Naz Mitrou-Long Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Wembanyama, Amazon, Mitrou-Long, NBA Vets

November 21st, 2023 at 10:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The minimum salary for a first-year player this season is a little under $1.2MM. Contrast that with Victor Wembanyama, whose uniform can fetch more than half that amount.

A jersey worn by the Spurs’ big man in his NBA debut just sold at the Sotheby’s for $762K, BasketballNews.com tweets. It’s the highest amount ever paid for a rookie jersey.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Amazon is bidding for an NBA rights package and the company isn’t just looking for regular season games. Amazon Global Head of Sports Jay Marine told John Ourand and Andrew Marchand in a podcast (hat tip to RealGM) that the company would want to add playoff games to its Prime Video service beginning in 2025. Amazon Prime currently holds right for most Thursday NFL games.
Former NBA guard Naz Mitrou-Long has signed with Greece’s Olympiacos, according to a team press release. Mitrou-Long appeared in 20 NBA games, most recently with Indiana during the 2019/20 season.
The underrated impact of veteran NBA players who see little action but provide sage advice and leadership on the bench and in the locker room is detailed by The Athletic’s John Hollinger.

Lakers Notes: Westbrook, Davis, Pelinka, Harrison

October 8th, 2022 at 9:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

Russell Westbrook didn’t change teams this offseason, but he’s adjusting to a new coaching staff for the fourth year in a row, writes Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. Lakers head coach Darvin Ham has promised that his approach will unleash Westbrook’s talents, and the early returns have been encouraging.

“Definitely different – just the ability to be able to get in the open floor, attack with space, take my time,” Westbrook said. “Miss or make, shots will come as the season prolongs. But just get in that rhythm and know that I can get to any spot that I want to and get in-rhythm shots for sure, so far.”

Westbrook is coming off a difficult season that began with a trade from the Wizards to the Lakers, which meant far less time as the primary ball-handler. Westbrook is working to embrace Ham’s vision for him as a screener and a cutter and is hoping to cut down on turnovers after committing 295 last season.

“My speed sometimes speeds me up and lets me get to a place fast,” he said. “But my patience and understanding of my spacing and my spots are important to my efficiency and how I can improve in finishing around the rim, making shots and not rushing.”

There’s more on the Lakers:

Anthony Davis was able to practice today after lower back tightness prevented him from playing in Wednesday’s game, Goon adds. The team hasn’t determined if Davis will try to play Sunday against the Warriors. After resolving a visa issue, Dennis Schröder is in Los Angeles and is expected to join the team Monday.
The contract extension for general manager Rob Pelinka was worked out early this offseason, a source tells Sam Amick of The Athletic. Once the decision was made in April to fire head coach Frank Vogel, Lakers management decided to extend Pelinka so his contract would align with the new head coach’s.
After the Lakers signed Shaquille Harrison earlier today, their G League affiliate completed a trade to obtain his returning rights, tweets Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. The South Bay Lakers sent the rights to Mac McClung and Jared Wilson-Frame to the Delaware Blue Coats (the Sixers‘ affiliate) in exchange for the rights to Harrison and Naz Mitrou-Long.

And-Ones: Hernangomez, Brazdeikis, Take Fouls, Mitrou-Long

June 4th, 2022 at 9:31am CST by Dana Gauruder

Juancho Hernangomez told Daniel Arribas of El Pais (hat tip to HoopsHype) that he “can’t picture himself” returning to Europe next season, despite speculation about that possibility. “I have spoken to nobody or signed any offer,” he said.

While the Celtics are three wins away from the championship, Hernangomez said his 18-game stint with Boston wasn’t a pleasant experience. “I wasn’t happy there, it was very hard. There was no communication,” he said. “I didn’t know what was expected of me. There were many super selfish players, no team building. I lost my love for basketball a bit.”

Hernangomez finished the season with the Jazz and is technically under contract through 2022/23, but his $7.42MM salary for next season is non-guaranteed. Utah is expected to make him a free agent before the guarantee deadline at the end of the month.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Magic forward Ignas Brazdeikis will play for Lithuania in FIBA World Cup qualifiers this summer, according to BasketNews.com. “I want to play, and I will play for Lithuania,” Brazdeikis said. Brazdeikis was born in Lithuania but grew up in Canada, and has a Canadian passport. It took nearly two years for the Lithuanian Basketball Federation (LKF) to complete all the paperwork required to receive official FIBA confirmation he could play for their national team.
NBA coaches and players frustrated by transition take fouls will see a rules change next season, according to commissioner Adam Silver, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press writes. The fouls, committed to prevent fast-break baskets, will include stiffer penalties next season. The G League rule awards teams one free throw and possession, while international rules have a penalty of two free throws plus possession.
Fenerbahce is currently leading the race for former NBA guard Naz Mitrou-Long, according to Italian newspaper La Prealpina (hat tip to Sportando). Mitrou-Long is also being pursued by Olimpia Milano after a strong season with Germani Brescia. He appeared in 20 NBA games, most recently with Indiana in 2019/20.

Pacers Waive Naz Mitrou-Long, Josh Gray, Devin Robinson

December 19th, 2020 at 2:41pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers have reduced their preseason roster from 20 players to 17, announcing today in a press release that they’ve waived guard Naz Mitrou-Long, guard Josh Gray, and forward Devin Robinson.

Mitrou-Long spent the 2019/20 season on a two-way contract with the Pacers, appearing in five regular season NBA games. Gray was on a two-way deal with the Pelicans last season and played in just two games with the team. Robinson has some previous NBA experience with the Wizards but spent the ’19/20 campaign in the G League.

All three players were on non-guaranteed contracts, so Indiana won’t be on the hook for any dead money after cutting them.

The Pacers’ roster now appears set for the regular season, with 14 players on guaranteed deals, one with a partial guarantee (Kelan Martin) and a pair on two-way contracts (Brian Bowen and Cassius Stanley).

Pacers Sign Guards Cassius Stanley, Naz Mitrou-Long

November 29th, 2020 at 1:49pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Pacers have finalized agreements with two guards, signing rookie Cassius Stanley to a two-way contract and Naz Mitrou-Long to an Exhibit 10 deal, according to a press release on the team’s official site.

Indiana selected Stanley with the No. 54 pick in the 2020 draft out of Duke. The 6’6″ guard started all of his 29 games during his lone season with Duke in 2019/20, averaging 12.6 PPG and 4.9 RPG, while converting on 36% of his 3.0 long-range attempts a night. After two seasons with the Jazz, Mitrou-Long appeared in five games for the Pacers last season, averaging 9.4 MPG.

The announcement also confirmed several other previously-reported signings. Forward JaKarr Sampson will return for his second season with Indiana on a fully-guaranteed veteran’s minimum deal. Wing Kelan Martin, formerly with the Timberwolves, will join the Pacers on a two-year deal, though the speculation is that it will not be fully-guaranteed.

Forward Brian Bowen II, who suited up for six games with the Pacers last season, will occupy the club’s second two-way player contract slot alongside Stanley.

Mitrou-Long joins center Amida Brimah and forward Rayshaun Hammonds as the Pacers with Exhibit 10 contracts. All three will join the team for training camp, with an opportunity to make the club’s opening night roster. These are one-year, minimum salary deals that can carry an optional player bonus ranging from $5K to $50K.

QO Updates: Wanamaker, Hernangomez, Fall, Chiozza, More

November 19th, 2020 at 4:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics won’t be making a qualifying offer to guard Brad Wanamaker, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). The decision will ensure that Wanamaker becomes an unrestricted free agent on Friday, rather than an RFA.

