Washington Wizards Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Hawks Request Waivers On Jamal Crawford

July 7th, 2017 at 6:28pm CST by Austin Kent

7:28pm: The Hawks have formally requested waivers on Crawford, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets.

The Cavs appear to be the frontrunners of all the teams mentioned to be in the hunt for Crawford’s services. Per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, the veteran guard is “theirs to lose.” Crawford will be able to officially finalize a deal with the Cavs or another team once he clears waivers.

5:37pm: The Hawks have finalized a contract buyout with Jamal Crawford, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. The 36-year-old was acquired in the three-way deal that sent Danilo Gallinari to the Clippers.

Particularly interested in the news will be the Cavaliers and Celtics who, along with the Timberwolves, Bucks and Wizards, are reported to be in the mix for the services of the combo guard. David Aldridge of TNT notes that the Lakers could be in pursuit as well.

In 82 games for L.A. last season, Crawford posted 12.3 points per game. The veteran has spent each of the past five seasons with the Clippers and has long been one of the league’s most impactful reserves.

If a contending team like the Cavs or C’s lands the three-time Sixth Man of the Year, it may drastically bolster their shot at competing in the East.

Upon news of the buyout, which was also promptly reported by ESPN’s Chris Haynes, Sam Amick of USA Today notes that the Wolves, Wizards and Cavs are out front in the race to land the guard’s services.

Bojan Bogdanovic’s Becomes UFA; Pacers Make Push

July 7th, 2017 at 1:45pm CST by Luke Adams

1:45pm: The Pacers have emerged as the frontrunners to sign Bogdanovic, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

1:36pm: The Wizards have withdrawn their qualifying offer on Bojan Bogdanovic, giving up their right of first refusal on the free agent forward, tweets TNT’s David Aldridge. As a result of the move, Bogdanovic will be an unrestricted free agent and can sign outright with any team.

Bogdanovic, 28, enjoyed the best season of his NBA career in 2016/17, starting 54 games for the Nets before being sent to the Wizards in a deadline deal. For the season, the 6’8″ swingman averaged 13.7 PPG and 3.4 RPG, with a .445/.367/.893 shooting line.

Despite his solid production, Bogdanovic isn’t viewed as an elite two-way player, so it came as a bit of a surprise when one report indicated he was seeking $16MM annually over three or four years. That sort of money may have been available for a player like Bogdanovic in free agency a year ago when nearly every team had cap room, but the market hasn’t been as prosperous this time around.

Sean Deveney of The Sporting News suggested on Thursday that Bogdanovic’s price tag was “quickly dropping,” though perhaps becoming unrestricted will help. The Hawks, Kings, and Nuggets were among the teams showing interest earlier in free agency — it’s not clear if they’re all still in the mix.

The Wizards are poised to match the Nets’ offer sheet for Otto Porter and reached a deal with Jodie Meeks earlier this week, which made Bogdanovic the odd man out in D.C.

Wizards Receive Otto Porter’s Offer Sheet From Nets

July 6th, 2017 at 6:40pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Wizards have received Otto Porter‘s four-year, $106.5MM offer sheet from the Nets, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The deal contains a player option on the final year and ESPN’s Zach Lowe reports (Twitter link) that the contract includes a 15% trade kicker.

Porter’s deal has a peculiar wrinkle in it that will have him collect 50% of his annual salary by October 1 every season, Lowe tweets. Such an arrangement is not common in the NBA. ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (Twitter link) that the 50% threshold is the maximum allowed under the CBA.

Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post reports that the Wizards not only plan on matching — they also tie up Brooklyn’s cap space for as long as possible. The deadline for the team to match is July 8 at midnight, but Porter still needs to pass a physical with the Wizards and he’ll have two days to do so once Washington matches the offer.

At that point, Washington would have two days to announce that Porter has passed the physical. That means the Georgetown product’s offer sheet could theoretically stay on the Brooklyn’s cap through July 12.

The Wizards – one of three franchises (along with Charlotte and New Orleans) to never pay the tax – will be over the luxury tax line once they match the offer sheet. The club now intends to complete its reported deal with Jodie Meeks using part of the taxpayer mid-level exception rather than the bi-annual exception, to avoid being hard-capped.

The Nets have been aggressive with restricted free agents since Sean Marks took over GM duties. Last year, the team presented Allen Crabbe, Tyler Johnson, and Donatas Motiejunas with lucrative offer sheets, but didn’t ultimately land any of those players.

Brooklyn isn’t the only team that was hoping to steal Porter away from Washington. The Kings presented Porter with a max offer last weekend, though the small forward decided to meet with other teams before signing. Sacramento then went in another direction, using most of its available cap room on Zach Randolph and George Hill.

