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NBA D-League Affiliate Players For 2016/17

November 3rd, 2016 at 12:35pm CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the offseason, and in the weeks leading up to the start of the regular season, NBA teams are permitted to carry 20 players, but that total must be cut down to 15 in advance of opening night. However, up to four players waived by teams before the season can be designated as affiliate players and assigned to their D-League squads.

The players have some say in the decision — if they’d prefer to sign with a team overseas, or if they get an opportunity with another NBA club, they’re free to turn down their team’s request to have them play in the D-League. Most NBA and international teams have fairly set rosters by late October though, so having the opportunity to continue playing in the same system is appealing to many of those preseason cuts. Especially since they’ll maintain NBA free agency while they play in the D-League.

There are a few other rules related to D-League affiliate players. A player whose returning rights are held by a D-League team can’t be an affiliate player for another club, which is why undrafted free agents from the current year are commonly signed and assigned. Additionally, an affiliate player must have signed with his team during the current league year, which explains why we often see players signed and quickly waived in the days leading up to the regular season. And, of course, not every NBA team has a D-League affiliate, so clubs like the Hawks, Nuggets, or Clippers have no place to send affiliate players.

With all that in mind, here are the NBA D-League affiliate players to start the 2016/17 season:

Austin Spurs (San Antonio Spurs)

Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers)

Jonathan Holmes
Eric Moreland

Delaware 87ers (Philadelphia 76ers)

Rockets Exercise Clint Capela’s 2017/18 Option

October 26th, 2016 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

OCTOBER 26: The Rockets have officially picked up Capela’s 2017/18 option, according to RealGM.com.

OCTOBER 24: The Rockets will exercise their 2017/18 team option on Clint Capela‘s rookie contract, reports Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). Capela’s fourth-year option is one of three rookie-scale decisions the team has to make before October 31 — Tyler Ennis and Sam Dekker also have ’17/18 options to be picked up or turned down.

Capela, 22, enjoyed a modest breakout season in 2015/16 after playing sparingly in his rookie year. Capela averaged 7.0 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 1.2 BPG in 19.1 minutes per contest last season, starting 35 of the 77 games he played for Houston.

If Rockets management had their way, Capela would have had an opportunity to play even more in 2015/16. According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com, interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff resisted complying with the wishes of GM Daryl Morey and owner Leslie Alexander, who wanted to see Capela receive more minutes at the expense of Dwight Howard.

With Howard and Bickerstaff no longer in Houston, new head coach Mike D’Antoni is presumably on board with the plan to give Capela an expanded role going forward. The young big man, who will earn a guaranteed $2,334,528 salary in 2017/18, will be extension-eligible during the 2017 offseason and eligible for restricted free agency during the 2018 offseason.

In other Rockets news, rookie guard Gary Payton II, who was waived by Houston earlier today, confirmed to Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston (Twitter link) that the team has expressed interest in having him join the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Payton said there are a couple other teams interested in his services, so he’ll talk to his agent to determine his next move — he’s open to the idea of joining the Rockets’ D-League squad, per Berman.

Rockets Waive Gary Payton II, P.J. Hairston

October 24th, 2016 at 10:47am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets are trimming their roster to 15 players in advance of today’s cutdown deadline, and have made three moves so far, according to various reports. Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle tweets that the team has waived rookie guard Gary Payton II, while Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News tweets that camp invitees P.J. Hairston and Le’Bryan Nash have also been cut.

Hairston and Nash are likely ticketed for the Rockets’ D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, having been on non-guaranteed contracts. Payton could also ultimately land in Rio Grande, but his case isn’t quite as clear, since he had been on a guaranteed salary for 2016/17, giving him a little more flexibility for his next move.

With Payton, Hairston, and Nash out of the mix for a roster spots, the Rockets are now carrying 16 players, and will need to make one more cut. Tyler Ennis, recently acquired in a trade with Milwaukee, is probably safe, which would leave Bobby Brown and Kyle Wiltjer battling for the 15th and final roster spot. Neither player has a fully guaranteed deal, but Wiltjer received a sizable partial guarantee of $275K from Houston.

The Rockets figure to announce their final cut – and confirm their other moves – in a press release later today.

Contract Details: Brand, Rockets, Thunder, Pacers

September 30th, 2016 at 8:48am CST by Luke Adams

With training camps underway, teams have now officially finalized the contract agreements with various camp invitees that had been reported over the past several weeks, meaning we have plenty of contract details to round up. As usual, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has been busy reporting those details, updating his salary pages for teams around the NBA.

Because we have so many updates to pass along from Pincus, we’ll divide them up by players who received some guaranteed money from their teams, and those who didn’t. All of the links below point to the Basketball Insiders team salary pages, so be sure to click through for additional information.

Here are the latest salary updates from across the league, via Pincus:

Players receiving guaranteed money:

These players aren’t necessarily assured of regular-season roster spots. In fact, many of them likely received guarantees as an incentive to accept a D-League assignment. Still, for some players, larger guarantees should increase their odds of making 15-man rosters.

Thomas Walkup (Bulls): One year, minimum salary. $69.5K guaranteed.
Keith Benson (Heat): Two years, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
Henry Sims (Jazz): One year, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
Alex Poythress (Pacers): One year, minimum salary. $35,381 guaranteed.
Kevin Seraphin (Pacers): Two years, $3.681MM. First year ($1.8MM) guaranteed.
Julyan Stone (Pacers): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
Gary Payton II (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. First year ($543,471) guaranteed.
Isaiah Taylor (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
Kyle Wiltjer (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. $275K guaranteed.
Cat Barber (Sixers): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
Elton Brand (Sixers): One year, minimum salary. $1MM guaranteed.
Derrick Jones (Suns): Three years, minimum salary. $42.5K guaranteed.
Alex Caruso (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
Kaleb Tarczewski (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
Chris Wright (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $100K guaranteed.

Players receiving no guaranteed money:

The following players all signed one-year, minimum salary contracts with no guaranteed money. Many of these deals are “summer contracts,” which won’t count against a team’s cap unless the player earns a spot on the 15-man roster.

Jabari Brown and Jaleel Roberts (Bucks)
Markel Brown, Dahntay Jones, Cory Jefferson, Eric Moreland, John Holland, and Jonathan Holmes (Cavaliers)
Dorell Wright (Clippers)
Chris Crawford (Grizzlies)
Ryan Kelly, Will Bynum, and Richard Solomon (Hawks)
Perry Ellis (Hornets)
Eric Dawson (Jazz)
Julian Jacobs and Travis Wear (Lakers)
Quinn Cook (Pelicans)
Joel Anthony and Nicolas Laprovittola (Spurs)
Gracin Bakumanya, Derek Cooke, and Shaquille Harrison (Suns)
Rasual Butler (Timberwolves)

Rockets’ Gary Payton II Gets Guaranteed Salary

September 28th, 2016 at 2:18pm CST by Luke Adams

At this time of year, most players who sign contracts with the NBA teams will settle for non-guaranteed or partially-guaranteed deals, unless they’re notable free agents like J.R. Smith or Donatas Motiejunas, who simply haven’t reached common ground with their current teams yet. However, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), undrafted free agent Gary Payton II got a fully guaranteed salary from the Rockets on his new deal with the team.

Payton’s contract is believed to be for two years, and it’s not clear whether both years are guaranteed or just his 2016/17 salary. Either way, it gives the Rockets a 15th guaranteed salary for this season, even before taking into account Motiejunas, who remains a restricted free agent and is expected to return to the Rockets eventually.

Of course, Payton’s guaranteed salary doesn’t preclude the team from re-signing Motiejunas. But if that happens, it will leave the club with 16 fully guaranteed players, with at least one of them needing to be traded or waived before the regular season gets underway. That should make training camp and the preseason more interesting in Houston, even for players whose roster spots had appeared reasonably secure.

Rockets Sign Four Players, Finalize Camp Roster

September 23rd, 2016 at 11:44am CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 23: Nearly three months after agreeing to terms with Payton, Taylor, and Wiltjer, the Rockets have officially signed them, announcing the moves today in a press release. The team also confirmed the previously-reported signing of Bobby Brown, formally announcing its 18-man roster for training camp.

While the deals for the three undrafted rookies were initially reported to be three-year agreements, the Rockets have since used up their cap room, limiting the team to two-year, minimum-salary pacts. Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle reported this week that two-year contracts were likely for all four players.

JUNE 24: The Rockets drafted two players in the second round on Thursday night, and supplemented their rookie class shortly after the draft ended by agreeing to terms with three free agents who went undrafted.

Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com first reported (via Twitter) that Houston had agreed to a three-year deal with former Oregon State guard Gary Payton II, with Shams Charania of The Vertical reporting (via Twitter) that former Texas guard Isaiah Taylor had also agreed to a partially-guaranteed contract with the Rockets.

Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (via Twitter) confirms those two deals, and adds former Gonzaga forward Kyle Wiltjer to the list of Rockets’ signees. All three players will ink three-year contracts that feature team options, according to Feigen.

Payton, Taylor, Wiltjer were all viewed as top-75 prospects by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com, who ranked them 48th, 67th, and 75th, respectively, in his top 100. There’s no guarantee any of them will earn spots on the Houston’s regular-season roster for 2016/17, but whether or not they make the cut, they could end up spending some time with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets’ D-League affiliate.

Exact terms of the three deals aren’t known, and they haven’t been officially finalized yet, but I’d expect minimum-salary pacts, with most – or all – of the guaranteed money coming in the first year.

Rockets Rumors: Harden, Motiejunas, Contracts

September 22nd, 2016 at 5:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Franchise player James Harden believes the Rockets have already shown better chemistry as they head into training camp on Saturday, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports. Harden admits that many of the team’s problems last season could be blamed on a lack of harmony but that has changed, Feigen continues. “We’re doing something I haven’t (experienced) since I’ve been here in Houston,” Harden told Feigen. “Just trying to shake things up, just trying to make sure we really know each other in and out on and off the court. I think that will translate to a better team.” That improved camraderie was evident in mini-camps and workouts that Harden organized, Feigen adds. Along with team bonding, Harden has been focused on avoiding a repeat of last season, when the Rockets went .500 and were knocked out in the opening round of the playoffs after reaching the Western Conference Finals the previous season. “I’ve been training all summer,” Harden said. “Last season wasn’t great at all. It was very disappointing. I don’t want to let that happen two years in a row. I’ve been in the gym working out to get my mind, body and soul right.”

In other developments regarding the Rockets:

Harden says that signing restricted free agent Donatas Motiejunas is “very important,” Feigen relays in a tweet. There’s not much going regarding the impasse between the Rockets and Motiejunas, a source told Feigen (Twitter link). The power forward has not received a serious offer from the club, according to his agent, B.J. Armstrong. Motiejunas does not want to sign the $3.4MM qualifying offer the Rockets have made. The Pistons rescinded a deal with the Rockets at the trade deadline in February when Motiejunas failed a physical because of lingering back problems.
The team plans to sign point guards Gary Payton II, Isaiah Taylor and Bobby Brown and power forward Kyle Wiltjer on Thursday or Friday, Feigen added in the same tweet regarding the lack of progress with Motiejunas’ contract talks. Those contracts are likely to to be two-year deals, according to Feigen. Payton II, Taylor and Wiltjer are undrafted rookies who agreed to deals shortly after the draft. Brown, who hasn’t played in the NBA since 2010, agreed in July to attend the Rockets’ camp.

Rockets Sign Second-Rounder Chinanu Onuaku

July 20th, 2016 at 11:22am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets have finalized a deal with second-round pick Chinanu Onuaku, reaching an agreement on a three-year contract, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Houston used its last chunk of cap room on Onuaku, allowing the team to formalize the signing of Nene using its room exception.

As Bobby Marks of The Vertical tweets, the Rockets had $543,772 of cap room left to spare, and the minimum salary for a rookie is $543,471, meaning the team was able to squeeze in Onuaku with just $301 left over. The team could signed Onuaku to a minimum-salary contract after going over the cap, but such a deal would have been limited to two years. Instead, the former Louisville center receives a fully-guaranteed three-year pact, per Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston (Twitter link).

“It’s a pretty good deal for the kid,” agent Derrick Powell said, according to Feigen. “He’s 19 years old. He has an upside that fits the contract. I think it was important for us because we wanted Houston to commit to his growth. They’re very committed to him. They like him a lot. He’s worked his buns off. He’s very excited about his future with Houston.”

Onuaku, 19, is still raw, but showed plenty of promise during his sophomore season, averaging 9.9 PPG, 8.5 RPG, and 2.0 BPG for Louisville. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com ranked him as the 38th-best prospect in this year’s draft class, and the Rockets made him the 37th overall pick in last month’s draft.

Now that they’re over the cap, the Rockets will be limited to two-year, minimum-salary deals for the other undrafted rookies they’ve agreed to sign, including Gary Payton II, Kyle Wiltjer, and Isaiah Taylor.

Ben Simmons Works Out For Sixers

June 21st, 2016 at 11:00am CST by Luke Adams

11:00am: Simmons’ workout with the Sixers is the “strongest indication yet” that the club has promised to take the former LSU forward with the first overall pick, since agent Rich Paul likely wouldn’t have let Simmons work out without such a promise, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links).

9:52am: After initially appearing as though he wouldn’t work out for any teams leading up to the 2016 NBA draft, top prospect Ben Simmons did indeed have a workout this morning with the Sixers, sources tell Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Reports have indicated that the Sixers are strongly leaning toward Simmons with the No. 1 pick over Brandon Ingram, the other consensus top-two prospect in this year’s class. From Simmons’ perspective, there didn’t seem to be much benefit in working out for clubs — even if Philadelphia opted to pass on him with the first overall pick, he’d almost certainly land with the Lakers, initially rumored to be his preferred destination anyway.

However, it seems as if that stance changed, with Simmons getting a look from the Sixers this morning, a few days after meeting with the club. While there have been no reports yet on how today’s workout went, there’s probably not much chance it turned Philadelphia off the former LSU forward.

Let’s check in on a few other Sixers items…

Trade talks between the Sixers and Celtics may be heating up, according to Gary Tanguay and Tim Welsh of WEEI.com (Twitter link). As we’ve heard before, Philadelphia likes former Providence point guard Kris Dunn a lot, and while the team probably won’t seriously consider Dunn at No. 1, acquiring the No. 3 overall pick from Boston to select him is a possibility. Either Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel would have to be involved in such a deal.
In addition to working out Simmons, the Sixers also have a six-man workout group in today, according to a team release. The participants are Isaiah Cousins (Oklahoma), Chinanu Onuaku (Louisville), Gary Payton II (Oregon State), Brandon Taylor (Penn State), Tyler Ulis (Kentucky), and Guerschon Yabusele (France).
Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga) is also expected to work out for the Sixers prior to Thursday’s draft, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.

Central Notes: LeBron, Pistons, Bucks, Draft

June 20th, 2016 at 4:24pm CST by Luke Adams

After leading the Cavaliers to a historic NBA Finals comeback, and the first championship in franchise history, LeBron James likely won’t be attempting to lead Team USA to Olympic gold later this summer. According to Chris Mannix of The Vertical, the Finals MVP is leaning toward not participating in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. As Mannix details, James has yet to inform USA Basketball of his decision, one way or the other. However, team officials are operating under the expectation that the 31-year-old superstar is unlikely to play in Rio.

Here are a few more updates from out of the Central division:

The Pistons‘ pre-draft workout today, highlighted by Ivica Zubac, also featured five other players, according to David Mayo of MLive (Twitter link). The other participants were Nikola Jovanovic (USC), Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga), Stefan Jankovic (Hawaii), Elgin Cook (Oregon), and Brannen Greene (Kansas).
The Bucks also worked out several players today, conducting an individual workout for Michigan State’s Deyonta Davis and a group session for six other prospects. As announced in a press release, those six players were Matt Costello (Michigan State), Isaiah Cousins (Oklahoma), Demetrius Jackson (Notre Dame), Gary Payton II (Oregon State), Diamond Stone (Maryland), and Isaiah Whitehead (Seton Hall).
The Bucks formally broke ground on their new downtown Milwaukee arena over the weekend, according to a report from Genaro C. Armas of The Associated Press. The project is expected to cost approximately $524MM, and the club is expected to begin playing games in the new building at the start of the 2018/19 season.