James Nunnally Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Hawks Won’t Retain James Nunnally

February 1st, 2014 at 8:46am CST by Cray Allred

The Hawks won’t keep James Nunnally, whose second 10-day contract expired yesterday, per a tweet from Shams Charania of RealGM. Teams are only able to sign a player to two 10-day contracts, after that the player can only be retained through a contract that lasts at least the rest of the season.

In four games with the Hawks (his only time in the NBA), Nunnally was averaging 4.5 points on .333 shooting, and 2 rebounds per game in 13.5 minutes. Before the Hawks gave him this look, the Cavs, Bulls, and Thunder all showed some interest in the 23-year-old. Nunnally spent time in the Suns’ training camp before being waived, and has played in the D-Leauge this year as a member of the Bakersfield Jam, averaging 11.3 points a contest there.

Hawks Re-Sign James Nunnally

January 22nd, 2014 at 9:06am CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 9:06am: The deal is now official, the team announced.

TUESDAY, 9:30am: The Hawks will sign James Nunnally to a second 10-day contract on Wednesday, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.com. His first deal with the team expired last night, when it appeared Atlanta was still debating whether to keep the 23-year-old forward, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). The Hawks will have to decide whether to keep Nunnally for the rest of the season when his second 10-day contract ends.

Nunnally hasn’t had a chance to make much of an impression during his time with the Hawks, who’ve put him on the court for a single eight-minute appearance so far. He’s done most of his work this season with the Bakersfield Jam of the D-League, averaging 18.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. The Suns had him in training camp this fall, and he averaged 3.0 PPG in 10.5 minutes per game during the preseason.

Atlanta has 14 guaranteed contracts, so keeping Nunnally around for the rest of the season would make that 15, limiting the team’s flexibility. Even if the Hawks decide against keeping him, it sounds like he has plenty of other opportunities for NBA work. He was one of the most sought-after camp invitees, and he met with the Cavs, Bulls and Thunder before signing his first 10-day deal with the Hawks.

Hawks Sign James Nunnally

January 11th, 2014 at 2:47pm CST by Luke Adams

SATURDAY, 2:47pm: The Hawks have officially signed Nunnally to a 10-day deal, the team announced via press release.

FRIDAY, 7:51am: The Hawks have reached an agreement to sign D-League forward James Nunnally to a 10-day contract, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com. Gino Pilato of D-League Digest first reported that Nunnally was in line for a D-League call-up from Atlanta.

Nunnally, who went undrafted in 2012, has spent most of the last two seasons with the Bakersfield Jam, and also received a training camp invite this past fall from the Suns. In 19 games for the Jam this season, the 23-year-old has averaged 18.2 PPG and shot 41.5% on three-pointers. Nunnally was a hot name at the D-League Showcase in Reno this week, reportedly meeting with the Cavs, Bulls, and Thunder before agreeing to sign with the Hawks.

Having waived Cartier Martin before this week’s contract guarantee deadline, the Hawks have a single open spot on their roster, so a corresponding move won’t be necessary to make room for Nunnally. If the team wants to keep the UC Santa Barbara alum around after his first deal expires, it can sign him to a second 10-day contract, then must decide whether to let him go or guarantee him a full-season salary.

Odds & Ends: Knicks, Nunnally, LeBron

January 10th, 2014 at 10:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks have been shopping J.R. Smith ever since he reacted negatively to the team’s decision to waive his brother, a source tells Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Smith’s public and private responses to his brother’s dismissal put him in owner James Dolan’s doghouse, and evidence suggests it was Dolan who ordered Smith’s surprise benching Thursday, Isola writes. Carmelo Anthony nonetheless remains supportive of the troubled swingman, and that could be the key to Smith’s ability to stick around New York, Isola believes. While even Thursday’s win over the Heat apparently can’t stop the New York soap opera, there’s also plenty of scuttlebutt from elsewhere in the NBA:

The Hawks are set to finalize their 10-day signing of James Nunnally on Saturday, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
LeBron James and Tom Thibodeau share mutual admiration, but the Bulls would have to OK repeated luxury tax payments and Derrick Rose would have to cede crunch-time shots for LeBron to wind up with Chicago, notes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Thibodeau indicated today that the Bulls plan to send Erik Murphy to the D-League soon, observes Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com (Twitter link).
Giannis Antetokounmpo would love to play with his brother, Thanasis, but he won’t pressure the Bucks to draft him this year, writes Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times (Twitter links).
Australian guard Dante Exum has been meeting with agents the past few weeks, as expected, and the projected top-five pick appears to be a “lock” to enter the draft this year, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com (on Twitter).
There isn’t as much motivation for teams to tank as popular opinion suggests, and even when there is, the practice demonstrates a willingness to win as much as much as it does an intention to lose, as Mark Deeks of ShamSports opines in a piece for SB Nation.

