Free agents Perry Jones III and Jeff Ayres are signing D-League contracts and will be eligible for Saturday’s D-League draft, reports Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter link). The D-League hasn’t made an announcement, but Reichert indicates that Jones and Ayres have already put pen to paper. Jones cleared NBA waivers after the Celtics cut him loose this weekend, while Ayres, coming off two seasons with the Spurs, was briefly on a deal this fall with Shanxi of the Chinese Basketball Association, which released him about a month ago. Jones and Ayres will still be able to sign NBA contracts should offers emerge.
Jones, 24, finds himself out of an NBA job in large measure because of a numbers crunch in Boston, where Jones had one of the 16 fully guaranteed salaries the Celtics carried into training camp, one more than the regular season roster limit. The C’s still owe him the $2.038MM that his rookie scale contract called for him to make this season. The Thunder offloaded his contract to the Celtics earlier this summer in the trade that sent the former 28th overall pick to Boston.
The 28-year-old Ayres, once known as Jeff Pendergraph, averaged fewer than 10 minutes per game for the second time in his five-year career last season. Rumors of NBA interest in the big man were scarce over the summer. The Spurs renounced their Early Bird rights to him to clear cap room for their free agent haul, according to RealGM.
Which NBA teams would be the best fits for Jones and Ayres? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.