Kyle Guy Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Guy, WBD Lawsuit, 21-And-Under Players, More

August 9th, 2024 at 9:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Former Virginia star Kyle Guy, who was the 55th overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, is returning to his alma mater as an athlete development mentor and special assistant, according to a press release from the program.

“C’ville I am back!” Guy said in a statement. “I want to sincerely thank Coach (Tony) Bennett and (athletic director) Carla Williams for trusting me with the opportunity to come back and begin this next chapter of my life. This was not an easy decision for me, but knowing how much love I have for this culture and community made it very clear where I should be with my family. I’m beyond excited to help this team and the University in any way needed.”

Guy, who will turn 27 on Sunday, spent three years in the NBA from 2019-22, appearing in a total of 53 regular season games for the Kings and Heat and averaging 3.1 points in 8.1 minutes per contest. He spent the past two seasons playing internationally in Spain and Greece. However, his new role and his accompanying statement suggest that he’s prepared to put his playing career behind him.

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

The judge who is overseeing Warner Bros. Discovery’s lawsuit against the NBA has given the league until August 23 to respond, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic (Twitter link). If the NBA moves to dismiss the suit, WBD would have until September 20 to file its opposition, then the league would have until October 2 to respond again. The lawsuit was a response to the league rejecting TNT’s right to match Amazon’s offer for NBA media rights.
James L. Edwards III, Kelly Iko and Will Guillory of The Athletic conducted a 24-player mock draft of NBA players who were 21 or younger at the end of the 2023/24 season. Victor Wembanyama, unsurprisingly, was the top pick, followed by Paolo Banchero, Alperen Sengun, Brandon Miller, and Dereck Lively.
The rest of the basketball world hasn’t caught up to the United States, but a down-to-the-wire semifinal game against Serbia at the Olympics was a reminder that the gap is narrowing, writes Seerat Sohi of The Ringer. Sohi notes that France, led by Wembanyama and youngsters like Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr, Tidjane Salaun, and projected 2025 lottery pick Nolan Traore, could be a future powerhouse, while Canada is still on the rise despite a disappointing 2024 outcome.

International Notes: Mirotic, P. Motiejunas, Guy, Mannion

June 15th, 2023 at 7:23pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Longtime NBA power forward Nikola Mirotic, who has been back overseas since 2019, will remain in Europe for the immediate future. According to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia (Twitter link), the 6’10” big man has agreed to terms on a deal with Italian club Olimpia Milano after having spent the past four seasons as the best-compensated player in Europe with FC Barcelona.

According to Sportando, Mirotic has two years remaining on his deal with Barcelona. However, the Spanish team reportedly informed the forward that it intends to terminate that contract, as BasketNews.com relays.

Selected in the 2011 draft with the No. 23 pick, Mirotic logged major rotation minutes on the Bulls, Pelicans and Bucks from 2014-19. Instead of springing for a lucrative new contract in free agency that summer, he opted for a return to international play, where he had begun his career with Real Madrid in 2008.

Here’s more news and notes from around the basketball world:

The EuroLeague, widely considered to be the second-most competitive basketball organization in the world, has officially named its new CEO: Paulius Motiejunas. According to BasketNews.com, EuroLeague shareholders unanimously voted for Motiejunas, who has served as the president and owner of EuroLeague club Zalgiris Kaunas for a decade.
After just one season with Spain’s Joventut Badalona, former NBA guard Kyle Guy will find a new home next season, per Eurohoops. Guy was selected out of Virginia with the No. 55 pick in 2019, and logged time with the Kings, Cavaliers, and Heat — plus their respective NBAGL affiliates — from 2019-22. He averaged 11.5 PPG on a .408/.345/.802 slash line across 34 contests in Liga ACB play.
Spanish team Saski Baskonia is considering signing ex-Warriors point guard Nico Mannion, currently with Virtus Bologna, writes Alessandro Maggi of Sportando. The 22-year-old out of Arizona appeared in just 30 NBA games with Golden State during the 2020/21 season, averaging 4.1 PPG, 2.3 APG nd 1.5 RPG in 12.1 MPG. Mannion, who would be a Warriors restricted free agent if he were to attempt a return to the NBA, averaged 9.9 PPG and 3.1 APG in the LBA with Virtus Bologna this past season.

Kyle Guy Signs With Joventut Badalona

July 22nd, 2022 at 7:24am CST by Luke Adams

Free agent guard Kyle Guy has finalized a one-year deal with Spanish team Joventut Badalona, the club announced in a press release. An earlier report indicated that the two sides were closing in on an agreement.