Possible 10-Day Contracts From The D-League

January 7th, 2014 at 7:52pm CST by Jonathan Nehring

With the D-League Showcase under way in Reno, more league attention has been turned the direction of the young players outside the NBA. The Showcase alone is not the reason for the shift in focus. All of the players on NBA rosters are now guaranteed salaries for the remainder of the season, and teams are now able to sign players to 10-day contracts. Below are a few of the players that have already drawn attention around the league.

Ike Diogu is playing well at the D-League Showcase and league sources say he could draw interest from Lakers, Clippers, Thunder and Pelicans, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter links).
James Nunnally of the Bakersfield Jam is a D-League call-up candidate and has had meetings with the Cavs, Bulls, and Thunder at the D-League showcase in Reno, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Amick later tweeted the Hawks are also a team interested in Nunnally.
James Southerland has met with at least three teams this week, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com. He has played one game with the Bobcats and spent the summer with the 76ers and Warriors.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Grant Jerrett Tops Field Of D-League Draftees

November 1st, 2013 at 8:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Thunder’s D-League affiliate used the No. 1 overall pick in tonight’s D-League draft on Grant Jerrett, allowing the Thunder to closely monitor a player whose NBA rights also belong to them. Oklahoma City traded for Jerrett shortly after the Blazers took him 40th overall in June’s NBA draft. A report in September indicated Jerrett had signed with the Thunder-owned Tulsa 66ers, but as I pointed out at the time, he’d have to enter the D-League draft rather than sign with Tulsa outright. The 66ers pulled off a trade yesterday to acquire the No. 1 pick in the D-League draft, positioning themselves to secure Jerrett’s D-League rights.

The Pelicans didn’t do the same with the second-rounder they picked up in the Jrue Holiday/Nerlens Noel trade. Pierre Jackson, the 42nd overall pick in the NBA draft, went fourth overall in the D-League draft to the Idaho Stampede, the affiliate of the Blazers.

The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the one-to-one affiliate of the Rockets, took four-year NBA vet James Johnson second overall tonight, while Quincy Douby, who has three years of NBA experience, went at No. 3 to the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the affiliate of the Heat. The Texas Legends, who are affiliated with the Mavs, rounded out the top five with their selection of C.J. Aiken, who was in an NBA camp with the Kings last month after leaving St. Joseph’s in the spring.

Ricky Davis was perhaps the most well-known figure selected, as the Erie BayHawks, the affiliate of the Knicks, drafted him in the sixth round, signaling that the Knicks liked what they saw when the 34-year-old worked out for them in September. Other notable picks include former Magic and Thunder swingman DeAndre Liggins, who went to the Skyforce at seventh overall. Thanasis Antetokounmpo, the brother of Bucks rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo, went at No. 9 to the Delaware 87ers. Check out the entire list of draftees right here.

Some D-League clubs were involved in draft day trades. The Santa Cruz Warriors came into the draft already stocked with Stephen Curry‘s brother Seth Curry, whose D-League rights Golden State had protected after cutting him at the end of camp. Santa Cruz swapped a second-round pick for Mychel Thompson, brother of Golden State sharpshooter Klay Thompson, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports writes, giving the Warriors’ affiliate their own version of the big club’s “Splash Brothers” duo.

Players with prior D-League experience who were cut from NBA camps can re-enter the D-League and go back to their old teams without entering the draft. That’s what James Nunnally, fresh off a camp appearance with the Suns, has decided to do, as he’ll return to the Bakersfield Jam, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.com. The Suns are one of five NBA teams affiliated with the Jam, as our list of NBA/D-League affiliations shows.

Suns Waive James Nunnally

October 24th, 2013 at 2:09pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns have waived camp invitee James Nunnally, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter). Nunnally represented the most obvious cut on the team’s roster, since he was the only player on a fully non-guaranteed contract.

Nunnally played for the Suns’ D-League affiliate, the Bakersfield Jam, last season, averaging 10.3 PPG in 49 contests. The 23-year-old also joined the Heat’s Summer League squad this July before eventually signing a camp deal with Phoenix.

