Magic Re-Sign James Ennis
NOVEMBER 25: The Magic have officially re-signed Ennis, the team announced today in a press release. Orlando completed the signing using part of its mid-level exception for a salary of $3.3MM, tweets Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports.
NOVEMBER 20: The Magic are re-signing small forward James Ennis on a one-year contract, The Athletic’s Shams Charania tweets.
Orlando acquired Ennis from Philadelphia in a trade deadline deal in February. He started 18 of 20 regular-season games with the Magic, averaging 8.5 PPG, 4.8 RPG and 1.1 APG in 24.5 MPG.
Ennis has also played for Miami, New Orleans, Memphis, Houston and Detroit in his journeyman career. In 347 career appearances, he’s averaged 6.5 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 20.1 MPG. He’s a career 35.0% 3-point shooter.
Ennis had a player option worth $2.13MM but he declined it in order to test the free agent market. He wound up right back where he started and could be the team’s starting small forward, depending upon how the remainder of the team’s offseason plays out.
Jazz Sign Draft Picks Azubuike, Hughes
NOVEMBER 25: Hughes signed a two-year, minimum-salary deal that will be fully guaranteed, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
NOVEMBER 24: The Jazz have signed first-round pick Udoka Azubuike and second-rounder Elijah Hughes, according to a team press release.
Selected 27th overall, the 7-foot Azubuike was a four-year collegiate player at Kansas. He posted averages of 13.7 PPG, 10.5 RPG and 2.6 BPG in 31 games as a senior en route to being named Big 12 Player of the Year.
Assuming Azubuike received 120% of the rookie scale amount, he’ll make $1.977MM in his first season and a total of $10.15MM over four seasons. Hughes will likely get the $898,310 minimum salary for a first-year player.
Hughes, a small forward who played for Syracuse, was drafted with the 39th overall pick that Utah acquired on draft night. He led the ACC in scoring last season at 19.0 PPG to go along with 4.9 RPG, 3.4 APG and 1.2 SPG.
Rockets Notes: Harden, Westbrook, Diop, Caboclo, Green
The Rockets are likely to start training camp and the regular season with James Harden and Russell Westbrook on the roster, Adrian Wojnarowski said on ESPN’s SportsCenter (video link). Houston has not engaged on trade talks involving Harden. The team has tried to find a taker for Westbrook but his contract, which has three years and $132.5MM remaining, makes it very difficult. “That’s not an easy trade to make,” Wojnarowski said.
We have more on the Rockets:
- DeSagana Diop has joined Stephen Silas’ coaching staff, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets. Diop, who appeared in over 600 games as an NBA player, had been a Jazz assistant coach the last four years.
- The Rockets’ front office would like to re-sign free agent big man Bruno Caboclo, according to The Athletic’s Kelly Iko. Caboclo, 24, was dealt from Memphis to Houston at the trade deadline in February, but didn’t see much action after joining the Rockets. He appeared in just eight regular-season games and made two postseason cameos.
- Gerald Green remains hopeful the Rockets will re-sign him, Mark Berman of KRIV tweets. “Everybody knows how much I feel about this city and what this city feels for me,” Green said. The veteran swingman missed the entire 2019/20 season due to a broken foot and has been training privately in Houston.
- ICYMI, Sterling Brown agreed to a one-year deal with the Rockets on Sunday.
Suns Sign Lottery Pick Jalen Smith
The Suns have signed lottery pick Jalen Smith, according to a team press release.
Assuming Smith received the usual 120% above the rookie scale, he’ll make $4,245,720 in his first season and a total of $19,328,334 over the next four seasons.
He’ll look to get some minutes at the power forward and center spots on a team with playoff aspirations. He played two seasons at Maryland.
The 6’10” Smith averaged 15.5 PPG on 53.8% shooting from the field and 36.8% from 3-point range, plus 10.5 RPG and 2.4 BPG as a sophomore. He finished third in the nation with 21 double-doubles last season.
Clippers Waive Center Justin Patton
The Clippers have waived center Justin Patton, according to the team’s Twitter feed.
Patton was part of a three-team swap among the Clippers, Nets and Pistons that became official on Thursday. Los Angeles also acquired Luke Kennard, the draft rights to Jay Scrubb and four second-round picks in the deal.
Patton was signed by the Pistons to a non-guaranteed contract early in the summer but didn’t make a notable impression during workouts. By waiving him, the Clippers will avoid being on the hook for his $1.82MM salary in 2020/21, creating some extra wiggle room below their hard cap.
