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Thunder Sign Jack White To Two-Year Deal

July 20th, 2023 at 5:21pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 20: The Thunder have announced in a press statement that the team has officially signed White. Oklahoma City waived veteran forward Rudy Gay to open up a roster spot.

JULY 1: The Thunder are signing free agent forward Jack White to a two-year contract, agent Sammy Wloszczowski tells Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link).

White had been a restricted free agent after being issued a qualifying offer by the Nuggets. Based on Charania’s wording, it sounds like the Thunder are confident they won’t face resistance on the deal, whether that means Denver won’t match an offer sheet or the Nuggets are dropping the QO, making White unrestricted.

A 6’7″ forward out of Australia, White played four college seasons at Duke from 2016-20 but didn’t have a significant role. He had a bigger opportunity playing for Melbourne United of the NBL, which he used to garner NBA attention.

White played for Denver’s Summer League team last year and impressed, earning a two-way contract from the Nuggets. While he only made 17 appearances for 66 minutes in 2022/23 as a rookie for the reigning champions, he’ll get his ring and now lands a standard contract with OKC.

The 25-year-old had a strong showing for the Grand Rapids Gold (Denver’s G League affiliate) in the ’22/23 regular season, averaging 19.5 PPG, 8.9 RPG and 0.9 SPG on a .544/.409/.737 shooting line in 15 games (31.3 MPG). He was even more efficient during the fall Showcase cup, averaging 17.2 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.0 BPG and 0.9 SPG on .600/.500/.818 shooting in 12 games (32.5 MPG).

Free Agency Notes: Collison, Suns, Jerome, White, Cap Room, Joseph

July 2nd, 2023 at 11:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Free agent guard Darren Collison didn’t play in the NBA at all last season and has appeared in just three games since 2019, but he hasn’t given up on earning a spot on an opening-night roster this fall. According to Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report (Twitter link), Collison worked out last week for the Suns and had a “great showing.”

The Suns, who entered free agency with eight players under contract, have reached deals with seven free agents, so they project to have a full 15-man roster. However, Haynes says the club continues to be “aggressive” in seeking role players.

One way Phoenix could open up a roster spot is by waiving or trading Isaiah Todd, whose inclusion in the Bradley Beal trade seemed to be more about Washington moving off his guaranteed 2023/24 salary than the Suns specifically targeting him. Still, any form of salary dump will be costly for a Suns team that projects to be well over the tax line and doesn’t have any future draft picks left to trade.

Here are a few more notes related to free agency:

The Warriors withdrew their qualifying offer to Ty Jerome, while the Nuggets did the same with Jack White, per RealGM’s transactions log. Reports on Saturday indicated that Jerome had reached a contract agreement with the Cavaliers and that White is poised to sign with the Thunder. With those qualifying offers no longer on the table, the two players are no longer restricted free agents, clearing the path for them to freely join their new teams as unrestricted FAs.
Once coveted for its power to attract a top free agent, maximum-salary cap room no longer has the cachet it once did, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who notes that the Rockets were the only team this summer to use a significant chunk of cap space to sign a marquee free agent (Fred VanVleet) to a huge, multiyear deal. Most other teams with room have used it for trades, renegotiations, or smaller (and/or shorter-term) signings. As Hollinger observes, the new contract extension rules in the 2017 CBA have resulted in fewer stars reaching the open market, with 2019 standing out as the last big summer of free agent movement.
Warriors guards Chris Paul and Stephen Curry are 38 and 35 years old, respectively, and have each dealt with injuries over the years. The addition of Cory Joseph, who agreed to a one-year deal with Golden State on Sunday, will help ensure that those veteran stars get the rest they need during the regular season, according to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area, who takes a closer look at what Joseph will bring to the team.

Cameron Johnson, Coby White Among Players Receiving QOs

June 28th, 2023 at 7:28am CST by Luke Adams

A series of players have been issued qualifying offers by their respective teams, making them restricted free agents, according to RealGM’s official NBA transaction log.

Nets forward Cameron Johnson and Bulls guard Coby White are among the most notable QO recipients within the last couple days. Johnson’s qualifying offer is worth $8,486,620, while White’s is worth $7,744,600.

