Heat Sign Justise Winslow To Three-Year Extension
OCTOBER 13: Winslow’s extension is official, per RealGM’s NBA transactions log.
OCTOBER 12: Heat forward Justise Winslow has agreed to a three-year, $39MM extension, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The agency representing Winslow, Roc Nation, hammered out the deal with Heat president Pat Riley a few days before Monday’s rookie scale extension deadline.
The extension includes a third-year team option, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
The Sun Sentinel reported on Tuesday that the two parties were close to an extension agreement.
The agreement greatly reduces the possibility of Winslow being included in a potential trade with the Timberwolves for Jimmy Butler, as CBA rules would complicate his value for salary-matching purposes.
With Devin Booker and Karl-Anthony Towns having already signed new deals, Winslow becomes the third player from the 2015 rookie class to secure an extension. There are still 2o players eligible for a rookie scale extension this year. If those players don’t sign new contracts by next Monday, they’ll be on track to become restricted free agents during the summer of 2019.
Winslow, the 10th overall pick in the 2015 draft, has not quite developed as quickly as the franchise hoped, though he showed some improvement last season. The extension will be well worth it if he effectively holds down a rotation spot during the life of the contract.
Winslow’s contract adds more guaranteed money to already hefty payroll. The Heat will now have approximately $133MM in salary commitments (including player options) for the 2019/20 season. They’ll have to make some moves to avoid paying luxury tax penalties following that season.
Winslow shot 38% from long range last season but only posted modest overall numbers, averaging 7.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 2.2 APG in 68 games (24.7 MPG). However, Winslow has the ability to defend multiple positions and averaged 1.6 steals last season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nuggets Waive Donald Sloan, Xavier Silas
11:17pm: The Nuggets have confirmed Sloan’s release and also announced that they’ve waived Xavier Silas too (Twitter link). The moves reduce Denver’s roster to 15 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals, so the club is at the regular season roster limit.
8:51pm: The Nuggets have waived guard Donald Sloan, Hoops Rumors’ JD Shaw tweets.
The move reduces Denver’s camp roster to 18 players. It waived forward Emanuel Terry earlier this week.
Sloan, 30, has played more than 200 regular season games over the course of his career, but hasn’t appeared in an NBA regular-season contest since 2015/16, when he saw action in 61 games for the Nets.
Last season, he averaged 18.8 PPG, 5.5 APG, and 4.2 RPG in 24 games (34.6 MPG) for the Texas Legends, Dallas’ G League affiliate, before heading to China for a third stint with the Guangdong Southern Tigers.
2018 Offseason In Review: Oklahoma City Thunder
Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2018 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2018/19 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Signings:
Standard contracts:
- Paul George: Four years, maximum salary ($136.91MM). Fourth-year player option. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Jerami Grant: Three years, $27.35MM. Third-year player option. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Nerlens Noel: Two years, minimum salary. Second-year player option. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Raymond Felton: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Two-way contracts:
- Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Abdul Gaddy: One year, minimum salary.
- Donte Grantham: One year, minimum salary.
- Scotty Hopson: One year, minimum salary.
- Dez Wells: One year, minimum salary.
- Bryce Alford: One year, minimum salary (waived).
- K.J. McDaniels: One year, minimum salary (waived).
- Richard Solomon: One year, minimum salary (waived).
Trades:
- Acquired the draft rights to Hamidou Diallo (No. 45 pick) from the Hornets in exchange for the Thunder’s 2019 second-round pick and cash ($243K).
- Acquired Rodney Purvis from the Magic in exchange for Dakari Johnson and cash ($1,978,242).
- Acquired Abdel Nader and cash ($450K) from the Celtics in exchange for Rodney Purvis.
- Acquired Dennis Schroder and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot in a three-way trade with the Hawks and Sixers in exchange for Carmelo Anthony (to Hawks) and the Thunder’s 2022 first-round pick (top-14 protected) (to Hawks).
Draft picks:
- 2-45: Hamidou Diallo — Signed to three-year, minimum salary contract. First two years guaranteed. Third-year team option. Signed using taxpayer mid-level exception.
