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Grizzlies Notes: Huff, Jenkins, Morant, Edey

October 28th, 2024 at 10:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said Jay Huff earned his promotion by delivering when called upon, Jenkins said in the pregame press conference on Monday. Huff had his two-way deal converted into a standard four-year contract on Monday.

“He took full advantage of his opportunity. Once he signed here, he was a participant [in the] offseason workouts with his teammates, and then at the start of the season, we learned a lot,” Jenkins said. “Obviously, we had studied him in college and his first couple of years in the NBA, but he’s more dynamic than I remember. The way he can run the floor [and] obviously his shooting has been a great addition to this group, especially at the four or five position. Some versatility there offensively, the principles that we’re talking about, how he moves without the ball. I think he’s picked up on that great.

“… And then defensively, he’s still learning our system, things that we need to do to deploy him. But I think he was Defensive Player of the Year in the G League last year. … This guy has said multiple times that he’ll accept any role, and it’s great to see that he got rewarded for that, because that just adds to the depth that we need for the season.”

We have more on the Grizzlies:

  • Huff’s contract includes two guaranteed years with partial guarantees for the third season and a fourth-year team option, The Athletic’s John Hollinger tweets. That option would be partially guaranteed if it’s exercised.
  • Ja Morant missed Monday’s game due to right thigh soreness, the team’s PR department tweets. Morant averaged 20.7 points and 7.3 assists in the first three games after playing just nine times last season due to a suspension and shoulder surgery.
  • Zach Edey was touted as a potential Rookie of the Year but he’s off to a slow start. Edey is still adjusting to the NBA pace, he told Kelly Iko of The Athletic. “We didn’t really get up and down too much at Purdue,” Edey said. “We were more in the half court, slow the pace down. But it’s just basketball. You just have to adjust.”
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Grizzlies Sign Jay Huff To Four-Year Contract

October 28th, 2024 at 3:32pm CST by Earnest Marshall

8:55pm: Huff has officially signed the multiyear deal, according to a team press release.

3:32pm: The Grizzlies are converting center Jay Huff from his two-way deal to a standard, four-year contract, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). Memphis has an open 15-man roster spot, so no corresponding move is necessary.

Huff has been outstanding for the Grizzlies to begin the year, averaging 13.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game while shooting 63.6% from the field and 57.1% from beyond the arc. He has helped the Grizzlies win two of their first three games to open the season.

The Grizzlies could theoretically have kept Huff on his two-way deal well into the season, as teams are permitted to have two-way players active for 50 games apiece if they have 15 players on the standard roster or 90 combined games if they have 14 (like the Grizzlies did).

However, given the way Huff impressed the team in training camp, the preseason, and the regular season, the front office decided there was no reason to wait on promoting him.

As in recent years, Memphis is rewarding an impressive young player who had been on a two-way deal with a team-friendly long-term contract. GG Jackson, Vince Williams Jr. and Scotty Pippen Jr. each followed a similar path, with Pippen’s promotion occurring less than two weeks ago.

Huff went undrafted in 2021 after playing his college ball at Virginia. He spent time on two-ways with the Lakers, Wizards and Nuggets, but didn’t catch on with any of them at the NBA level despite earning Defensive Player of the Year honors in the G League in 2023.

The Grizzlies now have a two-way slot available. They can fill that with any player with fewer than four years of NBA experience. Maozinha Pereira, who earned a 10-day contract with the team and spent training camp with the Grizzlies, is one option worth keeping an eye on.

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Southwest Notes: Cuban, Thompson, Grizzlies, Sheppard, Sochan

August 31st, 2024 at 8:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

Appearing on The Roommates Show podcast (video link), Mark Cuban suggested that Klay Thompson might get better scoring opportunities with the Mavericks than he did during his years with the Warriors. Cuban explained that playing alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving should free up Thompson for plenty of open shots.

“Obviously the big addition was Klay,” Cuban said in addressing the team’s offseason moves. “Just somebody who you have to face guard, who’s going to make 40% (from three-point range), and we’re hoping, you know at Golden State he had to always be on the move. They had that motion offense where he was always coming off screens and running. We don’t do that, or not nearly as much, and sure we’ll run some of that action for him, but just standing in the corner, and standing in the wings, and just catch and shoot from Luka and Ky. Hopefully his life is going to be a lot easier.”

