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Zylan Cheatham

And-Ones: Cheatham, Summer League, Udoka, Team USA

March 1st, 2023 at 6:46pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran forward Zylan Cheatham, who has appeared in NBA games for the Jazz and Pelicans since 2019, will resume his playing career in the EuroLeague. According to reporting from BasketNews.com, German club Bayern Munich added Chatham to its roster ahead of today’s deadline for EuroLeague teams to register new players.

After going undrafted out of Arizona State in 2019, Cheatham began his professional career on a two-way contract with the Pelicans, spending his entire rookie season with the team, though he only appeared in four NBA games.

Cheatham was sent to Oklahoma City in a sign-and-trade for salary-matching purposes during the 2020 offseason in the deal that landed Steven Adams in New Orleans, but was waived by the Thunder a week later. Since then, he has primarily played in the G League, though he did sign 10-day contracts with Miami, Utah, and New Orleans last season.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • The NBA has officially confirmed the dates for this year’s Las Vegas Summer League, announcing (via Twitter) that it will take place from July 7-17.
  • Teams are beginning the vetting process of former Celtics head coach Ime Udoka, according to Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. Bulpett explores what teams want to know about Udoka and what steps he might have to take to land a new job following his year-long suspension and his subsequent exit from Boston.
  • Suns forward Kevin Durant and Kings forward Harrison Barnes are among the former Olympic medalists who are part of USA Basketball’s Board of Directors. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press explores what that role entails, noting that Durant has sought to have real input on the program, rather than just having an honorary seat at the table.
  • Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic polled a handful of players at All-Star weekend about what they’d change about the NBA and received some interesting responses, including Anthony Edwards criticizing the concept of load management (“Just play, man. If you 80 percent, you got to play. I don’t like all this sitting, missing games and stuff”) and Tyrese Haliburton advocating for the league to expand (“The talent in the world right now is amazing, so to add two more teams would be good for our league”).
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Pelicans Waive Cheatham, Martin, Plowden, Smart

October 15th, 2022 at 2:42pm CST by Rory Maher

The Pelicans announced that they have waived Zylan Cheatham, Kelan Martin, Daeqwon Plowden and Javonte Smart. All four players are likely headed to the team’s G League affiliate, the Birmingham Squadron.

Martin, a 6’5″ small forward, holds the most NBA experience of the group, having made 96 appearances with the Wolves, Pacers and Celtics over the past three seasons. He holds career averages of 5.5 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 13.2 MPG.

After going undrafted out of LSU last year, Smart, a 6’4″ guard, appeared in 17 NBA games on two-way deals with the Bucks and Heat in 2021/22. He holds modest averages of 3.0 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 11.8 MPG.

Cheatham holds five games of NBA experience with the Jazz and Pelicans after going undrafted in 2019. The 6’5″ forward averaged 14 PPG, 10.7 RPG and 2.5 APG in 21 regular season games (32 MPG) for the Squadron last season.

Plowden is a 6’6″ undrafted rookie wing out of Bowling Green State. He spent Summer League with the Pelicans, averaging 12.0 PPG on .647/.500/.909 shooting in three games (16.1 MPG).

Both Cheatham and Plowden received Exhibit 10 deals, and Martin and Smart likely did as well. Assuming that’s the case, all four players would be eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if they spend at least 60 days with the Squadron.

The Pelicans now have a 15-man standard roster, with one two-way spot still open. Undrafted rookie guard Dereon Seabron currently holds the other two-way contract.

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Contract Details: Lakers, Galloway, DSJ, McCollum, More

September 30th, 2022 at 7:59am CST by Luke Adams

When the Lakers signed Matt Ryan and Dwayne Bacon to non-guaranteed training camp contracts earlier this month, both players received Exhibit 9 clauses in their new deals, but not Exhibit 10s, Hoops Rumors has learned.

Exhibit 9 contracts are non-guaranteed camp deals that don’t count against the cap during the preseason and offer teams some protection in the event of an injury. Exhibit 10s are similar, but also allow teams to convert the player to a two-way deal (if he’s eligible) or to give him a bonus worth up to $50K if he’s waived and then spends at least 60 days with the team’s G League affiliate.

As a general rule, a player who signs a training camp contract without an Exhibit 10 clause is usually just competing for a spot on his team’s 15-man regular season roster and won’t end up playing for the club’s G League affiliate if he doesn’t make the cut.

Langston Galloway (Pacers), Dennis Smith Jr. (Hornets), LiAngelo Ball (Hornets), Cody Zeller (Jazz), Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (Suns), and Wes Iwundu (Trail Blazers) are among the other recently signed free agents who signed Exhibit 9 – not Exhibit 10 – contracts.

