Jared Cunningham Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Hornets Work Out Free Agent Guards

July 25th, 2017 at 11:03am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 25, 11:03am: Michael Scotto (via Twitter) fills out the list of free agent guards who worked out today for the Hornets — Demetrius Jackson, Marcus Paige, Jared Cunningham, and Nick Johnson were also part of the group.

JULY 25, 8:16am: The Hornets will also work out free agent point guard Isaiah Canaan, according to Chris Haynes of ESPN, who tweets that the group session will take place on Tuesday.

JULY 24, 2:47pm: Former Georgia guard J.J. Frazier will also take part in the Hornets’ workout this week, tweets Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders.

JULY 24, 11:48am: The Hornets are bringing in free agent guard Donald Sloan for a workout, according to international basketball reporter David Pick (Twitter link). Another free agent point guard, Norris Cole, will also work out for the club, per Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).

While Charlotte’s starting backcourt figures to look the same heading into the 2017/18 season, the team is making some changes on the bench. Backup point guards Ramon Sessions and Brian Roberts aren’t returning, and Marco Belinelli was traded to Atlanta. Belinelli’s roster spot has been claimed by lottery pick Malik Monk, and the Hornets signed Michael Carter-Williams as the probable backup for Kemba Walker at the point, but the club may add one more point guard to its roster for depth purposes.

Currently, Briante Weber holds that third point guard spot on the roster, but his deal is non-guaranteed. Per Basketball Insiders, Weber’s salary is believed to become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through August 1, so the fact that the Hornets are taking a closer look at veteran point guards now may not bode well for Weber’s hold on a roster spot.

Sloan, 29, has more than 200 NBA regular season games under his belt, but spent the 2016/17 season in China with the Guangdong Southern Tigers. His team-high 23.6 PPG and 6.5 APG helped buoy the club to an appearance in the CBA Finals.

As for Cole, the 28-year-old played sparingly for the Thunder last season, but has extensive NBA experience with the Heat and Pelicans, having appeared in 360 total regular season contests since 2011.

Clippers Notes: Austin Rivers, D-League, Ingles

April 16th, 2017 at 12:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Austin Rivers will miss at least one more game of the playoff series with the Jazz because of a left hamstring strain that he suffered late in the season, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times. His father and coach, Doc Rivers, said Austin went through a shooting session Saturday for the first time since the injury. He also did some light sprints and dribbling drills as the workout went better than a previous attempt. “I was on the court three or four days ago,” Austin Rivers told Bill Oram of The Orange County Register, “and it didn’t really go as I planned. Didn’t feel good and they took me off and waited a couple more days, with a little treatment and stuff like that. Today we tried it again and it worked.” He is aiming to be ready for Game 3 Friday night in Utah.

There’s more today out of Los Angeles:

The Clippers are hoping to add a D-League franchise next season, reports Adam Johnson of D-League Digest. The original plan was to have a team in place for 2018/19, but the organization decided it doesn’t want to wait that long. Ontario, California, is the preferred location, and the Clippers are awaiting league approval for that site. If that doesn’t work out, Johnson suggests Bakersfield as an alternative. The city hosted the Bakersfield Jam before that franchise was purchased by the Suns and moved to Northern Arizona. The new team would be the 26th in the D-League and the fourth to join next season.
The Clippers are facing Utah’s Joe Ingles in the playoffs three years after waiving him. Doc Rivers says the move was necessary because of another contract that the Clippers were obligated to keep, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. That contract belonged to Jared Cunningham, who only spent 19 games in L.A., according to Dan Woike of DanWoikeSports (Twitter link). Ingles was waived by the Clippers on October 25th, 2014, and claimed by the Jazz two days later.
The Clippers should have been more inspired in Game 1 considering that their long-term future is at stake, writes Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin can both opt out this summer, and the core of the team could be broken up with another early playoff exit.

Jared Cunningham To Play In China

August 23rd, 2016 at 9:51am CST by Luke Adams

After spending four seasons in the NBA and the D-League, Jared Cunningham is taking his talents overseas for the 2016/17 season. As relayed by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando, Cunningham has signed with Chinese team Jiangsu Tongxi.

The 24th overall pick in the 2012 draft, Cunningham was sent to Dallas by the Cavaliers in a draft-day trade, the first move in an NBA journey that saw the former Oregon State guard spend time with six different teams. The Mavericks, Hawks, Kings, Clippers, Cavaliers, and Bucks have all had Cunningham on their regular-season rosters for at least brief stints since he entered the league.

In total, Cunningham appeared in 84 regular-season contests, including 40 with the Cavs last season. He never carved out a consistent role, however, averaging just 2.3 PPG on .347/.306/.674 shooting for his NBA career.

