Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Cavaliers Sign Luke Travers To Two-Way Deal

August 28th, 2024 at 4:30pm CST by Luke Adams

4:30pm: The signing is official, according to the Cavaliers.

3:39pm: Draft-and-stash prospect Luke Travers has agreed to sign a two-way contract with the Cavaliers, agent Daniel Moldovan tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Travers, who will turn 23 next Tuesday, was the 56th overall pick in the 2022 draft. Rather than signing an NBA contract at that time, however, he continued to play professionally in his home country of Australia, suiting up for the Perth Wildcats in 2022/23 and Melbourne United in ’23/24.

A 6’7″ wing, Travers enjoyed a strong season in Melbourne this past year, averaging 12.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 26.3 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .516/.327/.671, across 25 appearances. He has also suited up for Cleveland’s Summer League team in each of the past three offseasons, averaging 7.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.9 APG, and 1.4 BPG in 15 outings (24.7 MPG) in Las Vegas.

Word broke earlier this month that Travers had left Melbourne United to pursue NBA opportunities, and while a two-way deal with Cleveland always appeared to be the most likely outcome, that wasn’t considered a certainty until now. The Cavs could’ve traded his NBA rights to another team or used a 15-man roster spot to sign him.

Instead, Travers will begin his NBA career in Cleveland on a two-way contract that will pay him $578,577, half of the rookie minimum. He’s eligible to appear in a maximum of 50 NBA games while on that deal, though if the Cavs hold an open spot on their standard 15-man roster, they’ll be limited to 90 total NBA games for their three two-way players (Travers, Emoni Bates, and JT Thor). As a result, the Australian wing will likely spend plenty of time in the G League with the Cleveland Charge.

Once their reported deals with Travers and Thor are official, the Cavs will have 15 players under contract — 12 on standard deals and three on two-ways, with Isaac Okoro still a restricted free agent.

Suns Waive Nassir Little, E.J. Liddell

August 27th, 2024 at 6:50pm CST by Tristan Tucker

AUGUST 27: The cuts are official, according to PHNX Sports’ Gerald Bourguet (Twitter link). Both players will become unrestricted free agents if they clear waivers later this week.

With just one year of service, Liddell is eligible for a two-way contract with any team besides the Suns. Little, with five seasons of experience, is not two-way eligible.

AUGUST 21: The Suns are waiving forwards Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Both players will become unrestricted free agents.

Liddell being waived doesn’t come as much of a surprise. He looked like the odd man out for the projected 15-man regular season roster after the Suns acquired him a few weeks ago in a salary dump of David Roddy.

The former Ohio State forward missed his rookie season due to an ACL tear, but played in eight games with New Orleans last season. He was sent from the Pelicans to the Hawks in the Dejounte Murray trade this offseason before being rerouted to Phoenix.

Liddell is still just 23 and had a tremendously impressive junior season in college before his injury (19.4 PPG, 2.6 BPG, .374 3PT%) and he played well in the G League last year, averaging 17.3 points per game). The No. 41 overall pick from the 2022 draft is a candidate to catch on elsewhere.

Little being waived is more surprising, since he’s owed $21.75MM over the next three years and seemed like a candidate to be traded for salary-matching purposes down the line. However, the Suns will instead use the stretch provision in removing him from the roster.

There were rumblings in July that Phoenix cutting Little was a possibility. As Charania writes, the Suns moved forward with that plan in order to open up a roster spot and to create more flexibility for signings or trades.

A former first-round pick, Little wasn’t a huge part of Phoenix’s roster last season, averaging 3.4 points in 45 appearances. He was acquired from the Trail Blazers in last September’s three-team Damian Lillard trade after spending the first four years of his career in Portland. In 237 career games, Little holds averages of 5.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. The 25th pick in the 2019 draft, Little is still just 24 and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him earn another guaranteed contract down the line.

In addition to creating more roster flexibility, the Suns are now better positioned to give Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro an opportunity to earn immediate minutes, according to Charania, who notes that the team is high on both rookies (Twitter link). Phoenix landed Dunn 28th overall and Ighodaro at No. 40 in June’s draft.

With Little and Liddell waived, the Suns have 14 players on standard contracts and three players on two-way deals, so their opening day roster looks to be mostly set.

The Suns had until Aug. 31 to waive Little and stretch his contract through 2030/31 while reducing his $6.75MM cap hit this season. Under the stretch provision, his remaining salary will be paid over twice the number of seasons remaining on his contract, plus one year. Because he had three years left on his contract, Little’s remaining $21.75MM will be paid out equally over the next seven seasons (through ’30/31), for an annual hit of about $3.1MM.

