Cole, Wieskamp Headline G League Draft Pool
Norris Cole and Joe Wieskamp are among 128 players who are eligible for the annual NBA G League draft, which will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Cole, 34, played for Miami, New Orleans and Oklahoma City during his NBA career, which spanned 2011-17. He’s played for a variety of European teams since, most recently JL Bourg in France. He also played for Team USA this summer.
Wieskamp was waived by the Spurs on Monday. Wieskamp, 23, was drafted 41st overall in 2021 by the Spurs and spent most of his rookie season on a two-way contract with the team. He was converted to a rest-of-season standard contract in March, then re-signed with San Antonio in August on a two-year deal that includes a guaranteed $2.175MM salary for 2022/23.
Jared Rhoden, who was waived by both the Trail Blazers and Hawks this preseason, is another prominent name on the list.
Here is the full list of players eligible to be drafted, as provided by a G League press release:
Name (Position, School)
- Warith Alatishe (F, Oregon State)
- Chris Allen (G, Iowa State)
- Seth Allen (G, Virginia Tech)
- Arsenio Arrington (F, Aquinas)
- Ron Artest III (F, Cal State Northridge)
- Marcus Azor (G, UMass-Dartmouth)
- Gracin Bakumanya (C, France)
- Kentrell Barkley (G, East Carolina)
- Jahvon Blair (G, Georgetown)
- Vander Blue (G, Marquette)
- Shannon Bogues (G, Stephen F. Austin)
- Tim Bond (F, Eastern Michigan)
- Terrell Brown Jr. (G, Washington)
- Patrick Burnett (G, York (NE))
- Devante Carter (G, Nicholls State)
- Naz Carter (G, Washington)
- Dimon Carrigan (F, West Virginia)
- Gary Chivichyan (G, Pacific)
- Tamenang Choh (G, Brown)
- Chris Clarke (F, Texas Tech)
- Norris Cole (G, Cleveland State)
- David Collins (G, Clemson)
- Derrick Colter (G, Duquesne)
- Markel Crawford (G, Memphis)
- Derek Culver (C, West Virginia)
- Jared Cunningham (G, Oregon State)
- Tulio Da Silva (F, Missouri State)
- Sam Daniel (F, Florida Tech)
- Devon Daniels (G, North Carolina State)
- Adrian Delph (G, Appalachian State)
- Keron Deshields (G, Tennessee State)
- Mamoudou Diarra (F, Tennessee Tech)
- Tom Digbeu (G, Australia)
- Devonaire Doutrive (G, Boise State)
- Malik Dunbar (F, Auburn)
- Nojel Eastern (G, Howard)
- Tarkus Ferguson (G, Illinois-Chicago)
- Armon Fletcher (G, Southern Illinois)
- Philip Flory (G, Wisconsin-Stevens Point)
- Tyrn Flowers (F, Long Island)
- Hasahn French (F, Saint Louis)
- Both Gach (F, Utah)
- Eron Gordon (G, Valparaiso)
- Ty Gordon (G, Nicholls State)
- Kadre Gray (G, Laurentian)
- Alan Griffin (G, Syracuse)
- Haowen Guo (G, China)
- Blake Hamilton (G, Buffalo)
- Amauri Hardy (G, Oregon)
- Jericole Hellems (F, North Carolina State)
- Jay Henderson (G, Louisville)
- J.R. Holder (G, Jacksonville)
- Tra-Deon Hollins (G, Nebraska-Omaha)
- Nick Hornsby (F, Sacramento State)
- Ron Houston (G, Bethany)
- Pe’Shon Howard (G, USC)
- Kevin Hunt Jr. (G, Denver)
- Dazon Ingram (G, Central Florida)
- Zak Irvin (G, Michigan)
- Jimond Ivey (G, Akron)
- Kadeem Jack (C, Rutgers)
- Demetrius Jackson (G, Notre Dame)
- Anthony January (F, Cal State-San Bernardino)
- Theo John (C, Duke)
- Isaac Johnson (F, Appalachian State)
