2019 Official NBA Free Agent thread

Thinking about it, doesn’t it seem like that the CP3/Griffin/Jordan era in LA ended quickly? It was 6 years, but nothing big happened during those 6 years.

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Originally Posted by msusousaphone

Yep. It screams "when you have a game at 7pm and have a gig in your My Chemical Romance cover band at midnight".

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Hey, you leave MCR out of this!

Five months ago, we are bellyaching over the on-court performance and direction of the team. Now we are lamenting about the team's fashion sense. Times - they are a changin'.

Perhaps we should start a fashion thread?

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Originally Posted by As I See It

Five months ago, we are bellyaching over the on-court performance and direction of the team. Now we are lamenting about the team's fashion sense. Times - they are a changin'.

Perhaps we should start a fashion thread?

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https://media.giphy.com/media/wYyTHMm50f4Dm/giphy.gif

Does anybody know Nicola Melli's status? Is he expected to join the team this year? The way the other rookies have shined, I can't wait to see what he brings to the table.

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1149474995996749825




LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Thunder are playing a long-game unseen in recent NBA history: Seven additional first-round picks lined up through 2026 -- plus four pick swaps -- via deals for Paul George and Chris Paul.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2019

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

Thunder are completely out of the playoff race. They're gonna win like 32 games, if that.

They're set up for a good rebuild, sure, but wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooow

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

Thunder are completely out of the playoff race. They're gonna win like 32 games, if that.

They're set up for a good rebuild, sure, but wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooow

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What are the chances Chris Paul gets a championship now?

How about James Harden?

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Originally Posted by JunkHead

What are the chances Chris Paul gets a championship now?

How about James Harden?

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I’ll take Zion’s chances over both of their’s.

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Originally Posted by JunkHead

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1149474995996749825




LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Thunder are playing a long-game unseen in recent NBA history: Seven additional first-round picks lined up through 2026 -- plus four pick swaps -- via deals for Paul George and Chris Paul.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2019

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Picks mean Jack crap with that front office.

Well, it sure doesn't look like CP3 is going to win a Championship before the Pelicans do.

One down...one to go.

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Originally Posted by JunkHead

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1149474995996749825




LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Thunder are playing a long-game unseen in recent NBA history: Seven additional first-round picks lined up through 2026 -- plus four pick swaps -- via deals for Paul George and Chris Paul.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2019

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I think Woj means deals for PG and Westbrook

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Originally Posted by As I See It

Well, it sure doesn't look like CP3 is going to win a Championship before the Pelicans do.

One down...one to go.

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The grass is not always greener. i think some of these dudes forget that or never learned

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Originally Posted by JunkHead

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1149474995996749825




LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Thunder are playing a long-game unseen in recent NBA history: Seven additional first-round picks lined up through 2026 -- plus four pick swaps -- via deals for Paul George and Chris Paul.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2019

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I like what they did but they didn’t come out nearly as well as we did. We got two #2 overall picks along with Hart who is a lottery pick in a redraft along with the #8 and #17 picks from this years draft. This alone is better then what the Thunder have gotten and the other picks and swaps aren’t even included. We got rid of 1 super star and dumped a bad contract while the Thunder got rid of 2 super stars and took on an even worse contract. I don’t see how anyone can think they are in a better situation or came out better from the trade then us. Ball/NAW/Ingram/Zion/Hayes 21/20/21/19/19 is the age of this group. These 5 have the potential to all be star caliber players giving us an entire starting lineup that actually fits great together. Nobody has a brighter young future then us right now and it’s not close.

https://youtu.be/5hXkoTFexWY

At 4:50

Dropped the if AD Laker for life?

AD: I'm just focused on this year

AD keep his options open. Lol

If he bounces for the Clippers next year. It would be amazing and horrible at the same time. Got a new era Heattles, but Laker being a dumpster fire would be amazing.

