2021 | Hoops Rumors

Lakers Sign Jemerrio Jones To 10-Day Deal

December 21st, 2021 at 5:47pm CST by Luke Adams

DECEMBER 21: The Lakers have signed Jones to a 10-day contract, the team formally announced today (via Twitter).

DECEMBER 20: The Lakers will add free agent forward Jemerrio Jones to their roster on a 10-day contract via the hardship provision, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Jones won’t count toward the standard 15-man roster, so no corresponding move is required.

Like many of the players who have joined the Lakers this year, Jones has a previous stint with the team. He signed with the Lakers late in the 2018/19 season and appeared in six games for the club down the stretch, averaging 4.5 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 2.2 APG in 23.8 MPG.

Those six games represent Jones’ only NBA experience to date, as he has spent most of his first four professional seasons in the G League, appearing in a total of 112 games for the South Bay Lakers, Delaware Blue Coats, and Wisconsin Herd. The 26-year-old has averaged 6.5 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 3.5 APG, and 1.5 SPG in 11 games (25.6 MPG) for Wisconsin this season.

The Lakers have been one of the many NBA teams hit hard by COVID-19 this month. They currently have five players in the health and safety protocols. A sixth player – Malik Monk – reportedly tested out of the protocols, but has yet to return to action.

Lakers Sign Mason Jones To Two-Way Deal

December 21st, 2021 at 5:44pm CST by Luke Adams

DECEMBER 21: The Lakers have officially signed Jones to a two-way contract and waived Brown, the team announced today in a press release.

DECEMBER 20: The Lakers are calling up guard Mason Jones from their G League affiliate, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Jones will be signing a two-way contract.

The Lakers don’t currently have an open two-way slot on their roster, so assuming Charania’s report is accurate, they would presumably waive either Chaundee Brown or Jay Huff to make room for Jones.

An undrafted free agent out of Arkansas, Jones began his rookie season in 2020/21 on a two-way deal with Houston, was waived in early March, signed a 10-day contract with the Rockets, then inked a two-way deal with the 76ers. He spent several weeks in Philadelphia before being waived in May.

In total, Jones averaged 5.3 points and 1.7 rebounds per game in 32 contests (10.4 MPG) in ’20/21, with a respectable shooting line of .423/.364/.625. He joined the South Bay Lakers for the ’21/22 season and has averaged 17.8 PPG, 7.1 APG, and 6.5 RPG in 12 G League games (30.3 MPG) while bumping his shooting rates to .496/.412/.813.

The Lakers aren’t in action on Monday, so they may not officially finalize any roster moves until Tuesday. The club has also reportedly reached a deal to sign Jemerrio Jones to a 10-day contract.

Lakers Release Chaundee Brown

December 21st, 2021 at 5:19pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

5:45pm: The Lakers have officially announced the news via a team press release.

5:19pm: To accommodate new addition Mason Jones within one of their two-way player slots, the Lakers have opted to release shooting guard Chaundee Brown, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Jones, another shooting guard, will replace Brown, who did not get much run with Los Angeles this year. Brown played in just two games for Los Angeles, averaging 10.5 MPG in those appearances. 7’1″ center Jay Huff will thus continue to occupy the other two-way slot for the Lakers.

The 6’5″ Brown went undrafted out of Michigan this summer and got some preseason run with the Lakers on an Exhibit 10 deal. He was ultimately cut ahead of the 2021/22 regular season and joined L.A.’s South Bay NBAGL affiliate club. The Lakers added him as a two-way player last month, though he failed to make much of an impact at the next level after flashing promise in El Segundo.

Across six contests with the South Bay Lakers, Brown averaged 17.0 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.8 SPG and 0.8 BPG in 33.3 MPG. He boasted a shooting line of .446/.333/.800.

Pelicans Sign Jared Harper To Two-Way Contract

December 21st, 2021 at 4:07pm CST by Luke Adams

4:07pm: The Pelicans have officially signed Harper to a two-way contract and waived Hommes, the team announced in a press release.

10:43am: The Pelicans are expected to release Hommes to make room for Harper, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (Twitter link).

8:38am: The Pelicans are signing free agent guard Jared Harper to a two-way contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Harper had been playing for New Orleans’ G League affiliate in Birmingham.

Currently, Daulton Hommes and Jose Alvarado occupy the two-way contract slots on the Pelicans’ roster, so one of them would have to be either waived or moved to the standard roster in order to make room for Harper.

A 5’10” point guard, Harper spent his rookie season in 2019/20 on a two-way contract with the Suns, then played for the Knicks last season. He logged just 24 total minutes across 11 NBA games for Phoenix and New York, but has been a G League standout for the Northern Arizona Suns, Westchester Knicks, and Birmingham Squadron.

Across three NBAGL seasons, Harper has averaged 20.7 PPG, 5.7 APG, and 2.8 RPG with a shooting line of .430/.380/.800 in 60 games (30.7 MPG). This season, he has knocked down 41.0% of his three-pointers and is launching 7.5 attempts per game for the Squadron.

Harper won’t face any games-played limits at the NBA level on his two-way contract, but won’t be eligible for play-in or postseason contests unless he’s eventually promoted to the 15-man roster. Of course, at 10-21, the Pelicans are out of the play-in picture at this point.

Adam Silver: No Plans To Pause NBA Season

December 21st, 2021 at 3:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on ESPN’s NBA Today (video links) on Tuesday, league commissioner Adam Silver told Malika Andrews that, despite having an increasing number of its teams affected by outbreaks of COVID-19, the NBA has no intention of putting the 2021/22 season on hiatus.

“(There are) no plans to pause the season,” Silver said. “We’ve of course looked at all the options, but frankly, we’re having trouble coming up with what the logic would be behind pausing right now. … It seems for us that the right and responsible thing to do, taking all the factors into consideration, is to continue to play.”

As Silver explained, the NBA’s stance is that there’s no chance at this point of eradicating the virus, so the league and its teams will have to learn to “live with it.” The NBA and the players’ union recently agreed to tweak a handful of roster rules to make it easier for teams to sign replacements when players test positive for COVID-19, which should help avoid postponements.

Silver made several more interesting comments during his ESPN appearance. Here are a few of the highlights:

Silver said that very few of the individuals around the NBA who have received a booster vaccination shot have experienced breakthrough cases, and most of those cases have been asymptomatic. Silver estimated that about 97% of NBA players are vaccinated, but only about 65% have been boosted — the league is hoping to push that number higher.
Asked if the league has revisited the idea of mandatory vaccinations for players, Silver said it hasn’t been broached recently. “I’d rather focus on the 97% than the 3%,” Silver said, referring to the league’s vaccinated players. “Incidentally, many of the 3% have now gotten COVID, so they’ve developed antibodies. To me, the focus right now is on boosters for the 97% of players who have been vaccinated.”
The NBA isn’t prepared to allow vaccinated players who have asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 to play, but is “actively” exploring ways to reduce the amount of time players have to spend in the protocols. “I think (medical experts are) already realizing that you can move away from the 10-day protocol when you have players who are vaccinated and boosted,” Silver said. “It seems that the virus runs through their systems faster. They become not just asymptomatic but – more importantly – they’re not shedding the virus anymore.”
Most of the players testing positive this month have contracted the Omicron variant of COVID-19, according to Silver. “It’s beyond dominant in the league right now,” he said. “We’re up probably around 90% of the cases right now that we’re sequencing are Omicron.”

Mavericks Sign Marquese Chriss Via Hardship Exception

December 21st, 2021 at 3:41pm CST by Luke Adams

DECEMBER 21: The Mavericks have officially signed Chriss to his 10-day deal, according to the team (Twitter link). It will run through December 30.

DECEMBER 20: The Mavericks, having agreed to a deal with Theo Pinson, will also sign free agent forward/center Marquese Chriss to a contract via a hardship exception, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Chriss, 24, was selected eighth overall in the 2016 draft by the Suns, but was traded from Phoenix to Houston after just two seasons. He played for the Rockets and Cavaliers in the 2018/19 season, then found a home in Golden State for the ’19/20 campaign, averaging 9.3 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 1.1 BPG in 59 games (20.3 MPG) for the Warriors.

Chriss projected to be a rotation player for the Dubs again last season, but broke his right fibula just two games into the season, ending his year. He was subsequently traded to San Antonio and waived.

The Trail Blazers signed Chriss to a non-guaranteed contract this fall, but he was beaten out by Dennis Smith Jr. for the last spot on the team’s regular season roster and was cut again.

The Mavs have two players in the health and safety protocols and a few other players dealing with injuries or non-COVID illnesses, so adding Pinson or Chriss will help them fill out the back of their active roster in the short term. Neither deal will count against the team’s cap.

