Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Timberwolves Claim Tyrone Wallace Off Waivers

July 8th, 2019 at 4:16pm CST by Luke Adams

Two days after being released by the Clippers, guard Tyrone Wallace has a new NBA home. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter), the Timberwolves have claimed Wallace off waivers before he could reach the open market.

Wallace made a strong impression as a rookie on a two-way contract in 2017/18, when he posted 9.7 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 2.4 APG in 30 games (28.1 MPG) for the Clippers. His performance earned him an offer sheet from the Pelicans as a restricted free agent.

However, after L.A. matched that offer sheet and brought him back, the 25-year-old struggled this past season, recording just 3.5 PPG, 1.6 RPG, and 0.7 APG in 62 games (10.1 MPG). His shooting percentages also dipped across the board. He became expendable within the last week as the Clippers cleared cap room for bigger moves.

Wallace is on a non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract that will become partially guaranteed for $300K in September, then fully guaranteed in January, so the Wolves have some time to evaluate whether he’ll be part of their plans for the 2019/20 season.

The Timberwolves’ point guard situation is in flux at the moment behind presumed starter Jeff Teague. Minnesota will acquire Shabazz Napier in a trade, but it’s not clear if the team intends to hang onto him or if it’s just accommodating a salary dump. Additionally, it remains to be seen if the Wolves will match Tyus Jones‘ three-year, $24MM+ offer sheet with the Grizzlies.

Warriors Trade Jones, Second-Rounder To Hawks For Spellman

July 8th, 2019 at 3:36pm CST by Luke Adams

3:36pm: The trade is now official, according to press releases issued by both teams. The second-round pick going to Atlanta in the deal is the Warriors’ 2026 second-rounder.

1:49pm: The Warriors and Hawks have agreed to a trade that will send big man Omari Spellman to Golden State, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links). According to Charania, Atlanta will receive center Damian Jones and a second-round pick in the swap.

Spellman, who will turn 22 later this month, was the 30th overall pick in the 2018 draft. He appeared in 46 games during his rookie season in Atlanta, averaging 5.9 PPG and 4.2 RPG in 46 games (17.5 MPG). The former Villanova standout also showed an ability to hit outside shots, making 1.0 three-pointer per game at a 34.4% rate.

As for Jones, he was the 30th overall pick two years earlier, in 2016, so he’ll be up for restricted free agency next summer. The 24-year-old opened the 2018/19 campaign as Golden State’s starting center, averaging 5.4 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 24 games (17.1 MPG), before a torn pectoral muscle sidelined him for the rest of the regular season.

The financial aspect of the deal is important for the Warriors, who are facing a $138.9MM hard cap. Spellman will earn about $1.9MM this season, while Jones is set to make $2.31MM. That difference may appear modest, but Golden State doesn’t have a whole lot of wiggle room, so the added flexibility will help the team fill out its roster.

Nets, Warriors Complete Durant, Russell Sign-And-Trade

July 8th, 2019 at 1:00pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 8: The first-round pick going to Brooklyn in the deal is the Warriors’ 2020 pick, according to Michael Scotto of The Athletic, who tweets that it will be top-20 protected. If it falls in that range – and it very well could, given Golden State’s roster changes – the Nets would instead receive the Warriors’ 2025 second-round pick, per Scotto.

JULY 7: The Nets and Warriors have officially completed the sign-and-trade deal that sends Kevin Durant and a protected 2020 first-round pick to Brooklyn in exchange for D’Angelo Russell, Treveon Graham, and Shabazz Napier, the two teams announced in a pair of press releases.

“Kevin is a champion, perennial All-Star and one of the great players of this, or any, generation,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said in a statement. “Adding a player of Kevin’s caliber to our organization elevates our ability to compete with the elite teams in this league. His tremendous abilities and dedication to his craft have made him as talented an offensive player our game has ever seen and we, as well as all of Brooklyn, are thrilled to welcome Kevin and his family to the Nets.”

Durant initially agreed to sign with the Nets outright using their cap room, but the Warriors engaged them in discussions last Sunday night and eventually agreed to a deal that would include a pair of sign-and-trades — Durant to Brooklyn and D’Angelo Russell to Golden State. Russell, a restricted free agent, became expendable when the Nets finalized agreements with Durant and Kyrie Irving.

“We’re excited to add a player of D’Angelo’s ability to our roster,” Warriors president of basketball operations Bob Myers said in his team’s announcement. “He’s coming off an All-Star season with the Nets and we feel, at the age of 23, his best basketball is certainly ahead of him in regards to his career trajectory.”

In order to incentivize the Nets to accommodate the Russell sign-and-trade, the Warriors sent a future draft pick to Brooklyn, and will also take on Graham and Napier — those two players will be flipped to Minnesota in a subsequent deal.

