Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Rockets Trade Stauskas, Baldwin To Pacers

February 7th, 2019 at 10:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

10:00pm: The Pacers have officially completed their trade with the Rockets, acquiring Stauskas, Baldwin, Milwaukee’s 2021 second-round pick and the rights to Maarty Leunen for cash considerations, the team announced.

Indiana also waived Anigbogu to make the agreement official.

1:05pm: The Pacers are waiving second-year center Ike Anigbogu to make room for their incoming players, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

12:16pm: A day after acquiring Nik Stauskas and Wade Baldwin, the Rockets have reached an agreement to send them to the Pacers, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Houston will also ship a second-round pick to Indiana, Woj adds, and the Pacers plan to waive both players (Twitter link).

The Pacers only have one roster opening, so they will have to get rid of someone before they can take on Stauskas and Baldwin, notes Keith Smith of Real GM (Twitter link). The Rockets are making the deal for tax purposes, so it’s unlikely they will be getting anyone in return.

A flurry of trades over the past two days has put Houston $634K under the luxury tax, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). The Rockets are down to 12 players, two below the league minimum, but are expected to be active on the buyout market. They will have two weeks to get their roster back to at least 14. Owner Tilman Fertitta has been saying that he wanted to get under the tax this season to avoid repeater penalties in the future, relays Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).

Indiana will drop down to 13 players once if it follows through with plans to waive Stauskas and Baldwin and will also have two weeks to get back to the 14-player minimum.

The Rockets acquired both players last night in a three-team deal that also brought them Iman Shumpert. Houston had to take both players from the Cavaliers to help Cleveland stay below the luxury tax. This is the third trade in four days for Stauskas and Baldwin, who were also sent from the Trail Blazers to the Cavs in the Rodney Hood swap.

Grizzlies, Hawks Swap Shelvin Mack, Tyler Dorsey

February 7th, 2019 at 9:54pm CST by Luke Adams

9:54pm: The Grizzlies have officially traded Mack to the Hawks in exchange for Dorsey, the team confirmed on Thursday (Twitter link).

1:35pm: The Grizzlies and Hawks are in agreement on a trade that will send point guard Shelvin Mack to Atlanta and shooting guard Tyler Dorsey to Memphis, tweets Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com.

Mack, 28, has been Memphis’ backup point guard for the 2018/19 season, averaging 7.9 PPG and 3.4 APG in 53 games (22.7 MPG). He has also had one of his best three-point shooting seasons, knocking down 35.9% of his attempts from outside.

However, Mack is expected to be waived by Atlanta, per Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution (Twitter link). If those are the Hawks’ intentions for Mack, it’s not clear what their motivations are for making the deal.

As for the Grizzlies’ side, sending out Mack for Dorsey allows the retooling squad to replace a veteran with a young prospect who had taken a step backward in Atlanta this season. A second-round pick in the 2017 draft, Dorsey posted 7.2 PPG and a .362 3PT% in his first year, but those numbers have dipped 3.3 PPG and a .256 3PT% in year two, as he has seen his role cut back.

Rockets Trade James Ennis To Sixers

February 7th, 2019 at 9:49pm CST by Luke Adams

9:49pm: The trade between the Rockets and Sixers centered around Ennis is official, both teams announced in press releases. Houston traded Ennis to Philadelphia in exchange for the rights to swap the Rockets’ 2021 second-round pick for the Sixers’ 2021 second-rounder.

The 76ers also confirmed the release of Richardson, who was acquired in a separate deal with Toronto this week.

11:45am: The Sixers will waive Richardson to open up room for Ennis, tweets Derek Bodner of The Athletic.

11:11am: The Rockets and Sixers have reached an agreement on a trade that will send James Ennis to Philadelphia, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). According to Charania, Houston will receive the right to swap 2021 second-round picks with the 76ers (Twitter link).

The Rockets signed Ennis to a two-year, minimum salary contract during the 2018 offseason in the hopes that he could help fill the void on the wing created when the team lost Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute in free agency.

