Mychal Mulder

Warriors Plan Second 10-Day Contract For Mychal Mulder

Rookie guard Mychal Mulder made a strong impression on his first 10-day contract with the Warriors and appears to have earned another one, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Mulder’s contract expired after last night’s game, but he went out with a flourish, scoring 18 points in a win over the Sixers.

He has gotten into six games since signing with the team on February 27 and is averaging 12.3 PPG in 29.5 minutes per night. He has made 16 total 3-pointers and is shooting 35.6% from long distance. Slater notes that among 22 players who have been on Golden State’s roster this season, Mulder is the only one with a positive plus-minus rating.

“Mike is fantastic,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters after Saturday’s game. “A really good player. Good defensively. We are lucky to have him. I know this is his final day of 10-day, but we are anxious to get him back in some way, so I’m sure that’s going to happen.”

This is Mulder’s first NBA opportunity after three seasons and 134 games in the G League. He spent training camp and the preseason with the Heat after signing an Exhibit 10 contract, but was waived before the season began.

The Warriors don’t play again until Tuesday, so they may hold off on the signing for a couple of days to get maximum value out of Mulder’s next 10-day deal. Once that expires, they will have to sign him for the rest of the season if they want to keep him on the roster.

Warriors Sign Mychal Mulder To 10-Day Deal

FEBRUARY 27: Mulder has officially signed his 10-day contract with the Warriors, the team confirmed today in a press release. It will run through March 7.

FEBRUARY 26: The Warriors will use one of the open spots on their 15-man roster to sign G League guard Mychal Mulder to a 10-day contract, league sources tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Mulder, 25, has been a G League mainstay since going undrafted out of Kentucky in 2017, appearing in a total of 134 games for the Windy City Bulls and Sioux Falls Skyforce over the last three seasons. In 39 games (33.2 MPG) with the Heat’s NBAGL affiliate in 2019/20, the Canadian has averaged a career-best 17.0 PPG with 4.5 RPG on .451/.399/.700 shooting.

Mulder sign an Exhibit 10 contract with Miami last fall and spent training camp and the preseason with the club, but has never been on an NBA roster during the regular season.

Since clearing several roster spots in trades before the deadline, the Warriors have been auditioning a variety of players on 10-day deals. After signing Jeremy Pargo and Zach Norvell earlier in the month, Golden State will now have Dragan Bender and Mulder on 10-day contracts.

The Warriors, who are being careful to stay below the tax line, currently have two openings on their 15-man roster, so no corresponding move will be required to make room for Mulder. As our breakdown of 10-day salaries shows, he’ll earn nearly $51K on his new deal. If he signs it on Thursday, rather than today, it will cover Golden State’s next six games instead of just five.

Heat Waive Jeremiah Martin, Mychal Mulder

The Heat have waived a pair of camp invitees, announcing in a press release that they’ve released guards Jeremiah Martin and Mychal Mulder.

Martin signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Heat in July, while Mulder did so in September. Miami is up against a hard cap and can’t afford to carry a 15th man, so neither player was considered a candidate to end up on the regular season roster. However, they were believed to be in the running for one of the Heat’s two-way contract slots. Instead, they may be on track to join the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the G League.

With Martin and Mulder on waivers, the Heat are now carrying 18 players, including four non-guaranteed camp invitees: Kyle Alexander, Daryl Macon, Davon Reed, and Chris Silva. Miami is expected to convert the contracts for two players from that group into two-way deals.

Heat Notes: Roster, Nunn, Adebayo, Mulder

Because of hard-cap restrictions, Miami’s training camp roster is virtually set now that Daryl Macon has been signed to the 20th spot, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The Heat can’t exceed a $138.9MM salary limit, and they are so close to that figure that they can’t offer players like Macon more than an Exhibit 10 contract. As things currently stand, Miami will be limited to 14 players on its final roster, with the remaining six battling for a pair of two-way contracts.

The only way to create some flexibility would be to waive Kendrick Nunn, who has just a $150K guarantee on his $1,416,852 salary. However, Winderman doesn’t expect that to happen because the rookie guard showed promise in Summer League and the front office can’t afford to waste $150K. Miami can’t convert Nunn’s contract to a two-way deal without first waiving him and taking the chance that he might be claimed by another team.

There’s more from Miami:

  • At 22, Bam Adebayo has most of his career ahead of him, but he already feels like a “Heat Lifer” after the team picked up the fourth-year option on his rookie-scale contract, relays Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Adebayo became the first player from the 2017 draft class to earn that distinction, as Miami made it official more than a month ahead of the October 31 deadline. “They’re pushing me to be more of a leader,” Adebayo said. “So, yeah, I do feel like I’ve become a Heat Lifer type of guy and just being more involved and having like a (Udonis Haslem) responsibility when it comes to my teammates.”
  • Team USA won’t have many good memories from this year’s World Cup, but Adebayo believes he benefited from his experience as part of the Select Team in Las Vegas, Chiang adds. “Just the atmosphere, because everybody that comes from different teams are like No. 1 or No. 2 options,” Adebayo explained. “So just being out there with a lot of guys and just hearing the stories from the locker room, their perspective and just sharing mine. It’s just like a cool ordeal.”
  • Mychal Mulder, who signed with the Heat earlier this week, was named to the G League Elite Roster for the 2019 NBA G League International Challenge in Uruguay, Winderman tweets. However, he skipped the event to focus on training camp.

