Nba throwing around money in big deals this trade season......

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Report: DeAndre Jordan to join Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Nets were already one of the big winners of NBA free agency with the reported additions of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Then the team added another star.

Veteran center DeAndre Jordan will join the Nets in free agency, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Terms of the deal have not been reported.

Jordan just finished up a season split between the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks in which he averaged 11.0 points, 13.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. He’ll figure to give the Nets another imposing presence in the paint alongside Jarrett Allen.

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The Latest: AP source: Middleton will return to the Bucks
June 30, 2019
By The Associated Press

The Latest on NBA free agency (all times ET):

7:15 p.m.

The Milwaukee Bucks are confirming that they are keeping Khris Middleton.

A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press earlier Sunday that Middleton will sign a five-year deal worth nearly $179 million. Bucks general manager Jon Horst did not confirm the terms, though was permitted to say that the team is keeping the top running mate to NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Horst says, ''we intend to enter into a player contract with Khris once the moratorium period has ended.''

Teams are permitted to announce their intentions to enter into deals even during the moratorium. None can be executed until that period ends Saturday.

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7:05 p.m.

Two people familiar with the situation say the New Orleans Pelicans and free agent JJ Redick have agreed on a two-year contract worth about $26.5 million.

The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Sunday evening because new contracts cannot become official under NBA rules until Saturday.

The 35-year-old Redick has shot just better than 41 percent from 3-point range during his 13-season career season.

The 6-foot-4 shooting guard out of Duke has averaged 12.9 points per game, but his past two seasons with Philadelphia have been his best as a scorer. He averaged 18.1 points this past season.

The Pelicans entered free agency in need of a proficient perimeter shooter to help spread defenses and create more space inside for top overall draft choice Zion Williamson, a 6-foot-7 power forward who also played at Duke.

Redick spent his first six NBA seasons with Orlando, followed by short stints with Toronto, Milwaukee, the Los Angeles Clippers and Sixers.

- AP Sports Writer Brett Martel

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7 p.m.

A person with knowledge of the situation says Jonas Valanciunas has agreed to a $45 million, three-year deal to remain with the Memphis Grizzlies.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Sunday because the deal cannot be signed until the NBA's moratorium ends Saturday. Valanciunas joined the Grizzlies late last season as part of the trade that sent Marc Gasol to the Toronto Raptors, who went on to win the NBA championship.

Valanciunas averaged 19.9 points in 19 games with Memphis last season. For his career, he's averaged 12.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

- AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds

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6:55 p.m.

A person with knowledge of the situations says Bojan Bogdanovic is signing a four-year deal with the Utah Jazz that will be worth $73.1 million.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Sunday because the deal cannot be signed until the NBA's moratorium ends Saturday. Bogdanovic is coming off a year where he averaged a career-best 18 points per game for the Indiana Pacers.

Utah becomes Bogdanovic's fourth team, after stints with Brooklyn and Washington preceded his two years with the Pacers. Bogdanovic missed only three games over his two Indiana seasons.

He joins a team that is adding point guard Mike Conley and already has rising star Donovan Mitchell.

- AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds

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6:50 p.m.

A person with knowledge of the situation says Ricky Rubio is going to the Phoenix Suns on a three-year deal worth $51 million.

Rubio was intrigued by the chance to play for new Suns coach Monty Williams and alongside shooting guard Devin Booker, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because the contract cannot be signed until the league's summer moratorium ends Saturday.

The Athletic first reported Rubio's agreement with Phoenix.

Rubio averaged 12.7 points and 6.1 assists last season for the Utah Jazz, with whom he spent two seasons. Rubio's first six seasons were with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

- AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds

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6:45 p.m.

A person with knowledge of the deal says the Dallas Mavericks and Kristaps Porzingis have agreed on a $158 million, five-year maximum contract that will pair the 7-foot-3 Latvian with fellow Euro star Luka Doncic.

The deal for the richest contract in franchise history comes after the Mavericks sent a pair of first-round picks and 2017 No. 9 overall selection Dennis Smith Jr. to the New York Knicks for Porzingis in a seven-player trade before the deadline last season.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal can't become official until the free agency moratorium ends Saturday.

Porzingis and Doncic, the dynamic 20-year-old Slovenian guard who was just named rookie of the year, haven't played together yet. But the Mavericks have high hopes of them making Dallas a contender again after missing the playoffs three straight years.

The 23-year-old Porzingis sat out all of last season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in what turned out to be his last game for the Knicks in February 2018. The injury happened not long after Porzingis was named an All-Star for the first time.

