Jalen McDaniels Signs G League Contract
Five-year NBA veteran Jalen McDaniels will resume his career in the G League, having signed an NBAGL contract, according to the league’s official transaction log.
While the G League’s log says McDaniels has been claimed off waivers by the Memphis Hustle, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) hears from sources that the veteran forward is joining the Capital City Go-Go. The Grizzlies‘ and Wizards‘ affiliates will have to work out a trade to make that happen.
The 52nd overall pick in the 2019 draft, McDaniels showed some promise during the first four years of his career, which he spent primarily in Charlotte. His height (6’9″), wingspan (7’0″), and athleticism made him a versatile piece on defense, and he displayed a little outside shooting ability, making 34.2% of his three-point tries with the Hornets. The Sixers traded for him at the 2023 trade deadline and he finished that season in Philadelphia.
However, McDaniels’ production and playing time cratered last season in Toronto after he signed a two-year, $9.26MM contract with the Raptors. He was traded to Sacramento in a Kings salary dump at the start of the 2024 offseason, then was flipped to the Spurs in another cost-cutting move in October, about a week before the regular season began. San Antonio subsequently waived him.
McDaniels, who is still just 26, could earn an NBA call-up at some point this season if he impresses in the G League. He’s ineligible to sign a two-way contract, but could sign a standard deal or – beginning in early January – a 10-day pact.
McDaniels is the older brother of Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels.
International Notes: Lee, Songaila, D-Lo, Walker
Former NBA guard Saben Lee continues to bounce back and forth between European teams, with Manisa Basket officially confirming today that Lee has rejoined the Turkish club (Twitter link).
Lee, who appeared in 134 regular season games for the Pistons, Sixers, and Suns from 2020-24, signed with Manisa Basket this past offseason, but left last month to join Maccabi Tel Aviv. As Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com explains, Lee signed with the Israeli club under the condition that he would live and practice in Belgrade, Serbia, where Maccabi has been playing its EuroLeague games.
According to Urbonas, Lee felt pressured to move to Israel, where the team continues to play its domestic league contests, but wasn’t comfortable doing so due to the war in the region. Maccabi, meanwhile, was concerned that the guard’s absence from practices was negatively impacting the team’s rhythm. It led to the two sides parting ways and Lee returning to a Manisa club he was already familiar with.
We have a few more notes from around the international basketball world:
- Lee isn’t the only Manisa Basket newcomer. According to Urbonas at BasketNews.com, former NBA forward/center Darius Songaila is expected to join Manisa’s coaching staff. Songaila, who played in the NBA and Europe from 2002-15, was a Spurs staffer from 2018-24, spending four of those seasons as an assistant coach on Gregg Popovich‘s staff.
- Could D’Angelo Russell represent Lithuania in international basketball competition? After a report from Rokas Pakenas of 15min.lt suggested that Russell had informed the Lithuanian Basketball Federation of his interest, the Lakers guard posted an Instagram comment that said “Let’s make it happen.” As Nikola Miloradovic of Eurohoops notes, Russell’s wife is of Lithuanian descent, so there’s a possible path for the 28-year-old to become a naturalized citizen.
- Veteran guard Lonnie Walker is beginning to hit his stride overseas, racking up 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting for Zalgiris Kaunas on Friday in a win over reigning EuroLeague champions Panathinaikos. After the game, Walker – whose contract includes an NBA out until February – praised one of his opponents, according to Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews.com. “Kendrick Nunn has been an extreme inspiration and motivation for me,” Walker said of the Panathinaikos star and his former Lakers teammate. “I love that guy to death. I’ve been with him since the Lakers, I’ve known him way before the Lakers. Somehow, the world continues to give us a full circle moment for a reason. He’s my guy, my brother, and I continue to watch what he does and imitate how he’s doing it in the EuroLeague. I want to follow that route as well.”
Zion Williamson Parting Ways With CAA
Pelicans forward Zion Williamson and his representatives at Creative Arts Agency, including agent Austin Brown, are parting ways, sources tell Joe Vardon and Sam Amick of The Athletic.
It’s unclear why the two sides are ending their relationship, according to The Athletic’s duo, but the National Basketball Players Association has confirmed that CAA is no longer listed as Williamson’s representative.
The player’s union doesn’t yet have a new agent on record for the former No. 1 overall pick, Vardon and Amick add. A player who parts with an agent must wait 15 days before hiring new representation.
