Timberwolves Notes: DiVincenzo, Towns, Randle
Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo had a brief verbal altercation with Knicks assistant Rick Brunson in his return to New York on Sunday, as Chris Herring of ESPN and James L. Edwards III and Jon Krawczynski of the Athletic write. DiVincenzo and Brunson exchanged words after the game when players and coaches were shaking hands before exiting the court, but the former Knick downplayed the incident when speaking to reporters later.
“Just some words. I don’t fully know what was said. A lot of people there,” DiVincenzo said, per The Athletic. “But I really have no comment on the situation. We’re both grown men and can talk about it privately.”
“Two people talking,” Rick’s son Jalen Brunson said. “Words of affirmation.”
DiVincenzo was caught on camera in the first quarter talking to the Knicks’ bench before he attempted a free throw (Twitter video link). He explained to reporters after the game that he was sharing an inside joke with Thibodeau, though league sources tell The Athletic that some of his comments were directed to the elder Brunson. At one point, DiVincenzo appeared to say, “That’s what happens when they let you run the show.”
Here’s more on the Wolves:
- DiVincenzo has “quickly become a favorite within the Timberwolves organization,” tweets Krawczynski, adding that the team loves both his skill set and mentality. Anthony Edwards expressed that sentiment during his post-game media session on Sunday, per Herring. “He makes all the right plays and shoots the cover off the ball,” Edwards said of his new teammate. “New York is definitely going to miss him.”
- In a feature story for The Athletic, James L. Edwards III takes a look at DiVincenzo’s journey from a scout team decoy at Villanova to a Final Four star to one of the NBA’s most coveted role players.
- Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said there were “a lot of emotions” on Sunday reuniting with former Timberwolves teammates who were like “brothers” during his tenure in Minnesota, writes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune (subscription required). Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch had nothing but praise for his former star big man, acknowledging that it would take a while to get used to seeing Towns in a different uniform. “It’s like a death in the family in some ways,” Finch said. “You got to make it through that first year, and everything is going to be a little odd.”
- In his Sunday return to New York, new Timberwolves forward Julius Randle wasn’t looking to dwell on or reminisce about his Knicks tenure, telling reporters that he has “unfinished business” to focus on in Minnesota, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Post relays. Randle also expressed enthusiasm about Finch giving him more play-making responsibilities this season. “I’m excited to be able to show that,” the veteran forward said. “Not just from the post, getting double-teamed. Finch is moving me all over the floor, allowing me to be able show that stuff. I’m excited about that.”
Wizards Sign Mouhamadou Gueye, Cut Erik Stevenson
The Wizards made a minor change at the back of their roster on Sunday, signing free agent forward Mouhamadou Gueye to an Exhibit 10 contract and waiving guard Erik Stevenson, according to the team (Twitter links).
Gueye, who went undrafted out of Pitt in 2022, saw his first NBA action last season after joining the Raptors on a 10-day deal in February and a two-way contract in March. He appeared in 11 games down the stretch for Toronto, averaging 2.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks in 10.9 minutes per contest.
In 39 Showcase Cup and regular season outings for the Raptors 905 – Toronto’s G League affiliate – Gueye averaged 14.2 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 2.6 BPG in 31.0 MPG, making 56.1% of his shots from the floor but just 49.5% of his free throw tries.
Stevenson, meanwhile, was just under contract with the Wizards for a few days after signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the team last week. He didn’t appear in Friday’s preseason game vs. Toronto and appears ticketed for the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s NBAGL team.
The Go-Go acquired Gueye’s returning rights from the 905 in a trade last month, so he’ll likely be waived before the season begins and report to Capital City as well. If Gueye and Stevenson spend at least 60 days with the Go-Go, they’ll earn Exhibit 10 bonuses worth up to $77.5K apiece.
Having also signed center John Butler Jr. and forward Taylor Funk to Exhibit 10 contracts on Sunday, the Wizards are carrying the maximum allowable 21 players on their preseason roster.
Nets Sign, Waive Mark Armstrong
OCTOBER 14: The Nets have waived Armstrong, per RealGM’s transaction log. His next stop will likely be with the Long Island Nets.
OCTOBER 9: Former Villanova guard Mark Armstrong has officially signed with the Nets, the team announced today (Twitter link via Erik Slater of ClutchPoints).
While the Nets didn’t specify the details of Armstrong’s deal, reporting all the way back in June indicated that he had agreed to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the club. He’ll likely be waived before the regular season begins and then report to the Long Island Nets as an affiliate player, with his Exhibit 10 deal making him eligible for a bonus worth up to $77.5K if he spends at least 60 days with Long Island.
