Southeast Notes: Nunn, Robinson, Wizards, Goodwin
Several players around the NBA with non-guaranteed contracts have already been waived or remain in danger of being cut as this week’s salary guarantee deadline approaches. However, Heat youngsters Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson have nothing to worry about.
While their contracts still aren’t technically guaranteed, Nunn and Robinson have started all season for the 26-10 Heat and will, of course, be retained through the January 7 deadline. While it’s a mere formality at this point, Nunn and Robinson are happy to assure themselves of those full guarantees, as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel writes.
“It’ll definitely be a relief,” Nunn said, admitting that he had “kept an eye on” the guarantee deadline. Robinson, meanwhile, said he isn’t taking his seven-figure salary for granted.
“I hope I never get used to that or that it ever becomes normal,” he said. “Well, I guess I hope it does. Well, you know what I mean: I hope I have the perspective to appreciate that it’s not normal. Every two weeks, I just try to be appreciative of it.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Hassan Whiteside seemed “genuinely confused” by the frequent boos he heard from Heat fans during his return to Miami this weekend, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Shortly after he was traded from Miami to Portland this summer, Whiteside filmed himself yelling, “We’ve got shooters!” on social media, a phrase Heat fans chanted back at him near the end of Sunday’s game. “I didn’t really realize they felt it was a diss,” Whiteside said after the game, per Reynolds.
- Ben Standig and Fred Katz of The Athletic examine why the Wizards elected to keep Gary Payton II, a 27-year-old on a one-year contract, over Justin Robinson, a 22-year-old who had been on a team-friendly three-year deal. Washington released Robinson on Sunday before his 2019/20 salary could become guaranteed. The Athletic duo also pointed out that the Wizards don’t have the G League rights for Robinson or Johnathan Williams, who was cut on Sunday too.
- Hawks point guard Brandon Goodwin, who is on a two-way contract, logged just five total minutes before Christmas, but has averaged 14.8 MPG in the team’s last five games. Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution looks at what sort of impression Goodwin is making in Atlanta.
Cavaliers Waive Alfonzo McKinnie, Tyler Cook
3:55pm: The Cavaliers have officially released McKinnie and Cook, the team confirmed in a press release. The club also announced the signing of Levi Randolph to a two-way contract.
2:30pm: The Cavaliers intend to waive third-year forward Alfonzo McKinnie, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Cleveland will also release rookie forward Tyler Cook, who was recently promoted to the 15-man roster.
McKinnie, 27, spent last season with the Warriors but was a cap casualty in October and was claimed off waivers by the Cavaliers. He struggled in Cleveland though, averaging 2.7 PPG with a .353/.286/.636 shooting line in 23 games (11.0 MPG).
As for Cook, he spent most of the season on a two-way contract with the Cavs before being promoted to the 15-man roster on Friday. It appears as if that move was designed to get him a little extra money before he was waived. ESPN’s Bobby Marks reports (via Twitter) that Cook got a $50K partial guarantee on his new contract.
In addition to eating Cook’s $50K guarantee, the Cavaliers will also be on the hook for a prorated portion of McKinnie’s non-guaranteed minimum salary, which works out to about $709K. Both players would have had their full 2019/20 salaries guaranteed if they had been retained through Tuesday.
The moves will leave the Cavs with just 13 players on standard contracts and one on a two-way deal, giving them a total of three open roster spots. Cleveland will have to add at least one player in the near future, since NBA teams can only dip below 14 players on standard contracts for up to two weeks at a time. The Cavs will also likely fill their two-way opening by next Wednesday, since January 15 is the deadline to sign players to two-way contracts.
Now that teams can sign players to 10-day contracts, the Cavs may look to bring in multiple players for 10-day auditions in the coming weeks and months. According to Charania, the club will explore the possibility of re-signing McKinnie, assuming he clears waivers on Wednesday.
Cavaliers Sign Levi Randolph To Two-Way Contract
The Cavaliers are filling their open two-way contract slot by signing G League guard Levi Randolph to a two-way deal, league sources tell Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). The team has issued a press release confirming the move is official.
Randolph, who went undrafted out of Alabama in 2015, has yet to appear in a regular-season NBA game, but has played professionally in the G League and in multiple international leagues over the last few years.
The 6’5″ guard spent last season with the Canton Charge, then returned to the Cavs’ G League affiliate this fall. In 20 NBAGL games (36.0 MPG) in 2019/20, he has averaged 15.3 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 2.8 APG, and 1.4 SPG with a .457/.373/.800 shooting line.
Randolph will join power forward Dean Wade as Cleveland’s second two-way player. He fills the opening created last week when the Cavs promoted Tyler Cook to the 15-man roster. Cook and Alfonzo McKinnie were waived today.
Celtics, Nuggets Among Teams Eyeing Bertans
While the Wizards have suggested both privately and publicly that they’re interested in retaining Davis Bertans beyond this season, that hasn’t stopped teams from showing interest in the veteran sharpshooter as next month’s trade deadline approaches.
According to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, the Celtics and Nuggets are among the teams that have emerged as possible suitors for Bertans. Hughes, who previously identified the Sixers, Lakers, and Hawks as teams to watch, suggests those clubs remain in the mix as well.
Bertans has been sidelined since December 21 with a quad injury and has been ruled out for Monday’s game against Boston, but appears to be nearing a return. Our Chris Crouse tweeted today that Bertans has a chance to be ready to play as soon as Wednesday in Orlando, while Hughes hears from a source that the 27-year-old should at least be back by the end of the weekend.
Assuming Bertans makes it back within the next week and picks up where he left off, the Wizards will face a tough choice at the February 6 deadline. Bertans, who is averaging 15.4 PPG with a .434 3PT%, has been one of the NBA’s most effective shooters and has shown some play-making ability too. He’s also on expiring contract.
The former Spur would be a hot commodity at the deadline and could net the rebuilding Wizards a strong asset or two. However, he may also make sense as a foundational long-term piece in Washington, assuming the team is willing to pay up for him this offseason. Hughes notes that many observers believe Bertans’ price tag will increase to $15MM+ annually this summer. He’s currently making $7MM.
Kings Have Interest In Kyle Kuzma
2:48pm: The Kings are unlikely to be interested in essentially swapping Bogdanovic straight up for Kuzma, Sam Amick of The Athletic hears (Twitter link). According to Amick, Sacramento values Bogdanovic’s versatility and is comfortable with his upcoming restricted free agency.
1:34pm: The Kings are among the teams that have made an effort to engage in discussions with the Lakers about a potential Kyle Kuzma trade, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link).
Kuzma’s name has popped up in trade rumors as of late, with a Friday report suggesting that teams had begun to due diligence on the Lakers’ forward in case he’s placed on the trade block. Over the weekend, Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that the Lakers had become open to listening to inquiries on Kuzma. Based on today’s update from Stein, it appears one of those inquiries has come from Sacramento.
Stein goes on to say that the Kings “know they would have to include” Bogdan Bogdanovic in any deal for Kuzma, which is an interesting detail. Bogdanovic, a former first-round pick who plays on the wing, has been more productive than Kuzma so far in 2019/20, averaging 14.5 PPG and 3.6 APG with a .383 3PT%. He also looks like a better fit for the Lakers’ current roster, given the team’s logjam at the four.
Kuzma, who averaged a career-high 18.7 PPG last season, has struggled in the first half of 2019/20 since returning from an offseason foot injury, recording just 11.8 PPG in 27 games. The Lakers are still figuring out how to best use him in a lineup that includes power forwards Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Kuzma has also had to deal with an ankle sprain, as well as a mini-controversy off the court after his trainer criticized LeBron.
On the plus side, Kuzma’s contract situation is more favorable than Bogdanovic’s, at least in the short term. Kuzma is earning less than $2MM this season and won’t reach restricted free agency until 2021, while Bogdanovic has an $8.5MM salary and will be an RFA this summer.
Sacramento may be reluctant to invest big money in Bogdanovic after signing Harrison Barnes and Buddy Hield to lucrative long-term deals, particularly with De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley becoming eligible for extensions of their own in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
If the Lakers and Kings were to make a deal centered around Kuzma and Bogdanovic, L.A. would have to add at least one more player for salary-matching purposes. Attaching Quinn Cook ($3MM) or DeMarcus Cousins ($3.5MM) to Kuzma would do the trick.
