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Pelicans Sign Daeqwon Plowden To Exhibit 10 Deal

SEPTEMBER 9: The Pelicans have officially signed Plowden to an Exhibit 10 contract, Hoops Rumors has learned.


JULY 19: After playing for the Pelicans‘ Summer League team, undrafted rookie swingman Daeqwon Plowden will sign an Exhibit 10 contract with New Orleans, sources tell Will Guillory of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Plowden, who spent all five years of his college career at Bowling Green State, averaged 15.7 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 1.2 BPG on .414/.356/.792 shooting in 31 games (30.6 MPG) in 2021/22. The 23-year-old received All-MAC honors in each of his last three seasons and made this year’s All-MAC Defensive Team.

Plowden didn’t play a major role for New Orleans’ Summer League team in Las Vegas, averaging just 16.1 minutes per game in three appearances. But he made the most of his limited minutes, averaging 12.0 PPG on .647/.500/.909 shooting.

An Exhibit 10 deal is non-guaranteed and worth the minimum, but it could put Plowden on track to receive a $50K bonus if he’s waived before the regular season and then joins the Birmingham Squadron, New Orleans’ G League affiliate.

Plowden’s Exhibit 10 contract could also be converted into a two-way deal if he impresses in training camp. The Pels have reportedly committed one two-way slot to Dereon Seabron, but their other slot remains open for now.

Cavs Sign Jamorko Pickett, Chandler Vaudrin To Camp Deals

1:14pm: Both signings are official, per RealGM’s NBA transaction log.


10:14am: The Cavaliers are set to sign free agent forward Jamorko Pickett and guard Chandler Vaudrin to training camp contracts, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

Pickett, who went undrafted out of Georgetown in 2021, spent his rookie season on a two-way contract with the Pistons, appearing in 13 games at the NBA level and averaging 3.8 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 13.5 MPG.

The 24-year-old saw more action at the G League level, registering 14.5 PPG and 5.7 RPG on .429/.328/.913 shooting in 17 regular season NBAGL games (31.4 MPG) for the Motor City Cruise. After becoming an unrestricted free agent, he suited up for the Cavs’ Summer League team in Las Vegas this July.

The Big South Player of the Year in 2021, Vaudrin had been on track to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Cavaliers a year ago after going undrafted out of Winthrop. However, the 25-year-old point guard tore his ACL while playing for Cleveland’s Summer League team and missed his entire rookie entire season, so that deal didn’t come to fruition — until now.

The Cavs were said to be working out several veteran free agents earlier this week as they considered how to fill their 20-man training camp roster. Pickett and Vaudrin both participated in those workouts, per Fedor.

Cleveland currently has 16 players under contract (14 on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals), so the team will still have two roster spots available after officially adding Pickett and Vaudrin.

Mavericks Sign Maxi Kleber To Three-Year Extension

7:41pm: The Mavericks have officially announced Kleber’s extension (via Twitter).


10:43am: Kleber’s extension will be fully guaranteed, sources tell Charania (Twitter link).


9:04am: The Mavericks are finalizing a three-year extension with forward Maxi Kleber, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Kleber’s new contract will be worth $33MM.

Kleber is set to earn $9MM in 2022/23, the final season of the four-year, $34MM deal he signed with Dallas during the 2019 free agent period. His new agreement with the team, which will bump his average annual salary to $11MM, will extend his contract through the 2025/26 season.

An undrafted free agent from Germany, Kleber has spent the last five seasons with the Mavericks. He has appeared in 326 regular season games during that time, starting 136 of them and averaging 7.1 PPG and 4.8 RPG on .446/.359/.796 shooting in 22.7 minutes per contest.

Kleber, 30, saw his shooting percentages drop off noticeably in 2021/22, as he made just 39.8% of his shots from the floor, including 32.5% of his threes. However, Dallas’ new financial commitment to him suggests the team is confident he’ll bounce back in ’22/23.

With Spencer Dinwiddie‘s and Reggie Bullock‘s salaries for 2023/24 not yet fully guaranteed, there might have been a path for the Mavs to create some cap flexibility next summer. However, their deal with Kleber signals they’re fully preparing to operate over the cap again, even with Christian Wood and Dwight Powell still on expiring deals.

Kleber will become one of three Dallas players under contract through at least ’25/26, joining Luka Doncic and Dorian Finney-Smith, who holds a player option for that year.

Because Kleber’s extension will exceed the NBA’s extend-and-trade limits, he’ll be ineligible to be dealt for six months after his signing date. Even if the two sides finalize the agreement shortly, that six-month window will extend into March, well past the 2023 trade deadline, so Dallas won’t be able to move him until next offseason.

