Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Grizzlies Waive Mario Hezonja, Sign Ahmad Caver

December 11th, 2020 at 1:14pm CST by Luke Adams

1:14pm: The Grizzlies have officially waived Hezonja, the team confirmed in a press release. Additionally, Memphis announced that it has signed free agent guard Ahmad Caver to fill the newly-opened roster spot.

Terms of Caver’s deal weren’t disclosed, but it’s likely an Exhibit 10 contract designed to get him a $50K bonus if he plays for the Memphis Hustle in the G League again this season, as he did last year.

12:50pm: The Grizzlies are waiving veteran forward Mario Hezonja, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Hezonja, 25, averaged 4.8 PPG and 3.5 RPG on .422/.308/.814 shooting in 53 games (16.4 MPG) for Portland last season. After he exercised his minimum-salary player option for 2020/21, he was sent to Memphis in a three-team trade that saw the Trail Blazers acquire Enes Kanter.

The Grizzlies were carrying 17 players with guaranteed contracts into training camp, leaving Hezonja and Marko Guduric as the likely odd men out for the regular season. Neither player was in camp with the club.

Hezonja hasn’t developed into a reliable and productive rotation player since being selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2015 draft, but being cut by the Grizzlies doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t play in the NBA at all this season. According to Charania, multiple teams are expected to express interest in the Croatian once he clears waivers and training camp ends.

Kings Waive Quinton Rose

December 11th, 2020 at 12:15pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings have waived rookie wing Quinton Rose, according to the NBA’s official transactions log. He had been on an Exhibit 10 contract.

Rose, who spent all four years of his college career at Temple, went undrafted last month after averaging 16.4 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 3.5 APG in 31 games (33.4 MPG) as a senior.

Rose quickly reached an agreement with the Kings on a training camp deal after the draft and the two sides formally completed that signing earlier this week. The 22-year-old was only under contract with the team for a day, a signal that the Kings’ goal was to secure his G League rights. Assuming Sacramento participates in the 2020/21 NBAGL season, Rose appears likely to play for the Stockton Kings.

Sacramento now has 18 players under contract.

Mavericks Re-Sign Courtney Lee

December 11th, 2020 at 10:47am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

DECEMBER 11: The Mavs have officially signed Lee to his training camp deal, the team announced today in a press release. Dallas once again has a full 20-man camp roster.

DECEMBER 9: Veteran shooting guard Courtney Lee will return to the Mavericks as part of the club’s training camp roster, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN (via Twitter).

The 6’5″ guard was not a consistent rotation presence for the Mavericks during the 2019/20 season. He appeared in just 24 games, averaging 4.5 PPG, 1.3 RPG, and 0.8 SPG in 14.4 MPG.

The 35-year-old out of Western Kentucky was an effective three-and-D perimeter player in his prime, and prior to Dallas had stops with the Magic, Nets, Celtics, Grizzlies, Hornets, and Knicks across a 12-year NBA career.

Lee will face an uphill struggle to crack the 15-man squad after training camp. MacMahon notes that, though Lee will most likely not make the club’s opening night roster, the team thinks highly of his veteran locker room presence.

According to MacMahon (Twitter link), an injured calf caused Lee missed the 2019/20 season’s Orlando campus restart. A preseason opportunity with the Mavericks could double as a showcase for him to the rest of the league, even if he doesn’t stick with Dallas.

Wolves Sign Charlie Brown Jr. To Camp Contract

December 11th, 2020 at 10:16am CST by Luke Adams

The Timberwolves have signed free agent shooting guard Charlie Brown Jr. to a training camp contract, the team announced today in a press release.

Brown, 23, signed a two-way contract with the Hawks in July 2019, shortly after going undrafted out of Saint Joseph’s. He spent his entire rookie season playing on that deal, appearing in 10 games for Atlanta and 28 for the College Park Skyhawks.

Although he logged just 40 total minutes at the NBA level, Brown had a productive year in the G League, recording 17.4 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 2.9 APG in 33.3 minutes per contest for the Skyhawks. He struggled a little with his shooting efficiency, however, making 42.2% of his total field goal attempts, including just 26.8% from beyond the arc.

Brown seems more likely to end up playing for the Iowa Wolves – Minnesota’s G League affiliate – than to earn a spot on the Timberwolves’ regular season roster.

The Wolves now have 19 players under contract, with a 20th (Jordan McLaughlin) still a restricted free agent.

Nuggets Exercise Fourth-Year Option For MPJ

December 10th, 2020 at 4:19pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Nuggets announced (Twitter link) that they have picked up their fourth-year team option on forward Michael Porter Jr., who enjoyed a promising 2019/20 season for the club. The option will pay Porter $5,258,735 in ’21/22.

As we outlined earlier, players entering the second or third year of their rookie scale deals are already under contract for this year. December 29 is the deadline for clubs to make determinations on those players for next season, 2021/22.

Porter missed his entire first season as a pro due to a back injury, so 2019/20 was technically his rookie year. In just 16.4 minutes per contest, the 6’10” forward out of Missouri averaged 9.3 PPG and 4.7 RPG across 55 games. He showcased an impressive slash line, shooting .509/.422/.833.

With the departure of starting small forward Jerami Grant to the Pistons this offseason, Porter figures to see a bigger role on the floor for Denver. He will be eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2021 offseason.

Mavericks Waive J.J. Barea

December 10th, 2020 at 2:19pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

DECEMBER 10: The Mavericks have officially waived Barea, the team announced in a press release.

Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, general manager Donnie Nelson called it a “sad day in Mavs-ville,” referring to Barea as the longtime “heart and soul” of the club (Twitter link via Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News).

DECEMBER 9: Long-time Mavericks reserve point guard J.J. Barea will be waived by Dallas tomorrow, sources tell Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

MacMahon reports that team owner Marc Cuban was aware the Mavericks would most likely release Barea after inking him to a one-year, $2.56MM veteran’s minimum contract last month, but desired to extend him an offer as a reward for the 5’10” Barea’s 11-year tenure with Dallas.

The 36-year-old Barea will now look for a new home in the league, per MacMahon. MacMahon also notes that Cuban hopes to find an organizational position for Barea once his playing career concludes. The Mavericks had 16 players on guaranteed contracts for their 15-man regular season roster, and waiving Barea made the most basketball sense, per Bobby Marks of ESPN (via Twitter).

Between the younger Jalen Brunson and Trey Burke, the Mavericks clearly felt secure enough in their backup point guard rotation behind All-Star lead ball handler Luka Dončić. Just last week, Rick Carlisle cited Barea’s locker room leadership as the club’s motivation to bring him back.

Last season for Dallas, Barea averaged 7.7 PPG and 3.9 APG in 15.5 MPG across 29 regular-season games. The 2019/20 season marked Barea’s return from a torn Achilles tendon incurred in January 2019.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Clippers Sign Paul George To Four-Year Max Extension

December 10th, 2020 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers and Paul George have completed an extension that will keep the star forward under contract for four additional years beyond 2020/21, agent Aaron Mintz tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Clippers have officially announced George’s new deal.

The four-year extension – which will go into effect in 2021/22, replacing George’s current player option – will be worth the maximum salary and will include a new player option for the ’24/25 season, according to Wojnarowski.

The four-year extension projects to be worth approximately $176.3MM, assuming a 3% salary cap increase for next season. After earning about $35.5MM in 2020/21, George would receive a projected $39.3MM in the first year of his new deal, with 8% annual raises from there. The final-year player option would be worth $48.8MM. Those figures would all be a little higher if the cap increases by more than 3%.

“This is an important moment for our franchise and our fans, to secure a long-term commitment from one of the premier two-way players in the NBA,” Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in a statement. “We aspire to create a destination for players, an environment where they can succeed and enjoy their success. We’re delighted by Paul’s pride in representing Clippers fans, honored that he trusts the organization with this chapter of his career, and share in his relentless pursuit of championships.”

Although George only joined the Clippers in 2019, he was eligible to sign a veteran contract extension because it has been more than two years since he signed his current contract with the Thunder.

The move comes on the heels of George telling reporters that he’d like to retire as a Clipper. This doesn’t necessarily assure him of that — he could be traded before 2025, and even if he plays out his full contract with the Clippers, he’ll be 35 years old when it expires, so he could sign elsewhere at that point to continue his career.