Armstrong, who declared for the draft in the spring following his sophomore season with the Wildcats, averaged 8.4 PPG, 2.4 APG, and 2.3 RPG on .417/.282/.776 shooting in 34 games (24.5 MPG) in 2023/24.
Armstrong joined the Nets’ Summer League roster and appeared in five games for the team in Las Vegas, logging 44 total minutes. He scored 14 points and handed out eight assists, but turned the ball over seven times and shot just 5-of-22 (22.7%) from the field.
Brooklyn now has a full 21-man preseason roster.
Thunder Sign, Waive Javonte Cooke
OCTOBER 12: Cooke has been released, according to the Thunder, putting him in line to receive his Exhibit 10 bonus as long as he spends at least 60 days with the Blue.
OCTOBER 11: A few weeks after the deal was agreed to, the Thunder announced that they’ve signed Cooke.
SEPTEMBER 24: The Thunder have agreed to sign free agent guard Javonte Cooke to an Exhibit 10 contract, agent Jerry Dianis tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Cooke, who finished his college career at Winston-Salem State in 2022, has spent the past two seasons playing in the G League for the Iowa Wolves, Minnesota’s affiliate. In 48 Showcase Cup and regular season games for Iowa in 2023/24, he averaged 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 33.1 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .441/.363/.759.
Cooke also played in the Canadian Elite Basketball League this spring for the Brampton Honey Badgers before joining the Timberwolves’ Las Vegas Summer League team for a second consecutive July.
Iowa traded Cooke’s G League returning rights to the Oklahoma City Blue earlier this month. Assuming he returns to the NBAGL this fall and spends at least 60 days with the Blue, the 6’6″ guard will earn an Exhibit 10 bonus worth up to $77.5K on top of his standard G League salary.
Magic Sign Robert Baker, Waive Javonte Smart
OCTOBER 12: Baker’s Exhibit 10 deal with Orlando is now official, the Magic announced. To make room for Baker, the team waived Javonte Smart.
SEPTEMBER 20: The Magic have agreed to sign forward Robert Baker to an Exhibit 10 contract, agent Darrell Comer tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Baker, who played college ball at Harvard from 2017-20, has spent the last few seasons in the G League, playing for the Kings’, Lakers’, and Hawks’ affiliates. Last season, he appeared in 29 games for the College Park Skyhawks – Atlanta’s NBAGL team – and averaged 14.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 28.2 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .448/.340/.780.
The 6’10” forward had his G League returning rights traded earlier this month from the Skyhawks to the Osceola Magic, Orlando’s affiliate. Given that context, it looks like the plan is for him to be signed and waived by Orlando and then head back this fall to the G League, where he’ll earn an Exhibit 10 bonus worth up to $77.5K if he spends at least 60 days with Osceola.
The Magic currently have a full 21-man offseason roster, so someone will need to be waived in order for Baker to officially sign his contract. Five of those 21 players are on Exhibit 10 deals, so the cut will almost certainly come from that group.
Pelicans Sign Elfrid Payton, Josh Oduro
OCTOBER 11: The Pelicans announced they signed both Payton and Josh Oduro on Friday morning. Nearly a month after the original report, the deal with Payton becomes official a day after both Matt Ryan and Adonis Arms were waived.
As we originally wrote, the Pelicans have a spot on their 15-man roster open. With Ryan out of the picture, Payton could theoretically make a push for that slot. However, it seems more likely that this signing is a precursor to Payton joining the team’s G League affiliate in Birmingham.
The Oduro signing hadn’t previously been reported. He played four collegiate seasons at George Mason before transferring to Providence for his final year. He averaged 12.9 points and 6.6 rebounds across 148 college games (128 starts). Oduro went undrafted in 2024 but suited up for New Orleans in summer league, making two appearances.
While the terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, several reports indicated both are signing non-guaranteed training camp contracts that presumably include Exhibit 9 language and likely Exhibit 10 as well. If the latter is true for both, they’ll each be eligible for a bonus worth up to $77.5K if they spend at least 60 days in Birmingham.
SEPTEMBER 19: The Pelicans have agreed to sign free agent point guard Elfrid Payton to a non-guaranteed training camp contract, reports Andrew Lopez of ESPN (Twitter link).
