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Wizards Sign Dejan Vasiljevic To Exhibit 10 Deal

September 16th, 2023 at 8:03am CST by Dana Gauruder

SEPTEMBER 16: The Wizards officially signed Vasiljevic to an Exhibit 10 contract, the team announced (Twitter link). Washington still has a two-way contract opening, so he could be in competition for that spot.

JULY 31: Dejan Vasiljevic has agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract with the Wizards, ESPN’s Olgun Uluc tweets.

The former Miami Hurricanes guard has played for the Sydney Kings of Australia’s NBL since 2020 after going undrafted by NBA clubs.

In 36 games last season, Vasiljevic averaged 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. The 26-year-old opted out of his contract with the Australian club following the season.

He was on the Suns’ Summer League squad in 2022 and played for Washington’s Summer League club this month. He averaged 7.3 points in 12.7 minutes in Las Vegas while appearing in three games for the Wizards.

The addition of Vasiljevic gives Washington 20 players on its roster. The Wizards have a two-way opening, so it’s possible he could earn that spot, since Exhibit 10 deals can be converted to two-way contracts before the regular season begins.

If they’re waived by the NBA squad, players on Exhibit 10 deals can also earn a bonus of up to $75K by joining the team’s G League affiliate — in this case, the Capital City Go-Go — and spending at least 60 days with that NBAGL club.

Trail Blazers Notes: Lillard, Trade Talks, Devoe

September 15th, 2023 at 11:05pm CST by Rory Maher

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN gets the sense that the Trail Blazers‘ trade talks regarding Damian Lillard have picked up over the past couple weeks, he said on NBA Today (YouTube link).

Talks had largely been dormant for over a month, but training camp is just a few weeks away, so teams are trying to complete rosters before the season begins in late October.

“I think Portland, what they’ve been trying to do is see how they can put together multi-team deals that would get them the assets that they would want — young players, draft picks,” Wojnarowski said. “There might be a team that their best asset is a veteran player that doesn’t interest the Blazers, but there’s a third team who might want to take on that veteran and then send, whether it’s a young player or picks, in part, to Portland.

“So I think they’ve been in communication with a lot of teams trying to find a structure of a deal. … We’ll see how much traction they can get between now and the start of camp.”

People within the Blazers and around the league expect that Lillard will report to camp if a trade hasn’t occurred, according to Wojnarowski, who says that scenario would be “uncomfortable” and “may be unpleasant, but it won’t be unprofessional.” Having Lillard away from the team while Portland searches for a deal isn’t an option under the new player participation policy, Woj notes.

Here’s more on the Blazers:

At ESPN.com (Insider link), Tim Bontemps, Kevin Pelton, Andre Snellings and Andrew Lopez came up with hypothetical Lillard trades that were evaluated by their colleague Bobby Marks, a former assistant GM with the Nets. Lillard hopes to be traded to the Heat. Bontemps proposes a straight-up swap that sends Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic to Miami in exchange for Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry, Jaime Jaquez, Nikola Jovic, 2027 and 2029 first-round picks, and 2028 and 2030 first-round swaps. The other proposals involve the Sixers, Clippers, Pelicans and Raptors.
The Rip City Remix — Portland’s new NBA G League affiliate — have acquired a 2024 NBAGL first-rounder from the Salt Lake City Stars (Twitter link). The Remix sent the Jazz‘s affiliate the returning player rights to Michael Devoe. Devoe, who played college ball at Georgia Tech, signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Clippers last fall, but was waived before the season started. He spent 2022/23 with their G League affiliate, the Ontario Clippers.
In case you missed it, commissioner Adam Silver recently said the NBA won’t do anything to force the sale of the Trail Blazers. You can find more details here.

International Notes: Parker, W. Hernangomez, Lin, Scariolo, NBL

September 15th, 2023 at 10:14pm CST by Rory Maher

Spanish club Barcelona added a couple NBA veterans this offseason in Jabari Parker and Willy Hernangomez. Parker, the former No. 2 overall pick, was out of the league last season, while Hernangomez played for the Pelicans.

