Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pelicans Sign James Nunnally, Waive Will Magnay

April 12th, 2021 at 11:35am CST by Luke Adams

11:35am: The Pelicans have officially signed Nunnally and cut Magnay, the team confirmed in a press release.

11:24am: The Pelicans will waive Magnay to make room for Nunnally, a source tells Will Guillory of The Athletic (Twitter link).

A 6’10” center from Australia, Magnay appeared in just one game for the Pelicans this season, going scoreless in three minutes. He also averaged 9.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 1.5 BPG in 10 appearances (22.2 MPG) for the Erie BayHawks in the G League.

10:08am: The Pelicans intend to sign veteran wing James Nunnally to a two-way contract, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Nunnally, 30, made his NBA debut back in the 2013/14 season, but only played in 13 contests that season, then didn’t appear in an NBA game again until ’18/19. In total, he has played in 28 regular season games for four teams, having spent most of his professional career overseas in Europe and Asia.

Most recently, Nunnally played for Fenerbahce during the 2019/20 season. While he had a limited role for the Turkish club in EuroLeague play, he continued to knock down three-pointers at a high rate (.417 3PT%), something he has done throughout his international career.

The Pelicans don’t currently have an open two-way contract slot, but have an opening on their 15-man roster, even if they re-sign Isaiah Thomas to a second 10-day contract once his first deal expires tonight.

Naji Marshall has been a rotation player for the Pelicans as of late and seems unlikely to be waived, so if the team cuts a two-way player, Will Magnay is the more likely choice. New Orleans could also promote Marshall to the standard roster to open up a two-way spot for Nunnally, though the club doesn’t have much breathing room below the luxury tax line.

Magic Sign Robert Franks To 10-Day Deal

April 12th, 2021 at 9:27am CST by marksuleymanov

APRIL 12: The Magic have officially signed Franks to a 10-day deal, the team announced today in a press release.

The move gives Orlando a full 15-man roster, meaning that if the club still intends to sign Hall, it will have to happen after one of the current 10-day contracts expires (or after the Magic waive someone).

APRIL 10: The Magic are planning to sign forward Robert Franks to a 10-day contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Franks, 24, went undrafted in 2019 out of Washington State but ended up signing a two-way deal with the Hornets. He never saw time in the NBA and was waived by Charlotte in January 2020.

Franks later inked an Exhibit 10 deal with the Magic last November but was waived less than a month later. He later suited up for the Lakeland Magic, Orlando’s G League affiliate, during the 2020/21 bubble season.

In 14 G League games with Lakeland, Franks averaged 12.1 PPG, 6.7 RPG and 1.5 APG.

The Magic currently have 13 players on standard contracts, with Devin Cannady on a 10-day deal and Donta Hall also expected to sign a 10-day pact at some point. If Orlando wants to sign both Franks and Hall before Cannady’s 10-day deal expires next Thursday, the team will need to waive someone else to make room on its 15-man roster.

Norvel Pelle Signs Second 10-Day Deal With Knicks

April 12th, 2021 at 9:23am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

APRIL 12: Pelle has officially signed a second 10-day contract with the Knicks, the team confirmed today in a press release.

APRIL 11: The Knicks are set to sign center Norvel Pelle to his second 10-day deal with the club this season, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.

Pelle’s current 10-day contract with New York will expire overnight. He has appeared in one game with the Knicks this season on his current deal.

The Knicks are Pelle’s third team of the 2020/21 season. He initially signed with the Nets this season in January. When Brooklyn moved on, Pelle inked a 10-day contract with the Kings in February.

In five games with his three teams thus far this year, Pelle is averaging 6.9 MPG, 2.0 PPG, 2.2 RPG and a robust 1.0 BPG.

The 6’10” 27-year-old went undrafted out of Iona in 2014. He then played overseas, in Taiwan, Lebanon, Italy, and Beirut, in addition to occasional stints in the then-Developmental League, now the G League. He made his first appearance in the NBA with the Sixers for the 2019/20 season.

Oshae Brissett Signs Second 10-Day Contract With Pacers

April 11th, 2021 at 12:46pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Pacers have signed second-year swingman Oshae Brissett to his second 10-day contract with the club this season, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files tweets. The Pacers have confirmed the deal in a press release.

Indiana officially signed Brissett to his first 10-day with the club on April 1, meaning that his prior contract expired overnight.

During his first 10-day deal with the Pacers, the 6’7″ Brissett appeared in two games for the club, averaging just 2.5 MPG. He will most likely continue to be an insurance policy for the team’s perimeter rotation as it continues to push for a playoff appearance. At 24-27, the Pacers are currently the No. 9 seed in the East, which would qualify them for a play-in tournament stint were the season to end today.

Earlier this year, the 22-year-old wing played for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Indiana’s G League Affiliate, during the condensed Orlando “bubble” season. Brissett appeared in 12 games, starting 10, averaging 18.6 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 2.2 APG, 0.9 SPG, and 0.7 BPG. He connected on 43.8% of his field goals for the Mad Ants, and connected with 33.3% of his 6.5 three-point attempts a night.

After going undrafted out of Syracuse in 2019, Brissett signed a two-way contract with the Raptors. He appeared in 19 games for Toronto as a rookie. He averaged 7.1 MPG with the team.

Alize Johnson Signs Multiyear Deal With Nets

April 11th, 2021 at 9:36am CST by Arthur Hill

9:36am: The deal is official, the Nets announced in a press release.

8:03am: The Nets have reached an agreement on a multiyear contract with power forward Alize Johnson, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Johnson’s agent, George Langberg, confirmed the deal, which could be worth up to $4.1MM. Johnson could have received more guaranteed money from another team, but he was comfortable in Brooklyn, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link).

Johnson, 24, signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Nets, the second of which expired overnight. He has appeared in six games, averaging 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in 13.3 minutes per night. Coach Steve Nash told reporters earlier this week that the Nets were happy with Johnson’s production and hoped to keep him around.

Brooklyn was able to sign Johnson for up to three years because the team still had part of its taxpayer mid-level exception available, as Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (Twitter link).

A second-round pick in 2018, Johnson played his first two seasons with the Pacers and was in training camp this year with the Raptors.

Khem Birch Clears Waivers, Signs With Raptors

April 10th, 2021 at 6:35pm CST by Arthur Hill

6:35pm: The signing is official, the Raptors announced on Twitter.

4:38pm: Birch has confirmed his plans to sign with Toronto, tweeting, “I’m excited for the next chapter of my career with @raptors.”

4:08pm: Former Magic center Khem Birch has officially cleared waivers and will join the Raptors for the remainder of the season, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Toronto was expected to be Birch’s next destination, as long as he cleared waivers today. Any team that claimed him would have inherited the $3MM expiring contract he had with Orlando. If Birch’s signing takes place Sunday, he will earn $416K for the rest of the season and the Raptors will have a $389K cap hit, tweets Blake Murphy of The Athletic. Birch gave back $413,964 in a buyout deal with the Magic, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).

Even if Birch signs right away, he’s not expected to play in tonight’s game at Cleveland, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports. There’s a chance his Raptors debut could come Sunday in New York, Lewenberg adds. Toronto has been struggling through injuries and will only have nine players available tonight (Twitter link).

Birch, who was born in Montreal and went to school in Ontario, will become the sixth Canadian to play for the Raptors in team history, according to Lewenberg (Twitter link).

The 28-year-old served as the Magic’s primary backup center for most of the year, but his role was diminished as Orlando began to emphasize its younger players. He averaged 5.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in 48 games this season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Cavaliers Sign Mfiondu Kabengele To 10-Day Deal

April 10th, 2021 at 9:43am CST by Arthur Hill

APRIL 10: The 10-day contract for Kabengele is official, the Cavaliers announced in a press release on Saturday.

APRIL 9: Free agent big man Mfiondu Kabengele will sign a 10-day contract with the Cavaliers, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The 23-year-old Kabengele played 23 games for the Clippers this season before being traded last month to the Kings, who released him three days later. He appeared in 35 total games in two seasons with L.A., averaging just 4.5 minutes per night. He was the 27th pick in 2019, and the Clippers acquired him in a draft-night trade with the Nets.

