Free Agency Begins: The Latest Signings, Trades & Rumors

Free agency is officially underway as of today at 2 PM Eastern Time.  Teams can now make signings, finalize trades (not you, Hornets!), and get their training camps going.  Here’s the latest news, with updates coming throughout the day.

Signings

Big Baby, BOS, UFA: Baby will no longer be coming off the bench for the Boston Celtics.  He’ll be playing for the Magic on a four-year deal in the neighborhood of $26 million.  This was a sign-and-trade deal that will send Brandon Bass to Boston.

Tony Battie, PHI, UFA: Apparently the Sixers are more impressed by Tony Battie than the rest of us are.  Batman will remain in the NBA for another season.

Shane Battier, MEM, UFA: Battier’s signing with the Heat has been finalized.

Mike Bibby, MIA, UFA: Bibby is on his way to New York with intentions of signing a deal with the Knicks.

Derrick Brown, NYK, UFA: The Bobcats have brought Brown back for one year at the minimum.

Caron Butler, DAL, UFA: Butler’s reported three-year, $24 million deal with the Clippers has been finalized.  Don’t really like this deal for the Clippers.  Butler is almost 32 years old, is coming off of a major knee injury, and can only score with the ball in his hands.  That’s Eric Gordon’s job.

Vince Carter, PHX, UFA: The Mavericks are close to reuniting Jason Kidd and VC.  Didn’t see that one coming.  The deal will likely be one of the multi-year variety and should be completed this weekend.

Mario Chalmers, MIA, RFA: The Heat will re-sign Chalmers.  Details not yet available.

Tyson Chandler, DAL, UFA: Tyson Chandler will sign a four-year deal with the Knicks that will pay him about $60 million.  Tyson is no Jerome James, but goddamn, that’s a lot of money for this guy.  The Knicks will also have to lose Chauncey Billups (via amnesty) in order to make room.  They now have next to nothing at the PG spot.  According to Marc Stein, this will be a sign and trade, but no one else of note will be involved.

Jason Collins, ATL, UFA: The Hawks will bring Twin back for another year.  Probably for the purpose of fouling Dwight Howard a few times (if he remains in the Southeast Division).

Daequan Cook, OKC, RFA: Daequan’s three-point shooting prowess has earned him another two years with OKC.  The deal is worth $7.5 million.

Gary Forbes, DEN, RFA: Forbes is close to signing a two-year deal (with a team option for a third) with the Craptards.  Nuggets can match.

Jeff Foster, IND, UFA: The Pacers will bring Jeff Foster back for a 13th season.  It’s a one-year deal.

Gerald Green, China, UFA: Gerald Green and the Lakers have come to terms on a non-guaranteed deal.  It’s probably not likely that he meakes it through training camp.  He does bring three-point-shooting and high-flying capabilities to the table.  He was cut by his Chinese team about a week ago despite posting a 41-point game.

Jeff Green, BOS, RFA: According to Doc Rivers, Jeff Green will return to Boston on a one-year deal.  Green is hungry to prove to angry Celtic homers that he can play.

Chuck Hayes, HOU, UFA: Chuck’s agent confirms his signing with the Kings.  The deal will pay him the full MLE.  Not bad for a 6’3 center.

Grant Hill, PHX, UFA: The Suns will bring Hill back on a one-year deal worth $6.5 million.

Juwan Howard, MIA, UFA: The Heat will bring Howard back for one more year, but the deal is yet to be completed.

Larry Hughes, —, UFA: This probably won’t convince Dwight to stay in Orlando.  In fact, it may be what makes him publicly demand a trade.

Kyrie Irving, CLE: The first overall pick in last summer’s draft has finalized his deal with the Cavs.  He is expected to start.

Jonas Jerebko, DET, RFA: The Pistons are officially bringing Jerebko back.  The four-year deal is reportedly worth $18 million over four years.

James Jones, MIA, UFA: James Jones will return to the Heat on a three-year deal that will pay him about $1.4 million a year.

DeAndre Jordan, LAC, RFA: The Warriors have offered Jordan $40 million over four years.  The Clippers will almost certainly match this offer.

Kawhi Leonard, SAS: San Antonio’s rookie forward signed his deal today.

Vernon Macklin, DET: The Pistons have signed second-round pick Vernon Macklin.

Roger Mason, NYK, UFA: Roger Mason is officially a Washington Wizard.  How U?

Tracy McGrady, DET, UFA: T-Mac’s reported one-year veteran-minimum agreement with ATL has been finalized.

Nene, DEN, UFA: Nene has been offered $65 million over four years by the New Jersey Nets.  One would have to think he’ll accept that and become one of the NBA’s most overpaid players (he’ll be making about $16 million per year).  I suppose Prokhorov can swing it.

Greg Oden, POR, RFA: Despite the fact that he’s suffered a setback and may not play this season, the Blazers have signed Greg Oden to a one-year deal.  It will be smaller than the reported deal from a few days ago due to the setback.

Gabe Pruitt, D-League: The Orlando Magic have signed Gabe Pruitt.  He will be in training camp today.

Vladimir Radmanovic, GSW, UFA: Vlad Rad has signed a deal with the Hawks.

Julyan Stone, —, UFA: Denver has signed Julyan Stone, an undrafted rookie out of UTEP.  According to NBADraft.net he’s a 6’6 PG with good athleticism who can’t shoot.

Marcus Thornton, SAC, RFA: The Kings will offer Thornton to a five-year, $40 million deal.  Thornton is restricted, so if he plays the market and another team offers more the Kings will have a chance to match.  This deal has reportedly hit a snag.  Maybe the snag was the 5th year?  It’s now being reported that the deal is done: four years, $33 million.

