Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Knicks Sign Nerlens Noel To One-Year Contract

November 21st, 2020 at 7:45pm CST by Arthur Hill

NOVEMBER 25: The Knicks have officially signed Noel to his one-year deal, the team announced today in a press release.

NOVEMBER 21: Free agent big man Nerlens Noel has agreed to sign a one-year contract with the Knicks, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter links), who hears from Noel’s agents at Klutch Sports that it’ll be worth $5MM.

A lottery pick in 2013, Noel is now with his fourth organization. He has served as a back-up to Steven Adams in Oklahoma City for the past two years and averaged 7.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game last season.

Noel, 26, is a former star at Kentucky and credits Knicks assistant Kenny Payne with helping him develop his game, tweets Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Payne left the Wildcats in August to join Tom Thibodeau’s new staff.

Mavericks Sign Wesley Iwundu To Two-Year Deal

November 21st, 2020 at 7:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

DECEMBER 1: The Mavericks have officially added Iwundu to their roster, the team announced today (via Twitter).

NOVEMBER 21: Free agent swingman Wesley Iwundu is nearing a new deal with the Mavericks, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Tim MacMahon of ESPN reports (via Twitter) that Iwundu is headed to Dallas on a two-year deal, while Zach Lowe of ESPN tweets that it’ll be worth the veteran’s minimum.

Iwundu’s contract will be fully guaranteed, a source tells Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). That source confirms that J.J. Barea will be brought back and says the team still has an open roster spot to fill.

Iwundu, 25, spent the past three seasons in Orlando, where he was a valuable rotation piece and a part-time starter. He averaged 5.8 points and 2.5 rebounds last season in about 18 minutes per night.

Brad Wanamaker Signs With Warriors

November 21st, 2020 at 7:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

NOVEMBER 24: The Warriors have made their deal with Wanamaker official, per the NBA’s transactions log. According to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), Golden State used a portion of its taxpayer mid-level exception to complete the signing.

NOVEMBER 21: The Warriors have reached a one-year, $2.25MM agreement with free agent point guard Brad Wanamaker, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal was confirmed by his agent, Steve McCaskill.

Golden State can either use part of its $5.7MM taxpayer’s mid-level exception to complete the signing or it can wait to see if the league grants its request for a disabled player exception, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). The DPE would be worth $9.3MM, but it can only be used on one player, so the Warriors would forfeit the rest if they sign Wanamaker with it.

His $2.25MM salary will raise Golden State’s tax bill by about $12MM, Marks adds (Twitter link), but the team’s projected $132MM tax is likely to be lowered because of a league-wide drop in revenue.

Wanamaker had a strong second season in Boston, playing in 71 games and averaging 6.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per night. He shoots 37.6% from three-point range and the Celtics were slightly better defensively with him on the court, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Wanamaker will serve as a back-up to Stephen Curry.

Lakers Re-Sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope To Three-Year Deal

November 21st, 2020 at 6:57pm CST by Luke Adams

NOVEMBER 22: The Lakers have officially re-signed Caldwell-Pope, the team announced in a press release.

NOVEMBER 21: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is returning to the Lakers, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who hears from agent Rich Paul that the free agent swingman will get a three-year, $40MM deal to return to the defending champions. The third year of the contract will only be partially guaranteed, Charania notes (via Twitter).

Having put up relatively modest numbers (9.3 PPG on .467/.385/.775 shooting) during 69 regular season games (25.5 MPG), Caldwell-Pope made some big shots in the playoffs, knocking down 42.1% of his three-point attempts in the first three rounds and then averaging 12.8 PPG in the Finals, the third-highest scoring average on the team behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

The Lakers’ trusted three-and-D wing turned down his $8.54MM player option in search of a raise in free agency and it wasn’t clear for the last 24 hours whether or not a reunion was in the cards.

According to Charania (via Twitter), KCP drew interest from several interested teams — previous reports indicated that the Knicks were among his potential suitors. However, Paul’s strong relationship with the Lakers helped seal the deal on a new agreement.

Having already committed to sign Montrezl Harrell with their mid-level exception and Wesley Matthews with their bi-annual exception, the Lakers will be hard-capped and don’t have a ton of room to maneuver, given the terms of Caldwell-Pope’s new deal.

As Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report tweets, it may mean Los Angeles is unable to offer Markieff Morris more than the minimum or that the club is unable to carry a full 15-man roster. Still, KCP was a priority, given his importance in the postseason, so the team will be satisfied to get him back and do what it can to fill out the rest of the roster.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Celtics Sign Tristan Thompson

November 21st, 2020 at 6:53pm CST by Arthur Hill

NOVEMBER 30: Thompson’s deal with the Celtics is now official, the team announced today in a press release.

