Mavericks Waive Mike Miles, Two Others
The Mavericks have removed three players from their preseason roster, waiving guard Mike Miles Jr., guard Jordan Walker, and swingman Joe Wieskamp, the team announced today (via Twitter).
Miles, who signed with Dallas in July after going undrafted out of TCU, had been one of the club’s two players on two-way deals. Now that he has been cut, the Mavs are carrying only one two-way player (A.J. Lawson), leaving two openings.
Walker and Wieskamp had been on non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contracts and look like candidates to join the Texas Legends, the Mavs’ G League affiliate. The Legends acquired Wieksamp’s returning rights from the Wisconsin Herd in a trade last month. And as an undrafted rookie, Walker can be made an affiliate player, since his rights weren’t previously held by an NBAGL team.
Walker and Wieskamp appeared in all three of the Mavs’ preseason games in Abu Dhabi and Spain, logging 24 and 12 minutes, respectively. Miles didn’t play at all in the preseason, though he averaged 12.2 points in five Summer League games for the club.
Dallas now has 18 players under contract, including 15 on standard deals, Lawson on a two-way, and Greg Brown and Dexter Dennis on Exhibit 10 pacts. The Mavs could fill their open two-way slots by converting Brown and Dennis, but it’s possible they have other moves in mind before opening night.
Derrick Favors To Sign G League Contract
Free agent big man Derrick Favors plans to sign an NBA G League contract for the upcoming season, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
It’s unclear which team Favors will play for. His returning rights aren’t already held by any NBAGL club, and it sounds like he plans to join the league directly rather than inking an Exhibit 10 contract with an NBA team that wants to make him an affiliate player. If he signs a G League contract in the coming days, the 32-year-old would be eligible to be selected in this year’s NBAGL draft on October 28.
Favors has appeared in 790 NBA regular season games and another 42 playoff contests across 12 seasons with the Nets, Jazz, Pelicans, and Thunder, averaging 10.6 points and 7.1 rebounds in 24.3 minutes per night. The veteran forward/center was out of the league for most of last season — he signed a 10-day contract with the Hawks in January, but didn’t play at all for Atlanta.
Speaking to Scotto, Favors explained why he has decided to go the G League route as he pursues an NBA comeback.
“I still love the game. I love everything about it,” he said. “I love the whole process of working out, getting better, the weight room and conditioning, and the on-court work. … I’m 32. I want to keep paying until my body tells me I can’t play anymore. I’m playing until the wheels fall off.
“I still feel like I’ve got a lot more years left in me, and I still feel like I can compete at a high level. I still feel like I can help a team. I think I’ve shown in the past that I can adjust to any role that I’m in. I can come into the game on the offensive and defensive end. I can still do a lot of things out there on the court with the right team and the right situation to help a team either win a championship or be a mentor to a younger team.”
According to Favors, he received some interest from teams overseas, but didn’t seriously consider going that route, since he feels the G League represents his best path to get back to the NBA.
Celtics Hire Jeff Van Gundy As Senior Consultant
The Celtics have added Jeff Van Gundy to their coaching staff, naming him a senior consultant, writes Brian Robb of MassLive.com. Robb reached out to the team to confirm the hiring after fans noticed that Van Gundy was listed as part of the staff on the Celtics’ official website.
Van Gundy, 61, was a longtime NBA head coach in New York and Houston. He led the Knicks to a 420-248 (.590) regular season record from 1995-2001, winning eight playoff series and making one appearance in the NBA Finals during that time.
He subsequently coached the Rockets from 2003-07, guiding the team to a 182-146 (.555) regular season mark, but failing to get beyond the first round of the postseason.
After being dismissed by the Rockets, Van Gundy transitioned into broadcasting, eventually becoming part of ESPN/ABC’s top three-man team alongside Mike Breen and Mark Jackson. However, Van Gundy and Jackson were let go by ESPN earlier this year as part of the company’s layoffs.
