Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Suns Sign Damion Lee To One-Year Deal

July 1st, 2022 at 10:27pm CST by Rory Maher

The Suns have signed Damion Lee to a contract, per NBA.com’s official transactions log.

Because the deal is already official, we can deduce it’s a minimum-salary pact, since those can be signed during the July moratorium. The contract will be for one year, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Lee, 29, went undrafted out of Louisville in 2016. He made his rookie debut with the Hawks in 2017/18, first signing a 10-day deal and then a rest-of-season contract, appearing in 15 games for Atlanta.

Lee has spent the last four seasons with the Warriors, winning a title with Golden State this season. In 201 regular season games (20.6 MPG) with the Warriors, Lee averaged 8.1 PPG and 3.4 RPG on .437/.366/.880 shooting.

While Lee isn’t a great defensive player, he is an impressive shot-maker when he gets rolling, capable of scoring points in bunches. Lee joins Gary Payton II, Otto Porter, Nemanja Bjelica and Juan Toscano-Anderson as role players who are departing the defending champions.

Phoenix gets a decent depth piece at shooting guard, although Lee probably won’t receive many minutes behind star Devin Booker.

Thunder Sign Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams To Rookie Deals

July 1st, 2022 at 9:30pm CST by Rory Maher

The Thunder have signed a couple of their first-round draft picks, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, according to NBA.com’s official transactions log.

Holmgren was the second pick of the draft after spending one season with Gonzaga. In 32 games (26.9 MPG) for the Bulldogs, the 7’0″ Holmgren averaged 14.1 PPG, 9.9 RPG and 3.7 BPG on .607/.390/.717 shooting.

Williams was the 12th pick of the draft after three seasons with Santa Clara. In 33 games (34.8 MPG) as a junior for the Broncos, the 6’6″ wing averaged 18 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 4.2 APG and 1.2 SPG on .513/.396/.809 shooting.

Oklahoma City has been in rebuilding mode for a couple of seasons now, but the influx of young talent should help accelerate the team’s progression. Holmgren was considered the top prospect in the draft by many talent evaluators, while Williams was a draft riser after strong athletic testing numbers and standout scrimmage performances at the combine in Chicago last month.

Assuming Holmgren and Williams sign for 120% of the rookie scale, which virtually every first-rounder does, they’ll be in line for first-year salaries of $9.89MM and $4.34MM, respectively.

Wizards Sign Anthony Gill To Two-Year Deal

July 1st, 2022 at 8:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 1: Gill has officially signed his contract, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. That signals that his two-year deal is worth the minimum, since minimum-salary contracts can be finalized during the July moratorium.

JUNE 30: The Wizards are re-signing forward Anthony Gill to a two-year contract, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

Gill was a restricted free agent after Washington extended a qualifying offer. It’s most likely a veteran’s minimum deal, though terms have not been disclosed.

The 6’8″ Gill, 29, went undrafted out of Virginia in 2016 and spent most of his professional career overseas. He signed a two-year contract with the Wizards in November 2020.

Gill came off the bench in 44 games last season, averaging 4.1 PPG and 1.9 RPG in 10.5 MPG.

Wizards Sign Johnny Davis To Rookie Contract

July 1st, 2022 at 8:46pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards have signed first-round pick Johnny Davis to his rookie scale contract, according to NBA.com’s official log of transactions.

Davis, who averaged 19.7 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 2.1 APG in 31 games (34.2 MPG) at Wisconsin as a sophomore in 2021/22, was the 10th player off the board in last Thursday’s draft.

He’ll join a Wizards backcourt that is undergoing some changes this offseason — while Bradley Beal will return on a five-year, maximum-salary contract, Ish Smith, Raul Neto, Tomas Satoransky, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are out, and Davis, Monte Morris, Will Barton, and Delon Wright are in.

Assuming Davis signs for 120% of the rookie scale, which virtually every first-rounder does, he’ll be in line for a first-year salary of $4.8MM and a four-year deal worth $21.9MM.

Lakers Officially Sign Jones, Brown, Toscano-Anderson

July 1st, 2022 at 8:21pm CST by Rory Maher

The Lakers have officially completed three signings, according to a team press release. The trio of players are center Damian Jones, wing Troy Brown and wing Juan Toscano-Anderson.

Jones, Brown and Toscano-Anderson were all signed to minimum-salary contracts. Both Brown and JTA received one-year deals, while Jones got a two-year deal with a player option.

Jones, 27, had a solid season with the Kings in 2021/22 after struggling to find a standard roster spot in ’20/21. In 56 games this season (18.2 MPG), Jones averaged 8.1 PPG and 4.4 RPG while shooting 65.8% from the field and 71.8% from the line.

Brown, 22, was the 15th pick of the 2018 draft and spent his first two-plus seasons with Washington before being traded to Chicago last year. The Bulls declined his qualifying offer after he struggled to make an impact this season, averaging 4.3 PPG and 3.1 RPG on .419/.353/.769 shooting in 66 games (16 MPG).

Toscano-Anderson, 29, spent the last three seasons with the Warriors and recently won a title. In 73 games (13.6 MPG) in ’21/22, he averaged 4.1 PPG, 2.4 RPG and 1.7 APG on .489/.322/.571 shooting.

Because the three players are on minimum contracts, the deals can be completed before the transaction moratorium ends on July 6.

Pacers Re-Sign Jalen Smith

July 1st, 2022 at 8:05pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: The Pacers have made it official with Smith, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. Head coach Rick Carlisle said today at a media session that the plan is for Smith to be Indiana’s starting power forward in the fall (Twitter link via Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files).

JULY 1: Free agent big man Jalen Smith has agreed to a two-year contract with the Pacers and will return to Indiana, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Smith’s new two-year deal is worth $9.6MM, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. That’s approximately the maximum amount the Pacers could offer over two seasons.

The 10th overall pick in 2020, Smith barely saw any action as a rookie in Phoenix in 2020/21, then found himself out of the Suns’ plans. They turned down his third-year rookie scale option for 2022/23 at the start of last season and traded him to Indiana at this year’s deadline.

With the lottery-bound Pacers, Smith began to flash the upside that made him a lottery pick two years ago, averaging 13.4 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 1.0 BPG on .531/.373/.760 shooting in a part-time role (24.7 MPG).

There was a sense that Smith may be playing himself out of the Pacers’ price range — even though they hold his Bird rights, they were prohibited from offering him a starting salary higher than $4.67MM, the amount of his declined option. However, that limit didn’t stop the two sides from getting a deal done.

While it’s possible potential suitors were hesitant to invest too aggressively in Smith based on the numbers he was putting up for a team out of playoff contention down the stretch, he’s still just 22 years old and has the potential to continue improving.

Smith’s role and place on the 2022/23 depth chart will be determined in part by whether veteran bigs like Myles Turner and Daniel Theis remain on Indiana’s roster or end up elsewhere by the fall.

Warriors Sign Donte DiVincenzo To Two-Year Deal

July 1st, 2022 at 6:25pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 8: The Warriors have officially signed DiVincenzo, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 1: The Warriors and swingman Donte DiVincenzo are in agreement on a free agent deal, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that DiVincenzo will sign a two-year, $9.3MM contract with the team. It will include a second-year player option, Charania adds.

Given the Warriors’ cap situation and the numbers reported by Charania, it appears the club will use a portion of its taxpayer mid-level exception to complete the signing.

DiVincenzo was a full-time starter on the Bucks team that won a championship in 2020/21, averaging 10.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 3.1 APG on .420/.379/.718 shooting in 66 games (27.5 MPG) during that regular season. However, a major ankle injury sidelined him for most of the postseason and for a chunk of the ’21/22 campaign.

The 25-year-old didn’t look like his old self when he returned to Milwaukee’s lineup, and the team traded him to Sacramento at the February deadline. DiVincenzo played better for the Kings, averaging 10.3 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 3.6 APG with a .368 3PT% in 25 games (26.6 MPG).

