- During an impromptu interview with TMZ, Doc Rivers explained the decision to trade his son, Austin Rivers, to the Wizards. The Clippers coach called it “the right thing for all of us” and predicts that Austin will excel in Washington.
4:34pm: Howard has finalized his buyout with the Nets and will sign a one-year deal with the Wizards for the MLE after he clears waivers, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
4:11pm: The Wizards plan to offer a contract to Dwight Howard once his expected buyout with the Nets is complete, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post.
Howard is technically still a member of the Hornets, but that will change once the moratorium is lifted on Friday. He will be sent to Brooklyn under a deal agreed to two weeks ago, then will hit the open market if buyout negotiations go as planned.
Washington still has its $5.3MM mini mid-level exception to offer, along with a starting job. The Wizards need help in the middle after trading Marcin Gortat to the Clippers for Austin Rivers .
A three-time Defensive Player of the Year, Howard could provide a defensive anchor and a strong rebounding presence in Washington. Regardless of where he ends up, Howard will be with his fourth team in four years, but he remains productive at age 32. He averaged 16.6 points and 12.5 rebounds in 81 games for Charlotte this season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
JULY 10: The signing is now official, the club confirmed today in a press release.
JULY 3: The Wizards have agreed to a deal with free agent forward Jeff Green, reports TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link). A source tells Aldridge that Green is signing a one-year, minimum salary contract with Washington.
Green, 31, spent the 2017/18 season in Cleveland, averaging 10.8 PPG and 3.2 RPG in 78 games for the Cavaliers.
The Cavs reportedly had interest in retaining Green, but he’ll head to D.C., where the Wizards figure to slot him into a similar role to the one Mike Scott had last year off the bench. Scott agreed to a free agent deal with the Clippers on Monday.
Because he has at least 10 years of NBA experience, Green will qualify for the highest possible minimum salary, at $2,393,887. However, the former fifth overall pick will only against Washington’s cap for $1,512,601.
Even after agreeing to sign Green and claiming Thomas Bryant off waivers, the Wizards likely aren’t done addressing their frontcourt. Having sent Marcin Gortat to the Clippers last week, Washington only has Ian Mahinmi, Jason Smith, and Bryant at center.
The Wizards likely won’t have their full mid-level exception available, since they project to be over the tax line, but the team still has the taxpayer’s MLE ($5.337MM) if needed.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Wizards lost one key member of their bench when Mike Scott reached an agreement with the Clippers on Monday, but the team has remained active in search of potential free agent additions.
According to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post (Twitter links), the Wizards have expressed interest in a number of veteran free agents, including Jamal Crawford, Luc Mbah a Moute, Dante Cunningham, and Willie Reed. Ty Lawson, who finished last season in D.C., also remains a possibility to return, Buckner adds.
The Wizards’ backcourt is getting pretty crowded, with Tomas Satoransky and newly-acquired Austin Rivers slotting in behind John Wall and Bradley Beal. Jodie Meeks and rookie Troy Brown could also see some time at the two, so it’s not clear whether Crawford, who will want a featured role off the bench, would be a good fit in Washington.
However, Mbah a Moute, Cunningham, and Reed make more sense as potential targets for the Wizards. Mbah a Moute and Cunningham are versatile forwards capable of knocking down three-pointers, while Reed is a big man who could add depth to a Wizards frontcourt that no longer features Marcin Gortat.
The Wizards have also been linked to Dwight Howard, Jeff Green, Treveon Graham, and Thomas Robinson, among other free agents.
- After losing Mike Scott to the Clippers, the Wizards are on the lookout for frontcourt help and have been in touch with free agent forward Jeff Green, reports TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link).
- Former fifth overall pick Thomas Robinson didn’t play in the NBA last season, but he’s receiving some interest from teams this offseason, per Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. Kennedy tweets that the Bucks, Clippers, Wizards, and Suns have all expressed some level of interest in the veteran power forward.
Before DeMarcus Cousins agreed to join the defending-champion Warriors on a one-year, $5.3MM contract, the Trail Blazers and Pelicans discussed the possibility of a sign-and-trade deal that would have sent the star center to Portland, reports Chris Haynes of ESPN.com (Twitter link). However, according to Haynes, the fact that Cousins and Jusuf Nurkic share the same agent was one roadblock in those talks.
Even if not for that issue, it would have been tricky for the Pelicans and Blazers to reach a deal that worked for both sides. Acquiring a player via sign-and-trade would have hard-capped the Blazers, who were already well over the cap, so they likely would have had to send at least one or two players to New Orleans. It’s not clear if talks progressed to the point where the two sides were discussing specific players.
Here’s more on the free agency decision that has practically made LeBron James‘ move to Los Angeles an afterthought tonight:
- Cousins had narrowed down his choices to Golden State and Boston before opting for the Warriors, according to Haynes (Twitter link). The Celtics could have comfortably matched Golden State’s offer and would have been a fascinating destination for Cousins — with LeBron out of the East, the C’s already look like a favorite to represent the conference in the Finals in 2019, so the team’s status as the frontrunner would have been cemented with Cousins in the mix.
- Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports takes a look at the Warriors‘ recruitment of Cousins, which was led by his USA Basketball teammates Draymond Green and Kevin Durant, along with GM Bob Myers. Cousins also had “positive phone calls” with head coach Steve Kerr, league sources tell Charania.
- The Warriors were initially reluctant to believe in Cousins’ interest, according to Charania, who adds that the big man also received interest from the Pelicans, Mavericks, and Wizards. Golden State’s agreement with Cousins came together so quickly that some members of the organization were “stunned” when word of the deal broke, tweets ESPN’s Zach Lowe.
- Speaking to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter links), Cousins called his decision to join the Warriors the “smartest move ever,” and said he’s still hoping to return from his Achilles injury for training camp. Reports tonight suggested the Dubs may be eyeing a December or January return to action for their latest acquisition.
- Cousins also told Spears that he received no significant contract offers when free agency began, but was prepared for that possibility due to his Achilles injury (Twitter link).
- While it’s not impossible that Cousins could end up hurting the Warriors more than he helps, the addition – combined with the Rockets’ loss of Trevor Ariza – appears to have further widened the gap between Golden State and the rest of the NBA, writes Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com in his breakdown of the deal.
The Wizards have claimed second-year center Thomas Bryant off waivers from the Lakers, sources tell Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Bryant was cut by the Lakers on Saturday to create a little extra cap flexibility in advance of free agency.
Bryant, the 42nd overall pick in the 2017 draft, appeared in 15 games for the Lakers last season, averaging 1.5 points and 1.1 rebounds in 4.6 minutes per game. He saw more action in the G League, posting 19.7 PPG, 7.3 RPG, and a .597/.364/.674 shooting line in 37 games for the South Bay Lakers.
According to salary data from Basketball Insiders and ESPN, Bryant’s contract includes a $1,378,242 non-guaranteed salary for 2018/19, which is set to become guaranteed if the young center remains under contract through Thursday. Theoretically then, Washington still has the opportunity to avoid Bryant’s guarantee, but the club likely wouldn’t have placed a claim on him if it didn’t plan to keep him for more than three days.
Teams generally require cap room or a trade exception to claim a player off waivers, but because Bryant is on a two-year, minimum-salary deal, any club was eligible to place a claim.
JULY 9th, 5:59pm: The signing is official, according to the team’s PR Twitter feed. The one-year deal is said to be worth approximately $4.3MM, per ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link).
JULY 2nd, 3:48pm: The Clippers have agreed to terms on a deal with veteran free agent Mike Scott, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). According to Woj, Scott will sign a one-year contract with Los Angeles.
The Clippers were said to have strong interest in Anthony Tolliver, meeting with him on the first day of the free agent period Sunday. However, once Tolliver committed to the Timberwolves, L.A. shifted its focus to other options and did well to land Scott, who will add depth at forward behind Tobias Harris and Danilo Gallinari.
Scott, a 6’8″ power forward, had a strong season for the Wizards in 2017/18, averaging 8.8 PPG and 3.3 RPG in a part-time role (18.5 MPG). He also set career highs in FG% (.527) and 3PT% (.405).
The Wizards had made it a priority to bring back Scott, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post (Twitter link), but he’ll head west for the coming season, leaving Washington to look elsewhere for frontcourt help.
- Dwight Howard still has to be traded and then bought out before he officially becomes a free agent, but he could hit the market in about a week. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders tweets that he keeps hearing the Wizards and Warriors as potential landing spots for Howard. Sam Amick of USA Today reported over the weekend that the former No. 1 pick has interest in the Pelicans, Warriors, and Wizards, though Amick and others have suggested Golden State may not be sold on Howard’s fit.
The Jazz have already met with free agent big man Derrick Favors, Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune reports. Favors met with club general manager Dennis Lindsey and head coach Quin Snyder for three hours today to discuss his future.
Marc Spears of The Undefeated, also reporting on the meeting, tweets that the forward is expected to make a decision on Monday. Favors – like the Jazz in general – enjoyed a pleasant surprise of a 2017/18 season and meshed with center Rudy Gobert in ways that he hadn’t previously.
That successful year has breathed new life into Favors’ future with the franchise that he’s played for since 2011. Favors averaged 12.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game this season, a notable improvement from the 9.5 and 6.1 he posted in 2016/17.
Both the Timberwolves and Mavs were previously linked to the 26-year-old.
There’s more from around the league tonight:
- With LeBron James suddenly a Laker, the Sixers can entertain other free agent possibilities. One option, on a notably smaller scale, is 3-and-D specialist Wayne Ellington, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald tweets. Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets that the Timberwolves have also shown interest in the 39.2% three-point shooter.
- There has been no shortage of players the Timberwolves are said to be interested in this summer but Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News adds Vince Carter to the list. The 41-year-old veteran played last season with the Kings.
- The Clippers have sent their top brass to Dallas to meet with Pistons forward Anthony Tolliver at his home, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets. Tolliver drew praise in 2017/18, establishing himself as a reliable stretch four and a respected veteran presence.
- While he’s still open to returning to play with the Warriors, forward Kevon Looney has been in touch with the Clippers. Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times tweets that no deal is imminent.
- After carving a minor role for himself in the Hornets‘ rotation last season, undrafted guard Treveon Graham is drawing interest from the Wizards, Pistons and Timberwolves, Candace Buckner of The Washington Post tweets. Graham is a D.C. native.
- Although he ended up signing a one-year deal with the Knicks, small forward Mario Hezonja turned down multiple multi-year offers, Michael Scotto of The Athletic tweets. Scotto cites head coach David Fizdale and the potential for Hezonja to grow his role with the franchise as reasons why the free agent forward chose New York.