For many restricted free agents, qualifying offers essentially function as placeholders, giving the team the right of first refusal on the player as long as that QO remains on the table.

It’s also a one-year contract offer that the player is free to accept at any time, which is a more viable route for some RFAs than others — Johnson, for instance, looks like a safe bet to secure a lucrative multiyear deal, so it would be a major surprise if he simply accepted his $8.5MM qualifying offer.

Besides Johnson and White, here are some of the players who have received qualifying offers this week and are now restricted free agents, per RealGM:

Ayo Dosunmu, Bulls ($5,216,324)
Jock Landale, Suns ($2,219,706)
- Note: This is a projected amount. Landale’s QO will be worth $200K more than his minimum salary.
Trent Forrest, Hawks (two-way)
Terry Taylor, Bulls (two-way)
Collin Gillespie, Nuggets (two-way)
Jack White, Nuggets (two-way)
Kendall Brown, Pacers (two-way)
Moussa Diabate, Clippers (two-way)
Saben Lee, Suns (two-way)

The deadline for teams to issue qualifying offers is Thursday, so we’ll likely get many more updates on QOs being extended to players today and tomorrow.

Northwest Notes: Green, Jazz, Wallace

August 11th, 2022 at 7:10pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Nuggets forward Jeff Green put together a voluntary minicamp for himself and some of his Denver teammates this week in Miami, per Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports (Twitter link). Davon Reed, Zeke Nnaji, Christian Braun, Peyton Watson and Jack White joined Green for the workouts. Wind adds that additional players hoped to join them but were unable to carve out the time in their schedules.

The Nuggets are preparing for an exciting 2022/23 NBA season, with reigning two-time MVP Nikola Jokic set to be rejoined by point guard Jamal Murray, who missed all of 2021/22 due to a left ACL tear, and small forward Michael Porter Jr., who appeared in just nine games before back surgery waylaid him for the rest of the year. The team’s starting lineup will be rounded out by power forward Aaron Gordon and newly-acquired 3-and-D specialist Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Nuggets role players like Green, Reed, and Nanji, plus the three rookies joining them in Miami this week, could prove to be important contributors during what Denver hopes will be an extended postseason run.

There’s more out of the Northwest Division:

After the Jazz appeared to signal the beginning of a rebuild with their trade of All-Star center Rudy Gobert for a package comprising young players, movable veterans and draft compensation, they seem set for a lackluster 2022/23 season. Brandon Judd of the Deseret News notes that Kendra Andrews, Andrew Lopez and Kevin Pelton of ESPN (Insider link) projects the club to finish with a 26-56 record next season.
Former Nuggets scouting coordinator Jon Wallace is departing his post in Denver to join the Timberwolves as both Minnesota’s director of player personnel and the general manager of the club’s NBAGL affiliate, the Iowa Wolves, reports Mike Singer of the Denver Post (Twitter link). Wallace tweets that Wallace was especially valued with the Nuggets for his impact on their guards. Wallace is joining a revamped Minnesota front office led by Tim Connelly, himself the former Denver team president.
In case you missed it, Timberwolves majority owner Glen Taylor recently sat for a long-ranging discussion about the new-look team’s personnel and expectations.

Nuggets Sign Jack White To Two-Way Contract

July 19th, 2022 at 9:45pm CST by JD Shaw

JULY 19: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 17: The Nuggets are signing Australian forward Jack White to a two-way contract, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). As Wojnarowski notes, White is coming off a strong summer league stint with the team.

White, 6’7″, played four seasons at Duke before going undrafted in 2020. He signed with the NBL’s Melbourne United that summer, helping the team win a title in his first professional season. The 24-year-old also averaged 9.5 points and 6.6 rebounds in 22.5 minutes per game this past year.

“This is an amazing opportunity for me to take another step towards living out my dream of playing in the NBA, so I couldn’t be more grateful to the Nuggets for giving me a shot,” White said, as relayed in Melbourne United’s press release.

Denver now has both two-way spots and every spot on its 15-man roster filled. The team has a strong nucleus of Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic and expects to be a perennial championship contender next season.