July 2 open thread: Lowry back, Tucker explains departure, Ibaka re-ups, salary dump coming?

Kyle Lowry is returning on a 3-year, $100-million deal – reaction

Serge Ibaka re-signs on 3-year, $65-million deal – reaction

P.J. Tucker signs with Houston on 4-year, $32-million deal – reaction

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Given the July 1 open thread has been rolling on for over a day now, it’s time to start fresh with a July 2 open thread. I’ll refer you to yesterday’s thread for a wealth of rumors and updates, including some cap figures. For now, I’ll just drop a few relevant resources and links before we get into it.

Resources & Required Reading

If you haven’t yet, go and read my free agency primer, which goes into a lot of the details about the Raptors’ cap situations and what they can and can’t do. Some other links:

Contextualizing earlier reports of Kyle Lowry’s dissatisfaction
The “right” direction for the Raptors is a matter of perspective, and nobody is really wrong in wanting one path over another
An offseason mailbag
A salary cap Q&A as a follow-up to my primer
The Raptors can find ways to shed salary, but they might be hard to stomach
An explainer on the new two-way contracts and how the Raptors might use them
The Raptors probably won’t be big free agent players, but just in case, some interesting names on the market and a look at Masai Ujiri’s free agent track record

As a quick refresher, this is what the Raptors’ cap sheet looks at right this second:

(Notes: I’m displaying this just a little different from yesterday. I’m also excluding De Colo/Thompson from the tax number since their cap holds won’t count but do effect the salary cap. VanVleet has a higher tax number than cap number, too [equal to Powell’s].)

To help calibrate with the new CBA and rise in cap, here’s a chart containing all of the maximums and exception amounts, based on the new $99,093,000-million salary cap (note that for the minimum salaries, those deals can run longer if cap space is used, but they max out at two years if a team is using the minimum player salary exception):

Here are a few other very useful resources:

Raptors rumors

A reminder: There is a ton of information to sort through this time of year. Some of it will be legitimate, some of it will be misinformation. Always consider the source, their track record, and why a player/agent/team may want information out in the world.

Sunday

5:20pm: Kyle Lowry announced in a Players’ Tribune article that he’s returning to the Raptors. Michael Scotto was first to report it’s a three-year, $100-million deal. More to
4:40pm: Minor note tangentially related to Raptors – Nene’s new deal with Houston fits into the non-Bird exception, so it doesn’t need to eat into their mid-level exception. That likely takes a sign-and-trade for Tucker off of the table, as Houston probably wouldn’t want to trigger their hard cap and commit themselves to a smaller mid-level when they could just sign Tucker instead.
3:55pm: P.J. Tucker explained his decision to leave Toronto for Houston, noting that but that in Houston, he feels he has an even greater opportunity to make some noise. He also spoke about the impact of Trevor Ariza, Mike D’Antoni, and Houston’s two star guards. Mark Berman tweeted a bunch more quotes.
11:55am: The Raptors have re-signed Serge Ibaka to a three-year, $65M deal, per Adrian Wojnarowski. I wrote a column reacting to the deal more here.
10:45am: Michael Scotto reports that the Raptors have discussed a deal with the Pacers that would send Cory Joseph to Indiana.
- Scotto reports that the Raptors are looking for draft-pick compensation in return. The feeling here has long been that the Raptors wouldn’t have much trouble finding a home for Joseph if they needed to, and they obviously have a succession plan in place at point guard. But giving away a useful player for little in return, just to trim the tax bill, would be tough to swallow. That’s the situation the Raptors find themselves in as they look to lock down Lowry and Ibaka and avoid an excessive luxury tax penalty. If it’s been tough sledding trying to deal Carroll or Valanciunas, or if the departure of Tucker has changed those plans, then Joseph is the logical piece to move to lessen the tax bill. It’s just, you know, he’s a nice piece, too. The specifics here will be interesting.
- Side note: Yes, I love C.J. Miles, too. But a sign-and-trade triggers the hard cap for Toronto, Miles has to be amenable, and Indy may ask for more back to take on salary and sign-and-trade a player.
8:30am: I wrote a column on the loss of Tucker and what it means for the Raptors from here.
1:30am: The Rockets have signed PJ Tucker to a four-year, $32M deal, per Shams Charania. Brian Windhorst is reporting that the Raptors offered three years and $33M, but Chris Paul and the chance to play a big role on a team making a real threat in the West won out. Tough to fault Tucker there, but it’s a blow to Toronto’s plans. More on this in the morning.

Wrap-up from Saturday

Check the July 1 open thread for far more detail on these things.

