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Josh Giddey, Scottie Barnes Named Rookies Of The Month For February

March 3rd, 2022 at 1:10pm CST by Rory Maher

Thunder guard Josh Giddey and Raptors guard/forward Scottie Barnes have been named the Western and Eastern Conference Rookies of the Month for February, the NBA announced (via Twitter).

The other nominees in the West were Rockets guard Jalen Green, Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, and Thunder guard Tre Mann. For the East, the other nominees were Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, Cavaliers forward/center Evan Mobley, Nets guard Cam Thomas, and Magic forward Franz Wagner, the league announced (Twitter link).

Giddey, 19, averaged 16.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 7.7 assists on .466/.278/.773 shooting in 10 February games (33.4 minutes per contest). It’s his fourth straight Rookie of the Month honor for the West, as most of the league’s top rookies are in the East. He’s currently sidelined with a right hip injury and has missed the last three games for the Thunder.

Barnes, 20, averaged 15.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists on .540/.375/.781 shooting in 12 February games (31.8 minutes). It’s his first Rookie of the Month honor. The previous winners in the East this season were Wagner, Mobley, and Cunningham.

Mobley, Barnes, Cunningham, Giddey and Wagner are considered the leading candidates for the Rookie of the Year award this season, with Mobley as a strong favorite, according to Vegas Insider.

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Northwest Notes: Giddey, SGA, Cousins, House, Wright

February 26th, 2022 at 2:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are both more comfortable with the ball in their hands, but comments made by head coach Mark Daigneault after the two guards played together on Thursday strongly suggest the Thunder ultimately view Giddey as their primary initiator, writes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman.

As Mussatto details, Gilgeous-Alexander will be still be the Thunder’s primary scorer, but it sounds like the team wants to get him more comfortable playing off-ball, as he did earlier in his career when Chris Paul and Dennis Schröder were on the roster.

“(Giddey’s) a really good initiator, he’s a really good creator and we’ve gotta use that part of his game to unlock the potential of the team,” Daigneault said. “It’s gonna require Shai to make some plays off the ball a little bit, where he’s driving close-outs, where he’s shooting open shots — but it’s also gonna take some load off of Shai. He’s not gonna have to work as hard.”

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

  • Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, who advocated for the signing of DeMarcus Cousins earlier this season, is thrilled to have the veteran big man under contract for the rest of the season, says Mike Singer of The Denver Post. “His personality is really important,” Malone said of Cousins. “He is a voice. He’s a personality, and he’s not afraid to speak his mind. That can be refreshing at times because we have a locker room of great guys, but who are not always willing to police each other.”
  • Having been signed for the rest of the season following a series of 10-day deals, Danuel House is looking to repay the Jazz‘s investment in him with his play on the court, writes Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. “This is a good organization. And they believe so much in me, they’re pouring into me,” House said. “So my job is, if they’re pouring into me, to make sure that when the water hits the glass, make sure it’s purified enough for us to drink.”
  • Timberwolves two-way player McKinley Wright IV, who is dealing with a left UCL injury, is moving closer toward returning to action after getting his splint taken off, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. Wolfson estimates that Wright will be playing for the Iowa Wolves – Minnesota’s G League affiliate – in another week or two. The rookie guard has appeared in just three NBA games this season.
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Vasilije Micić's Agent Expresses Dissatisfaction With Draft-And-Stash Rules

February 25th, 2022 at 7:37am CST by Luke Adams
  • Speaking to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com, veteran international agent Misko Raznatovic expressed dissatisfaction with the rules governing draft-and-stash players like his client Vasilije Micić, whose NBA rights are held by the Thunder. “One team gets your rights and then, (even if) you’re the best player in Europe, they don’t want to trade you and they don’t want to give you (a fair contract) offer,” Raznatovic said. “And then you never play in the NBA, (even if) you’re better than 80% of the guys who are there. I don’t believe this is fair.” Raznatovic did note that Micić has an annual NBA escape clause in his contract with Anadolu Efes, so he’ll talk to the Thunder again this summer to see if they can work something out.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Set To Return For Thunder

February 23rd, 2022 at 5:14pm CST by Luke Adams

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will return to action on Thursday after missing the team’s last 10 games due to a right ankle sprain, head coach Mark Daigneault said today (Twitter link via Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman). Gilgeous-Alexander suffered the injury on January 28.

The 18-40 Thunder are 6.5 games back of the No. 10 seed and aren’t expected to prioritize making the playoffs this season, so it’s safe to assume they wouldn’t be bringing back Gilgeous-Alexander if he weren’t feeling 100% healthy.

The star point guard had been averaging 22.7 PPG, 5.5 APG, and 4.7 RPG shooting in 43 games (34.6 MPG) before going down with his ankle injury. He has struggled to score efficiently this season, however, posting career-low shooting percentages of 42.4% from the floor and 27.8% on threes.

