Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Thunder Claim Mamadi Diakite, Waive Charlie Brown Jr.

September 26th, 2021 at 8:57pm CST by JD Shaw

The Thunder have claimed big man Mamadi Diakite off waivers from the Bucks, the team announced in a press release. Milwaukee waived Diakite on Friday.

Diakite, 24, went unselected in the 2020 draft. He signed a two-way deal with the Bucks shortly thereafter, then signed a multi-year deal at the end of the season. Only $100K of his salary was guaranteed for next season, however, making it easier for Milwaukee to waive him.

Diakite was a force in the G League during his 12 games last season. He averaged 18.5 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per contest, shooting 58% from the floor. The 6’9″ Virginia product will have the ability to add depth for a young Thunder frontcourt this season.

Because Diakite is on a three-year contract, the Thunder couldn’t use the minimum salary exception to claim him and had to instead use part of a traded player exception, as Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter). The team likely used a portion of its $9.59MM TPE from last season’s George Hill deal.

Oklahoma City also waived guard Charlie Brown Jr. in a separate transaction, the team said. Assuming he goes unclaimed, Brown will reach free agency this week after spending part of last season with the Thunder. The 24-year-old appeared in nine games, averaging 4.4 points, 1.9 rebounds and 16.9 minutes per contest.

Cavaliers Sign Kyle Guy To Camp Deal

September 26th, 2021 at 7:26pm CST by JD Shaw

The Cavaliers have signed guard Kyle Guy to a training camp deal, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). Fedor notes that Guy will compete for an open two-way spot with the team.

Guy, who joins Tacko Fall, RJ Nembhard and others competing for the two-way spot, most recently played with the Kings. He appeared in 31 games last season, averaging 2.8 points in 7.6 minutes per contest.

Guy also won an NCAA championship with Virginia in 2019. He was selected with the No. 55 pick in the draft a few months later, signing a two-way contract with Sacramento after that.

The Cavaliers now have 20 players under contract ahead of training camp. Guard Brodric Thomas occupies the team’s only filled two-way spot.

Bucks Waive Elijah Bryant

September 26th, 2021 at 7:16pm CST by JD Shaw

The Bucks have waived guard Elijah Bryant, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic (Twitter link). The move brings Milwaukee’s roster count down to 18 players, including a pair of two-way players.

Bryant, 26, signed with the team in May and was part of the club’s championship roster. Despite only appearing in one regular-season game, he saw action in 11 postseason contests, totaling 14 points across 50 minutes.

Before signing with Milwaukee, Bryant played summer league with the team in 2019 and spent time in Israel. He went unselected in the 2018 NBA Draft.

The Bucks also recently waived big man Mamadi Diakite, who was claimed off waivers by the Thunder on Sunday.

Warriors Sign Avery Bradley

September 26th, 2021 at 1:25pm CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 26: Bradley’s one-year, non-guaranteed contract with Golden State is now official, according to RealGM’s transactions log.

SEPTEMBER 24: The Warriors and free agent guard Avery Bradley have reached an agreement on a contract, according to Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).

While the exact terms of Bradley’s deal aren’t specified, it sounds like it’ll be a non-guaranteed training camp contract. Slater suggests in a follow-up tweet that Bradley will get the opportunity to compete for the 15th spot on Golden State’s regular season roster.

Bradley, who will turn 31 in November, spent the first seven years of his NBA career in Boston, but has bounced around for the last four seasons, spending time with the Pistons, Clippers, Grizzlies, Lakers, Heat, and Rockets. The 6’3″ guard has long been considered a solid three-and-D wing, but his three-point shot has been inconsistent as of late. In 2020/21, he averaged 6.4 PPG and 2.1 RPG on .374/.327/.800 shooting in 27 games (22.3 MPG) for Miami and Houston.

The Warriors had been auditioning guards this month in the hopes of giving Gary Payton II and Mychal Mulder some competition for the final spot on their regular season roster. Bradley and Langston Galloway, who also agreed to a deal with Golden State, are expected to push for that spot.

Once Bradley and Galloway are officially signed, the Warriors will have 19 players on their camp roster. The team still has a two-way slot open.

Rockets Re-Sign Tyler Bey On Two-Way Deal

September 26th, 2021 at 1:24pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Rockets have brought back free agent small forward Tyler Bey, signing him to a two-way contract, per a team press release revealing the club’s full training camp lineup.

The 6’7″ swingman out of Colorado will join Anthony Lamb as the club’s second two-way player. It will be Bey’s second straight season in such a capacity.

Bey was selected by the Sixers with the No. 36 pick in the 2020 draft on behalf of Dallas. After the Mavericks decided to not partake in the NBAGL Orlando “bubble” restart for the 2020/21 season, Bey joined the Long Island Nets for a single game, before moving to the Salt Lake City Stars. Overall, he averaged 15.1 PPG, 9.2 RPG, and 0.8 SPG on .493/.325/.771 shooting, across 13 games.

In 18 appearances with the Mavericks during the 2020/21 season, Bey averaged a modest 3.9 MPG. He most recently suited up for the Bulls’ 2021 Summer League club, then signed a non-guaranteed contract with Houston. The Rockets waived him last week, but brought him back into the fold after waiving two-way player Matthew Hurt.

Bey racked up significant accolades in college. He was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team in 2019 and the All-Pac-12 Second Team in 2020. He also was honored as the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2020.

