Kawhi Leonard Could Return Sooner Than Anticipated
Kawhi Leonard was expected to miss most or all of this season after undergoing surgery in July to repair a partially torn ACL. According to Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes, there’s increasing optimism that Leonard will be in uniform this season.
The Clippers’ superstar is ahead of schedule in his rehab and a return this season is a strong possibility, sources told Haynes. Leonard has ramped up his workload in recent weeks and is gaining strength.
The Clippers entered Thursday as a .500 team (19-19) and it stands to reason Leonard wouldn’t come back unless they remain in the playoff hunt. He’d certainly make them a dangerous lower seed should he be healthy enough to play.
Otherwise, the team might be wise to wait until next year, since its franchise player made a multi-year commitment after undergoing the surgery. Leonard signed a four-year, maximum salary contract worth approximately $176.3MM. He holds a player option on the final year of the deal.
Jazz Sign Danuel House To 10-Day Contract
JANUARY 6: House’s 10-day contract with Utah is now official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
JANUARY 5: The Jazz intend to sign forward Danuel House to a 10-day contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
House, who averaged 9.7 PPG and 3.9 RPG on .431/.373/.759 shooting in 138 games (27.7 MPG) for the Rockets in the three years preceding 2021/22, struggled and fell out of Houston’s rotation this season. He was waived by the Rockets in December and signed a 10-day hardship contract with the Knicks a few days later, appearing briefly in just one game for New York before his deal expired over the weekend.
It’s unclear whether House will be added on a standard 10-day contract or if it will be a hardship deal. The Jazz do have one player (Joe Ingles) in the health and safety protocols, but they’re also below the standard roster minimum, carrying just 13 players. Teams are permitted to dip below 14 players, but only for up to two weeks at a time.
We’ve seen teams with 14 players complete hardship signings that don’t count against the cap this season, but it remains to be seen if a club carrying just 13 players would be granted the same leeway.
Bucks Waive DeMarcus Cousins
JANUARY 6: The Bucks have officially requested waivers on Cousins, Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets.
JANUARY 5: On the night he scored 15 points, pulled down 10 boards, and chipped in three steals and a block across just 20 minutes for the Bucks, center DeMarcus Cousins, signed to a non-guaranteed deal, is set to be waived by Milwaukee, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The news comes two days ahead of the deadline for all contracts to be guaranteed for the rest of the year across the NBA. Cousins’ salary for 2021/22 isn’t fully guaranteed.
Across 17 contests with the Bucks, the former four-time All-Star is averaging 9.1 PPG and 5.8 RPG this season. Charania adds that Cousins will likely merit a look from other clubs.
The 6’10” veteran joined the Bucks a month into the season. He spent the 2020/21 NBA season with the Rockets and Clippers. The 31-year-old has never been the same since suffering Achilles and ACL tears, but has proven himself to be a volume bench contributor when healthy in recent seasons.
Shooting guard Wesley Matthews, the team’s other player signed to a non-guaranteed deal, remains with the team as of this writing. With Cousins slated to be waived, the Bucks will create one open roster spot.
Milwaukee GM Jon Horst commented on the decision to move on from Cousins, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link): “We wouldn’t have been able to get through this difficult stretch of the season as successfully as we did without DeMarcus.”
In further comments reported by Woj (via Twitter), Horst hinted at a potential reunion following the trade deadline, should Cousins be available: “We made a strategic decision to have an open roster spot, but there’s nothing that would prevent us from partnering with DeMarcus again down the road.”
Magic Sign Admiral Schofield To Two-Way Deal, Waive Mychal Mulder
The Magic announced in a press release (via Twitter) that they’ve signed forward Admiral Schofield to a two-way contract, and in order to do so they’ve waived guard Mychal Mulder.
Schofield recently completed two 10-day contracts with Orlando via hardship exceptions, and the team decided to keep him around. In nine games with the Magic this season, he is averaging 4.8 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 16.9 MPG.
The Magic previously signed Schofield to an Exhibit 10 training camp deal, but he was waived ahead of the regular season. He’d been playing with Orlando’s G League affiliate in Lakeland prior to the call-up, averaging 14.4 PPG and 7.3 RPG in 12 games (33.0 MPG).