- Jayce Johnson (C, Marquette)
- Tyson Jolly (G, Iona)
- Kevin Kangu (G, Lenoir-Rhyne)
- Justin Kier (G, Arizona)
- Abu Kigab (F, Boise State)
- Mayan Kiir (F, New Mexico State)
- Nick King (F, Middle Tennessee State)
- Landon Kirkwood (G, Barry)
- Ishmael Lane (C, Northwestern State)
- Gabe Levin (F, Long Beach State)
- Trey Lewis (G, Louisville)
- Elijah Lufile (F, Oral Roberts)
- Tevin Mack (G, Clemson)
- Sterling Manley (C, North Carolina)
- Melik Martin (G, Drexel)
- Remy Martin (G, Kansas)
- Brandon McCoy (C, UNLV)
- Brandon McGhee (G, CSU Pueblo)
- Trey McGowens (G, Nebraska)
- Martaveous McKnight (G, Arkansas-Pine Bluff)
- John Meeks (G, Charleston)
- Sam Merrill (G, Utah State)
- JJ Miles (F, East Carolina)
- JJ Moore (F, Rutgers)
- Taze Moore (G, Houston)
- Barra Njie (G, Sweden)
- Jack Nolan (G, Washington U – St. Louis)
- Mike Nuga (G, UNLV)
- Daniel Orton (C, Kentucky)
- Mike Parks Jr. (F, Memphis)
- Jassel Perez (G, Dominican Republic)
- Kavion Pippen (C, Southern Illinois)
- M.J. Randolph (G, Florida A&M)
- Jared Rhoden (G, Seton Hall)
- Nate Roberts (C, Washington)
- Wesley Saunders (G, Harvard)
- Taz Sherman (G, West Virginia)
- Fred Sims Jr. (G, Chicago State)
- Jai Smith (F, Overtime Elite)
- Kendall Smith (G, Oklahoma State)
- Andre Spight (G, Northern Colorado)
- Derek St. Hilaire (G, New Orleans)
- Noah Starkey (C, Southern Nazarene)
- Wayne Stewart Jr. (F, Texas A&M – Commerce)
- Taren Sullivan (F, Findlay)
- Sean Sutherlin (G, Minnesota)
- Jordan Swopshire (F, Colgate)
- Jachai Taylor (F, Queens (NC))
- Marlon Taylor (G, LSU)
- JD Tisdale Jr. (G, Rogers State)
- Austin Trice (F, Old Dominion)
- Jahlil Tripp (F, Pacific)
- Buay Tuach (G, Loyola Marymount)
- Jordan Tucker (F, Butler)
- Ryan Turell (F, Yeshiva)
- Rashad Vaughn (G, UNLV)
- Dantez Walton (F, Northern Kentucky)
- Michael Weathers (G, SMU)
- Aaron Wheeler (F, St. John’s)
- Joe Wieskamp (G, Iowa)
- Keith Williams (G, Cincinnati)
- Kam Williams (G, Ohio State)
- Dion Wright (F, St. Bonaventure)
Clippers Notes: Leonard, Wall, George, Patience
Kawhi Leonard made his long-awaited return in the Clippers‘ season-opening victory over the Lakers, recording 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal in 21 minutes of action as a reserve. After the game, the star forward explained why he liked the idea of coming off the bench, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“One scenario with me starting, I would have been sitting like 35 minutes real time,” Leonard said. “That’s way too long. So I just thought this was the best situation. But we’ll see how it goes moving forward.”
“I did this before,” Leonard added. “This is how I started my career. That’s how I approached it mentally. Act like I was in foul trouble, and once I check in in the second quarter, it’s time to play basketball.”
Leonard said he plans to gradually ramp up his minutes to strengthen his surgically-repaired ACL, and will likely sit out one game of back-to-backs. According Youngmisuk, Leonard also said he’ll “probably” return to the starting lineup once he feels comfortable playing around 35 minutes per night again — he averaged 34.1 MPG in 2020/21.
