Grant Jerrett

And-Ones: Motiejunas, Neal, Jerrett, 2017 FAs

Now an unrestricted free agent, Donatas Motiejunas has more freedom than ever to decide the next step in his basketball career, even if he can no longer sign with the Nets. As he looks for a new NBA home, Motiejunas released a statement today on Twitter, announcing that he has “a lot more to give to the game of basketball, and can’t wait to get back on the court.”

“I invest so much into my craft and have worked extremely hard to stay healthy and prove myself on the basketball court, which was evident last season,” Motiejunas said. “I look forward to immediately contributing to a new team and ultimately winning championships.

“I want to thank the great fans in Houston for all of their support. I really enjoyed my time in the community. The city and people will always hold a special place in my heart as the place where my NBA career began.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:

Blazers Waive Jerrett, Stiemsma

The Blazers have made a pair of roster cuts, waiving Grant Jerrett and Greg Stiemsma, the team announced via press release. Portland won’t be on the hook for any salary as a result of the moves since neither player had any guaranteed money included in their contracts. The team’s roster now stands at 15 players, which is the regular season maximum.

Jerrett last appeared in an NBA regular season contest during the 2014/15 campaign, when he played in a combined eight games for the Jazz and the Thunder. The power forward averaged 2.0 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.4 minutes while shooting .269/.067/1.000.

Stiemsma, 31, has four years of NBA experience under his belt, having appeared in regular-season games for the Celtics, Timberwolves, Pelicans, and Raptors from 2011 to 2015. In 203 total games, the former Wisconsin big man has averaged 3.2 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 1.1 BPG in a part-time role, shooting 50.9% from the field.

Contract Notes: Sacre, Sabonis, Jerrett

Here are the latest free agent and 2016 draft pick contract details, courtesy of Basketball Insiders’ Eric Pincus:

  • Grant Jerrett‘s training camp deal with the Trail Blazers is a one-year, non-guaranteed pact worth $980,431, Pincus tweets. If the forward makes Portland’s regular season roster, his deal won’t be guaranteed until the January 10th, 2017, which is the leaguewide date for contracts this season. The Blazers currently have $112,354,979 in guaranteed salary on the books for 2016/17.
  • The summer contracts the Raptors inked Drew Crawford and Yanick Moreira to are both non-guaranteed deals worth $543,471 apiece, per Pincus (Twitter link). Each deal would become fully guaranteed on December 15th, 2016, provided they made the regular season roster. Toronto currently has $106,077,999 in guaranteed salary already on the books for this campaign.
  • In keeping with the non-guaranteed summer contract trend we have going here, the Pelicans agreements with Robert Sacre and Chris Copeland will count as $980,431 against the cap each, with both players actual salaries set at $1,050,961, Pincus relays (on Twitter). Shawn Dawson‘s non-guaranteed deal will pay him $543,471, should he make the team, the scribe adds. All three deals would become fully guaranteed if they remain on the roster past January 10th, 2017. The Pelicans’ fully guaranteed commitments currently stand at $97,799,631 for the coming season.
  • Domantas Sabonis‘ rookie-scale deal with the Thunder will pay him $2,440,200 this season, $2,550,000 in 2017/18, $2,659,800 in 2018/19 and $3,529,555 the final season, Pincus tweets. Ronnie Price‘s two-year pact, which is fully guaranteed, will see him earn $2,557,545 this year and $2,442,445 in 2017/18, Pincus adds. OKC’s guaranteed commitments currently total up to $91,860,496 for 2016/17.

Blazers Sign Grant Jerrett

AUGUST 17th: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.

AUGUST 16th: The Trail Blazers have agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent Grant Jerrett, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (via Twitter). The scribe classifies it as a training camp pact, so it’s almost assuredly for the league minimum and likely includes little or no guaranteed salary.

Portland currently has 16 players on its roster, including 14 with fully guaranteed deals. So, unless Jerrett truly impresses the coaching staff during the preseason, he’s likely ticketed for the D-League to begin the year.

Jerrett last appeared in an NBA regular season contest during the 2014/15 campaign, when he played in a combined eight games for the Jazz and the Thunder. The power forward averaged 2.0 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.4 minutes while shooting .269/.067/1.000.

Jazz Waive Grant Jerrett

The Jazz have waived Grant Jerrett, the team announced. Jerrett’s salary for this season is a fully guaranteed $947,276, so Utah will be on the hook for that unless another team claims him off waivers. The move brings Utah down to 17 players, only 12 of whom have fully guaranteed deals.

The power forward’s contract, which he signed in the summer of 2014, is for the minimum salary but it covers four seasons, so a team would have to have cap space or an exception other than the minimum salary exception to snag him off waivers, limiting the chances a team claims him. This season is the last guaranteed year.

It’s no surprise to see the Jazz make this move, despite the salary implications, since Jerrett is still recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered in the first game of summer league, notes Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). He only appeared in three games for Utah last season after he was part of the three-team Enes Kanter/Reggie Jackson trade at the deadline, and he’d only made his way into five games for the Thunder prior to the swap. That’s in spite of his pedigree as the 40th overall pick from the 2013 draft.