Warriors Sign Langston Galloway To Training Camp Deal

September 25th, 2021 at 7:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

SEPTEMBER 25: Galloway’s deal with Golden State is now official, according to the transactions log at RealGM.

SEPTEMBER 24: Free agent guard Langston Galloway will sign a training camp contract with the Warriors, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Galloway, 29, went to the NBA Finals with the Suns last season after signing with the team in free agency. However, he was unhappy with his role, playing just 11.0 minutes per night in 40 games, and expressed a desire to join a new team after the season ended.

Galloway broke into the league with the Knicks after going undrafted out of St. Joseph’s in 2014. He also spent time with the Pelicans, Kings and Pistons, averaging 8.2 PPG in 445 career games while shooting 37% from three-point range.

Once the signing is official, Golden State will have 18 players heading into camp with 13 fully guaranteed contracts. The Warriors have been in touch with several other guards, including Avery Bradley, Isaiah Thomas and Darren Collison, and it’s not clear how the addition of Galloway will affect the team’s interest in them.

Knicks Add Wayne Selden To Camp Roster

September 25th, 2021 at 11:08am CST by Rory Maher

SEPTEMBER 25: The signing is official, the team tweets.

SEPTEMBER 24: The Knicks signed shooting guard Wayne Selden to a non-guaranteed training camp contract, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link).

Selden spent parts of three seasons in the NBA from 2016-19, seeing action in 124 games. He holds career averages of 7.3 PPG, 2.0 RPG, and 1.5 APG in 19.1 MPG. He spent last season with Ironi Nes Ziona of the Israeli Super League, and most recently played for the Knicks’ Summer League squad.

The move brings the Knicks to a full 20-man camp roster, with 14 players on guaranteed contracts.

Bucks Sign Javin DeLaurier, Waive Mamadi Diakite

September 24th, 2021 at 7:14pm CST by Rory Maher

The Bucks have signed Javin DeLaurier to a non-guaranteed training camp contract, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (via Twitter), and waived Mamadi Diakite, per our JD Shaw (Twitter link).

DeLaurier, a 6’10” forward/center, spent four seasons at Duke prior to going undrafted in 2020. Last season he signed an Exhibit 10 training camp contract with the Hornets, was waived, and then played seven games for Hornets’ G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm. He most recently played for the Hawks’ Summer League squad. It’s worth noting that he played just 11.1 MPG for the Swarm — roughly in line with his college averages.

Diakite, a 6’9″ forward, played four seasons for Virginia prior to going undrafted in 2020. Diakite signed a two-way contract with the Bucks and put up strong numbers in the G League, averaging 18.5 PPG/ 10.4 RPG/ 2.0 APG/ 2.1 BPG (27.7 MPG) with a .580/.500/.750 shooting line in 12 games for the Lakeland Magic (he was assigned to the Magic because the Bucks’ G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, elected not to participate in the bubble last season). He played in just 14 games for the Bucks but had his two-way contract converted to a standard contract in April.

Diakite had a partial guarantee of $100K that the Bucks will be on the hook for unless he’s claimed off waivers by another team.

The two moves leave the Bucks with 19 players for their training camp roster, with 13 on fully guaranteed contracts. 2021 60th overall pick Georgios Kalaitzakis has a partial guarantee of $462K for the upcoming season, so he might have a leg up on the competition for the 14th spot, but the remainder of his contract is non-guaranteed.

Clippers Sign, Waive Jordan Ford

September 24th, 2021 at 5:34pm CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers signed free agent guard Jordan Ford to a non-guaranteed contract on Wednesday and then waived him on Thursday, according to the transaction logs at RealGM and NBA.com.

The move was a procedural one. Ford’s deal was likely an Exhibit 10 contract that will ensure he receives a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, L.A.’s G League affiliate.

The Clippers already controlled Ford’s NBAGL rights because he played for Agua Caliente in 2020/21 after going undrafted out of St. Mary’s. He appeared in 15 games for the G League squad last season, averaging 13.9 PPG and 3.4 APG with an impressive .471/.439/.923 shooting line in 27.2 minutes per contest.

Pelicans Sign Zylan Cheatham To Camp Roster

September 24th, 2021 at 5:21pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans officially announced their 20-man training camp roster today, issuing a press release that lists all their players.

The team, which had officially been carrying 18 players, confirmed the previously-reported signing of Jared Harper and also revealed that it has signed free agent forward Zylan Cheatham to fill out the roster.

Cheatham, who spent his rookie season in 2019/20 on a two-way contract with New Orleans, appeared in just four games at the NBA level that year, but he played well in 34 contests for the Erie BayHawks in the G League, averaging 16.2 PPG, 11.8 RPG, and 2.7 APG in 32.6 minutes per contest.

Although Cheatham didn’t play in the NBA at all last season, he technically received a full minimum salary, since he was signed-and-traded from the Pelicans to the Thunder in the Steven Adams trade for salary-matching purposes. After being waived by OKC, Cheatham briefly spent time with Minnesota on an Exhibit 10 contract, then appeared in 15 G League games for the Iowa Wolves.

Two Pelicans signings that were previously reported have not yet been finalized. Our JD Shaw confirms (via Twitter) that the team still plans to sign big man James Banks III to an Exhibit 10 contract at some point, and I’d imagine that’s the case for small forward Malcolm Hill too. NBA teams shuffle roster spots frequently in the weeks leading up to the regular season in order to secure G League rights to certain players or to ensure that others receive bonuses for playing in the NBAGL.