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NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 3/2/18

March 2nd, 2018 at 3:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are Friday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:

The Timberwolves have recalled rookie big man Justin Patton from the G League, according to a team press release. Patton, who has yet to make his NBA debut, may provide some emergency frontcourt depth for Minnesota on Friday night, with Shabazz Muhammad gone and Taj Gibson injured.
Cavaliers center Ante Zizic continues to bounce back and forth between the NBA and G League, with the team announcing in a press release that he has been re-assigned to Canton. The Cavs’ G League affiliate will host the Grand Rapids Drive on Friday night, so Zizic should be in Canton’s starting lineup for that game.
The Spurs have sent guards Brandon Paul and Derrick White to the G League, the team announced today in a press release. The backcourt duo figures to suit up for the Austin Spurs on Friday night as San Antonio’s G League affiliate hosts the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
The Jazz have recalled Tony Bradley from the Salt Lake City Stars, according to the team’s website. Bradley has had 16 trips to the G League this season.

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 1/21/18

January 21st, 2018 at 8:30pm CST by marksuleymanov

Here are Saturday’s G League assignments and recalls from across the NBA:

8:30pm:

The Spurs recalled Brandon Paul and Derrick White from their G League affiliate in Austin, the team’s site announced in a press release.

3:56pm:

The Celtics have recalled Guerschon Yabusele and Abdel Nader from the G League, the team announced today (via Twitter). Yabusele and Nader were sent down yesterday for the Maine Red Claw’s tilt against the Westchester Knicks.
The Hawks have recalled DeAndre’ Bembry, Tyler Cavanaugh and Isaiah Taylor to their G League affiliate in Erie, the team announced in a press release. Additionally, Josh Magette, who has appeared in nine games with Atlanta, was sent down to Erie.
The Thunder have assigned Dakari Johnson to the team’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, the team announced in a press release. Johnson has appeared in one game for the Blue, posting a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. He has played in 21 games for OKC.
The Suns have recalled guard Davon Reed to their Northern Arizona affiliate, per Scott Bordow of Arizona Central Sports (via Twitter).

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 1/20/18

January 20th, 2018 at 5:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are Saturday’s G League assignments and recalls from across the NBA:

The Spurs have assigned guards Brandon Paul and Derrick White to their G League affiliate, according to a press release. White has played eight games for the Austin Spurs this season, but it’s Paul’s first assignment. The duo figures to suit up for Austin tonight in the club’s game against Grand Rapids.
The Lakers have recalled rookie big man Thomas Bryant from the G League, the club announced today (via Twitter). Bryant scored a team-high 23 points on Friday to help lead the South Bay Lakers to a win.
Second-year forward Troy Williams has been recalled from the G League by the Rockets, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). Williams struggled with his shot for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Friday night, scoring 15 points on 6-of-17 shooting (2-for-9 on threes).
The Celtics have sent Guerschon Yabusele and Abdel Nader to the G League, the team announced today (via Twitter). They’ll look to help the Maine Red Claws, Boston’s affiliate, pick up a win tonight against Westchester.
The Suns have assigned guard Davon Reed to their Northern Arizona affiliate, the team announced (via Twitter).

Texas Notes: Gay, Paul, Harden, Withey

October 7th, 2017 at 5:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

Rudy Gay was back on the court for the first time since January in Friday’s preseason game against the Kings, writes Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. San Antonio’s top free agent addition of the summer managed just four points in 18 minutes, but was happy that he felt no effects from the left Achilles tendon tear that ended his time with the Kings. “I’ve practiced pretty hard, just knowing I can get up there still, jump and be athletic,” Gay said. “It takes a lot of pressure off me.”

Gay got the start at small forward Friday and may continue in that role as long as Kawhi Leonard is sidelined with a right quadriceps issue. Gay has been a starter throughout his 11-year NBA career, but is expected to step into a reserve role once the team is at full strength.