Rookie guard Josh Giddey has been thriving with Gilgeous-Alexander out of the lineup, having recorded three consecutive triple-doubles in the games leading up to the All-Star break. He likely won’t have the ball in his hands as much with SGA on the court, so Daigneault may have to get creative with his lineups and his rotation to ensure Giddey doesn’t lose that momentum.

According to Daigneault, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (foot), Mike Muscala (ankle), Ty Jerome (hip), Luguentz Dort (shoulder), and Kenrich Williams (knee) are still sidelined. Daigneault didn’t offer any guarantees when asked if Muscala, who is considering offseason ankle surgery, will be back this season (Twitter links via Mussatto).

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Quinn Cook, Jahm’ius Ramsey, Others Sign G League Contracts

February 22nd, 2022 at 11:26am CST by Luke Adams

A series of NBA free agents have signed contracts with the G League, according to the NBAGL transactions log. Veteran guard Quinn Cook and former Kings Jahmi’us Ramsey and Robert Woodard II – both of whom were waived earlier this month – are among the players entering the G League.

Cook, who has 188 career NBA appearances under his belt, began the 2021/22 season playing overseas with Lokomotiv Kuban, but left the Russian team in December in what was deemed a mutual decision. Ramsey and Woodard were second-round picks in the 2020 draft, but never developed into regular rotation players in Sacramento, appearing in just 32 and 25 total games, respectively.

Woodard was initially claimed by the Iowa Wolves and has since been traded to the Oklahoma City Blue (the Thunder‘s NBAGL affiliate). Cook and Ramsey signed their contracts more recently and have yet to land with new teams.

Malik Fitts, Ky Bowman, Karim Mane, and Daulton Hommes are among the other players with NBA experience who have signed G League contracts within the last week. Although Hommes technically has yet to appear in an NBA regular season game, he spent the first two months of this season on a two-way deal with New Orleans, earning a year of NBA service.

Fitts’ returning rights belong to the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, while Bowman has been traded to the Austin Spurs. Mane has landed with the Greensboro Swarm, the Hornets‘ G League team, while Hommes rejoined the Birmingham Squadron, the Pelicans‘ affiliate.

Finally, former Warriors and Magic guard Mychal Mulder has also signed a G League contract, a source tells our JD Shaw (Twitter link). Mulder, who was waived by Orlando last month, appeared in 15 games this season and has played in 82 total NBA contests since 2020.

None of these players’ rights are held by an NBA team, so they remain free to sign a standard contract or a two-way deal with any of the league’s 30 clubs.

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Thunder Sign Olivier Sarr To Two-Way Contract

February 21st, 2022 at 8:23pm CST by Rory Maher

The Thunder have signed Olivier Sarr to a two-way deal, the team announced in a press release. He previously spent time with the team via two 10-day hardship contracts. He appeared in two games with the Thunder for a total of 14 minutes, averaging 2 points and 2.5 rebounds.

Sarr, who just turned 23 on Sunday, spent four years in college — three with Wake Forest and then his senior season with Kentucky. He went undrafted this past summer after averaging 10.8 points and 5.2 rebounds with the Wildcats.

Sarr has spent the majority of the season with the Thunder’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue. Through 23 games with the Blue, he’s averaged 7.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 15.7 minutes per contest.

Both of Oklahoma City’s two-way slots are now filled. The team had one available after promoting Aaron Wiggins to its 15-man roster earlier in the month.

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Sam Presti Receives High Praise From LeBron James

February 20th, 2022 at 9:31pm CST by JD Shaw
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Western Notes: Thunder, Jazz, Kings, Iguodala, Finney-Smith

February 14th, 2022 at 3:34pm CST by Luke Adams

After mostly sitting out last week’s trade deadline – with the exception of a very minor deal involving KZ Okpala – the Thunder are still about $23MM below the $101.2MM salary cap floor for 2021/22, John Hollinger writes for The Athletic.

As Hollinger explains, the Thunder’s situation is a “very hot topic in the agent world,” since teams are required to either spend to the salary floor or pay the difference to their players. Assuming Oklahoma City doesn’t try to get to the floor by signing free agents to deals that include oversized first-year salaries, the team could end up paying about $1.5MM to each of its own players at season’s end.

Hollinger believes this latter scenario is more likely than the Thunder spending big on free agents in the next couple months. Recent European imports who have received big late-season free agent contracts, such as Gabriel Deck and Luca Vildoza, haven’t exactly worked out, and it’s not OKC will feel the need to be a major player on the buyout market.

More importantly, even if the team is required to pay its own players at the end of the season to reach the salary floor, those payments won’t count toward the cap. In other words, the Thunder could still take upwards of $31MM in cap room into draft night, giving them the ability to make trades in June that other clubs wouldn’t be able to accommodate.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

  • Howard Beck of SI.com is the latest reporter to suggest that the alleged tension between Jazz teammates Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell hasn’t exactly dissipated. “I think they’re in trouble, because this thing has run its course and we know there are some tensions that are in that locker room,” Beck said on The Crossover NBA Show podcast with Chris Mannix (hat tip to HoopsHype). “And I’ve been told recently that they might be a little worse than we’ve even been led to believe. And so if this doesn’t end well this postseason, and there’s no reason to think that it will… those ‘Donovan Mitchell wants out’ rumors are going to be starting, like, as soon as the season is over.”
  • General manager Monte McNair felt that the players the Kings acquired at the deadline – including Domantas Sabonis, Donte DiVincenzo, and Justin Holiday – are good fits both on and off the court. “We want competitors, toughness,” McNair said over the weekend, per Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. “We need to improve our rebounding and defense. And I think all these guys that we’ve brought are not just great players, good talents, all that type of stuff, but guys that are going to fit into that type of culture we’re trying to build here.”
  • Warriors swingman Andre Iguodala, who has played just once since January 20, went through the team’s shootaround today, but will remain sidelined until after the All-Star break, per head coach Steve Kerr (Twitter link via Anthony Slater of The Athletic). Iguodala is dealing with lower back tightness.
  • Dorian Finney-Smith‘s new four-year extension with the Mavericks is worth the maximum amount he was eligible for ($55,560,960) and includes a trade kicker of 5%, Hoops Rumors has learned.
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NBA Teams With Open Roster Spots

February 14th, 2022 at 1:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Several NBA teams typically end up with newly-opened roster spots following the trade deadline. This happens for a variety of reasons. Some teams make two-for-one or three-for-one trades; some acquire players in cap-related deals and immediately cut them; others buy out or release players they weren’t able to move at the deadline.

Whatever the reason may be, there are plenty of available roster spots around the NBA, and it’s a good bet that most of them will be filled before the end of the regular season. Contending teams will want to fortify their depth for the playoffs, while lottery-bound clubs will take fliers on prospects willing to accept multiyear deals that aren’t fully guaranteed beyond this season.

Here, with the help of our roster counts page, is a look at the teams that have open roster spots as of February 14:

Teams with open 15-man roster spots:

  • Atlanta Hawks
  • Boston Celtics (3)
  • Charlotte Hornets
  • Denver Nuggets *
  • Detroit Pistons
  • Houston Rockets
  • Miami Heat (2)
  • Milwaukee Bucks (3) *
  • Minnesota Timberwolves
  • New Orleans Pelicans
  • Orlando Magic
  • Philadelphia 76ers
  • Toronto Raptors
  • Utah Jazz
  • Washington Wizards

* The Nuggets (DeMarcus Cousins) and Bucks (Greg Monroe) each have a player on a 10-day contract. We’re counting those roster spots as “open” because Cousins’ and Monroe’s deals will expire this week.

If we count the Nuggets, exactly half of the NBA’s 30 teams have at least one 15-man roster spot available. Twelve of those clubs have a single open roster spot, while the Celtics, Heat, and Bucks have multiple openings.

Since teams are only permitted to dip below 14 players on standard contracts for up to two weeks at a time, Boston, Miami, and Milwaukee will all have to get back to that league-mandated minimum before the end of the month.

The other teams on this list aren’t under immediate pressure to add a 15th man, and some may hold off for a little while for financial reasons — or just to wait to see who else becomes available on the buyout market in the next couple weeks.

Some of these clubs – including the Heat with Caleb Martin, the Pelicans with Jose Alvarado, and the Raptors with Justin Champagnie – might use their open roster spot to promote a player on a two-way contract who has earned regular minutes.

Teams with open two-way spots:

  • Boston Celtics
  • Dallas Mavericks
  • Oklahoma City Thunder
  • Phoenix Suns
  • Utah Jazz

The Celtics (Sam Hauser) and Thunder (Aaron Wiggins) have each promoted a two-way player to the 15-man roster since the trade deadline. The other three teams on this list released a two-way player in January, creating an opening.

In the past, teams haven’t been able to sign players to two-way contracts after January 15, but that restriction doesn’t exist this season, so I expect we’ll see some – if not all – of these teams fill their open two-way slots sooner or later.

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Thunder Sign Aaron Wiggins To Four-Year Deal

February 12th, 2022 at 5:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

7:28pm: Wiggins’ new contract is official, the Thunder announced (via Twitter).

5:34pm: The Thunder will give two-way player Aaron Wiggins a four-year, $6.4MM contract, tweets Shams Charania of the Athletic. The fourth year will be a team option, and the deal was confirmed by Wiggins’ agent, Austin Walton.

Wiggins will receive $1MM for the rest of this season in addition to what he has already earned, Walton tells Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (Twitter link). That means the remaining three years will be worth the minimum.

Next season will be fully guaranteed, but 2023/24 is non-guaranteed. Wiggins is now the fourth highest-paid player from the second round of the 2021 draft, Mussatto adds.

After being selected with the 55th pick, the 23-year-old shooting guard signed a two-way contract shortly after the draft. He has appeared in 31 games, starting 18, and is averaging 7.4 points and 3.5 rebounds in 21.9 minutes per night.

When the move becomes official, Oklahoma City will have a full 15-man roster with an open two-way slot.

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