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Knicks Waive Denzel Valentine

January 3rd, 2022 at 4:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

4:56pm: The Knicks have officially waived Valentine, the team tweets.

4:20pm: The Knicks are placing Denzel Valentine on waivers, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Valentine was just acquired from Cleveland in a three-team deal but New York obviously had no plans to retain the five-year veteran guard.

The dead-money cap hit for waiving Valentine is $880,509. However, New York received $1.1MM from the Lakers in the trade, offsetting the move. Wayne Selden was also waived on Monday, so New York will now have an open spot on the 15-man roster.

Valentine appeared in 22 games off the bench for Cleveland, averaging 2.9 PPG in 9.3 MPG. Valentine, who played four seasons for Chicago, will now try to hook onto another team in free agency.

Sixers Sign Charlie Brown Jr. After Maxey Enters Protocols

January 3rd, 2022 at 4:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Sixers have added Charlie Brown Jr. on a 10-day contract via the hardship exception after another prominent player entered health and safety protocols, Kyle Neubeck of the Philly Voice tweets. Philadelphia confirmed the signing in a team press release.

Starting guard Tyrese Maxey will miss Monday’s game against Houston due to those restrictions, joining Matisse Thybulle and two others.

Brown was signed to a 10-day contract by the Mavericks but it wasn’t renewed. He made three brief appearances with Dallas.

Brown had been playing with the NBAGL’s Delaware Blue Coats before the wave of COVID positives around the league. He also appeared in a total of 19 games with the Hawks in 2019/20 and the Thunder in 2020/21.

A Philadelphia native, Brown played his college basketball at Saint Joseph’s, where he averaged 19.0 PPG in his final season with the Hawks.

Grizzlies Sign Jon Teske To 10-Day Contract

January 3rd, 2022 at 4:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Grizzlies have signed big man Jon Teske to a 10-day contract under the hardship exception, the team’s PR department tweets.

Teske was waived by Orlando during training camp. He has appeared in 29 games with the G League Lakeland Magic in two seasons, averaging 6.9 PPG and 5.1 RPG. Teske played four seasons at Michigan but went undrafted in 2020.

Memphis currently has six players in the league’s health and safety protocols.

Quinndary Weatherspoon Signs Two-Way Deal With Warriors

January 3rd, 2022 at 12:26pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JANUARY 3: The Warriors have officially signed Weatherspoon to a two-way contract, the club announced today in a press release.

JANUARY 2: Shooting guard Quinndary Weatherspoon, who just completed a 10-day hardship exception deal with the Warriors, will rejoin Golden State on a two-way contract, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Weatherspoon was selected with the No. 49 pick out of Mississippi State by the Spurs, and logged two seasons with the Spurs on two successive two-way contracts, splitting his time between San Antonio and the team’s Austin NBAGL affiliate.

The 25-year-old out of Mississippi State kicked off the 2021/22 season with the Warriors’ NBAGL affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors. Weatherspoon has averaged 16.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.2 SPG and 0.7 BPG through nine games with Santa Cruz this year.

In his lone game with Golden State so far this season, Weatherspoon scored six points on 3-of-3 shooting from the floor. He also chipped in a rebound, a steal and a block.

Weatherspoon will supplant 6’3″ point guard Jeff Dowtin as the Warriors’ second two-way player while 5’11” point guard Chris Chiozza will continue to occupy the other two-way slot. Dowtin was released earlier today.

Cavs, Lakers, Knicks Officially Complete Rajon Rondo Trade

January 3rd, 2022 at 12:08pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers, Lakers, and Knicks have officially completed the trade sending Rajon Rondo to Cleveland, the teams announced today in a series of press releases. The deal, which was first reported las Thursday and was expanded today to include New York, breaks down as follows:

Cavaliers acquire Rondo (from Lakers).
Knicks acquire Denzel Valentine (from Cavaliers), the draft rights to Wang Zhelin (from Lakers), the draft rights to Brad Newley (from Lakers), and $1.1MM in cash (from Lakers).
Lakers acquire the draft rights to Louis Labeyrie (from Knicks).

It’s a straightforward swap from Cleveland’s perspective — the Cavaliers simply acquired Rondo in exchange for Valentine. Both players are on minimum-salary contracts, but Rondo’s deal is guaranteed (Valentine’s isn’t) and he fills a greater need for a Cavs team that just lost veteran point guard Ricky Rubio for the season due to a torn ACL.

The Knicks waived Wayne Selden in order to make room on the 15-man room roster for Valentine. Both players are on non-guaranteed contracts, so if New York also cuts Valentine, the amount of money the team ended up paying to Selden and Valentine would work out to just over $800K, which is less than the $1.1MM in cash acquired from L.A.

The Knicks could also hang onto Valentine if they so choose, but that’s reportedly considered unlikely. Waiving him would open up the club’s 15th roster spot.

The Lakers, meanwhile, essentially decided to move on from Rondo and pay the Knicks a little money in order to reduce their end-of-season luxury tax bill and open up a roster spot. The exact amount of money Los Angeles saves will depend on how quickly that roster opening is filled, but the savings will exceed the $1.1MM the club sent to the Knicks. Stanley Johnson, who has played well on a 10-day contract, is a good candidate to become the team’s new 15th man.

The Lakers and Cavaliers will both create small traded player exceptions in the deal. L.A.’s will be worth about $1.67MM, while Cleveland’s will be worth approximately $858K.

This is the NBA’s first trade since October 6.

