Arinze Onuaku Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Onuaku, Jackson, LeVert

January 19th, 2015 at 7:26pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Six NBA teams have shown interest in power forward Arinze Onuaku, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Onuaku, who was briefly with the Pelicans and Cavs last season and spent camp this past fall with the Pacers, recently turned down an offer to play in the Philippines as he continues his dialogue with NBA clubs, Kennedy adds (Twitter links).

Here’s more from around the league:

Reggie Jackson is open to signing his qualifying offer this summer in an attempt to align his unrestricted free agency with the summer of 2016, USA Today’s Sam Amick reports. Most league executives reportedly assume the salary cap will surge to around $90MM. Jackson is on pace to invoke the starter criteria, which would lift the value of his qualifying offer from to nearly $3.223MM to almost $4.434MM.
Michigan’s Caris LeVert will miss the remainder of the season after injuring his foot during Saturday’s contest against Northwestern, the university has announced. The junior is scheduled to undergo surgery this week to repair the damage. This will be the second such procedure on LeVert’s left foot, as he had a similar injury last May. LeVert is currently the No. 14 ranked prospect by DraftExpress.
ESPN’s Chad Ford (Twitter link), who has LeVert slotted No. 30 in his draft rankings, still projects the guard to be a late first round to early second round pick come this June, provided LeVert is healthy in time for his pre-draft workouts.
Former Kings coach Michael Malone isn’t expected to remain with the Wolves past Wednesday’s game against Dallas, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune reports (Twitter link). Malone has been acting as a special observer with the Wolves, but Flip Saunders, Minnesota’s president of basketball operations, doesn’t see Malone having a role with the team past this stint, Zgoda notes.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Sixers Interested In Arinze Onuaku

November 15th, 2014 at 1:50pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Sixers have been in contact with free agent Arinze Onuaku, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Pompey added that Philadelphia’s exact level of interest in Onuaku is unknown. The Sixers are set to waive Chris Johnson today to make room for Robert Covington, so it is unclear if Onuaku was being discussed in addition to Covington being added to the roster or seen as an alternative if that agreement failed to materialize.

Today’s dealings involving Covington and Johnson will still leave the Sixers with the league-maximum 15 players, so if the team wishes to add Onuaku they will need to make a subsequent roster move. One of the non-guaranteed deals for Brandon Davies, Henry Sims, or Hollis Thompson seem likely candidates to be waived in the event of a new signing, though that is just my speculation.

The 6’9″, 27-year-old Onuaku appeared in a total of five games last season, split between the Pelicans and the Cavaliers, and he averaged a combined 0.6 PPG, 1.6 RPG, and 0.6 APG. His slash line was .200/.000/.500. Onuaku spent training camp with the Pacers and was among the group of players cut as Indiana pared down its preseason roster to the regular season maximum.

Pacers Waive Four Players

October 25th, 2014 at 3:24pm CST by Eddie Scarito

3:24pm: All four players have indeed been waived, the team announced.

3:05pm: The Pacers have waived C.J. Fair, Arinze Onuaku, Chris Singleton and Adonis Thomas, Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star reports (Twitter link). These moves will trim Indiana’s preseason roster count down to the regular season maximum of 15 players. All four of the waived players were in camp on non-guaranteed deals, so the team won’t be responsible for any debt to them.

Thomas appeared in only six NBA games as a rookie, averaging 2.3 points in 6.2 minutes per game. The 21-year-old spent two years at Memphis, where he played 27.5 minutes per game for the Tigers and was the second leading scorer on a team that earned a six seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

The 6’9″, 27 year-old Onuaku appeared in a total of five games last season, split between the Pelicans and the Cavaliers. Onuaku averaged 0.6 PPG, 1.6 RPG, and 0.6 APG. His slash line was .200/.000/.500.

A former first round selection of the Wizards, Singleton has appeared in 148 career games, including 62 starts, averaging 4.1 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 0.6 APG, while playing 17.6 MPG. His career shooting numbers are .376/.319/.633.

Fair played four season for Syracuse, averaging 11.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 0.8 APG. His career slash line was .462/.343/.723.

Pacers Sign Arinze Onuaku For Camp

September 5th, 2014 at 10:20am CST by Eddie Scarito

FRIDAY, 10:20am: The Pacers have confirmed the signing with a formal announcement.

THURSDAY, 1:01pm: It’s indeed a non-guaranteed deal, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.

WEDNESDAY, 11:10pm: Arinze Onuaku has signed with the Pacers according to the RealGM.com Transactions log. The length or terms of the deal are unclear, but it’s most likely a non-guaranteed camp deal. After their recent agreement with Chris Singleton, the Pacers had been carrying 18 players on their preseason roster, with 13 of those deals guaranteed.

The 6’9″, 27 year-old appeared in a total of five games last season, split between the Pelicans and the Cavaliers. Onuaku averaged 0.6 PPG, 1.6 RPG, and 0.6 APG. His slash line was .200/.000/.500.

Onuaku will compete for a roster spot in what is currently a crowded Indiana frontcourt. Ahead of him on the depth chart are David West, Roy Hibbert, Luis Scola, Ian Mahinmi, and Lavoy Allen.

Cavs Sign Shane Edwards, Release Onuaku

March 12th, 2014 at 2:52pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavs have signed D-League forward Shane Edwards to a 10-day contract, the team announced. To make room, Cleveland terminated its 10-day pact with Arinze Onuaku before it was set to expire at the end of Thursday. Onuaku immediately becomes a free agent, since players on 10-day contracts don’t have to go through the waiver process if their teams decide to let them go early. The Cavs remain at the 15-player maximum.

The 6’7″ Edwards went undrafted out of Arkansas-Little Rock in 2009, but he joined the Nuggets for preseason a year later. He didn’t make Denver’s opening-night roster, and he hadn’t signed another NBA deal since, until today. The 26-year-old is averaging 13.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 28.2 minutes per game across 40 appearances this season for the Canton Charge, Cleveland’s D-League affiliate.

Onuaku signed a pair of 10-day deals with the Cavs, but he saw a total of just five minutes over two games. He seemed mostly an insurance policy for Anderson Varejao, who returned to action early this week against the Knicks. Cleveland twice sent him on D-League assignment.

Eastern Notes: Babb, Onuaku, LeBron

March 8th, 2014 at 4:35pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Chris Babb‘s 10-day contract ends on Monday, but the Celtics are high on him, writes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. Coach Brad Stevens said, “He’s a perfect fit for what we need as far as, he’s not going to play 38 minutes a game — he’s going to come in, get open shots, hopefully knock those open shots down, play off of other people, and then be a feisty defender for us. He really is an outstanding defender for a young guy.” There has been no official word on if the Celtics plan to re-sign Babb.

Central Notes: Onuaku, Bulls, Bucks

March 5th, 2014 at 10:51am CST by Chuck Myron

Indiana’s loss to the Warriors on Tuesday kept the Pacers from clinching a playoff berth, but the team will lock up a trip to the postseason the next time it wins a game. Once that happens, that means the team’s first-round pick is guaranteed to go to Phoenix, as I noted today when I looked at protected first-rounders that could be changing hands. Here’s more from the Central Division:

The Cavs re-signed Arinze Onuaku to another 10-day contract Tuesday even though he saw just 50 seconds of playing time on his first 10-day deal, but the big man’s experience with the team’s D-League affiliate has already allowed the club to evaluate him. Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal has the details, noting that Onuaku’s presence on the roster is likely tied to the health of Anderson Varejao.
The increasing value of Joakim Noah makes it less likely the Bulls would chase Carmelo Anthony this summer, as Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald explains.
Improved chemistry with the additions of Ramon Sessions and Jeff Adrien has helped the Bucks improve their play since the trade deadline, observes Genaro C. Armas of The Associated Press. Of course, wins will come at the expense of the team’s lottery position. Our Reverse Standings show the Bucks have just one fewer loss than the Sixers as they try to hold off Philadelphia for the best chance at the No. 1 overall pick.

Cavs Sign Arinze Onuaku To Second 10-Day

March 4th, 2014 at 10:40am CST by Zachary Links

TUESDAY, 10:40am: Cleveland has made the signing official, the team announced on its website.

MONDAY, 9:48pm: The Cavaliers will sign forward Arinze Onuaku to a second 10-day contract, a league source told Shams Charania of RealGM. Onuaku’s first 10-day deal expired on Monday.

