Shaq Buchanan Signs With Grizzlies
Memphis has signed former Murray State guard Shaq Buchanan, tweets Adam Johnson of 2 Ways and 10 Days. Buchanan will receive an Exhibit 10 deal and will be claimed as an affiliate player, taking his name out of the Oct. 26 G League draft.
The Grizzlies confirmed the signing in a tweet, adding that Jarrod Uthoff has been waived to make room on the roster. The team has been making minor roster adjustments all week to help stock its G League affiliate.
Buchanan played two seasons for the Racers, averaging 13.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game as a sophomore. He joins his former backcourt partner, Ja Morant, who was taken second overall by the Grizzlies in this year’s draft.
Buddy Hield Hints At Trade Demand
Buddy Hield says he’ll “probably look for another home” if he can’t work out an extension with the Kings in the next four days, writes Jason Jones of The Athletic. Hield’s comments after Wednesday’s preseason game indicate that the stakes are extremely high for the team as Monday’s rookie scale extension deadline approaches.
Hield is reportedly seeking $110MM over four years, which is about $20MM below the maximum four-year deal he’s eligible to receive. Sacramento’s best offer so far has been about $90MM, which Hield has been unwilling to accept. That gap raises the prospect of an unhappy season for one of the team’s key pieces, who will become a restricted free agent next summer if no deal is reached.
“I don’t know if things are going to get done,” Hield told reporters last night. “If it don’t get done, me and my team will look somewhere else, probably look for another home. Until then, we’ll see what happens here. That’s the goal, to be here, and I love Sacramento. But if they don’t want me here, they don’t feel like I’m part of the core — I like respect and loyalty and I feel like I’m part of the group that’s been getting the team back where it needs to be. So like I said I want to be here, but if they don’t want me here I’ll find somewhere else to be.”
Hield played all 82 games last season and led the team in scoring at 20.7 PPG. He was the centerpiece of the trade that sent DeMarcus Cousins to the Pelicans in 2017 and launched the Kings’ latest rebuilding effort.
Negotiations with Hield are especially significant, Jones notes, because they may affect the way that other young players view the organization when it’s time for their extensions. GM Vlade Divac reportedly promised a super-max deal to Cousins before the trade, and the decision to change course has created a sense of distrust toward the front office among some players and their agents.
Coming off a 39-win season and with a wealth of young talent on their roster, the Kings have started to shed their reputation as a poorly-run franchise. But letting a player like Hield get away would be a major setback. Of course, if Hield reaches restricted free agency, Sacramento would be able to match any offer sheet he signs, but the club may want to risk the situation getting more contentious.
The fourth-year shooting guard believes he deserves to be rewarded for his role in putting the franchise on the right track.
“My job is to go out there and hoop and play for the max,” Hield said. “If every player is not playing for the max, I don’t know why you’re in the NBA. And some people will get the max, some people won’t, that’s how it works. But my job is to go out there and kill every night so I can be that max player. And I feel like, especially a market like this, Sacramento, you guys have been covering basketball all your life. Name one big free agent that came to Sacramento.”
Zak Irvin Signs With Knicks
The Knicks have signed Zak Irvin, tweets Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. The 25-year-old swingman has spent the past two seasons with the team’s G League affiliate in Westchester.
Irvin went undrafted out of Michigan in 2017 and has played in the Dominican Republic and Mexico as well as the G League. He was among 80 players selected to participate in the G League Elite Camp in May.
The Knicks had a roster spot open after waiving Amir Hinton yesterday. They are now back to the league limit of 20 players, with 15 guaranteed contracts and one two-way slot open.
Spurs Waive Galen Robinson Jr., Kenny Williams
The Spurs have cut Galen Robinson Jr. and Kenny Williams, according to the NBA’s official transactions log. Both players were just signed Tuesday, so it appears they were added to be part of the organization’s G League affiliate in Austin.
Robinson averaged 8.0 PPG and 4.9 APG last season at Houston, while Williams posted an 8.6/3.9/3.5 line for North Carolina. Both were seniors who went undrafted and played for San Antonio’s Summer League team. With Exhibit 10 contracts, they can both become affiliate players for Austin and will be eligible to earn $50K bonuses.
The moves leave the Spurs with 18 players ahead of Saturday’s cutdown date. However, with 15 players under guaranteed contracts and both two-way slots filled, the final roster seems to be set.
Thunder Waive Four Players
The Thunder trimmed their roster this morning by placing DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, Abdul Gaddy, Myke Henry and Eric Moreland on waivers, the team announced in a press release.
The moves indicate that Justin Patton, who has been limited by injuries to a combined four games in his first two NBA seasons, has won the 14th roster spot. Oklahoma City may not carry a 15th player because of salary cap concerns. The 16th pick in the 2017 draft, Patton signed with OKC in August and had a $700K guarantee on his $1,620,564 contract.
Of today’s four cuts, Moreland is the only one with significant NBA experience. He played a combined 83 games for the Kings, Pistons, Suns and Raptors over the past five years. Henry appeared in 20 games for the Grizzlies in 2017/18, while Akoon-Purcell got into seven games with Denver last year. Gaddy was also cut by the Thunder in training camp last season.
