- The Wizards are intent on keeping forward Otto Porter in Washington, Deveney writes, even as the suddenly hot 23-year-old commodity, gets pursued by other teams like the Suns and Nets, as expected. As the pool of suitors grows, Porter’s price tag could approach max territory.
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Though he won’t be able to officially sign until waivers clear on Wednesday, Brandon Jennings is on his way to Washington intent on signing with the Wizards. Chris Haynes of ESPN tweeted that the two parties have come to a verbal agreement, while Mike Wise of ESPN initially reported that such a deal was likely. It was Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical who wrote that the guard is already arranging travel plans to be in D.C. tomorrow.
Jennings and other recently bought out players Andrew Bogut and Jose Calderon won’t be able to sign with new clubs until they clear waivers at 5 PM EST on March 1, as ESPN’s Marc Stein reminds us. At that point, Jennings will be eligible to sign with the Wizards and be a part of their playoff run. Washington had previously been linked to Lakers guard Lou Williams but he was ultimately dealt to the Rockets just prior to the deadline. In Jennings, however, the Wiz gets their prolific reserve scorer at the point guard position.
The Wizards currently have a full 15-man roster, so they’ll need to waive a player to open up a roster spot before Jennings’ signing can become official. It also remains to be seen how much Jennings’ deal will be worth — most free agents signing new deals at this point ink minimum salary contracts, but Washington still has a prorated portion of its room exception available. A minimum salary pact would mean a salary worth about $325K for Jennings, while a deal with the room exception could be worth up to about $2MM.
In 58 games with the Knicks, Jennings averaged 8.6 points and 4.9 assists per game.
Kevin Durant didn’t consider the Wizards when he was a free agent in part because he accomplished everything he set out to do in the D.C. Metro area, Tim Bontemps and Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post relay.
“I don’t want to open up anything in the past, but I really just didn’t want to play at home,” Durant said. “It was nothing about the fans. Being at home, I was so happy with that part of my life — playing at home, being in front of friends, hanging with friends and family every day. That was a part of my life that has come and gone.
“I was like, I’m trying to build a second part of my life as a man living in a different part of the country, just trying to do different things. I did everything I was supposed to do in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area, I felt. Now it’s time to do something new. I didn’t want to come back. That’s just my thought process behind it. It had nothing to do with basketball, the fans, the city.”
Landing Durant was always a pipedream for the Wizards. Washington did not get a meeting with him in free agency while it watched six other franchises court the small forward.
Durant added that his mother was a major influence on his decision not to come back home. “No disrespect to anybody back at home, but my mom, she wanted me to see the world. She wanted me to see a different part of the country, and she didn’t want it to be a quick flight, either. She didn’t want anybody to be able to just get ahold of me,” Durant said.
Over the course of his career, the 8-time All-Star routinely made visits to his home state of Maryland during his offseasons. It was rewarding to come home and help out the community, but it came with challenges.
“With any athlete, when they’re playing in their hometown, there are advantages and disadvantages,” said Stu Vetter, Durant’s former high school coach. “The disadvantage is, everyone becomes a very good friend very quickly. Your time is in great demand. Your resources are in great demand. And everyone wants a favor.”
Durant visits his home community less frequently now than he did earlier in his career, but the area remains close to his heart. He’s a huge Redskins fan, who believes the team should re-sign Kirk Cousins (you can check out the latest on Cousins and Washington at Pro Football Rumors). Durant considered coming back home after learning about LeBron James‘ decision to return to his home state in 2014 but quickly decided that his own situation was not parallel to LBJ’s.
“I thought about what it might be like,” Durant said. “I thought about it. But it made LeBron’s situation different because he got drafted there. So it was like he was home already, so he knew what it was like. It wasn’t like it was his first time going back. For me, I never played at home. I didn’t know what it would be. I know every time I go back it’s pretty hectic, and I just wanted to focus on basketball and not have to worry about a lot of stuff that comes with being at home.”
“It’s always good going back, but I would rather play in a different city.”
2:55pm: Despite Van Gundy’s assertion, the Hornets are happy with their signing of Weber and are currently unlikely to pursue Jennings, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein (Twitter link). Stein adds (via Twitter) that multiple teams are eyeing Jennings, with the Wizards apparently at the “front of the line.”