The move further opens the competition in Jazz camp. Jeff Withey has a team-high $200K partial guarantee and Treveon Graham is assured of at least $75K, while Bryce Cotton, Chris Johnson and Elijah Millsap have no guaranteed money. Utah can keep no more than three of them without waiving another fully guaranteed deal, which seems unlikely.

Do you think Jerrett would prove worthy of an NBA roster spot if given playing time? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Western Notes: Young, Green, Clarkson

The Lakers committed more money to Nick Young than to any other free agent last summer, but coach Byron Scott is threatening to reduce Young’s minutes if the team makes a more significant foray into free agency this year, as Mark Medina and Robert Morales of the Los Angeles Daily News write. Scott wants to see Young become less of a gunner when he returns from injury next season, but the swingman, who signed a four-year deal worth more than $21.326MM, feels as though Scott unfairly targets him for criticism. While we wait to see how that dynamic plays out, there’s more on the Lakers amid the latest from the Western Conference:

  • Rookie Erick Green hasn’t seen much playing time for the Nuggets this season, and he realizes he has to seize the opportunity when he does, as he tells Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. The former second-round pick saw a career high of just 25 minutes Saturday, and his minimum salary for next season is non-guaranteed.
  • That’s in stark contrast to Lakers rookie Jordan Clarkson, a fellow former second-rounder who’ll remain with the Lakers for next season, as coach Scott said directly on Saturday, tweets Mike Trudell of Lakers.com. Clarkson, who’s excelled as he’s made 33 starts, also has a non-guaranteed minimum salary for 2015/16.
  • The Jazz have recalled Grant Jerrett from the D-League, the team announced. The power forward hasn’t put up impressive numbers while on assignment, averaging 13.5 points and 6.8 rebounds in 28.4 minutes per game across 19 appearances for both the Thunder and Jazz affiliates this season. He’s knocked down 41.2% of his three-pointers on his frequent D-League trips this year, but he’s only managed to make it into six NBA games.

D-League Notes: Powell, Nogueira, Jerrett

The D-League continues to be an integral part of the NBA’s process of developing younger players, as well as a source for locating hidden gems to bolster rosters during the course of the season. You can easily stay on top of which players are coming and going from the D-League all season by checking out our 2014/15 D-League Assignments, Recalls tracker, which is updated daily. You can also find this page anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features.”

Here are the latest D-League moves:

  • The Raptors have recalled center Lucas Nogueira from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the team announced on Twitter. This concludes Nogueira’s second trip of the season to the D-League, where in four contests he averaged 8.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks in 20.0 minutes per night.
  • Kyle Anderson has been assigned by the Spurs to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Anderson’s fifth jaunt to the D-League this season.
  • The Mavericks have recalled Dwight Powell from the Texas Legends, their D-League affiliate, Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com reports (Twitter link). Powell has made a dozen trips to the D-League this season.
  • Grant Jerrett has been assigned by the Jazz to the Idaho Stampede, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be the forward’s tenth sojourn of the season to the D-League.
  • The Pistons have recalled Quincy Miller from the Grand Rapids Drive, their D-League affiliate, Keith Langlois of NBA.com reports (Twitter link).

Northwest Notes: Wolves, Durant, Jazz

President of basketball operations Flip Saunders says signing Sean Kilpatrick came down to proximity, according to Alan Horton, who is the play-by-play announcer for the Wolves (Twitter link). Minnesota played the Knicks tonight and Kilpatrick was playing for the Delaware 87ers, the D-League affiliate of the Sixers. After a three hour car ride to New York, the Cincinnati product was in uniform for the Wolves. Minnesota had only eight healthy players active, the league minimum, in the game tonight.

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

  • Kevin Durant had a setback at practice today and isn’t playing in Friday’s game against the Hawks, according to Royce Young of the TrueHoop Network.  “Just he experienced some soreness,” coach Scott Brooks said. “I think when you go through rehab, we all know through the rehab process you’re going to have some peaks and valleys, and you just have to adjust accordingly. That’s why he was off today, and he’s definitely not playing tomorrow. That’s all part of the process with his rehab.” Durant has missed 17 of the last 23 games, including 13 straight,  because of a foot injury.
  • The Jazz have one of the youngest rosters in the league and Ben Detrick of Grantland.com chronicles how the franchise turned itself into a team with one of the brightest futures in the Western Conference. Detrick points out that Utah’s success lately is partially a result of trading away Enes Kanter. The move cleared up a jumbled frontcourt situation and gave Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors ample playing time. Of the power forwards in the league, only Blake Griffin and Anthony Davis have a higher PER than Favors’ 22.4 rating this season.
  • The Jazz have recalled Grant Jerrett from their D-League affiliate, the Idaho Stampede, according to the team’s website. The Arizona product appeared in four games for the Stampede, averaging 12.8 points and 1.5 blocks per game.