The 28-year-old Ennis battled some injuries during his time with the Rockets, but was a solid contributor in the 39 games he played. In 23.6 minutes per contest, he averaged 7.4 PPG on .500/.373/.714 shooting. However, with Iman Shumpert set to arrive in Houston as a result of a three-team trade with Sacramento and Cleveland, it appears the Rockets are willing to move on from Ennis.

The Sixers, meanwhile, will add a solid bench piece at a low cost after sacrificing some depth in their acquisition of Jimmy Butler earlier in the season. It’s unclear how much playing time Ennis will get in Philadelphia, but I’d expect him to see minutes for the second unit in a three-and-D role.

The 76ers will be able to add Ennis to their roster without sending out any salary, since he’s on a minimum deal, though they’ll need to make a corresponding move to open up a roster spot. Malachi Richardson and Justin Patton look like the most expendable pieces on the roster.

As for the Rockets, they started the week at 14 players and had been poised to take on an extra man in their deal with the Kings and Cavs. Moving Ennis will get them back to 14 and will slightly reduce their projected luxury tax bill. They’ll also create a modest trade exception worth Ennis’ salary ($1,621,415).

The exact details on the pick swap rights aren’t yet known — the Rockets may simply get the chance to swap out their pick for the Sixers’ selection during the 2021 second round, but Philadelphia also holds ’21 second-rounders from Denver and New York, so it could be more complicated than that.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Grizzlies Trade Marc Gasol To Raptors

February 7th, 2019 at 9:05pm CST by Luke Adams

9:05pm: The Raptors have officially acquired Gasol from the Grizzlies, sending Valanciunas, Wright, Miles and a 2024 second-round pick to Memphis in return, the teams announced on Thursday.

“Marc [Gasol] brings significant playoff experience to our team, which along with his savviness and leadership skills really helps position us for our ultimate post-season goal,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri said. “We look forward to welcoming Marc to our city and team.”

12:55pm: The Raptors and Grizzlies are finalizing a trade agreement that would send Marc Gasol to Toronto, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

Memphis is expected to receive Jonas Valanciunas, Delon Wright, C.J. Miles, and a 2024 second-round pick in exchange for Gasol, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

It’s the latest major development in what has turned into an arms race among the Eastern Conference’s top contenders. The Sixers acquired Tobias Harris on Wednesday morning, and the Bucks reached a deal to acquire Nikola Mirotic earlier today.

The Raptors will surrender some depth in the trade by giving up three rotation players, but none of Valanciunas, Wright, and Miles were starters. In acquiring Gasol, Toronto will add more firepower to its frontcourt, acquiring a veteran center who has been linked to the club for years.

A former Defensive Player of the Year, Gasol has slowed down a step or two at age 34, but he’s still a productive scorer (15.7 PPG), rebounder (8.6 RPG), and rim protector (1.2 BPG). He has also added an outside shot to his game in recent years, making 35.7% of his attempts and 1.4 threes per game over the last three seasons. It will be interesting to see how the Raptors manage his minutes in a frontcourt that also features Serge Ibaka and Pascal Siakam, both of whom are having excellent seasons.

The Grizzlies, meanwhile, will move on from a three-time All-Star who has been in Memphis since 2008. Despite Gasol’s long tenure with the franchise, it appeared this week as if he was ready to move on, having cleared out his locker when it looked as if a trade to the Hornets was a possibility. That deal with Charlotte never got too close to being finalized, notes Sean Deveney of Sporting News (Twitter link).

In exchange for Gasol, Memphis gets a productive center in Valanciunas, who is set to return from a hand injury, a promising young point guard in Wright, who will be a restricted free agent season’s end, and Miles, a sharpshooter who has had a down year. The Grizzlies will also acquire a future second-round pick, though it’s hard to determine how much value that selection will have by 2024.

Valanciunas has a $17.62MM player option for next season, while Miles has a $8.73MM player option. Both players look like solid bets to opt in. It’s not clear yet what Gasol will do with his own $25.6MM player option for 2019/20. The Raptors would have his Bird Rights if he opts out.

