Jazz reward Mitchell
Shooting guard agrees to max deal worth $163 million.
Donovan Mitchell got the life-changing news Sunday and immediately began celebrating. He ripped off his T-shirt, ran out of the house and leaped into the pool.
And just as he did in his first three seasons with Utah, he made a huge splash.
Mitchell is now a maxcontract recipient, he and the Jazz agreeing Sunday on a five-year extension that guarantees him $163 million — the new paydays start kicking in with the 2021-22 season — and could be worth $196 million if he reaches the All-NBA level.
“A dream does not become reality through magic it takes sweat, determination and hard work,” Mitchell wrote on Instagram after sharing a toast with CAA Basketball agent Ty Sullivan and some family members as the celebration continued.
The Jazz did not immediately comment. Typically, teams cannot discuss contracts publicly until they are signed, and it was unclear when Mitchell will put pen to paper to complete the transaction.
Mitchell averaged 20.5 points as a rookie, then 23.8 points in his second season and 24.0 points last season as a third-year player who wound up making the All-Star team for the first time. And even though the Jazz lost in first round of this past season’s playoffs in a seven-game epic against Denver — the Nuggets rallied from a 3-1 series deficit — Mitchell was dazzling.
He averaged 36.3 points in that series, including 57 points — the third-highest scoring total by any player in an NBA playoff game — in Game 1 of the matchup. He followed that with a 51-point outburst in Game 4, a game where he and Denver’s Jamal Murray became the first duo with 50-point performances in the same playoff game; Murray had 50.
A breakdown of Sunday’s moves:
• A day after frontcourt staples Montrezl Harrell and JaMychal Green departed in free agency, the Los Angeles Clippers reached an agreement with Serge Ibaka on a two-year contract worth $19 million, a person with knowledge of the deal confirmed.
The 31-year-old Ibaka brings 144 games of postseason experience that includes the 2019 championship he won with Toronto alongside Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard.
Ibaka is coming off a season in which he shot an effective field-goal percentage of 56.4%, the secondhighest mark of his career, while averaging 15.4 points and 8.2 rebounds. He also made 38% of his threepoint attempts.
The Knicks have
agreed to terms with free agent guard Austin Rivers for three years, $10 million according to ESPN, with only the first year guaranteed.
There had been speculation that Rivers would join his father Doc in Philadelphia, but he opted for the friendly arms of Leon Rose instead. Rivers, 28, has averaged nine points per game in a journeyman NBA career, most recently spending a season and a half with the Rockets.
Willie Cauley-Stein is returning to the Dallas Mavericks on an $8.2 million, two-year contract.
The Mavericks acquired the veteran center from Golden State before the trading deadline last season, and his impact was minimal before he opted out of the restart following the coronavirus shutdown because of the impending birth of his daughter.
The 27-year-old CauleyStein averaged 5.2 points and 4.6 rebounds in 13 games for the Mavericks.
• Looking to replace Tristan Thompson, the Cavaliers have acquired center JaVale McGee and a future draft pick from the Los Angeles Lakers for forwards Alfonzo McKinnie and Jordan Bell.
The Cavs will get a second-round pick in 2026 from the Lakers
• The Warriors completed the trade that will bring guard Kelly Oubre to them from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Golden State gave up a conditional 2021 first-round draft pick and a 2021 second-round pick for Oubre, who will help the Warriors deal with the loss of Klay Thompson to major injury for the second consecutive season.
Oubre averaged a career-high 18.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in 56 games with Phoenix last season. He was traded to the Thunder last week.
The Warriors also are signing shooting guard Kent Bazemore to a oneyear deal, using a veteran minimum contract valued at $2.32 million that won’t take up the mid-level exception or potential disabled player exception, which the Warriors applied to the NBA for Saturday.
• The Pacers completed the re-signing of Justin Holiday to a three-year, $18 million deal. Holiday was the only Indiana player to appear in all 73 regularseason games a year ago, averaging 8.3 points.
For the second consecutive season, Marc Gasol
will play for the defending NBA champions.
Gasol agreed to a twoyear contract with the Lakers. ESPN first reported the agreement.
Gasol helped Toronto win the 2019 NBA title and then led Spain to the gold medal at the Basketball World Cup later that summer. The 35-year-old was drafted by the Lakers in 2007 but never played for the team — and now will be part of the franchise that his brother, Pau, won two championships with.
The Portland Trail Blazers announced they have re-signed 10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony and forward Rodney Hood, and signed free-agent forward Derrick Jones Jr. Anthony, a 17-year NBA veteran, averaged 15.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 58 games with the Blazers this season.
Veteran center Bismack Biyombo will sign a one-year deal with the Hornets, according to two NBA sources.
Biyombo, who started his career with the thenBobcats in 2011, played in 53 of the Hornets’ 65 games last season, starting 29. He averaged 7.4 points and 5.8 rebounds.