The No. 55 overall pick in the 2019 draft, Guy spent his first three professional seasons in the NBA and the G League, appearing in a total of 53 NBA regular season games for the Kings and Heat while also spending time with the Stockton Kings, Cleveland Charge, and Sioux Falls Skyforce.

The former Virginia standout caught on with Miami last season during the NBA’s COVID-19 outbreak, signing a pair of 10-day hardship deals and then a two-way contract. He appeared in 19 games for the Heat, averaging 3.9 PPG and 0.9 RPG on .400/.350/.667 shooting in 9.8 MPG before being waived.

Guy’s new team, Joventut Badalona, plays in Spain’s top league (Liga ACB) and also competes in the EuroCup. Guy is the second noteworthy NBA veteran to sign with the club this offseason — 2016 first-round pick Henry Ellenson joined Joventut earlier in July.

And-Ones: Guy, Johnson-Odom, 2025 Cap, Summer League Takeaways

July 21st, 2022 at 2:50pm CST by Rory Maher

Free agent guard Kyle Guy, the 55th pick of the 2019 draft, is closing in on a deal with Spanish club Joventut, tweets Spanish basketball reporter Gerard Solé (hat tip to Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops).

Guy spent his first two NBA seasons with the Kings on a two-way contract, appearing in 34 total games with modest averages of 2.7 PPG and 1.1 RPG in 7.2 MPG. He signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Cavaliers prior to last season, was waived, and then spent time with the team’s G League affiliate, the Canton Charge.

Last December, during the league’s COVID-19 outbreak, Guy caught on with the Heat, signing a couple of 10-day hardship deals and then a two-way contract. He appeared in 19 games for Miami, averaging 3.9 PPG and 0.9 RPG in 9.8 MPG. He was waived in March and rejoined the Charge for the remainder of 2021/22.

Guy participated in a free agent workout with the Lakers a few weeks ago, but evidently nothing came of it. If he finalizes the deal with Joventut, he’ll be playing in the top league in Spain, Liga ACB.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

Guard Darius Johnson-Odom, who appeared in seven NBA games with the Lakers and Sixers from 2012-14, has signed with Romanian club Rapid Bucharest, the team announced on Facebook (hat tip to Dario Skerletic of Sportando). The well-traveled veteran has made international stops in Russia, China, Turkey, Greece, Italy and most recently in France with Le Mans of the LNB Pro A league last season.
Agents like Mark Bartelstein are anticipating a big salary cap increase in 2025, when the NBA’s new media rights deal will kick in. The new deal should be much more lucrative than 2016, when the cap increased by 34%. “I think there’s going to be a huge jump,” Bartelstein told Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. “The NBA is as hot as can be and everybody wants a piece of it. People can’t get enough of it.” Vorkunov wonders if cap smoothing might be considered by the Players Association this time around after it was rejected in 2015. Smoothing, as the name implies, would artificially lower the salary cap and phase in the increase over several years in order to prevent a big single-year spike.
With the caveat that it’s Summer League and thus should be taken with a grain of salt, John Hollinger of The Athletic provides his takeaways from Las Vegas. According to Hollinger, all of the top six picks of last month’s draft looked outstanding, a few first-rounders struggled (Johnny Davis, Jake LaRavia and Peyton Watson), while a couple late second-rounders stood out for good reasons (Jabari Walker and JD Davison).

Pacific Notes: Johnson, Kings, Atkinson, Lakers

June 7th, 2022 at 10:36pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After suffering a frustrating seven-game Western Conference Semifinals loss to the Mavericks, the Suns face some key rotation decisions during a 2022 offseason that arrived earlier than expected. One of those decisions involves Cameron Johnson, eligible for his rookie contract extension this summer. Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic examines whether or not it would behoove Phoenix to extend Johnson this year, and whether he should be moved into the team’s starting rotation for the start of the 2022/23 season.

Johnson, the No. 11 pick out of North Carolina in 2020, proved to be a key contributor off the bench for the Suns during the team’s 64-18 season. He averaged a career-high 12.5 PPG on .460/.425/.860 shooting from the floor, while chipping in a career-best 4.1 RPG, 1.5 APG and 0.9 SPG. Johnson also was the first player promoted to a starting role when All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker missed three postseason games due to a hamstring injury.

Rankin predicts that Johnson could earn between $15-20MM annually on an extension, and points to the fact that the Suns reached rookie extension agreements with two of its three most important extension-eligible young players during the 2021 offseason. Jae Crowder started ahead of Johnson at power forward in his 80 games of regular season availability, but as he embarks on the last season of the three-year, $30MM contract he inked with the Suns in 2020, Rankin wonders if a Johnson extension would eventually necessitate the younger player’s move into the starting five over Crowder.

