Joe Wieskamp Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Expansion, EuroLeague, G League Trades, Hawes

September 18th, 2024 at 1:21pm CST by Luke Adams

What would it look like if the NBA awarded expansion teams to a pair of new cities? In an entertaining story for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks broke down the rules governing expansion drafts, then submitted lists of protected players for each team to Tim Bontemps and Kevin Pelton, who conducted a mock expansion draft on behalf of the two hypothetical new franchises.

As Marks details, the rules for expansion drafts aren’t specifically laid out in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, but in the past, each existing NBA team has been permitted to protect up to eight players in the spring, including pending restricted free agents and/or players holding options. In those instances, expansion teams weren’t allowed to select more than one player from any of the NBA’s existing clubs.

Marks also lays out how expansion teams would be incorporated into the annual rookie draft (they’re typically not given the opportunity to land the No. 1 overall pick during their first couple seasons) and how the salary cap would work for them (their cap would be two-thirds of the league-wide cap in year one, 80% in year two, and the full cap in year three).

While expansion is likely still at least two or three years away, ESPN’s exercise is an informative one that helps illustrate with practical examples how new teams would fill out their rosters.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com (subscription required) takes a look at 10 notable players in the EuroLeague who are on expiring contracts and will reach free agency in 2025. Mathias Lessort, Kevin Punter, and Chima Moneke are among the headliners on Urbonas’ list who figure to be monitored by NBA teams in 2024/25.
The Westchester Knicks – New York’s G League affiliate – completed a pair of trades on Tuesday. Westchester sent Dmytro Skapintsev‘s returning rights to the Maine Celtics in exchange for the rights to Brandon Slater and Joe Wieskamp; in a separate deal, the Knicks’ NBAGL team acquired Brandon Williams‘ returning rights and a 2025 G League international draft pick from the Osceola Magic in exchange for the rights to Charlie Brown Jr. (Twitter links). The NBA’s Celtics signed Skapintsev to an Exhibit 10 contract on Tuesday.
Cyro Asseo de Choch of HoopsHype spoke to former NBA big man Spencer Hawes about the ups and downs of his playing career, which saw him appear in 684 regular season games for six teams from 2007-17. A 7’1″ center who made 35.0% of his career-three pointers, Hawes was asked if he felt like he arrived in the league a few years too early. “I kind of joke about my buddies. I missed the max (contract) by a couple of years,” Hawes said. “Well, I think the game just wasn’t in such a good place and my game as well. I came in kind of as a more traditional old-school post-up player and I realized that pretty quickly that wasn’t working. So, I kind of had to figure out a different way to try and get on the floor and help the team win.”

Matthew Hurt Signs With Australian Team

July 29th, 2024 at 11:29am CST by Luke Adams

Free agent forward Matthew Hurt, who appeared in eight games last season with the Grizzlies, has signed a one-year contract with the South East Melbourne Phoenix of Australia’s National Basketball League, sources tell Olgun Uluc of ESPN (Twitter link).

Hurt, 24, went undrafted in 2021 after playing his college ball at Duke and has played almost exclusively for the Memphis Hustle in the G League since then. In 2023/24, the 6’9″ forward averaged 19.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 32.6 minutes per game across 28 NBAGL outings for Memphis’ G League team, posting an excellent shooting line of .507/.400/.786.

Hurt’s strong play for the Hustle earned him a pair of 10-day contracts with the Grizzlies in January and February. He saw a little playing time for the injury-plagued club, but struggled to make an impact at the NBA level, recording 4.0 PPG and 2.0 RPG in 14.1 MPG on .353/.250/1.000 shooting. The Grizzlies didn’t re-sign him after his second 10-day contract expired in March.

Hurt is the third former NBA player who has joined the Phoenix since the 2024 offseason began. The club also added guard Derrick Walton, who played for the Heat, Clippers, and Pistons from 2017-22, and former Spurs and Raptors forward Joe Wieskamp.

Mavericks Waive Mike Miles, Two Others

October 14th, 2023 at 1:24pm CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks have removed three players from their preseason roster, waiving guard Mike Miles Jr., guard Jordan Walker, and swingman Joe Wieskamp, the team announced today (via Twitter).

Miles, who signed with Dallas in July after going undrafted out of TCU, had been one of the club’s two players on two-way deals. Now that he has been cut, the Mavs are carrying only one two-way player (A.J. Lawson), leaving two openings.