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Originally Posted by Taker597

https://youtu.be/5hXkoTFexWY

At 4:50

Dropped the if AD Laker for life?

AD: I'm just focused on this year

AD keep his options open. Lol

If he bounces for the Clippers next year. It would be amazing and horrible at the same time. Got a new era Heattles, but Laker being a dumpster fire would be amazing.

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and all the nice picks for us :)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...doesnt-beware/

What's hidden behind the adblock blocker, is Brad Beal may not be seen as a sure lock to re-sign as previously thought.

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...doesnt-beware/

What's hidden behind the adblock blocker, is Brad Beal may not be seen as a sure lock to re-sign as previously thought.

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"But Beal’s upcoming decision on a contract extension looms large over the team’s future.

On July 26, exactly three years after Beal signed his max deal, the Wizards can officially present a three-year, $111 million extension. The team has indicated it plans to give Beal the offer, and both the player’s camp and the franchise have remained in contact throughout the summer. Around the league, however, the extension is not viewed as a done deal, and there is a growing belief that Beal will not remain in Washington for his entire career.

“He’s out of there,” one well-placed person within the NBA predicted."

This was the most interesting part of the article. It's a fairly long read. A lot is just quotes from Beal from the past couple of months.

Davis dream team includes JR Smith ? LMAO! Lakers denying interest. Gosh what a circus. https://deadspin.com/the-lakers-real...smi-1836406642

Does Griff dare call JR?

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Originally Posted by 13 - 3

Does Griff dare call JR?

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Why? There is no way in the world that fool would fit the culture Griff is trying to instill here.

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Originally Posted by 13 - 3

Does Griff dare call JR?

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Seems like an ancient time ago he was drafted and played here.

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Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

Why? There is no way in the world that fool would fit the culture Griff is trying to instill here.

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Griff: ''I'm trying to build a family where everyone cares about each other and plays hard, works hard, puts effort into improving themselves. There should be a culture of mutual understanding and respect, where guys can be honest with each other.''

Also Griff: *signs a dude who walks off court to shake hands with the other team mid possession, throws soup at his coaching staff, and doesn't understand what a shot-clock is*

Yeah, not gonna happen.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/for...144713809.html

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I hate that people are mocking Lin because he said he's at rock bottom. Money isn't everything. The man just wants to play the game he loves, and it hurts that he hasn't gotten a call yet.

Jeremy Lin is in a weird position in his career.

He's not good. He's not awful though. There are worse players than him who have contracts and who get minutes.

So on one hand, it's easy to say (and I do say this) that it sucks for him that he can't get a deal with regular playing time when other players who are arguably worse than him DO, but at the same time recognise that it's all relative. Yes, it sucks for him, but he's still got it better than the vast majority of people ever will. He's made over $50m in his career just from playing, not counting endorsement deals an stuff, and he's 30 years old. He is, if he's managed his money sensibly, set for life.

Is it sad for him on a personal level that he doesn't get to play NBA minutes? Sure, and of course it's never good for a decent person (which, by all accounts, Lin seems to be) to be upset. So it sucks.

But am I going to get upset for him because he doesn't get millions more dollars to play? Not really.

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Originally Posted by KevinDavis1022

I hate that people are mocking Lin because he said he's at rock bottom. Money isn't everything. The man just wants to play the game he loves, and it hurts that he hasn't gotten a call yet.

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I think it's because people are taking rock bottom as literal. If you're talking about rock bottom for an NBA player then sure, he's there, or at least close to it. But people are hearing him say he's at rock bottom and they're looking at their own lives and saying, really? $50m in career earnings, less than 6 months removed from a championship ring is rock bottom? Come on man. You're complaining about being in a position most people would kill for.

