Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

David Duke Jr. Gets Standard Contract From Nets

April 7th, 2023 at 9:06am CST by Arthur Hill

9:25am: The move is official, the Nets announced (via Twitter).

9:06am: The Nets will convert David Duke Jr.‘s two-way contract to a standard deal, sources tell Brian Lewis of The New York Post. An official announcement is expected to be made later today.

The 23-year-old combo guard has appeared in 21 games in his second season with Brooklyn, averaging 3.1 points and 1.0 rebounds in 8.6 minutes per night. He emerged as a star in the G League, Lewis notes, finishing third in this year’s MVP voting.

Duke earned a two-way contract in 2021 after going undrafted out of Providence and got into 22 games last season. He had hoped to get a standard offer after a strong Summer League showing, according to Lewis, but he had to settle for another year on a two-way contract.

The Nets have a roster spot open after Moses Brown‘s second 10-day contract expired on Thursday. Brown played just six total minutes in two appearances with Brooklyn and wouldn’t have been eligible for the playoffs because the Knicks waived him past the March 1 cutoff point.

Dereon Seabron Waived By Pelicans

April 6th, 2023 at 5:15pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Pelicans have waived two-way guard Dereon Seabron, the team has announced in a press statement.

Seabron spent most of his New Orleans tenure with the club’s G League affiliate, the Birmingham Squadron. He played in 28 contests for Birmingham, including 25 starts, with averages of 17.8 PPG, 5.1 APG and 4.8 RPG across 33.3 MPG. The 6’7″ reserve shooting guard made cameos in five games with the Pelicans proper this year, averaging 2.4 MPG.

Seabron had been considered one of the best undrafted rookies in his class when he linked up with New Orleans on a two-way deal in the summer of 2022, after having spent his college career at North Carolina State.

Injured power forward E.J. Liddell occupies the Pelicans’ other two-way roster slot. The 41-39 club is currently the eighth seed in a knotted-up Western Conference play-in tournament bracket. All 15 of its standard roster spots are filled at present.

Blazers Sign Justin Minaya For Rest Of Season

April 4th, 2023 at 3:52pm CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers have called up forward Justin Minaya from the G League to finish the season with the team, according to Steve Popper of Newsday (Twitter link).

The son of veteran baseball executive Omar Minaya, Justin Minaya went undrafted out of Providence in 2022 and spent most of his first professional season playing for the Mexico City Capitanes in the G League. In 27 NBAGL regular season appearances (35.1 MPG), he averaged 12.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 2.1 steals with a shooting line of .487/.339/.472.

The NBA’s transaction log confirms that the Blazers have officially signed Minaya to a 10-day contract. There are fewer than 10 days left in the regular season, but 10-day deals can still be signed if a team is granted a hardship provision due to an excessive number of injuries.

Portland has already added two extra players to its roster on 10-day contracts via the hardship provision, but qualified to sign a third. Damian Lillard, Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons, Jusuf Nurkic, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson, and Cam Reddish have all missed the last three or more games for the team due to injuries. A team can become eligible for a hardship signing when it has just four players who fit that bill, then can qualify for an extra replacement for each additional injured player.

Minaya’s hardship 10-day deal will expire when the regular season ends. He’ll immediately become a free agent at that time and Portland won’t hold any form of Bird rights on him this summer. The Blazers are now carrying 20 players, including two-ways.

Blazers Sign Jeenathan Williams, Waive Ryan Arcidiacono

April 1st, 2023 at 3:42pm CST by Luke Adams

3:42pm: The Trail Blazers have confirmed both moves in a press release.

12:00pm: The Trail Blazers are making a change to their standard roster, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the team will waive veteran guard Ryan Arcidiacono and use the open roster spot to sign guard Jeenathan Williams to a two-year contract.

Williams, who went undrafted out of Buffalo in 2022, has spent his first professional season with the Salt Lake City Stars, Utah’s G League affiliate. In 32 regular season appearances for Salt Lake City, Williams averaged 14.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 29.8 minutes per game, posting an impressive .523/.417/.848 shooting line.

While the terms of Williams’ new deal aren’t yet known, it’s unlikely to include much, if any, guaranteed money beyond this season, essentially giving the Blazers a free look at the 24-year-old this summer before they decide whether they want to hang onto him for next season.

Arcidiacono began this season with the Knicks and was traded to Portland in the four-team trade deadline deal that sent Josh Hart to New York. The 29-year-old guard has actually played more in Portland than he did for the Knicks, averaging 2.6 PPG and 2.3 APG in nine games (16.2 MPG), though he’s currently sidelined due to lumbar soreness. He logged just 26 minutes in 11 contests for New York.

Arcidiacono won’t be playoff-eligible if he signs with a new team before the end of the regular season.

