Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Suns Sign Yuta Watanabe, Chimezie Metu

July 3rd, 2023 at 10:37am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JULY 3: The Suns have officially signed Watanabe and Metu to their minimum-salary contracts, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

JUNE 30: The Suns are reportedly adding two new free agents to surround their starry core of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Deandre Ayton.

Sources inform Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) that sharpshooting ex-Nets small forward Yuta Watanabe has reached an agreement to join the Suns. Meanwhile, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter) that former Kings big man Chimezie Metu is also signing a one-year deal with the team.

Exact terms of these new contracts have yet to be revealed. Presumably, both these deals would be for veteran’s minimums, due to Phoenix’s current spending restrictions.

Watanabe, a 6’9″ swingman out of George Washington, gives Phoenix some lethal long range versatility on the wing following a breakout season in Brooklyn, most of which was spent playing alongside fellow ex-Net Durant. The 28-year-old averaged 5.6 PPG on a .491/.444/.723 slash line, along with 2.4 RPG, in his 58 contests with Brooklyn.

Metu, a 6’9″ power forward/center out of USC, had spent all five of his prior NBA seasons with Sacramento. In 2022/23 under new head coach Mike Brown, he saw his numbers and role take a bit of a dip while the club improved to a 48-34 record and its first playoff berth since 2006. Across 66 contests, Metu averaged 4.9 PPG and 3.0 RPG in 10.4 MPG. He will for now serve as a key frontcourt backup.

Suns Officially Sign Drew Eubanks, Keita Bates-Diop

July 3rd, 2023 at 10:34am CST by Luke Adams

The Suns have made it official with two free agents who agreed to join the team early in free agency, having officially signed center Drew Eubanks and forward Keita Bates-Diop, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

While many deals reported over the weekend can’t be formally completed until this Thursday, minimum-salary signings are one of the transactions that can be finalized during the July moratorium. Both Eubanks and Bates-Diop agreed to two-year, veteran’s minimum deals that feature second-year player options.

Eubanks, 26, emerged as a reliable rotation player in Portland over the last season-and-a-half, averaging 8.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in 22.3 minutes per game across 100 appearances (50 starts). He also shot 64.3% from the floor during his time as a Blazer. He’ll have an opportunity to back up Deandre Ayton in Phoenix, with Jock Landale leaving the Suns for the Rockets and Bismack Biyombo seemingly unlikely to return.

Bates-Diop, a second-round pick in 2018, is coming off his best season as an NBA player. He averaged 9.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.5 assists with a .508/.394/.793 shooting line in 67 games (21.7 MPG), including 42 starts, for the Spurs last season. He’ll be among the Suns’ minimum-salary signings who will vie for minutes in a rotation headed by the star trio of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal.

The Suns still have several more reported signings to officially complete, including minimum-salary deals with veteran guard Eric Gordon and forward Yuta Watanabe.

Kings Sign Jalen Slawson On Two-Way Deal

July 2nd, 2023 at 8:53pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Former Furman small forward Jalen Slawson has signed a two-way contract with the Kings, per a team press release.

Sacramento selected the 6’7″ forward with the No. 54 pick in this year’s draft. The 23-year-old was voted the Southern Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year for his efforts in the 2022/23 NCAA season.

He was also a two-time All-Southern Conference First Team selection during his collegiate tenure.

Across 36 contests last year, he averaged 15.6 PPG on .556/.394/.775 shooting splits, along with 7.1 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.5 SPG and 1.5 BPG.

Considered a skilled creator with intriguing upside, his lack of athleticism and an occasional tendency for turnovers limited his draft stock somewhat.

Kings Sign Colby Jones To Four-Year Deal

July 2nd, 2023 at 8:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings have become the first team to use the NBA’s cap exception for second-round picks, having signed No. 34 overall pick Colby Jones, per NBA.com’s official transactions log.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), Sacramento agreed to give Jones a four-year contract worth $8.76MM. The first two years will be guaranteed, Charania adds.

