Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Opting Out

November 16th, 2020 at 9:20am CST by Luke Adams

As expected, Lakers veterans Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Rajon Rondo are officially opting out of their contracts in order to reach free agency, according to reports from Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Shams Charania of The Athletic, and Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times (all Twitter links).

Those decisions had been considered formalities at this point, as reports a month ago indicated that Davis, Caldwell-Pope, and Rondo all planned to turn down their player options for 2020/21. Those plans have now been confirmed.

Davis will technically be the No. 1 free agent on the open market this fall, but he’s not expected to consider any pitches from rival teams. The plan is to re-sign with the Lakers for the maximum salary ($32.74MM), which is higher than his option salary ($28.75MM) would have been.

According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, the Lakers intend to present several different contract options to Davis and agent Rich Paul and will work with him on the deal that makes him feel most comfortable. A five-year contract is considered unlikely — the two sides are more likely to agree to a two- or three-year deal that features a player option in its final season.

Rondo and Caldwell-Pope, meanwhile, are expected to receive plenty of interest from rival suitors. Turner cites the Clippers and Hawks as two clubs expected to pursue Rondo, whom the Lakers are reportedly bracing to lose.

As for Caldwell-Pope, teams are under the impression that he’s open to offers, and he’s expected to have several suitors, according to Charania, who previously identified Atlanta as one team likely to “emerge with interest.” The Lakers and KCP are believed to have strong mutual interest — after having agreed to trade Danny Green, the Lakers will likely make it a priority to re-sign their free agent three-and-D wing.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pistons Trading Bruce Brown To Nets For Dzanan Musa, Second-Rounder

November 16th, 2020 at 7:55am CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons and Nets have reached an agreement on a minor trade, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Detroit is sending guard Bruce Brown to Brooklyn in exchange for forward Dzanan Musa and a 2021 second-round pick. The Pistons will also receive cash in the swap, tweets Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press.

Brown, the 42th overall pick in the 2018 draft, has started 99 games in his first two professional seasons, appearing in 132 in total. Last season, he averaged 8.9 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 4.0 APG with a .443/.344/.739 shooting line in 28.2 minutes per contest.

Musa was the 29th overall pick in the same draft, but has less of a professional track record than Brown, having only logged minutes in 49 total games so far. He recorded just 4.8 PPG and 2.2 RPG on .372/.244/.750 shooting in 40 games (12.2 MPG) in 2019/20.

The 2021 second-round pick being sent to Detroit in the deal won’t be the Nets’ own pick, which Brooklyn traded away in a previous move. It’ll be Toronto’s ’21 second-rounder, per Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Brown has a non-guaranteed minimum salary ($1.66MM) for 2020/21 which will have to be guaranteed to make the trade work. He’ll be a restricted free agent in a year. As for Musa, he’ll earn a guaranteed $2MM salary next season, and Detroit will have until December 29 to decide whether or not to pick up his $3.62MM fourth-year option for 2021/22.

It’s easy to see why the deal makes sense for the Nets, who will save a little money and pick up a more reliable role player. They’re high on Brown’s defensive ability, Wojnarowski notes. Plus, as Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer observes (via Twitter), Brown gives the club added depth in the event of a possible Spencer Dinwiddie trade.

The Pistons’ motivation is a little less clear, but it’s worth noting that a new general manager – Troy Weaver – is making personnel decisions in Detroit now, so he wouldn’t have had any real attachment to Brown. Woj suggests (via Twitter) that Weaver’s first trade as the Pistons’ GM is the start of the process of “gathering future picks and assets.”

The NBA’s trade moratorium will end at noon eastern time today, so the Pistons and Nets can officially finalize their deal anytime after that point.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Otto Porter Jr. To Exercise 2020/21 Option

November 15th, 2020 at 8:53pm CST by JD Shaw

Bulls forward Otto Porter Jr. plans to pick up his $28.4MM player option and return to Chicago for the 2020/21 season, Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes tweets.

Porter, a seven-year NBA veteran, holds career averages of 11.0 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. He was acquired by the Bulls in February of 2019 in exchange for Jabari Parker, Bobby Portis and a 2023 second-round pick.

Viewed as the Bulls’ answer at small forward, Porter was limited to just 14 games in 2019/20 due to a foot injury. Now, his future in Chicago is up in the air — if he remains on the roster through next season, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent in 2021.

