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Month: November 2024

Pelicans Re-Sign Willy Hernangomez To Three-Year Deal

August 16th, 2021 at 2:08pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 16: The Pelicans have officially re-signed Hernangomez, the team announced today in a press release. The club also confirmed Didi Louzada‘s new deal, which was finalized last week.

“The passion Willy and Didi have for their teammates and our greater Pelicans community is reflected every day in their approach to the game,” Pelicans head of basketball operations David Griffin said in a statement. “Their joyful outlook, work ethic, attention to detail and desire to grow and evolve as professionals has been infectious and we look forward to continuing towards our goals together deep into the future.”

AUGUST 6: The Pelicans have agreed to a three-year deal with Willy Hernangomez that will keep the veteran big man in New Orleans, agents Jim Tanner and Guillermo Bermejo tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The third year will be a team option, tweets Christian Clark of NOLA.com.

Hernangomez, 27, spent his first four NBA seasons in New York and Charlotte before joining the Pelicans as a free agent last November. In his first year with the team, he averaged 7.8 PPG, 7.1 RPG, and 1.1 APG in 47 games (18.0 MPG) and was the starting center in the season’s final weeks.

Most recently, Hernangomez represented Spain in the Tokyo Olympics, posting a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) in the team’s quarterfinal loss to Team USA earlier this week.

Hernangomez was on a minimum-salary contract last season and New Orleans only held his Non-Bird rights, so the team’s ability to offer a raise without using cap room or another exception (ie. the mid-level) was limited. We’ll have to wait for the financial terms on Hernangomez’s deal to get a sense of how the Pelicans are re-signing him.

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Rockets Sign Usman Garuba To Rookie Contract

August 16th, 2021 at 12:59pm CST by Luke Adams

Spanish big man Usman Garuba has officially signed his rookie contract with the Rockets, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

Garuba had been the last of this year’s 30 first-round picks who remained unsigned. The process was held up a little due to the fact that he was participating in the Tokyo Olympics and had to finalize a buyout agreement with Real Madrid, his team in Spain.

[RELATED: 2021 NBA Draft Pick Signings]

As a result of that team-friendly buyout, Garuba owes Real Madrid in excess of two million Euros, but will be able to pay it off in installments. He should more than make up that amount in the NBA based on the terms of his rookie deal. Assuming he signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale, Garuba will earn $2.35MM as a rookie and $11.81MM over the course of four seasons.

Garuba, 19, had been a member of Real Madrid since 2017 and was a regular part of the team’s rotation in 2020/21. He was named the ACB Best Young Player and received the EuroLeague Rising Star award, then was one of four prospects selected by Houston in this first round of the 2021 draft.

The No. 23 overall pick, Garuba joins Jalen Green (No. 2), Alperen Sengun (No. 16), and Josh Christopher (No. 24) to make up the Rockets’ promising 2021 draft class.

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Grizzlies Trade Bledsoe To Clippers For Beverley, Rondo, Oturu

August 16th, 2021 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 16: The Grizzlies and Clippers have put out press releases officially announcing the trade.

AUGUST 15: The Grizzlies and Clippers have agree to a trade that will send veteran point guard Eric Bledsoe back to Los Angeles in exchange for Patrick Beverley, Rajon Rondo, and Daniel Oturu, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Bledsoe, who began his NBA career with the Clippers back in 2010, was traded from New Orleans to Memphis earlier in the offseason as part of a salary-dump deal that also sent Steven Adams to the Grizzlies. A report at the time of the agreement indicated that Bledsoe was unlikely to remain in Memphis, though it was unclear if the plan was to trade him or buy him out.

This trade, a three-for-one swap, will help generate some roster flexibility for a Clippers team that had been carrying 16 players on fully guaranteed contracts. Los Angeles will now have 14 players on guaranteed deals, plus Yogi Ferrell on a non-guaranteed salary.

Swapping out Beverley ($14.32MM), Rondo ($8.25MM), and Oturu ($1.52MM) for Bledsoe ($18.13MM) will also save the Clippers some money on a tax bill that was projected to be worth $125MM. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter), that projection will dip to about $95MM.

The three outgoing players are all on expiring contracts, while Bledsoe is on a pseudo-expiring deal — his $19.38MM salary for 2022/23 is only partially guaranteed for $3.9MM. Because only Beverley and Oturu are required for salary-matching purposes, L.A. will generate a trade exception worth Rondo’s $8.25MM salary, Marks notes.

