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Celtics Sign Robert Williams To Four-Year Extension

August 24th, 2021 at 6:21pm CST by Luke Adams

August 24: The Celtics have officially extended Williams, per a team press release.

“Rob has embraced being a Celtic from day one,” team president Brad Stevens said in a statement. “He is a great teammate and is completely committed to getting better. We’re excited that he will continue to do so here in Boston.”

August 20: After agreeing to a four-year contract extension with Marcus Smart earlier this week, the Celtics have reached a deal to extend another rotation player through 2025/26. The team is in agreement with big man Robert Williams on a four-year, $54MM deal, agent Kevin Bradbury tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Williams, who will turn 24 in October, saw limited playing time in his first two NBA seasons, partly due to injuries, but emerged as a regular contributor for Boston in 2020/21. In 52 games (18.9 MPG), including 13 starts, he averaged 8.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per contest. His impressive .721 FG% was right in line with his career rate (.720).

Despite only having appeared in 113 regular season games to date, Williams has flashed promise on both ends of the court and brings plenty of athleticism to the Celtics’ frontcourt.

As Wojnarowski notes, the new four-year deal will put the former Texas A&M standout in the top half of NBA centers by annual salary, but he has the potential to outplay it if he stays healthy and continues to improve.

The timing of the deal is interesting. Typically, players eligible for rookie scale extensions reach deals closer to the October deadline, unless they’re obvious max-salary players like Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Williams – the fourth player to receive a rookie scale extension in 2021 – is the first one of those four to agree to a deal worth less than the max.

The fact that the Celtics were willing to sign off on a new deal for Williams nearly two months ahead of the deadline suggests they were eager to get the young center locked up and were comfortable with the price point.

The extensions for Smart and Williams all but assure Boston will enter the 2022 offseason as an over-the-cap team, barring some major roster moves between now and then.

Pacers Sign DeJon Jarreau To Two-Way Deal

August 24th, 2021 at 4:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

August 24: The Pacers have made the two-way signing of Jarreau official, per a team press release. The club also confirmed that Brimah has been waived in a corresponding move.

August 21: Free agent guard DeJon Jarreau will sign a two-way contract with the Pacers, a source tells Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files.

Jarreau had an impressive performance with the Heat‘s Summer League team and was considered a strong candidate to sign with Miami. However, it wasn’t clear if the Heat were planning a two-way or Exhibit 10 deal for Jarreau, so he intends to take the offer from Indiana.

Jarreau, 23, is coming off a Final Four season with Houston in which he was named Defensive Player of the Year in the American Athletic Conference and the Most Outstanding Player in the Midwest Regional. He joined the Heat after going undrafted and put up 11.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game in Las Vegas.

The Pacers already have a two-way deal in place with rookie shooting guard Duane Washington, so Jarreau would fill the other slot. Amida Brimah technically holds that spot for now, but Indiana doesn’t intend to bring him back. A qualifying offer to Cassius Stanley, who played 24 games last season, was withdrawn last week. It would have amounted to another two-way contract with a $50K guarantee.

Hornets Sign Terry Rozier To Four-Year Extension

August 24th, 2021 at 2:27pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 24: The Hornets have officially signed Rozier to his extension, the team announced today in a press release.

“In his two seasons with the Hornets, Terry Rozier has been an instrumental part of our team,” president of basketball operations Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. “Terry is a highly competitive, tough and talented player that has continually improved all aspects of his game. He has provided leadership and an infectious work ethic that has been a tremendous benefit to our younger players. Terry is an important member of our young, talented team and we are thrilled to have him as a member of the Hornets organization for years to come.”

AUGUST 19: The Hornets and guard Terry Rozier have agreed to a four-year contract extension, agent Aaron Turner tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The deal, which locks up Rozier through the 2025/26 season, is guaranteed and is for the maximum amount the Hornets could have offered before the 27-year-old reached free agency, according to Charania. That means it’ll start at about $21.49MM in 2022/23 (120% of Rozier’s $17.91MM salary for ’20/21) and will be worth approximately $96.26MM over four years.

Acquired by the Hornets in the sign-and-trade deal that sent Kemba Walker to Boston in 2019, Rozier had enjoyed the two best seasons of his NBA career in Charlotte. In 2020/21, he established new career highs in PPG (20.4), APG (4.2), and FG% (.450), among other categories.

Rozier has also become a reliable threat from beyond the arc, knocking down 39.6% of his 7.5 three-point attempts per game in 132 total contests for the Hornets. He shot three-pointers at a lesser rate (35.4%) on a lesser volume (3.5 attempts per game) during his four years with the Celtics.

Rozier’s play and the emergence of Rookie of the Year LaMelo Ball made the Hornets willing to part with Devonte’ Graham in free agency this summer. Rozier and Ball will lead a talented backcourt that also includes free agent addition Ish Smith and 2021 lottery pick James Bouknight.

A total of seven veteran players have now agreed to contract extensions since the new league year began, with Rozier joining Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler, Julius Randle, and Marcus Smart. Three players – Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – have also finalized rookie scale extensions, as our tracker shows.

Haywood Highsmith To Sign Exhibit 10 Deal With Sixers

August 24th, 2021 at 8:05am CST by Luke Adams

Veteran forward Haywood Highsmith, who appeared in five games with the Sixers during the 2018/19 season, will reportedly be returning to the team this fall.

Highsmith signed last month with Vanoli Cremona, but the Italian club announced today in a press release that the 24-year-old has exercised the opt-out clause in his contract. According to Vanoli Cremona, Highsmith will be signing an Exhibit 10 deal with Philadelphia.

Highsmith, who went undrafted out of Wheeling in 2018, spent most of the first two seasons of his professional carer playing for the Delaware Blue Coats, the 76ers’ G League affiliate. In 89 NBAGL games (29.5 MPG), he averaged 11.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 2.6 APG on .423/.338/.679 shooting. He spent the 2020/21 season with the Crailsheim Merlins in Germany.

Since the Sixers project to have a full regular season roster, Highsmith looks like a long shot to make the 15-man squad. A return to Delaware may be in the cards for the forward, who would be eligible to earn a bonus of up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the Blue Coats.

Celtics Sign Josh Richardson To One-Year Extension

August 24th, 2021 at 7:00am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

AUGUST 24: Richardson has officially signed his extension, according to RealGM’s transactions log.

AUGUST 23: The Celtics have agreed to tack on a one-year extension to the current contract of newly-acquired swingman Josh Richardson, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The former Mavericks wing’s contract was initially set to expire in 2022 after paying him $11.6MM this season. Charania notes that Richardson is now set to earn $24MM over the next two years, indicating that Richardson’s one-year extension will likely be worth about $12-13MM in 2022/23.

Earlier this summer, Richardson was sent to Boston in exchange for 7’2″ center Moses Brown in a one-for-one exchange. The Celtics used the remaining portion of their Gordon Hayward trade exception to accommodate the acquisition.

The 6’5″ Richardson, 27, will suit up for his fourth team in four seasons this fall. Initially drafted by the Heat with No. 40 pick out of Tennessee in 2015, he spent his first four seasons in Miami, flashing the potential to become a reliable 3-and-D wing, one of the hottest commodities in the NBA. He was sent to the Sixers as part of the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade in the summer of 2019, and then was moved again, this time to the Mavericks, during the 2020 offseason.

During the 2020/21 season, Richardson averaged 12.1 PPG, 3.3 RPG and 2.5 APG, his worst output in those categories since becoming a full-time starter with the Heat in 2017/18. A career 35.8% shooter from long range (on 4.5 attempts a night), Richardson could help Boston in a more limited role as a floor spacer, supporting All-Stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

Richardson’s extension is the third one the Celtics have agreed to this month. The team also recently announced a new contract for Marcus Smart and also has a deal in place with Robert Williams.

Magic Sign Moritz Wagner To Two-Year Deal

August 23rd, 2021 at 4:32pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 23: The Magic have officially re-signed Wagner, the team announced in a press release.

AUGUST 4: The Magic have reached an agreement with free agent big man Moritz Wagner on a two-year deal, reports Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The 25th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Wagner spent his rookie season with the Lakers before being sent to Washington as part of the Anthony Davis blockbuster. He was subsequently flipped to Boston at the 2021 trade deadline in March and then waived in April. The Magic picked him up for the last three weeks of the season and apparently liked what they saw enough to bring him back.

Wagner averaged 11.0 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.1 APG with a shooting line of .409/.372/.879 in 11 games (26.0 MPG) for Orlando. Most of those figures exceeded his previous career highs.

Wagner figures to add depth to a Magic frontcourt that includes Wendell Carter and Mohamed Bamba. The team also reached a one-year deal with Robin Lopez to add some veteran experience to that group.

The move will unite Wagner with his younger brother, Franz Wagner, who was the eighth overall pick in this year’s draft. Orlando officially signed the younger Wagner to his rookie contract on Tuesday.

Wizards Add Jaime Echenique On Exhibit 10 Deal

August 22nd, 2021 at 3:53pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Wizards have signed free agent center Jaime Echenique to an Exhibit 10 contract, reports Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Echenique played his college ball at Wichita State from 2018-20. The 24-year-old suited up for the Wizards’ Summer League club in Las Vegas.

The 6’11” big man went undrafted in 2020 and spent his first pro season with the Spanish club Acunsa GBC. In 18 games for the club, he averaged 12.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 1.2 SPG and 0.9 BPG during just 20.3 MPG.

By signing this deal, Echenique will be able to play with the new-look Wizards during their training camp ahead of the 2021/22 season. Should Echenique end up playing for Washington’s NBA G League affiliate team, the Capital City Go-Go, he would qualify for a bonus worth up to $50K.

Mavericks Sign Feron Hunt, Carlik Jones

August 21st, 2021 at 3:39pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 21: The Mavericks have officially signed Hunt and Jones, per a team press release. The signings of Onu and Omoruyi were previously completed.

The Mavs training camp roster is now finalized at 20 players. Terms of the deals were not disclosed, but they’re almost certainly Exhibit 10 contracts.

JULY 30: The Mavericks didn’t have a pick in Thursday’s draft, but they’ve been busy lining up deals with a handful of rookies who went undrafted in last night’s event.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that Oregon’s Eugene Omoruyi and Louisville’s Carlik Jones have agreed to sign with Dallas, while Jeremy Woo of SI.com says (via Twitter) that Shawnee State’s EJ Onu has reached an agreement on a camp deal with the Mavs.

Omoruyi, who transferred to Oregon for his senior year after beginning his college career at Rutgers, averaged 17.1 PPG and 5.4 RPG on .473/.376/.765 shooting in 28 games (30.6 MPG) in 2020/21. The 6’6″ small forward earned All-Pac 12 First Team honors.

A 6’1″ guard, Jones also transferred for his senior year, making the move from Radford to Louisville. He put up 16.8 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 4.5 APG in 19 games (37.5 MPG) for the Cardinals and made the All-ACC First Team.

Onu, a 6’11” forward who was the 24th-ranked prospect on ESPN’s list of undrafted players, helped lead Shawnee State to a NAIA championship this spring.

SMU’s Feron Hunt also tweeted that he’s joining the Mavericks, and his marketing firm congratulated him on signing with Dallas, but it’s unclear if that’s just for Summer League or if he’ll be with the club for training camp. Hunt, a 6’8″ forward, declared for the draft after a junior year in which he recorded 11.1 PPG and 7.9 RPG in 16 games (28.2 MPG).

Marcus Smart Signs Four-Year Extension With Celtics

August 21st, 2021 at 3:09pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

AUGUST 21: The Celtics have officially signed Smart to his extension, the team announced today in a press release.

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather play and no other fans I’d rather play in front of. I love Boston, and Boston loves me,” Smart said in a statement. “We’ve had some great moments and success in my time here, but there’s more to accomplish. I’m ready to put that Celtics jersey back on and get to work out on the Parquet with my teammates.”

AUGUST 16: Longtime Celtics guard Marcus Smart will sign a four-year, $77.1MM contract extension with the team that drafted him, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Charania adds that the deal will include a trade kicker.

Smart’s new contract is fully guaranteed through 2025/26. There is no player option, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who notes that the new agreement will begin during the 2022/23 season.

Originally selected with the No. 6 pick in the 2014 draft out of Oklahoma State, Smart first re-signed with Boston on a four-year, $52MM deal that will take him through the 2021/22 season. A two-time All-Defensive Team selection, the 27-year-old guard has proved to be a valuable addition during seven playoff-bound NBA seasons with the Celtics.

The 6’3″ Smart, working mostly as a starter, averaged 13.1 PPG, 5.7 APG, 3.5 RPG and 0.5 BPG during the 2020/21 season. Beyond his raw numbers, Smart has shined as a wing and perimeter defender and operated as a vocal team leader.

Smart is earning $14,339,285 in 2021/22 and is eligible for a starting salary worth 120% of that amount on an in-season extension. The Celtics offered the maximum amount they could, so the new deal will start at $17,207,142 in ’22/23 and will feature 8% annual raises, for a total of $77,087,994.

The Celtics’ backcourt underwent two major transitions earlier during the 2021 offseason. Boston traded oft-injured former All-Star starting point guard Kemba Walker to the Thunder, then signed former starting Lakers point guard Dennis Schröder to a one-year, $5.89MM deal using the taxpayer mid-level exception.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Wizards Re-Sign Cassius Winston To Two-Way Deal

August 20th, 2021 at 8:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Wizards have re-signed point guard Cassius Winston to a two-way contract, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets.

Winston, who also played on a two-way deal last season, was a restricted free agent this month after the team extended him a qualifying offer. That qualifying offer was the equivalent of another two-way contract with a $50K partial guarantee, so it’s possible Winston simply accepted it.

The No. 53 overall pick in the 2020 draft, Winston appeared in 22 games off the bench as a rookie. The former Michigan State star averaged 1.9 PPG in 4.5 MPG. He also played in one postseason game.

Washington’s other two-way slot is also available.