With Nunnally no longer on their books, the Suns are down to 17 players, meaning they’ll have to cut at least two more before opening night. Phoenix is carrying 16 players on fully guaranteed contracts, along with Dionte Christmas on a partially guaranteed deal, so in all likelihood the team will have to eat some salary in order to get down to 15 players.

Pacific Links: Granger, Lakers, Nunnally, Kings

October 4th, 2013 at 9:52pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kings team president Chris Granger had been a candidate to succeed Adam Silver as NBA deputy commissioner before he accepted the Sacramento job this summer, Kings owner Vivek Ranadive revealed, reports Dale Kasler of The Sacramento Bee. Granger told a gathering of Sacramento business leaders that the city's longstanding support of the Kings weighed heavily on the league as it debated letting the club leave for Seattle. There's more from the Kings among the latest from the Pacific Division:

Jordan Farmar agreed to a minimum-salary contract with the Lakers on July 10th, and his longstanding friendship with Nick Young inspired Young to do the same the very next day, as Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times examines.
The Suns treated James Nunnally well during a two-day tryout last month, and that led the sought-after camp invitee to choose Phoenix, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Nunnally is confident about his chances of making the team.
Plenty of uncertainty surrounds Jimmer Fredette, a trade candidate whose 2014/15 team option is not certain to be picked up by the deadline at the end of this month. Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee looks at how the new Kings regime views the third-year guard.

Suns Bringing James Nunnally To Camp

September 28th, 2013 at 8:23pm CST by Spencer Lund

The Suns have added shooter James Nunnally to their camp roster, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. The UC-Santa Barbara grad shot 63 percent from 3-point range for Miami during summer league.

Coro adds in his Arizona Republic post that new GM Ryan McDonough believed the Suns needed more perimeter shooting even before trading Caron Butler and Jared Dudley this offseason. McDonough explained the decision to Coro:

“We brought him (Nunnally) in a for a two-day workout recently and we were impressed with him on and off the court. It was competitive with other teams interested in signing him and we recruited him. We were able to get him with the opportunity that he will have here.”

The 23-year-old shot 58 percent from the field and averaged a team-high 13.0 PPG during summer league with Miami. He made quite the impression when he was 5-for-6 from long range for a 21-point second half in a losing effort to the Suns in that time.

Nunnally averaged 15.7 PPG from 2009 to 2012 with California-Santa Barbara and averaged 10.3 PPG and shot 41 percent from 3 last season for Bakersfield, the Suns' D-League affiliate. He'll be the 18th addition to the Suns' training camp, which runs Tuesday through Sunday next week. They won't have to cut down to between 13 and 15 players until the night before the regular season.

Odds & Ends: Nunnally, Kirilenko, Brownlee, Rocks

September 16th, 2013 at 4:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

D-Leaguer James Nunnally's name has come up in connection with a handful of NBA teams of late, having drawn the attention of the Spurs, Jazz, Suns and Pelicans. The Grizzlies may be most intrigued by the 6'7" swingman out of UC-Santa Barbara, as they've invited him to camp, reports Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside. Still it doesn't sound like Nunnally has accepted that invitation yet, as he'll work as scheduled out this week for Utah and New Orleans. Here's more from this afternoon in the NBA:

An NBA investigation into Andrei Kirilenko's discount contract with the Nets has cleared the team of any wrongdoing, a source tells Fred Kerber of the New York Post. Complaints from at least one other team triggered the probe.
The Knicks are thinking of inviting small forward Justin Brownlee to camp after watching him play for their summer league squad this year. The 25-year-old from St. John's will work out for the team this week, tweets Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com.
Agent Burton Rocks tells Hoops Rumors that the players union has certified him and his Burton Rocks LTD firm, which boasts a dozen baseball clients, as the MLB Trade Rumors Agency Database shows. Rocks is breaking into hoops by repping former Stony Brook standout Muhammed El-Amin.
Villanova assistant coach Billy Lange has turned down the Rockets' offer to become the head coach of their D-League affiliate, but he's considering a job with the Sixers, reports Dana O'Neil of ESPN.com.
The Grizzlies traded for Kosta Koufos this summer, and they've coveted the former Nuggets big man for more than a year, as TNT's David Aldridge writes as he hits on a wide range of subjects for his weekly NBA.com column.
Forbes today published its list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, and Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen leads all sports owners in net worth, notes Darren Rovell of ESPN.com.
John Schuhmann of NBA.com examines some of the data teams will be able to use under the league's new SportVU camera deal.