With the last of the late games of the evening close to being in the books, let's catch up on the latest news and stories from around the league...

• Delonte West will not be joining the Texas Legends of the D-League as the oft-troubled veteran looks to return to the NBA, writes Jeff Caplan of NBA.com. The decision may lead to a severing of ties between the player and his representation.
• E'Twaun Moore has demonstrated growth in his all-around game after being traded by the Celtics this past offseason as he's become a steady contributor for the Magic, says Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.com. 
• Much issue has been made about Kevin Durant's height around the Thunder locker room as the player himself swears he's no taller than 6-foot-9, writes Caplan. While he's not exactly Hasheem Thabeet's size, many players on the team believed Durant to be taller than his listed height. 

With the dust having settled on preseason cuts, NBA teams have eliminated most players on summer contracts and non-guaranteed deals from their rosters. However, there are still plenty of players on non-guaranteed contracts who made their respective teams' regular season rosters. Does that means their contracts are now guaranteed for the season? Well, in most cases, no.

In order for most non-guaranteed contracts to become fully guaranteed for the season, the player must remain on an NBA roster until January 10th. If the player's contract doesn't clear waivers on or before the 10th, his full salary will become guaranteed for the season. Until that date, he'll receive either a prorated portion of his salary, or some other previously-agreed-upon set amount.

However, there are a handful of players whose contracts will become guaranteed before that January 10th date. E'Twaun Moore's minimum-salary deal with the Magic, for instance, stipulates that his contract will become guaranteed if he's not waived by October 30th, which means he looks to be pretty safe.

Per Mark Deeks of ShamSports, here are the other players on non-guaranteed contracts who will see their deals become fully guaranteed prior to January 10th:

• Julyan Stone (Nuggets): October 31st*
• DeJuan Blair (Spurs): November 1st
• P.J. Tucker (Suns): December 1st*
• Cory Higgins (Bobcats): December 10th
• Nate Robinson (Bulls): January 1st

Notes: Stone's contract becomes guaranteed if he's not waived by "opening night," which is assumed to be the Nuggets' opening night, rather than the NBA's opening night. Tucker's guarantee increases to $400K as of opening night before becoming fully guaranteed on December 1st.

The latest news and notes from around the NBA on Sunday night:

• Doc Rivers is formulating a plan to best utilize Celtics rookie forward Jared Sullinger this season, writes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press writes that the new offseason additions the Timberwolves made will help ease the loss of Ricky Rubio, who continues to rehab from a torn ACL.
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel writes that, after a strong preseason debut, E'Twaun Moore may have the inside track on winning the spot of backup point guard for the Magic.

SEPTEMBER 6TH, 3:43pm: The Magic have officially signed Moore, according to a team release.

AUGUST 29TH, 7:58am: The deal is for the minimum, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. That means Moore, a second-year player, is in line for $762K this season and $884K in 2013/14.

AUGUST 28TH, 9:33pm: Both seasons are expected to be partially guaranteed for Moore, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.

5:54pm: The Magic have reached agreement with guard E'Twaun Moore on a two-year deal, according to HoopsHype (via Twitter).  Terms of the deal are not yet known.

Moore, 23, was a part of the three-team deal that sent Courtney Lee to the Celtics in July.  The Rockets promptly waived the guard without absorbing any salary cap consequences as his salary was non-guaranteed.  The former Purdue standout cleared waivers and received interest from multiple NBA teams in addition to a few clubs overseas.

As a rookie, the 55th overall pick became a semi-regular in Boston, averaging 8.7 minutes per contest in 38 games.  Provisions in the collective bargaining agreement prevented Moore from re-signing with the Celtics until July 2013.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (via Twitter) first reported that Orlando expected to reach a deal with Moore in the coming days.

FRIDAY, 4:44pm: Moore has cleared waivers and is free to sign with any team besides the Celtics. Agent Mark Bartelstein tells Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Sulia link) that several clubs are interested, and that he expects Moore to sign a new deal within a week or so. Moore playing overseas isn't likely, given the interest from NBA teams, says Bartelstein.

