Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Bulls Sign Zach Norvell To One-Year Deal

November 26th, 2020 at 4:02pm CST by Luke Adams

NOVEMBER 28: The Bulls have officially signed Norvell, according to RealGM’s transactions log.

NOVEMBER 26: The Bulls have reached an agreement to sign free agent shooting guard Zach Norvell to a one-year contract, his agents at Priority Sports tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). No further details on the agreement were provided, but I’d expected it to be a non-guaranteed training camp deal.

After going undrafted out of Gonzaga in 2019, Norvell signed a two-way contract with the Lakers for the start of the ’19/20 season. He was waived last December and then briefly returned to the NBA in February when he signed a 10-day contract with Golden State.

Norvell, who will turn 23 next month, only logged 41 minutes across five games at the NBA level, but appeared in 36 G League contests, recording 14.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 2.9 APG on .397/.388/.814 shooting.

Once the Bulls finalize the signing of Norvell and the rest of their reported roster moves, they’ll have just one spot left on their 20-man offseason roster, tweets K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.

Kings Re-Sign DaQuan Jeffries

November 26th, 2020 at 2:16pm CST by Luke Adams

NOVEMBER 28: The signing is official, per team press release.

NOVEMBER 26: The Kings have agreed to re-sign guard/forward DaQuan Jeffries to a two-year, $3MM contract, his agents inform Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

It sounds like it’s a minimum-salary deal, which would be worth about $3.15MM over two years. Jeffries’ first year will be guaranteed, with a team option on year two, according to James Ham of NBC Sports California (Twitter link).

Jeffries, a former Tulsa standout, signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Orlando in 2019 after going undrafted. He was released by the Magic before the regular season began, but was claimed off waivers by the Kings, who converted him to a two-way contract.

The 23-year-old played out the full season on that deal, averaging 3.8 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 13 games (10.8 MPG) for Sacramento. He saw more action for the club’s G League affiliate, recording 16.5 PPG and 6.9 RPG on .460/.342/.705 shooting for the Stockton Kings in 27 games (31.0 MPG).

Jeffries received a qualifying offer from Sacramento last week, which made him a restricted free agent. He wouldn’t have been able to sign outright with another team without the Kings getting a chance to match the offer.

Lakers Re-Sign Kostas Antetokounmpo To Two-Way Contract

November 26th, 2020 at 1:46pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers have brought back forward Kostas Antetokounmpo on a new two-way contract, the team announced today.

Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s younger brother spent the 2019/20 season with the Lakers on a two-way deal. Although he logged just 20 total minutes in five games at the NBA level, Kostas was a full-time starter for the South Bay Lakers in the G League, averaging 14.1 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 1.3 BPG on 62.3% shooting in 38 games (25.5 MPG).

The Lakers didn’t issue Antetokounmpo a qualifying offer before last week’s deadline, so he would’ve been free to join any team in unrestricted free agency. But he’ll return to the club instead, alongside fellow two-way player Devontae Cacok.

In bringing back Antetokounmpo and Cacok, the Lakers are one of two teams not turning over either of their two-way slots. The Celtics (Tacko Fall and Tremont Waters) are the other.

Rockets Officially Announce Four Signings

November 26th, 2020 at 12:55pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets have issued a press release officially confirming that they’ve completed four recently-reported free agent contracts. Those deals are for the following players:

Bruno Caboclo, F/C (full story)
Jae’Sean Tate, F (full story)
Sterling Brown, G (full story)
Mason Jones, G — two-way deal (full story)

Caboclo, Tate, and Brown will all be part of Houston’s 15-man roster in 2020/21, while Jones will occupy one of the team’s two-way slots, alongside Kenny Wooten. Brown reportedly received a one-year contract, with Caboclo getting one year plus a second-year team option. Tate reportedly signed a three-year deal worth a little above the minimum.

Once the Rockets officially sign DeMarcus Cousins and Kenyon Martin Jr., as is expected, they’ll have one open spot remaining on their projected 15-man squad for the regular season.

The team previously made a formal announcement to confirm the acquisition of its top free agency addition, Christian Wood.

Sixers, Derrick Walton Agree To Deal

November 26th, 2020 at 12:37pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers have agreed to a one-year deal with free agent point guard Derrick Walton, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). It’s a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary deal, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Walton, 25, made his NBA debut with the Heat back in 2017/18. He spent most of the ’19/20 season with the Clippers, averaging 2.2 PPG and 1.0 APG in limited minutes (9.7 MPG) over 23 games for the club.

L.A. sent Walton to Atlanta at February’s deadline in a salary-dump trade and the Hawks subsequently released him. He caught on with the Pistons for a 10-day deal in February, but didn’t finish the season on an NBA roster.

It’s fair to assume that Doc Rivers had a hand in bringing Walton to Philadelphia, since the 76ers’ new head coach coached the former Michigan Wolverine in Los Angeles last season. However, it’s unclear whether Walton will have a legitimate chance to make the regular season roster.

Bucks Sign Nik Stauskas To One-Year Deal

November 26th, 2020 at 12:25pm CST by Luke Adams

DECEMBER 2: Stauskas is officially a Buck, according to RealGM’s log of NBA transactions.

NOVEMBER 26: The Bucks have reached an agreement on a one-year deal with former lottery pick Nik Stauskas, his agent Mark Bartelstein tells ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link).