- AP Sports Writer Schuyler Dixon

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6:40 p.m.

A person familiar with the situation says Terry Rozier will be heading to the Charlotte Hornets via a sign-and-trade with the Boston Celtics.

Rozier will receive $58 million over three years, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because the deal is not finalized.

Rozier is part of a changing of the guard for the Hornets with the franchise's all-time leading scorer Kemba Walker agreeing to a four-year, $141 million with the Celtics.

Rozier has spent all four seasons in Boston, averaging nine points and 2.9 assists per game last season. His best year came in 2017-18 when he averaged 11.3 points per game and shot 38 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.

Rozier has started only 30 games but is now set to be the No.1 point guard in Charlotte.

- AP Sports Writer Steve Reed

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6:30 p.m.

A person with knowledge of the situation says the Orlando Magic are keeping both All-Star forward Nikola Vucevic and guard Terrence Ross on four-year deals that were agreed to quickly once free agency opened Sunday evening.

Vucevic will earn $100 million and Ross is guaranteed $54 million, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because of the league moratorium that prevents those contracts from being signed until Saturday.

Keeping those two players was Orlando's top priority in free agency. Vucevic was an All-Star for the first time last season and averaged nearly 21 points per game, a career-best. Ross also had a career-best scoring season, averaging 15.1 points off Orlando's bench.

- AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds

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6:25 p.m.

A person with knowledge of the situation says that former Charlotte guard Kemba Walker has told the Boston Celtics he will sign a four-year, $141 million contract to join them.

The person also says that it's likely that Walker will be part of a trade that would send Terry Rozier from Boston to Charlotte on a three-year, $58 million deal. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press Sunday because the moves have not been finalized.

Walker spent his first eight NBA seasons in Charlotte. He would become the Celtics' replacement at the point guard spot for Kyrie Irving.

- AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds

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6:15 p.m.

All-Star forward Kevin Durant says on Instagram that he is signing a max contract with the Brooklyn Nets.

The max deal, in this case, would be four years and about $164 million. Durant could have gotten five years and $221 million from the Golden State Warriors if he stayed with them.

Durant is unlikely to be able to play next season while he recovers from Achilles surgery. Durant says he will sign Saturday when the league's moratorium on movement is lifted.

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5:45 p.m.

A person familiar with the situation says Khris Middleton plans to agree to a five-year deal worth nearly $179 million to remain with the Milwaukee Bucks.

The fifth year is at Middleton's option, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because neither the team nor the player had revealed details publicly. ESPN first reported Middleton's plans.

Middleton was an All-Star for the first time last season, averaging 18.3 points per game for a Milwaukee team that finished the regular season with an NBA-best 60 wins.

His deal is not quite a max; he could have commanded closer to $190 million over the five years.

- AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds

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5:15 p.m.

NBA teams can start striking deals with free agents at 6 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, with the expectation that more than $1 billion in deals should be agreed to by the end of the evening.

None of them can be signed until July 6, when the league's summer moratorium ends.

Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Khris Middleton, Nikola Vucevic and Kemba Walker are among the players whose decisions are likely to be hammered out Sunday night. Kawhi Leonard's decision, certainly the most important one for the NBA champion Toronto Raptors, is not expected to come in the early flurry of announcements.

There are more than 200 free agents on the market this summer.

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The amount of money getting thrown around is ridiculous. These guys are set for life and even the ones that aren't that good of players are getting $10-12 million a year.

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How Kawhi pulled Paul George away from OKC

The first sign that Kawhi Leonard has a whole lot more to say than anyone ever imagined came a few days before NBA free agency officially opened.

Kevin Durant was getting ready to commit to the Brooklyn Nets, along with his good friends Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan. They'd all grown close in 2016 with the United States Olympic Team and had talked often about playing with one another someday. All that remained was for free agency to officially open on the evening of June 30.

Then Durant got a call from Kawhi Leonard, asking if he'd consider teaming up with him and signing with the LA Clippers. They'd be great complements to each other, Leonard told Durant. He'd always admired him and had tremendous respect for him as a competitor.

Durant was flattered and more than a little stunned, according to sources close to the situation. He didn't know Leonard that well, so getting a recruiting call like that made a real impression.

And while Durant followed through on his plan to play with Irving and Jordan in Brooklyn a few days later, the seeds of Friday's blockbuster night had been sown -- which saw the Clippers secure a commitment from Leonard and trade for Oklahoma City forward Paul George.

For George to join Leonard with the Clippers, however, he'd have to ask for a trade from Oklahoma City -- and that wasn't going to be pleasant, considering the way the franchise had treated him in the two seasons he'd played there and the bonds that he'd formed.

But George felt like it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to play at home in L.A. alongside a generational talent like Leonard. So in the middle of the week, he went to Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti and asked for a trade -- to the Clippers.

Presti was crestfallen. Just a year ago he'd been rewarded for taking a risk and trading for George when he eschewed all other free-agent meetings and agreed to a four-year contract to remain in Oklahoma City. It was a validation of everything Presti had built and believed in. And while this felt like a repudiation of that, Presti understood.

Superstar players in the modern NBA have tremendous power. Contracts don't really matter. Leonard forced his way out of San Antonio with a year remaining on his deal. Anthony Davis forced his way out of New Orleans with a year and a half left. George forced his way out of Indiana with a year left. Jimmy Butler forced his way out of Minnesota with a year left. Kyrie Irving forced his way out of Cleveland with two years left.

You don't have to trade a player once he asks to be moved. But usually you end up wishing you did, as the unhappy superstar and corresponding chaos these situations create thwart any chance at team building. So the Thunder obliged George's request and sought to extract maximum value from the Clippers, knowing that landing George was key to the Clippers' hopes of also landing Leonard.

While Leonard and his camp met with the Lakers and the Raptors, the Clippers and Thunder began negotiating a blockbuster trade. For Presti, it was a chance to make something good out of a bad situation while he still had leverage. For the Clippers, it was a chance to do something risky and bold after two seasons of prudent team building and asset accumulation.

Over the Fourth of July holiday, while anxious Raptors and Lakers fans tracked the flight plans of private jets carrying Leonard to and from California to Toronto, Presti was negotiating with his former protégé, Clippers general manager Michael Winger.

Leonard's camp was essentially trying to buy time, asking the Lakers as late as 9 p.m. PT on Friday night to delay the consummation of the Anthony Davis trade until "as late as Sunday," according to sources close to the situation. No reason was given for that delay by Leonard's camp, except that they should do it if they still wanted Leonard to consider them.

By that point, the Lakers, Clippers and Raptors were committed to waiting and doing whatever they had to do to land Leonard. But with the NBA's moratorium lifting on Saturday, any further delays were going to start causing problems for the series of trades maintaining the Lakers' cap space.

The chance to contend for a championship creates a gravitational force in moments like these. Two years earlier, Presti had felt that same pull, when he traded for George as part of an effort to keep Russell Westbrook and rebuild after losing Kevin Durant to free agency. Last year, Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri had felt it, as he weighed whether to give a core group that had experienced countless playoff disappointments one more crack at it with Leonard as a leading man. The Lakers had felt it just a few weeks earlier, when their chance to pair LeBron James with Davis was finally upon them. Now it was the Clippers' turn. Was it time to eschew caution and trade away virtually every asset they had for George -- and the chance to close on Leonard? How would they feel if they didn't take the shot and Leonard chose the Lakers instead?





Leonard's ambition in trying to recruit Durant to the Clippers suggested he was serious about joining LA in free agency. But it also suggested that they needed to get him another star.

After the Clippers met with Leonard for approximately three hours at head coach Doc Rivers' house in Malibu on Monday night, both sides went to work to make that happen. At the same time he was meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors this week, Leonard was meeting, calling and texting with George, trying to convince him to find a way out of Oklahoma City.

Like Durant, George was flattered by Leonard's recruiting. The two had a fair amount in common. They'd grown up in the Los Angeles area at about the same time. George, 29, is from Palmdale, a dusty desert town about an hour and a half north of L.A. Leonard, 28, is from Riverside, a sprawling Inland Empire town about an hour and a half east of L.A. Both had been lightly recruited out of high school, found their footing as players at mid-major colleges (George at Fresno State, Leonard at San Diego State) and then quietly entered the NBA as mid-first-round picks.

Still, Leonard's recruiting efforts caught George by surprise.

Said one source close to George, "For a quiet guy, he's a hell of a recruiter."

Leonard has become something of a Rorschach test the past couple of seasons. What you see in him is as much a reflection of who you are, as it is of him. He reveals little about himself, but everything about those who project on to him.

The Lakers saw a chance to build a dynasty around Leonard, Davis and James.

The Raptors saw a king, one they hoped would want to defend the championship ring he won in his lone season with them.

The Clippers saw a chance to reshape themselves and their place in the NBA.

In the end, though, this was about what Leonard wanted. His choice was more revealing of his character and ambitions than anything he could ever say.

He went home. And he didn't go alone.