Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Dru Smith Earns Two-Way Contract With Heat

October 13th, 2022 at 2:54pm CST by Arthur Hill

OCTOBER 13: The Heat have officially waived Garrett, Mulder, Robinson, and Bouyea, while converting Smith’s Exhibit 10 contract to a two-way deal, the team announced today in a press release.

OCTOBER 12: The Heat will convert Dru Smith to a two-way contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Miami plans to waive Marcus Garrett, Mychal Mulder, Orlando Robinson and Jamaree Bouyea, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link). Mulder, Robinson and Bouyea are expected to join the team’s G League affiliate in Sioux Falls after they clear waivers. Garrett, who suffered a fractured right wrist, will stay in Miami to rehab the injury.

A 24-year-old shooting guard, Smith signed with Miami last year after going undrafted out of Missouri. He spent the season in Sioux Falls and was part of the Heat’s Summer League team.

After signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Heat this offseason, Smith won the competition for a two-way deal with a strong preseason, including a 15-point performance Monday against the Rockets. In four games, he averaged 8.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 17.3 minute per night.

Miami filled its other two-way slot on Sunday by converting Jamal Cain‘s Exhibit 10 contract. The Heat currently have 13 players on their roster with fully guaranteed contracts, plus Haywood Highsmith, who has a partially guaranteed deal.

Luca Vildoza Waived By Bucks, Signs With Serbian Team

October 13th, 2022 at 1:55pm CST by Luke Adams

1:55pm: The Bucks have requested waivers on Vildoza, the team announced in a press release.

Meanwhile, as Eurohoops relays, Vildoza’s old team in Europe is unhappy with his new deal. Baskonia is threatening legal action, issuing a statement to say they still hold the guard’s rights.

9:14am: KK Crvena zvezda has signed Argentinian guard Luca Vildoza to a two-year contract, the Serbian team announced today in a press release.

Vildoza, 27, has yet to play in an NBA regular season game, but has finished each of the last two seasons on an NBA roster, first with the Knicks in 2021, then with the Bucks in 2022. He played garbage-time minutes in seven playoff games for Milwaukee this past spring.

The Bucks waived Vildoza in July, but re-signed him on a training camp deal a few days later, and he technically remains under contract — for the time being at least, Milwaukee’s official website still lists Vildoza on the roster. Clearly though, his new deal with Crvena zvezda is an indication that his days with the Bucks are numbered. We should expect him to be officially waived in the coming days.

Vildoza’s new deal in Serbia will give him an opportunity to return to the EuroLeague, where he thrived with Spanish team Baskonia from 2017-21. The veteran guard won a Liga ACB title in 2020 and was named the Finals MVP that year.

Grizzlies Sign Onu, Weems; Waive McDermott, Hurt

October 13th, 2022 at 1:15pm CST by Luke Adams

The Grizzlies have signed forward/center E.J. Onu and forward Romeo Weems, the team announced today in a press release. Swingman Sean McDermott and forward Matthew Hurt were waived to create the necessary spots on the team’s 20-man preseason roster.

Onu and Weems both played for the Memphis Hustle – the Grizzlies’ G League affiliate – last season and appear likely to return to the Hustle this fall. Their new deals probably include Exhibit 10 language designed to get them bonuses worth up to $50K if they spend at least 60 days with Memphis’ G League team.

That’s presumably also the plan for McDermott and Hurt, who had only been on the Grizzlies’ roster since Monday. The team is rotating players in and out of the last two spots on its preseason roster as it prepares for the NBA and G League seasons.

The Grizzlies have until Monday to set their roster for the start of the regular season.

Blazers Convert Olivier Sarr To Two-Way Deal

October 13th, 2022 at 12:55pm CST by Luke Adams

12:55pm: The move is official, the Blazers confirmed in a press release.

12:37pm: The Trail Blazers are converting Olivier Sarr‘s Exhibit 10 contract to a two-way deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Sarr, 23, spent a portion of his rookie season in 2021/22 with the Thunder, signing a pair of 10-day contracts with Oklahoma City and then receiving a two-way deal. He averaged 7.0 PPG and 4.2 RPG in 22 NBA games (19.1 MPG), with a solid shooting line of .574/.448/.828.

