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Thunder Sign Markel Brown, Finalize Camp Roster

September 25th, 2017 at 12:37pm CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder have announced their 20-man roster for training camp, confirming a few previously-reported agreements and announcing one new deal. The following players are now members of the Oklahoma City roster, according to the team:

Brown, the 44th overall pick in the 2014 draft, spent two seasons with the Nets from 2014 to 2016, averaging 5.3 PPG on an unimpressive .382/.297/.781 shooting line. Unable to find an NBA job last season, Brown signed with Russian club Khimki for the 2016/17 campaign. Now, he’ll get a chance to head to camp with the Thunder.

The signing of Brown signals that the Thunder won’t bring center Yannis Morin to camp at this point. Multiple outlets reported in July that Morin had reached an agreement with OKC, but the French big man isn’t listed on the team’s training camp roster.

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Markel Brown To Play In Russia

October 25th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Luke Adams

After being waived by the Cavaliers last week, Markel Brown has lined up another job. Brown will head overseas, having agreed to a deal with Russian team Khimki Moscow, according to international basketball journalist David Pick (Twitter link).

Brown, 24, spent the last two seasons in Brooklyn, averaging 5.3 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 1.2 APG in his 109 total contests with the club. He played sparingly during the 2015/16 season until Lionel Hollins was dismissed as the Nets’ head coach — he saw his minutes – and his production – increase down the stretch. In his final 30 games of the season, Brown averaged 9.4 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.1 APG, and shot .438/.358/.758, a significant improvement on his career marks.

Despite his solid performance last spring, Brown ultimately wasn’t in the Nets’ plans. After initially tendering him a qualifying offer, making him a restricted free agent, Brooklyn rescinded that QO near the end of the July moratorium. The OSU alum signed a camp deal with the Cavs, but didn’t receive any guaranteed money from the team and was one of Cleveland’s cuts leading up to the season.

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Cavs Waive Markel Brown, Cory Jefferson, Jonathan Holmes

October 20th, 2016 at 1:48pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers have cut down the numbers of players on their roster from 20 to 17, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com, who reports (via Twitter) that the team has waived shooting guard Markel Brown, power forward Cory Jefferson, and power forward Jonathan Holmes. The Cavs confirmed the moves in a press release.

Brown, Jefferson, and Holmes each signed a one-year summer contract with the Cavaliers heading into training camp this year, with none of the three players receiving any guaranteed money from the team. Cleveland only has 13 guaranteed salaries on its books for 2016/17, so there’s a roster spot or two available for a player without a fully guaranteed deal, but it was always going to be an uphill battle for Brown, Jefferson, or Holmes to make the cut.

While Holmes has never appeared in a regular season NBA game, Brown and Jefferson have seen some action over the last two seasons, and were teammates in Brooklyn in 2014/15. Brown is the slightly more accomplished player of the pair, having appeared in 109 games to Jefferson’s 58. Brown averaged 5.9 PPG, 2.0 RPG, and 1.5 APG in those games.

With at least two more cuts to make, the Cavs will be making decisions on players like John Holland, Jordan McRae, Dahntay Jones, and DeAndre Liggins within the next few days.

Here’s more out of Cleveland:

  • Within an interesting piece on Kevin Love, Lee Jenkins of SI.com writes that Cavs GM David Griffin told Love in February that he didn’t want to trade him, but would understand if the big man wanted to go somewhere where he could be the primary option again. According to Jenkins, Love replied, “I want to be a champion.”
  • James Jones, who re-signed with the Cavaliers this summer, tells Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders he’s focused on playing 15 years in the NBA, then retiring. Jones is currently entering his 14th season, so that plan would put him on track to call it a career in 2018.
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Contract Details: Brand, Rockets, Thunder, Pacers

September 30th, 2016 at 8:48am CST by Luke Adams

With training camps underway, teams have now officially finalized the contract agreements with various camp invitees that had been reported over the past several weeks, meaning we have plenty of contract details to round up. As usual, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has been busy reporting those details, updating his salary pages for teams around the NBA.

