Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Magic Waive Four Players

October 16th, 2021 at 1:17pm CST by JD Shaw

The Magic have waived Admiral Schofield, B.J. Johnson, Jeff Dowtin and Hassani Gravett, the team announced in a press release today. All four players are likely to play for the team’s G League affiliate in Lakeland this season.

Orlando currently has 16 players on its roster, including one two-way contract. It’s unclear whether the team will fill its second two-way spot before the season begins.

The Magic committed to rebuilding last season, trading away Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier before the deadline. The team has a strong young core entering the 2021/22 campaign, headlined by Markelle Fultz, Jonathan Isaac and No. 5 pick Jalen Suggs.

That core also includes third-year center Wendell Carter Jr. — who signed a four-year contract extension with the organization this week.

Cavs Convert Fall, Nembhard To Two-Way Deals; Waive Three Players

October 16th, 2021 at 1:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

1:13pm: The Cavaliers have officially announced all the moves outlined below.

10:45am: The Cavaliers are signing center Tacko Fall to a two-way contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The team is also converting RJ Nembhard‘s contract to a two-way deal, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets.

Additionally, Cleveland is trimming its roster by waiving Justin James, Kyle Guy and Mitch Ballock, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. They are expected to join the Cleveland Charge once they clear waivers, Fedor adds.

Fall was signed to a non-guaranteed contract in early September. The 7’6” big man appeared in three preseason games and made enough of an impression to earn the two-way deal. He spent two seasons with the Celtics, averaging 2.7 PPG, 2.6 RPG and 0.9 BPG in 26 games.

Nembhard was also signed to a non-guaranteed contract in early September. He played for Miami’s summer league team after going undrafted. Nembhard was a redshirt junior for TCU in 2020/21 and averaged 15.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 4.0 APG in 24 games (34.9 MPG).

Brodric Thomas, who had been a two-way deal last season, was waived this week.

Clippers Waive Harry Giles

October 16th, 2021 at 12:51pm CST by JD Shaw

The Clippers have waived big man Harry Giles, the team announced today. The move allows center Isaiah Hartenstein to make the 15-man roster, as both players were competing for the club’s final roster spot on non-guaranteed training camp deals.

Giles, 23, was drafted with the No. 20 pick in 2017. He’s held brief stints with the Kings, Blazers and Clippers since then, averaging 5.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 12.9 minutes for his career.

Hartenstein, also 23, is expected to add depth behind Ivica Zubac and Serge Ibaka in the Clippers’ frontcourt this season. He appeared in 16 games with the Cavaliers last season, scoring 8.3 points and grabbing six rebounds per contest.

“Excited. It’s been great so far,” Hartenstein said, adding that he learned of the move today (hat tip Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times. “I love the organization so far.”

The Clippers open the season on the road against Golden State on Thursday. Los Angeles will start the campaign without Kawhi Leonard (partial ACL tear rehab), who still doesn’t have a timeline for his return.

Mavericks Sign, Waive Justin Jackson, E.J. Onu

October 16th, 2021 at 12:43pm CST by Luke Adams

12:43pm: The Mavs have officially waived Jackson and Onu, per the team. Dallas’ roster is now at 17 players (including a pair of two-ways) and appears set for the regular season, barring any last-minute changes.

6:39am: The Mavericks have officially signed forwards Justin Jackson and E.J. Onu to their preseason roster, the team announced late on Friday night. The club had open spots on its roster after cutting Tyrell Terry, Carlik Jones, and Feron Hunt earlier in the evening.

Jackson, the 15th overall pick in the 2017 draft, has 248 NBA regular season games under his belt, including 94 with Dallas from 2019-20. He has also spent time with the Kings, Thunder, and Bucks, recording career averages of 6.6 PPG and 2.5 RPG on .427/.321/.797 shooting in 19.1 minutes per contest.

A 6’11” forward, Onu played four seasons at Shawnee State before going undrafted this year. He averaged 16.9 points and 8.1 rebounds as a senior and helped the Bears capture the NAIA championship. He was named Defensive Player of the Year in the Mid-South Conference three times and was selected as MSC Player of the Year this season. Onu played for Dallas’ Summer League team in August.

