Utah Jazz Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Jazz Sign Donovan Mitchell To Rookie Deal

July 5th, 2017 at 6:05pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Jazz have signed No. 13 overall pick Donovan Mitchell to a rookie scale contract, according to the team’s website. The team did not disclose the terms of the contract, but he’ll take home roughly $14.6MM over the next four seasons assuming he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.

Utah traded Trey Lyles and the No. 24 overall pick, which ultimately became Tyler Lydon, to the Nuggets for the rights to Mitchell on draft night. The Jazz may need Mitchell to step up right away, as they look to fill the void left by Gordon Hayward‘s departure. The team also lost George Hill in free agency but gained Ricky Rubio via a trade with Wolves.

Mitchell, who played two seasons at Louisville, was considered one of the best perimeter defenders in his draft class. He averaged 15.6 points and 2.1 steals per contest during his final season playing for Rick Pitino.

Free Agent Rumors: Celtics, Heat, Cavs, Wolves

July 5th, 2017 at 5:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Having landed Gordon Hayward, the Celtics have shifted their focus to adding a rim-protecting big man, and are showing interest in several free agents who fit that bill, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. Currently, the Celtics could only offer the $4.3MM room exception, but if they clear more than the minimum space necessary for Hayward’s deal, they could potentially make a bigger offer.

Speaking of Hayward, Jody Genessy of The Deseret News talked at length with agent Mark Bartelstein about how and why his client’s free agency announcement turned into such a mess on Tuesday. As Genessy details, via Bartelstein, Hayward went back and forth between the Jazz and Celtics before making his final decision.

Here are more free agency updates from around the NBA:

Having reached a deal with Dion Waiters, the Heat have interest in bringing back James Johnson and Luke Babbitt as well, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Bartelstein, who is also Johnson’s agent, will talk to Pat Riley tonight, according to Jackson.
While Richard Jefferson, who is under contract for 2017/18, plans to return to the Cavaliers, James Jones may not, per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. Agent Joel Bell says that neither the Cavs nor Jones have made any decisions, but a source tells Vardon that Jones – who is a free agent – won’t be back in Cleveland next season.
The Timberwolves have touched base with veteran free agent Vince Carter, but there’s nothing “concrete” happening with him for now, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News.
The Mavericks are considering adding German power forward Maxi Kleber, per Sportando (Twitter link). Kleber expects to continue playing for Bayern Munich if he doesn’t make the jump to the NBA.

Pacers, Nets, Others Interested In Kelly Olynyk

July 5th, 2017 at 2:36pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers, Nets, Kings, and Jazz are among the teams “coming on strong” for Kelly Olynyk, according to Sam Amick of USA Today, who reports (via Twitter)

Gordon Hayward‘s decision on Tuesday likely helped jump-start the market for several other free agents, but none were impacted as directly as Olynyk. In order to help create cap room for Hayward’s maximum salary contract, the Celtics withdrew Olynyk’s qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent rather than an RFA.

Olynyk is now eligible to sign outright with a new team, which has created significant interest around the league. The Pacers, Nets, Kings, and Jazz all have cap room left over, and would each likely be able to offer more than the mid-level exception, though Brooklyn may want resolution on Otto Porter‘s offer sheet first, and Indiana is trying to shed some salary, per Amick.

Olynyk, 26, appeared in 75 regular season games for the Celtics last season, averaging 9.0 PPG and 4.8 RPG and once again showed off an ability to make an outside shot (.368 career 3PT%). His most memorable performance in Boston came in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Wizards, when he helped the C’s seal the series with a 26-point outburst.

Mutual Interest Between James Johnson, Jazz

July 5th, 2017 at 8:21am CST by Luke Adams

Having watched free agents Gordon Hayward and George Hill reach deals with other teams on Tuesday, the Jazz have shifted their focus to other targets. According to Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link), James Johnson is one potential option for Utah — Johnson and the Jazz have mutual interest, says Jones.

[RELATED: Kings agree to sign George Hill]

Johnson, 30, had a breakout season for the Heat in 2016/17, averaging double-digit scoring for the first time in his career (12.8 PPG), and setting new career-highs in RPG (4.9), APG (3.6), and 3PT% (.340). He was also a major asset on the defensive end of the court, given his ability to guard multiple positions.

While Johnson certainly isn’t the scorer that Hayward is, he looks like a logical candidate for a Jazz team with a newly-opened hole at the forward spot. Utah also parted ways with Trey Lyles on draft night, so Johnson could help provide depth at both forward positions, and with Rodney Hood poised to take on a larger role after Hayward’s departure, Johnson wouldn’t be asked to shoulder much of the scoring load.

Still, Johnson remains a priority for the Heat, with a Tuesday report suggesting that the two sides were set to re-engage in the wake of Hayward’s decision not to head to South Beach. The Heat may have a leg up on the Jazz, since Miami has more cap room and has had a one-year headstart on building a relationship with the versatile forward.

Free Agent Rumors: Wolves, Knicks, Waiters, Jazz

July 4th, 2017 at 10:09pm CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves were linked to free agent swingman C.J. Miles earlier today, but weren’t necessarily considered a probable landing spot for Miles due to the team’s lack of cap flexibility. However, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link), who passed along the initial report on Miles, the Pacers are open to the idea of a sign-and-trade which would net them Cole Aldrich‘s contract and OKC’s 2018 first-round pick from Minnesota.

Both teams would have to agree on that sign-and-trade scenario, and of course Miles would also have to be on board, so there may be some snags along the way. But as Wolfson points out, there are ways for the Wolves to get creative if they really want to land Miles or another free agent.

Wolfson has more on the Wolves, tweeting that he has heard the team made an offer to Nick Young. That offer would likely be worth the $4.3MM room exception, and Young turned down a $5.67MM player option with the Lakers last month, so I’d be surprised if Minnesota’s offer is enough to land him, but the club clearly remains on the lookout for shooting help.

Here’s more on free agency:

The Knicks continue to stay in touch with free agent guard Dion Waiters, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that Waiters and Rajon Rondo remain on the Lakers‘ radar.
With Gordon Hayward and Otto Porter off the board, the Jazz have expressed interest in Rudy Gay, says Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). As Royce Young of ESPN tweets, Patrick Patterson essentially took the deal that Gay was unwilling to with the Thunder, so OKC may be out, leaving the Heat and Jazz as the top contenders for Gay.
Having already brought back nearly all of their key free agents, the Warriors are also considered likely to re-sign Zaza Pachulia, according to Sam Amick of USA Today.
After a strong showing for the Pistons in Summer League play, Eric Moreland is believed to have received a multiyear contract offer from Detroit, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.

Nets, Otto Porter Agree To Max Deal; Wizards Plan To Match

July 4th, 2017 at 9:05pm CST by Luke Adams

9:05pm: The Wizards had hoped to work out a more cap-friendly deal with Porter, but they still intend to match the Nets’ offer, reports Chris Mannix of The Vertical (via Twitter).

8:42pm: The Nets and Otto Porter have reached an agreement on a four-year, maximum salary deal, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Because Porter is a restricted free agent, Brooklyn will have to sign Porter to an offer sheet, and the Wizards will have the opportunity to match it.

Porter, who can receive up to $106,524,975 on a four-year deal, reportedly received such an offer from the Kings over the weekend as well. However, Porter didn’t accept that offer right away, opting to meet with other teams instead, and Sacramento used its cap room to reach deals with George Hill and Zach Randolph. In the wake of Gordon Hayward‘s departure from Utah, Porter had reportedly lined up a meeting with the Jazz, but Brooklyn swooped in with a max offer and struck a deal with the RFA forward.

Based on the wording of Charania’s report, it sounds like Porter hasn’t formally signed an offer sheet from Brooklyn quite yet. However, he is eligible to do so during the moratorium. If he makes it official with the Nets, the clock for the Wizards to make their decision would begin on July 6 when the moratorium ends. Washington would have until the end of the day on July 8 to match the offer.

Long considered a probable suitor for Porter, the Nets had an excess of cap room and showed in 2016 that they’re willing to dive into the RFA market in search of long-term assets. Last year, Brooklyn had offer sheets for Allen Crabbe, Tyler Johnson, and Donatas Motiejunas matched by the Trail Blazers, Heat, and Rockets, respectively. The club will be hoping for better luck this time around, though the RFA market has been slow to develop, so if the Wizards match on Porter, the Nets could go shopping for another target or two.

