Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacers Sign Goga Bitadze To Rookie Contract

July 15th, 2019 at 11:47am CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers have officially signed first-round pick Goga Bitadze to his rookie contract, tweets Scott Agness of The Athletic. NBA.com’s transactions log confirms that the move has been finalized.

A Georgian-born center, Bitadze was the 18th overall pick in last month’s draft and was the second international player to come off the board, behind Sekou Doumbouya.

Bitadze’s selection raised some eyebrows, since the Pacers already had centers Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis on their roster. However, with Turner and Sabonis expected to start alongside one another in Indiana’s frontcourt, Bitadze is in position to earn rotation minutes as a backup at the five.

Assuming he signed for the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale, Bitadze will earn about $2.82MM in his rookie year, and a total of approximately $13.64MM over the life of his four-year contract.

As our draft pick signing tracker shows, Chuma Okeke of the Magic is now the only first-round pick who has yet to sign his rookie contract.

Admiral Schofield Signs Rookie Deal With Wizards

July 14th, 2019 at 10:11am CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 14: Schofield’s signing is official, the Wizards confirmed on Twitter.

JULY 12: Second-round pick Admiral Schofield has agreed to a three-year contract with the Wizards, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

The Wizards acquired the 6’5” Schofield in a draft-night deal with the Sixers. The University of Tennessee product averaged 16.5 PPG and 6.1 RPG in 31.8 MPG during his senior year. He shot 38.7% from long range during his four years with the Vols.

He has averaged 8.0 PPG in 20.8 MPG during four summer league in Las Vegas. He’ll likely spend most of his rookie campaign in the G League with the Capital City Go-Go.

Celtics Sign Carsen Edwards

July 14th, 2019 at 10:07am CST by marksuleymanov

JULY 14: Edwards has officially signed, the Celtics announced in a press release.

JULY 13: The Celtics have agreed to a four-year deal with their 2019 second-round draft pick Carsen Edwards, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Edwards’ contract, which guarantees him $4.5MM in salary, is for three seasons with the fourth season being a team option.

As Himmelsbach notes, it’s not overly common for second-round picks to receive three guaranteed seasons but the Celtics are high on the former Purdue standout. Edwards, selected 33rd overall, has also played well during the NBA Summer League, averaging 18.0 PPG on 52% shooting in four contests.

In his junior season at Purdue, the 21-year-old Houston native averaged 24.3 PPG and 3.6 RPG in 36 games.

Lakers Sign Talen Horton-Tucker

July 13th, 2019 at 4:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

Second-round pick Talen Horton-Tucker has signed with the Lakers, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Horton-Tucker was selected 46th overall with a pick that was acquired from the Magic in a draft-night trade.

Because L.A. is over the cap, the team isn’t able to able to sign Horton-Tucker past two years, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). The maximum he could earn on his new deal is $898,310 as a rookie and $1,517,981 in 2020/21.

A 6’4″ swingman, Horton-Tucker averaged 11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists during his only season at Iowa State.

Jaylen Adams Waived By Hawks

July 13th, 2019 at 12:49pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Hawks have waived guard Jaylen Adams, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets.

Adams’ $1,416,852 salary for next season would have been guaranteed on July 19 if he hadn’t been waived. The Hawks will only incur a cap hit of $100K.

Atlanta now has $7MM in cap space and 13 players on guaranteed contracts, Bobby Marks of ESPN notes. The Hawks are short on point guards behind Trae Young, so they may be targeting a veteran at that spot.

Adams signed a two-way deal with Atlanta last summer, then had it converted to a standard contract in February. He went undrafted out of St. Bonaventure.

The 23-year-old Adams appeared in 34 NBA games last season, averaging 3.2 PPG and 1.9 APG in 12.6 MPG.

Timberwolves Sign Jordan Bell To One-Year Deal

July 12th, 2019 at 10:24pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 12, 10:24pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 1, 6:02pm: The Timberwolves have reached an agreement on a guaranteed one-year deal with free agent big man Jordan Bell, agents Aaron Mintz and Michael Tellem of CAA tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

According to Michael Scotto of The Athletic (via Twitter), it’s a one-year, $1.6MM deal. Bell’s minimum salary for the 2019/20 season will be $1,620,564, so it sounds like that will be the value of his new deal with Minnesota.

Bell is technically a restricted free agent, having received a qualifying offer from the Warriors last week. However, based on the reporting, it sounds like Golden State will probably rescind that QO, freeing Bell up to sign outright with Minnesota. Offer sheets must span at least two seasons, and a sign-and-trade deal must be for at least three years (albeit with just one guaranteed). We’ll wait on additional details to be sure.

A former second-round pick, Bell averaged 3.3 PPG and 2.7 RPG in 68 games (11.6 MPG) for the Warriors in his sophomore season. According to Mark Medina of The Mercury News (via Twitter), the 24-year-old also received interest from the Rockets, Thunder, and Jazz. Medina adds that Bell zeroed in on Minnesota since he felt like it was his best opportunity for a bigger role.

Wesley Matthews Signs With Bucks

July 12th, 2019 at 10:20pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 12, 10:20pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 1, 3:14pm: Free agent swingman Wesley Matthews has agreed to sign with the Bucks, league sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). In a follow-up tweet, Wojnarowski says it’s a minimum-salary deal.

Matthews, 32, spent most of the last four years in Dallas, but was traded to the Knicks this past winter and was subsequently bought out. He finished the season in Indiana, averaging 10.9 PPG with a .369 3PT% in 23 games (all starts) for the Pacers down the stretch.

Joining the Bucks will represent a homecoming for Matthews, who attended high school in Madison, Wisconsin and played his college ball at Marquette.

According to Wojnarowski, the veteran free agent drew interest from a handful of contenders – ESPN’s Tim MacMahon (Twitter link) names the Rockets as one – but he’ll become part of a Milwaukee squad that was just two wins away from the NBA Finals this spring.

Although the Bucks lost Malcolm Brogdon to the Pacers early in free agency, they’ll acquire draft picks from Indiana by signing-and-trading Brogdon, and they’ve otherwise enjoyed plenty of success on the free agent market. Milwaukee is bringing back Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, and George Hill, and will add Robin Lopez with its room exception.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bucks Sign Center Robin Lopez

July 12th, 2019 at 10:18pm CST by ChrisCrouse

JULY 12, 10:18pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JUNE 30, 10:47pm: The Bucks are signing Robin Lopez, sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Milwaukee re-signed his brother, Brook Lopez, earlier today.

Lopez will make approximately $9.77MM over the next two seasons, as Milwaukee is signing him via the room exception. The Bucks will not have access to any other exceptions this offseason, having used their bi-annual exception last offseason.

Lopez spent last season in Chicago, though for a large part of the year, it seems the team would work out a buyout arrangement with the big man and allow him to sign on with a contender. That never occurred and Lopez finished out his contract with the Bulls.

The Knicks were reportedly interested in signing Lopez to back up Mitchell Robinson. The center spent time with the team earlier in his career. He inked a four-year deal with the franchise when Phil Jackson was running the show in New York.

Raptors To Give Dewan Hernandez Three-Year Deal

July 12th, 2019 at 8:51pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Raptors are signing late second-round selection Dewan Hernandez of Miami to a partially guaranteed three-year contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Hernandez, the second-to-last pick in June at No. 59 overall, averaged 11.4 PPG and 6.7 RPG in 25.8 MPG in 2017/18 for the University of Miami, but didn’t play last season due to eligibility issues. The 6’11” Hernandez, 22, did not make a 3-point shot in his two college seasons.

He will likely spent much of his rookie season with the Raptors’ G League affiliate. He has averaged 12.3 PPG and 7.5 RPG in 23.5 MPG over four summer league appearances.

Spurs Sign Forward Trey Lyles

July 12th, 2019 at 5:41pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 12, 5:41pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 11, 6:39pm: The Spurs have reached a contract agreement with free agent forward Trey Lyles, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). It’ll be a two-year deal, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Jabari Young of The Athletic adds (via Twitter) that it’ll be worth about $11MM in total.

Lyles will be joining the Spurs in place of Marcus Morris, who tentatively agreed to a two-year, $19MM contract with San Antonio but will instead be signing a one-year, $15MM deal with New York. Wojnarowski suggests that the Spurs pulled their offer to Morris, but the veteran forward had reportedly been re-evaluating his options for at least a couple days.

Lyles is coming off a down year in Denver, having posted just 8.5 PPG and 3.8 RPG with a shooting line of .418/.255/.698 in 64 games (17.5 MPG). However, he flashed promising stretch-four potential in 2017/18, when he posted marks of 9.9 PPG and 4.8 RPG on .491/.381/.706 shooting.

The Nuggets originally tendered him a qualifying offer, but rescinded that QO after they acquired Jerami Grant in a trade with the Thunder, making Lyles an unrestricted free agent.

The Spurs had initially planned on signing DeMarre Carroll using their mid-level exception, but restructured that agreement to acquire Carroll via sign-and-trade, sending Davis Bertans to Washington and opening up the full mid-level for Morris. With that deal no longer happening, I’d expect Lyles to be signed using some of that MLE, though specific terms aren’t yet known.

Lyles may not provide the same sort of immediate impact that Morris would have, but he’s still just 23 years old and his ’17/18 performance suggests he has room to improve.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.