Eastern Notes: Smith, Johnson, Nets

J.R. Smith‘s two-year contract with the Cavaliers has become fully guaranteed for the 2015/16 season since he remained on Cleveland’s roster through Monday, as is shown by our schedule of salary guarantee dates, a date first reported by Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The 29-year-old’s pact had an initial partial guarantee of $2MM included at the time of signing. Smith’s unusual deal also includes a $2.15MM partial guarantee on the full $5.4MM value of next year’s salary, which will become fully guaranteed if he is still a member of the Cavs past September 7th, 2016.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Heat shooting guard Tyler Johnson has been cleared to return to full basketball activities, the team announced (via Twitter). The 23-year-old suffered a broken jaw back in July during Orlando Summer League play. Johnson, 23, will likely need a full training camp in to help him secure a regular season roster spot with the team since Miami has a roster count of 19, including 12 fully guaranteed pacts. The guard’s $845,059 salary for 2015/16 is partially guaranteed for $422,530.
  • David West ‘s decision to jump ship and sign with the Spurs this offseason was the final push that the Pacers required to hit the reset button and begin a retool of the team, Mark Montieth of NBA.com writes in his mailbag. Indiana has added eight new players to its roster this offseason as a result, including Chase Budinger, Toney Douglas, Monta Ellis, Jordan Hill, Glenn Robinson III, and rookies Myles Turner, Joseph Young, and Rakeem Christmas.
  • Former Nets majority owner Bruce Ratner’s Forest City Enterprises made a capital call today worth $26.8MM in order to preserve its 20% ownership stake in the team, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com relays (Twitter links). Ratner’s group was facing a deadline of today to come up with the funds or have its ownership stake reduced to approximately 8%, Mazzeo notes. Mikhail Prokhorov is in the process of working toward a deal that would give him full ownership of both the team and the Barclays Center.
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