I hate it for him, regardless of the amount of money and the fact that he just won a title. He's being open and honest about the fact that he loves the game of basketball, and it's heartbreaking for him to not be able to get a shot at continuing his passion. I hope someone gives him a chance. Yes he's not the greatest player, but he's still a serviceable player in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by KevinDavis1022

I hate it for him, regardless of the amount of money and the fact that he just won a title. He's being open and honest about the fact that he loves the game of basketball, and it's heartbreaking for him to not be able to get a shot at continuing his passion. I hope someone gives him a chance. Yes he's not the greatest player, but he's still a serviceable player in my opinion.

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I agree that he's still a serviceable player, at least in some roles.

For example, if I were the Lakers, I would have signed Lin before I signed Quinn Cook.

Lin's a better passer and general playmaker, can create his own shot instead of just taking shots that are afforded to him, and is still a decent shooter. Cook is, by comparison, a better pure shooter, but that's about it. Neither of them play a lick of defense, so that's not even a knock on Lin in this scenario.

The point I'm making is not that Lin is unreasonable for being sad. He wants to play, right now he can't, of course he's sad, and that makes perfect sense. I'm just saying if you're some random dude earning trash money living paycheck to paycheck in a terrible apartment and you log on to the internet to see some guy with millions in the bank complaining that he's at ''rock bottom'', it's just as fair for you to think ''wow, what an ungrateful whiny idiot, get some perspective'' as it is for Lin to be upset.

GS must be growing money trees?

With free agency looming next summer, three-time All-Star Draymond Green has agreed to a four-year, $100M maximum contract extension with Golden State, agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 3, 2019

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Originally Posted by 13 - 3

GS must be growing money trees?

With free agency looming next summer, three-time All-Star Draymond Green has agreed to a four-year, $100M maximum contract extension with Golden State, agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 3, 2019

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How is this surprising? They drafted him, they have all his rights, they can sign him to an extension any time. In fact, by taking this extension, he's taking a huge pay cut: if he hit free agency next year, his 5 year max with GS would be over $200m. The fact that he's taking $100m instead is an absolute coup for GS.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

How is this surprising? They drafted him, they have all his rights, they can sign him to an extension any time. In fact, by taking this extension, he's taking a huge pay cut: if he hit free agency next year, his 5 year max with GS would be over $200m. The fact that he's taking $100m instead is an absolute coup for GS.

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Yeah that makes more sense. That would be an awful contract

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) August 3, 2019

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

How is this surprising? They drafted him, they have all his rights, they can sign him to an extension any time. In fact, by taking this extension, he's taking a huge pay cut: if he hit free agency next year, his 5 year max with GS would be over $200m. The fact that he's taking $100m instead is an absolute coup for GS.

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I'm not sure he'd get a huge contract offer next summer. There's a lot less projected cap space. Right now only 5 teams even have over 20m in cap space and he signed for 25m/yr.

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Originally Posted by Mythrol

I'm not sure he'd get a huge contract offer next summer. There's a lot less projected cap space. Right now only 5 teams even have over 20m in cap space and he signed for 25m/yr.

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Maybe not, but for a lot of players it would be worth testing the market: maybe there would be SOMEONE who was willing to clear space for Draymond, and he knows his value is a lot higher than his salary has historically reflected. The fact that he's not even testing that and is just taking what is clearly a below impact value contract to stay in Golden State, a year before he actually needs to resign, is pretty generous of him.

You could be right that he just doesn't see the money for himself next year, sure, but I find myself sceptical at the idea that nobody would even try to clear some money off the table for him.

Free agency next year is gonna be hot GAH-BAGEEEEE

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Maybe not, but for a lot of players it would be worth testing the market: maybe there would be SOMEONE who was willing to clear space for Draymond, and he knows his value is a lot higher than his salary has historically reflected. The fact that he's not even testing that and is just taking what is clearly a below impact value contract to stay in Golden State, a year before he actually needs to resign, is pretty generous of him.

You could be right that he just doesn't see the money for himself next year, sure, but I find myself sceptical at the idea that nobody would even try to clear some money off the table for him.

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Agreed.

