Maalik Wayns

Mavericks Waive Dozier, Warney, Wayns

The Mavericks are close to the roster limit after waiving PJ Dozier, Jameel Warney and Maalik Wayns, tweets Earl K. Sneed. All three will be eligible to join the Mavs’ G League affiliate if they clear waivers.

Dozier, a combo guard, went undrafted this year out of South Carolina. He played briefly for the Lakers’ entry in the Las Vegas Summer League before landing a partially guaranteed camp deal with Dallas.

Warney, a 6’9″ power forward, signed with the team on Friday. He was in camp with the Mavericks last season as well and played 44 games for the Texas Legends in the G League.

Wayns, 26, has played for a variety of G League and international teams since going undrafted out of Villanova in 2012. He had brief stays with the Sixers and Clippers, playing 29 total NBA games.

Dallas still has one more move to make and could reach the roster limit by turning Gian Clavell‘s contract into a two-way deal.

Mavericks Sign Maalik Wayns

The Mavericks have added former Villanova standout Maalik Wayns to their roster, the team announced today in a press release. Terms of the deal weren’t revealed, but a minimum salary camp contract with a modest partial guarantee appears likely.

Wayns, 26, went undrafted back in 2012, and has bounced around since then, playing for a handful of NBA, G League, and international teams. Wayns’ NBA résumé consists of 29 total regular season games with the Sixers and Clippers, and he also played in 39 total G League games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and the Delaware 87ers.

Since 2015, Wayns has played for teams in Puerto Rico, Italy, Russia, and Israel. Signing with the Mavs will represent a return stateside for the veteran point guard, who may end up playing for the Texas Legends, Dallas’ G League affiliate, if he doesn’t earn a spot on the club’s regular season roster.

Having signed Wayns, the Mavs are now carrying 17 players on their NBA roster. That total doesn’t include Nerlens Noel, who remains a restricted free agent, or Johnathan Motley, the team’s lone two-way player so far. While Dallas’ offseason roster is getting full, only 11 players have fully guaranteed salaries for the 2017/18 season, so multiple regular season roster spots could be up for grabs in camp.

And-Ones: D-League Salaries, Motiejunas, Wayns

In a recent report, ESPN’s Marc Stein indicated that D-League salaries were expected to rise to the $50-75K range when the NBA and NBPA finalized its new Collective Bargaining Agreement. However, in a column today, Stein clarifies that the $50-75K salary will likely only apply to two-way contracts, which are expected to be incorporated into the new CBA.

NBA rosters are expected to be expanded from 15 players to 17 or 18, with those two or three extra slots accommodating players on two-way contracts. Those deals would allow teams to carry multiple players that they shuttle back and forth between the NBA and the D-League, with those players earning money at different rates depending on which league they’re in. According to Stein, most other D-League players will still earn lower salaries — currently, D-League salaries range from $19-26K, and while that rate may increase going forward, the bump likely won’t be as substantial as initially believed.

It’s a disheartening development, according to Chris Reichert of The Step Back, who tweets that he had hoped two-way contracts would be worth in the neighborhood of $200-250K, with other D-League players earning $50-75K. The NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement still hasn’t been finalized and announced, so we’ll have to wait to see exactly what changes it entails, but for now it doesn’t seem as if the D-League salary system will be overhauled significantly.

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

  • Within the aforementioned piece, Stein discusses the Donatas Motiejunas situation again, citing one source close to the talks who believe the RFA forward isn’t far away from landing a contract. It’s not clear if that contract would be a new deal with the Rockets, an offer sheet from another NBA team, or an agreement with a team overseas.
  • Prior to Stein’s clarification on D-League salaries, former Vanderbilt standout Derrick Byars, who is currently playing in France, wrote in a guest post for Ridiculous Upside that increasing the league’s salaries to $50-75K would have been a “game-changer.” Meanwhile, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders suggested that increased salaries could make the D-League a viable alternative to the NCAA for many prospects. While those pieces are still worth reading, it appears both of those points are now moot.
  • Former Sixers and Clippers guard Maalik Wayns is leaving Russian team Enisey and has agreed to terms with Israeli team Maccabi Rishon, reports international basketball journalist David Pick (via Twitter). Wayns, 25, last played in an NBA game in 2014.

