Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Trail Blazers Sign Wade Baldwin To NBA Contract

March 12th, 2018 at 2:50pm CST by Luke Adams

2:50pm: The Trail Blazers have officially signed Baldwin, the team confirmed in a press release.

1:52pm: The Trail Blazers have filled the open spot on their 15-man roster, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the club has signed Wade Baldwin to a rest-of-season, minimum-salary contract.

Baldwin, who will turn 22 later this month, signed a two-way contract with the Blazers back in October, shortly after he was waived by the Grizzlies. A thumb injury kept him on the shelf for several weeks near the start of the season, but he has since returned to the court and played well in the G League.

Because Portland doesn’t have a G League affiliate of its own, Baldwin has been playing for the Texas Legends, the Mavericks’ affiliate. In 17 games for the Legends, the former first-round pick has averaged 18.2 PPG, 5.1 APG, 4.5 RPG, and 2.2 SPG. He made his Blazers debut last Tuesday, playing three minutes in garbage time against the Knicks.

I wouldn’t expect Baldwin to become a key part of the Blazers’ rotation going forward, but he could see a little more action down the stretch, and his new contract will make him playoff-eligible.

Portland now has 16 players under contract in total — Baldwin will be the 14th on a standard, full-season NBA deal. The Blazers are also carrying Georgios Papagiannis on a 10-day contract and C.J. Wilcox on a two-way pact.

Hawks Sign Jaylen Morris To Second 10-Day Deal

March 11th, 2018 at 1:37pm CST by clarkcrum

MARCH 11: The Hawks have officially signed Morris to his second 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release. The contract will run through next Tuesday, covering five games.

MARCH 8: According to Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated, the Hawks plan to sign rookie guard Jaylen Morris to a second 10-day contract after his first 10-day deal expires tomorrow. Assuming the second contract is signed on Saturday, it will run through March 19, covering four games.

As previously touched upon, Morris went undrafted out of Division II Molloy College in last summer’s draft and had spent this season with the Erie BayHawks, Atlanta’s G League affiliate, before signing with the Hawks.

Morris has played in all four games since signing his first 10-day deal, averaging 3.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 17.0 minutes per contest. As a rookie, Morris’ deal with once again count as $46,080 towards the Hawks’ salary cap.

Mavericks Sign Jameel Warney To 10-Day Deal

March 11th, 2018 at 1:06pm CST by Luke Adams

MARCH 11, 1:06pm: The signing is official, the Mavericks announced in a press release.

MARCH 7, 3:16pm: The Mavericks will soon sign G League forward Jameel Warney to a 10-day contract, league sources tell Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link).

Warney, 24, joined the Mavericks for training camp in 2016 after going undrafted out of Stony Brook. Cut by Dallas before the 2016/17 season got underway, he landed with the team’s G League affiliate, and has spent the last two seasons with the Texas Legends. This season, he has averaged 20.3 PPG, 9.6 RPG, and 2.8 APG in 37 G League games.

Warney has also represented USA Basketball during qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup. Playing for Team USA in last summer’s AmeriCup, the young forward was named MVP of the FIBA event en route to a gold medal. Warney averaged 12.8 PPG and 8.6 RPG to go along with a .649 FG% in AmeriCup play.

Before the Mavs officially sign Warney, they’ll need to open up the 15th slot on their roster. Scotty Hopson is currently holding that spot with a 10-day contract of his own, but that deal will expire overnight tonight, creating an opening for Warney. Unless the Mavs plan to waive someone with a guaranteed contract, that means Hopson won’t get a second 10-day deal — at least not right away.

Brandon Jennings Signs 10-Day Deal With Bucks

March 11th, 2018 at 12:04pm CST by marksuleymanov

MARCH 11, 12:04pm: The signing is official, according to a tweet from the Bucks.

MARCH 10, 2:37pm: Brandon Jennings will sign a 10-day contract with his original team, the Bucks, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. The Bucks do not have an open roster spot, which means the team will need to waive a player to make room for Jennings.

Jennings, 28, signed a G League deal on Feb. 13 and was promptly signed by the Bucks’ affiliate, Wisconsin Herd. In five games with the Herd, Jennings showed flashes of his past success, averaging 20.4 PPG, 8.0 APG, and 4.8 RPG in 37.4 minutes per contest.

“Blessed and grateful for a second chance coming from a franchise where it all started,” Jennings said to The Undefeated (Twitter link).

The Compton, California, native spent his first four NBA seasons with the Bucks, averaging 17.0 PPG and 5.7 APG in 291 games. Jennings was shipped to the Pistons in 2013, where he played well in parts of two seasons; a ruptured left Achilles tendon in Jan. 2015 altered his career.