The second-round pick exception is a new addition to the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. It allows teams to sign their second-rounders without requiring cap room or a cap exception like the mid-level. In past years, the Kings would have had to use a portion of their cap space (or the non-taxpayer mid-level, if they’d operated over the cap) in order to give Jones a four-year contract.

The second-round pick exception requires four-year deals to include a team option in the final year. It allows Jones to receive salaries worth more than the rookie minimum in the first two seasons of the deal, with minimum salaries in the last two.

The signing also won’t count against the Kings’ cap room until the end of July — this is to ensure a club can sign its second-rounders for Summer League play without having to worry about the impact on the team’s financial flexibility.

Jones is coming off a strong junior season at Xavier, where he averaged 15.0 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 4.4 APG with a .509/.378/.653 shooting line in 36 games (34.0 MPG) in 2022/23.

Jones has already been part of two trades in his brief NBA career. The Hornets technically drafted the 6’6″ wing, but his rights were flipped to the Celtics and then to Sacramento. The Kings sent a future second-round pick to Boston in order to move up four spots from No. 38 to land Jones.

Taking into account their reported deals with Alex Len, Trey Lyles, and Sasha Vezenkov, as well as PJ Dozier‘s non-guaranteed contract, the Kings now have 14 players on standard contracts.

Warriors Sign Cory Joseph To One-Year Deal

July 2nd, 2023 at 7:42pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: Joseph is officially a Warriors, according to a press release from the club.

JULY 2: Free agent point guard Cory Joseph is headed to Golden State, having agreed to sign a one-year contract with the Warriors, agents Rich Paul and Brandon Cavanaugh tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Joseph has been one of the NBA’s steadiest backup point guards for years, making stops in San Antonio, Toronto, Indiana, Sacramento, and Detroit during the first 12 years of his career.

He was traded from the Kings to the Pistons at the 2021 deadline and has spent the last two-and-a-half seasons in Detroit, averaging 8.1 points, 3.8 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game with a .450/.397/.854 shooting line in 146 appearances (22.8 MPG) during that time.

Golden State’s massive team salary means the team is limited to minimum-salary offers to outside free agents this summer, and Joseph will indeed be receiving a veteran’s minimum deal, Anthony Slater of The Athletic confirms (via Twitter).

Joseph, who is entering his age-32 season, was one of the oldest players on a rebuilding Pistons squad in 2022/23. He shouldn’t be leaned on as much for veteran leadership as part of a Warriors backcourt that also features Chris Paul (38), Stephen Curry (35), Klay Thompson (33), and Gary Payton II (30), but will provide head coach Steve Kerr with an experienced, reliable backup to the team’s stars.

As Slater tweets, the Warriors’ deal with Joseph will bring them to 12 players on standard contracts. They’re not expected to carry a full 15-man roster to open the season, Slater says, but will need to add at least two more players to fill out their squad. Veteran forward Dario Saric remains on their radar, Slater adds.

Kings Re-Sign Keon Ellis To Two-Way Contract

July 2nd, 2023 at 7:06pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings have re-signed shooting guard Keon Ellis to a two-way contract, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

Sacramento had tendered Ellis a two-way qualifying offer in the days leading up to free agency, making him a restricted free agent, so he may have simply accepted that QO.

Ellis, who went undrafted out of Alabama in 2022, signed a two-way contract with the Kings last July and spent his entire rookie season within the organization. He was deployed sparingly at the NBA level in 2022/23, appearing in 16 games and playing just 71 total minutes.

Ellis played extensively for the Stockton Kings in the G League, however, averaging 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per night in 23 regular season appearances (30.4 MPG) while registering an impressive shooting line of .517/.444/.784.

Sacramento still has two-way slots available for 2023/24 after bringing back Ellis. The team also tendered a qualifying offer to its other two-way player from ’22/23, Neemias Queta, but because Queta has been on a two-way deal with the Kings for two seasons instead of just one, his QO is equivalent to a standard (partially guaranteed) minimum-salary deal rather than another two-way contract.