Nets Sign Wenyen Gabriel To 10-Day Contract

December 21st, 2021 at 3:36pm CST by JD Shaw

DECEMBER 21: Gabriel has officially signed his 10-day contract, the Nets announced today in a press release.

DECEMBER 18: The Nets are planning to sign big man Wenyen Gabriel to a 10-day contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Brooklyn will be using a hardship exception to sign him.

The Nets have already signed Langston Galloway, James Ennis and Shaquille Harrison to 10-day contracts using hardship exceptions this week. The team currently has nine players in the league’s health and safety protocols, including Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.

Gabriel, 24, went undrafted in 2018 after spending three seasons at Kentucky. He holds past NBA experience with the Kings, Blazers and Pelicans. In 12 games with the Wisconsin Herd this season, he’s averaged 13.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 25.6 minutes per game.

Despite being shorthanded, Brooklyn most recently won a 114-105 contest over the Sixers, led by Durant’s 34 points and 11 rebounds. The team will host the Magic (5-25) on Saturday night.

Injury/COVID Notes: J. Green, P. Tucker, E. Davis, T. Brown

December 21st, 2021 at 3:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Rockets rookie Jalen Green is on track to play on Thursday in Indiana, reports Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Houston has a back-to-back road set on Wednesday and Thursday vs. the Bucks and Pacers, respectively, so the team is eyeing the second game in that back-to-back for Green’s return.

The No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft, Green has been sidelined for nearly a month due to a strained left hamstring, which he suffered on November 24. He averaged 14.0 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 2.3 APG on .382/.378/.807 shooting in his first 18 NBA games (30.8 MPG) and will be looking to improve upon those numbers when he returns to the court.

Here are a few more updates from around the league related to injuries and COVID-19:

Bulls wing Troy Brown has exited the health and safety protocols and is rejoining the team, a source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Chicago still has five players in the protocols.
The Cavaliers have placed veteran big man Ed Davis in the health and safety protocols, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Cleveland is facing a significant COVID-19 outbreak, with eight players in the protocols, but should have enough players available to continue its schedule, says Wojnarowski.
An MRI on P.J. Tucker‘s left knee injury revealed no structural damage, says Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The Heat have diagnosed Tucker’s injury as lower left leg nerve inflammation and ruled him out for Tuesday’s game vs. Indiana. It’s unclear how much more time he might miss.

Timberwolves Sign Chris Silva To 10-Day Contract

December 21st, 2021 at 2:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

DECEMBER 21: Silva’s 10-day contract with the Wolves is now official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. It’ll run through December 30.

DECEMBER 20: The Timberwolves are re-signing power forward Chris Silva using the hardship exemption, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.

Silva was waived by the club during training camp. Silva has played in 59 NBA games with career averages of 2.8 PPG and 2.6 RPG (7.4 MPG) over the past two seasons with the Heat and Kings.

He has averaged 15.1 PPG and 9,8 RPG in 12 starts this season with Minnesota’s G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves.

Anthony Edwards, Patrick Beverley, Josh Okogie, Taurean Prince and Jarred Vanderbilt are all currently in the league’s health and safety protocols and won’t play in Minnesota’s game against Dallas on Tuesday, the team’s PR department tweets.

The team is likely to sign one more replacement player soon, Wojnarowski adds in another tweet.

Timberwolves Sign Rayjon Tucker To 10-Day Deal

December 21st, 2021 at 2:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

DECEMBER 21: The Timberwolves have officially signed Tucker to a 10-day deal in advance of their game on Tuesday, per NBA.com’s transactions log.

DECEMBER 20: The Timberwolves are signing swingman Rayjon Tucker via the hardship exemption, according to Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Tucker was signed and waived by the Bucks this offseason on an Exhibit 10 contract.

Tucker spent most of the 2019/20 season with the Jazz, then signed a two-way contract with the Sixers in January 2021. He has appeared in a total of 34 regular season games in his first two NBA seasons, averaging a modest 2.8 PPG and 0.9 RPG in 6.7 minutes per contest.

He has averaged 17.1 PPG, 4.8 RPG and 3.1 APG in 32.2 MPG while appearing in 13 games this season for the NBA G League’s Wisconsin Herd, Milwaukee’s affiliate.

Minnesota has five players — Anthony Edwards, Patrick Beverley, Josh Okogie, Taurean Prince and Jarred Vanderbilt — currently in the league’s health and safety protocols. The Timberwolves are also reportedly signing forward Chris Silva under the hardship exemption.

Year: 2024