Phoenix Suns Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Suns Sign Isaiah Canaan To NBA Deal

December 13th, 2017 at 2:59pm CST by Luke Adams

2:59pm: Suns GM Ryan McDonough has confirmed the signing, indicating that Canaan will be in uniform and available to play for the club tonight, per Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link).

1:04pm: One day after landing with the Suns’ G League affiliate, Isaiah Canaan appears poised to be called up to Phoenix. As Shams Charania of The Vertical reports (via Twitter), the Suns intend to sign Canaan to an NBA contract.

The Suns, who had to waive Derrick Jones last week to accommodate a standard NBA deal for Mike James, won’t have to make a corresponding roster move to add Canaan to their roster. According to Charania, the veteran guard will join the Suns via a hardship exception, which will allow the squad to temporarily add a 16th player to its NBA roster.

A team can be granted a hardship exception when it has at least four players who have missed three or more games, assuming those four players are expected to continue to miss time. In Phoenix’s case, Brandon Knight, Davon Reed, and Alan Williams have been sidelined all season, and Devin Booker missed his third straight game on Tuesday. Booker is expected to miss at least another week or two with a left adductor strain.

Canaan, 26, began his NBA career with the Rockets in 2013/14, and has since bounced around the league, spending time with the Sixers and Bulls before briefly returning to Houston this season. Canaan signed with the Rockets in October after Chris Paul was sidelined with a knee issue, but he was waived just four days later.

A Murray State alum, Canaan has appeared in 186 regular season NBA games, averaging 8.4 PPG in 20.2 minutes per contest. He signed a G League contract this week and was claimed by the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, who subsequently traded him to the Northern Arizona Suns. If Phoenix cuts Canaan when Booker returns, Northern Arizona will retain his G League rights.

Isaiah Canaan Joins Suns’ G League Affiliate

December 12th, 2017 at 2:43pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran guard Isaiah Canaan has landed with the Suns’ G League affiliate, the team announced today in a press release. After Canaan signed a G League contract, he was claimed off waivers by the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, who flipped him to the Northern Arizona Suns for a first-round pick in the 2018 G League draft.

Canaan, 26, began his NBA career with the Rockets in 2013/14, and has since bounced around the league, spending time with the Sixers and Bulls before briefly returning to Houston this season. Canaan signed with the Rockets in October after Chris Paul was sidelined with a knee issue, but he was waived just four days later.

A Murray State alum, Canaan has appeared in 186 regular season NBA games, averaging 8.4 PPG in 20.2 minutes per contest.

While Canaan doesn’t currently have an NBA contract or even a two-way deal, he finds himself in an interesting spot. With Eric Bledsoe having been traded last month and Brandon Knight out for the season, the Suns have been leaning on Tyler Ulis and Mike James at the point this year. Neither player is viewed as the cornerstone point guard in Phoenix, so if the team likes what it sees from Canaan in the G League, he could become a candidate for a call-up later in the season.

Free agent forward Derrick Jones has also joined the Northern Arizona Suns after being waived last week by Phoenix, tweets Brian M. Bergner Jr. of The Daily Courier. Jones spent time on assignment in Northern Arizona when he was under contract with Phoenix, but now will be on a straight G League deal as he seeks another NBA opportunity.

Struggling Bender Must Earn Minutes

December 11th, 2017 at 9:25pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Suns second-year power forward Dragan Bender will have to earn his way back into the regular rotation, as Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic reports. Bender has totaled just 12 points and 11 rebounds over the last seven games while shooting 20% from the field, as his playing time has diminished. “I don’t think competition is bad especially when you’re a young player and you’re not guaranteed minutes,” coach Jay Triano said of the lottery pick. “He has to play better. … If you want to say Dragan is not playing well enough to be on the court right now, that’s fine. I want it to be competition.”

Josh Jackson Comfortable Adjusting To NBA

December 10th, 2017 at 2:04pm CST by marksuleymanov

Outside of a few standout performances, Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball‘s first professional season has been inconsistent at best. The Lakers’ season has mirrored Ball’s inconsistency as the team is 10-15, good for 10th place in the Western Conference. If the franchise and Ball want to achieve success, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant believes the 20-year-old point guard needs to improve now.

Speaking to Chris McGee on Spectrum SportsNet’s ‘Connected With’, Bryant said that Ball and the Lakers cannot wait and plan for several years to see improvements. Instead, Ball — and several of his young teammates — needs to take initiative and improve on his own accord.

“He needs to get better now,” Bryant said (via ForTheWin’s Nick Schwartz). “Kuzma, better now. Randle, better now. Players, you want that now. We never thought, ‘OK, we’re going to win four years from now. We really thought this is our year. We’re going to get this done. We’re going to push, push, push, push, push to get better now.’ And in the process of having that impatience, you develop. If you’re just patiently going about it, you’ll never get there. For players, it’s kind of patient impatience.”