Because we have so many updates to pass along from Pincus, we’ll divide them up by players who received some guaranteed money from their teams, and those who didn’t. All of the links below point to the Basketball Insiders team salary pages, so be sure to click through for additional information.

Here are the latest salary updates from across the league, via Pincus:

Players receiving guaranteed money:

These players aren’t necessarily assured of regular-season roster spots. In fact, many of them likely received guarantees as an incentive to accept a D-League assignment. Still, for some players, larger guarantees should increase their odds of making 15-man rosters.

  • Thomas Walkup (Bulls): One year, minimum salary. $69.5K guaranteed.
  • Keith Benson (Heat): Two years, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Henry Sims (Jazz): One year, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Alex Poythress (Pacers): One year, minimum salary. $35,381 guaranteed.
  • Kevin Seraphin (Pacers): Two years, $3.681MM. First year ($1.8MM) guaranteed.
  • Julyan Stone (Pacers): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Gary Payton II (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. First year ($543,471) guaranteed.
  • Isaiah Taylor (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Kyle Wiltjer (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. $275K guaranteed.
  • Cat Barber (Sixers): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Elton Brand (Sixers): One year, minimum salary. $1MM guaranteed.
  • Derrick Jones (Suns): Three years, minimum salary. $42.5K guaranteed.
  • Alex Caruso (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Kaleb Tarczewski (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Chris Wright (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $100K guaranteed.

Players receiving no guaranteed money:

The following players all signed one-year, minimum salary contracts with no guaranteed money. Many of these deals are “summer contracts,” which won’t count against a team’s cap unless the player earns a spot on the 15-man roster.

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Cavaliers, Markel Brown Agree To Deal

September 6th, 2016 at 3:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Free agent guard Markel Brown has reached an agreement on a deal with the Cavaliers, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter). The newest Cav will have an opportunity to compete for a regular-season roster spot in Cleveland.Markel Brown vertical

Brown, 24, has spent the last two seasons in Brooklyn, averaging 5.3 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 1.2 APG in his 109 total contests with the club. He played sparingly during the 2015/16 season until after Lionel Hollins was dismissed as the Nets’ head coach, and saw his minutes – and his production – increase down the stretch. In his final 30 games of the season, Brown averaged 9.4 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.1 APG, and shot .438/.358/.758, a significant improvement on his career marks.

Despite his solid performance in the spring, Brown ultimately wasn’t in the Nets’ plans. After initially tendering him a qualifying offer, making him a restricted free agent, Brooklyn rescinded that QO near the end of the July moratorium.

For a player looking to earn a spot on a 15-man roster, Cleveland isn’t a bad landing spot — the team only has 12 fully guaranteed contracts on its books. J.R. Smith appears likely to join that mix at some point, but that still leaves two openings. DeAndre Liggins, Jordan McRae, and Cory Jefferson are among the other camp invitees who will look to stick with the Cavaliers through training camp and into the regular season.

The Cavs have used nearly their entire room exception to sign Richard Jefferson and Kay Felder, and are well over the cap, so Brown will get a minimum-salary contract, likely with a partial guarantee. It figures to be either a one- or two-year deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Nets Rescind Markel Brown’s Qualifying Offer

July 6th, 2016 at 1:05pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets have rescinded their qualifying offer for Markel Brown, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter). The move comes with only about 10 hours until the July moratorium ends, meaning Brown will be free to sign a contract with any team tomorrow.

Brown, 24, has spent the last two seasons in Brooklyn, averaging 5.3 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 1.2 APG in his 109 total contests with the club. He played sparingly during the 2015/16 season until after Lionel Hollins was dismissed as the Nets’ head coach, and saw his minutes – and his production – increase down the stretch. In his final 30 games of the season, Brown averaged 9.4 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.1 APG, and shot .438/.358/.758, a significant improvement on his career marks.

The Nets will still have Early Bird rights if they want to retain Brown, but won’t have the right of first refusal if he decides to sign elsewhere.

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Qualifying Offers: Sullinger, Daniels, Barnes

June 29th, 2016 at 9:17pm CST by Eddie Scarito

If an NBA team wishes to ensure a player who is eligible for restricted free agency actually becomes one, that team must issue a qualifying offer before the new league year begins on July 1st. Clubs are gradually making those qualifying-offer decisions official, with the latest round of offers noted below:

  • The Warriors submitted qualifying offers to Harrison Barnes ($5,194,227) and Festus Ezeli ($3,013,123), making both restricted free agents, the team announced via press release.
  • The Kings have submitted a qualifying offer for combo guard Seth Curry, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee relays (via Twitter). Curry’s offer is worth $1,215,696, with the 25-year-old having earned $947,276 for his 44 appearances this past season.
  • The Celtics submitted qualifying offers to frontcourt mates Jared Sullinger and Tyler Zeller, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald tweets. Sullinger’s offer is worth $4,433,683, while Zeller’s comes in at $3,695,169.
  • The Hornets officially announced today that a qualifying offer worth $1,215,696 was submitted for shooting guard Troy Daniels, making him a restricted free agent.
  • The Raptors submitted a qualifying offer to Nando De Colo in order to retain his rights, Doug Smith of The Toronto Star tweets. De Colo isn’t likely headed stateside anytime soon, having signed a three-year contract extension with CSKA Moscow earlier this month. The cap hold for the 29-year-old is $1,901,900.
  • The Grizzlies submitted a qualifying offer to guard Nick Calathes, as the RealGM transactions log shows. The 27-year-old, who is under contract from the Greek club Panathinaikos, last played in the NBA during the 2014/15 campaign. The move by Memphis was merely a procedural one in order to retain Calathes’ rights.
  • The Nets have submitted a qualifying offer worth $1,180,431 to Markel Brown, making him a restricted free agent, Zach Lowe of ESPN.com tweets. Brooklyn declined to submit a qualifying offer worth $1,215,696 to Willie Reed, making him an unrestricted free agent, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops tweets.
  • The Warriors declined to submit a qualifying offer worth $1,180,431 to James McAdoo and the player will now become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group tweets. The team also passed on submitting a qualifying offer worth $1,215,696 to Ian Clark, Rusty Simmons of The San Francisco Chronicle tweets.
  • The Pelicans won’t tender a qualifying to James Ennis ($1,180,431), but remain interested in re-signing him if the price were reasonable, Scott Kushner of The Advocate tweets.
  • The Sixers declined to submit a qualifying offer to Isaiah Canaan ($1,215,696), making him an unrestricted free agent, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group tweets.
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Atlantic Notes: Rambis, Smith, Brown

May 6th, 2016 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Multiple executives around the league expect Knicks coach Kurt Rambis to end up having his interim tag removed, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. That’s certainly no shock, since Rambis and team president Phil Jackson are close, and Jackson has reportedly been hoping from the time Rambis became interim coach that he would ultimately prove worthy of keeping the job. The addition of Frank Vogel to the group of available coaches lends a new layer of intrigue to the Knicks coaching search, but it remains to be seen if Jackson will show any interest in the former Pacers boss, as Bondy examines.

See more from the Atlantic Division:

  • The pool of free agent point guards is shallow this summer, though the Sixers also have the draft and trades to consider as they ponder whether to re-sign Ish Smith with the intention of keeping him as the starter at point guard, as Jessica Camerato of CSN Philly examines. Regardless, adviser Jerry Colangelo doesn’t doubt the impact that the Tony Dutt client had after the Christmas Eve trade that brought him back to the Sixers. “To me, it’s still amazing that when he showed up in Phoenix an hour before game time [on December 26th] that he put a uniform on and stepped out on the floor and led a team to a win, a badly needed win,” Colangelo said. “That was a shot of adrenaline for sure, and it’s carried over.”
  • This year’s Celtics had the best winning percentage of any the team has had since the breakup of the Paul Pierce–Kevin Garnett–Rajon Rondo core, but for Boston to take the next step, another round of wholesale changes are necessary, argues Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com, who analyzes the summer ahead.
  • All indications are that Markel Brown wants to stay with the Nets as his free agency approaches this summer, according to Anthony Parisi of NetsDaily. The second-year shooting guard saw less playing time this season than he did as a rookie, but he still displayed enough promise to warrant the team making the paltry $1,180,431 qualifying offer necessary to retain the right to match competing bids for him, Parisi contends. Brown’s minutes increased down the stretch after the dismissal of Lionel Hollins, Parisi notes. Brown played only 11 minutes over a 13-game span early in the season, prompting him to talk to Hollins about why he wasn’t seeing the court, as Parisi relays.
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Atlantic Notes: Bradley, Wright, Nurse

