Larry Sanders

Financial Impact Of Deadline Trades: Central

February 25th, 2015 at 10:58am CST by Chuck Myron

Last week’s trade deadline was a dizzying affair, with 39 players and 17 teams involved in adozen trades, including a trio of three-team transactions. The day had wide-ranging effects on the salary structures of those 17 teams, and we’ll examine the aftermath for each of them in this multipart series.

Today we’ll look at the Central Division, where a pair of teams made fairly significant moves. The salary figures listed here denote this season’s salaries, though we’ll also discuss salary for future seasons.

Detroit Pistons

In: ($9,912,234)

Tayshaun Prince ($7,707,865)
Reggie Jackson ($2,204,369)

Out: ($10,340,000)

Jonas Jerebko ($4,500,000)
D.J. Augustin ($3,000,000)
Luigi Datome ($1,750,000)
Kyle Singler ($1,090,000)

The Pistons pulled the rare trifecta of lowering their payroll for this season and clearing $3MM from their books for next season while adding a player who’s more well-regarded than any they gave up. Detroit accomplished much of this in its side of the three-team swap with the Thunder and Jazz, relinquishing D.J. Augustin and his $3MM guaranteed salary for next season along with Kyle Singler‘s expiring contract for soon-to-be restricted free agent Reggie Jackson. Of course, the team will have to pay to keep Jackson this summer. However, the way president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy and GM Jeff Bower structured the trade left the team with only about $27.9MM in commitments for this summer’s efforts to re-sign Jackson and Greg Monroe.

It also allowed the Pistons to create a trade exception worth the equivalent of Singler’s $1,090,000 salary, since the salaries for Jackson and Augustin are a close match. It also appears as though the Pistons could have created a smaller exception worth $795,631 for the difference between Augustin’s and Jackson’s salaries. Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders shows the Singler exception but no Augustin exception on his Pistons salary page, so it’s possible Detroit wound up without that one. Still, such an asset, which comes to less than the two-year veteran’s minimum salary, would be unlikely to come into play.

Jackson goes to a team willing to give him the starting point guard job he’s coveted, at least until Brandon Jennings comes back healthy next season, and that role carries a side benefit for Jackson, too. The trade makes it highly likely that he’ll trigger the starter criteria to lift the value of his qualifying offer from nearly $3.223MM to almost $4.434MM. He was reportedly willing to sign that qualifying offer while he was a member of the Thunder, but it nonetheless appears as though it won’t come to that for him in Detroit, which just watched Monroe ink his qualifying offer last year.

Detroit’s other trade was a shuffling of expiring deals, with Tayshaun Prince coming in and Jonas Jerebko and Luigi Datome going out. Any long-lasting financial effect depends on whether the Pistons want to bring Prince back for next season, which his outsized cap hold would complicate.

Milwaukee Bucks

In: ($5,060,640)

Michael Carter-Williams ($2,300,040)
Tyler Ennis ($1,590,720)
Miles Plumlee ($1,169,880)

Out: ($4,469,160)

Brandon Knight ($3,553,917)
Kendall Marshall ($915,243)

The Bucks take a collaborative approach to player personnel, with coach Jason Kidd having as much say as GM John Hammond, but it seems clear that they both understand the value of the rookie scale contract. Yes, Milwaukee gave up a productive player on one of those bargain deals, but they gained three other promising young players, and unlike Brandon Knight, all three new Bucks have at least one season left after this one on their contracts. Knight is headed for restricted free agency this summer, and Grantland’s Zach Lowe estimated in December that he’d wind up with a deal that gives him $10-12MM per year. Michael Carter-Williams, Miles Plumlee and Tyler Ennis combine to make $6,170,694 next season. Carter-Williams is under contract through 2016/17, and Ennis, a rookie, can’t elect free agency until 2018, meaning there’s long-term cost-certainty at discount prices.

