Hawks Claim Jared Rhoden
The Hawks have claimed guard Jared Rhoden, according to the NBA transactions log. Rhoden was waived earlier this week by the Trail Blazers.
It’s unlikely Rhoden will wind up on Atlanta’s 15-man opening night roster. By claiming him, the Hawks can make him an affiliate player with the College Park Skyhawks, since he was on an Exhibit 10 deal. Portland doesn’t have a G League affiliate.
He can become an affiliate player with Atlanta’s franchise if he’s waived and then joins the Skyhawks.
Rhoden, who went undrafted out of Seton Hall in June, played for Sacramento’s Summer League teams in July before signing a training camp contract with Portland.
Why Most Teams Will Finalize Roster Cuts On Saturday
NBA teams have until Monday night to officially set their rosters for the 2022/23 regular season. However, a majority of NBA teams will likely have their rosters ready to go on Saturday, with far more roster cuts expected today than on Sunday or Monday.
Why is that? Well, releasing a player today will ensure he clears waivers on Monday, before the regular season gets underway.
Players who are cut during the season are also paid for each day they spend on waivers, so a player who hits waivers on Sunday and doesn’t clear until the first day of the season on Tuesday would technically earn one day’s worth of pay, even if his salary isn’t guaranteed. A player released on Monday would spend two regular season days on waivers.
[RELATED: 2022/23 NBA Roster Counts]
For players with partial or full guarantees, spending the first day or two of the regular season on waivers doesn’t really matter, since they’re getting their full 2022/23 salary (or their partial guarantees) no matter when they’re released. But if a team waits until Monday to cut a player with a non-guaranteed salary, that team will be on the hook for two days’ worth of dead money for the player.
Two days’ worth of dead money won’t exactly break the bank — it would come in around $21K for most minimum-salary players. But a majority of teams already know which players are in and which are out, so there’s no need to take the decision down to the wire on Monday. They’ll make those cuts today and will avoid adding extra cap charges to their books for ’22/23. Even that small amount of savings could make a difference for teams who are right around the tax line or up against a hard cap.
While many teams will make their cuts today, a handful of clubs can afford to wait an extra day or two if they want to, since they’ll be waiving players who have full or partial guarantees.
The Thunder, for instance, have 17 players on fully guaranteed contracts and will need to reduce that number to 15. Waiting until Sunday or Monday to make their cuts won’t affect their cap outlook at all, since all 17 of those players will receive their full-season salaries either way.
Additionally, teams whose final roster moves won’t involve placing a player on waivers can afford to wait until Monday to finalize those moves.
For example, Marc Stein reported (via Twitter) on Friday night that Mavericks guard McKinley Wright is expected to have his Exhibit 10 contract converted into a two-way deal, assuming the club doesn’t make a “late audible” and claim a player who was waived by another team. Dallas could wait until Monday to convert Wright’s contract, since he won’t have to pass through waivers.
Pacers Waive Langston Galloway, Deividas Sirvydis
The Pacers have cut a pair of veterans from their preseason roster, announcing in a press release that they’ve placed guard Langston Galloway and swingman Deividas Sirvydis on waivers.
In a series of corresponding moves, the team has completed its previously reported deals with forward Jermaine Samuels and guards Tevin Brown and Eli Brooks. All three players, who reached Exhibit 10 agreements with Indiana shortly after going undrafted in June and have now officially signed their contracts, will likely be waived on Saturday, clearing a path for them to join the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Pacers’ G League affiliate.
Galloway has appeared in over 450 regular season NBA games, spending time with the Knicks, Pelicans, Kings, Pistons, Suns, Nets, and Bucks since entering the league in 2014. He has averaged 8.1 PPG on .397/.368/.816 shooting during that time, though he hasn’t played significant minutes since his last season in Detroit in 2019/20.
Sirvydis, 22, was the No. 37 pick in the 2019 draft. Born in Lithuania, he holds two years of NBA experience with the Pistons and played for the Pelicans’ Summer League team in July, averaging 15.5 PPG in just 22.5 minutes per game in four contests.
Galloway’s deal with the Pacers didn’t include an Exhibit 10 clause, but Sirvydis’ did, and the Mad Ants acquired his G League rights over the summer, so he’s a candidate to head to Fort Wayne as a returning-rights player.
Not counting their three new Exhibit 10 signees, the Pacers are carrying 17 players — 13 on guaranteed contracts, Oshae Brissett and James Johnson on non-guaranteed deals, and Kendall Brown and Trevelin Queen on two-way pacts.
Warriors Convert Ty Jerome, Anthony Lamb To Two-Way Contracts
The Warriors have made a series of roster moves in advance of the regular season deadline, announcing that they’ve converted guard Ty Jerome and swingman Anthony Lamb to two-way contracts while waiving guards Jerome Robinson and Pat Spencer (Twitter links).
