Duane Washington Rumors

Duane Washington Rejoins KK Partizan

October 14th, 2024 at 10:16am CST by Luke Adams

As expected, free agent guard Duane Washington has returned to KK Partizan, the Serbian team he signed with over the offseason, according to Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. Askounis reports that Washington has completed the paperwork necessary to be re-added to Partizan’s roster.

After finishing last season with the Knicks, Washington agreed to sign with Partizan in July; the Belgrade-based club later confirmed the deal in August. However, the Knicks – who still held Washington’s Early Bird rights – required him as a sign-and-trade asset for salary-matching purposes in their trade for Karl-Anthony Towns.

Partizan Belgrade received a buyout in exchange for allowing Washington out of his contract, while the 24-year-old secured a $2.16MM guaranteed salary from the Hornets for his involvement in the Towns trade. He spent a week with Charlotte, then was waived last Wednesday, clearing the way for him to rejoin Partizan.

Washington has suited up a pair of Partizan’s domestic matchups so far this season, but wasn’t available to play in either of the team’s first two EuroLeague contests. While Partizan has a 4-0 record in ABA League play, the club has lost its first two EuroLeague games, so Washington’s return will be a welcome one. Partizan will face Bayern Munich and Maccabi Tel Aviv in EuroLeague play this week.

Washington has appeared in a total of 79 NBA contests for the Pacers and Suns (he didn’t see any game action for the Knicks), averaging 9.1 points, 1.9 assists, and 1.5 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per night while shooting .391/.371/.729.

Knicks Notes: Towns Trade, Dadiet, Washington, Shamet, Bridges, Hart, DiVincenzo

October 11th, 2024 at 1:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks‘ path toward acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota began on draft night, Fred Katz of The Athletic explains in an outline of all the particulars involved in the deal. New York needed to prioritize every dollar because it had just completed a trade with Brooklyn for Mikal Bridges, leaving the team hard-capped at the second apron of $188.9MM.

The Knicks reached out to the agent of French prospect Pacome Dadiet, offering to select him with the 25th pick, but only if he would agree to accept $1.8MM in his first season instead of the usual 120% of the rookie scale, which would have been about $2.7MM. Dadiet jumped at the chance to get the job security that comes with being a first-round pick, and the team was able to save just enough money to make the Towns trade possible. Katz notes that Dadiet became the first player drafted in the first round since 2019 to accept 80% of the rookie scale.

The trade also involved some unusual negotiations with free agent Duane Washington, whose NBA rights still belonged to New York after he signed with Partizan in Belgrade during the summer. The Knicks had to sign-and-trade three players to Charlotte to open enough cap room to complete the Towns deal, but Partizan was insisting that Washington pay $600K in a buyout, plus another $1.6MM if the Hornets didn’t release him in time to return to Serbia within 48 hours.

Washington was hoping for a long-shot chance to make the Hornets’ roster, but he only had a $2.2MM contract, so he would have been under water with the terms from Partizan. Eventually the Belgrade team relented, asking for the original buyout plus undisclosed fees for each day he was away. Washington was waived by Charlotte on Wednesday, and sources tell Katz that he intends to return to Partizan.

There’s more on the Knicks:

Landry Shamet appears likely to earn one of the remaining roster spots after signing a non-guaranteed contract last month, league sources tell Katz. Katz also hears that the Knicks are so concerned about preserving the roughly $335K they have left under the second apron that they aren’t allowing camp invitees on Exhibit 10 deals to practice for fear that they might get injured and have their contracts become guaranteed.
Brian Windhorst of ESPN recaps all the moves that enabled New York to have the financial flexibility to add Towns to its roster.
Bridges has the NBA’s longest active consecutive games streak at 474, but he doesn’t believe he’ll be able to reach A.C. Green’s all-time mark of 1,192, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Bridges admits there’s some luck involved in not missing a game so far in his NBA career. “People have asked me what’s the secret, and I’m just, like, ‘I’m blessed.’ I’ve got skinny bones that could hold up really well,” he said. “Just doing a lot of recovery and lifting. Just doing things to help prevent [injuries]. That’s pretty much it.”
Speaking to reporters Friday afternoon, Josh Hart said it was difficult to lose Donte DiVincenzo, who was sent to Minnesota in the Towns trade (Twitter link from James L. Edwards of The Athletic). “It’s a tough one. It’s part of the business. I get it,” Hart said. “But I miss my dog. I think he should be received with cheers and ovation for everything he did last year.”

Hornets Waive Duane Washington

October 9th, 2024 at 8:59am CST by Luke Adams

One week after acquiring him via sign-and-trade in the three-team Karl-Anthony Towns blockbuster, the Hornets have waived guard Duane Washington, the club announced today in a press release.