And-Ones: Towns, Wayns, Ennis

Scouts and executives are convinced that forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns is the best of Kentucky’s prospect-laden roster, but the team’s NBA showcase might have benefited point guard Tyler Ulis more than any other Wildcat, observes Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider-only). Still, several GMs were skeptical about how much they could learn from coach John Calipari‘s unusual combine, as Ford relays.

“There’s a herd mentality in the NBA,” said a GM who spoke to Ford. “We came because everyone else was coming and you want as much information as you can. Things like this don’t really tell you much and can, in fact, be dangerous. We saw these guys exactly how Calipari wanted us to see them. But this event isn’t reality. The game is reality. Watching Cal in a real practice when he’s really getting on guys is reality. This was a show. I keep reminding my scouts of that.”  

More from around the Association..

  • Executives from teams who’ve spoken with TNT’s David Aldridge are eyeing a 2016/17 salary cap anywhere from $75MM to $101MM, though the figures are merely “guesstimates,” as Aldridge notes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.
  • Former Sixers and Clippers point guard Maalik Wayns and Zalgiris Kaunas of Lithuania have mutually agreed to end their contract, the team announced via Twitter (hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Wayns will undergo surgery on his left knee according to the Euroleague’s website and David Pick of Eurobasket.com tells Hoops Rumors the injury is severe. Wayns played in 27 NBA games over the past two seasons before signing this summer with the Lithuanian team.
  • Heat rookie James Ennis isn’t a lock to make the Heat roster, but he’s helping his chances with strong play in the preseason, writes Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald.  Ennis has a three-year deal with Miami that includes a partial $200K guarantee for this season that becomes a full guarantee if he’s on the roster through opening night.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Maalik Wayns To Play In Lithuania

Former Sixers and Clippers point guard Maalik Wayns has signed to play with Zalgiris Kaunas of Lithuania, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The terms aren’t immediately clear, and it’s uncertain whether the deal includes an NBA escape clause.

A preseason knee injury helped Wayns make the Clippers opening-night roster last season, as I explained last week when I looked at a special form of non-guaranteed contracts. The Clippers waived him shortly before his contract would have become guaranteed for the season, and they re-signed him to a 10-day deal, but they terminated that 10-day contract before it ran to term so they could sign Hedo Turkoglu instead. He spent most of the rest of the season in the D-League with the Rockets affiliate.

The Andy Miller client will be making his first foray overseas, having remained stateside for two years after going undrafted out of Villanova. He’s averaged 2.7 points and 1.0 assists in 7.3 minutes per game for his NBA career, which has so far encompassed only 29 appearances.

Clippers Sign Hedo Turkoglu, Release Wayns

12:18pm: The Clippers have officially announced the deal. The team’s press release adds that the Clippers have released Maalik Wayns, terminating his 10-day contract, which had been set to expire Friday. The release also announces a second 10-day deal for Darius Morris, but it doesn’t mention the length of Turkoglu’s contract, almost certainly signifying that agent Jim Tanner has secured a deal for the rest of the season for Turkoglu, as had been expected.

THURSDAY, 11:34am: Turkoglu tweets that the deal is official, though there’s been no announcement from the team (hat tip to Sportando).

WEDNESDAY, 9:50pm: The Clippers are set to sign Hedo Turkoglu on Thursday, reports Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Turkoglu was to undergo a physical today, and the team appeared ready to bring him aboard pending the results, as Ismail Senol of NTV Spor in Turkey reported earlier today. The deal will cover the rest of the season, according to Senol.

“He’s another shooter,” Clippers boss Doc Rivers said, according to Markazi. “Sometimes you don’t bring a guy in because a guy is not doing something. You bring a guy in because he does something our other guys do as well. He’s another shooter and can space the floor. He’s very skilled. We would like to take advantage of that.”

Turkoglu, 34, comes to the Clippers after the Magic waived him earlier this month, saving half of his $12MM salary this season before it became fully guaranteed. The Clippers can only offer the minimum salary, but it doesn’t appear they had much competition for the Jim Tanner client. The Lakers and Hawks registered interest in the forward while he was still with the Magic, but the Lakers decided against pursuing him in free agency, and Atlanta hasn’t been connected with him recently either.

The Clippers won’t have to make a roster move if the deal goes down Thursday, since their 10-day deal with Darius Morris will expire overnight. Another roster spot will open with the expiration of their 10-day contract with Maalik Wayns on Friday night, and Rivers indicated the team is still looking for other free agents to add, notes Markazi, who mentions Lamar Odom as a possibility. The team apparently still has interest in Sasha Vujacic, as well.

Clippers Re-Sign Maalik Wayns

WEDNESDAY, 12:45pm: The Clippers have officially re-signed Wayns to a 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release.

TUESDAY, 2:12pm: After releasing him on Sunday, the Clippers are expected to re-sign Maalik Wayns, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein. Stein reports that the Clips continue to assess Hedo Turkoglu, Sasha Vujacic, and other free agents, but the team will likely announce a 10-day contract for Wayns later today (Twitter links).

Wayns was waived this week so that the Clippers could avoid keeping him beyond today’s contract guarantee deadline, which would have put the team on the hook for his full-season salary. Re-adding him would give the club a full 15-man roster, but two players – Wayns and Darius Morris – would be on 10-day deals, so it wouldn’t necessarily preclude the signing of a player like Turkoglu, Vujacic, or Andrew Bynum later in the month.

Wayns, 22, has yet to appear in a regular season contest for the Clippers this season, having been sidelined after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in October.

Western Rumors: Curry, Wayns, Dedmon

The latest out of the West…

  • There’s a strong chance that the Grizzlies will try and re-sign Seth Curry to a ten-day deal if he clears waivers, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter).  Memphis waived the guard earlier today.  Clubs can start inking players to ten-day deals tomorrow.
  • The Clippers might also try and re-sign Maalik Wayns to a ten-day deal after waiving him earlier today, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).
  • Big man Dewayne Dedmon is one of the players to keep an eye on in this week’s D-League showcase, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.  Dedmon, who spent time with the Warriors this season, is averaging 16.1 points, 15.3 reb, 2.3 blocks, 1.7 steals per contest for the Warriors’ affiliate in Santa Cruz.

Clippers Release Maalik Wayns

4:28pm: The Clippers formally announced that Wayns has been released.  The club’s roster now stands at 14.

4:18pm: The Clippers have released Maalik Wayns, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter).  Wayns’ contract would have been guaranteed for the remainder of the season if he were still on the Clippers’ roster past Tuesday.

Wayns’ contract initially called for a guarantee date of December 1st, but it was pushed back to Tuesday, January 7th following surgery to repair a torn meniscus in mid-October.  Had the Clippers kept him on the roster, his $788K deal would have been guaranteed for the remainder of the season.  Wayns has recovered from his injury, but he couldn’t survive the numbers crunch.

The 22-year-old hooked on with L.A. last season on a pair of ten-day contracts and while he didn’t play all that much, he showed enough to stay on the roster heading into 2012/13.  He’ll now be looking for a new home for the remainder of the year.

Clippers Looking Outside NBA For Point Guard

With Chris Paul separating his shoulder Friday night against the Mavericks it appears the point guard will spend a substantial amount of time on the bench. Head coach and Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations Doc Rivers hinted that the Clippers may be looking as far as players outside the NBA to fill this hole. Rivers told Eric Patten of Clippers.com they “aren’t going to do much right now” and will just “wait and see what the report is on Chris and how Maalik Wayns is coming along.”

Wayns hasn’t played since the preseason when he tore his meniscus but was activated January 1st shortly before the Clippers played the Bobcats. Rivers told Patten that Wayns still isn’t ready to join the rotation and as we have noted, the Clippers have to make a decision on whether they even want to keep Maalik before his contract becomes fully guaranteed on January 10th.

With only Darren Collison guaranteed to play at point guard for the next few weeks, Doc Rivers told Patten they are looking at a few guys that could get out of their contracts in China. Rivers did also hint that they may not sign a point guard and may look for a shooting guard that could handle the ball.

According to ESPN’s Arash Markazi, two point guards currently playing in China that could be options for LA are Delonte West and Bobby Brown. (Twitter Link) West last played in the NBA for the Mavericks in 2011/12 and Brown last saw regular season NBA action with the Clippers back in 2009/10. West seems to have the advantage to get Clipper consideration over Brown as he played for Rivers two separate times in Boston.

The Clippers are at the 15-man maximum roster limit so any signing will subsequently require a player to be waived. The two players most likely to be waived would be those playing with non-guaranteed contracts, previously mentioned Wayns and 13 year veteran Stephen Jackson.