There’s more today out of Texas:

The Spurs‘ latest rookie project comes to the team with a desire to be a great defender, relays Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. Brandon Paul went undrafted out of Illinois in 2013 and has spent most of his career in Europe. The 26-year-old shooting guard signed a two-year deal with the Spurs in July with a one-season guarantee of $815,615. “Anybody can put the ball in the basket,” Paul said. “But in order to stick out, you’ve got to be able to play both ends of the floor.”
Rockets star James Harden is engaged in a verbal battle with former coach Kevin McHale through the media. After McHale said on NBA TV this week that Harden is “not a leader,” the MVP runner-up responded today by calling McHale a “clown,” relays Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “I did anything and everything he asked me to do,” Harden said. “I’ve tried to lead this team every day since I stepped foot here in Houston. To go on air and just downplay my name, when honestly he’s never taught me anything to be a leader … but I’ve done a great job. The organization, my coaches, you can ask any of those guys how I’ve worked extremely hard every single day to better [myself], obviously as a basketball player, but be a leader as well.”
Mavericks center Jeff Withey has worked on his 3-point shooting to try to fit into coach Rick Carlisle’s system, writes Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Withey signed a two-year contract worth nearly $3.4MM this summer, but only $350K of that is guaranteed. “We like his length, shot-blocking ability,” Carlisle said. “[Owner] Mark [Cuban] was really a key guy on this. He’d been studying him for a while. And he’s shown that he can knock in some perimeter shots from time to time.”

Spurs Sign Brandon Paul

July 14th, 2017 at 12:32pm CST by ChrisCrouse

JULY 14, 12:32pm: The Spurs have formally issued a press release making their deal with Paul official.

JULY 13, 2:24pm: The Spurs have reached an agreement with Brandon Paul to add him to the team, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link). Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com adds that the contract will be guaranteed, though no other details of the deal have trickled out yet.

Paul played abroad last season for Anadolu Efes Istanbul where he shot 41.5% from behind the arc. He played for the Cavaliers’ Summer League team in 2017 and the Sixers’ squad during the summer of 2016.

The combo guard spent four years at the University of Illinois before going undrafted in the 2013 draft. During his senior year in college, he scored 16.6 points per game while shooting 40.1% from the field.

And-Ones: I. Austin, Sims, B. Paul, 2017 Draft

December 13th, 2016 at 4:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Former Baylor standout Isaiah Austin was recently cleared to play basketball again, after having his NBA hopes initially derailed when he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, a disorder that affects the body’s connective tissue. Still, although Austin is free to sign anywhere, executives are generally taking a “relaxed approach” to his planned comeback, writes Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. Austin was viewed as a borderline first-round prospect back in 2014, and some executives around the NBA are approaching his reported medical clearance with caution.

“What reversed the decision?” one NBA general manager said to Howard-Cooper. “How did it come to be that now he can play? We don’t even know how. Yeah, that’s what I’d be curious about. I’m not saying [Austin found a single doctor willing to clear him], but I’ve seen this before. You can find someone to tell you that you can play. Somebody will.”

As Howard-Cooper details, another GM suggested that teams wouldn’t rush to look into Austin’s situation, but added that those teams may be intrigued: “I’ve never heard anybody (in the NBA) talk about any skepticism on that because I don’t think he’s on people’s radar like that. I don’t think there’s a buzz like, ‘Whoa, now he’s been declared healthy. Is he really healthy?’ I don’t think people are looking at it that way. I think people are more ‘OK, that’s interesting.’ I can see maybe someone trying to do a feel-good story, liking a little bump from a PR standpoint. Maybe someone does a short-term contract with him and brings him in.”

As we wait to see Austin can land a basketball contract, perhaps in the D-League or elsewhere, let’s check in on a few other odds and ends…

The NBA D-League has accepted a buyout of Henry Sims‘ contract, as well as Quincy Douby‘s deal, reports Adam Johnson of D-League Digest (Twitter links). It’s not yet clear what the next step is for either former NBA player, but they may end up heading overseas.
One player heading overseas is swingman Brandon Paul, who was in camp with the Sixers this fall. As Emiliano Carchia of Sportando writes, Turkish club Anadolu Efes Istanbul has agreed to a deal with Paul to replace Bryce Cotton on its roster.
In a piece for Basketball Insiders, Michael Scotto takes an early look at next year’s potential draft class, exploring whether we might see three Kentucky freshman come of the board as 2017 lottery picks. As Scotto outlines, Malik Monk, De’Aaron Fox, and Edrice Adebayo could become the Wildcats’ third trio since 2010 to achieve that feat.

