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Magic Pick Up Wesley Iwundu’s 2019/20 Option

June 25th, 2019 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

12:01pm: The Magic have made it official, announcing that they’ve exercised Iwundu’s option.

11:35am: The Magic are exercising their 2019/20 team option to retain Wesley Iwundu, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). The move will lock in Iwundu’s salary for next season, which is worth $1,618,520, per Basketball Insiders.

Iwundu, the 33rd overall pick in the 2017 draft, played a regular rotation role for Orlando in his second NBA season, averaging 5.0 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.1 APG with a .412/.367/.816 shooting line in 68 games (18.1 MPG).

The 24-year-old small forward is also one of Orlando’s top perimeter defenders. The team’s defensive rating with Iwundu on the court last season was 102.4, compared to 107.5 when he sat. The Magic even managed to post a 93.8 defensive rating during Iwundu’s 60 postseason minutes vs. the eventual-champion Raptors.

With his option exercised, Iwundu is now on track to reach restricted free agency during the summer of 2020.

Knicks Decline 2019/20 Option On Billy Garrett

June 25th, 2019 at 11:46am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks are turning down their 2019/20 team option on shooting guard Billy Garrett, reports Michael Scotto of The Athletic (via Twitter).

The move doesn’t come as a surprise. Even if they don’t land their top targets in free agency, the Knicks want to maximize their cap room, and clearing Garrett’s modest $1,416,852 option from their books creates a little bit of added flexibility.

Garrett, 24, made his NBA debut in April for the Knicks, posting 6.5 PPG and 1.8 APG in four games (15.8 MPG) for the club down the stretch.

Garrett will technically be eligible for restricted free agency since he only has one year of NBA experience under his belt, but New York almost certainly won’t tender him a qualifying offer since that QO would also eat into the club’s cap space. The former DePaul standout will instead be on track for unrestricted free agency.

Blazers, Hawks Swap Evan Turner, Kent Bazemore

June 24th, 2019 at 6:07pm CST by Luke Adams

6:07pm: The trade is official, according to a league press release.

2:55pm: The Trail Blazers and Hawks have agreed to a trade, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the teams are swapping veterans Evan Turner and Kent Bazemore.

Turner and Bazemore signed nearly identical four-year, $70MM contracts during the summer of 2016, so both players will be on expiring deals during the 2019/20 season. Since Bazemore’s contract was a little more backloaded, he’ll be slightly more expensive next season, earning a salary of $19.27MM compared to Turner’s $18.61MM.

For Portland, Bazemore will be a three-and-D piece who could help space the floor around the team’s play-making guards. The veteran swingman struggled in 2018/19, battling some health issues and finishing with just 11.6 PPG on .402/.320/.726 shooting in 67 games (24.5 MPG). However, he has been a more reliable rotation player in the past, having made 36.5% of his three-pointers in his first four years in Atlanta, including 39.4% in 2017/18.

Bazemore should be a good fit on a Trail Blazers roster that could use another three-point marksman on the wing. In the postseason, Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Meyers Leonard were fairly reliable from outside, but the only wings making threes for Portland were Seth Curry and Rodney Hood — both players are free agents this summer.

Turner, on the other hand, has never been much of an outside threat, but can be a secondary play-maker, having taken on a good deal of ball-handling responsibilities on the Trail Blazers’ second unit last season. He averaged 6.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 3.9 APG on .460/.212/.708 shooting in 73 games (22.0 MPG).

The Blazers believe that 2018 first-rounder Anfernee Simons can take on a bigger play-making role off the bench next season, tweets David Aldridge of The Athletic.

With sharpshooter Allen Crabbe arriving in a trade with Brooklyn, Atlanta views Turner’s skill set as more of a fit than Bazemore’s on this year’s roster. The Hawks envision Turner in the backup point guard role and want to open up some minutes for young players like De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish, and Kevin Huerter as well, tweets Chris Kirschner of The Athletic.

