NBA G League Rumors | Hoops Rumors

D-League Assignments Via Unaffiliated NBA Teams

January 17th, 2016 at 4:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

The D-League appears well on its way to having one affiliate for each of the 30 NBA teams, with 19 D-League teams in operation this year and the Hornets, Nets and Bulls all having formally announced the addition of one-to-one affiliates for next season. Still, the D-League isn’t there yet, and an awkward situation exists in the meantime for NBA teams without one-to-one affiliates who’d like to send players on D-League assignment. This is the first season in which no D-League team is a shared affiliate, meaning that NBA franchises that used shared affiliates to send players to the D-League in the past now have to use some other NBA team’s one-to-one D-League partner.

It’s no shock to see the Hawks sending players to the affiliate of the Spurs, given the close ties between the organizations. Atlanta has sent three players to the Austin Spurs this season. The Hawks also sent players to Austin last year, when the policy of having NBA teams make assignments to another franchise’s one-to-one affiliate first came into use as a means to prevent crowding on the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, who were the last shared D-League affiliate before the Pacers took them over this season.

Other connections are also at play. Suns GM Ryan McDonough and Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers worked together on the Celtics, so that helps explain why the Clippers have sent two players to Phoenix’s affiliate this year. The Clippers have also sent former Michigan State mainstay Branden Dawson to the Grand Rapids Drive, the Michigan-based affiliate of the Pistons.

The affiliate of the Cavaliers has taken assignments from more NBA teams than any other D-League club, accepting players from the Bulls, Hawks, Bucks and Clippers. Thus, the Cleveland organization has had a close look at some developing talent from around the league, perhaps giving the Cavs a subtle edge for the future.

The process isn’t exactly straightforward for NBA teams without affiliates to find a team for their assignments. NBA teams making assignments to another franchise’s affiliate must notify the D-League of their intention to assign a player, and the league reports back to the team after identifying the affiliates willing to take the player. The NBA team has its pick if multiple D-League clubs volunteer, but if no D-League team raises its hand, the D-League picks an affiliate at random. Rivers made it clear that the Clippers do some advance work, calling around to identify teams that want to receive the assignment, presumably before the D-League gets involved.

It requires some extra effort, but NBA teams without affiliates have nonetheless made several assignments this season. Here’s a look at each of them, sorted by the affiliates that have taken them on, with an assist from the D-League assignment/recall log that Eddie Scarito compiles for Hoops Rumors. Note that some players appear more than once, since their NBA teams have assigned them to multiple D-League clubs:

Austin Spurs (San Antonio Spurs affiliate)

Cameron Bairstow, Bulls
Tim Hardaway, Hawks
Lamar Patterson, Hawks
Edy Tavares, Hawks

Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers affiliate)

Cristiano Felicio, Bulls
Tim Hardaway, Hawks
Damien Inglis, Bucks
Edy Tavares, Hawks
C.J. Wilcox, Clippers

Bakersfield Jam (Phoenix Suns affiliate)

Branden Dawson, Clippers
C.J. Wilcox, Clippers

Grand Rapids Drive (Detroit Pistons affiliate)

Branden Dawson, Clippers

Westchester Knicks (New York Knicks affiliate)

Damien Inglis, Bucks

Idaho Stampede (Utah Jazz affiliate)

Tyus Jones, Timberwolves

And Ones: Papanikolaou, Clark, Inglis, RFAs

January 17th, 2016 at 9:51am CST by Arthur Hill

Kostas Papanikolaou, whom the Nuggets waived last week, will return to Olympiacos in Greece, according to Sport24 (translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Papanikolaou, who won two Euroleague titles during his last stint with Olympiacos, will sign a contract that runs through June 2019. He was released twice this season by Denver, most recently on January 8th, just before the remainder of his veteran’s minimum salary of $845,059 would have been guaranteed for the season. Papanikolaou also played for the Rockets during his season and a half in the NBA, averaging 3.6 points in 69 games with the two franchises. The 6’8″ forward was sent to Denver in the July 20th trade that brought Ty Lawson to Houston.