- 2-53: Devon Hall — Will play overseas.
- 2-57: Kevin Hervey — Signed to G League contract.
Departing players:
- Carmelo Anthony
- Corey Brewer
- Nick Collison (retired)
- P.J. Dozier (two-way)
- Daniel Hamilton (two-way)
- Josh Huestis
- Dakari Johnson
- Kyle Singler (waived)
Other offseason news:
- Andre Roberson suffered setback, expected to be out until at least December.
- Hired Bob Beyer as assistant coach to replace Adrian Griffin.
Salary cap situation:
- Remained over the cap.
- Carrying approximately $145.6MM in guaranteed salaries.
- Projected tax bill of $73.8MM.
- $4.5MM of taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($838K used on Hamidou Diallo).
Check out the Oklahoma City Thunder’s full roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.
Story of the summer:
The Thunder knew that trading for Paul George a year before he hit unrestricted free agency was a huge gamble. George had already expressed his desire to return to his home state of California and play in Los Angeles, which motivated Indiana to seek the best deal it could find for the All-Star forward.
What made it an even bigger risk was that George would be joining forces with Russell Westbrook. Oklahoma City had already seen a former league Most Valuable Player, Kevin Durant, ditch the franchise in part because he never completely warmed up to the headstrong All-Star point guard.
The Thunder’s brass still figured it was worth a dice roll. In order to remain competitive in the Western Conference, the Thunder needed a top-shelf forward to complement Westbrook. When the calendar approached July 1st, everyone associated with the franchise held their breath. Turns out, they had nothing to worry about.
George decided weeks before the start of free agency he wasn’t going anywhere. He didn’t even bother meeting with the Lakers before signing a four-year mega-deal with OKC that includes a player option in the final year of the pact.
As George explained shortly afterward, “Loved the situation. Loved where I was at. I decided to stick around a little longer. … I just wanted my free agency to be over with.”
Without George, the Thunder would have become over-reliant on Westbrook, as they did the season after Durant bolted, and struggled just to make the playoffs. With him, they remain one of the few teams that could threaten Golden State’s supremacy.
Nets Sign Gordon, Waive Creek
The Nets have signed forward Drew Gordon and waived forward Mitch Creek, Michael Scotto of The Athletic tweets.
The older brother of Magic star Aaron Gordon, Drew Gordon went undrafted out of New Mexico in 2012. He has bounced around various professional leagues since that point, primarily playing overseas. In addition to a brief stint with the Sixers during the 2014/15 season, the 6’9″ power forward has also spent time with clubs in Serbia, Italy, Turkey, France, Lithuania, and Russia.
Gordon will be making up for lost time. He was expected to sign with Brooklyn prior to camp but that deal didn’t come to fruition.
Most recently, Gordon played for Zenit St. Petersburg during the 2017/18 season. The 28-year-old recorded 11.1 PPG and 6.7 RPG in 21 VTB League games, along with 12.4 PPG and 7.0 RPG in 17 EuroCup contests.
Creek has spent most of his professional career with the Adelaide 36ers in Australia before signing with the Nets in August. In 31 games in Australia last season, Creek averaged 14.8 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and 2.5 APG. He was named to the All-NBL Second Team. He also played for the Mavericks’ summer league team, recording 6.8 PPG and 5.2 RPG in five games in Las Vegas.
Rockets Sign Bond, Waive Gentile
The Rockets signed guard Tim Bond and he’ll join their G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Mark Berman of KRIV tweets.
The 6’6” Bond played all four of his college seasons with Eastern Michigan, where he averaged 8.6 PPG and 3.0 APG. He averaged 9.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 3.5 APG during his senior year.
In order to open up a spot for Bond, the Rockets have waived guard Alessandro Gentile, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
It’s unclear when Houston signed Gentile, since he wasn’t listed on the 20-man training camp roster. Gentile had been recovering from right hand surgery after suffering the injury in May.
Gentile, a 6’7″ wing, has played overseas since being selected with the 53rd overall pick in the 2014 draft.
Suns Meet With Free Agent Jamal Crawford
Veteran free agent guard Jamal Crawford met with acting Suns GM James Jones and coach Igor Koskokov on Friday, Arizona Sports 98.7 radio host John Gambadoro tweets.
Crawford is one of few options remaining on the free agent market for teams seeking backcourt help. Phoenix certainly qualifies, though it has more issues at the point than on the wing.
Phoenix’s point guard spot is a muddle with Elie Okobo, De’Anthony Melton, Shaquille Harrison and Isaiah Canaan competing for minutes. Shooting guard Devin Booker is hoping to return for the season opener after undergoing hand surgery prior to camp. The Suns also have a number of other options at the two-guard position, including Josh Jackson, Mikal Bridges and Troy Daniels.
Overall, they have 14 players with guaranteed contracts and three others with non-guaranteed or partially-guaranteed deals.
Jones talked about the team’s interest in Crawford during a 98.7 radio interview.
“I like Jamal. I know him personally. He’s a great player, he’s a great guy,” Jones said. “Those are the types of players that we will look towards as we go through the season. More importantly, it’s not even about who potentially could be here or who’s out there. I’m focused on who’s here and we know who those guys are. Jamal is a name that — a guy that we’re looking at. He’s someone that we’ve expressed interest in, one of many names.”
The 38-year-old Crawford has also drawn interest from the Warriors, Sixers, Lakers and Celtics. Crawford turned down a $4.5MM player option with the Timberwolves in order to reach the open market this summer
Mavericks Re-Sign Ding Yanyuhang
The Mavericks have re-signed Ding Yanyuhang, a formality to place him on the team’s G League affiliate, the Texas Legends, Tim McMahon of ESPN tweets.
He was waived on Wednesday after missing most of the preseason because of tendinitis in his knee.
The 6’6” Ding has spent the last seven seasons playing professionally for China’s Shandong Golden Stars. In 45 games for Shandong last season, he averaged 26.0 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.2 APG and 1.6 SPG and earned his second consecutive Chinese Basketball Association Domestic MVP award.
Ding played on the Mavericks’ summer-league team last year.
Thunder Waive Four Players
The Thunder have waived guards Abdul Gaddy and Scotty Hopson and forwards Donte Grantham and Dez Wells, according to a team press release.
The moves pare Oklahoma City’s training camp roster to 16 players.
Gaddy saw spot duty in four preseason games. He has mostly played overseas since going undrafted out of Washington in 2013.
Grantham, Hopson and Wells were signed earlier this week. All could wind up with the team’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, once they clear waivers.
Grantham was averaging a career-best 14.2 PPG and 6.9 RPG for Clemson last season before tearing his ACL in January.
Hopson played in Turkey last season, averaging 11.1 PPG and 3.6 RPG in 27 games with Galatasaray. He played one game with the Mavericks last year after signing a 10-day contract in February and played two games for the Cavaliers in 2013/14.
Wells played in Italy last season, averaging 11.3 PPG and 2.7 RPG in 52 games with Sidigas Avellino.
Sixers Sign Cory Jefferson, Darin Johnson
Pelicans Waive Brandon McCoy, Darius Morris
The Pelicans have waived center Brandon McCoy and point guard Darius Morris, the team’s PR department tweets.
New Orleans is now down to 18 players on the training camp roster, including two-way player Trevon Bluiett.
Both appeared in three preseason games. McCoy was waived by the Bucks last month, then signed with the Pelicans on September 29th. He was undrafted out of Nevada-Las Vegas this summer. The 7-foot-1 McCoy averaged 16.9 PPG and 10.3 RPG for UNLV last season.
Morris signed a non-guaranteed two-year deal in early September.
Morris, a second-round pick in the 2011 NBA draft, spent four seasons playing for the Lakers, Sixers, Clippers, Grizzlies, and Nets after entering the league. In 132 total regular season contests, he averaged 3.3 PPG and 1.4 APG but hasn’t appeared in a regular-season game since 2015. Since then, Morris had played in the G League for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and in China for the Guangdong Southern Tigers.
With the Pelicans subtracting Morris, Jarrett Jack‘s chances of making the roster have seemingly increased.