- The Thunder, who dipped to 12 players this month, are back up to 14 after signing Scotty Hopson and Richard Solomon to 10-day contracts, but they may just be short-term options. Erik Horne of The Oklahoman explores other ways in which the Thunder could use their open roster spots down the stretch.
FEBRUARY 14: Hopson’s 10-day deal with the Thunder is now official, according to a press release issued by the club.
FEBRUARY 13: The Thunder plan to sign guard Scotty Hopson to a 10-day contract as they look to get back to the league-mandated roster minimum, reports Royce Young of ESPN.com (Twitter link). According to Young, the signing is expected to be finalized before OKC’s game against New Orleans on Thursday.
Hopson, 29, was briefly a member of the Thunder back in October when the team signed – and then waived – him in order to secure his G League rights. He has spent the season with the Oklahoma City Blue, averaging 17.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 2.8 APG with a .551/.341/.725 shooting line in 25 NBAGL games (29.0 MPG).
This will be the second straight season in which Hopson has signed a 10-day contract. He received one from the Mavericks last February, appearing in a single game with Dallas. His only other NBA action came back in 2013/14, when he played two games for the Cavs.
The Thunder also reportedly intend to sign Richard Solomon to a 10-day contract. Assuming they finalize deals with both Solomon and Hopson on Thursday, they’ll be back to the minimum roster count of 14 players, and will keep the duo under contract for three games over the next 10 days — tomorrow’s contest, plus two after the All-Star break.
FEBRUARY 14: The Thunder have officially signed Solomon to a 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release.
FEBRUARY 12: The Thunder intend to fill one of the open spots on their 15-man roster by signing G League forward Richard Solomon to a 10-day contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Solomon, 26, has never appeared in a regular season NBA game, though he spent training camp with the Thunder in 2014, the Hawks in 2016, and OKC again in 2018. This season, the former Cal standout has played for the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s NBAGL affiliate, averaging 13.6 PPG and 8.6 RPG on 59.8% shooting in 31 games (26.5 MPG).
Solomon is unlikely to see much action for the Thunder, who are required by NBA rules to add a player to their roster soon. Currently, Oklahoma City is carrying 12 players, two below the league-mandated 14-player minimum.
Most teams that dipped below that minimum at the trade deadline have until after the All-Star break to get their roster count back up to 14, since there’s a two-week grace period. However, the Thunder have been below the minimum since February 1, when they sent Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to Chicago, so they’ll have to make a move this week.
While this is just my speculation, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Thunder wait until Thursday to finalize Solomon’s deal. That would allow the team to avoid keeping him on the roster for longer than 10 days — 10-day contracts must span at least three games, and OKC’s next three games fall on February 14, February 22, and February 23.
Now that the Kings have Harrison Barnes, the next step is to figure out the best role for him, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Acquired from the Mavericks last week, Barnes has played extensively at both forward spots and his usage in Sacramento may depend on the opponent, according to coach Dave Joerger.
“I’m still learning what to do,” Joerger said. “How much I do I want to play Harrison at (small forward)? How much at (power forward)? And what do the matchups look like? And I need to get it done sooner than later because we’re not going to find a rhythm if I don’t figure it out quickly.”
Barnes has played both positions extensively throughout his career, with 48% of his minutes as a three and 50% as a four. The Warriors used him mainly as a small forward when he broke into the league, but shifted him to power forward later in his tenure there. He was mainly a power forward in Dallas.
“It’s a good problem to have,” added Joerger, who said he has wanted Barnes on his team for years. “You want to be as versatile as we can be at times. It’s going to be a little bit on the run, as we know, and it’s tough on me, but guys are playing as hard as they can and that’s all you can ask as a coach. And it’s on me to figure some of that stuff out.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- LeBron James hasn’t lived up to the excitement that surrounded his decision to join the Lakers, contends Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times. L.A. will enter the All-Star break with a 28-29 record, placing them 10th in the Western Conference. Plaschke notes that although James has been brilliant on the court, he missed 17 games with a groin injury and affected team chemistry by maneuvering to get head coach Luke Walton replaced and pushing for an Anthony Davis deal that caused all of his young teammates to be subjected to weeks of trade rumors.
- The Lakers missed out on Enes Kanter in the buyout market, but they remain in the running for Markieff Morris, tweets ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, who names the Rockets, Thunder and Raptors as the other top contenders. L.A. is also considering Carmelo Anthony, Shelburne adds, but is concerned because he hasn’t been active since November.
- Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman examines whether the Clippers made the right move by trading away Blake Griffin last season.
- Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders shares some details on the cash changing hands in a pair of Central trades. According to Pincus (Twitter links), the Pacers sent $110K to the Rockets in the Nik Stauskas/Wade Baldwin trade, and the Bulls received $2,610,464 from the Thunder in their trade involving Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. Chicago, which has now maxed out the cash it can receive in 2018/19 trades, will receive that money from OKC in three installments worth about $870K apiece on the first of March, April, and May, Pincus notes (via Twitter).
Here are Sunday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Thunder assigned rookie wing Hamidou Diallo to their G League affiliate for today’s game, according to a press release from the team. He was recalled later in the day after recording 21 points and eight boards for the Oklahoma City Blue. Diallo has appeared in 44 games for the Thunder this season, averaging 4.3 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
- The Spurs announced that they have assigned rookie big man Chimezie Metu to their G League affiliate in Austin. Metu has appeared in 26 games for the Spurs, averaging 1.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.
Despite Andre Roberson missing the entire season to this point, the Thunder have continued to thrive as Paul George has developed into a serious MVP candidate and other role players have stepped up in their respective roles. The main example of such improvement is Terrance Ferguson, who has maintained his hold on a starting role past the halfway point of the season.
As Maddie Lee details for The Oklahoman, the Thunder put the ball in Ferguson’s hands more during Summer League, which he believes has translated to his improvement and confidence so far this season.
While his statistics suffered during the Summer League experiment, Ferguson is finding open teammates more often and is playing with a confidence that has unlocked more components of his game.
There’s more for the Thunder:
- Despite not receiving consistent playing time, Raymond Felton understands his role on the team and is still happy being with the Thunder, as Brett Dawson reveals for The Athletic.
- After the Thunder waived Alex Abrines on Saturday (which was a mutual decision between the two parties), the team reiterated that it will continue to support Abrines as he works through some personal issues.
- While George and Russell Westbrook get most of the attention and praise for the Thunder success this season, Royce Young of ESPN points out that there’s often a role player or two ready to take Oklahoma City to another level on a nightly basis.
7:34pm: Abrines agreed to give back almost all of the $1.8MM he was still owed, according to Charania (Twitter link), who adds that he and the team “parted ways amicably.”
4:20pm: Oklahoma City has placed Alex Abrines on waivers, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. The Thunder will still be responsible for the remainder of his $5,455,236 salary, which will continue to count against the team’s cap.
The third-year guard has appeared in just 31 games this season, averaging 5.3 points and 1.5 rebounds in 19 minutes per night. Abrines was a second-round draft choice in 2013, but didn’t come to the NBA until three years later.
The 25-year-old has only appeared in two games over the past six weeks and is dealing with an undisclosed personal situation, according to Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman. Abrines and team officials came to a mutual decision that he needed time away from basketball to work on those issues, adds ESPN’s Royce Young.
“He’s still battling through some things and wasn’t able to be here tonight,” coach Billy Donovan said after Tuesday’s game. “Honestly, we go day-by-day with him and continue to be supportive with him. He’s around the team, we always talk and communicate.”
The Thunder were already one player short of the roster minimum of 14 after the deadline, so OKC will have to make at least two additions. They will have two weeks from today to replace Abrines.
The NBA confirmed today that 2019’s trade deadline set and matched some records. The 14 trades completed on Thursday were the most made on a deadline day in the last 30 years, and the 19 teams involved in those swaps was tied for the most over that same period.
In total, 34 players were involved in those 14 trades — and that doesn’t even count the eight deals completed during the week leading up to the deadline, as we detailed last night.
Needless to say, there has been plenty of roster upheaval around the NBA, so we’re going to use this space to take a look at all 30 teams’ roster situations to see exactly where they stand. Does your favorite team have a full roster? Or is their roster somehow only two-thirds full? Looking at you, Raptors.
Here’s a breakdown of all 30 clubs’ roster situations at the time of this post’s publication (more moves will be made in the coming days or even hours that won’t be noted here, so keep that in mind):
Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks entered the week with 15 players, but had to waive Daniel Hamilton to clear a spot to acquire Jabari Bird. They subsequently traded Tyler Dorsey for Shelvin Mack, then waived both Bird and Mack.
They currently have 13 players on their roster, leaving two open spots. They’ll have two weeks to get back to the league-mandated minimum of 14 players.
Boston Celtics
After carrying 15 players all season, the Celtics traded Jabari Bird to create an open roster spot. They’ll explore the buyout market for candidates to fill that opening.
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets entered the week with 14 players on standard contracts and one (Mitch Creek) on a 10-day deal. Creek’s contract was terminated a few days early to make room for Greg Monroe, who was waived after being acquired from Toronto.
Brooklyn now has 14 players under contract and could opt to re-add Creek (albeit on a full-season contract), sign another player, or leave that spot empty for now.
Charlotte Hornets
The Hornets had a quiet week and continue to carry 14 players, leaving one open roster spot.
Chicago Bulls
The Bulls created an open spot on their roster by trading Bobby Portis and Jabari Parker for Otto Porter, and are now carrying 14 players.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers acquired two players – Nik Stauskas and Wade Baldwin – for Rodney Hood, which required them to terminate Kobi Simmons‘ 10-day contract early to stay at 15 players.
Subsequently, Cleveland flipped Stauskas and Baldwin to Houston in exchange for Marquese Chriss and Brandon Knight, with Alec Burks heading to Sacramento in that three-team deal. The 3-for-2 move left the Cavs with 14 players and an open roster spot.
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks, already at 15 players, acquired two veterans – Zach Randolph and Justin Jackson – in exchange for Harrison Barnes, and had to waive Salah Mejri to make the deal work.
They’re currently at 15 players, but will be releasing Randolph very soon to create an open roster spot.
Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets didn’t make any moves this week and continue to carry a full 15-man roster.
Detroit Pistons
Both of the Pistons‘ trades this week were 1-for-1 swaps in terms of players, with Thon Maker and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk replacing Reggie Bullock and Stanley Johnson.
However, with the team closing in on a deal for Wayne Ellington, someone will need to be waived to stay at the 15-man limit. That player will reportedly be Henry Ellenson.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors didn’t make any moves this week and still have 14 players under contract, leaving an opening for potential buyout targets.
4:11pm: The move is official, according to a team press release.
4:06pm: The Suns will place newly-acquired Wayne Ellington on waivers today, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 Phoenix tweets.
Ellington and guard Tyler Johnson were dealt to Phoenix for forward Ryan Anderson but the Suns had no intention of retaining the veteran shooting guard. Ellington was caught in a logjam of wings with the Heat, bouncing in-and-out of the rotation. He’ll now be free to seek a team that can offer him more playing time.
Ellington had the ability to veto a trade, so he wouldn’t have agreed to it unless he would end up in a more favorable situation. The Pistons, who just traded starting shooting guard Reggie Bullock to the Lakers, are expected to pursue Ellington. The Thunder have also been mentioned as a potential suitor.
Ellington has an expiring $6.27MM contract. The 31-year-old guard, who appeared in 25 games with Miami this season, is a career 38% 3-point shooter.