Knicks Waive Wayne Selden

January 3rd, 2022 at 12:04pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have placed veteran shooting guard Wayne Selden on waivers, league sources tell Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The team needed to open up a roster spot in order to complete its acquisition of Denzel Valentine and Selden was the most expendable player on the roster, since his minimum-salary contract isn’t fully guaranteed.

Selden, 27, has appeared in a total of 127 NBA games since making his debut in 2017, but only three of those appearances came this season. He had five points on 1-of-4 shooting in 19 total minutes for the Knicks in 2021/22.

Selden would’ve earned a $1,729,217 salary if he had remained under contract for the entire season. Because he’s being released now, he’ll instead make a prorated minimum of $785,104, which is also the amount that will apply to New York’s team salary. If Selden is claimed on waivers, he’d be back on track to earn his full salary and he’d be removed entirely from the Knicks’ cap, but that’s probably a long shot.

With a newly-opened roster spot, the Knicks are free to officially finalize their three-team trade with the Cavaliers and Lakers to acquire Valentine. Like Selden, Valentine doesn’t have a fully guaranteed salary, so the club will need to decide this week whether or not to keep him around beyond Friday’s salary guarantee deadline. New York is unlikely to hang onto Valentine for the season, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv.

Ryan Arcidiacono Signs 10-Day Deal With Knicks

January 3rd, 2022 at 11:24am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JANUARY 3: The Knicks have officially signed Arcidiacono to his 10-day deal, the team announced today in a press release.

JANUARY 2: Former Bulls point guard Ryan Arcidiacono is set to join the Knicks on a 10-day hardship exception deal and could stick around for the rest of the season, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

After going undrafted out of Villanova in 2016, the 6’3″ guard played with San Antonio’s NBA G League club, the Austin Spurs, during the 2016/17 season. He inked a two-way deal with the Bulls in 2017, and saw that converted to a standard contract with Chicago ahead of the 2018/19 season.

Arcidiacono played four total seasons in Chicago before the Bulls ultimately let him walk in free agency during the summer of 2021. The 27-year-old holds career NBA averages of 4.8 PPG, 2.2 APG, 2.0 RPG, and 0.6 SPG. He had most recently been playing with the Boston Celtics’ NBAGL affiliate, the Maine Celtics.

The Knicks are missing five players due to the health and safety protocols, but their need for a point guard is a result of injury absences. Derrick Rose continues to recover from an ankle surgery he underwent in late December and Kemba Walker sits for at least one night of back-to-back contests.

Bucks Sign Luke Kornet To 10-Day Hardship Deal

January 3rd, 2022 at 11:04am CST by Arthur Hill

JANUARY 3: Kornet has officially signed his 10-day contract with the Bucks, the team announced in a press release. He’ll earn $102,831 over the next 10 days.

JANUARY 2: Luke Kornet will join the Bucks on a 10-day contract under the hardship provision, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The 26-year-old center just completed a 10-day deal with the Cavaliers. He appeared in two games, averaging 2.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in 7.5 minutes per night. It was the first NBA action of the season for Kornet, who played a combined 31 games last year with the Bulls and Celtics.

Milwaukee currently has two players in the league’s health and safety protocols, Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Semi Ojeleye. The Bucks will play five times over the next 10 days, starting with Monday’s game against the Pistons.

Warriors Release Jeff Dowtin

January 2nd, 2022 at 11:52am CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors have waived two-way guard Jeff Dowtin, the team announced (via Twitter).

Golden State claimed Dowtin off waivers in October after he was let go by the Magic. The 24-year-old appeared in four games, averaging 1.5 points and 1.8 rebounds in 7.0 minutes per night. He had a much larger role with the team’s G League affiliate in Santa Cruz, putting up averages of 17.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 12 games.

Dowtin also spent time with the G League’s Lakeland Magic after going undrafted out of Rhode Island in 2020. He signed training camp contracts with Orlando the past two years.

There’s no immediate word on what the Warriors plan to do with the open two-way slot.

Lance Stephenson Signs 10-Day Deal With Pacers

January 1st, 2022 at 6:50pm CST by Rory Maher

JANUARY 1: The Pacers have officially completed Stephenson’s 10-day contract, announcing the deal in a press release.

DECEMBER 31: The Pacers plan to reunite with Lance Stephenson yet again, this time on a 10-day contract, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files writes. This will be his third stint with the club. Stephenson must test negative for COVID-19 prior to signing the contract, Agness adds.

Stephenson is currently finishing out a 10-day deal with the Hawks, which reunited him with former Pacers and current Hawks head coach Nate McMillan. After that deal concludes, Stephenson will sign another hardship deal with the Pacers. In five games so far in a limited role with the Hawks, Stephenson is averaging a modest 1.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 12.8 MPG.

Stephenson, 31, hadn’t played in the NBA since the 2018/19 season, but signed a G League contract this fall in the hopes of making a comeback. In his first 12 games for the Gold this season, the former Pacer averaged 19.8 PPG, 8.3 RPG, and 4.1 APG on .471/.306/.686 shooting in 35.0 MPG.

Stephenson has appeared in a total of 508 regular season NBA games, including 298 with Indiana. He also spent time with the Hornets, Clippers, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Timberwolves, and Lakers during his nine years in the league.

The Pacers currently have five players in the health and safety protocols, which allows them to sign multiple players via hardship exceptions. They’ve already signed Ahmad Caver and Nate Hinton to 10-day deals, but Stephenson will provide much more experience to the team.