Durant, who is recovering from a torn Achilles, isn’t expected to be ready to return until the 2020/21 season, but the Nets have him the long-term — he reportedly agreed to a four-year contract (with a fourth-year player option) that will be worth the maximum salary, or possibly slightly below it to accommodate DeAndre Jordan‘s deal with the club.

Meanwhile, the Warriors will be hard-capped at $138.9MM as a result of acquiring Russell via sign-and-trade, which will limit their ability to make roster moves during the 2019/20 league year. The club already had to send Andre Iguodala and his $17MM+ salary to Memphis in a cost-cutting measure.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Kings Re-Sign Harrison Barnes To Four-Year Deal

July 8th, 2019 at 12:53pm CST by JD Shaw

JULY 8: The Kings have officially announced their new deal with Barnes, issuing a press release to confirm the signing.

JUNE 30: The Kings will finalize a four-year, $85MM deal with free agent forward Harrison Barnes, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal will decline annually, accounting for just 14% of the team’s cap during the final season. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirms (via Twitter) that the two sides have agreed to terms.

Barnes, 27, was traded from the Mavericks to the Kings at February’s trade deadline in the third year of the four-year, maximum-salary contract he signed with Dallas back in 2016. For the season, he recorded 16.4 PPG and 4.7 RPG with a .420/.395/.824 shooting line in 77 games (32.9 MPG).

Barnes had a player option for the 2019/20 season that would have paid him more than $25MM, but opted to turn it down. Based on his new deal, it’s clear why he went in that direction — his new contract won’t be quite worth $25MM annually, but it will give him substantially more long-term security than his option would have.

When the Kings acquired Barnes from Dallas during the season, reports indicated that the team viewed him as its answer at small forward. However, head coach Dave Joerger ended up frequently using his new acquisition at the four. Presumably, Sacramento’s front office and new head coach Luke Walton are aligned on how to best use Barnes going forward.

Even after reaching deals with Barnes, Trevor Ariza, and Dewayne Dedmon today, Sacramento still projects to have up to about $13MM in cap space, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks. However, the team could only create that room by renouncing Willie Cauley-Stein‘s cap hold.

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

Grizzlies Sign John Konchar To Two-Way Deal

July 8th, 2019 at 11:22am CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 8: The Grizzlies have officially signed Konchar to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release. Memphis opened up a two-way slot by sending Washburn to Golden State in the Andre Iguodala trade.

JUNE 21: Purdue-Fort Wayne guard John Konchar will sign a two-way contract with the Grizzlies, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The senior went undrafted despite participating in a large number of workouts. However, he impressed Memphis enough to get a shot at the NBA on a two-way deal.

Konchar posted a 19.5/8.5/5.4 line this year at IPFW. He is the only player ever to reach 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 500 assists and 200 steals during his college career, according to Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype (Twitter link).

Current Grizzlies two-way players Yuta Watanabe and Julian Washburn both have two-way deals that extend into 2019/20. Konchar is expected to replace Washburn in that second slot, with Watanabe returning, tweets Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian.

Nuggets Rescinding Trey Lyles’ Qualifying Offer

July 8th, 2019 at 10:58am CST by Luke Adams

The Nuggets are withdrawing their qualifying offer to free agent forward Trey Lyles, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The move will allow Lyles to become an unrestricted free agent.

The timing of the decision makes sense, as word broke this morning that the Nuggets would acquire Jerami Grant in a trade with the Thunder. Grant figures to play most of the power forward minutes that Lyles would have seen if he had returned to Denver. Instead, the 6’10” Canadian will likely sign with another team that might be positioned to give him a larger role.

The 12th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Lyles had his best year as a Nugget in 2017/18, when he averaged 9.9 PPG and 4.8 RPG with a .491/.381/.706 shooting line in 73 games (19.1 MPG). However, he took a step backward this past season, as those numbers slipped to 8.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG and .418/.255/.698 shooting.

Despite his struggles in 2018/19, the Nuggets issued Lyles a qualifying offer worth about $4.49MM this summer, which made him a restricted free agent and gave Denver the right of first refusal if he had signed an offer sheet with a rival suitor. Having decided not to accept that one-year qualifying offer, the former Kentucky Wildcat will now get the opportunity to try to top it on the open market.

Wolves Sign Jarrett Culver To Rookie Contract

July 8th, 2019 at 8:06am CST by Luke Adams

After having to wait a couple weeks to officially acquire him, the Timberwolves have officially signed Jarrett Culver to his rookie contract, tweets Darren Wolfson of SKOR North. The team tweeted out photos of Culver putting pen to paper.

Minnesota agreed to acquire Culver in a draft-night trade with the Suns, parting with Dario Saric to move up from No. 11 to No. 6 for the Texas Tech swingman. Because Phoenix required cap room to absorb Saric’s salary, the two teams had to wait until after the July moratorium to finalize the deal.

