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And-Ones: Surprises, EuroBasket, Australia

August 31st, 2017 at 4:59pm CST by Austin Kent

The Timberwolves haven’t made the postseason in 14 seasons. That could change this year, Shane Rhodes of Basketball Insiders writes, in a feature profiling five teams that could surprise in 2017/18. The Wolves have made no secret their desire to surround their promising young core with as many established veterans as possible and it’s likely to pay off in the form of a playoff appearance.

Another team Rhodes mentions is the Pelicans, who will break camp for the first time with both Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins on the roster. It’s not unreasonable, Rhodes suggests, to call Davis and Cousins the best players in the NBA at their respective positions.

Other teams that the scribe considers on the rise include the Lakers, Hornets and Pacers, the latter perhaps reeling from the loss of its superstar but still boasting plenty of versatile talent on the roster.

There’s more from around the basketball world:

  • There are no shortage of past, present and future NBA players on EuroBasket 2017 rosters. Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype recently made a list of them all, broken down by nationality. (We see you, Anthony Randolph).
  • The Australian National Basketball League isn’t a high profile international league like the Spanish ACB, Turkish BSL or Russian VTP leagues but it’s growing in popularity, Chris Reichert of 2 Ways, 10 Days writes.
  • The only restricted free agent to accept a qualifying offer in the NBA this summer is Mavs center Nerlens Noel. In his latest feature, Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders breaks down the unique contract type, what it means for the players who sign them and what, typically, happens next.
  • For those keeping track at home, the NBA has doled out over $2B less this summer than it did last summer. That’s a decrease of 42.6%, tweets Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal.
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Jared Cunningham To Play In Germany

August 29th, 2017 at 3:56pm CST by Luke Adams

Former first-round pick Jared Cunningham is headed to Germany for the 2017/18 season, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando details. Cunningham has signed a one-year contract with Bayern Munich, the team confirmed (via Twitter).

Cunningham, 26, was the 24th overall pick in the 2012 draft, but had trouble sticking with an NBA team. From 2012 to 2016, the former Oregon State shooting guard played in just 84 total regular season contests, but spent time with six NBA teams, appearing in games for the Mavericks, Hawks, Kings, Clippers, Cavaliers, and Bucks.

Althought Cunningham failed to make an impact in the NBA, his G League averages (17.2 PPG, 3.7 APG, 3.2 RPG in 69 games) were solid, and he posted big numbers for Jiangsu Tongxi in Chinese League play last season (34.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 2.2 APG in 31 games).

Cunningham will join a growing list of former NBA players who will play overseas in 2017/18, as we detailed earlier this month.

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Sasha Vujacic Reaches Deal With Italian Team

August 29th, 2017 at 8:51am CST by Luke Adams

After spending the last two seasons with the Knicks, veteran guard Sasha Vujacic is set to head back overseas. Italian team Fiat Torino announced today (Italian link) that it has reached an agreement to sign Vujacic.

International basketball reporter David Pick, who classifies the contract as an offer sheet, indicates (via Twitter) that it’s worth $350K. According to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando, the agreement includes an NBA buyout clause that must be exercised by September 17. Vujacic will presumably be locked in with Fiat Torino for the 2017/18 season if that buyout clause goes unused.

For Vujacic, the move to Italy will represent a homecoming of sorts — the Slovenian shooting guard began his professional career with Italian club Snaidero Udine back in 2001, spending his first three seasons with the team. He eventually made the leap to the NBA in 2004, spending several years with the Lakers before being traded to the Nets in 2010.

Since 2010, Vujacic has gone back and forth between the NBA and international leagues, spending time with the Nets, Clippers, and Knicks in addition to playing for teams in Turkey, Italy, and Spain. In 10 total NBA seasons, the 33-year-old has appeared in 581 games, averaged 5.3 PPG, 1.9 RPG, and 1.3 APG, while shooting 36.7% on three-pointers. Vujacic struggled through one of his worst seasons as a pro last year in New York, shooting just 30.9% from the floor for the Knicks.

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Jazz Draftee Nigel Williams-Goss To Play In Serbia

August 28th, 2017 at 3:08pm CST by Luke Adams

Jazz second-round pick Nigel Williams-Goss will begin his professional career overseas. Serbian team KK Partizan Belgrade announced in a press release that it has signed the rookie guard to a two-year contract (English link via Sportando).

With 15 players already on guaranteed contracts, the Jazz didn’t have room on their regular-season NBA roster for Williams-Goss, who was the 55th overall pick in this year’s draft. Many players drafted in that neighborhood have agreed to two-way contracts with their new NBA clubs, and Williams-Goss was said to be a candidate for a two-way opening in Utah. However, it appears either he or the Jazz decided to go in another direction.

