4:40pm: The Kings have indeed waived Ellington, the team announced. Sacramento’s statement doesn’t make it clear whether the club officially made the move by Sunday’s stretch provision deadline, though presumably that’s the case.
WEDNESDAY, 8:28am: The RealGM transactions log confirms the move took place Sunday, though the team still has yet to make an official announcement.
MONDAY, 9:11am: The Kings waived Wayne Ellington on Sunday, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The team has made no formal announcement of the move, though it had to have taken place Sunday for the Kings to use the stretch provision to clear most of Ellington’s guaranteed salary of more than $2.771MM for the upcoming season, as Stein points out. USA Today’s Sam Amick reported last month in the immediate wake of the trade that brought Ellington to the Kings that Sacramento was expected to waive him, though Amick cautioned shortly thereafter that the team had yet to make its final decision.
It’s been a whirlwind summer for Ellington, who was involved in two trades. The Mavs sent him to the Knicks in June’s Tyson Chandler deal before New York flipped him to the Kings. He didn’t see much playing time last season after agent Arn Tellem helped him secure a two-year deal with the Mavericks for more than $5.423MM. That contract came on the heels of the most productive of his five NBA seasons, as he averaged 10.4 points and shot 37.1% from three-point range in 25.9 minutes per game for the Cavs after arriving in Cleveland via trade from the Grizzlies in January 2013. He upped his three-point percentage to 42.4% in a meager 8.7 MPG this past season, but teams have still played hot potato with the 26-year-old this summer.
Sacramento will pay out Ellington’s remaining salary in equal amounts of nearly $924K through the 2016/17 season, presuming the team indeed made use of the stretch provision. Before they reached Sunday’s agreement to trade Jason Terry to the Rockets, the Kings had been poised to sit less than $100K shy of the luxury tax threshold in guaranteed salaries once they formalized their deal with Omri Casspi, so waiving Ellington provides additional flexibility. Amick’s report from last month also indicated the team is expected to waive Jeremy Tyler, though his salary is non-guaranteed.