Pelicans Sign Dereon Seabron, John Petty Jr.
The Pelicans have officially signed guards Dereon Seabron and John Petty Jr., the team announced in a press release.
According to Andrew Lopez of ESPN (Twitter link), Petty will receive an Exhibit 10 contract, while Seabron’s two-way contract, which was reported back in June, is now official. The Pelicans also confirmed that they have signed Daeqwon Plowden, who is on an Exhibit 10 deal.
Seabron, 22, was one of the top undrafted players following the 2022 NBA draft a few months ago. He averaged 17.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals during the 2021/22 season while leading North Carolina State in all four categories.
The 6’7″ guard was named the Most Improved Player in the ACC and was a second-team all-conference choice as a sophomore for the Wolfpack. Seabron most recently suited up for New Orleans during Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 8.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 in five games (18.6 minutes), per RealGM.
Petty, 23, went undrafted in 2021 after four years at Alabama. He signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Pelicans last fall and was waived before the season, designating him as an affiliate player for their G League team, the Birmingham Squadron.
In 31 games (26.2 minutes) for the Squadron last season, he averaged 8.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Like Seabron, Petty also suited up for New Orleans during Summer League, averaging 7.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals in five games (24.0 minutes), per RealGM.
The Pelicans still have one two-way slot still open after signing Seabron. Second-round pick E.J. Liddell, who unfortunately tore his ACL during Summer League, remains unsigned.
Mavericks Sign Maxi Kleber To Three-Year Extension
7:41pm: The Mavericks have officially announced Kleber’s extension (via Twitter).
10:43am: Kleber’s extension will be fully guaranteed, sources tell Charania (Twitter link).
9:04am: The Mavericks are finalizing a three-year extension with forward Maxi Kleber, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Kleber’s new contract will be worth $33MM.
Kleber is set to earn $9MM in 2022/23, the final season of the four-year, $34MM deal he signed with Dallas during the 2019 free agent period. His new agreement with the team, which will bump his average annual salary to $11MM, will extend his contract through the 2025/26 season.
An undrafted free agent from Germany, Kleber has spent the last five seasons with the Mavericks. He has appeared in 326 regular season games during that time, starting 136 of them and averaging 7.1 PPG and 4.8 RPG on .446/.359/.796 shooting in 22.7 minutes per contest.
Kleber, 30, saw his shooting percentages drop off noticeably in 2021/22, as he made just 39.8% of his shots from the floor, including 32.5% of his threes. However, Dallas’ new financial commitment to him suggests the team is confident he’ll bounce back in ’22/23.
With Spencer Dinwiddie‘s and Reggie Bullock‘s salaries for 2023/24 not yet fully guaranteed, there might have been a path for the Mavs to create some cap flexibility next summer. However, their deal with Kleber signals they’re fully preparing to operate over the cap again, even with Christian Wood and Dwight Powell still on expiring deals.
Kleber will become one of three Dallas players under contract through at least ’25/26, joining Luka Doncic and Dorian Finney-Smith, who holds a player option for that year.
Because Kleber’s extension will exceed the NBA’s extend-and-trade limits, he’ll be ineligible to be dealt for six months after his signing date. Even if the two sides finalize the agreement shortly, that six-month window will extend into March, well past the 2023 trade deadline, so Dallas won’t be able to move him until next offseason.
Kleber is set to become the 10th player to sign a veteran contract extension so far this offseason, as our tracker shows.
Jazz Trade Donovan Mitchell To Cavaliers
SEPTEMBER 8: The Jazz officially confirmed the trade of Mitchell in a press release. “Our entire organization wishes him every success in his future,” team owner Ryan Smith said in the release. “Once a Jazzman, always a Jazzman.”
SEPTEMBER 3: The Mitchell trade is now official, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
“The acquisition of Donovan Mitchell presented us with an incredible opportunity to bring one of the NBA’s most dynamic young All-Stars to Cleveland,” general manager Koby Altman said in the press release announcing the move. “Already a special and proven talent at just 25 years old, Donovan brings a competitive mentality that organically fits with the core group of this team.”
SEPTEMBER 1: The Cavaliers have agreed to a trade with the Jazz and will acquire star guard Donovan Mitchell, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Cleveland is sending three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps to Utah as part of the deal. Lauri Markkanen, first-round pick Ochai Agbaji, and Collin Sexton are also headed to the Jazz in the blockbuster trade, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Sexton is a restricted free agent, so he’ll need to be signed-and-traded as part of the agreement. His new deal with the Jazz will be worth $72MM over four years and will be fully guaranteed, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).
The three first-round picks going to Utah will be in 2025, 2027, and 2029, since Cleveland already owes its lottery-protected 2023 first-rounder to Indiana, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. The Jazz will have the ability to swap first-rounders with the Cavs in 2026 and 2028, tweets Wojnarowski.
John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 first identified the Cavaliers last week as a team with interest in Mitchell, and Ian Begley of SNY.tv subsequently reported that Cleveland had “touched base” with Utah about the three-time All-Star guard.
Still, today’s news comes as a major surprise. Begley reported last Friday that the Cavs were removing themselves from the Mitchell negotiations, while Brian Windhorst of ESPN said Cleveland had made it clear to the Jazz in their earlier discussions that Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen weren’t on the table. That seemingly made it difficult for the Cavs to meet Utah’s asking price.
However, the Cavs’ package will include most of the other noteworthy assets at their disposal, including all their tradable first-round picks, this year’s No. 14 overall selection (Agbaji), and Sexton, who is just one year removed from averaging 24.3 PPG and 4.4 APG on .475/.371/.815 shooting in 60 games (35.3 MPG).
As good as Sexton was in 2020/21, Mitchell represents an upgrade at the shooting guard position in Cleveland. In his last two seasons, he has averaged 26.1 points, 5.3 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game in 120 appearances (33.6 MPG), with a shooting line of .444/.368/.849 shooting line. He’ll earn a $1.68MM trade bonus as part of the deal, Marks notes (via Twitter).
With a core of Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and Allen, the Cavs will be led by a pair of star duos — an offensively-minded pairing in the backcourt and a rim-protecting duo in the frontcourt.
All of those cornerstone players will be under contract for at least the next three years. Garland signed a new five-year extension this offseason, Mobley’s rookie contract runs through 2025, Allen is in the second year of a five-year contract, and Mitchell is locked up through at least the 2024/25 season (he has a player option for ’25/26).
With their three-for-one trade, the Cavs no longer have to worry about a logjam on their 15-man roster and should, in fact, have one open spot to fill. Once the deal is official, they’ll have 12 players on fully guaranteed contracts, with Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade on non-guaranteed deals. They’ll also create a $3.9MM trade exception in the swap and remain $2.47MM below the tax line, according to Marks (Twitter link).
The Knicks had long been viewed as the frontrunners for Mitchell, but they were never willing to offer more than two unprotected first-round picks (in addition to other protected first-rounders), per Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Unprotected first-round picks and swaps had been the trade chips that Danny Ainge and the Jazz coveted most, as was the case when they acquired a similar return in exchange for Rudy Gobert earlier this summer.
The Knicks and Jazz reportedly reached an impasse earlier this week when the Knicks set an informal Monday night deadline to either agree to a Mitchell trade or extend RJ Barrett, who was being discussed as a possible centerpiece in several permutations of a Mitchell deal. New York ultimately decided to sign Barrett to an extension, which complicated salary matching in a potential trade due to the poison pill provision and brought those trade talks to a temporary halt.
While there was an expectation that the Knicks and Jazz would reengage in the coming weeks, their stalemate opened the door for Cavs general manager Koby Altman to circle back to Utah general manager Justin Zanik, according to Wojnarowski, who says (via Twitter) the two teams “reassembled” a deal they’d been discussing in previous weeks.
The Jazz are now in full rebuilding mode, having traded their two All-Stars in the two most significant deals of the NBA offseason. Taking into account the trades for Mitchell, Gobert, and Royce O’Neale, Utah has acquired eight future first-rounders this summer, and all but one of those picks is unprotected (the eighth is top-five protected). The Jazz also acquired three pick swaps and a pair of players who were drafted in the first round this June (Agbaji and Walker Kessler).
While the Jazz appear to be in teardown mode, their four-year investment in Sexton suggests he’s a major part of their long-term plans. Fischer had reported back in July that Utah was exploring a possible sign-and-trade for the 23-year-old, so he has been on the club’s radar for some time.
Sexton is coming off a lost season due to a torn meniscus, but should be fully healthy this fall and has shown in his first four NBA seasons that he’s capable of becoming one of the league’s highest-scoring guards. Utah also views Markkanen and Agbaji as keepers going forward, tweets Wojnarowski.
Once the trade is official, the Jazz will have 17 players on fully guaranteed contracts, so more roster moves – either cuts, trades, or both – will be coming before opening night. Veterans like Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, Malik Beasley, and Jordan Clarkson could still be on the trade block.
While it shouldn’t have much of an impact on their roster moves, it’s also worth noting that the Jazz will face a hard cap of $156.98MM for the rest of the 2022/23 league year once they formally sign-and-trade for Sexton. For now, they’re $1.7MM below the tax line ($150.27MM), tweets Marks.
Mavericks, Knicks Eyeing Bojan Bogdanovic
The Mavericks and Knicks are among the teams with interest in Jazz veteran Bojan Bogdanovic, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (Twitter link), who states that Utah is looking for draft picks and players on expiring contracts in return.
In addition to Dallas and New York, Gambadoro reports that the Lakers and Suns remain interested in the sharpshooting forward, but he notes that the Jazz might not have as much interest in Phoenix’s first-round picks because they are expected to be one of the top teams once again in 2022/23 after having the NBA’s best record last season (64-18).
The Lakers’ interest in Bogdanovic has been well-documented, and Gambadoro reported a week ago that the Suns inquired about his services as well. Bogdanovic, who is on a $19.55MM expiring contract, is a talented scorer and shooter, averaging 18.3 PPG and 4.1 RPG on .461/.403/.860 shooting over the past four seasons. He’s currently competing in EuroBasket action with the Croatian national team.
If the Jazz are looking for expiring deals, the Mavs don’t have a clean one-for-one fit for salary-matching purposes. Reaching an extension agreement with Maxi Kleber rules him out, and it’s highly unlikely that they’d consider moving Christian Wood after just acquiring him in June.
That only leaves Dwight Powell‘s $11MM expiring deal, plus former first-rounder Josh Green and Frank Ntilikina to match salaries. Green has a team option for $4.77MM in ’23/24.
The Knicks could pull it off a little easier, at least in theory, by trading Derrick Rose‘s $14.5MM pseudo-expiring contract (team option in ’23/24) plus someone like Cam Reddish, who will make $5.95MM in the final season of his rookie deal.
As Gambadoro mentioned, either package would have to include draft picks to land the highly-coveted forward.
The Jazz are in the midst of a full-fledged rebuild after trading their two best players, three-time All-Stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, plus veterans Royce O’Neale and Patrick Beverley. They’ve targeted first-round picks and/or young players in all four deals.
Malcolm Hill Re-Signs With Bulls On Two-Way Deal
Malcolm Hill has re-signed with the Bulls on a two-way contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). According to NBA.com’s transactions log, the deal is already official.
The Bulls extended Hill a two-way qualifying offer at the end of June, so he likely just decided to sign the QO to stick with Chicago.
The 26-year-old Hill was an unusual rookie last year. He went undrafted in 2017 out of Illinois and played internationally in the Philippines, Germany, Kazakhstan, and Israel prior to returning stateside.
Hill initially signed a training camp deal with the Pelicans prior to the 2021/22 season, but was waived before the season started and spent time with the team’s G League affiliate, the Birmingham Squadron. In December of last year, he signed a 10-day hardship contract with the Hawks, appearing in three games.
After Hill’s 10-day deal with Atlanta expired, he caught on with Chicago, initially signing a 10-day hardship deal before inking a two-way contract. Hill appeared in 16 games (10.4 MPG) with the Bulls, averaging 3.4 PPG and 1.8 RPG on .432/.323/.700 shooting.
