Dean Wade

Cavs Place Randolph, Matthews, Mooney On Waivers

The Cavaliers have waived guards Levi Randolph, Charles Matthews and Matt Mooney, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets.

The most significant cut is Mooney, since he was on a two-way deal. That opens up a two-way slot, with the other occupied by Lamar Stevens.

The moves leave Cleveland with 16 players on the official roster, one over the limit. Big men Marques Bolden and Dean Wade are candidates for the two-way contract, though Wade would have to go through waivers before he could sign that deal.

Randolph was signed to an Exhibit 10 deal last month. He’ll likely wind up with their G League team, the Canton Charge.

Randolph, 28, has been trying to break into the NBA since graduating from Alabama in 2015. He has been part of Cleveland’s training camp the past two seasons and signed a two-way contract in January, but was waived six days later. Randolph led the Charge in scoring last year at 16.9 PPG.

Matthews was also on an Exhibit 10 contract. He spent one season at Kentucky in 2015/16 before transferring to Michigan, where he played for two seasons. Matthews declared early for the draft in 2019, but tore his ACL during a team workout.

Mooney signed a two-way contract with the Cavs last January after going undrafted in 2019. He made four brief appearances with Cleveland last season and saw action in 42 G League games, averaging 13.1 PPG and 5.1 APG in 31.2 MPG.

Cavs Sign Jordan Bell, Dean Wade To Multiyear Deals

JUNE 30: The Cavaliers have officially signed Bell and Wade to multiyear contracts, the team confirmed today in a press release. We passed along more details on Bell’s two-year deal and Wade’s four-year pact right here.

JUNE 29: The Cavaliers are filling the two openings on their 15-man roster with a pair of big men. The club has agreed to a multiyear contract with forward/center Jordan Bell, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link), and is signing two-way player Dean Wade to a multiyear deal, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Bell, a former Warriors rotation player, signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Timberwolves last summer, but didn’t establish himself as a reliable rotation player in Minnesota, averaging 3.1 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 27 games (8.7 MPG).

Prior to the trade deadline, Bell was sent to Houston in the four-team Clint Capela trade, then was flipped to Memphis in exchange for Bruno Caboclo. The Grizzlies subsequently released Bell, who joined the Wizards’ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go. However, the NBA and G League seasons were suspended just one day later, so Bell didn’t see any action for the Go-Go.

Wade, meanwhile, spent his rookie season on a two-way deal with the Cavs after going undrafted out of Kansas State a year ago. The power forward appeared in just 12 games for Cleveland, spending most of the season with the Canton Charge, where he averaged 14.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.3 APG, and 1.4 BPG with a .461/.399/.847 shooting line in 30 G League games (31.1 MPG).

Bell got a two-year contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Wade’s new deal is a four-year pact with a $375K first-year salary, followed by three non-guaranteed seasons, tweets Fedor. The two signings won’t take the Cavaliers above the luxury tax threshold, sources tell Fedor.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), since Bell was waived after March 1, he wasn’t eligible to play in the postseason this summer, but that obviously wasn’t a concern for the Cavs.

Meanwhile, because only the 22 teams participating in the NBA’s restart are eligible to sign substitute two-way players this week, Cleveland can’t sign a free agent to fill Wade’s vacated two-way slot.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Wizards Notes: Restart, Schofield, Wall, Wade

Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard vows that the team is focused on making the playoffs despite key players missing the restart in Orlando, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets.

“Certainly, we’re going there to win games,” he said. “We’re trying to make the playoffs. That’s 100 percent our goal.”

There has been speculation that Wizards would treat their eight “seeding” games as a de facto Summer League. Forward Davis Bertans, a free agent after the season, has chosen to sit out. Star guard John Wall will wait until next season to return from his Achilles injury. Washington trails Brooklyn by six games and Orlando by 5.5 games and needs to pull within four games of one of those teams to force a play-in round for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

We have more on the Wizards:

  • Rookie Admiral Schofield is expected to have an expanded role in Orlando with Bertans choosing not to play, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington tweets“There’s going to be an opportunity at some point for Admiral to show what he can do,” Sheppard said. Schofield has appeared in 27 games, averaging 3.1 PPG in 10.9 MPG.
  • Wall will stay in Miami while the Wizards are in Orlando to work with some coaches that won’t be in the bubble, David Aldridge of The Athletic tweets. The lack of practices during the stoppage of play cost Wall the basketball ramp-up timing he’d been gaining in workouts, according to Sheppard.
  • Washington had some interest in signing power forward Dean Wade, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Wade agreed to a four-year contract with Cleveland on Monday.