Van Gundy hasn’t been entirely removed from coaching since his time in Houston — he served as Team USA head coach’s at multiple international competitions, including 2017’s FIBA AmeriCup and the qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup.
According to Robb, Van Gundy will be working in the Celtics’ basketball operations department and will spend time with both the NBA team and the Maine Celtics, Boston’s G League affiliate.
The Celtics have made a series of changes to Joe Mazzulla‘s coaching staff this offseason ahead of his second year at the helm. Charles Lee and Sam Cassell were among the veteran assistants brought in by the franchise.
Hawks Sign, Waive David Singleton
OCTOBER 14: As expected, Singleton’s stint on Atlanta’s roster was short-lived. The Hawks issued a press release today announcing that he has been waived.
OCTOBER 13: The Hawks have signed rookie free agent guard David Singleton, the team announced today in a press release.
The agreement was reported shortly after June’s draft and is finally official, nearly four months later. According to that June report, Singleton’s contract is an Exhibit 10 deal.
Singleton, who went undrafted out of UCLA earlier this year, played with the Bruins for five seasons, making 43.4% of his three-pointers during that time. He averaged 9.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 28.2 minutes per contest across 37 appearances this past season, then joined the Hawks for Summer League, appearing in a couple games in Las Vegas.
The Hawks have 15 players on guaranteed contracts and three on two-way deals, so their roster appears pretty set for the regular season. That means Singleton will likely be waived in the coming days and then report to the College Park Skyhawks, Atlanta’s G League affiliate. If he spends at least 60 days with the Skyhawks, he would receive an Exhibit 10 bonus worth up to $75K.
Bulls Waive Henri Drell, Max Heidegger
The Bulls have cut a pair of players from their preseason roster, announcing (via Twitter) that they’ve waived forward Henri Drell and guard Max Heidegger. Chicago, which had a full 21-man roster, now has two open spots available.
Drell, 23, has spent the last two seasons playing for the Windy City Bulls, Chicago’s G League affiliate. He didn’t have a major role in 2021/22, but became a starter last season, averaging 11.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 31.3 minutes per night (29 regular season games). He posted a shooting line of .486/.341/.750.
Heidegger, 26, has been playing professionally in Europe since going undrafted out of UC Santa Barbara in 2020, spending team with teams in Israel, Germany, Turkey, and Spain over the last three seasons. He was a lights-out three-point shooter during his college career, making 44.0% of 568 total attempts from beyond the arc, including 67-of-125 (53.6%) as a senior.
Neither Drell nor Heidegger saw much action in the Bulls’ first two preseason games — they each logged five minutes in the team’s opener vs. Milwaukee on Sunday, then didn’t play on Thursday vs. Denver.
In all likelihood, both Drell and Heidegger will join the Windy City Bulls, where they’ll earn Exhibit 10 bonuses worth $75K apiece, assuming they spend at least 60 days with the G League club.
Magic Sign Miye Oni, Waive D.J. Wilson
OCTOBER 13: The Magic have officially signed Oni, the team announced today in a press release. To make room on the 21-man roster, which is full, Orlando waived D.J. Wilson, who had been on an Exhibit 10 contract.
AUGUST 22: The Magic have reached an agreement on a one-year contract with free agent wing Miye Oni, reports Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).
According to Beede, it will be a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 agreement. A contract with Exhibit 10 language can be converted to a two-way deal or can put a player in line for a bonus worth up to $75K if he’s waived in the preseason and then spends at least 60 days with his team’s G League affiliate.
A former Yale standout who was drafted 58th overall in 2019, Oni appeared in 80 games for the Jazz across three seasons from 2019-22, but never developed into a consistent, reliable NBA rotation player. He averaged just 1.8 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 8.4 minutes per contest in those three years.
Oni, 26, was traded in January 2022 from the Jazz to the Thunder, who subsequently waived him. He signed a 10-day hardship contract with New Orleans later that season, but didn’t appear in a game for the Pelicans.