The decision is a little surprising, as Wanamaker’s QO would only have been worth about $1.82MM. And he was a fairly reliable bench contributor in Boston in 2019/20, averaging 6.9 PPG and 2.5 APG on .448/.363/.926 shooting in 71 games (19.3 MPG). However, with Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard entering the mix, the Celtics don’t have a ton of roster spots to go around.

There’s still a chance that Wanamaker could return to the Celtics, particularly if Gordon Hayward ends up elsewhere, tweets Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.

Here are several more updates on qualifying offer decisions from around the NBA:

The Timberwolves, as expected, tendered a qualifying offer to power forward Juan Hernangomez, making him a restricted free agent, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). That QO is worth about $4.6MM. Hernangomez could accept it, but is more likely to try to negotiate a new, longer-term deal with Minnesota.
The Celtics extended qualifying offers to both of their two-way players, Tacko Fall and Tremont Waters, the team announced in a press release. Those QOs are for new two-way deals with $50K guarantees.
The Pacers won’t extend qualifying offers to big man Alize Johnson or two-way players Brian Bowen and Naz Mitrou-Long, tweets Scotto. All three players will become unrestricted free agents.
Among other two-way players, Nets guard Chris Chiozza will receive a qualifying offer, but Pelicans guard Josh Gray won’t, according to Scotto (Twitter links). The Heat also won’t send a QO to two-way player Kyle Alexander, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Pacers Notes: A. Holiday, Mitrou-Long, Sabonis, Brogdon

November 24th, 2019 at 3:09pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

With their second-year point guard Aaron Holiday on a tear recently, J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star notes that the Pacers will be sure to field a litany of trade offers. Nine months ago, team advisor Larry Bird apparently cautioned Indiana against including Holiday in a potential trade deal for Mike Conley with the Grizzlies. Bird was confident in the potential of Holiday, picked 23rd in the 2018 NBA Draft. The Magic and Suns apparently also expressed interest in making a move for Holiday around the 2018/19 trade deadline.

Following a performative hiccup at the start of the season, Holiday has picked up his play of late. Though he will return to the bench after starting in the injured Malcolm Brogdon‘s absence, Michael speculates that Holiday has displayed enough flashes to tantalize teams as a potential trade chip once again.

There’s more from Indianapolis:

Speaking of Brogdon, The Athletic’s Scott Agness tweets that the point guard will return to the floor for the Pacers tomorrow against the Grizzlies for the first time since injuring his back on November 15th against the Rockets. “I think I stepped wrong and my back reacted strongly to it,” Brogdon said, per Agness. “They said I strained a muscle and possibly a joint. But now the inflammation has gone away, my movement is all the way back, I have no pain and I feel great on the court.”
Two-way player Naz Mitrou-Long spoke with Mark Montieth of Pacers.com about his unlikely path to Indiana. A five-year college player for Iowa State, Mitrou-Long toiled in the 2017 Summer League and saw 15 games of NBA action as a two-way player for the Jazz in 2017/18 and 2018/19. He joined the Pacers on November 17th for emergency spot rotation minutes in a game against the Bucks before making the most out of the team’s next outing, a win against the Nets in which he scored 12 points in 25 minutes. “I know guys who have been in the league for three, four, five years who are looking to put a stretch together to reassure themselves,” Mitrou-Long said. “Playing a game like Brooklyn and getting my feet wet against Milwaukee, feeling the comfortability, it reassures me that I am an NBA player.”
According to Ennio Terrasi Borghesan of Sportando, Pacers center/power forward Domantas Sabonis confirmed that he will appear for Lithuania in the FIBA Qualifying Tournament for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “It’s what we have to go through to qualify for the next Olympics,” Sabonis observed. “We’re going to battle for the tournament and get a ticket for Japan.”