Here’s more on the Clippers:
- Leonard and John Wall will sit out Saturday’s contest at Sacramento due to “return from injury rehabilitation (rest),” tweets Youngmisuk. The news was expected, as it’s the first of a back-to-back. The Clippers face the Suns in their home opener on Sunday.
- The Clippers recognize that the 82-game regular season is a marathon, not a sprint, and don’t expect to be playing their best early on with players in and out of the lineup, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. “It’s not going to be pretty, it’s not going to be easy, we just got to endure the blows in the beginning, be ready for it and just our whole mental preparation should just be in it for the long haul,” Paul George said.
- Speaking of George, he says he’s become a more vocal leader with the goal of bringing the team a championship, per Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. “It’s a certain level and expectation that you want out of a group when you have a legitimate chance to win it,” said George, a seven-time All-Star. “I just want to make sure we are mindful of that, every practice day, every game day, like what is at stake here. That is why I have been vocal.”
Injury Notes: Garland, Embiid, Curry, J. Murray, More
Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland, a first-time All-Star last season, has been ruled out of Saturday’s game at Chicago due to his eye injury, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter links). Garland didn’t travel with the team and the “current feeling” is that Garland is “improbable” to play in Cleveland’s home opener on Sunday against Washington, Fedor adds.
Garland suffered a lacerated eyelid when he was inadvertently poked in the eye by Gary Trent Jr. in the second quarter of the Cavs’ 108-105 loss to the Raptors on Wednesday. Fedor reported on Thursday that Garland does not have structural damage and won’t require surgery.
Here are some more injury-related notes from around the NBA:
- Sixers head coach Doc Rivers says that Joel Embiid‘s conditioning was impacted by plantar fascitiis during the offseason, as Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia relays. “He had a little plantar fasciitis before the season started — before training camp — and that took him off his conditioning program,” Rivers said. “And so he’s back on that. But listen, he’s playing with the right intentions. He just didn’t play well, and that’s OK, too. That’s going to happen. We’ve still got to win those games.” The Sixers dropped their first two games of the season, with Embiid looking pretty sluggish. Rivers reiterated that Embiid is no longer dealing with the injury, but needs to regain his rhythm and conditioning.
- Guard Seth Curry (offseason ankle surgery) is likely to travel with the Nets for their two-game road trip next week, but “probably” needs more practice time before he returns to action, head coach Steve Nash said on Friday (Twitter link via Brian Lewis of The New York Post).
- Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, who played his first regular season game on Wednesday since suffering a torn ACL in April 2021, is out for Friday’s game against the Warriors, head coach Michael Malone told reporters (Twitter links via Kendra Andrews of ESPN). According to Andrews, Malone said the Nuggets are resting Murray because Friday is the first of a back-to-back. However, that might not be the case for the entire season, Malone added.
- No. 4 overall pick Keegan Murray will make his debut on Saturday against the Clippers after being a full participant in Friday’s practice, a source tells ESPN’s Marc J. Spears. Murray was fully cleared by the Kings after exiting the health and safety protocols, Spears writes.
- Dillon Brooks (left thigh soreness) and Ziaire Williams (right knee soreness) missed their second consecutive games for the Grizzlies on Friday, the team announced (via Twitter). Memphis won its opener against New York and defeated Houston in game two.
Raptors Notes: Injury Updates, Koloko, Growth, Expectations
Raptors big man Khem Birch (offseason knee surgery) is available for Friday’s game against the Nets. As Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca relays (via Twitter), Birch said he sat out Wednesday’s home opener against Cleveland for precautionary reasons and his knee “is feeling better” after experiencing swelling. Birch did not require a follow-up MRI, Grange adds.
Unfortunately, Chris Boucher and Otto Porter, who are both dealing with hamstring strains, are still out, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca. According to Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports (Twitter thread), head coach Nick Nurse said he’s not sure when Boucher will be back, but he’s nearing a return.
“He’s in pretty good shape. It should be soon,” Nurse said.
Porter, meanwhile, still hasn’t been able to practice yet, having been limited to individual conditioning and skill work. Lewenberg thinks a late-October or early-November return for the veteran forward “seems realistic.”
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- Pressed into duty in part due to the injuries of the aforementioned bench trio, rookie center Christian Koloko showcased a different look for the Raptors in their opener, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. The 7’1″ native of Cameroon finished with three points, six rebounds and a block in 15 minutes, and teammates felt his impact in the paint on both ends of the court. “Having him be really the only big we’ve got, it makes it stand out more when he’s out there,” Fred VanVleet said, per Koreen. “We’re definitely gonna lean on him when he’s out there.”
- The Raptors have the “vibe of a young, growing team,” but a salary cap crunch could make the roster difficult to retain in the future, Grange writes in a story for Sportsnet.ca. As Grange notes, VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. can be a free agents next summer if they decline their player options, Precious Achiuwa will be eligible for a rookie scale extension, Pascal Siakam would be eligible for a super-max extension if he makes an All-NBA team again this season, and OG Anunoby will be a free agent in 2024.
- Toronto is unlikely to make any significant moves early in the season, which is normal. However, the team’s front office is preparing for what could be a very active trade deadline, and the Raptors feature several interesting players with desirable contracts. According to Doug Smith of The Toronto Star, the Raptors expect to advance past the first round of the playoffs in 2022/23 after losing their first-round series to Philadelphia last season, and if they don’t, there could be a major roster shakeup next summer.
Lakers Considering Adding Harkless After Workout, Meeting
The Lakers “have given some internal consideration” to signing free agent forward Maurice Harkless to address their lack of wing depth, as Marc Stein writes at Substack.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link), the Lakers hosted Harkless for a workout and meeting this week.
Harkless was traded three times during the offseason. The first deal saw him head from Sacramento to Atlanta as part of the Kevin Huerter deal, then he was dealt to the Thunder in a cost-cutting move that put the Hawks under the luxury tax, and finally he was part of the eight-player trade between Houston and Oklahoma City.
The Rockets ended up waiving Harkless due to a roster crunch — they had too many players on guaranteed standard contracts and plenty of depth at forward.
A 10-year veteran, Harkless has played for the Magic, Trail Blazers, Clippers, Knicks, Heat and Kings since being selected with the 15th overall pick in 2012. Known as a solid, switchable defender, Harkless hold career averages of 6.9 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 0.9 SPG on .474/.320/.624 shooting in 621 regular season games (371 starts, 22.6 MPG).
As Stein noted in his article, while Harkless does provide some size (6’7″, 220 pounds) and versatility (he’s capable of handling either forward spot), his 32% career mark from three-point range isn’t ideal for a Lakers team that has struggled to convert outside shots in the early going. Still, he provides playoff experience, toughness and is only 29 years old, so it’s not as if he’s nearing the end of his basketball career like so many of the veterans on last season’s roster were.
If the Lakers do end up signing Harkless, they’d have to waive a player on the 15-man roster because it’s currently full. Wenyen Gabriel and Matt Ryan, both of whom are playing on non-guaranteed deals, would be the players most likely to be cut in that scenario (Ryan has averaged 15 minutes per night across the first two games and is one of the few shooters on the roster, so his spot might be safer than Gabriel’s).
Blazers’ Olivier Sarr Out At Least Six Weeks
Trail Blazers big man Olivier Sarr had his Exhibit 10 contract converted into a two-way deal last Thursday, but it doesn’t look like he’ll see regular season action for the team anytime soon. According to the Blazers, Sarr has been diagnosed with a high-grade partial tear of the scapholunate ligament in his right wrist.
After originally being diagnosed with a right wrist sprain last week, Sarr underwent further testing to determine the full extent of the injury. The team announced today that he will be reevaluated in six weeks.