January 27th, 2016 at 8:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Celtics shooting guard Avery Bradley says switching agents from Mitchell Butler of the Vanguard Sports Group and Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports to Rob Pelinka of Landmark Sports was a “private matter,” adding that it wasn’t about trying to improve his brand or add endorsements, Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe writes. “At the time I just felt like it was best for me,” Bradley told Washburn. “I play because God blessed me to play this game and that’s what I enjoy doing. Hopefully I can continue to keep playing at this high level and hopefully I can continue to be a better basketball player.”

The 25-year-old also told Washburn that he’s trying to lead the team’s younger players by setting the right example and hopes that they are taking notice. “It’s a blessing to be here and part of an organization like this. I just try to come in every single day and be professional and work as hard as I can,” Bradley said. “I feel like you can’t replace that. I try to let everyone know we’re all a team together from the strength and conditioning [coach] to trainer, I try to respect everybody. When I do little things like that it helps them see the importance of a team. Not just the players, but everybody.”

Here’s more regarding the Atlantic Division:

  • The two players on the Nets who can benefit the most by the addition of shooting coach David Nurse are Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Markel Brown, opines Reed Wallach of NetsDaily. Other players whose outside shooting Brooklyn hopes the addition of Nurse will improve in the future are Chris McCullough, Sergey Karasev and draft-and-stash prospect Juan Pablo Vaulet, Wallach adds.
  • The Raptors have recalled combo guard Delon Wright from their D-League affiliate, the team announced. In 12 games for the Raptors 905 this season Wright is averaging 18.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.8 assists while connecting on 52.7% of his field goal attempts.
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Atlantic Notes: Jackson, Joseph, Nets

October 28th, 2015 at 12:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Talk about a scenario in which Knicks team president Phil Jackson would return to work for the Lakers and fiancee Jeanie Buss has resurfaced in NBA circles over recent weeks, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Jackson can reportedly opt out of his five-year deal with the Knicks after this season, Isola notes. Speculation emerged earlier this year that Jackson won’t finish out his contract, though he said in June that he wanted to stay around long enough to help the Knicks turn around their fortunes. While we wait to see what the Zen Master does, see more from around the Atlantic Division:

  • Raptors offseason signee Cory Joseph is planning to play a role for Toronto that’s similar in some ways to the one his former Spurs teammate Manu Ginobili has long embodied for San Antonio, as Sportsnet’s Donnovan Bennett details. “There was no big exchange when that first and second group switched off the court because of him,” Joseph said of Ginobili. “That’s what I want to do here. I want to bring energy with that second unit and uplift because that’s what we are going to need. Manu brought energy, but also a sense of calmness to the second group and managed time and score.”
  • Nets GM Billy King didn’t factor Andrea Bargnani‘s long history of injuries into his decision about whom to keep for the opening night roster, observes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post (Twitter links). Bargnani is healthy for now, as is shooting guard Markel Brown, so King didn’t feel the need to keep power forward Justin Harper and swingman Dahntay Jones, whom the Nets waived, as Bontemps explains.
  • Fellow Nets power forward Willie Reed‘s partial guarantee of $500K increased to a fully guaranteed $947,276 when he stuck on the Nets roster for opening night, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders notes (Twitter link) and as our leaguewide schedule of salary guarantee dates shows. Reed is about two weeks into a six-to-eight-week timetable for recovery from thumb surgery.
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