Walker and Wieskamp had been on non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contracts and look like candidates to join the Texas Legends, the Mavs’ G League affiliate. The Legends acquired Wieksamp’s returning rights from the Wisconsin Herd in a trade last month. And as an undrafted rookie, Walker can be made an affiliate player, since his rights weren’t previously held by an NBAGL team.

Walker and Wieskamp appeared in all three of the Mavs’ preseason games in Abu Dhabi and Spain, logging 24 and 12 minutes, respectively. Miles didn’t play at all in the preseason, though he averaged 12.2 points in five Summer League games for the club.

Dallas now has 18 players under contract, including 15 on standard deals, Lawson on a two-way, and Greg Brown and Dexter Dennis on Exhibit 10 pacts. The Mavs could fill their open two-way slots by converting Brown and Dennis, but it’s possible they have other moves in mind before opening night.

Contract Details: Hart, T. Taylor, Mavericks

August 16th, 2023 at 9:06am CST by Luke Adams

Josh Hart‘s four-year extension with the Knicks, previously reported to include a fourth-year team option, has very straightforward terms, as Ian Begley of SNY.tv writes.

The deal, which begins at $18,144,000 (the maximum 40% raise on Hart’s $12.96MM salary for 2023/24) is fully guaranteed for the first three seasons and doesn’t include any performances bonuses.

The only detail slightly different than anticipated is that the annual raise between years one and two isn’t quite for the full 8%, so Hart’s four-year total is approximately $80.9MM instead of $81.3MM. The guaranteed portion of the contract extension comes in at $58.54MM.

Begley believes the contract will ultimately be judged based on how healthy Hart stays over the next few years and how much success the Knicks have during that time, since the forward seems unlikely to significantly improve his production in any specific area. The average annual value of Hart’s deal lands between the new contracts signed by Dillon Brooks and Caris LeVert, Begley notes.

Here are a few more details on recently completed NBA contracts:

Terry Taylor‘s new deal with the Bulls is a two-year, minimum-salary contract, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. It’s currently non-guaranteed, but Taylor would receive a partial guarantee worth $350K if he lasts through the first day of the regular season. That partial guarantee would increase to $700K if he remains under contract through December 15, Hoops Rumors has learned. Taylor would be assured of his full salary for 2023/24 if he isn’t waived by the league-wide guarantee date in January and would receive his full ’24/25 salary if he isn’t waived on or before July 7, 2024.
The trio of players signed by the Mavericks on Monday – Greg Brown, Joe Wieskamp, and Jordan Walker – all received Exhibit 10 contracts, Hoops Rumors has learned. All three will receive bonuses worth $75K if they’re waived before the season and then spend at least 60 days with Dallas’ G League affiliate.
In case you missed it, Jordan Miller‘s two-way contract with the Clippers covers two seasons, as we relayed on Tuesday evening. Miller is one of seven players to sign a two-year two-way deal this summer, as our tracker shows.

Mavericks Sign Greg Brown, Jordan Walker, Joe Wieskamp

August 14th, 2023 at 2:44pm CST by Rory Maher

The Mavericks have signed a trio of players, announcing in a press release (via Twitter) that Greg Brown, Jordan Walker and Joe Wieskamp are all officially under contract.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported last week that Brown, a forward, and Wieskamp, a wing, would be receiving training camp deals. Both players were 2021 second-round picks and hold some NBA experience: Brown spent his first season-and-a-half with Portland prior to being waived last February, while Wieskamp played for the Spurs and Raptors over his first two NBA seasons.

Walker, on the other hand, went undrafted in June out of UAB. The 5’11” guard quickly reached an agreement with Dallas and averaged 13.0 points and 3.5 assists in four Summer League games with the Mavs. The terms of his contract aren’t yet known.

The Mavs do have one two-way slot available, but they didn’t say anything about Walker receiving a two-way contract. It seems more likely he received an Exhibit 10 deal, which would put him in line to receive a bonus worth up to $75K if he’s waived and spends up to 60 days with Dallas’ G League affiliate, the Texas Legends. Exhibit 10 deals can also be converted into two-way contracts.

