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Rade Zagorac Expected To Sign With Serbian Team

November 14th, 2017 at 8:59am CST by Luke Adams

Former NBA second-round pick Rade Zagorac is expected to continue his career in his home country of Serbia, according to international basketball journalist David Pick, who reports (via Twitter) that Zagorac is committing to a new deal with KK Partizan Belgrade.

Zagorac, 22, was the 35th overall pick in the 2016 draft, and after spending one final season overseas, he appeared poised to join the Grizzlies this year. However, despite signing a contract that was fully guaranteed for two seasons, the 6’9″ forward was unable to earn a spot on Memphis’ regular season roster. The club waived him along with fellow 2016 draftee Wade Baldwin at the end of the preseason.

Assuming Zagorac finalizes an agreement with KK Partizan Belgrade, it will represent a homecoming for the Serbian, who spent several seasons playing for Mega Leks before making the leap to the NBA. Zagorac is on track to team up with Jazz draft-and-stash prospect Nigel Williams-Goss, who struck a deal with Partizan Belgrade earlier this year.

As for the Grizzlies, they’ll carry $950K in dead money on their 2017/18 cap for Zagorac, plus about $1.38MM for 2018/19. However, the club hasn’t given up on the idea of eventually trying to bring the young forward back to Memphis, as Ronald Tillery of The Memphis Commercial Appeal noted last month.

Metta World Peace To Play In BIG3

November 13th, 2017 at 1:06pm CST by Luke Adams

After playing for the Lakers last season, Metta World Peace will take his talents to the BIG3 for the 2018 campaign, the league announced today. Interestingly, the press release – issued on World Peace’s birthday – refers to the 38-year-old by his given name, Ron Artest, noting that he’ll play under that moniker in the BIG3.

With the 2016/17 season winding down, World Peace publicly expressed a desire to reach the 20-season mark as a professional basketball player. However, the veteran forward, who has 18 years under his belt, was unable to find a new home this offseason and recently accepted a role as an assistant coach for the Lakers’ G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers.

Despite taking on a coaching role, World Peace seemingly hasn’t given up on the idea of playing. It’s not clear whether he hopes to parlay his BIG3 gig into another professional opportunity, as Josh Childress did, or if he simply wants to compete against other players who have retired from the NBA.

Either way, World Peace is on track to suit up as a BIG3 player in 2018. He’ll team up with Stephen Jackson, co-captaining the Killer 3s squad with his former Pacers teammate.

Knicks Waive Mindaugas Kuzminskas

November 12th, 2017 at 1:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks have waived forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas, the team announced via Twitter. The Lithuanian forward was barely used this season, seeing just two minutes of action in one game.

New York had to make a move by 4pm Central to open a roster spot for center Joakim Noah, whose 20-game PED suspension ended last night. With 15 other players under contract, the organization decided to unload Kuzminskas and the $3,025,035 in guaranteed money he will make this season.

“The respect this franchise has for Mindaugas cannot be overstated,” Knicks GM Scott Perry said in a statement released by the team. “His professionalism and work ethic were greatly appreciated by his teammates, coaches and the entire staff. This decision was extremely tough for us. We wish him nothing but the best moving on with his playing career.”

Kuzminskas appeared to have a promising future in New York after averaging 6.3 points in 68 games as a rookie last season, but lost an important advocate in the front office when Phil Jackson was fired as team president over the summer.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes that last year’s standings will be used for waiver claims through the end of November (Twitter link). A team must be able to absorb Kuzminskas’ salary through cap space, a trade exception or a disabled player exception in order to file a claim.

Pelicans Waive Josh Smith

November 10th, 2017 at 12:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans have waived veteran forward Josh Smith, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). The move reduces New Orleans’ roster count from 16 to 15, since the team made use of a hardship exception to initially sign Smith.

Smith, who will turn 32 next month, barely saw any action during his two weeks with the Pelicans, appearing in three games and playing just 12 total minutes. New Orleans had added him using an extra roster spot the club was granted due to having at least four players who had missed three or more games.

It’s not clear if any of the injured Pelicans players are on the verge of returning. Based on recovery timetables announced by the team, Frank Jackson and Solomon Hill will likely be out for a while yet, but Rajon Rondo and Alexis Ajinca may be closer to getting back on the court. Omer Asik has also been sidelined this season due to health issues.

Smith, signed on October 28, received a non-guaranteed deal, so the Pelicans will only be on the hook for a small prorated portion of his minimum salary. The club will carry a cap hit of approximately $211K for Smith’s brief stint in New Orleans, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.

