Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Hawks Waive Paul Watson

January 14th, 2020 at 10:26pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Hawks have released Paul Watson, the team announces. Watson signed a 10-day contract with Atlanta on January 6.

The shooting guard appeared in two games during his short stint with the Hawks. He saw just 17 minutes of court time and went 0-for-7 from the field.

Prior to joining Atlanta, Watson spent this season with Raptors 905, where he is averaging 18.4 points and 7.4 rebounds in 13 games while shooting 46.7% from 3-point range. Undrafted out of Fresno State in 2017, Watson had a brief stop in Germany before joining the G League later that year.

Atlanta now has 14 players under contract.

Knicks Waive Ivan Rabb, Add Kenny Wooten

January 14th, 2020 at 3:03pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JANUARY 14, 3:03pm: The Knicks have officially signed Wooten to a two-way contract, the team announced today (Twitter link).

JANUARY 13, 5:07pm: Rabb has officially been waived, according the team’s PR department (Twitter link).

JANUARY 13, 4:09pm: The Knicks will waive forward Ivan Rabb and add forward Kenny Wooten on a two-way contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Wooten has been playing for the Knicks’ G League affiliate in Westchester.

The move didn’t come as a surprise. Wednesday is the final day that two-way contracts can be offered this season, and several teams had been watching Wooten, who is among the G League leaders in blocks per game. Rabb and guard Kadeem Allen were on two-way deals with the Knicks and one of them had to go to make room for Wooten.

Rabb was signed to his two-way contract in late October. Rabb, 22, was the 35th overall pick in the 2017 draft and spent his first two professional seasons in Memphis, but didn’t develop into a reliable, consistent rotation player. In 2018/19, he averaged 5.8 PPG and 4.2 RPG in 49 games (14.7 MPG). He was released by the Grizzlies during training camp.

Rabb was averaging a double-double with Westchester in 18 games — 13.1 PPG and 11.0 RPG. Wooten, 21, has appeared in 24 games with Westchester. He’s averaging 7.8 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 3.3 BPG in 24.0 MPG.

An undrafted rookie out of Oregon, Wooten was waived from the Knicks’ training camp roster after signing an Exhibit 10 contract during the summer. On his new two-way deal, he’ll be eligible to spend up to 24 days in the NBA before the end of the G League regular season.

Magic Sign Gary Clark To 10-Day Deal, Cut Josh Magette

January 14th, 2020 at 10:53am CST by Luke Adams

The Magic have made a change at the back of their roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed forward Gary Clark to a 10-day contract, waiving guard Josh Magette to create room on their 15-man squad.

The timing of the move is interesting, as Magette signed a 10-day deal of his own on Saturday and had seven days left on it. He’ll still get his full 10-day salary ($81,678) despite his stint in Orlando being cut short.

While it’s unclear why the Magic moved on early from Magette, who had spent most of the season on a two-way deal, the team may have felt it had to move quickly to lock up Clark. Perhaps he had a two-way contract offer on the table from another team and had to make a decision on it by Wednesday’s two-way signing deadline.

Clark became a free agent last week when he was waived by the Rockets before his 2019/20 salary became guaranteed. After emerging as a rotation player as a rookie in Houston last season, the 25-year-old saw his minutes reduced down the stretch in 2018/19 and didn’t have a major role in ’19/20 either. In total, he appeared in 69 games for the Rockets over two seasons, averaging 3.2 PPG and 2.3 RPG with a .348/.312/.929 shooting line in 12.4 minutes per contest.

Clark’s new 10-day contract will run through January 23, giving him a chance to be active for up to five games with the Magic. He’ll help provide frontcourt depth with Jonathan Isaac and Al-Farouq Aminu on the shelf.

Cavaliers Waive Levi Randolph

January 12th, 2020 at 5:27pm CST by JD Shaw

The Cavaliers have waived swingman Levi Randolph, according to Kelsey Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). Randolph was on a two-way contract with the organization.

