Mobile Menu
HEADLINES

Nets Rumors

Nets, Patrick Gardner Agree To Exhibit 10 Contract

September 20th, 2024 at 9:36am CST by Rory Maher

The Nets are signing free agent big man Patrick Gardner to an Exhibit 10 contract, agent George S. Langberg tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Gardner, 25, went undrafted last year after playing for three different colleges, the most recent being Marist in 2022/23. He signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Nets last fall, was waived, and spent his first professional season with their G League affiliate in Long Island, averaging 7.7 PPG and 5.1 RPG on .500/.364/.731 shooting in 28 Showcase Cup and regular season contests (14.8 MPG).

A 6’11” center who plays for Egypt’s national team, Gardner will likely be waived before the season begins and head back to Long Island, which would make him eligible for a bonus worth up to $77.5K if he spends at least 60 days with the NBAGL club.

It’s worth noting that Exhibit 10 deals can also be converted to two-way contracts — the Nets have a pair of two-way openings, so if Gardner impresses in camp and preseason, perhaps he could be promoted.

Gardner is one of several players to reach Exhibit 10 agreements with Brooklyn, as our Luke Adams noted yesterday in a story about former Hornets guard Amari Bailey, who will also sign with Brooklyn. None of those deals are official yet, but the Nets currently have five openings on their offseason roster, so they could make several transactions at any time.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Pre-Camp Roster Snapshot: Atlantic Division

September 19th, 2024 at 10:19pm CST by Luke Adams

Over the next week, Hoops Rumors will be taking a closer look at each NBA team’s current roster situation, evaluating which clubs still have some moves to make and which ones seem most prepared for training camp to begin.

This series is meant to provide a snapshot of each team’s roster at this time, so these articles won’t be updated in the coming weeks as more signings, trades, and/or cuts are made. You can follow our roster counts page to keep tabs on teams’ open spots as opening night nears.

We’re beginning our pre-camp Roster Snapshot series today with the Atlantic Division. Let’s dive in…

Boston Celtics

The Celtics are at their 21-man limit, so this could be the roster they take into training camp during the first week of October. It also wouldn’t be a surprise if the 14 players on guaranteed contracts and three on two-way deals are the ones who are on Boston’s opening night roster.

Outside of the usual shuffling in and out of Exhibit 10 players, there are two minor storylines to keep an eye on here. One, will Walker – who has 322 NBA regular season games under his belt – make the team as a 15th man? And two, what are the Celtics’ plans for Jay Scrubb?

Scrubb was set to start the 2023/24 season on a two-way contract with the Celtics before he tore his ACL, resulting in his release just ahead of opening night. A report this offseason indicated the team plans to bring him back on an Exhibit 10 contract once he’s fully recovered from his ACL surgery. If he shows he’s back to 100% health, could he be in the mix for a two-way spot?

Brooklyn Nets

The Nets have several Exhibit 10 agreements to finalize and a pair of two-way slots to fill. It’s possible the club will leave those two-way spots open during the preseason and allow their camp invitees to compete for them (of the presumed Exhibit 10 signees, only Hayes is ineligible for a two-way). They may also keep their eye out for intriguing targets cut by other teams ahead of opening night.

Johnson ($250K) and Wilson ($75K) each have modest partial guarantees for now, but those guarantees will increase to $700K and $325K, respectively, if they make the opening night roster. While Wilson is the safer bet of the two to survive the preseason cuts, it’s possible both players will open the season with the club.

New York Knicks

The Knicks are well above the luxury tax line and may not feel compelled to carry a full 15-man standard roster into the regular season, but Morris and Shamet are quality NBA veterans who deserve a look. I’d be a little surprised if both are waived at the end of the preseason.

While more minor moves could happen before camp tips off, the Knicks would be at their 21-man preseason roster limit if they simply finalize their reported deal with O’Connell.

Philadelphia 76ers

There shouldn’t be any surprises in Philadelphia ahead of training camp, though the team still has some breathing room below the second tax apron to add a 15th man to its projected standard roster, if it so chooses.

