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Lakers Sign LeBron James To Contract Extension

December 3rd, 2020 at 6:08pm CST by Luke Adams

DECEMBER 3: The Lakers have officially announced James’s contract extension in a press release.

“LeBron James is a transcendent basketball player, and human being,” GM Rob Pelinka said in a statement. “LeBron put his trust in the Lakers in 2018, and now this contract extension paves the way for LeBron to further solidify his legacy as an all-time Lakers great. We could not be more honored by this commitment.”

DECEMBER 2: The Lakers and LeBron James have agreed to terms on a two-year, maximum-salary contract extension, agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports confirms (via Twitter) that an extension agreement is in place and that it will run through 2023. That means the new deal has essentially replaced LeBron’s 2021/22 player option with a guaranteed season and tacked one extra year onto his contract.

James, who has a $39,219,566 salary for 2020/21, can receive a 5% raise on that figure for the first year of his extension, which would result in a ’21/22 salary of $41,180,544, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). He can then receive an 8% raise for year two, which means a ’22/23 salary of $44,479,988. The end result would be a two-year extension worth about $85.66MM.

Assuming James prioritized maximizing his future earnings, his extension won’t include a player option for 2022/23.

As cap expert Albert Nahmad explains (via Twitter), the extension can only have included a new player option if LeBron technically picked up his existing ’21/22 option (worth $41,002,274) as part of the deal, which would limit the amount of his raise for ’22/23. CBA rules prohibit him from declining that option and then signing an extension that includes fewer than two guaranteed seasons.

Either way, LeBron will no longer be eligible to opt out in 2021, taking one huge name off next year’s free agent market. It’s not clear whether James’ extension will influence what Anthony Davis‘s next contract looks like — ESPN’s Brian Windhorst says the Lakers’ two superstars are making their decisions independent of one another.

As Charania (Twitter link) and others have noted, LeBron’s son Bronny James is scheduled to graduate high school in 2023. If the NBA and NBPA have agreed to scrap the one-and-done rule by that point, it could open the door for Bronny to enter the 2023 draft and team up with LeBron during the ’23/24 season.

The elder James will turn 36 years old later this month, but has shown no signs of slowing down yet. In 2019/20, he averaged 25.3 PPG and 7.8 RPG to go along with a league-high 10.2 APG in 67 games (34.6 MPG). He earned First Team All-NBA honors, finished second in MVP voting, led the Lakers to a championship, and won his fourth NBA Finals MVP award.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey Signs Rookie Contract

December 3rd, 2020 at 12:18pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Sixers have signed first-round pick Tyrese Maxey, the team announced in a press release. A 6’3″ guard out of Kentucky, Maxey was the 21st overall selection in last month’s draft.

Terms of the deal were not released, but as a first-round pick Maxey is eligible to earn up to 120% of the rookie scale, which would be $2,478,840 for the upcoming season.

Maxey played one season for the Wildcats, earning a spot on the All-SEC Second Team and the SEC All-Freshman Team. He averaged 14.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 31 games.

Now that Maxey is officially under contract, there are no outstanding rookie deals still to be completed for 2020 first-round picks. Twenty-nine of those 30 players have signed their first NBA contracts, with the 30th player – Leandro Bolmaro – remaining in Barcelona for the 2020/21 season.

Wolves Sign Ade Murkey To Exhibit 10 Deal

December 3rd, 2020 at 8:43am CST by Luke Adams

University of Denver guard Ade Murkey has signed a one-year deal with the Timberwolves, according to RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions.

Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype first reported early in free agency that Murkey would be joining the Wolves for training camp. He received an Exhibit 10 contract, per Kalbrosky. That will make the 22-year-old a good candidate to join the Iowa Wolves, Minnesota’s G League affiliate, if and when he’s cut by the NBA squad.

Murkey, who spent his full four-year college career with Denver, averaged 18.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in 2019/20 while making 40% of his attempts from three-point range. It was a major breakout performance for the young shooting guard, who had recorded just 7.8 PPG in his first three college seasons.

Minnesota now officially has 17 players under contract. The team also reportedly has a deal in place with free agent forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, and guard Jordan McLaughlin remains a restricted free agent. If the Wolves finalize the signing of Hollis-Jefferson and bring back McLaughlin, they’d still have one opening on their 20-man camp roster.

Thunder Sign Antonius Cleveland

December 3rd, 2020 at 8:25am CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder have signed free agent guard Antonius Cleveland to a one-year contract, according to RealGM’s transactions log. It’s a safe bet that it will be a non-guaranteed training camp deal.