Despite DiVincenzo’s solid play down the stretch, he didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Kings, who shifted their focus to acquiring Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter to solidify their wing rotation. That decision made DiVincenzo an unrestricted free agent, meaning the former Villanova standout is free to sign outright with Golden State.

The addition of DiVincenzo will help make up for some of the rotation losses the Warriors have endured during free agency. Gary Payton II, Otto Porter, Nemanja Bjelica, and Juan Toscano-Anderson have all reached agreements with new teams since Thursday evening.

Based on the terms reported by Charania, the Warriors aren’t using the full amount of the taxpayer mid-level exception on DiVincenzo, so they’ll still have a small part of it available. They may use that leftover portion to sign second-round pick Ryan Rollins to a three-year contract instead of the maximum two years he could get using the minimum salary exception.

Rockets Sign Jabari Smith, Tari Eason, TyTy Washington

July 1st, 2022 at 4:56pm CST by Rory Maher

The Rockets have officially signed their trio of first-round picks, the team announced in a press release.

Jabari Smith, the No. 3 pick out of Auburn, averaged 16.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.1 SPG and 1.0 BPG in 34 games (28.8 MPG) as a freshman.

Tari Eason, the No. 17 pick out of LSU, averaged 16.6 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 1.9 SPG and 1.1 BPG in 33 games (24.4 MPG) as a sophomore.

TyTy Washington, the No. 29 pick out of Kentucky, averaged 12.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 3.9 APG and 1.3 SPG in 31 games (29.2 MPG) as a freshman.

Assuming the three players signed for the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale, which nearly every team gives to their first-round selections, Smith will earn $8,882,640 in 2022/23, Eason will make $3,359,160, and Washington will get $2,210,040.

Celtics Re-Sign Luke Kornet

July 1st, 2022 at 4:52pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 9: The Celtics have officially re-signed Kornet, per a team release.

JULY 1: The Celtics are re-signing big man Luke Kornet, having agreed to terms with him on a new two-year contract, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Kornet, who will turn 27 later this month, has bounced around the NBA since making his debut in 2018 as an undrafted free agent out of Vanderbilt. The forward/center has averaged 5.5 PPG and 2.6 RPG in 148 total games (14.3 MPG) for the Knicks, Bulls, Celtics, Cavaliers, and Bucks.

Kornet finished the 2020/21 season with the Celtics following a deadline trade and then spent much of the ’21/22 campaign with the team’s G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, before being promoted to Boston’s 15-man roster in February.

While Kornet hasn’t seen much action at the NBA level for the Celtics, he put up solid numbers for Maine, averaging 14.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 4.7 APG, and 1.9 BPG in 11 regular season NBAGL appearances this past season.

Terms of the deal aren’t known, but I’d be surprised if it’s worth more than the minimum, and it may not be fully guaranteed for both years. The Celtics opened up a series of roster spots for the coming season when they agreed to send five players to Indiana in exchange for Malcolm Brogdon.

Magic Sign Paolo Banchero

July 1st, 2022 at 4:26pm CST by Rory Maher

The Magic have officially signed Paolo Banchero, the first pick of last week’s NBA draft, the team announced in a press release.

In 39 games as a freshman for Duke this past season, the 6’10” Banchero averaged 17.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.2 APG and 1.1 SPG on .478/.338/.729 shooting. He helped lead the Blue Devils to a 32-7 record and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, where they ultimately fell to long-time rival North Carolina in the Final Four.

Banchero earned numerous accolades for his stellar season, including Consensus All-America Second Team, All-ACC First Team, and ACC Rookie of the Year, among others.

As the first overall pick, Banchero will earn $11,055,120 as a rookie in 2022/23 if he signs for the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale (nearly always happens). He’s eligible to make $50,158,769 over the four-year contract, assuming the Magic pick up his team options in years three and four, which is basically a lock given his draft status.

Banchero is expected to make his Orlando debut in the Las Vegas Summer League on July 7.