The move had been expected, since Washington was only included in the Towns trade for salary-matching purposes — if he hadn’t been part of the deal, New York would have had to add another player from its active roster to the deal to make it a legal trade. Even though he never actually appeared in a game for them, the Knicks were able to sign-and-trade Washington because he finished last season on a two-way contract with the club.

Prior to being signed-and-traded from New York to Charlotte, Washington had been playing for KK Partizan in Belgrade, Serbia. The Knicks had to pay Partizan a buyout (believed to be worth $850K) to free him up for the Towns deal. The expectation is that the 24-year-old will now rejoin the Serbian club on a new contract.

Washington’s $2,162,607 salary for 2024/25 was fully guaranteed and will remain on the Hornets’ books for the rest of the season. However, Charlotte acquired more than enough cash from New York in the Towns trade ($7.2MM) to cover the salaries for Washington and the two others players sent to the Hornets (DaQuan Jeffries and Charlie Brown).

The second and third years of Washington’s contract were non-guaranteed, so they’ll come off Charlotte’s cap now that he has been placed on waivers.

As a result of the transaction, the Hornets are now carrying 15 players on fully guaranteed contracts, with Taj Gibson on a minimum-salary contract that’s partially guaranteed for about $1.08MM. In all likelihood, Charlotte will end up waiving at least one of Jeffries or Brown prior to opening night in order to make room for Gibson on the team’s 15-man regular season roster.

Knicks Officially Acquire Karl-Anthony Towns In Three-Team Trade With Wolves, Hornets

October 2nd, 2024 at 1:56pm CST by Luke Adams

The Karl-Anthony Towns blockbuster involving the Knicks, Timberwolves, and Hornets is now official, according to press releases from each of the three teams involved in the deal.

Word first broke last Friday night that an agreement had been reached, with more details reported on Tuesday. The full terms of the trade are as follows:

Knicks acquire Towns and the draft rights to James Nnaji.
Timberwolves acquire Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop, and the Pistons’ 2025 first-round pick (top-13 protected; from Knicks).
Hornets acquire DaQuan Jeffries (sign-and-trade), Charlie Brown Jr. (sign-and-trade), Duane Washington (sign-and-trade), either the Nuggets’ or Sixers’ 2025 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable; from Timberwolves), the Warriors’ 2026 second-round pick (from Knicks), the Knicks’ 2031 second-round pick, and cash ($7.2MM; from Knicks).

“We are beyond excited to welcome Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks family,” Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose said in a statement. “Karl-Anthony brings a skillset that is unique to the game of basketball. He possesses a blend of playmaking, shooting, rebounding and defending that in combination with his size allows him to compete at a level that is rare in this league. Karl-Anthony has demonstrated throughout his career to be a high caliber player and person on and off the court who will complement the type of team and culture we continue to build in New York.”

Minnesota waived camp invitee Jaedon LeDee in order to accommodate the one-for-three swap, while Charlotte cut guards Marcus Garrett and guard Caleb McConnell to make room on its roster for the three incoming players.

Both the Wolves and Hornets are now at their 21-man preseason limits, while the Knicks have five open spots on their 21-man squad. They’ll reportedly fill one of those spots by re-signing Chuma Okeke.

Our original report on the trade includes more details on the on-court implications of the move for the Knicks and Timberwolves. We also discussed how it will affect New York’s ability to fill out the rest of its regular season roster.

Here are a few more additional notes on the transaction:

Randle received his full 15% trade bonus as part of the transaction, confirms ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). That bumps the forward’s cap hit for 2024/25 from $28,939,680 to $33,073,920. The cap charge for Randle’s ’25/26 player option ($30,935,520) remains unchanged, since the trade bonus doesn’t affect option years.
Towns also had a trade kicker in his contract, but it’s voided because he’s already earning his maximum salary, Marks adds (via Twitter).
The three players the Knicks signed-and-traded to the Hornets will each earn exactly $1 more than their respective minimum salaries, per Marks. That works out to $2,425,404 for Jeffries, $2,237,692 for Brown, and $2,162,607 for Washington. Teams aren’t permitted to aggregate multiple minimum-salary contracts for matching purposes in offseason trades, and since Bates-Diop is on a minimum deal, Jeffries, Brown, and Washington couldn’t be. Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link) has heard that the NBA “isn’t thrilled” about the way in which the Knicks circumvented that rule, but it’s technically legal.
The Hornets used their $7,983,000 room exception to accommodate those three incoming salaries, becoming the first team to take advantage of the new rule allowing clubs to use their non-taxpayer mid-level exception, room exception, or bi-annual exception to acquire a player via trade. Charlotte now has just $1,157,297 left on that exception.
The Timberwolves will create a $4,686,880 trade exception in the deal, which they’d be allowed to use this season despite being a second-apron team. Teams operating above either tax apron are prohibited from using trade exceptions that were generated during the previous season, but can use newly created TPEs.
Because they sent approximately $7.2MM to the Hornets in the deal, were responsible for paying Randle’s $4.13MM trade bonus, and will reportedly pay Partizan Belgrade an estimated $850K for Washington’s buyout, the Knicks are on the hook for more than $12MM in cash, separate from player salaries, as a result of the deal.

New York Notes: Bridges, Washington, Towns, Nets, Williams, Thomas

October 2nd, 2024 at 7:26am CST by Luke Adams

After making an NBA Finals and being part of a 64-win season in Phoenix, new Knicks forward Mikal Bridges admitted it was a difficult adjustment to be on a Nets team that went just 44-65 during his season-and-a-half with the franchise. However, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Post writes, Bridges also viewed his Nets tenure as a useful learning experience.

“Yeah, it was tough in Brooklyn, we were losing. Even personally, I think I didn’t handle it as well as I could,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “I always preach mental toughness and never losing your spirit. But it was just something I never dealt with like that. And, I think it was just a lot just for that team in general when I was there and the expectation for everybody and I think I didn’t handle it as good as I should have.”

Having been traded to Brooklyn’s cross-town rivals, Bridges is more optimistic about what the 2024/25 season holds, while Knicks star Jalen Brunson is excited about reuniting with his former Villanova teammate in New York’s starting lineup.

“I know how he plays, he knows how I play,” Brunson said. “The chemistry is still there.”

Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams:

According to reporting from Bojan Brezovac of MozzartSport, the Serbian club Partizan Belgrade could receive a payment worth up to $1MM for letting Duane Washington out of his contract in order to be signed-and-traded by the Knicks to the Hornets for salary-matching purposes in the three-team Karl-Anthony Towns trade. The Knicks could pay up to $850K of that amount with no cap impact — any additional buyout money on top of that would come out of Washington’s NBA salary. The veteran guard is expected to be waived by Charlotte so he can return to Partizan after the trade.
Fred Katz of The Athletic explores how the Knicks might deploy Towns in order to optimize his unique skill set and considers what assets New York still has left for a possible in-season trade.
After being traded from the Grizzlies to the Nets in July, Ziaire Williams said on Monday that he feels like “a loose bird finally let out of his cage” (Twitter video link via Erik Slater of ClutchPoints). “Some days, I just kind of felt like I was trapped,” Williams said. “I definitely feel a lot more free (here). … It’s definitely a blessing in disguise.” Brian Lewis of The New York Post takes a look at the opportunities that Williams and former lottery pick Killian Hayes have for fresh starts in Brooklyn. Williams has a guaranteed $6.1MM salary for 2024/25, while Hayes is on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 deal and is fighting for a roster spot.
Nets guard Cam Thomas is eligible for a rookie scale extension up until October 21, but he seems more likely to reach restricted free agency next summer than to sign a new contract before the season begins, according to Lewis. “I’m pretty sure my agent will have conversations with them, but I’m just worried about the season,” Thomas said. “This is the opportunity I’ve been wanting since I got into the league: to play, be free, so I’m just gonna make the most of it, and whatever happens, happens.”

Hornets To Receive Three Second-Rounders, Three Players In Towns Blockbuster

October 1st, 2024 at 7:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Hornets are receiving three second-round picks along with DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown Jr. and Duane Washington Jr. as the third team in the Knicks–Timberwolves blockbuster trade, Shams Charania, Jon Krawczynski and Fred Katz of The Athletic report (via Twitter). A pair of those second-rounders are coming from the Knicks, while the Timberwolves will provide the other one.

The Knicks, of course, are acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns in the trade, while Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and a protected Pistons first-round pick controlled by New York are headed to Minnesota.

The Knicks will also receive the rights to 2023 draft pick James Nnaji from Charlotte, Katz tweets.

Jeffries has appeared in a total of 64 NBA games for four different teams. He saw action in 17 games off the bench for New York last season.

Brown has appeared in NBA games for five organizations since entering the league in 2019/20. He played eight games for the Knicks last season.

Washington has played a total of 79 games for Indiana and Phoenix. Washington, who didn’t appear in an NBA game last season, signed a two-year contract with Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade in July.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks provides more details on Charlotte’s haul (Twitter link). Minnesota is shipping a 2025 second-rounder (the least favorable of Denver’s or Philadelphia’s picks). The Knicks are giving up a 2026 pick that Golden State owed them and their own 2031 second-rounder.