Cleveland, 26, spent the 2019/20 league year on a two-way contract with the Mavericks. He wasn’t great in his limited action for Dallas, racking up nearly as many fouls (8) as points (11) in 46 total minutes across 11 games.

However, Cleveland was a full-time starter for the Texas Legends, the Mavs’ G League affiliate. In 36 NBAGL contests, he averaged 14.4 PPG, 7.3 RPG, and 1.6 SPG.

By our count, Oklahoma City now has 19 players under contract, though a number of the team’s reported deals – including a trade for Al Horford and agreements with five free agents – aren’t yet official, so many moves are yet to come.

Rockets Trade Westbrook To Wizards For Wall, First-Round Pick

December 2nd, 2020 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

8:04pm: The trade is now official, the Rockets announced in a press release.

6:58pm: The Rockets and Wizards have agreed to swap star point guards, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who reports that John Wall is headed to Houston in exchange for Russell Westbrook.

The Rockets will also receive a first-round pick, per Woj. Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that it’ll be Washington’s protected 2023 first-rounder and will be lottery-protected. Those protections will gradually decrease each year, and if it hasn’t changed hands by 2026, it’ll become two second-rounders, says Charania.

The deal involves two players on super-max extensions, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). Westbrook will make $41.4MM and $44.2MM over the next two seasons with a player option in 2022/23 for $47.1MM. Wall is due $41.3MM and $44.3MM in the next two years, followed by a $47.4MM player option. His contract also includes a 15% trade bonus that will be voided because his salary is more than the league maximum for the upcoming season, Marks adds (Twitter link).

Both players issued trade requests to their respective teams in the past month. Westbrook’s was reported November 11 after he told Rockets officials he has been “uneasy about the team’s accountability and culture.” He expressed a desire to join an organization where he will once again be the lead playmaker, which presumably will happen in Washington.

Wall’s request came a little more than a week later, after news leaked that the Wizards had spoken to the Rockets about a possible swap for Westbrook. General manager Tommy Sheppard responded by saying the team had no plans to trade Wall.

Up until today, Sheppard and Rockets general manager Rafael Stone hadn’t discussed a potential Westbrook/Wall trade since October, sources tell Wojnarowski. However, the two GMs revisited the idea and had worked out a deal within hours, according to Woj.

In Washington, Westbrook will be reunited with Scott Brooks, who was his head coach with the Thunder from his rookie season until 2015. Brooks has always been a huge fan of Westbrook and they remain close friends, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic. Westbrook is also close with Wizards assistant Robert Pack from their time together in OKC, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link).

Westbrook, 32, spent one season in Houston after being traded there last summer. He averaged 27.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.0 assists in 57 games, but his poor outside shooting was an issue for a team that places a heavy emphasis on the three-pointer. Westbrook shot just 25.8% from long range during the season and 24.2% in the playoffs.

In Houston, Wall will join forces with former college teammate DeMarcus Cousins, who officially signed with the Rockets on Tuesday. Wall was sidelined last season with an Achilles tear and hasn’t played at all since December of 2018. The 30-year-old was the top pick in the 2010 draft and has spent the past 10 seasons in Washington.

While the Rockets have now moved on from Westbrook, they don’t believe that James Harden – who also reportedly wants to be traded – will be moved before opening night, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN. According to MacMahon, Houston recognized that the market for Westbrook was limited, but would seek a “king’s ransom” in any Harden deal.

Meanwhile, in D.C., Bradley Beal has been the subject of frequent trade speculation for the last year or two, but the Wizards have insisted both publicly and privately that he won’t be dealt, and Beal hasn’t expressed any interest in a move. That stance seems unlikely to change before he gets a chance to assess his fit alongside Westbrook over the course of the ’20/21 season.

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

Heat Exercise 2021/22 Team Option On Tyler Herro

December 2nd, 2020 at 10:59pm CST by Luke Adams

The Heat have officially exercised their 2021/22 team option on Tyler Herro, per Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

The move locks in the third-year option on Herro’s rookie contract, ensuring that he’ll earn $4MM a year from now. He’s set to earn $3.82MM in 2020/21. Miami will have to make a decision on his $5.72MM fourth-year option for ’22/23 next fall.

Rookie scale team option decisions for ’21/22 are due by December 29. Not every former first-round pick will have his third- or fourth-year option exercised this month, but in cases like Herro’s, picking up that option is a mere formality.

Herro, who will turn 21 in January, earned a spot on the NBA’s All-Rookie Second Team last season, averaging 13.5 PPG on .428/.389/.870 shooting in 55 games (27.4 MPG). He elevated his game to a new level in the postseason, recording 16.0 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 3.7 APG in 33.6 minutes per contest as the Heat came within two wins of a title.

Pistons Re-Sign Louis King To Two-Way Contract

December 2nd, 2020 at 10:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons have re-signed free agent forward Louis King to a new two-way contract, according to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

King, who went undrafted out of Oregon in 2019, spent his rookie season on a two-way deal with Detroit. He didn’t see much action at the NBA level, logging limited minutes in 10 games, but averaged 15.0 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 2.8 APG in 31 games (28.5 MPG) for the Grand Rapids Drive, the Pistons’ G League affiliate.

King will occupy one of Detroit’s two-way contract slots alongside second-round pick Saben Lee.

The Pistons also officially finalized their previously–reported training camp deals with LiAngelo Ball and Anthony Lamb, according to Smith (Twitter link). The three signings give Detroit a full 20-man training camp roster.

Thunder Waive Zylan Cheatham

December 2nd, 2020 at 5:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

Zylan Cheatham, who was acquired in a four-team trade last week, has been waived by the Thunder, according to Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman.

Cheatham was among five players Oklahoma City received in the deal that sent Steven Adams to New Orleans. The Bucks and Nuggets were also involved in the trade.

Because Cheatham was a free agent, there had to be a sign-and-trade to include him in the deal. He will receive his $1.4MM salary for this season, but not the non-guaranteed money he had scheduled for 2021/22 and 2022/23.

The 25-year-old forward signed a two-way contract with the Pelicans prior to the NBA’s restart in Orlando. He appeared in three games, averaging 3.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in about 13 minutes per night.

On Tuesday, OKC waived guard Josh Gray, who was also part of the four-team trade. Mussatto notes that Cheatham and Gray became expendable after the Thunder reached a deal with Frank Jackson and acquired T.J. Leaf.

Pistons, LiAngelo Ball Agree To Exhibit 10 Deal

December 2nd, 2020 at 2:41pm CST by Luke Adams

LiAngelo Ball, the younger brother of Lonzo Ball and the older brother of LaMelo Ball, has agreed to sign a one-year, non-guaranteed contract with the Pistons, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Ball’s deal will contain an Exhibit 10 clause, per Charania (Twitter link). He’s extremely unlikely to make the Pistons’ regular season roster, but will be eligible to receive a $50K bonus if he plays in the G League.

As NBAGL guru Adam Johnson notes (via Twitter), Detroit’s affiliate – the Grand Rapids Drive – would need to acquire Ball’s rights from the Oklahoma City Blue. The 22-year-old signed a G League contract to join the Thunder’s affiliate back in March, just before the league went on hiatus due to the coronavirus. Current Pistons general manager Troy Weaver worked in the Thunder’s front office at the time.

Ball, a 6’5″ swingman, isn’t considered to have the same upside as his brothers, but has some experience playing professional ball in Lithuania and earned Finals MVP honors for the Los Angeles Ballers of the Junior Basketball Association in 2018.

Thunder Sign Aleksej Pokusevski To Rookie Contract

December 2nd, 2020 at 7:41am CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder have locked up their first-round pick, officially signing Serbian forward Aleksej Pokusevski to his rookie contract, according to RealGM’s transactions log.

Pokusevski, one of the top international prospects in the 2020 draft class, was frequently connected to Oklahoma City in the weeks leading up to November 18, in part because his agent Jason Ranne used to work in the Thunder’s front office. Sure enough, on draft night, the Thunder moved up from No. 25 to No. 17 in a trade with the Timberwolves to snag Pokusevski.

[RELATED: 2020 NBA Draft Pick Signings]

The 6’11” forward, who doesn’t turn 19 until later this month, had reportedly been under contract with Olympiacos Piraeus through 2024. He’ll have to pay a buyout to his old team in Greece, though the Thunder will be able to pick up a significant chunk of that buyout.

Assuming he signs for 120% of the rookie scale amount, as nearly every first-round pick does, Pokusevski will earn $2.96MM as a rookie. His four-year contract, which includes third- and fourth-year team options, will have an overall value of $14.35MM.

The Thunder still have two unsigned 2020 draft picks, though it’s not clear if either Theo Maledon (No. 34) or Vit Krejci (No. 37) will come stateside right away.