John Reid of the Times-Picayune reports that the New Orleans Hornets have released center Solomon Alabi and guard Chris Wright. These moves bring the Hornets' roster down to 14, which means it appears their regular-season roster is set barring a late signing.
Alabi played briefly for the Toronto Raptors last season but spent most of the year in the D-League. Wright played in Turkey last season. Both were signed by New Orleans prior to training camp.
With the Miami Heat defending their title and the presence of two top-five lottery picks, Washington's Bradley Beal and Charlotte's Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the Southeast figures to be one of the most exciting divisions in the NBA in the 2012/13 season. Here are the latest updates from around the division on Saturday afternoon:
Here are the latest updates on the Los Angeles Clippers leading up to the start of the 2012/13 season:
Celtics coach Doc Rivers weighed in on Ray Allen's departure from the team in a radio interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, as Brian Robb of Celtics Hub transcribes (hat tip to ESPNBoston.com), but Allen is anxious to move past his acrimonius departure from Boston, as Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com writes. Here's the rest of the day's news from Atlantic Division clubs.
The Wizards have waived camp invitees Steven Gray and Shavlik Randolph, the team announced via press release. The subtraction of the pair, both of whom were on non-guaranteed deals, leaves the team with 17 players, meaning at least two more cuts are still to come. Earl Barron, Brian Cook, Shelvin Mack and Jannero Pargo are all without full guarantees on their deals. Mack has a partial guarantee for $300K, while Pargo's contract also includes an unknown partially guaranteed amount.
Randolph went undrafted out of Duke in 2005, but has played in parts of five NBA season, his last action coming in 2009/10. He played last year in Puerto Rico and China, and averaged 2.2 points and 3.0 rebounds in 10.0 minutes over five preseason games this month. Gray saw just eight total minutes in two preseason games as he was a part of his first NBA camp since going undrafted out of Gonzaga.
The Grizzlies have let go of Ronald Dupree, Jerome Jordan and Ronald "Flip" Murray, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, clearing the last of the team's non-guaranteed contracts from the books. Memphis is down to 13 players, which is the minimum it can carry.
Dupree, 31, has played in parts of six NBA regular seasons, but spent last year playing overseas in Italy and Argentina. He averaged 3.5 points in 13.1 minutes over six preseason games this year. Jordan has been linked to teams in China while still in camp this month, so he could be headed overseas after appearing in 21 games last season for the Knicks. The 33-year-old Murray is a veteran of eight NBA seasons, but hasn't played in the league since 2009/10. He played three games in the D-League last year, an unconventional destination for a player of his age.
The Clippers have waived guard Marqus Blakely, as Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times tweets. He was the team's last player on a non-guaranteed deal, leaving L.A.'s roster at the regular-season limit of 15.
Blakely failed in his third attempt in as many years to make an NBA team out of training camp. The undrafted 6'5" University of Vermont product was also with the Clippers for the 2010 preseason, and went to Rockets camp last year. He appeared in three preseason games with the Clippers this year after signing in September, but failed to score a point.
The rest of the Clippers all have fully guaranteed deals, so the team's roster appears to be set for opening night.
Perhaps the most surprising training camp cut was Quentin Richardson, whom the Magic waived despite $5.438MM worth of guaranteed money on his contract for the next two seasons. The surprising play of DeQuan Jones, who appears to have made the team on a non-guaranteed deal, pushed Richardson out the door, writes John Denton of Magic.com. There's plenty of other news about players coming and going today, in advance of the 4:00pm Central time deadline for teams to let go of camp invitees so that they clear waivers before rosters must be down to 15 players.
2:48pm: The Wolves have confirmed the cuts via Twitter.
11:26am: The Timberwolves are expected to waive center Chris Johnson and small forward Mike Harris, according to Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Minnesota must shed two players by the Saturday deadline in order to get down to the 15-man maximum.
Johnson, who stands at 6'11", was released by the Trail Blazers last season when trade deadline acquisitions forced the club to trim down the roster. The 27-year-old then hooked on with the Hornets but played in just seven games before suffering a concussion. Harris, 29, last appeared in the Association in 2010/11 in a stint with the Rockets.
James Harden and agent Rob Pelinka recently turned down a four-year extension offer from the Thunder worth $52MM in their quest for a max extension from the Thunder, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Pelinka and Thunder GM Sam Presti have been meeting in Oklahoma City the past to two days to try to hammer out a deal. Wojnarowski takes the continued negotiations as a sign there's figure between $52MM and the maximum, likely worth $60MM, that will get the extension done.
Wojnarowski hears the Thunder may be trying to get Harden to agree to incentive clauses that may sweeten the deal, as they did with Serge Ibaka's extension. Teams are already lining up to offer Harden a maximum deal in restricted free agency next summer if Oklahoma City can't get an extension done by Wednesday's deadline. If the Thunder don't sign him to an extension, sources tell Wojnarowski that they may explore trades for him sooner rather than later.
"You're asking a player to take less money and remain a non-starter," a league executive told Wojnarowski. "Harden can start and go make more money. …That's a tough sell."
The Thunder could be on the hook for a hefty luxury tax bill for years to come if they commit to Harden, after previously doling out long-term deals to Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Ibaka. They could be more willing to pay the tax than they're letting on, Wojnarowski speculates, which could prompt the team to simply wait for the extension deadline to pass and match any offer sheet Harden signs next summer.