As for the Wizards, they’ve been widely expected to match any offer for Porter, but the Nets will put them to the test with this offer. Washington entered the free agent period with approximately $94MM in guaranteed money on the cap for 2017/18 and has since struck deals with Jodie Meeks and Mike Scott that figure to add nearly $5MM more to the books. As such, Porter’s deal, with its first-year cap hit of $24.77MM, will take the Wizards over the tax line if they match.

Washington reportedly intended to use the bi-annual exception to complete Meeks’ deal, but may instead choose to use a portion of the taxpayer mid-level exception to avoid becoming hard-capped at $125.266MM for the ’17/18 league year.

Porter, who has steadily improved his production in each of his four NBA seasons, had his best year as a pro in 2016/17, averaging career bests in PPG (13.4), RPG (6.4), and SPG (1.5), while posting an incredibly efficient .516/.434/.832 shooting line. I ranked him eighth overall in Hoops Rumors’ list of this year’s top 50 free agents.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Where The Gordon Hayward Situation Stands

July 4th, 2017 at 5:46pm CST by Luke Adams

We still don’t have official word from Gordon Hayward‘s camp on where he’ll sign, but it has been an eventful day on the Hayward front.

After a report from Chris Haynes of ESPN – which was confirmed by several other reputable journalists – indicated that Hayward planned to sign with the Celtics, subsequent reports from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and others suggested it wasn’t a done deal after all.

Mark Bartelstein, Hayward’s agent, issued a statement confirming that his client hadn’t finalized his decision. While Bartelstein said they’d expect to announce a decision today, he added that, in the wake of this afternoon’s drama, “We’ve got to kind of regroup here a bit.” Meanwhile, Jazz president Steve Sparks issued a statement that read, in part, “We trust Gordon and his agent that no decision has been made.”

Although Hayward is not ready to confirm reports on his free agent destination yet, it sounds like the Heat may be out of the mix. Wojnarowski reported this afternoon on ESPN that Hayward eliminated the Heat from consideration on Monday night (Twitter links via Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald).

Bartelstein has not addressed that report, and a source tells Anthony Chiang of The Palm Beach Post (Twitter link) that the Heat haven’t been formally informed that they’re out of the running. However, Jackson tweets that a Hayward associate told him this morning that Miami was a long shot.

If the Heat are out, that would narrow the group of finalists for Hayward to the Celtics and the Jazz, with Boston seemingly holding the major edge based on today’s initial reports. It’s possible that details are still being sorted out in regard to Hayward’s contract and the Celtics’ cap situation, since Boston currently doesn’t have room to accommodate their reported maximum salary offer for the star forward.

Still, while the Celtics look like the heavy favorite, the Jazz appear to be holding on to hope. Jody Genessy of The Deseret News (Twitter link) acknowledges that Hayward was leaning toward the Celtics, but has been told by multiple sources that the 27-year-old “never fully made up his mind.”

Meanwhile, Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune, who heard earlier from a source that Hayward has “changed his mind four times in the last four days,” confirmed this afternoon (via Twitter) that neither the Celtics nor the Jazz were informed of Hayward’s decision in an official capacity today.

As we continue to wait for resolution, here’s our chronological roundup of today’s earlier Hayward updates.

Gordon Hayward Decision on Hold?

July 4th, 2017 at 2:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

2:34pm: Hayward has changed his mind four times since Saturday, a source tells Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). Agents are speculating to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that a sign-and-trade or possibly a separate Celtics deal is holding up a formal announcement (Twitter link).

2:25pm: Boston’s offer is $127.8MM over four years, with a player option likely after the third season, reports A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.

2:05pm: The leak regarding Hayward’s decision may lead to a delay in his announcement, Himmelsbach tweets, with Bartelstein suggesting the situation may not be resolved today. “That was the goal,” he said, “but now we’ve got to kind of regroup here a bit.”

Jazz president Steve Starks has tweeted a statement that reads, “We trust Gordon and his agent that no decision has been made. Good communication all day and a great relationship.”

1:50pm: The Celtics haven’t heard from Hayward yet, but they aren’t denying the report from ESPN, tweets Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. Sources are telling Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe that the move is a formality and the teams just need to be notified (Twitter link).