Heat Notes: Macon, Mulder, Butler, Bonuses

Point guard Daryl Macon appears to be the favorite to get the 20th invitation to the Heat‘s training camp, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Macon played for Miami’s Summer League team last year after going undrafted, but turned down the Heat’s offer of an Exhibit 10 contract to sign a two-way deal with the Mavericks. He got into eight games with Dallas, but spent most of the season with the Texas Legends in the G League.

The Mavs waived him in July, and he has spent the past two weeks doing on-court work with the Heat, a source tells Jackson. If Macon does join the team for camp, he will be part of a six-way competition for the two-way contract slots, along with big men Kyle Alexander and Chris Silva, swingman Davon Reed, combo guard Jeremiah Martin and shooting guard Mychal Mulder. Those who aren’t signed will likely be ticketed for the organization’s G League team in Sioux Falls. Jackson notes that because of hard cap restrictions, the Heat can’t sign any of those six players to standard contracts.

There’s more from Miami, all courtesy of Jackson:

  • Bam Adebayo had advance knowledge that the Heat were going to sign Mulder, his former teammate at Kentucky. Mulder is an intriguing physical prospect because although he stands just 6’4″, his hands are larger than Adebayo’s and he has a 44-inch vertical leap. He averaged 13.7 PPG and shot 41.3% on 3-pointers in the G League last season with Windy City. “That’s one of my guys. I kind of knew before he knew,” Adebayo said. “I gave him like a heads up, just so he wouldn’t be surprised or he didn’t expect something.”
  • Appearing on Zach Lowe’s ESPN podcast, J.J. Redick raved about his experiences with former Sixers teammate Jimmy Butler, whom the Heat acquired in a four-team deal as the centerpiece of their offseason. “I love Jimmy and would play with Jimmy again,” Redick said. “I don’t know how much longer I’m going to play basketball, but if there was ever an opportunity to link up with him again, I’d be happy to jump on board with that. He is, I think, in the upper tier of two-way players and really in the upper tier of offensive players, period. … The narrative about Jimmy being a bad guy, I just don’t buy it. It’s not true.”
  • Jackson also passes along a note from ESPN’s Bobby Marks about contract incentives that could raise Miami’s tax bill. Dion Waiters would get a $1.2MM bonus for playing at least 70 games, while Kelly Olynyk has a $400K incentive for reaching the playoffs and another $1.4MM if he plays 1,700 minutes. If all those marks are reached, the Heat’s bill will rise from $3.8MM to $8.3MM.

Heat Sign Guard Mychal Mulder

The Heat have signed guard Mychal Mulder, according to a team press release.

It figures to be an Exhibit 10 contract, as the hard-capped Heat have a pair of open spots on their camp roster.

Miami’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, acquired Mulder from the Windy City Bulls in exchange for the rights to Charles Cooke and the South Bay Lakers’ first-round draft pick earlier in the day. Cooke has committed to play in Italy this season, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets.

Mulder appeared in 47 games with the Windy City Bulls last season and averaged 13.7 PPG, 4.1 RPG and 1.6 APG in 32.9 MPG. Mulder shot 41.2% from three-point range. He also played regularly for the Bulls’ G League affiliate the previous season.

Mulder went undrafted in 2017 after playing two seasons at Kentucky. He worked out for the Timberwolves in June.

Northwest Notes: Jazz, Wolves, Forcier, Vanterpool, Thunder

With Ricky Rubio set to become an unrestricted free agent on June 30, the Jazz could be in the market for a new starting point guard moving forward, Kincade Upstill of the Deseret News writes.

Rubio made a rather interesting comment this weekend, sharing that Utah won’t be aggressively trying to re-sign him when he reaches the open market. “Utah has already let me know I’m not a priority for them,” he said, according to Ernest Macia of Catalunya Radio.

The Jazz could pursue other available point guards in free agency such as Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Malcolm Brogdon, D’Angelo Russell or Derrick Rose if the franchise mutually agrees to part ways with Rubio, who has served as the team’s starting point guard over the last two seasons. However, Jazz vice president of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey went on the record to state that Ricky could still re-sign on a new contract.

“He’s got a decision to make on his end and we’ve got a decision to make on our end, but there’s a lot of scenarios I can see Ricky back. … We really appreciate who he is and we think we can get him better from a health perspective and skill standpoint,” Lindsey said, according to Upstill. “We know who he is — he has Jazz DNA. So he’ll have options, we’ll have options and we’ll talk to him and his agent.”

Rubio’s name surfaced in rumors around this season’s February 7 trade deadline, likely causing some trust issues between him and the organization. He holds career-averages of 11.1 points, 7.7 assists and 30.9 minutes across his eight NBA seasons.