Sarr, 23, spent a portion of his rookie season in 2021/22 with the Thunder, signing a pair of 10-day contracts with Oklahoma City and then receiving a two-way deal. He averaged 7.0 PPG and 4.2 RPG in 22 NBA games (19.1 MPG), with a solid shooting line of .574/.448/.828.
Sarr joined the Trail Blazers on a non-guaranteed training camp deal this offseason and beat out several other camp invitees for one of the team’s two-way slots. Rookie big man John Butler Jr. holds Portland’s other two-way deal.
Given Sarr’s strong preseason, it seemed as if he might challenge Drew Eubanks for minutes as Jusuf Nurkic‘s primary backup at center, but Eubanks is now in position to occupy that role for the foreseeable future.
Dwayne Bacon Signs With Panathinaikos
Veteran free agent swingman Dwayne Bacon has signed with Panathinaikos, the Greek team announced today in a press release. Bacon received a two-year contract.
Bacon was in training camp with the Lakers this fall, but didn’t earn a spot on the team’s 15-man regular season roster and was waived about two weeks ago.
A 2017 second-round pick, Bacon has appeared in 207 regular season NBA games for Charlotte and Orlando since making his debut five years ago. In 2020/21, he averaged 10.9 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 72 games (50 starts) for the Magic.
However, Bacon didn’t play in the NBA last season after being waived by the Knicks in the fall. He signed with AS Monaco shortly after being cut by New York and competed in France’s top basketball league and the EuroLeague in 2021/22. He’ll be returning to the EuroLeague this year, in addition to playing in Greece’s top league.
2022/23 NBA Waiver Claims
Waiver claims are something of a rarity in the NBA. In order to claim a player off waivers, a team generally must be able to fit the player’s entire salary into cap room, a traded player exception, or a disabled player exception.
Given those limitations, the players most frequently claimed on waivers are those on minimum-salary deals, since any club is eligible to place a claim on those players using the minimum salary exception.
Even then though, there are some caveats — the minimum salary exception can only be used to sign players for up to two years, so the same rules apply to waiver claims. If a player signed a three-year, minimum salary contract, he can’t be claimed using the minimum salary exception, even if he’s in the final year of his deal.
Taking into account all the rules that reduce the odds of a waiver claim – not to mention the limited roster spots available for NBA teams – it makes sense that nearly all of the players who get released ultimately clear waivers. The 2021/22 league year featured a total of just six waiver claims, for instance.
Despite how infrequent they are, we still want to track all the waiver claims that take place during the 2022/23 league year, since you never know which claim may end up being crucial, such as the Pistons‘ July 2019 claim of Christian Wood. Last season, the Lakers‘ claim of Avery Bradley and the Rockets‘ claim of Garrison Mathews were the most noteworthy.
We’ll track this year’s waiver claims in the space below, updating the list throughout the season to include the latest moves. Here’s the list:
- Spurs claim Isaiah Roby from Thunder (July 5) (story)
- The victim of a roster crunch in Oklahoma City, Roby was waived by the Thunder before his salary for 2022/23 could become guaranteed. However, the under-the-cap Spurs didn’t mind locking in Roby’s minimum salary and taking a flier on the young forward, who made the team’s opening night roster.
- Rockets claim Darius Days from Heat (October 11) (story)
- Days was initially on a two-way contract with the Heat, who preferred to give that spot to Jamal Cain. But since the Heat still wanted Days to play for their G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, they converted the forward to an Exhibit 10 contract before waiving him. The Rockets didn’t let Days to get to Sioux Falls though — instead, they claimed him and converted him back to a two-way contract to open the season.
- Heat claim D.J. Stewart Jr. from Mavericks (October 14) (story)
- The Mavericks signed Stewart to an Exhibit 10 contract, but the Heat and their affiliate, the Skyforce, still held his G League rights. So when Dallas cut Stewart ahead of the regular season, Miami placed a claim on him to ensure that he would receive his $50K Exhibit 10 bonus if he reported back to Sioux Falls to start the season. The Heat waived him shortly thereafter.