Williamson is in the second season of a five-year, maximum-salary contract, so in all likelihood, he won’t be negotiating a new deal anytime soon.
However, as Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic previously reported, the 24-year-old’s contract is a unique one. Currently, the final three years of Williamson’s deal, beginning in 2025/26, are non-guaranteed. He can re-guarantee part or all of his salary for ’25/26 by meeting the following benchmarks:
- Appearing in at least 41 games this season: 40% guarantee
- Appearing in at least 51 games this season: An additional 20%
- Appearing in at least 61 games this season: An additional 20%
- Passing all six of his weigh-in checkpoints this season (his combined weight and body fat percentage must be below 295): An additional 20%
Those criteria are the same for each season. For instance, if Williamson plays in at least 61 games and passes all his weigh-in checkpoints during the 2025/26 season, he would automatically guarantee his full salary for ’26/27.
The Pelicans forward is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury and reportedly isn’t close to returning, so those games-played thresholds will become increasingly difficult to meet the longer he remains sidelined, meaning some or all of his ’25/26 salary will likely remain non-guaranteed.
Still, as Vardon and Amick write, the Pelicans won’t realize any cap savings as a result of Williamson’s non-guaranteed salaries unless they waive him, which seems highly unlikely to happen anytime in the near future. If he remains under contract through July 15, 2025, his ’25/26 salary will become fully guaranteed.
When he’s healthy and available, the former Duke standout is one of the NBA’s most dynamic players — he holds career averages of 24.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in 31.8 minutes per game across 190 outings (all starts). The problem is that he has missed 217 regular season games and counting during his five-plus seasons in the league.
Atlantic Notes: McCain, Maxey, Hart, Payne, Nets
Sixers rookie Jared McCain initially broke through with a string of impressive performances earlier this month when Tyrese Maxey was sidelined due to a hamstring strain. However, McCain has shown since Maxey returned that he can remain productive alongside Philadelphia’s starting point guard. In Friday’s victory over Brooklyn, McCain racked up 30 points on 11-of-20 shooting while Maxey made 11-of-17 shots from the floor for 26 points.
“I was ecstatic that we found somebody that can give me relief and a break, so I don’t have to have the ball in my hands so much,” Maxey said (Twitter video link via Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports). “… So we have another guy out there who can make plays, can shoot the ball, can play off the ball, on the ball. It just makes the game a lot easier.”
When a reporter wondered after Friday’s game whether Maxey (6’2″) and McCain (6’3″) believe they can thrive together as “smaller” guards in the Sixers’ backcourt, Maxey half-jokingly took exception to the premise that the duo is “small,” as Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer relays. Asked by that reporter how tall he is, Maxey shot back, “Taller than you,” while McCain added, “And I’m taller than him.”
“We both play hard,” McCain said in explaining why he and Maxey don’t believe their size will be an issue. “I think a lot of the game is just playing hard. At this point, they’re going to try to get the mismatch. They’re going to have an offensive scheme to try to go at us. But as long as we play hard, I think we will be able to hold our own. That’s something that a lot of people don’t do. And I think we give a lot of effort, give a lot of energy, and I think we can make up for that.”
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Knicks forward Josh Hart won’t turn 30 until March, but the eighth-year veteran believes he’s already in the “back end” of his playing career, he told Steve Popper of Newsday. “I always told my wife, I’m hanging it up around 34 or 35, maybe with God’s grace get 36 in there. But I’ve got hopefully five years left in the league,” Hart said. While the 29-year-old is averaging a career-best 14.1 points per game this season, he suggested he’d be happy to see that number drop if it helps the team get closer to its ultimate goal: “One thing I’ve always wanted was a (championship). For me, that’s more important than the statistics. When you win a (championship), no one remembers how much you scored. No one remembers what your role is. They care about (if) you got a ring. And at the end of the day, I’ve got hopefully five years left, maybe six. I’m on the back end. That’s what I’m trying to accomplish.”
- Veteran point guard Cameron Payne said on Friday that he didn’t really know what his role would be when he signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Knicks during the offseason, but he hopes he’s “starting to turn some heads” with his play so far, per Peter Botte of The New York Post. Payne is averaging 8.2 points in 17.1 minutes per game and has made 44.4% of his three-point attempts. “Honestly, I just wanted to come and help,” Payne said. “When I get out there, I want to be aggressive and just utilize my opportunities. Obviously, I have. I’m in there. I didn’t know, though, coming in. I just wanted to be the best player I could be every day.”