The Blazers and Hawks won’t have to wait until the new league year begins to consummate this deal, since Turner’s and Bazemore’s cap charges are so similar.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Arcidiacono To Get Qualifying Offer From Bulls

June 24th, 2019 at 5:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Bulls will extend a qualifying offer to guard Ryan Arcidiacono but don’t plan to give one to Wayne Selden, Cody Westerlund of 670TheScore.com tweets.

In his second season with the Bulls, Arcidiacono appeared in 81 games and started 32, averaging 6.7 PPG and 3.3 APG in 24.2 MPG while shooting 37.3% from long range. His qualifying offer is a modest $1,818,486 and the Bulls, who hold his Early Bird rights, can now match any offer for the 6’3” Villanova product.

Selden appeared in 43 games, including 13 starts, with the Bulls after being acquired in early January from the Grizzlies. The Kansas alum averaged 8.0 PPG and 1.7 APG in 22.9 MPG. His qualifying offer was $1,931,189 but now he’ll head into unrestricted free agency unless the Bulls have a last-minute change of heart.

By making efforts to retain Arcidiacono and drafting point guard Coby White, Kris Dunn‘s status on the team is all the more precarious.

Sixers Waive Haywood Highsmith

June 24th, 2019 at 4:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Sixers have waived swingman Haywood Highsmith, Serena Winters of NBCSPhilly tweets.

That opens up a two-way contract slot, since Highsmith was signed in that manner during January.

The 6’7” Highsmith got a taste of NBA action, appearing in five games and averaging 1.8 PPG in 8.0 MPG. The 22-year-old Highsmith, a former Division II standout who played his college ball at Wheeling Jesuit, spent most of last season with the Delaware Blue Coats, Philadelphia’s G League affiliate. He appeared in 46 G League contests, averaging 12.2 PPG, 6.9 RPG and 2.7 APG in 32.2 MPG.

Suns To Decline Jimmer Fredette’s Team Option

June 24th, 2019 at 2:53pm CST by Luke Adams

As expected, the Suns will decline Jimmer Fredette‘s team option for the 2019/20 season, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). The option would have paid Fredette a salary of $1,988,119 if it had been exercised, per Basketball Insiders.

Warriors assistant GM Larry Harris confirmed earlier today that Fredette would be a part of Golden State’s Summer League roster in July. It wouldn’t have been possible for the former BYU standout to play for the Warriors in Summer League if he were still under contract with Phoenix.

Fredette, 30, returned to the NBA near the end of the 2018/19 campaign after spending multiple seasons in China. The sharpshooter struggled in six games with Phoenix down the stretch, averaging 3.7 PPG on 27.6% shooting in six games (10.8 MPG). He missed all 13 of his three-point attempts.

Fredette had been lighting up in China in recent years, putting up massive scoring numbers for the Shanghai Sharks. While he has never developed into a particularly effective NBA rotation player since being drafted 10th overall in 2011, his Summer League agreement with the Warriors suggests that he’s going to keep trying to make his way onto an NBA roster for 2019/20.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Raptors Issue QOs To Patrick McCaw, Nando De Colo

June 24th, 2019 at 1:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors have tendered qualifying offers to guards Patrick McCaw and Nando De Colo, making them restricted free agents, tweets Keith Smith of RealGM.com. RealGM’s log of official transactions confirms that Toronto issued those QOs on Friday.

As we explain in our glossary entry on the subject, qualifying offers are essentially one-year contract offers worth a set amount that give a team the right of first refusal on a free agent. If McCaw or De Colo signs an offer sheet with another team, Toronto will now have the opportunity to match that offer.

McCaw, who had a lengthy restricted free agency standoff with the Warriors last summer, briefly joined the Cavaliers before eventually ending up with the Raptors. The 23-year-old played a modest role in Toronto, averaging 2.7 PPG and 1.7 RPG in 26 games (13.2 MPG). McCaw, who won his third consecutive NBA title in 2019, has a QO worth about $1.88MM.

As for De Colo, he hasn’t actually played in the NBA since 2014, but the Raptors have held his rights since then by issuing him a qualifying offer every year while he played overseas. The veteran guard recently left CSKA Moscow and is looking to return to the NBA, so it will be interesting to see whether Toronto makes it a priority to retain him. His QO is worth about $1.83MM.