WEDNESDAY, 2:19pm: The Rockets have officially waived E'Twaun Moore, according to a press release announcing the signing of Omer Asik. Moore was acquired from the Celtics in the sign-and-trade deal for Courtney Lee, but wasn't a player Houston intended to keep. Because his contract for 2012/13 was non-guaranteed, the Rockets won't take a cap hit for releasing him.

Moore, the 55th overall pick in the 2011 draft, will be unable to re-sign with the Celtics until next July, but could draw interest from other clubs. Moore didn't have an overly impressive rookie season, but he received a decent amount of playing time in Boston (8.7 minutes per game in 38 contests), and is only 23 years old. The 6'4" guard spent his college career at Purdue, becoming the third-highest scorer in school history.

If Moore clears waivers, he'll be an unrestricted free agent.

5:49pm: The second-round picks the Blazers will get are both for 2013, tweets Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. They'll receive the Celtics' own selection, along with the Timberwolves' pick that the C's acquired in an earlier deal. Freeman also passes along word from Blazers GM Neil Olshey, who says he is hopeful Pavlovic will make the team out of camp (Twitter link). Freeman confirms, via Twitter, that the Celtics will send the Blazers cash to cover Pavlovic's salary, which will likely be the veteran's minimum. Pavlovic's 2012/13 contract is non-guaranteed, so he could be waived without the Blazers taking a cap hit, Freeman confirms in an email to Hoops Rumors.

4:05pm: In making their own official announcement about the trade, the Trail Blazers noted that they'll acquire two future second-rounders from the Celtics, rather than just one (Twitter link).

2:12pm: The Rockets have officially announced the Lee sign-and-trade agreement in a press release. Based on the team's announcement and a tweet from Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, the deal looks like this:

• Celtics receive: Courtney Lee (sign-and-trade from Rockets)
• Rockets receive: JaJuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore, Sean Williams, Bobcats' 2013 second-round pick (from Celtics), and the rights to Jon Diebler (from Trail Blazers)
• Trail Blazers receive: Sasha Pavlovic, second-round pick (from Celtics)

According to ESPN.com's John Hollinger (via Twitter), Lee will earn exactly $5MM in his first year, making his total contract worth the same as the maximum mid-level exception (four years, $21.35MM). The Rockets, meanwhile, are expected to waive Moore and Williams in the very near future. Diebler, the player whose rights Houston receives from Portland, was selected by the Blazers 51st overall in 2011 and spent last season overseas.

12:01pm: Lee will receive a fully guaranteed four-year, $21.5MM contract in the sign-and-trade, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. That's a little more than he could have earned with the mid-level exception, so his starting salary figures to be slightly over $5MM.

11:30am: Lee figures to earn a first-year salary of about $4.6MM, while the Celtics will pay Pavlovic's salary for Portland and will also send the Blazers a second-round pick, tweets John Hollinger of ESPN.com. It's unclear what exactly the Blazers are giving up in this deal, but it doesn't seem like it'll be anything of significance.

FRIDAY, 12:17am: The Trail Blazers are expected to step in as a third team to facilitate the Lee sign-and-trade, according to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald (via Twitter). It sounds as if Portland will receive Sasha Pavlovic from the Celtics.

THURSDAY, 9:50pm: Even though the deal has yet to be completed, Lee will join the Celtics and the Rockets' end of the sign-and-trade will not change, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.  The Rockets will receive JaJuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore, and Sean Williams, but do not plan on keeping the latter two.  Houston will also get the Bobcats' 2013 second-round pick in the deal.

9:30pm: The Suns and Hornets are the teams that were, and still may be, involved in the trade talks, tweets Bulpett.

7:35pm: JaJuan Johnson hasn't requested a trade from Houston, but would welcome it if he winds up there given the number of power forwards the Rockets have, tweets Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. 

6:19pm: If the trade goes down, it will involve at least three teams, Bulpett tweets.

5:52pm: JaJuan Johnson will request a trade if he is sent to the Rockets, a source told Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (via Twitter).

5:42pm: The trade for Lee still expected to go through, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.  Blakely adds that the Rockets will waive Moore upon acquiring him.