Here are a few more contract details from around the NBA:

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Pelicans Sign Cheatham, Butler; Waive Brockington

September 24th, 2022 at 12:57pm CST by JD Shaw

The Pelicans have signed forwards Zylan Cheatham and John Butler ahead of training camp, the team announced in a press release today. New Orleans also waived two-way guard Izaiah Brockington.

Cheatham, 26, is a 6″6″ guard who played for the Pelicans’ G League affiliate last season. In 21 outings, he scored 14.0 points per game on 55% shooting from the floor and 38% shooting from distance. He signed a 10-day hardship deal last season and was a two-way player for New Orleans in 2019.

Butler, a 7’2″ center, played four games with the Pelicans during summer league this year. He averaged 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 16.7 minutes, shooting 12-of-16 from the floor (75%) and 6-of-9 from three-point range (67%). The 19-year-old went undrafted out of Florida State in June.

The Pelicans signed Brockington, a 23-year-old guard who also went undrafted in June, to a two-way deal earlier this month. The team’s roster now stands at 20 players, which includes two-way swingman Dereon Seabron.

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Team USA Announces Camp Roster For AmeriCup

August 19th, 2022 at 11:56am CST by Luke Adams

At the same time that 24 European nations will be competing in this year’s long-awaited EuroBasket tournament, Team USA will be going for gold in the 2022 AmeriCup, another event that hasn’t taken place in five years. The U.S. team won the 2017 AmeriCup and was preparing to defend its title in 2021 before the event was pushed back a year due to the delay of the Tokyo Olympics.

With the 2022 AmeriCup around the corner, Team USA has announced the 15 players who will take part in training camp from August 23-27 in Las Vegas before the squad chooses a 12-man roster for the September event. Those 15 players are as follows:

While not every player on Team USA’s training camp roster has NBA experience, many do, including Meeks (539 regular season games), Cole (360), McCaw (199), Clark (170), Johnson (103), Mason (103), and Pargo (86). Sword, Cheatham, Lamb, and Zimmerman have also made brief NBA appearances.

The U.S. team will be coached by Jazz assistant Alex Jensen.

The AmeriCup, also known as the Americas Basketball Championship, used to be part of the qualifying process for the Olympics and the FIBA World Cup, but now it’s a stand-alone event.

This year’s tournament will take place from September 2-11 in Recife, Brazil. Sixteen teams have been divided into four groups of four teams apiece. After each team plays three round robin games within its group, the top two teams in each group – along with the two best third-place teams – will move onto the quarterfinals.

Team USA will be seeking its eighth overall AmeriCup gold medal and its first back-to-back golds since winning the event in 1997 and 1999.

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Pelicans Sign Zylan Cheatham, Miye Oni To 10-Day Deals

February 4th, 2022 at 4:09pm CST by Rory Maher

The Pelicans have signed Zylan Cheatham and Miye Oni to 10-day contracts via a hardship exception, the team announced in a press release.

The Pelicans currently have three players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, per our tracker, making the signings possible. New Orleans subsequently announced (via Twitter) that Cheatham has been assigned to the Birmingham Squadron, the team’s G League affiliate.

Cheatham, who went undrafted out of Arizona State in 2019, spent his rookie season on a two-way contract with the Pelicans. However, he appeared in just four NBA games for the club and was sent to Oklahoma City in a sign-and-trade for salary-matching purposes during the 2020 offseason.

He spent most of this season in the G League, splitting time with the Salt Lake City Stars and the Birmingham Squadron. Through 12 GL games (31.1 MPG), he averaged 15.3 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.3 SPG and 1.2 BPG on .571/.364/.733 shooting.

That performance earned Cheatham a 10-day contract with Miami just before Christmas, but he didn’t play at all for the Heat and entered the COVID-19 protocols before his deal expired. He has since cleared the protocols. A couple weeks later, he signed a 10-day hardship deal with Utah, appearing in one game for five minutes. His contract with Utah expired January 21.

Oni, 24, appeared in 80 games for the Jazz across three seasons, but never developed into a consistent, reliable rotation player. He averaged just 1.8 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 8.4 minutes per contest in those three years.

Utah sent Oni to Oklahoma City last month in order to reduce their projected end-of-season luxury tax payment. The Thunder were incentivized to make the deal because they got a future second-round pick out of it, but Oni wasn’t part of their on-court plans, so they ended up waiving him. After he cleared waivers, he became an unrestricted free agent.

Due to the deals coming via a hardship exception, they won’t count towards the Pelicans’ team salary for salary cap or luxury tax purposes.

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Jazz Sign Zylan Cheatham To 10-Day Contract

January 12th, 2022 at 11:47am CST by Luke Adams

11:47am: The Jazz have officially finalized Cheatham’s 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release. The deal will run through January 21, covering Utah’s next five games.

9:03am: The Jazz are set to sign swingman Zylan Cheatham to a 10-day contract using a hardship exception, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Utah already has three players on 10-day hardship deals, with Danuel House under contract through Saturday, Norvel Pelle through Sunday, and Denzel Valentine through next Wednesday. However, since the Jazz have five players in the health and safety protocols, they remain eligible to continue adding replacement players using hardship exceptions.

Cheatham, 26, has spent most of this season with the Birmingham Squadron, New Orleans’ G League affiliate. In 13 NBAGL games (30.5 MPG), he averaged a double-double (14.2 PPG, 10.4 RPG) with a solid .491/.429/.806 shooting line. That performance earned him a 10-day contract with Miami just before Christmas, but he didn’t play at all for the Heat and entered the COVID-19 protocols before his deal expired. He has since cleared the protocols.

Undrafted out of Arizona State in 2019, Cheatham spent his rookie season on a two-way contract with the Pelicans, appearing in four NBA games in 2019/20. Those are his only NBA regular season appearances to date.

Cheatham will earn $85,578 over the course of his 10 days with Utah, but that money won’t count toward team salary for salary cap or luxury tax purposes.

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COVID Updates: Cheatham, Brown, Simpson, York

January 1st, 2022 at 10:15am CST by Dana Gauruder

Here’s are the latest updates regarding players entering or exiting the league’s health and safety protocols or on 10-day contracts:

  • Zylan Cheatham‘s 10-day contract with the Heat expired after the team’s game against the Rockets on Friday, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets. The Heat still have six other players on 10-day contracts and six players in protocols. Cheatham never appeared in a game with the Heat and entered protocols on Dec. 29.
  • Charlie Brown Jr. won’t receive another 10-day from the Mavericks, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. Brown made three cameo appearances for Dallas.
  • Gabe York agreed to a 10-day contract with the Magic on Dec. 29. However, he tested positive for COVID-19 the next day, scuttling the deal, Justin Spears of Tucson.com reports. York has been playing with the G League Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Pacers’ affiliate.
  • Guard Zavier Simpson agreed to a 10-day with the Thunder on Monday. However, he has also entered protocols, according to Shaw. It’s still possible Simpson could sign a contract once he’s cleared.
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Three More Heat Players Enter COVID-19 Protocols

December 29th, 2021 at 9:51am CST by Luke Adams

P.J. Tucker, Gabe Vincent, and Zylan Cheatham have entered the health and safety protocols, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). As Chiang notes, there are now six Heat players in the protocols, with Tucker, Vincent, and Cheatham joining Kyle Lowry, Max Strus, and Udonis Haslem.

Tucker had already missed the last four games due to a left leg injury, but Vincent and Cheatham were two of nine players active for Miami on Tuesday.

With six players now in the protocols and four others – Bam Adebayo, Dewayne Dedmon, Victor Oladipo, and Markieff Morris – dealing with injuries, the Heat will need to make at least one roster move to ensure they meet the required minimum of eight players before their game on Wednesday in San Antonio.

The Heat are reportedly expected to add Kyle Guy on a 10-day contract, which will get them up to eight players as long as the other seven who were active on Tuesday are good to go on Wednesday. That’s not a given though — as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets, Jimmy Butler (ankle) and KZ Okpala (wrist) are banged up and may not be available. For what it’s worth, Okpala is currently listed as questionable, while Butler isn’t on the team’s injury report.

Miami is eligible to complete up to four more hardship additions, but it’s unclear how many more signings the team will be able to complete before tip-off tonight.

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Heat Sign Zylan Cheatham To 10-Day Deal

December 22nd, 2021 at 1:06pm CST by Luke Adams

DECEMBER 22: The Heat have signed Cheatham, the club formally announced today (via Twitter). His 10-day deal will run through December 31, covering Miami’s next five scheduled games.

DECEMBER 21: The Heat plan to sign free agent wing Zylan Cheatham to a 10-day contract via a hardship exception, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Cheatham won’t count against the team’s roster limit, so no corresponding move is required.

Cheatham, who went undrafted out of Arizona State in 2019, spent his rookie season on a two-way contract with the Pelicans. However, he appeared in just four NBA games for the club and was sent to Oklahoma City in a sign-and-trade for salary-matching purposes during the 2020 offseason.

The 26-year-old has played in the G League since then and has spent the current season with the Birmingham Squadron, New Orleans’ affiliate. In 13 NBAGL games (30.5 MPG), he has averaged a double-double (14.2 PPG, 10.4 RPG) with a solid .491/.429/.806 shooting line.

Miami only has one player – Caleb Martin – in the health and safety protocols, but has been hit hard by injuries as of late. Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Markieff Morris, P.J. Tucker, and Victor Oladipo are all sidelined due to various ailments, rendering a hardship signing necessary.

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