In other Raptors news, the team agreed to a deal with undrafted rookie Sagaba Konate out of West Virginia, a league source tells Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link). Scotto’s report doesn’t include additional details, but Blake Murphy of The Athletic suggests (via Twitter) that Kobate will sign an Exhibit 10 contract, which would give him a spot on Toronto’s 20-man offseason roster.

A 6’8″ forward, Konate was limited to just eight games in 2018/19 due to a lingering knee injury, but opted to go pro as an early entrant anyway. In his last full college season in ’17/18, he averaged 10.8 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 3.2 BPG in 36 games as a sophomore.

Pistons, Louis King Agree To Two-Way Deal

June 24th, 2019 at 9:48am CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons have reached a deal with undrafted rookie Louis King, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Detroit will sign the Oregon forward to a two-way contract once the new league year begins.

King, who declared for the draft as an early entrant after his freshman year, averaged 13.5 PPG and 5.5 RPG with a .435/.386/.785 shooting line in 31 games during his first and only season with the Ducks. Although he wasn’t one of the 60 players selected last Thursday, it didn’t take him long to find a new NBA home with one of the clubs that worked him out during the pre-draft process.

The Pistons are also reportedly signing No. 57 overall pick Jordan Bone to a two-way deal, so King and Bone appear set to occupy the team’s two-way slots to start the 2019/20 season. They’d supplant Isaiah Whitehead and Kalin Lucas, who were Detroit’s two-way players to end the ’18/19 season.

Meanwhile, Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link) hears from a league source that the Pistons have also agreed to a deal with former Michigan State guard Matt McQuaid, another undrafted rookie. Scotto doesn’t offer any more details on the move, so it’s not clear whether McQuaid will sign an Exhibit 10 agreement or another form of contract, but it sounds like the deal will cover more than just the Summer League.

In his senior year with the Spartans, McQuaid averaged 9.8 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 2.1 APG and shot 42.2% on three-point attempts. In total, 173 of his 271 field goal attempts came from beyond the arc.

Kawhi Leonard Declines 2019/20 Player Option

June 23rd, 2019 at 6:35pm CST by JD Shaw

Raptors star Kawhi Leonard is declining his $21.3MM player option for the 2019/20 season and will test unrestricted free agency this summer, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Leonard will seriously consider re-signing with the Raptors, Haynes adds, with several rival executives believing Toronto is the front-runner for his services on the open market.

Leonard is coming off an historic playoff stretch with the team that saw him average 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.7 steals per contest, with the 27-year-old winning his second NBA championship and Finals MVP. He formed a strong bond with his teammates, coaches and fans this season, a positive sign for a franchise coming off its first NBA title.

Toronto is the only team that can offer Leonard a five-year, $190MM maximum-salary contract. The Clippers are expected to be a major suitor for Leonard, as Haynes notes, with the appeal of returning to southern California likely to be a strong factor in Leonard’s decision. A handful of other teams may also secure a meeting with him.

Free agency opens on June 30 at 6:00pm eastern time this year, with the moratorium period lasting until July 6 at noon. After that, teams can officially sign their respective players to contracts.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Nuggets, Tyler Cook Agree To Deal

June 23rd, 2019 at 1:55pm CST by clarkcrum

The Nuggets have reached a deal with undrafted Iowa forward Tyler Cook, reports Mike Hlas of The Gazette. Per Hlas, the contract will contain a partial guarantee, but the value of that guarantee is unknown at this time.

Cook, a early entry for the 2019 NBA Draft, averaged 14.5 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 2.4 APG in his junior year, while shooting 51.9% from the field. Unfortunately, Cook also posted a disappointing .143 three-point shooting percentage while in college, going 3-for-21 over three seasons in Iowa City.

Cook will not be joining the Nuggets for the 2019 NBA Summer League due to a high ankle sprain he suffered in a workout with the Pistons leading up to the draft, but he presumably expects to be ready for training camp. He worked out for the Nuggets back on May 22.