Mobile Menu
HEADLINES

Alex Stepheson

Clippers Sign Alex Stepheson To 10-Day Deal

February 20th, 2016 at 3:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 3:25pm: The signing is official, according to the team’s Twitter feed.

THURSDAY, 3:49pm: The Clippers plan to sign Alex Stepheson to a 10-day contract, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Stepheson, the D-League’s leading rebounder, was with the Grizzlies in training camp this past fall but didn’t make the opening night roster.

Stepheson has appeared in 31 contests this season for the Iowa Energy, Memphis’ D-League affiliate, notching averages of 15.9 points, 13.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 34.2 minutes per night. His shooting line is .579/.000/.486.

The 28-year old will help provide frontcourt depth with Blake Griffin out indefinitely, though it remains unclear how much he will be needed after Los Angeles reportedly added Jeff Green via trade earlier today.

Retweet 4 Share 2 Send via email0

And-Ones: D-League, Clippers, Beal, Draft

January 18th, 2016 at 10:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

The recent call-ups of J.J. O’Brien by the Jazz and Keith Appling by the Magic could represent a new trend in how NBA teams use the D-League, according to D-League Digest. They are the first call-ups of the season directly from a franchise’s minor league affiliate, and their familiarity with the parent teams’ systems made them an easy fit. With 10-day contracts limiting the amount of instruction time for new players, it helps to have someone who already understands how a team approaches the game.

There’s more news from around the basketball world:

  • NBA veteran Henry Sims is one of three D-League centers identified as top prospects by Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor. Undrafted out of Georgetown in 2012, Sims played 121 games with New Orleans, Cleveland and Philadelphia. He is currently averaging 14.1 points and 9.1 rebounds for the Grand Rapids Drive. Also on Reichert’s list are 28-year-old Alex Stepheson of the Iowa Energy and 26-year-old Jordan Bachynski of the Westchester Knicks.
  • Dennis Wong, a former college roommate of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, has bought a small percentage of the team, tweets Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. The sale amounts to less than 4% of the franchise.
  • Bradley Beal is slowly easing back into the Wizards‘ rotation and hopes to have his minutes restriction raised soon, writes J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic. Beal, who is headed toward free agency, recently admitted that he may have to deal with restricted playing time for the rest of his career.
  • California’s Ivan Rabb, Vanderbilt’s Wade Baldwin and Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield were the biggest risers in the latest mock draft from Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, as Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv details. His top five remains the same with Ben Simmons of LSU, Brandon Ingram of Duke, Dragan Bender of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Kris Dunn of Providence and Skal Labissiere of Kentucky.
Retweet 8 Share 4 Send via email0

NBA Teams Designate Affiliate Players

November 3rd, 2015 at 4:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

NBA teams cut as much as 25% of their rosters at the end of the preseason, but franchises that have D-League affiliates have a way to maintain ties to many of the players they release from the NBA roster. An NBA team can claim the D-League rights to up to four of the players it waives, as long as the players clear waivers, consent to join the D-League, and don’t already have their D-League rights owned by another team. These are known as affiliate players, as our Hoops Rumors Glossary entry details.

NBA teams allocated 46 affiliate players to the D-League at the beginning of the season last year, and this year, that number has risen to 56, according to the list the D-League announced today. These players are going directly to the D-League affiliate of the NBA team that cut them and weren’t eligible for the D-League draft that took place Saturday. Teams that designated fewer than the maximum four affiliate players retain the ability to snag the D-League rights of players they waive during the regular season, but for now, this is the complete list:

Boston Celtics (Maine Red Claws)

Cleveland Cavaliers (Canton Charge)

Dallas Mavericks (Texas Legends)

Detroit Pistons (Grand Rapids Drive)

Golden State Warriors (Santa Cruz Warriors)

Houston Rockets (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)

Indiana Pacers (Fort Wayne Mad Ants)

Los Angeles Lakers (Los Angeles D-Fenders)

Memphis Grizzlies (Iowa Energy)

Miami Heat (Sioux Falls Skyforce)

New York Knicks (Westchester Knicks)

Oklahoma City Thunder (Oklahoma City Blue)

Orlando Magic (Erie BayHawks)

Philadelphia 76ers (Delaware 87ers)

Phoenix Suns (Bakersfield Jam)

Sacramento Kings (Reno Bighorns)

San Antonio Spurs (Austin Spurs)

Toronto Raptors (Raptors 905)

Utah Jazz (Idaho Stampede)

Also, several players who were on NBA preseason rosters are on D-League rosters through means other than the affiliate player rule. Most of them played under D-League contracts at some point within the last two years, meaning their D-League teams have returning player rights to them. Others entered through last weekend’s D-League draft, while others saw their D-League rights conveyed via trade. Most of these players aren’t with the D-League affiliate of the NBA team they were with last month, with a few exceptions.

Roster information from Adam Johnson of D-League Digest, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor and freelancer and Hoops Rumors contributor Mark Porcaro was used in the creation of this post.

Retweet 54 Share 10 Send via email0

Grizzlies Waive Diawara, Carter, Jones, Stepheson

October 24th, 2015 at 4:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Grizzlies have waived Yakhouba Diawara, Sampson Carter, Lazeric Jones and Alex Stepheson, the team announced. Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reported the moves minutes earlier (Twitter link). The Memphis roster drops to 16, which means one more cut has to take place no later than Monday. JaMychal Green, who has a $150K partial guarantee, and Ryan Hollins, who’s on a non-guaranteed deal, are the only remaining Grizzlies without full guarantees. The four players Memphis is letting go have no guaranteed money.

Diawara, 33, was attempting an NBA comeback after having played overseas since his last NBA appearance in 2009/10. The swingman averaged 2.3 points in 16.0 minutes per game across six preseason contests this month.

Carter was a 25-year-old combo forward who went undrafted out of UMass in 2014. Last season he hopped from BC Prievidza in Slovakia to CAB Madeira in Portugal and finally to Club Virgilio Castillo, also known as Chola, of the Dominican Republic. Pincus reported that his contract was a one-year, minimum-salary arrangement without a guarantee. He averaged 1.0 point and 6.0 minutes per game in six preseason appearances.

Jones’ contract was the first NBA deal for the former UCLA point guard who spent three years playing overseas. The 25-year-old put up 5.8 points in 14.3 minutes per game over six preseason contests for the Grizzlies.

Stepheson followed a similar path, playing overseas after going undrafted in 2011 out of USC and finally landing his first NBA deal with the Grizzlies earlier this month, when the team cut camp invitee Michael Holyfield. Stepheson’s deal was a one-year, minimum-salary arrangement without a guarantee, as Pincus reported. He averaged 2.3 points in 9.2 minutes per game over three preseason appearances.

Retweet 13 Share 1 Send via email0

Grizzlies Sign Alex Stepheson, Cut Michael Holyfield

October 7th, 2015 at 2:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:59pm: The Grizzlies followed up with a press release to formally announce the Stepheson signing.

2:38pm: Holyfield’s release is official, the team announced, though the Grizzlies made no mention of Stepheson.

12:24pm: The Grizzlies are switching out big men on their camp roster, waiving center Michael Holyfield to make room for the signing of power forward Alex Stepheson, reports Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal (Twitter link). Tillery indicates the transactions have already taken place, though the team has not made an announcement. Stepheson, who went undrafted out of USC in 2011, was with the Mavericks in summer league this year, but this will be his first NBA contract. It’ll be for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Grizzlies can hand out after using their mid-level exception on Brandan Wright, though the level of guarantee on Stepheson’s deal isn’t immediately clear. Holyfield, who signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Grizzlies in August, went scoreless in eight minutes in Tuesday’s preseason opener for Memphis. The Grizzlies roster will remain at the preseason limit of 20.

Stepheson, 28, scored a total of five points in about 18 minutes of playing time spread across three games with the summer league Mavs in July. He also appeared in summer league with the Kings in 2014, but most of his pro career has played out overseas. Stepheson averaged 12.3 points and 9.2 boards in 26.8 minutes per game across 29 appearances with Turkey’s Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyesi last season, showing his skill as a high-volume rebounder. He began his college career at North Carolina before transferring to USC, where he pulled down 9.2 RPG in 32.9 MPG as a senior in 2010/11.

Holyfield was with the Grizzlies summer league team this year before formally joining the Memphis roster. He went undrafted out of Sam Houston State in June. The Grizzlies can retain his D-League rights if they wish, just as they can with as many as four of the players they waive. Fellow Memphis camp invitee Dan Nwaelele, whom the Grizzlies waived earlier this week, appears set to become one of those four, as international journalist David Pick reported that he’s on his way to the D-League affiliate of the Grizzlies.

Memphis has 14 full guarantees plus a partial guarantee for JaMychal Green, as our roster count shows. Thus, Stepheson doesn’t appear to have much of a chance to stick with the Grizzlies for long, so he, too, is a candidate to end up with their D-League team.

Retweet 15 Share 1 Send via email0