Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Suns Sign Lottery Pick Jalen Smith

November 24th, 2020 at 9:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Suns have signed lottery pick Jalen Smith, according to a team press release.

Assuming Smith received the usual 120% above the rookie scale, he’ll make $4,245,720 in his first season and a total of $19,328,334 over the next four seasons.

He’ll look to get some minutes at the power forward and center spots on a team with playoff aspirations. He played two seasons at Maryland.

The 6’10” Smith averaged 15.5 PPG on 53.8% shooting from the field and 36.8% from 3-point range, plus 10.5 RPG and 2.4 BPG as a sophomore. He finished third in the nation with 21 double-doubles last season.

Clippers Waive Center Justin Patton

November 24th, 2020 at 9:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Clippers have waived center Justin Patton, according to the team’s Twitter feed.

Patton was part of a three-team swap among the Clippers, Nets and Pistons that became official on Thursday. Los Angeles also acquired Luke Kennard, the draft rights to Jay Scrubb and four second-round picks in the deal.

Patton was signed by the Pistons to a non-guaranteed contract early in the summer but didn’t make a notable impression during workouts. By waiving him, the Clippers will avoid being on the hook for his $1.82MM salary in 2020/21, creating some extra wiggle room below their hard cap.

Patton, the 16th overall pick in the 2017 draft, was plagued by injuries during his first two NBA seasons with the Timberwolves and Sixers, breaking bones in both feet and appearing in just four total games. He signed with Oklahoma City last summer, playing in five games for the Thunder before being traded to Dallas and subsequently waived.

Lakers Waive Jordan Bell

November 24th, 2020 at 7:08pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Lakers have waived recently-acquired big man Jordan Bell, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register tweets.

Bell was thrown into the deal that sent veteran center JaVale McGee to the Cavaliers for salary-matching purposes. The Lakers made the move to open up extra space under the hard cap for Marc Gasol.

Bell had a non-guaranteed salary of $1,762,796 and the Lakers needed to only guarantee a portion of that figure to make the trade number work. John Hollinger of The Athletic suggests (via Twitter) that Bell’s guarantee was about $580K, which will likely now be stretched across three seasons.

After spending his first two seasons with Golden State, Bell played in a total of 29 games with Minnesota and Memphis last season. He never played a game in Cleveland, as he signed with the Cavaliers in June.

Brantley Signs Two-Way Deal With Jazz

November 24th, 2020 at 6:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jarrell Brantley has signed a two-way contract with the Jazz, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets.

The small forward played under a similar deal last season and became a restricted free agent when Utah extended a qualifying offer last week.

A second-round pick in 2019, Brantley excelled at the G League level last season, as he was named to the All-NBAGL First Team. The former College of Charleston star averaged 18.8 PPG, 7.6 RPG and 3.7 APG in 33 starts with the Salt Lake City Stars. He played nine NBA games in his rookie season.

The Jazz have reportedly filled their other two-way slot with guard Trent Forrest.

Gallinari Acquired By Hawks In Sign-And-Trade

November 24th, 2020 at 6:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Hawks have officially acquired forward Danilo Gallinari as part of a sign-and-trade with the Thunder, according to a team press release.

The Hawks also received cash considerations from the Thunder. Oklahoma City received a conditional 2025 second-round pick and create a large traded player exception through the transaction. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, it’s a $19.5MM exception (Twitter link).

The Thunder also created a $27.5MM exception by officially trading Steven Adams to New Orleans earlier in the day, though they’ll have to use it to take on Al Horford from Philadelphia (creating a new $15.4MM TPE for sending out Danny Green).

Gallinari signed a three-year contract reportedly worth $61.5MM. He reached an agreement with Atlanta on Friday, the first day of free agency.

“Danilo checks a lot of boxes for what we have prioritized,” Hawks GM Travis Schlenk said in the release. “We wanted to add productive veterans and high-level shooting to our group and he provides both. At his size, he is one of the league’s most versatile and efficient scorers and he has proven to be the type of veteran you want in your locker room.”

Gallinari, 32, had a strong season in Oklahoma City in 2019/20, averaging 18.7 PPG and 5.2 RPG on .438/.405/.893 shooting in 62 games (29.6 MPG). He’ll slot in at small forward, though he could also see extensive action the “four” in smaller lineups.

Thunder Sign Frank Jackson

November 24th, 2020 at 5:59pm CST by Luke Adams

DECEMBER 4: The Thunder have officially signed Jackson, the team announced today in a press release.

NOVEMBER 24: The Thunder have agreed to sign free agent guard Frank Jackson, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Terms of the deal aren’t known, but Oklahoma City has already reportedly lined up players for its two-way slots, so it figures to be a standard contract.

Jackson, the 31st overall pick in the 2017 draft out of Duke, missed his entire rookie season with a foot injury, but has appeared in 120 games for the Pelicans over the last two years, averaging 7.2 PPG, 1.8 RPG, and 1.1 APG on .422/.319/.743 shooting during that time.

The 22-year-old was eligible for restricted free agency this fall, but the Pelicans opted not to tender him a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent. So he can sign with Oklahoma City outright.

Five players who finished the season under contract with the Pelicans are now on track to become members of the Thunder — New Orleans sent Darius Miller, Kenrich Williams, Josh Gray, and Zylan Cheatham to Oklahoma City in the Steven Adams blockbuster that was completed earlier today.

Pistons Sign Wayne Ellington

November 24th, 2020 at 5:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

DECEMBER 2: The Pistons have officially signed Ellington, the team announced today in a press release.

NOVEMBER 24: Free agent shooting guard Wayne Ellington has agreed to a one-year, $2.6MM contract with the Pistons, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

The Pistons, who have engaged in a flurry of roster moves over the past week, are hard-capped but needed backcourt help and decided to bring in Ellington on a veteran’s minimum contract. Svi Mykhailiuk is the only other natural shooting guard on the roster.

This is Ellington’s second stint with the organization. He played 28 games for the Detroit during the 2018/19 season. He saw action in 36 games with the Knicks last season, averaging 5.1 PPG and 15.1 MPG. Ellington, 32, is a career 37.8% 3-point shooter.

Sixers Reach Agreement With Ryan Broekhoff

November 24th, 2020 at 4:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

4:59pm: Broekhoff’s deal will be non-guaranteed, tweets Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

4:14pm: The Sixers have agreed to a contract with free agent swingman Ryan Broekhoff, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. The terms have yet to be announced but it’s anticipated that he’ll get the veteran’s minimum.

Broekhoff signed with Philadelphia prior to the restart as a substitute player but bowed out after his wife contracted the coronavirus. He played the last two seasons with the Mavericks, averaging 4.0 PPG in 10.7 in 59 career games. He’s a 40.3% 3-point shooter.

He was waived in February when Dallas signed Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

Broekhoff spent the first few years of his career with Besiktas in Turkey and Lokomotiv Kuban in Russia and had drawn interest from international teams. However, he preferred to resume his career in the NBA.

Knicks Trade Ed Davis To Wolves For Spellman, Evans, Pick

November 24th, 2020 at 4:38pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

NOVEMBER 24: The Timberwolves have officially acquired Davis from the Knicks in exchange for Spellman, Evans, and a future draft pick, the team confirmed today in a press release. According to the Wolves, the pick going to the Knicks is Minnesota’s 2026 second-rounder.

NOVEMBER 22: The Knicks will trade big man Ed Davis to the Timberwolves for big man Omari Spellman, shooting guard Jacob Evans and the rights to a future second-round pick, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter).

Evans and Spellman, sent by the Warriors to Minnesota at the 2020 deadline as part of the D’Angelo Russell–Andrew Wiggins deal, will earn a combined $4MM in 2020/21. Davis, meanwhile, is set to make $5MM this season.

Given the added money and the fact that the Timberwolves are surrendering a draft asset in the deal, it looks as if the Wolves like Davis and intend to retain him. At just 31 years old, the athletic journeyman could help spell sharpshooting star center Karl-Anthony Towns.

Davis had career-lows in minutes (10.8 MPG in just 28 games), points (1.8 PPG) and rebounds (3.8 RPG) during his 2019/20 season with the Jazz. Utah agreed to send him to New York earlier this week in a salary-dump deal.

Considering that the Knicks acquired two 2023 second-round draft picks for taking on Davis’ salary originally, it is impressive that the club has now added a third second-round draft pick in moving off his salary.

With these new additions, the Knicks now have 16 players on their roster, aside from their two-way players. Marc Berman of the New York Post has said the Knicks like Spellman, but it’s not clear whether or not Evans will be retained.

Luke Adams contributed to this report.

Pistons Waive Center Dewayne Dedmon

November 24th, 2020 at 4:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pistons have waived recently-acquired center Dewayne Dedmon, James Edwards III of The Athletic tweets.

Detroit officially acquired Dedmon from the Hawks on Friday and sent out wings Tony Snell and Khyri Thomas in the deal. However, the Pistons had no intention of keeping Dedmon, who has a $13.3MM guaranteed contract in 2020/21.

Dedmon also had a $13.3MM salary for ’21/22 but it was only guaranteed for $1MM. Detroit is expected to use the stretch provision to distribute the cap hit over five seasons. Dedmon would only count $2.9MM per season against the Pistons’ cap if his salary is stretched.

Dedmon, 31, appeared in a combined 44 games with the Kings and Hawks last season. He’s averaged 6.4 PPG and 6.0 RPG in 18.3 MPG over 394 career games.