John Jenkins To Play In Spain

November 7th, 2017 at 5:33pm CST by Luke Adams

Free agent shooting guard John Jenkins is headed to Europe for the 2017/18 season, having signed a contract with San Pablo Burgos of Spain’s ACB League, the team announced today (via Twitter). International basketball journalist David Pick first reported (via Twitter) that Jenkins was nearing a deal with the Spanish club.

The 23rd overall pick in the 2012 draft, Jenkins spent his first three NBA seasons with the Hawks, then had stints with the Mavericks and Suns. In 145 career regular season NBA games, the 26-year-old has averaged a modest 5.1 PPG with a .448/.364/.849 shooting line.

Having been waived by the Suns in January before his 2016/17 salary became guaranteed, Jenkins caught on with the Westchester Knicks, New York’s G League affiliate, to finish last season. He averaged 20.9 PPG in 16 games for Westchester, earning another training camp invite this fall, but was cut last month by the Hawks. Rather than returning to the G League, Jenkins will ply his trade overseas this season.

Suns Trade Eric Bledsoe To Bucks

November 7th, 2017 at 4:03pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns and Bucks have finalized a trade that sends Eric Bledsoe to Milwaukee in exchange for Greg Monroe, a 2018 first-round pick, and a 2018 second-round pick. Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe of ESPN first reported the deal, which has now been officially confirmed by both the Suns and Bucks.

Bledsoe had been publicly on the trade block since the first weekend of the season, when he published a tweet that read “I don’t wanna be here” after the Suns lost their first three games. The veteran point guard had previously – and privately – expressed a desire to be traded, and Phoenix had explored potential deals at that time. However, Bledsoe’s tweet forced the issue, and the team responded by sending him home and pursuing deals more aggressively.

Bledsoe, who will turn 28 next month, is coming off a career year for the Suns in 2016/17. He recorded 21.1 PPG, 6.3 APG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.4 SPG in 66 contests (all starts) before the team shut him down as part of its tanking effort down the stretch. The Suns’ handling of Bledsoe at the end of the season is likely one reason why the former first-round pick wasn’t thrilled with his situation this year.

As trade rumors swirled around Bledsoe, the Bucks were frequently cited as a potential suitor, with Milwaukee and Denver viewed as the most likely landing spots for the disgruntled point guard. So far this season, Malcolm Brogdon has been playing regular minutes at the point guard spot for the Bucks, with Matthew Dellavedova getting the backup minutes and Giannis Antetokounmpo also assuming some ball-handling duties in a point forward role. With Bledsoe entering the mix, Brogdon may begin to see more action at the two.

From an on-court perspective, Monroe doesn’t seem like a fit in Phoenix, considering the team’s frontcourt is already pretty crowded. Alex Len and Tyson Chandler are the Suns’ current centers, though Chandler is a trade candidate. Even if the club hangs onto Chandler, the unbalanced roster isn’t a major issue, since the Suns aren’t in win-now mode. It will be more interesting to see if the Bucks’ frontcourt holds up without Monroe, who played well last season. Milwaukee has been leaning more heavily on John Henson, Mirza Teletovic, and Thon Maker while Monroe has been sidelined with a calf injury.

Monroe is earning $17,884,176 this season and is in the final year of his contract, while Bledsoe is making $14.5MM and has one additional year left at $15MM. The deal will reduce Milwaukee’s team salary by more than $3MM, moving the club comfortably away from the luxury tax threshold. The Bucks will also get a trade exception worth $3,384,176.

However, the team now has about $106MM on its books for 2018/19, without taking into account a qualifying offer or a new contract for Jabari Parker, who will be a restricted free agent. If the Bucks hope to re-sign Parker, they may need to move another contract to avoid becoming a taxpayer.

As for the Suns, they won’t mind taking on a little extra money in the swap, since they still have a significant chunk of cap room. The deal should get their team salary above the required floor for 2017/18, and by trading Bledsoe for Monroe, the Suns also remove $15MM in guaranteed salary from their books for 2018/19, increasing their flexibility to make moves next summer.

Finally, the two draft picks included in the deal include some unusual protections. As first reported by Matt Velazquez of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link), the second-rounder is top-47 protected. If the second-rounder doesn’t change hands in 2018, it appears the Bucks’ obligation relating to that pick would be extinguished.

As for the first-rounder, the Suns have confirmed the details initially reported by John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter links), who describes the protection on that pick as follows:

Suns receive pick in 2018 it falls between Nos. 11 and 16.
If Suns don’t receive 2018 pick, they’ll receive pick in 2019 if it falls between Nos. 4 and 16.
If Suns don’t receive 2019 pick, they’ll receive 2020 pick (top-7 protected).
If Suns still haven’t received pick after 2020, they’ll receive unprotected 2021 pick.