Magic Notes: Isaac, Fultz, Bamba, Fournier
The Magic didn’t offer a specific return timetable for Jonathan Isaac when they issued an update on his left knee injury last week. However, the up-and-coming forward isn’t expected to be re-evaluated for eight-to-10 weeks, and Josh Robbins of The Athletic suggests Isaac will likely miss the rest of the 2019/20 season.
As Robbins writes in a separate story for The Athletic, Isaac’s absence will be a tough blow for a Magic team that had already played below its expectations in the first half. While Orlando currently holds the No. 8 seed, the team had hoped to move up in the standings after winning 22 of its final 31 games last season. Instead, the Magic are just 16-20 so far, and without perhaps their best defensive player, there’s no guarantee they’ll hang onto that postseason spot.
Here’s more on the Magic:
- Despite his injury, Isaac is one of two Magic players viewed by Robbins as untouchable in trade talks, as The Athletic’s Orlando reporter details in his deadline primer. The second player? Markelle Fultz, whom team officials believe will continue to improve as a shooter and defender. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the club trades either player, Robbins writes.
- While Mo Bamba isn’t in the same untouchable tier as Isaac and Fultz, that doesn’t mean the Magic have any interest in moving him, according to Robbins, who suggests the team is unlikely to give up young players or first-round picks for a short-term fix, given the ceiling on this year’s roster.
- The Magic face a similar dilemma with Evan Fournier that they did a year ago with Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross, Robbins observes. Vucevic and Ross were veterans headed for unrestricted free agency, but Orlando chose not to trade either player and eventually re-signed both. It’s not clear whether the team will head down a similar path with Fournier — Robbins speculates that the Magic will be open to inquiries but would insist on receiving high value in any deal.
- Fultz has supplanted D.J. Augustin as the Magic’s starting point guard, but head coach Steve Clifford hasn’t hesitated to play the two guards together, and the results have been positive, writes Josh Cohen of OrlandoMagic.com. Orlando has a 104.7 offensive rating and 106.1 defensive rating on the season, but those marks have improved to 111.4 and 101.9, respectively, when Augustin and Fultz share the court.
Hoops Rumors’ 2020 10-Day Contract Tracker
On January 5, NBA teams became eligible to sign players to 10-day contracts, and many of the signings that take place between January 15 (the two-way contract deadline) and April will likely be of the 10-day variety. Hoops Rumors has created a database that allows you to keep on top of those deals, tracking every 10-day signing all season long.
Besides featuring all of this year’s 10-day deals, our 10-Day Contract Tracker includes information on all 10-day contracts signed since the 2006/07 season, giving you a chance to identify trends regarding your favorite teams and players. The search filters in the database make it easy to sort by team, player and year. For instance, if you want to see all the 10-day contracts that the Hawks have signed in recent years, you can do so here.
You can also see whether a player and team signed a second 10-day contract, or if those short-term deals led to an agreement that covered the rest of the season. Our tracker also notes which 10-day deals remain active, saving you from having to figure out whether a particular contract ends on Wednesday or Thursday.
A link to our 10-Day Contract Tracker can be found at any time in the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” on our desktop site. On our mobile site, you can find it on our “Features” page. We’ll be keeping it up to date for the rest of the season, so be sure to check back to keep tabs on the latest signings as they become official.
Cavs Notes: Porter, Nance, Love, Exum
Cavaliers rookie Kevin Porter Jr. has been diagnosed with a left knee sprain and will be re-evaluated in approximately two weeks, the team announced today (via Twitter). Porter’s injury occurred during the third quarter of Sunday’s home loss to Minnesota.
While Porter will be sidelined for multiple weeks, the news wasn’t as bad as it could have been for the Cavs. A source told Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com before Porter underwent an MRI that the club was “bracing for some real time off.”
As Fedor notes in a separate article at Cleveland.com, the second half of the season figures to be mostly about player development for the lottery-bound Cavaliers, and Porter had emerged this season as one of the organization’s most promising young prospects. If his knee injury had been more severe, it might have cost him most or all of the rest of his rookie season. While it appears that won’t be the case, teammates like John Henson were worried when they saw Porter go down.
