NBA free agency opened with Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard agreeing to contract extensions to stay where they are, and the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks among the teams looking for a dominant inside force of their own.
All-Stars LaMarcus Aldridge of Portland and Marc Gasol of Memphis lead the list of big men that includes DeAndre Jordan of the Clippers, Tyson Chandler of Dallas and twins Brook Lopez of the Nets and Robin Lopez of Portland.
Dwyane Wade has to decide if he wants to stay in Miami, Rajon Rondo will leave Dallas and the Lakers are being linked to many of the marquee names as they try to bring what were long perennial contenders back to prominence after two straight miserable seasons.
Photo: AFP
The market opened just after midnight eastern time yesterday and the Lakers wasted no time talking to their top target, tweeting that general manager Mitch Kupchak was walking into a meeting with Aldridge.
Gasol is expected to stay with the Grizzlies, Aldridge is considered a candidate to leave and Jordan is somewhere in the middle.
He will meet with the Mavericks, Lakers, Clippers and Knicks, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because the center’s agenda was not being revealed publicly.
Players can agree to deals at any time, but cannot sign until Thursday next week, after a moratorium period while next season’s salary cap is set; expected to be about US$68 million is set.
That is when Davis will know the exact value of the more than US$140 million extension with the New Orleans Pelicans he agreed to, which was confirmed by a person with knowledge of the details.
Davis tweeted: “NOLA, I am here to stay! Just getting started.”
Leonard agreed to the parameters of a five-year deal that could be worth US$90 million with the San Antonio Spurs, a person with knowledge of the deal said.
The deal is the latest sign that Leonard is poised to become the new face of the franchise, inheriting that designation from Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. Leonard averaged 16.5 points this season and won the Defensive Player of the Year award and was to accompany Duncan, coach Gregg Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford to a meeting with Aldridge yesterday.
Cleveland are to try to keep Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, the backup who played so well in helping them reach the NBA Finals after Love was lost to a shoulder injury in the first round of the playoffs.
They also have to re-sign LeBron James, but that is expected to be a formality once they have completed some other business. He opted for free agency mostly to maximize his earning potential, not because he is looking to leave after returning home to Ohio as the major move of last year’s free agency period.
The Rockets and Mavericks are to be aggressive as always, with Houston looking to strengthen their Western Conference finals team and Dallas trying to assemble one that can get there.
Both teams attempted to pry Carmelo Anthony away from New York last year before he opted to remain with the Knicks. This year the Knicks, with salary cap space that was not available last year, are going on the offensive.
However, he needs a lot more help and the Knicks have the ability to get it, with more than US$25 million to spend. The priority is a big man, though they could use just about everything after a franchise-worst 17-65 season.
If they cannot get one of the centers, Detroit’s Greg Monroe and Indiana’s David West are quality power forwards on the market.
Miami is trying to keep their backcourt together and hope to agree to a deal with Goran Dragic that could pay him US$90 million or more, but all eyes are on Wade, who has met twice with Heat leadership in recent days to discuss his future, though it remains far from certain that he comes back to Miami for a 13th season.
He will likely wait before deciding anything and see what offers come from other clubs, a list that could include the Lakers, Knicks and possibly Atlanta — Wade’s wife, actress Gabrielle Union, often works there.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS