Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Nuggets Sign DeMarcus Cousins For Rest Of Season

February 25th, 2022 at 5:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

FEBRUARY 25: Cousins has been signed for the remainder of the season, according to a team press release.

FEBRUARY 22: The Nuggets intend to sign center DeMarcus Cousins to a rest-of-season contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The plan is for the deal to be officially completed on Friday, tweets Mike Singer of The Denver Post.

Cousins has spent most of the last month with the Nuggets, first on a hardship 10-day deal, then on two standard 10-day pacts. Because a player can’t sign more than two standard 10-day contracts with the same team in a season, Denver has to commit to Cousins for the rest of the season in order to keep him on the roster.

The 6’10”, 270-pound veteran, a four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA player while with the Kings and Pelicans, saw his career fortunes take a turn after he ruptured his left Achilles with New Orleans in 2018. Cousins then sustained a torn quad in the spring of 2019 and tore his ACL while with the Lakers ahead of the 2019/20 NBA season. Since recovering from those injuries, he has become a role player for various clubs, including both the Rockets and Clippers during the 2020/21 season.

This season, Cousins first joined the Bucks, a club looking to compensate for the size it lost when starting center Brook Lopez was forced to sit with a back injury that ultimately led to surgery. The 31-year-old Cousins played a total of 17 games with Milwaukee, and to date has appeared in eight games for the Nuggets as a reserve behind reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, reuniting with former Kings head coach Michael Malone.

In 25 games total this year between the Bucks and Nuggets, Cousins holds averages of 8.1 PPG and 5.9 RPG, while shooting 41.4% from the floor and 77.6% from the free-throw line. Granted, these are far cries from his career numbers (19.9 PPG, 10.4 RPG and 3.1 APG on .459/.330/.737 shooting), but it’s nice that Cousins appears to have adjusted to his new role on two title contenders.

Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports notes (via Twitter) that the Nuggets have been undefeated in their games played with Cousins this year.

Jevon Carter Signs With Bucks

February 24th, 2022 at 5:33pm CST by Luke Adams

FEBRUARY 24: The Bucks have officially signed Carter, according to a team press release.

FEBRUARY 22: Fourth-year guard Jevon Carter intends to sign with the Bucks after he clears waivers, agents Mark Bartelstein and Reggie Brown of Priority Sports tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

The Bucks were said to be seriously pursuing Goran Dragic in order to add some depth to their backcourt. Having missed out on the 35-year-old, they’ll instead sign the player who was released to make room for Dragic in Brooklyn. The Nets officially announced earlier today that they’ve waived Carter.

Carter, 26, began his NBA career in Memphis in 2018 and had a couple promising seasons in Phoenix from 2019-21, averaging 4.5 PPG and 1.8 RPG on .418/.397/.789 shooting and playing solid defense in 118 games (14.1 MPG) for the Suns.

He was traded to Brooklyn during the offseason in a deal that sent Landry Shamet to the Suns, but struggled with the Nets. His shooting percentage dipped to 33.3% and he wasn’t a consistent part of the rotation after the first month of the season.

While Wojnarowski’s report says Carter will clear waivers on Wednesday, it looks like it’ll actually happen on Thursday, unless the Nets cut him a day before they officially announced the move. As we observed on Monday, Milwaukee needs to make a roster addition on or before Thursday in order to get back to the league-mandated 14-player minimum — it appears Carter will be the team’s new 14th man.

The Nets will remain on the hook for Carter’s $3.9MM guaranteed salary for 2022/23 after he clears waivers and signs with the Bucks.

Sixers Sign Willie Cauley-Stein To 10-Day Deal

February 24th, 2022 at 12:24pm CST by Luke Adams

February 24: Philadelphia has officially signed Cauley-Stein to a 10-day deal, the team announced.

February 22: The Sixers are expected to sign free agent center Willie Cauley-Stein to a 10-day contract, according to John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia (Twitter link). The team has an open spot on its 15-man roster, so no corresponding move will be required to finalize the signing.

Cauley-Stein, 28, began the season with the Mavericks, averaging 1.9 PPG and 2.1 RPG in 18 games (9.8 MPG) for the club. The veteran big man played his last game for Dallas on November 27 and was unavailable for several weeks after that for personal reasons before eventually being waived on January 15.

The Sixers had to include Andre Drummond in their blockbuster deadline-day trade that netted them James Harden, so there’s been a sense that they’ll use their 15th roster spot sooner or later to add another backup center.

If Cauley-Stein plays well for Philadelphia, it’s possible he’ll earn a longer look from the club. He had a solid season in 2020/21 as the Mavs’ primary backup center, recording 5.3 PPG and 4.5 RPG on 63.2% shooting in 53 games (17.1 MPG).

Cauley-Stein will earn $120,083 over the course of his 10-day deal, with the Sixers taking on a $95,930 cap hit.

Malik Fitts, Kelan Martin Sign 10-Day Deals With Celtics

February 23rd, 2022 at 11:41am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

FEBRUARY 23: The Celtics have officially signed Fitts and Martin to 10-day contracts, the team announced today in a press release.

FEBRUARY 22: Forwards Malik Fitts and Kelan Martin are set to sign 10-day deals with the Celtics, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Fitts, a 6’8″ second-year power forward out of Saint Mary’s, had a two-way deal with the Jazz earlier this season, but was waived by Utah in January after fracturing his right wrist. He signed an NBA G League contract prior to the news of his joining the Celtics.

Across seven contests with the Jazz this season, Fitts averaged 5.0 MPG. In seven games with the Agua Caliente Clippers of the NBAGL this season, Fitts averaged 15.1 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.0 BPG and 1.0 SPG, on shooting splits of .396/.267/.846.

The 6’5″ Martin, 26, was most recently with the Pacers, but Indiana waived him in January before his contract for the rest of the 2021/22 season could become guaranteed, as Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files observes (via Twitter).

Through 27 games with Indiana this year, the third-year small forward out of Butler holds averages of 6.3 PPG and 2.0 RPG while making 41.7% of his takes from the floor and 69.2% of his looks from the charity stripe.

The duo will join a revamped Boston roster hoping to make a push up the Eastern Conference standings following an active trade deadline. As we noted earlier this week, the C’s had to make two roster additions this week in order to get back up to the NBA-mandated minimum of 14 players.

The Celtics, who won nine of their last ten games heading into the All-Star break, are currently the sixth seed in the East with a 34-26 record. The team is now just 4.5 games behind the top-seeded Heat and Bulls.

Blazers Sign Drew Eubanks To 10-Day, Brandon Williams To Two-Way

February 22nd, 2022 at 5:10pm CST by Rory Maher

FEBRUARY 22: The Trail Blazers have issued a press release officially announcing the additions of Eubanks (10-day) and Williams (two-way).

FEBRUARY 21: The Trail Blazers are signing center Drew Eubanks to a 10-day contract and are also signing Brandon Williams to a two-year, two-way deal, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (Twitter links).

Eubanks’ 10-day contract will come via hardship exception due to multiple players being injured for an extended time period, as Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter). That means the Blazers, who have a full 15-man roster, won’t have to waive anyone to complete the signing.

Eubanks has ties to Oregon, having spent three seasons with Oregon State in college. He went undrafted in 2018, but caught on with the Spurs. He was on a two-way contract his first couple seasons before signing a guaranteed deal in 2020, which ran through the end of this season.

Eubanks was waived by the Raptors on February 10 after being acquired in the deal that sent Thaddeus Young to Toronto. He’s been productive in limited minutes during his four-year career. Through 49 games this season, he averaged 4.7 PPG and 4.0 RPG in just 12.1 MPG.

After promoting Trendon Watford to a standard contract earlier today, Portland had an open two-way spot, which it is using to sign Williams. He made a brief NBA cameo earlier this season with the Blazers after signing a 10-day hardship deal at the end of December, appearing in two games for a total of 12 minutes.

A former Arizona Wildcat, Williams has mostly been playing for the Westchester Knicks of the G League this season. Through 22 games with Westchester, he’s averaging 22.3 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 6.1 APG on .451/.349/.848 shooting.

Nets Sign Goran Dragic, Waive Jevon Carter

February 22nd, 2022 at 10:24am CST by Luke Adams

FEBRUARY 22: The Nets have officially signed Dragic and waived Carter, the team announced in a press release.

Dragic’s rest-of-season contract will pay him $728,742 and will have a cap hit of $460,463. Since Brooklyn is well over the tax line, the club’s end-of-season tax bill will further increase as a result of the signing.

FEBRUARY 21: After being bought out by the Spurs last week, point guard Goran Dragic has made a decision on his next team, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Dragic will sign with the Nets.

Dragic, who was traded from Toronto to San Antonio at this month’s deadline, had reportedly been considering a handful of suitors, including the Bucks, Warriors, Bulls, Lakers, and Clippers.

Dallas, where Dragic would’ve had the opportunity to team up with fellow Slovenian Luka Doncic, had also been considered a potential landing spot earlier in the season. However, the Mavericks weren’t said to be in the mix for him following his buyout, having acquired another point guard (Spencer Dinwiddie) at the trade deadline.

In Brooklyn, Dragic should get the opportunity to share point guard duties with Patty Mills. Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons, of course, will be in the mix as well, but Irving is ineligible for home games as long as New York City’s vaccine mandate remains in place and it’s unclear when Simmons will make his Nets debut.

The move to Brooklyn will also give Dragic an opportunity to reunite with head coach Steve Nash, who played in Phoenix when Dragic first entered the NBA as a Sun. Marc Stein reported on Sunday that Nash was very involved in the process of recruiting his former teammate.

Dragic averaged 13.4 PPG, 4.4 APG, and 3.4 RPG on .432/.373/.828 shooting in 50 games (26.7 MPG) for the Heat in 2020/21. However, he appeared in just five games for the Raptors this season after being sent to Toronto as part of the Kyle Lowry sign-and-trade. He hasn’t played since November, having taken a personal leave of absence from the Raptors up until he was traded to San Antonio.

The Nets have a full 15-man roster and will have to waive a player in order to officially sign Dragic. That player will be guard Jevon Carter, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The team will have the option of stretching Carter’s guaranteed $3.925MM salary for 2022/23 across three seasons. His current $3.65MM salary will remain on the ’21/22 cap.

Brooklyn used its full mid-level exception to sign Mills in the offseason and doesn’t have its bi-annual exception available, so Dragic will sign a minimum-salary contract with the club. The exact value of his deal will depend on when he officially signs, but the 35-year-old will earn $15,182 per day.

Thunder Sign Olivier Sarr To Two-Way Contract

February 21st, 2022 at 8:23pm CST by Rory Maher

The Thunder have signed Olivier Sarr to a two-way deal, the team announced in a press release. He previously spent time with the team via two 10-day hardship contracts. He appeared in two games with the Thunder for a total of 14 minutes, averaging 2 points and 2.5 rebounds.

Sarr, who just turned 23 on Sunday, spent four years in college — three with Wake Forest and then his senior season with Kentucky. He went undrafted this past summer after averaging 10.8 points and 5.2 rebounds with the Wildcats.

Sarr has spent the majority of the season with the Thunder’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue. Through 23 games with the Blue, he’s averaged 7.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 15.7 minutes per contest.

Both of Oklahoma City’s two-way slots are now filled. The team had one available after promoting Aaron Wiggins to its 15-man roster earlier in the month.

Trail Blazers Promote Trendon Watford, Waive Dennis Smith Jr.

February 21st, 2022 at 1:40pm CST by Luke Adams

1:40pm: Watford’s promotion and Smith’s release are now official, according to an announcement from the Trail Blazers. Portland now has an open two-way slot.

11:40am: The Trail Blazers have reached an agreement on a deal with rookie forward Trendon Watford that will promote him from his two-way contract to the 15-man roster and give him a new four-year contract, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

According to Wojnarowski, Portland will waive guard Dennis Smith Jr. in order to create an opening on the 15-man roster for Watford. Smith is currently sidelined due to an elbow injury.

Watford’s new four-year contract will be worth $5.8MM, says Wojnarowski. The Blazers will dip into their mid-level exception in order to go up to four years and to give the 21-year-old a salary worth a little more than the prorated minimum for the rest of 2021/22 — the remaining three years will be worth the minimum. Additionally, the final two seasons of the deal will be non-guaranteed, according to Woj.

Watford, who went undrafted out of LSU in 2021, quickly caught on with the Trail Blazers on a two-way deal and was one of the very first players to officially sign a contract once the ’21/22 league year started in August.

Watford began the season out of the rotation and didn’t play double-digit minutes in a game until January 3, but he has appeared in every one of Portland’s games since then. In 24 games since the calendar flipped to 2022, he’s averaging 5.5 PPG and 3.9 RPG on 60.4% shooting in 15.5 minutes per contest. We identified him last week as one of the players on two-way contracts who was a candidate for a promotion.

Smith, 24, signed a non-guaranteed contract with Portland in the 2021 offseason and won a roster spot in training camp. He appeared in 37 games for the team, averaging 5.6 PPG, 3.6 APG, 2.4 RPG, and 1.2 SPG in 17.2 minutes per contest. Before he injured his elbow, the former lottery pick had become a more regular part of the rotation due to Damian Lillard‘s absence.

The fact that Portland is opting to waive Smith rather than injured forward Joe Ingles, who was acquired for salary-matching purposes at this month’s trade deadline, suggests that the team may still see value in Ingles’ Bird rights. However, with Ingles out for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL, he remains a candidate to be cut in the coming weeks if the Blazers want to make another signing.

Bulls Waive Alfonzo McKinnie

February 19th, 2022 at 10:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

10:33pm: The move is official, the Bulls confirmed in a press release.

4:36pm: To open a roster spot for the addition of Tristan Thompson, the Bulls will waive forward Alfonzo McKinnie, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

McKinnie earned a standard contract with Chicago after signing a pair of 10-day hardship deals with the team in December. He appeared in 17 games, made three starts and averaged 3.5 points and 1.9 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per night.

Because his release will come before March 1, McKinnie will be eligible for the playoffs if he signs with another team. The 29-year-old has played for five teams in his five-year NBA career, starting with the Raptors in 2017/18 and spending time with the Warriors, Cavaliers and Lakers as well.

Thompson is expected to officially join the Bulls soon after completing a buyout with the Pacers earlier this week.

Bulls Sign Tristan Thompson

February 19th, 2022 at 10:19pm CST by Arthur Hill

Free agent center Tristan Thompson has signed with the Bulls for the rest of the season, the team announced in a press release. Chicago also confirmed that Alfonzo McKinnie has been waived to create room on the roster.

Thompson’s signing has been expected since he reached a buyout agreement with the Pacers on Thursday. He played four games for Indiana after being acquired from the Kings shortly before the trade deadline.

The 30-year-old will provide an experienced back-up for a Bulls team that’s low on big men behind Nikola Vucevic. He has extensive playoff experience, including four trips to the NBA Finals with the Cavaliers.

Thompson has played in 34 combined games this season, averaging 6.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per night. He has been a reliable shooter around the rim throughout his career and is connecting at 50.3% from the field this year.