- Although the Nets reacquired control of their 2025 and 2026 first-rounders with the expectation that those picks would be high ones, it’s fine that they’ve exceeded expectations in the early going, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post, who points out in a subscriber-only article that the club doesn’t want to create a losing culture and that the NBA’s flattened lottery odds don’t necessarily reward the very worst teams. I’d also note that despite picking up a few early wins, the Nets are still tied for the league’s sixth-worst record and will likely get worse as the season progresses and they sell off pieces, so a high draft pick remains very much in play.
Warriors Become First Team To Clinch NBA Cup Quarterfinal Berth
The Warriors are now 3-0 in NBA Cup games, making them the first team to clinch a spot in the knockout round of the in-season tournament. As the NBA announced late on Friday night after Golden State beat New Orleans and Dallas beat Denver (Twitter link), the Warriors have won West Group C, officially securing a quarterfinal berth for December.
The 3-0 Warriors are one game ahead of the 2-1 Mavericks in the NBA Cup standings, while no other team in their group has more than one victory so far. That means the Mavs are the only West Group C club with a chance to match Golden State’s win total, and the Dubs would hold the tiebreaker in that scenario as a result of beating Dallas last Tuesday in their NBA Cup opener.
The winners of the six groups advance to the eight-team knockout round, along with one “wild card” from each conference. The Mavs have a good chance to be that wild card team in the West if they defeat Memphis on December 3, since their +41 point differential in NBA Cup contests is the second-best mark in the league. Point differential is the second tiebreaker after head-to-head results.
The Rockets (Group A) and Lakers (Group B) are the only two other Western Conference teams who are undefeated in NBA Cup play, putting them in the driver’s seat to join the Warriors in the quarterfinals if they can keep winning.
Over in the East, the Hawks (2-1) could clinch Group C with a win over Cleveland next Friday, assuming the Bulls lose at least one of their two remaining NBA Cup games. If Atlanta loses, a Celtics victory over Chicago on Friday would secure the group for Boston. There are still two undefeated teams apiece in East Group A (Magic, Knicks) and East Group B (Bucks, Pistons).
Central Notes: Green, Cunningham, P. Williams, Okafor
Always a strong outside shooter, Bucks wing A.J. Green got inconsistent playing time in his first two NBA seasons due in part to questions about his defense. However, he has taken major strides on that end of the court so far this fall, earning an increased role and praise from a superstar teammate, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
“His defense is incredible,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said of Green on Wednesday. “He’s staying down on pump fakes. He’s using his body very smart. I think two years ago, he would get himself in foul trouble. He’d use his hands a lot, maybe jump a little bit on the pump fake, get the guy to shoot two easy free throws. But now, he’s just solid.”
Green continues to knock down three-pointers – even after going 1-of-6 on Friday vs. Indiana, he’s at 46.7% for the season – but he was a 41.2% career three-point shooter entering the season, so that comes as no surprise. His defense, on the other hand, has been better than expected. Entering Friday’s contest, Green’s defensive rating across 260 minutes this season was an impressive 103.5, the second-best mark among Bucks who have logged at least 70 minutes.
“In my opinion, he’s a really, really good defender and he shows in practice. He shows it in games, you guys are seeing that,” Antetokounmpo said. “Like he’s not a liability on defense, he’s actually one of our better defenders on the team. So, I’m very, very happy that he’s out there with me. He makes our defense better and when we grab the rebound and go the other way, he’s a threat from everywhere.”
Here’s more from around the Central:
- Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham has been ruled out for Saturday’s contest in Orlando due to what the team is calling a left sacroiliac joint sprain, as Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press relays (via Twitter). While it’s unclear who will replace Cunningham in Detroit’s starting lineup, Hunter Patterson of The Athletic notes (via Twitter) that Wendell Moore took his place at the start of overtime in Wednesday’s game following Cunningham’s exit.
- Bulls forward Patrick Williams missed a second consecutive game on Friday due to inflammation in his left foot and has been ruled out for Saturday too, but he’s downplaying concerns about his injury, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Williams told reporters the pain he’s experiencing now is “not even close” to what he felt before undergoing season-ending surgery on that foot last winter. “I’m not really concerned,” he said. “Obviously, with this type of stuff, (I’m) just leaning on the doctors, obviously our training staff, the team I worked with back home over the summer. Nobody seems to be worried. It’s kind of a thing that happens post-surgery. First year after surgery is always the toughest. (We’ll) try and work through different things.”