Central Notes: Mitrou-Long, Markkanen, Griffin, Drummond

November 18th, 2019 at 2:04pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Injuries have thrust Pacers two-way players Naz Mitrou-Long and Brian Bowen into action more than anticipated in the early going, Mark Monteith of the team’s website notes. Backcourt injuries forced Indiana to play Mitrou-Long 14 minutes on Saturday one night after he scored 28 points for its G League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Bowen made a five-minute appearance in the loss to Milwaukee.

We have more from the Central Division:

Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen hasn’t reached the 20-point mark since scoring 35 points in the season opener and shooting guard Zach LaVine is looking to change that, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago relays. “He just doesn’t seem in rhythm right now man. It’s a new offense. And I think it has a part to do with it,” LaVine said. “We’ve just got to help him find it.”
Injuries to Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose have contributed greatly to the Pistons’ 4-9 start. With some days off and both stars back in action, coach Dwane Casey is hoping to get things back on track, Keith Langlois of the team’s website writes. “We’ve got three or four days we can practice,” he said. “Before, there was one day in between. … Sounds like an excuse. But it’s going to take a while for our guys to jell together, work together, learn each other. With Blake and Derrick back, for them to learn each other. It’s going to be a marathon.”
The Pistons will have to consider drastic changes if they don’t break the cycle of mediocrity soon, Rod Beard of the Detroit News writes. The trade for Griffin hasn’t resulted in a huge uptick in the team’s fortunes, Beard continues. Andre Drummond, who can become an unrestricted free agent next summer, hasn’t impacted winning significantly enough to warrant another long-term deal in many people’s minds, Beard adds.

Team Canada Dealing With Depleted Roster

August 5th, 2019 at 8:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Much has been made of the withdrawals from Team USA by prominent players as it prepares for the FIBA World Cup in China this summer. Team Canada has experienced similar issues.

Canada Basketball unveiled its training camp roster in a press release and many notable names are missing. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dillon Brooks, Brandon Clarke, Luguentz Dort, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Mfiondu Kabengele, Naz Mitrou-Long, Trey Lyles, Dwight Powell, Marial Shayok, Nik Stauskas, and Tristan Thompson were among the invitees who opted not to participate.

Knicks lottery pick RJ Barrett and Nuggets guard Jamal Murray are on the roster but will only participate in training camp. Barrett is dealing with a mild calf strain, while Murray is nursing an ankle injury, Blake Murphy of The Athletic tweets.

Among the NBA players who are on the roster and intend to participate in the tournament are Kings guard Cory Joseph, Heat forward Kelly Olynyk, Magic center Khem Birch and Raptors big man Chris Boucher. Toronto’s Nick Nurse is the head coach of the team, which will play seven exhibition games before its FIBA opener against Australia on September 1.

Pacers Sign Naz Mitrou-Long To Two-Way Deal

July 31st, 2019 at 2:25pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 31: The Pacers have officially signed Mitrou-Long to a two-way deal, the team announced today (via Twitter).

JULY 30: The Pacers have reached an agreement to sign Naz Mitrou-Long to a two-way contract, league sources tell Scott Agness and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Agness adds (via Twitter) that Mitrou-Long is expected to formally sign his deal with Indiana on Wednesday as the team works to finalize a handful of contract agreements.

An undrafted free agent out of Iowa State, Mitrou-Long has appeared in 15 games for the Jazz over the past two seasons, having inked multiple two-way and 10-day contracts with Utah during that time.

The 6’4″ guard, who turns 26 years old this Saturday, saw far more action with the Jazz’s G League affiliate over the last two years. He averaged 18.3 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 4.7 APG on .432/.359/.845 shooting in 72 games for the Salt Lake City Stars during that stretch.

An impressive Summer League stint with the Cavaliers, in which Mitrou-Long averaged 16.8 PPG, 5.5 APG, and 5.0 RPG in four games, boosted the Canadian’s stock this offseason and helped earned him a new deal with the Pacers.

He and Brian Bowen II, who inked a two-way contract with Indiana on July 1, will occupy the team’s two-way slots for now.