1:53pm: David Aldridge of TNT and NBA.com (Twitter link) is hearing from “several places” that Jennings-to-Charlotte isn’t necessarily a done deal. The Wizards are among the team still working on landing Jennings, per Aldridge.
12:35pm: Having been released by the Knicks today, Brandon Jennings is on track to clear waivers and become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday, assuming he goes unclaimed. However, it sounds like Jennings may have already have a new team lined up. Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy told local reporters today that Jennings is headed to the Hornets (Twitter link via Keith Langlois of Pistons.com).
As the Pistons’ president of basketball operations, Van Gundy is plugged into player movement around the league, but an agreement between the Hornets and Jennings has yet to be reported elsewhere, so we’ll wait for further confirmation. It’s also worth noting that Jennings will have to clear waivers first — Charlotte doesn’t have the cap room or exception available to claim him, so if the Hornets do land him, it would be in free agency.
A former 10th overall pick, Jennings signed a one-year contract with the Knicks last summer, and averaged 8.6 PPG and 4.9 APG in 58 games to go along with a .380/.340/.756 shooting line. New York waived Jennings today, and at least one report indicated that the veteran guard had asked for the opportunity to join a playoff team.
The Hornets are currently just one game ahead of the Knicks in the standings and sit 11th in the East, so Charlotte would be a somewhat unusual landing spot. Having signed Briante Weber today, the Hornets also have a full 15-man roster, though because Weber and Johnny O’Bryant are on 10-day contracts, it wouldn’t be hard to open up a roster spot if it’s needed.
According to Chris Haynes of ESPN.com (via Twitter), the Wizards also have interest in Jennings.
- The Wizards have some adjustments to make with offseason acquisition Ian Mahinmi back in the lineup and newly acquired Bojan Bogdanovic still settling in, writes J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic. “We’re trying to find some consistency,” said head coach Scott Brooks. “Getting Ian back, hopefully we can get him back to a stretch of games where he can play and build a chemistry with the group he’s out there with. Now Bojan so we can have him out there with that group. It’s consistency and understanding where we can get some points. I got to try to figure out what’s the best minute-wise and who plays and the matchups.“
- The Wizards freed up cap space to make signing forward Otto Porter to an extension this summer possible. General manager Ernie Grunfeld recently spoke with J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic about just that. “We love the way that he’s developed and how he’s come along. I think Otto fits in very well with what we’re trying to do,” Grunfeld said. “I said he’s part of our core and we want to keep him here.”
- Over the All-Star Break, Wizards rookie Sheldon McClellan announced that he has legally changed his name to Sheldon Mac, says Chase Hughes of CSN Mid-Atlantic. The guard had thought about it for a while but held off for fear of complicating the scouting and drafting process he went through last year.
- Recently acquired forward Bojan Bogdanovic was looking forward to the trade that officially sent him to the Wizards. The veteran will come off the bench in Washington and tells J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic that he doesn’t think it will be that big of an adjustment.
3:14pm: The Hornets have officially signed O’Bryant to a 10-day contract, the team announced this afternoon in a press release.
7:32am: After playing on a pair of 10-day contracts with the Nuggets earlier this season, Johnny O’Bryant is poised to join a new team, according to Chris Reichert of The Step Back, who reports (via Twitter) that the Hornets will sign the free agent forward to a 10-day contract.
The Hornets have been carrying 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts, along with a pair of players – Ray McCallum and Mike Tobey – on 10-day contracts. The latest 10-day deals for both McCallum and Tobey expired overnight, so it seems the Hornets won’t retain both players.
Assuming the team finalizes a deal with O’Bryant, there would still be one opening on the roster to sign McCallum, Tobey, or someone else. Since McCallum and Tobey each signed two 10-day contracts with Charlotte, they would need to be signed for the season to stick with the Hornets.
O’Bryant, 23, was the 36th overall pick in the 2014 draft, and spent his first two NBA seasons with the Bucks. In 100 games for the club, O’Bryant averaged 3.0 PPG and 2.4 RPG. The LSU product signed as a free agent with the Wizards prior to training camp last fall, but didn’t earn a regular-season roster spot with the team.