Before hooking on with Cleveland, the undrafted 6’9″ forward also found his way to a deal with the Pelicans. In four games this season for the Cavs and Pelicans, Onuaku has scored three points and grabbed seven rebounds in 26 minutes.

The 26-year-old spent parts of the past two seasons with the Canton Charge, Cleveland’s D-League affiliate. This season, he has appeared in 27 games for Canton with averages of 14.4 PPG, 9.7 RPG and 1.0 BPG in 24.2 MPG.

Odds & Ends: Onuaku, Collins, Johnson, Faried

February 23rd, 2014 at 10:40pm CST by Zachary Links

Danny Granger was the biggest name involved in a deadline deal and Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee explains why that might have been the case. “We’ve seen a trend toward teams being much more cautious and careful about how aggressive they are about trading for longer-term contracts, and that’s because of the luxury tax,” Tom Penn, an ESPN analyst and former Blazers vice president of basketball operations told Jones. “The other major change in the new deal is draft picks have become more coveted, and that’s because teams can no longer throw cash into trades as aggressively.” The old CBA allowed clubs to include as much as $3MM in a trade. The current CBA says that teams can only trade up to $3.2MM on the year. More from around the league..

The Cavs announced that they have recalled Arinze Onuaku from the Canton Charge of the D-League. Onuaku has appeared in 27 games for the Charge this season with averages of 14.4 PPG, 9.7 RPG and 1.0 BPG in 24.2 MPG.
Even with the Nets‘ signing of Jason Collins and the Clippers’ agreement with Glen Davis, those teams are still possible destinations for Ivan Johnson, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.com.
Charania spoke with Kenneth Faried about all the trade talk surrounding him leading up to the trade deadline on Thursday. “I’m not surprised at all that my name was in trade situations, because I am a good player and people do want me,” the Nuggets forward said. “It just makes me that much more aware of how many other teams want me and like me.”
Sometimes, the best moves are the ones that you don’t make. Bill Ingram of Basketball Insiders argues that the Rockets didn’t need a blockbuster deal at the deadline.
Keith Schlosser of Knicks Journal wonders if the Knicks would have signed Collins.

Odds & Ends: Miller, Sessions, Deng, Brown

February 22nd, 2014 at 5:55pm CST by Charlie Adams

Andre Miller was excited when he got word he had been traded, reveals Michael Lee of the Washington Post. “I was ready to go,” said Miller. “I’m glad it’s over. I’ve been sitting around for about a month and a half. I’m happy to be here.” He’ll have the opportunity to help the Wizards make some noise in the East after sitting on the bench since late December. Let’s round up some news from around the NBA:

According to HoopsHype, 20 of the 50 most discussed trade candidates wound up being dealt by Thursday’s deadline.
Ramon Sessions is content being back with the Bucks, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinal. The Bucks selected Sessions 56th overall in the 2007 draft.
The deadline deal between the Bobcats and Bucks is now official per a tweet from Charlotte’s PR account, so Gary Neal and Luke Ridnour can now play playoff-hopefuls in Charlotte.
Luol Deng will be a free agent at season’s end, and if he chooses to walk away from the Cavaliers, he’s likely to be pursued by the Mavs, Lakers, Celtics, Magic and Bobcats, hears Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News.
The Bulls and Spurs are among the teams interested in signing the recently waived Antawn Jamison, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (via Twitter).
Shannon Brown is coming off his second 10-day with the Spurs, and although his play for San Antonio was less than stellar, he’s drawing interest from the Rockets, Heat, Bulls, and Knicks, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Heat sign two free agents in the coming week, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, who notes Miami has an open spot from the Roger Mason deal, and also could waive Toney Douglas if they’re interested in more than one guy (Twitter link).
An official press release from the Cavaliers revealed the team has assigned Arinze Onuaku to their D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge. Onuaku had been playing for the Charge before signing a 10-day deal with Cleveland but didn’t have his rights owned by the Cavs.
Gino Pilato of DLeagueDigest.com explores what went wrong during Pierre Jackson‘s tenure in the D-League.
David Stern laid the foundation for continuing growth in the NBA, and Carol Cain of the Detroit Free Press looks back on what he was able to accomplish during his tenure as commissioner.