- Jahlil Okafor was the third overall pick in the 2015 draft. Less than a decade later, as he nears his 29th birthday, the veteran center is playing for the Indiana Mad Ants in the G League as he seeks another NBA opportunity. Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star takes a closer look at Okafor’s comeback effort with the Pacers‘ NBAGL affiliate.
Fischer’s Latest: Melton, Warriors, P. Williams, Lakers, Blazers, More
With De’Anthony Melton out for the season, his $12.8MM expiring contract should become a useful trade chip for the Warriors, Jake Fischer said on Friday in his latest Bleacher Report live stream (video link). As Fischer acknowledges, Melton’s expiring money and Non-Bird rights will have little value on their own, but attaching draft picks or players to him could create an attractive outgoing trade package for Golden State.
Discussing what kind of player Golden State may target with that sort of package, Fischer suggests a frontcourt addition is a possibility. The Warriors had interest in Kelly Olynyk at last season’s deadline and believe he’d be a good fit for their system, according to Fischer, who adds that the club may also consider more of a rim-running big man.
However, Fischer wouldn’t be surprised if the Warriors seek out a more direct replacement for Melton. As he explains, Golden State was high on the veteran guard not only for his fit next to Stephen Curry but because he gave the team a second lockdown point-of-attack defender to complement Andrew Wiggins. Finding another player who could fill that role could be a priority for the front office.
Here’s more from Fischer:
- The Bulls are “more willing than ever” to discuss forward Patrick Williams in a trade, says Fischer (video link). Williams is in the first season of a five-year, $90MM deal and continues to experience foot pain following a February surgery, so his value would likely be limited at the moment, but that could change if he shows he’s healthy and begins to produce more consistently.
- Fischer continues to hear that the Lakers are scouring the market for a center, with Jonas Valanciunas‘ name still coming up frequently. The Wizards‘ big man is “definitely available for trade,” Fischer says (video link).
- While Fischer also brought up Robert Williams as a possible option for the Lakers, he says he has talked to people around the league recently, including scouts, who believe the Trail Blazers may be more inclined to trade Deandre Ayton than Williams at this season’s trade deadline. Given that Ayton’s cap hit is nearly three times higher than Williams’, the Blazers may have a hard time extracting much of value for the former No. 1 overall pick.
- Fischer suggests there are NBA veterans currently playing overseas or for national teams who will soon be looking to sign G League contracts (video link). Robert Covington, currently representing Team USA in AmeriCup qualifiers, is one player to watch, Fischer reports. There also may be some players returning stateside from the Chinese Basketball Association, since several who signed in China have received month-to-month contracts.
- Writing for Marc Stein’s Substack, Fischer shared some ideas for in-season tournaments that the NBA considered before settling on the current format. One idea on the league’s “long list of half-baked ideas,” according to Fischer, was a 32-team single elimination event that would’ve included two marquee teams from Europe.
And-Ones: Playoff Format, Trade Market, All-Star Game, More
If the NBA expands to 32 teams in the coming years, executives for Western Conference teams are hopeful it will provide the league an opportunity to revisit the idea of seeding the playoff teams one through 16, regardless of conference, according to Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Insider link).
Assuming Seattle and Las Vegas, the presumed frontrunners, get teams in the next round of expansion, a current Western Conference team – likely one of the Timberwolves, Grizzlies, or Pelicans – would have to move East to balance out the two conferences. Given the relative strength of the East vs. the West, those three clubs may push hard to be the one chosen, but that battle could potentially be avoided by revamping the postseason seeds, Windhorst suggests.
“It would be the right thing to do for the health of the league,” one West general manager told ESPN. “It’s not just about fairness, it’s about giving the fans the best playoff product.”
A change along those lines would require the approval of at least three-quarters of the NBA’s teams (23 of 30), as Bontemps observes, which means at least eight Eastern Conference teams would have to get on board with the idea, potentially voting against their own interests.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Bontemps and Windhorst suggest in the same ESPN story that many scouts and executives around the NBA believe the 2024/25 in-season trade market will take a while to get going. Trades this early in the season are somewhat rare anyway, and new CBA-related restrictions related to aprons and hard caps have only made deals more challenging. “We were looking at a trade concept the other day and there were three reasons the other team wouldn’t be allowed to do it,” one general manager told Windhorst. “One of the rules I didn’t even know about.”