[RELATED: 2017 NBA Draft Pick Signings]

According to international basketball reporter David Pick (via Twitter), KK Partizan will pay Williams-Goss $130K, which is a significantly higher salary than he would have earned on a standard G League contract — if he had signed a two-way deal, the base value would have been $75K, though he could have exceeded that figure with NBA call-ups. Williams-Goss’ new contract in Serbia will include a $500K buyout for the 2018 offseason if the Jazz want to bring him stateside at that point, according to Pick.

Williams-Goss, who left Gonzaga after his junior year, was a key contributor for a squad that appeared in the Final Four for the first time this spring, falling to UNC in the championship game. The young point guard averaged 16.8 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 4.7 APG, and 1.7 SPG in 2016/17 for the Zags.

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Forward Ben Bentil Signs With French Team

August 28th, 2017 at 9:30am CST by Dana Gauruder

Forward Ben Bentil has signed overseas with Champagne Chalons-Reims, Chris Reichert of The Step Back tweets via a press release from the French club.

Bentil had a brief stay in the NBA last season. The 6’9” Bentil appeared in three games with the Mavericks after signing a 10-day contract in February, but didn’t score a point in 10 minutes of action. He wasn’t offered another 10-day deal.

The Pistons brought him in for a June mini-camp but didn’t sign him.

Bentil played a couple of months in China last season before rejoining the G-League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants. He played 22 games for the Pacers’ affiliate last season, averaging 12.1 PPG and 4.5 RPG.

Bentil was an early entrant to the 2016 draft, exiting Providence after his sophomore season. He was drafted in the second round with the 51st overall pick by the Celtics. Bentil received a partially guaranteed contract but was cut during training camp. The Pacers briefly picked him up in October and gave him $50K before waiving him.

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And-Ones: Robinson, BIG3, Caboclo, Landry

August 27th, 2017 at 11:54am CST by Arthur Hill

Mitchell Robinson, who had considered leaving school to prepare for the 2018 NBA draft, has decided to play this season at Western Kentucky, reports Chad Bishop of WBKO in Bowling Green, Ky. The 7-foot center, who is ranked 14th in the DraftExpress mock draft for next year, is a freshman and will be immediately eligible to play. Robinson committed to Texas A&M in 2015, but changed his mind after A&M assistant Rick Stansbury left to become head coach at WKU. Robinson, 19, was considering overseas offers before deciding to remain in college.

There’s more basketball news today:

  • Trilogy wrapped up a perfect season and claimed the first BIG3 title Saturday with a win over the 3 Headed Monsters, writes Adi Joseph of USA Today. Rashad McCants, the first pick in the league’s draft, scored the final five points in a 51-46 victory. McCants, who spent most of his five-year career with the Timberwolves, remains angry about the premature end of his time in the NBA. “Most importantly it’s just shutting the book on a career that never really reached full potential,” McCants said. “The years of a potential prime are vanished without a trace because of a few upper-level executives that decided to make my life a living hell. Ice Cube brought me in with a chance to reinvent myself.”
  • Raptors forward Bruno Caboclo has been removed from the Brazilian National Team after refusing to enter a game in the AmeriCup tournament, relays Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. “Bruno Caboclo committed an act of indiscipline refusing to enter on the court when the coach requested him to do that,” said team manager Renato Lamas. “We cannot allow any player to commit any act of indiscipline while wearing the jersey of the Brazilian National Team.” 
  • Carl Landry, who spent time with five teams during his nine years in the NBA, will play for China next season, tweets international basketball writer David Pick. Landry, who will turn 34 next month, will join the Jilin Tigers. His last NBA experience came in 2015/16 when he played 36 games for the Sixers.
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And-Ones: M. Robinson, Mayo, Eurobasket

August 24th, 2017 at 2:09pm CST by Luke Adams

Five-star recruit Mitchell Robinson, who initially enrolled at Western Kentucky, has left the program and is not expected to play college ball in 2017/18, according to Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports. Jon Rothstein of FanRagSports had reported several days ago that Robinson was considering sitting out the season in order to prepare for the 2018 NBA draft.

Robinson, a seven-footer who is considered a likely first-round pick next summer, had been considering transferring to Kansas or another school, but would probably have had to sit out the 2017/18 season anyway in that scenario, Forde notes. Robinson could opt to go the Terrance Ferguson route and play in another professional league for one year, but a high-level European club is unlikely to rent the young center for a single season, tweets ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla.