Payton, the 10th overall pick in the 2014 draft, has 500 regular season appearances under his belt across eight NBA seasons with the Magic, Suns, Pelicans, and Knicks. However, he hasn’t been in the league since suiting up for Phoenix during the 2021/22 season. The 30-year-old played in Puerto Rico in 2023 and then spent last season with the Indiana Mad Ants, the Pacers’ G League affiliate.
A Louisiana native who played college ball for the Ragin’ Cajuns in Lafayette, Payton has never been a great shooter, with career averages of 44.7% from the floor and 28.7% from beyond the arc. However, he’s a talented ball-handler and play-maker who averaged 10.1 points, 5.7 assists, and 4.0 rebounds in 26.8 minutes per game over the course of his NBA career.
Payton had been working out at the Pelicans’ practice facility in Metairie this offseason, notes Christian Clark of NOLA.com (Twitter link).
While the Pelicans are only carrying 14 players on standard contracts, they seem likely to leave their 15th roster spot unfilled to start the season due to luxury tax concerns, so Payton is probably a long shot to make the club. If New Orleans is open to carrying a 15th man, he’d presumably vie with Matt Ryan and other camp invitees for that spot. Otherwise, Payton may end up back in the G League this fall.
Once Payton’s deal is official, the Pelicans will have a total of 19 players under contract, including two-ways, leaving a pair of openings on their 21-man preseason roster.
Thunder Sign, Waive Miller Kopp
OCTOBER 11: Oklahoma City has now waived Kopp, per team PR.
OCTOBER 8: The Thunder have signed free agent forward Miller Kopp, the team announced today.
Oklahoma City had an open spot on its 21-man preseason roster, so no corresponding move was necessarily to complete the signing. The club now has a full 21-man squad, with 14 players on standard contracts (13 guaranteed), four on Exhibit 10 deals, and three on two-ways.
That count assumes Kopp signed an Exhibit 10 contract, which is highly likely. He’ll almost certainly be waived before the NBA regular season begins, and his Exhibit 10 deal will ensure that he receives a bonus worth up to $77.5K as long as he spends at least 60 days with the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s G League affiliate.
Kopp, 25, spent his rookie season with the Blue after going undrafted out of Indiana in 2023. The 6’7″ forward appeared in a total of 41 Showcase Cup and regular season games for the NBAGL club, averaging 8.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 20.4 minutes per game and posting a shooting line of .414/.349/.865.
While Kopp didn’t see much action in the playoffs, averaging just 9.3 minutes in four outings, he got some championship experience, as the Blue won the 2024 G League title.
Knicks Sign, Waive Moses Brown
OCTOBER 10: Brown has been waived by the Knicks, according to a release from the team (Twitter link).
OCTOBER 9: The Knicks have signed free agent center Moses Brown to an Exhibit 10 contract, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
Brown, who will celebrate his 25th birthday on Sunday, hasn’t stuck with an NBA team for more than a single season since making his debut in 2019, but he has racked up 150 regular season appearances in stints with the Trail Blazers, Thunder, Mavericks, Cavaliers, Clippers, Nets, and Trail Blazers. He holds career averages of 5.2 points and 5.0 rebounds in 11.9 minutes per game.
Brown spent the 2023/24 campaign under contract with the Blazers, appearing in 22 games for the team and posting averages of 3.4 PPG and 3.9 RPG in 9.1 MPG. He also put up 15.8 PPG and 10.5 RPG in six appearances (24.4 MPG) for the Rip City Remix, Portland’s G League affiliate.
Brown is ineligible for a two-way contract, so the Knicks likely intend to waive him before the season begins and then have him join the Westchester Knicks in the NBAGL. If he were to spend at least 60 days with Westchester, he’d be able to earn an Exhibit 10 bonus worth up to $77.5K on top of his standard G League salary.
New York had a full 21-man roster before signing Brown, so the team needed to make a corresponding move to open up a spot for him. The Knicks announced (via Twitter) that they’ve waived Boo Buie, who recently signed an Exhibit 10 contract of his own and is likely ticketed for Westchester.
NBA Free Agents Who Signed With International Teams
With dozens of new players entering the NBA every season as part of that year’s rookie class, there aren’t enough roster spots to go around for all of the veterans who become free agents in a given offseason.
Some of those vets left on the outside looking in will retire. But many of the NBA’s job-seeking free agents wind up accepting opportunities in other parts of the world, signing with a team that competes in one of the many professional basketball leagues in Europe, Asia, Australia, or South America.
Listed below are the players who finished last season on an NBA roster and have since signed contracts overseas with non-NBA (and non-G-League) clubs.