This type of signing would typically be for G League purposes, and it’s certainly possible that’s the case here. However, the deal with Onu is slightly perplexing, since Dallas already signed him to an Exhibit 10 contract and subsequently cut him earlier in the offseason, so the team could’ve made him an affiliate player without re-signing him. Perhaps the new deal gives him a more favorable bonus if he reports to the Texas Legends, the Mavs’ G League team.

Bulls Waive Stanley Johnson, Will Retain Alize Johnson

October 16th, 2021 at 12:31pm CST by JD Shaw

The Bulls have waived forwards Stanley Johnson and Troy Baxter Jr., the team announced on social media today (Twitter link). Johnson previously signed a non-guaranteed deal with the organization, while Baxter signed an Exhibit 10 contract.

Chicago has also rewarded big man Alize Johnson and will keep him on the 15-man roster, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic tweets. Johnson has impressed during training camp and will stick with the Bulls after a brief stint in Brooklyn last season. He averaged 5.2 points, five rebounds and 10.5 minutes in 18 contests with the Nets.

As for Stanley Johnson, the 25-year-old joined Chicago for training camp and played in all four preseason games. He was the No. 8 overall pick in 2015 and has made past stops with Detroit, New Orleans and Toronto.

At least one more roster move will be required for the Bulls, who are still carrying 16 players on standard contracts, including Matt Thomas and Tyler Cook on non-guaranteed deals. The team could keep both players by converting Cook to a two-way contract, but it remains unclear if that’s the plan. It does sound like Thomas will make the opening-night roster though, per Mayberry (Twitter link).

The Bulls are entering the 2021/22 season with a revamped roster, acquiring Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan and others during the summer. Chicago finished 11th in the Eastern Conference at 31-41 last season.

Raptors To Sign, Waive Ashton Hagans, Breein Tyree

October 16th, 2021 at 11:45am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Raptors will sign Ashton Hagans and Breein Tyree to Exhibit 10 contract, then waive them, Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca tweets.

Hagans was on the Raptors’ summer league team in Las Vegas but missed games due to an ankle injury. He was a two-way player for the Timberwolves last season but was waived in February.

Tyree has played for Toronto’s G League team, Raptors 905. He’s working his way back from a torn ACL, suffered at the G League bubble in Orlando last season.

Both players would receive a $50K bonus if they’re on the G League team’s roster for at least 60 days.

Celtics Release Ryan Arcidiacono, Juwan Morgan

October 16th, 2021 at 10:15am CST by Luke Adams

OCTOBER 16: The Celtics have waived Arcidiacono and Morgan, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

OCTOBER 15: The Celtics are releasing a pair of training camp invitees, according to Jay King of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that guard Ryan Arcidiacono and forward Juwan Morgan are hitting waivers.

Celtics head coach Ime Udoka said before Friday’s preseason finale vs. Miami that the roster moves weren’t official yet, but acknowledged that Arcidiacono and Morgan wouldn’t be active for the game, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Arcidiacono and Morgan are both expected to join Boston’s G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, as affiliate players, a league source tells Himmelsbach.

Arcidiacono, 27, has spent the last four seasons with the Bulls, averaging 4.8 PPG, 2.2 APG, and 2.0 RPG with a .431/.373/.807 shooting line across 207 total games (17.6 MPG). He signed a two-way deal with the team in 2017, a one-year contract in 2018, and a three-year pact in 2019. Chicago turned down its team option on the last year of that deal earlier this year.

A former Big Ten standout at Indiana, Morgan went undrafted in 2019 and caught on with the Jazz, first signing an Exhibit 10 deal with Utah and then agreeing to a multiyear deal with the team. In 50 total regular season games with the club across two seasons, the 24-year-old averaged 1.4 PPG and 1.1 RPG on 51.8% shooting in just 5.6 minutes per contest.

Nuggets Waive Tarik Black, Two Others; Sign Nik Stauskas

October 16th, 2021 at 10:13am CST by Dana Gauruder

10:13am: Black, Reed, and Bezhanishvili have officially been released, per NBA.com’s transactions log.

9:45am: The Nuggets are trimming their roster by waiving Tarik Black, Davon Reed and Giorgi Bezhanishvili, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. All three were on training camp deals.

Black played four years with the Lakers and Rockets, but has not appeared in a regular season game since the 2017/18 season. He has career averages of 4.9 points and 4.7 rebounds in 220 games.

Reed was a second-round pick by the Suns in 2017 and played 21 games in his rookie season. He spent the following year with the Pacers on a two-way deal and holds career averages of 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds in 31 games.

Bezhanishvili, who was just signed this week, went undrafted this summer after logging three seasons with the Fighting Illini. The 22-year-old averaged 8.2 PPG and 4.3 RPG in 95 contests with the club, including 57 starts.

The trio could wind up on the Nuggets’ new G League team, the Grand Rapids Gold in Michigan, once they clear waivers.

The team has also signed Nik Stauskas to an Exhibit 10 deal, Mike Singer of the Denver Post tweets. Stauskas, who holds career averages of 6.8 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 1.5 APG across 335 games, will likely be waived and join the Gold as well.

Wendell Carter Jr. Signs Four-Year Extension With Magic

October 16th, 2021 at 9:02am CST by Luke Adams

OCTOBER 16: Carter has signed the extension, according to a team press release (Twitter link).

“Even in his relatively short time in the league, Wendell has proven to be a true professional,” team president Jeff Weltman said. “We are very happy that he will continue to build on his promising career here in Orlando.”

OCTOBER 15: The Magic have agreed to a four-year, $50MM contract extension for center Wendell Carter Jr., Anthony Fields of Vanguard Sports Group tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, the deal will be fully guaranteed.

Carter, 22, was selected by the Bulls with the seventh overall pick in the 2018 draft. Although he showed promise during his two-and-a-half years in Chicago, Carter battled injuries and didn’t substantially increase his rookie-year production in his second and third seasons.

The big man was dealt to Orlando at the 2021 trade deadline in the blockbuster deal that sent Nikola Vucevic in Chicago. He took over the Magic’s starting center job down the stretch and averaged 11.7 PPG, 8.8 RPG, and 1.6 APG in 22 games (26.5 MPG).

It wasn’t clear this offseason whether the Magic were ready to commit long-term to Carter or if they wanted to see more from him in 2021/22. It seems the team has answered that question, taking the same route with Carter than it did a year ago with Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz, who both signed multiyear rookie scale extensions that kept them off the restricted free agent market in 2021.

Isaac got about $20MM more than Carter did on his own four-year extension. Fultz’s deal was also worth $50MM, but covers just three years. The closest recent comparable for Carter’s four-year, $50MM deal – which will go into effect in 2022/23 – is the extension that Robert Williams signed with the Celtics earlier this offseason. Williams will make $48MM over four years, with $6MM more available in incentives.

There are now 17 players still eligible for rookie scale extensions in advance of Monday’s deadline, as Carter joins Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Michael Porter Jr., and Williams in this year’s class.

Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, Collin Sexton, and Jaren Jackson Jr. are among the remaining extension candidates worth watching in the coming days. Carter’s fellow Magic center, Mohamed Bamba, is also among those eligible for a rookie extension, but is considered extremely unlikely to sign one.

Thunder Sign, Waive Zavier Simpson

October 16th, 2021 at 8:56am CST by Rory Maher

OCTOBER 16: As expected, Simpson has been waived, according to a tweet from their PR department. Simpson will likely play for the Blue once he clears waivers.

OCTOBER 15: The Thunder have signed Zavier Simpson to an Exhibit 10 deal, per Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (via Twitter). The move was first reported yesterday by Hoops Rumors’ JD Shaw.

Simpson will likely be waived before the start of the regular season. If he spends at least 60 days with the OKC Blue, the Thunder’s G League affiliate, he could earn a bonus of up to $50k.

Simpson, a 6’0″ point guard, went undrafted in 2019-20 after four seasons with the Michigan Wolverines. He played well as a senior, averaging 12.9 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 6.9 APG (33.7 MPG) in 30 games. He spent last season with the OKC Blue in the G League bubble, averaging 9.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 6.1 APG (28.5 MPG) in 15 games, all starts.