Chicago could have multiple players enter restricted free agency later this week, including Kris Dunn ($7MM qualifying offer), Denzel Valentine ($4.69MM) and Shaquille Harrison ($2MM).

The team finished with a 22-43 record last season, good for fifth-worst in the Eastern Conference.

Wesley Matthews To Decline Player Option

November 15th, 2020 at 7:45pm CST by JD Shaw

Bucks swingman Wesley Matthews plans to decline his $2.7MM player option for the 2020/21 season and enter unrestricted free agency, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Matthews averaged 7.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 24.4 minutes per game with Milwaukee last season, seeing an average of 24.4 minutes per contest. He’s expected to be one of the more sought-after three-and-D wings on the open market, with multiple contenders likely to express interest. As such, it makes sense for him to turn down an option worth the veteran’s minimum.

Among the teams with an early interest in the 34-year-old is the Lakers, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times (Twitter link). Los Angeles is expected to trade Danny Green as part of the team’s deal to acquire Dennis Schroder from Oklahoma City and reportedly view Matthews as a potential replacement for Green next season.

Matthews has played 11 NBA seasons in his career, making past stops with Utah, Portland, Dallas, New York, Indiana and Milwaukee. He went undrafted back in 2009 after spending four seasons at Marquette.

Pistons’ Tony Snell To Pick Up 2020/21 Option

November 15th, 2020 at 7:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Pistons swingman Tony Snell is exercising his player option for the 2020/21 season, sources tell James Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link). The move comes as no surprise, since Snell was extremely unlikely to match his $12.2MM option salary on the open market.

Snell, who turned 29 last Tuesday, appeared in 59 games for the Pistons in 2019/20, averaging 8.0 PPG, 2.2 APG, and 1.9 RPG in 57 starts (27.8 MPG). He also made over 40% of his three-point attempts for the third time in four seasons, finishing with a .402 3PT%.

The move will keep Snell under contract with the Pistons for the time being, though the team may consider shopping his expiring deal in trade talks this fall. Assuming he plays out the season on his current contract, he’ll reach the unrestricted free agent market in 2021.

Since Snell had always been expected to opt in, his decision doesn’t affect the Pistons’ cap projections. The team should have at least $25-30MM available to work with this offseason.

Nicolas Batum Exercising Player Option

November 15th, 2020 at 7:38pm CST by JD Shaw

Hornets forward Nicolas Batum plans to exercise his $27.13MM player option for the 2020/21 season and return to Charlotte, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Batum appeared in just 22 games last season and holds career-averages of 11.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per contest. The 31-year-old has been with the Hornets since the 2015/16 season, having been acquired in a trade during the summer of 2015. He inked a five-year, $120MM deal with the team in 2016.

Batum’s option decision was one of the most obvious of 2020, as there was no chance of him matching or exceeding his $27MM salary on the open market. He’ll reach free agency in 2021.

Meanwhile, Charlotte has players such as Bismack Biyombo and Willy Hernangomez set to enter unrestricted free agency this fall. The team could extend a qualifying offer to guard Dwayne Bacon to make him a restricted free agent.

The Hornets finished with a 23-42 record this past season and last made the playoffs during the 2015/16 campaign.

Evan Fournier To Exercise Player Option

November 15th, 2020 at 7:34pm CST by JD Shaw

Magic guard Evan Fournier is exercising his $17MM player option for the 2020/21 season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Fournier, 28, will return to Orlando and bypass free agency. He’s spent the past six seasons with the Magic, averaging 18.5 points and 3.2 assists per game last year.

The Magic are still waiting for James Ennis‘ official decision on his player option, worth $2.1MM, and also have D.J. Augustin and Michael Carter-Williams set to become unrestricted free agents. In addition, the team could extend qualifying offers to Wesley Iwundu ($2MM) and Gary Clark ($1.8MM) in order to make them restricted free agents.

Orlando finished with the eighth-best record in the Eastern Conference last season at 33-40. The club sports a talented young core consisting of Aaron Gordon, Mohamed Bamba, Jonathan Isaac, Markelle Fultz and others.

Fournier’s option decision pushes the Magic’s total guaranteed salaries up to approximately $113MM, all but guaranteeing that the club will operate over the cap in 2020/21.