The flip side is that all three represent guaranteed salary on the books while Knight’s restricted free agency would have given the Bucks flexibility if they wanted to pivot in another direction. Yet that’s offset by the team’s buyout with Larry Sanders. It looks like they reduced his salary to $9MM this season and will owe him only $4.4MM next season and each year through 2017/18, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). That’s instead of the yearly $11MM payout he was to receive. Sanders gave up enough in the buyout deal that it appears as though the team eschewed the stretch provision, which would have allowed Milwaukee to take seven years instead of three to pay off his contract.

So, the team entered the deadline with roughly $46.6MM in commitments for next season and emerged from this weekend, when Sanders’ buyout became official, with about $46.4MM in money on the books for 2015/16, essentially a wash. The Bucks, who appear poised to do more than just sneak into the playoffs this spring, have a chance to be a significant player this summer, with near-max money to burn against a projected $68MM cap.

The team felt a twinge of pain in parting with Kendall Marshall, a move it was reluctant to make, since that cost Milwaukee the Early Bird rights to a 23-year-old former lottery pick who’s only a year removed from having averaged 8.8 assists per game. However, his value presumably took a hit in January when a torn ACL knocked him out for the season, and so long as another team doesn’t sign him to a multiyear deal before the Bucks become eligible to sign him again in July, Milwaukee can just use its cap space if it wants to bring him back.

The Bucks don’t receive any trade exceptions since they’re still under this season’s cap. The team’s amnesty payout to Drew Gooden of more than $6.687MM, which counts toward the minimum team salary, helps ensure Milwaukee will exceed the $56.759MM threshold.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

Larry Sanders Casts Doubt On Return To NBA

February 25th, 2015 at 9:42am CST by Chuck Myron

Larry Sanders revealed in a self-authored piece on The Players’ Tribune that he recently checked himself into a hospital where he took part in a program for anxiety, depression and mood disorders, and he used “if” and not “when” in reference to a return to basketball. The former Bucks center is a free agent after clearing waivers Monday from a buyout deal with Milwaukee.

“I love basketball, and if I get to a point where I feel I’m capable of playing basketball again, I will,” Sanders wrote. “I’ve had to make the difficult decision to follow my intuition, and allow myself the space and time to explore my true purpose in life.”

In January, Sanders denied a report from Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times that he was thinking about retirement amid an absence that began following his last appearance in a game on December 23rd. The center indicated in the video portion of his Players’ Tribune piece that the Bucks organization wasn’t the impetus behind his desire to depart. The 26-year-old reportedly has no intention to sign with an NBA team this season, though the Mavericks and Clippers were among the teams with at least some level of interest in signing him.

The center signed a four-year, $44MM rookie scale extension with the Bucks in 2013, but it didn’t kick in until this season. He forfeited all but $22,064,705 of it in the buyout deal, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Sanders downplayed the importance of money in his essay and suggested in the video that he has numerous priorities other than basketball.

“I’m a person, I’m a father, I’m an artist, I’m a writer, I’m a painter, I’m a musician, and sometimes I play basketball,” Sanders said.

Once a standout defender, Sanders has encountered a multitude of problems since he signed the extension. He broke his hand in a nightclub fight early last season, and the league has twice given him drug-related suspensions. The latest stretched over 12 games and cost him $1.2MM.

Eastern Notes: Canaan, Sixers, Wizards, Sanders

February 21st, 2015 at 11:09pm CST by Arthur Hill

It didn’t take Sixers coach Brett Brown long to name his new starting point guard, according to Mark Macyk of The Inquirer. Isaiah Canaan, who came from Houston to Philadelphia along with a second-round draft pick on Thursday in exchange for K.J. McDaniels, has been chosen to replace the traded Michael Carter-Williams. “I’m excited to coach him,” Brown said of Canaan. “I think that there’s a youthful spirit and a competitiveness, along with what he’s really known for, which is his shot.”