The 25-year-old had more success in the D-League, where he averaged 17.2 PPG for four separate teams in 69 overall games. However, by heading to China, Cunningham will get a chance to earn more playing time than he would in the NBA, and more money than he would in the D-League.

Northwest Notes: Mitchell, Harkless, Cunningham

April 2nd, 2016 at 12:16pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Timberwolves should not bring back interim coach Sam Mitchell, Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune opines. Mitchell’s dour personality doesn’t mesh with the team’s enthusiastic young stars and he’s not among the top 15 available candidates, Souhan continues. Tom Thibodeau, Luke Walton and Scott Brooks are among the potential candidates that the team should look at, Souhan adds.

In other news around the Northwest Division:

Small forward Maurice Harkless has emerged as a starter for the Trail Blazers, according to Mike Richman of The Oregonian. With Harkless in the lineup, Al-Farouq Aminu has shifted to power forward with Noah Vonleh moving to a reserve role. The pairing of Harkless and Aminu gives Portland more defensive versatility, as Harkless told Richman. “I think it just changes the dynamic,” Harkless said. “Defensively, we can pretty much switch everything one through four. Offensively, it creates an advantage for me or Al-Farouq, whoever the big guy is guarding.”
Jared Cunningham has returned to the Jazz’s D-League affiliate, the Idaho Stampede, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor tweets. The 24-year-old shooting guard has lived a nomadic existence this season. He appeared in 40 games with the Cavaliers, was waived by the Magic after they acquired him as part of the Channing Frye swap, then signed with the Stampede. He also signed a 10-day contract with the Bucks in mid-March but Milwaukee declined to offer him another 10-day deal.
Nuggets shooting guard Gary Harris has responded to coach Michael Malone’s challenge to become a much bigger factor in his second season, Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post writes. Harris solidified himself as the team’s starting shooting guard in a make-or-break season to prove himself, Dempsey continues. Harris has reached double digits in 23 of his last 25 games, shedding his label as a defensive specialist. “Just being more aggressive on the offensive and defensive end,” Harris told Dempsey. “Just getting back into it. Instead of just being labeled as a defender, being an all-around player.”

Eastern Notes: Dunn, Sixers, Bucks

March 26th, 2016 at 9:09pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Sixers are interested in drafting Providence’s Kris Dunn should the team have a pick in the range where the point guard is projected to go, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Dunn is the fifth-best prospect in the upcoming draft, according to Jonathan Givony of Draft Express, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com has him as the seventh-best prospect. The Sixers are currently atop our Reverse Standings, meaning if the season ended today, they would be a guaranteed one of the top four selections. Philadelphia owns a top-three protected first-rounder from the Lakers, a top-10 protected first-rounder from the Heat, and a top-15 protected first-rounder from the Thunder.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Ish Smith would like to stay with the Sixers, but he’ll have options on the free agent market, Pompey writes in the same piece. “I love this city,” Smith said of Philadelphia. “Fans have been great. Man I would love to, but you never know.”
The Bucks will not bring back Jared Cunningham, Matt Velazquez of the Journal Sentinel writes. Cunningham, whose 10-day deal with the team expired on Friday night, was signed via the NBA’s hardship provision and the team needs to leave a roster spot open for the impending return of Greivis Vasquez.
The Bucks recalled Rashad Vaughn from the Canton Charge, according to the team’s website. He appeared in four games during his stint in the D-League, scoring 8.0 points per game.

Bucks Ink Jared Cunningham To 10-Day Deal

March 16th, 2016 at 11:36am CST by Eddie Scarito

WEDNESDAY, 11:36am: The signing is official, the team announced.

TUESDAY, 6:33pm: The Bucks are close to signing Jared Cunningham to a 10-day deal, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). Milwaukee currently has the league maximum of 15 players on its roster, which likely means that the team has applied for an extra slot via the hardship provision, though that is merely my speculation. Otherwise, the Bucks would be forced to waive a player prior to inking Cunningham.

In order for a team to be granted an extra roster spot, it must have three players who have missed at least three straight games because of injury or illness, plus a fourth player who is also unable to perform. The Bucks certainly meet that criteria, with O.J. Mayo, Steve Novak and Michael Carter-Williams all lost for the season and Greivis Vasquez expected to be out of action until at least the end of March.

Cunningham, 24, recently rejoined the Idaho Stampede in the NBA D-League as a returning player after the Magic waived him. Orlando had acquired him via the swap that sent Channing Frye to the Cavaliers at the trade deadline. The shooting guard appeared in 40 games for the Cavaliers, including three starts, but he didn’t see action for the Magic. His numbers on the season are 2.6 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 8.9 minutes per contest. His slash line is .352/.313/.625.

Jared Cunningham To Join Jazz D-League Team

March 8th, 2016 at 9:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Jared Cunningham has rejoined the the Idaho Stampede in the NBA D-League as a returning player, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor reports (Twitter link). Idaho is Utah’s affiliate, but Cunningham will still have the ability to sign with any NBA team that expresses interest in his services.