Kleber is set to become the 10th player to sign a veteran contract extension so far this offseason, as our tracker shows.

DJ Steward Signs With Kings

The Kings have brought back free agent guard DJ Steward, signing him to a new contract, per Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee.

Last year, Steward also joined Sacramento on a training camp deal, but he was waived by the club ahead of opening night. The 6’2″ guard, who went undrafted out of Duke in 2021, ultimately joined Sacramento’s NBAGL affiliate, the Stockton Kings.

Over the course of 30 regular season games (21 starts) with Stockton, he averaged 14.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 3.4 APG. The 20-year-old posted shooting splits of .463/.331/.884 while in the G League last season.

Sacramento currently has 12 players inked to guaranteed spots on its 15-man standard roster. Three others are signed to non-guaranteed deals, and the team has reportedly reached agreements with KZ Okpala, Quinn Cook, and Kent Bazemore. Shooting guard Keon Ellis and center Neemias Queta occupy the club’s two-way player slots.

According to Anderson, it’s not clear if Steward will join the Kings for training camp or if his new deal is just an Exhibit 10 contract designed to get him a bonus if and when he returns to Stockton. Given all of Sacramento’s other reported signings, the latter scenario seems more likely.

Jerome Robinson Joins Warriors On Training Camp Deal

SEPTEMBER 8: The Warriors have officially announced the deal in a press release (Twitter link). It’s an Exhibit 10 contract, Hoops Rumors has confirmed.


AUGUST 31: Free agent guard Jerome Robinson will sign a training camp contract with the Warriors, according to a tweet from ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter.

Robinson, 25, last played in the NBA with the Wizards during the 2020/21 season, but he only got into 17 games and saw limited playing time. Washington decided not to pick up Robinson’s fourth-year option, which would have paid him $5.34MM, and he was waived just before the end of the regular season.

Robinson was a lottery pick in 2018, having been drafted by the Clippers with the 13th selection. He was never able to carve out a role in L.A. and was sent to the Wizards in a three-team deal at the 2020 trade deadline.

He spent last season with the Warriors’ G League affiliate, so he already has a connection to the organization. He appeared in 22 games for Santa Cruz and averaged 20.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists per night.

Golden State has 13 guaranteed contracts and may carry just 14 players into the regular season due to luxury tax concerns. That 14th spot will likely be reserved for Andre Iguodala, but if Iguodala retires or if the Warriors decide to carry a 15th man, there would be one available roster spot that Robinson can fight for.

Jazz Trade Donovan Mitchell To Cavaliers

SEPTEMBER 8: The Jazz officially confirmed the trade of Mitchell in a press release. “Our entire organization wishes him every success in his future,” team owner Ryan Smith said in the release. “Once a Jazzman, always a Jazzman.”


SEPTEMBER 3: The Mitchell trade is now official, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

“The acquisition of Donovan Mitchell presented us with an incredible opportunity to bring one of the NBA’s most dynamic young All-Stars to Cleveland,” general manager Koby Altman said in the press release announcing the move. “Already a special and proven talent at just 25 years old, Donovan brings a competitive mentality that organically fits with the core group of this team.”


SEPTEMBER 1: The Cavaliers have agreed to a trade with the Jazz and will acquire star guard Donovan Mitchell, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Cleveland is sending three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps to Utah as part of the deal. Lauri Markkanen, first-round pick Ochai Agbaji, and Collin Sexton are also headed to the Jazz in the blockbuster trade, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Sexton is a restricted free agent, so he’ll need to be signed-and-traded as part of the agreement. His new deal with the Jazz will be worth $72MM over four years and will be fully guaranteed, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).

The three first-round picks going to Utah will be in 2025, 2027, and 2029, since Cleveland already owes its lottery-protected 2023 first-rounder to Indiana, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. The Jazz will have the ability to swap first-rounders with the Cavs in 2026 and 2028, tweets Wojnarowski.

John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 first identified the Cavaliers last week as a team with interest in Mitchell, and Ian Begley of SNY.tv subsequently reported that Cleveland had “touched base” with Utah about the three-time All-Star guard.

Still, today’s news comes as a major surprise. Begley reported last Friday that the Cavs were removing themselves from the Mitchell negotiations, while Brian Windhorst of ESPN said Cleveland had made it clear to the Jazz in their earlier discussions that Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen weren’t on the table. That seemingly made it difficult for the Cavs to meet Utah’s asking price.

However, the Cavs’ package will include most of the other noteworthy assets at their disposal, including all their tradable first-round picks, this year’s No. 14 overall selection (Agbaji), and Sexton, who is just one year removed from averaging 24.3 PPG and 4.4 APG on .475/.371/.815 shooting in 60 games (35.3 MPG).

As good as Sexton was in 2020/21, Mitchell represents an upgrade at the shooting guard position in Cleveland. In his last two seasons, he has averaged 26.1 points, 5.3 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game in 120 appearances (33.6 MPG), with a shooting line of .444/.368/.849 shooting line. He’ll earn a $1.68MM trade bonus as part of the deal, Marks notes (via Twitter).

With a core of Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and Allen, the Cavs will be led by a pair of star duos — an offensively-minded pairing in the backcourt and a rim-protecting duo in the frontcourt.

All of those cornerstone players will be under contract for at least the next three years. Garland signed a new five-year extension this offseason, Mobley’s rookie contract runs through 2025, Allen is in the second year of a five-year contract, and Mitchell is locked up through at least the 2024/25 season (he has a player option for ’25/26).

With their three-for-one trade, the Cavs no longer have to worry about a logjam on their 15-man roster and should, in fact, have one open spot to fill. Once the deal is official, they’ll have 12 players on fully guaranteed contracts, with Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade on non-guaranteed deals. They’ll also create a $3.9MM trade exception in the swap and remain $2.47MM below the tax line, according to Marks (Twitter link).

The Knicks had long been viewed as the frontrunners for Mitchell, but they were never willing to offer more than two unprotected first-round picks (in addition to other protected first-rounders), per Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Unprotected first-round picks and swaps had been the trade chips that Danny Ainge and the Jazz coveted most, as was the case when they acquired a similar return in exchange for Rudy Gobert earlier this summer.

The Knicks and Jazz reportedly reached an impasse earlier this week when the Knicks set an informal Monday night deadline to either agree to a Mitchell trade or extend RJ Barrett, who was being discussed as a possible centerpiece in several permutations of a Mitchell deal. New York ultimately decided to sign Barrett to an extension, which complicated salary matching in a potential trade due to the poison pill provision and brought those trade talks to a temporary halt.

While there was an expectation that the Knicks and Jazz would reengage in the coming weeks, their stalemate opened the door for Cavs general manager Koby Altman to circle back to Utah general manager Justin Zanik, according to Wojnarowski, who says (via Twitter) the two teams “reassembled” a deal they’d been discussing in previous weeks.

The Jazz are now in full rebuilding mode, having traded their two All-Stars in the two most significant deals of the NBA offseason. Taking into account the trades for Mitchell, Gobert, and Royce O’Neale, Utah has acquired eight future first-rounders this summer, and all but one of those picks is unprotected (the eighth is top-five protected). The Jazz also acquired three pick swaps and a pair of players who were drafted in the first round this June (Agbaji and Walker Kessler).

While the Jazz appear to be in teardown mode, their four-year investment in Sexton suggests he’s a major part of their long-term plans. Fischer had reported back in July that Utah was exploring a possible sign-and-trade for the 23-year-old, so he has been on the club’s radar for some time.

Sexton is coming off a lost season due to a torn meniscus, but should be fully healthy this fall and has shown in his first four NBA seasons that he’s capable of becoming one of the league’s highest-scoring guards. Utah also views Markkanen and Agbaji as keepers going forward, tweets Wojnarowski.

Once the trade is official, the Jazz will have 17 players on fully guaranteed contracts, so more roster moves – either cuts, trades, or both – will be coming before opening night. Veterans like Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, Malik Beasley, and Jordan Clarkson could still be on the trade block.

While it shouldn’t have much of an impact on their roster moves, it’s also worth noting that the Jazz will face a hard cap of $156.98MM for the rest of the 2022/23 league year once they formally sign-and-trade for Sexton. For now, they’re $1.7MM below the tax line ($150.27MM), tweets Marks.

Trail Blazers Officially Announce Four Camp Signings

The Trail Blazers have officially signed Devontae Cacok, Olivier Sarr, Isaiah Miller and Jared Rhoden, the team announced. All four players, whose deals were previously reported, received Exhibit 10 training camp deals.

Of the group, only Cacok and Sarr hold NBA experience — Cacok has appeared in 36 games in parts of three seasons with the Lakers and Spurs, while Sarr played 22 games with the Thunder last season. Miller went undrafted out of UNC Greensboro in 2021 and spent last season in the G League with the Iowa Wolves; Rhoden is an undrafted rookie out of Seton Hall.

The Blazers have an unusual roster situation for a couple of different reasons. At the end of August, they waived Didi Louzada, using the stretch provision to stay below the luxury tax threshold of $150,267,000. That left the standard 15-man roster with 14 players on guaranteed deals, but even adding a minimum-salary player would push them over the tax line, so that last spot will almost certainly remain open for now (they could sign someone later in the season if they want to, since NBA salaries are prorated).

