Donald Sloan Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Wizards Sign Donald Sloan To One-Year Deal

August 29th, 2017 at 1:16pm CST by Arthur Hill

AUGUST 29: The Wizards have finalized their deal with Sloan, officially signing him to a one-year contract, according to RealGM’s transactions log.

AUGUST 17: The Wizards have reached agreement on a one-year deal with free agent guard Donald Sloan, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical.

The 29-year-old played in China last season for the second time in his career. His last NBA experience was in 2015/16, when he played 61 games for the Nets, starting 33.

Sloan has been a journeyman since signing with the Hawks in 2011 after going undrafted out of Texas A&M. He played just five games for Atlanta and three for New Orleans during his rookie year and finished the season with Cleveland. He later returned to New Orleans, then spent two seasons in Indiana.

A 6’3″ combo guard, Sloan is averaging 5.5 points and 3.0 assists per game through his NBA career.

The Wizards now have 19 players under contract, one short of the maximum, with camp a little more than a month away.

Hornets Work Out Free Agent Guards

July 25th, 2017 at 11:03am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 25, 11:03am: Michael Scotto (via Twitter) fills out the list of free agent guards who worked out today for the Hornets — Demetrius Jackson, Marcus Paige, Jared Cunningham, and Nick Johnson were also part of the group.

JULY 25, 8:16am: The Hornets will also work out free agent point guard Isaiah Canaan, according to Chris Haynes of ESPN, who tweets that the group session will take place on Tuesday.

JULY 24, 2:47pm: Former Georgia guard J.J. Frazier will also take part in the Hornets’ workout this week, tweets Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders.

JULY 24, 11:48am: The Hornets are bringing in free agent guard Donald Sloan for a workout, according to international basketball reporter David Pick (Twitter link). Another free agent point guard, Norris Cole, will also work out for the club, per Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).

While Charlotte’s starting backcourt figures to look the same heading into the 2017/18 season, the team is making some changes on the bench. Backup point guards Ramon Sessions and Brian Roberts aren’t returning, and Marco Belinelli was traded to Atlanta. Belinelli’s roster spot has been claimed by lottery pick Malik Monk, and the Hornets signed Michael Carter-Williams as the probable backup for Kemba Walker at the point, but the club may add one more point guard to its roster for depth purposes.

Currently, Briante Weber holds that third point guard spot on the roster, but his deal is non-guaranteed. Per Basketball Insiders, Weber’s salary is believed to become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through August 1, so the fact that the Hornets are taking a closer look at veteran point guards now may not bode well for Weber’s hold on a roster spot.

Sloan, 29, has more than 200 NBA regular season games under his belt, but spent the 2016/17 season in China with the Guangdong Southern Tigers. His team-high 23.6 PPG and 6.5 APG helped buoy the club to an appearance in the CBA Finals.

As for Cole, the 28-year-old played sparingly for the Thunder last season, but has extensive NBA experience with the Heat and Pelicans, having appeared in 360 total regular season contests since 2011.

Knicks Contact Phoenix About Eric Bledsoe

July 12th, 2017 at 8:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks believe they can trade for a veteran point guard and have contacted the Suns about Eric Bledsoe, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post.

Jeff Hornacek is well acquainted with Bledsoe after coaching him in Phoenix, Berman notes, but outside of Courtney Lee and possibly a first-round pick, the Knicks don’t have many assets to offer. Bledsoe, 27, still has two years and $29.5MM left on his current contract. He averaged 21.1 points and 6.3 assists last season, but was shut down in mid-March after playing in 66 games.

Bledsoe has reportedly been on the trade market, with the Suns talking to the Nuggets and Bulls about possible deals prior to the draft.

The Knicks are among a “multitude” of teams that have reached out to Ramon Sessions, Berman adds. The 31-year-old spent last season with the Hornets, who declined their option on him last month. New York only has $1.5MM in cap space remaining, but can go up to $2.3MM under the veterans minimum exception, which applies to players with at least 10 seasons of experience.