Although the Clippers will sacrifice a little depth in the trade, Bledsoe is a bounce-back candidate who could conceivably provide the club with some of the play-making and defense lost by moving Beverley and Rondo. Bledsoe had a down year with the Pelicans in 2020/21, but he averaged 5.5 assists per game during his time in Milwaukee from 2018-20 and earned All-Defensive nods in both seasons.

The Grizzlies, meanwhile, save a little 2022/23 money in the deal while taking on some extra salary for ’21/22. Memphis is now facing a roster crunch of its own, with 17 players on fully guaranteed contracts.

According to Wojnarowsi (Twitter link), the Grizzlies will be “open-minded” in weighing additional roster moves involving Beverley, Rondo, and/or Oturu and will likely consider flipping one or more of them in separate deals.

Memphis is already relatively deep at the point guard spot, with Tyus Jones backing up Ja Morant and De’Anthony Melton also capable of playing the position. As such, it’s hard to imagine both Beverley and Rondo starting the season with the club.

Because they’re on smaller expiring deals, Beverley and Rondo should be easier for the Grizzlies to move in subsequent trades than Bledsoe was. The move to turn one bigger contract into multiple smaller ones is somewhat reminiscent of a trade the team completed during the 2019 offseason, sending out Chandler Parsons‘ oversized expiring deal for Solomon Hill and Miles Plumlee, who were each earning about half of what Parsons was.

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Latest On Pascal Siakam

August 16th, 2021 at 12:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Despite being the subject of several offseason trade rumors, Raptors forward Pascal Siakam likely isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic.

Amick, who reported earlier in the summer that the Kings were “definitely” interested in Siakam, spoke in Las Vegas with multiple people close to the situation and says he doesn’t get the sense that the Raptors have any interest in moving the former All-Star this offseason. President of basketball operations Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster have been willing to listen to inquiries, Amick notes, but they aren’t shopping Siakam.

Besides Sacramento, the Warriors and Clippers are among the other teams said to have Siakam on their radar. He remains under contract with the Raptors for $106MM over the next three years.

As Amick outlines, there were multiple reasons why executives around the NBA believed that Siakam might be available via trade this offseason. Toronto’s decision to use the No. 4 pick in the draft on forward Scottie Barnes instead of guard Jalen Suggs was one; Siakam’s friction with Raptors head coach Nick Nurse last season was another.

However, sources tell Amick that any tension between Siakam and Nurse has “long since been smoothed over” and that Ujiri and the Raptors have been in touch with the forward’s camp to make it clear the team has a vision for how he, Barnes, and the rest of the team’s pieces will fit together on the court. And for his part, Siakam wants to remain with the Raptors, Amick adds.

Siakam underwent shoulder surgery in June and isn’t expected to be ready for the start of the 2021/22 campaign, so Toronto may not get to see its full roster in action until at least a month or two into the season. If the fit isn’t as smooth as the Raptors envision, perhaps things will change on the Siakam front at that point, but for now it looks like he’s part of the club’s plans going forward.

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2021/22 NBA Roster Counts

August 16th, 2021 at 10:41am CST by Luke Adams

Although NBA rosters are limited to 15 players during the regular season, teams are allowed to carry up to 20 players during the offseason. Expanded offseason rosters allow clubs to bring in players on contracts that aren’t fully guaranteed, giving those players a chance to earn a regular season roster spot or getting a closer look at them before sending them to their G League affiliate.

In addition to the usual 15-man rosters, NBA teams are permitted to carry two players on two-way contracts. Two-way deals, which we describe in detail in our glossary, essentially give clubs the NBA rights to two extra players, though they often spend much of the season in the G League rather than with the NBA team. While two-way players don’t count toward the 15-man regular season roster limit, they do count toward the 20-man offseason limit.

Over the course of the 2021 offseason and 2021/22 season, we’ll keep tabs on how many players are on each NBA team’s roster, breaking them down into a few groups. Here are the various categories you’ll find in our list:

  • Official: These players are officially under contract with a given team, on guaranteed deals.
  • Reported: These are players whose contract agreements have been reported but haven’t been made official. We’re expecting them to be finalized at some point, though it’s possible that some will fall through or were reported erroneously.
  • 10-day: These are players officially signed to 10-day contracts, along with the expiry date on those deals.
  • Two-way: These are players signed to two-way contracts. Unless otherwise noted, these deals are official. You can find a specific team’s two-way players right here.
  • Total: A team’s total roster count, taking into account all of the above.