I think he knows that as much as he is the nucleus of the Warriors' success/the glue that brings it all together, he HAS to have all of those pieces there to be effective. He needs all of those people or he needs the team to have enough cap to replace them. The Brady approach. I hate the guy for his on the court persona but off the court he seems level headed.

Green is not leaving much $ on the table. Really it’s just that 5th year $ which can easily be made up by hitting FA a year earlier and a year younger. By not signing this extension he is taking a huge risk with an injury. When you have guys like IT and Boogie going from near Max and Supermax contracts to barely even getting a vet minimum makes players think twice on waiting for a little extra $. The risk is far greater then the reward in this scenario. Greens value would absolutely tank if he were to get injured even if not major. He will never be worth more then his currently is now and signing this deal is the smartest thing he could have done.

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Originally Posted by GuardianAngel25

Green is not leaving much $ on the table. Really it’s just that 5th year $ which can easily be made up by hitting FA a year earlier and a year younger. By not signing this extension he is taking a huge risk with an injury. When you have guys like IT and Boogie going from near Max and Supermax contracts to barely even getting a vet minimum makes players think twice on waiting for a little extra $. The risk is far greater then the reward in this scenario. Greens value would absolutely tank if he were to get injured even if not major. He will never be worth more then his currently is now and signing this deal is the smartest thing he could have done.

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He's taking a paycut of over $100m, what? That's not just the 5th year. If he took the $203m he had on the table for 5 years, that works out at basically $40m/y. The deal he's actually taken works out at $25m/y. He's essentially taken a $15m/y less, PLUS fewer years. This is a huge paycut. He's leaving $100m on the table.

You might have a point regarding risk, degradation, injury, etc, sure. That's debatable but you could be right. But the idea that he's not leaving much on the table by sacrificing one hundred million dollars is just silly.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

He's taking a paycut of over $100m, what? That's not just the 5th year. If he took the $203m he had on the table for 5 years, that works out at basically $40m/y. The deal he's actually taken works out at $25m/y. He's essentially taken a $15m/y less, PLUS fewer years. This is a huge paycut. He's leaving $100m on the table.

You might have a point regarding risk, degradation, injury, etc, sure. That's debatable but you could be right. But the idea that he's not leaving much on the table by sacrificing one hundred million dollars is just silly.

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Exactly. It is not a pay cut. It's not like he was on $200m wages and cut back to $100m. He took the sure thing before possibly getting injured or exposed without Klay and either KD or a deeper supporting cast.

He could only have gotten $151 million from other teams. There is no way on earth the Warriors were going to bid against themselves and give him their full max. With what we know he left $151 million on the table cause that is simply the most anyone could have signed him for. He left a good bit of $ on the table but again the risk far outweighs the reward. He is worth more now then he ever will be. Green is one of my favorite players but nobody is offering him $150 either. He got right at what his value is with a fair deal on both sides.

To facilitate his recent trade to Houston, Russell Westbrook agreed to amend the pay schedule on his contract to make payouts more team-friendly and less front-loaded, league sources say

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 8, 2019

The amendments don't change the overall amounts Westbrook is now owed by the Rockets -- starting next season at $38.6 million -- but will spare Houston from making massive up-front payments, league sources say

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 8, 2019

Add the Pelicans to that list of interest in Joe Johnson, a source said. Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry and VP David Griffin watched Joe Johnson play in the @thebig3 in New Orleans last week. https://t.co/ubMxbwqKfu

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) August 28, 2019

I don't think this will come to anything, I doubt that the Pels are seriously interested, but here it is in case anyone cares. According to Spears, the Pelicans have interest in Joe Johnson. The evidence of this appears to be that Gentry and Griff existed within 50 feet of him when the Big 3 came to New Orleans.

I don't think this has any legs, since we have basically no roster space, essentially no money, and he doesn't fit either our style or timeline, but there it is anyway.

I wanna say that Joe played in Phoenix when Gentry was coach and Griff was in the front office, so there's a relationship there.