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Knicks Sign Duane Washington To Two-Way Deal

February 28th, 2023 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams

12:21pm: The Knicks have officially signed Washington to a two-way contract, the team announced today (press release via Twitter). As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, Washington will be eligible to be active for up to 12 regular season games.

9:14am: The Knicks intend to fill one of the open slots on their 17-man roster by signing guard Duane Washington Jr. to a two-way contract, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Washington, who played for the Pacers as a rookie after going undrafted out of Ohio State in 2021, signed a two-way contract with the Suns last August and spent the first half of the 2022/23 season with Phoenix before being waived at the start of February.

Washington had several strong outings for the Suns in his second NBA season, including four games of 21 points or more. In total, he averaged 7.9 PPG and 2.0 APG in 31 appearances (12.7 MPG) while making 36.0% of his three-point attempts. The team cut him in order to sign Saben Lee to a two-way deal.

The Knicks have been on a roll lately and don’t have any open spots in their rotation, so it’s unclear whether Washington will any real action at the NBA level once he signs with New York. He could end up spending much of his time with the Westchester Knicks as the G League season enters its home stretch.

Having promoted Trevor Keels from his two-way contract to a 10-day deal last week, the Knicks have an open two-way slot alongside DaQuan Jeffries. New York also still has the flexibility to continue making changes to its standard 15-man roster — after Keels’ 10-day contract expires this weekend, the team will be carrying just 13 players on standard deals.

Willie Cauley-Stein Signs 10-Day Deal With Rockets

February 27th, 2023 at 5:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

5:50pm: Cauley-Stein’s 10-day contract with Houston is now official, the team announced in a press release. It will run through March 8, covering the Rockets’ next five games.

9:33am: The Rockets will sign veteran center Willie Cauley-Stein to a 10-day contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Cauley-Stein signed with Houston in October, but was waived before the start of the regular season. He has been playing for the team’s G League affiliate in Rio Grande Valley, averaging 9.4 points and 6.2 rebounds in 10 regular season games and 6.0 points and 6.4 rebounds in 16 Showcase Cup contests.

The 29-year-old appeared in 20 combined games with the Mavericks and Sixers last season. He was waived by Dallas in mid-January and signed a 10-day contract with Philadelphia in late February, but has been out of the league since then.

Cauley-Stein was selected by the Kings with the sixth pick in the 2015 draft and has played 422 games in seven seasons.

The Rockets have been carrying just 13 players with standard contracts since waiving Justin Holiday on February 13. They were required by league rules to fill at least one of their roster openings by today.

Lindy Waters III Signs Two-Year Deal With Thunder

February 27th, 2023 at 2:23pm CST by Arthur Hill

2:23pm: Waters’ promotion to a standard deal is now official, the Thunder announced in a press release.

11:17am: Two-way guard Lindy Waters III will receive a standard contract with the Thunder, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. The two-year deal will be worth $3.8MM and will include a team option for 2023/24.

Waters, 25, has been playing on a two-way contract since last February. The former Oklahoma State standout has appeared in 25 games this season, averaging 4.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 11.2 minutes per night.

Waters is coming off one of his best games, scoring 12 points in 17 minutes on Sunday against the Kings. That came after he played in a G League contest with the Oklahoma City Blue earlier in the day, notes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman.

Based on the contract terms reported by Charania, it sounds like the Thunder will use a portion of their mid-level exception to give Waters a salary worth more than the minimum for the rest of this season.

The Thunder opened a roster spot late last night by waiving Eugene Omoruyi.

Thunder Waive Eugene Omoruyi

February 27th, 2023 at 8:53am CST by Arthur Hill

The Thunder opened a roster spot by waiving second-year forward Eugene Omoruyi, the team announced in a press release.

Omoruyi, 26, signed a two-way contract with Oklahoma City last summer and was converted to a standard deal earlier this month. His new contract ran through 2023/24, but the second season was non-guaranteed.

The Thunder wanted roster flexibility and the decision came down to Omoruyi or Dario Saric, tweets Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. The team opted to hold onto Saric, who was acquired from the Suns at the trade deadline.

Omoruyi appeared in 23 games for the Thunder, averaging 4.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per night. He also spent part of the season with the team’s G League affiliate.