All through Saturday, we heard the Raptors met with and have been progressing toward deals with Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka, but nothing was imminent.
- Lowry’s market has dried up quickly and the sides might be considering a short-term framework than we initially expected. The latest reports have consistently suggested a three-year deal now seems likely, and the numbers bandied about project in the $27-28-million range per-year, give or take, which would be a really good deal for Toronto in the keep-it-together scenario.
- Ibaka’s market is estimated to be around $20 million, and the Rockets and Heat are among the potential suitors, though Toronto has consistently sounded like his most likely landing spot.
- The Raptors reportedly met with P.J. Tucker early Saturday, and he’s also had interest from Cleveland and Sacramento, likely among others. Reports from the big names have the Raptors less confident in a Tucker deal than ones for Lowry and Ibaka. Tucker is meeting with the Kings on Sunday.
- Patrick Patterson’s name has been pretty quiet, though he reportedly met with Sacramento. If his market is cool because of a shaky second half, he could wind up a really nice value for someone.
Through all of this, Adrian Wojnarowski has maintained that the Raptors are still considering a youth movement. That may mean the Raptors want to line up all of their ducks and be comfortable with their situation before pulling the trigger. It may also be a leverage play, or one of those earnest declarations that also doesn’t hurt in negotiations.
Woj also confirmed most of our long-held belief that the Raptors may look to unload a large salary. We’ve all assumed Jonas Valanciunas and DeMarre Carroll were the names (based mostly on their cap numbers), and Woj used Carroll by name. Whether they can find a home for either is an interesting subplot for the market as a whole. They might need to sweeten a deal, depending on the player and team.
The Raptors were in on Amir Johnson but he signed with Philly.
The Raptors really haven’t been linked to any other free agents.

Reported agreements/close – Sunday

The following deals have either been reported as done or in the finalization stages. Until noon on July 6, nothing is absolutely locked in (remember DeAndre Jordan?), but if it’s on this list, it’s done per a reporter on the trusted list.

Kyle Lowry, Raptors, 3 years, $100M (Michael Scotto)
Serge Ibaka, Raptors, 3 years, $65M (Adrian Wojnarowski)
Andre Iguodala, Warriors, 3 years, $48M (Adrian Wojnarowski)
PJ Tucker, Rockets, 4 years, $32M (Shams Charania)
Taj Gibson, Timberwolves, 2 years, $28M (Shams Charania)
Kyle Korver, Cavaliers, 3 years, $22M (Shams Charania)
Nene, Rockets, 3 years, $11M (Adrian Wojnarowski)
Ben McLemore, Grizzlies, 2 years, $10.7M (Chris Haynes)
Justin Holiday, Bulls, 2 years, $9M (Shams Charania)
Jodie Meeks, Wizards, 2 years, $7M (Shams Charania)

Reported agreements/close – Saturday

Steph Curry, Warriors, 5 years, $201M (Shams Charania)
Blake Griffin, Clippers, 5 years, $175M (Sam Amick)
Jrue Holiday, Pelicans, 5 years, $126M (Adrian Wojnarowski)
Jeff Teague, Timberwolves, 3 years, $57M (Marc Stein)
Joe Ingles, Jazz, 4 years, $52M (Adrian Wojnarowski)
Patty Mills, Spurs, 4 years, $50M (Adrian Wojnarowski)
Tony Snell, Bucks, 4 years, $46M (Adrian Wojnarowski)
Cristiano Felicio, Bulls, 4 years, $32M (Shams Charania)
Shaun Livingston, Warriors, 3 years, $24M (Chris Haynes)
JJ Redick, 76ers, 1 year, $22M (Adrian Wojnarowski)
Langston Galloway, Pistons, 3 years, $21M (Adrian Wojnarowski)
Amir Johnson, 76ers, 1 year, $11M (Adrian Wojnarowski)
Michael Carter-Williams, Hornets, 1 year, $2.7M (Rick Bonnell)
Wayne Selden, Grizzlies, 2 years, TBD (Michael Scotto)
Daniel Theis, Celtics, 2 years, TBD (Adrian Wojnarowski)
Jose Calderon, Cavaliers, 1 year, $2.3M (Jeff Zilgitt)
David West, Warriors, 1 year, $2.3M (David Aldridge)
Ron Baker, Knicks, TBD, TBD (Ron Baker on Twitter)

Trades

The Pacers are trading Paul George to the Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. Seriously. (Ramona Shelburne first)
The Wolves are trading Ricky Rubio to Utah for a first-round pick. (A whole mess of people at once)