While reducing their team salary by $3.65MM might not seem worth it at face value, given the long-term impact, the Suns are drastically reducing their tax burden by moving Little. They’re over $36MM over the second tax apron, so the tax savings on that $3.65MM will be significant. Based on their current payroll, stretching Little’s salary will save the Suns approximately $40MM in tax penalties across the next two seasons, tweets John Hollinger of The Athletic.

Bucks Sign James Akinjo, Liam Robbins To Exhibit 10 Deals

August 27th, 2024 at 4:50pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Bucks have signed guard James Akinjo and center Liam Robbins, the team announced today in a press release. Both players received Exhibit 10 contracts, according to The Athletic’s Eric Nehm (Twitter link).

Both Akinjo and Robbins have previously spent time with other teams on training camp contracts but haven’t yet seen regular season NBA action.

Akinjo is a 6’1″ guard out of Baylor who has signed Exhibit 10 deals with the Knicks and Kings, as well as previously spending summer league with the Hawks. He played this summer for the Bucks, appearing in two games and totaling four points in Las Vegas.

Akinjo has played more extensively at the G League level. In 2022/23 with the Westchester Knicks, Akinjo averaged 14.7 points and 7.8 assists per game while making 37.4% of his threes. Last season, he split time between the Stockton Kings and Wisconsin Herd, averaging 9.6 PPG and 4.2 APG in 31 G League appearances.

Robbins, a 7’0″ center from Vanderbilt, signed with the Pelicans on an Exhibit 10 deal last summer but suffered a stress reaction in his fibula and was waived. Before the injury, he seemed like a prime candidate to compete for a two-way contract. He had an impressive final college season at Vanderbilt, averaging 15.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.2 blocks while shooting 36.5% from three.

Robbins still ended up being allocated to the Birmingham Squadron but was deactivated in January without playing a game in the G League due to his injury.

The Bucks have all three of their two-way contract spots filled, so Akinjo and Robbins will have an uphill climb to make Milwaukee’s roster. By signing Exhibit 10 deals, Akinjo and Robbins will receive bonuses worth up to $77.5K on top of their standard G League salaries as long as they spend at least 60 days with the Herd after being waived by the Bucks.

Milwaukee now has 20 players officially under contract, with Philip Alston also reported to be joining the team on an Exhibit 10 deal.

Matt Ryan Re-Signs With Pelicans On Camp Deal

August 27th, 2024 at 4:05pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 27: Ryan’s new deal with the Pelicans is now official, as Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets.

Ryan’s non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract includes Exhibit 9 language (protecting the team in the event of a preseason injury), but not Exhibit 10 language, Hoops Rumors has learned.

That means it can’t be converted into a two-way deal and won’t award Ryan a bonus if he’s waived and then spends time with the Birmingham Squadron, New Orleans’ G League team.

AUGUST 26: The Pelicans are re-signing Matt Ryan on a reworked one-year contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Ryan was waived on Friday.

Ryan, 27, appeared in 28 games for New Orleans in 2023/24, averaging 5.4 points and 1.4 rebounds while shooting 45.1% from three-point range in 13.9 minutes per contest. He missed several weeks of action last season due to a right calf strain and a right elbow injury, which required surgery in December.

New Orleans claimed Ryan off waivers last October, inheriting the two-way contract he signed with Minnesota shortly before the start of training camp. He also had brief stints with the Celtics and Lakers earlier in his career.

The Pelicans converted Ryan to a standard contract at the very end of last season, making him playoff-eligible. However, his three-year deal — which featured a significant end-of-season payday in ’23/24 — was non-guaranteed for the ’24/25 and ’25/26 seasons.

Ryan’s salary for ’24/25 would have become guaranteed if he had remained under contract through the start of the regular season. While we don’t know the details of the new contract yet, it’s likely another minimum-salary deal that won’t become guaranteed until the league-wide date of January 10. It should also have a cap hit of $2,087,519 instead of $2,196,970.

The Pelicans now have 15 players on standard contracts, with 13 players on guaranteed salaries.

Grizzlies Waive Mamadi Diakite

August 27th, 2024 at 11:24am CST by Luke Adams

11:24am: The move is official. The Grizzlies have formally announced that Diakite has been waived (Twitter link).

11:21am: After acquiring him from Brooklyn last month, the Grizzlies will waive big man Mamadi Diakite, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Diakite, 27, finished last season with the Knicks, then was traded to Brooklyn in the Mikal Bridges blockbuster last month. He was flipped from the Nets to the Grizzlies in a subsequent deal that sent Ziaire Williams to Brooklyn and allowed Memphis to re-sign Luke Kennard while staying out of luxury tax territory.

