NBA Rumors: Latest on Potential Roy Hibbert Trade and More Free-Agent Buzz
If the NBA draft didn't quite quench your thirst for rumors and trades, a few weeks of free-agent madness are set to descend upon the Association in a matter of days.
As teams across the league prep to plug holes with elite talent and court high-priced players, a new slew of rumors regarding potential moves has emerged.
The theme this time around: Big men and their place on the NBA's modernity spectrum. With athletic rim-rockers in vogue and throwback post players fading out of relevancy, some of the league's most notable centers find themselves in drastically different positions entering July.
Toss in some fresh rumblings regarding one team's pursuit of free-agent shooters, and there's plenty to digest.
Hibbert on the Block
The Indiana Pacers have repeatedly indicated they're interested in undergoing a stylistic 180 during the 2015-16 season, which means plodding players like Roy Hibbert will be marginalized should they stick around.
Thus, the team appears intent on finding a taker for the 28-year-old, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein:
"But sources say the Pacers plan to explore the trade market for Hibbert this summer as they seek to reshape the team around star swingman Paul George, who played the final six games of the season for Indiana after suffering a horrific compound leg fracture in the summer of 2014 while on Team USA duty in Las Vegas.
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After the Pacers were reportedly shopping Hibbert "hard" on draft night, according to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, this news isn't exactly surprising.
What will be surprising is if a team comes forward offering a delectable package for Hibbert, who's due $15.5 million in the final year of his deal with the Pacers, per Spotrac.com. Expiring deals have undeniable value, of course, but as the Pacers have explained, Hibbert's offerings don't jibe with those of more athletic modern-day centers.
His ability to protect the rim should be coveted, but Hibbert has only averaged more than eight rebounds twice over the span of seven seasons. For a 7-footer, that's hardly impressive.
With versatility increasingly valued when it comes to bigs, Hibbert's prime may very well have passed him by.
Pistons Targeting Wings
The Detroit Pistons did well to plug a hole on the perimeter by selecting Stanley Johnson at No. 8 overall in this year's draft, but Stan Van Gundy appears dead-set on adding a more polished talent to the team's stable of wings this summer.
According to the Detroit Free Press' Vincent Ellis, two players set for big pay days have caught Detroit's attention:
To be clear, Ellis is referring to swingmen DeMarre Carroll and Danny Green.
Both would be excellent fits in Van Gundy's space-oriented system that prizes knockdown shooters.
Coming off a season that saw Carroll average a career-best 12.6 points while knocking down a career-high 39.5 percent of his threes, it's no wonder the Pistons are in the market for his robust three-and-D tools.
But Green is the more intriguing candidate here.
If the San Antonio Spurs are able to secure a commitment from forward LaMarcus Aldridge, it stands to reason they won't have the cap space necessary to re-sign Green. That's especially true if Kawhi Leonard inks a monster raise, as Stein reported:
"It has been widely assumed in league circles that the Spurs would be forced to try to trade veteran forward Tiago Splitter to help create the needed salary-cap flexibility to handle the max deals San Antonio has earmarked for Leonard (and the likes of Aldridge or Memphis' Marc Gasol) and still have room to accommodate Duncan and Ginobili at reduced salaries, if the latter two choose to play on.
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If Green bolts, the Pistons should be banging down his door in order to present him with a lucrative deal after ranking 17th (34.4 percent) in three-point field-goal accuracy last season.
"For all the wild peaks and valleys in Green’s accuracy, he’s proven to be remarkably consistent over the long haul, joining Klay Thompson and Kyle Korver as the only players to make at least 100 3s at 40 percent or better in each of the past four seasons," Dan McCarney of the San Antonio-Express News wrote.
While both players are 28 years old, Carroll could prove more costly coming off a career-year. And with Green's championship pedigree a major asset for an up-and-coming team like the Pistons, Detroit shouldn't hesitate to pursue the perimeter specialist.
DeAndre Setting Up Visits
Back in May, Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers went on the record regarding the team's desire to offer DeAndre Jordan a max contract in the ballpark of $109 million over five years, according to ESPN.com's Arash Markazi:
However, just because the Clippers are ready to sign a big check doesn't mean Jordan won't explore what the market has to offer.
"When free agency starts at 9:01 p.m. PDT Tuesday, Jordan will be home in Houston," the Los Angeles Times' Broderick Turner wrote. "The officials said four teams will visit Jordan at home—the Clippers, Lakers, Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks."
Among those four, two stand out as the leaders for Jordan's services, according to Bleacher Report's Jared Zwerling:
"There’s going to be a lot of teams [coming after him], and if they’re not, there are a lot of dumb teams out there," Rivers said in May, according to the Los Angeles Times' Melissa Rohlin. "There’s going to be a lot of teams coming after him that have money. There’s a lot of them that don’t, thank God. That helps us."
Should Jordan move on, the Clippers will be hard-pressed to find a center who can fill his place in the middle. According to NBA.com, Los Angeles' offense was 15.5 points better per 100 possessions with Jordan on the floor last season. When he was off the floor, the Clippers scored at rates consistent with the Charlotte Hornets and New York Knicks.
Stand by. Things could get incredibly interesting on the Jordan front in no time.