After going undrafted out of Oregon in 2021, Omoruyi broke into the NBA on a two-way contract with the Mavericks. He played four games for Dallas before being waived in December of that year.

Hornets Sign Bryce McGowens To Four-Year Contract

February 26th, 2023 at 3:09pm CST by Rory Maher

3:09pm: McCowens’ new contract is official, the Hornets announced in a press release.

1:29pm: Bryce McGowens is receiving a promotion from the Hornets, as they plan to convert his two-way contract to a four-year, $7.4MM standard deal, his agents, Mark Bartelstein and Kyle McAlarney of Priority Sports, tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The fourth year of the deal, which would be for the 2025/26 season, is a team option, Wojnarowski adds.

McGowens was the 40th overall pick of last June’s draft after spending one college season at Nebraska. In 26 games (14.7 MPG) as a two-way rookie for Charlotte, he has averaged 4.1 PPG, 1.7 RPG and 1.0 APG on .379/.364/.786 shooting.

The Hornets still have their full mid-level exception available, and they’ll be using a portion of it to give the 20-year-old a four-year deal for more than the minimum in year one.

Charlotte has two openings on its 15-man roster at the moment, so the team won’t need to waive anyone to promote McGowens. Today was the deadline for the Hornets to fill the 14th spot on their standard roster, as we previously explained.

Once the signing is official, the Hornets will have one standard roster spot open as well as a two-way slot.

Magic Sign Michael Carter-Williams To Two-Year Deal

February 26th, 2023 at 12:50pm CST by Rory Maher

The Magic have signed free agent guard Michael Carter-Williams, the team announced (via Twitter).

Shams Charania of The Athletic was the first to report the deal, tweeting that it’s a two-year contract with a team option for 2023/24.

Carter-Williams, 31, was the No. 11 pick of the 2013 draft out of Syracuse, winning Rookie of the Year with the Sixers in the ’13/14 season. He has bounced around a good amount since, having also played for Milwaukee, Chicago, Charlotte, Houston and Orlando.

The veteran guard, who is known for his defense, originally caught on with the Magic at the end of the 2018/19 season, signing a couple of 10-day contracts and then a rest-of-season deal. He signed a one-year, minimum-salary deal to remain with Orlando that summer, then re-signed with the Magic in the 2020 offseason on a two-year, $6MM contract that ran through the end of 2022.

Carter-Williams’ last NBA appearance came in April 2021 during the ’20/21 season, as he had offseason ankle surgery in August 2021 that kept him sidelined in ’21/22 until he was waived as part of a multiplayer trade. He has been a free agent since he was cut last February.

In 391 games, including 217 starts (25.3 MPG), Carter-Williams holds career averages of 10.3 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 4.4 APG and 1.3 SPG on .402/.255/.706 shooting splits. The Magic have an opening on their standard roster, so a corresponding move is not necessary.

Kings Waive KZ Okpala, Bring Back PJ Dozier

February 25th, 2023 at 7:55pm CST by Arthur Hill

7:55pm: The Kings have officially signed Dozier and waived Okpala, the team confirmed in a press release.

8:30am: The Kings will waive forward KZ Okpala and sign veteran wing PJ Dozier for the rest of the season, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links).

Okpala, who has been dealing with bilateral knee soreness, plans to undergo surgery that will end his season. The 23-year-old power forward has appeared in 35 games, averaging 1.3 points and 1.0 rebounds in 7.1 minutes per night, and hasn’t played since January 28.

After spending his first three seasons in Miami, Okpala signed a two-year deal with Sacramento last summer that carried a partial guarantee. His $1.9MM salary for this season became fully guaranteed when he remained on the roster through early January, and his $2MM salary for 2023/24 was non-guaranteed.

Dozier returns to the Kings after signing two 10-day contracts in January. He saw limited playing time in four games and wasn’t immediately re-signed when the second deal expired at the end of the month. The 26-year-old guard has also played for the Thunder, Celtics and Nuggets.

Suns Sign Ish Wainright To Two-Year Standard Deal

February 24th, 2023 at 7:55pm CST by Rory Maher

7:55pm: Wainright has officially inked a multiyear contract, the Suns announced (Twitter link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports).