“It kind of hurt my heart a little bit,” Henson said. “Young guys, this is the year for them. Especially them just learning the game and he was progressing. At this stage of the season he was looking like the steal of the draft.”
Here’s more out of Cleveland:
- The Cavaliers are also without big man Larry Nance Jr., having announced on Friday in a press release that he’d be on the shelf for about one or two weeks with left knee soreness.
- Kevin Love won’t be disciplined by the Cavaliers for his outburst during Saturday’s game vs. Oklahoma City, tweets Kelsey Russo of The Athletic. We described that on-court incident in a Sunday story.
- As a result of last month’s trade with Utah, John Beilein has the opportunity to coach Dante Exum six years after he tried to recruit the Australian guard to come to Michigan, notes Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. “It was only a couple of phone calls,” Beilein said of his recruitment efforts. “I never could get the time right, you know, calling Australia. So we kept playing voicemail tag… I don’t think he was ever thinking, ‘NBA or Michigan?’ But we were one of the people that called him. I’m sure North Carolina was recruiting him, as well.” Exum ultimately opted not to play college ball, entering the 2014 NBA draft and going fifth overall.
Blake Griffin Considering Season-Ending Knee Surgery
Pistons forward Blake Griffin will visit a specialist in Los Angeles this week in search of solutions to address his left knee issue, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. According to Haynes, one option being considered is season-ending knee surgery.
Griffin, a six-time All-Star, enjoyed one of his all-time best seasons in 2018/19, his first full year in Detroit, but has been limited by knee problems in 2019/20. The 30-year-old has only been able to play in 18 games and has put up career-worst numbers when he’s on the court, including 15.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and an abysmal .352 FG%.
The Pistons had entered the season expecting to load-manage Griffin to some extent, but his ineffectiveness when he plays and his inability to suit up at all for half the team’s games have significantly impacted Detroit’s playoff chances. The Pistons currently sit 11th in the Eastern Conference with a 13-24 record.
While it remains to be seen whether Griffin and the Pistons will actually opt for a surgical procedure that ends the big man’s season, there have been multiple signs that the franchise is considering taking a step back from its win-now efforts. Team owner Tom Gores said last week that the management group will have to “assess everything” in the coming weeks, and reports surfaced shortly thereafter suggesting the Pistons were listening to trade inquiries on Andre Drummond.
If Detroit launches a full-fledged rebuild, trading both Drummond and Griffin might make some sense, but a Griffin deal within the next month appears unlikely, especially if he goes under the knife. The former Clipper still has two seasons left on his contract after 2019/20, with a guaranteed $36.8MM cap charge for ’20/21 and a ’21/22 player option worth nearly $39MM.
Nets Sign Justin Anderson To 10-Day Contract
The Nets have officially signed free agent wing Justin Anderson to a 10-day contract, the club announced today in a press release. No corresponding roster move was required, as Brooklyn recently waived David Nwaba to open up a spot on its 15-man squad.
Anderson, the 21st overall pick in the 2015 draft, had spent this season so far with the Raptors 905, Toronto’s G League affiliate. He averaged 21.2 PPG and 6.9 RPG with a .484/.343/.762 shooting line in 13 NBAGL games (33.5 MPG), earning an NBA audition with the Nets.
Anderson, who has appeared in 216 total regular season games, last played in the NBA for Atlanta in 2018/19, recording 3.7 PPG in 48 games (9.6 MPG) for the Hawks. He signed a training camp deal with the Wizards in the fall, but didn’t make Washington’s regular-season roster.
We first heard last Thursday that Anderson would receive a 10-day deal from Brooklyn, but NBA teams weren’t permitted to begin signing those contracts until Sunday. The Nets waited one additional day in order to maximize their 10-day window with Anderson — the team will play six times during his 10-day stint, which ends on January 15.
The Nets now have a full roster, with 15 standard contracts and a pair of players on two-way contracts. The club has made a series of roster moves in recent days, releasing Nwaba and two-way player Henry Ellenson and replacing them with Anderson and new two-way player Chris Chiozza.