There’s more out of the Northwest Division tonight:

NBA Announces 80 Players For G League Elite Camp

The NBA has announced in a press release that 80 players are set to participate in its G League Elite Camp next week in Chicago from May 12-14. The event will include 40 prospects who are eligible for this year’s draft, as well as 40 standout prospects from the 2018/19 G League season.

Heading into this spring, the NBA revamped its G League Elite Camp, which in past years has simply showcased some of the NBAGL’s top performers.  That aspect of the event will still exist, but G League players will only participate in the first two days of the event.

The second half of the event will feature 40 draft-eligible prospects who aren’t among the 60 prospects invited to the actual draft combine. The list of participants was determined by an NBA team vote, and those prospects will work out and scrimmage during the final two days of the event — there will be no overlap with the G League portion of the event.

As this week’s announcement confirms, a select number of draft-eligible prospects participating in the G League Elite Camp will also be invited to attend the combine itself, which takes place from May 15-19 in Chicago.

Here are the list of draft-eligible prospects who are expected to participate in the 2019 G League Elite Mini Camp, per the NBA:

  1. Tyus Battle (Syracuse)
  2. Bennie Boatwright (USC)
  3. Phil Booth (Villanova)
  4. Oshae Brissett (Syracuse)
  5. Bryce Brown (Auburn)
  6. Zylan Cheatham (Arizona State)
  7. Chris Clemons (Campbell)
  8. Amir Coffey (Minnesota)
  9. Tyler Cook (Iowa)
  10. Jarron Cumberland (Cincinnati)
  11. Aubrey Dawkins (Central Florida)
  12. Javin DeLaurier (Duke)
  13. Mamadi Diakite (Virginia)
  14. CJ Elleby (Washington State)
  15. Tacko Fall (UCF)
  16. Robert Franks (Washington State)
  17. Jared Harper (Auburn)
  18. Ethan Happ (Wisconsin)
  19. Dewan Hernandez (Miami)
  20. Amir Hinton (Shaw (NC))
  21. DaQuan Jeffries (Tulsa)
  22. Sagaba Konate (West Virginia)
  23. Matur Maker (Mississauga Prep (Canada))
  24. Terance Mann (Florida State)
  25. Caleb Martin (Nevada)
  26. Cody Martin (Nevada)
  27. Luke Maye (North Carolina)
  28. Trey Mourning (Georgetown)
  29. Andrew Nembhard (Florida)
  30. James Palmer Jr. (Nebraska)
  31. Josh Perkins (Gonzaga)
  32. Reggie Perry (Mississippi State)
  33. Jalen Pickett (Siena)
  34. Myles Powell (Seton Hall)
  35. Justin Robinson (Virginia Tech)
  36. Marial Shayok (Iowa State)
  37. Max Strus (DePaul)
  38. Lindell Wigginton (Iowa State)
  39. Kenny Wooten (Oregon)
  40. Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra)

Here are the 40 G League players set to participate in the G League Elite Camp:

  1. Josh Adams (Raptors 905)
  2. Jaylen Barford (Greensboro Swarm)
  3. Amida Brimah (Austin Spurs)
  4. Jared Brownridge (Delaware Blue Coats)
  5. Antonius Cleveland (Santa Cruz Warriors)
  6. Charles Cooke (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
  7. Cody Demps (Stockton Kings)
  8. Aaron Epps (Northern Arizona Suns)
  9. Abdul Gaddy (Oklahoma City Blue)
  10. John Gillon (Greensboro Swarm)
  11. Kaiser Gates (Windy City Bulls)
  12. Isaac Haas (Salt Lake City Stars)
  13. Johnny Hamilton (Grand Rapids Drive)
  14. Dusty Hannahs (Memphis Hustle)
  15. Zak Irvin (Westchester Knicks)
  16. Peter Jok (Northern Arizona Suns)
  17. Matt Jones (Stockton Kings)
  18. Marcus Lee (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
  19. Zach Lofton (Grand Rapids Drive)
  20. Tahjere McCall (Long Island Nets)
  21. Brandon McCoy (Wisconsin Herd)
  22. MiKyle McIntosh (Raptors 905)
  23. Jordan McLaughlin (Long Island Nets)
  24. Jaylen Morris (Erie BayHawks)
  25. Mychal Mulder (Windy City Bulls)
  26. Malik Newman (Canton Charge)
  27. Retin Obasohan (Northern Arizona Suns)
  28. Chinanu Onuaku (Greensboro Swarm)
  29. Norvel Pelle (Delaware Blue Coats)
  30. Darel Poirier (Capital City Go-Go)
  31. Billy Preston (Texas Legends)
  32. Desi Rodriguez (Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario)
  33. Kenneth Smith (Grand Rapids Drive)
  34. Richard Solomon (Oklahoma City Blue)
  35. Emanuel Terry (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
  36. Juan Toscano-Anderson (Santa Cruz Warriors)
  37. Dakarai Tucker (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
  38. Andrew White III (Maine Red Claws)
  39. Thomas Wimbush (Long Island Nets)
  40. Todd Withers (Grand Rapids Drive)