Álex Biescas of AS.com has some highlights from the team’s introductory press conference (hat tip to Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops).

“It was an opportunity in every way,” Parker said. “I was talking to a couple of teams but I didn’t feel like I had to go there. Only when I arrived here did I feel the opposite. I don’t have years to wait. I want to be here and do great things.”

As for Hernangomez, he’ll be returning to his home country and the Liga ACB, Spain’s top league. He played for Sevilla and Barcelona’s longtime rival Real Madrid prior to his seven-year NBA stint.

“I knew I was coming to a great club, but I’m better than I expected,” Hernangomez said, per Biescas. “Super at ease, adapted and very happy with the reception. I noticed the enthusiasm of the fans.”

Here are a few more international notes:

Jeremy Lin is continuing his playing career with the New Taipei Kings of Taiwan’s P.League+, as Dario Skerletic of Sportando relays. Lin, who holds nine years of NBA experience, last played in the league for Toronto back in 2018/19. The 35-year-old guard has spent three of the past four seasons in China, with a G League stint in-between. Former second-rounder Tony Mitchell, who had a brief NBA stint with Detroit in 2013/14, will also be joining the Taipei Kings.
Italy’s Virtus Bologna has dismissed head coach Sergio Scariolo ahead of the upcoming season, the team announced in a press release. A Raptors assistant from 2018-21, Scariolo received two interviews this spring for Toronto’s lead coaching vacancy, which was filled by Darko Rajakovic. The EuroLeague’s head coaches board expressed support for Scariolo, who is also the head coach of the Spanish national team. Bologna has hired Luca Banchi as a replacement (Twitter link). Banchi is head coach of Latvia’s national team, winning the Best Coach award at the World Cup after a fifth-place finish. It was Latvia’s first-ever appearance at the World Cup.
The National Basketball League and the Australian Basketball Players’ Association announced the completion of a new CBA ahead of the upcoming NBL season, tweets Olgun Uluc of ESPN. Uluc passes along some details from the agreement.

And-Ones: Team USA, Prospects, Load Management, Porter

September 15th, 2023 at 8:32pm CST by Rory Maher

It was reported earlier this week that LeBron James was recruiting stars for the 2024 Olympics, with several players planning on joining the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in Paris.

Kevin Pelton of ESPN (Insider link) recently crafted a 12-man roster for Team USA next summer by following three criteria: An ideal team, not necessarily the best individuals; prior success with USA Basketball; and young players who can continue with the national team in the future.

Pelton’s starting five features Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, James, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid, with Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, Mikal Bridges, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo and Evan Mobley coming off the bench. Donovan Mitchell was “perhaps the single toughest cut” from Pelton’s ideal roster.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

John Hollinger of The Athletic attended the G League Fall Invitational between G League Ignite and the Perth Wildcats to scout prospects for the 2024 NBA draft and beyond. While next year’s class isn’t considered particularly strong, Hollinger writes that several players stood out at the event, including Ron Holland, Alexandre Sarr and Izan Almansa. Ignite forward Tyler Smith was another standout who may have moved up draft boards, according to Hollinger, who notes that Perth guard Ben Henshall will be closely monitored going forward as well, perhaps for 2025 or 2026.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has a difficult balancing act when it comes to star players resting, with fans, revenue, and player health among the key factors to consider. But the new player participation policy is a step in the right direction, contends Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Having more stars on the court should make for a more compelling regular season, and Silver said at his press conference he had been weighing the advice of retired players, Goodwill notes. “You know, a lot of older players — by that I mean now, at this point, retired players — when I first came in the league, used to believe that they were more likely to get injured if they took nights off, that they would get out of rhythm,” he said. “In some cases, maybe (they) played fewer minutes, but they played. That’s something we want to look at as well.”
Kevin Porter Jr. was arrested this week on felony charges of assault and strangulation, but he’s far from the first NBA player to be accused of domestic violence. If the horrific allegations are proven true, Porter’s career in the league could be over, considering his history of off-court incidents. Chris Herring of Sports Illustrated believes the NBA should have a zero-tolerance policy for violence against women, though he concedes it would be a challenging rule to implement and would likely take several years. According to Herring, since salaries are rising across the board, players should be held to “extremely high behavioral standards.”

Sixers Notes: Green, House, Reed, Nurse, Dowtin

September 15th, 2023 at 6:30pm CST by Rory Maher

Danny Green‘s one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Sixers is fully non-guaranteed, sources tell Yossi Gozlan and Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

As Gozlan details, Green’s deal has multiple trigger dates that would give him sizeable partial guarantees. If the veteran wing makes the opening night roster, he’ll earn $500K; if he’s still on the roster on November 24, the guarantee will increase to $750K; and if he remains on the team by December 24, he’ll be guaranteed $1.3MM.

The NBA’s league-wide guarantee date is January 10. If he’s not waived by January 7 (in order to clear waivers before Jan. 10), Green will earn his full $3.2MM salary.

Here’s more on the Sixers:

In June, wing Danuel House picked up his $4.3MM player option to stay with the 76ers for 2023/24. He called the decision to come back a “no-brainer,” writes Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer. As Mizell notes, House has a longstanding friendship with teammate James Harden, but the 30-year-old said he has “no knowledge” about Harden’s future with the team. “I respect any decision that he (Harden) does,” House said. “Everything that’s going on, (I) don’t know.” Harden, of course, requested a trade after picking up his own player option, then publicly criticized president of basketball operations Daryl Morey after it was reported that the Sixers planned to keep the former MVP.
Big man Paul Reed says new head coach Nick Nurse has made an early impression ahead of training camp, tweets Mizell. “Since the first day, he’s already been really hands-on,” said Reed, who added that Nurse has been working with him on his shooting form. Reed was a restricted free agent this summer and signed a unique offer sheet with Utah, which Philadelphia matched. The 24-year-old previously discussed Nurse envisioning an expanded role for him.
The Delaware Blue Coats — the Sixers’ NBA G League affiliate — recently acquired Jeff Dowtin‘s returning player rights from the Osceola Magic. The 26-year-old guard is currently on a non-guaranteed deal with the Raptors — if he’s still on the roster past October 21, he’ll receive a $900K partial guarantee. According to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link), the G League trade won’t impact the Raptors as long as Dowtin remains under contract in Toronto. It just means the Blue Coats will hold Dowtin’s G League rights if he’s waived and unable to find another NBA deal. Dowtin was on a two-way deal with Toronto last season and spent time with the team’s NBAGL affiliate, the Raptors 905. NBA contracts take precedence over G League rights — that’s how Toronto was able to assign Dowtin to the 905 in ’22/23, Murphy adds (via Twitter).

Heat Notes: Love, Adebayo, Free Agency, Training Camp

September 15th, 2023 at 4:42pm CST by Luke Adams

Kevin Love didn’t join the Heat until late February this year and appeared in just 21 regular season games for the team. However, he saw enough during that time – and during Miami’s extended playoff run – to get comfortable with the organization and to decide he wanted to re-sign as a free agent, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

“I think naturally I wish that I would have found my rhythm and found my fluidity and feel on the court faster,” Love said. “But I think my impact was both on the floor and off the floor. Just being around the locker room, whether it be pregame or postgame, at practice, I felt like I could make a major impact there in helping bring us together.

“I also have a great relationship with the front office, with ownership, with all my teammates, coaching staff. It just felt like a good home for me and I wanted to continue that and see what was possible if I started the year out for the Miami Heat and see the impact that I could have there.”

When they re-signed him this summer, the Heat used their Non-Bird rights on Love to give him a salary that’s 20% above the veteran’s minimum, so he’ll earn $3,835,738 in 2023/24 instead of $3,196,448.

