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Hornets’ Tidjane Salaun Signs Rookie Contract

July 3rd, 2024 at 9:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The Hornets have signed lottery pick Tidjane Salaun to his rookie scale contract, the team announced today in a press release.

Salaun is headed to Charlotte after spending the past two seasons with Cholet Basket in France’s top basketball league (LNB Elite). In 54 games with the team in 2023/24, the 6’9″ forward averaged 9.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per contest.

The No. 6 overall pick Salaun was one of three French prospects selected in the top half of the 2024 lottery, joining countrymen Zaccharie Risacher (No. 1) and Alex Sarr (No. 2). He’s also one of the youngest players in this year’s draft class — he won’t turn 19 next until next month.

As our breakdown of rookie scale salaries show, Salaun will earn nearly $7.5MM in 2024/25 and approximately $34MM over the next four years, assuming he signed for the usual 120% of the rookie scale amount and eventually has his third- and fourth-year options exercised.

And-Ones: Porter, Pate, Adams, 2025 Mock, Ownership Changes

July 3rd, 2024 at 8:14pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Former Raptors forward Jontay Porter is being charged with a federal felony in connection to the sports betting scandal that caused him to be banned from the NBA in April, according to a report from The Associated Press.

While a specific court date and charges haven’t been specified, the case is known to be related to an existing charge of four men who schemed with a player to cash in on tips from said player (Porter) regarding his plans to exit two games early. The four men appeared in court in June, but haven’t yet entered pleas. They were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the AP.

The NBA’s investigation into Porter found that he tipped off those four men about his health and then exited one game with illness, causing anyone who bet his unders to cash in. He also gambled on games he didn’t play in, including against his own team.

Porter appeared in 26 games with the Raptors last season on a two-way contract. He is not permitted to sign another NBA contract, as per his ban.

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With the G League Ignite shut down, projected 2025 first-round pick Dink Pate is signing with the G League’s Mexico City Capitanes for next season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Pate became the youngest professional basketball player last season at age 17 — he was not eligible for the 2024 draft because he doesn’t turn 19 until the 2025 calendar year. In 31 games with the Ignite last season, Pate averaged 8.0 points, 3.8 assists and 2.9 rebounds per contest. The G League formally announced the move in a press release (Twitter link).
Alabama’s men’s basketball program is hiring Pistons assistant coach Brian Adams as an assistant under head coach Nate Oats, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Adams had NBA experience with both the Sixers and Clippers before joining Detroit midway through last season. He’s served as a collegiate assistant at Harvard and Marist as well.
Duke’s Cooper Flagg is ESPN’s top prospect for 2025, but a pair of Rutgers guards aren’t far behind in a mock draft from Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo (ESPN+ link). Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper sit at No. 2 and 3, respectively, in the mock, and are each currently viewed by some teams as the top prospect in the class. Givony and Woo name Pate, Duke’s Tyrese Proctor, South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles and UConn’s Alex Karaban as some of the top returning players to watch.
The NBA has made a change to its ownership rules, according to The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov. Ownership groups are no longer allowed to have governors rotate control. The Bucks did this with Marc Lasry and Wes Edens, with Lasry serving as governor until he sold his share with Edens taking over in 2028. The Hornets are doing the same with Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin. Those two franchises will be grandfathered in, according to Vorkunov, meaning they aren’t impacted by this rule change.

Heat Re-Sign Thomas Bryant

July 3rd, 2024 at 7:54pm CST by Luke Adams

7:54pm: Bryant has officially re-signed with the Heat, the team confirmed in a press release.

12:49pm: The Heat and Thomas Bryant have reached an agreement on a new one-year contract for the free agent center, league sources tell Marc Stein (Twitter link). The deal will be worth the veteran’s minimum, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

Bryant, who initially signed a two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Heat last summer, averaged 5.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in just 11.6 minutes per game across 38 appearances.