The 6’6″ wing had a bigger role and put up better stats for Chicago’s G League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls, averaging 18.1 PPG, 7.0 RPG and 3.1 APG on a stellar .500/.396/.875 shooting line in eight games (33.1 MPG). Hill most recently suited up for the Bulls’ Summer League squad, averaging 13.0 PPG and 3.8 RPG on .465/.474/.889 shooting in five games (25.0 MPG), per RealGM.
The Bulls have 15 players signed to guaranteed standard contracts and both two-way spots now filled, so their roster is already full heading into training camp. Any future signings will likely be Exhibit 10 deals with the option of being converted to two-way contracts — Justin Lewis‘ two-way spot might be vulnerable after he unfortunately suffered a torn ACL last month.
Markieff Morris Signs With Nets
SEPTEMBER 7: The Nets have officially signed Morris, the team announced today in a press release. As previously reported, Morris’ new deal is said to be non-guaranteed.
AUGUST 30: The Nets will add veteran forward Markieff Morris on a one-year contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Morris spent last season with the Heat, but appeared in just 17 games after suffering a neck injury. He averaged 7.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per night and likely would have played a much larger role if he hadn’t been hurt.
Brooklyn will be the seventh NBA team for Morris, who entered the league in 2011. He has become mainly a bench player over the past four years and was an effective reserve for the Lakers during his last healthy season in 2020/21.
Morris, who signed minimum-salary deals with both L.A. and Miami, will likely get the same arrangement from the Nets. He may be seen as a replacement for LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin, who both remain unsigned.
Once Morris’ signing becomes official, Brooklyn will have 13 players with fully guaranteed contracts. Edmond Sumner‘s deal is partially guaranteed and Yuta Watanabe‘s is non-guaranteed.
Warriors Working Out Ben McLemore, Elfrid Payton, Others
The Warriors are bringing in a number of veteran free agents this week for workouts, league sources tell Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
According to Charania and Slater, some of the free agents taking part in the workouts are Ben McLemore, Elfrid Payton, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Kenneth Faried, Miye Oni, Ty-Shon Alexander, Wesley Saunders, and Jon Axel Gudmundsson.
Golden State also held similar free agent workouts in August, according to Charania and Slater, who say that Shabazz Muhammad, Solomon Hill, Tyler Cook, and Kelan Martin were among the players who participated in those sessions about two weeks ago.
The purpose of this week’s workouts is twofold — as Tim Kawakami of The Athletic tweets, the players currently on the Warriors’ roster are beginning their informal pre-camp work at the team’s facility this week, so the free agents who join them will help ensure there are enough bodies to play 5-on-5 scrimmages. Additionally, there’s an expectation that the Warriors could sign one or more of the auditioning veterans to their 20-man training camp roster, per Charania and Slater.
Golden State currently has 18 players under contract (13 on guaranteed standard deals), with Jerome Robinson expected to be the 19th. That leaves one spot available for now.
Andre Iguodala has yet to decide whether he’ll retire or return to the Warriors for another season, so it’s possible he could fill that 20th and final roster spot (and become the 14th man on the team’s projected regular season roster). Robinson, Mac McClung, Pat Spencer, and Trevion Williams are among the camp invitees who could compete for a place on the 15-man regular season roster, especially if Iguodala doesn’t return.
Charania and Slater also note that that, while Lester Quinones and Quinndary Weatherspoon are currently on two-way deals, those roster spots are flexible. According to The Athletic’s duo, the Warriors are high on Weatherspoon, who is a candidate to join the 15-man roster either this fall or later in the season
Cavaliers In No Rush To Extend Caris LeVert
After acquiring Donovan Mitchell to start in their backcourt alongside point guard Darius Garland, the Cavaliers appear to be in no rush to sign Caris LeVert to a contract extension, Michael Scotto said on the latest episode of the HoopsHype podcast.
LeVert is entering the final year of the three-year, $52.5MM extension he signed with Brooklyn back in 2019. He’ll earn approximately $18.8MM in 2022/23.
Prior to the trade for Mitchell, LeVert had been penciled in as Cleveland’s starting shooting guard, but his new role is still to be determined, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, Scotto’s guest on the podcast.
Fedor expects LeVert to be in the mix for the starting small forward spot. If the Cavs instead opt to start Isaac Okoro or someone else at the three, LeVert would be the first man off the bench, serving as the primary initiator and scorer on the second unit.
As Fedor observes, LeVert’s role – and his success in that role – could go a long way toward determining how high the Cavs are willing to go on his next contract, so the team may exercise patience and let him play out the final year of his current deal.
Cleveland would be open to locking up LeVert to an extension if it’s at a team-friendly price, but there’s a feeling within the organization that he’ll want more than the front office is comfortable paying until there’s more clarity on where he fits in following the addition of Mitchell, says Fedor.
LeVert, who turned 28 in August, averaged 13.6 PPG, 3.9 APG, and 3.4 RPG in 19 appearances (29.8 MPG) for Cleveland last season following a midseason trade from the Pacers to the Cavaliers. He missed time due to a foot injury and his shooting averages (.435 FG%, .313 3PT%) were below his career marks, but there’s a sense the former Michigan Wolverine could have more to contribute to the ’22/23 Cavs.
LeVert will be extension-eligible all the way up until June 30, 2023, a day before he officially becomes a free agent, so if the Cavs put off an extension for now, they could still try to get something done during the season.
Mavs Have Considered Adding Veteran Ball-Handler
The Mavericks have mulled the possibility of adding one more ball-handling veteran to their roster before the start of the season, Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack article.
Currently, the Mavs have 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts and one (Tyler Dorsey) on a two-way deal, so there would be room to add another player to the 15-man regular season roster and/or via a two-way contract.
According to Stein, Dallas believes there’s a good argument for leaving that 15th roster spot open for now, since it would allow the team to maintain some roster flexibility and wouldn’t further increase its projected luxury tax bill. It’s possible the Mavs will stand pat for now and allow players like Frank Ntilikina, Josh Green, and Dorsey to vie for a regular ball-handling role in training camp and the preseason, Stein writes.
The Mavs already have two strong options to handle the ball, with superstar Luka Doncic and veteran guard Spencer Dinwiddie both expected to play major roles. But the team did lose Jalen Brunson in free agency this offseason and hasn’t acquired an obvious replacement for him.
As we outlined over the weekend, a pair of high-ranking Mavericks executives – president of basketball operations Nico Harrison and VP of basketball ops Michael Finley – were in attendance on Saturday to watch Dennis Schröder and the Germans defeat the Bosnian national team at EuroBasket. Schröder is one veteran free agent who could be on Dallas’ radar. Eric Bledsoe, Facundo Campazzo, Elfrid Payton, and Dennis Smith Jr. are among the others available, Stein notes.
One option for the Mavs if they don’t want to lock a player into that 15th roster spot for the entire season would be to carry a point guard on a non-guaranteed contract this fall, giving the club the flexibility to make a change without having to eat that 15th man’s full salary. However, it’s unclear how many of the top veteran free agents left on the market would accept non-guaranteed deals.
Jodie Meeks Announces Retirement
Veteran guard Jodie Meeks has announced he will retire after a 10-year NBA career, as relayed by Steve Drumwright at USAB.com. Meeks is currently playing for USA Basketball’s Men’s AmeriCup Team, the first and final time he’ll represent his country in the sport.
“You always want to have a chance to compete in the Olympics, but obviously it’s so hard to make it in America because the talent level is so high,” Meeks said. “So this would be special for me to compete and win a gold medal.”
Meeks is among several former NBA players on the team, including Patrick McCaw, Norris Cole and Gary Clark. Known as a sharpshooter in his career, Meeks played 539 NBA games, making stops with the Bucks, Sixers, Lakers, Pistons, Magic, Wizards and Raptors.
The 35-year-old Meeks played in the G League with Toronto’s affiliate last season. In 18 games, he averaged 10.4 points per contest, shooting 48.5% from three-point range. He also won an NBA championship with the Raptors back in 2019.
“I’m young, but in basketball, I’m a little older,” Meeks said. “I’m no spring chicken anymore. But that’s OK. I can still move, I still feel like I can still play. And obviously I’m out here doing well. So for my career, it’s definitely been a good one and this will be the icing on the cake.”