Gasol also has a 15% trade kicker, which will be applied to his 2018/19 cap hit, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.com. That bonus would increase Gasol’s cap figure by close to $1.3MM if he doesn’t waive it.

Marks also observes that this deal will leave the Raptors with just 11 players under contract after they also sent Malachi Richardson to Philadelphia. The club will have two weeks to get back to the league-mandated minimum of 14 players, so it could be an active month in Toronto.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Clippers Waive Milos Teodosic

February 7th, 2019 at 8:09pm CST by Arthur Hill

8:09pm: Having completed their trade with the Lakers, the Clippers have officially released Teodosic, the club announced in a press release.

“We feel privileged that Milos chose to play for the Clippers after a fantastic career in Europe,” president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in a statement. “He has been a terrific playmaker and we are grateful for his contributions to the organization.”

Teodosic will clear waivers this weekend and is a strong candidate to return overseas if he doesn’t receive immediate NBA interest.

1:56pm: The Clippers are waiving Milos Teodosic, according to a tweet from Eurohoops. The Clips need to open a roster spot to complete the two-for-one deal that brought Ivica Zubac and Michael Beasley from the Lakers. The move was confirmed by Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Teodosic was a star in Europe who was highly sought after when he came to the NBA, but his experience in L.A. never worked out like he had hoped. He averaged 9.5 points and 4.6 rebounds in 45 games last year in an injury-plagued season, but has only appeared in 15 games this year as those numbers have dropped to 3.2 PPG and 2.1 APG.

Teodosic was already frustrated by his decreased playing time in November, when he talked about going back to Europe. A report in December indicated that a team in Turkey was “seriously pursuing” him if he could get out of his NBA contract.

Lakers Trade Zubac, Beasley To Clippers For Muscala

February 7th, 2019 at 8:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder

8:07pm: The Clippers have officially announced their trade with the Lakers, issuing a press release to confirm the move. While there’s no indication yet that Beasley has been released, the statement from president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank makes it clear that Zubac is the prize of the deal.

“For two-plus seasons, we have seen Ivica up-close and watched him develop into a skilled center,” Frank said. “For his age, Ivica has proven to be an energetic rim protector who can score around the basket. We are eager for him to join our group of promising young players.”

1:39pm: The Clippers have agreed to trade power forward Mike Muscala to the Lakers for young center Ivica Zubac and journeyman forward Michael Beasley, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The deal will open a roster spot the Lakers, affording them the opportunity to sign a player on the buyout market, with Carmelo Anthony among the players they’ll consider, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter links here).

The Lakers will “seriously look” at Anthony, the Los Angeles Times’ Brad Turner tweets. The Bulls waived Anthony on February 1st after acquiring him from the Rockets last month. Anthony has often been linked to the Lakers since things went sour quickly with the Rockets this season. He’s close friends with LeBron James, who recently stated his desire to play with the longtime All-Star forward.

“I’ve always wanted to play along Melo and if the opportunity presents itself, it would be great,” James said.

Muscala was just acquired by the Clippers in the blockbuster deal with Philadelphia that sent Tobias Harris to the Sixers. He gives the Lakers a big man who can shoot from deep. Muscala, who was averaging 7.4 PPG, is a career 36.5% shooter from distance.

The Clippers’ initial plan is to waive Beasley, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. Zubac gives them a young big man to grow in their system. He was averaging 8.5 PPG and 4.9 RPG in limited playing time this season. The Clippers would have to extend him a $1.93MM qualifying offer this summer to make him a restricted free agent.

Pelicans Trade Nikola Mirotic To Bucks In Three-Team Deal

February 7th, 2019 at 7:36pm CST by Luke Adams

7:36pm: The three-team trade involving the Pelicans, Bucks, and Pistons is now official, according to press releases issued by New Orleans and Milwaukee. Milwaukee gets Mirotic, Detroit gets Maker, and New Orleans acquires two players and four draft picks, as detailed below.

11:57am: The Bucks are adding another shooter to their frontcourt, having reached an agreement to acquire Nikola Mirotic from the Pelicans, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe (Twitter link).