The Magic waived the 24-year-old after taking him in via the swap that sent Channing Frye to the Cavaliers at the trade deadline. Cunningham is still in line to make his full $981,348 salary, with Orlando on the hook for $947,276 of it and the league picking up the rest. While that is certainly not a king’s ransom by today’s NBA standards, it will certainly allow the player the ability to wait out his next NBA opportunity without having to jump at the first offer he were to receive.

Cunningham appeared in 40 games for the Cavaliers, including three starts, prior to the deal that sent him to Orlando. His numbers on the season are 2.6 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 8.9 minutes per contest. His slash line is .352/.313/.625.

Magic Waive Jared Cunningham

February 22nd, 2016 at 4:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:30pm: The move is official, the Magic’s public relations department announced via Twitter.

4:13pm: The Magic have waived Jared Cunningham, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). The team hasn’t publicly acknowledged the move, but it took place today, according to Robbins. The release was expected, with Magic-employed beat writer John Denton going so far as to write that Orlando would cut the former 24th overall pick who came via Thursday’s trade with the Cavaliers. The reason Cunningham lingered on the Magic roster for as long as he did is because they were waiting on Channing Frye, who went to Cleveland in the swap, to pass his physical. He did so earlier today, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Cunningham won his way onto the regular season roster for the Cavs with a strong preseason, averaging 12.4 points in 25.3 minutes per game, enough of a case for Cleveland to risk paying approximately $3.8MM in extra luxury tax penalties on top of their $947,276 obligation on his minimum salary. That risk became even more profound when the Cavs kept him past the date in January when his one-year contract became fully guaranteed. His tight bond with LeBron James surely didn’t hurt his case to stick around in Cleveland, but he averaged only 2.6 points in 8.9 minutes during the regular season, and the Cavs ultimately moved off his salary, and all the tax implications connected with it, on the final day possible, shipping him to the Magic.

The 24-year-old is still in line to make his full $981,348 salary, with the Magic on the hook for $947,276 of it and the league picking up the rest. That assumes he clears waivers, however. Every team except Orlando and Cleveland is eligible to claim him off waivers, as long as they have an open roster spot, and he seems like a decent candidate for a claim, given his first-round pedigree, relative youth and preseason performance.

Cavs Acquire Frye, Trade Varejao To Blazers

February 18th, 2016 at 11:54pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kim Klement / USA Today Sports Images

4:52pm: The Cavaliers have acquired Channing Frye and traded Anderson Varejao to the Trail Blazers in a deal that’s officially structured as two separate trades, the Cavs announced via press release. The Blazers and Magic have also formally acknowledged their respective sides of the arrangement. The Cavs sent Varejao and their top-10 protected 2018 first-round pick to the Trail Blazers for their own 2020 second-round pick, which Cleveland had relinquished to Portland in a previous trade. Cleveland then sent it to the Magic, without protection, along with Jared Cunningham, for Frye. The Blazers subsequently waived Varejao, and John Denton of Magic.com confirms an initial report from Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports that the Magic will waive Cunningham (Twitter link).

The Cavs hadn’t been optimistic about landing Frye, believing the Clippers would outbid them, notes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (on Twitter), but L.A. wouldn’t bite on a reported proposal that reportedly involved Lance Stephenson and C.J. Wilcox. The Magic had been trying to trade Frye, according to an earlier report from Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who suggested the effort to find a taker for the 32-year-old would accelerate once the team traded Tobias Harris, Frye’s cousin. Frye has two years and nearly $15.228MM left on his contract after this season.

“Channing Frye is someone we know well. His length, floor spacing ability and locker room presence will impact us positively,” Cavs GM David Griffin said in the team’s statement. “He is a great fit with our group, both on the court and off, and we look forward to Channing, his wife Lauren, and their children, Hendrix and Margaux joining us here in Cleveland.”

The 32-year-old Frye has long been a prototypical floor-stretching big man, nailing 39.7% of his 3-pointers this season and 38.7% for his career. He averaged 17.1 minutes per game this season in Orlando, the second fewest of his career but more than Varejao, who saw 10.0 minutes per game this year in Cleveland, where he’s spent all of his 12 NBA seasons. The longtime confidant of LeBron James, who entered the league the same year Varejao did, saw his playing time slashed to new lows this season as he returned from an injury that prematurely ended last season for him.

“Anderson is a special player, teammate and person,” Griffin said. “Few players have earned the respect, support and admiration of an entire organization, fan base and community as Andy did here. Those are all things that made this a difficult deal to do. At the same time, we have a deep obligation to do whatever we can to reach our ultimate goal and we believe this was a deal that improves our team now and positions us better in the future as well. We thank Andy for his hard work, dedication and contributions to the Cavaliers and our community and wish him and his wife, Marcelle, the very, very best.”