Jennings has not averaged double-digits in scoring since the injury and has suited up for four teams the past two seasons. His last NBA stint came with the Wizards last season, averaging a career-worst 3.5 PPG in 23 games.

The former 10th overall pick started the 2017/18 season with the Shanxi Brave Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association but was waived in early December.

Bucks Waiving Mirza Teletovic

March 10th, 2018 at 8:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Bucks will make room on their roster for Brandon Jennings by waiving forward Mirza Teletovic, the team announced on its website.

Teletovic, 32, was limited to 10 games this season by a medical condition diagnosed as pulmonary emboli in both lungs. He had a similar health scare three years ago when he developed multiple blood clots in his lungs.

Teletovic issued a statement last week denying that his career was over, but it’s uncertain if he could get medical clearance to ever play again. He had been participating in supervised workouts at the Bucks’ facility in hopes of returning to the court.

“The health of our players is our primary concern,” GM Jon Horst said in announcing the move. “The Bucks and Mirza Teletovic, in consultation with team doctors and other physicians, have been working together since December to evaluate and manage Mirza’s situation. As a result of the overall evaluation that we’ve gone through, at this time we are both moving on. We appreciate all of Mirza’s contributions to the Bucks organization and our community. We wish him a lifetime of good health with his family.”

Teletovic was in his second year in Milwaukee after signing as a free agent in the summer of 2016. He has one more season left on his contract at $10.5MM, but the Bucks may petition the league to remove that money from their cap, similar to what the Heat did with Chris Bosh.

Teletovic was a valuable reserve during his first season with the team, averaging 6.4 points in 70 games. He also played for the Nets and Suns in a six-year NBA career.

A report surfaced earlier today that the Bucks plan to sign Jennings to a 10-day deal, but a roster spot had to be opened before that could happen.

Lakers Sign Derrick Williams To 10-Day Deal

March 9th, 2018 at 5:44pm CST by Luke Adams

5:44pm: The signing is official, Mike Bresnahan of Spectrum SportsNet tweets. Williams will be available to play tonight.

7:54am: The Lakers are adding another former lottery pick to their roster, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, who reports that free agent forward Derrick Williams is signing a 10-day contract with the club. No corresponding move will be necessary — the Lakers have 13 players on guaranteed contracts, plus Travis Wear on a 10-day deal, leaving one open roster spot.

Williams, the second overall pick in the 2011 draft, has yet to play an NBA game this season. After playing for the Heat and Cavaliers in 2016/17, Williams went unsigned on the NBA free agent market and eventually headed to China to join the Tianjin Gold Lions. In 15 games in China, Williams posted 20.0 PPG and 6.6 RPG.

Before heading overseas to continue his career, the 26-year-old had appeared in 426 NBA regular season games, averaging 8.9 PPG and 4.0 RPG for the Timberwolves, Kings, Knicks, Heat, and Cavs. Although he has at times shown that he’s capable of being a solid rotation piece, Williams has never developed into the impact player Minnesota hoped for when the team drafted him one spot after Kyrie Irving seven years ago.

It remains to be seen whether Williams will get a chance to play regular minutes with the Lakers, but he’ll at least provide some frontcourt depth while Brandon Ingram recovers from a groin injury. He’ll be joining a roster littered with former lottery picks like himself — Williams will become the eighth current Laker who was a top-10 draft pick, and the third who was a No. 2 overall selection.

Magic Waive Rashad Vaughn, Sign Rodney Purvis

March 8th, 2018 at 1:53pm CST by Luke Adams

MARCH 8: The Magic have officially signed Purvis to a 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release. The deal will run through next Saturday night.

MARCH 7: Rashad Vaughn‘s 10-day contract with the Magic wasn’t set to expire until Sunday night, but the team has waived the third-year guard, according to Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). As Robbins notes, Vaughn is dealing with right knee soreness, which wasn’t likely to heal before the end of his 10-day pact. The Magic have officially confirmed the move (via Twitter).

Vaughn, 21, was traded from the Bucks to the Nets to the Pelicans earlier this season and was subsequently waived by New Orleans. By signing a pair of 10-day contracts with Orlando, the former 17th overall pick reunited with Magic GM John Hammond, the executive who drafted him three years ago in Milwaukee.

Vaughn’s brief stint in Orlando wasn’t exactly a resounding success, however. In five games, he played 35 total minutes, posting just five points and four rebounds. Although his second 10-day contract with the team was cut short on the sixth day, Vaughn will receive his full 10-day salary.

