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NBA Announces Official Rosters For Summer Restart

July 20th, 2020 at 5:08pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has announced the official summer rosters for each of the 22 teams involved in the resumption of the 2019/20 season. A total of 350 players make up the 22 squads, with only eight clubs carrying the maximum allowable 17 players. The Trail Blazers have the smallest summer roster, with just 13 players.

Injured players who didn’t make the trip to Orlando – such as Nets stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant – don’t show up on the official rosters list, but injured players who traveled with their teams – including Mavericks big man Dwight Powell and Pacers swingman Jeremy Lamb – are included, even if they won’t play this summer.

Besides players who are injured, voluntarily opted out, or were ruled out after contracting COVID-19, there are a few more notable omissions on the list, which we’ll round up here:

Houston Rockets: William Howard
- A two-way player, Howard recently reached a two-year deal with ASVEL Basket in France, so it makes sense that he won’t be playing for the Rockets this summer.
Los Angeles Clippers: Johnathan Motley, Mfiondu Kabengele
- As previously reported, Motley and Kabengele didn’t travel to Orlando with the Clippers and won’t be playing this summer.
Milwaukee Bucks: Cameron Reynolds
- The Bucks only brought one of their two-way players (Frank Mason III), as Reynolds doesn’t show up on their official roster. The reason for his absence is unclear.
New Orleans Pelicans: Josh Gray
- Darius Miller also isn’t listed on the Pelicans’ roster, but he’s injured, so it appears that Gray – a two-way player – is the player being replaced by Sindarius Thornwell, who was signed as a substitute player earlier this month. That would mean that Gray was one of three Pelicans players who contracted COVID-19 in June.
Philadelphia 76ers: Ryan Broekhoff
- Broekhoff was signed as a substitute player to fill the Sixers’ open two-way slot, but later announced that he hadn’t traveled to Orlando because his wife, who is “high risk,” tested positive for COVID-19. Based on his omission from Philadelphia’s roster, it appears that Broekhoff won’t be joining the club after all.
Phoenix Suns: Tariq Owens
- The Suns left one of their two-way slots open and apparently didn’t bring their lone two-way player to Orlando. The reason for Owens’ absence is unclear.
Portland Trail Blazers: Moses Brown
- Despite only having 13 players available in Orlando, the Trail Blazers won’t have Brown – their second two-way player – with them. The reason for his absence is unclear.
Washington Wizards: Gary Payton II
- Like the Pelicans, the Wizards signed a substitute player (Jarrod Uthoff) without announcing who he’d be replacing. It appears that player is Payton, who reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.

Southwest Notes: Grizzlies, Harden, Howard, MKG, Brunson

July 16th, 2020 at 12:04pm CST by Luke Adams

The Grizzlies will enter the NBA’s restart with a healthier roster than they’ve had all season, creating what Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com refers to as a “welcome dilemma” for Taylor Jenkins. Memphis has already exceeded expectations this year despite dealing with some injuries — now the team will have added depth to allow Jenkins to try to find even more effective lineup combinations.

“We’re sorting through different combinations, but not trying to lose the lineups that were successful for us to this point,” the Grizzlies’ head coach said. “We’re going to have some really tough decisions to make, but that only means you have some great depth. We’re built on competing. We’re always prepared to have 17 guys ready to go at any given moment.”

Besides having Justise Winslow – acquired at the trade deadline – available for the first time this summer, the Grizzlies will also have Jaren Jackson Jr. and Brandon Clarke back in their lineup. Jackson had missed the team’s nine games leading up to the hiatus in March, while Clarke had been out for eight games.

Here’s more from around the Southwest:

James Harden, whose arrival at the Walt Disney World campus was delayed, is expected to practice with the Rockets for the first time on Thursday, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. The club is still waiting on Russell Westbrook and Luc Mbah a Moute.
French club ASVEL Basket announced today in a press release that it has finalized a two-year deal with swingman William Howard. It’s an unusual update, since Howard technically remains on a two-way contract with the Rockets — at least for now. Presumably, Howard is on track to join ASVEL Basket when his current deal expires.
Mavericks forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had yet to join the team at the Disney campus as of Wednesday evening, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Head coach Rick Carlisle didn’t offer any specifics on Kidd-Gilchrist’s absence: “We’re working to get him here logistically and we hope that it happens soon.”
With injuries to Jalen Brunson and Courtney Lee affecting the Mavericks‘ backcourt rotation, the team may lean more heavily on Delon Wright when play resumes, writes Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. Speaking of Brunson, he isn’t with the club in Orlando and won’t play this summer, having remained in Dallas for rehab purposes, Carlisle confirmed today (Twitter links via Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News).

Rockets Sign William Howard To Two-Way Deal

December 27th, 2019 at 3:46pm CST by ChrisCrouse

3:46pm: The signing is official, according to the team’s Twitter feed.

1:07pm: The Rockets will sign William Howard to a two-way deal, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (Twitter link). The 6’8″ wing had been playing with the Salt Lake City Stars in the G League.

Houston has an open two-way spot after giving Chris Clemons a new deal. Clemons utilized all 45 of his eligible days in the NBA and the team was forced to either offer him a big-league deal or watch him spend the rest of the season in the G League.

Howard, who is originally from France, spent part of training camp with the Jazz before the team waived him and added him to its G League affiliate. In 15 games for the Salt Lake City Stars, Howard has seen 30.4 minutes of action while making 44.3% of his three-pointers.

Jazz Release William Howard

October 21st, 2019 at 3:36pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have set their roster to start the 2019/20 season by waiving forward William Howard, the team announced today in a press release. Utah now has 15 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.

Howard, who will turn 26 on Friday, joined the Jazz in July after spending the last two seasons with Limoges in France. He averaged 10.6 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 2.2 APG in 16 EuroCup games in 2018/19. In three preseason games with Utah, he put up 6.7 PPG and 2.0 RPG in 11.5 minutes per contest.

Howard had a $50K partial guarantee, so that cap charge will remain on the books for the Jazz unless he’s claimed on waivers on Wednesday. Stanton Kidd, who also had a partial guarantee, will now open the season as Utah’s 15th man.

12 NBA Salary Guarantees To Watch In October

September 6th, 2019 at 11:29am CST by Luke Adams

The majority of the NBA players who are currently on non-guaranteed contracts won’t have their salaries for 2019/20 become fully guaranteed until January 10. That’s the league-wide salary guarantee date and the default deadline that applies to players who haven’t negotiated an earlier salary guarantee date.

Still, some players did negotiate an earlier trigger date, and the majority of those deadlines will arrive in October. At least a dozen players around the NBA are believed to have partial or full guarantees that will go into effect in October.

Now, it’s worth noting that salary guarantee dates are somewhat malleable. If the player’s camp agrees, a team can quietly move that deadline back, giving the club more time to make a decision on whether or not to fully invest in its player for the 2019/20 season. The player doesn’t necessarily have to agree, but he may be on board with postponing that deadline if the alternative is being waived and receiving none of his salary.

Most of our information related to salary guarantee dates is coming from the salary database at Basketball Insiders, and BI hasn’t published all the details on the latest signings from around the NBA yet. In other words, there could be a few more recently-signed players who have October salary guarantee dates.

For now though, these are the 12 players believed to have salary guarantee dates coming up next month:

Full guarantees:

Ivan Rabb (Grizzlies): Partial guarantee of $371,758 increases to full guarantee of $1,618,520 salary if not waived by October 19.
Chris Boucher (Raptors): Partial guarantee of $125,000 increases to full guarantee of $1,588,231 salary if not waived by first day of regular season.
Malcolm Miller (Raptors): Partial guarantee of $150,000 increases to full guarantee of $1,588,231 salary if not waived by first day of regular season.
Duncan Robinson (Heat): Partial guarantee of $1,000,000 increases to full guarantee of $1,416,852 salary if not waived by first day of regular season.
Kenrich Williams (Pelicans): Partial guarantee of $200,000 increases to full guarantee of $1,416,852 salary if not waived by first day of regular season.

Partial guarantees:

Christian Wood (Pistons): $1,645,357 salary becomes partially guaranteed ($822,679) if not waived before first day of regular season.
Trey Burke (Sixers): Partial guarantee of $405,000 increases to $810,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $2,028,594).
Jordan McRae (Wizards): Partial guarantee of $400,000 increases to $600,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $1,645,357).
Dragan Bender (Bucks): Partial guarantee of $300,000 increases to $600,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $1,678,854).
Ben McLemore (Rockets): Partial guarantee of $50,000 increases to $500,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $2,028,594).
Kendrick Nunn (Heat): Partial guarantee of $150,000 increases to $450,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $1,416,852).
William Howard (Jazz): Partial guarantee of $50,000 increases to $250,000 if not waived by first day of regular season (full salary is $898,310).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Contract Details: Jazz, MCW, Muscala, Robinson

July 21st, 2019 at 2:31pm CST by clarkcrum

More contract details continue to trickle in as the 2019 free agency period winds to a close. Below are some additional reports regarding signings for the Jazz, Magic, Thunder, and Wizards:

According to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, the Jazz gave Stanton Kidd a $250K guarantee on his 2019/20 salary. The guarantee for William Howard is only $50K, but jumps to $250K if he remains on the roster through the first game of the regular season.
Per Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports, Michael Carter-Williams’ one-year deal with the Magic is a fully-guaranteed, veteran’s minimum contract.
The Thunder signed big man Mike Muscala to a two-year, $4.31MM deal with a player option for the second season, reports Michael Scotto of The Athletic. A minimum-salary arrangement for Muscala, a six-year veteran, equals $4,311,628, so that’s what his contract figures to be given the Thunder’s cap situation.
The Wizards used part of their mid-level exception to sign Justin Robinson, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports that the rookie point guard inked a three-year deal with a $250K guarantee in year one. His first-year salary is also $988,310, $90K more than what would have been permitted had he been signed with the minimum-salary exception.

Western Notes: Jazz, D’Antoni, Clippers, Thunder

July 18th, 2019 at 5:00pm CST by Luke Adams

After trading away Derrick Favors and signing Bojan Bogdanovic, the Jazz had a little leftover cap room and took advantage of that remaining space by signing Miye Oni, William Howard, and Stanton Kidd to three-year contracts, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Utah would have been limited to two-year deals if the club had exhausted its cap space.

The Jazz intend to have Howard, Kidd, and others compete for the 15th and final roster spot in training camp, per Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter links), who notes that both Howard and Kidd received partial guarantees for the 2019/20 season.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Appearing on SiriusXM NBA Radio this week, agent Warren LeGarie said that his client Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni is perfectly happy to enter the 2019/20 season – the final year of his deal – without a contract extension (Twitter link via Howard Beck of Bleacher Report). “It’s not even something we’re considering right now,” LeGarie said of a potential extension. “We have a contract.”
Appearing on The Dan Patrick Show (video link) this week, Clippers consultant Jerry West raved about the team’s ownership and culture, as Dan Feldman of NBC Sports relays. “He’s just a great owner and one of the nicest men I’ve ever been around in my life,” West said of Steve Ballmer. “… He’s willing to spend on players. He’s willing to spend on personnel within the front office. And as I mentioned before, I’ve never been around any organization that is better than this one. That’s for sure.”
In trading Paul George, Russell Westbrook, and Jerami Grant, the Thunder appeared to be pivoting toward an all-out rebuild. Brett Dawson of The Athletic explores how that rebuilding process might be impacted if Chris Paul starts the 2019/20 season on Okahoma City’s roster.

Jazz Sign William Howard

July 17th, 2019 at 5:15pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 17: The signing is now official, according to a release from the team.

JULY 15: French forward William Howard, who was on Utah’s roster for Summer League play this month, has reached a verbal agreement to sign with the Jazz, league sources tell Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link).

As Jones details, the deal has not yet been made official because there’s a small buyout issue to be sorted out. Howard technically remains under contract with Limoges, but Crawford Palmer – the sports director of the French club – confirmed that all involved parties are looking to free up Howard to join the Jazz. As Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays, Utah is expected to pay a buyout worth 150K Euros.

Howard, 25, averaged 10.6 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 2.2 APG in 16 EuroCup contests in 2018/19. Although he was part of Utah’s Summer League team, he didn’t actually play in any games, having been ruled out of the team’s final matchup on Saturday due to right groin soreness.

Still, as Jones details, the Jazz like Howard’s shooting ability and wanted to add more depth on the wing.

Details of Howard’s new contract with the Jazz aren’t yet known.