Due to a plethora of injuries, the Blazers have qualified for multiple hardship exceptions and signed Skylar Mays and Shaquille Harrison to fortify their standard roster. However, hardship signings can only be 10-day deals, so the team couldn’t give Williams a two-year contract without waiving someone on a rest-of-season deal.

Shaquille Harrison Signs 10-Day Deal With Trail Blazers

March 30th, 2023 at 9:03pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

9:03pm: The Blazers have officially signed Harrison, the team announced in a press release.

No corresponding roster move was announced, so Portland completed the signing using a hardship exception, which grants teams with several injured players extra roster spots on a temporary basis. The banged-up club is now carrying 19 players (15 on standard contracts, two on 10-days, and a pair on two-way deals).

8:37pm: Free agent guard Shaquille Harrison has agreed to a 10-day deal with the Trail Blazers, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Woj notes that Harrison has been playing with the Lakers’ NBAGL affiliate club, the South Bay Lakers, for the duration of the 2022/23 season.

The 29-year-old has enjoyed a solid couple years in the G League. In 2021/22, while playing for the Sixers’ G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats, he posted averages of 12.7 PPG, 6.4 APG, 4.6 RPG, 2.1 SPG and 0.8 BPG in 27 games. For his efforts, Harrison was named to the G League All-Defensive Team and was the league’s 2022 Defensive Player of the Year.

This season with South Bay, he’s averaged 13.6 PPG on .493/.246/.707 shooting splits. He’s also dishing out 8.3 APG, pulling down 6.2 RPG, swiping 2.1 SPG and posting 0.9 BPG a night.

Most recently at the NBA level, Harrison appeared in just two games with the Nets on a 10-day deal in 2021/22. Since going undrafted out of Tulsa in 2016, he has appeared in 175 total NBA games, averaging 5.2 PPG, 2.4 RPG and 1.5 APG with the Nets, Suns, Bulls, Jazz, and Nuggets.

Harrison is the second new addition to Portland’s roster today. The Trail Blazers previously inked another 6’4″ guard, Skylar Mays, to a 10-day deal.

Portland recently shut down All-Star point guard Damian Lillard for the rest of the regular season, and is clearly focused on the future. The club appears doomed to miss its second consecutive postseason. With a 32-44 record, the Trail Blazers are presently 5.5 games behind the 10th-seeded Thunder, with just six contests remaining on their schedule.

Trail Blazers Sign Skylar Mays To 10-Day Deal

March 30th, 2023 at 3:56pm CST by Rory Maher

MARCH 30: Mays’ 10-day contract with the Blazers is official, the team announced in a press release.

MARCH 29: The Trail Blazers plan to sign Skylar Mays to a 10-day contract, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Mays, a 6’4″ guard out of LSU, was the 50th overall pick in the 2020 draft and spent his first two professional seasons with the Hawks. He was on two-way contracts until being promoted to Atlanta’s standard 15-man roster during the final week of the 2021/22 regular season.

In 61 total games for the Hawks, Mays averaged 3.3 PPG and 1.0 RPG on .469/.338/.882 shooting in 8.0 MPG. He became an unrestricted free agent last summer when Atlanta opted not to extend him a qualifying offer.

The Sixers signed and waived Mays during the preseason to secure his G League rights, and he spent a good chunk of ’22/23 with the Delaware Blue Coats, Philadelphia’s G League affiliate. In 18 games (27.3 MPG) during the fall Showcase Cup, he averaged 13.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 4.3 APG and 1.1 SPG, but struggled with his shooting, posting a .392/.333/.800 slash line. His numbers declined in 13 regular season games (19.2 MPG) with the Blue Coats, averaging just 7.8 PPG, 2.5 RPG and 3.8 APG on .364/.174/.923 shooting.

However, the 25-year-old has played well with the Ciudad de Mexico Capitanes, averaging 19.2 PPG, 4.7 RPG and 6.1 APG on .458/.341/.868 shooting in 16 regular season games (34.4 MPG).

The Blazers have a full 15-man standard roster at the moment, but they have several injured players, so Mays will likely be signed using the hardship exception, which allows teams to exceed the typical roster limit in special circumstances.

Pacers Sign Gabe York To Two-Way Deal

March 30th, 2023 at 11:02am CST by Rory Maher

The Pacers have signed guard Gabe York to their open two-way spot after waiving Trevelin Queen on Wednesday, the team announced in a press release.

Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files was the first to report that Indiana was expected to sign York.

After going undrafted out of Arizona in 2016, York spent time in the G League and made international stops in Germany, Greece, Israel and Italy before joining the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Pacers’ G League affiliate, last season. He signed a two-way contract with Indiana to end 2021/22 and made his NBA debut last April, appearing in two games for a total of 21 minutes.

The 29-year-old signed an Exhibit 10 deal with Indiana during preseason to get a bonus before being waived, and has spent the entire ’22/23 season with the Mad Ants, putting up impressive numbers in both the Showcase Cup and the NBAGL regular season.