Here are the NBA’s roster counts for 2021/22, which we’ll continue to update through the rest of the regular season:

Updated 4-10-22 (11:00pm CT)

Atlanta Hawks

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Boston Celtics

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Brooklyn Nets

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 1
  • Total: 16

Charlotte Hornets

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Chicago Bulls

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Cleveland Cavaliers

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Dallas Mavericks

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Denver Nuggets

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Detroit Pistons

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Golden State Warriors

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Houston Rockets

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Indiana Pacers

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Los Angeles Clippers

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Los Angeles Lakers

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Memphis Grizzlies

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Miami Heat

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Milwaukee Bucks

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Minnesota Timberwolves

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

New Orleans Pelicans

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

New York Knicks

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Oklahoma City Thunder

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Orlando Magic

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Philadelphia 76ers

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Phoenix Suns

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 1
  • Total: 16

Portland Trail Blazers

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Sacramento Kings

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 1
  • Total: 16

San Antonio Spurs

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Toronto Raptors

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17

Utah Jazz

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 1
  • Total: 16

Washington Wizards

  • Official: 15
  • Two-way: 2
  • Total: 17
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2021/22 Non-Guaranteed Contracts By NBA Team

August 16th, 2021 at 9:33am CST by Luke Adams

As the NBA regular season approaches and teams reduce their rosters from the 20-player offseason limit to the 15-man regular season max, the best way to determine which players will survive preseason cuts is to consider their contracts. Players with guaranteed salaries for 2021/22 are far more likely to earn spots on 15-man rosters than players whose contracts aren’t fully guaranteed.

Keeping that in mind, we’re using the space below to keep tabs on the players on each NBA team who don’t have fully guaranteed contracts, using information from Basketball Insiders and Spotrac, as well as our own data. The players listed here have non-guaranteed salaries, partially guaranteed salaries, or Exhibit 9 or Exhibit 10 contracts, which essentially function like non-guaranteed deals.

Unless otherwise noted, these players are on minimum-salary contracts. Some players on this list have partial guarantees, which we’ve also mentioned below.

Not all of these players will be waived before the regular season begins, so we’ll maintain this list for the next several months, up until January 10, 2022. That’s the day that all players still under contract will have their salaries fully guaranteed for the rest of the 2021/22 season.

Only players who have formally signed contracts are listed below, so if a player has reportedly reached an agreement with a team on a non-guaranteed deal, we’ll add him to our list when that deal becomes official.

Without further ado, here’s the full list of players without fully guaranteed salaries for 2021/22, broken down by team:

Updated 1-8-22 (7:58am CT)

Atlanta Hawks

  • None

Boston Celtics

  • None

Brooklyn Nets

  • None

Charlotte Hornets

  • None

Chicago Bulls

  • None

Cleveland Cavaliers

  • None

Read more

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International Notes: Petrusev, Madar, Giedraitis, Jokubaitis

August 16th, 2021 at 8:22am CST by Luke Adams

Turkish club Anadolu Efes, the reigning EuroLeague champion, is expected to sign 6’11” forward/center Filip Petrusev for the coming season, a source tells Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.

Petrusev was the 50th player selected in the 2021 draft, and while he spoke earlier this month of wanting to join his new NBA team – the Sixers – as soon as possible, the plan was always to stash him overseas for at least one more seasons.

The 21-year-old is coming off a big year (23.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG) for Mega Basket in the Adriatic League and will get an opportunity to face a higher level of competition in EuroLeague play in 2021/22.

Here are a few more notes from around the international basketball world:

  • If the Celtics opt not to sign 2020 second-rounder Yam Madar for the 2021/22 season, the expectation is that he’ll play for Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany, according to reports out of Israel (hat tip to Sportando). Madar remains a candidate to come stateside, but Boston already has 15 players on fully guaranteed contracts (plus Jabari Parker on a non-guaranteed deal) for ’21/22, so it may be another year before the Israeli guard signs his first NBA contract.
  • Lithuanian wing Rokas Giedraitis has turned down a one-year, minimum-salary offer from an NBA team and will remain with Baskonia in Spain, according to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. Giedraitis averaged 12.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 1.6 APG on .485/.405/.824 shooting in 33 EuroLeague games (28.7 MPG) last season. It’s unclear which NBA team attempted to sign him.
  • Marc Berman of The New York Post explores the roles that the Knicks‘ European scouts, Adam Tatalovich and Kevin Wilson, played in the team’s decision to draft Lithuanian guard Rokas Jokubaitis. As Berman notes, Wilson is based in Barcelona, so he’ll get an opportunity to continue scouting Jokubaitis in 2021/22 — the No. 34 pick is set to spend the season with FC Barcelona in Spain.
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Western Notes: Hughes, Brooks, Rockets, Lewis Jr., Jones

August 15th, 2021 at 9:16pm CST by JD Shaw

Jazz guard Elijah Hughes is concentrating on his defense during the team’s summer league play this month, as relayed by Sarah Todd of the Deseret News. Hughes is in the midst of his first-ever summer league stint with the franchise.