New Orleans will receive Jason Smith‘s expiring contract along with Stanley Johnson in exchange for Mirotic, Woj reports (via Twitter). According to Marc Stein of The New York Times (via Twitter), the Pelicans will also receive four second-round picks as part of the deal.

A source tells Jake Fischer of SI.com (Twitter link) that two of those selections will be the Wizards’ 2020 and 2021 second-rounders, while Tim Bontemps of ESPN reports (via Twitter) that Denver’s 2019 second-rounder and the Bucks’ 2020 second-rounder are also in the package.

Milwaukee just reached an agreement on Wednesday to acquire Johnson from the Pistons in exchange for Thon Maker, but that deal has yet to be completed. the Bucks wouldn’t be permitted to aggregate Johnson’s salary with another player’s contract for two months after acquiring him, so it looks the two deals will be turned into one three-team trade, which helps explain why Detroit and Milwaukee haven’t finalized their agreement yet.

For the Bucks, this deal represents an impressive response to the Sixers’ acquisition of Tobias Harris on Wednesday. While Mirotic isn’t as dynamic a player as Harris, he should fit in very nicely in Mike Budenholzer‘s system, which already features a pair of sharpshooting big men in Brook Lopez and Ersan Ilyasova.

Mirotic, who will turn 28 next Monday, has been limited by injuries so far this season, but has been his usual productive self when he’s on the court, averaging 16.7 PPG and 8.3 RPG with a .447/.368/.842 shooting line in 28.9 MPG.

Mirotic is on an expiring contract, so the Bucks can add him to a list of free-agents-to-be that also includes Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, Brook Lopez, and Malcolm Brogdon (restricted). Milwaukee will presumably attempt to retain as many of those players as possible in the offseason.

As for the Pelicans, their return for Mirotic won’t match the first-round pick they gave up for him a year ago, but they won’t take on any future salary, and one or two of those second-round picks could fall in the 30s.

They’ll also get a chance to take a look at Johnson, a former lottery pick who will be up for restricted free agency this summer. While the young wing never really blossomed into a reliable rotation player in Detroit, he still has some upside as a versatile defender, though he’d have to improve his shooting numbers to improve his value.

The Pelicans will have to open up a roster spot with another trade or cut in order to finalize the deal. The Bucks, on the other hand, will create an opening on their roster, though they’re now less than $1MM away from the luxury tax line, ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Greg Monroe Waived After Trade To Nets

February 7th, 2019 at 7:31pm CST by JD Shaw

7:31pm: The Raptors and Nets have confirmed that the trade is done. Brooklyn received Monroe and Toronto’s 2021 second-round pick in exchange for cash, then waived the veteran center. The second-rounder is unprotected, while Toronto received $110K in the deal, per Scotto (Twitter links).

2:15pm: The Raptors are trading veteran forward Greg Monroe and a second-round pick to the Nets, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

The Nets plan to waive Monroe after the deal becomes official, according to The Athletic’s Michael Scotto (Twitter link), who adds that Brooklyn will send cash considerations in the trade. The Nets will receive Toronto’s 2021 second-round pick as part of the deal.

For Brooklyn, this deal represents the only trade the team made on Thursday. The Nets will keep its current core, which has gone 21-9 in the past 30 games, as they begin to focus on reaching the postseason this April.

After this agreement and an earlier trade with Memphis, Toronto has reduced its roster size to just 10 players. The team is expected to sport an intimidating starting group consisting of Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol to compete in the East.

Magic Acquire Markelle Fultz From Sixers

February 7th, 2019 at 6:58pm CST by Luke Adams

6:58pm: The Sixers have officially traded Markelle Fultz to the Magic for Jonathon Simmons, a protected 2020 first-round pick and 2019 second-round pick, the teams announced in press releases.

“We are extremely excited to welcome Markelle [Fultz] to the Magic family,” president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said. “This is an incredible opporunity for us to add a former No. 1 draft pick to our roster and to add depth to our backcourt. We will provide Markelle with the best possible support at his own pace and look forward to his future contributions.”

1:45pm: The Sixers are trading former No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz to the Magic, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). In exchange, Philadelphia will receive Jonathon Simmons, a future Thunder first-round pick, and a future Cavs second-rounder from Orlando, tweets Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer.

It’s a huge decision for the 76ers, just a year and a half after then-GM Bryan Colangelo sent the No. 3 pick (Jayson Tatum) and a future first-rounder to Boston in exchange for the right to select Fultz first overall.

The former Washington standout has barely seen the court since then, having been sidelined by shooting issues that some observers believe are mental. Fultz was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome in December and continues his rehab process.

A source tells Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) that Orlando will be patient with Fultz, taking the long view and potentially sitting him out the rest of this season if needed. However, the club will continue pushing for a playoff spot in the East this season.

Smith suggests (via Twitter) that the Magic opted to include the Thunder first-rounder in the deal so they’d only part with Simmons rather than Terrence Ross — Ross will remain with Orlando and help the team’s efforts to make the postseason.

The Thunder pick involved in the swap is OKC’s 2020 selection, which is top-20 protected and will turn into 2022 and 2023 second-rounders if it’s not conveyed next year. The pick, which was originally traded to Philadelphia for Jerami Grant, was subsequently sent to Orlando in a draft-night trade in 2017 for Anzejs Pasecniks. Now it’s headed back to Philadelphia.

The second-round pick included in the deal is technically the most favorable of Cleveland’s, Orlando’s, Houston’s, or Portland’s 2019 second-rounders. For now, that projects to be the Cavs’ pick.

In addition to those draft assets, the Sixers will acquire Simmons, a wing with some size who can immediately step into the club’s rotation. In 41 games this season for Orlando, Simmons averaged just 6.9 PPG on .364/.229/.778 shooting, but he was much better in his first year with the Magic, posting 13.9 PPG on .465/.338/.768 shooting in 2017/18.

Between this deal and their James Ennis swap with the Rockets, the Sixers were able to add two wings for depth purposes today while also replenishing their collection of draft picks that took a hit in Wednesday’s Tobias Harris trade.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Clippers Acquire Temple, Green For Bradley

February 7th, 2019 at 6:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

6:41pm: The trade between the Grizzlies and Clippers is official, both teams announced in press releases. The Clippers also confirmed the waiving of Marcin Gortat.

“We will miss the toughness Marcin brought to this group,” team president Lawrence Frank said. “He was a tenacious defender and screen-setter, and we are grateful to have been part of his long and distinguished career.”

1:07pm: The Grizzlies have reached an agreement to trade swingman Garrett Temple and power forward JaMychal Green to the Clippers for shooting guard Avery Bradley, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.

The trade allows the Clippers to clear a little more cap space in their pursuit of top free agents this summer. Temple has an expiring $8MM contract, while Green is making $7.7MM in his walk year. The Clippers will open up $2MM more in cap room this offseason, giving them a projected $59MM to chase the best players in the free agent class, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter links).

Bradley is making $12MM this season and $12.96MM next season, but only $2MM of next season’s salary is guaranteed. Memphis has until July 3rd to fully guarantee his salary, something a rebuilding club is unlikely to do.

The Grizzlies will create a $7.6MM trade exception as well as open up a roster spot as they finalize a deal sending center Marc Gasol to the Raptors. Green will receive a $200K bonus if the Clippers reach the first round of the playoffs, Marks adds.

With the Clippers having a full roster prior to the trade agreement, they will open up a spot to complete the 2-for-1 deal by waiving center Marcin Gortat, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Los Angeles will thus eat the remainder of his $13.565MM contract this season. Gortat was due to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Bradley, who has started all 49 games in which he’s played this season, is averaging 8.2 PPG. Gortat started 43 of 47 games, averaging 5.0 PPG and 5.6 RPG. Green was the Grizzlies’ fourth-leading scorer despite coming off the bench in all but four of 41 games, averaging 9.8 PPG and 6.1 RPG. Temple, acquired from the Kings during the offseason, started 49 games and averaging 9.4 PPG.