Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Timberwolves Acquire Leandro Bolmaro From Knicks

November 20th, 2020 at 3:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

NOVEMBER 20: The deal is official, according to the Timberwolves. Because Minnesota structured its draft-night trades slightly differently than expected, the trade technically sends Bolmaro’s rights to the Wolves in exchange for Quickley (No. 25), the Pistons’ 2023 second-round pick, and the draft rights to Mathias Lessort.

All of this offseason’s trades to date can be found right here.

NOVEMBER 18: The Knicks selected Argentinian guard Leandro Bolmaro with the No. 23 pick, which they previously acquired from the Jazz, but he’s not going to New York. The Timberwolves are acquiring Bolmaro for the No. 25 and No. 33 selections in the draft, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Bolmaro, 20, is a 6’7” combo guard who played for FC Barcelona last season, though he only averaged 11.6 MPG in 16 games.

The Knicks had originally acquired the 23rd pick from Utah for the No. 27 and 38 selections, so they essentially parlayed those original picks and moved up a few slots in both the first and second rounds. They used the No. 25 pick on Kentucky point guard Immanuel Quickley, the SEC Player of the Year.

With the Timberwolves selecting shooting guard Anthony Edwards with the first pick and acquiring veteran guard Ricky Rubio, they have reshaped their backcourt overnight. Bolmaro would appear to be a developmental selection or possibly a draft-and-stash prospect.

Timberwolves Trade For Ricky Rubio

November 20th, 2020 at 3:42pm CST by Arthur Hill

NOVEMBER 20: The trade is now official, according to the Timberwolves, who announced it in a press release. As expected, Johnson was sent to the Thunder along with the rights to Pokusevski in exchange for Rubio, the No. 25 pick, and the No. 28 pick. Oklahoma City also received the Timberwolves’ 2024 second-round pick in the deal.

Minnesota subsequently flipped the No. 25 pick (Immanuel Quickley) to New York in a deal for Leandro Bolmaro (No. 23). The Wolves have also confirmed that trade.

NOVEMBER 19: Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link) confirms that Johnson will be a part of this deal for salary-matching purposes. The veteran forward will still need to pick up his option before he can officially be traded.

NOVEMBER 18: The Timberwolves will acquire point guard Ricky Rubio from the Thunder, along with the 25th and 28th picks in this year’s draft, in exchange for the 17th selection, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Oklahoma City will receive Serbian 7-footer Aleksej Pokusevski, whom Minnesota selected at No. 17. The Thunder had expressed interest in Pokusevski throughout the past two weeks.

Although it hasn’t been reported yet, James Johnson will likely have to be included in the deal to match salaries. Rubio will earn $17MM during the upcoming season, while Johnson has a $16MM player option that he is virtually certain to pick up.

The deal represents a homecoming for Rubio, who spent six seasons with the Wolves at the start of his career. He began looking for a trade after being sent to OKC in the Chris Paul deal and was receptive to the idea of returning to Minnesota. Rubio wants to help the Wolves get back to the playoffs, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.

Rubio will share ball-handling duties in the Minnesota backcourt with D’Angelo Russell, who was acquired at the trade deadline, and will reunite with former teammate Karl-Anthony Towns.

In addition to the 25th and 28th picks, the Wolves also own the 33rd pick in tonight’s second round. The Thunder, who have been stockpiling picks, will select again at 34 and 53.

Hawks Trade Dewayne Dedmon To Pistons For Tony Snell

November 20th, 2020 at 2:35pm CST by Luke Adams

NOVEMBER 20: The Hawks and Pistons have officially completed their swap, as detailed below, per a press release from Atlanta. As expected, the Hawks have already waived Thomas.

NOVEMBER 19: The Hawks and Pistons have agreed to a trade that will send center Dewayne Dedmon to Detroit, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Wings Tony Snell and Khyri Thomas will head to Atlanta in the swap, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The move essentially sees both teams trade from areas of depth. Dedmon, acquired at last season’s deadline from Sacramento, became expendable in Atlanta with the Hawks expecting Clint Capela back from injury this year and also preparing to incorporate lottery pick Onyeka Okongwu into their frontcourt.

Meanwhile, trading Snell and Thomas will open up more minutes on the wing in Detroit for the likes of Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Sekou Doumbouya, and Saddiq Bey, observes James Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Dedmon will earn $13.3MM in 2020/21 and also has a $13.3MM cap hit for ’21/22, though that second year is only partially guaranteed for $1MM, per Basketball Insiders. Snell is on a $12.2MM expiring contract, while Thomas’ minimum-salary contract for ’20/21 only includes a partial guarantee. In other words, the deal is close to salary-neutral.

It remains to be seen how many of these players will be part of their new teams’ plans for next season. Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press suggests (via Twitter) that the Pistons aren’t done dealing and he wouldn’t assume Dedmon will stick around.

Warriors Waive Ky Bowman

November 20th, 2020 at 1:07pm CST by Arthur Hill

1:33pm: The Warriors have officially confirmed in a press release that they’ve waived Bowman. If he clears waivers, he’ll be free to sign with any NBA team.

1:07pm: The Warriors will waive Ky Bowman, who saw significant playing time as Golden State dealt with injuries last season, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Sources tell Charania that other teams have interest in signing the 23-year-old point guard.

Bowman inked a two-way deal with the Warriors last summer after going undrafted out of Boston College. That was converted in February to a standard contract, which included non-guaranteed minimum salaries for the next two seasons.

Bowman appeared in 45 games as a rookie, starting 12 of them. He averaged 7.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists in about 22 minutes per night.

The move comes after the Warriors drafted point guard Nico Mannion in the second round of Wednesday’s draft.

Sixers Waive Marial Shayok

November 20th, 2020 at 12:54pm CST by Arthur Hill

Marial Shayok, a two-way player for the Sixers last season, has been waived, tweets Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

A 25-year-old shooting guard, Shayok got into four games for Philadelphia, playing 28 total minutes. He was named to the G League’s All-Rookie Team, averaging 22.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game with the Delaware Blue Coats.

A native of Ottawa, Shayok was invited to play for Canada’s World Cup team last summer, but elected not to participate.

Mavericks To Make Tyler Bey A Two-Way Player

November 20th, 2020 at 8:37am CST by Arthur Hill

The Mavericks plan to give a two-way contract to second-round pick Tyler Bey, tweets Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Coach Rick Carlisle talked about Bey during a radio interview Thursday and confirmed that Nate Hinton will be the team’s other two-way player.

Bey, a 6’7″ small forward out of Colorado, was taken with the 36th pick in Wednesday’s draft. He drew attention at the virtual combine with a 43.5-inch max vertical leap, the highest ever recorded for a forward.

Shooting guards Antonius Cleveland and Josh Reaves were the Mavericks’ two-way players last season.

Clippers Acquire Daniel Oturu

November 19th, 2020 at 10:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

NOV 19: The trade sending Oturu’s draft rights to the Clippers is now official, the team announced in a press release. The Clippers actually acquired Oturu’s draft rights from the Timberwolves – rather than the Knicks – in exchange for Detroit’s 2023 second-round pick and the rights to 2017 second-rounder Mathias Lessort.

Minnesota will now flip Detroit’s 2023 second-rounder, along with Immanuel Quickley‘s draft rights, to the Knicks for the draft rights to Leandro Bolmaro. The eventual outcome will be the same, but the order of operations will be a little different than anticipated.

NOV 18: The Knicks selected University of Minnesota center Daniel Oturu with the No. 33 pick but will ship him to the Clippers for a 2023 second-rounder, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst tweets.

That future second-rounder will be a pick that the Pistons owe the Clippers, Windhorst adds another tweet.

After selecting Dayton forward Obi Toppin with their lottery pick at No. 8, New York have been bouncing up and down the first and second rounds.

The Knicks acquired the No. 23 overall selection from the Jazz for the No. 27 and 38 picks, then shipped that pick to the Timberwolves for the No. 25 and 33 picks. They used the No. 25 pick on Kentucky point guard Immanuel Quickley, the SEC Player of the Year.

Oturu averaged 20.1 PPG and 11.3 RPG in 33.9 MPG as a sophomore last season. He’ll give the Clippers another big body that new coach Tyronn Lue can try to mold into a rotation piece.

All-Star Brandon Ingram, Others Receive Qualifying Offers

November 19th, 2020 at 9:26pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Pelicans All-Star forward Brandon Ingram has become a restricted free agent after New Orleans extended him his $9.48MM qualifying offer, Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports tweets.

