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Jazz Sign Stanton Kidd

July 17th, 2019 at 5:13pm CST by Arthur Hill

After spending Summer League with the Jazz, combo forward Stanton Kidd has signed with the team, according to a release tweeted by Eric Woodyard of The Deseret News.

Utah was interested in adding Kidd last summer, but he had another year left on his contract with Turkish team Darussafaka and no escape clause to let him join the NBA. He averaged 7.9 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 50 EuroLeague and Turkish League games this season.

Now 27, Kidd played for the Jazz entry in two leagues this summer, averaging 7.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in three games in Salt Lake City and posting an 8.2/2.6/1.4 line in five games in Las Vegas.

The Jazz have been in the market for wing depth and like the defense and athleticism that Kidd brings, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic. Utah also finalized a deal today with William Howard.

Cheick Diallo To Sign With Suns

July 17th, 2019 at 4:49pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Suns have reached a two-year deal with Cheick Diallo, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Phoenix holds a team option on the second season, according to Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The 22-year-old power forward spent the past three seasons in New Orleans. He has been a steady rotation player during the last two years and averaged 6.0 points and 5.2 rebounds in 64 games this season.

Phoenix could only offer Diallo a veteran’s minimum deal, which will pay about $1.7MM and $1.8MM over the next two years, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). The Suns now have 15 players under contract, not counting their two-way deals.

Pistons Claim Christian Wood

July 17th, 2019 at 4:08pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pistons have claimed Christian Wood off waivers, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Wood, who has a partial guarantee on his salary that takes effect opening night, was waived Monday by the Pelicans. The power forward/center would be guaranteed $822,679 on his $1,645,357 salary for next season if he remained on the roster for the first game. The full salary won’t be guaranteed until January 10, when all league contracts become guaranteed.

Detroit inherits that contract with the successful waiver claim. The Pistons now have 17 players on their roster with 14 guaranteed contracts – according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link) – and are $223K below the luxury tax.

Wood, 23, is no stranger to the waiver wire. New Orleans claimed him in March after the Bucks let him go. He played just eight games for the Pelicans, but averaged 16.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per night. He has also had brief stays with the Sixers and Hornets since entering the league.

Warriors Waive Julian Washburn

July 17th, 2019 at 3:03pm CST by Luke Adams

After being acquired in a trade earlier this month, two-way player Julian Washburn has now been waived by the Warriors. Golden State confirmed the move today in a press release.

Washburn, 27, played for the Grizzlies on a two-way contract last season, appearing in limited minutes over the course of 18 games for the club after signing in January. The 6’8″ forward appeared in a total of 38 G League contests for the Austin Spurs and Memphis Hustle, recording 11.7 PPG and 5.3 RPG with a shooting line of .477/.406/.743.

Washburn’s two-way deal featured a second year, but the Grizzlies agreed to sign John Konchar to fill their second two-way slot alongside Yuta Watanabe.

Rather than simply waiving Washburn, Memphis had him the outgoing piece in the trade that sent Andre Iguodala, a first-round pick, and cash to the Grizzlies. While the Warriors briefly held onto Washburn, it seems the team would rather fill that two-way slot with another player.

Kings Sign Tyler Lydon

July 17th, 2019 at 2:50pm CST by JD Shaw

JULY 17: The Kings have officially signed Lydon, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 14: The Kings have agreed to a two-year deal with free agent forward Tyler Lydon, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojarowski (Twitter link).

The agreement is for the league minimum and also contains a partial guarantee, Sean Cunningham of ABC10 Sacramento tweets.

Lydon appeared in 25 games with the Nuggets last season, seeing an average of 3.8 minutes per contest. He was traded to Denver shortly after being selected No. 24 overall in the 2017 draft by Utah, spending part of his professional career in the NBA G League.

“I feel like I’m good enough to play in this league, and I’ll believe that ‘til the day I die,” Lydon said last week before agreeing to his deal, according to Stephen Haynes of the Poughkeepsie Journal. “It’s like, ‘Give me one chance to prove that I belong.’”

Lydon started his career with a deep Denver team that was unable to give him a clear role. His season was cut short after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus, with the 23-year-old working extensively to improve his strength and shooting skills since then.

Sacramento now has 18 players on its active roster, including two-way players Kyle Guy and Wenyen Gabriel.

Daniel Theis Re-Signs With Celtics

July 17th, 2019 at 2:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 17: The Celtics have officially re-signed Theis, the club confirmed today in a press release.

JULY 2: The Celtics have reached an agreement to keep forward/center Daniel Theis, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The two-year, $10MM deal was confirmed by Theis’ agents, Michael Tellem and Aaron Mintz of CAA.

Boston will use its Early Bird rights to re-sign Theis, allowing the team to exceed the cap, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). The deal won’t be finalized until after the Celtics exhaust their cap space by adding Kemba Walker.

Theis has been a reliable backup since coming to Boston in 2017. He appeared in 66 games this season, starting twice, and averaged 5.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in about 14 minutes per night.

Theis may complete the Celtics’ efforts to fortify the center position after losing Al Horford in free agency and trading Aron Baynes. They reached an agreement with Enes Kanter on Sunday and French center Vincent Poirier earlier today.

Boston has no plans to pursue free agent DeMarcus Cousins, believing the “potential drama” outweighs any benefits, according to Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald (Twitter link).

Celtics Re-Sign Brad Wanamaker To One-Year Deal

July 17th, 2019 at 2:26pm CST by ChrisCrouse

JULY 17: Wanamaker’s new one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Celtics is now official, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 2: The Celtics will bring back Brad Wanamaker, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The deal will be for one season and, likely, at the minimum.

The point guard played in 36 games for the Boston last season. Wanamaker went undrafted out of the University of Pittsburgh in 2011 and ended up playing overseas.

Wanamaker shot 41.0% from behind the arc on a total of 39 attempts for Boston last season. The soon-to-be 30-year-old will fit in behind new addition Kemba Walker on the team’s depth chart.

Nets Sign Henry Ellenson To Two-Way Contract

July 17th, 2019 at 12:17pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 17: The Nets have officially signed Ellenson to his two-way contract, the club announced today in a press release.

JULY 15: The Nets have reached an agreement to sign free agent big man Henry Ellenson to a two-way contract, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

Ellenson, the 18th overall pick in the 2016 draft, spent the first two and a half seasons of his professional career with the Pistons, but was never able to crack the team’s regular rotation and become a dependable contributor. He appeared in just 59 total games for Detroit before being waived at this year’s trade deadline to accommodate Wayne Ellington.

Ellenson later caught on with the Knicks, appearing in 17 games for New York down the stretch and posting averages of 6.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 0.9 APG in 13.8 minutes per contest. However, the Knicks turned down the 22-year-old’s team option for the 2019/20 season and didn’t tender him a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent.

The Nets’ two-way players for most of last season were Theo Pinson and Alan Williams. Pinson has since been promoted to a standard contract, while Williams is a free agent, so Brooklyn will have a second two-way slot available even after officially signing Ellenson.

Nets Sign David Nwaba

July 17th, 2019 at 12:12pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 17: The Nets have officially signed Nwaba, the team confirmed today in a press release.

JULY 14: David Nwaba has agreed to a two-year contract with the Nets, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. The deal includes a team option for the second season, according to Michael Scotto of The Athletic, who adds that the Pacers, Kings, Rockets and Suns all had interest in Nwaba (Twitter link).

It’ll be a minimum-salary deal for Nwaba, who will make approximately $1.7MM for the upcoming season and $1.8MM in 2020/21 with a July 7 deadline for the option decision, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. The Nets now have 15 players with guaranteed contracts.

Brooklyn will be the fourth stop in four years for the 26-year-old shooting guard, who spent his first three seasons with the Lakers, Bulls and Cavaliers. He appeared in 51 games for Cleveland this year, averaging 6.5 points in about 19 minutes per night.

The Cavs opted last month not to tender a $1.9MM qualifying offer to Nwaba, making him an unrestricted free agent. Even so, Cleveland had expressed some interest in bringing him back.

The addition of Nwaba continues an impressive summer for Brooklyn, which hit the free agent jackpot by signing Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan.

Celtics Sign Enes Kanter To Two-Year Deal

July 17th, 2019 at 11:24am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 17: The Celtics have officially signed Kanter, the team announced today (via Twitter).

JULY 1: The Celtics have agreed to terms with free agent center Enes Kanter on a two-year deal with a second-year player option, his manager Hank Fetic announced today (via Twitter). According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (via Twitter), Kanter’s new contract will be worth nearly $10MM, so it projects to fit into Boston’s room exception.

Kanter, 27, has spent time with the Jazz, Thunder, Knicks, and Trail Blazers since entering the league as the third overall pick in the 2011 draft. Last season, he was bought out with the Knicks in February and signed in Portland for the rest of the season. In 67 total games, he averaged 13.7 PPG and 9.8 RPG in 24.5 minutes per contest.

Kanter boosted his stock down the stretch by taking over as the Blazers’ starting center after Jusuf Nurkic broke his leg. Kanter averaged 11.4 PPG and 9.7 RPG in 16 postseason contests. Portland agreed to acquire Hassan Whiteside in a trade with Miami earlier today, signaling that the club didn’t expect to bring back Kanter.

Having agree to acquire Kemba Walker using their cap room, the Celtics had been on the lookout for a big man with their $4.8MM room exception. They were linked to Kanter and Kevon Looney on Saturday, though Looney’s agent tells Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald (Twitter link) that he didn’t hear from the C’s.

While Kanter will help improve the Celtics’ interior scoring and rebounding numbers, he’s not considered an elite defender, so the team will have some work to do in its frontcourt to make up for the departures of Al Horford and Aron Baynes.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.