In addition to potentially landing Milwaukee’s pick in 2018, Phoenix will have its own first-rounder and Miami’s (top-seven protected) for next year’s draft.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Edy Tavares To Play In Spain

November 7th, 2017 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams

Less than a month after being waived by the Cavaliers, center Edy Tavares has elected to return overseas, agreeing to a three-year contract with Spanish team Real Madrid, per a Marca report. Blake Murphy of Raptors Republic has confirmed that report, with international basketball reporter David Pick supplying the financial details (via Twitter).

Tavares will return to the country where he began his professional career — he was under contract with Gran Canaria in Spain from 2009 to 2015. Drafted by the Hawks in 2014, the 7’3″ center headed to Atlanta a year later and has bounced around the NBA and G League since then, playing for a handful of different teams.

Signed by the Cavaliers at the very end of the 2016/17 regular season, Tavares’ season came to a premature end when he fractured his hand in May, sidelining him for the rest of the playoffs. Although his contract included a non-guaranteed salary for 2017/18, Tavares became expendable when the Cavs added three extra players to their roster late in the offeason, trading Kyrie Irving for Jae Crowder, Isaiah Thomas, and Ante Zizic, then signing Dwyane Wade. Tavares was waived by Cleveland in mid-October.

Tavares had initially joined the defending G League champs, the Raptors 905, for the 2017/18 season, but appeared in just one game for Toronto’s G League affiliate before striking his new deal with Real Madrid. The Raptors 905 have now lost two key players – Tavares and Kyle Wiltjer – to international teams.

Hawks Sign Tyler Cavanaugh To Two-Way Contract

November 5th, 2017 at 10:28am CST by Arthur Hill

The Hawks have filled their second two-way roster spot by signing power forward Tyler Cavanaugh, tweets Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The 23-year-old spent the preseason with Atlanta, but was waived before the regular season began. A rookie out of George Washington, he averaged 18.3 points and 8.4 rebounds for the Colonials last year.

As a two-way player, Cavanaugh will be limited to 45 days with the Hawks. He will spend most of his time with the team’s G League affiliate in Erie, Pa.

Point guard Josh Magette holds Atlanta’s other two-way deal.

Wizards Waive Carrick Felix

November 2nd, 2017 at 11:54am CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards have cut shooting guard Carrick Felix from their roster, the team announced today in a press release. Felix will become an unrestricted free agent this weekend, assuming he clears waivers.

Felix beat out Donald Sloan for a spot on the Wizards’ roster to open the season, but his hold on that 15th and final slot was precarious, since his salary remained non-guaranteed. The 27-year-old didn’t end up playing any regular season minutes for Washington during his stint with the team. In fact, the one time he got on the court, he was suspended for it — the NBA banned him one game for leaving the bench during last Friday’s altercation between the Wizards and Warriors.

Because Felix’s contract was non-guaranteed, the Wizards will only be on the hook for a prorated portion of his minimum salary. By my count, Felix should receive about $132K for his brief stay in D.C. That figure takes into account the money he lost due to his suspension, though perhaps Bradley Beal will compensate him for that game, as he suggested a few days ago.

“I might help him out, man. It was all my fault, anyways,” Beal said of last week’s altercation. “I gotta help my guy out. We might start a Go Fund Me and help out my guy Carrick Felix. He’s gonna need some cash, for sure.”

The Wizards now have an open spot on their 15-man NBA roster.

Thunder To Decline Josh Huestis’ 2018/19 Option

October 31st, 2017 at 8:19pm CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder will not exercise their fourth-year option for 2018/19 on forward Josh Huestis, according to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders. The move will put Huestis on track to reach unrestricted free agency in the summer of ’18.

The 29th overall pick in 2014, Huestis would already be in his fourth NBA season if he had signed his rookie contract the year he was drafted. Instead, he spent his first professional season in the G League before eventually inking his four-year rookie deal with Oklahoma City in 2015.

That move was meant to give Huestis a little experience before he had to adjust to the NBA, but he has still been slow to develop for OKC. He only appeared in seven total games in his first two seasons with the Thunder, having been frequently assigned to the team’s G League affiliate, where he could get regular playing time.

Huestis’ fourth-year option would have counted for $2,243,326 against the Thunder’s cap next season. That’s not a huge amount, but if the club hopes to retain Paul George and/or Carmelo Anthony, every dollar saved will come in handy.