Cavs Notes: Wade, Bell, Trier, Drummond

The Cavaliers, who agreed to new deals with Dean Wade and Jordan Bell today, are using a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Wade to a four-year contract, as Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com details. Wade gets a first-year salary of $375K, well above the prorated minimum, in exchange for two non-guaranteed seasons and a team option in 2022/23 (Twitter link).

As for Bell, it appears he’ll be signed using the Cavs’ mid-level exception as well, allowing the team to give him $250K for remainder of the season. However, his contract is a short-term arrangement — it’s a two-year deal with a non-guaranteed minimum salary for 2020/21, Fedor notes.

Here’s more out of Cleveland:

  • The Cavaliers explored the possibility of signing Allonzo Trier when he cleared waivers on Sunday, but the former Knicks guard was seeking more money and a different contract structure than what the club wanted to offer, according to Fedor. Additionally, Fedor adds that some members of the basketball operations department questioned Trier’s fit alongside guards like Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, and Kevin Porter.
  • While Andre Drummond has long been considered a lock to opt into the final year of his contract, it remains to be seen whether he and the Cavaliers might work out a longer-term deal. Sources tell Fedor that both sides have shown some interest in a contract extension. However, both the Cavs and Drummond may want to take some time to consider their options — especially if Cleveland ends up using its lottery pick on a big man.
  • Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff intends to make at least one addition to his coaching staff, though it might not happen until later in the year, says Fedor.

Cavs Claim Tyler Cook From Nuggets

The Cavaliers have claimed rookie forward Tyler Cook off waivers, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets.

Cook was on a two-way deal with the Nuggets before Denver cut ties with him on Wednesday. The Cavaliers will now decide by Saturday afternoon whether to retain Cook or training camp invitee Marques Bolden with their second two-way contract, according to Fedor. Power forward Dean Wade has the other two-way contract.

Cook entered the draft this spring after his junior year at Iowa, where he averaged 14.5 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 2.4 APG in 33 games (30.8 MPG) last season while shooting 51.9% from the field. After recovering from a high ankle sprain suffered during a pre-draft workout, the 22-year-old joined Denver for Summer League action and then for training camp, playing limited minutes in two preseason games.

Cavs Sign Dean Wade To Two-Way Contract

JULY 2: The Cavaliers have formally signed Wade to his two-way deal, per RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions.

JUNE 21: The Cavaliers have reached an agreement to sign undrafted rookie free agent Dean Wade to a two-way contract, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

Wade, a 6’10” forward, has the ability to stretch the floor, having knocked down 38.6% of his three-point attempts over the course of four college seasons. The Kansas State standout recorded 12.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 2.8 APG in 25 games during his senior year.

A foot injury sidelined Wade at the end of his college career, keeping him out of action for the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments. However, he recently told Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype that he’s “100% healthy.”

The Cavaliers have also agreed to a deal with Duke big man Marques Bolden, a source tells Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Kennedy’s tweet doesn’t offer any further details, so it’s not entirely clear if Bolden is just joining Cleveland for Summer League or if he’ll get a spot on the team’s 20-man offseason roster.

Bolden played a part-time role for the Blue Devils in 2018/19, averaging 5.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.7 BPG in 35 games (19.0 MPG) as a junior.

Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Wade, Raptors, Workouts

The Celtics own three of the first 22 selections in the NBA draft and we reported last month that the team was expected to shop at least one of those picks. It appears that Boston has begun making calls with Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders connecting Houston as a potential trade partner for the franchise.

Boston has interest in Clint Capela, though the big man is not the organization’s top priority. As we wait to see if Capela is shipped to Boston or if Danny Ainge‘s squad unloads a first-rounder elsewhere, let’s take a look at some draft notes from the Atlantic Division:

Eastern Draft Notes: Hawks, Barrett, Knicks, Pistons

With six of the top 44 picks in the 2019 NBA draft, the Hawks have been understandably busy when it comes to bringing in prospects for pre-draft workouts. While Atlanta is unlikely to keep all six of its selections, the club is doing its due diligence on players who might be available at each spot — or as undrafted free agents.

On Sunday, the Hawks worked out Darius Bazley (Princeton HS), Robert Franks (Washington State), Matur Maker (Zlatorog Lasko), William McDowell-White (Baunach), Miye Oni (Yale), and Trayvon Reed (Texas Southern), according to the team.

The Hawks conducted another workout on Monday, bringing in Jordan Bone (Tennessee), Brian Bowen (Sydney), Dewan Hernandez (Miami), Jordan Poole (Michigan), Justin Robinson (Virginia Tech), and Dean Wade (Kansas State) in for a look.

On Tuesday, the Hawks will host yet another workout, with Charlie Brown Jr. (St. Joe’s), Zylan Cheatham (Arizona State), Keldon Johnson (Kentucky), Nassir Little (UNC), KZ Okpala (Stanford), and Kevin Porter Jr. (USC) set to participate.

Here are a few more updates on pre-draft workouts from around the Eastern Conference:

Central Draft Notes: Pacers, Cavs, Bucks, Pistons

Holding the 18th and 50th overall picks in the 2019 NBA draft, the Pacers should have a wide variety of options available to them in both the first and second rounds, so they’re doing plenty of homework in the weeks leading up to the draft.

On Wednesday, the Pacers held a pre-draft workout that featured Shizz Alston Jr. (Temple), Ky Bowman (Boston College), Tacko Fall (UCF), Mfiondu Kabengele (Florida State), Juwan Morgan (Indiana), and Elijah Thomas (Clemson), according to the team. Fall’s ability to participate in that session was limited after he rolled an ankle, as we noted yesterday.

Today, the Pacers are working out six more prospects, announcing that Luguentz Dort (Arizona State), Kyle Guy (Virginia), Amir Hinton (Shaw), Talen Horton-Tucker (Iowa State), Cody Martin (Nevada), and Josh Reaves (Penn State) are in town.

The Pacers will audition six more prospects on Friday, per the club’s latest press release. Ignas Brazdeikis (Michigan), Jon Elmore (Marshall), Aric Holman (Mississippi State), Luke Maye (UNC), Miye Oni (Yale), and Admiral Schofield (Tennessee) will attend that session.

Here are more updates on pre-draft workouts from around the Central:

Atlantic Notes: Leonard, Raptors Workout, Russell, Eisley

Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard filed a federal lawsuit against Nike on Monday, claiming he designed the logo that appeared on his Nike apparel and the company copyrighted the logo without his consent, Matthew Kish of the PDX Biz Journal reports.

In a separate development that could foretell his summer plans, Leonard apparently bought property in his current NBA city, according to Michael Landsberg of TSN (hat tip to Dan Feldman of NBC Sports). Landsberg said in a radio interview that “What we’ve heard is that he’s purchased a property in Toronto,” and that “we’ve heard this now from two different sources.” That could be an indication that Leonard, who will opt out and become a free agent this summer, plans to stick with the Raptors.

We have more news from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Raptors will hold their fourth pre-draft workout on Tuesday, according to Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter link). The list includes guards Jalen Adams (UConn) Australian William McDowell-White, Kyle Allman (Cal State Fullerton) and Jared Harper (Auburn) and  forwards Dedric Lawson (Kansas) and Dean Wade (Kansas State).
  • Nets guard D’Angelo Russell expects that he’ll have to be patient in free agency, Brian Lewis of the New York Post reports. Russell will be a restricted free agent. “It’s more of just the waiting game as far as chess moves have to be made,” Russell told Lewis. “There’s a lot of big fish out there that have to find their destinations so I think I’ll [fall in line after that]. There are a lot of fish out there that need to find destinations. So whenever that time comes then I have decisions to make on my own, I think I’ll be well ready for it.”
  • Knicks assistant coach Howard Eisley is expected to join Michigan’s staff under former Heat assistant Juwan Howard, Brendan Quinn of The Athletic tweets.