Jermaine Taylor, SAC, UFA: Jermaine Taylor will sign in Houston, but there are not yet any details regarding the duration of the deal or how much it will pay.

Earl Watson, UTA, UFA: I thought he was going to Atlanta, but he’s apparently re-signing with Utah.  Looks like it’s a two-year deal.

David West, NOH, UFA: The Celtics have agreed to a sign and trade that will send Jermaine O’Neal to the Hornets for David West  JO will ask the Hornets to waive him and hope to sign with the Heat. 

Chris Wilcox, DET, UFA: Chris Wilcox has signed in Boston for the vet’s minimum.  He was in camp today.

Shelden Williams, NYK, UFA: Is there enough room in New Jersey for Shelden’s forehead?  The Nets believe there is.  Shoulda signed Candace, she dunks better.

Brandan Wright, NJN, UFA: The Mavericks have signed a much cheaper, less good, even more injury prone version of Tyson Chandler.  I actually liked Wright when he was a young Warrior with braces on his teeth, but I’ve given up on him at this point.

Thad Young, PHI, RFA: The Sixers are close to reaching a deal with Thad that will make him a Sixer for the next five years.  It’s worth about $42 million.  It’s now being reported that this deal is actually done.

Trades

Mickael Pietrus, PHX: The Suns have agreed to trade Pietrus to Toronto for a second round pick.  The deal is pending a physical.

Keyon Dooling, MIL: The Celtics have traded for veteran PG Keyon Dooling.  The deal will send nothing but a second round pick to Milwaukee.

Ronny Turiaf, NYK: The Knicks have traded Ronny Turiaf to Washington to make room for Tyson Chandler and his $60 million deal.  SLAM speculates that New York will get nothing but a draft pick.

Von Wafer, BOS: Von Wafer is headed to Orlando as part of the sign and trade that was made for Big Baby Davis.  Wafer will reportedly sign for three years.

Rumors

LaMarcus Aldridge, POR: LaMarcus will miss at least a week of action due to a flare up of a heart issue he’s suffered with for years.  Heart issues are obviously scary, but it seems that he’ll be fine.  He missed some games with the same problem during his rookie season.

Gilbert Arenas, ORL: The Orlando Magic have waived Gilbert Arenas via amnesty. 

Mike Bibby, MIA, UFA: Sorry, Knicks fans.

Chauncey Billups, NYK: If he is indeed amnestied, Billups may consider retirement if he doesn’t like his next NBA destination.  This is probably just a threat to scare bad teams away from bidding on him.

Eric Bledsoe, LAC: Bledsoe is expected to miss 6-8 weeks due to knee surgery. 

Vince Carter, PHX: 66/67ths Man 1/67th Amazing has officially been waived.  He hopes to sign underachieve with a contender.

Jamal Crawford, ATL, UFA: Crawford reportedly wants to return to his former Bulls team.  If Chicago is unable to complete a sign and trade to make it happen, Crawford could end up with the Pacers, Wolves, Nets, or Hornets.

Richard Hamilton, DET: Hamilton will be waived by the Pistons.  This is not an amnesty transaction, but a buy out.  Marc Stein reports that the Bulls are after him.

Dwight Howard, ORL: Dwight Howard will reportedly ask for a trade to the Nets.  The Magic still want to keep him and are considering filing tampering charges against multiple teams that they believe made illegal contact with Dwight (no Sandusky), although Howard denies meeting with the Nets.  According to NBAtv, Howard will be at Magic practice at 5 PM.  Quote from Magic official: “He’s still under contract.”  Dwight has now been given permission to talk to three teams about a possible trade: Dallas, New Jersey, and LA (not the Clippers).

Al Jefferson, UTA: Big Al’s got a crazy, 38-year-old girlfriend who beats him.

Richard Jefferson, SAS: It’s common knowledge that RJ will be amnestied by the Spurs.  For some reason he showed up at practice today.

Andrei Kirilenko, UTA, UFA: AK47 is not close to signing with any NBA team at the moment.

Paul Millsap, UTA: The Indiana Pacers are reportedly in contact with the Jazz about a Paul Millsap trade.  Millsap is apparently on the block.

Gerg Oden, POR, RFA: In a sad but not surprising development, Greg Oden has suffered a setback of some kind related to his knee injury.  The Blazers will now work to restructure that one-year deal he was expected to get as it’s unsure if he’ll play this year.

Lamar Odom, LAL: Odom showed up 90 minutes late for the first day of Lakers training camp, then left without participating.  He’s very displeased about LA’s attempt to trade him to the Hornets for Chris Paul.  Pau Gasol did show up for camp according to NBAtv.

Chris Paul, NOH: David Stern’s lame-o statement on the Chris Paul non-trade.  The three teams involved are back in talks to try to come up with a deal that won’t be rejected by the league.  According to Chris Broussard’s sources, if a deal isn’t made by Monday the players union will try to do somethin’ about it.  That may not need to happen, because according to ESPN, the three teams may have a re-worked deal done by the end of the weekend.

Brandon Roy, POR: Roy has been diagnosed with a career-ending knee injury and will announce his retirement soon.  His career lasted just five seasons, and he’s only 27 years old.

Jerry Stackhouse, TV: Stack sighting at Hawks camp?  Like, not as an analyst?  You’ve got to be sh!tting me.

Martell Webster, MIN: Webster will be out indefinitely as he recovers from back surgery.

Shawne Williams, NYK, UFA: The Knicks are trying to bring Williams back to New York, but other teams, such as New Jersey, are trying to wrestle him away.

Charlotte Bobcats: They have a new alternate jersey.

Last updated: 12:59 AM ET, 12/10.