O’Bryant subsequently joined the D-League’s Northern Arizona Suns, averaging 18.5 PPG and 8.7 RPG in 24 games for Phoenix’s affiliate this season. He even added a three-point shot to his game during his time in the NBADL, making 38.0% of his attempts and averaging more than one three-pointer per game. That earned O’Bryant a couple 10-day contracts with the Nuggets, for whom he appeared in seven games, averaging 2.9 PPG and 1.6 RPG.
Whether it’s via trade or free agency, the Hawks are planning to add a third point guard to their roster, head coach Mike Budenholzer said today (Twitter link via Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution). Dennis Schroder has had a very solid season in Atlanta, but Malcolm Delaney has been up and down as his backup, and the team doesn’t really have additional depth at the position.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- On The Vertical’s live trade deadline show, Adrian Wojnarowski suggested that one reason the Celtics and Bulls haven’t moved forward in Jimmy Butler talks is because the Bulls would want at least a couple players capable of joining their rotation immediately, and Boston is more interested in using draft picks in a potential package.
- The Knicks have yet to budge on their insistence that the Timberwolves add an additional player or draft pick to a Ricky Rubio/Derrick Rose swap, according to Ian Begley of ESPN.com. As Begley notes, it’ll be interesting to see if either side budges before the deadline.
- J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com takes a closer look at why the Wizards targeted Bojan Bogdanovic and were willing to give up a first-round pick for him.
Earlier today, we heard that the Clippers recently showed interest in Courtney Lee, and according to Ian Begley and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com, the Clips and Knicks continue to talk. New York has been seeking draft picks in discussions on Lee and other players, and the Clippers don’t have any immediate first-rounders to offer, as Begley notes. So if the Knicks want to send Lee to Los Angeles, they may have to settle for a player or get a third team involved.
Here are more of the latest trade rumors from around the NBA:
- The Pacers have been talking to teams about possible trades that would allow them to clear roster spots, tweets ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. As Windhorst notes, teams suspect that might be related to their talks with the Celtics regarding Paul George. Of course, Indiana may also just be doing due diligence as well in case Boston ups its offer — the Pacers wouldn’t want to be stuck having to waive useful players to make a deal work.
- The Jazz don’t appear likely at this point to make a deal, says Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com (via Twitter). TNT’s David Aldridge notes (via Twitter) that Utah could still make a move for Deron Williams, but if Williams isn’t dealt, the veteran point guard won’t ask for a buyout from the Mavericks.
- The Kings continue to mull their options, but don’t appear to be moving forward with talks for players like Darren Collison and Arron Afflalo for now, according to Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post (Twitter link), who adds that Sacramento’s asking prices may be too high. If those prices come down, things could change.
- The Wizards continue to work the phones, but aren’t overly optimistic about getting another deal done by the deadline, tweets Bontemps.
- The market for Iman Shumpert appears to be cooling as the deadline approaches, per Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net (Twitter link). Amico says that teams are asking for a draft pick from the Cavaliers, and Cleveland doesn’t have many picks left.
The Timberwolves are “determined” to move Shabazz Muhammad today and hope to land a draft pick in return, reports TNT’s David Aldridge (via Twitter). One report earlier today suggested that Minnesota might attach Muhammad to Ricky Rubio, but Aldridge is unsure if Muhammad would be included in a potential Rubio/Derrick Rose swap.
Here are more trade rumors from around the NBA:
- John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) has heard that Raptors players would like to see the team acquire Suns forward P.J. Tucker, in the hopes of getting someone capable of defending LeBron James in the postseason.
- Darren Collison, who is on an expiring contract, is drawing interest from many teams, but the Kings are holding firm on their asking price of a first-round pick, tweets David Aldridge of TNT. An earlier report identified the Bucks as a potential Collison suitor, but Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link) says Milwaukee hasn’t engaged in talks with the Kings.
- Now that they’ve found a taker for Andrew Bogut, the Mavericks have shifted their focus to a possible Deron Williams deal, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
- The Wizards are exploring the market for a possible deal for a point guard, sources tell Kyler (Twitter link).
- The Warriors aren’t active today, and figure to focus on the buyout market if they want to bolster their bench, according to Kyler (Twitter link).