Knicks Sign First-Round Pick Quickley
The Knicks have signed rookie guard Immanuel Quickley, according to a team press release.
The former Kentucky guard was taken with the 25th overall pick in the first round. The Thunder had his draft rights and traded them to New York in a three-team deal with Minnesota that was made official on November 20.
Assuming Quickley received the usual 120% above his rookie scale slot, he’ll make $2,105,520 in his first season. If he plays out the next four seasons on his rookie deal, he’ll make $10,803,948.
Quickley was named the 2019-20 SEC Player of the Year after posting averages of 16.1 PPG and 4.2 RPG over 33.0 MPG in 30 games as a sophomore last season.
Wizards Sign Cassius Winston To Two-Way Contract
12:42pm: It’s a one-year contract, according to The Athletic’s Fred Katz (Twitter link).
7:31 am: The Wizards have signed former Michigan State point guard Cassius Winston to his first NBA contract, inking him to a two-way deal, according to the league’s official transactions log.
Winston, who spent a full four-year college career with the Spartans, is coming off a 2019/20 season in which he averaged 18.6 PPG, 5.9 APG, and 2.5 RPG with a shooting line of .448/.432/.852 in 30 games (32.7 MPG).
The No. 53 overall pick in the 2020 draft, Winston was technically selected by Oklahoma City, but was sent to Washington in a draft-night trade.
Winston will join guard Garrison Mathews to fill the Wizards’ two-way contract slots, as our tracker shows.
NBA Sends Teams COVID-19 Safety Guide Ahead Of Training Camp
As the NBA prepares for the start of training camp, the league sent all teams a 134-page “Health and Safety Protocol Guide” as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage around the world.
The 2020/21 season will not take place inside a bubble like the resumption of the 2019/20 campaign in which a campus was established in Disney World Resort in Florida. Therefore, as teams play at their home arenas and travel for other games, the league is instituting protocols with the hopeful expectation of limiting the spread of COVID-19.
Here are some of the known outlines in the guide:
- Per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link), if a player tests positive for COVID-19, there are two ways for him to be cleared for a return: At least 10 days passing since the initial positive test or symptom onset or two negative PCR tests 24 hours apart. Bontemps adds that once a player is cleared, he must spend two days working out solo with nobody else present. The player also may not use the locker room or change clothes and must wear a mask and get a cardiac screening.
- Bontemps further states that players who test positive cannot exercise for at least 10 days and then monitored during individual workouts for two days. Therefore, even an asymptomatic player would miss at least 12 days.
- Bontemps also notes that there are no criteria listed for how many positive tests or any other metric that would require a shutdown of play. As has been the case with the NFL and MLB, it would be a fluid situation.
- Per the New York Times’ Marc Stein (Twitter link), with training camps to open Tuesday, individual workouts will be capped at four players and four team staff members at a time. Everyone participating must register three negative PCR tests.
- Anyone participating in training camp must quarantine from at least Nov. 27 – Dec. 2, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews (Twitter link). Testing will begin today, Andrews adds in a separate tweet.
- The NBA will establish a hotline to report safety and protocol violations, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. A hotline was also set up inside the campus in Orlando.
- As shown in a graphic tweeted by Charania, the protocols will include keeping six feet or more of distance and face masks being required at all times outside of eating/drinking, practicing or playing on the court, or while enclosed in an office with nobody else around. Additionally, daily testing will be required. Finally, virtual educations and awareness sessions are shown as a requirement.
- USA Today’s Mark Medina tweets that for the upcoming season, every NBA team will have an infectious disease specialist, infection control specialist, rapid testing coordinator, testing officer, testing manager and contact tracing officer, two contact tracers and team protocol enforcement officer. He adds that teams will also have two face mask enforcement officers, a player liaison, facility hygiene officer, arena health and hygiene manager, health education and awareness officer and travel safety officer.
- Teams will be allowed to pay housing for players in order to isolate those who test positive, according to Bontemps. Normally, they are prohibited to pay for housing since it’s considered a way to circumvent the salary cap.
- Travel parties will be limited of 45 people, including up to 17 players, Bontemps adds.
Jazz Trade Rayjon Tucker, 2027 Second-Round Pick To Cavs
NOV. 28: The Cavaliers have waived Tucker, per Kelsey Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). As a result, they’ll only carry his $340K partial guarantee on their cap.
NOV. 27: The Jazz are trading wing Rayjon Tucker to the Cavaliers along with a future second-round pick, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who reports that Utah is receiving cash in return.
Bobby Marks of ESPN adds (via Twitter) that the Cavaliers will get the Jazz’s 2027 second-rounder in the swap. The Cavs have issued a press release confirming the deal, making it official.
Tucker, 23, appeared in 20 games as a rookie for Utah last season, averaging 3.1 PPG and 1.0 RPG in a very limited role (8.1 MPG). His $1.52MM salary for the 2020/21 campaign will become guaranteed if the Cavs keep him under contract through November 29, but for now it’s just partially guaranteed for $340K, per Marks.
The Jazz will open up a spot on their projected regular season roster and clear a little money from their salary cap. Meanwhile, if the Cavs don’t intend to hang onto Tucker, they’re essentially just buying a future second-round pick for $340K (his partial guarantee), plus whatever amount of money they sent to Utah in the deal.
Sixers Agree To Two-Way Deal With Paul Reed
The Sixers will sign 2020 second-round pick Paul Reed to a two-way deal, tweets Derek Bodner of The Athletic. Philadelphia selected the DePaul product with the 58th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
In his junior campaign with DePaul in 2020/21, Reed averaged 15.1 PPG, 10.7 RPG and 2.6 BPG, all totals that far exceeded his previous two seasons with the school. The standout numbers earned Reed a second-team All-Big East selection and being named the Most Improved Player in the Big East. Despite mixed rankings, Reed was even touted by Shams Charania as a “projected first-round pick.”
