Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Jazz, Juwan Morgan Agree To Exhibit 10 Deal

July 29th, 2019 at 2:37pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have reached an agreement to sign undrafted forward Juwan Morgan to an Exhibit 10 contract, league sources tell Michael Scotto of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Scotto first reported in June (via Twitter) that Morgan was joining the Jazz, though Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype noted at the time (via Twitter) that the deal was just for Summer League. It appears the two sides have now agreed to extend their partnership into at least training camp.

Morgan, who spent all four seasons of his college career with the Hoosiers, was a full-time starter as a senior in 2018/19. He averaged 15.5 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 1.5 BPG in 35 games (29.9 MPG). In four Las Vegas Summer League games with Utah, he recorded 6.8 PPG and 5.5 RPG in 17.3 minutes per contest.

An Exhibit 10 contract will put Morgan in line for a bonus if he’s released by the Jazz in the preseason but joins the team’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars. That scenario is more likely than having his contract converted into a two-way deal, since Utah’s two-way contract slots are currently occupied by 2019 second-rounders Jarrell Brantley and Justin Wright-Foreman.

Pacers Officially Sign Edmond Sumner

July 29th, 2019 at 1:40pm CST by Luke Adams

A deal that was agreed upon four weeks ago has now been completed, with the Pacers announcing today that they’ve officially signed guard Edmond Sumner to his new contract.

Sumner’s three-year deal will reportedly be worth approximately $6.5MM. We’re still waiting on the specific details on the guarantee and the structure, but at least one report indicated that the third year won’t be guaranteed.

After being selected with the 52nd overall pick in the 2017 draft, Sumner has spent his first two professional seasons in Indiana, first on a two-way contract and later on a standard deal. The 23-year-old has logged limited minutes in 24 games for the Pacers over those two years, but has played a more extensive role for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Indiana’s G League affiliate. In 26 NBAGL contests in 2018/19, he averaged 22.1 PPG, 3.8 APG, and 1.7 SPG with a .472/.360/.748 shooting line.

According to Scott Agness of The Athletic (Twitter link), the left foot injury that sidelined Sumner for all but one Summer League game in Las Vegas earlier this month has cleared up, and he’s ready to compete for a rotation spot in training camp this fall.

Having also officially signed T.J. McConnell today, the Pacers appear to have exhausted their cap space for the offseason, so other signings – namely Justin Holiday via the room exception – should follow soon.

Heat Waive Yante Maten

July 29th, 2019 at 12:44pm CST by Luke Adams

The Heat have waived forward Yante Maten, formally announcing the transaction today in a press release. Assuming Maten goes unclaimed, he’ll clear waivers on Wednesday and become an unrestricted free agent.

Maten, who went undrafted out of Georgia in 2018, joined the Heat on a two-way contract a year ago and spent most of the season playing for the Sioux Falls Skyforce. In 30 G League games (32.7 MPG), the rookie averaged 23.5 PPG and 9.7 RPG, earning a spot on the NBA team’s 15-man roster to finish the season.

Miami’s decision to release Maten doesn’t come as a huge surprise, given the structure of his deal. His $100K partial guarantee was on track to increase to $150K if he had remained under contract through Thursday. A $50K bump isn’t too significant, but it’s a big deal for the Heat, who entered the day with approximately $1MM of breathing room below their hard cap ($138.93MM) for 2019/20.

After Maten had a shaky showing in Las Vegas Summer League earlier this month, he was viewed as the most expendable of the Heat’s players on partially guaranteed contracts, as we relayed over the weekend. Releasing him before his guarantee increases allows the team to create a roster spot – and the cap flexibility – to sign another player.

Udonis Haslem is considered a candidate for that newly-opened slot, but he has yet to make a decision on whether or not to continue his playing career. If Haslem retires, Miami would obviously go in another direction.

Pacers Sign T.J. McConnell

July 29th, 2019 at 12:31pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 29: Nearly four weeks after agreeing to terms with him, the Pacers have officially signed McConnell, the team confirmed today (via Twitter).