A 6’9″ forward/center who played his college ball at Virginia, Diakite has appeared in a total of 55 regular season games for the Bucks, Thunder, Cavaliers, Spurs, and Knicks since making his NBA debut in 2021. He holds career averages of 3.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 9.6 minutes per contest.

Diakite has a $2,273,252 cap hit for the 2024/25 season, but only $1,392,150 is guaranteed, so the Grizzlies will be on the hook for that partial guarantee if he goes unclaimed on waivers. While they have the option of carrying the full amount on this season’s cap, they instead intend to stretch it across three seasons at a rate of $464,050 through 2026/27, according to Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian (Twitter link).

Using the stretch provision on Diakite’s partial guarantee will create a little extra spending flexibility below the luxury tax line, giving Memphis enough breathing room to sign a 15th man without becoming a taxpayer, as we recently noted in our look at the club’s offseason.

Once the move is official, the Grizzlies will have 17 players under contract — 14 on guaranteed standard salaries and three on two-way deals.

Pacers Sign Dakota Mathias To Exhibit 10 Contract

August 26th, 2024 at 3:52pm CST by Rory Maher

The Pacers have waived Kyle Mangas and Cameron McGriff, the team announced in a press release. Indiana has also signed Dakota Mathias to an Exhibit 10 contract.

Both Mangas and McGriff were signed to Exhibit 10 contracts, and both finished last season with the Mad Ants, the Pacers’ NBA G League affiliate. Now that they’ve been released, Mangas and McGriff will receive bonuses worth up to $77.5K on top of their standard NBAGL salaries as long as they spend at least 60 days with the Mad Ants once the 2024/25 season begins.

Mathias played four years of college ball in Indiana at Purdue prior to going undrafted in 2018. He has appeared in 14 regular season games with Philadelphia and Memphis, last playing for the Grizzlies during the 2021/22 campaign. He has averaged 3.9 points in 9.9 minutes per contest during his brief NBA career.

A 6’4″ guard, Mathias is an excellent outside shooter, having converted more than 40% of his three-point tries in both college and the G League. In addition to his time in the NBA and NBAGL, the 29-year-old has also played professionally in Spain. He spent part of last season in Germany with Ratiopharm Ulm.

As with Mangas and McGriff, the Pacers’ announcement specifies that Mathias’ Exhibit 10 deal was designed for him to join the Mad Ants for the upcoming season. That means he will be waived at some point before the ’24/25 campaign begins.

Pelicans Waive Matt Ryan

August 23rd, 2024 at 9:03pm CST by Rory Maher

9:03pm: The Pelicans officially waived Ryan on Friday, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

1:19pm: The Pelicans plan to waive sharpshooter Matt Ryan, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Ryan, 27, appeared in 28 games for New Orleans in 2023/24, averaging 5.4 points and 1.4 rebounds while shooting 45.1% from three-point range in 13.9 minutes per contest. He missed several weeks of action last season due to a right calf strain and a right elbow injury, which required surgery in December.

New Orleans claimed Ryan off waivers last October, inheriting the two-way contract he signed with Minnesota shortly before the start of training camp. He also had brief stints with the Celtics and Lakers earlier in his career.

The Pelicans converted Ryan to a standard contract at the very end of last season, making him playoff-eligible. However, his three-year deal — which featured a significant end-of-season payday in ’23/24 — was non-guaranteed for the ’24/25 and ’25/26 seasons. That means the Pels won’t carry a dead-money cap hit by cutting Ryan loose.

Ryan’s salary for ’24/25 would have become guaranteed if he had remained under contract through the start of the regular season.

After officially signing Javonte Green, the Pelicans had 15 players on standard contracts, with 13 players on guaranteed salaries. They’re back down to 14 players now, with Jose Alvarado holding the lone non-guaranteed deal.

The Pelicans are still about $1.6MM over the luxury tax line after releasing Ryan, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks, with a tax distribution to non-taxpaying teams projected to be a record high of $18.2MM. 13 teams are presently over the tax threshold, Marks adds.

If Ryan clears waivers in a couple days, he will become an unrestricted free agent. As a three-year veteran, he remains eligible for a two-way contract covering one season.

Pacers Sign Kyle Mangas, Cameron McGriff To Exhibit 10 Deals

August 23rd, 2024 at 6:38pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers have signed free agent guard Kyle Mangas and forward Cameron McGriff to Exhibit 10 contracts, the team announced today in a press release.

Mangas, a native of Indiana who played his college ball at Indiana Wesleyan, went undrafted in 2021 and spent two seasons overseas with teams in the Czech Republic and Lithuania before catching on with the Indiana Mad Ants, the Pacers’ G League affiliate, for the 2023/24 campaign.