Udonis Haslem Plans To Re-Sign With Heat

November 13th, 2020 at 11:00am CST by Luke Adams

Heat big man Udonis Haslem announced today that he intends to return to the franchise for at least one more season, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Haslem, 40, has been a member of the Heat since 2003, having made his debut with the team over 17 years ago. During that time, he has appeared in 858 regular season games for Miami, plus another 147 postseason contests. He has won three titles with the organization, averaging 7.6 PPG and 6.7 RPG for his career.

In recent years, Haslem’s on-court role has declined significantly. In 2019/20, he appeared in just four regular season games, logging a total of 44 minutes. It was the fourth straight year in which he has played no more than 130 minutes.

However, the Heat value Haslem’s veteran leadership and presence on the bench, and appear willing to continue to signing him to one-year, minimum-salary contracts as long as he wants to continue his career.

According to Winderman (Twitter link), Haslem said today that he still thinks he can contribute, but won’t push for minutes. The veteran declined to say whether or not 2020/21 will be his final season, tweets Winderman.

Now that Vince Carter has retired, Haslem may begin the ’20/21 campaign as the NBA’s oldest player, unless Jamal Crawford or another veteran free agent in his 40s signs a new contract.

Mike Conley Opting In With Jazz For 2020/21

November 12th, 2020 at 11:44am CST by Luke Adams

Jazz point guard Mike Conley won’t exercise the early termination option on his contract for the 2020/21 season, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

Unlike a standard player option, an early termination option must be exercised in order for the player to reach free agency immediately — as its name suggests, it ends the contract early. By waiving that ETO, Conley is essentially opting into the final year of his contract in ’20/21. He’ll earn a $34.5MM salary next season before becoming a free agent in 2021.

Conley’s decision doesn’t come as a surprise. Following a somewhat up-and-down first year in Utah in 2019/20, the 33-year-old was unlikely to come anywhere close to matching his $34.5MM salary if he had opted for free agency and signed a new deal — especially with the NBA’s salary cap remaining flat at $109MM.

After 12 seasons with the Grizzlies, Conley was sent from Memphis to Utah last summer. He averaged 14.4 PPG, 4.4 APG, and 3.2 RPG with a .409/.375/.827 shooting line in 47 games (29.0 MPG) for the Jazz. The veteran guard got more consistent and found his footing as the season went on, recording 19.8 PPG and 5.2 APG on .484/.529/.864 shooting in five postseason contests.

With Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert all locked up for next season and Bojan Bogdanovic expected to be back following wrist surgery, the Jazz will be looking to make a deeper playoff run in 2021. The team is expected to focus on bolstering its wing defense this offseason, as well as possibly extending both Mitchell and Gobert.

Accounting for Conley’s substantial cap hit, Utah is now an over-the-cap team, with approximately $112MM in guaranteed money committed to eight players. Even after adding the cap hold for their first-round pick and multiple non-guaranteed salaries to that figure, the Jazz should have the flexibility to use their full mid-level exception and/or re-sign Jordan Clarkson.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Expected To Decline Player Option

October 15th, 2020 at 10:35am CST by Luke Adams

Veteran swingman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is expected to be among the Lakers turning down a player option for the 2020/21 season, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. Earlier reports indicated that Rajon Rondo is likely to opt out and that Anthony Davis plans to do the same.

The second-year option on Caldwell-Pope’s for next season is worth approximately $8.54MM, but there’s a perception that he has outperformed that figure and could be in line for a raise and/or a longer deal after essentially acting as the Lakers’ third option during the team’s NBA Finals victory.

Having put up relatively modest numbers (9.3 PPG on .467/.385/.775 shooting) during 69 regular season games (25.5 MPG), Caldwell-Pope made some big shots in the playoffs, knocking down 42.1% of his three-point attempts in the first three rounds and then averaging 12.8 PPG in the Finals, the third-highest scoring average on the team behind LeBron James and Davis. He also provided strong perimeter defense.

Caldwell-Pope has spent the last three seasons with the Lakers and the two sides have “significant mutual interest” in reaching a new agreement, per Charania. Los Angeles holds KCP’s Bird rights, giving the club plenty of flexibility to sign him to a new contract worth essentially any value up to the max.

The 27-year-old is expected to receive interest from a handful of external suitors, according to Charania, who identifies the Hawks as one team that could “emerge with interest.”

Besides Caldwell-Pope, Rondo, and Davis, the Lakers with player options for 2020/21 include Avery Bradley and JaVale McGee. They’re also candidates to opt out, though their intentions remain unclear for now.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.