JULY 3: The Pacers have reached an agreement to sign free agent point guard T.J. McConnell, a league source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), it’ll be a two-year, $7MM deal.

McConnell, who went undrafted out of Arizona in 2015, caught on with the Sixers and spent his first four NBA seasons in Philadelphia before becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer.

In 2018/19, McConnell averaged 6.4 PPG, 3.4 APG, and 2.3 RPG while shooting a career-high 52.5% from the floor in 76 games (19.3 MPG). However, the 27-year-old fell out of Philadelphia’s rotation in the postseason, logging just 18 total minutes in the club’s seven-game series vs. Toronto.

With Darren Collison retiring and Cory Joseph heading to Sacramento this offseason, the Pacers have addressed the point guard position by agreeing to acquire Malcolm Brogdon in a sign-and-trade, coming to terms on a new deal with Edmond Sumner, and now reaching an agreement with McConnell. Last year’s first-round pick Aaron Holiday is also on track to return to help fill out the depth chart.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks observes (via Twitter), the Pacers projected to have a little over $5MM available in cap room before their deal with McConnell. He could be signed using some of that space, or the team could wait and fit his contract into its $4.8MM room exception.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mavs Waive Two-Way Player Daryl Macon

July 26th, 2019 at 5:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks have waived guard Daryl Macon, according to a team press release.

The 6’3” Macon spent all of last season with Dallas on a two-way contract. He played in eight games for the Mavericks as a rookie and averaged 3.6 PPG in 11.2 MPG.

He also appeared in 41 games, including 37 starts, for the Mavericks’ G-League affiliate, the Texas Legends. He averaged 19.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG and 6.2 APG in 34.5 MPG.

Macon started all five games for the Mavericks’ Las Vegas summer league team and averaged 12.6 PPG and 4.0 APG.

Dallas’ two-way slots have been in a state of flux. The team recently waived forward Kostas Antetokounmpo, then signed shooting guard Antonius Cleveland to fill that opening.

Unsigned second-rounder Isaiah Roby is one of the potential candidates to take Macon’s spot, Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News speculates.

Frank Mason III Signs Two-Way Deal With Bucks

July 26th, 2019 at 3:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 26: The deal is now official, the Bucks confirmed today in a press release.

JULY 20: Point guard Frank Mason III has agreed to a two-way contract with the Bucks, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Mason was waived earlier this month by the Kings and went unclaimed.

Mason, 24, was selected by Sacramento with the 34th overall pick in the 2017 draft. He had a promising rookie season, averaging 7.9 PPG and 2.8 APG, but lost his place in the regular rotation last season.

He was supposed to play for the Kings in the California Summer League, but was held out of action due to a sore right hip. Mason had a $1.62MM salary for the upcoming season but it wasn’t guaranteed.

He’ll provide depth at the point behind Eric Bledsoe, George Hill and Donte DiVincenzo.

Forward Bonzie Colson holds the other two-way spot with Milwaukee, but the team also agreed to sign Cameron Reynolds to a two-way deal, so Colson looks like the odd man out.

Wizards Sign Phil Booth To Exhibit 10 Deal

July 26th, 2019 at 2:36pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards have officially signed free agent guard Phil Booth, the team announced today (via Twitter). According to Don Markus of The Baltimore Sun (Twitter link), Booth received an Exhibit 10 contract.

A Baltimore native, Booth won a pair of titles during his time at Villanova before going undrafted last month. In his final season as a Wildcat in 2018/19, the 6’3″ guard emerged as the team’s go-to scorer, averaging 18.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 3.8 APG with a .434/.367/.749 shooting line in 36 games.

The Cavaliers added Booth to their roster for Summer League play in Las Vegas this month and he showed off his scoring ability in four games for Cleveland, averaging 11.3 PPG in just 15.3 minutes per contest.

