THURSDAY, 4:10pm: The Suns have officially announced the release of Jefferson.
WEDNESDAY, 11:06pm: The Suns are waiving power forward Cory Jefferson, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reports (Twitter link). The move comes prior to Thursday’s leaguewide contract guarantee date, so Phoenix won’t be on the hook for the remainder of Jefferson’s $845,059 salary for the season.
Jefferson, 25, was the No. 60 overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft. He has only appeared in six contests for Phoenix on the season, averaging 2.0 points and 1.7 rebounds in 4.7 minutes per game. The 6’9″ forward appeared in 50 games for the Nets in 2014/15 when he notched averages of 3.7 points and 2.9 rebounds on 44.9% shooting. Jefferson had been waived by Brooklyn back in July so that the team could avoid his non-guaranteed salary for 2015/16 becoming partially guaranteed for $150K. He inked a training camp deal with Phoenix in August and subsequently made the regular season roster.
The Suns’ roster count will drop to 14 players as a result of waiving Jefferson, which will leave one open slot to add a player via a 10-day signing or a trade.