Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pelicans Waive Swingman DeAndre Liggins

August 31st, 2018 at 4:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pelicans have waived swingman DeAndre Liggins, according to a team press release.

The 6’6” Liggins appeared in 27 games, including three starts, for New Orleans last season after being originally signed on January 10. He averaged 1.6 PPG and 1.0 RPG in 9.0 MPG.

The Pelicans save a little money by cutting Liggins loose, as he was due to receive $75K if he remained on the roster at the beginning of September. Liggins was due to make $1.8MM if he had remained on the roster through January 10.

Liggins played on a pair of 10-day contract with New Orleans then was signed to a two-year deal on February 4. He also appeared in 31 games with the Bucks last season, then was waived in early January before the Pelicans snapped him up.

Liggins has also worn five other uniforms in NBA regular-season games. He started his career with the Magic in 2011/12, then moved on to the Thunder, Heat, Cavaliers and Mavericks. He’s appeared in 177 games but has just a 2.0 PPG average while shooting 35.2% on 3-point tries.

The Pelicans still have eight other players at the wing spots and five players with partial or non-guaranteed contracts.

Thunder Waive Kyle Singler

August 31st, 2018 at 3:38pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 31: The Thunder have officially waived Singler, the team announced today in a press release.

AUGUST 30: The Thunder will part ways with forward Kyle Singler, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the team is waiving Singler and using the stretch provision to help reduce the cost of this year’s roster.

The move had been expected to happen at some point this week, since August 31 is the last day that teams can waive a player and stretch his 2018/19 salary across multiple seasons. A player released after Friday can have his future salaries stretched, but his ’18/19 cap will remain unchanged.

Singler is owed $4,996,000 for 2018/19 and $5,333,500 for 2019/20, but his second-year salary is non-guaranteed, meaning the Thunder will only be responsible for paying him this season’s salary. The club will have the ability to stretch the cap hits across five seasons, resulting in annual charges of $999,200 through 2022/23.

While the savings for this year may not appear massive, the impact on the Thunder’s tax bill will be significant. With Singler’s full cap hit on the roster, OKC had a team salary of $149,579,364 and a projected tax bill of $93,193,411, by our count. Stretching Singler will reduce those figures to $145,582,564 and $73,785,429, respectively.

In total, the Thunder will trim the projected cost of their roster from $242,772,775 to $219,367,993, good for more than $23.4MM in savings, assuming they don’t fill Singler’s spot on the roster with someone else. Once Singler is officially released, the team will have 14 players on guaranteed deals.

Beyond the financial implications of the move, cutting Singler made sense for the Thunder from an on-court perspective. While Singler’s solid three-point shooting in his first three NBA seasons (.378 3PT%) earned him a long-term contract from the Thunder, the 30-year-old has regressed in recent years and fell out of Oklahoma City’s rotation in 2017/18, appearing sparingly in just 12 games.

Singler will become an unrestricted free agent once he clears waivers.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Grizzlies Sign Doral Moore To Camp Deal

August 30th, 2018 at 1:43pm CST by Luke Adams

1:43pm: The Grizzlies have officially signed Moore, the team announced today in a press release.

1:04pm: The Grizzlies have reached an agreement on a training camp deal with undrafted free agent Doral Moore, reports Jon Roser of the Memphis Grizzlies Radio Network (Twitter link). According to Roser, Moore is considered likely to join the Memphis Hustle after spending camp with the Grizzlies.

Moore is coming off a breakout junior year at Wake Forest in which he averaged 11.1 PPG, 9.4 RPG, and 2.0 BPG with a .689 FG% in 31 games (25.5 MPG). An early entrant in the 2018 draft, the 7’1″ center decided to forgo his final year of college eligibility to go pro, but wasn’t selected in June.

Moore joined the Wizards for Summer League play, though he didn’t see much action in Las Vegas, averaging just 4.2 minutes per contest. Still, the Grizzlies apparently like him enough to bring him to camp and reportedly plan on making him an affiliate player for the Hustle. If Moore signs an Exhibit 10 contract with Memphis, he’d be in line for a bonus of up to $50K if he spends at least two months with the team’s G League squad.