Sixers Waive Paul, Webb, Barber, Long, Christmas

October 24th, 2016 at 3:32pm CST by Luke Adams

3:32pm: The 76ers have confirmed the five cuts listed below, announcing in a press release that they’ve waived Paul, Webb, Barber, Long, and Christmas.

2:35pm: The Sixers entered the day with 19 players, and will waive at least four of those players to get down to the regular-season limit. According to Jake Fischer of Liberty Ballers (Twitter link), Brandon Paul will be one of those cuts. Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports (via Twitter) that James Webb III, Cat Barber, and Shawn Long will also be released by the club.

[RELATED: Elton Brand announces retirement]

In addition to the 19 players they had coming into the day, the Sixers also signed Dionte Christmas to a contract. While it hasn’t been officially reported or confirmed yet, Christmas will likely be Philadelphia’s fifth cut.

Webb, Barber, and Long are all candidates to join the Delaware 87ers, Philadelphia’s D-League affiliate, since the 76ers hold their rights. However, Paul has received interest from other NBA teams and there has been no talk of him heading to Delaware, a source tells Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link). Christmas doesn’t exactly fit the bill of a developmental prospect, but it looks like the Sixers may have picked up the 30-year-old today to send him to the D-League — a team can assign up to four preseason cuts to its D-League affiliate, assuming the player agrees.

Paul, Long, Webb, and Barber had partial guarantees worth $155K, $65K, $65K, and $50K respectively. Those figures will continue to count against Philadelphia’s cap. Assuming the Sixers don’t make any more cuts, they’ll head into the season with Robert Covington, Jerami Grant, T.J. McConnell, and Hollis Thompson on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed salaries.

Additionally, as Fischer notes, Nik Stauskas has made Philadelphia’s roster to start the year. The former eighth overall pick has a fully guaranteed salary worth nearly $3MM, but there was some uncertainty about whether the Sixers would have room for him. For now, at least, it seems they do.

Atlantic Notes: Paul, Zizic, Knicks, Sixers

October 5th, 2016 at 4:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Shooting guard Brandon Paul, whom the Sixers signed to a partially guaranteed deal in July, led the team with 15 points in their preseason victory over Boston and has a legitimate shot to make the regular season roster, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“He was instant offense,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said of Paul’s performance. “You know, he got a bounce, and he had a mentality to come in and make plays. And didn’t have much second-guesses going on … I thought his energy and his bounce stood out. I think defensively, too.”

The 25-year-old played for the Sixers’ Summer League team this offseason, where he averaged 10.7 points and 1.7 steals in 19.6 minutes per game. Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

After writing about Guerschon Yabusele earlier this week, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe shifts his focus to the Celtics‘ other draft-and-stash prospect from the first round of the 2016 draft. As Himmelsbach writes, 23rd overall pick Ante Zizic was initially frustrated with Boston’s decision, since he wanted to join the team immediately, but he has adjusted to continuing his career in Croatia, and texts with director of player personnel Austin Ainge nearly every day. “Just to make sure that he knows that he’s in our plans and is a big part of our future,” Ainge said, “and that we’re monitoring his development.”
The Knicks may be without two of their high-profile additions from the summer for the immediate future, Marc Berman of The New York Post notes. Point guard Derrick Rose heads to Los Angeles to join the $21.5MM civil trial for an alleged sexual assault – which began with jury selection Tuesday – and has indicated he’s unsure when he’ll return to the team, acknowledging that he likely will miss practices on Thursday and Friday, per Berman. Meanwhile, center Joakim Noah is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury that he suffered on Saturday during the team’s final practice of training camp, Berman adds.
Sixers general manager Bryan Colangelo is taking an “organic” approach to building Philadelphia’s roster, according to Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Daily News, who suggests the team will let its frontcourt rotation develop based on which players are healthy and which players produce.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Atlantic Notes: Anthony, Paul, Lowry

September 26th, 2016 at 5:36pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Knicks are hoping that the roster changes they made this offseason will alleviate some of the pressure off of Carmelo Anthony and don’t want the forward feeling like he needs to “do everything” in order to be successful, Ian Begley of ESPN.com relays. “A lot of times he has a penchant to take the ball himself up the court and slow the play down, the development down, by pushing the ball up the court himself or taking the inbound pass,” team president Phil Jackson told the media. “Those are some of the small things that we asked to look at and maybe we could change. With the outstanding guard corps that we have — Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings, guys who can really push the ball at a certain level — I think he’s going to be much more comfortable allowing them to do what they’re best at.”

