Chris Udofia

NBA Teams Designate Affiliate Players

NBA teams cut as much as 25% of their rosters at the end of the preseason, but franchises that have D-League affiliates have a way to maintain ties to many of the players they release from the NBA roster. An NBA team can claim the D-League rights to up to four of the players it waives, as long as the players clear waivers, consent to join the D-League, and don’t already have their D-League rights owned by another team. These are known as affiliate players, as our Hoops Rumors Glossary entry details.

NBA teams allocated 46 affiliate players to the D-League at the beginning of the season last year, and this year, that number has risen to 56, according to the list the D-League announced today. These players are going directly to the D-League affiliate of the NBA team that cut them and weren’t eligible for the D-League draft that took place Saturday. Teams that designated fewer than the maximum four affiliate players retain the ability to snag the D-League rights of players they waive during the regular season, but for now, this is the complete list:

Boston Celtics (Maine Red Claws)

Cleveland Cavaliers (Canton Charge)

Dallas Mavericks (Texas Legends)

Detroit Pistons (Grand Rapids Drive)

Golden State Warriors (Santa Cruz Warriors)

Houston Rockets (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)

Indiana Pacers (Fort Wayne Mad Ants)

Los Angeles Lakers (Los Angeles D-Fenders)

Memphis Grizzlies (Iowa Energy)

Miami Heat (Sioux Falls Skyforce)

New York Knicks (Westchester Knicks)

Oklahoma City Thunder (Oklahoma City Blue)

Orlando Magic (Erie BayHawks)

Philadelphia 76ers (Delaware 87ers)

Phoenix Suns (Bakersfield Jam)

Sacramento Kings (Reno Bighorns)

San Antonio Spurs (Austin Spurs)

Toronto Raptors (Raptors 905)

Utah Jazz (Idaho Stampede)

Also, several players who were on NBA preseason rosters are on D-League rosters through means other than the affiliate player rule. Most of them played under D-League contracts at some point within the last two years, meaning their D-League teams have returning player rights to them. Others entered through last weekend’s D-League draft, while others saw their D-League rights conveyed via trade. Most of these players aren’t with the D-League affiliate of the NBA team they were with last month, with a few exceptions.

Roster information from Adam Johnson of D-League Digest, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor and freelancer and Hoops Rumors contributor Mark Porcaro was used in the creation of this post.

Warriors Cut Babb, Eddie, Henry, Udofia

The Warriors have waived Chris Babb, Jarell Eddie, Xavier Henry and Chris Udofia, the team announced via press release. Cutting those four non-guaranteed deals gives the Warriors 15 players, the regular season maximum, and it’s a positive signal for Ian Clark, whose deal is also non-guaranteed. Golden State has 13 full guarantees plus a partial guarantee for James Michael McAdoo, who has the support of coach Steve Kerr.

Henry, a five-year NBA veteran, has the most extensive experience of the four players Golden State is letting go, though the 24-year-old just signed with the team Monday in a move that could be related to his D-League rights. That was the same day the Warriors also inked Udofia, 23, who went undrafted out of the University of Denver in 2014. Neither saw any preseason action. Both signed non-guaranteed contracts for the minimum salary that only covered one season, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reported (Twitter link).

Babb, a 25-year-old shooting guard, came to Golden State from the Celtics in this summer’s David Lee trade. He averaged 2.8 points in 11.4 minutes per game during six preseason appearances. Eddie agreed in August to a deal for camp. The 23-year-old small forward posted 4.5 points in 10.1 minutes per game across two preseason contests.

Clark would pick up a partial guarantee of about $474K if he sticks for opening night. The 24-year-old offseason signee had a strong preseason, knocking down five of his 12 3-point attempts and averaging 5.9 points in 13.1 minutes per game over seven appearances, including one start. The two-year NBA veteran who’s played for the Jazz and Nuggets circled back to the Warriors this year after first making his mark in the NBA on Golden State’s summer league team in 2013.