The Mavericks currently have 14 players signed to guaranteed standard contracts, and will reportedly sign Derrick Jones, but his contract has yet to be officially announced. Once Jones’ deal is official, Dallas will have 20 players under contract, one shy of the offseason limit.

Mavs Agree To Camp Deals With Greg Brown, Joe Wieskamp

August 8th, 2023 at 12:59pm CST by Luke Adams

Free agent forward Greg Brown and wing Joe Wieskamp have agreed to sign training camp contracts with the Mavericks, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The 43rd overall pick in the 2021 draft, Brown spent his first season-and-a-half as a pro in Portland, appearing in 64 games for the Trail Blazers during that time. He didn’t establish himself as a regular rotation player, averaging just 4.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per night with a shooting line of .422/.294/.636.

Because the Blazers didn’t have a G League affiliate of their own during Brown’s time with the team, they couldn’t send him to their own NBAGL program for developmental purposes. The 21-year-old ended up being waived in February to accommodate Portland’s trade deadline moves, then finished the season with the Ontario Clippers in the G League.

Wieskamp was drafted two spots ahead of Brown in 2021 and appeared in 29 games for the Spurs as a rookie, but he wasn’t retained for a second season in San Antonio. He inked a pair of 10-day contracts with the Raptors in January of this year, then signed a multiyear deal in February. That contract was only guaranteed for the rest of the 2022/23 season though, so he was waived by Toronto last month before his 2023/24 salary became guaranteed.

Wieskamp, who will turn 24 later this month, has only made 30.9% of his 55 three-point shots at the NBA level in 38 appearances, but has shown his ability to stretch the floor at the G League level, hitting 38.0% of 237 attempts across 32 NBAGL regular season contests.

Dallas currently has 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals, so adding Brown and Wieskamp on camp deals would bring the team’s total roster count to 18 players, leaving three open spots.

Raptors Waive Joe Wieskamp Before Contract Guarantee

July 17th, 2023 at 4:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Raptors have waived Joe Wieskamp, Blake Murphy of Sportsnet tweets.

Toronto now has one open roster spot and is $3.96MM below the luxury tax threshold.

The 23-year-old swingman, who signed with Toronto in February, agreed to move the guarantee date for his $1.927MM salary for next season from June 29 to July 18. The Raptors ultimately decided on roster flexibility rather than guaranteeing Wieskamp’s contract.

He only appeared in nine games with Toronto last season and averaged just 5.6 minutes in those appearances. During previous season, he saw action in 29 games off the bench for San Antonio, which drafted him with the No. 41 pick in 2021 out of Iowa.

Wieskamp appeared in four Summer League contests this month and averaged 13.5 points in 23.9 minutes per game. The team’s decision was anticipated, given that the Raptors drafted another wing, Gradey Dick, in the lottery.

Atlantic Notes: Siakam, Wieskamp, Anunoby, Harden, Walsh

July 13th, 2023 at 6:01pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Raptors forward Pascal Siakam is still a potential trade candidate for Toronto, but the club is taking its time and showing no urgency to make a move, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star.

There’s “more smoke than fire” around Siakam, according to Star, who says the Raptors do not feel a particular obligation to move their veteran star, who at present appears happy to remain with the only NBA team he’s ever known.

The 6’9″ forward submitted his most prolific scoring season yet on a middling 41-41 club in 2022/23, averaging 24.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 5.8 APG, 0.9 SPG and 0.5 BPG.

Smith adds that the $1.9MM non-guaranteed contract of sharpshooter Joe Wieskamp is due to be fully guaranteed Monday, but predicts that Wieskamp is more likely be released than retained.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

The Knicks, who boast one of the best collections of assets in the league, may have the inclination and the pieces to make a trade for Raptors 3-and-D swingman OG Anunoby, writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Anunoby was one of the most coveted players to not be moved during this past season’s trade deadline. The 2022/23 All-Defensive Second Teamer averaged 16.8 PPG on .476/.387/.838 shooting splits, 5.0 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.9 SPG across his 67 available contests last year.
Although rival front offices believe the Sixers are hoping to hold on to star point guard James Harden, a source close to the 2018 MVP says he still wants to be traded for the third time in three seasons, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic.
Celtics rookie forward Jordan Walsh has been solid enough during his Summer League run with Boston that it’s conceivable he could eventually slot into the team’s rotation as a possible Grant Williams replacement this year, opines Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Williams, of course, was sent to Dallas in a three-team sign-and-trade earlier this week.

Raptors Notes: Siakam, Anunoby, Dick, Wieskamp

July 10th, 2023 at 10:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Pascal Siakam‘s absence from the Raptors‘ Summer League games could be an indication that his time with the franchise is close to an end, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Las Vegas is typically a gathering place for established NBA players during Summer League action, but Siakam has stayed away amid rumors that he might be dealt soon and Toronto’s refusal to engage in extension talks.

The Hawks have been linked to Siakam and the Pacers have contacted the Raptors as well, sources tell Grange. Toronto officials are still exploring what they might be able to get in return for the 29-year-old forward, but they would prefer to close a deal fairly quickly, according to Grange.

Grange adds that even if Siakam is moved, it won’t be the start of a complete rebuild. Trading Siakam won’t make the Raptors any more likely to part with OG Anunoby, and sources tell Grange that teams who inquire about Anunoby shouldn’t expect to have their calls returned.

There’s more on the Raptors:

Gradey Dick hasn’t lived up to his reputation as a shooter during his first two Summer League outings, but he’s been able to contribute in other ways, observes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. The lottery pick is just 8-for-25 in Las Vegas, but he’s an active cutter and rebounder and seems to know how to get to the basketball. “He’s got an all-around game. I know he came in as a shooter.” Summer League coach Pat Delany said. “That’s what he does. It’s a strength of his. But I also think, too, there are other things that he does offensively as well — the passing, the cutting, the movement without the ball.”
After losing Fred VanVleet with nothing in return, the Raptors have to make sure they’re not in the same position with their free agents next summer, Koreen adds in a separate story. He points out that Siakam and Anunoby will be two of the top names on the 2024 market if they aren’t traded or extended before then.
Joe Wieskamp is literally fighting for his job at Summer League, notes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. The 23-year-old swingman, who signed with Toronto in February, recently agreed to move the guarantee date for his $1.927MM salary for next season from June 29 to July 18. “They saw me throughout the season,” Wieskamp said. “I was there for three months, playing with the G League, in practices with (the Raptors) every day, even though I didn’t get too many opportunities with the Raptors on the main floor. But they’ve seen my game a lot. It’s just an accumulation of things and they just want to keep seeing more of me. I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing.”

Raptors Notes: VanVleet, Poeltl, Siakam, Anunoby, Wieskamp

June 28th, 2023 at 5:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

In a look at where the Raptors stand heading into free agency, Eric Koreen of The Athletic expects the team to re-sign both Fred VanVleet and Jakob Poeltl, although it will be expensive to do so. Koreen projects a four-year, $130MM contract for VanVleet and a three-year, $63MM deal for Poeltl. That would give Toronto $164.8MM committed to 12 players for the upcoming season, leaving no way to fill out the roster without exceeding the projected luxury-tax threshold of $165MM.

The Rockets may be ready to offer VanVleet a maximum-salary contract, but they reportedly want to limit it to two years. Toronto’s willingness to commit to a longer deal could be enough to convince him to stay, although Koreen also explores sign-and-trade possibilities with the Bulls, Timberwolves and Nets.

The Thunder and Spurs appear to be the best options for Poeltl, Koreen states, although he’s not sure if either franchise will offer a big-money deal to a center with limited shooting range. Koreen also cites the Bucks, Bulls, Lakers and Mavericks as teams that might pursue a sign-and-trade.

There’s more on the Raptors:

Draft night was probably the best time to work out a trade involving Pascal Siakam or OG Anunoby, Koreen adds. A recent report that Siakam may not be open to re-signing with any team that trades for him should cool off his market, but Koreen expects Toronto to still get offers for Anunoby. He also believes it’s likely that both players will start next season with the Raptors, but they probably won’t agree to extensions this summer.
Anunoby has selected CAA Basketball as his new representative, the agency announced (via Twitter). If Anunoby doesn’t sign an extension, he could become a free agent in 2024 by turning down a $19.9MM player option.
Joe Wieskamp and the Raptors have reached an agreement to extend the guarantee date for next season’s contract to July 18, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca. The front office wants to see how he performs during Summer League before committing to another season, adds Murphy, who believes Wieskamp may get a small partial guarantee on the deal for agreeing to the change.