Raptors Sign Matt Morgan
The Raptors have added Matt Morgan to their training camp roster, tweets Blake Murphy of The Athletic. The rookie guard out of Cornell will receive an Exhibit 10 contract and will likely be ticketed for a spot with the team’s G League affiliate, Murphy adds.
Morgan played for Toronto’s Summer League entry and impressed the organization with his shooting skills, according to Murphy. He averaged 22.2 PPG for the Big Red last season and shot 43% from beyond the arc.
The Raptors had a roster spot open after waiving Sagaba Konate yesterday. They are now back up to the 20-man limit as Saturday’s cutdown date looms.
Nuggets Notes: Free Agents, Beasley, Murray
The Nuggets are about to find out whether a roster full of players who deserve regular minutes is really a good problem to have, writes Nick Kosmider of The Athletic. That’s how coach Michael Malone has been framing the situation, but keeping everyone happy on one of the league’s deepest teams could be a season-long challenge. Coming off a 54-win season, Denver traded for Jerami Grant this summer and will have to incorporate 2018 lottery pick Michael Porter Jr.
Playing time will be important with potentially half the roster heading into a contract year. Paul Millsap and Mason Plumlee both have expiring deals, and Grant could become an unrestricted free agent as well if he declines a $9.3MM option for 2020/21. Juan Hernangomez and Malik Beasley are both eligible for rookie scale extensions, while Monte Morris and Jarred Vanderbilt will be eligible for extensions next summer. Torrey Craig is headed for restricted free agency.
“Sacrifice is the biggest word in our locker room,” Morris said. “We’re so deep that you have to be able to know sometimes that it ain’t gonna be your night. It’s knowing that you can be the so-called hero with six points on any given night.”
There’s more out of Denver:
- The team has a little more than a week to reach an extension with Beasley before facing the prospect of matching a very expensive offer sheet next summer, Kosmider notes in a separate story. Beasley already rejected a three-year, $30MM offer and recently hired Rich Paul of Klutch Sports as his new representative. The fourth-year shooting guard has a chance to cash in if he can repeat last year’s outbreak, which saw him average 15.9 PPG while shooting 55% from the floor and 50% from 3-point range. “I don’t think you can look at an 82-game season as a fluke,” Malone said. “… He built up to that. He worked toward that and when the opportunity presented itself, he took advantage of it.”
- It was only a matter time of time before Jamal Murray signed a maximum-salary contract, so Denver determined it made sense to do it sooner rather than later, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. With championship hopes this season, the Nuggets wanted to resolve Murray’s contract situation early so he could focus on basketball.
- Denver isn’t likely to make a trade early in the season, Singer adds in the same piece. Barton, Hernangomez and Gary Harris all missed time with injuries last year, so that depth could be needed until opportunities emerge closer to February’s trade deadline.
Paul George May Miss The Clippers’ “First 10” Games
Clippers head coach Doc Rivers has offered a little more insight into when Paul George might make his regular season debut for his new team, tweets Mark Medina of USA Today.
Rivers told reporters Saturday that George “is not going to be here for the first 10.” If that holds true, it would mean his first game will be no earlier than November 13 at Houston.
It’s the latest clue on the rehab plan for George, who still doesn’t have a set timetable for recovery after offseason surgery on both shoulders. George said late last month that he would definitely miss the team’s October games and was hoping for a return “in the November range.”
Joe Chealey, Josh Perkins Waived By Hornets
The Hornets have waived Joe Chealey and Josh Perkins, tweets Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
A 23-year-old point guard, Chealey spent all of last season on a two-way contract with Charlotte. He got into just one NBA game, but was a starter for the organization’s G League affiliate in Greensboro, where he posted a 16.3/3.7/5.3 line in 43 games before a torn left meniscus ended his season in March.
Perkins, a rookie point guard out of Gonzaga, signed an Exhibit 10 deal in August. He was a 38.6% shooter from 3-point range in college. Both players have a good chance to start the season in Greensboro, Bonnell adds (Twitter link).
The moves trim the Hornets’ roster to 18 players ahead of next Monday’s final cutdown date. Charlotte has 13 guaranteed contracts, with both two-way slots already filled.
Celtics To Give Max Strus Two-Year Deal
Max Strus will receive a two-year contract from the Celtics, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. The deal includes a partial guarantee that’s nearly half of the rookie minimum, league sources tell Charania.
The 23-year-old shooting guard has been on a two-way contract that he agreed to in July after going undrafted out of DePaul. He has seen minimal playing time in Boston’s first two preseason games.
Because Strus is already on the training camp roster, the Celtics don’t have to make an accompanying move. However, they now have a two-way slot to fill. ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes that any move to convert a player on an Exhibit 10 contract to a two-way deal, such as Tacko Fall, must be completed by next Monday (Twitter link).
The minimum salary for a rookie this season is $898,310, so Strus’ partial guarantee will come in at less than half of that number.