The Latest: Revamped Chicago Bulls Sign Rajon Rondo
The Associated Press
The Latest on the NBA (all times Eastern):
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3 p.m.
The revamped Chicago Bulls have announced the addition of point guard Rajon Rondo.
The team did not disclose terms of the contract, but a person with knowledge of the negotiations previously told The Associated Press that the four-time All-Star agreed to a $30 million, two-year deal.
Rondo replaces former MVP Derrick Rose, who was traded to New York before the draft. Also coming to Chicago is 12-time All-Star Dwyane Wade, who turned down a lower offer to stay in Miami and agreed to a two-year, $47 million deal Wednesday.
Adding the 30-year-old Rondo and 34-year-old Wade goes against management's stated desire to get younger after the Bulls missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years. It also remains to be seen how they will fit in coach Fred Hoiberg's more freewheeling offense.
— AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Kingston, Jamaica
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2:50 p.m.
The Boston Celtics have scheduled a Friday morning news conference, at which they're expected to announce the signing of Al Horford.
The team agreed to a deal with the former Atlanta Hawks big man on Saturday, hours after the start of free agency. The four-year deal is expected to pay him $113 million.
Horford confirmed the deal on Twitter, changing his profile and pictures to note his Celtics affiliation. The team hasn't commented.
Horford becomes the biggest free agent ever signed by the NBA's most-decorated franchise. But the Celtics' plans to use him to attract an even bigger name fell through when Kevin Durant agreed to a deal with the Golden State Warriors, rejecting an overture from the Celtics and star recruiter Tom Brady.
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2:15 p.m.
The Mavericks will get the rights to Croatian center Stanko Barac from Indiana in the salary-dump deal that sent seldom-used forward Jeremy Evans to the Pacers.
Dallas is also sending the rights to Bosnian guard-forward Emir Preldzic and cash to the Pacers in the deal announced Thursday. The Mavericks needed to unload Evans, the 2012 NBA slam dunk champion, to have room for Golden State center Andrew Bogut, who came in a trade when the Warriors needed salary cap space for Kevin Durant.
Evans averaged 2.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in 30 games in his only season with the Mavericks. He spent his first five seasons in Utah.
The 7-foot-1 Barac averaged 6.5 points and 3.8 rebounds for the Italian club Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano last season and also played professionally in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, Turkey and his home country.
The 6-foot-9 Preldzic, a second-round pick by Phoenix in 2009, played in Turkey last season.
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2:10 p.m.
The Detroit Pistons have signed San Antonio big man Boban Marjanovic to a $21 million, three-year offer sheet.
Misko Raznatovic, Marjanovic's agent, announced the deal Thursday. The Spurs can match the offer within three days, but their salary cap situation makes that seem unlikely.
The 7-foot-3 Marjanovic, who turns 28 in August, averaged 5.5 points per game last season for the Spurs. That was his first NBA season. Marjanovic is a three-time MVP of the Serbian Super League.
The Pistons have also reached agreements with free agents Ish Smith and Jon Leuer. They've called a news conference Friday to introduce those players.
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1:35 p.m.
The Memphis Grizzlies have scheduled a news conference for Friday inside the lobby at the FedExForum for a "major announcement" that appears to be the signing of Chandler Parsons.
Parsons agreed to a four-year, $94 million deal on the first day of NBA free agency, three people with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press last week. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the deals could not be signed until Thursday. The agreement is part of a spending spree by Memphis that also included a five-year maximum contract worth $153 million for guard Mike Conley.
The Grizzlies would not comment on the topic of Friday's news conference. Delaying the signing of Conley's deal gives the Grizzlies more flexibility under the salary cap.
Parsons wrote Wednesday on Twitter: "Off to Memphis!"
— AP Basketball Writer Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis
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noon
A person with knowledge of the negotiations tells The Associated Press that Dewayne Dedmon has agreed to terms on a two-year, $6 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team has not announced the move. Dedmon is a 26-year-old, 7-foot center who spent the last two-plus seasons in Orlando.
He gives the Spurs another rim protector and defensive presence off the bench. He also serves as some insurance should longtime franchise centerpiece Tim Duncan retire.
Dedmon has also played for Golden State and Philadelphia in his young career.
Yahoo Sports first reported the agreement.
— AP Basketball Writer Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis
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11:45 a.m.
The NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers lead the league in merchandise sales, but Stephen Curry of the runner-up Golden State Warriors has the NBA's most popular jersey.
The NBA says Cavaliers gear tops league rankings of most popular team merchandise for the first time since January 2015. It says LeBron James has the second most popular jersey. The jersey of Cleveland teammate Kyrie Irving comes in as the fourth most popular.
Curry has owned the league's top selling jersey since the end of the 2014-2015 season. Fellow Warriors Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are in the Top 10. Golden State's Andre Iguodala makes his debut on the list at 14.
The rankings are based on overall NBAStore.com sales from April to June.
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11:30 a.m.
Ayesha Curry says she "didn't think about the ramifications" when she called the NBA rigged on Twitter after husband Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
Curry tells People magazine she regrets the ways she voiced how hurt she was and didn't mean to offend anyone. She says what she wrote isn't what she thinks about what her husband does for a living.
Stephen Curry tells the magazine he knows where his wife was coming from and adds that he's advised her to ignore what people say, because "you're not going to win any battles on Twitter."
Ayesha Curry is a popular social media personality, with 3.7 million followers on Instagram and 637,000 on Twitter.
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11 a.m.
The Mavericks have completed a trade with Golden State for center Andrew Bogut, and each team will get a future second-round draft pick in the deal.
The deal announced Thursday was reached earlier this week, not long after the Warriors got a commitment from Kevin Durant and needed to clear space under the salary cap to sign the four-time NBA scoring champion from Oklahoma City.
The 7-foot Bogut has averaged 10.3 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 644 games over an 11-year career. He made the NBA's All-Defensive second team when the Warriors won their first title in 40 years in 2015.
Bogut was the first Australian taken No. 1 overall, in 2005 by Milwaukee.
Dallas also signed forward Harrison Barnes from the Warriors, who had to renounce the rights to the restricted free agent to clear cap room for Durant.
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9:15 a.m.
Dwyane Wade says his decision to leave the Miami Heat for the Chicago Bulls was still "surreal" Thursday morning, when he appeared as the guest-host of "Live with Kelly" alongside Kelly Ripa.
Wade made the appearance in New York. He accepted the invitation to guest-host Thursday's show weeks ago.
Wade decided Wednesday night to accept a two-year contract offer from the Bulls and return to his hometown. He thanked Heat fans in his opening remarks on the show, says he hadn't slept in days while deliberating and even lost 5 to 10 pounds because he hadn't been able to eat.
Wade says he would consider doing some on-screen work after his playing career ends, telling The Associated Press that was one of the reasons he accepted the hosting chance.
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6:10 a.m.
Time's up for the old NBA shot clock.
The league will debut a new timing system and shot clock this week in Las Vegas during the NBA Summer League, which will then be integrated into all 29 arenas for the 2016-17 season.
The league says Thursday the new clock will feature the game clocks, 24-second and timeout, the first time they have all been in one piece of hardware.
Developed by Swiss watchmaker Tissot, the league's official timekeeper, the timing system will allow for clearer footage to assist referees and the Replay Center, and provides a benefit to some fans. The clock's LED glass is nearly transparent when in use, giving fans behind the baskets a view to the court that was previously obstructed.
The NBA introduced the shot clock for the 1954-55 season and it has been positioned on top of the backboard since 1977.
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