5:47 pm: The Suns are promoting forward Ish Wainright from his two-way contract to a two-year, $2.5MM standard deal, his agents, Jim Tanner and Deirunas Visokas of Tandem Sports, tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

There will be a club option for 2023/24 on Wainright’s new deal, Charania adds. It’ll be worth the minimum ($1,927,896).

Wainright was active for his 50th game prior to the All-Star break and thus had maxed out the games-played limit on his two-way contract. Phoenix could have kept him on his two-way deal for the rest of the season, but he would have been ineligible to be activated for another regular season or playoff game; now that he’s getting promoted to a standard deal, those restrictions no longer apply.

While Wainright’s counting stats of 4.3 PPG and 2.1 RPG on .384/.339/.810 shooting in 42 games (15.5 MPG) don’t jump off the page, his plus-6.3 net rating is excellent (the Suns’ season-long net rating is plus-1.5), and he is an above-average defensive player. He has been a rotation player since the start of December.

At 28 years old, Wainright is an unusual second-year player. In addition to a temporary attempt at switching to football, the 6’6″, 250-pound combo forward also played international basketball in Germany and France. He has been with the Suns for the past two seasons on a two-way deal.

The Suns had an opening on their 15-man roster, so they won’t need to waive anyone to promote Wainright. They now have one two-way slot available — Saben Lee occupies the other.

Wizards Sign Jordan Goodwin To Multiyear Contract

February 24th, 2023 at 1:42pm CST by Luke Adams

FEBRUARY 24: The Wizards have officially signed Goodwin to a standard multiyear contract, promoting him to the 15-man roster, the team announced today in a press release.

“Jordan has worked extremely hard during his time with us and that has paid off both for him and for our team with this opportunity,” Wizards president of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard said in a statement. “He is a great example of our development program as well as the importance and impact of having the Go-Go as part of our organization.”

According to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link), Goodwin’s new deal is a three-year contract that’s partially guaranteed for 2023/24, with a team option for ’24/25.

FEBRUARY 21: The Wizards intend to promote guard Jordan Goodwin from his two-way contract to a standard deal, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The move had long been expected once Washington was able to open up a roster spot, since Goodwin has been a rotation player since November and had reached his limit of 50 active games. The Wizards reportedly completed a buyout agreement with Will Barton on Tuesday, creating the opening necessary to promote Goodwin.

Goodwin has averaged 6.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 18.1 minutes per game across 40 appearances for the Wizards this season, posting a solid shooting line of .453/.388/.750.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN noted earlier today (via Twitter), the Wizards are approximately $2.1MM below the luxury tax line, so they have the flexibility to sign Goodwin without surpassing that threshold. The club also has a portion of its mid-level exception available and could use it to give the 24-year-old a three- or four-year contract offer rather than just a one- or two-year pact.

We’ll see what sort of deal Goodwin and the Wizards agree to, but a partially guaranteed three-year contract with a team option on the final year might make sense for both sides. That would give Goodwin a little security and would give the Wizards the option of making the former Saint Louis standout a restricted free agent in the summer of 2024.

R.J. Hampton Signs With Pistons

February 23rd, 2023 at 9:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

FEBRUARY 23: The Pistons have officially signed Hampton, the team announced.

FEBRUARY 21: Former Magic guard R.J. Hampton plans to sign with the Pistons after he clears waivers, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

Hampton, the 24th overall pick in 2020, was waived by Orlando on Tuesday afternoon.

Hampton had a rotation role in his first season-and-a-half with the Magic, but has seen his playing time decline precipitously in 2022/23 after the team turned down the ’23/24 team option on his rookie scale contract. Hampton appeared in just 26 contests this season, averaging 5.7 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists on .439/.340/.838 shooting in 13.9 minutes per game.

It’s not a given that Hampton will join the Pistons, since it’s possible he could be claimed. He has a $2,412,840 cap hit for 2022/23, so a team with cap room or a trade exception big enough to absorb that amount could place a claim.

Detroit has an open roster spot, so it won’t have to make a corresponding move.

The Pistons have been rotating Jaden Ivey, Alec Burks, Killian Hayes and Cory Joseph at the guard positions. Hampton could take over some of Joseph’s minutes as he auditions for a new contract. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer, as James Edwards III of The Athletic hears that he’ll just be signing a rest-of-the-season contract with Detroit (Twitter link).