In 51 total Showcase Cup and regular season games last season for the Mad Ants, the 6’4″ guard averaged 16.9 points, 3.5 assists, and 3.1 rebounds in 31.4 minutes per game, posting a shooting line of .478/.389/.860.

McGriff, who went undrafted out of Oklahoma State in 2020, bounced around several leagues in his first few professional seasons, playing in Belgium, Puerto Rico, Greece, and France in addition to multiple stints in the G League and a brief cameo in the NBA for the Trail Blazers during the 2021/22 season.

Like Mangas, McGriff finished last season as a member of the Indiana Mad Ants. After playing in 32 games for the Memphis Hustle, the 6’7″ forward was traded to the Mad Ants in March and made eight appearances for the Pacers’ affiliate down the stretch. In his 40 total outings for the two teams, he recorded averages of 11.3 PPG and 4.2 RPG on .434/.331/.887 shooting.

While Exhibit 10 contracts can be converted into two-way deals before the regular season begins, it doesn’t sound like that’s the plan for Mangas or McGriff. The Pacers’ announcement mentions specifically that the plan for the duo is to rejoin the Mad Ants, who hold their G League returning rights.

Signings these Exhibit 10 deals will allow Mangas and McGriff to receive bonuses worth up to $77.5K on top of their standard NBAGL salaries as long as they spend at least 60 days with the Mad Ants after being waived by the Pacers.

Indiana now has a full 21-man offseason roster.

Javonte Green Signs With Pelicans

August 22nd, 2024 at 5:35pm CST by Tristan Tucker

AUGUST 22: Green’s addition is now official, the Pelicans have announced (Twitter link).

AUGUST 20: The Pelicans are signing free agent Javonte Green, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 6’4″ wing with power forward versatility closed last season with the Bulls.

According to Charania, the deal is for one year. William Guillory of The Athletic adds that it will be a guaranteed minimum-salary contract (Twitter link). Since Green has five years of NBA service, his deal will pay him $2,425,403 while counting for $2,087,519 against the cap.

Green went undrafted in 2015 but caught on with the Celtics ahead of the 2019/20 season. He spent one-and-a-half years with Boston before being traded to the Bulls.

The Radford product was a key part of the 2021/22 Bulls, averaging 7.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 65 games (45 starts). He wasn’t re-signed by the team after his contract expired in 2023 but he eventually caught back on with the organization last season when he signed a pair of deals with the Bulls to close out the year.

In his nine games last season, Green averaged a career-high 12.2 points and 7.4 rebounds. In 195 career games, he holds averages of 5.4 points and 3.1 boards while shooting a .541/.345/.754 line.

Once Green’s deal is official, the Pelicans will have a full 15-man roster of standard contract players, with 13 guaranteed salaries. All three of their two-way spots are also occupied.

With Jonas Valanciunas out of the fold, New Orleans added several bigs to their bench in Yves Missi, Karlo Matkovic and Daniel Theis. While Green doesn’t have the same size as those players, he provides another strong rebounding presence (6.8 rebounds per 36 minutes).

Wizards Waive Eugene Omoruyi

August 21st, 2024 at 12:00pm CST by Luke Adams

12:00pm: The Wizards have officially waived Omoruyi, the team announced today (via Twitter).

10:48am: The Wizards are expected to place forward Eugene Omoruyi on waivers on Wednesday, reports Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Omoruyi is currently on an expiring $2,196,970 contract. However, his salary is fully non-guaranteed, so Washington wouldn’t be on the hook for any of that money once he’s been officially released.

Omoruyi signed a two-way contract with the Wizards last July after being waived by the Pistons. The former Oregon standout, who previously spent time with Dallas, Oklahoma City, and Detroit from 2021-23, appeared in a career-high 43 games last season for Washington, averaging 4.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 9.1 minutes per night.

The Wizards converted Omoruyi’s two-way deal to a standard two-year contract in March.

If he’s claimed off waivers, Omoruyi’s new team would be responsible for his $2.2MM salary for 2024/25, which becomes partially guaranteed for $1MM if he remains under contract through the start of the regular season. Should the 27-year-old go unclaimed, he’d become an unrestricted free agent and would be able to sign with any club.

Waiving Omoruyi is the first step for the Wizards to address their roster crunch ahead of the regular season. Entering the day, the team was carrying 17 players on standard contracts, including 15 players with guaranteed salaries.

Besides Omoruyi, Jared Butler is the other player without a fully guaranteed deal, so Washington could set its 15-man regular season roster by cutting Butler — or by waiving or trading a player on a guaranteed contract.