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Bulls Re-Sign Ryan Arcidiacono

July 31st, 2018 at 1:48pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 31: The Bulls have officially re-signed Arcidiacono, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 28: The Bulls will re-sign Ryan Arcidiacono to a one-year deal with a partial guarantee, tweets Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.

Arcidiacono was restricted when free agency began, but Chicago rescinded its qualifying offer in mid-July, changing his status to unrestricted. Although he was free to sign with anyone, Arcidiacono wasn’t able to find a deal better than the partially guaranteed one to stay with the Bulls.

He appeared in 24 NBA games last season as a two-way player, averaging 2.0 points in nearly 13 minutes of action. He posted a 13.8/4.5/8.6 line in 37 G League games.

Arcidiacono’s signing will give Chicago 17 players under contract. Rawle Alkins currently occupies one of the team’s two-way slots, while the other remains open.

Johnny O’Bryant To Play In Israel

July 31st, 2018 at 8:56am CST by Luke Adams

Former Bucks, Nuggets, and Hornets forward Johnny O’Bryant will continue his playing career overseas. According to an announcement from the team (hat tip to Sportando), O’Bryant has signed a one-year contract to join Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.

“Johnny is a great addition for our team” Maccabi head coach Neven Spahija said in a statement. “He has experience in the NBA and he will a key role in the roster. I hope that together with him we’ll make another jump this season. He’s a hard worker and a great man.”

O’Bryant, a second-round pick in the 2014 NBA draft, spent two seasons with the Bucks before being waived. After a training-camp stint with the Wizards in 2016, the former LSU standout signed multiple 10-day contracts with the Nuggets and Hornets in 2017, eventually landing a multiyear deal with Charlotte.

The 6’9″ forward averaged 4.8 PPG and 2.6 RPG in 36 games (10.5 MPG) for the Hornets last season before he was included in the deadline deal that sent Knicks big man Willy Hernangomez to Charlotte. Having been acquired by New York in the trade, O’Bryant was subsequently waived.

This will be O’Bryant’s first stint overseas.

Celtics Waive Guard Rodney Purvis

July 30th, 2018 at 4:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics have waived guard Rodney Purvis, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets.

The move was expected, as Boston didn’t have any plans for Purvis after acquiring him from the Thunder in a trade last week.

Boston’s motivation for acquiring Purvis was to save some cash. By trading Abdel Nader to the Thunder instead of waiving him, the Celtics avoided approximately $675K in tax penalties and another $450K in salary. Purvis had a non-guaranteed $1,378,242 salary.

Purvis, who played college ball at the University of Connecticut, was acquired by OKC from the Magic just a few days earlier in exchange for forward Dakari Johnson.

Purvis, 24, joined the Magic down the stretch last season, parlaying a pair of 10-day contracts into a rest-of-season deal. The 6’4″ shooting guard posted 6.0 PPG, 1.7 RPG, and 1.1 APG in 16 games (18.1 MPG).

The Celtics opened up a spot on their 20-man offseason roster by waiving Purvis. The team is currently carrying 15 players on guaranteed contracts.

Treveon Graham Signs Two-Year Deal With Nets

July 30th, 2018 at 2:05pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 30: The Nets have officially signed Graham, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 17: The Nets have reached a two-year agreement with swingman Treveon Graham, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets. The first year of the contract will be fully guaranteed, Charania adds. The deal is expected to be worth the minimum.

The 6’5” Graham had drawn interest from the Cavaliers and Timberwolves, among other teams, during free agency. Graham, 24, appeared in 90 games with the Hornets over the past two seasons.

He was a rotation player last season, seeing action in 63 games, while averaging 4.3 PPG and 1.9 RPG in 16.7 MPG. Graham hasn’t shot many 3-pointers during his short career but he’s made 43.8% from long range.

Graham will try to break into a wing rotation that includes Joe Harris, Caris LeVert, DeMarre Carroll and Allen Crabbe.

Mavericks Sign Daryl Macon To Two-Way Contract

July 30th, 2018 at 10:29am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 30: The Mavericks have officially signed Macon to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 26: Agent Reggie Brown tells Jackson that Macon is signing a two-year, two-way contract with the Mavericks. Dallas currently has an open two-way slot, with Kostas Antetokounmpo filling the other one.

JULY 25: Rookie free agent guard Daryl Macon appears to have lined up his first NBA contract. According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link), Macon passed on an offer from the Heat and has decided to sign with the Mavericks.

Macon went undrafted last month after averaging 16.8 PPG and 3.9 APG on .447/.421/.875 shooting in his final college season at Arkansas. However, the 22-year-old caught on with the Heat’s Summer League team, appearing in seven total games this month in the Sacramento and Las Vegas leagues.

Macon averaged 7.9 PPG and 4.7 APG in those seven Summer League contests with Miami, making a strong enough impression to earn an Exhibit 10 contract offer from the team. Macon’s agent indicated that his client had received Exhibit 10 offers from at least four NBA clubs and had drawn interest from international teams as well. It seems he has opted for the Mavs’ offer, though the exact terms aren’t yet known.

Assuming Macon finalizes a training camp deal with Dallas, he may get a chance to compete for the team’s 15th roster spot. If he’s waived before the regular season begins, a stint with the Mavs’ G League affiliate, the Texas Legends, could be in his future.

Hawks Waive Carmelo Anthony

July 30th, 2018 at 10:05am CST by Luke Adams

10:05am: The Hawks have officially waived Anthony, per a team press release.

9:24am: Anthony has finalized a buyout deal with the Hawks, agreeing to give back the equivalent of the veteran’s minimum salary, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The veteran forward will make that money back when he officially signs with the Rockets, while Atlanta opens up a small slice of cap room as a result of the agreement.

The Hawks should have about $2.9MM in space, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, though it remains to be seen how the team plans to use it, with agreements for Len, Carter, and Hamilton still to be finalized.

8:05am: Now that all the physicals related to last week’s three-team trade are complete, the Hawks are expected to move forward with waiving Carmelo Anthony today, tweets Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.

Assuming the transaction is finalized on Monday, Anthony will be on track to clear waivers on Wednesday. His $27.93MM cap charge makes a waiver claim by a surprise suitor essentially impossible, so he’ll become an unrestricted free agent. At that point, he reportedly intends to sign a one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Rockets.

Once Anthony is officially released, the Hawks will have 12 players on guaranteed contracts, but the team has lined up agreements with three players to fill its projected 15-man regular season roster. According to reports, Alex Len, Vince Carter, and Daniel Hamilton will all sign with Atlanta. The Hawks figure to finalize those moves soon now that the Anthony trade – which involved both the Thunder and Sixers – is formally complete.

There has been no indication that the Hawks will ask Anthony to give back any of his 2018/19 salary as part of a buyout. Still, the team will recover a small portion of that salary via setoff once the 10-time All-Star signs with Houston, as cap expert Albert Nahmad tweets.

Anthony’s cap hit for the Hawks will still exceed $27MM, and while the team could open up a huge chunk of cap room by stretching that figure over three seasons, that’s not expected to happen. Instead, Atlanta figures to simply keep Carmelo’s whole cap charge on its books for the 2018/19 salary, allowing the club to maximize its cap room in future seasons.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Heat Sign Yante Maten To Two-Way Deal

July 29th, 2018 at 2:19pm CST by marksuleymanov

The Heat have signed forward Yante Maten to a two-way contract, the team announced in a press release on Sunday.

Maten appeared in seven games for the Heat’s Summer League teams in Sacramento and Las Vegas, averaging 10.7 PPG and 5.6 APG while shooting 44.6% from the field.

The 2018 SEC Player of the Year spent four seasons at the University of Georgia, appearing in all 128 collegiate contests. Chet Kammerer, the Heat’s vice president of player personnel was impressed with Maten’s ability.

“We saw him play in the SEC and he was player of the year [as a senior],” Kammerer said.“He’s been a solid player over his career at Georgia and had some individual highs over the course of his career. He started kind of slow but he’s really a solid basketball player. Versatile. He’s got a bright future ahead of him.”

After his strong showing in Summer League, Maten’s agent Austin Walton of NEXT Sports said his client received Exhibit 10 offers from “half the league.” Walton’s hope was to secure a two-way contract for Maten, which he did.

The Heat have 12 players on standard NBA contracts, with roster spots set aside for Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem if they decide to continue their careers. Duncan Robinson holds the other one of the team’s two-way deals.

J.P. Tokoto Reaches Deal With Israeli Team

July 28th, 2018 at 11:59am CST by marksuleymanov

Former second-round draft pick J.P. Tokoto has reached an agreement with Israeli team Hapoel Eilat, per Sportando. Tokoto spent last season with the Perth Wildcats of Australia’s National Basketball League. He averaged 15.4 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 2.8 APG in 30 games for Perth.

Tokoto, 25, was drafted 58th overall by the Sixers in 2015 and has spent his professional career in the United States in the G League. Tokoto has spent time with the affiliate teams for the Sixers, Thunder, and Knicks.

The Warriors signed the North Carolina product to a Summer League deal and he appeared in five games, averaging 7.0 PPG and 4.6 RPG while shooting 45% from the floor.

Sixers Re-Sign Demetrius Jackson To Two-Way Deal

July 27th, 2018 at 5:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Sixers have re-signed guard Demetrius Jackson to a two-way contract, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets.

Philadelphia originally signed the former Notre Dame point guard to a two-way deal in January. He saw action in just three games with the Sixers, averaging 2.7 PPG in 5.7 MPG. He also made 10 starts with their G League affiliate, the Deleware 87ers, averaging 13.0 PPG and 4.6 APG in 25.5 MPG.

Jackson was selected by Boston in the second round of the 2016 draft. He was waived by Boston last summer and signed a two-way deal with the Rockets. Houston terminated Jackson’s contract and then signed him to a 10-day deal but decided not to offer him another contract.

The 6’1” Jackson appeared in 12 games with the Rockets, playing an average of 5.3 MPG. He played five games for Boston as a rookie.

The Sixers filled their other two-way slot earlier this week by signing rookie SMU guard Shake Milton.

Clint Capela Signs Five-Year Deal With Rockets

July 27th, 2018 at 4:48pm CST by Luke Adams

4:48pm: The signing is official, Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports tweets.

3:14pm: The Rockets and free agent center Clint Capela have reached an agreement on a five-year, $90MM contract, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Having entered the offseason among 2018’s top free agents, Capela was one of the last impact players still unsigned, as well as one of the final restricted free agents still on the market.

The terms of Capela’s new deal look similar to Houston’s reported offer from earlier this month. During the second week of free agency, we heard that the Rockets had offered their starting center a five-year, $85MM deal that could be worth up to $90MM in incentives.

It’s the second mega-deal that the Rockets have agreed to in July. In the early hours of free agency, the team struck a four-year, maximum-salary deal to re-sign point guard Chris Paul. Since then, Houston has seen Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute sign with new teams, but has added James Ennis and lined up an agreement with Carmelo Anthony.

While Capela’s new contract will fall short of the $100MM he was reportedly seeking, it looks like a very fair deal, considering no team had the cap space left to make a comparable offer. Capela’s first massive NBA payday comes in at a rate of $18MM per year, allowing the Rockets to lock up a young, improving center for the long term without having to worry about him accepting his qualifying offer and bolting as an unrestricted free agent in a year.

Prior to officially signing Anthony and Capela, the Rockets have nearly $118MM in guaranteed salaries on their books. Capela’s big raise will push that total well beyond the $123.733MM luxury tax line, setting up Houston to be a taxpaying team for the 2018/19 season, barring major cost-cutting moves.

Capela, 24, has made substantial strides in each of his four NBA seasons, evolving from a little-used rookie in 2014/15 into one of the league’s most productive centers this past season. In 2017/18, he averaged a double-double (13.9 PPG and 10.8 RPG) while contributing 1.9 BPG and a league-leading .652 FG%. Although Capela’s offensive game is somewhat limited, he’s an effective screen setter and finisher at the rim, and provides the Rockets with strong rim protection at the other end of the court.

According to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders (via Twitter), Capela’s five-year contract will include no team or player options.

With Capela off the board, Rodney Hood (Cavaliers) and Patrick McCaw (Warriors) are the only two NBA restricted free agents who remain on the market.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.