The second reason the roster situation is unusual is because Portland is one of only two teams without an NBA G League affiliate (the Suns are the other). Ordinarily players signed to Exhibit 10 deals are earmarked as affiliate players, and assuming they’re waived before the regular season, they become eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K.

However, since the Blazers don’t have an affiliate, none of the four players will be eligible for the bonus. Instead, evidently all four will be competing for the club’s lone two-way spot that’s still open — Brandon Williams currently occupies the other. Players on two-way contracts are eligible to appear in up to 50 games, but aren’t eligible for the postseason.

Malcolm Hill Re-Signs With Bulls On Two-Way Deal

Malcolm Hill has re-signed with the Bulls on a two-way contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). According to NBA.com’s transactions log, the deal is already official.

The Bulls extended Hill a two-way qualifying offer at the end of June, so he likely just decided to sign the QO to stick with Chicago.

The 26-year-old Hill was an unusual rookie last year. He went undrafted in 2017 out of Illinois and played internationally in the Philippines, Germany, Kazakhstan, and Israel prior to returning stateside.

Hill initially signed a training camp deal with the Pelicans prior to the 2021/22 season, but was waived before the season started and spent time with the team’s G League affiliate, the Birmingham Squadron. In December of last year, he signed a 10-day hardship contract with the Hawks, appearing in three games.

After Hill’s 10-day deal with Atlanta expired, he caught on with Chicago, initially signing a 10-day hardship deal before inking a two-way contract. Hill appeared in 16 games (10.4 MPG) with the Bulls, averaging 3.4 PPG and 1.8 RPG on .432/.323/.700 shooting.

The 6’6″ wing had a bigger role and put up better stats for Chicago’s G League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls, averaging 18.1 PPG, 7.0 RPG and 3.1 APG on a stellar .500/.396/.875 shooting line in eight games (33.1 MPG). Hill most recently suited up for the Bulls’ Summer League squad, averaging 13.0 PPG and 3.8 RPG on .465/.474/.889 shooting in five games (25.0 MPG), per RealGM.

The Bulls have 15 players signed to guaranteed standard contracts and both two-way spots now filled, so their roster is already full heading into training camp. Any future signings will likely be Exhibit 10 deals with the option of being converted to two-way contracts — Justin Lewis‘ two-way spot might be vulnerable after he unfortunately suffered a torn ACL last month.

Markieff Morris Signs With Nets

SEPTEMBER 7: The Nets have officially signed Morris, the team announced today in a press release. As previously reported, Morris’ new deal is said to be non-guaranteed.


AUGUST 30: The Nets will add veteran forward Markieff Morris on a one-year contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Morris spent last season with the Heat, but appeared in just 17 games after suffering a neck injury. He averaged 7.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per night and likely would have played a much larger role if he hadn’t been hurt.

Brooklyn will be the seventh NBA team for Morris, who entered the league in 2011. He has become mainly a bench player over the past four years and was an effective reserve for the Lakers during his last healthy season in 2020/21.

Morris, who signed minimum-salary deals with both L.A. and Miami, will likely get the same arrangement from the Nets. He may be seen as a replacement for LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin, who both remain unsigned.

Once Morris’ signing becomes official, Brooklyn will have 13 players with fully guaranteed contracts. Edmond Sumner‘s deal is partially guaranteed and Yuta Watanabe‘s is non-guaranteed.

Blazers To Sign Devontae Cacok To Exhibit 10 Deal

The Trail Blazers are signing free agent big man Devontae Cacok to an Exhibit 10 contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Cacok, who will turn 26 next month, spent the 2021/22 season with the Spurs, first on a two-way contract and then on a rest-of-season deal. He became an unrestricted free agent this summer when the team didn’t issue him a qualifying offer.

A former Laker, Cacok appeared in 15 games last season with the Spurs, averaging 3.1 PPG and 2.8 RPG in 8.1 minutes per contest. The forward/center saw more action at the G League level for San Antonio’s affiliate, piling up 18.7 PPG and 11.8 RPG in 37 total NBAGL games (29.5 MPG) for the Austin Spurs.

Because Portland doesn’t have a G League team, Cacok’s Exhibit 10 contract won’t put him in line for a bonus, but it does make him eligible to have his deal converted into a two-way contract before the start of the season. Currently, the Blazers have one two-way slot open, with Brandon Williams filling the other.

Jared Rhoden and Isaiah Miller are already on Exhibit 10 deals with the Blazers, and Olivier Sarr is reportedly set to join them.