Following a trip to the NBA Finals, Dallas has worked to upgrade its roster this summer. Along with adding Thompson, the Mavs improved their perimeter depth by picking up Quentin Grimes, Naji Marshall and Spencer Dinwiddie.

“We wanted to keep that defensive mindset, but we also wanted somebody that was going to be able to make a three,” Cuban added, “because Luka is always going to get you an open look, Kyrie is going to get you an open look or score on their own.” 

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • DaMichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal examines the Grizzlies‘ options for their open roster spot after waiving Mamadi Diakite this week. Cole states that the team could either promote one of its two-way players, sign a free agent to improve the bench or keep the slot open for a move later in the season. Cole believes Scotty Pippen Jr. and Jay Huff are the two-way players with the best chance of receiving a standard contract, while center and point guard are the positions with the greatest need for more depth.
  • There’s been skepticism on whether Reed Sheppard will play enough on a deep Rockets team to be a serious Rookie of the Year candidate, but Tim McMahon stated on the Hoop Collective podcast that playing time shouldn’t be an issue (Twitter link from Chris Gorman). “He’ll be on the floor,” McMahon said. “I think he’ll play a significant role as a play-maker off the bench.”
  • Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan wasn’t hurt in a one-vehicle crash last weekend, according to Raul Trey Lopez of The San Antonio Express-News. Sochan told police that he “lost control” of his $240K Porsche 911 GT3 RS before hitting a guardrail.
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Contract Details: Mobley, Hauser, Reeves, Mamukelashvili

July 25th, 2024 at 7:21pm CST by Luke Adams

Evan Mobley‘s new maximum-salary extension with the Cavaliers features a 15% trade kicker and is fully guaranteed, with no player or team option on the fifth year, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

As Brian Windhorst previously reported, Mobley’s deal includes multiple levels of Rose Rule incentives and could end up starting at either 25%, 27.5%, or 30% of the 2025/26 cap, depending on whether the big man earns end-of-season honors next season. According to Windhorst, a spot on the All-NBA Third Team would bump Mobley’s starting salary to 27.5% of the cap, but he’d have to make one of the top two teams or win Defensive Player of the Year to increase that figure to 30%.

Here are a few more details on recently signed NBA contracts:

  • Sam Hauser‘s four-year extension with the Celtics is worth exactly $45MM, as previously reported, and has a straightforward ascending structure with 8% annual raises, tweets cap expert Yossi Gozlan. Hauser’s contract starts at just over $10MM in 2025/26 and increases to nearly $12.5MM by the fourth year (2028/29).
  • Antonio Reeves‘ three-year, minimum-salary contract with the Pelicans is only fully guaranteed for the 2024/25 season, Hoops Rumors has learned. Reeves’ second-year salary would become 50% guaranteed if he remains under contract through at least July 23, 2025, while his third-year team option is non-guaranteed.
  • Sandro Mamukelashvili‘s one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Spurs is fully guaranteed, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Mamukelashvili also waived his right to veto a trade. San Antonio has 14 players with guaranteed salaries for 2024/25, with a 15th player (Julian Champagnie) on a non-guaranteed standard contract.
  • The two-way contracts recently signed by Jeff Dowtin (Sixers), Jay Huff (Grizzlies), and DJ Steward (Bulls) are each for one season.
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Grizzlies Sign Jay Huff To Two-Way Deal, Waive Trey Jemison

July 24th, 2024 at 1:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Grizzlies have signed free agent big man Jay Huff to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link). In order to open up a two-way slot for Huff, Memphis waived center Trey Jemison.

Huff, who went undrafted out of Virginia in 2021, has bounced back and forth between the NBA and G League over the past three years, appearing in 31 regular season NBA games during that time, including 20 while on a two-way contract with the Nuggets last season.

Huff’s contributions at the NBA level have been modest (2.4 points and 1.2 rebounds in 5.3 minutes per game), but he has excelled in the NBAGL, earning Defensive Player of the Year and All-NBAGL First Team honors in 2023. In 18 games last season for the Grand Rapids Gold – Denver’s affiliate – he averaged 19.1 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 3.6 blocks in 28.9 minutes per contest, with a strong shooting line of .573/.390/.857.

