NBA Rumors Round-Up
NBA Rumors: Barbosa Nearing Deal With HEAT?
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated16 Oct 2023
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There’s mutual interest between Leandro Barbosa and the Miami Heat, according to league sources. Don’t be surprised if he signs with them.
While league sources said that no deal is imminent at the moment, there is mutual interest between Barbosa and the HEAT. Miami is seriously considering signing Barbosa, who would make sense for the team since they could use a reserve scorer.
Barbosa was reportedly planning to use the upcoming FIBA World Cup Tournament to show teams that he could still play at a high level. The unrestricted free agent, who plays for the Brazilian national team, had 13 points, four assists and four rebounds against the USA national team in an exhibition game on Saturday.
The 31-year-old had a brief stint with the Phoenix Suns last season, appearing in 20 games and averaging 7.5 points per game as a reserve. He played 18.4 minutes per game off of Phoenix’s bench. When he did receive significant minutes, he played well. He scored 21 points on 8-15 shooting in 30 minutes against the New York Knicks in February.
Over the course of his 11-year NBA career, Barbosa has averaged 11.9 points. He has always been capable of providing instant offense, and that’s likely why Miami is interested in him.
Despite losing LeBron James, Miami is determined to remain an elite team in the Eastern Conference. They have brought in a number of veterans this offseason including Luol Deng, Josh McRoberts, Danny Granger and Shawne Williams in addition to re-signing Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Mario Chalmers, Chris Andersen and Udonis Haslem. Barbosa may be the next veteran to join the squad.
NBA free agent Toney Douglas is headed to China, according to source.
Douglas is reportedly heading to China, according to Pick, but we don’t have many details at this point. We don’t know which team he is signing with or the terms of the contract.
It’s likely that Douglas has inked a one-year deal and then he’ll try to sign with an NBA team once the Chinese Basketball Association season comes to an end. This is what many players do, since the CBA season ends relatively early, which gives the players a chance to join an NBA team for the final months of the regular season and the playoffs.
Douglas isn’t the only NBA player who has signed with an international team recently. Others such as Metta World Peace, Al Harrington, Byron Mullens and MarShon Brooks among others have decided to sign with overseas teams as well.
Last season, Douglas played 24 games for the Golden State Warriors and 27 games for the Miami HEAT. He was traded in a three-team deal that sent Joel Anthony and two draft picks to the Boston Celtics and MarShon Brooks and Jordan Crawford to the Golden State Warriors.
Douglas ended up starting 17 games for Miami, and averaged 4.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists during his stint with the HEAT.
The Toronto Raptors announced Monday they have signed forward-guard Jordan Hamilton. Per team policy, financial details were not disclosed.
This move was expected, but the Raptors finally made the signing of Jordan Hamilton official on Monday and announced the acquisition in a press release.
Hamilton averaged 6.7 points and 3.2 rebounds in 60 games (12 starts) last season with the Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets.
The Rockets acquired Hamilton from the Nuggets on February 20 in exchange for Aaron Brooks.
The 23-year-old has always been a productive offensive player, as evidenced by his 20 games in which he scored in double figures last season. He’ll help the Raptors on that end of the floor, and he should continue to develop since he’s so young.
Masai Ujiri, the Raptors’ general manager, has history with Hamilton since the two worked together in Denver.