Cleveland originally signed Randolph, a veteran of the team’s G League affiliate in Canton, earlier in the month. He didn’t appear in any games with the franchise and could head back to Canton in the coming days.

Randolph, an intriguing 6-foot-6 guard, has averaged 15.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and three assists per game in 22 G League contests this season.

The Cavaliers now have an open two-way contract to use, with guard Dean Wade currently occupying the other two-way slot. Cleveland also waived Tyler Cook and Alfonzo McKinnie last week before re-signing both players to 10-day deals.

Wizards Waive C.J. Miles, Promote Anzejs Pasecniks

January 12th, 2020 at 11:55am CST by Arthur Hill

11:54am: The move is official, the Wizards announced in a press release.

“We appreciate CJ’s contributions to our team this season and wish him and his family the best as he continues his career,” general manager Tommy Sheppard said. “He is a consummate professional who provided a great example for our younger players despite having his season cut short by an unfortunate injury.”

The team also confirmed that Pasecniks has been signed to a multi-year contract and Williams received a two-way deal.

8:12am: The Wizards will waive injured swingman C.J. Miles, tweets Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. His roster spot will be used to convert Anzejs Pasecniks‘ two-way contract to a standard deal, and Johnathan Williams will be re-signed to fill the two-way slot.

Miles, who is making $8.73MM in the final year of his contract, was acquired from the Grizzlies in a trade last summer. He played just 10 games for Washington before suffering a wrist injury in November that will sideline him for the rest of the season.

The 32-year-old has been a positive presence in the locker room, Buckner adds, but the Wizards have been dealing with a string of injuries and need more healthy players (Twitter link).

The team will keep the $4.4MM Disabled Player Exception it received in the wake of Miles’ injury, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. The DPE is not affected by the decision to part with Miles.

Pasecniks, a rookie center, has played 13 games for the Wizards, averaging 8.2 points and 6.2 rebounds in about 22 minutes per night. Washington waived him before training camp, then signed him to the two-way deal in December. Buckner reported last week that the team hoped to promote him to the 15-man roster.

Williams recently had a brief stint with the Wizards as a hardship player, and impressed team officials enough that they wanted to give him another chance. He averaged 5.5 PPG and 6.3 RPG in six games, starting five of them, but was waived last week when the hardship exception expired. He’ll rejoin the roster in advance of the January 15 deadline for two-way signings.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Josh Magette Signs 10-Day Contract With Magic; Vic Law Inks Two-Way Deal

January 11th, 2020 at 5:32pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Magic have signed Josh Magette to a 10-day contract and Vic Law to a two-way deal, the team announced on Twitter.

Magette had been playing on a two-way contract that he signed with Orlando in July. He has appeared in eight NBA games this season and is averaging 1.5 PPG in 4.8 minutes per night. The 30-year-old point guard posted a 19.0/4.7/9.3 line in 14 games with the Magic’s G League affiliate in Lakeland. He got into 18 games with the Hawks as a two-way player during the 2017/18 season.

With Magette’s two-way spot freed up, the Magic added Law, a 24-year-old forward out of Northwestern. Law, who was in training camp with Orlando and was waived prior to the start of the season, has impressed team officials with a strong season in Lakeland, where he’s averaging 18.0 points and 8.7 rebounds per night.

Cavs Sign Tyler Cook To 10-Day Contract

January 9th, 2020 at 3:43pm CST by Luke Adams

After releasing Alfonzo McKinnie and Tyler Cook earlier this week, the Cavaliers have now brought back both players on 10-day contracts. Cleveland announced its new 10-day deal with Cook this afternoon in a press release after re-signing McKinnie earlier in the day.

Cook, 22, has spent most of his rookie season playing for the Cavs’ G League affiliate, the Canton Charge, as part of a two-way contract. He averaged 12.6 PPG and 6.1 RPG in 15 NBAGL games (20.7 MPG) before being briefly promoted to the 15-man roster. Cleveland converted his two-way pact to a standard deal on January 3 before waiving him on January 6. While he was only on his standard contract for a few days, he received a $50K partial guarantee.