The trio of veteran players are involved in sign-and-trades and Charlotte will also collect a total of $7.2MM in cash from the Knicks, Marks notes. That’s the maximum amount of cash a team can trade in 2024/25, so New York won’t be permitted to sent out cash in any subsequent deals.

The cash Charlotte receives will offset the salaries of the three players, who will earn a combined $6.8MM, Marks adds (Twitter link). The Hornets are using their room exception to make those acquisitions, making them the first team to take advantage of new rules allowing teams to trade for players using the non-taxpayer mid-level, room, or bi-annual exception.

Partizan and Washington will agree to a buyout freeing him up for the sign-and-trade deal, but Charlotte plans to waive him, so he could re-sign with the Belgrade-based club, Ian Begley of SNY TV tweets.

Nnaji, the 31st pick of the 2023 draft, is a draft-and-stash prospect who struggled to get rotation minutes with Spanish powerhouse Barcelona in ’23/24. He’s playing for Spain’s Girona on loan from Barcelona this season.

As we outlined on Saturday when we discussed the cap implications of the trade for the Knicks, they’ll have just 12 players under contract once the deal is official and won’t have enough room under their hard cap to carry two more players on veteran minimum deals.

In all likelihood, they’ll carry a 13th man on a minimum-salary contract (possibly Landry Shamet) and will promote either Kevin McCullar or Ariel Hukporti to the standard roster. They’d also have the option of signing a draft-and-stash prospect as their 14th man, though most viable candidates for an NBA roster spot are under contract with teams elsewhere.

Partizan Belgrade Confirms Additions Of Pokusevski, Other Former NBAers

August 19th, 2024 at 2:41pm CST by Luke Adams

The Serbian club KK Partizan, which is based in Belgrade and competes in the EuroLeague, held an event on Monday to formally introduce its roster for the 2024/25 season, according to Eurohoops.

Partizan’s squad features several players with NBA experience, including guards Frank Ntilikina and Gabriel Lundberg, whose deals were previously announced.

On Monday, the team also confirmed several signings which had been reported earlier in the summer but hadn’t yet been officially confirmed, such as Aleksej Pokusevski, Sterling Brown, Isaac Bonga, Duane Washington, and Brandon Davies.

Pokusevksi is perhaps the most notable name in the group. The 22-year-old forward was the 17th overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft and spent most of the past four seasons with the Thunder before being waived in February. He finished the season in Charlotte, averaging 7.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 19.2 minutes per game across 18 outings down the stretch for the Hornets.

Brown has 268 NBA regular season appearances under his belt, while Bonga has 143, Washington has 79, and Davies has 78. However, none of the four played in the league in 2023/24.

As Eurohoops notes, former NBA guard Carlik Jones will also play for KK Partizan this season, but wasn’t at Monday’s event — his flight was delayed, according to a report from Mozzart Sport, which indicates that Jones will be at the team’s first practice of the season this week.

Former NBA first-rounder Bruno Caboclo is also under contract with Partizan, but wasn’t in attendance on Monday and isn’t a lock to return to the club. He has reportedly received an offer from Hapoel Tel Aviv, a team in Israel.

International Notes: Washington, Fernandez, A. Antetokounmpo, Eddie

August 17th, 2024 at 8:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

In an interview with Telesport, Duane Washington talks about preparing for his first overseas experience, relays Basketball News. Washington signed a two-year contract with Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade in July after spending all of last season in the G League.

“The energy is incredible. I’ve felt it since day one, and I can’t wait to hit my first shot and make my first assist in front of those fans,” Washington said. “I believe the fans will see how dedicated I am and how much I want to win. I’m ready to give 100% to help this team succeed.”

Washington joined the Pacers on a two-way deal in 2021 after going undrafted out of Ohio State. He was given a standard contract at the end of the season, but was waived that summer. He moved on to the Suns on a two-way contract before being waived in the middle of the 2022/23 season. He then signed three two-way contracts with the Knicks, but never appeared in a game with them.

He’s looking forward to the next chapter of his career and getting to know his new teammates, including Gabriel Lundberg, who played in Phoenix shortly before Washington arrived.

“I’m very excited. I can score, but having players like Lundberg who can take some pressure off me is a huge advantage,” Washington said. “We just missed each other in Phoenix, but now we’re together, and I believe we’ll be a dangerous duo for opponents.”