The former Kentucky Wildcat played for Phoenix’s Summer League team in Las Vegas, then signed with the Blazers. He has appeared in four preseason games for Portland and seems to have made an impression on the team, sticking around while fellow camp invitees Jared Rhoden and Isaiah Miller were waived on Wednesday.

Once Sarr’s contract is officially converted into a two-way, the Blazers will have 14 players on standard deals and one on a two-way pact. I wouldn’t expect the tax-conscious club to add a 15th man before opening night, but it’s possible Portland will sign a second two-way player.

Warriors Waive Quinndary Weatherspoon, Lester Quinones

October 13th, 2022 at 12:19pm CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors have opened up both of their two-way contract slots, announcing today (via Twitter) that they’ve waived guards Quinndary Weatherspoon and Lester Quinones. Both players had been on two-way deals.

With Weatherspoon and Quinones on waivers, the four players who are on Exhibit 10 contracts with the Warriors have become prime candidates to fill those newly opened two-way spots. Ty Jerome, Jerome Robinson, Pat Spencer, and Anthony Lamb are all eligible to have their Exhibit 10 deals converted into two-ways.

The 49th overall pick in the 2019 draft, Weatherspoon signed a two-way contract with the Warriors in January after spending his first two years in the NBA with San Antonio. The 26-year-old appeared in 11 games for Golden State, averaging 2.7 PPG and 1.3 RPG in 6.6 MPG.

Quinones, meanwhile, agreed to a two-way deal with the Warriors after going undrafted out of Memphis in June. Quinones averaged 10.0 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.3 APG and 1.2 SPG during his junior season in 2021/22, shooting 44.9% from the field and making 39.0% of his three-point attempts.

Golden State has until Monday to set its roster for the regular season.

Kings Waive Kent Bazemore, Quinn Cook

October 13th, 2022 at 10:54am CST by Luke Adams

The Kings have trimmed their 20-man preseason roster to 18 players, according to James Ham of ESPN 1320 Sacramento, who reports (via Twitter) that the team has waived swingman Kent Bazemore and guard Quinn Cook.

Both Bazemore and Cook were in camp with the Kings on non-guaranteed deals attempting to earn regular season roster spots. However, it appears both players missed the cut.

Bazemore, 33, is coming off a disappointing 2021/22 season with the Lakers. He averaged just 3.4 PPG and 1.8 RPG in 39 appearances (14.0 MPG), though he still shot 36.3% on three-point attempts.

Cook, meanwhile, was out of the NBA last season after appearing in 188 games across the previous five seasons. He spent a chunk of the 2021/22 campaign with the Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s G League affiliate, where he averaged 23.7 PPG, 5.8 APG, and 5.0 RPG with an impressive .524/.446/.885 shooting line in 11 games (35.3 MPG).

Cook was on an Exhibit 10 contract with Sacramento this fall, so he would earn a $50K bonus if he returns to Stockton and spends at least 60 days with the team. Bazemore’s deal didn’t include an Exhibit 10 clause.

The Kings now have 12 players on fully guaranteed contracts, with KZ Okpala, Matthew Dellavedova, Chima Moneke, and Sam Merrill on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed deals. The club will have to waive or trade one more player before next Monday’s roster deadline to get down to 15 players for opening night.

Mavs Expected To Sign Facundo Campazzo To One-Year Deal

October 13th, 2022 at 7:02am CST by Luke Adams

OCTOBER 13: Aris Barkas of Eurohoops reports that Campazzo has accepted the Mavericks’ one-year offer, while HoopsHype says (via Twitter) the veteran guard is expected to fly to Dallas on Saturday to undergo a physical and sign a contract.

OCTOBER 12: The Mavericks and free agent guard Facundo Campazzo are engaged in advanced discussions about a possible one-year contract, reports Marc Stein (via Twitter).

According to Stein, who first reported Dallas’ interest in Campazzo on Sunday, it appears increasingly likely that the two sides will work out a deal that allows the Argentinian to fill the 15th and final spot on the team’s regular season roster.

Campazzo spent the last two seasons with the Nuggets after establishing himself as one of the best point guards in the EuroLeague. He averaged 5.6 points, 3.5 assists, and 1.1 steals per game in 130 appearances (20.1 MPG) across his two seasons in Denver, though he knocked down just 37.2% of his shots from the floor. The 31-year-old played alongside Luka Doncic for Real Madrid from 2015-18.

Following Jalen Brunson‘s departure in free agency, the Mavs could use one more reliable veteran ball-handler to back up Doncic and Spencer Dinwiddie. The team has been debating whether it will add a free agent who can fill that role or leave its 15th roster spot open to start the season in order to maximize flexibility and limit its projected luxury tax bill.

As the Mavs seemingly move closer to a deal with Campazzo, it appears that Tyler Dorsey‘s spot on the roster is increasingly tenuous — a report from Aris Barkas of Eurohoops says the club is considering cutting Dorsey. Such a move wouldn’t be directly related to signing Campazzo, since Dorsey is on a two-way contract, while Campazzo is believed to be negotiating a standard deal.

Still, Dorsey was one of the players in the mix for a ball-handling rotation role in Dallas, so it’s possible the Mavs would want to use that two-way slot on another type of player if they sign Campazzo to fill that spot on the depth chart.

Nets Sign UNLV’s Donovan Williams To Exhibit 10 Deal

October 12th, 2022 at 10:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

OCTOBER 12: The Nets have officially signed Williams, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

JUNE 24: Donovan Williams has agreed to a contract with the Nets, Jake Weingarten of Stockrisers.com tweets. It’s an Exhibit 10 deal, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors reports (Twitter link).

The 6’6” wing averaged 12.7 PPG and 3.3 RPG as a junior at UNLV last season, knocking down 43.6% of his 3-point attempts. Williams played his first two college seasons with Texas.

An Exhibit 10 is a one-year, non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract that counts toward a team’s 20-man offseason roster limit, but doesn’t count against the cap unless the player makes the regular season roster.

A player on an Exhibit 10 contract can earn a bonus of up to $50K if he’s waived and then joins his team’s G League affiliate.

Bulls Sign, Waive Ethan Thompson

October 12th, 2022 at 7:28pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Bulls have signed and waived shooting guard Ethan Thompson, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

Thompson was in training camp with Chicago last year, but was waived before the start of the regular season. He spent the season with the G League’s Windy City Bulls, averaging 11.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 34 games, and he appears likely to end up with the team again if he clears waivers.

He signed with the Bulls last summer after going undrafted out of Oregon State.

Chicago has 19 players under contract, one short of the preseason limit.

Magic Sign Simisola Shittu

October 12th, 2022 at 5:54pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

OCTOBER 12: The signing is official, the Magic announced (via Twitter). The team waived Drake Jeffries to create room on the roster for Shittu, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

AUGUST 9: The Magic are set to sign free agent power forward Simisola Shittu, his agent Daniel Hazan informs Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Given that Orlando has 15 players on guaranteed deals for its full roster and both its two-way slots are occupied, the agreement seems likely to be an Exhibit 10 training camp contract.

Shittu, still just 22, went undrafted out of Vanderbilt in 2019, then joined the Bulls’ NBAGL affiliate, the Windy City Bulls, for the 2019/20 season. He linked up with the Knicks’ G League affiliate, the Westchester Knicks, during the team’s abbreviated ’20/21 season.

Shittu then set his sights internationally for the 2021/22 season, joining Israeli club Ironi Ness Ziona. During 15 contests for Ironi Ness Ziona, he sported averages of 7.1 PPG on 50.6% shooting, 4.9 RPG, 0.9 APG and 0.8 SPG across 17.5 MPG.

The 6’10” big man played with the Pacers during the 2022 Summer League in Las Vegas.