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

The Kings, who have not made the playoffs since 2006, are believed to be on the hunt for a “win-now player” using their lottery pick, league sources inform Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. Sacramento owns the fourth pick in this year’s draft, and could either draft an NBA-ready player or use the selection in a trade to acquire a veteran who could grow with the team’s current core.
Thanks to successive seasons as an assistant coach with the Clippers and now the Warriors, former Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson has joined the ranks of top assistants vying for head coaching vacancies once again, as Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com writes. Atkinson was in the running late to become the new Lakers head coach, and is a major contender to be the prime shot-caller for the Hornets. “It’s a great experience being considered (for head coaching jobs), but, man, I’m in such a great place — not only from basketball, but from a living in California, the Bay Area, the whole thing,” Atkinson said of his current gig as a Golden State assistant under head coach Steve Kerr. “So it almost takes the pressure off when you’re really in a good situation. I mean, I’m still competitive, and I try to do my best in interviewing and everything, but also in the back of my mind I’m saying, like, man, if I don’t get another shot, I’m in a great, great situation.”
The Lakers, who may need to replace as many as seven now-free agent players from its 2021/22 roster, got an in-person look at several free agents on Tuesday, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). McMenamin reports that free agents Alize Johnson, Langston Galloway, Kyle Guy, Louis King and D.J. Wilson were in attendance for a workout.

Central Notes: Ball, Grant, Carlisle, Guy, Wade

March 28th, 2022 at 6:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lonzo Ball will be reevaluated this week and “wants to come back and play,” Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago tweets.

A week ago, the Bulls announced Ball would not run for 10 days. His rehab from surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee was halted after he felt discomfort in the knee. Ball’s reevaluation is expected to happen when the team returns from its road trip, which ends on Tuesday. There’s hope Ball can ramp up to full-speed running and cutting after he’s reevaluated.

“Lonzo really wants to come back and play. He wants to do everything possible…,” coach Billy Donovan said. “If we do start ramping up and [he doesn’t respond well again], I don’t know what they’ll do because we have not discussed that.”

Ball has been out since January 14.

We have from the Central Division:

Jerami Grant, the Pistons’ leading scorer, will sit out the rest of the season due to a left calf strain, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com tweets. Grant suffered the injury against Washington on Friday. A prime trade candidate this offseason, he has one year remaining on his three-year contract.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has returned to the sidelines after leaving the team for two games due to personal reasons, James Boyd of the Indianapolis Star tweets. “Felt very bad about not going on that trip because it’s just a hard set of couple games, given our personnel situation. But we’ve got seven (games) left, and we’ve got to focus,” he said.
Guard Kyle Guy has rejoined the Cleveland Charge, the Cavaliers’ G League team, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Guy was waived by the Heat on Thursday. Guy signed a two-way contract with Miami in mid-January after playing with the Charge. He appeared in 19 games with Miami, averaging 3.9 PPG in 9.8 MPG.
Cavaliers forward Dean Wade has a six-to-eight week recovery period from his knee surgery, Kelsey Russo of The Athletic tweets. The meniscus surgery on his right knee will be a cleanup procedure and he should be a full participant in Summer League activities, Russo adds.

Mychal Mulder Signs Two-Way With Heat; Kyle Guy Waived

March 24th, 2022 at 9:08pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Heat have signed guard Mychal Mulder to a two-way contract and waived Kyle Guy, the team’s PR department tweets.

Mulder has been playing for Miami’s G League squad. He has averaged 17.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG and 2.7 APG in 10 games with the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Mulder has 82 games of NBA experience under his belt. He played the last two seasons with Golden State. He saw action in 15 games with the Magic this season, averaging 3.7 PPG in 13.0 MPG. Mulder, 27, was waived by Orlando in early January.

Guy signed a two-way contract with Miami in mid-January. He appeared in 19 games with Miami, averaging 3.9 PPG in 9.8 MPG. He only saw action in eight games over the last two months and didn’t play more than seven minutes in any of those appearances.

Heat Waive Marcus Garrett, Sign Kyle Guy To Two-Way Contract

January 17th, 2022 at 11:55am CST by Arthur Hill

JANUARY 17: The Heat have officially signed Guy to a two-way contract, per NBA.com’s transactions log. The move allows the team to keep Guy active for Monday’s game vs. Toronto.

JANUARY 16: The Heat are waiving rookie guard Marcus Garrett and give his two-way slot to Kyle Guy, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The team has officially confirmed (via Twitter) that Garrett has been released.

Garrett, who hasn’t played since late December, will undergo season-ending wrist surgery, Chiang adds. He will remain around the team for rehab purposes until the season is over, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel (Twitter link).

Garrett signed a two-way contract in September after going undrafted out of Kansas. He appeared in 12 games, averaging 1.1 points and 1.9 rebounds in 10.7 minutes per night.

Guy joined the Heat last month as a hardship addition and signed a second 10-day deal last weekend. He’s averaging 8.2 PPG in six games while shooting 51.4% from the field and 45% from three-point range.

Heat Re-Sign Kyle Guy, Chris Silva To 10-Day Contracts

January 10th, 2022 at 1:47pm CST by Luke Adams

1:47pm: The Heat have officially re-signed both Guy and Silva to 10-day hardship deals, the team confirmed in a press release.

12:03pm: In addition to retaining Guy, the Heat will re-sign Chris Silva to a 10-day deal, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). Both players will be signed via hardship exceptions, since Garrett remains in the COVID-19 protocols and Markieff Morris has entered the protocols as well, Winderman notes.

A 6’8″ forward, Silva averaged 4.8 PPG and 5.2 RPG in five games (12.2 MPG) during his first 10-day contract with Miami.

10:37am: The Heat intend to re-sign guard Kyle Guy to a second 10-day contract, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Guy’s first 10-day deal with the team expired on Saturday night.

Wojnarowski says Guy is expected to return to the club via a hardship exception. Currently, the Heat only have one player – Marcus Garrett – in the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Miami’s pending agreement with Guy suggests the team either expects Garrett to remain in the protocols a little longer or knows that another player is about to enter the protocols.

The 55th overall pick in the 2019 draft, Guy spent his first two seasons on a two-way contract with Sacramento, but played a very limited role with the Kings, appearing in 34 games and averaging 2.7 PPG and 1.0 APG in 7.2 minutes per contest. He played the best basketball of his NBA career during his recent 10-day stint with the Heat, recording 9.8 PPG, 2.6 APG, and 1.6 RPG on .514/.350/.800 shooting in 20.2 minutes per contest.

Guy will earn $95,930 over the course of his new 10-day deal with the Heat, but that money won’t count against team salary for cap or tax purposes as long as it’s a hardship signing.

While Guy is poised to re-sign with the Heat, there’s no indication yet that any of the other five players whose 10-day contracts expired over the weekend – Aric Holman, Haywood Highsmith, Mario Chalmers, Nik Stauskas, or Chris Silva – will be retained in the short term.

Heat Notes: Yurtseven, Strus, Martin, Guy, Chalmers

January 9th, 2022 at 9:06am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat not only won in Phoenix Saturday night against a Suns team with the league’s best record, they did it with a starting lineup that included Max Strus, Caleb Martin and Omer Yurtseven, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic. That trio makes up part of Hollinger’s “Dog Days Heroes,” recognizing under-the-radar players who have excelled in December and January.

Yurtseven signed with Miami in the final week of last season after a strong showing in the G League. He was the third center on the depth chart when the season began, but the Heat’s injuries and COVID-19 absences have given him an unexpected workload. He has responded by ranking second in the league in with a 23.8 rebound rate, along with a 4.1% block rate.

Strus, who spent most of last season recovering from a torn ACL, is shooting 41.8% from three-point range. He has also doubled his rebound rate this year and has improved on defense. Martin, who signed a two-way contract after the Hornets waived him in the offseason, has become a defensive presence in Miami and is getting points in transition. Hollinger expects him to get a standard deal later in the season when the Heat have enough room under the luxury tax to fill their final roster spot.

There’s more from Miami:

Kyle Guy has been outstanding, but the Heat don’t appear to have a roster spot for him after his 10-day hardship contract expired Saturday night, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Guy averaged 9.8 PPG in five games and shot 45% from three-point range. However, the open roster spot is likely being saved for Martin, and the Heat like the potential of Marcus Garrett, who holds the other two-way slot. A second 10-day deal for Guy may be unlikely because Garrett is the last Miami player in the protocols and he’s expected to be cleared soon. “I’m grateful for the opportunity and making the most of it,” Guy said Friday. “So they’ll tell me when they think they need to tell me. Whether that’s at the end of the 10-day or today or tomorrow, I don’t know. So we’ll see. But I have no idea.”
Veteran guard Mario Chalmers will see his 10-day hardship contract expire today, Chiang adds. He’s not ready to give up on playing yet, but he’s considering a future in coaching. “My mom was a coach, my dad was a coach, so I’ve been around coaches all my life,” Chalmers said. “It’s just something that I love the game of basketball so much that I’ll always want to be around it.”
The Heat are in a strong position as the February 10 trade deadline approaches and shouldn’t feel any desperation to make a deal, contends Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel.