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Kings Exercise Options On Five Players

October 26th, 2018 at 6:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings showed their commitment to the youth movement by exercising the rookie scale options on five players — guards De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield, small forward Justin Jackson and big men Harry Giles and Skal Labissiere, according to a team press release.

Teams have until the end of the month to make rookie scale option decisions but Sacramento beat the deadline by nearly a week. The biggest salary commitment, due to his status as the fifth overall pick in the 2017 draft, goes to Fox. He’ll have a salary just shy of $6.44MM for the 2019/20 season. Hield’s fourth-year option will result in a $4.86MM cap hit.

Jackson’s third-year option is worth $3.28MM while Giles will make approximately $2.58MM. Labissiere’s fourth-year option will cost nearly $2.34MM.

All of those affirmative option decisions were expected with the possible exception of Labissiere’s contract. However, he’s off to a productive start this season, averaging 8.5 PPG and 4.7 RPG.

Fox is emerging as one of the cornerstones of the franchise, averaging 17.6 PPG, 6.6 APG and 1.4 steals through five games during his sophomore campaign. Hield is scoring at a 14.0 PPG clip thus far while making 43.2% of his 3-point tries. Jackson has posted 9.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG and 1.6 APG, while Giles is averaging 3.8 PPG and 3.0 RPG while working his way back from major knee issues.

You can find all the rookie scale option decisions around the league here.

Bulls Sign Shaquille Harrison, Waive Omer Asik

October 21st, 2018 at 11:16am CST by Arthur Hill

OCTOBER 21, 11:16am: Harrison has been signed and Asik has been waived, the Bulls announced on their website. Chicago has the option of stretching the remaining $3MM it owes Asik over the next three seasons, notes Bobby Marks on ESPN Now.

OCTOBER 20, 6:13pm: Sources tell Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic that Asik will be waived (Twitter link). Harrison will receive a standard contract rather than a two-way deal, according to Charania.

OCTOBER 20, 6:06pm: The Bulls may waive veteran center Omer Asik to make room for Harrison, tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Asik’s $11,286,516 contract for this season is fully guaranteed, but he only has a $3MM guarantee on his $11,977,527 salary for 2019/20. Chicago was hoping he might be useful in trade talks, but may decide that opening his roster spot is more valuable. The 32-year-old has been away from the team with inflammatory arthritis and there’s no timetable for him to return. He played just four games after being acquired in a trade with the Pelicans in February. However, Johnson adds that a final decision hasn’t been made.

OCTOBER 20, 5:47pm: Shaquille Harrison, who was waived by the Suns earlier this week, will sign with the Bulls, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Harrison traveled to Chicago this weekend in anticipation of the move, Charania adds.

Harrison, who was part of the final cuts in Phoenix on Monday, played 23 games for the Suns during his rookie season, averaging 6.6 points and 2.4 assists per night. With no established point guards on the roster, he was given a shot at winning the starting job heading into camp, but Phoenix opted to go in a different direction.

The Bulls have all 15 roster spots filled, along with both two-way slots, so a move will have to be made before Harrison can be added. Rookie guard Ryan Arcidiacono is the only player without a fully guaranteed deal.

Troy Williams Signs Two-Way Deal With Kings

October 20th, 2018 at 3:21pm CST by JD Shaw

OCTOBER 20: The signing is official, according to a press release from the team (per James Ham of NBC Sports California).

OCTOBER 18: Forward Troy Williams plans to sign a two-way contract with the Kings upon clearing waivers, according to The Athletic’s Michael Scotto (Twitter link).

Williams was waived by the Pelicans this week, with the 23-year-old holding past stints on the Grizzlies, Rockets and Knicks. He first entered the league after going undrafted in 2016, having spent three collegiate seasons at Indiana from 2013-16.

A 6-foot-7 forward, Williams has averaged 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 16.9 minutes per contest on his career. He scored 34 points across four preseason games with the Pelicans before being waived, and joins a young, hungry Kings team focused on the future.

Lakers Sign Johnathan Williams To Two-Way Deal

October 19th, 2018 at 2:18pm CST by Luke Adams

Less than 24 hours after their first game of the 2018/19 regular season, the Lakers have made a change to one of their two-way contract slots, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed power forward Johnathan Williams and waived forward Travis Wear.