Jazz Sign All Three First-Round Picks

July 2nd, 2023 at 4:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Jazz have signed their three first-round picks — forward Taylor Hendricks, guard Keyonte George, and forward Brice Sensabaugh — to rookie scale contracts, according to a team press release.

Hendricks, the No. 9 overall pick, will make $5,569,920 in his first season. He’ll bank $25,351,580 over the life of the four-year contract. The UCF product averaged 15.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 34.7 minutes during his only college season.

George will receive $3,889,800 in his first season. The four-year contract is worth $18,816,885.

The No. 16 pick started 33 games for Baylor in his lone collegiate season and averaged 15.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.1 steals in 28.7 minutes per game. He was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year.

Sensabaugh, taken with the 28th pick out of Ohio State, will bring in $2,448,600 as a rookie. The four-year deal is worth $12,576,077. He appeared in 33 games last season and averaged 16.3 points. 5.4 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 24.5 minutes per game.

First-round picks virtually always sign contracts worth 120% of their rookie scale amount and the above figures represent those amounts. Rookie scale contracts are guaranteed for the first two years, with team options on the third and fourth years.

Nick Smith Signs Rookie Contract With Hornets

July 2nd, 2023 at 4:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nick Smith Jr. has signed his rookie contract with the Hornets, according to the NBA transactions log.

The 6’5” guard out of Arkansas, who missed nearly two months of his lone college season due to a knee injury, will receive $2,463,960 if he signed for the usual 120% of the rookie scale amount at his slot.

The 27th overall pick will make $12,651,907 over his first four NBA seasons if the team options are eventually exercised for the final two years.

Smith was the second of Charlotte’s two first-round picks. The Hornets drafted potential franchise player Brandon Miller with the No. 2 pick.

Smith could jump right into the Hornets’ rotation as LaMelo Ball‘s backup.

Nuggets Sign Justin Holiday To One-Year Deal

July 2nd, 2023 at 4:26pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: The Nuggets have officially signed Holiday, according to the transaction log at NBA.com.

JULY 2: Veteran swingman Justin Holiday has found a new home in free agency, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), who reports that Holiday has agreed to sign a one-year contract with the defending champion Nuggets.

A 10-year NBA veteran, Holiday will be joining the 10th team of his career. The 34-year-old has 622 regular season games under his belt, including 46 last season for the Hawks and Mavericks. He averaged 4.5 points and 1.2 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per game in limited roles for the two teams.

Holiday isn’t a big-time scorer, but can make an outside shot (.363 career 3PT%) and is a solid, versatile wing defender with good size (6’6″). He should be a good fit in the Nuggets’ locker room as another veteran leader, even if he may not play a whole lot, as Mike Singer of The Denver Post tweets.

Because they’ve committed their $5MM taxpayer mid-level exception to Reggie Jackson, the Nuggets are limited to offering minimum-salary contracts to outside free agents. Singer confirms that’s what Holiday will receive (Twitter link).

Holiday will earn just shy of $3.2MM on a veteran’s minimum contract, while Denver will take on a cap hit of about $2.02MM.

Gradey Dick Signs Rookie Contract With Raptors

July 2nd, 2023 at 4:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Gradey Dick has signed his rookie contract with the Raptors, according to NBA’s transactions log.

Assuming Dick signed a contract worth 120% of his rookie scale amount, which is normal practice in the league, he’ll make $4,536,720 in his rookie season. Over the next four seasons, the contract will be worth $21,422,550.

Rookie scale contracts are guaranteed for the first two years, with team options on the third and fourth years.

The No. 13 overall pick in the draft, Dick started 36 games in his lone season at Kansas. The 6’8” Dick averaged 14.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists. He made 40.3% of his 3-point tries and was considered one of the top pure shooters in the draft.