5:05pm: The trade appears to be in trouble but both sides are working to keep it alive, Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald tweets.

4:30pm: The deal will send E'Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson, Sean Williams, and a second-round pick to the Rockets, tweets Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.

3:41pm: The Celtics have agreed to acquire Courtney Lee in a sign-and-trade deal with the Rockets, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Details are still being worked out, but JaJuan Johnson will be heading to Houston, says Spears.

As John Hollinger of ESPN.com points out (via Twitter), for salary-matching purposes, it's "inconceivable" that the Celtics could acquire Lee for Johnson alone. It's likely that the non-guaranteed contract of E'Twaun Moore will be involved as well, along with at least one other player, and perhaps cash or draft picks. The deal figures to require some maneuvering from the Rockets, who are already shuffling their roster around to create a spot for Omer Asik's offer sheet.

The Timberwolves, Bulls, and Suns were also believed to be in the running for Lee, and the Rockets could have re-signed him as well, since they'd yet to renounce his rights. The 26-year-old averaged 11.4 points per game for the Rockets in 2011/12, on 43.3% shooting (.401 3PT%).

E'Twaun Moore was just traded to the Rockets in the three-team Courtney Lee deal, but by all accounts Houston is likely to waive the 6'4" guard soon. According to Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com, Moore already has a new team lined up, saying he expects to wind up with the Bulls.

Moore would have to clear waivers before signing with the team of his choice, so it's unclear whether Chicago is simply his preference or if the Bulls have given him indication they'll claim him off waivers. He has a non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary for next season that becomes guaranteed if he's not waived by the end of summer league this weekend. 

Moore, the 55th overall pick in the 2011 draft, averaged 2.9 points and made 37.8% of his three-point attempts in 38 games for the Celtics last season.

The Celtics agreed to terms with Jason Terry last week, but they'd "love" to turn the deal into a sign-and-trade with the Mavericks in order to free their mid-level exception to pursue Courtney Lee, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that the Mavericks and Celtics discussed a sign-and-trade for Terry earlier in the process, but the Mavs are no longer open to such a move (Twitter link). Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com hears the only way a sign-and-trade happens is if a third team gets involved.

 To facilitate a sign-and-trade with the Mavericks, Washburn says the Celtics would likely have to give up a combination of young players, like E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson, or perhaps veterans Mickael Pietrus or Keyon Dooling. Since Pietrus and Dooling are free agents, they'd have to consent to be signed-and-traded. Nonetheless, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge remains optimistic he can work something out to land Lee, tweets Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com, suggesting a sign-and-trade with the Rockets as a possibility, however difficult.

While the Celtics formally announced contracts for Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass and Chris Wilcox earlier today, the Celtics haven't finalized deals with Terry and Jeff Green in order to retain flexibility, as Forsberg writes. The Celtics have also been linked to O.J. Mayo in a possible sign-and-trade deal.

Earlier this week a report by Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune said Lee could become the top target of the Wolves if their pursuit of Nicolas Batum comes up empty. Lee, an unrestricted free agent, identified the Celtics as one of eight teams with interest in him.

Here's the latest on the Celtics, who suffered a resounding, 32-point defeat in Philadelphia last night....

• Coach Doc Rivers isn't anticipating any major moves in the next week, as he tells Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. "I'm sure there will be more rumors, there's nothing you can do about that," Rivers said. "We pretty much know what we want to do.... Like I said a week ago, I'd be surprised if we did anything. Obviously, if we find someone out there who wants to give us a player, we'll take them."
• The Celtics don't intend to trade any of their expiring contracts for young players with uncertain futures, a source tells Washburn.
• Jermaine O'Neal is still debating between season-ending surgery or a cortisone shot for his injured wrist, says Washburn.
• Also within Washburn's piece, Rivers says he isn't considering assigning E'Twaun Moore to the D-League.
• Dan Duggan of the Boston Herald doesn't believe the Celtics will make a trade, but cautions that pre-deadline comments made by Rivers and GM Danny Ainge last year gave no indication that the Kendrick Perkins deal was coming (Twitter links).