Heat Sign Trevor Keels To Two-Way Contract
The Heat have signed guard Trevor Keels to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release. Keels will slide into the two-way slot that opened up when Miami promoted Myron Gardner to its 15-man roster earlier in the day.
A former Duke guard who appeared in three games for New York during the 2022/23 season, Keels has been playing in the G League for the last few years, spending time with the Westchester Knicks, the Iowa Wolves, and – most recently – the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s affiliate.
In 35 games for Sioux Falls this season, Keels has scored 18.5 points per game on .453/.400/.731 shooting while also contributing 3.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.2 steals in 32.5 minutes per contest.
Although Keels has yet to establish himself as an NBA player, he’s still just 22 years old and has multiple years of two-way eligibility remaining, so he should have an opportunity to stick with the Heat as a developmental player if he has a strong finish to this season.
The Heat will be able to have Keels active for up to 16 regular season games going forward.
Clippers Promote Jordan Miller To Standard Roster
3:03 pm: The Clippers have officially signed Miller to a new standard contract, the team confirmed.
10:38 am: After elevating Kobe Sanders from his two-way contract to their 15-man roster earlier this month, the Clippers will take the same route with another two-way standout, forward Jordan Miller. According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), Miller has agreed to sign a new two-year standard contract with the team.
The 48th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Miller didn’t play much during his first two NBA seasons, appearing in just 45 games and averaging 10.0 minutes per night. However, the 26-year-old began to receive regular rotation minutes for L.A. in mid-December and has since emerged as a reliable contributor.
Miller has appeared in each of the Clippers’ last 29 games and the club has gone 20-9 during that time. In his past 18 outings, the 6’5″ wing has averaged 12.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 steals in 25.9 minutes per game while making 52.6% of his shots from the floor.
Miller still had 15 games of eligibility left on his two-way contract, but the Clippers have nearly reached their “under-15” limit for two-way players. Teams are only permitted to use players on two-way contracts for a total of 90 combined games as long as they’re carrying fewer than 15 players on standard contracts — L.A. is at 88, per Spotrac.
In other words, the Clippers would’ve needed to keep their 15th roster spot filled in order to continue using Miller anyway, so the team has opted to simply promote him into that opening. L.A. will now have a pair of two-way slots open and will be able to activate whichever players fill those openings without worrying about the under-15 rule.
As for Miller, he’ll receive a minimum-salary contract that includes a team option for 2026/27, reports Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). His exact rest-of-season salary – and the Clippers’ accompanying cap hit – will depend on when the team officially completes the signing, but if it happens today, both figures would be $712,637.
Heat Sign Myron Gardner To Three-Year Deal
The Heat have filled the open spot on their 15-man roster by promoting swingman Myron Gardner from his two-way contract, the team confirmed today in a press release. Gardner and the Heat reached an agreement on a three-year contract, agent Jake Cohen tells NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).
The deal won’t be guaranteed beyond this season, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). Chiang describes the second- and third-year guarantees as “conditional,” which suggests Gardner will have to remain under contract through certain dates to receive his full salary for those seasons.
Gardner, who went undrafted out of Arkansas-Little Rock in 2023, spent two seasons with the Osceola Magic in the G League before signing a two-way contract with Miami last July.
The 6’6″ wing barely played for the Heat through the first two months of the season, but has seen more action since the start of January and has recently been thrust into a starting role. In his last seven games before the All-Star break, Gardner made four starts and averaged 7.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in 17.7 minutes per night, with a .474/.444/.714 shooting line.
As Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel observes, while the Heat have a full 15-man roster, they still have enough room below the luxury tax line to bring in another free agent at some point in the coming weeks if they want to. In that scenario, Terry Rozier would be the obvious candidate to be cut.
Miami will have until March 4 to sign a two-way player to fill the opening created by Gardner’s promotion.
Cameron Payne Signs With Sixers
February 18: Payne has officially signed with the Sixers, the team confirmed today in a press release.
February 16, 11:41 am: Partizan Belgrade has officially announced Payne’s departure for the NBA and the $1.75MM buyout fee it will receive to release him, Stein tweets.
February 16, 8:59 am: Cameron Payne will leave his European team and join the Sixers for the rest of the season, league sources tell Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link).
The 31-year-old guard was in training camp with the Pacers last fall, but was waived before the season began. In December, he agreed to a deal with KK Partizan in Serbia, heading overseas for the first time in his career.
However, Payne has been held out of recent games, sparking rumors that he might be headed elsewhere, according to Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. He appeared in just 10 games for Partizan, averaging 12.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 steals. Askounis adds that the Serbian team will receive $1.75MM in a buyout agreement.
It may take some time to secure Payne’s release from Partizan, Stein tweets. The Sixers have to obtain a Letter of Clearance from FIBA, and they can only contribute up to $875K toward his buyout.
The move will mark a return to Philadelphia for Payne, who finished the 2023/24 season with the Sixers after being acquired from Milwaukee at the trade deadline. He averaged 9.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 31 games and remained in the team’s rotation for the playoffs.
Payne signed with the Knicks in the summer of 2024 and appeared in 72 games last season before becoming a free agent again.
The Sixers are down to 13 players on standard contracts after 10-day deals for Charles Bassey and Patrick Baldwin Jr. expired over the weekend. They have enough room to add two players on prorated veteran minimum contracts for the rest of the season without going into luxury tax territory, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link).
Philadelphia is low on experienced guards after trading Jared McCain to Oklahoma City, so Payne will have a chance to contribute right away. The Sixers’ season will resume Thursday against Atlanta.
Spurs Add Mason Plumlee On 10-Day Contract
10:00 pm: The Spurs officially completed the signing on Tuesday, per NBA.com’s transaction log. The deal will cover San Antonio’s next five games and will expire after next Thursday’s contest in Brooklyn.
6:54 pm: The Spurs are signing veteran big man Mason Plumlee on a 10-day contract, agent Mark Bartelstein tells ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
San Antonio has an opening on its 15-man roster and won’t have to make a corresponding move to make room for Plumlee. The Spurs opened up a roster spot when they waived Jeremy Sochan, who later signed with the Knicks.
Plumlee became a free agent earlier this month when he was cut by the Thunder shortly after they acquired him from the Hornets. The big man, who turns 36 next month, fits the description of journeyman. He has played for Brooklyn, Portland, Denver, Detroit, the Clippers, and Phoenix, as well as two stints with the Hornets.
Plumlee has appeared in 874 regular season games, averaging 7.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 21.7 minutes per contest. He played regularly for the Suns in 2024/25 but had a modest role in Charlotte this season, seeing action in just 14 games (two starts) while averaging 1.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 8.9 minutes per night.
He’ll add a little frontcourt depth for San Antonio coming out of the All-Star break but it remains to be seen how long he’ll stick with his latest NBA franchise.
Magic Sign Alex Morales To Two-Way Contract
The Magic have called up guard Alex Morales from their G League affiliate, signing him to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link). In a corresponding move, the Magic waived center Orlando Robinson.
Morales, who went undrafted out of Wagner in 2022, has spent nearly his entire professional career with Orlando’s G League team, now known as the Osceola Magic. The 28-year-old has also had a couple stints with Osos de Manatí in Puerto Rico between NBA seasons, but he has signed Exhibit 10 contracts with Orlando for four consecutive years and has appeared in a total of 168 NBAGL games for Osceola (formerly the Lakeland Magic).
In 30 G League outings this season, Morales has put up career-best averages of 16.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2.0 steals in 34.2 minutes per game. His shooting numbers – 52.1% from the floor, 40.3% on three-pointers, and 82.0% from the free throw line – are all career highs too.
While it remains to be seen how many opportunities Morales will get to actually play for the NBA team in the coming weeks, the Magic are rewarding him for his performance this season by signing him to the first two-way contract of his career. He’ll be eligible to be active for up to 16 regular season games for Orlando.
As for Robinson, despite being appropriately named for the organization, he made just four appearances for Orlando this season after signing a two-way deal last July. The 25-year-old center, who has also played for Miami, Sacramento, and Toronto since making his NBA debut in 2022, appeared in 10 games for Osceola this season, averaging 17.1 PPG, 10.7 RPG, and 1.5 BPG.
Morales’ new two-way deal covers two seasons, according to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). Jamal Cain and Colin Castleton are the Magic’s other two-way players.
Warriors Sign Nate Williams To Two-Way Deal
February 17: The Warriors have officially signed Williams to a two-way contract, according to the NBA.com transaction log.
February 16: The Warriors are signing Nate Williams to a two-way contract, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line tweets.
Also known as Jeenathan Williams, the 6’5” shooting guard has been playing for the NBA G League’s Long Island Nets while awaiting another NBA opportunity. He was on a training camp contract with the Lakers last fall but was waived in October.
Williams, who turned 27 last Thursday, spent last season with the Rockets, first on a two-way deal and eventually on a standard contract. He got into 20 games, averaging 3.3 PPG and 0.7 RPG in 7.4 MPG, then was waived by Houston over the summer.
