- The Spurs, widely expected to be a player in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes, are off to a 3-1 start this season. Swingman Devin Vassell admitted after Monday’s win in Minnesota that the outside expectations for the team have been a motivating factor. “I try not to listen to the outside noise, but I’m not going to lie, it does get frustrating when everybody is talking about tanking, tanking, tanking,” Vassell said, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. “We are professional athletes. We all want to play. We all want to win. And that’s how we are going to approach every game.”
- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had a colorful response when asked about the team’s latest addition, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News tweets. Charles Bassey was signed to a two-way contract on Monday and Jordan Hall was waived. “Management wants me to look at him, so I’m going to look at him,” Popovich said of Bassey.
Charles Bassey‘s representatives spoke to 22 teams after the big man was waived by Philadelphia on October 13, including the Pistons, Cavaliers, Suns, and Raptors, reports Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. However, according to Pompey, most of the teams that reached out to Pompey wanted to sign him to an Exhibit 10 contract and have him play on their G League affiliate this season.
Some of those G League offers might’ve resulted in a promotion to the NBA later this season or in 2023/24, but Bassey didn’t want to settle — he ultimately signed a two-way contract with the Spurs earlier today.
“I didn’t want to wait for the next year for a roster spot,” Bassey said, per Pompey. “That’s too long. The Spurs came hard … Some of the teams wanted to give me a roster spot, but they couldn’t give me one right now. I just didn’t want to go through that (Exhibit 10/G League) route. San Antonio said, ‘We can give you a two-way this year and we’ll see where it goes from there.'”
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Bassey, who lived in San Antonio when he first moved to America from Nigeria in 2015 and still has some family in the city. He also believes the franchise is an ideal fit for him.
“It’s a young organization,” Bassey said. “They are rebuilding. I feel like I’m going to have a great chance to play in a pretty good organization. And it’s a character organization. Everybody does stuff the same. … I feel like I’m going to fit right in.”
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- In an in-depth story for The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Orsborn takes a look at how Tre Jones is embracing what he calls a “big opportunity” to start at point guard for the Spurs this season. Jones is averaging 16.3 PPG on 53.1% shooting in his first three games this season, a significant step up from last season’s 6.0 PPG on 49.0% shooting. “When we find guys we think have that potential (to be leaders), we try to help it grow,” head coach Gregg Popovich. “Tre has just got it. Some people don’t, some people do. I remember Coach K (former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski) telling me about what I would like about Tre, and that was one of the major things. He is just a born leader.”
- The battle for the Spurs’ 15th regular season spot entering the season was believed to come down to Romeo Langford vs. Joe Wieskamp, with Langford ultimately making the team. Asked what he wants to see from Langford this season, Popovich said he believes the former Indiana standout has the potential to be a “hell of a defender,” per Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files (Twitter link).
- Here’s more from Popovich on Langford: “He’s got quick feet, he’s really long, he anticipates well, and he’s got a real bounce to him. Offensively, I think confidence is what he needs right now. I think he an become a two-way player. He can score at one end and really shake it up at the defensive end. That’s what I’ve seen from him in the short time I’ve been around him and that’s why we kept him.”
1:18pm: The Spurs have officially signed Bassey to a two-way contract, the team announced in a press release. San Antonio waived Hall to open up a spot for the new addition.
12:26pm: The Spurs have agreed to sign free agent big man Charles Bassey to a two-way contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The 53rd overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Western Kentucky, Bassey appeared in 23 games for the Sixers as a rookie, averaging 3.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in 7.3 minutes per contest. He thrived when assigned to the G League, averaging 18.9 PPG and 10.3 RPG in 17 regular season games (28.6 MPG) for the Delaware Blue Coats.
Bassey, who played two years of high school basketball in San Antonio, had been under contract in Philadelphia for two more seasons, but his partial guarantee for 2022/23 was only worth about $75K. That made him one of the odd men out when the Sixers had a roster crunch — he was waived at the end of the preseason and become a free agent earlier this month.
In order to sign Bassey to a two-way deal, the Spurs will have to waive one of their current two-way players, Dominick Barlow or Jordan Hall. Both rookies signed with San Antonio this summer after going undrafted in June, with Hall receiving a two-year contract. He’ll likely be the player cut to make room for Bassey, tweets Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News.
As our two-way contract tracker shows, 59 of the 60 league-wide two-way slots are currently occupied. The Timberwolves are the only team with an opening.
Hornets guard Terry Rozier was on the Lakers‘ radar over the offseason as a potential trade candidate, and Los Angeles still has a “high” level of interest in him, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
As Charania outlines, the Lakers and Hornets explored possible three- and four-team trade scenarios involving Rozier during the summer, but his availability during the season will depend on how Charlotte performs.
As Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer noted earlier today, Charlotte was mentioned as a possible landing spot for Lakers guard Russell Westbrook earlier in the year, but that was when the Hornets were interested in moving off some multiyear salary in preparation of a lucrative new deal for Miles Bridges. With Bridges’ basketball future up in the air, that may no longer be a priority.
Still, it’s possible that if the Hornets fall out of playoff contention, a deal structured around Westbrook, Rozier, and perhaps Gordon Hayward (who is owed $31.5MM in 2023/24) could appeal to the team, despite a reduced need to create future financial flexibility.
Here’s more from Charania:
- The Lakers have had preliminary discussions in recent weeks about a possible trade involving Spurs swingman Josh Richardson, sources tell Charania. San Antonio still has a significant amount of cap room available this season and could take on Westbrook’s contract without having to match salaries. However, the Spurs would need to trade at least one more player in addition to Richardson to be able to absorb Westbrook’s $47MM+ cap hit.
- Charania reiterates that the Bucks, Heat, and Hawks are potential suitors for veteran forward Jae Crowder, who remains away from the Suns as they seek a trade. According to Charania, Phoenix and Milwaukee have engaged in some recent discussions about a possible deal involving Crowder.
- As we relayed in a full story earlier this morning, Charania also reported that the Timberwolves have discussed possible extensions with Naz Reid and Jaylen Nowell.
The Sixers thought their offseason moves would make them a title contender, but they haven’t looked the part through the first week of the season, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. After opening with losses to the Celtics and Bucks, Philadelphia dropped to 0-3 on Saturday by falling at home to the rebuilding Spurs.
“I’m happy that we are going through this right now,” said James Harden, who admits that “everything” needs to be addressed. “We don’t have fool’s gold. We got to work through it. We gotta figure it out on both ends. Realistically, it’s a good thing for us.”
The most obvious issues have been on defense, which the Sixers focused on upgrading this summer. Pompey cites a lack of intensity on that end of the court and an inability to stay in front of wing players. Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson and Doug McDermott all had big games Saturday as the Spurs shot 48.3% from the field, including 42.1% on three-pointers.
“We do have to give them credit. They made tough shots,” Tobias Harris said. “But on our part, that’s not the standard of defense that we hold ourselves to.”
There’s more from Philadelphia:
- The Sixers aren’t getting enough production from their bench, Pompey adds. Their reserves were outscored by San Antonio’s, 40-10, with Georges Niang contributing eight of those points. Montrezl Harrell, De’Anthony Melton, Danuel House and Matisse Thybulle shot a combined 1-of-6. Pompey notes that Thybulle gives the team a stronger defensive presence, but he has barely been used so far this season.
- Joel Embiid dealt with plantar fasciitis this summer that affected his ability to train, tweets Sixers reporter Derek Bodner. Embiid said it began to affect him during team workouts in July, and it reached a point where he couldn’t walk. “Coming into training camp I hadn’t done anything in like two months, so it really slowed me down,” he said. “Still trying to work my way back and hopefully everything goes back to normal.”
- Former Sixers coach Brett Brown was back in Philadelphia on Saturday for the first time since getting fired in 2020, Pompey adds in a separate story. After being out of the NBA for two years, Brown rejoined the Spurs’ coaching staff in June. “He meant a lot,” Embiid said. “Obviously, he started the whole thing and things didn’t work out the way they should have. But he did a great job and he’s one of the reasons why we’re in this position.”
- The Spurs waived Alize Johnson late in training camp but they still want him in their organization. The G League’s Austin Spurs acquired his returning player rights from Toronto’s affiliate, Raptors 905, in exchange for Jaylen Morris, Ky Bowman and Jarrod Uthoff, Blake Murphy of Sportsnet tweets.
Most players who are still on non-guaranteed contracts as the NBA’s regular season begins won’t have their salaries for 2022/23 fully guaranteed until January. The league-wide salary guarantee date is January 10, and teams must waive players on non-guaranteed contracts on or before January 7 in order to avoid being on the hook for the full-season salaries.
However, a number of players on non-guaranteed deals have language in their contracts that calls for them to receive full or partial guarantees if they’re not waived before their team’s first game of the regular season. Those players are as follows:
Full guarantees:
Dalano Banton (Raptors): Partial guarantee ($300,000) increases to full guarantee ($1,563,518).- Keita Bates-Diop (Spurs): Non-guaranteed salary ($1,878,720) becomes fully guaranteed.
- Justin Champagnie (Raptors): Partial guarantee ($325,000) increases to full guarantee ($1,637,966).
- Tre Jones (Spurs): Partial guarantee ($500,000) increases to full guarantee ($1,782,621).