Do you agree with Golden State’s moves? Leave a comment to give us your input.

Warriors Sign Chris Udofia

MONDAY, 6:02pm: The club has announced the signing of Udofia via press release, which also indicates the team has inked Xavier Henry.

FRIDAY, 10:13am: The Warriors are in the midst of signing small forward Chris Udofia, a source tells Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). The 23-year-old went undrafted out of the University of Denver in 2014 and played for the Rockets in the 2014 summer league. The move will take Golden State, which waived point guard Juwan Staten late Thursday, back to 18 players, with 13 fully guaranteed salaries.

Udofia’s school played in three different NCAA Division I conferences during his time there, and he won Defensive Player of the Year honors in two of them. Still, his shot attempts per game and scoring average declined in both of his last two college seasons. He posted 12.3 points and 5.4 rebounds in 34.4 minutes per game as a senior in 2013/14.

He’ll ostensibly join Ian Clark, Chris Babb and Jarell Eddie in a competition for a regular season roster spot that I explained earlier today, though it’s not a given that any of them will make it to opening night, since the Warriors are a taxpaying team and don’t have to carry more than 13 players. The Warriors can claim the D-League rights to as many as four of the players they waive, so that will be an option with Udofia if Golden State doesn’t keep him on the NBA roster.

Draft Notes: Dixon, Saddler, Perry

Former Memphis point guard Michael Dixon will work out for the Celtics tomorrow, tweets  David Pick of Sportando, who made note of a few more upcoming auditions for some of this year’s draft entrants. You can find more of those – along with this evening’s draft-related links – below:

  • Agent John Spencer confirmed that former Duke guard Andre Dawkins will work out for the 76ers on either June 11 or 13, according to Tyler R. Tynes of the Philadelphia Daily News.
  • P.J. Hairston will participate in a private workout for the Knicks on Thursday, which makes it clear that New York will try to maneuver their way into the first round of the draft this year, a source tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. Goodman doesn’t think Hairston will slip past the 15-20 slots on draft night (Twitter link).
  • Nick Wiggins – older brother of the highly-touted Andrew Wiggins – is set to work out for the Jazz on Thursday, tweets Tariq Sbiet of North Pole Hoops (hat tip to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun).

Earlier updates:

  • Delaware standout Devon Saddler is scheduled for a workout with the Warriors on June 13th.
  • Youngstown State’s Kendrick Perry – following a strong audition for the Celtics – has the Jazz and Mavericks next up on his list of NBA workouts.
  • Utah will also take a look at San Diego State’s Xavier Thames sometime this week.
  • Jerami Grant, Joe Jackson, Ronald Roberts Jr. and Cam Bairstow are among the draft prospects working out for the Suns today, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
  • Agent Keith Kreiter adds the Nuggets to the list of teams set to work out Chris Udofia (Twitter link).
  • Add Gary Harris and Doug McDermott to the list of players who will audition for the Lakers tomorrow, per Mike Trudell of Lakers.com (via Twitter). 
  • 6’6 guard James Bell was among the handful of prospects who performed for the Jazz yesterday, notes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News.

Western Notes: Lakers, Draft, Nuggets

Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report breaks down the various candidates who have been mentioned in connection with the Lakers coaching search thus far. Ding believes Derek Fisher may be the most interesting name on the list, but also notes that the Thunder might also be in the running for Fisher’s services if the team decides to part ways with current coach Scott Brooks.

More from the west:

  • Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post examines if the Nuggets should select a point guard in the upcoming NBA Draft. The Nuggets hold the 11th pick in the first round, and currently have point guards Ty Lawson and Nate Robinson on the roster for next season.
  • Chris Udofia has scheduled workout sessions in June with the Mavericks and Rockets, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. The 6’6″ small forward is projected as a late second rounder.
  • Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders looks at the most likely draft candidates available when the Lakers select at 7th overall. Blancarte says it’s unlikely Dante Exum will slide that far, but he is the ideal player for the team to select this June.