Latest On Jamal Crawford

July 6th, 2017 at 4:21pm CST by ChrisCrouse

4:21pm: The Celtics are also among the teams Crawford would consider if he’s bought out, tweets Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders.

3:52pm: Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype (Twitter link) hears that in addition to the Wolves, Cavs, and Wizards, the Bucks would be in the mix for the shooting guard’s services in the event of a buyout. Kennedy mentions the Lakers as well, though Spears’ report (noted below) suggests the mutual interest between L.A. and Crawford has faded.

2:45pm: The three-team trade between the Nuggets, Clippers, and Hawks is expected to be finalized today and Jamal Crawford will work with Atlanta on a buyout agreement shortly after landing on the team, Chris Haynes of ESPN.com tweets.

It initially appeared that the shooting guard preferred to sign with the Lakers given his home in Los Angeles and his relationship with No. 2 overall pick Lonzo Ball. However, Marc J. Spears of the Undefeated reports (Twitter link) that neither Crawford nor the Lakers have much interest in working on a deal. The scribe adds that 37-year-old is expected to have interest from the Wolves, Cavs, and Wizards once a buyout is completed.

The Warriors were considered front-runners to sign Crawford earlier in the week, but the team opted to sign Nick Young to bolster its second unit. Crawford played for the Warriors during the 2008/09 season.

Atlanta is under no obligation to reach a buyout agreement with the shooting guard and the team could decide to trade him or keep him on the roster. It was reported earlier in the week that if Crawford wanted a buyout, he would have to give up a “significant portion” of his salary. He’s set to make over $17.2MM in guaranteed salary over the next two seasons.

Southeast Notes: Meeks, Porter, Reed, Magic

July 6th, 2017 at 2:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards will use their mid-level exception instead of their bi-annual exception to sign Jodie Meeks, tweets Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. The change was made to avoid being hard-capped by the expected re-signing of Otto Porter. Meeks will still receive $7MM over two seasons; the money will just come from a different source (Twitter link). The Wizards still haven’t received the Nets’ offer sheet for Porter, adds J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic (Twitter link).

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Clippers, Warriors, Hawks, Sixers and Pacers all remain in the market for Heat back-up center Willie Reed, tweets David Aldridge of TNT. Miami also hopes to re-sign him.
The Magic’s new management team is taking a cautious attitude toward rebuilding, relays Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando has been quiet during the first week of free agency, despite coming off a 29-53 season and having up to $15.1MM available to spend. “There’s a lot less money in the free-agent market this year than there was last year,” said Jeff Weltman, the team’s new president of basketball operations. “And so, the approach that we’ve taken is to kind of wait and see how some of that shakes out towards the next phase of free agency and see which players we may be able to get into discussions with at that point. But we’ve been touching base with a lot of guys and just kind of gauging the market.”
The Hornets have promoted Buzz Peterson to assistant GM, the team announced on its website. A former standout at North Carolina and a head coach at five colleges, Peterson had been serving as the Hornets’ senior advisor to basketball operations. “He brings a wide breadth of basketball knowledge to the position, having been involved in the game at various levels for close to three decades,” said Charlotte GM Rich Cho. “I’m excited to be working more closely with Buzz in his new role and look forward to his continued contributions to our basketball team.”

Wizards Sign Mike Young To Two-Way Contract

July 5th, 2017 at 5:48pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Wizards have signed Michael Young to a two-way contract, according to a team announcement. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Washington also announced that Young will play for the organization’s Summer League team in Las Vegas.

Young played at the University of Pittsburgh and was named All-ACC Third Team in each of this final two seasons at the school. The Pennsylvania native scored 19.6 points per game while pulling down 6.8 rebounds during his senior season with the Panthers.

Each team is allowed to sign two players to a two-way contract, which is a feature of the new CBA. Players signed to these deals will spend most of the 2017/18 campaign playing in the NBA G-League since they cannot spend more than 45 days with their NBA team, as our glossary page on two-way contracts shows.

The Wizards do not have a G-League team of their own, so Young will have to play for another club via the league’s flex assignment rule. Candace Buckner of The Washington Post notes that the power forward will likely spend most of his time with the Delaware 87ers.

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.

Southeast Notes: Porter, Bogdanovic, Isaac, Bosh

July 4th, 2017 at 4:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Kings’ decision to use a major part of their cap space on George Hill and Zach Randolph leaves the Nets as the most significant threat for Wizards RFA Otto Porter, tweets David Aldridge of TNT. Porter met with the Kings on Sunday and reportedly received a max offer, but didn’t sign it, wanting to talk to other teams first. Sacramento’s moves today means it no longer has room for a max deal unless it unloads some other salary. The Wizards can match any offer sheet that Porter brings to them, and have stated that they plan to do so.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Wizards plan to explore sign-and-trade options for Bojan Bogdanovic, according to J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic. Bogdanovic appears to be on the way out after this week’s deals with Jodie Meeks and Mike Scott, but Washington won’t revoke his $4.7MM qualifying offer, hoping to deal him and create a traded player exception. Bogdanovic is reportedly seeking about $16MM per year, which seems unrealistic. Michael notes that the Wizards have made use of TPEs in the recent years, picking up Jared Dudley, Kris Humphries and Tim Frazier.
The Magic will hold first-round pick Jonathan Isaac out of the final two games of the Orlando Pro Summer League after he suffered a hip strain Monday, relays John Denton of NBA.com. Tests didn’t reveal any structural damage and the injury isn’t considered serious, but the Magic are keeping him sidelined as a precaution.
In a move to free up cap space, the Magic have reached an agreement with 2005 first-rounder Fran Vazquez that he won’t play in the NBA this season, tweets Keith Smith of Real GM. Orlando still owns the rights for the 34-year-old, and the move takes away his cap hold for the upcoming season.
The Heat are expected to end their seven-year relationship with Chris Bosh this week, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Miami will erase Bosh’s $52.1MM from its cap under a medical retirement in the wake of recurring blood clots. Bosh must be given 48 hours to clear waivers before the move becomes official, and it will push the Heat’s cap space from $9MM to more than $34MM this year.

Free Agency Notes: Freeland, Bogdanovic, Millsap

July 3rd, 2017 at 11:43am CST by Luke Adams

Former Trail Blazers big man Joel Freeland has engaged in talks with NBA teams and could make a comeback after spending the last two seasons playing international ball, reports Chris Haynes of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

Freeland, 30, was a first-round pick way back in 2006 and joined the Blazers six years later for the 2012/13 season. However, his stint with the team lasted just three years — he appeared in 151 regular season games for Portland before heading back overseas and playing for CSKA Moscow for the last two seasons. He’s now a free agent.

Here’s more on free agency from around the NBA:

A league source tells Chris Miller of CSN (Twitter link) that Wizards RFA Bojan Bogdanovic is believed to be seeking a three- or four-year deal worth $16MM annually. That sort of money may have been available for a player like Bogdanovic in free agency a year ago when nearly every team had cap room, but I really don’t see him getting an offer in that range this time around.
Paul Millsap tells Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link) that the Hawks never formally offered him a contract. New Atlanta GM Travis Schlenk never sounded overly enthusiastic about making a competitive offer for Millsap, who committed to the Nuggets on Sunday night.
The Warriors still have their $5.192MM mid-level exception available, but Tim Kawakami of The San Jose Mercury News (Twitter link) is skeptical that the team will use it to sign a single player, suggesting the Dubs are more likely to split it up among multiple players — if they use it at all.
If the Bulls are serious about going all-in on their rebuild, it might make sense to let RFA forward Nikola Mirotic walk in an effort to downgrade next year’s roster and improve the team’s chances at a top-five pick, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.

Western FA Notes: Muhammad, Holiday, Young

July 2nd, 2017 at 7:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

A theme is developing in Minnesota as head coach Tom Thibodeau slowly molds the young Timberwolves into a modern day version of his old team. Consider Justin Holiday the latest former Bulls rotation piece that the T-Wolves have expressed an interest in, Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders writes.

Holiday would join Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson with the Wolves, should the organization seek to sign the 28-year-old 3-and-D specialist.

The Bulls and Knicks, the team with whom Holiday averaged 7.7 points per game for in 2016/17, are both said to be interested in retaining the swingman’s services.

There’s more today as free agency rolls along:

The Timberwolves will likely have to renounce Shabazz Muhammad in the wake of today’s two-year, $28MM agreement with Taj Gibson, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. He adds that Muhammad’s representatives have been notifying teams that he is now an unrestricted free agent (Twitter link).
Nick Young has emerged as a candidate for the Warriors‘ $5.2MM exception, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The Pelicans can offer more playing time and a larger role in the offense, notes David Aldridge of TNT (Twitter link), but Young may opt for the chance for a ring.
Gordon Hayward will meet with Jazz officials in San Diego, not Utah, on Monday, tweets Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. Coach Quin Snyder, GM Dennis Lindsey and team president Steve Starks will be among Utah’s delegation.
The Rockets‘ interest in Cleveland’s Iman Shumpert is “basically dead,” according to Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The teams had trade discussions regarding Shumpert on Saturday before Houston signed Tucker.