Timberwolves, Phillip Wheeler Agree To Exhibit 10 Deal
The Timberwolves are signing Phillip Wheeler to an Exhibit 10 deal, his agent Jerry Dianis tells ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (via Twitter).
Wheeler will play for the Puerto Rican national team next week and plans to join Minnesota for Summer League action next month, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
In 28 games (30.6 MPG) with Piratas de Quebradillas of the Puerto Rican BSN league, the forward holds averages of 17.3 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 1.3 SPG on .513/.345/.717 shooting (hat tip to RealGM). The 20-year-old went to Ranney High School in New Jersey and had a brief stint with the Ciudad de Mexico Capitanes during the G League’s Showcase Cup last fall.
Exhibit 10 deals, which are non-guaranteed, can be converted into two-way contracts before the regular season begins and also make a player eligible for a bonus of up to $50K if he’s waived and then joins his team’s G League affiliate.
Grizzlies Trade De’Anthony Melton To Sixers For Roddy, Green
JUNE 24: The deal is now official, both teams announced in press releases.
JUNE 23: The Grizzlies and Sixers have agreed to a trade that will send the No. 23 pick in this year’s draft to Memphis and guard De’Anthony Melton to Philadelphia, a source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Danny Green is also headed to the Grizzlies in the swap, tweets Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Colorado State’s David Roddy will be Memphis’ pick at No. 23. Roddy had an excellent junior season for the Rams, averaging 19.2 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.2 SPG and 1.1 BPG on .571/.438/.691 shooting in 31 games (32.9 MPG).
In order for the trade to work, Green’s non-guaranteed contract will have to be partially guaranteed to at least $6.52MM for salary matching purposes, Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype tweets. Melton will earn $8.25MM next season and his $8MM salary in 2023/24 is partially guaranteed at $1.5MM.
As John Hollinger of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), the Sixers would lose the full mid-level exception with the deal unless they’re able to dump salary in subsequent moves, which could take them out of the running for P.J. Tucker, who is an unrestricted free agent after declining his player option.
Trading a guard in Melton and drafting a couple of forwards in Jake LaRavia and Roddy seems to indicate that Memphis wants to re-sign free agent Tyus Jones, who is one of the top point guards on the market. Jones has led the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio for four straight seasons and set career highs in PPG (8.7) and 3PT% (.390) in 2021/22.
It was reported multiple times in the past couple weeks that the Sixers were dangling the No. 23 pick and Green’s expiring, non-guaranteed deal in an effort to add a win-now veteran, and they were able to acquire a talented young player in Melton, who had reportedly drawn considerable interest around the league.
Melton, 24, is a strong, versatile defender capable of playing both guard positions. In 73 regular season games this past season (22.7 MPG), he averaged 10.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.7 APG and 1.4 SPG on .404/.374/.750 shooting. He’s extension-eligible this offseason, although the Sixers might hold off on that decision.
Bucks Signing Iverson Molinar
The Bucks are signing Iverson Molinar, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
In 34 games (34.1 MPG) as a junior for Mississippi State last season, the Panamanian guard averaged 17.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 3.6 APG and 1.2 SPG on .454/.252/.868 shooting. For his efforts, he earned a berth on the All-SEC First Team.
Molinar is ranked 29th on ESPN’s list of the top undrafted rookies, and was the 85th-ranked prospect heading into the draft.
The terms of Molinar’s agreement are unclear, but if it’s an Exhibit 10 deal, it’ll be a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary contract that could be converted into a two-way deal before the regular season begins. A player on an Exhibit 10 contract is also eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he’s waived and then becomes an affiliate player for his team’s G League squad.
Rockets Trade Christian Wood To Mavericks
JUNE 24: The trade is now official, the Mavericks announced in the early hours of Friday morning. Wood has officially landed in Dallas in exchange for Marjanovic, Brown, Burke, Chriss, and the draft rights to No. 26 overall pick Wendell Moore. Houston is flipping Moore to Minnesota in a separate deal.
JUNE 15: The Rockets are trading Christian Wood to the Mavericks in exchange for the No. 26 overall pick of the 2022 draft, Boban Marjanovic, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
All five players are on expiring contracts in 2022/23, with the four Mavs players being sent out for salary-matching purposes. Wood will earn $14.3MM next season.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, the trade can’t be officially completed until draft night, which is June 23, because the Mavs owe a protected first-round pick to the Knicks in 2023. Six months after the trade is completed, Wood will be eligible to sign a contract extension worth up to $77MM over four years, says Marks.
Burke holds a $3.3MM player option for ’22/23 and will need to exercise the option in order for the trade to work, Marks notes (via Twitter), adding that rosters expanding to 20 in the offseason will allow the Rockets to take back four players in exchange for one. Burke will receive a trade bonus of $247,500 from Dallas as part of the deal, Marks relays in another tweet.
Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report indicated on Tuesday that the Mavericks were looking to trade their only draft pick, and they found a match in the rebuilding Rockets, who now control three first-round picks: Nos. 3, 17 and 26. The Rockets have multiple options to explore ahead of the draft. If they want to package Nos. 17 and 26 to move up a bit, they likely could.
The 26-year-old Wood is a very solid return for Dallas, even if he comes with some character concerns. The talented big man averaged 19.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 block in 109 games for Houston the past two seasons, posting a shooting line of .507/.384/.626.
The move definitely comes with risks for the Mavs, because Wood is a subpar defensive player and can be quite inconsistent, especially from an effort standpoint, from game-to-game. However, he’s on an expiring contract, which limits the risk, and is theoretically in a good situation with star Luka Doncic.
Mavs GM Nico Harrison said the team would be looking to acquire a quality big man who could provide rebounding and rim protection after the team lost in the Western Conference Finals. Wood fulfills the first criteria — he’s a good rebounder — but falls a bit short on the second, as he isn’t much of a deterrent at the basket.
According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link), the Rockets wanted to move Wood in order to create more playing time for Alperen Sengun, who was a rookie this past season, and the No. 3 pick, who will likely be another big man. They’ll get a look at some veterans on expiring deals, but obviously the main appeal was the No. 26 pick and no long-term salary.
Chriss, who will make $2.19MM next season, underwent knee surgery on Wednesday and will be sidelined while rehabbing for the next couple months, sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Community Shootaround: Draft Winners/Losers
The 2022 NBA draft is officially complete, and it was certainly an eventful night. The first big surprise came right off the bat, when the Magic made Duke big man Paolo Banchero the No. 1 overall pick.
Virtually all reporting leading up to draft night had Auburn forward Jabari Smith as the favorite to go first, with ESPN’s Jonathan Givony suggesting earlier this week that it would be a major surprise to most teams around the NBA if Smith wasn’t Orlando’s pick.
Since Smith unexpectedly fell to the Rockets with the No. 3 pick, and they were able to pick up a couple of highly regarded prospects in Tari Eason and TyTy Washington at Nos. 17 and 29 in addition to a couple of future second-rounders, they seem like one of the clear winners tonight. Smith and Eason, in particular, are long, versatile defenders who should immediately improve Houston’s 29th ranked defense, and a core of Kevin Porter Jr., Jalen Green, Eason, Smith, and Alperen Sengun sounds pretty intriguing on paper.
The Thunder used a small portion of their war chest of future draft picks to acquire a third lottery pick, used on French forward Ousmane Dieng with the No. 11 pick (via the Knicks). In addition to Dieng, the Oklahoma City snagged Chet Holmgren at No. 2, Jalen Williams at No. 12, and Jaylin Williams at No. 34 (that definitely won’t be confusing).
The Pistons were able to take Jaden Ivey at No. 5, widely regarded as the top guard prospect in the draft, and added a second lottery pick (No. 13 via the Hornets) in Jalen Duren. The Grizzlies and Timberwolves were both very active during the draft as well, maneuvering up and down to select their preferred targets.
Despite rumors that they were interested in moving into the draft, both the Suns and the Jazz left the draft the same way they entered it, with no draft picks. The Sixers traded out of the draft, but landed 24-year-old De’Anthony Melton from Memphis for the No. 23 pick and Danny Green.
There will be a flurry of undrafted free agent signings in the coming hours and days, but we’d like to take a break from transactions for a moment to solicit your opinions on the draft’s winners and losers. Which teams do you think did the best? Which did the worst? Head to the comments section and share your thoughts!
Grizzlies Acquire Kennedy Chandler From Spurs
JUNE 24: The trade is now official, the Spurs announced in a press release. The Grizzlies have also announced the deal, indicating in their press release that they’re sending the Lakers’ 2024 second-round pick to San Antonio.
JUNE 23: The Grizzlies are acquiring Tennessee guard Kennedy Chandler, the No. 38 pick, from the Spurs, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that the Spurs will receive a future second-rounder and cash in exchange for the No. 38 pick.
Chandler was ranked No. 20 on ESPN’s big board prior to the draft, so he appears to be a solid value pick for the Grizzlies in the second round. The Memphis native averaged 13.9 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 4.7 APG and 2.2 SPG on .464/.383/.606 shooting in 34 games (30.8 MPG) as a freshman this season.
Chandler’s local ties likely played a factor in Memphis’ decision to trade for him, as the team had plenty of opportunities to scout him. Although he’s just 6’0″, likely causing his draft stock to fall, Chandler is an excellent athlete and a strong defender. He’s a true point guard, capable of distributing and getting to his spots at a high level.
The Grizzlies are trading De’Anthony Melton to the Sixers, so they had a hole to fill in the backcourt depth chart. It will be interesting to see if the decision to acquire Chandler has an impact on the impending free agency of backup point guard Tyus Jones.