“The typical Syracuse stigma is that guys don’t play defense and guys can’t guard, so I want to break that stigma,” Hughes explained. “Also I have a lot of pride. I want to hold my own. If people are trying to get me on switches, I want to be able to hold my own.”

Hughes, 23, was drafted with the No. 39 overall pick last December and is under contract entering next season. He appeared in 18 games this past season, albeit for a total of 64 minutes.

“Eli has a big body, and for him it’s learning to play angles defensively,” Jazz summer league coach Bryan Bailey said. “If he continues to learn to play angles and cut guys off with his size, he’ll be a good defender.”

Here are some other notes from the Western Conference tonight:

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Udonis Haslem Re-Signs With Heat

August 15th, 2021 at 7:46pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 15: The Heat have officially re-signed Haslem, the team announced today (via Twitter).

AUGUST 11: Veteran big man Udonis Haslem will return for another season with the Heat, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel, who says that an official announcement from the team is expected soon. It will be Haslem’s 19th season with the franchise.

A regular rotation player in Miami when the team won championships in 2006, 2012, and 2013, Haslem hasn’t appeared in more than 16 games or logged more than 130 minutes in a single season since 2015/16.

In 2020/21, he played just once, earning a cameo during the final week of the regular season. He memorably earned an ejection for a dust-up with Dwight Howard just three minutes after checking into the game.

Despite the fact that he no longer sees much action for the Heat, Haslem is a well-respected locker room presence who essentially has a standing invitation to continue signing minimum-salary contracts with the club until he decides to retire.

That day hasn’t arrived yet. The 41-year-old will spend at least one more season in the NBA and, as Winderman points out, will become the 21st player in NBA history to play in 19 seasons as long as he appears in at least one game for the Heat in 2021/22.

Once Haslem officially signs his deal, the Heat will have 14 players on guaranteed contracts. Miami could perhaps use another guard or wing, but a 15th man would put team salary over the tax line, so it’s unclear if the club intends to fill that spot, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

The Heat do have a pair of open two-way slots, which will likely be filled by undrafted free agents who impress the team in Summer League and training camp.

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Pacific Notes: Kawhi, Metu, Batum, Fitts

August 15th, 2021 at 7:43pm CST by JD Shaw

The Clippers will have most of their key players from last season coming back in 2021/22, but Kawhi Leonard‘s health remains a major question mark. Leonard, of course, suffered a partially torn ACL in the playoffs this spring, an injury that could force him to miss much (or all) of next season.

As Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times writes, it’s been one month since Leonard underwent surgery on his right knee. He’ll need a significant amount of time to rehab the injury, but it’s possible he could be ready to play before the 2022 postseason begins in mid-April.

“In Kawhi’s case it will be a little less than a year, which is very doable,” said Alan Beyer, executive medical director and orthopedic surgeon at Orange County’s Hoag Orthopedic Institute. “No two players are alike, so some would take seven or eight months to come back. With the caliber of these players, I would not rush. But I certainly would give him the full nine to 10 months at least before I’d expect to see him back.”

Leonard recently signed a new four-year deal with the Clippers, cementing his long-term status with the franchise. He averaged 24.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 52 games last season, shooting 51% from the floor.

Here are some other notes from the Pacific:

  • Kings center Chimezie Metu swung at Mavericks two-way player Eugene Omoruyi during the team’s summer league game on Sunday, as relayed by ESPN (video link). Such a play typically warrants a suspension from the NBA. Metu’s frustration stemmed from Omoruyi’s hard foul, one that occurred as Metu was in mid-air. The 24-year-old Metu suffered a broken wrist last season after being fouled in mid-air by Jonas Valanciunas.
  • Nicolas Batum‘s new contract with the Clippers is a two-year, $6.49MM deal, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal, completed using his Non-Bird rights, includes a player option worth $3.3MM in the second season.
  • The Clippers are adding forward Malik Fitts to their summer league team, according to Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). Fitts signed a 10-day contract with the team back in April.
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