Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Sixers Re-Sign Haywood Highsmith To Exhibit 10 Deal

September 25th, 2019 at 3:07pm CST by Luke Adams

After being waived by the team in June, former Sixers two-way player Haywood Highsmith is back under contract with Philadelphia. A league source tells JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link) that Highsmith has signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the 76ers.

Highsmith, who went undrafted out of Wheeling Jesuit in 2018, signed a two-way contract with Philadelphia in January and spent the rest of his rookie season with the 76ers and the Delaware Blue Coats, the team’s G League affiliate. Although he appeared in just five games for the Sixers, Highsmith was a solid contributor in Delaware, averaging 12.2 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 2.5 APG in 46 games (32.3 MPG).

Having been released in the offseason to clear room for new two-way players Norvel Pelle and Marial Shayok, Highsmith appeared set to move on from the Sixers and nearly signed a camp contract with the Suns. However, that deal fell through, clearing the path for the forward to rejoin the 76ers.

The Sixers now have a full 20-man roster, including 14 players with fully guaranteed salaries. Trey Burke, who has a $405K partial guarantee, looks like the leading candidate to fill the 15th spot on the club’s regular season roster.

Austin Krell of The Painted Lines (Twitter link) first reported that Highsmith would be joining the Sixers for camp.

Nets Sign Williams, Egbunu; May Add Thomas

September 25th, 2019 at 2:53pm CST by Luke Adams

2:53pm: The Nets’ deal with Williams is now official, the team confirmed in a press release. The club also announced that it has signed former Florida center John Egbunu, whose deal was first reported by Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link). Egbunu looks like a candidate to ultimately land with the Long Island Nets in the G League.

Brooklyn now has 19 players officially under contract.

2:45pm: Former Clippers and Timberwolves shooting guard C.J. Williams has reached an agreement to sign with the Nets, league sources tell Nicola Lupo of Sportando. Confirming the deal, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets that Williams will receive a non-guaranteed contract.

Williams, 29, made his NBA debut with the Clippers in 2017/18, then spent last season on a two-way contract with Minnesota. In total, he has appeared in 53 regular season contests, averaging 4.7 PPG on .448/.287/.765 shooting in 15.8 minutes per game.

Charania first identified Williams earlier this week as a candidate to sign with the Nets, who are looking to fill out their 20-man roster. In that report, Charania noted that Lance Thomas is in the mix to join Brooklyn’s roster too, and that idea appears to be gaining steam.

Marc Berman of The New York Post hears from a league source that the Nets are “seriously eyeing” Thomas, while Greg Logan of Newsday confirms (via Twitter) that the veteran forward has worked out for the team. According to Charania, Brooklyn is making progress on a deal to sign Thomas.

Currently, the Nets have 17 players under contract, so if they make it official with Williams and sign Thomas as well, they’d have just one opening left on their 20-man offseason roster. It remains to be seen whether the team intends to bring unsigned second-round pick Jaylen Hands to camp.

Although Williams is unlikely to earn a spot on the Nets’ regular season roster, since the club has 15 players with fully guaranteed salaries, he or another camp invitee could be re-signed five games into the regular season. At that point, Brooklyn will be able to open up an extra roster spot by moving Wilson Chandler to the suspended list for the next 20 games.

Wizards Sign, Waive Kellen Dunham

September 25th, 2019 at 12:50pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards signed shooting guard Kellen Dunham to a contract on Tuesday, but waived him shortly thereafter, according to a pair of NBA transaction logs. RealGM lists Dunham’s signing, while NBA.com notes that he was released.

Dunham, who played his college ball at Butler, went undrafted in 2016 and has bounced around between the G League and international leagues since then. His NBAGL rights were acquired by the Capital City Go-Go – Washington’s affiliate – in 2018’s expansion draft, and he spent the entire 2018/19 season with the club, averaging 7.8 PPG with a .454 3PT% in 50 games off the bench.

