Hawks Sign Luke Babbitt To One-Year Deal
AUGUST 9: The Hawks have officially signed Babbitt, the team confirmed today in a press release.
AUGUST 4: The Hawks have reached an agreement to sign free agent forward Luke Babbitt, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, Babbitt will receive a one-year contract from Atlanta.
Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders reports (via Twitter) that Babbitt’s one-year deal will be worth $1.9MM. The minimum salary in 2017/18 for a player with Babbitt’s experience is $1,974,159, so it sounds like it’ll be a minimum pact.
Babbitt, 28, spent last season with another Southeast team, averaging 4.8 PPG and 2.1 RPG in 68 games for Miami. Although Babbitt’s numbers were modest, he started 55 games for Miami and knocked down 41.4% of his three-point attempts, playing a role for the club during its 30-11 second-half run.
Few players have been as reliable from outside in recent years as Babbitt, who has made an impressive 43.8% of his long-distance attempts since the start of the 2014/15 season. He’ll bring that shooting touch to an Atlanta team that waived Mike Dunleavy Jr. earlier this summer.
Babbitt was one of five notable free agent forwards we identified as potentially intriguing investments earlier this week. The other four, including Dunleavy, remain on the open market.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Blazers Sign C.J. Wilcox To Two-Way Contract
AUGUST 9: The Blazers have officially signed Wilcox to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.
AUGUST 8: The Trail Blazers have agreed to a two-way deal with former Washington standout C.J. Wilcox, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter). Just yesterday, basketball journalist David Pick tweeted Wilcox was reportedly drawing interest overseas interest for Baskonia Vitoria, but the former first-rounder will instead remain in the United States.
Wilcox, 26, appeared in 22 games with the Magic last season, averaging a mere 1.0 PPG. Selected 28th overall by the Clippers in 2014, Wilcox has failed to transition his collegiate success to the professional level. In 66 career NBA contests, Wilcox has posted averages of 2.0 PPG, 0.5 RPG, and 0.5 APG while suiting up for the Clippers and Magic.
Portland will hope that Wilcox, entering his fourth professional season, can rediscover his once productive form as he resumes his career domestically.
Mavericks Sign Maalik Wayns
The Mavericks have added former Villanova standout Maalik Wayns to their roster, the team announced today in a press release. Terms of the deal weren’t revealed, but a minimum salary camp contract with a modest partial guarantee appears likely.
Wayns, 26, went undrafted back in 2012, and has bounced around since then, playing for a handful of NBA, G League, and international teams. Wayns’ NBA résumé consists of 29 total regular season games with the Sixers and Clippers, and he also played in 39 total G League games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and the Delaware 87ers.
Since 2015, Wayns has played for teams in Puerto Rico, Italy, Russia, and Israel. Signing with the Mavs will represent a return stateside for the veteran point guard, who may end up playing for the Texas Legends, Dallas’ G League affiliate, if he doesn’t earn a spot on the club’s regular season roster.
Having signed Wayns, the Mavs are now carrying 17 players on their NBA roster. That total doesn’t include Nerlens Noel, who remains a restricted free agent, or Johnathan Motley, the team’s lone two-way player so far. While Dallas’ offseason roster is getting full, only 11 players have fully guaranteed salaries for the 2017/18 season, so multiple regular season roster spots could be up for grabs in camp.
Lakers Sign Stephen Zimmerman To Camp Deal
2:46pm: The Lakers’ deal with Zimmerman is now official, with the team confirming the signing in a press release.
10:53am: Free agent center Stephen Zimmerman has agreed to a deal with the Lakers, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, Zimmerman will sign a partially guaranteed contract and join the Lakers for training camp.
Zimmerman, 20, was the 41st overall pick in the 2016 draft, landing with the Magic. The former UNLV big man saw limited action during his rookie season in Orlando, averaging 1.2 PPG and 1.8 RPG in 19 games (5.7 MPG) for the club. However, he had a more extensive role in 21 games for the Erie BayHawks, averaging 13.4 PPG and 8.9 RPG in the G League.
The Magic’s contract agreement with Zimmerman included just one guaranteed season, with a non-guaranteed salary for year two. Faced last month with a deadline to make a decision on his 2017/18 salary, Orlando’s new management group opted to move on from Zimmerman, waiving him and making him a free agent.
Zimmerman is the third young player who has recently agreed to sign a camp deal with the Lakers. The team also added Vander Blue last week and struck an agreement with Briante Weber on Tuesday.
Bucks Hire Milt Newton As Assistant GM
AUGUST 9: The Bucks have officially hired Newton as their assistant general manager, confirming that move and announcing several more front office changes today in a press release.
AUGUST 7: The Bucks are finalizing a deal with former Timberwolves general manager Milt Newton, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who reports that Newton is poised to join Milwaukee’s front office as an assistant GM.
Newton, who also previously worked for the Sixers, Wizards, and the NBA office, was the GM in Minnesota from 2013 to 2016. He was dismissed by the Wolves after president Flip Saunders passed away and team ownership made the decision to give Tom Thibodeau full control over basketball operations. Newton has been seeking a return to an NBA front office over the last year.
While Newton won’t get the opportunity to run the show in Milwaukee, he figures to work closely with new GM Jon Horst. A surprise hire this spring, Horst doesn’t have much experience as the lead man on basketball decisions, so the Bucks had been in the market for a veteran executive to share some of his responsibilities.
A report last month indicated that the Bucks had interviewed several candidates for the assistant GM opening, with a focus on executives who had previously served as a general manager or worked closely with a GM. Newton was named in that report as a “serious candidate” for the job in Milwaukee.
Although it has been a fairly quiet offseason so far for the Bucks, they’re currently the frontrunners in our poll from earlier today on which Central club has had the best summer — many of Milwaukee’s division rivals are believed to have taken a step backward in the last couple months.
International Notes: Lessort, McRae, Garino, Cook
One of the Sixers‘ second-round picks in 2017, French forward Mathias Lessort, has bought himself out of his deal with Bamberg and is negotiating with Red Star Belgrade, tweets international basketball reporter David Pick. Lessort is expected to play at least one more season – and perhaps more – overseas before heading to Philadelphia.
Here are a few more international items of interest:
- As we noted earlier today, Spanish team Baskonia was pursuing C.J. Wilcox before he agreed to a two-way contract with Portland. According to Chema de Lucas of Gigantes.com (Twitter link; translation via Sportando), Baskonia is also eyeing Jordan McRae, who played 37 games last season for the Cavaliers.
- Recently waived by the Magic, Argentinian swingman Patricio Garino is drawing interest from Italian team Pallacanestro Reggiana, per Emiliano Carchia of Sportando, who passes along a report out of Italy.
- Former NBA shooting guard Daequan Cook, who appeared in 328 games for the Heat, Thunder, Bulls, and Rockets, has a new deal with Ironi Nes Ziona in Israel, the team has confirmed (via Twitter). The 30-year-old has spent the last several years overseas, having last played in the NBA during the 2012/13 season.
- All-EuroLeague guard Brad Wanamaker is nearing an agreement with Turkish club Fenerbahce, according to team president Aziz Yildirim, who says his club will land Wanamaker if the former Pitt standout doesn’t sign an NBA deal. Sportando has the details.
Pacific Notes: Wilcox, Reed, Looney, Warriors
Neither Pablo Prigioni nor C.J. Wilcox currently has an NBA contract, with Prigioni transitioning to coaching and Wilcox having agreed to a two-way deal with the Trail Blazers. However, before Wilcox reached an agreement with Portland, it appeared he may reunite with Prigioni, who was his teammate with the Clippers during the 2015/16 season.
As international basketball reporter David Pick details (via Twitter), Prigioni – now the head coach of Baskonia in Spain – had been recruiting his former Clippers teammate in the hopes of signing him to a $500K contract. Wilcox will earn less than that on his new two-way deal, so remaining stateside and getting the opportunity to see a little NBA action was likely a key factor in his decision.
Here’s more on the Clips and their Pacific rivals:
- New Clippers center Willie Reed was charged on Sunday with misdemeanor domestic battery, but his wife has issued a statement through her attorney saying she doesn’t want to press charges against her husband, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “This incident has been totally blown out of proportion. I did not call the police and I did not ask anyone to call the police on my behalf. Willie is a good man and a great father. I have no intention of pressing charges and I have asked the authorities to immediately dismiss all charges against Willie,” Jasmine Reed said in her statement. Willie Reed’s arraignment is currently scheduled for September 8.
- In a piece for The Athletic, Danny Leroux examines the Warriors‘ options for their 15th man, exploring whether the club should simply keep Kevon Looney or go in another direction with that final roster spot.
- The Warriors earned the No. 1 spot on David Aldridge’s list of offseason rankings, as he details in a piece for NBA.com. Aldridge’s list is based on each team’s summer roster moves, rather than its overall roster strength, so the Kings and Lakers rank in his top 10 as well.
Poll: Which Southeast Team Had Best Offseason?
For multiple teams in the Southeast, the 2017 offseason was more about retaining their own players than going out and making a major splash via trade or free agency. That was especially true for the reigning division champs in Washington.
Not only did the Wizards match Brooklyn’s four-year, maximum salary offer sheet for Otto Porter — the club also completed another four-year, maximum salary extension, locking up John Wall far beyond the remaining two years on his current contract. Washington also made other minor changes to its roster, adding Jodie Meeks and Tim Frazier, but the team’s major moves involved keeping its current core intact.
The same can be said about the Heat, who pursued Gordon Hayward, but missed out and quickly shifted their focus back to their own free agents, finalizing new long-term contracts with James Johnson and Dion Waiters. Miami also made the biggest investment in the division on an outside free agent, striking a four-year, $45.6MM deal with Kelly Olynyk, which could be worth even more via incentives.
The Hawks brought back Ersan Ilyasova and Mike Muscala on new deals, but opted not to re-sign their top free agent, letting Paul Millsap go to Denver. The move was one of several made by Atlanta that will re-shape the roster for 2017/18. Dewayne Dedmon, Miles Plumlee, and Marco Belinelli are among the newly-added Hawks, while Tim Hardaway, Dwight Howard, Thabo Sefolosha, and Mike Dunleavy are a few of the players who left Atlanta this summer.
The Hornets were on the other end of a major trade with Atlanta, landing Howard in exchange for Belinelli and Plumlee. The cap-strapped Hornets didn’t have a lot of flexibility to make upgrades, but the additions of Howard, Malik Monk, and Michael Carter-Williams are intriguing moves for a club that underperformed in 2016/17.
Meanwhile, the Magic didn’t make any big-money investments in free agency, but landed Jonathon Simmons, Shelvin Mack, Arron Afflalo, and Marreese Speights on affordable deals, and added a tantalizing athlete in Jonathan Isaac in the draft.
What do you think? Which Southeast team has had the best offseason so far? Vote in our poll and then head to the comment section to share your thoughts.
Which Southeast team has had the best offseason?
-
Washington Wizards 33% (361)
-
Charlotte Hornets 27% (289)
-
Miami Heat 19% (201)
-
Orlando Magic 16% (169)
-
Atlanta Hawks 6% (61)
Total votes: 1,081
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Previously:
Ty Lawson, Donatas Motiejunas To Play In China
AUGUST 9: Shandong’s deals with Lawson and Motiejunas are now official, according to Pick (Twitter link), who adds that Motiejunas’ pact has a base value of $2.2MM.
AUGUST 8: NBA free agents Ty Lawson and Donatas Motiejunas appear poised to become teammates in China, according to international basketball reporter David Pick, who tweets that both players will head overseas to join the Shandong Golden Stars.
According to Pick (Twitter link), Lawson reached an agreement with Shandong prior to today, striking a deal that will pay him $2.4MM, with bonuses that could push the total value to $3MM. Previously rumored to be joining another CBA team, Lawson is coming off a modest bounce-back season with the Kings, in which he averaged 9.9 PPG and 4.8 APG in 69 contests, making 45.4% of his field goal attempts.
As for Motiejunas, his agreement with Shandong was initially reported by international outlet 15min.lt, as detailed by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. His deal is believed to be in the $3MM range as well.
Motiejunas had a bizarre year in 2016, having been involved in a February trade that was scuttled due to health concerns, then going through a prolonged restricted free agency that involved another deal falling through. At various times in ’16, it seemed as if Motiejunas would be traded to the Pistons, signed by the Nets, or retained by the Rockets, but he ultimately landed with the Pelicans in January, averaging 4.4 PPG and 3.0 RPG in 34 games for New Orleans.
According to Pick (Twitter link), Shandong offered more than $3MM to Michael Beasley in the hopes of bringing him back, but the former Golden Star is opting to join the Knicks instead.
2017/18 NBA Roster Counts
While NBA teams are allowed to carry up to 20 players during the offseason, rosters are limited to 15 players during the regular season. Expanded offseason rosters allow clubs to bring in players on contracts that aren’t fully guaranteed, giving those players a chance to earn a regular season roster spot or getting a closer look at them before sending them to their G League affiliate.
In addition to the usual 15-man rosters, NBA teams are permitted – as of this season – to carry two players on two-way contracts. Two-way deals, which we describe in detail in our glossary, essentially give clubs the NBA rights to two extra players, though they’ll spend the majority of the season in the G League, rather than with the NBA team.
Here are the various categories you’ll find in our roster count list:
- NBA: These players are officially on standard NBA contracts with a given team. The total number of players under contract is listed, with the number of players on fully guaranteed contracts noted in parentheses. So a team with 13 guaranteed contracts and two players on 10-day deals will be listed as “15 (13).” If you’re curious about which contracts aren’t fully guaranteed, that list can be found right here.
- Two-way: These are players officially signed to two-way contracts. You can find a specific team’s two-way players right here.
- Reported: These are players whose contract agreements have been reported but haven’t been made official. When they’re finalized, we’ll move them to the “Official” or “Two-way” category. We’ll also use this section to make note of cuts that have been reported but not finalized.
- Total: A team’s total roster count, taking into account all of the above.
Here are 2017’s NBA roster counts, which we’ll continue to update through the season:
Updated 4-12-18 (9:43am CT)
Atlanta Hawks
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Boston Celtics
- NBA: 16 (16)
- Note: Celtics granted an extra roster spot via the hardship provision.
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 18
Brooklyn Nets
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17