The combo forward out of Tennessee was originally drafted with the No. 42 pick in 2019 by the Sixers, before being sent to the Wizards in a draft-night trade. Across 33 NBA appearances during his 2019/20 rookie season with Washington, the 24-year-old Schofield averaged 3.0 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 11.2 MPG.
Mulder spent three seasons in the G League after going undrafted out of Kentucky in 2017. He signed a 10-day contract with Golden State in February of 2020 and played well enough to earn a multi-year deal. The 27-year-old played 60 games for Golden State last season, averaging 5.6 PPG and 1.0 RPG with a .397 3PT% in 12.8 MPG. He remained with the Warriors through the preseason, but was waived in the team’s final round of cuts.
Mulder inked a two-way deal with Orlando on October 26, but he struggled to make an impact during his stint with the Magic this season, averaging 3.7 PPG and 1.4 RPG on .299/.283/1.000 shooting in 15 games (13 MPG).
Pacers Waive Kelan Martin
The Pacers have waived reserve guard/forward Kelan Martin ahead of the contract guarantee deadline on Friday, per Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files (via Twitter).
Martin was playing on a non-guaranteed contract this season, so Indiana won’t be on the hook for his entire $1,701,593 cap hit. It’s a tough blow for the veteran wing, who’s currently isolating at home after contracting COVID-19, as Agness relays (Twitter link).
Martin, 26, has appeared in 27 games this season with Indiana, averaging 6.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 16.4 minutes per contest. His shooting line of .417/.297/.692 isn’t great, but to be fair to him, it’s hard to get a rhythm playing a limited role.
After a productive four-year college career with Butler, Martin went undrafted in 2018 and spent his first season as a professional playing in Germany. He caught on with the Timberwolves for the 2019/20 season, signing a two-way deal, and then spent last season and nearly half of this season with the Pacers. Martin and the Pacers had previously agreed to push back his guarantee date a couple of times, but ultimately the team decided to open a roster spot by waiving him.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets that Martin will have a $801,900 cap hit for the Pacers and the team is now $2.3MM below the luxury tax threshold.
Lakers Trying To Trade DeAndre Jordan, Kent Bazemore
After opening one roster spot this week by trading Rajon Rondo to Cleveland, the Lakers are hoping to make similar moves involving DeAndre Jordan and Kent Bazemore, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Wednesday on “NBA Today” (Twitter link).
L.A. wouldn’t be looking for players in return, Windhorst adds, as the team wants to create roster flexibility to add talent on the buyout market. Stanley Johnson, who received a 10-day contract earlier today, is expected to fill the slot vacated by Rondo.
Jordan has started 18 games this season, but he recently fell out of the rotation and hasn’t been used in the team’s last six games. He signed with the Lakers in September after reaching a buyout with the Pistons following a trade from the Nets. His $2,641,691 salary ($1,669,178 cap hit) is fully guaranteed and the team would prefer to trade him rather than waive him because of luxury tax concerns.
The Lakers have begun using a smaller, more versatile lineup with LeBron James starting at center. With Anthony Davis possibly returning later this month from an MCL sprain, there’s not much of a future for Jordan in L.A. The 33-year-old is averaging 4.5 points and 5.7 rebounds this season while shooting 67.5% from the field.
The Lakers have also explored the trade market for Bazemore, according to Windhorst. The 32-year-old forward started 14 games earlier in the season, but has also been pulled from the rotation and has made just one six-minute appearance since December 17. Bazemore started 14 of the 22 games he has played and averages 4.3 PPG and 1.8 RPG.
Greg Monroe Signs 10-Day Deal With Wizards
JANURY 6: Monroe’s signing is official, the Wizards announced in a press release.
JANUARY 5: Greg Monroe, whose 10-day contract with the Timberwolves is set to expire tonight, won’t be re-signed by Minnesota, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News, who reports (via Twitter) that the veteran center has lined up a deal with a new team. Monroe is expected to sign a 10-day contract with the Wizards, says Wolfson.
After being out of the NBA since 2019, Monroe got an opportunity to make a comeback during December’s league-wide COVID-19 outbreak and played a legitimate rotation role with the Wolves. In three games (21.0 MPG), he averaged 6.7 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 3.7 APG, and 1.3 BPG.
The Wizards don’t have an open spot on their 15-man roster, so they’ll likely use a hardship exception to add Monroe. While Minnesota no longer has any players in the health and safety protocols, Washington currently has a league-high seven players affected.
The Wizards have six players on 10-day contracts at the moment, so if players start exiting the COVID-19 protocols, they may no longer be eligible for another hardship addition — teams qualify for one hardship replacement for each player in the protocols. However, five of those six active 10-day deals will expire by Sunday, so the team could always terminate one of them a day or two early if necessary.
Stanley Johnson Signs 10-Day Deal With Lakers
JANUARY 6: Johnson’s 10-day contract is official, the Lakers announced (via Twitter)
JANUARY 5: Forward Stanley Johnson is likely to sign a 10-day deal with the Lakers on Thursday, sources tell Dave McMenamin of ESPN (via Twitter). Johnson’s 10-day hardship deal with the Lakers expired on Monday, and he made a strong impression on the club with his on-ball defense and toughness, says McMenamin.
The 25-year-old Johnson averaged 6.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 1.4 APG in five games (three starts) with Los Angeles. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, there’s no difference in salary between signing Johnson to a couple of 10-day deals and then signing him to a contract that covers the rest of the season at the end of January vs. signing him to a rest-of-season deal on Thursday, so the move is all about maintaining roster flexibility ahead of the trade deadline on February 10.
Johnson, a Los Angeles native, signed with the Bulls on a 10-day hardship deal last month but never suited up for the team after entering the league’s health and safety protocols. He spent training camp and preseason with Chicago, but was released prior to the season. He had been playing with the Lakers’ G League squad, South Bay, prior to being called up to the NBA. In six games with South Bay this season (30.5 MPG), Johnson put up 15.3 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 2.2 SPG with a .405/.286/.750 shooting line.
There had been mutual interest between Johnson and the Lakers to reach a contract agreement, especially after the team traded Rajon Rondo to the Cavaliers to clear a roster spot. The No. 8 overall pick in the 2015 draft, Johnson has played for the Pistons, Pelicans, Raptors and Lakers since entering the NBA. He has proven capable of providing energy and defensive versatility, but his offensive game has always been limited. In 376 career regular season games, he has averaged 6.2 PPG on .376/.297/.764 shooting in 19.8 minutes per contest.
Ryan Arcidiacono Signs 10-Day Contract With Knicks
Two days after his hardship contract with the Knicks was voided by the NBA, Ryan Arcidiacono has signed a regular 10-day deal, the team announced via Twitter.
New York originally reached a 10-day contract with Arcidiacono on Monday under the league’s hardship provision. However, once Mitchell Robinson and Jericho Sims cleared the health and safety protocols, the Knicks only had two players remaining in the protocols and already had two hardship additions on their roster.
Wednesday marked the first day that teams were permitted to begin signing players to conventional 10-day deals. New York had an open roster spot after waiving Wayne Selden and Denzel Valentine this week.
Arcidiacono, 27, spent his first four seasons with the Bulls, averaging 4.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 207 games. He signed a training camp deal with the Celtics in September, but was waived before the start of the season and has been playing for Boston’s G League affiliate in Maine.
Rockets Assistant Gerald Green To Resume Playing, Plans To Sign With G League
Gerald Green, who joined the Rockets as a player development coach in October, plans to revive his playing career and sign a G League contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Green’s goal is to eventually return to the NBA, Charania adds.
The 35-year-old swingman has played 12 NBA seasons, most recently with Houston in 2018/19 when he averaged 9.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 72 games. He suffered a broken foot in October of 2019 and hasn’t played since, although he worked out for the Rockets in September.
Selected by the Celtics with the 18th pick in the 2005 draft, Green began his career as a spectacular dunker, winning the 2007 Slam Dunk Contest and finishing as runner-up a year later. He developed into a reliable three-point shooter and was a rotation player as Houston reached the Western Conference Finals in 2018.
Green played for eight NBA teams, with 658 total games and a career scoring average of 9.7 PPG.