There’s more international news to pass along:

Rudy Fernandez, whose retirement was reported after Spain was eliminated from the Olympics, made an official announcement Friday on Twitter, writes Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. The 39-year-old posted an emotional message to his fans along with a video showing highlights from his career. “I RETIRE with the feeling of having been a player committed to every team or club I have been on,” Fernandez wrote. “I never dreamed of flying so far, or so high, and directly competing against whoever was in front of me. I will miss being on the court, but now it is time for me to build a new path and be with my family more than ever. Of course, I will continue to enjoy this wonderful sport, always. Thank you all for flying by my side.”
Alex Antetokounmpo has joined KK Podgorica Bemax in Montenegro, according to Eurohoops. The youngest of the Antetokounmpo brothers has never played in the NBA, although he signed training camp contracts in each of the past three years with Toronto and Milwaukee. His new team is moving into the first division of the ABA League this season.
Former NBA player Jarell Eddie signed a one-year contract with Greek club Peristeri, Eurohoops states in another report. The 32-year-old forward, who played in Romania last season, has been through numerous overseas stops since leaving the NBA after the 2017/18 season.

International Notes: Martin, Washington, Fitts, Brooks

July 31st, 2024 at 1:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Former NBA first-round pick Jarell Martin has agreed to sign a one-year contract with the Adelaide 36ers of Australia’s National Basketball League, reports Olgun Uluc of ESPN.com.

The No. 25 overall pick in the 2015 draft, Martin appeared in 184 total NBA regular season games for the Grizzlies and Magic from 2015-19, but hasn’t been on an NBA roster since being cut by the Cavaliers ahead of the 2019/20 season.

The former LSU forward has played in several non-NBA leagues during the past few seasons, spending time with the Sydney Kings from 2020-22, followed by a season apiece with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel and Galatasaray in Turkey. Martin, 30, won championships in Australia in 2022 and Israel in 2023.

Here are a few more notes from around the international basketball world:

Free agent guard Duane Washington is on track to sign with Partizan Belgrade in Serbia, according to a report from Mozzart Sport (hat tip to Sportando). Washington confirmed that report in a post on his Instagram account. The 24-year-old, who played his college ball at Ohio State, appeared in 79 NBA regular season games for Indiana and Phoenix from 2021-23 and finished the 2023/24 season on a two-way contract with the Knicks, though he didn’t play at all for New York.
Former NBA forward Malik Fitts, who played for the Clipers, Jazz, and Celtics from 2020-22, has signed with SIG Strasbourg, according to an announcement from the French team. Fitts signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Wizards prior to the 2023/24 season and subsequently spent time with the Capital City Go-Go before being traded to the Cleveland Charge last December.
Long viewed as an adversarial NBA player, Canadian forward Dillon Brooks is embracing his role as an international villain in this year’s Olympics, as he tells Sam Amick of The Athletic. “Everywhere I go. Germany, France, Spain, no matter where. It’s always the same thing,” Brooks said. “… On the street, they want to take pictures, be close to the villain, take pictures with the villain. But in the game, it’s what they say in the media, what they say on social media is (to) boo him and it gets people (fired up). It is what it is. But I love playing like that. I love playing against the crowd, but at the end of the day when I’m playing good, the only thing they can do is cheer.”

Knicks Didn’t Extend Qualifying Offer To Precious Achiuwa

June 29th, 2024 at 5:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks opted not to extend a $6.3MM qualifying offer to Precious Achiuwa, league sources tell Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). The decision means the 24-year-old big man will be unrestricted when he enters free agency on Sunday.

New York hasn’t ruled out re-signing Achiuwa, Katz adds, but the team didn’t want to risk the possibility of having him quickly accept the QO, which would have affected its hard cap situation as it tries to work out the details of the trade to acquire Mikal Bridges from Brooklyn.

The Knicks acquired Achiuwa in late December as part of the OG Anunoby deal. He wound up playing a significant role amid long-term injuries to Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and others. Achiuwa appeared in 49 games after the trade, making 18 starts and averaging 7.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in 24.2 minutes per night.

The Knicks have picked up their $2MM team option on Jericho Sims for next season, a source tells Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link). The backup center still only has a $651K partial guarantee on his $2.09MM salary, with trigger dates in July and August. Sims, who has spent the past three seasons with New York, will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The team has declined DaQuan Jeffries‘ $2.5MM option, Katz tweets. Jeffries, who saw action in 17 games, will become an unrestricted free agent on Sunday.

The Knicks extended a qualifying offer to two-way forward Jacob Toppin, making him a restricted free agent, Katz tweets. However, two-way players Duane Washington Jr. and Charlie Brown Jr. did not receive QOs (Twitter links).