Chris Crawford

Grizzlies Waive Duo, Sign Costello, Dunham

The Grizzlies waived guard Chris Crawford and forward Vince Hunter on Thursday, according to the team’s website. The team then signed center Matt Costello and shooting guard Kellen Dunham, according to a separate press release. The moves leave the Grizzlies’ training-camp roster at 20 players.

Costello was waived by the Hawks on Monday. The undrafted rookie out of Michigan State averaged 4.0 points and 3.5 rebounds in 9.0 minutes during his two preseason appearances with Atlanta.

Dunham played for the Grizzlies’ summer-league team in Las Vegas, making four reserve appearances while averaging 2.0 points and 1.0 rebounds in 8.9 minutes. He also went undrafted in June after a four-year collegiate career at Butler.

Crawford signed a non-guaranteed contract just before training camp. He has appeared in 64 games for the D-League’s Canton Charge since going undrafted in 2014, and has also spent some time in France with Rouen Métropole Basket. In four preseason appearances, he averaged 3.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 16.3 minutes.

Hunter was signed 11 days ago after being waived by the Bulls. GM Chris Wallace said when Hunter was signed that the club needed frontcourt depth during the preseason to limit the minutes of his rotation players. In four preseason games, Hunter averaged 8.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in 19.4 minutes. He spent last season with the Kings’ D-League affiliate in Reno, as well as Panathinaikos in the Greek League.

Contract Details: Brand, Rockets, Thunder, Pacers

With training camps underway, teams have now officially finalized the contract agreements with various camp invitees that had been reported over the past several weeks, meaning we have plenty of contract details to round up. As usual, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has been busy reporting those details, updating his salary pages for teams around the NBA.

Because we have so many updates to pass along from Pincus, we’ll divide them up by players who received some guaranteed money from their teams, and those who didn’t. All of the links below point to the Basketball Insiders team salary pages, so be sure to click through for additional information.

Here are the latest salary updates from across the league, via Pincus:

Players receiving guaranteed money:

These players aren’t necessarily assured of regular-season roster spots. In fact, many of them likely received guarantees as an incentive to accept a D-League assignment. Still, for some players, larger guarantees should increase their odds of making 15-man rosters.

  • Thomas Walkup (Bulls): One year, minimum salary. $69.5K guaranteed.
  • Keith Benson (Heat): Two years, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Henry Sims (Jazz): One year, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Alex Poythress (Pacers): One year, minimum salary. $35,381 guaranteed.
  • Kevin Seraphin (Pacers): Two years, $3.681MM. First year ($1.8MM) guaranteed.
  • Julyan Stone (Pacers): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Gary Payton II (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. First year ($543,471) guaranteed.
  • Isaiah Taylor (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Kyle Wiltjer (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. $275K guaranteed.
  • Cat Barber (Sixers): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Elton Brand (Sixers): One year, minimum salary. $1MM guaranteed.
  • Derrick Jones (Suns): Three years, minimum salary. $42.5K guaranteed.
  • Alex Caruso (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Kaleb Tarczewski (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Chris Wright (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $100K guaranteed.

Players receiving no guaranteed money:

The following players all signed one-year, minimum salary contracts with no guaranteed money. Many of these deals are “summer contracts,” which won’t count against a team’s cap unless the player earns a spot on the 15-man roster.

Grizzlies Sign Chris Crawford

The Grizzlies’ 20-man roster for training camp is set, the team announced over the weekend in a press release. In addition to the 19 players who started the offseason with the club, or whose deals were previously reported, Memphis has officially signed free agent guard Chris Crawford to fill out its roster.

Crawford was born in Memphis and played his college ball with the Tigers, so it’s a homecoming for the 23-year-old. Since going undrafted in 2014, the young guard has appeared in 64 games for the D-League’s Canton Charge, and has also spent some time in France with Rouen Métropole Basket.

The Grizzlies head into camp with just 13 players on guaranteed contracts, so it’s possible Crawford could land a regular-season roster spot with the club, but a return overseas or to the D-League seems more likely. Vince Carter, whose salary is partially guaranteed, figures to earn one of the two open roster spots in Memphis, with Tony Wroten, D.J. Stephens, Wayne Selden, Troy Williams, and JaMychal Green vying with Crawford for the other one.

Cavs Waive Chris Crawford, Stephen Holt

The Cavs announced that they have waived guards Chris Crawford and Stephen Holt.  The Cavs’ roster now stands at 16.

Crawford appeared in five preseason games for the Cavs, averaging 2.4 points and 1.6 assists in 7.6 minutes per game.  Cleveland signed Crawford late last month to a one-year, non-guaranteed pact.  The Memphis product, who was with the Rockets in summer league, averaged just 8.7 PPG as a senior after putting up 10.4 PPG in his junior season.

Holt’s release was expected as David Pick of Eurobasket.com reported yesterday that he was headed to the Cavs’ D-League affiliate.  Holt, also signed in late September, played in two preseason games and averaged 3.0 points in 2.3 minutes per game.  The 23-year-old went undrafted out of Saint Mary’s back in 2012 after averaging 10.8 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 2.4 APG for his collegiate career.

This marks the second time in the past few weeks that the Cavs have waived Crawford.  The guard was waived to make room for the club’s acquisition of Keith Bogans and collected on his $20K partial guarantee.  When Bogans was traded to the Sixers, he was then re-signed to the non-guaranteed deal that was terminated today.

Cavs Sign Chris Crawford, Shane Edwards

SUNDAY, 11:00am: The signings are official, the team announced.

SATURDAY, 6:22pm: The Cavs are set to sign Chris Crawford and Shane Edwards for training camp, reports Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Lloyd also confirms an earlier report that team will ink Stephen Holt. It’s a non-guaranteed one-year deal for Crawford, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. Crawford had a partial guarantee of $20K on his original two-year deal that Cleveland waived on Thursday amid the team’s acquisition of Keith Bogans, one that threatened to push the team into tax territory. With Bogans off to Philadelphia, it appears Cleveland is circling back to the undrafted guard from the University of Memphis. The team is limited to giving out only the minimum salary to any of its signees, but it’s unclear if there are any guarantees involved for Edwards and Holt.

Crawford, who’ll turn 22 next week, was with the Rockets in summer league after experiencing a dip in scoring in his senior year this season. He put up 10.4 points per game as a junior but just 8.7 PPG as a senior, despite seeing more minutes in his last year with Memphis. Edwards, 27, was briefly with the Cavs last season on a 10-day contract, and he made it into two games for about 12 minutes total. He spent most of last season with Cleveland’s D-League team, averaging 14.2 points and 5.4 rebounds in 28.9 minutes per game.

The Cavs had been carrying 15 players, so the additions of Holt, Crawford and Edwards will put them over the regular season roster limit. Each will face an uphill battle to make it to opening night, though Cleveland only has guaranteed money on the books with 13 players, not including the partial guarantee in Crawford’s old contract.

Cavs Notes: LeBron, Irving, Deng, Crawford

LeBron James reiterated his intentions to stay in Cleveland beyond his current contract during an interview that ran Friday on CNN’s “Unguarded with Rachel Nichols“I plan on finishing my career back home,” James said, as Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group transcribes.
James called the two-year length of his contract a “business decision.” There’s more on the four-time MVP amid the latest on his new team:

  • James based 95% of his decision to return to Cleveland on his desire to return to his Northeast Ohio roots, but the chance to play with Kyrie Irving was “a huge part” of the other 5%, James said to reporters, including Michael Lee of The Washington Post (Twitter link).
  • James and Luol Deng traded places this summer, but Deng knows the Cavs got the better end of the de facto swap, as he told reporters, including Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald“I’ve been in the league 11 years and I’m still improving,” Deng said. “I would never try to replace anybody no matter if they’re better than me or I’m better than somebody. We all bring different things. The biggest mistake I would make is try to be LeBron. I’m not LeBron.”
  • The Cavs intended to re-sign Chris Crawford even as they waived him Thursday, according to Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer. That suggests the Cavs also intended from the time they traded for Bogans that they would flip him to the Sixers or another club, and indeed, a league source told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal that Cleveland was never keen on keeping the veteran guard.
  • Cleveland’s brass had wanted to use Kevin Murphy, John Lucas III and Malcolm Thomas to create a trade exception ever since acquiring the trio, even though it took two moves for the Cavs to come up with the $5,285,817 trade exception they extracted from today’s Bogans trade, as Lloyd writes in the same piece.

Arthur Hill contributed to this post.

Cavs Acquire Keith Bogans

8:25pm: The trade is official, the Celtics announced via a press release.

8:20pm: More details about the trade are rolling in, with Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) noting that the Celtics sent the Cavs the rights to the Kings’ 2015 and 2017 second-rounders, both of which are top-55 protected. Marc Stein of ESPN.com also adds Dwight Powell to the list of players heading to Boston.

8:00pm: The second-rounders going to the Celtics will be Cleveland’s 2016 and 2017 selections, notes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).

7:41pm: The Celtics will also get a $5.3MM trade exception as part of the deal, notes Goodman (twitter link).

7:20pm: The Cavs will waive guard Chris Crawford once the deal is official, tweets Chris Haynes of The Plain Dealer.

7:16pm: The Celtics are also receiving two second round draft picks as part of the deal, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).

6:52pm: The Cavaliers and Celtics are in discussions on a trade that would send Keith Bogans to Cleveland, Marc Stein of ESPN.com is reporting. The Cavs are expected to package the non-guaranteed contracts of Erik Murphy, John Lucas III and Malcolm Thomas in return for Bogans, notes Stein.

The acquisition of the 34 year-old shooting guard out of Kentucky would suggest that Cleveland has either received word from free agent Ray Allen that he isn’t interested in signing with the team, or that he intends to retire, though that’s just speculation on my part. Whatever the case is, it would seem that Bogans is taking the role that the Cavs were intending Allen to fill.

Bogans has played 11 seasons in the league after being selected in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Bucks. His career numbers are 6.3 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.3 APG. Bogans’ career slash line is .394/.353/.716. He has two years remaining on his contract, both non-guaranteed, and he is scheduled to make $5,285,816 this coming season.

As for the Celtics, they currently have 21 players on their roster, including Evan Turner, whose signing has not been officially announced yet. So it’s highly likely that Boston will waive all three players once the deal is completed.

Cavs Waive Chris Crawford

The Cavaliers have waived Chris Crawford, according to the RealGM transactions log. Chris Haynes  of The Plain Dealer was the first to report that Cleveland intended to waive the player (Twitter link). Crawford’s two year deal he signed just under two weeks ago included a guarantee of $20K for this season, but his 2015/16 salary was non-guaranteed.

This move comes on the heels of the Cavs acquiring Keith Bogans from the Celtics, which made Crawford expendable at the shooting guard position. The Cavs will have 16 players remaining on their roster after parting with Dwight Powell, John Lucas III, Erik Murphy, and Malcolm Thomas.

The 6’4″, 22 year-old Crawford went undrafted out of Memphis, where he put up career averages of 8.7 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 3.3 APG. His career slash line was .391/.367/.753.

Contract Details: Barbosa, Turkoglu, Roberts Jr.

Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders is always diligent in keeping us informed of the nitty gritty details for all of the contracts around the league, and after his latest round of updates, he figures there are 493 contracts in place, 400 of which are guaranteed, and at least 43 of which will have to be cut before the regular season begins (Twitter links). We’ll link to his team salary sheets, noting specific player revelations where they apply:

  • Leandro Barbosa‘s one-year pact for the minimum with the Warriors is partially guaranteed at $150K.
  • Hedo Turkoglu‘s one-year minimum deal with the Clippers is fully guaranteed.
  • Ronald Roberts Jr.‘s deal with the Sixers is for four years at the minimum salary, including a team option for the final year. This season is partially guaranteed at $35K.
  • Chris Crawford‘s two-year contract with the Cavs is indeed for the minimum, with a partial guarantee of $20K this year, and a fully non-guaranteed 2015/16.
  • Jerome Jordan‘s camp deal with the Nets is for the minimum, as expected. The one-year agreement will become partially guaranteed at $150K if he remains with Brooklyn through October 25.
  • Dionte Christmas, Vernon Macklin, and Kevin Jones have identical one-year deals with the Pelicans, each of which are non-guaranteed.

Cavs Sign Chris Crawford

FRIDAY, 7:56am: The contract runs two years and is partially guaranteed, sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). It’s almost certainly for the minimum salary, since that’s all the Cavs are able to give.

THURSDAY, 11:07pm: The Cavaliers have signed Chris Crawford to a multi-year deal, according to the RealGM Transactions log. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it’s most likely a non-guaranteed camp deal. This signing brings Cleveland’s pre-season roster count to 18, with 12 of those contracts being guaranteed.

Crawford appeared in five games for the Rockets’ entry in the Orlando Summer league, where he averaged 10.2 PPG on 38.8% shooting. He will compete in training camp with John Lucas III and Matthew Dellavedova for a backup guard slot on the final roster.

The 6’4″, 22 year-old went undrafted out of Memphis, where he put up career averages of 8.7 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 3.3 APG. His career slash line was .391/.367/.753.