There’s more from around the basketball world:

Former lottery pick Earl Clark, who is playing in the D-League while hoping to earn a 10-day contract, was part of a trade Saturday, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Clark was sent from the Suns‘ Bakersfield affiliate to the Sixers‘ Delaware affiliate in exchange for a second-round D-League draft pick. The 27-year-old, who played 10 games with the Nets last season, hopes the move will give him a fresh start in his quest to return to the NBA. “It’s a grind,” Clark said of the D-League. “It’s definitely different from any other league. I just felt like [the NBA] was within my reach if I came down here and played well. I believe in my talent. I told myself I’m going to give myself another year to make this NBA thing work.”
The Bucks have sent Damien Inglis to the D-League, the team announced Saturday. Because Milwaukee doesn’t have a direct affiliate, Inglis will be assigned to the Westchester Knicks. He played for the Canton Charge during an earlier trip to the D-League.
Chasing restricted free agents is a risky way to pursue talent, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The danger is that while teams wait for other organizations to decide whether to match an offer, top talent could be signing elsewhere. Prominent RFAs this summer will include Andre Drummond, Harrison Barnes, Bradley Beal, Festus Ezeli, Allen Crabbe and Evan Fournier.

Eastern Notes: Pacers, Nene, D-League Moves

January 16th, 2016 at 11:04am CST by Dana Gauruder

Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird admits his team hasn’t figured out whether to play with a smaller or bigger lineup, according to Nate Taylor of the Indianapolis Star. The team’s inconsistent play has left him baffled, Taylor adds. “I just can’t get a handle on it right now because these guys are up and down,” Bird told Taylor. “I can’t tell you what is best for us right now. We’ve had success with the small lineup, but we’ve had success with two big guys in there. It’s going to take a little bit more time, but I would like to have won more games up to this point. I don’t think any of us feel comfortable with how we’re playing and the way things are going.” Bird wants coach Frank Vogel to continue using the smaller lineup for the time being to create offensive mismatches, even though the bigger lineup is statistically superior defensively, Taylor adds.

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

Nene is an essential frontcourt piece for the Wizards and he must stay healthy for the team to make a playoff run this season, J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com opines. Nene’s passing, movement, screening, deflections and ability to create his own shot are why the Wizards weren’t interested in trading him during the offseason, J. Michael continues. The frontcourt combination of Marcin Gortat, DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries cannot duplicate his skills and the fact that Nene — who is making $13MM this season — becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer provides the added bonus of not tying up salary beyond this season, J. Michael adds.
The Bulls recalled power forward Cristiano Felicio from the D-League, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune reports (Twitter link). The move is related to the shoulder injury suffered by center Joakim Noah on Friday, Johnson adds.
The Celtics assigned shooting guard R.J. Hunter to their D-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, the team tweets.
The Raptors assigned power forward Anthony Bennett, small forward Bruno Caboclo and rookie shooting guard Delon Wright to their D-League affiliate, Raptors 905, the team tweets.

Cory Jefferson Expected To Sign With D-League

January 15th, 2016 at 9:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

Former Sun Cory Jefferson is expected to sign a contract with the D-League soon, tweets Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor. A league source told Reichert the move should happen in the next few days. Once Jefferson signs, he will be subject to the league’s waiver process to determine where he will play.

Jefferson was waived by Phoenix last week, just before the leaguewide contract guarantee date. The moved saved the Suns from paying the majority of his $845,059 salary.

Jefferson appeared in just six games and saw 28 minutes of playing time with Phoenix before being released. He had 12 points and 10 rebounds. The second-year player out of Baylor spent his rookie season with Brooklyn, where he averaged 3.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in 50 games.

Atlantic Notes: Thomas, Rozier, Mickey, Barnes

January 15th, 2016 at 6:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

Last season’s trade to the Celtics helped Isaiah Thomas blossom into an All-Star candidate, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Thomas was an effective sixth man in Phoenix before the deal, averaging 15.2 points and 3.7 assists as part of a three-guard rotation with Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic. But he has blossomed this season in Boston, boosting his averages to 21.6 points and 6.7 assists while keeping the Celtics in the playoff race. “He’s a terrific player,” said Suns GM Ryan McDonough. “He’s having a heck of a year. I wish we could’ve got him to accept his role better or utilized him better ourselves. In retrospect, those three guys – Bledsoe, Dragic and Thomas – all being in their 20s and all having All-Star aspirations made it challenging. With their sizes, you couldn’t play all three together a lot and they were all starting-caliber players who deserved to play and had a lot of success in the league.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

The Celtics sent guard Terry Rozier and forward Jordan Mickey to their Maine affiliate in the D-League, the team tweeted today.
Grizzlies forward Matt Barnes implies that he had the support of at least one Knicks player in his altercation with New York coach Derek Fisher, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Barnes was suspended for two games for his actions in the fight with Fisher, which took place in October at the home of Barnes’ estranged wife. “It’s been great — my teammates, organization, other guys throughout the league, people from his team, people from other sports, people from the entertainment world,’’ Barnes said. “I’ve gotten a lot of support throughout the whole situation.”
Sixers coach Brett Brown has been impressed by the working relationship between GM Sam Hinkie and chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Since Colangelo was hired last month, the Sixers have hired Mike D’Antoni as associate head coach, traded for Ish Smith and signed veteran Elton Brand. “There’s another way to see where we are at,” Brown said, “and different [eyes] coming in and making clean assessments about where we are at.”

Western Notes: Suns, Kings, Davis

January 15th, 2016 at 3:47pm CST by Will Joseph

Mirza Teletovic and P.J. Tucker have attracted interest on the trade market, but the Suns are delaying discussions about those two players until they believe they are out of the playoff picture, one league source told Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. That time might come soon, however, considering the Suns are 13-27 and four and a half games behind for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Markieff Morris is also still viewed as a valuable stretch-power forward on the trade market, according to Deveney. That’s because Morris’ contract (he has three years and $24MM left after this season) is affordable and he still has plenty of upside, one source told Deveney.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Kings vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac does not make it a priority to return calls from other executives around the league, according to ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst (link to podcast hosted by ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe; h/t Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com). What’s more, Divac was unaware that there was a trade call to the league office when Sacramento sent Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, and Nik Stauskas to the Sixers, according to Lowe.
Ed Davis, whom the Blazers signed to a three-year, $20MM deal in the summer, said Portland differs from his previous team, the Lakers, because the Blazers have a clear-cut rebuilding plan, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders details. “Here, we’re trying to build something,” Davis told Kennedy. “I enjoyed my time with the Lakers. Coach [Byron] Scott, [GM] Mitch [Kupchak] and all those guys were good to me, so I don’t really have any complaints. But it’s just different [in Portland]. Obviously in L.A. they want those big stars and they’re not really trying to keep a core together. Now they’re starting to do it because they aren’t getting those top free agents in. Here, there’s just stability. You know that guys are going to be around for a while. You don’t have the feeling that you could get traded any minute or that they’re going to bring a superstar in [to replace you]. You can just focus on doing your job. You know [the plan] and that everything is going to be fine.”
The Grizzlies assigned James Ennis to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Ennis’ seventh assignment to the Iowa Energy.

And-Ones: Wall, D-League, Pelicans

January 13th, 2016 at 10:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Wizards point guard John Wall expressed appreciation for what agent Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports did for him, but is excited about the possibilities his new agent, Rich Paul, will provide, J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic writes. “The people I was with, it was a great partnership for the five years I was with it. Did a lot of great and positive things for me but it’s just a situation where I felt me and my team wanted to go different ways in how we wanted to build out team,” Wall told Michael. “It was a decision I made to part ways with them. … I think just getting it off my chest was kind of a relief.”

Wall, whose shoe deal with Adidas expired earlier this season, says the agent change wasn’t about that particular endorsement opportunity, Michael adds. “It doesn’t factor in at all. That wasn’t even part of the decision why I wanted to make that. It’s just something that I’ve been thinking about for a while and I’m still open to every shoe company,” Wall said. “I’m going to talk to all those guys through the process, figure out what I can do. I still have interest in Adidas. … I’m just wearing what’s comfortable for my feet and protecting my feet for right now. I’m still weighing my options.”

Here’s the latest from around the league

Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry isn’t sure how active the team will be at the trade deadline because the rash of injuries the roster has suffered makes it difficult to discern the team’s needs, Sam Amick of USA Today relays. “Well the first thing is that, you know, we’ve never really had our entire team on the floor, not for one single day,” Gentry told Amick. “So to anticipate that we would like to make changes or do something like that is really difficult to do because we really don’t know the team that we have, and one of the things we felt like is that last year the success they had is something that we could build on and grow on, so we’re not so eager to just all of a sudden start making trades. Now if there’s something that makes sense for our franchise, or is going to make us a much better team, I’m sure it’s something that [GM] Dell [Demps] and I will talk about and there will be a decision made, obviously, that we think is in the best interests of our club.”
The Hawks have assigned swingman Lamar Patterson and center Edy Tavares to the D-League, the team announced via a press release. Both players will report to the Austin Spurs as part of the league’s flexible assignment rule since Atlanta doesn’t possess its own affiliate.
The Bulls have recalled power forward Cristiano Felicio from the D-League, the team announced (via Twitter). This was Felicio’s first trip to the D-League on the season.

Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Ujiri, D-League

January 13th, 2016 at 8:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Raptors are currently enjoying one of the most successful runs in franchise history and GM Masai Ujiri needs to capitalize on that momentum by swinging for the fences at the trade deadline this season, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes. The most effective way to add to the team’s core would be to use the team’s surplus of first round picks, four in the next two years, which could land an impact player, Grange notes. The Sportsnet scribe does acknowledge the team may face stiff competition to re-sign future unrestricted free agent DeMar DeRozan, and building around him could be a risky proposition as a result, but it would be folly for the team to not go all in this season and shoot for the stars in the trade market.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Joel Embiid‘s hiring of Leon Rose as his new agent is a positive move for the Sixers, Jake Fischer of Liberty Ballers opines (on Twitter). The scribe points to Rose being based out of New Jersey and his history of representing Sixers players as reasons for his optimism. The center’s former agency, the Wasserman Group, is based out of Los Angeles.
The continued emergence of rookie Jerian Grant changes the dynamic of the Knicks‘ offense, and the point guard’s energy and defense have become assets to the team, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com writes.
The Celtics have recalled power forward Jordan Mickey and point guard Terry Rozier from their D-League affiliate in Maine, the team announced. This was Mickey’s ninth stint with the Red Claws on the season and Rozier’s fifth.

John Lucas III To Play For Pacers D-League Team

January 13th, 2016 at 11:46am CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 11:46am: The affiliate of the Pacers has claimed Lucas from the player pool, tweets Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype.

MONDAY, 11:32am: Eight-year NBA veteran point guard John Lucas III has entered the D-League player pool, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com, meaning he’s signed a contract with the league and will end up on an NBA’s team’s affiliate via the D-League waiver process (Twitter link). Lucas, who’ll remain eligible to sign a deal with any NBA club regardless of the D-League team he ends up on, met late last month with Sixers coach Brett Brown, a couple of weeks before Philadelphia signed fellow long-tenured vet Elton Brand.

Lucas, 33, was with the Heat for the preseason but appeared in only one exhibition game and didn’t make the opening night roster. He spent much of last season with Fujian of China after canceling a scheduled workout with the Lakers to sign instead with the overseas club, but he returned to the NBA last February on a pair of 10-day contracts with the Pistons that preceded a deal for the rest of the season. One of those 10-day deals was technically a 13-day arrangement, as we explained.

The Pistons, as well as the Magic, Spurs, Mavericks and Clippers, had interest in signing Lucas this past summer, as Stein reported then, but he didn’t end up with a deal until he hooked up with the Heat in late September. He’s four years removed from having recorded NBA career highs in points (7.5) and minutes per game (14.8) with the Bulls in the 2011/12 season.

Western Notes: Karl, Davis, Cotton

January 12th, 2016 at 9:21pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kings coach George Karl admits that the comment he made at the end of last season that any player on the roster was tradeable didn’t get his relationship with DeMarcus Cousins off to a great start, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. “I just can’t stand summer talk,” Karl said. “I mean, free agency, all the money, teams think they saved their organization by signing this guy or making this trade. You have all these obnoxious predictions and it doesn’t mean anything. We got off into that trade innuendo, and I think it hurt Cuz [Cousins]. And I think I made a mistake in making the comment that no player is untradeable. That’s something I might believe, but I shouldn’t have said it. So everything kind of snowballed in the wrong way at the end of last year.”

“My belief was, I never, ever thought I was not going to coach Cuz this year,” Karl continued. “Did you have philosophical discussions? We talk about everything. We meet for 2-3 hours every day and talk about every scenario in the world. And I think Cuz worked his tail off this summer. [Team executive] Vlade [Divac] and I got together with Cuz in the summertime. Vlade’s done a good job of being a good bridge between he and I.”

Here’s more from out West:

Baron Davis, who agreed to join the NBA D-League earlier today, worked out for the Mavericks last Saturday when the team was in Los Angeles, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), but coach Rick Carlisle laughed off the report, as SB Nation’s Tim Cato relays (on Twitter).
Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff continues to learn while on the job, something that is vital if he hopes to remain in the position on a long-term basis, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com writes. “Every day you learn something,” Bickerstaff said. “That’s the same as assistant coach and the same as a head coach. You should continue to learn. You watch so much basketball you should see something somewhere from somebody different all the time. I hope I continue to learn. If I don’t then I know everything.“
Bryce Cotton, whom the Suns waived prior to the leaguewide contract guarantee date, has rejoined the Austin Spurs in the NBA D-League, tweets Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor.