Hawks To Waive Daniel Hamilton
The Hawks will waive guard Daniel Hamilton after agreeing to a trade with Boston, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta acquired Jabari Bird and cash from the Celtics today, with NBA rules requiring that they clear a roster spot to make the deal official.
The Hawks will also waive Shelvin Mack, who was acquired in a separate deal with Memphis for Tyler Dorsey, according to Vivlamore.
It appeared as if Atlanta would have been able to hang onto Hamilton if it had completed the trade for Mack first, then waived him to clear a roster spot. However, Vivlamore suggests that the team had to release Hamilton due to a “technical error.”
Hamilton, 23, was the No. 56 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft out of Connecticut. He appeared in 19 games with the Hawks this season, holding per-game averages of three points, 2.5 rebounds and 10.7 minutes on 38% shooting.
The Hawks held onto the likes of Jeremy Lin, Taurean Prince and Dewayne Dedmon past today’s trade deadline despite each player seeing their names surface in rumors. According to Vivlamore, there are currently no plans to buy out veterans like Lin and Dedmon.
Nets Release Forward Mitch Creek
The Nets have released Australian forward Mitch Creek from his 10-day contract, the team’s PR department tweets.
Brooklyn had to open up a roster spot in order to finalize a trade with the Raptors for Greg Monroe, even though it doesn’t plan to keep the veteran center. The Nets received a future second-rounder as part of that reported deal.
Creek was signed to a second 10-day contract with the Nets on Monday.
The 26-year-old Creek spent most of his professional career with the Adelaide 36ers in Australia. He played for the Mavericks in Summer League, the Nets in the preseason, and the G League’s Long Island Nets for most of the 2018/19 campaign until signing his first 10-day contract with Brooklyn on January 25.
Creek appeared in four games with the Nets, averaging 3.8 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 9.0 MPG.
Wesley Matthews Bought Out By Knicks, Plans To Sign With Pacers
4:14pm: The Knicks have officially waived Wesley Matthews, the team announced on social media.
2:28pm: Matthews will be bought out by the Knicks later today and intends to sign with the Pacers once he clears waivers, tweets Charania.
2:03pm: Shooting guard Wesley Matthews is expected to reach a buyout agreement with the Knicks, and the Pacers are the frontrunners to sign Matthews once he clears waivers, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Matthews is also expected to draw interest from the Warriors and Rockets and possibly other contenders, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times (Twitter link).
The Knicks are expected to retain veteran enter DeAndre Jordan, rather than buy him out. Stein adds. Jordan, who like Matthews will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, was also acquired in the blockbuster deal that shipped star big man Kristaps Porzingis to the Mavericks.
The Knicks have already been working on a buyout with disgruntled center Enes Kanter and that could be finalized as early as today, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
Matthews and Kanter both have expiring $18.6MM contracts. Jordan is making $22.9MM.
Matthews, who is averaging 13.1 PPG and shooting 38% on his 3-point attempts, would be a natural fit for Indiana as it seeks to replenish its backcourt in the wake of Victor Oladipo‘s season-ending injury.
New York’s desire to keep Jordan is mainly due to his willingness to mentor their young bigs, especially rookie center Mitchell Robinson.
Suns Waive Guard Wayne Ellington
4:11pm: The move is official, according to a team press release.
4:06pm: The Suns will place newly-acquired Wayne Ellington on waivers today, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 Phoenix tweets.
Ellington and guard Tyler Johnson were dealt to Phoenix for forward Ryan Anderson but the Suns had no intention of retaining the veteran shooting guard. Ellington was caught in a logjam of wings with the Heat, bouncing in-and-out of the rotation. He’ll now be free to seek a team that can offer him more playing time.
Ellington had the ability to veto a trade, so he wouldn’t have agreed to it unless he would end up in a more favorable situation. The Pistons, who just traded starting shooting guard Reggie Bullock to the Lakers, are expected to pursue Ellington. The Thunder have also been mentioned as a potential suitor.
Ellington has an expiring $6.27MM contract. The 31-year-old guard, who appeared in 25 games with Miami this season, is a career 38% 3-point shooter.
Knicks Waive Enes Kanter
3:54pm: The Knicks have officially waived Kanter, the team announced today (via Twitter). He’ll clear waivers on Saturday.
2:35pm: Enes Kanter won’t have to worry about a negotiating a buyout in New York, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Knicks plan to release the unhappy center, meaning they will owe him the balance of his $18.6MM contract. The move could be finalized by the end of the day (Twitter link).
Kanter has been frustrated about his reduced playing time under first-year Knicks coach David Fizdale. Kanter began the season as the starter, but dropped down the depth chart as Fizdale created more minutes for Mitchell Robinson and Luke Kornet. Last week’s Kristaps Porzingis trade brought DeAndre Jordan to New York and left Kanter as the fourth-string center.
Kanter was outspoken about his situation and asked management for a trade if he wasn’t going to be used. Madison Square Garden fans have been vocal in their support of Kanter, chanting his name at recent games, but that may have been part of the reason the Knicks decided to act so quickly to get rid of him.
“I don’t know if the organization wants to hear that every game because it’s a little embarrassing,” Kanter said in an ESPN story. “Because after all this [Porzingis] trade and everything that the fans still want me to go out there and play. I don’t know if they wanna hear that chant every game.”
Several teams should be interested in the 25-year-old, who averaged 14.0 points and 10.5 rebounds in 44 games.
Grizzlies To Release Omri Casspi
Veteran forward Omri Casspi is among the NBA’s roster casualties on deadline day, according to Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com (Twitter link). Wallace reports that the Grizzlies are waiving Casspi in order to keep their roster count at 15 players.
Memphis has agreed to a series of deadline trades, including one with the Raptors that will see three players sent to the Grizzlies in exchange for Marc Gasol. As a result, Memphis needed to open up a roster spot to accommodate those incoming players.
Casspi makes sense as the odd man out. The 30-year-old recently suffered a torn meniscus and it was unclear whether or not he’d be able to return this season, Wallace notes. Casspi will get a head start on unrestricted free agency for next season after averaging 6.3 PPG and 3.2 RPG in 36 games for Memphis.
Meanwhile, the release of Casspi bodes well for Bruno Caboclo, who is on his second 10-day deal with the Grizzlies and was another candidate to be waived, based on his contract situation. However, Memphis likes what it has seen from Caboclo and there’s a good chance he’ll get a rest-of-season contract, perhaps even with guaranteed money for next season too, tweets Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian.
Post-Deadline Notes: Rockets, Spurs, Favors, Portis
The Rockets’ latest moves prior to the trade deadline were mainly designed to open up a roster spot and find another piece on the buyout market, GM Daryl Morey told the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen (Twitter link). The Rockets also wanted to “create flexibility now and down the road,” Morey said.
The Rockets were involved in a three-way deal with the Kings and Cavaliers in which they shipped out Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss and acquired Iman Shumpert, Nik Stauskas and Wade Baldwin. They soon traded Stauskas and Baldwin to the Pacers and dealt James Ennis to the Sixers without receiving any players in return.
We have more on potential moves from around the league:
- The Spurs will be searching for a wing player via the buyout market, Jabari Young of The Athletic tweets. They have mainly relied on journeymen Marco Belinelli, Quincy Pondexter and Dante Cunningham as backups to leading scorer DeMar DeRozan and Bryn Forbes.
- Power forward Derrick Favors is glad he wasn’t traded by the Jazz, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets. Favors was reportedly part of the package Utah offered to Memphis in its failed attempt to acquire point guard Mike Conley. He is likely to be a free agent this summer since his $16.9MM salary for next season is not guaranteed unless he remains on the roster through July 6th. “I’m happy I’m still here,” he said. “I’m glad this is over, and now I can focus on basketball.”
- Bulls players were sad to see power forward Bobby Portis go to the Wizards, Mark Strotman of NBC Sports Chicago reports. Portis was part of the package Chicago shipped to Washington for forward Otto Porter Jr. Though Portis had a much-publicized altercation with former teammate Nikola Mirotic early last season, he was regarded as an emotional leader by the players on the current roster. “Bobby’s pretty much the main glue of the team, a big-time voice,” shooting guard Zach LaVine said. “It (stinks). He’s one of my best friends on the team.”
Buyout Market: Ellington, Kaminsky, Gortat, Smith
- The Hornets will look to reach a buyout with big man Frank Kaminsky after failing to trade him, Sean Deveney of Sports Illustrated tweets. The little-used Kaminsky is making $3.62MM this season.
- Veteran center Marcin Gortat is interested in joining the Warriors but Golden State will take a wait-and-see approach regarding the waiver wire and buyout market, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. Gortat, a starter most of the season, is expected to be waived by the Clippers.
- The Cavaliers have no plans to discuss a buyout with J.R. Smith and failing to find a trade partner for the shooting guard, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Smith is making $14.72MM this season but his $15,68MM salary for next season is not guaranteed unless he remains on the roster through June 30th.
- The Raptors’ flurry of activity, including an agreed-upon trade with the Grizzlies for center Marc Gasol, will make them an active participant in the buyout market, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post tweets. Toronto will be down to just 10 players on the active roster, plus two two-way players. That means there will be playing time available for free agents that will soon clear waivers.
- The Celtics do not have an immediate target to fill their open roster spot, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald tweets. Enes Kanter, expected to be bought out by the Knicks as early as today, isn’t believed to be on their radar screen, a source tells Murphy.
Kings To Waive Ben McLemore
The Kings are waiving veteran guard Ben McLemore, reports Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link). McLemore will become an unrestricted free agent once he officially clears waivers.
The Kings completed a pair of trades today, but didn’t take on any extra players in either of those moves, so there was no urgent need to open up a roster spot. However, with McLemore’s contract no longer required for salary-matching purposes in a trade, it makes sense for the club to move on from him, since he’s not part of the regular rotation in Sacramento.
A former seventh overall pick, McLemore appeared in 19 games for the Kings this season, averaging just 8.3 minutes per contest. He posted 3.9 PPG on .391/.415/.667 shooting in his limited role, and will look to catch on with a new team once he reaches the open market.
As for the Kings, this move actually creates a second opening on their roster, assuming my math is correct, reducing their player count to 13. Sacramento will have two weeks to get back up to 14 players.
Bulls, Robin Lopez Expected To Engage In Buyout Talks
The Bulls and center Robin Lopez are expected to soon engage in discussions on a potential contract buyout, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Malika Andrews (Twitter link).
Chicago made deals to acquire Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Otto Porter this past week, trading away the likes of Jabari Parker, Bobby Portis and two second-round draft picks. The team explored trading Lopez as the deadline approached, but failed to find a suitable deal for the big man.
“I’m going to be asleep at 2 o’clock,” Lopez said Wednesday, fully knowing he could be traded by the deadline. “What time’s the plane? I pass out right away when I get on the plane, so I might be asleep. Hopefully they don’t have to carry me off the plane.”
Lopez, 30, has made stops with Phoenix, New Orleans, Portland, New York and Chicago so far in his 11-year NBA career, establishing himself as a physical force on both ends of the floor. The Bulls originally acquired him in a 2016 trade with the Knicks.
The Warriors were expected to be Lopez’s next destination if the team reached a buyout agreement with him last month, according to Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes. It’s unclear if this has changed, with veteran centers Marcin Gortat and Enes Kanter now also available on the free agent market.