Assuming the Grizzlies finalize their reported deal with Moore soon, he’ll become the 19th player on the club’s offseason roster, leaving one open spot.

Hawks Sign Thomas Robinson

August 30th, 2018 at 9:30am CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 30: The Hawks have officially signed Robinson, the team announced today in a press release.

AUGUST 27: The Hawks have reached an agreement to sign former lottery pick Thomas Robinson, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, Robinson will receive a non-guaranteed deal.

The fifth overall pick in the 2012 draft, Robinson didn’t even spend a full season with the Kings before being traded to Houston, then didn’t last long with the Rockets either. Over the course of five NBA seasons, Robinson also spent time with the Trail Blazers, Sixers, Nets, and Lakers. He appeared in 313 overall regular season contests, but never more than 102 for a single club.

Viewed as a strong rebounder and inside scorer coming out of Kansas, Robinson has been unable to carve out a consistent role in the NBA, averaging 4.9 PPG and 4.8 RPG during his career. Having headed overseas in 2017/18, the 27-year-old had a solid season for Russian club Khimki, averaging 8.2 PPG and a team-high 5.8 RPG in 20 EuroLeague games.

Now that he has returned stateside, Robinson will be looking to earn a roster spot on an NBA team, but even on the lottery-bound Hawks, there’s no clear path to a role.

Having recently signed Vince Carter and Daniel Hamilton to guaranteed contracts, the Hawks are carrying 15 players with guaranteed salaries for 2018/19. In order for Robinson to crack the regular season roster, Atlanta would have to trade or release one of those 15 players.

David West Announces Retirement

August 30th, 2018 at 9:06am CST by Luke Adams

Longtime NBA big man David West has announced his retirement from the NBA after 15 seasons. West issued a statement on Twitter confirming his decision, which comes one day after he turned 38 years old.

“I have been fortunate enough to live out my childhood dream of playing in the NBA. After 15 seasons I have decided to retire from the game of basketball,” West wrote. “I am humbled and thankful for the support of my family, friends, coaches, teammates, organizations, and fans throughout this experience. To anyone who has ever cheered me on, been in my corner, prayed, or simply said a nice word on my behalf, I am grateful.”

West, who began his career as a New Orleans Hornet after being selected with the 18th overall pick in the 2003 draft, played in New Orleans for his first eight years in the NBA, earning a pair of All-Star nods in 2008 and 2009 and teaming with Chris Paul during many of the most successful seasons in franchise history.

West later spent four years with the Pacers, one with the Spurs, and his last two in Golden State, where he won a pair of NBA championships with the Warriors. For his career, the former Xavier standout averaged 13.6 PPG and 6.4 RPG in 1,034 regular season games. He also appeared in 118 postseason contests, contributing 11.3 PPG and 5.6 RPG in the playoffs.

Although West earned nearly $100MM in salary throughout his NBA career, per Basketball-Reference, his last few years in the league were defined by his willingness to play for the veteran’s minimum for championship contenders.

After winning his first title in 2017, West re-signed with the Warriors, but reports at the time indicated that it was expected to be his last year, with retirement coming in 2018. That’s exactly what happened, with West’s announcement coming just days after another accomplished NBA veteran, Manu Ginobili, announced his own retirement.

While it’s unclear what the next step will be for West, he has long been one of the most widely-respected players in the game, according to Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports, who tweets that the 38-year-old could have a future in anything from coaching to broadcasting to front office work. It likely won’t take long for West to receive coaching and front office offers, if he wants them, notes Zach Lowe of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Spurs Sign Quincy Pondexter

August 29th, 2018 at 11:16am CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 29: The Spurs have officially signed Pondexter, the team announced today in a press release.

AUGUST 27: Free agent wing Quincy Pondexter has agreed to a one-year contract with the Spurs, ESPN’s Chris Haynes tweets. It’s a partially-guaranteed deal, Michael Scotto of The Athletic tweets.

Pondexter will essentially take the roster spot, and perhaps the role, of Manu Ginobili after the long-time Spur announced his retirement on Monday. He’ll likely compete for minutes at small forward with rookie Lonnie Walker and Dante Cunningham behind Rudy Gay.

The 6’7” Pondexter, 30, played 23 games with the Bulls last season, including a start. He averaged 2.0 PPG in 8.5 MPG and was waived at the beginning of February after the Nikola Mirotic deal with the Pelicans.

Pondexter started his career with the New Orleans franchise in 2010, then played for the Grizzlies the next 3 1/2 seasons before returning to the Pelicans for half a season.

For his career, Pondexter has averaged 5.0 PPG in 17.3 MPG over 302 appearances. He’s a career 35.7% shooter from long range, though he shot an icy 13.6% in limited action last season.

Sixers Sign Anthony Brown

August 29th, 2018 at 8:45am CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers have signed Anthony Brown to their offseason roster, according to RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions. It’s a one-year, minimum-salary pact with an Exhibit 10 clause, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Philadelphia now has 19 players under contract.

Brown, a second-round pick in 2015, spent his first two NBA seasons with the Lakers, Pelicans, and Magic before signing a two-way contract with the Timberwolves last summer. The 6’7″ forward only appeared in one game for Minnesota, but had a strong year in the G League, averaging 18.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 3.6 APG with a .459/.402/.797 shooting line in 45 contests for the Iowa Wolves.

Brown’s two-way deal with the Timberwolves expired earlier this summer, and the club moved on by signing Jared Terrell and C.J. Williams to fill its two-way slots, leaving the former Stanford standout on the lookout for a new team.

While Brown appears set to attend training camp with the 76ers, there’s no clear path to a spot on Philadelphia’s 15-man regular season roster. The club currently has 14 players on guaranteed contracts, with T.J. McConnell and his non-guaranteed salary seemingly penciled in for the 15th and final spot.

Jazz Sign Trey Lewis

August 28th, 2018 at 5:39pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Jazz have signed Trey Lewis, according to Eric Woodyard of the Deseret News (via Twitter). The terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.

Lewis played at Louisville with Jazz star Donovan Mitchell. Woodyard has previously written about the duo’s close relationship.

The 6’2″ guard played for Utah’s two Summer League teams this offseason. During his four games in Las Vegas, he averaged 9.0 points, 3.0 rebounds. and 2.3 assists per contest.

Lewis went undrafted in 2017 and spent his 2017/18 season playing aboard. He split time between JL Bourg-en-Bresse of the LNB Pro A in France and Ratiopharm Ulm of the Basketball Bundesliga in Germany

Grizzlies Waive Kobi Simmons

August 28th, 2018 at 4:35pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Grizzlies have waived Kobi Simmons, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (Twitter link). Simmons had been on a two-way contract with Memphis.

Simmons played in 32 games for the Grizzlies last season, averaging 6.1 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 20.1 minutes of action per contest. He also spent time in the G League, playing for the Memphis Hustle where he saw 30.9 minutes per game during his 26 appearances.

Simmons went undrafted during the 2017 draft after playing just one season at the University of Arizona. He inked a two-way deal with Memphis last summer.

Jarnell Stokes Signs Contract With Heat

August 27th, 2018 at 6:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 27: The signing is official, according to the team’s Twitter feed.

AUGUST 20: The Heat have agreed to a contract with forward Jarnell Stokes, Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype tweets.

Terms were not disclosed but it’s almost certainly a training camp deal.

The 6’9” Stokes hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since the 2016/17 season, when he made two cameos with the Nuggets. He was in the Heat organization the previous year and saw action in five games. He also played 21 games with the Grizzlies after being acquired in a draft-night trade with the Jazz. He was the 35th pick of the 2014 draft.

Stokes played in China last season before getting waived in early February. He played for the Bulls’ summer league team in July and averaged 5.0 PPG and 2.8 RPG in 10.2 MPG over five Las Vegas games.

His biggest claim to fame was being the G League MVP in 2016 after posting averages of 2o.6 PPG and 9.3 RPG for the Sioux Falls SkyForce.