Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Nets Waive Keon Johnson

September 17th, 2025 at 9:35am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nets have waived Keon Johnson, Brian Lewis of the New York Post tweets.

Johnson appeared in 79 games with Brooklyn last season, including 56 starts. He averaged a career-best 10.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steals in 24.4 minutes per contest.

However, Johnson’s playing time was expected to be reduced dramatically with restricted free agent Cam Thomas signing his qualifying offer and an influx of first-round rookies on the roster. Brooklyn also acquired another shooting guard, Kobe Bufkin, from Atlanta this week.

Johnson’s $2,349,578 was only guaranteed for $271,614. That partial guarantee would have increased to $760,520 if he had been on the team’s opening night roster.

As a result of waiving Johnson, the Nets now have 20 players on their camp roster. Ricky Council IV is still expected to sign with the team, having agreed to a deal at the start of August.

Johnson, who began his career with the Clippers and also had a stint with the Trail Blazers, will now become a free agent on Friday unless he’s claimed on waivers. The 6’5” wing was a first-round pick in 2021 out of Tennessee, but has struggled with his shooting during his young career, averaging 37.9% overall and 32.4% on three-point tries in 161 career games.

Pelicans Sign, Waive Jalon Moore

September 17th, 2025 at 7:20am CST by Luke Adams

September 17: Moore has been waived, according to the NBA transactions log. That opens up a training camp roster spot for New Orleans.

September 16: The Pelicans have signed rookie free agent Jalon Moore to a training camp deal, according to RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions.

A 6’7″ forward, Moore spent two seasons at Georgia Tech from 2021-23 and then two years at Oklahoma from 2023-25 before going undrafted in June. As a senior in 2024/25, he averaged 15.9 points and 5.8 rebounds in 30.3 minutes per game across 34 outings (all starts) for the Sooners, posting a solid shooting line of .471/.381/.840.

Moore had been projected as a possible second-round pick before he suffered an Achilles tear during a workout with the Spurs this spring, which prompted his agent Mike Silverman to call for changes to how the pre-draft process works.

“We’re truly heartbroken for Jalon,” Silverman told ESPN at the time. “It’s time to revamp the NBA pre-draft process. Flying around the country to perform intense competitive workouts exposes players to risk of major injuries. No other pro sports league puts their draft prospects in this position.”

While Moore seems likely to miss the entire 2025/26 season, the Pelicans may be planning to sign-and-waive him in order to gain his G League rights, with an eye toward keeping him in their system for ’26/27.

The transaction gives New Orleans a full 21-man offseason roster, including 14 players on guaranteed contracts, four (including Moore) on Exhibit 9/Exhibit 10 deals, and three on two-way pacts.

Knicks Add Alex Len, Matt Ryan To Camp Roster

September 16th, 2025 at 5:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks have added center Alex Len on an Exhibit 9 contract and forward Matt Ryan on an Exhibit 10 deal, according to the team’s PR department (Twitter links).

Additionally, they waived Dink Pate and Bryson Warren, who were signed to Exhibit 10 deals earlier in the day. All these moves were expected as the team rounds out its training camp roster.

New York now has all of its 21 training camp spots filled.

Len worked out with New York this week. He has been in the league since 2013, when the Suns selected him with the No. 5 overall pick. He has also played for Atlanta, Sacramento, Toronto, Washington and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Last season, he appeared in 36 games with the Kings and 10 more with the Lakers. He signed with the Lakers as a free agent after Sacramento traded him in February to the Wizards, who quickly waived him. He averaged a modest 1.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 8.3 minutes during those 46 appearances in 2024/25 and became a free agent after the season.

As reported earlier in the day, Ryan chose to sign a training camp deal with New York, with whom he played for last season.

He was on a non-guaranteed deal and then on a two-way contract before being waived on March 1. He appeared in 19 games for the Knicks but played primarily in garbage time, scoring 28 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 68 total minutes of action.

Ryan, who has played in 82 regular season games since making his NBA debut in April 2022, is known primarily as a three-point marksman, having made 40.2% of his career attempts from beyond the arc.

Len and Ryan will try to buck long odds to secure the team’s lone available veteran’s minimum contract. Landry Shamet, Malcolm Brogdon, and Garrison Mathews are also in the mix for that deal.