Williams, who was in camp with the Lakers, averaged 6.8 PPG and 4.3 RPG in six preseason games (14.5 MPG) with the team. The Gonzaga product was released last Saturday by Los Angeles when the team initially cut its down roster down to the regular season limit, but didn’t remain a free agent for long.

As for Wear, the former UCLA standout has had multiple stints with the Lakers, appearing in 17 regular season contests for the franchise last season. The 28-year-old is a solid three-point shooter, having converted 36.4% of his three-point attempts in the NBA and 38.1% in the G League. The South Bay Lakers still hold Wear’s rights in the event he decides to return to the NBAGL, notes Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days (Twitter link).

It’s not clear if the Lakers envision an NBA role for Williams, but it’s worth noting that the team is fairly thin at the center position, with few viable options behind JaVale McGee. Williams could get a look at the five before reporting to South Bay.

Pacers Sign Davon Reed To Two-Way Deal, Cut C.J. Wilcox

October 19th, 2018 at 12:57pm CST by Luke Adams

OCTOBER 19: The Pacers have officially signed Reed and waived Wilcox, the club announced today in a press release.

OCTOBER 18: Former Suns guard Davon Reed intends to sign a two-way contract with the Pacers once he clears waivers, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Reed, who was officially cut by Phoenix on Tuesday, will have a clear path to sign with Indiana as a free agent if he goes unclaimed today.

Reed, 23, was the 32nd overall pick in the 2017 draft, but missed a significant chunk of his rookie season due to a knee injury. In total, he appeared in just 21 games in 2017/18, averaging 3.0 PPG and 1.9 RPG on .289/.289/.667 shooting.

While there was some uncertainty about his place on the Suns’ roster heading into the summer due to his lost rookie season and the partial guarantee on his 2018/19 salary, Reed played well in five Summer League games in Las Vegas, posting 13.4 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 3.0 APG, and a .489 FG% in Vegas. That Summer League showing helped earn Reed the rest of his ’18/19 guarantee and secure his roster spot temporarily, but he was Phoenix’s final cut this week when the club signed Jamal Crawford.

Although Reed was on a minimum salary, he had a four-year contract and wasn’t signed using the minimum salary exception, meaning a team would need cap room or a trade exception in order to claim him off waivers. As such, a claim is not expected.

Assuming he finalizes his deal with the Pacers, who were intrigued by the Miami guard leading up to the 2017 draft, as Scott Agness of The Athletic tweets, Reed will join Edmond Sumner as the two-way players on Indiana’s roster. C.J. Wilcox had also signed a two-way contract with the Pacers during the summer, but he’ll miss the entire 2018/19 campaign after suffering a torn Achilles during an offseason workout.

Pelicans Claim Tim Frazier, Waive Troy Williams

October 17th, 2018 at 4:29pm CST by Arthur Hill

Point guard Tim Frazier, who was released Monday by the Bucks, has been claimed off waivers by the Pelicans, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. New Orleans opened a roster spot by waiving forward Troy Williams (Twitter link).

Frazier was the final roster cut in Milwaukee after signing with the team shortly before training camp opened in September. This will be the second stint with the Pelicans for the 27-year-old, who played a combined 81 games for New Orleans during the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons.

Frazier has 186 games of NBA experience, playing for the Sixers, Trail Blazers and Wizards as well. He spent last season in Washington, where he got into 59 games and averaged 3.0 PPG.

The Pelicans were Williams’ fourth team since entering the league in 2016. He signed a two-year deal in July, but only had a small guarantee for this season, while next season was non-guaranteed. Williams will become a free agent again if he clears waivers on Friday.

By claiming Frazier, the Pelicans take on the $1.5MM non-guaranteed contract he had in Milwaukee, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Williams will receive $34,183 for four days of service and will be credited with a year of service time even if he doesn’t play in the league this season, adds salary cap expert Jeff Siegel (Twitter link).

Suns Exercise 2019/20 Option On Josh Jackson

October 17th, 2018 at 2:55pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns have exercised their 2019/20 option on Josh Jackson‘s rookie scale contract, according to RealGM’s official transactions log. Picking up that third-year option, a procedural move, locks in Jackson’s $7,059,480 for the ’19/20 season.

