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More Than 30 NBA Players On Track To Suit Up For EuroBasket

August 18th, 2022 at 11:00am CST by Luke Adams

The first EuroBasket tournament in five years will tip off in two weeks and there are currently 34 NBA players on track to participate in the event, representing 17 different countries, according to Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net.

EuroBasket is a 24-team international basketball competition also known as the European Basketball Championship. It historically took place every two years, but that gap was recently adjusted to four years, emulating the FIBA World Cup schedule.

The last EuroBasket tournament was played in 2017 — the next one had been scheduled for 2021, but was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. As a result, after being played every two years since 1947, it has now been five years since the last EuroBasket tournament, easily the longest layoff since World War II.

It’s possible that some NBA players will be cut from their teams’ rosters or will have to drop out due to injuries or personal reasons before the event begins on September 1, but in general enthusiasm to participate in the long-awaited event appears high.

Here’s the list of NBAers currently set to play in EuroBasket, per Eurohoops:

There are also multiple NBA free agents on EuroBasket rosters, including French swingman Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and German guard Dennis Schröder.

A number of young NBA players, such as 2022 draftees Jeremy Sochan and Nikola Jovic, have dropped out to focus on getting ready for the 2022/23 season, while others, including Bogdan Bogdanovic (Serbia) and Frank Ntilikina (France), were ruled out due to injuries.

Round robin play will begin on September 1, with each team facing the other five clubs in its group once. The top four teams in each group will advance to a 16-team bracket that begins on September 10. The final will take place on September 18, just over a week before NBA training camps get underway.

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Shaedon Sharpe Resumes Shooting After Shoulder Injury

August 13th, 2022 at 9:36pm CST by Arthur Hill

Trail Blazers rookie Shaedon Sharpe, who injured his shoulder last month during his first Summer League game, has resumed shooting, tweets Casey Holdahl of TrailBlazers.com. Holdahl doesn’t know exactly when team doctors gave their approval for Sharpe to begin shooting again.

The seventh pick in this year’s draft, Sharpe suffered a “small” labral tear in his left shoulder, according to a press release from the team. The 19-year-old guard was expected to be fully recovered in time for training camp, and this is an important step along the way.

Sharpe played just six minutes before the injury occurred, disappointing fans who had hoped to see him in action after he sat out last season at Kentucky. The Canadian native was a five-star recruit out of high school and made a strong impression on scouts who watched him practice with the Wildcats.

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Contract Details: Muscala, Harden, Blazers, More

August 8th, 2022 at 3:47pm CST by Luke Adams

The new contract that veteran forward/center Mike Muscala signed with the Thunder is essentially identical to the one he signed with the team in 2021, Hoops Rumors has learned.

Muscala’s new deal covers two years and has matching $3.5MM cap hits in each of those two seasons for a total of $7MM. The first year is guaranteed, while the second year is a team option. All of those details also applied to the two-year, $7MM contract he signed in ’21.

The Thunder chose to decline Muscala’s $3.5MM team option for 2022/23 back in June, but will now pay him that exact salary next season, with another $3.5MM team option for ’23/24. Since Oklahoma City had Muscala’s Bird rights, the club didn’t have to dip into its mid-level exception to complete the signing.

Here are a few more details on recently signed contracts from around the NBA:

  • James Harden‘s new two-year contract with the Sixers will pay him exactly $33MM in 2022/23 and includes a 2023/24 player option worth $35.64MM. The two-year, $68.64MM pact includes a 15% trade kicker.
  • The training camp contracts that Norvel Pelle and Isaiah Miller signed with the Trail Blazers include Exhibit 10 language. That gives Portland the option of converting either contract into a two-way deal before the regular season begins.
  • The new two-way contracts signed by Duane Washington (Suns) and Trent Forrest (Hawks) are each just for one season.
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NBA Teams With Open Two-Way Contract Slots

August 5th, 2022 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams

A total of 18 NBA teams currently have both of their two-way contract slots filled, as our tracker shows.

That doesn’t mean those players will be locked into those slots for the rest of the 2022/23 season, or even until opening night, since two-way deals are low-cost contracts that don’t count against the salary cap, making them easy to replace. But it means those spots are unavailable for the time being.

That leaves 12 teams with at least one two-way slot available. Those teams are as follows:

  • Atlanta Hawks
  • Brooklyn Nets
  • Charlotte Hornets
  • Chicago Bulls
  • Dallas Mavericks
  • Houston Rockets
  • Indiana Pacers
  • Los Angeles Clippers
  • New Orleans Pelicans
  • Portland Trail Blazers
  • San Antonio Spurs
  • Washington Wizards

The Hawks, Hornets, Mavericks, Rockets, Clippers, the Trail Blazers, and Wizards have fairly straightforward two-way situations at the moment — they’ve each filled one slot and have one open, with no reports indicating that any of those teams has reached an agreement on a two-way deal with a free agent or draftee.

The Nets and Bulls also have one two-way spot filled and one open, but each of them has a two-way qualifying offer out to a restricted free agent — David Duke for Brooklyn and Malcolm Hill for Chicago. If those players simply accept their QOs, neither the Nets nor the Bulls will have a two-way opening.

The Spurs also have one two-way player signed and one spot open, though a Shams Charania report last month indicated that undrafted rookie Jordan Hall will sign a two-way contract with San Antonio. If and when that happens, the Spurs will join the list of teams with both of their two-way slots occupied.

The Pacers and Pelicans are currently the only two teams that don’t have a single player on a two-way contract. A Charania report way back in June suggested that Dereon Seabron would sign a two-way deal with New Orleans, but it hasn’t officially happened yet.

The best candidate for a two-way contract with Indiana, meanwhile, could be 48th overall pick Kendall Brown, who is one of a handful of 2022 draftees still unsigned. Even if Seabron and Brown sign two-way pacts, the Pacers and Pelicans would still each have one slot available.

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Trail Blazers Sign Isaiah Miller

August 3rd, 2022 at 9:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

9:00pm: Miller has officially signed with Portland, according to the NBA transactions log at RealGM.

4:28pm: Isaiah Miller has a contract agreement with the Trail Blazers, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. The free agent guard will be given an opportunity to win a roster spot in training camp, sources tell Haynes.

Miller, 24, signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Timberwolves last September after going undrafted out of UNC Greensboro. He spent the season in the G League as an affiliate player with the Iowa Wolves, averaging 12.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 32 games.

Miller attended a free agent mini-camp with the Jazz in early June and earned a spot on Utah’s Summer League roster. He appeared in two games and averaged 5.0 PPG.

Portland currently has 15 players with guaranteed contracts, but only one of the team’s two-way slots is filled.

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Trail Blazers Sign Norvel Pelle

August 3rd, 2022 at 7:48pm CST by Arthur Hill

7:48pm: The signing is now official, per RealGM’s NBA transactions log. Pelle will compete for a two-way roster spot, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

7:04pm: Norvel Pelle will sign a training camp contract with the Trail Blazers, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The 29-year-old center had two brief NBA appearances last season when he signed 10-day contracts with the Celtics and Jazz under the hardship exception. He didn’t play during his time in Boston, but appeared in three games with Utah, averaging 2.0 points and 2.0 rebounds in 6.3 minutes per night.

After going undrafted in 2013, Pelle played in the G League and spent time overseas before getting an opportunity with the Sixers during the 2019/20 season. He also had short stays with the Nets, Kings and Knicks.

In case you missed it, free agent guard Isaiah Miller is also expected to complete a deal with Portland.

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Blazers Sign Jared Rhoden To Camp Deal

August 3rd, 2022 at 2:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 3: Rhoden’s deal is now official. It’s an Exhibit 10 contract, so it could be converted into a two-way deal before the regular season begins.

AUGUST 2: The Trail Blazers are signing rookie shooting guard Jared Rhoden to a training camp deal, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Rhoden went undrafted out of Seton Hall this summer. He played four seasons for the Pirates, including 31 games last season in which he averaged 15.5 PPG, 6.7 RPG and 1.2 APG in 33.1 MPG. He shot 31.2% on 3-point attempts during his college career.

The 22-year-old shooting guard appeared in eight Summer League games with the Kings at Las Vegas and San Francisco, averaging 10.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG and 1.5 APG in 23.2 MPG.

Portland has 15 players on guaranteed deals but does have a two-way slot open, which Rhoden could presumably claim with a strong showing in camp.

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Damian Lillard Feels "100 Percent Healthy"

July 27th, 2022 at 8:50pm CST by Arthur Hill
  • Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard considers himself fully recovered from abdominal surgery in January, according to Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report. Lillard played 29 games last season before deciding to have the operation, but he admits that the pain had been bothering him for nearly five years. “I feel 100 percent healthy,” Lillard said. “I got a break from playing and going out there knowing I didn’t feel good, and the burden of, ‘We have to win. I have to perform well.’ That’s a little bit stressful. So the last seven-and-a-half, almost eight months without having to think about none of those things, it kind of cleared my mind. Physically, I feel great.”
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Northwest Notes: Watford, Walker, K. Johnson, KCP, Bolmaro

July 23rd, 2022 at 9:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

Strong showings by Trendon Watford and Jabari Walker in the Las Vegas Summer League may have eased any concerns the Trail Blazers have about front court depth, writes Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian.

Watford, who signed a two-way contract with Portland last summer and was converted to a standard deal in February, was outstanding late in the season when injuries to teammates pushed him into a more prominent role. He remained productive in Las Vegas, averaging 13.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks per game as the Blazers captured the Summer League title.

Walker didn’t have flashy statistics in Vegas, but he showed he can be a valuable role player, Fentress states. Walker rebounded, played defense, set screens and did other things that will be necessary for him to earn consistent minutes in the NBA.

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

  • Trail Blazers shooting guard Keon Johnson also stood out during Summer League, Fentress adds. Johnson, who was acquired from the Clippers in February, looked like a former first-round pick, leading Portland’s squad in scoring at 14.2 PPG. Fentress doesn’t expect Johnson to be part of the rotation this season, barring injuries, but said he could see spot duty.
  • Although Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has found a new home with the Nuggets, who gave him a two-year extension last week, he didn’t expect to be traded by the Wizards, per Mike Singer of The Denver Post. It marked the second straight offseason that Caldwell-Pope has been part of a significant trade. “My initial reaction was surprise because what me and my team and the Washington Wizards was talking about and communicating was different,” he said. “It was a surprise.”
  • Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune examines what the Jazz can expect from Leandro Bolmaro, who was part of the return in the Rudy Gobert trade. Bolmero, a 21-year-old swingman, is a 2020 first-round pick who made his NBA debut last season with the Timberwolves. Larsen notes that Bolmaro is an outstanding defender and a capable rebounder and playmaker, but there are questions about his ability to score.
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Western Notes: Warriors, Blazers, Bledsoe, Kings, Dulkys

July 22nd, 2022 at 11:17am CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to Mark Medina of NBA.com on Wednesday, Warriors president of basketball operations Bob Myers suggested he doesn’t expect to make any significant changes to the current roster before the 2022/23 season begins.

“I like our team and where it’s at,” Myers said of the defending champions. “I want to give the guys a chance to do it again.”

While Medina interprets Myers’ comments as a strong signal that the Warriors won’t seriously pursue a Kevin Durant trade, such a move was already considered a long shot. Golden State hasn’t shown much interest in sacrificing its depth or young prospects in order to make a run at another marquee player, Medina notes.

For his part, Myers is curious to see what the Warriors look like defending their title after coming off a couple non-playoff seasons in 2020 and 2021.

“It’s a good group. We’re lucky. It’ll be fun to see,” he told Medina. “We were really hunting last year. Now I guess we’re back to being the hunted, which I didn’t think we’d be. We’ll see. I think we can handle it.”

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

  • Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report attempts to make sense of recent reports about Phil Knight‘s interest in buying the Trail Blazers and Jody Allen‘s statement insisting the franchise isn’t currently for sale. Observing that Knight is an ideal buyer from the NBA’s perspective, Highkin suggests more reports like the New York Post’s dubiously sourced hit piece on Allen could surface in the coming weeks and months in an effort to pressure her to sell.
  • It slipped through the cracks when Casey Holdahl of Blazers.com (Twitter link) first reported it earlier this month, but the Trail Blazers have stretched Eric Bledsoe‘s $3.9MM in dead money across three seasons rather than applying the full amount to their 2022/23 cap. The decision, which results in annual $1.3MM cap hits through ’24/25, moves Portland’s team salary for this season slightly under the luxury tax line.
  • Deividas Dulkys, who served as a player development coach for Memphis’ G League team in 2021/22, will take a player development role with the Kings, reports Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. The former Florida State wing, who played professionally from 2012-21, was a member of the Lithuanian national team during 2012 Olympic qualifiers.
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