After the Lakers let him go, Williams hooked on with the Nets’ G League affiliate. He has averaged 18.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals in 34 minutes per game over 35 appearances. He’s made 47.2% of his field goal attempts, including 36.5% from long range.
Williams also appeared in 22 games with Houston in 2023/24 and five games with Portland the previous season. He went undrafted out of Buffalo in 2022.
Golden State had a two-way opening and won’t need to make a corresponding move. The Warriors created a two-way opening by promoting Pat Spencer right after the trade deadline.
Mike Conley Officially Rejoins Timberwolves
As expected, veteran point guard Mike Conley has re-signed with the Timberwolves. The transaction is listed in NBA.com’s official log, while Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) confirms that the two sides have completed a rest-of-season deal.
The Timberwolves sent Conley to Chicago in a salary-dump trade on February 3, with the Bulls flipping him to Charlotte along with Coby White a day later, just ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline. The Hornets subsequently cut him, which cleared the way for the 38-year-old to return to Minnesota.
NBA rules prohibit a player who is traded and then waived to immediately re-sign with the team that traded him away. However, that restriction only applied to the Bulls, not the Timberwolves, since Conley was traded twice.
Word broke when Conley was still on waivers that he planned to rejoin the Wolves. The team waited until today to complete the signing in order to maximize its cap/tax savings by taking the full allotment of 14 days to get back to the NBA-mandated roster minimum of 14 players. Minnesota still has an open spot on its 15-man roster after signing Conley.
Conley, who is in his 19th NBA season, became the Wolves’ starting point guard when they acquired him at the 2023 trade deadline and maintained that role through last season. He ceded his starting job to Donte DiVincenzo this past fall and has averaged a career-low 18.5 minutes per night in 44 outings (nine starts) so far this season. His 4.4 points and 2.9 assists per game are also career lows, as is his 32.2% field goal percentage.
Despite Conley’s declining production, there were rumblings ahead of the trade deadline that the team wasn’t eager to move the veteran due to his locker room leadership. With that in mind, being able to move off of the guard’s $10.8MM expiring contract and then bring him back on a prorated minimum-salary deal represents the best of both worlds for the Wolves.
Assuming Conley did sign for the minimum, which is a safe bet, he’ll earn $1,148,727 for the rest of the season while the Wolves carry a cap hit of $725,834.
Conley will likely seeing his playing time decline a little in the season’s final two months after Minnesota acquired guard Ayo Dosunmu from Chicago at the trade deadline.
Wizards Sign Alondes Williams To 10-Day Deal
5:00 pm: Williams’ 10-day deal is official, according to the Wizards. It will run through next Wednesday, covering the team’s next four games.
4:17 pm: The Wizards are signing guard Alondes Williams to a 10-day contract, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter).
Williams, a 6’4″ guard, has played games for the Nets, Heat, and Pistons since going undrafted in 2022, with a seven-game stint for Miami in 2023/24 representing his most playing time in a single season.
Williams, 26, has been productive with the Wizards’ G League team, the Capital City Go-Go, averaging 20.2 points, 4.5 assists, and 5.2 rebounds in 13 regular season games while knocking down a career-high 43.0% of his threes.
The explosive guard has improved his outside shot since his time in college. A 27.0% shooter over his three-year collegiate career, he holds a lifetime G League three-point percentage of 37.0% on 5.4 attempts per game.
Washington has an open spot on its 15-man roster after Keshon Gilbert‘s 10-day deal expired.
Cavaliers Sign Riley Minix To Two-Way Deal
The Cavaliers have signed Riley Minix to a two-way contract, according to the NBA’s official transaction log.
The 25-year-old forward opened the season on a two-way deal with the Spurs and appeared in three games for San Antonio, scoring three points in eight total minutes. He was waived in December in order to make room on the Spurs’ roster for newcomer Kyle Mangas.
Since being cut by the Spurs, Minix has been playing for the Cavaliers’ G League team, the Cleveland Charge. In 12 regular season outings for the Charge, he has averaged 19.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game with a strong shooting line of .556/.457/.741.
The Cavs had been carrying Tristan Enaruna and Emanuel Miller on two-way deals, the latter of whom they received in the trade for Keon Ellis and Dennis Schröder. Minix will take the team’s third two-way spot, which recently opened up when Nae’Qwan Tomlin was promoted to the 15-man roster.
Minix will be eligible to be active for up to 17 regular season games, a prorated portion of the usual 50-game limit.