUGUST 2: The Mavericks and free agent swingman Reggie Bullock have agree to a deal, sources tell Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link). Marc Stein (Twitter link) first reported that the two sides were nearing an agreement, while Jordan Schultz of ESPN (Twitter link) says it’ll be a three-year contract.

Agent David Bauman tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) that Bullock’s three-year deal with Dallas will be worth $30.5MM. Based on that value, it sounds like the Mavs will give Bullock their full mid-level exception if they operate over the cap.

The Mavs appear to be prioritizing adding shooting around star Luka Doncic, and Bullock certainly fits that bill. The 30-year-old is a career 39.2% shooter from beyond the arc and knocked down 41.0% of his three-point attempts for the Knicks this past season.

After an injury-plagued 2019/20 campaign, the former UNC standout bounced back with one of the best years of his career, averaging 10.9 PPG and 3.4 RPG while starting 64 games and averaging 30.0 minutes a night for the East’s No. 4 seed.

Dallas has been busy on the first day of free agency, having also agreed to terms with Tim Hardaway Jr., Boban Marjanovic, and Sterling Brown.

Maurice Harkless Re-Signs With Kings

August 2nd, 2021 at 7:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 8: Harkless’ deal with the Kings became official late on Saturday night, according to a press release from the team.

“Moe is a consummate professional with a unique unselfishness that makes our group better,” GM Monte McNair said in a statement. “He provides the team with physical defensive versatility and we are fortunate to have Moe’s leadership and veteran experience.”

AUGUST 2: Maurice Harkless has agreed to re-sign with the Kings on a two-year, $9MM deal, agent Nima Namakian told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The journeyman forward was part of a swap with Miami in March that sent Nemanja Bjelica to the Heat. He averaged 6.9 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 24.9 MPG during 26 games with Sacramento, including 20 starts.

Harkless has played for six franchises during a career that began in 2012.

Sacramento possessed non-Bird rights on the defensive-minded Harkless, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. That allowed the Kings to sign him at 120% of his $3.6M 2020/21 salary without eating into their $9.536MM mid-level exception.

Bulls Sign Alex Caruso To Four-Year Deal

August 2nd, 2021 at 7:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 10: The Bulls have officially signed Caruso, according to the transactions log at NBA.com.

AUGUST 2: The Bulls have agreed to a four-year, $37MM deal with free agent guard Alex Caruso agent Greg Lawrence tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Based on the terms of the agreement, it sounds like the team will use most of its mid-level exception on Caruso.

The unrestricted Lakers free agent will provide a defensive presence in Chicago’s restructured backcourt.

The Bulls agreed to a sign-and-trade with the Pelicans to acquire starting point guard Lonzo Ball and Caruso will likely be the primary backup, though he could also get some minutes at shooting guard. He has made 37.7% of his 3-point attempts during his career.

Caruso has been a rotation player for much of the last two seasons. He averaged 6.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 2.8 APG and 1.1 SPG in 21.0 MPG this past season.

Knicks, Evan Fournier Agree To Four-Year Deal

August 2nd, 2021 at 7:06pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks and Evan Fournier are in agreement on a four-year contract that could be worth up to as much as $78MM, a source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The fourth year isn’t guaranteed, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter).

The Knicks, who entered the free agent period with the most money to spend, were looking for a wing to provide an offensive boost. Fournier will step right in as the team’s starting shooting guard or small forward.

He averaged 17.1 PPG and 3.4 APG in a combined 42 regular-season games with Orlando and Boston during his walk year. He missed time due to back, groin and knee injuries and also was placed under health and safety protocols after contracting COVID-19 in April.

Fournier averaged 15.4 PPG in five postseason games.

During the 2019/20 season, Fournier averaged a career-best 18.5 PPG in 66 games. He’s a career 37.9% 3-point shooter.

The Celtics signaled they wouldn’t try to re-sign Fournier when they acquired Josh Richardson from Dallas.

Spurs Sign Zach Collins To Three-Year Contract

August 2nd, 2021 at 7:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 11: The signing is official, the team confirms in a press release.

AUGUST 2: The Spurs have decided to roll the dice on injury-plagued free agent forward Zach Collins.

Collins is departing the Trail Blazers on a three-year, $22MM deal, agent Mark Bartelstein told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The 10th pick of the 2017 draft, Collins has seen his career sidetracked by injuries. The Trail Blazers decided not to extend him a $7MM qualifying offer, making Collins an unrestricted free agent.

Collins has only appeared in 11 games the past two seasons due to shoulder, foot and ankle injuries.

Collins had a major setback in late June when another fracture was discovered in his left foot. He underwent a second revision surgery to repair a left medial malleolus stress fracture and will require another 4-6 month recovery period.

“Obviously with me being a free agent, it makes it tough,” Collins said last month. “But I’m less concerned about what type of deal I’m going to get, or how many years it’s going to be, or who I’m going to play for … I’m more focused on this rehab and getting this ankle right.”

Bartelstein was confident he could land a multi-year contract for his client, even though Collins will miss at least a portion of next season.

San Antonio is adding at least one other free agent forward, as it also reached a three-year agreement with Doug McDermott.

Lakers Sign Dwight Howard, Wayne Ellington, Trevor Ariza

August 2nd, 2021 at 6:58pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

AUGUST 6: The Lakers have officially completed their deal with Howard, the team announced today (via Twitter). The club also confirmed the signings of Ellington and Ariza (Twitter links).

AUGUST 2: The Lakers are set to add three old friends as they prepare to mount another hoped-for deep postseason run for the 2021/22 season.

The team appears to be adding some much-needed perimeter shooting and big man depth after trading away wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, big men Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma and its No. 22 pick in the 2021 draft to the Wizards in a deal for the max salary of future Hall of Fame point guard Russell Westbrook last week.

The club will add free agent shooting guard Wayne Ellington on a one-year contract, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

The oft-traveled Ellington, 33, was most recently knocking down jumpers for the bottom-dwelling Pistons during the 2020/21 season. Ellington averaged 9.6 PPG, 1.8 RPG, and 1.5 APG on .441/.422/.800 shooting. He was last with the Lakers during the 2014/15 season.

Los Angeles will also bring back a pair of prior Lakers champions. 2009 champ Trevor Ariza, a two-way forward, is set to re-join L.A. on a one-year deal, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Ariza, 36, was most recently with the Heat following a mid-season trade from Portland during the 2020/21 season. He played in 30 games with Miami, starting in 27, and averaged 9.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.0 SPG and 0.6 BPG across 28.0 MPG. He posted a solid shooting line of .411/.350/.773, and is a career 35.2% shooter from deep on an average of 4.1 attempts.

Ellington and Ariza should add reliable bench shooting behind the Lakers’ big three of Westbrook and All-Star forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Ariza remains still a solid defender, though he is no longer at the same level of his prior Lakers days.

2020 champ Dwight Howard will return to the Lakers as well, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).

The Lakers opted not to retain Howard after he and JaVale McGee helped proved rim-rolling and defensive moxie in the post during the team’s 2020 title run, and Howard signed on with the Sixers as All-Star Joel Embiid‘s prime backup for the 2020/21 season.

Howard, 35, has proven he can still be a sneakily-effective reserve center even in his NBA dotage, especially during the regular season. Howard averaged 7.0 PPG, 8.4 RPG, and 0.9 BPG (plus a less-great 2.9 FPG) for Philadelphia in just 17.3 MPG.

Ellington, Ariza, and Howard will all be signing one-year, minimum-salary contracts, according to Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Furkan Korkmaz Re-Signs With Sixers

August 2nd, 2021 at 6:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 9: The Sixers have officially re-signed Korkmaz, the team announced today in a press release.

AUGUST 2: The Sixers have agreed to re-sign wing Furkan Korkmaz on a three-year, $15MM contract, agents Mike Lindeman and Jeff Schwartz told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). It’s a fully guaranteed deal, per Derek Bodner of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Philadelphia has full Bird rights on Korkmaz, which will allow the team to ink him without cutting into its mid-level exception, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets.