Miami had envisioned him as the backup at the five behind Bam Adebayo, but the fit wasn’t quite as smooth as either side has hoped, and the 26-year-old was in and out of the rotation for much of the season.

Because the second year of that initial contract was a player option (worth $2.85MM), Bryant was able to opt out and talk to other potential suitors on the open market. However, it seems as if he wasn’t offered any opportunities he liked more than one to remain in Miami for another season.

Bryant will earn slightly less ($2.8MM) on his new contract than he would have on his option, while the Heat’s charge for cap and tax purposes will be just $2.09MM. He’ll join a group of centers that features Kevin Love (who also agreed to a new deal with the Heat) and rookie Kel’el Ware.

Orlando Robinson also remains on the roster on a non-guaranteed contract, but the new deals with Bryant and Love, along with the selection of Ware, make it less likely that he’ll be back, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Clippers, Mo Bamba Finalize One-Year Deal

July 3rd, 2024 at 7:17pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 3: Bamba has officially signed with the Clippers, according to the transaction log at NBA.com.

JULY 1: The Clippers and free agent center Mohamed Bamba have reached an agreement on a one-year deal, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

It’ll be worth the veteran’s minimum, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. That’ll work out to a $2.61MM salary for Bamba and a $2.09MM cap hit for the team.

Bamba, the sixth overall pick in the 2018 draft, spent his first five-and-a-half seasons in Orlando before being traded to the Lakers at the 2023 deadline. After finishing that season in Los Angeles, he signed with the 76ers last summer and averaged 4.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in 13.0 minutes per game across 57 appearances (17 starts) for Philadelphia. He’s a career 36.1% three-pointer shooter on 2.3 attempts per game.

Ivica Zubac is the Clippers’ starting center, but both of the team’s backups at the five – Mason Plumlee and Daniel Theis – entered free agency this weekend. While Theis remains unsigned, Plumlee has committed to join the division-rival Suns, so L.A. had been in the market for at least one big man.

Outside of the 2021/22 season, when he started 69 games in the middle for Orlando, Bamba has primarily played a modest reserve role across his six years in the NBA, with a career average of 17.2 minutes per contest.

The Clippers have been busy during the first couple days of free agency, reaching contract agreements with James Harden (two years, $70MM), Derrick Jones (three years, $30MM), Nicolas Batum (two years, $9.6MM), Kevin Porter Jr. (two years, minimum salary), and Kris Dunn (terms unknown). They’re also reportedly scouring the market for a possible Russell Westbrook trade and, of course, saw Paul George depart for Philadelphia.

Suns Re-Sign Damion Lee To One-Year Contract

July 3rd, 2024 at 7:16pm CST by Rory Maher

7:16pm: Lee has officially re-signed with the Suns, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

1:04pm: Lee’s new deal is for the veteran’s minimum, tweets Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports. He’ll earn slightly less ($2.8MM) than he would’ve on his option, while the Suns’ cap hit will be just $2.09MM instead of $2.85MM, saving them some additional money in tax penalties.

11:23am: Free agent guard Damion Lee is re-signing with the Suns on a one-year contract, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Lee became an unrestricted free agent when he declined his $2.85MM player option for 2024/25 on Saturday. However, he’s returning to Phoenix on a new one-year deal.

A former undrafted free agent who played college ball at Drexel and Louisville, Lee missed the entire ’23/24 season after suffering a meniscus tear in his right knee, which ultimately required surgery.

Lee, 31, initially signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract to join the Suns in the summer of 2022. He then inked a one-and-one contract with Phoenix last summer. During his healthy season with the Suns in ’22/23, Lee averaged 8.2 PPG and 3.0 RPG on a .442/.445/.904 shooting line across 74 contests (20.4 MPG).

Lee started his professional career in the NBA G League before signing a pair of 10-day deals and then later a rest-of-season contract with Atlanta in 2018. He spent the next four years with Golden State, winning a championship with the Warriors as a role player in 2022. He holds career averages of 8.2 PPG and 3.4 RPG on .436/.379/.878 shooting in 290 games, including 58 starts (20.8 MPG).