- Hawks claim Jared Rhoden from Trail Blazers (October 14) (story)
- Like the Heat with Stewart, the Hawks claimed Rhoden for G League purposes. He had been on an Exhibit 10 contract with Portland, but the Trail Blazers are one of two NBA teams without a G League club of their own and had no plans to make him an affiliate player. Rhoden was waived by Atlanta shortly after being claimed, but the College Park Skyhawks – the team’s G League affiliate – selected him in the NBAGL draft.
- Spurs claim Julian Champagnie from Sixers (February 16) (story)
- After promoting Charles Bassey to their standard roster, the Spurs had an open two-way contract slot. Instead of bringing in a free agent, San Antonio filled that opening by placing a claim on former Sixers two-way player Champagnie, who had just been cut by Philadelphia to make room for Mac McClung.
- Spurs claim Sandro Mamukelashvili from Bucks (March 3) (story)
- The Spurs claimed Mamukelashvili, who had been on a two-way deal in Milwaukee, despite both of their two-way slots being full. By immediately converting Mamukelashvili to a standard, rest-of-season contract, San Antonio was able to claim him and move him to the 15-man roster, waiving Isaiah Roby to create room. If the Spurs had wanted to keep Mamukelashvili on his two-way deal or convert him to a contract that covered more than the rest of the season, they would have had to waive one of their two-way players to make the claim.
Thunder’s Jalen Williams Undergoes Surgery For Orbital Bone Fracture
Thunder rookie Jalen Williams has undergone surgery to address a right orbital bone fracture, the team announced today in a press release.
Williams sustained the injury in Oklahoma City’s season opener on Wednesday when he took an inadvertent elbow to the face from Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels.
According to the Thunder, Williams will be reevaluated in approximately seven-to-10 days, so he’ll miss at least the next few games on OKC’s schedule.
The 12th overall pick in this year’s draft, Williams had scored five points in six minutes in his NBA regular season debut on Wednesday before going down with the injury.
While Williams’ exact recovery timeline is unknown, the injury shouldn’t be a long-term concern in the same way that an issue related to an ankle or knee might be. However, I imagine he’ll probably have to temporarily don a mask to protect his face when he returns to action.
And-Ones: Breakout Candidates, Wembanyama, Thornwell
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype polled 20 NBA executives on their top three breakout candidates for the 2022/23 season and found that Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey was the most popular pick. While I’d argue that last season represented a breakout year for Maxey, some executives have far higher expectations for him going forward.
“Maxey’s going to be better than James Harden,” one general manager said to Scotto. “He just keeps getting better and better and will be a huge reason why they have success this season.”
Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, Magic forward Franz Wagner, and Rockets guard Jalen Green were among the other popular breakout picks, based on the responses Scotto got from executives. Interestingly, Warriors big man James Wiseman and Pistons forward/center Marvin Bagley III were each picked as this year’s top breakout candidate by one GM.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- In his latest look at the top prospects in the 2023 NBA draft class, David Aldridge of The Athletic passes along several entertaining quotes from NBA executives, including one Eastern Conference exec’s response to whether Scoot Henderson could surpass Victor Wembanyama as next year’s No. 1 pick: “Scoot’s good, but, no. Short of Wembanyama having murdered somebody, there’s just no way.”
- Veteran guard Sindarius Thornwell has signed with Frutti Extra Bursasport, the Turkish team announced this week (via Twitter). Thornwell has appeared in 160 total NBA games and played for New Orleans and Atlanta in 2020/21, but wasn’t in the league last season.
- Longtime NBA referee Tony Brown, who officiated over 1,100 games, including one in the 2020 NBA Finals, passed away on Thursday after a fight with pancreatic cancer, according to his family (story via ESPN.com).