There’s much more from the Eastern Conference:

The parting of Carter-Williams and the Sixers was best for both parties, writes Keith Pompey of The Inquirer. Pompey charges that Carter-Williams is a poor shooter, often holds the ball too long, commits too many turnovers and is injury prone. He also cited two public disagreements with the coaching staff during lopsided Sixers’ losses.
The Wizards followed Friday’s embarrassing loss to the Cavaliers with a “spirited” film session on Saturday, reports J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. The team discussed defensive breakdowns, post-game squabbles and the generally awful effort that led to a 38-point loss on national television. “When you got good guys like we got on the team, guys speak up and let guys know what need to be done,” said newly acquired guard Ramon Sessions. “As a pro you don’t look at that and take that in the wrong way. You take that in a way to make the team better. We’re going to be fine.”
Larry Sanders gave up a lot of money Saturday in accepting a buyout from the Bucks, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Amick wrote that Sanders received about $15.2MM of the $38MM left on his contract, in addition to what he already earned this season.
Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith tells Marc Berman of The New York Post that he “wasn’t the right fit” for the Knicks‘ triangle offense. Smith and Iman Shumpert were traded from New York to Cleveland on January 5th. “It was tough from a mental standpoint,” Smith said. “You start second-guessing yourself and your talent to a certain point. So many guys thrived in that triangle, and you want to put yourself in that class. Not living up to it is kind of disappointing.’’

Bucks Waive Larry Sanders In Buyout Deal

February 21st, 2015 at 9:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

9:38pm: Sanders was cleared to play by the NBA and is in full compliance with the league’s anti-drug policy, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (Twitter link).

6:47pm: The Bucks have waived Sanders, the team announced (Twitter link). “We believe this decision is in the best interest of our team,” GM John Hammond said. “We wish Larry well and remain excited about the future of the Bucks organization.” Not surprisingly, the team didn’t release any details about the terms of the buyout, but presumably Sanders is indeed giving up a significant chunk of salary in the arrangement.

SATURDAY, 6:33pm: The buyout deal is done, Wojnarowski reports, adding that the center is giving up approximately half of the original value of his $44MM deal (Twitter links). It’ll be a while before he plays again as he continues to deal with personal issues, Wojnarowski adds.

WEDNESDAY, 5:13pm: Sanders has no plans to pursue a deal with another team to play in the NBA this season, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports.

12:12pm: The buyout deal still isn’t final, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times (Twitter links).

10:58am: Sanders will be getting $14.5MM of the $33MM originally owed him after this season, a source tells Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, who reiterates that the Bucks will spread that amount via the stretch provision (Twitter link)

10:51am: The Bucks still haven’t received signed paperwork on the buyout from Sanders, as USA Today’s Sam Amick cautions (on Twitter).

10:38am: Sanders didn’t want to report to the Bucks following the end of his suspension, thus giving the Bucks leverage to extract as much as they did in the buyout, a source tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links). It’s unlikely Sanders will sign with another team this season, Kennedy’s source adds and as Kyler also tweets, which makes sense, given that it appears he won’t return to the court in 2014/15.

10:32am: Sanders will receive $15MM more from the Bucks on top of the team’s nearly $8MM payout to him so far this season, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders hears (Twitter links). Milwaukee will use the stretch provision to spread that $15MM over seven years instead of the three remaining on Sanders’ contract, Kyler also hears.

10:05am: The Bucks and Larry Sanders already have a deal on a buyout, reports Shams Charania of RealGM, who says the agreement has been in place for days. He’ll only receive $13MM of the money left on his four-year, $44MM contract, Charania adds. Sanders is in the first year of that pact. Charania seconds a report minutes earlier from Marc Stein of ESPN.com that Sanders will hit waivers no later than March 1st, so he’ll be eligible to play in the postseason for another team. However, it’s unlikely that he returns to the court this season as he continues to deal with personal issues, as Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher wrote overnight.

A drug-related suspension already cost Sanders $1.2MM of his $11MM salary for this season. That suspension ended for the final game before the All-Star break, but he didn’t appear in that contest, and he hasn’t played for the Bucks since December 23rd, long before the NBA handed down the ban. The 26-year-old denied a report amid his absence that he was contemplating retirement, but at this point it seems his career has taken a serious downturn following a breakout season in 2012/13.