After reaching free agency last summer, Oni signed with the London Lions of the British Basketball League and had a strong season in England, helping the Lions claim a BBL championship and a spot in the EuroCup playoffs.
Pacers Exercise 2024/25 Options On Mathurin, Jackson
The Pacers have guaranteed a pair of salaries for the 2024/25 season, announcing today in a press release that they’ve picked up their rookie scale team options on wing Bennedict Mathurin and big man Isaiah Jackson.
The sixth overall pick in the 2022 draft, Mathurin made the All-Rookie first team this past spring after averaging 16.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 28.5 minutes per contest. The 21-year-old appears poised to become a full-time starter this fall after coming off the bench in 61 of his 78 games last season.
Mathurin’s $6.92MM salary for the coming season had already been guaranteed. As a result of the option pick-up, his $7.25MM cap hit for the ’24/25 season is locked in as well. Indiana will have decide a year from now whether to exercise his $9.19MM option for 2025/26.
As for Jackson, the 22nd overall pick from the 2021 draft has appeared in 99 games in his two seasons as a Pacer, averaging 7.6 PPG and 4.4 RPG in 16.0 MPG. He’s in the mix for backup center minutes behind Myles Turner this season, but will face competition from Daniel Theis and Jalen Smith.
Now that is has been exercised, Jackson’s 2024/25 team option will pay him a guaranteed salary of approximately $4.44MM. He’ll become eligible for a rookie scale extension next July as he enters the final year of his rookie deal.
We’re tracking all of year’s rookie scale team option decisions right here.
Southwest Notes: Sochan, Kyrie, Lively, Chandler, Rockets
No Spurs frontcourt player has appeared in all 82 games in a season since DeJuan Blair did it in 2009/10, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). Second-year forward Jeremy Sochan, who welcomed the NBA’s declaration that its data doesn’t support load management, is hoping to end that streak.
“I think it should be a culture of playing every game that you can, and if your body is not 100%, then I understand,” Sochan said, per Orsborn. “But if you are fit and healthy, I don’t see why not playing 82 games or as many games as you can play.”
Appearing in all 82 games in 2023/24 would represent a major step forward for Sochan, who was limited to 56 contests as rookie due in large part to quad and knee issues.
Here are a few more notes from around the Southwest:
- While his Mavericks backcourt mate Luka Doncic placed fourth overall in ESPN’s annual rankings of the NBA’s top players, Kyrie Irving isn’t putting much stock in the decisions made by ESPN’s panel, which ranked him 34th. “Rankings don’t mean a damn thing in the league, especially not from ESPN or any of these other media platforms,” Irving wrote in an Instagram comment (hat tip to The Dallas Morning News). “Majority of the analysts are not credible sources in my eyes and I don’t respect them or their opinions.”
- Former Mavericks big man Tyson Chandler is working with rookie Dereck Lively II, referring to the young center as a “little brother,” according to Brad Towsend of The Dallas Morning News. Lively is welcoming the mentorship of Chandler, who is back for a third year as a part-time assistant in Dallas. “At first I wasn’t really familiar with Tyson’s game, until I started to do my homework,” Lively said. “Then I realized, ‘Wow, we really do play the same.’ We have the same demeanor. He’s 40-something and he has the same energy as me. We kind of reflect off of one another, you know?”
- While the Rockets are hoping that veteran additions like Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks help the team take a step forward this season, they’re also counting on reaping the benefits of “trading” the rookie versions of Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason for more seasoned second-year versions of those players, says Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required). “They had an opportunity last year to play through mistakes and I think they’re obviously going to take a natural step,” head coach Ime Udoka said of the duo. “They’ve shown that.”
Harden: I Wanted To Retire A Sixer But Lost Trust In Front Office
Speaking to reporters on Friday for the first time since reporting to training camp, Sixers guard James Harden offered an emphatic “no” when asked if he believes his relationship with the front office and the franchise can still be repaired (Twitter video link via PHLY Sports).
“This is not even about this situation, this is in life,” Harden said when asked to explain why he didn’t see a path to reconciliation. “When you lose trust in someone, it’s like a marriage. You lose trust in someone, you know what I mean? It’s pretty simple.”
While Harden hasn’t been shy about specifically calling out Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey since requesting a trade in June, he didn’t do so during today’s brief media session. He did, however, allude to having his trust betrayed by people that he’d “known for over a decade,” which appeared to be a reference to Morey (Twitter video link via Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports).
“When I got traded here, my whole thing was, I wanted to retire a Sixer,” Harden said. “I wanted to be here and retire a Sixer. And the front office didn’t have that in their future plans.”
As has been reported throughout the offseason, Harden reportedly expected to receive a lucrative multiyear offer from the 76ers in free agency this summer, but when he got no assurances that such an offer was coming, he opted to go in a different direction, picking up his player option and asking for a trade.
Based on Harden’s comments today, it’s clear he won’t be rescinding his trade request anytime soon. However, the former MVP also doesn’t seem inclined to hold out again after skipping media day and showing up a day late to training camp.
Harden has yet to play a preseason game, but said today that he’s still ramping up and plans to play in the Sixers’ preseason finale and beyond, according to Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia (Twitter link).
We passed along a couple updates on the Sixers’ Harden trade talks with the Clippers earlier this week.
Sixers Notes: Harden, Green, Oubre, Korkmaz
Appearing on NBA Today on Thursday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski expressed a belief that the James Harden saga may continue to be “slow-going, well into the season” (Twitter video link).
As Wojnarowski explains, if the Sixers are going to trade Harden to the Clippers, they want to be able to quickly flip the assets they get from L.A. – and perhaps one or two of their own pieces – for an “All-Star level guard” who would replace Harden in their lineup. But that kind of player is unlikely to become available until closer to the trade deadline.
“The problem for this time of the year is who is that player – or players – out there that are available in the preseason, in training camp?” Wojnarowski said. “Those kind of players, they emerge as you get deeper into the season (and) teams start to maybe look at going in a different direction. Maybe they’re not going to re-sign a veteran player, they want to move off of him.
“The asking price this time of year for the players you might like to get to replace James Harden is going to be really high. So there’s not great motivation in Philadelphia necessarily to think that a deal with the Clippers now gets them the best value they can, the best player who might be available later in the year.”
As Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire relays, Wojnarowski also said that the Clippers continue to engage other teams to gauge the trade value of their 2028 first-round pick – and possibly a first-round pick swap for another year – to see if they’ll be able to acquire different assets that would appeal more to Daryl Morey and the 76ers. The expectation is that they’ll soon take some of those potential scenarios back to Philadelphia.
Here’s more on the Sixers:
- Danny Green could have decided to retire when he tore his ACL and LCL in May 2022, a month before he turned 35 years old. But he was determined not to let his career end that way, and now finds himself fighting for a roster spot in Philadelphia on a non-guaranteed contract this fall. “I didn’t do all that rehab for no reason,” Green said, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, adding that he believes he can still provide value as a three-and-D player and veteran leader: “I don’t want to be somewhere that they’re doing me a favor. I want to be a part of something that needs me. … If [the Sixers] feel that I can help them, then they’ll keep me along. I’m here to do my job and do it efficiently. I can still do that, and they think that I can. They think that I can help this group. And I believe that I can.”
- Speaking to Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer, new Sixers forward Kelly Oubre said he has had to “kill my ego” and “find who I am deep down inside” over the last couple years, which is one reason why he was comfortable accepting a minimum-salary contract after averaging 20-plus points per game last season. “I didn’t care about the money,” Oubre said. “I know what I’m worth and I know what I deserve. But if I have to protect my peace and my soul over the money, I’m going to do that any day of the week.”
- Sixers guard Furkan Korkmaz continues to be affected by a hamstring strain, according to Pompey (Twitter links). Korkmaz has missed both of the team’s preseason games so far and didn’t take part in practice on Thursday.