It appears likely that Dunham will return to the Go-Go for the 2019/20 season. When he does, he should be in line for a bonus worth up to $50K as a result of being signed on Tuesday.

An Exhibit 10 contract entitles a player to that bonus if he goes on to spend two months on his team’s G League roster — even if he was on the NBA roster for less than 24 hours before being released, as was the case with Dunham.

Wizards Pick Up 2020/21 Options On Brown, Wagner

September 25th, 2019 at 10:52am CST by Luke Adams

Another team has got its 2020/21 rookie scale team option decisions out of the way well in advance of the October 31 deadline, as Fred Katz of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that the Wizards have exercised their third-year options on both Troy Brown and Moritz Wagner.

The 15th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Brown will now have a fully guaranteed cap hit of $3,372,840 for the 2020/21 season. Washington also locked in a $2,161,920 cap charge in ’20/21 for Wagner, who was drafted 25th overall in 2018. The Wizards will have to make decisions on fourth-year options for 2021/22 on both players by October 31, 2020.

Brown, 20, appeared in 52 games in his rookie season, averaging 4.8 PPG and 2.8 RPG in 14.0 minutes per contest for the Wizards. He’s expected to play a more significant role going forward, but he’s currently dealing with a left calf strain that may jeopardize his availability for opening night.

Wagner, 22, spent his rookie year with the Lakers, averaging 4.8 PPG and 2.0 RPG in 43 games (10.4 MPG). He arrived in Washington along with Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones as part of the blockbuster three-team trade that saw Anthony Davis land in Los Angeles.

We’re tracking all of this year’s decisions on 2020/21 rookie scale options right here.

Bulls Sign Perrion Callandret

September 25th, 2019 at 10:12am CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls have signed former Idaho guard Perrion Callandret to a contract, according to RealGM’s transactions log. Callandret published a photo on Instagram on Tuesday that showed him putting pen to paper.

Callandret, who went undrafted out of Idaho a year ago, averaged 9.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 3.0 APG on .440/.407/.667 shooting during his final college season in 2017/18.

The 24-year-old is close with Bulls guard Zach LaVine, who reportedly asked Chicago to consider Callandret for a spot on their Summer League roster earlier this year. The Bulls did end up taking Callandret to Las Vegas, where he appeared in four Summer League games for the club. Now, he has signed his first NBA contract with the team.

Callandret is unlikely to earn a spot on Chicago’s regular season roster, but the fact that the Bulls were willing to sign him to an NBA contract suggests they may want him on their G League roster this season. Assuming his deal is an Exhibit 10 contract, he’d be eligible for a bonus of up to $50K if he’s waived by Chicago and then spends at least two months with the Windy City Bulls.

Cavs Sign Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Cut Alex Robinson

September 25th, 2019 at 9:01am CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers have made a change to their 20-man offseason roster, signing former first-round pick Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and waiving Alex Robinson to create the necessary roster spot. Joe Vardon of The Athletic first reported (via Twitter) the Cavs’ agreement with Luwawu-Cabarrot, while RealGM’s transactions log confirms both moves are official.

The 24th overall pick in the 2016 draft, Luwawu-Cabarrot spent his first two seasons in Philadelphia before being traded from the Sixers to the Thunder in the Dennis Schroder three-team trade in July 2018. After suiting up for Oklahoma City for the first half of 2018/19, the 24-year-old forward was traded again to Chicago in February.

In 171 total games for his three NBA teams, TLC has averaged 5.7 PPG and 1.9 RPG with a .387/.320/.820 shooting line. While he has yet to develop into a fully reliable NBA rotation player, he’ll get a chance to compete for a roster spot on the rebuilding Cavs, who only have 13 players on guaranteed contracts.

As for Robinson, he may be ticketed for the Canton Charge as an affiliate player unless another team scoops him up before the season begins. The undrafted guard out of TCU would be eligible for a bonus of up to $50K if he spends two months in the G League with the Charge.

Suns Sign Norense Odiase

September 25th, 2019 at 8:58am CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 25: The Suns have officially signed Odiase, according to RealGM’s log of NBA transactions.

SEPTEMBER 24: The Suns have reached an agreement to sign rookie forward/center Norense Odiase to a training camp contract, a league source tells JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link).

Odiase, who played his college ball at Texas Tech, went undrafted in the spring after averaging 4.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 0.9 BPG in 37 games (17.4 MPG) as a redshirt senior.

Odiase is on track to become the second member of the Red Raiders team that competed in the 2019 NCAA national championship game to join the Suns for training camp. Phoenix previously signed Tariq Owens to an Exhibit 10 contract.

The Suns currently have 18 players under contract, including 15 with guaranteed salaries. Owens and David Kramer are on non-guaranteed deals, while Jared Harper has a two-way contract. After officially signing Odiase, Phoenix will have one final opening on its 20-man camp roster.

Spurs Waive Jeff Ledbetter

September 25th, 2019 at 8:16am CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs have opened up a spot on their 20-man offseason roster, waiving recently-signed guard Jeff Ledbetter, sources tell JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link). Ledbetter initially inked an Exhibit 10 contract with San Antonio on September 12.

Ledbetter, 31, is an Idaho product primarily known for his marksmanship from long range. He has spent the last three seasons with San Antonio’s G League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, but did leave the team early last season to play in Mexico. In 101 career NBAGL games, Ledbetter has posted a respectable stat line of 11.0 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 3.2 APG with a .395 3PT%.

It appears the Spurs’ deal with Ledbetter was specifically designed to get him a bonus as a reward for his work in Austin, rather than to attend training camp with San Antonio. Players who sign Exhibit 10 deals are eligible for bonuses worth up to $50K if they spend two months with that team’s G League affiliate after being released.

The Spurs now have 19 players under contract.

Clark Crum contributed to this post.

Thunder Sign Markel Brown To Camp Deal

September 24th, 2019 at 9:20pm CST by ChrisCrouse

9:20pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

5:31pm: The Thunder will sign Markel Brown to an Exhibit 10 contract, sources tell JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link).

Brown was the No. 44 overall pick in the 2014 draft, having been selected by Minnesota and subsequently traded to Brooklyn on draft night. He spent two seasons with the Nets before carving out a career internationally.

The Thunder entered the day with four open spots on their training camp roster and 13 guaranteed deals. Training camp in Oklahoma City begins next Monday.

Pelicans Sign Jalen Adams, Javon Bess

September 24th, 2019 at 5:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans have officially completed previously-reported deals with undrafted rookies Jalen Adams and Javon Bess, the club confirmed today. Both players are listed on New Orleans’ 20-man roster for training camp.

Adams, a point guard out of UConn, averaged 16.9 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 3.4 APG during his senior year, which was limited to 26 games due to a knee injury. The 6’3″ Adams, who started 99 of 124 career games with the Huskies, reached a contract agreement with the Pelicans right after the draft in June and appeared in five games for New Orleans’ Summer League squad in Las Vegas.

Bess, a 6’6″ swingman, began his college career at Michigan State before transferring to Saint Louis for his junior and senior years. In 2018/19, he posted 15.3 PPG and 6.8 RPG in 36 games (36.8 MPG). Like Adams, he quickly agreed to terms with New Orleans after the draft and suited up for the Pelicans’ Summer League team, though he averaged just 8.8 minutes per contest in five games in Las Vegas.

After signing Adams and Bess, the Pelicans have a full 20-man roster. The odd man out, based on prior reports, is Aubrey Dawkins — a June report suggested that Dawkins had agreed to terms with the Pelicans on an Exhibit 10 contract. Assuming the report was accurate at the time, the agreement either fell through or will be completed later this fall, after the Pels waive a player.