The No. 2 pick by the Lakers in 2016, Ingram was one of the key players moved in the mega-blockbuster summer 2019 trade that sent Anthony Davis from the Pelicans to Los Angeles. He was voted the Most Improved Player and received his first All-Star berth during his inaugural season with the Pelicans in 2019/20. He is widely considered one of the best free agents among the 2020 class.

The Pelicans also issued a qualifying offer to two-way player Zylan Cheatham, Smith noted in a separate tweet. The 6’5″ forward out of San Diego State and Arizona State saw his first NBA action in three games for New Orleans during this past season.

Listed below are a few more updates on two-way players being issued qualifying offers across the NBA. These offers are one-year, two-way deals with a $50K guarantee. While these players are free to accept their QOs, most will probably seek a standard contract with their current team or an offer sheet with a new club, if possible.

Two-way Raptors small forward Oshae Brissett was tendered a qualifying offer, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. The 6’7″ 21-year-old out of Syracuse appeared in 19 games for Toronto, and is now a two-way restricted free agent.
Timberwolves two-way players Kelan Martin and Jordan McLaughlin were both extended qualifying offers by Minnesota, making them two-way restricted free agents, per Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Martin, a 6’5″ small forward out of Butler, appeared in 31 games with the Timberwolves, averaging 6.4 PPG and 3.1 RPG. McLaughlin, a 5’11” point guard out of USC, averaged 7.6 PPG and 4.2 APG across 30 games for Minnesota. He also exhibited a solid three-point stroke, knocking down 38.2% of his 2.5 three-point attempts.
The Knicks have made two-way point guard Jared Harper a qualifying offer, making him a restricted free agent, per Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
6’5″ Jazz two-way forward Jarrell Brantley has been given a qualifying offer by the Jazz, effectively making him a restricted free agent, per Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link). Brantley appeared in nine games for Utah.

Bucks Release Ersan Ilyasova

November 19th, 2020 at 8:10pm CST by Luke Adams

8:10pm: The Bucks have confirmed they’ve requested waivers on Ilyasova.

2:07pm: The Bucks are waiving forward Ersan Ilyasova before his salary for 2020/21 becomes guaranteed, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Ilyasova is under contract for $7MM in ’20/21, the final year of his deal. However, that amount is fully non-guaranteed until tomorrow, so Milwaukee can avoid being on the hook for his salary by releasing him now.

On its surface, the decision isn’t a surprising one. Ilyasova saw his role reduced in 2019/20, as he recorded 6.6 PPG and 4.8 RPG in 63 games, playing just 15.7 minutes per contest. In the postseason, he logged just 23 minutes in three games.

However, the implications of waiving him are worth noting. He was expected to be moved to Sacramento part of the deal that would have sent Bogdan Bogdanovic to Milwaukee in a sign-and-trade.

However, that deal reportedly fell apart on Wednesday. With Ilyasova hitting waivers, it will be very difficult for the two sides to rekindle that agreement, since his $7MM expiring contract was important for salary-matching purposes. In other words, the Bucks’ decision to cut Ilyasova suggests they really are moving on from Bogdanovic.

Ilyasova will be an unrestricted free agent able to sign outright with any team, assuming he goes unclaimed on waivers this weekend.

Jontay Porter Becomes RFA For Grizzlies

November 19th, 2020 at 8:10pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

In a bit of convoluted maneuvering, the Grizzlies opted to decline their $1,517,981 team option for big man Jontay Porter ahead of the 2020/21 season. After this, Memphis extended a qualifying offer to Porter, making him a restricted free agent, according to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

The younger brother of Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., Jontay went undrafted out of Missouri in the 2019 NBA draft, but was signed by the Grizzlies on March 8, 2020, days before the league was paused due to the coronavirus pandemic. The younger Porter has yet to play in an NBA game, making the 21-year-old a technical incoming rookie.

During his lone healthy season in Missouri circa 2017/18, Jontay Porter averaged 9.9 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.7 BPG, and 0.8 BPG across 33 games. He was named the SEC Co-Sixth Man of the Year during that freshman run.

Porter has been hampered by significant knee injuries already during his young career. The 6’11” big man tore his ACL and MCL in a scrimmage ahead of his sophomore season for the Tigers in October 2018. Porter then tore his ACL in the same knee a second time in March, 2019.

Chris Herrington of the Daily Memphian tweets that it is in the Grizzlies’ best interest to decline their one-year team option on Porter. Herrington explains that making this move will give the club more avenues to sign Porter to a longer-term deal should Memphis want to retain him.