Still, the extension means that George – like LeBron James, who also recently completed an extension – will no longer have the opportunity to become a free agent in 2021. His teammate Kawhi Leonard can still opt out next year and will be ineligible to sign an extension before then, but there has been no indication that the two-time Finals MVP plans to leave Los Angeles. The Clippers appear fully committed to continuing to build around the Leonard/George duo.

George averaged 21.5 PPG and 5.7 RPG in 48 regular season games in his first season as a Clipper in 2019/20. Those numbers were his lowest in five years, but he was also coming off shoulder surgery and was limited to 29.6 minutes per contest, his lowest-full season average since his rookie year. He’s believed to be 100% healthy this year and will look to recapture the form that made him a six-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA player.

As a result of signing a new contract that exceeds the extend-and-trade limits, George will be ineligible to be traded during the 2020/21 regular season, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Kings Sign Quinton Rose To Exhibit 10 Deal

December 10th, 2020 at 7:15am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

DECEMBER 10: The Kings officially signed Rose to his Exhibit 10 contract this week, per RealGM’s transactions log.

NOVEMBER 19: Temple guard Quinton Rose will be signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Kings, per Jason Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal can only be officially inked after the new league year starts.

The 6’8″ Rose tallied a slash line of 14.4 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 1.8 SPG during his four-year college career. Jones notes that the lengthy, athletic Rose is in line with the type of player that appeals to new Kings GM Monte McNair.

Rose will join Sacramento for the team’s training camp in the hopes of making its regular season roster, or that of their G League affiliate, the Stockton Kings.

Exhibit 10 contracts are one-year, minimum salary deals that can carry an optional player bonus ranging from $5K to $50K. For further information on these deals, check out our Hoops Rumors Glossary entry.

Knicks Add Skal Labissiere, Will Sign James Young

December 9th, 2020 at 6:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

DECEMBER 9: The signing of Labissiere is now official, the Knicks have tweeted.

DECEMBER 7: Big man Skal Labissiere is signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Knicks, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. According to Stein, James Young is also headed to New York’s camp, apparently on a similar deal.

Labissiere and Young will receive $50K bonuses if they’re on the roster of the Knicks’ G League affiliate, Westchester, for at least 60 days.

Naturally, both former first-round picks hope they can make an even bigger impression in camp. Labissiere became an unrestricted free agent when the Hawks declined to extend a qualifying offer last month.

Labissiere, 24, played 33 games for the Trail Blazers last season, averaging 5.8 PPG and 5.1 RPG in 17.2 MPG. He suffered a knee injury in December and never suited up for Atlanta after it acquired him in a trade deadline deal.

Young, 25, was the 17th pick of the 2014 draft by Boston. He hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since the 2017/18 season, when he made six appearances for Philadelphia. He played in Israel last season.

The Knicks already have the maximum of 20 players in camp, so they’ll have to open up roster spots to sign the duo.

Nuggets Sign Monte Morris To Three-Year Extension

December 9th, 2020 at 6:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

DECEMBER 9: Morris has officially signed his extension, the Nuggets announced today in a press release.

DECEMBER 7: The Nuggets have agreed to a three-year, $27MM extension with guard Monte Morris, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The deal will be fully guaranteed and includes incentives that could bump the value to $9.4MM annually, Mike Singer of the Denver Post tweets.

Morris would have been an unrestricted free agent next offseason without an extension. That’s because Morris was credited with a year of service under CBA rules when he signed a two-way contract in 2017, ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (Twitter links).

It’ll be a big raise for Morris, who is due to make $1,723,707 in the upcoming season.

Morris appeared in three games during the 2017/18 season and has become a valuable member of the rotation the past two seasons. He appeared in all 82 regular-season games during the 2018/19 season and 73, including 12 starts, last season. He has averaged 9.6 PPG and 3.5 APG in 23.0 MPG in those 158 appearances.

He averaged 9.1 PPG and 2.7 APG during 19 postseason games in Orlando during Denver’s run to the Western Conference Finals.

Denver signed Euro star Facundo Campazzo last month as another option behind starting point man Jamal Murray but the extension displays the Nuggets’ commitment to Morris.

Morris’ extension will make him ineligible to be traded before the 2021 trade deadline, as Marks explains (via Twitter).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.