The Cavs reportedly offered Varejao for Frye to the Magic, who were reluctant, but the Cavs insisted that they be able to offload Varejao somehow if they were to come away with Frye, wary of the tax implications of having both on the roster. Thus, the Blazers came into the picture, absorbing Varejao into their ample cap space and turning a second-rounder into a first for their trouble. Varejao has close to $10MM in guaranteed salary for after this season remaining on the extension he signed with the Cavaliers in 2014.

“This was an opportunistic way to use our cap room to acquire a valuable asset,” Blazers GM Neil Olshey said.

The pair of swaps save the Cavaliers an estimated $10MM in combined salary and projected luxury tax penalties, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com notes (Twitter link). Frye makes $8,193,029 this season, while Varejao has a $9,638,554 salary that increases slightly thanks to a 5% trade kicker. Cunningham makes the three-year veteran’s minimum salary of $981,348 but only costs $947,276, the equivalent of the two-year veteran’s minimum, to the Magic because he is on a one-year deal. Orlando will be stuck with that figure on its books, though that’s scarcely burdensome, since the subtraction of Frye takes the Magic significantly below the salary cap.

It’s somewhat surprising that Orlando isn’t keeping Cunningham, the 24th overall pick from 2012 whose NBA career was in jeopardy before a strong preseason performance in which he averaged 12.4 points per game allowed him to make Cleveland’s opening-night roster on what was initially a non-guaranteed deal. He forged a close kinship with LeBron. Regardless, neither he nor Varejao will be allowed to rejoin Cleveland this season even if they clear waivers and become free agents.

The Cavaliers used their $10,522,500 Brendan Haywood trade exception to accommodate the Frye trade, reducing its value to $2,329,471. The Varejao trade allows them to create a new sizable trade exception, worth $9,638,554, that won’t expire for another year. Offloading Cunningham allows the Cavs another new trade exception, worth $947,276.

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News first reported the Cavs would acquire Frye from the Magic (Twitter link). Sam Amick of USA Today had news of Varejao going to the Blazers (Twitter link), while Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reported that the Blazers would waive him (Twitter link). USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt heard Cunningham was going to Orlando (Twitter link), while Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports relayed that he’d also be waived (Twitter link). McMenamin had word that the first-rounder was going to Portland (Twitter link), and Eric Gunderson of The Columbian heard that the first-rounder headed to Portland was top-10 protected (Twitter link). Spears reported the Magic would get a second-round pick (Twitter link). RealGM shows it’s Cleveland’s own 2020 pick and unprotected, and also confirms that the 2018 first-rounder going to Portland is Cleveland’s own.

Cavs Notes: Cunningham, Harris, LeBron, Love

January 8th, 2016 at 1:48pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers thought when the regular season began that they’d waive Jared Cunningham by Thursday, the final day they could release him without paying his full-season salary, but they made up their minds weeks ago to retain him, a source told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Still, the recent injury to Joe Harris posed an issue, Lloyd writes. The team would still like to somehow open a roster spot in advance of the trade deadline to provide flexibility for the post-deadline buyout market, Lloyd adds, suggesting that trading Harris, as the team has tried to do for weeks, is the only viable way of accomplishing that. The Cavs dodged a bullet today when Mo Williams said that he won’t require surgery on a partially torn ligament in his right thumb and that he’ll play through the injury as it heals over the next six weeks, tweets Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. See more on the Cavs:

LeBron James didn’t mention Andrew Wiggins in his summer 2014 Sports Illustrated essay announcing the four-time MVP’s return to Cleveland because he simply wasn’t familiar with him, James recently told Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports. Many speculated that the omission was a signal that James wanted the Cavs to trade Wiggins for Kevin Love, a move the team ultimately made. “I didn’t know the kid, really,” James said of Wiggins. “I knew Dion [Waiters]. I knew Kyrie [Irving]. I knew Tristan [Thompson]. I knew all the guys that I was playing with before. I didn’t know the kid, so it wasn’t no big issue to me.”
Wiggins isn’t bitter, telling Lee in the same piece that the trade “put me in a better place.”
The max contract that Kevin Love signed this summer “gave me that little extra edge and push” to recover from the shoulder injury he suffered in the playoffs, Love said to Lee. The power forward’s primary desire in free agency was to remain in a winning situation, as he explained to James. “When I talked to him this summer and when he went over what he wanted, what he needed, the most important thing that came out of it was, ‘I just want to win. And I want to win at a high level because I went through too many losing seasons in Minnesota,’” James said to Lee. “And I said, ‘If that’s the case, we can figure out all that other stuff. If you want to win, we can figure out all that other stuff.’ And he’s been unbelievable from that point on.”