Milwaukee rewarded him the following summer with the $44MM deal, which came in the form of a rookie scale extension. He broke his hand in a nightclub fight early last season, which touched off his woes, and he missed time again later in the 2013/14 campaign because of a fractured orbital bone. The league hit him with his first drug-related suspension in April. His production fell off amid the injuries, and trade rumors surfaced. There appeared to be serious interest from other teams as of draft time, but later in the summer, assistant GM David Morway affirmed that Sanders was a part of the club’s future. However, the level of his performance failed to bounce back this season, and it appears the relationship between the club and Sanders has soured.

Clippers, Mavs Cautiously Interested In Sanders

February 21st, 2015 at 7:25pm CST by Chuck Myron

THURSDAY, 7:25pm: The Clippers have also shown interest, and the Cavs did as well prior to garnering a commitment from Kendrick Perkins, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Still, sources tell Stein that Sanders has no plan to play again this year, echoing earlier reports. Presumably the Clippers would tread carefully with Sanders, just as the Mavs would, though that’s just my speculation.

WEDNESDAY, 11:58am: The Mavs have “cautious and complicated interest” in Larry Sanders, who’s reportedly poised to hit waivers as part of a buyout deal with the Bucks, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. It would take a convincing case from Happy Walters, the agent for Sanders, and Monta Ellis, who clashed with Sanders when they were teammates in Milwaukee, would have to give his blessing for a deal between Sanders and the Mavs to come to fruition, MacMahon cautions. MacMahon indicates that the interest would be for a deal this season, but Sanders is reportedly unlikely to return to the court or seek a deal this season.

Dallas only has the minimum salary to offer for any deal this season, as MacMahon points out. Marc Stein of ESPN.com identified the Mavs as a potential suitor for Sanders this past spring, but it seems his value has only declined since then. The center appears set to give up the majority of the $33MM he was set to make in the final three seasons of his deal with the Bucks.

The Mavs have a strong relationship with Walters, according to MacMahon, and Jermaine O’Neal‘s decision this week to abandon his efforts to play this season left the Mavs without one of their big man targets. Dallas had been prepared to sign both O’Neal and Amar’e Stoudemire, as Stein and MacMahon wrote earlier. Stoudemire has committed to joining the Mavs after clearing waivers today.

Bucks, Larry Sanders Expected To Reach Buyout

February 18th, 2015 at 9:51am CST by Chuck Myron

9:57am: A buyout deal is “all but done” and is soon to become official, Stein reports (Twitter links). Sanders will hit waivers by March 1st, Stein says, so he’d be eligible to play for another team in the postseason, but Stein adds that there’s been no indication that he’ll be back on the court soon, which jibes with Bucher’s report that he’s likely to miss the rest of the season.

WEDNESDAY, 8:43am: It’s unlikely that Sanders plays again this season as he continues to deal with personal issues, according to Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher.

TUESDAY, 11:12am: The Bucks and the representatives for Sanders are making progress as they move toward a buyout, a source tells Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link). An agreement is “expected,” but there’s no deal yet, Amick says.

MONDAY, 8:20am: The Bucks and Larry Sanders have begun discussions about a buyout of his four-year, $44MM deal, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Sanders is not expected to play for Milwaukee again, Stein writes, so it appears the team has every intention of offloading him one way or another. The 26-year-old last week came off a drug-related suspension that lasted 12 games and cost him $1.2MM of his $11MM salary, but he did not appear Wednesday in Milwaukee’s final game before the All-Star break, his first after the league lifted the suspension.

Sanders is in the first year of his deal, which came in the form of a rookie scale extension he signed in August 2013 after a breakout performance in the 2012/13 season. It’s been downhill since for the 15th overall pick from the 2010 draft, as he suffered a broken hand in a nightclub fight early in the 2013/14 season and missed the latter portion of that season with a fractured orbital bone. He also garnered a five-game drug suspension in April.

There were numerous trade rumors surrounding the 6’11” center throughout last season, and there was reportedly serious interest in him at draft time. Later in the summer, assistant GM David Morway insisted that Sanders was in the team’s plans for the future. There hasn’t been much trade chatter since, though that may have as much to do with his lackluster play and limited minutes as any pronouncement from Bucks management. Sanders has seen action in only 21.7 minutes per game across 27 appearances, and he hasn’t played since December 23rd because of the suspension and what the team has called “personal reasons.” Amid his absence, he denied a report that he was contemplating retirement.

Buyouts rarely happen with deals that extend as long as the one Sanders is on. It’s unclear how much Sanders, a client of Relativity Sports agents Dan Fegan and Happy Walters, would be willing to relinquish, but the Bucks could elect to use the stretch provision to help ease the burden of the contract for 2015/16 and beyond.

And-Ones: Blazers, Sanders, Trade Rumors, Bulls

February 16th, 2015 at 10:34pm CST by Charlie Adams

Jermaine O’Neal appeared poised to join the Mavs, but instead it’ll be another big man jumping aboard Dallas’ roster mid-season, as Amar’e Stoudemire has reportedly committed to inking a deal with Rick Carlise and company. While the seven-time All-Star hooking up with the Mavs is the biggest scoop of the night, we’ve got plenty more from around the league to round up below:

The Blazers “will not hesitate” to send a first-round pick, Thomas Robinson, and “another player” to the Nuggets in exchange for Wilson Chandler, reports Jabari Young of CSNNW.com. Portland prefers Chandler to Arron Afflalo, according to Young, but the team would be interested in adding Afflalo if Denver’s asking price on him is significantly lower than that of Chandler’s.
If Larry Sanders and the Bucks reach a deal on a buyout, the Cavs will be among the teams with interest in signing the 26-year-old big man, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (Twitter link). Sanders hasn’t suited up for Milwaukee since December 23rd.
There’s “plenty of interest” around the league in Brendan Haywood‘s uniquely structured contract, Amico reports in the same tweet.
The Bulls are interested in adding a shooter to their roster, but they won’t move any of their big men or sacrifice a future first-rounder to do so, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Such reluctance likely means they won’t be able to land the sharpshooting Afflalo, whom the team is reportedly high on, and Johnson indicates Chicago will look to the list of players who reach buyout deals as potential targets.
Andre Dawkins‘ second 10-day contract with the Celtics expired last week, but Boston doesn’t intend to re-sign him for the remainder of the season, reveals Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (via Twitter).
While no signing is imminent, the Bulls and Ronnie Brewer have kept in close contact this season, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. Chicago has one open roster spot.
The Wizards hope to acquire a speedy point guard to back up John Wall and a shooter to help space the floor, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports passes along in his weekly power rankings.
Adam Silver doesn’t believe that the draft lottery is a broken system, but he confessed that fans’ generally negative perception of it has him contemplating a new way to determine the draft order, observes Benjamin Hoffman of the New York Times.

And-Ones: Sanders, Johnson, Suns

February 11th, 2015 at 10:05pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Larry Sanders‘ league-imposed suspension for marijuana use has ended, Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (Twitter link). The big man had been suspended without pay for a minimum of 10 games for a violation of the anti-drug policy, the NBA had announced back on January 16th. The league had stipulated that the suspension would remain in effect until Sanders fully complied with his treatment program. There has been no official announcement from the league or the Bucks regarding Sanders’ reinstatement as of yet. Sanders has missed a total of 12 games while on suspension, totaling $1.2MM in lost wages.

The end of the suspension makes it certain that the team will be unable to re-sign Jorge Gutierrez, whose 10-day contract will expire during the All-Star break, unless the Bucks unload one of their 15 players who are signed through the end of the season. Gutierrez has occupied the extra roster spot that Milwaukee’s has had thanks to the presence of Sanders on the suspended list.

Here’s more from around the league:

If Tyler Johnson remains on the Heat‘s roster past August 1st, half of his $845,059 salary for the 2015/16 season will become guaranteed, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders notes (Twitter link). Johnson was signed to a two-year deal by Miami after completing a pair of 10-day contracts with the team.
The Suns have recalled Archie Goodwin and Reggie Bullock from the Bakersfield Jam, their D-League affiliate, the team has announced. This was the the fourth trek of the season for Goodwin to Bakersfield, and the second for Bullock.
Pistons president of basketball operations and coach Stan Van Gundy blasted the Kings for how they have treated interim coach Tyrone Corbin, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. Van Gundy took issue with the organization’s public courting of George Karl, who is reportedly finalizing an agreement to coach Sacramento, Mayo notes. “I think it’s an unfortunate situation, the way it’s been handled,” Van Gundy said. “I think Tyrone Corbin has been treated very, very poorly by their organization. I think the way they have treated him is unfortunate and inexcusable for one of the real class acts in our business.“
While Jahlil Okafor remains the consensus No. 1 overall pick in June’s NBA draft, the player likely to be selected No. 2 remains a tight race between Emmanuel Mudiay, Karl-Anthony Towns, and D’Angelo Russell, Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) notes.

Central Notes: Pistons, Gutierrez, Cavs

February 11th, 2015 at 6:03pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The only way the Pistons would part with one of their players on a rookie contract at the deadline is if they receive a star or another such deal in return, coach/executive Stan Van Gundy says, adding that the team is open to becoming a deadline buyer, as MLive’s David Mayo notes. “Yeah. But again, depending on what you have to give up,” Van Gundy said of upgrading at the deadline. “We don’t want to be making sacrifices down the road. If it was a matter of just spending more money, yes, we definitely would. But if it’s a matter of us giving up what we think are valuable assets, and it was just for a rental for the rest of the year, probably not.”

Here’s more from the Central Division:

Bucks GM John Hammond struck a similar tone about his team Tuesday, as Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays. “Look, the big picture for us is becoming a championship-caliber organization,” Hammond said. “For us to get short-sighted and say, ‘Let’s try to win today’ and replacing any thought of moving forward into the future, I think we’re all aware that’s not who we want to be. Anything we’re looking at today is still hopefully going to be focused on acquiring a piece or talking about adding pieces that can be long-term players for this organization.”
The early season trades that the Cavaliers had made are paying dividends for the franchise, John Zitzler of Basketball Insiders writes. Cleveland has shown significant improvement as a team since acquiring Timofey Mozgov, who has been the most vital addition, but the play of both J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert have also been a boon, Zitzler adds. GM David Griffin deserves praise for identifying the Cavs’ biggest weaknesses and promptly addressing them, the Basketball Insiders scribe adds.
The Bucks won’t sign Jorge Gutierrez to a deal for the rest of the season unless they make a move to free up a roster spot, Hammond told reporters, including Andrew Gruman of Fox Sports Wisconsin (Twitter link). That indicates the team expects Larry Sanders back from his suspension at some point this season, since Gutierrez, on day No. 5 of his second 10-day contract with the team, is in the extra roster spot that the suspension allows for.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Sanders, Antetokounmpo, Porter

February 8th, 2015 at 2:54pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Team sources say Larry Sanders has done everything that has been asked of him since he was suspended by the NBA for at least 10 games on January 16th for a drug violation, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The league stipulated that the suspension will remain in effect until he fully complies with his treatment program and there remains no timetable for his return.

There’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Celtics coach Brad Stevens thinks the Bucks‘ Giannis Antetokounmpo “has a chance to be special,” according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. Antetokounmpo has been able to retain his skills and athleticism despite a notable growth spurt since reaching the NBA. “He is unique,” Stevens said. “His length … everyone talks about length as a buzz word in basketball, but then there’s him or a couple of guys like him. There’s not that many.” Antetokounmpo has more than two seasons and $6.82MM remaining on his rookie deal. If he continues to progress, I would speculate that some team offers him a maximum value contract when he becomes a restricted free agent; that is if the Bucks don’t sign him to an extension before then.
Another member of the 2013 draft class, Otto Porter, is thriving for his team. The Wizards are starting Porter in place of Bradley Beal, who is out of the lineup because of an injury, and the franchise may have found a player who can contribute come playoff time, writes Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post. Porter has averaged 10.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game during his four games as a starter.
The Hawks have recalled Mike Muscala from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League, according to the team’s twitter feed. The big man accrued 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists in the Mad Ants’ win on Saturday.
The Grizzlies have recalled Jordan Adams from their D-League affiliate, the Iowa Energy, according to the team’s twitter feed. Adams accumulated four points, seven rebounds and four assists during the lone game of his latest D-League assignment.

Arthur Hill contributed to this post

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