Knicks Sign Jemison, McCullar, Evbuomwan To Two-Way Deals

September 16th, 2025 at 4:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

4:30pm: The Knicks have officially signed Jemison and McCullar to two-way deals, the team’s PR department tweets (Twitter links). Additionally, NBA.com’s transaction log lists Evbuomwan’s deal as a two-way contract, despite the Knicks announcing it as an Exhibit 10.

4:00pm: The Knicks have reached two-way contract agreements with big man Trey Jemison and forward Tosan Evbuomwan, SNY’s Ian Begley reports (Twitter links).

The Knicks will enter training camp with all three two-way slots filled, as Kevin McCullar Jr. is expected to return on another two-way deal, Begley adds. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype confirms that McCullar will sign his two-way qualifying offer (Twitter link).

New York worked out Jemison on Monday and obviously the front office and coaches liked what they saw. Jemison signed a two-year, two-way contract in January with the Lakers and remained on their roster for the rest of the season, but was waived in July.

The 25-year-old center had some productive moments in his 22 games with Los Angeles, averaging 2.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per night while shooting 61.9% from the field. He also spent time with New Orleans during the 2024/25 season and had brief stints with Washington and Memphis in ’23/24.

Overall, Jemison has 63 games of NBA experience (14 starts), averaging 4.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per game. Jemison, 25, went undrafted out of UAB in 2023.

The Knicks have been busy finalizing their camp roster and announced a handful of other contract signings on Monday, including an Exhibit 10 contract with Evbuomwan. They’ve apparently decided to upgrade that move regarding Evbuomwan.

Evbuomwan had been on a two-way deal with the Nets in 2024/25. Brooklyn waived the 6’8″ British combo forward in August.

After going undrafted out of Princeton in 2023, the former Ivy League Player of the Year linked up with the Pistons’ G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, to start his pro career. Evbuomwan signed a 10-day contract with the Grizzlies, then joined Detroit on a 10-day deal, later agreeing to a two-way contract. He started 2024/25 with the Clippers’ NBAGL club, the San Diego Clippers, before inking a two-way deal with Brooklyn in January.

In 28 games with Brooklyn last season, the 24-year-old averaged 9.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 0.9 steals per contest, with a shooting line of .427/.312/.753.

Hawks Trade Kobe Bufkin To Nets

September 16th, 2025 at 12:51pm CST by Luke Adams

September 16: The trade is official, according to announcements from both teams. The Nets waived big man David Muoka in order to open up a spot on the 21-man roster for Bufkin.

September 15: The Hawks and Nets have agreed to a trade that will send former first-round pick Kobe Bufkin from Atlanta to Brooklyn in exchange for cash considerations, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The Hawks will acquire $110K in cash, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

The 15th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Bufkin has battled injuries since entering the NBA. He missed a significant chunk of his rookie year due to a fractured left thumb and a sprained toe, then underwent season-ending shoulder surgery into December 2024, less than two months into his second season.

In total, the 6’4″ guard made just 27 appearances for the Hawks, averaging 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 11.9 minutes per night, with a .374/.220/.654 shooting line. Bufkin – who will turn 22 on Sunday – has more upside than he’s been able to show so far, so the Nets will take a chance on him in the hopes that he’ll have better health luck going forward.

Brooklyn has more than enough cap room to take on Bufkin’s $4.5MM salary for this season, which will push the team over the minimum salary floor, at least for now. His rookie scale contract also includes a $6.9MM team option for 2026/27 — the Nets will have to make a decision on that option by October 31.

While the Nets are in a good position to roll the dice on Bufkin from a salary cap perspective, adding him to the mix will exacerbate a looming roster crunch. Once the deal is official, Brooklyn will be carrying 15 players on guaranteed salaries and four on partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed salaries. The team also intends to add Ricky Council IV to the latter group. A number of those players will have to be waived or traded in order for the Nets to set their 15-man regular season roster next month.

Brooklyn still has roughly $11.6MM in cap room for now, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, though the club could increase that figure by waiving some of those players with non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts. The Nets would be in danger of falling back below the minimum salary floor in that scenario and will want to make sure they’re above that threshold by opening night.

The Hawks, meanwhile, will generate a $4.5MM trade exception as a result of the deal, generating a little extra financial flexibility below the luxury tax line and opening up another roster spot for one of their camp invitees to compete for.

With Bufkin no longer in the mix, Atlanta will have just 10 players on fully guaranteed salaries, plus Vit Krejci and N’Faly Dante on partial guarantees, Mouhamed Gueye on a non-guaranteed contract, and Caleb Houstan, Charles Bassey, and Kobe Johnson on Exhibit 10 deals.

Knicks Confirm Several Signings, Plan To Add Alex Len

September 16th, 2025 at 12:32pm CST by Luke Adams

Having carried just 12 players on their roster since July, the Knicks began officially filling out their 21-man preseason squad on Tuesday.

After signing Dink Pate and Bryson Warren to Exhibit 10 contracts, the team officially announced five more previously reported deals, confirming that Malcolm Brogdon and Landry Shamet have signed their Exhibit 9 contracts (Twitter links), while Mohamed Diawara, Garrison Mathews, Tosan Evbuomwan have finalized Exhibit 10 agreements (all Twitter links).

Reports late last week indicated that Mathews, Shamet, and Brogdon were signing non-guaranteed contracts with the Knicks. Evbuomwan’s deal was reported on Monday, while James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link) stated earlier today that Diawara would be getting an Exhibit 10 contract.

The Knicks aren’t done making roster additions. According to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link), the team has also reached a training camp agreement with veteran center Alex Len, who was working out for New York this week.

The fifth overall pick in the 2013 draft, Len has been in the NBA for 12 seasons, primarily as a backup big man. In 2024/25, he appeared in 46 total games for the Kings and Lakers and played a very modest role, averaging just 1.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 8.3 minutes per night.

There has been no formal announcement yet regarding Len or veteran wing Matt Ryan, who is expected to re-sign with the Knicks on a non-guaranteed deal. The club also has a two-way qualifying offer on the table for Kevin McCullar Jr.

With 19 players now officially under contract, there’s not enough room for New York to sign Len, Ryan, and McCullar without making a cut, but more shuffling of players on and off the roster figures to occur in the coming days and weeks.

Pate and Warren will probably be the first players waived and appear likely to end up with the Westchester Knicks in the G League. Brogdon, Shamet, and Mathews are expected to be competing for a regular season roster spot — it’s possible Ryan and Len could be involved in that competition too, though they look like longer shots to make the team.

Diawara has an inside track for a standard roster spot because of the Knicks’ hard-cap situation, which requires them to carry a drafted rookie on a minimum-salary contract if they don’t shed salary in a trade. Evbuomwan, meanwhile, is a candidate to have his Exhibit 10 contract converted into a two-way deal.

Wolves Re-Sign Tristen Newton To Two-Way Contract

September 16th, 2025 at 12:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

September 16: A month-and-a-half after their deal was first reported, the Timberwolves have officially re-signed Newton to a two-way deal, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

August 1: Restricted free agent guard Tristen Newton is signing his two-way qualifying offer from the Timberwolves, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter).

Newton, who was the 49th pick in the 2024 draft, split time between the Pacers and Wolves last season, playing five games in Indiana and three in Minnesota.

He spent the majority of his season in the G League, where he averaged 16.6 points, 6.6 assists, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game in 20 outings for the Iowa Wolves. In five Summer League appearances this offseason, Newton averaged 9.2 points, 3.8 assists, and 2.0 steals while shooting 47.6% from three.

The Wolves signed Enrique Freeman to a two-way deal earlier today, and already have 2025 second-round pick Rocco Zikarsky and second-year center Jesse Edwards occupying two-way slots, meaning someone will have to be waived to accommodate Newton’s return.

The expectation is that Edwards will be waived following the addition of Freeman and rookie big men Zikarsky and first-round pick Joan Beringer.

Knicks Sign Dink Pate, Bryson Warren To Exhibit 10 Contracts

September 16th, 2025 at 11:18am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have officially signed undrafted rookie Dink Pate to a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link). Pate’s agreement with the Knicks was first reported back in June, shortly after the draft concluded.

Pate, 19, spent the 2024/25 season in the G League with the Mexico City Capitanes after having played for the G League Ignite in ’23/24. He averaged 10.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 26.9 minutes per contest in 34 games for the Capitanes and was selected to participate in the 2025 Next Up event at All-Star Weekend.

Pate suited up for the Knicks’ Summer League team in Las Vegas in July, averaging 9.8 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 2.8 APG in 17.6 MPG across five outings, with a shooting line of .400/.500/.889.

The Knicks have also signed guard Bryson Warren to an Exhibit 10 deal, according to the club (Twitter link).