1:40pm: Conflicting information is beginning to filter out concerning Gordon Hayward. David Aldridge of TNT claims Hayward has not reached a decision and is still weighing his options (Twitter link). Hayward’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, says the same thing to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. “Gordon hasn’t made a decision yet,” Bartelstein said. “We are still working through it.” (Twitter link).

1:19pm: Gordon Hayward will announce today that he’s signing with the Celtics, tweets Chris Haynes of ESPN.com.

The All-Star forward, who spent his first seven NBA seasons in Utah, was considered the top prize left on the free agent market. The Celtics, Jazz and Heat all held meetings with him over the past three days. The move will reunite him with Brad Stevens, his college coach at Butler.

Boston’s belief that it had a shot at Hayward affected its decision to be conservative in its pursuit of Jimmy Butler and Paul George, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).

With about $27MM in cap space, the Celtics don’t have quite enough cap room to sign Hayward to a full max deal. Hayward could agree to accept a little bit less, or the Celtics could try to move some salary before the moratorium ends on Thursday. One path, Blakely tweets, is to pull their qualifying offer for Kelly Olynyk, renounce all their free agents, waive Jordan Mickey and Demetrius Jackson and trade away one other contract.

Hayward, 27, is coming off his best season, setting careers highs with 21.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. He gives the Celtics another dangerous shooter who can stretch defenses and share the scoring load with Isaiah Thomas.

Free Agent Rumors: Rose, Hayward, Randolph, Bogut

July 3rd, 2017 at 10:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Free agent point guard Derrick Rose wants to play for the Bucks, a source close to Rose told Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times (Twitter link). Milwaukee will have to shed salary to make it happen. The team is over the salary cap and can only offer the $8.4MM mid-level exception unless it moves a big contract or two. Rose met with the Bucks on Monday. The Knicks are interested in bringing back Rose but it’s possible that New York could do a sign-and-trade with the Bucks.

In other free agent developments:

Gordon Hayward will “sleep on” it before deciding which team he’ll sign with, Sam Amick of USA Today tweets. The highly-coveted Jazz small forward met with Utah for 3 1/2 hours on Monday after meeting with the Heat on Saturday and the Celtics on Sunday.
The Kings don’t have much hope of signing veteran power forward Zach Randolph, sources informed Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). The Cavaliers have a strong interest in Randolph, though he may have to leave money on the table to play for the three-time defending Eastern Conference champions.
Andrew Bogut and his agent will talk to more than 10 teams as he seeks to come back from a fractured tibia, Steve Aschburner of NBA.com reports. Bogut suffered the injury in his Cavaliers debut on March 6. He did not require surgery and Bogut shed his cast a few weeks ago, Aschburner continues. The veteran center expects to begin full basketball workouts within the next three weeks, Aschburner adds.

Free Agent Rumors: Durant, Hill, Rockets, Hayward

July 3rd, 2017 at 8:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kevin Durant would have give the Warriors an even bigger discount to help them land Kings free agent Rudy Gay if Andre Iguodala had not agreed to re-sign, Sam Amick of USA Today tweets. Durant agreed to a two-year, $53MM contract on Monday with a starting salary of $25MM. Iguodala agreed to a three-year, $48MM contract to remain with Golden State. Amick’s tweet gives insight into the type of money it will take to land Gay despite the Achilles tear he suffered last season.

In other free agent developments:

The Nuggets are still pursuing free agent point guard George Hill and trying to clear cap to make that happen, Amick tweets. Denver already made a big splash by reaching an agreement with power forward Paul Millsap on a three-year, $90MM contract. The Lakers are in serious discussions with Hill on a one-year deal but Los Angeles is also considering another free agent point guard, Rajon Rondo, according to Amick (Twitter link).
Rockets GM Daryl Morey plans to hold onto his remaining non-guaranteed contracts and $3.3MM bi-annual exception, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Morey might add a player on a minimum contract, Feigen adds.
The Jazz’s meeting with Gordon Hayward on Monday lasted 3 1/2 hours and included newly-acquired point guard Ricky Rubio, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. Hayward held meetings with the Heat and Celtics the previous two days and is expected to make a decision within the next two days.