Culver, who declared for the draft after his sophomore season, averaged 18.5 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 3.7 APG, and 1.5 SPG with a .461/.304/.707 shooting line in 38 contests last season for the Red Raiders, leading the team to an appearance in the national championship game.

On his first NBA contract, Culver is projected to earn about $5.8MM in his rookie season and $26.4MM if he plays out the full four-year deal.

As our list of draft pick signings show, 24 of 30 first-rounders have now officially signed their rookie contracts, including every player selected in the top 12.

Grizzlies Sign Tyus Jones To Offer Sheet

July 7th, 2019 at 11:59pm CST by Luke Adams

11:59pm: Jones officially signed the offer sheet on Sunday, according to RealGM’s transactions log. Minnesota will have two days to match it.

10:51pm: The Grizzlies have agreed to terms on an offer sheet with restricted free agent point guard Tyus Jones, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Once Jones formally signs the Grizzlies’ offer sheet and it’s presented to the Timberwolves, Minnesota will have two days to match it.

According to Charnia (via Twitter), the 23-year-old’s offer sheet is worth $24MM over three years. Malika Andrews of ESPN (via Twitter) pegs the value at $28MM, with agent Kevin Bradbury confirming to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link) that $28MM is the deal’s maximum value via incentives. Bradbury also tells Krawczynski that he and Jones looked elsewhere on the free agent market after they couldn’t find common ground with the Wolves.

“We negotiated in good faith with Minnesota, but did not receive an offer I felt was fair so we had to look elsewhere,” Bradbury said.

The Grizzlies lost a restricted free agent point guard of their own today, having reached an agreement with the Mavericks to send Delon Wright to Dallas in a sign-and-trade in exchange for a pair of second-round picks. That deal left Memphis with little point guard depth beyond Ja Morant and De’Anthony Melton, so it looks like the team will try to add a replacement for Wright on a similar contract after acquiring a couple draft picks in the process.

The Grizzlies will use their mid-level exception to sign Jones, who averaged 6.9 PPG, 4.8 APG, and 1.2 SPG last year in 68 games (22.9 MPG) for Minnesota. The club used a similar tactic a year ago, using its full mid-level exception to sign Spurs RFA Kyle Anderson to an offer sheet.

It remains to be seen whether the Timberwolves will match Memphis’ offer. The Wolves entered the offseason reportedly in the market for a point guard, but selected Jarrett Culver in the draft, then missed out on top target D’Angelo Russell. As a result, Shabazz Napier is currently the only point guard on the depth chart behind Jeff Teague, and it’s not clear if Minnesota even plans to keep Napier for the regular season.

The Wolves’ lack of depth would seemingly make them inclined to match Jones’ offer sheet, but as ESPN’s Bobby Marks observes (via Twitter), doing so would only leave them about $1MM below the luxury tax line, reducing their flexibility for the rest of the offseason (and regular season).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Heat Sign KZ Okpala To Three-Year Deal

July 7th, 2019 at 8:42pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Heat have signed second-round pick KZ Okpala to a three-year deal, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). The contract will be a minimum salary arrangement.

The contract will count against Miami’s mid-level exception since the franchise went beyond two seasons. All three years of the contract will be guaranteed, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel tweets. As a result of making his deal a three-year pact, the Heat will own Okpala’s full Bird Rights once it expires.

Miami currently projects to be over the tax line, so the team will likely have the taxpayer’s mid-level ($5.7MM) at its disposal. Outside of Okpala, the team has not yet used any of this exception.

Okpala was selected with the No. 32 overall pick by the Suns (Phoenix had sent it to the Pacers in the T.J. Warren trade). Indiana agreed to pass Okpala’s draft rights on to the Heat in exchange for three second-round picks (2022, 2025, and 2026).

Thunder Sign First-Round Pick Darius Bazley

July 7th, 2019 at 7:19pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Thunder have signed Darius Bazley to his rookie-scale contract, according to the NBA.com transaction log. Assuming he makes 120% of the rookie scale, Bazley will take home approximately $2.3MM during the 2019/20 campaign, as our Rookie-Scale Salary post shows.

Contracts for first-round picks are four-year deals that are fully guaranteed for two seasons, followed by team options on the third and fourth year of the pact. Bazley’s full breakdown will look like this:

2019/20: $2,284,800

2020/21: $2,399,160

2021/22: $2,513,040 (Team Option)

2022/23: $4,264,629 (Team Option)

Bazley didn’t attend a university like a typical prospect. Bazley had a scholarship offer from Syracuse and he had a chance to join the G League. Instead, he spent the year on a $1MM internship with New Balance.

The Thunder will bring in the No. 23 overall pick after acquiring his rights on a draft-night trade with the Grizzlies. Oklahoma City traded away Paul George over the weekend and rumblings about a Russell Westbrook deal have surfaced. Depending on what moves GM Sam Presti opts to make during the remainder of the offseason, Bazley could be in line to see minutes immediately as a rookie.