Korkmaz was a late first-round pick in 2016 and joined Philadelphia the following season. Last season, he appeared in 55 games, including 11 starts, and averaged 9.1 PPG. He’s a career 37.7% 3-point shooter and he’s taken 786 of his 1,260 career shot attempts from beyond the arc.

He’ll once again add depth at the small forward spot for an organization angling to make deeper playoff runs.

Bucks Re-Sign Bobby Portis

August 2nd, 2021 at 6:38pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 6: The Bucks have officially re-signed Portis, the team announced today in a press release.

AUGUST 2: The Bucks have agreed to a two-year, $9MM contract with free agent forward Bobby Portis, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal will include a second-year player option, according to Charania.

It’s a team-friendly rate for Portis, who played an important role in Milwaukee’s championship run this summer. As Charania explains (Twitter links), Portis turned down potential deals from the Mavericks and Heat in order to remain in Milwaukee because he appreciated the organization’s culture and winning environment and the way the community embraced him.

The Bucks were limited in their ability to offer Portis much more than what he’s getting, since they only held his Non-Bird rights. That meant the team couldn’t give him more than a 20% raise on last year’s $3.623MM salary without dipping into its mid-level exception.

It appears Milwaukee will indeed use its Non-Bird rights to bring back Portis — his two-year deal should start at about $4.35MM. If he opts out in 2022, the Bucks would have his Early Bird rights and could sign him to a more lucrative contract.

Among qualified players, only two had a higher three-point percentage in 2020/21 than Portis’ 47.1% mark. He also contributed 11.4 PPG and 7.1 RPG in 66 games (20.8 MPG).

Rockets Sign David Nwaba To Three-Year Contract

August 2nd, 2021 at 6:28pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

AUGUST 8: The Rockets have officially signed Nwaba, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.

AUGUST 2: The Rockets have agreed to a three-year, $15MM contract to retain athletic free agent wing David Nwaba, reports Marc Stein of Substack (Twitter link).

The journeyman Nwaba, 28, has suited up for several clubs after going undrafted out of California Polytechnic State University in 2015. Though not much of a jump shooter, Nwaba proved his prowess on the other end of the floor, during promising stints with the Lakers, Bulls, and Cavaliers.

20 games into his lone season with the Nets, Nwaba suffered a season-ending right Achilles tendon tear in December 2019. After being waived by the Nets, Nwaba signed a two-year deal with the Rockets ahead of the 2020 Orlando “bubble” season restart. The Rockets then exercised their $1.82MM team option on the small forward/shooting guard before the 2020/21 season.

He finally returned to action for the tanking Rockets during the 2020/21 season, and seemed none the worse for wear. Across 30 games, including nine starts, Nwaba averaged 9.2 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, and 0.7 BPG in just 22.6 MPG.

Houston will be Nwaba’s first long-term NBA home, the first club for which he has played for longer than one season, though he has technically been on the Rockets for portions of two seasons already.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jeff Green Signs Two-Year Deal With Nuggets

August 2nd, 2021 at 6:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 12: Ten days after agreeing to terms with the Nuggets, Green has officially signed his new contract, the club announced in a press release.

“We are very excited to welcome Jeff and his family to Denver,” Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said in a statement. “He brings a wealth of experience to our team; his impact will be felt both on the court and in the locker room.”

AUGUST 2: Free agent big man Jeff Green is leaving the Nets and joining another contender. He’s agreed to a two-year, $10MM deal with the Nuggets, agent Jason Glushon informed ESPN’s Malika Andrews (Twitter link).

The deal will include a player option in the second year, Andrews adds. The Nuggets will likely use a portion of their $9.536MM mid-level exception to sign Green.

The well-traveled Green has passed through 10 organizations in a career that began in 2007 with the Seattle SuperSonics. Green, who will turn 35 this month, has revived his career after Utah waived him during the 2019/20 season.

He had a successful run with Houston the remainder of that season, including several productive playoff performances. In his lone season with Brooklyn, he averaged 11.0 PPG and 3.9 RPG while making a career-high 41.2% of his 3-point tries in 68 regular-season games, including 38 starts.

Denver also agreed to re-sign JaMychal Green on Monday. That increases the possibility that another one of its free agent big men, Paul Millsap, will sign elsewhere.