In 25 games, Ball is averaging 8.6 PPG, 7.1 APG and 6.8 RPG. However, Ball has struggled on offense, shooting .321% from the field and .246% from beyond the arc.

Check out other news from around the Pacific Division:

In a well-written and well-crafted feature, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk dissected Luke Walton’s transition from player to assistant coach to head coach. Walton, currently in his second season as head coach of the Lakers, has learned under legend Phil Jackson, current Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, and his legendary father, Bill Walton. As Youngmisuk writes, all three men have shaped the way Walton conducts himself as head coach.
While Andre Iguodala is 33 years old, his ability to impact a game on both ends of the floor has made him invaluable to the Warriors. Head coach Steve Kerr said that, in particular, Iguodala’s defense reminds him of Scottie Pippen, Mark Medina of The Mercury News writes.
While Clippers rookie Milos Teodosic is close to returning from a plantar fascia injury to his left foot, the team is still unsure when he will be back, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reports. “He’s close, I’ll say that,” head coach Doc Rivers said. “Watching him yesterday, I just didn’t think he was ready. But he’s close. It’s a tough one.”
Suns rookie Josh Jackson said his adjustment from college to the NBA has gone well, Dennis Chambers of Basketball Insiders writes.

Devin Booker Up And Walking; Jay Triano Well Suited To Develop Youth

December 8th, 2017 at 4:46pm CST by Austin Kent

While he’s still expected to miss two-to-three weeks with an abductor strain, Suns guard Devin Booker is already up and walking, Jose Romero of the Associated Press writes.
Former Raptors coach Jay Triano has the personality to develop young basketball players, something that will come in handy as he serves as the interim head coach of the Suns. DeMar DeRozan witnessed as much during the coach’s tenure in Toronto from 2002-11. “There’s a personality about Jay that’s so positive, it makes you want to be at work, makes you want to do all the things that he asks from you,” DeRozan told Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. “[He’s] kind of a player’s coach. The things he was doing, it was so long ago and I was so young, I didn’t understand. I thought the whole league was like that. Now looking back on it, Jay was definitely one of them guys.”

Suns Sign Danuel House To Two-Way Contract

December 8th, 2017 at 1:21pm CST by Austin Kent

DECEMBER 8: House’s two-way contract with the Suns is now official, the team announced in a press release. Phoenix once again has a full roster.

DECEMBER 7: The Suns plan to sign guard Danuel House to a two-way contract, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. The 24-year-old last saw NBA action with the Wizards in 2016/17, but was a late training camp cut by the Rockets this fall.

House will slot in to the two-way spot opened up earlier today when the Suns converted Mike James‘ two-way deal into a regular contract.

House only played in one single minute for the Wizards last season after going undrafted out of Texas A&M in 2016. After starting this season with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers as an affiliate player for the Rockets, he’ll play for the Northern Arizona Suns going forward.

When House’s deal becomes official, the Timberwolves will once again be the only NBA club that hasn’t filled both of its two-way contract slots.

Suns Convert Mike James’ Two-Way Contract Into NBA Deal

December 7th, 2017 at 11:35am CST by ChrisCrouse

DECEMBER 7, 11:35am: The Suns have officially converted James’ two-way deal to a standard NBA contract, the team announced today in a press release. The release also confirmed that the team has waived Jones, as we detailed in a separate story.

James is now on track to reach restricted free agency in 2018, while the Suns have an open two-way contract slot that could be filled at any time.

DECEMBER 6, 11:02pm: The Suns are converting Mike James‘ two-way contract into a traditional NBA contract, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports. On Thursday, James will have spent 45 days with the NBA club, which is the maximum allowed under a two-way deal.

James will be the first player in NBA history to have his two-way deal converted. Phoenix plans on opening a roster spot on Thursday morning and Derrick Jones is a good bet to be the casualty of the transaction, barring a trade.

The point guard made approximately $213K on his two-way deal and he could earn slightly over $580K if he remains with the team for the remainder of the 2017/18 season. James took on a larger role once the Suns dealt away Eric Bledsoe, starting 10 games before finding his niche leading the second unit.

Suns Waive Derrick Jones

December 7th, 2017 at 11:32am CST by Luke Adams

11:32am: The Suns have officially waived Jones, the club confirmed today in a press release.

10:08am: The Suns will waive Derrick Jones to create an open spot on their 15-man roster, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). The move was necessary in order to clear room for Mike James, whose two-way contract is being converted into a standard NBA deal.

