Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pistons Waive Micah Potter

September 15th, 2022 at 7:09am CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons have waived center Micah Potter just days after officially signing him, Hoops Rumors has learned. Detroit had to cut Potter in order to make room on the 20-man offseason roster for Keifer Sykes, who signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the club.

Potter will be one of many players who is signed and then quickly waived by an NBA team in the coming weeks. The goal of these sign-and-waive transactions is generally to either secure the player’s G League rights as an affiliate player or to ensure that he’ll receive a $50K bonus as a returning rights player if and when he spends at least 60 days with the club’s G League squad.

In other words, Potter is likely to begin the season with the Motor City Cruise, the Pistons’ NBAGL team. The Cruise previously acquired his returning rights from the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the Heat’s affiliate.

Potter, 24, initially signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Miami last fall after going undrafted out of Wisconsin. He was released before the regular season began and spent most of his rookie year with the Skyforce, averaging 17.2 PPG and 9.8 RPG on .539/.445/.731 shooting in 33 NBAGL games (28.8 MPG).

In addition to earning him a spot on the All-NBAGL Rookie Team, Potter’s strong performance at the G League level earned him a brief look at the NBA level. The Pistons signed him to a 10-day contract in December and he appeared in three regular season contests, scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds in 31 total minutes.

Jazz Sign Paris Bass To Exhibit 10 Deal

September 14th, 2022 at 6:15pm CST by JD Shaw

SEPTEMBER 14: The contract with Bass is official, the Jazz announced in a press release.

AUGUST 7: The Jazz have agreed to a one-year deal with free agent forward Paris Bass, his agent Daniel Hazan tells Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Utah’s agreement with Bass is an Exhibit 10 deal, Tony Jones of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Bass will compete for a roster spot in training camp.

Bass most recently played for the Lakers during the Las Vegas and California Classic summer leagues, averaging 8.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game.

Bass, a 6’8″ forward, went undrafted in 2017 and has spent most of his career playing internationally. He signed two 10-day hardship contracts with the Suns this past season, and averaged 17.3 points and 7.0 rebounds with the Lakers’ G League affiliate on the campaign.

KZ Okpala Signs With Kings

September 14th, 2022 at 5:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

SEPTEMBER 14: The signing is now official, the Kings announced in a press release.

JULY 15: The Kings have reached a two-year agreement with free agent forward KZ Okpala, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. The deal was confirmed by Okpala’s agent, Aaron Mintz of CAA.

Okpala spent the past three seasons with the Heat, playing a combined 63 games. He got into 21 games last season, averaging 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 11.6 minutes per night, before being traded to the Thunder at the February deadline. Oklahoma City waived him two days later and he has been out of the league since then.

The 23-year-old has experience playing for new Sacramento coach Mike Brown as part of the Nigerian national team, Haynes notes (Twitter link).

Keifer Sykes Signs Exhibit 10 Deal With Pistons

September 14th, 2022 at 5:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pistons have signed free agent point guard Keifer Sykes to an Exhibit 10 contract, tweets James L. Edwards of The Athletic.

The 28-year-old made it to the NBA for the first time last season, appearing in 32 games for the Pacers and averaging 5.6 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 17.7 minutes per night. Since going undrafted out of Wisconsin Green Bay in 2015, Sykes had made several G League appearances and played for a long list of overseas teams.

He was part of a G League trade in July, being shipped from Indiana’s Fort Wayne affiliate to Detroit’s Motor City affiliate. Now that the Pistons own his rights, they can send him to their G League team if he doesn’t earn a roster spot with the NBA club and signs an NBAGL contract.

Under his Exhibit 10 contract, Sykes will be eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the Motor City team.

Wizards Sign Jordan Goodwin To Exhibit 10 Deal

September 13th, 2022 at 5:18pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Wizards have signed guard Jordan Goodwin to an Exhibit 10 contract, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets.

Goodwin signed a 10-day hardship exception contract with the Wizards last season and appeared in two games, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors notes (Twitter link). He averaged 16.1 PPG and 6.1 RPG in 31 games with their G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go.

Goodwin also played five games in Las Vegas with Washington’s Summer League squad in July.

The 23-year-old went undrafted last year following a four-year college career with Saint Louis. He can earn a bonus worth up to $50K if he’s waived and then ends up joining the Capital City Go-Go once again.

The Wizards now have a full 20-man offseason roster.

Celtics Expected To Sign Jake Layman, Justin Jackson

September 13th, 2022 at 2:55pm CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics intend to sign free agent forward Jake Layman to a training camp contract, a source tells Bobby Manning of CLNS Media. The report has since been confirmed by Souichi Terada and Brian Robb of MassLive.com.

A second-round pick in 2017, Layman has appeared in 243 regular season games across six NBA seasons in Portland and Minnesota. Although he was a regular rotation player for the Timberwolves in 2019/20 after signing a three-year contract with the team, Layman was limited to 23 appearances that season due to a toe injury and didn’t have a consistent role during the following two seasons.

In total, the former Maryland forward – who is a Massachusetts native – has averaged 4.8 PPG and 1.7 RPG on .460/.300/.719 shooting in 12.8 minutes per contest over the course of his NBA career.

Within his report on Layman, Manning says the same source confirmed that Justin Jackson will be joining the Celtics for training camp as well. Jackson, a forward who was drafted with the No. 15 overall pick in 2017, had a strong Summer League run with Boston in July and has long been rumored as a possible camp invitee.

Jackson signed two 10-day contracts with the Suns last season and one with the Celtics, appearing in seven total games (just one with Boston). In Las Vegas this summer, he averaged 15.0 PPG in four appearances (29.0 MPG) for Boston’s Summer League squad.

Assuming the Celtics make it official with both Layman and Jackson, the two veterans join the competition for one of the team’s open regular season roster spots. Boston has 10 players with guaranteed contracts, plus Al Horford with a significant partial guarantee. That leaves three – or possibly four – spots available for a group of players with non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed salaries.

Luke Kornet, Noah Vonleh, and Bruno Caboclo have already been added to the Celtics’ training camp roster. Layman, Jackson, and Denzel Valentine are expected to join them. If all three officially sign, the club will have 19 total players under contract, including JD Davison and Mfiondu Kabengele on two-way deals.

Sixers Sign Montrezl Harrell To Two-Year Deal

September 13th, 2022 at 12:29pm CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 13: Harrell’s contract is official, the Sixers announced in a press release.

SEPTEMBER 6: Free agent big man Montrezl Harrell has agreed to sign a two-year contract with the Sixers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that the second year will be a player option.

While Wojnarowski doesn’t specify the terms of the agreement, Philadelphia has already used its full mid-level exception and bi-annual exception to sign P.J. Tucker and Danuel House, respectively, and doesn’t have a ton of breathing room below the hard cap. As such, it seems safe to assume Harrell’s deal will be worth the veteran’s minimum.

A minimum-salary contract would pay Harrell $2,463,490 in 2022/23, with a $2,760,026 player option for ’23/24.

Harrell’s deal with the Sixers comes less than a week after word broke that the felony drug trafficking charge he had faced in Kentucky was reduced to a misdemeanor possession charge. If the 28-year-old remains in good legal standing for the next 12 months, the misdemeanor charge will be removed from his record.

Harrell was initially charged after police found three pounds of marijuana in his vehicle during a traffic stop in Richmond, Ky. His legal situation appeared to affect his free agent market, as it took more than two months for him to find a new NBA home after he spent last season in Washington and Charlotte.

A seven-year veteran, Harrell appeared in 71 total games for the Wizards and Hornets in 2021/22, averaging 13.1 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 2.0 APG on 64.5% shooting in 23.1 minutes per contest. He’s just two years removed from winning a Sixth Man of the Year award with the Clippers in 2020.

Harrell will provide the 76ers with some reliable depth at the five behind perennial MVP candidate Joel Embiid, who has battled a series of injuries over the course of his career. Veterans like Dwight Howard, Andre Drummond, and DeAndre Jordan had filled that role within the last couple seasons, but none are still under contract with the team, leaving youngsters Paul Reed and Charles Bassey as the top candidates to back up Embiid.

With Harrell under contract, it’s no longer a lock that both Reed and Bassey will make the 15-man regular season roster. Assuming Harrell’s contract is fully guaranteed, Philadelphia will have 13 players on guaranteed deals, with Trevelin Queen, Isaiah Joe, Reed, and Bassey on partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed contracts. The team will have to trade or release at least two players before opening night.

Following the signing of Harrell, the Sixers will be just $766K below the hard cap, but they should get some extra relief if and when they waive players who don’t have guaranteed salaries, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).

Wizards Sign Davion Mintz To Exhibit 10 Contract

September 13th, 2022 at 9:32am CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards have officially signed undrafted rookie guard Davion Mintz, according to RealGM’s NBA transaction log. We reported shortly after the draft in June that Mintz had agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with Washington.

Mintz, who finished his college career at Kentucky, spent the last two years with the Wildcats after transferring from Creighton. In those two seasons, he averaged 9.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 2.4 APG with a .362 3PT% in 56 games (27.4 MPG).

As is the case with Quenton Jackson – another newly-signed Wizard who received an Exhibit 10 contract after playing for the team’s Summer League squad – Mintz is a long shot to earn a spot on Washington’s 15-man regular season roster. However, his new deal suggests the Wizards are interested in keeping him in the organization for developmental purposes.

If Mintz doesn’t have his contract converted into a two-way deal, he’ll likely end up becoming an affiliate player for the Capital City Go-Go, the Wizards’ G League team. The Exhibit 10 language in Mintz’s contract makes him eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the Go-Go.

Washington now has 19 players officially under contract — 15 on standard guaranteed deals, one on a two-way pact, and three on Exhibit 10 contracts. The club has room for one more player on its 20-man training camp roster.

Pistons Sign Micah Potter To Exhibit 10 Deal

September 13th, 2022 at 9:26am CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 13: The Pistons have officially signed Potter, per RealGM’s NBA transaction log.

AUGUST 26: The Pistons are signing free agent center Micah Potter to an Exhibit 10 contract, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Potter, 24, initially signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Miami last fall after going undrafted out of Wisconsin. He was waived before the regular season began and spent most of his rookie year with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the Heat’s G League affiliate, averaging 17.2 PPG and 9.8 RPG on .539/.445/.731 shooting in 33 NBAGL games (28.8 MPG).

In addition to earning him a spot on the All-NBAGL Rookie Team, Potter’s strong performance at the G League level earned him a brief look at the NBA level. The Pistons signed him to a 10-day contract in December and he appeared in three regular season contests, scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds in 31 total minutes.

Potter also suited up in five games for the Knicks’ Summer League team in Las Vegas last month.

Potter’s Exhibit 10 contract means he’ll be eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he’s waived this fall and then spends at least 60 days with the Motor City Cruise, Detroit’s G League team. The Cruise acquired Potter’s returning NBAGL rights from the Skyforce on Thursday, according to a press release.

Wizards Officially Sign Quenton Jackson

September 13th, 2022 at 7:01am CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards‘ deal with former Texas A&M guard Quenton Jackson, which we first reported in June, is now official. Jackson signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Wizards, who now have 18 players under contract.

Jackson earned All-SEC Second Team honors in his final college season in 2021/22, averaging 14.8 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 1.8 SPG in 40 games (26.4 MPG) for the Aggies. He posted a solid shooting line of .490/.346/.828, but went undrafted in June before quickly reaching a deal with Washington.

Jackson suited up for the Wizards’ Summer League team in Las Vegas in July, averaging 9.3 points in just 13.2 minutes per contest in four appearances.

Given that Washington already has 15 players on guaranteed standard contracts, there’s no clear path for Jackson to earn a regular season roster spot, but one of the club’s two-way slots remains available (Jordan Schakel occupies the other). It’s possible Jackson will be a candidate to fill that opening.

Exhibit 10 contracts can be converted into two-way deals. They also make players eligible for bonuses worth up to $50K if they’re waived and then spend at least 60 days with their team’s G League affiliate. Makur Maker is the other Wizard currently on an Exhibit 10 contract, while Davion Mintz is expected to sign one as well.