Patton, the 16th overall pick in the 2017 draft, was plagued by injuries during his first two NBA seasons with the Timberwolves and Sixers, breaking bones in both feet and appearing in just four total games. He signed with Oklahoma City last summer, playing in five games for the Thunder before being traded to Dallas and subsequently waived.
Lakers Waive Jordan Bell
The Lakers have waived recently-acquired big man Jordan Bell, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register tweets.
Bell was thrown into the deal that sent veteran center JaVale McGee to the Cavaliers for salary-matching purposes. The Lakers made the move to open up extra space under the hard cap for Marc Gasol.
Bell had a non-guaranteed salary of $1,762,796 and the Lakers needed to only guarantee a portion of that figure to make the trade number work. John Hollinger of The Athletic suggests (via Twitter) that Bell’s guarantee was about $580K, which will likely now be stretched across three seasons.
After spending his first two seasons with Golden State, Bell played in a total of 29 games with Minnesota and Memphis last season. He never played a game in Cleveland, as he signed with the Cavaliers in June.
Brantley Signs Two-Way Deal With Jazz
Jarrell Brantley has signed a two-way contract with the Jazz, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets.
The small forward played under a similar deal last season and became a restricted free agent when Utah extended a qualifying offer last week.
A second-round pick in 2019, Brantley excelled at the G League level last season, as he was named to the All-NBAGL First Team. The former College of Charleston star averaged 18.8 PPG, 7.6 RPG and 3.7 APG in 33 starts with the Salt Lake City Stars. He played nine NBA games in his rookie season.
The Jazz have reportedly filled their other two-way slot with guard Trent Forrest.
Gallinari Acquired By Hawks In Sign-And-Trade
The Hawks have officially acquired forward Danilo Gallinari as part of a sign-and-trade with the Thunder, according to a team press release.
The Hawks also received cash considerations from the Thunder. Oklahoma City received a conditional 2025 second-round pick and create a large traded player exception through the transaction. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, it’s a $19.5MM exception (Twitter link).
The Thunder also created a $27.5MM exception by officially trading Steven Adams to New Orleans earlier in the day, though they’ll have to use it to take on Al Horford from Philadelphia (creating a new $15.4MM TPE for sending out Danny Green).
Gallinari signed a three-year contract reportedly worth $61.5MM. He reached an agreement with Atlanta on Friday, the first day of free agency.
“Danilo checks a lot of boxes for what we have prioritized,” Hawks GM Travis Schlenk said in the release. “We wanted to add productive veterans and high-level shooting to our group and he provides both. At his size, he is one of the league’s most versatile and efficient scorers and he has proven to be the type of veteran you want in your locker room.”
Gallinari, 32, had a strong season in Oklahoma City in 2019/20, averaging 18.7 PPG and 5.2 RPG on .438/.405/.893 shooting in 62 games (29.6 MPG). He’ll slot in at small forward, though he could also see extensive action the “four” in smaller lineups.
Pistons Sign Wayne Ellington
DECEMBER 2: The Pistons have officially signed Ellington, the team announced today in a press release.
NOVEMBER 24: Free agent shooting guard Wayne Ellington has agreed to a one-year, $2.6MM contract with the Pistons, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
The Pistons, who have engaged in a flurry of roster moves over the past week, are hard-capped but needed backcourt help and decided to bring in Ellington on a veteran’s minimum contract. Svi Mykhailiuk is the only other natural shooting guard on the roster.
This is Ellington’s second stint with the organization. He played 28 games for the Detroit during the 2018/19 season. He saw action in 36 games with the Knicks last season, averaging 5.1 PPG and 15.1 MPG. Ellington, 32, is a career 37.8% 3-point shooter.
Sixers Reach Agreement With Ryan Broekhoff
4:59pm: Broekhoff’s deal will be non-guaranteed, tweets Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
4:14pm: The Sixers have agreed to a contract with free agent swingman Ryan Broekhoff, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. The terms have yet to be announced but it’s anticipated that he’ll get the veteran’s minimum.
Broekhoff signed with Philadelphia prior to the restart as a substitute player but bowed out after his wife contracted the coronavirus. He played the last two seasons with the Mavericks, averaging 4.0 PPG in 10.7 in 59 career games. He’s a 40.3% 3-point shooter.
He was waived in February when Dallas signed Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
Broekhoff spent the first few years of his career with Besiktas in Turkey and Lokomotiv Kuban in Russia and had drawn interest from international teams. However, he preferred to resume his career in the NBA.