Stauskas, the eighth overall pick in the 2014 draft, struggled to develop into a reliable rotation player during his first few NBA seasons, averaging 6.8 PPG and 2.1 RPG in 335 career games (19.9 MPG) for Sacramento, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Portland, and Cleveland. The 6’6″ shooting guard didn’t play in the NBA in 2019/20, having spent the season with Spanish club Baskonia.

Although Stauskas may not have lived up to his pre-draft billing, he knocked down a solid 35.3% of his career three-point attempts. He also played fairly well in Spain last year, making 42.2% of his threes in 22 EuroLeague contests.

The full terms of Stauskas’ contract with Milwaukee aren’t yet known, but as Eric Nehm of The Athletic recently detailed, the Bucks are right up against the hard cap and probably won’t have room to carry a 15th man. As such, the 27-year-old will likely get a training camp deal and will have an uphill battle to earn a spot on the club’s regular season roster.

Raptors Waive Dewan Hernandez

November 26th, 2020 at 11:34am CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors have waived 2019 second-round pick Dewan Hernandez, the team announced today.

The 59th overall pick in 2019, Hernandez appeared in just six games for Toronto as a rookie, recording 14 points and 14 rebounds in 28 total minutes. The former University of Miami standout also appeared in nine G League games for the Raptors 905, averaging 13.4 PPG and 9.6 RPG. However, he was sidelined for much of the season by an ankle injury.

Hernandez’s 2020/21 salary was set to become guaranteed this Sunday if he had remained under contract. By letting him go, the Raptors will avoid remaining on the hook for that $1.52MM cap hit.

As Blake Murphy of The Athletic notes (via Twitter), the move also opens up an extra spot on Toronto’s 15-man regular season roster. That could open the door for two-way free agent Oshae Brissett or second-round pick Jalen Harris to sign a standard contract or for the team to add another player in free agency, Murphy observes.

Pacers, Kelan Martin Agree To Deal

November 26th, 2020 at 11:27am CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers and free agent wing Kelan Martin have agreed to a deal, agent Mike Lindeman tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Wojnarowski indicates the agreement covers two years. However, as Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), Indiana had been about $1.12MM below the luxury tax line with 14 players on guaranteed contracts. As such, Martin’s deal – which would count for $1.62MM for tax purposes – seems unlikely to be fully guaranteed unless the team has another move lined up to sneak back below the tax line.

Martin emerged as a rotation player in Minnesota last season, averaging 6.4 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 31 games (16.0 MPG), though he struggled with his shot (.392 FG%, .260 FT%).

The 25-year-old initially received a qualifying offer from the Timberwolves, making him a restricted free agent. The club withdrew that QO on Sunday though, allowing him to become unrestricted and to sign outright with Indiana.

Bulls Sign Noah Vonleh To One-Year Deal

November 26th, 2020 at 9:29am CST by Luke Adams

NOVEMBER 28: Vonleh is officially a Bull, per RealGM’s NBA transactions log.

NOVEMBER 26: The Bulls are in agreement with free agent forward Noah Vonleh on a one-year deal, agent Jim Tanner tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). It will be Vonleh’s second stint with the franchise, as he finished the 2017/18 season in Chicago.

The ninth overall pick in the 2014 draft, Vonleh began his career in Charlotte before moving on to Portland, Chicago, and New York. In 2019/20, he began the season in Minnesota before being traded to Denver as part of the four-team mega-deal involving Clint Capela and Robert Covington.

In total, Vonleh averaged just 3.7 PPG and 3.4 RPG in 36 games (10.5 MPG) for the Timberwolves and Nuggets last season. He was more productive in 2018/19 for the Knicks, recording 8.4 PPG and 7.8 RPG in 68 games (25.3 MPG).

Arturas Karnisovas, the Bulls’ new president of basketball operations, worked in the Nuggets’ front office last season, so he got a first-hand look at Vonleh for about a month before the hiatus.

It has been a relatively quiet free agent period for the Bulls, whose only other newcomers via free agency or trade are veteran guard Garrett Temple and undrafted rookie Devon Dotson, who signed a two-way deal.

If Vonleh is retained for the regular season, he, Temple, Dotson, figure to provide some additional depth on a Chicago squad that will otherwise return many of its players from last year’s roster. K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago notes (via Twitter) that the team already has 15 guaranteed contracts, so for Vonleh to make the team, someone else would have to be traded or released.

Trail Blazers Sign Keljin Blevins To Two-Way Contract

November 26th, 2020 at 7:56am CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers have filled one of their open two-way contract slots, having signed free agent wing Keljin Blevins to a two-way deal, per the NBA’s official transactions log. Blevins, the cousin of Blazers star Damian Lillard, previously announced the deal on Instagram.

Blevins, who went undrafted in 2019, played two seasons of college ball at Southern Miss before transferring to Montana State for his final two seasons. He signed a training camp contract with Portland last fall but didn’t make the team’s regular season roster and landed with the Northern Arizona Suns in the G League.

In 35 NBAGL games last season, Blevins’ contributions were limited. The 25-year-old averaged 4.3 PPG and 2.9 RPG on .397/.267/.882 shooting in 16.1 minutes per contest.

With the fate of the G League season up in the air, Blevins may end up spending much of the 2020/21 season in the NBA with the Blazers — especially since Portland doesn’t have an NBAGL affiliate of its own. However, I wouldn’t expect him to see any action beyond garbage-time minutes.