The fourth overall pick in the 2017 draft, Jackson showed promise in his rookie year, averaging 13.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 1.5 SPG in 77 games (25.4 MPG). The Suns figure to lean a little more heavily on the 21-year-old in his second season, as he takes on a more prominent role among a solid group of forwards that also features Trevor Ariza, T.J. Warren, and rookie Mikal Bridges.

Interestingly, RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions doesn’t list a Suns decision on Dragan Bender‘s fourth-year option for 2019/20. Phoenix has until October 31 to make a decision on Bender’s option, worth $5,896,519, and the club still hasn’t announced Jackson’s option pickup. The Suns could exercise Bender’s option later and announce both moves at once.

Still, it’s worth noting that Bender was viewed by at least one Suns reporter as a candidate to be waived this week when the team needed to cut down its roster to the regular season limit. His 2019/20 option isn’t a lock to be exercised.

Suns Officially Sign Jamal Crawford

October 17th, 2018 at 2:23pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns have officially filled the 15th spot on their regular season roster by signing Jamal Crawford, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. The team created a roster opening on Tuesday by waiving Davon Reed.

Crawford, a three-time Sixth Man of the Year winner, reached an agreement with the Suns on Monday and has now signed a one-year, minimum salary contract with the club.

Per the NBA’s log of transactions, Crawford’s signing was completed on Tuesday, the first day of the regular season. As such, he should receive a full-season minimum salary rather than a prorated portion of the minimum. He’ll earn $2,393,887 and will count for $1,512,601 against Phoenix’s cap.

Although several teams – including the Warriors, Celtics, Sixers, and Lakers – reportedly showed interest in Crawford over the course of the offseason, he had trouble finding a new NBA home after averaging 10.3 PPG on .415/.331/.903 shooting for the Timberwolves in 2017/18. The 38-year-old could have exercised a $4.5MM player option in June to stay in Minnesota, Crawford didn’t love the role he played with the Wolves and sought a better fit, turning down that option and hitting the open market.

Crawford’s new team, the Suns, likely envisions the veteran in a ball-handling role. Besides Isaiah Canaan, Phoenix doesn’t have another experienced point guard on the roster — rookies De’Anthony Melton and Elie Okobo will provide depth at that spot after the team waived Shaquille Harrison this week.

Besides Reed and Harrison, the Suns also cut Darrell Arthur, clearing the way for Crawford, Richaun Holmes, and Canaan to make the team. Holmes and Canaan both have non-guaranteed deals.

Crawford isn’t expected to be active for the Suns’ home opener against Dallas tonight, head coach Igor Kokoskov said today (Twitter link via Gina Mizell of The Athletic).

Suns Waive Davon Reed

October 16th, 2018 at 4:38pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Suns have waived Davon Reed, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The team was expected to either trade or waive Reed, as was reported on Monday.

Phoenix will incur a cap hit of $1.4MM this season unless another team claims the former second-rounder, as Bobby Marks of ESPN.com relays (ESPN now link). Reed was set to receive approximately $1.61MM during the 2019/20 season and $1.75MM during the following season. Each of those seasons has a July 10 non-guaranteed trigger date.

The move clears a roster spot for Jamal Crawford, who agreed to a deal with Phoenix earlier this week. The team is short on experienced options at the point guard position, so Crawford could see playing time right away.

Lakers Exercise 2019/20 Options On Ball, Kuzma, Hart, Ingram

October 16th, 2018 at 12:34pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers have made a series of procedural moves, announcing today in a press release that they’ve exercised their 2019/20 team options on Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, and Brandon Ingram.

All four moves were expected, given the modest costs of those options. For Ball, Kuzma, and Hart, their third-year options will count against L.A.’s cap in ’19/20 for approximately $8.72MM, $1.97MM, and $1.93MM respectively. Each 2017 first-rounder also has a fourth-year team option for 2020/21, which the Lakers will have to exercise or decline by October 31, 2019.

As for Ingram, his fourth-year option will lock in a $7.27MM cap charge on the Lakers’ 2019/20 books. With that option officially picked up, he’s now on track to become extension-eligible next July 1. If he and the Lakers don’t reach an extension agreement by mid-October in 2019, he’d be in line to reach restricted free agency during the summer of 2020.

Our breakdown of all of this year’s rookie scale option decisions for 2019/20 can be found right here.