If the Sixers intend to carry a 14-man roster into the season, filling out the preseason roster will likely just be a matter of signing two more camp invitees to Exhibit 10 contracts to get to 21 players.

Toronto Raptors

As is the case with the Knicks and O’Connell, the Raptors could finalize their training camp roster by simply signing Guerrier to his reported Exhibit 10 contract, though that doesn’t necessarily have to happen before camp begins. If the goal is simply to secure Guerrier’s G League rights, he could be signed-and-waived at any time before opening night.

Shuttling Exhibit 10 players on and off the roster could allow the Raptors to bring in another veteran free agent to compete with Fernando for the final spot on the standard 15-man roster, though there have been no reports so far suggesting that’s the plan.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Nets Notes: Carter, Simmons, Koch

September 19th, 2024 at 12:44pm CST by Rory Maher

The Nets will retire Vince Carter‘s No. 15 jersey on January 25, 2025, the team announced in a press release. The ceremony will take place in Brooklyn during a 6 p.m. matchup with Miami.

“We’re thrilled to honor former Nets player Vince Carter, who contributed so much to this organization both on and off the court,” said governor Joe Tsai. “He’s an important part of Nets franchise history and we look forward to welcoming him to Barclays Center this season to celebrate his legacy.”

Carter, who will be formally inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame next month, played parts of five seasons with the Nets, averaging 23.6 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 4.7 APG and 1.2 SPG on .447/.370/.806 shooting in 374 regular season games (37.9 MPG). He earned three straight All-Star nods (2005-07) with the Nets, joining Jason Kidd and Buck Williams as the only players to make three or more All-Star appearances during their time with the team.

According to the Nets, this will be the seventh jersey retirement in franchise history, with Carter’s No. 15 joining Dražen Petrović (No. 3), Kidd (No. 5), John Williamson (No. 23), Bill Melchionni (No. 25), Julius Erving (No. 32) and Williams (#52) in the Barclays Center rafters.

Here’s more on the Nets:

  • Ben Simmons is seemingly healthy after undergoing a second back surgery in March. How will that impact the Nets, who could be one of the worst teams in the league this season? Net Income of NetsDaily explores that topic, writing that instead of rooting against the former No. 1 pick, fans would be better off cheering for Simmons and hoping that he can resurrect his career after it was derailed by back issues.
  • David Koch Jr. is now a basketball operations assistant for BSE Global, the Nets’ parent company, as Net Income relays. Koch was part of the ownership group — led by his mother, Julia Koch — that purchased a 15% stake in BSE in June. Multiple reports have indicated that Koch Jr. is interested in owning and operating an NBA team in the future.
  • In case you missed it, Brooklyn was one of the teams with interest in Isaac Okoro before he re-signed with the Cavaliers.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Cavaliers Re-Sign Isaac Okoro To Three-Year Contract

September 17th, 2024 at 7:18pm CST by Rory Maher

SEPTEMBER 17: Okoro’s new deal is official, the Cavaliers confirmed today in a press release.

SEPTEMBER 14: The Cavaliers are re-signing restricted free agent Isaac Okoro to a three-year, $38MM contract, agents Michael Tellem, Jeff Schwartz and Marcus Monk tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Okoro, 23, came in at No. 20 on our list of 2024’s top 50 free agents, making him the top remaining player who had yet to sign a new deal. It took more than two months, but the NBA’s lone restricted free agent has reached an agreement to return to Cleveland.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, Okoro’s $11.8MM qualifying offer would have expired on Oct. 1, though he still would’ve been a restricted free agent had a deal not been reached by that point. The Cavs were approximately $10.4MM below the luxury tax line before accounting for Okoro’s new contract, Marks adds.

According to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link), Okoro’s three-year deal features $33MM in guaranteed money. Sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype that Okoro’s contract features some unlikely bonuses tied to his team’s success (Twitter link).

The No. 5 overall pick of the 2020 draft, Okoro averaged 9.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists while shooting a career-best 39.1% from three-point range in 69 regular season games in 2023/24, including 42 starts (27.3 minutes per contest). The 6’5″ wing is primarily known for his defense, particularly on the ball, where he’s frequently tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player.

When we polled our readers about Okoro’s situation last week, 59% of those who voted thought he would end up accepting his qualifying offer — essentially just a one-year contract — to hit unrestricted free agency in 2025. About 17% thought he would re-sign with the Cavs on a multiyear contract.

Scotto reports (via Twitter) that the Nets and Hornets were among the teams that showed sign-and-trade interest in Okoro before he agreed to a new contract with Cleveland.

Once Okoro’s signing is official, the Cavs will have 14 players on standard contracts, though only 11 of those deals are fully guaranteed. Tristan Thompson and Sam Merrill are on non-guaranteed contracts, while Craig Porter Jr. has a $1MM partial guarantee on his $1.89MM salary. All three of the team’s two-way slots are filled.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

And-Ones: Fitts, Gilyard, NBA Schedule, Flagg, Swarm Staff

September 16th, 2024 at 8:18pm CST by Dana Gauruder

In an NBA G League swap, the Memphis Hustle acquired a 2025 first-round pick and the returning player rights to forward Malik Fitts from the Cleveland Charge, the Grizzlies’ G League team tweets.  The Charge, the Cavaliers’ affiliate, received the returning player rights to guard Jacob Gilyard.

Fitts has appeared in 18 NBA games, most recently in eight contests with Boston during the 2021/22 campaign when he was signed to two 10-day contracts. Gilyard appeared in a combined 41 NBA games with the Grizzlies and Nets last season. He was on a two-way deal with Brooklyn after Memphis waived him.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • It’s impossible to keep all the NBA teams happy and give them their desired dates on an 82-game schedule. Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic spoke to an unnamed source who detailed the issues confronting the schedule makers. “You’ve got 30 different teams each with their own perspective on what they would like to see and within each of the 30 teams, you’ve got multiple perspectives from what makes the most sense,” the source said. “The league is then responsible for taking all of the different perspectives and try to make something that’s going to please everyone, which inherently is an impossible task.”
  • How would projected 2025 top pick Cooper Flagg impact a team in rebuild mode? Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report dives into that topic, exploring how the Duke freshman big man would fit in with the Nets, Hornets, Pistons, Trail Blazers, Spurs, Raptors, Jazz and Wizards.
  • Nathan Peavy, David Noel III and Alex Ruoff have been announced as assistant coaches on DJ Bakker‘s staff with the Greensboro Swarm, the Hornets‘ affiliate, the G League team announced in a press release. Peavy joins the Swarm after serving last season as the head coach of the Cangrejeros de Santurce in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional league, Puerto Rico’s top professional division. Noel spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach for the Motor City Cruise, the Pistons’ affiliate. Ruoff was on West Virginia’s coaching staff the last two seasons.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Celtics, Horford, Nets

September 15th, 2024 at 1:56pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Raptors appear to be embracing a youth movement this season, with young players like Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett leading the charge.

In a mailbag, Eric Koreen of The Athletic says he doesn’t project that Toronto will achieve more than a potential play-in berth, but he does believe the club has enough depth that it could compete for a seventh or eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. Koreen notes that Barnes needs to grow as a scorer, Quickley as a distributor, and Barrett as a defender.

Within the same mailbag, Koreen also projects the team’s starters, speculates on possible breakout surprises on the current roster, and more.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

  • The reigning champion Celtics look like the favorites to repeat in 2024/25, but it’s going to cost them. Keith Smith of Spotrac unpacks the club’s future salary cap situation, noting that Boston agreed to almost $514MM in new long-term contracts during the 2023/24 league year before extending Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Sam Hauser this offseason. By 2025/26, Boston is already committed to pay almost $445MM in combined salaries and luxury tax penalties for 11 players, Smith writes.
  • Celtics sixth man big Al Horford was recently honored with the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez, and Mella in the degree of Knight from Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, reports Kurt Helin of NBC Sports. “I knew I was going to come meet the president, but I didn’t know I was gonna get the highest award for the country,” Horford said. “So, very special for me, very special for my family. I feel very proud right now, very overwhelmed with a lot of emotion. Very, very special day for me today.” Across a decorated 17-year career, the 6’9″ center has made five All-Star teams, one All-NBA team and one All-Defensive team. He’s now an NBA champion as well.
  • The rebuilding Nets will boast a roster featuring several young players looking to carve out a niche in the league. In a new piece, Net Income of Nets Daily examines which five Brooklyn players have the most to prove heading into 2024/25, a list highlighted by former top lottery picks Ben Simmons and Killian Hayes.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

And-Ones: Watson, First-Rounders, Trade Targets, Punter

September 13th, 2024 at 6:36pm CST by Rory Maher

Former Suns head coach Earl Watson is joining Steve Lavin‘s coaching staff at the University of San Diego, sources tell NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link). It’s a reunion for the two sides — Watson played under Lavin in college at UCLA.

Watson, who played 13 NBA seasons as a defensive-minded point guard, was an assistant with Phoenix before being named interim and then full-time head coach. He was fired at the start of the 2017/18 season. The 45-year-old was an assistant coach under Nick Nurse with Toronto from 2021-23.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • Which NBA teams hold the most valuable future first-round picks? Bobby Marks of ESPN explores that topic (subscriber link), ranking the Spurs No. 1, followed by the Thunder, Nets, Jazz and Rockets. As Marks writes, San Antonio doesn’t have the most picks among those teams, but the selections they do control could be very valuable — in 2025, they control their own pick, the Hawks’ first-rounder (unprotected), a top-10 protected first from Chicago, and a top-14 protected first from Charlotte, the latter of which seems unlikely to convey.
  • Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report lists one “realistic” trade target for every NBA team. According to Pincus, Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin would make sense as a target for the Hawks and Nets, while Jazz center Walker Kessler could be a logical fit for Indiana.
  • Former Tennessee star Kevin Punter has thrived in Europe since he went undrafted in 2016. In an interview posted by his Spanish club FC Barcelona (Twitter video link), Punter said he used to dream of playing in the NBA. Now? He’s not sure. “When I was younger, my dream was to play the NBA,” Punter said (hat tip to Eurohoops). “That’s all you know growing up, when you play in America. That is all we talk about. That is all you watch. That was my dream. Is it my dream now? To be honest with you, I don’t know. It used to be, but as you get older, a lot of things change, a lot of things become different. You realize a lot of certain things that have nothing to do with basketball.” The 31-year-old said he had serious contract talks with the Raptors in 2023.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Atlantic Notes: Walker, Celtics, Raptors, Brunson, Bridges

September 11th, 2024 at 10:05pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

New Celtics Exhibit 10 signee Lonnie Walker IV, who has probably done enough to warrant a roster spot on a rebuilding team this year, is instead looking to prove that he’s worthy of a roster spot with the defending champions in 2024/25, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic.

Walker is a solid shooter who has enough offensive talent to play in the NBA, but he’ll likely have to show improved defensive awareness to stick in Boston, according to Weiss, who speculates that the veteran wing could serve as a possible roster option in the event second-year swingman Jordan Walsh and rookie guard Baylor Scheierman need further seasoning.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

  • All of the Celtics’ top nine players from their run to the 2024 title are returning for an encore next season. With those champs’ places in the Boston hierarchy more or less set in stone, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston speculates as to which player will emerge as the club’s 10th man.
  • Appearing on ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday, ex-Raptors forward DeMar DeRozan said he believes his former team still would have won a championship in 2019 if he and Jakob Poeltl had remained on the roster instead of being traded to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green (Twitter video link). “I felt, off the year we had before, we just needed one more piece to kind of push us over the top, and that piece came to be LeBron (James) going to the West,” DeRozan said. “I didn’t get an opportunity to see what would’ve happened, but I have the utmost confidence within myself. I have no doubt in my mind the same outcome would’ve happened.”
  • Knicks All-NBA point guard Jalen Brunson showed true leadership in agreeing to a below-market contract extension, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. Popper also opines that the team took a major swing in trading for All-Defensive small forward Mikal Bridges this summer, in the hopes that he can help them match the Celtics and the East’s other top clubs. Finally, Popper considers the fate of Julius Randle, a critical piece who has yet to be locked up beyond 2025, leaving his long-term future in doubt.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Nets Sign, Waive Tyson Etienne

September 11th, 2024 at 11:40am CST by Dana Gauruder

SEPTEMBER 11: Brooklyn has now waived Etienne, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). As detailed below, the guard is on track to become a returning rights player for the Long Island Nets.

SEPTEMBER 10: The Nets have signed guard Tyson Etienne, Evan Barnes of Newsday tweets. It’s likely an Exhibit 10 deal.

Brooklyn’s G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, acquired Etienne’s returning rights from the College Park Skyhawks — Atlanta’s affiliate — last week.

If waived and then signed by a club’s G League affiliate, players who ink Exhibit 10 contracts are eligible for bonuses worth up to $77.5K if they remain with those affiliate squads for at least 60 days. It’s likely that’s what will happen in this case.

In 51 regular season games with the Skyhawks from 2022-24, Etienne averaged 7.6 points, 3.5 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 0.7 steals per contest, with a shooting line of .444/.356/.722.

Etienne went undrafted out of Wichita State in 2022. He is a nephew of former NBA player Marcus Camby and cousin of longtime NBA center DeAndre Jordan.

Brooklyn still has a few openings for its training camp roster, so it’ll add more players in the coming weeks. The club currently has 17 players under contract and has also reportedly reached Exhibit 10 agreements with Killian Hayes, Mark Armstrong, and KJ Jones.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Batum, Dolan, Raptors, Nets

September 10th, 2024 at 10:59am CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers couldn’t have asked for a much better outcome after entering the summer armed with cap space than coming away with free agents like Paul George, Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, and Reggie Jackson in addition to re-signing Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre, KJ Martin, and Kyle Lowry.

Still, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN observed on the latest Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link), there was one free agent the 76ers had hoped to re-sign who ended up leaving Philadelphia after seriously considering the possibility of a new deal with the team.

“The one thing you could say that’s a disappointment for the Sixers from the way everything went is they were really close to getting (Nicolas) Batum back,” Bontemps said. “He was going back and forth – at least from my understanding – (between) going back to Philly or going back to the team that traded him, the Clippers. I think family played a part in him going back to the Clippers. He was pretty comfortable out in L.A.”

Although the Sixers added Guerschon Yabusele late in free agency, there’s no obvious starting power forward on the roster, Bontemps notes, so a player like George, Martin, or Oubre will likely slot in as a somewhat undersized four.

“Obviously, (Batum) slotted in perfectly for them as a power forward,” Bontemps said. “… He was a critical piece for them last year. If he’s on the roster, things look a lot different.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), Knicks owner James Dolan continues to express his discontent with the NBA’s league office, announcing in a letter to his fellow team owners that he plans to vote against the league’s proposed operating budget for 2024/25, as well as the election of a new Board of Governors chair. Those votes will be conducted on Tuesday in New York. Dolan, who has made a habit of criticizing the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver, is citing a lack of transparency as the reason for his “no” votes, Wojnarowski adds.
  • Within a mailbag for The Athletic, Eric Koreen tackles questions about why the Raptors‘ front office is no longer looked up on as favorably as it once was, why Bruce Brown hasn’t been traded yet, and whether the team overpaid to retain Immanuel Quickley and Scottie Barnes, among other topics. Koreen acknowledges that Quickley’s five-year, $162.5MM contract (which includes another $12.5MM in incentives) is based on projection and comes with real risk, but says he doesn’t understand criticism of the deal for the five-year max deal for Barnes, who won a Rookie of the Year award and made an All-Star team in his first three NBA seasons.
  • C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News (subscription required) considers whether Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas, among other Nets, will see their play-making responsibilities expand under new head coach Jordi Fernandez, based on how Fernandez’s previous offenses in Denver and Sacramento operated.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0
Load More Posts