Rockets Re-Sign Jeenathan Williams To Two-Way Contract

July 3rd, 2024 at 6:39pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Rockets have re-signed guard Jeenathan Williams to a two-way contract, according to the NBA’s official transaction log. Williams spent the 2023/24 season with Houston on a two-way deal.

In addition to confirming they have re-signed Williams, the Rockets also announced they’ve officially re-signed Jermaine Samuels and Nate Hinton, who each last season on a two-way deal alongside Williams (Twitter link via The Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen).

It was previously reported that Samuels and Hinton were rejoining the team on Exhibit 10 contracts. So Williams, the only one of the three who received a two-way qualifying offer, is the only one on a two-way deal for now, but Samuels and Hinton are both candidates to be converted at some point, as Feigen previously reported.

In 22 games with Houston last season, Williams averaged 2.9 points. He spent five games at the end of the ’22/23 season with Portland, scoring 10.6 points per game with four starts. Williams played in 11 games (10 starts) with Houston’s G League affiliate — the Rio Grande Valley Vipers — last year, averaging 16.3 PPG and 5.6 RPG.

Hinton played in 15 NBA games, averaging 2.2 points last year. In 37 G League games, he averaged 13.7 PPG, 7.2 RPG and 5.1 APG.

Samuels appeared in 14 games with Houston, averaging 1.4 PPG. Like Williams and Hinton, he played more in the G League, averaging 19.6 PPG and 7.8 RPG in 38 games.

Undrafted center N’Faly Dante is expected to sign a two-way contract from the Rockets, so if he and Williams make it to the opening-night 18-man roster, that would leave just one two-way slot for Samuels, Hinton, and any other Houston camp invitees.

Creighton’s Trey Alexander Signs Two-Way Deal With Nuggets

July 3rd, 2024 at 6:26pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JULY 3: Alexander has officially signed his two-way contract with Denver, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

JUNE 27: Creighton guard Trey Alexander has agreed to sign a two-way deal with the Nuggets, sources tell Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports (via Twitter).

The 6’4″ guard was named a Big East All-Freshman with the Bluejays in 2021/22 and made the All-Big East Second Team in 2023/24. This past season, his best individually in college, the junior averaged 17.6 points per game on .446/.339/.824 shooting splits. He also chipped in 5.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.1 steals per bout. Alexander started in all 72 games he played across his final two NCAA seasons.

Denver also agreed to a two-way deal with former Clemson center PJ Hall, a player whom the Nuggets projected as a first-round talent. The team now has just one of its three two-way slots available to be used on another free agent.

It has been an eventful day of roster activity in Denver, as word also broke that the Nuggets are on track to lock up starting point guard Jamal Murray to a four-season, $208MM+ extension once he’s eligible to sign in July.

Nuggets Notes: Caldwell-Pope, Braun, CBA, Westbrook

July 3rd, 2024 at 6:15pm CST by Tristan Tucker

For the second straight summer, the Nuggets lost key pieces to free agency. In 2023, it was Bruce Brown and Jeff Green who departed for paydays after winning a championship with Denver. This offseason, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left the Nuggets for Orlando.

Losing Brown and Green eventually caught up to the 2023/24 Nuggets, who didn’t see their young bench pieces take the steps forward they’d hoped for. Losing Caldwell-Pope is a massive blow, as he’s proven to be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, Tony Jones of The Athletic writes.

While replacing Caldwell-Pope isn’t an easy task, it seems like the franchise is eyeing 2022 first round pick Christian Braun for that role. Braun is a solid defender, Jones notes, but he isn’t yet close to what Caldwell-Pope was as a shooter. Elevating 2023 first round pick Julian Strawther to the starting lineup instead while playing Braun starter minutes off the bench could be an option, but he’s not a good enough defender to stay on the floor for long as of yet.

In short, the Nuggets are in a similar place as last season, but have lost Caldwell-Pope and backup point guard Reggie Jackson, Jones observes. They’ll likely target help via the trade market or with small veteran contracts, but the Nuggets still need young players like Braun, Strawther, Peyton Watson, Hunter Tyson, Jalen Pickett and 2024 first rounder DaRon Holmes to show development sooner rather than later.

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Braun might be ready to step into the starting lineup, Bennett Durando of The Denver Post writes. While he’s a different player than Caldwell-Pope, Braun is bigger, can hold his own in the post and could reasonably be on his way to being recognized in the same category of defender as KCP. Durando observes that Braun — a career 37.3% shooter from deep — is actually a solid above-the-break shooter, but in order to replace KCP offensively, he’ll have to specifically improve his corner outside shot.
Every team is navigating the new CBA landscape and Denver is no different. Speaking to reporters during free agency’s moratorium period, assistant general manager Tommy Balcetis cited the complications the new CBA provides. “I think it’s going to be a fun challenge for a lot of teams,” Balcetis said, via Durando. “We’re trying to be ahead of it in so many ways. I think that there’s going to be missteps along the way for every team really, to kind of start to calibrate where the CBA is going to lead us. … That’s why I think this particular free agency and draft period is a little different for everybody. Because all of a sudden, now there are going to be rules and regulations in place that are going to make teams find an edge that maybe they weren’t able to find before.“
One option rumored in recent days for the Nuggets to shore up their point guard play would be a trade for Russell Westbrook, which Nikola Jokic has reportedly advocated for. Durando makes the case for Westbrook in a separate Denver Post story, writing that he fills a positional need and is affordable, though he doesn’t space the floor.

Celtics Re-Sign Drew Peterson To Two-Way Contract

July 3rd, 2024 at 4:24pm CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics have re-signed forward Drew Peterson to a two-way contract, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

Peterson, 24, went undrafted in 2023 after spending two seasons at Rice and three at USC. He signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Miami and began the season in the fall with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the Heat’s G League affiliate, before signing a two-way deal with Boston in December.

Although Peterson remained under contract with the Celtics for the rest of the season, he appeared in just three games at the NBA level, spending most of the year in Maine with Boston’s NBAGL team. In 51 total games for Sioux Falls and Maine, he averaged 15.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 34.3 minutes per contest, posting a shooting line of .474/.373/.836.

Peterson was among the players to receive a two-way qualifying offer ahead of Saturday’s deadline, making him a restricted free agent. He likely simply accepted that qualifying offer – equivalent to another one-year, two-way contract – rather than negotiating a new deal.

With Peterson back on the roster, the Celtics are poised to bring back at least 14 of the 17 players who finished the season on the 18-man roster. Only Oshae Brissett, Svi Mykhailiuk, and JD Davison are unsigned.

Stanley Johnson Joining Turkish Club Anadolu Efes

July 3rd, 2024 at 4:09pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Former NBA forward Stanley Johnson has agreed to a contract with Anadolu Efes, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports (Twitter link).

As Scotto observes, the Turkish club has won two of the last four EuroLeague championships, with former NBA players like Shane Larkin, Daniel Oturu, Vincent Poirier and Ante Zizic among the key contributors across that stretch.

Johnson spent last season in the G League with the Stockton Kings after having been in the NBA for the previous eight years. In 34 G League games in 2023/24, Johnson averaged 14.4 points per game and shot 39.5% from deep. Now, he’s heading overseas for the first time in his career.

The No. 8 overall pick in 2015, Johnson spent the first three-and-a-half years of his career with the Pistons. He bounced around the league after that, going through stints with the Pelicans, Raptors, Lakers and Spurs. In 449 career games (104 starts), the 28-year-old Johnson holds career averages of 6.2 points and 3.1 rebounds.