All four players were in training camp on Exhibit 10 contracts, which can be converted to two-way deals or can make a player eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the team’s G League affiliate. Robinson and Spencer look like candidates to take the latter route and join the Santa Cruz Warriors if they clear waivers.
The 24th pick in the 2019 draft, Jerome spent his rookie season with the Suns before being sent to the Thunder as part of the Chris Paul trade. The 6’5″ guard, who helped Virginia win an NCAA championship in 2018/19, spent the last two seasons with Oklahoma City, averaging 8.6 PPG, 2.1 RPG and 2.6 RPG on .410/.353/.790 shooting in 81 total games with the Thunder (19.6 MPG). He was traded to Houston last month and was subsequently waived by the Rockets.
Lamb went undrafted out of Vermont in 2020 and signed a two-way contract with the Rockets during the ’20/21 season, appearing in 24 games (17.3 MPG) while averaging 5.5 PPG and 2.9 RPG on .390/.324/.857 shooting. He spent most of last season in the G League with Houston’s affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, averaging 17.3 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 4.8 APG and 1.3 BPG on .466/.390/.757 shooting in 31 regular season games (34.4 MPG).
Jerome and Lamb will provide depth in the Warriors’ backcourt and are eligible to play in up to 50 regular season games on their two-way deals. They’ll earn $508,891 apiece this season.
While it’s possible Golden State will sign-and-waive more players on Saturday, the team’s roster looks fairly set for the regular season. The Warriors will keep the 15th spot on their standard roster open to start the year, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
Jazz Waive Stanley Johnson
The Jazz have waived forward Stanley Johnson, according to Sarah Todd of The Deseret News (Twitter link).
The Jazz are facing a roster crunch with 17 players on guaranteed standard contracts, and with the regular season limit set at 15, they’ll need to release at least one more player by October 17. Utah will be on the hook for Johnson’s fully guaranteed $2,351,521 salary in 2022/23 if he goes unclaimed on the waiver wire.
Johnson was acquired by the Jazz as a salary-matching piece in the trade that saw Talen Horton-Tucker head to Utah, with Patrick Beverley sent to the Lakers. As Danny Leroux of The Athletic notes (via Twitter), the Lakers cannot sign Johnson for the rest of the league year due to a rule in the collective bargaining agreement.
According to Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link), the Jazz tried to deal Johnson this week and were unable to find any takers despite playing decently for Los Angeles last season and having some good moments for Utah during preseason.
He averaged 6.7 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 1.7 APG and 0.9 SPG on .466/.314/.716 shooting in 48 games (27 starts, 22.8 MPG) for the Lakers in ’21/22.
The eighth overall pick of the 2015 draft, Johnson has played for the Pistons, Pelicans and Raptors in addition to the Lakers. His relative lack of an offensive game is the main reason why he struggled to find an NBA contract last season before landing a 10-day hardship deal with Chicago last December (he never played for the Bulls), then multiple 10-day deals and later a two-year contract with the Lakers.
Central Notes: Bulls, Mobley, Cavs, Diakite, Pacers
Bulls head coach Billy Donovan says he’s still tinkering with different lineup combinations and hasn’t decided which player will start at power forward, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
“Certainly, the rest of this week and going into next week, we’ll do that,” Donovan said when he was asked about experimenting with different looks and combinations.
Cowley writes that the Bulls are trying to determine whether Patrick Williams‘ development would be aided more by starting or coming off the bench. Javonte Green is his primary competition for the starting job.
Donovan has said “several times” during training camp that the power forward spot could fluctuate during the season, and it’s not clear if he’s prioritizing performance or matchups, according to Cowley.
2022/23 will be an important season for both players. Williams will be eligible for a rookie scale extension next summer after the Bulls exercised his fourth-year option, while Green will be an unrestricted free agent in 2023.
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- The Cavaliers rested several key players in Friday’s 114-108 loss to Orlando, but Evan Mobley looked good, and more importantly healthy, in his preseason debut after dealing with a sprained right ankle, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Last season’s Rookie of the Year runner-up will be a huge piece of the puzzle for the Cavs if they hope to return to the postseason for the first time since 2018.
- Both Isaac Okoro and Caris LeVert made a strong case for the Cavaliers‘ starting small forward job in the loss to the Magic, Fedor adds in the same piece. Okoro finished with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting and added three rebounds, while LeVert had 15 points (on 5-of-12 shooting), four rebounds, three assists and four steals.
- The Cavaliers preferred to keep their 15th standard roster spot open to maintain flexibility, but Fedor wonders (via Twitter) if Mamadi Diakite might be forcing their hand after a strong preseason performance. According to Fedor, Diakite has intrigued with his mix of activity, energy and productivity. He’s on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 deal after playing for the Bucks and Thunder the past two seasons.