According to Robbins, the Magic will likely fill the roster spot vacated by Vaughn by signing guard Rodney Purvis to a 10-day contract. Purvis – who is currently playing for Orlando’s G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic – is scheduled to head to Orlando shortly to complete a deal with the NBA club, ESPN’s Ian Begley confirms (via Twitter).

In 37 G League games this season, Purvis has averaged 20.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 3.5 APG with a .422/.389/.782 shooting line.

Trail Blazers Sign Georgios Papagiannis To 10-Day Deal

March 8th, 2018 at 12:16pm CST by marksuleymanov

MARCH 8, 12:16pm: The signing is official, the Blazers announced on their website.

MARCH 6, 7:15pm: The Trail Blazers are signing center Georgios Papagiannis to a 10-day contract, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Kings waived Papagiannis on February 8 after completing a three-team trade with the Cavaliers and Jazz.

Papagiannis, 20, was one of the Kings’ first-round picks (13th overall) in the 2016 draft after the team traded down from the eighth overall pick. He struggled in 38 career games with Sacramento, averaging 4.2 PPG and 3.2 RPG; his field-goal percentage also took a hit this season, going from .549 to .415.

The 7’1″ center’s agent, Marios Olympios, criticized the Kings’ treatment of Papagiannis after he was waived. Olympios cited Papagiannis’ performance with the G League’s Reno Bighorns, where he averaged 13.5 PPG and 9.7 RPG in 10 contests, as a sign that can perform at a high level.

“He (Papagiannis) never got a chance by the Kings,” Olympios said on the Greek radio station Sport FM, Aris Barkas of Euro Hoops writes “He had a double-double every time he played in the G-League. He had to travel for two and a half hours everytime he was assigned to Reno and still he performed. There are many details that prove that he never got a real chance”.

Papagiannis figures to battle for playing time with the likes of Jusuf Nurkic, Ed Davis and Zach Collins present on the depth chart.

Wolves Sign Derrick Rose

March 8th, 2018 at 10:57am CST by Arthur Hill

10:57am: The signing is official, the team announced via Twitter.

9:41am: Derrick Rose will sign with the Timberwolves for the rest of the season, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The move will reunite Rose with coach/executive Tom Thibodeau, who coached the point guard in Chicago during his MVP season of 2010/11. It also brings another former Bull to Minnesota, which has added Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson, Jamal Crawford and Aaron Brooks since last summer.

Butler and Rose had a strained relationship in the past, but they worked out their differences two years ago, tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Rose delayed his signing because he was waiting for his wife to give birth, adds Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link). The baby arrived earlier this week.

Rose had hoped to revive his career in Cleveland when he agreed to a one-year, minimum-salary deal in July. However, he hurt his ankle in the second game of the season and took a leave of absence in November.

He played just 16 games for the Cavaliers, averaging 9.8 points and 1.6 assists, before being traded to Utah four weeks ago. He agreed to a buyout with the Jazz and has been out of the NBA since February 12.

The Wolves have two open roster spots, so no move will be necessary before adding Rose. Because he was waived before March 1, he will be eligible for the playoffs if Minnesota qualifies.

Raptors Sign Nigel Hayes To 10-Day Deal

March 6th, 2018 at 1:29pm CST by Luke Adams

MARCH 6: The Raptors have formally signed Hayes to a 10-day contract, according to the league’s official transactions log. According to Josh Lewenberg of TSN (Twitter link), head coach Dwane Casey didn’t rule out Hayes appearing in Tuesday’s game vs. Atlanta, but he doesn’t expect it to happen, pointing out that the rookie still has to learn the offense.

MARCH 5: The Raptors will fill their open roster spot by signing G League forward Nigel Hayes to a 10-day contract, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The move will give Toronto a full 15-man NBA roster.

Hayes, 23, signed a training camp contract with the Knicks last August, then was cut by New York before the regular season began. The former Wisconsin standout landed with the Westchester Knicks in the G League and has played very well for New York’s affiliate in his first professional season, averaging 16.1 PPG and 6.6 RPG on .450/.441/.744 shooting.

Hayes’ new deal with the Raptors will represent his second NBA stint — he signed a 10-day contract with the Lakers in January and appeared briefly in two games for L.A.

While it remains to be seen if Hayes will see any real action for the Raptors, the deal benefits the organization in another way, as Blake Murphy of Raptors Republic points out (via Twitter) — the Raptors 905 (26-17) are just behind Westchester (28-14) in the G League standings, so poaching Hayes bodes well for Toronto’s affiliate.

Of course, the move isn’t just about the G League playoff race for the Raptors. As Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun tweets, Hayes had a good workout for Toronto prior to last year’s draft, so the club has had its eye on the rookie for a while.