In 17 games (31.6 MPG) during the Showcase Cup, he averaged 23.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.4 steals on .452/.382/.818 shooting, and in 27 regular season games (34.6 MPG), he put up 21.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals on a .450/.401/.818 slash line.

York’s strong performances led to him earning a spot in last month’s Next Up Game (essentially the NBAGL’s version of the All-Star game). The Pacers’ 17-man roster is now full.

Hornets Sign Kobi Simmons To Two-Way Contract

March 30th, 2023 at 9:59am CST by Luke Adams

MARCH 30: The Hornets have officially signed Simmons to a two-way deal, the club confirmed today in a press release.

MARCH 29: The Hornets have agreed to sign guard Kobi Simmons to a two-way contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Simmons will be the second player from the Greensboro Swarm, Charlotte’s G League affiliate, to receive a promotion to the Hornets’ 17-man roster this week. The team also signed Xavier Sneed to a 10-day contract.

Simmons, who went undrafted out of Arizona in 2017, appeared in 33 NBA games for Memphis and Cleveland during his first two seasons, but has spent most of his professional career in the G League. He also played one season in Poland in 2021/22.

In 32 G League regular season games in ’22/23, Simmons has averaged 18.2 points, 4.0 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in 31.8 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .488/.383/.795. He was even better during the Showcase Cup in the fall, putting up 21.7 PPG, 5.7 APG, and 5.3 RPG on .491/.375/.837 shooting in 14 appearances (38.0 MPG).

If Simmons gets into a game for the Hornets during the last two weeks of this season, it will be his first NBA appearance since February 2, 2019.

Charlotte has had an open two-way slot since promoting Bryce McGowens to the standard roster a little over a month ago. Simmons and Theo Maledon will now occupy those two-way spots. The Hornets were one of three NBA teams with a two-way opening — the Pacers and Suns are the other two, as our tracker shows.

Pacers Waive Trevelin Queen

March 29th, 2023 at 1:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers have officially waived guard Trevelin Queen, the team announced today in a press release. Queen had been on a two-way contract with Indiana.

The G League’s reigning MVP, Queen signed with the Sixers last summer, but was waived during the preseason and caught on with the Pacers on a two-way deal a few days later. He spent nearly the entire season with the team, though his NBA playing time was extremely limited — he appeared in just seven games with Indiana.

Queen once again put up big numbers at the G League level in 2022/23, including averages of 23.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 2.3 steals per game in 11 Showcase Cup contests (35.7 MPG) for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. In 24 NBAGL regular season games, he put up 22.6 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 4.5 APG, and 2.1 SPG. He was named as a participant in the Next Up Game at All-Star weekend.

Queen did have some issues with three-point shooting (26.5% on 7.1 attempts per regular season game) and turnovers (3.8 per game) in the G League this season. He also earned a one-game suspension earlier this week for “directing threatening language” toward a referee, which may have been a factor in the Pacers’ decision to release him. He served that suspension on Tuesday during the one-game Eastern Conference quarterfinal, which Fort Wayne lost, ending the team’s season.

The Pacers now have an open two-way slot, which they could fill at any point up until the last day of the regular season on April 9.

Jazz Sign Luka Samanic To 10-Day Deal

March 28th, 2023 at 2:39pm CST by Luke Adams

2:39pm: The Jazz have officially signed Samanic to his 10-day deal, the team announced today in a press release.

Brantley informed reporters that he isn’t getting a second 10-day contract from the Jazz, tweets Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. So the team still has one spot open on its 15-man roster.

10:05am: Big man Luka Samanic has agreed to sign a 10-day contract with the Jazz, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The 19th overall pick in 2019, Samanic appeared in just 36 games in his first two NBA seasons with the Spurs, then was waived by San Antonio prior to the 2021/22 season. The Croatian spent much of last season on a two-way deal with New York, but didn’t appear in a game at the NBA level for the Knicks.

Samanic was in training camp with the Celtics this past fall, and while he didn’t earn a spot on Boston’s regular season roster, he became a key contributor for the Maine Celtics in the G League. The 23-year-old averaged a double-double (20.7 PPG, 10.9 RPG) in 17 Showcase Cup games and has carried his strong play over to the NBAGL regular season, putting up 22.0 PPG and 8.1 RPG in 27 contests (29.3 MPG).

The Jazz haven’t had a full roster in recent weeks and actually dipped to 13 players on standard contracts on Tuesday following the expiration of Jarrell Brantley‘s 10-day deal. If Brantley isn’t re-signed, Utah will still have a roster opening after officially adding Samanic.

Samanic will earn $109,318 on his 10-day contract with the Jazz. Assuming he puts pen to paper on Tuesday or Wednesday, his deal will cover Utah’s next five games.