Another possibility Berman lists is Donald Sloan, who spent last season in China after playing for the Nets in 2015/16. In 61 games with Brooklyn that year, Sloan averaged 7.0 points and 4.4 assists per night.

Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Olynyk, Sloan, Nets

July 31st, 2016 at 1:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors have focused on keeping as much of their own talent as possible in free agency, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Over the years, Toronto has been a place that star players have left, with the list including Marcus Camby, Damon Stoudamire, Vince Carter and Chris Bosh. This summer, the Raptors didn’t have the cap room to keep backup center Bismack Biyombo, but they held onto DeMar DeRozan as part of a core that is largely tied up with long-term contracts. “The improvement of our team is going to come from inside,” said GM Masai Ujiri. “Kyle [Lowry], DeMar, and Jonas [Valanciunas] and Patrick [Patterson] and Terrence [Ross]. They will probably take it to another level.” The Raptors’ major addition in free agency was former Boston power forward Jared Sullinger.

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

The Celtics will probably wait until next offseason to make a long-term decision on Kelly Olynyk, Washburn writes in the same piece. Olynyk can sign an extension up to the October 30th deadline, but Boston wants to see the 25-year-old big man for one more season before making a commitment. Olynyk has missed 43 games in his first three seasons, and Washburn writes that the Celtics want him to display more “toughness and consistency.”
Donald Sloan, who played 61 games for the Nets last season, has reached an agreement to play in China with the Guangdong Tigers, tweets international basketball writer David Pick. His teammates will include former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer and one-time lottery pick Yi Jianlian. The 28-year-old Sloan averaged 7.0 points and 4.4 assists with Brooklyn in 2015/16.
The $100K guarantees the Nets gave to Yogi Ferrell and Egidijus Mockevicius are the largest the organization has ever handed out to an undrafted college player, according to NetsDaily. Brooklyn signed both players to partially guaranteed training camp contracts this week, along with Beau Beech, who got $45K in guaranteed money. Brooklyn now has 18 players under contract, and the website projects veteran big man Henry Sims and summer league standout Marcus Georges-Hunt as possibilities if GM Sean Marks decides to go with the league maximum of 20.

Eastern Notes: Bargnani, Micic, Sloan, Porter

July 26th, 2016 at 7:12pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Former fixture on the injury reports of both the Knicks and the Nets, Andrea Bargnani, has inked a deal to play overseas in Spain with Baskonia, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports (Twitter link). The agreement is for two years and contains opt outs for both sides, the report notes. Bargnani also reportedly drew interest from Turkey’s Darussafaka Dogus, who are now being coached by David Blatt. The 30-year-old made 46 appearances for Brooklyn last season and averaged 6.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 13.8 minutes per outing.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Sixers draft-and-stash pick Vasilije Micic has signed a one-year deal with Tofas Bursa to play overseas in Turkey, Carchia also reports (on Twitter). The 22-year-old point guard was the No. 52 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
Another former Nets player is headed overseas, with Donald Sloan inking a one-year deal worth approximately $2.5MM-$2.8MM with Guangdong of The Chinese Basketball Association, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Sloan will have the opportunity to sign with an NBA club once the Chinese season concludes in late March/early April of 2017.
The Wizards aren’t expected to ink forward Otto Porter to an extension this fall, preferring instead to see how he develops this season before committing to him for the long-term, J. Michael of CSNMid-Atlantic.com writes.
Former NBA player Eric Maynor, who missed the entire 2015/16 campaign with a torn ACL, has signed with the Italian club Varese, international journalist David Pick relays (via Twitter). Maynor last appeared in the NBA during the 2013/14 season when he split time between the Sixers and the Wizards.
The Celtics remain a team on the rise, with a deep roster and talented coach in Brad Stevens, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes, noting that the future is bright in Beantown in his look at the strengths of the team.

Donald Sloan Signs With Chinese Team

July 20th, 2016 at 10:58am CST by Luke Adams

10:58am: Sloan’s one-year deal with Guangdong will be worth $2.7MM, tweets Michael Scotto of The Associated Press.