Booth appears to be on track to attend training camp with the Wizards. Although he’s probably unlikely to earn a regular season roster spot, he could end up on a two-way deal or playing for the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s G League affiliate.

Clippers Sign Derrick Walton Jr.

July 26th, 2019 at 12:39pm CST by Luke Adams

12:39pm: Walton confirmed to JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link) that he and the Clippers completed a deal. Jovan Buha of The Athletic tweets that it’s an Exhibit 10 contract, as expected.

9:59am: The Clippers have signed free agent point guard Derrick Walton Jr., according to RealGM’s official log of NBA transactions. Details aren’t known, but RealGM classifies it as a one-year contract, so an Exhibit 10 deal seems likely.

Walton, 24, spent a season with the Heat on a two-way contract in 2017/18 after going undrafted out of Michigan. He caught on with the Bulls for training camp and the preseason last fall, but was waived before the regular season began and ultimately ended up playing overseas in 2018/19 for teams in Lithuania and Germany.

The Clippers added Walton to their Summer League roster this offseason, and he appeared in four games for the club in Las Vegas, averaging 4.3 PPG, 1.8 APG, and 1.8 RPG in four games (13.3 MPG).

With only 13 players on guaranteed contracts, the Clippers still project to have a couple openings on their regular season roster. It’s not clear if Walton will get the opportunity to compete for one of those spots, or if Los Angeles simply views him as a potential candidate to join the team’s G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario.

Mavericks Sign Dakota Mathias

July 26th, 2019 at 12:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks have officially signed free agent guard Dakota Mathias to a contract, the team announced today in a press release. Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed, but it figures to be a non-guaranteed camp deal.

Mathias went undrafted in 2018 after spending four years at Purdue, where he was a two-time Big Ten All-Defensive Team selection and briefly held the school’s record for total three-pointers made (Carsen Edwards surpassed him in 2018/19).

In his first professional season, Mathias joined the Cavaliers for Summer League play, then signed with Joventut in Spain, appearing in 12 games overseas before an ankle injury ended his stint with the club.

The former Boilermaker returned stateside to play for the Lakers’ Summer League team in Las Vegas this month. Although he struggled with his shot in five games for the Lakers, going just 9-for-33 from the floor (27.3%), the Mavs apparently like him enough to bring him to camp.

Mathias looks like a good bet to ultimately end up playing for the Texas Legends, Dallas’ G League affiliate.

Bucks Sign Dragan Bender To Two-Year Deal

July 26th, 2019 at 8:09am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 26, 8:09am: The Bucks have officially signed Bender, per NBA.com’s transactions log.

JULY 25, 12:20pm: The first year of Bender’s deal with the Bucks is partially guaranteed, while the second is non-guaranteed, reports Matt Velazquez of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter links).

JULY 25, 10:49am: Free agent power forward Dragan Bender won’t be returning overseas after all, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that the former lottery pick has reached an agreement on a two-year deal with the Bucks.

Guarantee details aren’t yet known, but Milwaukee can’t offer more than the veteran’s minimum, which would result in salaries worth approximately $1.68MM in 2019/20 and $1.82MM in 2020/21 for Bender.

Bender, 21, spent the last three seasons with the Suns after being selected fourth overall in 2016. However, he has failed to develop into a regular NBA rotation player, averaging 5.3 PPG and 3.8 RPG with a .394/.321/.647 shooting line in 171 games in Phoenix.

A report last week indicated that Bender was close to signing with defending EuroLeague champions CSKA Moscow. However, the verbal agreement Bender had with the Russian club was said to be contingent on him not receiving any last-minute NBA offers. Now that the Bucks have swooped in at the 11th hour, the young big man will remain stateside.

Before making their deal with Bender official, the Bucks are already carrying 14 players with fully guaranteed salaries for 2019/20. If Bender gets a guaranteed salary too, it would make him a strong favorite to fill the team’s 15th and final regular season roster spot.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.