The signing will take place on Saturday, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link), who adds that the Cavaliers considered drafting Kabengele in 2019.

Cleveland has two open roster spots, so another move won’t be needed to add Kabengele, who will earn $99,020 on the 10-day deal.

Clippers Ink Malik Fitts To 10-Day Deal

April 9th, 2021 at 12:33pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

APRIL 9: The signing is official, the Clippers announced on Twitter.

APRIL 8: The Clippers are set to ink 6’8″ rookie forward Malik Fitts to a 10-day deal, writes Law Murray of The Athletic.

Murray notes that Fitts showed promise on both sides of the ball, as both a shooter and defender for the Agua Caliente Clippers in this season’s NBAGL Orlando bubble.

The 23-year-old tweener forward went undrafted out of Saint Mary’s College in 2020. Across 14 games, Fitts averaged 11.1 PPG on .468/.348/.938 shooting splits in just 26.3 MPG for the club’s G League affiliate. As Murray observes, once Fitts became the starting power forward for the club’s final six contests, he averaged 18.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 2.7 APG, on .531/.435/1.00 shooting splits in 37.1 MPG.

Beyond the tantalizing shooting numbers, Fitts emphasized his focus on the other side of the floor in comments made after the Agua Caliente Clippers’ final game of the 2021 season last month.

“By the end of this (condensed G League season), I wanted to be known as a guy who really locks up on defense,” Fitts said. “That was the emphasis that I had prior to this season. I thought it played out pretty well.”

Adding Fitts will give the Clippers a full 15-man roster, with swingmen Amir Coffey and Jay Scrubb occupying the two-way slots.

Nuggets Sign Shaquille Harrison, Cut Greg Whittington

April 9th, 2021 at 12:29pm CST by Luke Adams

APRIL 9: The moves are official, according to a press release from the team.

APRIL 8: The Nuggets intend to sign free agent guard Shaquille Harrison to a two-way contract, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, Denver will make room for Harrison by waiving current two-way player Greg Whittington.

A 27-year-old guard known for his strong perimeter defense, Harrison began the season with the Jazz, but saw limited minutes (3.3 MPG) in his 17 games with the team and was released before his salary became fully guaranteed for 2020/21.

Having also spent time in past seasons with Phoenix and Chicago, Harrison has career averages of 5.5 PPG and 2.4 RPG on .444/.289/.710 shooting in 156 total contests (15.1 MPG).

Although Harrison likely won’t play a major role in Denver, he’ll be eligible to play in the postseason, since the NBA adjusted the rule restricting two-way players from participating in the playoffs this season.

As for Whittington, he signed a two-way deal with the Nuggets in the fall but appeared in just four games with the team, going scoreless in 12 total minutes. As Mike Singer of The Denver Post tweets, the 28-year-old forward injured his knee in training camp and underwent a surgical procedure on it in January, derailing his first NBA season.

Even after signing Harrison, Denver won’t necessarily be done seeking backcourt depth, Singer adds (via Twitter). The club will have an open spot on its 15-man roster after waiving Gary Clark.

Raptors Release Patrick McCaw

April 9th, 2021 at 9:16am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

APRIL 9: The Raptors have officially waived McCaw, the team announced in a press release.

APRIL 8: The Raptors intend to waive injured swingman Patrick McCaw, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Blake Murphy of The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that McCaw has appeared in just five games for Toronto since March 2020. Left knee injuries have limited his availability, as he has had surgery to address the issues twice while with the Raptors.

The 6’7″ shooting guard/small forward out of UNLV was selected with the No. 38 pick in the 2016 NBA draft, and spent his first two seasons as a bench contributor for the Warriors on consecutive title-winning teams before logging time on the Cavaliers and Raptors.

Between his years spent with the Warriors and Raptors, the defensively-inclined McCaw has won three championships. Most recently, McCaw’s knee problems have sidelined the 25-year-old since March 22.

By waiving him now, the Raptors are giving McCaw time to sign on with another team and remain eligible to play in the postseason, though whether or not a team will take a chance on him at present remains an open question. Tomorrow is the last day a player can be released and retain his postseason eligibility.