- In another Insider-only story for ESPN, Bontemps ranks all 30 NBA teams’ cores, listing each club’s top three building blocks based on both present and future value. The Celtics (Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White) top the list, while the Nets (Nic Claxton, Noah Clowney, Cam Thomas) come in at No. 30.
- Joe Vardon and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic provide some additional details on the proposed changes to the NBA’s All-Star format, noting that since the league is expected to split its All-Stars into four teams, the head coaches for the top two teams in each conference (four in total) will likely be invited to All-Star weekend to coach a squad. As Vardon and Vorkunov detail, the current Collective Bargaining Agreement calls for the players on the winning All-Star team to earn $100K, while the players on the losing team earns $25K. The NBA and NBPA need to renegotiate those figures before formally implementing the new format, which would result in three losing teams instead of just one.
- In a memo sent to team officials, the NBA urged its players to take extra precautions to secure their homes in the wake of a string of burglaries affecting Bucks big man Bobby Portis and Timberwolves guard Mike Conley, among others. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press has the story.
Joel Embiid Has Swelling In Knee, Out Through At Least Sunday
The hits keep coming for the Sixers, who held the NBA’s worst record entering action on Friday and are once again missing star center Joel Embiid.
Embiid, who was ruled out for Friday’s game vs. Brooklyn due to left knee injury management, is dealing with swelling in that left knee, the team announced this evening (Twitter link). Upon consultation with their medical staff, the Sixers have decided Embiid will also sit out Sunday’s matchup with the Clippers.
There will be another update early next week on the former MVP, who is receiving treatment, according to the club. The 76ers’ next game after Sunday is on Wednesday against Houston.
While there’s no indication at this point that Embiid’s latest setback will result in a lengthy absence, it’s another blow to a team that has fallen well short of expectations so far this season and would like to start digging out of its 2-12 hole sooner rather than later.
Paul George is also out through at least Sunday due to a bone bruise in his left knee. Both Embiid and George were affected earlier in the season by the same health issues currently plaguing them. George missed the first five games of the fall, while Embiid was unavailable for the first nine contests, in part due to his knee injury and in part due to a three-game suspension.
Guerschon Yabusele earned his second start of the season on Friday with Embiid inactive.
Western Notes: Jokic, Hachimura, R. Williams, Warriors
The Nuggets got some very good news ahead of Friday night’s showdown vs. the defending Western champion Mavericks, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), who says three-time MVP Nikola Jokic has rejoined the team and will be active on Friday against Dallas.
Jokic had missed Denver’s past three contests, having been listed as out for personal reasons. As Charania details, the superstar center and his wife welcomed a newborn son on Thursday night.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- Lakers forward Rui Hachimura is off the injury report and appears set to return on Saturday vs. Denver after missing four games due to a left ankle sprain, tweets Mark Medina of Sportskeeda. Rookie Dalton Knecht has thrived in the starting lineup over the past few games, but a new starting five featuring Hachimura won three games in a row prior to his injury. “My expectation is that Rui would stay in the starting lineup,” head coach J.J. Redick said, per Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. “He’s been awesome for us and I think for the group. … Whatever designation Dalton has, whether he’s coming off of the bench or as a starter, I don’t think his role changes at all. And I think for him mentally, there’s no effect to that. He’s just going to be the same guy. We have to, as a coaching staff, we have to be cognizant about getting him longer stretches on the court.”
- In his first five games for the Trail Blazers this season, Robert Williams has provided a reminder of why he’s so valuable when healthy, averaging a career-high 10.8 points per game on 79.3% shooting while also contributing 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 blocks, and 1.2 steals in just 20.6 minutes per night off the bench. Williams, one of just two Blazers with a positive net rating, has long been viewed as a potential trade chip for Portland, but Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Substack link) wonders if there may actually be a stronger argument for the team keeping the big man, given how well he has fit. For what it’s worth, Bill Oram of The Oregonian (Twitter link) is strongly in favor of making Williams a trade chip, arguing it would be an “egregious dereliction of duty” not to move him.
- With 13 players averaging between 11 and 30 minutes per game, the Warriors‘ approach to their rotation so far this season has been unprecedented, as Howard Beck of The Ringer writes. Even with De’Anthony Melton out for the season, head coach Steve Kerr is in position to deploy a 12-man rotation when everyone’s healthy, prompting Beck to explore whether that plan is sustainable and what Golden State’s ceiling might be.