Philadelphia has now filled out its two-way slots in agreeing to terms with Reed and G League guard Dakota Mathias, who inked his deal last week. During the shortened 2020/21 campaign, two-way players will be allowed to play in up to 50 of their team’s games.
Knicks Sign Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
1:04pm: The signing is official, according to the team’s PR department (Twitter link).
9:16am: The Knicks have agreed to a one-year deal with veteran forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The deal is expected to be an Exhibit 10 contract for Kidd-Gilchrist, per Newsday’s Steve Popper (Twitter link), which is essentially a non-guaranteed, one-year minimum-salary deal.
Regarded as a solid defender, Kidd-Gilchrist has ties to the current Knicks organization as current president Leon Rose represented him at CAA and is longtime friends with executive vice president and senior basketball adviser William Wesley. The 27-year-old appeared in just 25 games between the Hornets and Mavericks last season after spending the first seven seasons of his career with the Charlotte organization.
The Kentucky product was taken second overall by the then-Charlotte Bobcats in the 2012 NBA Draft and subsequently developed into a solid starter for the team. After three solid seasons, the Hornets rewarded Kidd-Gilchrist with a four-year, $52MM contract extension in August 2015.
Right shoulder injuries limited him to just seven games in his first season post-extension in 2015/16 but Kidd-Gilchrist returned to start 81 games and then 74 games in the two campaigns proceeding it. However, starting in 2018, Kidd-Gilchrist lost his starting role whilst battling a barrage of injuries.
Ultimately, Kidd-Gilchrist fell out of the rotation and was waived by the Hornets earlier this year before latching on with Dallas for 13 games down the stretch.
Raptors Sign Malachi Flynn To Rookie Contract
The Raptors have officially signed first-round pick Malachi Flynn to his rookie contract, according to the NBA’s transactions log.
Flynn, who transferred to San Diego State after starting his college career at Washington State, had a breakout season in 2019/20 a junior. The 6’1″ point guard averaged 17.6 PPG, 5.1 APG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.8 SPG with a .441/.373/.857 shooting line in 32 games (33.4 MPG) for the Aztecs. He was named the Mountain West Player and Defensive Player of the Year.
On draft night on November 18, Flynn was the 29th player off the board, going to Toronto with the second-last pick of the first round. As a Raptors rookie, he’ll get to learn from All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry and the newly re-signed Fred VanVleet.
Assuming he signs for the full 120% of the rookie scale amount – as nearly every player does – Flynn will earn $1.95MM in 2020/21. If he plays out his full four-year rookie deal, its total value will exceed $10MM. The full breakdown on those numbers can be found right here.
Terence Davis Likely To Receive Contract Guarantee
Terence Davis is likely to have to his contract guaranteed despite domestic abuse allegations, Michael Grange of Rogers SportsNet reports.
The Raptors’ second-year shooting guard has a $1,517,981 salary for the upcoming season that becomes guaranteed on Sunday. He had a solid rookie campaign after going undrafted, appearing in 72 regular-season games and averaging 7.5 PPG, 3.3 RPG and 1.6 APG in 16.8 MPG. Davis, 23, also saw action in six postseason games.
In terms of on-court production, Davis easily earned the second-year guarantee. However, the assault case has endangered his future with the franchise, even though the Raptors have little choice but to guarantee his contract, as Grange describes in detail.
Davis participated in the team’s mini-camp in Los Angeles last week and is expected to be with the team for training camp next week, according to Grange.
Davis was arrested in New York City in late October and faces seven charges. Davis allegedly hit his girlfriend in the face, then grabbed the victim’s phone and broke it during the incident. The woman’s son also allegedly got knocked down during the altercation. His next court appearance is scheduled for December 11.
The league is conducting its own investigation into the incident and could eventually take disciplinary action. For now, the Raptors don’t have the option of disciplining Davis. If the Raptors waived Davis prior to the contract being guaranteed, the Players Association would likely file a grievance, since the case remains unresolved.
The Raptors thus has to wait until the league takes action to decide what to do with Davis. If they waive him after Sunday, they’ll be on the hook for his salary.
Spurs Sign First-Round Pick Vassell
The Spurs have signed lottery pick Devin Vassell, according to a team press release.
Assuming that Vassell received the usual 120% above the rookie scale for his draft slot, the swingman out of Florida State will make $4,033,440 during the upcoming season and a total of $18,593,499 over the next four seasons.
The 6’7” Vassell was chosen with the 11th overall pick, becoming the first Spurs lottery selection since 1997.
As a sophomore last season, Vassell averaged 12.7 PPG, 5.1 RPG and 1.6 APG in 28.7 MPG while shooting 41.5% from 3-point range.
Pacers Sign Brian Bowen To Two-Way Contract
NOVEMBER 28: Bowen’s two-way deal has been finalized, according to RealGM’s log of official transactions.
NOVEMBER 27: The Pacers made Brian Bowen an unrestricted free agent, then decided to bring him back.
Bowen will return to Indiana on a two-way deal, according to Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. Indiana didn’t extend a qualifying offer to Bowen prior to free agency after he played his rookie season on a two-way deal.
The small forward appeared in just six games with the Pacers last season. He averaged 16.1 PPG and 7.7 RPG in 29 games with the G League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
Bowen played professionally in Australia during the 2018/19 season for the Sydney Kings before going undrafted.
Indiana has its other two-way spot available. Check out our Two-Way Contract Tracker for the latest updates.