Jones, 20, initially signed with the Suns as an undrafted free agent in September 2016. He has played sparingly for the team since then, appearing in 38 total games and averaging 4.7 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 15.2 minutes per contest. The UNLV product is perhaps best known for his participation in last season’s Slam Dunk Contest — he was the runner-up to champion Glenn Robinson.

Jones had been set to earn $1,312,611 this season, but his contract was non-guaranteed, so the Suns will only be on the hook for a portion of that amount — by my math, the cap charge will work out to about $400K. Of course, if Jones is claimed on waivers, Phoenix will no longer have to carry any part of his contract on its cap for 2017/18. The young forward is under team control through 2020, with a non-guaranteed minimum salary for 2018/19 and a minimum-salary team option for 2019/20.

As Charania tweets, Jones may draw real interest in the waiver process due to his youth and his contract structure. However, any team wanting to place a claim would need to have cap room or an exception big enough to absorb his salary. The waiver order is based on this year’s reverse standings, meaning the Bulls would have first dibs.

As for James, he and the Suns discussed multiple contract structures, but ultimately settled on a rest-of-season deal, per Charania. James will be on track to reach restricted free agency in the summer of 2018.

Devin Booker Expected To Miss 2-3 Weeks

December 6th, 2017 at 4:19pm CST by Luke Adams

Suns guard Devin Booker, who left the team’s loss to Toronto on Tuesday with a left adductor strain, is expected to be sidelined for the next two or three weeks, the team announced today (via Twitter). That timetable would put Booker on track to return to the court sometime before the new year.

While the Suns have looked better under interim head coach Jay Triano than they did to start the season under Earl Watson, it has still been an uphill battle for the club, which has dealt with injuries to multiple rotation players and traded Eric Bledsoe last month. The Suns’ 9-17 record is the fifth-worst in the NBA, and that mark is unlikely to improve while Booker remains out of action.

Booker, 21, had been enjoying a career year for the Suns so far this season, establishing new career highs in PPG (24.3), APG (4.1), RPG (4.5), FG% (.453), 3PT% (.383), and several other categories, despite not playing fewer minutes per game than he did last season.

Booker joins Alan Williams, Brandon Knight, and Davon Reed on the injured list for the Suns, but even with four players sidelined, Phoenix won’t immediately qualify for a hardship provision, which would allow the team to temporarily carry a 16th player on its roster.

The rules for the hardship exception dictate that Booker would have to miss at least three consecutive games before Phoenix becomes eligible. So while the Suns may eventually apply for an injury exception, they won’t be able to use it immediately to convert Mike James‘ two-way contract to an NBA deal, as GM Ryan McDonough confirmed today (Twitter link via Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic). James is set to reach the 45-day NBA limit for two-way players.

And-Ones: 2018 Draft, Ball Bros, Two-Way Deals

December 5th, 2017 at 3:03pm CST by Luke Adams

A pair of NCAA freshmen, Duke’s Marvin Bagley III and Arizona’s DeAndre Ayton, are making strong cases to become the first overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft. For now though, Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Insider link) still has Real Madrid point guard Luka Doncic coming off the board first, writing that the international star would be a nice fit for the Bulls.

Givony’s mock draft also features Michael Porter Jr., who recently underwent back surgery, slotting in as the No. 4 overall pick. There was some concern in the wake of Porter’s injury that his stock might fall precipitously, but Givony’s blurb on Porter going to the Hawks doesn’t even mention the young forward’s health situation, which suggests that it’s not viewed as a major red flag at this point. NBA teams will get a closer look at Porter’s back in the spring, at which point it will become clearer whether or not he’s still a top-five pick.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Lonzo Ball‘s younger brothers, LiAngelo Ball and LaMelo Ball, are exploring the possibility of signing with a team overseas, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical, who reports that representative Harrison Gaines has initiated contact with international teams. LiAngelo, who was pulled out of UCLA’s program this week, isn’t considered an NBA prospect. LaMelo is viewed as a probable pick in the 2019 draft, but he’s still just 16 years old and probably isn’t ready to compete at a professional level, says Evan Daniels of 247Sports.com.
Players on two-way contracts aren’t allowed to spend more than 45 days with their respective NBA clubs. However, the criteria for a day spent in the NBA are complicated, and most teams aren’t making service time information publicly available. That makes it difficult to keep tabs on how close two-way players are to their 45-day limits, as Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days details. One thing we know: Wednesday will mark Mike James‘ 45th day in the NBA, so the Suns will have to clear a roster spot in order to convert his contract to a standard NBA deal.
Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders spent time with the Northern Arizona Suns, Phoenix’s G League affiliate, and provides an all-access look at what a day in the G League looks like.