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July 1st at 12am midnight Eastern Time, the NBA Free Agency officially began and it didn’t take long for the NBA executives and players to makes deals official. As per the US Eastern Time, the day isn’t even half complete yet and we already have some big free agency news to deliver:
Anthony Davis agrees to extension with the New Orleans Pelicans
New Orleans fans can breathe a sigh of relief as their biggest star Anthony Davis just signed an extension with the franchise, that will be valid from the 2016-17 season. Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the deal is said to be for five years worth 145 million dollars. Davis’ per year salary has not been disclosed yet but according to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the contract will have an opt-out clause after the fourth year.
Davis will most likely be named to the All-Star Game or the All-NBA Team, which makes him eligible under the Derrick Rose rule to occupy 30% of the team’s total cap space. The rule suggests that a special contract is reserved for players that have started an All-Star Game at least twice or named Most Valuable Player or make it to an All-NBA Team.
Davis also made sure his fans knew of the news as early as possible, by tweeting just minutes after free agency officially tipped off:
Davis, the first pick overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, averaged 24.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. He topped the year off by being named to the All-NBA First Team and NBA All-Star Game while finished fifth in the NBA League MVP voting.
Kawhi Leonard verbally agrees to framework of contract with Spurs
Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Kawhi Leonard has verbally agreed to the framework of the maximum contract extension, worth close to 90 million over 5 years, offered to him by the Spurs representatives. Few points in the deal still need to be ironed out, which will be done between the Spurs and Leonard’s agents Brian Elfus and Mitch Frankel of Impact Sports.
"I have every intention of signing with the San Antonio Spurs," Leonard said in a statement. "There are details in the contract which need to be worked out with the organization. I am confident that this will be accomplished."
With major work on Leonard’s contract out of the way, the Spurs can shift their focus to signing free agent superstar LaMarcus Aldridge, who they are expected to meet for breakfast in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning. Among the known personalities, Spurs general manager R.C. Buford, team president and Head Coach Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker along with Leonard will be present to make a pitch to the former Portland superstar.
Following his development in the 2014 NBA Playoffs, Leonard has quickly become the front-runner to lead the Spurs into the future after their Big three (Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili) retire. He averaged 16.5 points and 7.2 rebounds in 64 games played last season.
The Spurs can’t sign Leonard until July 9th, when the free agency moratorium ends.
Al-Farouq Aminu agrees to four-year contract with Portland Trailblazers
Portland Trailblazers and forward Al-Farouq Aminu have agreed to a deal reported to be for four years worth 30 million. The deal to sign the role player forward increases the team’s defensive strengths without giving up anything on the offensive end. Aminu averaged only 5.6 points and 4.6 rebounds during the regular season however with increased playing time during the Playoffs, those numbers jumped to 11.2 points and 7.2 rebounds.
Trailblazers can’t officially sign and announce Aminu but that didn’t stop the player from making his side official on twitter:
Considering that the TV deal will spike the total cap of all teams in the league, a salary of 7.5 million dollars per year for a role player is a good deal for the team. The deal allows the franchise to keep some cap space to themselves in order to make some moves based on Aldridge’s decision.
After stints with the Los Angeles Clippers, Pelicans and the Dallas Mavericks, Aminu still just 24 would look forward to improving his game and contributing for the better of the team in anyway possible. In Portland, he reunites with General Manager Neil Oshley, who was GM of the Clippers when they drafted him eight overall in the 2010 NBA Draft.
The Trailblazers can’t sign Aminu until July 9th when the free agency moratorium ends.