“We’re hoping that the level of talent that is on the team will lead to him not thinking, ‘I have to do everything,’” coach Jeff Hornacek added. “He’s a great passer. He’s made great passes in some of these games that we’ve seen. I think when he has that trust in his teammates, he’s going to make those passes, and we’re going to get easy buckets.”

Here’s more from out of the Atlantic Division:

Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry, who can opt out of his current deal after the 2016/17 campaign is complete, told members of the media that he won’t be discussing free agency until the season is over, Eric Koreen relays (via Twitter). Lowry will assuredly command more on the open market than the $12MM he is owed for 2017/18.
Despite the Sixers bringing 20 players into training camp, Brandon Paul has a legitimate shot to make the opening night roster, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders opines. The scribe notes that Paul’s contract has more guaranteed money included than the deals of Robert Covington, Hollis Thompson, Jerami Grant, T.J. McConnell, Shawn Long and James Webb. Discussing why he chose to sign with Philly, Paul told Kennedy, “I just felt like, all around, it was the best decision for me to come in and compete. They obviously have a young roster and I kind of bring in a little bit of maturity to that roster. Obviously, I’m relatively young as well. But around those guys, I’m kind of the older one and I’m a little more seasoned because I played overseas and in the D-League. I think I can bring a little bit of toughness and maturity to the roster.”
Neither the Raptors nor DeMar DeRozan wanted the player to end up anywhere other than Toronto, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca, who details the free agent process the two parties went through in reaching a five-year agreement this summer.

Contract Details: Gee, Frazier, M. Miller, Canaan

July 26th, 2016 at 9:51am CST by Luke Adams

When the Pelicans re-signed Alonzo Gee, it appeared that they gave him a minimum-salary deal, which would have been worth $1,315,448. However, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (via Twitter), Gee’s one-year deal is actually worth $1.4MM. It’s a curious move for New Orleans, one with no obvious explanation — a minimum-salary pact for Gee would have only cost the Pelicans a cap hit of about $980K, so the $85K pay bump for the veteran forward actually costs the team over $400K.

Gee had previously declined a player option for the 2016/17 season with the Pelicans. If he had exercised that option, he would have earned $1,379,400 for the upcoming year, so perhaps New Orleans agreed to give him a slight raise to allow him to save face on that decision.

Here are several more contract details on recently-signed contracts, via Pincus:

The Pelicans used a portion of their room exception to complete Tim Frazier‘s two-year, $4.09MM deal, tweets Pincus. The signing leaves New Orleans with $808K still available on that room exception. Pincus also notes that the Pelicans renounced Frazier’s qualifying offer before re-signing him, technically making him an unrestricted free agent, rather than an RFA.
When Terrence Jones agreed to sign with the Pelicans, it was expected to be a minimum-salary deal unless the club could create more cap room to give him some extra money. That didn’t end up happening, so Jones got the minimum, says Pincus (via Twitter).
Initially reported to be worth $5MM over two years, Mike Miller‘s two-year pact with the Nuggets is actually for $7MM, according to Pincus (via Twitter). However, the second year is fully non-guaranteed.
Brandon Paul received a two-year, minimum-salary contract from the Sixers that includes a $155K guarantee in year one, per Pincus (Twitter links). Philadelphia holds a team option on year two, which will be non-guaranteed even if the team picks up that option.
Pincus provides details on a couple more minimum-salary contracts with partial guarantees, reporting (via Twitter) that D.J. Stephens got $35K from the Grizzlies, while Isaiah Canaan will have a $200K guarantee from the Bulls for 2017/18 — Canaan’s 2016/17 salary is fully guaranteed.