The 7’1″ center was also impressive at the Las Vegas Summer League with the Magic this month, putting up 16.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 2.2 BPG on .621/.357/.778 shooting in five outings (26.5 MPG).

Jemison signed a 10-day contract with the Grizzlies in January, then agreed to a two-year, two-way deal when that contract expired. He earned regular minutes down the stretch on a Memphis roster hit hard by injuries, averaging 7.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 1.2 BPG in 23 games (24.9 MPG). However, it appears he’s not in the team’s plans going forward, at least for now.

Huff joins Cam Spencer and Scotty Pippen Jr. as the Grizzlies’ two-way players.

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Jay Huff Signs Two-Way Deal With Nuggets

July 18th, 2023 at 3:41pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JULY 18: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 16: Free agent center Jay Huff has agreed to sign a two-way deal with the Nuggets, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

This will mark the third two-way contract for Huff, a 7’1″ big man out of Virginia. The 2019 NCAA champion first joined the Lakers on a two-way agreement in 2021/22, and most recently was a two-way player for the Wizards in 2022/23.

Huff has spent most of his pro time with the G League affiliates of those clubs, having appeared in a grand total of just 11 NBA games. In those contests, he’s posted averages of 4.6 PPG on .536/.429/.938 shooting splits, along with 2.3 RPG and 1.0 APG.

Across 28 total regular season appearances split between the Lakers’ NBAGL team, the South Bay Lakers, and then eventually the Wizards’ affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, Huff posted averages of 15.0 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 2.9 BPG and 1.3 SPG in 2022/23.

For his efforts last season, he was named the NBA G League Defensive Player of the Year, as well as an All-NBA G League First Teamer and an NBA G League All-Defensive Teamer.

Most recently, Huff has been playing for the Rockets’ Summer League club.

The Nuggets also recently agreed to a two-way deal with forward Braxton Key, and have a two-way qualifying offer on the table for guard Collin Gillespie.

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NBAGL Announces 2022/23 All-League Awards

April 13th, 2023 at 9:30pm CST by Rory Maher

The NBA G League named the recipients of its All-League, All-Rookie, and All-Defensive teams on Thursday (all Twitter links found here). Many of the honorees are on standard NBA or two-way contracts.

Here’s the full list:

All-NBA G League First Team

All-NBA G League Second Team

All-NBA G League Third Team

NBAGL All-Defensive Team

NBAGL All-Rookie Team

  • Kenneth Lofton
  • Lester Quinones – Santa Cruz Warriors *
    • Note: Quinones placed second in ROY voting.
  • Darius Days
    • Note: Days placed third in ROY voting.
  • Jamaree Bouyea
  • Moussa Diabate

(^ denotes standard NBA contract)

(* denotes two-way contract)

(# Bouyea signed 10-day deals with the Heat and Wizards, but is now an NBA free agent)

Both Dunn and Samanic signed standard contracts with the Jazz, while Harrison signed with the Lakers at the very end of the season after playing with Portland on a 10-day deal. Duke and Lofton recently had their two-way contracts converted into standard deals.

Cooper, Chiozza and Anderson all hold NBA experience as well. Cooper spent 2021/22 — his rookie season — on a two-way deal with the Hawks; Chiozza has played for the Rockets, Nets and Warriors, and recently signed with a Spanish team; Anderson has appeared in 242 NBA games with six teams in as many seasons.

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Wizards’ Jay Huff Named G League Defensive Player Of The Year

April 4th, 2023 at 1:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Big man Jay Huff, who is on a two-way contract with the Wizards, has been named the G League’s Defensive Player of the Year, the NBA announced today (via Twitter). Thirty NBAGL head coaches and general manager voted on the award.

Huff, 25, began the G League season playing for the South Bay Lakers before joining the Capital City Go-Go when he signed his two-way deal with Washington in early March.

In 46 total games for South Bay and Capital City across both the Showcase Cup and the NBAGL regular season, Huff blocked an incredible 145 shots, which works out to a league-leading 3.2 per game.

The Go-Go had the G League’s 12th-best defensive rating before adding Huff and had the third-best mark following his arrival. Conversely, South Bay ranked No. 7 in defensive rating following Huff’s last game with the team and were just 14th the rest of the way.

Huff’s two-way contract only covers the 2022/23 season, so he’ll be eligible for restricted free agency this summer. He has only logged 15 total minutes in four appearances at the NBA level for the Wizards this season.

Veteran guard Kris Dunn, who was briefly teammates with Huff on the Go-Go, finished second in G League Defensive Player of the Year voting, while South Bay Lakers guard Shaquille Harrison was third (Twitter link). Dunn is now with the Jazz; Harrison is on a 10-day deal with the Trail Blazers.

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Wizards Sign Jay Huff To Two-Way Contract

March 2nd, 2023 at 9:13am CST by Luke Adams

MARCH 2: The signing is official, the Wizards announced in a press release.

MARCH 1: G League center Jay Huff will fill one of the open slots on the Wizards‘ 17-man roster, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the big man has agreed to sign a two-way contract with Washington.

Huff signed his first NBA contract – an Exhibit 10 deal – with Washington shortly after going undrafted out of Virginia in 2021. After being waived by the Wizards that fall, he inked a two-way deal with the Lakers. He was only on that contract for about three months before being cut again, but he has spent the majority of his first two professional seasons playing for L.A.’s G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers.

In 18 Showcase Cup games this fall, Huff averaged 16.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks in 29.3 minutes per night — I highlighted him in November as a G League prospect making a bid for an NBA call-up. He has continued to produce for South Bay since then, posting 14.3 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 3.6 BPG in 19 NBAGL regular season contests (26.2 MPG).

The Wizards have an open two-way slot after recently promoting Jordan Goodwin to their standard roster, so no corresponding move will be necessary to make room for Huff. Having waived Vernon Carey Jr. today, Washington still has one more roster spot available.

Because he’s signing so late in the season, Huff is eligible to be active for a prorated portion of the usual 50-game limit for two-way players. Assuming he signs today, he could be active for up to 12 Wizards games.

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And-Ones: World Cup Qualifiers, Nike Summit, MVP Race, Rising Stars, Draft

February 17th, 2023 at 8:52am CST by Luke Adams

With two more qualifying matches for the 2023 World Cup right around the corner, USA Basketball has officially announced the 12-man roster that will compete in February’s games. Team USA’s squad is made up primarily of G Leaguers, but features a number of players with NBA experience.

The 12 players who will represent the U.S. on February 23 vs. Uruguay and Feb. 26 vs. Brazil are Deonte Burton, Will Davis II, Abdul Gaddy, Langston Galloway, Treveon Graham, Dusty Hannahs, Nate Hinton, Jay Huff, Xavier Moon, Elijah Pemberton, Reggie Perry, and Craig Sword.

So far, Canada is the only team in the Americas field to qualify for the 2023 World Cup, having won all of its first 10 qualifying contests. However, Team USA – which has an 8-2 record so far – will clinch a World Cup berth by winning either one of its two games this month, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

Meanwhile, USA Basketball also announced the rosters for the 2023 Nike Hoop Summit, an annual showcase of U.S. high school prospects that will take place on April 8. The most notable name on the men’s roster is Bronny James, but Bronny isn’t the only son of a former Cavaliers lottery pick to be named to the event — the 13-player roster also includes Dajuan Wagner Jr.

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

  • Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is building a strong case for his third consecutive MVP award and leads the way in the latest straw poll conducted by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. Bontemps’ survey asks 100 media members for their current MVP ballots — Jokic received 77 first-place votes, easily besting runners-up Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks (11 first-place votes) and Joel Embiid of the Sixers (6).
  • Rockets guard Jalen Green (left groin strain) and Pistons center Jalen Duren (right ankle sprain) have been forced to withdraw from Friday night’s Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend due to injuries, according to the NBA (Twitter link). They’re being replaced by Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu and Rockets forward Tari Eason.
  • In his latest mock draft for The Athletic, Sam Vecenie moves Alabama wing Brandon Miller up to No. 3, writing that Miller is considered the safest bet in the 2023 draft class – outside of Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson – to be a “really good player” at the NBA level. Vecenie’s top five is rounded out by Overtime Elite guard Amen Thompson at No. 4 and Houston forward Jarace Walker at No. 5.
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