Since this list is focused exclusively on players who finished the 2023/24 season under contract with an NBA team, there are some notable names who made the move overseas in recent months but aren’t included. For instance, Furkan Korkmaz spent six-and-a-half seasons in the league before being waived by the Pacers in February. He didn’t find work in the NBA for the remainder of the ’23/24 campaign, then opted to join AS Monaco this offseason.
Here are the 2024 NBA free agents who signed with international clubs this offseason, listed alongside the NBA team with whom they finished last season:
Australia
- Perth Wildcats: Dylan Windler, Hawks (story)
- Sydney Kings: Jaylin Galloway, Bucks (story)
Belgium
- BC Oostende: Timmy Allen, Grizzlies (story)
China
- Guangdong Southern Tigers: Darius Bazley, Jazz (story)
- Jiangsu Dragons: Terquavion Smith, Sixers (report)
- Xinjiang Flying Tigers: Ashton Hagans, Trail Blazers (report)
- Zhejiang Golden Bulls: Damian Jones, Cavaliers (story)
France
- ASVEL Basket: Admiral Schofield, Magic (story)
- Saint-Quentin: Jerome Robinson, Warriors (story)
Greece
- AEK Athens: RaiQuan Gray, Spurs (story)
- Olympiacos: Evan Fournier, Pistons (story)
- Olympiacos: Sasha Vezenkov, Raptors (story)
- Panathinaikos: Cedi Osman, Spurs (story)
- Panathinaikos: Omer Yurtseven, Jazz (story)
Israel
- Hapoel Tel Aviv: Patrick Beverley, Bucks (story)
- Hapoel Tel Aviv: Ish Wainright, Suns (story)
Italy
- Aquila Basket Trento: Jordan Ford, Kings (story)
Japan
- Chiba Jets: Yuta Watanabe, Grizzlies (story)
Montenegro
- KK Buducnost: Udoka Azubuike, Suns (story)
Russia
- Zenit St. Petersburg: Xavier Moon, Clippers (story)
Serbia
- Partizan Belgrade: Aleksej Pokusevski, Hornets (story)
- Partizan Belgrade: Duane Washington, Knicks (story)
- Note: Washington was subsequently bought out by the Knicks in order to be signed-and-traded to the Hornets as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns blockbuster. He has been waived by Charlotte and is expected to return to Partizan.
Spain
- Barcelona: Chimezie Metu, Pistons (story)
- Baskonia: Trent Forrest, Hawks (story)
- Real Madrid: Usman Garuba, Warriors (story)
Turkey
- Anadolu Efes: Jordan Nwora, Raptors (story)
- Fenerbahce: Boban Marjanovic, Rockets (story)
- Fenerbahce: Luka Samanic, Jazz (story)
- Manisa Basket: Javon Freeman-Liberty, Raptors (story)
- Note: Freeman-Liberty is reportedly leaving Manisa to sign with the Bulls.
- Note: Freeman-Liberty is reportedly leaving Manisa to sign with the Bulls.
- Manisa Basket: Saben Lee, Suns (story)
- Note: Lee is reportedly leaving Manisa to sign with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.
United Arab Emirates
- Dubai BC: Davis Bertans, Hornets (story)
Clippers Waive RayJ Dennis, Re-Sign Elijah Harkless
3:25pm: The Clippers wasted little time in filling their open roster spot, announcing that they’ve re-signed free agent guard Elijah Harkless, who was on an Exhibit 10 contract earlier this summer but was waived before camp began.
Harkless played for the Clips’ G League affiliate last season and will likely report back to the team this fall, but it looks like he’ll get a chance to spend some time with the NBA club and perhaps play in a preseason game before he heads to San Diego.
3:12pm: Camp invitee RayJ Dennis has been placed on waivers by the Clippers, the team announced today. The move leaves L.A. with 20 players under contract, one shy of the preseason limit.
Dennis signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Clippers last month after going undrafted out of Baylor in June. A fifth-year super-senior with the Bears in 2023/24, the 6’2″ point guard averaged 13.6 points, 6.7 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in 34.3 minutes per game across 35 contests (all starts). His shooting line was .479/.328/.731.
Dennis went scoreless in 11 of minutes of action in the Clippers’ first preseason game on Saturday, then was the only one of 17 active players not to see the floor at all in the team’s second preseason contest on Tuesday.
Barring something unexpected, Dennis’ next stop will probably with the San Diego Clippers, L.A.’s G League affiliate. If he spends at least 60 days with San Diego, the rookie will receive an Exhibit 10 bonus worth $77.5K on top of his standard NBAGL salary.