Hayward, Stevens reunite in Boston
Gordon Hayward and Brad Stevens were a couple of inches away from winning an NCAA championship together at Butler.
They are now reuniting to try for an NBA title.
The top remaining free agent in this summer’s class is off the board, with Hayward announcing Tuesday night with an essay on The Players’ Tribune site that he will sign with the Boston Celtics — coached by Stevens — and leave the Utah Jazz after seven seasons. Also on Tuesday: The Sacramento Kings added veteran help to their young roster by agreeing to free-agent contracts with forward Zach Randolph and point guard George Hill.
Forward Patrick Patterson agreed to a three-year, $16.4 million deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to a person with knowledge of the details.
It was announced that the Los Angeles Clippers will
meet with unrestricted freeagent point guard Derrick Rose today to gauge his interest in joining the team, according to an NBA official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Weeks after the sides came to a final agreement on how to part ways and more than a year since his last NBA appearance because of bloodclot issues, Chris Bosh was officially waived by the Miami Heat.
A person with knowledge of the negotiations said Hayward agreed to a four-year contract with the Celtics, the last of those years being a player option, with a total value of around $128 million. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal cannot be completed before the league’s moratorium ends Thursday.
Butler went to the NCAA championship game in backto-back seasons under Stevens in 2010 and 2011, losing to Duke and Connecticut. In the 2010 game, Hayward’s desperation shot to win the title from midcourt narrowly missed as time expired and Duke won 61-59.
From there, Hayward went to the NBA. Not long afterward, Stevens followed.
Hayward leaves a loaded Western Conference to join a Boston team that was the No. 1 seed in last season’s Eastern Conference playoffs. He was finally an All-Star for the first time last season, averaging career bests of 21.9 points and 5.4 rebounds.
Hayward also shot 47 percent, a significant jump over what he managed in the previous four seasons.
Randolph left Memphis for a $24 million, two-year deal to reunite with former Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger in Sacramento, a person with knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal cannot be signed until Thursday.
Hill announced on Twitter that he was coming to Sacramento. Yahoo Sports first reported the deal, saying Hill would get $57 million over three years.
The Kings started free agency with just two players on the roster who are not on their rookie contracts — guard Garrett Temple and center Kosta Koufos — and were seeking some proven players to provide stability. Sacramento went 30-52 last season, Joerger’s first year, and has not made the playoffs since 2006.
The Kings hope the additions of Randolph and Hill will change that.
After a rocky start to his career in Portland and New York, Randolph found himself in Memphis. He spent eight years with the Grizzlies, emerging as one of the central figures of the team’s “grit and grind” mantra.
Randolph, who turns 36 later this month, averaged 14.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season and is still considered one of the better post players in the game.
He is expected to be a mentor for young big men such as Willie Cauley-Stein, Skal Labissiere and Harry Giles, one of the team’s three first-round picks last month.
Hill will be expected to provide similar traits in Sacramento, while grooming rookie point guards De’Aaron Fox and Frank Mason III. The 31-year-old has spent nine years in the NBA with San Antonio, Indiana and Utah.
He averaged a career-high 16.9 points per game last season for the Jazz, helping them make the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2010. He also averaged 4.2 assists and 3.4 rebounds. He played only 49 games in the regular season because of various injuries.
Patterson is leaving the Toronto Raptors to join AllStar Paul George in a newlook Thunder frontcourt.
He was a valuable reserve for the Raptors, averaging 7.6
points in nearly four seasons. But he struggled badly in last season’s playoffs, shooting 28 percent from the field.
Patterson has a chance to fill a need in Oklahoma City, where Taj Gibson left for Minnesota and Domantas Sabonis was dealt to Indiana in the trade for George.
The Clippers probably will have the mid-level exception of $8.4 million to offer Rose, the 2011 MVP.
Rose averaged 18.0 points and 4.4 assists in 64 games last season with the New York Knicks. He shot 47.1 percent from the field, but only 21.7 percent from three-point range. The injury-prone veteran is coming off surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, the fourth knee surgery of his nine-year career.
Rose has a home in Los Angeles and works out there during the summer. He probably would compete with former Arkansas Razorback Patrick Beverley for the starting job at point guard.
Bosh’s waiver Tuesday was a formality.
It gives Miami access to $25.3 million in salary-cap space for this coming season, which the Heat will use to sign free agents starting Thursday. Bosh still gets that salary, plus $26.8 million for next season, and in theory could continue his career — if another team declares him fit to play.
It’s unknown if that will happen.