Cook and McKinnie had non-guaranteed contracts that would have become fully guaranteed if they had remained on the roster through Tuesday. By waiving them and bringing them back on 10-day deals, the Cavaliers will retain some financial flexibility. McKinnie’s 10-day pact will count against the cap for approximately $92K, while Cook’s will be worth just $51K.

[RELATED: 10-Day Contract Tracker]

Cleveland will also have some roster flexibility as a result of the new deals. The 15-man roster is full for now, but if the team wants to open up a spot or two to accommodate a trade before the deadline, it can simply opt not to re-sign McKinnie and/or Cook when their 10-day contracts expire. Both deals will run through January 18.

Cavaliers Sign Alfonzo McKinnie To 10-Day Deal

January 9th, 2020 at 10:33am CST by ChrisCrouse

The Cavaliers have signed Alfonzo McKinnie to a 10-day contract, the team announces on its website.

Cleveland released the wing earlier this week, as his salary for 2019/20 was set to become guaranteed, but there were rumblings that he could be back on a 10-day deal. The team also released Tyler Cook before the salary guarantee deadline.

In 23 games for the Cavs, McKinnie has averaged just 2.7 points in 11.0 minutes per game. He’s shooting 35.3% from the field, including 28.6% from deep.

Cleveland now has 14 players on the roster.

Heat Waive Daryl Macon, Sign Gabe Vincent

January 8th, 2020 at 3:11pm CST by Luke Adams

3:11pm: The Heat have officially signed Vincent and waived Macon, the club confirmed in a press release.

2:29pm: The Heat are signing G League guard Gabe Vincent to a two-way contract, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). To open up a spot for Vincent, the club will waive current two-way player Daryl Macon, Jackson adds.

Vincent, 23, went undrafted out of UC Santa Barbara in 2018 and joined Sacramento’s G League affiliate, the Stockton Kings. After an unspectacular NBAGL rookie season in 2018/19, the 6’3″ guard has enjoyed a breakout year for Stockton, with 23.7 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 2.2 APG to go along with a .474/.423/.900 shooting line in 20 games (31.8 MPG). He leads the G League with 88 made three-pointers.

That performance caught the attention of the Heat, who will make a change to one of their two-way slots a week in advance of the January 15 deadline for signing two-way players. Miami will aim to make Vincent the club’s next two-way success story after Duncan Robinson developed into an NBA starter and Chris Silva became a regular contributor. If he signs today, Miami’s newest two-way player will be eligible to spend up to 26 days in the NBA before the G League season ends in March.

Macon, meanwhile, will become an unrestricted free agent if he goes unclaimed on waivers. He has appeared in 12 total NBA games over the past two seasons for Dallas and Miami, while averaging 19.1 PPG in 58 total G League contests for the Texas Legends and Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Rockets Waive Gary Clark

January 7th, 2020 at 4:20pm CST by Luke Adams

4:20pm: The Rockets have officially waived Clark, the team announced today in a press release.

3:21pm: The Rockets are releasing swingman Gary Clark in advance of today’s salary guarantee deadline, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

After emerging as a rotation player during his rookie year with the Rockets in 2018/19, Clark saw his minutes reduced down the stretch last season and hasn’t been a major part of Houston’s game plan in 2019/20. In total, he appeared in 69 games for the Rockets over two seasons, averaging 3.2 PPG and 2.3 RPG with a .348/.312/.929 shooting line in 12.4 minutes per contest.

Clark is one of three players on Houston’s roster without a fully guaranteed salary. The team also had to make decisions today on Ben McLemore and Isaiah Hartenstein — it looks for now as if both of those players will hang onto their roster spots.

According to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link), the Rockets wanted to open up a spot on their 15-man roster to maintain flexibility and consider a handful of options. Bringing back Clark would be one possibility.

As a result of Clark’s release, the Rockets will reduce his cap hit from $1,416,852 to $708,246, the amount of his partial guarantee. The club is right around the tax line and should have an opportunity to sneak below that threshold with a trade, notes Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights (via Twitter).