As our full list of early salary guarantee dates shows, Isaiah Joe (Sixers), Josh Jackson (Raptors), and D.J. Wilson (Raptors) also would’ve had their salaries become fully guaranteed if they had remained under contract through their teams’ first regular season games. However, they were all waived within the last week. Joe has since signed with the Thunder on a deal that includes a guaranteed first-year salary.
Partial guarantees:
- Matthew Dellavedova (Kings): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,628,597) becomes partially guaranteed ($250,000).
- Haywood Highsmith (Heat): Partial guarantee ($50,000) increases to $400,000.
- Luke Kornet (Celtics): Partial guarantee ($300,000) increases to $1,066,639.
- Chima Moneke (Kings): Partial guarantee ($250,000) increases to $500,000.
- Markieff Morris (Nets): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,905,581) becomes partially guaranteed ($500,000).
- KZ Okpala (Kings): Partial guarantee ($250,000) increases to $500,000.
- Edmond Sumner (Nets): Partial guarantee ($250,000) increases to $500,000.
Guarantee dates are a matter of negotiation between a team and a player, so there’s nothing stopping a club from approaching a player and asking him to agree to push that date back. If a player feels as if he’ll be waived if he says no, he may agree.
This happened last season, for instance, when Isaac Bonga‘s and Sam Dekker‘s contracts with the Raptors called for their salaries to be fully guaranteed as of opening night. Both players assented to moving their guarantee dates back to November 6. When that new deadline arrived, Toronto opted to retain Bonga and guarantee his full salary while waiving Dekker.
In other words, it’s not yet a sure thing that all the players mentioned above will get the guarantees described here, even if they remain under contract through Wednesday (or Tuesday, in Kornet’s case). We may get word in a day or two that a couple of them agreed to postpone their salary guarantee dates.
For the most part though, we should count on this group of players receiving some added security, with a handful of names coming off our list of players who still have non-guaranteed salaries.
Romeo Langford beat out Joe Wieskamp for the last spot on the Spurs’ roster and Langford is looking to establish a career foothold, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express News writes.
“I feel like I have a new start with an organization that believes in me and wants to see me succeed and will do everything they can to help me be better off and on the court,” Langford said.
Langford appeared in just four games for San Antonio last season after being included in the Derrick White deal with Boston. He has a $5,634,257 salary this season and could be a restricted free agent next summer if San Antonio extends a qualifying offer.
We have more on the Texas teams:
- Rockets second-year center Alperen Sengun might be more effective coming off the bench, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle explains. Sengun could showcase more of his offensive moves if he’s on the second unit, while Bruno Fernando is more suited for the rebounding and pick-and-roll responsibilities with the starting unit. “It’s always important for (Sengun) to touch the ball when he’s on the floor because that’s his strength,” coach Stephen Silas said. “I’m intentional about making sure that he gets the ball when it’s necessary and sometimes when he hasn’t had a touch.”
- Mavericks coach Jason Kidd believes Luka Doncic could turn another corner during the fifth season of his career, Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com writes. “He will understand the league better,” Kidd said. “With his talent, he’s always going to make his teammates better. He’s (one of) if not the best player in the world. It could be where things are a little clearer where he can see things a lot better and understand what teams are trying to do.”
- Facundo Campazzo was officially added to the Mavericks roster on Tuesday via a one-year contract and the former Nuggets guard is grateful to get another NBA job, as he told Sefko. “I’ve been waiting for this opportunity,” he said. “I was training hard, as much as I could in Argentina. I just tried to be ready for any chance in the NBA. The opportunity came now and I love it.”
3:05pm: The move is official, the Spurs announced in a press release.
2:57pm: The Spurs will get down to the regular season roster limit by waiving swingman Joe Wieskamp, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Wieskamp, 23, was drafted 41st overall in 2021 by the Spurs and spent most of his rookie season on a two-way contract with the team. He was converted to a rest-of-season standard contract in March, then re-signed with San Antonio in August on a two-year deal that includes a guaranteed $2.175MM salary for 2022/23.
A former Iowa standout, Wieskamp appeared in 29 games for the Spurs in his first pro season, playing a very limited role for the NBA club. He averaged 2.1 PPG and 0.5 RPG in 7.1 MPG.
In 15 G League regular season games for the Austin Spurs, Wieskamp played a more significant role, putting up 17.1 PPG and 3.3 RPG with a .371 3PT% in 33.5 MPG.
The Spurs entered the day with 16 players on guaranteed standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals, so they needed to make one cut to set their roster for opening night. Wieskamp and Romeo Langford were considered to be the players “on the bubble” — it appears Langford will remain on the roster to open the season.
Although San Antonio will have to eat Wieskamp’s $2.175MM salary, assuming he’s not claimed on waivers, taking on that dead money won’t really hurt the team financially. The Spurs remain far below the salary cap and the salary floor for 2022/23.