As we wait to see what the future holds for Robinson, let’s round up a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world…

  • As we detailed earlier in the week, O.J. Mayo‘s two-year ban from the NBA ensures that he’ll sit out at least one more season. However, that ban doesn’t preclude him from playing in the G League. Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days looks into whether it makes sense for Mayo to suit up for a G League club this season in an effort to rehabilitate his image and stay on the radar of NBA teams.
  • This week’s Kyrie Irving mega-deal is the latest signal that the NBA is becoming a year-round league, Sam Amick writes in an interesting piece for USA Today. As Amick observes, the non-stop drama of the NBA offseason is good news for commissioner Adam Silver, who has expressed a desire to rival the NFL in terms of popularity.
  • With the 2017 Eurobasket tournament around the corner, several teams are finalizing and announcing their rosters. Via Sportando, here are the 12-man squads for Spain and Lithuania, each of which feature multiple NBA players.
  • After playing Summer League ball for the Knicks, undrafted rookie Canyon Barry will begin his professional career in Finland. The son of Rick Barry spoke to Ian Begley of ESPN.com about his father’s influence on his game, including his free-throw shooting style.
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Boris Diaw Uncertain About NBA Future

August 23rd, 2017 at 1:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Having been waived by the Jazz earlier this summer, forward Boris Diaw remains an unrestricted free agent and his future as a player remains up in the air. Diaw recently told Le Figaro that he’s not 100% sure that he’ll find an NBA home for the 2017/18 season, suggesting that a return to Europe is a possibility (translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).

According to Diaw, he has been in touch with a few NBA teams, but nothing concrete came out of those conversations. The French forward added that there are several factors he has to take into account as he considers his next move, and he’s not yet closing any doors.

Diaw, 35, has spent the last 14 seasons in the NBA, beginning his career with the Hawks before moving on to the Suns, Bobcats, Spurs, and Jazz. Diaw started 33 games and appeared in 73 overall regular season contests for Utah last season, but saw his production dip — his PPG (4.6), FG% (.446), and 3PT% (.247) marks were all among the worst of his career. He had a $7.5MM salary for 2017/18 that would have become guaranteed if the Jazz had not waived him last month.

While Diaw has played in the NBA for the last 14 years, he also has some international experience, so playing in Europe wouldn’t be new to him. Before being drafted 21st overall in 2003, Diaw spent multiple seasons with Pau-Orthez in France, and he returned to his home country during the 2011 lockout to play for JSA Bordeaux. The veteran forward has also represented France in several international competitions.

The Raptors reportedly inquired on Diaw last month just before he was waived by the Jazz, but no NBA teams have been linked to him within the last few weeks.

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Brandon Bass To Play In China

August 17th, 2017 at 2:41pm CST by Arthur Hill

Veteran forward Brandon Bass has agreed to a $2MM offer to play in China next season, tweets international basketball writer David Pick. Bass will sign with the Liaoning Flying Leopards of the Chinese Basketball Association.

The 32-year-old spent last season with the Clippers, appearing in 52 games as a reserve and averaging 5.6 points in about 11 minutes per night. He has also played for the Hornets, Mavericks, Magic, Celtics, and Lakers in a 12-year NBA career.

Bass made a little more than $1.55MM with the Clippers last year, but hasn’t received an attractive offer since entering free agency. Because the Chinese season ends before the NBA season, he will be eligible to return to the league in March or April.

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NBA Free Agents Who Have Joined Teams Overseas

August 17th, 2017 at 12:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Approximately 450 players finished the 2016/17 season on NBA rosters, but not all of those 450 players will find a spot on an NBA team in 2017/18. With rookies, undrafted free agents, and international signees poised to occupy at least a few dozen roster spots around the league this season, some NBA players will have to look elsewhere for work.

Some of those players will retire, and others will end up in the G League, while many will head overseas to continue their playing careers in some of the best non-NBA professional leagues around the world. Salaries generally aren’t as lucrative in those leagues, and they don’t provide the opportunity to compete against the world’s very best players.

Still, an NBA role player who decides to head overseas can often match or exceed his potential minimum NBA salary, and will have the chance to take on a much larger role for an international team. That’s why even some players who have had some NBA success and are still in their 20s – such as Brandon Jennings – have opted to make the jump overseas this offseason.

Listed below are the players who finished the 2016/17 season on an NBA roster and have since reached an agreement with an international team. Each player’s former NBA team is listed, along with his new team overseas, and a link to our story on his new deal.

Meanwhile, here are a few more players who are headed overseas after spending a good chunk of the 2016/17 season on an NBA roster — these players were waived by their NBA teams before the end of the year.

Hoops Rumors’ 2017 Free Agent Tracker was used in the creation of this post.

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