Here’s more on the Heat:

William Guillory of The Athletic contends that, given its lack of interior size and rebounding at this year’s World Cup, Team USA needs to make sure that Heat big man Bam Adebayo is part of its roster for the 2024 Olympics — especially if Joel Embiid doesn’t commit to playing for the U.S.
The holding pattern in the Damian Lillard trade talks isn’t the only reason why the Heat are holding off on pursuing veteran free agents, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. As Winderman explains, Miami likely assured early free agent additions such as Josh Richardson of a certain role, and adding another free agent at the same position – such as Kelly Oubre – would cut into that role.
In a separate article, Winderman argues against the idea of considering a trade for Kevin Porter Jr. In Winderman’s view, even though Porter would never play a game for any team that acquires him, the downside of having him even briefly associated with your franchise isn’t worth it for some minor draft assets and possibly a bit of financial relief.
The Heat announced on Friday that they’ll hold their training camp at the Florida Atlantic University campus in Boca Raton from October 3-7 following their Oct. 2 media day at the Kaseya Center in Miami, per Winderman.

Knicks Sign Ryan Arcidiacono, Waive Dmytro Skapintsev

September 15th, 2023 at 4:10pm CST by Luke Adams

4:10pm: Arcidiacono signed an Exhibit 9 contract, league sources tell Begley. That means the veteran guard is on a one-year, minimum-salary contract that is non-guaranteed and doesn’t count against the salary cap unless he makes New York’s regular season roster.

The Exhibit 9 language in the deal provides protection to the Knicks in case Arcidiacono sustains an untimely injury during training camp.

3:55pm: The Knicks made a pair of roster moves on Friday, announcing (on Twitter) that they’ve waived center Dmytro Skapintsev and signed free agent point guard Ryan Arcidiacono.

Cutting Skapintsev was necessary in order to open up a spot for Arcidiacono, since New York has a full 21-man roster. Skapintsev, who signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the team last month, figures to end up playing for the Westchester Knicks, New York’s G League affiliate.

As for Arcidiacono, the veteran guard has spent most of the past two seasons with the Knicks, appearing in 10 games for the team in 2021/22 and 11 more in ’22/23 before he was sent to Portland in February’s Josh Hart trade. The Trail Blazers subsequently waived Arcidiacono in April.

According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link), the Knicks were reluctant to include Arcidiacono in the Hart trade and only did so in order to satisfy salary-matching rules. Arcidiacono is the fourth Villanova player on the roster and is known to be particularly close with Jalen Brunson, Begley adds.

In 237 career regular season games with the Bulls, Knicks, and Blazers, Arcidiacono has averaged 4.4 points, 2.0 assists, and 1.9 rebounds in 16.4 minutes per night, posting a shooting line of .424/.373/.807.

It’s unclear if Arcidiacono’s new contract with the Knicks includes any guaranteed money, but he has made the regular season roster despite being on a non-guaranteed deal in each of the previous two seasons, and he has a path to a 15-man spot this fall. New York is only carrying 12 players on guaranteed contracts, with DaQuan Jeffries, Isaiah Roby, Duane Washington, Jacob Toppin, and Charlie Brown Jr. on non-guaranteed deals.

FAs Signed After Friday Won’t Become Trade-Eligible On December 15

September 15th, 2023 at 2:59pm CST by Luke Adams

Unless he’s part of a sign-and-trade deal, an NBA free agent who signs a new contract can’t be traded immediately. The Collective Bargaining Agreement states that a newly signed free agent is ineligible to be traded until December 15 or until he’s been under contract for three months, whichever comes later.

Based on that rule, the majority of the free agents who signed new contracts in July, August, and the first half of September will become trade-eligible on December 15 (a smaller group of free agents who met certain specific criteria won’t become trade-eligible until January 15).

By our count, at least 85 players will become eligible to be moved on December 15. That doesn’t take into account any players signed to non-guaranteed training camp deals who might earn regular season roster spots, since our list doesn’t include players on Exhibit 9 or Exhibit 10 contracts.

However, that list won’t continue to expand to include any additional names after Friday, since we’re now exactly three months away from Dec. 15. As a result, a free agent who signs a new contract after today will remain trade-eligible for a full three months, rather than becoming trade-eligible on Dec. 15.

For instance, a player who signs on September 22 would become eligible to be dealt on December 22; one who signs on October 4 would become trade-eligible on January 4, and so on.

November 8 is an important date in this discussion, since this season’s trade deadline will land on February 8. A player who signs a free agent contract on November 9 or later will be ineligible to be dealt during the 2023/24 season.

Once the season begins next month and we have a better sense of which players signed after Sept. 15 have earned spots on regular season rosters, we’ll publish a new list of those players’ trade eligibility dates to complement our December 15 and January 15 round-ups.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Magic Sign, Waive Alex Morales

September 15th, 2023 at 2:20pm CST by Rory Maher

SEPTEMBER 15: The Magic have waived Morales, tweets Beede. The plan is for the guard to return to the Osceola Magic in the G League this season, and his brief stint on Orlando’s roster ensures he’ll receive an Exhibit 10 bonus for spending at least 60 days with the NBAGL club.

SEPTEMBER 14: The Magic have signed free agent guard Alex Morales, the team announced in a press release. According to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel, who was first to report the news, Morales will receive an Exhibit 10 contract (Twitter link).

Morales signed an Exhibit 10 deal with Orlando last fall and was waived before the 2022/23 season began. He spent his rookie season with Lakeland, Orlando’s then-G league affiliate. The team has rebranded and moved, and is now known as the Osceola Magic.

The former Wagner star, who spent 2022 Summer League with the Warriors, averaged 6.2 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.0 APG and 1.1 SPG on .471/.276/.733 shooting over 30 regular season games with Lakeland (21.9 MPG). Morales, 25, also appeared in 17 games with the NBAGL squad during the Showcase Cup last fall.

The Exhibit 10 clause in Morales’ contract means he could receive a bonus worth up to $75K if he’s waived before the season starts and spends at least 60 days with Osceola in 2023/24. Exhibit 10 contracts can also be converted into two-way deals, and Orlando has one two-way slot open.

The Magic’s roster is now full, with 21 players under contract, the offseason maximum. That number will drop to 18 — 15 on standard deals and three two-way slots — once the regular season begins.

Wizards Re-Sign Taj Gibson

September 15th, 2023 at 1:51pm CST by Luke Adams

1:51pm: The Wizards have officially re-signed Gibson, the team announced in a press release.

“Taj has earned his reputation as a consummate professional and loyal teammate,” Wizards general manager Will Dawkins said in a statement. “We look forward to him adding to the competitive atmosphere when we begin training camp next month.”

9:47am: Free agent big man Taj Gibson has reached an agreement to return to the Wizards on a one-year, minimum-salary deal, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Gibson, 38, appeared in 49 games for Washington last season, averaging 3.4 points and 1.9 rebounds in 9.8 minutes per night. All of those figures were career lows, though the former first-round pick was a valued veteran presence in the Wizards’ locker room.

Given that the Wizards were already carrying 16 players on guaranteed contracts and revamped their front office this offseason, the odds seemed to be working against Gibson’s return. However, Washington isn’t especially deep in the frontcourt after trading away big man Kristaps Porzingis, so having a vet like Gibson on the bench could be a useful insurance policy.

It’s unclear at this point whether or not Gibson’s salary will be fully guaranteed. Many of the contracts being signed by veteran free agents at this stage of the offseason are either non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed, and the Wizards may not be eager to exacerbate their roster crunch by adding another guaranteed salary to their books. We’ll have to wait for additional details.

Assuming they all make the 15-man regular season roster, Gibson could end up vying with fellow centers Daniel Gafford and Mike Muscala for playing time at the five. His minimum-salary contract would pay him $3,196,448 for the 2023/24 season, while Washington would have a $2,019,706 cap charge.