NOVEMBER 21: Free agent center Tristan Thompson will sign with the Celtics, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. The deal was confirmed by Thompson’s agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports. The contract will be worth $19MM over two years. (Twitter link).

Thompson will receive Boston’s full mid-level exception, which was more than the Cavaliers were willing to offer, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The Cavs were optimistic this morning about their chances of keeping Thompson, but when Paul Millsap chose Denver over Boston, the Celtics were motivated to get a deal done.

“Going from being a fan to an opponent and then a teammate, Tristan has always been one of the good guys,” Larry Nance Jr. said. “His jersey deserves to hang in the rafters.”

Boston’s willingness to give the full MLE to Thompson indicates that the team probably plans to avoid the tax this season, according to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston (Twitter link). The Celtics still have their $3.6MM bi-annual exception available as well as trade exceptions from deals involving Enes Kanter and Vincent Poirier.

Thompson, 29, spent the first nine years of his NBA career with the Cavaliers, playing in four NBA Finals and winning a championship in 2016. He averaged a career-best 12.0 points per game last season to go with 10.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Cameron Reynolds Signs Exhibit 10 Deal With Spurs

November 21st, 2020 at 5:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

NOVEMBER 29: The Spurs have officially signed Reynolds, according to RealGM’s transactions log.

NOVEMBER 21: The Spurs will sign shooting guard Cameron Reynolds to an Exhibit 10 contract, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

Reynolds, 25, played 19 games for the Timberwolves during the 2018/19 season. He signed a two-way contract with the Bucks in July of 2019, but didn’t appear in any NBA games for Milwaukee. He averaged 14.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game for the G League’s Wisconsin Herd.

Reynolds will be in training camp with San Antonio and can receive a guarantee of up to $50K if he’s waived and joins the organization’s G League affiliate.

Pacers To Sign Amida Brimah

November 21st, 2020 at 5:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

Former Connecticut center Amida Brimah will sign with the Pacers, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Brimah, 26, was in Indiana’s training camp last season on an Exhibit 10 contract and was expected to join the team’s G League affiliate, but he suffered a torn right ACL that required surgery.

Brimah’s previous NBA experience includes an Exhibit 10 deal with the Spurs in 2018 and a Summer League stint with the Bulls in 2017. He played two G League seasons with the Austin Spurs and spent one season in Belgrade.

Wizards To Sign Yoeli Childs

November 21st, 2020 at 5:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

BYU power forward Yoeli Childs will sign with the Wizards, tweets Jake Hatch of Zone Sports Net. Tony Jones of The Athletic confirms the report (Twitter link).

Childs had offers from more than five NBA teams, according to Hatch.

Childs turned in a stellar season for the Cougars as a senior, averaging 22.2 points and 9.0 rebounds and being nominated for the Karl Malone Award, which honors the top power forward in college basketball.

Isaac Okoro, Cole Anthony Sign Rookie Contracts

November 21st, 2020 at 5:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Cavaliers and Magic have both signed their first-round picks, the teams announced today.

Cleveland came to terms with Auburn forward Isaac Okoro, who was the fifth overall selection. Orlando reached a deal with North Carolina guard Cole Anthony, who was taken with the 15th pick.

Neither team announced the terms of the deals, but both players are eligible to receive up to 120% of the rookie scale. That would be $6,400,920 for Okoro and $3,285,120 for Anthony.

Knicks To Re-Sign Elfrid Payton

November 21st, 2020 at 4:24pm CST by Arthur Hill

NOVEMBER 29: The Knicks’ deal with Payton is now official, Marc Berman of the New York Post tweets.

NOVEMBER 27: Shortly after clearing waivers this afternoon, Elfrid Payton has reached a deal to return to the Knicks, his agents at CAA tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

New York waived Payton on Thursday and paid a $1MM partial guarantee on his previous contract rather than giving him the full amount of $8MM. Payton will receive $5MM for one season on his new pact, per Wojnarowski.

Given the reported price of Payton’s new deal, it’s possible the Knicks will look to fit him into their room exception ($4.77MM). In that scenario, the team would still have approximately $29MM in cap room to use, without Payton cutting into it. If he gets any amount over $4.77MM, he’ll have to be re-signed using some of that cap space.

Payton got the most use of New York’s point guard options last season, starting 36 of the 45 games he played. He averaged 10.0 points and 7.2 assists per game, but shot just 43.9% from the field and 20.3% from three-point range.

If they don’t make any more moves at the position, the Knicks will have the same three players at point guard as they did a year ago, with Payton battling Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr. for playing time, and it will be up to new coach Tom Thibodeau to sort them out.