10:21am: Veteran NBA free agent Donald Sloan will be taking his talents overseas for the coming season, according to his agency (Twitter link). Impact Sports Management announced that Sloan has signed a contract with the Guangdong Southern Tigers, a team in the Chinese Basketball Association.

Sloan, 28, appeared in a career-high 61 games for the Nets last season, starting 33 of them. In those contests, he averaged 7.0 PPG and 4.4 APG to go along with a respectable shooting line of .440/.384/.750. It’s known whether Sloan – who has also spent time with the Hawks, Cavaliers, Pacers, and Pelicans (when they were the Hornets) – drew any real NBA interest this offseason, but it appears his best offer came from overseas.

Guangdong, one of the top teams in the CBA last season, was led by a handful of former NBA players, including Yi Jianlian, Ike Diogu, and Will Bynum, a trio that combined to average 64.5 points per contest.

Terms of Sloan’s new deal with the club aren’t known.

Atlantic Notes: Rambis, Wright, Sloan, Early

March 7th, 2016 at 11:57am CST by Chuck Myron

Phil Jackson hoped Kurt Rambis would prove the right choice to keep the Knicks head coaching job for the long term when he installed him as interim bench boss last month, league sources tell Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com, and Rambis has to win to secure his position, Begley writes. A desire to better the team’s record this season is why Rambis is shying away from playing Kristaps Porzingis at center, even though the coach admits the idea intrigues him, as Begley relays. Rambis said he’s spoken to management about whether to give rookie Jerian Grant more playing time but added that the team’s brass hasn’t signaled that it wants to shift focus strictly to player development yet, according to Begley. See more on the Knicks, who’ve reportedly struck a deal with Tony Wroten:

Delon Wright has barely played for the Raptors this season despite having been the 20th overall pick last year, with just 75 total minutes under his belt, but that doesn’t mean coach Dwane Casey is down on him, notes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. “I think he’s going to be a heck of a player in this league,” Casey said. “His defense is lagging his offense right now. Offensively, he’s an excellent pick-and-roll player, but there’s two sides to the game. … Guarding the speedsters in the NBA is going to be his next challenge on the defensive end. He’s improved tremendously with his shooting, his 3-point shooting.”
Soon-to-be free agent Donald Sloan has been the starting point guard for the Nets since mid-January after fighting in the preseason simply to make the opening-night roster, but he’s not upset with Brooklyn for making him work for his opportunity, telling Steve Simineri of NetsDaily that he didn’t feel “shafted” at any point. The fifth-year NBA veteran has been the most productive among Brooklyn’s cheap finds this past offseason, Simineri observes, positioning himself for more job security to start next season.
The Nets passed on Wroten earlier this season under the direction of former GM Billy King because the Sixers had him under minutes restrictions as he came back from injury and because of his high rate of turnovers, tweets NetsDaily. He’s averaged 3.7 per game the past two seasons.
Cleanthony Early appears closer to a return to game action from having been shot in his right knee in late December, as the Knicks have assigned him to the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link).

Nets To Apply For Disabled Player Exception

January 4th, 2016 at 11:30am CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets will apply for a disabled player exception to compensate for the loss of starting point guard Jarrett Jack to a season-ending right knee injury, GM Billy King said today to reporters, including Brian Lewis of the New York Post (on Twitter). King nonetheless said he’s not sure that the team will use it, saying that no point guard on the market at present would “move the needle” and that he would like to give current Nets point guards Shane Larkin and Donald Sloan opportunities to fill the void, observes Andy Vasquez of The Record (Twitter links).

The Nets have to formally submit their application for the exception by January 15th, and while it seems likely the league will grant it, the team will have only until March 10th to use it. The exception would be worth $3.15MM, half of Jack’s $6.3MM salary for this season. The team could use it to sign a player to a deal for the rest of the season. Brooklyn could also claim a player off waivers making that amount or less on an expiring contract. The Nets can use the value of the exception plus $100K to accommodate a player via trade, but, as with a waiver claim, that only works if the player is in the final year of his deal.

Brooklyn is about $2MM shy of the luxury tax threshold, so it’s unlikely the team uses the full value of the exception unless it sheds other salary via trade or waiver. Sloan is the only Nets player without a full guarantee on his contract, but Hollins’ comment suggests the Nets will keep him past Thursday, the last day the team could waive him before his salary becomes fully guaranteed.

Do you agree or disagree with King’s assessment that no point guard on the market would move the needle for the Nets? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Sixers, Nets

December 20th, 2015 at 5:08pm CST by Will Joseph

With the Knicks back at .500, it is evident that several of president Phil Jackson’s offseason moves are paying off and a camaraderie has formed despite nine new players on this year’s roster, Marc Berman of the New York Post details. Berman points to the Knicks’ signing of Arron Afflalo as a significant piece of the puzzle since the shooting guard has made a seamless connection with star Carmelo Anthony. The two players, of course, played together in Denver. Afflalo is such a good fit for the Knicks because he does not demand the ball, Berman adds.

“I’ve known [Anthony] for a while,’’ Afflalo said. “He’s very talented in so many ways. He makes players around him better, just by the attention he draws. For us to find a comfort zone, and making sure to stay out of his way so he can stay comfortable with his game, will only allow us to benefit playing with a player like him.’’

Here’s more on the Knicks and the Atlantic Division:

One major difference between last season and this one seems to be Anthony’s trust in his teammates, Ian Begley of ESPN.com writes. The Knicks missed on a few of their marquee targets in the summer, but retooled with several role players, Begley adds. With that said, Anthony’s willingness to put trust in this group is an especially important aspect of the Knicks’ success, Begley notes.
Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry applauded the Sixers‘ hiring of Mike D’Antoni as associate head coach, John Reid of The Times Picayune relays. ”He wanted to be in a situation where he thought he could help someone and not just come back in for the heck of it,” Gentry said. ”I think it’s a great situation for Philly and for Brett Brown.” Gentry was an assistant on D’Antoni’s staff with the Suns from 2003-2008.
Nets reserve point guard Donald Sloan is in line to receive some playing time with Shane Larkin out with a concussion, Fred Kerber of the New York Post explains. The Nets signed Sloan for the minimum salary in August.

Eastern Notes: Oubre, Watson, Sloan, Johnson

October 12th, 2015 at 11:29am CST by Chuck Myron

Kelly Oubre is off to a rough start in his first preseason action, but despite their status as an upper-tier Eastern Conference team, the Wizards view this year’s No. 15 overall pick as a long-term project, writes Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post.

“He’s a young kid, a rookie, first time out, and he’s learning,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. “And I love his attitude. He hasn’t put his head down. He hasn’t, I’m sure, got off to the start that he would want to get off, in terms of numbers and how he’s playing. But he’s out there fighting. He hasn’t put his head down or anything like that so that’s a good thing. And he’s in here every day. He’ll be in here tomorrow ready to get better.”

See more from the Eastern Conference:

The Magic had tried multiple times years ago to try to acquire C.J. Watson, and while new coach Scott Skiles wasn’t around for those attempts, recommendations from two of his assistants have him excited about the backup point guard who signed with Orlando this summer, as John Denton of Magic.com chronicles. “We just felt like his ability to shoot the three and play behind Elfrid [Payton] would be good for us because he’s always been a solid, heady player,’’ Skiles said. “A couple of our coaches – Adrian Griffin has had him before and Mario Elie has been around him and they swore by the kind of person that he was. We were able to go and get him and we’re glad to have him.’’
Judging by their relative performances and playing time so far, Donald Sloan appears to have the edge on Ryan Boatright for the third point guard job on the Nets, observes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. Sloan’s partial guarantee is $50K and Boatright’s is $75K.
Four of the five rookies among those Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders singles out as the most impressive so far in the preseason hail from the Eastern Conference, including Stanley Johnson of the Pistons, who leads all rookies in preseason scoring even though he was a surprise pick at No. 8 overall.