Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

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.

Jazz Sign Bojan Bogdanovic To Four-Year Deal

July 7th, 2019 at 7:15pm CST by JD Shaw

JULY 7: The Jazz have made it official, announcing in a press release that they’ve signed Bogdanovic.

JUNE 30: The Jazz have agreed to a four-year, $73MM deal with free agent Bojan Bogdanovic, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Bogdanovic scored a career-high 18 points per game last season with Indiana, also holding career-best shooting marks of 49.7% from the field and 42.5% from 3-point range. The Jazz have agreed to trade veteran forward Derrick Favors – who has a $17.65MM non-guaranteed salary – to New Orleans to clear space for the incoming forward.

Utah plans to add Bogdanovic, a talented offensive option on the wing, to a roster that already includes the likes of Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles and Rudy Gobert.

In addition to Bogdanovic, the Jazz also agreed to a two-year, $10MM deal with free agent forward Ed Davis.

As for the Pacers, they pivoted away from Bogdanovic – and many of their other free agents – by agreeing to acquire T.J. Warren, Malcolm Brogdon, and Jeremy Lamb.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pelicans Waive Dairis Bertans

July 7th, 2019 at 4:27pm CST by clarkcrum

4:27pm: Bertans’ release is now official, per NBA.com’s transactions log. According to Lithuanian journalist Donatas Urbonas (Twitter link), the 29-year-old has already reached an agreement to sign with Russian club Khimki.

3:04pm: According to his agent, Arturs Kalnitis (Twitter link), the Pelicans will waive guard Dairis Bertans. Per Kalnitis’ tweet, it appears unlikely that Bertans will be claimed off waivers by another NBA team.

The news isn’t entirely unexpected, as the Pelicans would have had 17 players on standard contracts after the team’s trade for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, and Josh Hart, reported trade for Derrick Favors, and reported signings of J.J. Redick, Darius Miller, and Nicolo Melli all came through.

Teams are permitted to have as many as 20 players on their roster during the offseason, but the Pelicans didn’t have the necessary cap space to sign Redick and trade for Favors without trimming some salary from their roster. By waiving Bertans, the Pelicans now figure to be able to complete those two deals, depending on the value of the first-year salary of Redick’s new contract.

Based on my math, the Pelicans can sign Redick to a starting salary of $12,853,641 after waiving Bertans (assuming Melli is signed with the room exception). With standard 5% raises, the total value of Redick’s contract would be just under $26.35MM, which is in line with the reported $26.5MM value.

As for Bertans, the 29-year-old Latvian will likely return to Europe after his one-year stay in the NBA, where he averaged 2.8 PPG in 12 games with the Pelicans.

Pelicans Acquire Derrick Favors For Two Second-Rounders

July 7th, 2019 at 3:37pm CST by JD Shaw

JULY 7: The Jazz have officially traded Favors to the Pelicans, according to press releases issued by both teams.

Utah’s press release features a statement from owner Gail Miller praising Favors and thanking him for his “immeasurable contributions” to the organization. Meanwhile, Pelicans head of basketball operations David Griffin said in a statement that New Orleans is “ecstatic” to acquire a “player and person of Derrick’s caliber.”

“As a selfless, 27-year old elite rim protector, with what we believe is untapped offensive potential, he is just entering his prime,” Griffin said of Favors. “We believe he will be a vital piece of our nucleus moving forward.”

JULY 1: The Pelicans will send Utah the Warriors’ 2021 and 2023 second-round picks in the swap, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. New Orleans had initially acquired both picks in a draft-night deal with Golden State.

JUNE 30: The Pelicans have agreed to acquire forward Derrick Favors in a trade with the Jazz, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link). New Orleans will send draft picks in exchange for Favors, Jones adds.

ESPN’s Zach Lowe was first to report Utah’s desire to move Favors to New Orleans, with the two sides reaching a deal hours into the first night of free agency.

The Jazz worked to trade Favors’ contract after reaching agreement on a four-year, $73MM deal with free agent Bojan Bogdanovic earlier in the night.

Favors, 27, has spent the past nine years of his career with the Jazz. He averaged 11.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 23.2 minutes per game last season, starting in 70 of a possible 76 games.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pelicans Sign Hayes, Alexander-Walker

July 7th, 2019 at 3:19pm CST by clarkcrum

The Pelicans have inked their two first-rounders from the 2019 NBA Draft not named Zion, agreeing to terms with both big man Jaxson Hayes (No. 8 overall) and guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (No. 17 overall), per the NBA.com’s transactions log.

Assuming both players signed for the standard 120% of the rookie-scale, Hayes will earn $4,862,040 in his rookie season and $22,118,492 over the life of the contract, while Alexander-Walker will earn $2,964,840 in his first season and $14,349,113 over four years.

In his lone season at Texas, Hayes appeared in 32 games, averaging 10.0 PPG. 5.0 RPG, and an impressive 2.2 BPG en route to being named the 2018/19 Big 12 Rookie of the Year.

As for Alexander-Walker, he averaged 16.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 4.0 APG during his sophomore season for Virginia Tech after averaging 10.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game as a freshman. For his efforts last year, he was named 2018/19 Third Team All-ACC.

Sixers Sign Marial Shayok To Two-Way Contract

July 7th, 2019 at 3:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers have officially signed second-round pick Marial Shayok to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.

[RELATED: 2019 NBA Draft Pick Signings]

In a statement within the team’s press release, 76ers general manager Elton Brand calls Shayok, a former Iowa State wing, a “natural-born scorer who is committed to being a tough defender.”

The 54th overall pick in the draft, Shayok spent his final college season at Iowa State, where he got a chance to take on a starring role after three years at Virginia. In his senior year, the 6’6″ Canadian averaged 18.7 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 2.0 APG, with a shooting line of .496/.386/.878, earning First Team All-Big 12 honors.

Philadelphia signed Norvel Pelle to a two-way contract on Tuesday, so Pelle and Shayok appear poised to open the 2019/20 season as the club’s two-way players. They figure to split time between the NBA club and the Delaware Blue Coats, the Sixers’ G League affiliate.