Western Notes: Jerrett, Kanter, Brown

It took Lakers coach Byron Scott some time to come around to the merits of Jabari Brown, who inked a 10-day deal with Los Angeles earlier today, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News writes. Scott did not sound as complimentary about Brown when he was on the Lakers’ training camp roster earlier this season, Medina notes. “I thought the first two or three weeks of training camp he wasn’t necessarily going through the motions. But he was trying to find his way,” Scott said. “The last few days and last few games, he started to become a little more aggressive and that’s what I wanted to see from day one. That’s what I told him to when I let him go. I told him, ‘I wished you had started out that way being aggressive. When you’re trying to make a team, that’s what you have to do.’ He didn’t start off that way.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

  • The Jazz have excelled defensively and in the standings since trading Enes Kanter at the deadline, having found an identity, as Jody Genessy of the Deseret News examines.
  • Though the decision to sign Brown was Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak‘s, Scott is glad to have an extra player on the team’s bench, Medina adds. “I’m all for it if that’s what Mitch wants to do,” Scott said. “We talked about Jabari a few days ago and wanted to bring him. We needed a body or two anyway. But it gives us a chance to see if we’d like to have the guy on our summer league team as well.
  • The Jazz have assigned Grant Jerrett to the Idaho Stampede, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. Jerrett has only appeared in one game for Utah since being acquired from the Thunder on February 19th.  He previously appeared in five games for Oklahoma City, averaging 1.4 points in 5.0 minutes per contest.

Pistons Acquire Reggie Jackson

7:13pm: The release on the Thunder’s website indicates that the Thunder received Detroit’s unprotected 2019 second-round pick, too.

6:34pm: The Jazz have formally announced that the deal is official. The Pistons and Thunder have also confirmed the trade in press releases. Utah has acquired Jerrett, the rights to Pleiss, Perkins, and a future first-round pick from Oklahoma City, as well as a 2017 second-round pick from the Pistons. The Thunder will receive Kanter and Novak from Utah, and Augustin and Singler from the Pistons, while Detroit garners Jackson.

4:06pm: The Jazz are getting Jerrett, a protected first-round pick from the Thunder and a second-rounder from the Pistons in addition to Kanter and the rights to Pleiss, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

3:49pm: Several picks are changing hands in the deal as well, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, suggesting that a significant chunk of the draft considerations are heading Utah’s way (Twitter link).

3:33pm: The Thunder dealt for Kanter with the intention of re-signing him this summer, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

3:25pm: Grant Jerrett is headed out in the deal, too, according to Mayberry, though he doesn’t specify which team he’s going to (Twitter link). The Thunder are expected to waive Ish Smith to accommodate all the moves, Mayberry adds.

2:49pm: The Thunder will send the draft rights to center Tibor Pleiss to the Jazz, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman (on Twitter).

2:44pm: Guard D.J. Augustin is headed from the Pistons to OKC in the deal, according to Wojnarowski (on Twitter). The former No. 9 overall pick averaged 10.6 PPG and 4.98 APG in 23.8 minutes per game for the Pistons this season.

2:15pm: Steve Novak is heading from the Jazz to the Thunder in the deal, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com (on Twitter).  Jody Genessy of The Deseret News (on Twitter) first reported that Novak would be included in the three-way swap.

1:56pm: It’s now a three-way deal, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter links).  The Jazz will send Enes Kanter to OKC, the Thunder will ship Kendrick Perkins to Utah, and Detroit will send Kyle Singler to OKC.

Talks with the Jazz about Kanter picked up today as OKC weighed the pros and cons of the Nets’ Brook Lopez/Jackson proposal.  For his part, Kanter made it clear last week that he’s frustrated with his role and wants a trade.  In 49 games this season, Kanter has averaged 13.8 PPG and 7.8 RPG – both career-highs, in 27.1 minutes per contest.  For his career, the former No. 3 overall pick has put up 9.3 PPG and 5.9 RPG across four seasons in Utah.

Perkins, 30, is now slated to join the third franchise in his NBA career.  The big man has been playing mostly in a reserve role this season, averaging 4.0 PPG and 5.5 RPG in 19.2 minutes per contest.  In total, Perkins has put up 5.6 PPG and 6.0 RPG over the course of 12 seasons with the Celtics and Thunder.

1:50pm: The Thunder have traded Jackson to the Pistons, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).

1:34pm: The Pistons are making a strong run at Reggie Jackson, a league source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).  Jackson appeared to be Brooklyn-bound earlier today, but it’s not clear if that deal will be consummated.

The Thunder and the Nets were discussing the framework of a deal that would involve Brook Lopez going to OKC and Jackson going to Brooklyn.  However, the Thunder pumped the breaks a bit on the talks when they started looking at a deal with another team.  Given that Detroit is enthusiastic about landing Jackson, the PIstons might be the party putting a spoke in that wheel.

Jackson’s agent, Aaron Mintz, recently requested that the Thunder trade his client, who’s due for restricted free agency this summer. The Kings, Bucks, Heat, Pacers, Rockets and Nuggets also registered their interest in Jackson, while there are conflicting reports about whether the Celtics are pursuing him.

The 24-year-old turned down an extension offer in the neighborhood of four years and $48MM this past fall, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (Twitter link). That was around the time teams around the league thought he’d end up commanding $13-14MM a year this summer, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported at the time.