Warren, who went undrafted out in 2024, has spent the past two seasons with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s G League affiliate. Last season, the 20-year-old averaged 11.0 PPG, 3.7 APG, and 2.6 RPG in 49 appearances (23.3 MPG) for Sioux Falls, registering a shooting line of .414/.373/.781. The Westchester Knicks made a trade earlier this month for his returning rights.

New York only had 12 players under contract before signing Pate and Warren, which means those deals can’t include an Exhibit 9 clause that protects the Knicks financially in the event of an injury in training camp or the preseason. A team can’t sign a player to an Exhibit 9 deal unless it has at least 14 players already under contract (not including two-ways).

That means Pate and Warren are probably simply ticketed for the G League and are unlikely to take part in any workouts or scrimmages with the team before they’re waived, since the Knicks won’t want to risk a major injury that would leave them on the hook for either player’s regular season salary. The Exhibit 10 language in Pate’s and Warren’s contracts will make them eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 if they spend at least 60 days with the Westchester Knicks this season.

Matt Ryan Signing Non-Guaranteed Deal With Knicks

September 16th, 2025 at 9:02am CST by Luke Adams

Free agent wing Matt Ryan is signing a non-guaranteed contract with the Knicks and will join the team for training camp, reports Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link).

Ryan spent most of the 2024/25 season with the Knicks, first on a non-guaranteed deal and then on a two-way contract, before being waived on March 1. He appeared in 19 games for the team but played primarily in garbage time, scoring 28 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 68 total minutes of action.

Ryan, who has played in 82 regular season games since making his NBA debut in April 2022, is known primarily as a three-point marksman, having made 40.2% of his career attempts from beyond the arc.

Since he now has four years of NBA experience under his belt, Ryan is no longer eligible for a two-way contract, so if he’s going to make the Knicks’ regular season roster, it would have to be on a standard contract.

Given the club’s hard-cap limitations and the stiff competition he would face in camp, the 28-year-old is probably a long shot to open the season with New York. Landry Shamet, Malcolm Brogdon, and Garrison Mathews are also expected to vie for what will end up being just a single standard roster spot if the team can’t shed salary in a trade.

Ian Begley of SNY.tv first reported on Monday (via Twitter) that the Knicks were eying Ryan for a possible training camp deal.

Timberwolves Re-Sign Bones Hyland

September 16th, 2025 at 6:23am CST by Luke Adams

September 16: Hyland signed a one-year contract that includes a partial guarantee of $425K, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

September 15: The Timberwolves have re-signed free agent guard Bones Hyland, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

Hyland, who turned 25 on Sunday, finished last season on a two-way contract with the Timberwolves after being waived by Atlanta. The 6’2″ combo guard made just four NBA appearances for Minnesota after seeing action in 20 games for the Clippers earlier in the season. In total, he averaged 6.2 points and 1.3 assists in 10.0 minutes per contest on .398/.390/.885 shooting for the two teams in 2024/25.

Despite Hyland’s limited role last season, multiple reports in August indicated that the Timberwolves maintained interest in re-signing him. Minnesota’s president of basketball operations Tim Connelly has long been a fan of the former VCU standout, having used the 26th overall pick in 2021 to draft him back when Connelly was running the Nuggets’ front office.

Hyland showed some intriguing potential as a scorer and shooter during a season-and-a-half in Denver (10.9 PPG, .371 3PT%). However, the Nuggets – said to be concerned about Hyland’s defensive lapses and his displeasure with his role – sent him to the Clippers at the 2023 deadline after Calvin Booth had replaced Connelly as the Nuggets’ top decision-maker.

Hyland never really found his footing in Los Angeles, appearing in just 71 games over the last two years and averaging 7.8 PPG on .392/.349/.812 shooting during that time. He was traded to Atlanta in February as part of the Terance Mann/Bogdan Bogdanovic swap and was quickly waived by the Hawks, clearing a path for a reunion with Connelly.

Details of Hyland’s new deal aren’t yet known, but it’s almost certainly a minimum-salary contract. Jake Fischer reported last month that Hyland may end up receiving a non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed salary if and when he re-signed with the Wolves.

Minnesota entered the day with just 13 players on standard contracts and roughly $5.9MM in breathing room below the second tax apron, so assuming Hyland received a minimum deal, the team still has enough room to sign a 15th man without surpassing the second-apron threshold. Bringing in other camp invitees to compete with Hyland for the 14th roster spot would also be an option if his deal isn’t guaranteed.