- John Hollinger of The Athletic previews the Pacers, projecting them to finish with a 27-55 record, 14th in the Eastern Conference. Though he expects them to be bad, Hollinger thinks the Pacers will be entertaining to watch and notes that they have a lot of interesting decisions to make, including potentially dealing away veterans and exploring ways to utilize their $29MM in cap space.
Justin Champagnie Earns Raptors’ 15th Roster Spot
Justin Champagnie has won the training camp battle for the Raptors‘ 15th and final standard roster spot, sources tell Michael Grange of Sportsnet (Twitter link).
Toronto has waived the three other contenders for the last spot on the 15-man roster, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. Those players are Josh Jackson, D.J. Wilson and Gabe Brown, and they’ll clear waivers on Monday, assuming they go unclaimed.
Champagnie, 21, went undrafted last year after starring in two college seasons at Pitt. He signed a two-way deal with the Raptors as a rookie, averaging 2.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per night in 36 games last season.
Though his role with the NBA club was modest, Champagnie averaged 21.1 points, 8.3 boards, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks on .489/.409/.778 shooting in 14 regular season games (35.9 minutes) for the Raptors 905, Toronto’s G League affiliate, and clearly made a strong impression on the organization. His contract was previously partially guaranteed for $325K, but now he’s set to have his $1,637,966 deal for 2022/23 fully guaranteed.
Wilson had a $250K partial guarantee on his deal, and the Raptors will be on the hook for that amount. Jackson’s deal was non-guaranteed, as was Brown’s, but unlike Jackson, Brown signed an Exhibit 10 contract, so he will earn a $50K bonus if he spends at least 60 days with the Raptors 905.
Wolves Converting Luka Garza To Two-Way Deal
10:50pm: Lawson will be waived to make room for Garza, sources tell Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link). Minnesota was high on Lawson, but didn’t want to lose Garza, per Krawczynski.
10:26pm: The Timberwolves are signing center Luka Garza to a two-way deal, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
While Charania says “signing,” Garza is already under contract with the team, so the Wolves are technically converting his Exhibit 10 contract into a two-way deal. Minnesota’s two-way slots are currently occupied by A.J. Lawson and Eric Paschall, so they’ll need to waive one of them in order to convert Garza.
Garza, 23, was selected by the Pistons with the 52nd overall pick in the 2021 draft and spent his rookie season in Detroit, averaging 5.8 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 32 games (12.2 MPG). He was a standout for the Motor City Cruise, Detroit’s G League affiliate, putting up 20.6 PPG and 9.5 RPG in 16 games (29.8 MPG) and earning a spot on the All-NBAGL Third Team.
The former Iowa star’s contract with the Pistons was for two years, but the 2022/23 season was a team option, which Detroit declined, making him an unrestricted free agent. Garza signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Wolves in August.
Wolves head coach Chris Finch recently stated that he likes what Garza has brought to the team during training camp.
“He’s the perfect system fit for us. Great acquisition by our front office,” Finch said. “He’s a guy I think can really grow into our system here. He can stretch the floor and he can score around the basket. That’s a great combo. Not a lot of bigs can do that.”
Nets Waive Donovan Williams; Heat Adding Jon Elmore
In a pair of unrelated moves, the Nets have waived Donovan Williams (Twitter link via Chris Milholen of NetsDaily), while the Heat are signing Jon Elmore to an Exhibit 10 contract, reports Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (via Twitter).
Williams, who was also on an Exhibit 10 deal, went undrafted this year out of UNLV. The 6’6” wing averaged 12.7 PPG and 3.3 RPG as a junior at UNLV last season, knocking down 43.6% of his 3-point attempts. If he goes unclaimed, he’ll be eligible for a $50K bonus if he spends at least 60 days with the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s G League affiliate.
Elmore, 26, went undrafted in 2019 after a standout college career at Marshall. He’s played professionally for European clubs in Italy, Hungary, Greece and Lithuania over the past three years.
According to Chiang, Elmore will report to Miami’s practice on Saturday prior to being waived, with the 6’3″ guard heading to the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. If he spends at least 60 days with the Skyforce, Elmore would receive a bonus worth up to $50K.
Bucks Sign, Waive Jontay Porter
The Bucks signed free agent forward Jontay Porter and subsequently waived him, Hoops Rumors has learned.
The younger brother of Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., Jontay Porter appeared in 11 games for the Grizzlies during the 2020/21 season, averaging 2.0 PPG and 1.3 RPG in 4.9 MPG. He suited up this July for Denver’s Summer League team.
Porter signed a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract with the Bucks and will earn a $50K bonus if he spends at least 60 days with the Wisconsin Herd, Milwaukee’s G League squad. His NBAGL rights weren’t previously held by any team, so the Bucks will be able to retain him as an affiliate player.