John Collins Unlikely To Be Dealt Tonight
Amid several rumors that the Hawks hoped to trade John Collins either before or during the draft, a source tells Chris Kirschner of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the big man is “likely” to remain with the team for at least one more night. However, Kirscher notes in a follow-up tweet that there’s still a chance that Collins could be moved in the coming days.
Atlanta has been open in its desire to improve the roster this summer, and Collins is one of the team’s best players and thus a prime trade chip, so it’s only logical that he’s been mentioned in trade rumors. It’s certainly not the first time his name has been floated around, as it has become a recurrent theme the past couple seasons.
Collins was one of the hottest names on the free agent market last year after failing to come to terms with the Hawks on a rookie scale extension. He wound up re-signing with Atlanta for $125MM over five years, but the team has been searching for a trade partner to improve its defense, which ranked 26th in the league last season.
The 24-year-old played an important role for the Hawks as they reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2020/21, but his production declined in ’21/22 when he was limited to 54 games due to multiple injuries. He averaged 16.2 PPG this past season, the lowest scoring mark since his rookie year, while shooting 52.6% from the field and 36.4% from three-point range, both down from two seasons ago.
Rockets Select Jabari Smith Third Overall In 2022 Draft
The Rockets have selected Auburn forward Jabari Smith with the third overall pick of the 2022 NBA draft.
In 34 games (28.8 MPG) in his lone college season, the 6’10” Smith averaged 16.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.1 SPG and 1.0 BPG. Smith led the Tigers to a 28-6 overall and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, where the team lost in the second round to Miami (FL).
The 19-year-old earned numerous accolades for his standout season, including Consensus All-America Second Team, All-SEC First Team, and SEC Rookie of the Year, among others.
Smith has the ability to make an array of incredibly difficult shots in a variety of ways, including step-backs, fadeaways, pull-up jumpers in transition, and coming off screens. Despite facing frequent double teams, he converted 42% of his three-pointers and 79.9% of his free throws.
Smith is also viewed as an energetic, intense, and “highly versatile defender” who can switch across multiple positions, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. His shot-making prowess and strong defense should fit in nicely with a young Houston squad that struggled mightily to score last season — the Rockets were 26th in the league in offensive rating and 21st in three-point percentage.
Smith falling to No. 3 was unexpected, because for well over a month league insiders had him going No. 1 overall to Orlando.
Thunder Select Chet Holmgren Second Overall In 2022 Draft
The Thunder have selected Gonzaga center Chet Holmgren with the second overall pick of the 2022 NBA draft.
In 32 games (26.9) as a freshman this season, the 7’0″ Holmgren averaged 14.1 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 1.9 APG and 3.7 BPG. The 20-year-old also boasted an impressing shooting slash line of .607/.390/.717.
Holmgren won numerous awards for his impressive season, including Consensus All-America Second Team, All-WCC First Team, and WCC Defensive Player of the Year, among others.
Holmgren helped lead the Bulldogs to a 28-4 record and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament in 2021/22. They ultimately fell to Arkansas in the Sweet Sixteen, ending their tournament run.
Weighing just 195 pounds, Holmgren has been a somewhat divisive prospect for talent evaluators. Some are enamored by his length (7’6″ wingspan) and overall skillset, as he’s an outstanding shot blocker, rebounder, and inside finisher. He also has some guard-like skills, capable of starting a fast break after a defensive rebound with his ball handling on top of being a solid passer, and a good shooter with space.
The Thunder are known for playing their cards close to the vest, so many around the league were curious if they’d actually select Holmgren, but clearly they viewed his upside as too good to pass up.
Magic Select Paolo Banchero First Overall In 2022 Draft
In a surprise twist, the Magic have selected Duke forward Paolo Banchero with the first overall pick of the 2022 NBA draft.
For well over a month, league insiders had predicted that Orlando favored Jabari Smith with the first pick, but obviously the Magic liked Banchero more, even though he didn’t end up working out for the team after a Monday visit was reportedly canceled.
In 39 games as a freshman in this season, the 6’10” Banchero averaged 17.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.2 APG and 1.1 SPG on .478/.338/.729 shooting. He helped lead the Blue Devils to a 32-7 record and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, where they ultimately fell to long-time rival North Carolina in the Final Four.
Banchero earned numerous accolades for his stellar season, including Consensus All-America Second Team, All-ACC First Team, and ACC Rookie of the Year, among others.
The versatile big man is viewed as an outstanding shot-creator from all over the floor, capable of generating offense for both himself and teammates via post-ups and drives. He’s a strong ball handler, passer, and has a great overall feel for offense.
Banchero sometimes lacks effort defensively, and he’s a solid, but unspectacular shooter at the moment, but he showed throughout the NCAA tournament that he was capable of turning up the intensity when the games mattered most.
Orlando was clearly drawn by Banchero’s strong tournament performances and his polished offensive skills — the Magic ranked last in the NBA in offensive rating in 2021/22, so he should help bolster that figure.