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Thunder Waive TyTy Washington Jr.

August 18th, 2023 at 2:23pm CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder have waived guard TyTy Washington Jr., the team announced today. Washington will clear waivers and become a free agent on Sunday, assuming he goes unclaimed.

The 29th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Washington appeared in 31 games as a rookie with the Rockets last season, averaging 4.7 points, 1.5 assists, and 1.5 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per night. He put up an underwhelming shooting line of .363/.238/.556 in those 31 games.

The former Kentucky standout was more effective at the G League level, averaging 23.0 PPG, 6.0 APG, and 4.6 RPG in 18 Showcase Cup and regular season games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. However, he still struggled to score efficiently, making 44.2% of his shot attempts from the field and just 31.7% from beyond the three-point line.

The Rockets, apparently viewing Washington as expendable with so many other promising young players on their roster, included him as an outgoing salary-matching piece in the five-team trade that sent Dillon Brooks to Houston via sign-and-trade. The 21-year-old was sent to Atlanta in that deal, then was flipped to Oklahoma City in a salary-dump trade that made Patty Mills a Hawk.

Washington had been a long shot to make the Thunder’s roster, since the team was carrying 20 players on standard contracts and needed to trade or waive at least five of those players before opening night. The fact that OKC has already cut Washington – who was owed a guaranteed $2.32MM salary in 2023/24 – suggests there were no good options for him on the trade market.

While it’s not out of the question that a team will claim Washington on waivers, it seems unlikely, given his negative trade value this summer. A club interested in placing a claim would need to have cap room or a trade exception available to absorb his salary, which eliminates much of the league.

Assuming Washington becomes a free agent, the Thunder would owe him his 2023/24 salary but would be off the hook for the $2.43MM and $4.39MM team options on his contract for ’24/25 and ’25/26. Washington would be eligible for a standard contract with any team except Atlanta and a two-way deal with any team except the Hawks or Thunder.

Oklahoma City now has 20 players under contract — 16 on guaranteed salaries, three (Jack White, Aaron Wiggins, and Isaiah Joe) on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed deals, and Keyontae Johnson on a two-way pact.

James Harden Thinks Relationship With Sixers Beyond Repair

August 18th, 2023 at 7:41am CST by Luke Adams

Having returned from China to Houston for his JH-Town Weekend charity event, Sixers star James Harden was asked by KHOU 11’s Jason Bristol whether his relationship with his current NBA team is “beyond repair.”

“I think so,” Harden replied.

Harden’s response isn’t surprising, given that he’s just a few days removed from calling Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey a liar and stating that he’ll never again be part of an organization that Morey is a part of.

Still, Harden’s position is worth noting, since it suggests he’s not taking the same route Kevin Durant took in Brooklyn a year ago. Durant reportedly told the Nets last August that they should choose between trading him or firing general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash.

Harden, conversely, has offered no such ultimatum to the Sixers and given no indication that he’d be happy to remain in Philadelphia if Morey is dismissed. It’s also possible he believes there’s little chance that 76ers ownership would choose him over Morey at this point and that it’s not a strategy worth pursuing.

Asked by Bristol whether he has an open line of communication with the Sixers and how patient he needs to be as he waits for his trade request to be granted, Harden said he’s “been patient all summer.”

“For me, it’s just focus on what I can control, and that’s working out, staying in shape, and getting ready for a good season,” the former MVP added.

It remains unclear how the standoff between the Sixers and Harden might be resolved. While the veteran guard has no desire to play another game for the team and reportedly doesn’t plan to attend training camp if he’s still on the roster, the organization isn’t making a concerted effort to move him and still expects him at camp.

Both sides have some leverage in the dispute. The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement states that a player who withholds his services for more than 30 days is deemed to have not completed his contract. That means Philadelphia could prevent Harden – who has an expiring deal – from reaching free agency in 2024 if he declines to report to the Sixers for more than a month without the club’s consent.

However, Harden has some recent experience steering himself to a preferred destination without needing to resort to a holdout — he pushed for and received trades out of Houston in 2021 and Brooklyn in 2022. The Sixers also likely won’t want to risk ruining another year of Joel Embiid‘s prime by spending a significant portion of the season dealing with Harden-related drama.

Frank Kaminsky Signs One-Year Deal With Partizan

August 17th, 2023 at 3:52pm CST by Rory Maher

KK Partizan has officially signed free agent big man Frank Kaminsky to a one-year contract, as Eurohoops.net relays.

A report last month indicated that the 30-year-old would only consider joining a European team after exhausting his NBA options. Evidently he was unable to find a suitable contract in North America, as he’ll be heading overseas for the first time in his professional career.

Kaminsky was the ninth overall pick of the 2015 draft. He has appeared in 413 total regular season games for the Hornets, Suns, Hawks and Rockets over the past seven seasons.

The veteran forward/center didn’t play much last season after returning from 2021 surgery on his right knee, averaging just 2.5 points and 1.4 rebounds in 6.5 minutes per night across 36 appearances with Atlanta and Houston. Prior to his knee injury, Kaminsky averaged 8.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 1.8 APG with a .468/.344/.682 shooting line in 95 games (17.6 MPG) over three seasons in Phoenix.

Partizan competes in the EuroLeague, widely considered to be the world’s best non-NBA league. The Serbian club finished the regular season with a 20-14 record, losing its hotly contested first-round playoff series against eventual champion Real Madrid in five games (the maximum).

2023/24 NBA Schedules By Team

August 17th, 2023 at 2:43pm CST by Rory Maher

The NBA has officially unveiled its full regular season schedule for 2023/24.

The season will begin on Tuesday, October 24 and wrap up Sunday, April 14. The play-in tournament will take place from April 16-19, with the playoffs beginning on April 20.

The league’s announcement highlighted the fact that each team is only scheduled for 80 games at this point. That’s due to the new in-season tournament, whose schedule has already been revealed.

The league also confirmed several previously reported marquee matchups, including its five-game Christmas Day slate, an opening night doubleheader of Lakers at Nuggets and Suns at Warriors, and games taking place in Mexico City and Paris.

Listed below are links to the full 2023/24 season schedules for each NBA team, organized by conference and division. The team-by-team schedules for ’23/24 can also be viewed in a single document right here, while the full schedule by date can be viewed here.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Southeast Division

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Northwest Division

Pacific Division

Southwest Division

Nuggets’ Vlatko Cancar Undergoes Surgery For Torn ACL

August 17th, 2023 at 1:03pm CST by Rory Maher

Forward Vlatko Cancar, who sustained a torn ACL in his left knee earlier this month, recently underwent ACL reconstruction surgery, the Nuggets announced (Twitter link via Mike Singer of The Denver Post).

While Cancar is officially out indefinitely, ACL tears typically have a recovery timeline of 12-plus months, so it seems highly likely that he’ll be sidelined for the entire 2023/24 season.

Cancar suffered the injury while playing in an exhibition game for Team Slovenia as it prepares for the 2023 World Cup. The 26-year-old has had strong international showings for his native country in recent years, including during the 2020 Olympics and last year’s EuroBasket.

It’s a very unfortunate setback for both Cancar and the Nuggets, who lost some bench depth this offseason and now will be without Cancar as well.

A former draft-and-stash second-round pick (49th overall in 2017), Cancar emerged as a semi-regular rotation player in 2022/23, averaging 5.0 PPG and 2.1 RPG on .476/.374/.927 shooting in 60 games (14.8 MPG). He was not in the team’s shortened postseason rotation, however, playing 10 total minutes over five games during Denver’s championship run.

Cancar will make a guaranteed $2.2MM in ’23/24, and the Nuggets hold a $2.3MM team option on his contract for ’24/25.

Shanghai Sharks Add Noah Vonleh, Yogi Ferrell

August 17th, 2023 at 9:01am CST by Arthur Hill

Noah Vonleh and Yogi Ferrell have signed with the Shanghai Sharks for the upcoming season, according to Dario Skerletic of Sportando.

Vonleh previously played for the Chinese Basketball Association team during the 2021/22 season before returning to the NBA with the Celtics last summer. He appeared in 23 games for Boston, averaging 1.1 points and 2.1 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per night. He was traded to the Spurs in early January before his contract became guaranteed, and San Antonio immediately waived him.

Vonleh was taken by Charlotte with the ninth pick in the 2014 draft, but other than three seasons in Portland, he never spent more than a year with any of his eight NBA teams.

Panathinaikos in Greece reportedly considered signing Vonleh in July, but he opted to return to Shanghai instead.

Ferrell has been out of the NBA since finishing the 2020/21 season with the Clippers. The 30-year-old guard played briefly with Panathinaikos, then moved on to Cedevita Olimpija, where he was named MVP of the Slovenian Basketball League Finals last season.

Ferrell played for five teams during his five NBA seasons.

Rockets’ Landale Injures Ankle, Likely To Miss World Cup

August 17th, 2023 at 8:04am CST by Luke Adams

New Rockets big man Jock Landale suffered a left ankle injury on Thursday while playing for the Australian national team in an exhibition game against South Sudan in Melbourne, reports Olgun Uluc of ESPN.

The severity of the injury isn’t yet known, but Australian head coach Brian Goorjian said after the game that he doesn’t expect Landale to be available for the World Cup, which tips off next week. According to Goorjian, the center will undergo an MRI on his ankle on Friday and won’t travel with the team to Japan (Twitter link via Uluc).

It’s an unfortunate turn of events for Landale, who enjoyed a mini-breakout season in 2022/23 in Phoenix. He appeared in 69 regular season games for the Suns, averaging 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per night, then posted 6.5 PPG and 4.3 RPG on 66.7% shooting in six contests (17.6 MPG) vs. Denver in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Landale’s strong showing as a reserve center behind Deandre Ayton earned him a four-year, $32MM offer from the Rockets in free agency. Only the first year of that contract is guaranteed, but it will still assure the 27-year-old of an $8MM salary in 2023/24 after he made the minimum in his first two NBA seasons.

Landale’s injury should open the door for Jack White of the Thunder to be part of Australia’s 12-man World Cup roster, as Uluc tweets. White had previously looked likely to be the odd man out of the 13-man group that the Boomers had been using in their pre-World Cup exhibitions.

With about a month-and-a-half until the Rockets’ training camp opens, there’s still plenty of time for Landale to recover in time to be available for the start of the regular season as long as the injury isn’t too significant. We should know more after he undergoes his MRI.

Knicks To Guarantee Jericho Sims’ Contract For 2023/24

August 16th, 2023 at 5:16pm CST by Rory Maher

The Knicks intend to fully guarantee Jericho Sims‘ $1.93MM salary for 2023/24, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Entering the offseason, the young center’s contract for the upcoming season was partially guaranteed for $600K. That guarantee increased to $1.2MM when New York kept him on the roster last month. Sims’ salary will officially be fully guaranteed if he remains on the Knicks’ roster past August 20.

The move was expected. The 24-year-old was a fill-in starter at times during his second NBA season in 2022/23, averaging 3.4 PPG and 4.7 RPG across 52 games (16 starts, 15.6 MPG).

The 58th pick of the 2021 draft, Sims initially signed a two-way deal with the Knicks, but received a promotion last summer to a multiyear standard contract after impressing the team. New York holds a team option on Sims’ contract for ’24/25 worth $2.1MM.

Sims is currently recovering from right shoulder surgery, which prevented him from participating during the Knicks’ playoff run. He’s expected to be fully recovered by training camp.

As our roster count shows, the Knicks are currently at the offseason maximum of 21 players under contract. They now have 12 players on guaranteed standard contracts, with all three two-way slots filled.

Hawks Waive Vit Krejci

August 16th, 2023 at 4:34pm CST by Rory Maher

The Hawks have waived guard/forward Vit Krejci, the team confirmed in a press release. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) first reported the move.

As Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets, Krejci was on a non-guaranteed contract worth $1.84MM (the veteran’s minimum) in 2023/24. The Hawks, meanwhile, have 15 players on guaranteed standard contracts, making Krejci the odd man out, notes John Hollinger of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Hollinger believes Krejci could be a solid choice for a two-way contract if he clears the waiver wire. Several teams have open two-way slots, as shown by our tracker.

Krejci, 23, was the 37th overall pick of the 2020 draft. The Czech native spent his first post-draft season rehabbing a torn ACL. He signed a multiyear contract with the Thunder prior to the 2021/22 season, playing 30 games for the club as a rookie.

Oklahoma City traded Krejci to Atlanta last September in a move that was mostly about finances for the Hawks. He appeared in 29 games this past season for Atlanta, averaging a modest 5.3 MPG.

The Hawks now have 17 players on their roster — the aforementioned 15 on standard deals, and a pair — Seth Lundy and Miles Norris — on two-way deals. They also have a two-way qualifying offer on the table for Trent Forrest, who remains a restricted free agent.

According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), the Hawks are approximately $9.7MM below the luxury tax line and still have access to their non-taxpayer mid-level exception as well as their bi-annual exception.

Celtics Expect Porzingis To Be Cleared For Training Camp

August 16th, 2023 at 10:01am CST by Luke Adams

After Kristaps Porzingis announced on Tuesday that he won’t be available this summer for Latvia in the 2023 World Cup, the Celtics confirmed on Wednesday that the big man has been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in his right foot and offered an update of their own on their most significant offseason addition.

According to the Celtics (Twitter link), Porzingis will begin a rehab program that will last about four to six weeks. The expectation is that he’ll be cleared in time for the start of training camp this fall, per the club.

While the foot issue isn’t an ideal start to Porzingis’ stint as a Celtic, it’s good news for the team that he won’t risk making the injury worse by competing in the World Cup and that he remains on track to be available for the start of the season.

Porzingis, 28, enjoyed perhaps the best year of his NBA career in 2022/23, averaging 23.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.5 blocks in 32.6 minutes per game across 65 appearances. Those 65 games were the most that the 2015 lottery pick had played in a single season since 2016/17, and his 49.8% field goal percentage was a new career high.

The Celtics, who lost the NBA Finals in 2022 and fell one game short of winning the East again this spring, are hoping that Porzingis will provide the club with a new look on offense while sharing rim-protecting duties with Robert Williams and Al Horford on defense. Acquired in a June trade with Washington, Porzingis signed a two-year extension with Boston last month that will keep him under team control through the 2025/26 season.