Sixers Waive Paul, Webb, Barber, Long, Christmas
3:32pm: The 76ers have confirmed the five cuts listed below, announcing in a press release that they’ve waived Paul, Webb, Barber, Long, and Christmas.
2:35pm: The Sixers entered the day with 19 players, and will waive at least four of those players to get down to the regular-season limit. According to Jake Fischer of Liberty Ballers (Twitter link), Brandon Paul will be one of those cuts. Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports (via Twitter) that James Webb III, Cat Barber, and Shawn Long will also be released by the club.
[RELATED: Elton Brand announces retirement]
In addition to the 19 players they had coming into the day, the Sixers also signed Dionte Christmas to a contract. While it hasn’t been officially reported or confirmed yet, Christmas will likely be Philadelphia’s fifth cut.
Webb, Barber, and Long are all candidates to join the Delaware 87ers, Philadelphia’s D-League affiliate, since the 76ers hold their rights. However, Paul has received interest from other NBA teams and there has been no talk of him heading to Delaware, a source tells Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link). Christmas doesn’t exactly fit the bill of a developmental prospect, but it looks like the Sixers may have picked up the 30-year-old today to send him to the D-League — a team can assign up to four preseason cuts to its D-League affiliate, assuming the player agrees.
Paul, Long, Webb, and Barber had partial guarantees worth $155K, $65K, $65K, and $50K respectively. Those figures will continue to count against Philadelphia’s cap. Assuming the Sixers don’t make any more cuts, they’ll head into the season with Robert Covington, Jerami Grant, T.J. McConnell, and Hollis Thompson on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed salaries.
Additionally, as Fischer notes, Nik Stauskas has made Philadelphia’s roster to start the year. The former eighth overall pick has a fully guaranteed salary worth nearly $3MM, but there was some uncertainty about whether the Sixers would have room for him. For now, at least, it seems they do.
Andre Miller Hopes To Sign With Contender
At age 40, Andre Miller would be the oldest player in the NBA if he were to sign a contract with a club. However, that doesn’t mean the veteran point guard is ready to call it a career quite yet. According to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (via Twitter), Miller still wants to play and is hoping to sign with “a playoff-caliber team.”
Last season, having started the year with the Timberwolves, Miller managed to latch on with a contender down the stretch, signing with the Spurs after Minnesota cut him. In total, between both teams, Miller appeared in 39 games in 2015/16, averaging 3.7 PPG and 2.2 APG in 11.8 minutes per contest.
It appears most NBA teams will head into the regular season with 15 players, leaving few opportunities for Miller early in the year. However, if teams run into injury problems, or remove a non-guaranteed contract or two from their books before the January 10 guarantee deadline, the door could be open for Miller to find a new home. The 17-year veteran may even prefer to wait things out and look for an ideal fit later in the season rather than joining a borderline playoff team right away.
Teams seeking a point guard will have several options in addition to Miller. Players like Jarrett Jack, Mario Chalmers, Toney Douglas, and Jorge Gutierrez are currently free agents, while Gary Payton II and Briante Weber are among the young players who have been cut from other teams within the last couple days.
Pacers Sign, Waive Ben Bentil
2:12pm: A few hours after signing him, the Pacers have waived Bentil, the team announced in a press release. Indiana’s roster is now back to 15 players, making it regular-season-ready.
12:16pm: Pacers head coach Nate McMillan confirmed that Bentil is expected to join Indiana’s D-League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, tweets Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com.
10:26am: After getting down to 15 players over the weekend, the Pacers are back up to 16, announcing in a press release that they’ve signed rookie forward Ben Bentil to a contract. Indiana’s interest in Bentil was reported late on Saturday night by Mark Porcaro.
[RELATED: Pacers waive Jeremy Evans, Julyan Stone]
The 51st overall pick in this year’s draft, Bentil averaged 21.1 PPG and 7.7 RPG at Providence last season, and signed a three-year contract with the Celtics as one of the team’s six draft picks. Although he received a strong partial guarantee of $250K from Boston, Bentil always seemed to be on the outside looking in with the Celtics, who had a crowded roster this fall. He was waived by the C’s on Friday, and a report indicated he’d look to sign with another NBA team rather than joining Boston’s D-League affiliate.
While it’s possible the Pacers will keep Bentil on their 15-man roster and cut someone else with a guaranteed salary, it’s far more likely that the club will waive the 21-year-old later today and assign him to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. With that $250K guarantee from the Celtics in hand, Bentil can afford to spend some time in the D-League, especially if he sees a potential path to a call-up.
Jazz Exercise 2017/18 Options On Hood, Exum, Lyles
The Jazz have exercised three team options for 2017/18 well in advance of next Monday’s deadline, announcing today in a press release that they’ve picked up fourth-year options for Rodney Hood and Dante Exum, as well as Trey Lyles‘ third-year option.
Hood, who turned 24 last week, took a nice step forward in his second year with the Jazz, averaging 14.5 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.7 APG, and 2.0 3PG while starting 79 games for the team. He’s expected to continue playing a major role in the rotation, particularly with Gordon Hayward out to start the season. His fourth-year option is worth just $2.387MM.
Exum’s fourth-year option is more expensive, at $4.992MM, and he’s coming off a lost season, having missed the 2015/16 campaign due to a torn ACL. However, he’s still just 21 years old, and Utah has high hopes for his future. He’ll see time at point guard behind probable starter George Hill.
As for Lyles, he’s heading into his second year, so the Jazz will have one more team option decision to make on him next year, for the 2018/19 season. In his lone season with the Jazz, Lyles averaged 6.1 PPG and 3.7 RPG in 80 games. His third-year option for 2017/18 will pay him $2.441MM.
Check out the full list of team option decisions for 2017/18 right here.
Thunder Waive Mitch McGary, Ronnie Price, Others
1:25pm: The Thunder have issued a press release confirming their four cuts: McGary and Price, as reported, along with Wright and Tarczewski, as speculated below. OKC’s roster is now at 15 players, ready for the regular season.
1:20pm: The Thunder intend to waive a pair of players with guaranteed salaries, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical, who reports (via Twitter) that Mitch McGary and Ronnie Price will receive their walking papers from the team. With Price no longer in the mix, Oklahoma City will keep rookie Semaj Christon to provide depth at point guard, per Charania.
The decision to waive McGary doesn’t come as a shock. In addition to failing to produce much on the court during his first two seasons in OKC, McGary also got into more trouble off the court this offseason. The NBA suspended the former Michigan big man twice – first for five games and then for an additional 10 – for violations of the league’s drug policy.
As Bobby Marks of The Vertical tweets, that suspension will begin if and when McGary signs with a new NBA team. For now though, McGary is hoping to resume his career in China or somewhere in Europe, per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link).
The Thunder will still have to pay McGary’s guaranteed salary, but that figure is fairly modest compared to Price’s guaranteed money. The veteran point guard signed a two-year, fully-guaranteed deal worth $5MM this summer, so Oklahoma City will be on the hook for about $2.558MM in 2016/17, with the remainder coming later. The Thunder could choose to stretch out Price’s 2017/18 cap hit across multiple years.
With McGary and Price headed for the waiver wire, and Christon apparently safe, the Thunder will have to make two more cuts this afternoon. Chris Wright and Kaleb Tarczewski look like the clear candidates to be waived, perhaps with an eye toward a D-League assignment to OKC’s affiliate.
Lakers Cut Anthony Brown; Roster Down To 15
The Lakers have made a somewhat surprising move to reduce their roster to 15 players, announcing in a press release that they’ve waived forward Anthony Brown. The cut opens up room on the roster for Los Angeles to keep both Thomas Robinson and Metta World Peace, who were previously believed to be battling for the final spot.
[RELATED: Lakers waive Yi Jianlian at his request]
Brown, 24, was selected 34th overall in the 2015 draft by the Lakers, and appeared in 29 games for the team during his rookie season, starting 11 of them. In 20.7 MPG, he averaged 4.0 PPG and 2.4 RPG, shooting just 31.0% from the field. The Stanford product had a guaranteed $874,636 salary for 2016/17, but the Lakers decided to move on from him anyway, eating that guaranteed money.
Neither Robinson nor World Peace had a guaranteed salary, but it appears both veterans have earned spots on the Lakers’ roster, now that the team has parted with Brown and Yi Jianlian. Robinson, a former fifth overall pick, had a solid camp with the team and will compete for frontcourt minutes in the hopes of sticking in L.A. long enough for his salary to become fully guaranteed.
As for World Peace, the Lakers value his veteran leadership and reportedly had interest in keeping him around as an assistant coach if he didn’t make the team. Perhaps sensing that the veteran forward would be reluctant to call it a career if the Lakers asked him to join their coaching staff, it seems the club found room on its 15-man roster for him instead.
Lakers Waive Yi Jianlian At His Request
12:28pm: The Lakers have officially waived Yi, the team announced in a press release.
8:18am: The Lakers are currently carrying 17 players, meaning they need to make two more cuts before Monday’s regular-season roster deadline, and Yi Jianlian made one of those decisions easy. According to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, the Chinese forward has asked the Lakers to waive him, and the team will formally grant that request, waiving him in advance of today’s deadline.
As Stein details, Yi and his representatives would like the chance to pursue other opportunities after the role he envisioned in Los Angeles didn’t pan out. That could mean seeking an NBA job, but there’s a good chance the former sixth overall pick heads back overseas — he’d have better odds of earning a significant role back in China than he would with another NBA club. At this point it’s not clear which way he’s leaning, per Stein.
The contract Yi signed with the Lakers this offseason could have been worth as much as $8MM if he’d stuck with the team all season and appeared in at least 59 games. However, at this point it was only guaranteed for $250K. The rolling guarantees and incentives made it a very trade-friendly deal, which was why L.A. was believed to be leaning toward keeping Yi.
Instead, the Lakers figure to turn to Metta World Peace or Thomas Robinson for their 15th and final roster spot, with the other player joining Yi on the waiver wire. The team reportedly wouldn’t mind keeping World Peace as an assistant rather than as a player, but if he’s not willing to retire quite yet, perhaps L.A. will be using to use that final roster opening on him.
Still, as Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times tweets, Robinson has “really impressed” the Lakers over the last few weeks, meaning he has a decent shot to win the roster battle. Robinson is nearly 12 years younger than World Peace, and – like Yi – was a high draft pick, having been selected fifth overall in 2012.
Jared Sullinger To Undergo Surgery
OCTOBER 24, 12:11pm: While Raptors GM Masai Ujiri is confident Sullinger will return this season, the big man’s recovery timeline is a little unclear at this point. As Michael Grange of Sportsnet tweets, Ujiri suggested today that Sullinger could miss two or three months, though that’s a rough estimate.
OCTOBER 23, 3:13pm: Raptors power forward Jared Sullinger will undergo foot surgery on Monday and is expected to miss an extended amount of time, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (on Twitter). It is unclear how long Sullinger will be out, but it will be a minimum of several weeks, Wojnarowski writes in a full story.
Sullinger hurt his left foot when it was stepped in the Raptors’ preseason opener against the Warriors on October 4th, and has been out since. Sullinger was projected to be the Raptors’ starting power forward. Without him, the expectation would be for the Raptors to lean on Patrick Patterson. First-round pick Pascal Siakam may also see an increased role early on in the rotation.
The Raptors signed Sullinger to a one-year deal worth $6MM in July. Sullinger, 24, spent four years in Boston after the Celtics made him the No. 21 overall pick on the 2012 NBA Draft. He appeared in 81 games last season, including 73 starts, averaging 10.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 23.6 minutes per game.
Sixers Sign Dionte Christmas
NBA teams have to reduce their rosters to 15 players in about four hours, but the Sixers aren’t quite ready to give up their 20-man preseason roster limit quite yet. According to a team release, Philadelphia has signed Dionte Christmas, bringing the club’s roster count back up to 20.
Christmas, who played his college ball at Temple, saw his only NBA action back in 2013/14 with the Suns. In 31 games for Phoenix, Christmas averaged 2.3 PPG and 1.2 RPG in 6.4 minutes per contest. He has played for various international teams in the years since then.
On the surface, Christmas looks like an unusual pickup for the Sixers. He’s unlikely to make the 15-man roster, so Philadelphia may intend to have him head to the D-League, but the 30-year-old isn’t the sort of developmental prospect the team would typically stash at Delaware. We’ll have to wait and see what the 76ers have in mind for the Philadelphia native.
Assuming Christmas’ deal isn’t fully guaranteed, the Sixers are currently carrying nine players on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed salaries. They’ll have to waive five players by 5:00pm eastern time today to get down to 15.
Blazers Pick Up 2017/18 Options On Vonleh, Napier
The Trail Blazers are exercising their 2017/18 team options on forward Noah Vonleh and guard Shabazz Napier, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter). That will put both players on track to play out their rookie contracts and potentially reach restricted free agency in 2018, if they’re not waived or extended before then. Portland has confirmed the moves in a press release.
The 2017/18 salaries for Vonleh ($3.505MM) and Napier ($2.361MM) aren’t exorbitant, and both players are still young, so it makes sense for the Blazers to exercise those options. Still, it wasn’t viewed as a lock in either case.
Vonleh, who turned 21 this summer, started 56 games during his first year in Portland, but only averaged 15.1 minutes per contest, and posted underwhelming numbers (3.6 PPG, 3.9 RPG, .421 FG%). The Blazers reportedly intend to use Al-Farouq Aminu exclusively at power forward – instead of small forward – this year, which could mean further reducing Vonleh’s minutes unless he shows major signs of improvement.
Napier, meanwhile, is playing on his third team in three years since being selected 24th overall in 2014. Traded to the Heat on draft night, the 25-year-old spent his rookie season with Miami, then played last season for the Magic before being dealt to the Blazers this summer in a salary dump by Orlando. Napier played just 10.9 minutes per game in 55 contests last season, averaging 3.7 PPG and 1.8 APG while shooting 33.8% from the field.
By exercising both options, the Blazers will push their overall guaranteed money for 2017/18 to nearly $130MM, the highest total in the NBA.