Malik Fitts Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Malik Fitts, Kelan Martin Sign 10-Day Deals With Celtics

February 23rd, 2022 at 11:41am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

FEBRUARY 23: The Celtics have officially signed Fitts and Martin to 10-day contracts, the team announced today in a press release.

FEBRUARY 22: Forwards Malik Fitts and Kelan Martin are set to sign 10-day deals with the Celtics, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Fitts, a 6’8″ second-year power forward out of Saint Mary’s, had a two-way deal with the Jazz earlier this season, but was waived by Utah in January after fracturing his right wrist. He signed an NBA G League contract prior to the news of his joining the Celtics.

Across seven contests with the Jazz this season, Fitts averaged 5.0 MPG. In seven games with the Agua Caliente Clippers of the NBAGL this season, Fitts averaged 15.1 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.0 BPG and 1.0 SPG, on shooting splits of .396/.267/.846.

The 6’5″ Martin, 26, was most recently with the Pacers, but Indiana waived him in January before his contract for the rest of the 2021/22 season could become guaranteed, as Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files observes (via Twitter).

Through 27 games with Indiana this year, the third-year small forward out of Butler holds averages of 6.3 PPG and 2.0 RPG while making 41.7% of his takes from the floor and 69.2% of his looks from the charity stripe.

The duo will join a revamped Boston roster hoping to make a push up the Eastern Conference standings following an active trade deadline. As we noted earlier this week, the C’s had to make two roster additions this week in order to get back up to the NBA-mandated minimum of 14 players.

The Celtics, who won nine of their last ten games heading into the All-Star break, are currently the sixth seed in the East with a 34-26 record. The team is now just 4.5 games behind the top-seeded Heat and Bulls.

Quinn Cook, Jahm’ius Ramsey, Others Sign G League Contracts

February 22nd, 2022 at 11:26am CST by Luke Adams

A series of NBA free agents have signed contracts with the G League, according to the NBAGL transactions log. Veteran guard Quinn Cook and former Kings Jahmi’us Ramsey and Robert Woodard II – both of whom were waived earlier this month – are among the players entering the G League.

Cook, who has 188 career NBA appearances under his belt, began the 2021/22 season playing overseas with Lokomotiv Kuban, but left the Russian team in December in what was deemed a mutual decision. Ramsey and Woodard were second-round picks in the 2020 draft, but never developed into regular rotation players in Sacramento, appearing in just 32 and 25 total games, respectively.

Woodard was initially claimed by the Iowa Wolves and has since been traded to the Oklahoma City Blue (the Thunder‘s NBAGL affiliate). Cook and Ramsey signed their contracts more recently and have yet to land with new teams.

Malik Fitts, Ky Bowman, Karim Mane, and Daulton Hommes are among the other players with NBA experience who have signed G League contracts within the last week. Although Hommes technically has yet to appear in an NBA regular season game, he spent the first two months of this season on a two-way deal with New Orleans, earning a year of NBA service.

Fitts’ returning rights belong to the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, while Bowman has been traded to the Austin Spurs. Mane has landed with the Greensboro Swarm, the Hornets‘ G League team, while Hommes rejoined the Birmingham Squadron, the Pelicans‘ affiliate.

Finally, former Warriors and Magic guard Mychal Mulder has also signed a G League contract, a source tells our JD Shaw (Twitter link). Mulder, who was waived by Orlando last month, appeared in 15 games this season and has played in 82 total NBA contests since 2020.

None of these players’ rights are held by an NBA team, so they remain free to sign a standard contract or a two-way deal with any of the league’s 30 clubs.

Jazz Waive Two-Way Forward Malik Fitts

January 13th, 2022 at 3:39pm CST by Rory Maher

The Jazz have waived two-way forward Malik Fitts, the team announced. Fitts recently suffered a fractured wrist that will sideline him for at least four weeks, and with Utah struggling (four consecutive losses) with COVID-related absences, the team opted to waive Fitts to likely add a healthy player to the roster.

Fitts hasn’t been a regular part of Utah’s rotation this season, having logged just 14 minutes in six games entering last Friday’s contest in Toronto. With a depleted roster, the Jazz leaned on Fitts for a rotation role vs. the Raptors and he responded with six points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes. However, he also sustained his wrist injury during the game.

Fitts entered training camp with the Jazz on an Exhibit 10 deal which was converted into a two-way deal prior to the season. The 24-year-old spent three games (11 total minutes) as a rookie with the Clippers last season after going undrafted out of Saint Mary’s in 2020.

Obviously it’s an unfortunate turn of events for the second-year pro, who will hopefully recover well from the wrist fracture in order to try and earn another shot in the league. For Utah, it optimizes roster flexibility with six players currently in the health and safety protocols.

Malik Fitts Out At Least Four Weeks With Wrist Injury

January 12th, 2022 at 1:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Jazz forward Malik Fitts will be sidelined for the foreseeable future, according to Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link), who says the former Saint Mary’s standout has been diagnosed with a fractured right wrist.

Fitts hasn’t been a regular part of Utah’s rotation this season, having logged just 14 minutes in six games entering last Friday’s contest in Toronto. With a depleted roster, the Jazz leaned on Fitts for a rotation role in that game vs. the Raptors and he responded with six points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes. However, he also sustained his right wrist injury.

Now that X-rays have confirmed Fitts’ wrist is fractured, he’s wearing a hard cast and will be out for at least four weeks, Walden says. The four-week mark is when the 24-year-old will be reevaluated and will have his status updated by the Jazz, so his absence could extend well beyond that date.

Fitts, who was on a two-way contract, won’t have much of a role once the Jazz get healthier, but he could have seen more minutes in the short term with several players sidelined due to injuries or positive COVID-19 tests, so the injury is an unfortunate turn of events for the second-year pro.

Jazz Convert Malik Fitts’ Contract To Two-Way, Waive Nino Johnson

October 16th, 2021 at 4:47pm CST by Arthur Hill

Malik Fitts, who came to camp on an Exhibit 10 contract, has earned a two-way deal with the Jazz, the team announced in a press release.

The 24-year-old power forward, who played three games for the Clippers last season, signed with Utah in late September, just before the start of training camp. He appeared in four preseason games, averaging 3.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 11.8 minutes per night.

Fitts, who also spent time in the G League last season, impressed Jazz officials with his play during camp and the preseason, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic.

The Jazz waived Nino Johnson, who signed with the team on Thursday, according to Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). Johnson is likely headed to Utah’s G League affiliate in Salt Lake City.

Marques Bolden, Malik Fitts Join Jazz For Training Camp

September 28th, 2021 at 8:05pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

8:04pm: The Jazz confirmed the additions of Bolden and Fitts in a press release.

4:57pm: The Jazz have agreed to add a tandem of frontcourt players, center Marques Bolden and power forward Malik Fitts, ahead of training camp, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link). Though terms of the deals have yet to be divulged, they are most likely Exhibit 10 contracts, generally the standard practice of training camp agreements. This brings Utah’s total training camp tally to 20 players.

After going undrafted in 2020 out of Saint Mary’s, the 6’8″ Fitts joined the training camp roster of the Clippers ahead of the 2020/21 season. He suited up for Los Angeles’s NBA G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers, during the 2021 NBAGL “bubble” in Orlando. Fitts averaged 11.1 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 1.4 APG. He joined Los Angeles on a 10-day contract in the spring of 2021, appearing in just three games, averaging 3.7 MPG.

The 6’10” Bolden, meanwhile, went undrafted out of Duke in 2019. After playing for the Cavaliers’ Summer League club in 2019, he joined Cleveland’s training camp team before ultimately being waived. He then joined Cleveland’s NBA G League affiliate club, the Canton Charge (now the Cleveland Charge). He joined the Cavaliers on a 10-day deal and suited up for one game.

During the 2020/21 season, Bolden served as a two-way player for Cleveland, appearing in six games as a deep bench reserve. Cleveland waived him from its roster, but added him again to its G League affiliate later. Bolden averaged 9.2 PPG, 7.5 RPG and 2.1 BPG across 10 games for the Charge during the truncated 2020/21 G League “bubble” season.

Both players will be able to compete for roster spots with the Jazz. Utah has 13 players inked to fully guaranteed contracts, although one player, third-year swingman Miye Oni, is on a non-guaranteed deal until January and may have the edge in claiming an eventual roster spot. Both of the team’s two-way contract slots are currently occupied.

Pacific Notes: Kawhi, Metu, Batum, Fitts

August 15th, 2021 at 7:43pm CST by JD Shaw

The Clippers will have most of their key players from last season coming back in 2021/22, but Kawhi Leonard‘s health remains a major question mark. Leonard, of course, suffered a partially torn ACL in the playoffs this spring, an injury that could force him to miss much (or all) of next season.

As Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times writes, it’s been one month since Leonard underwent surgery on his right knee. He’ll need a significant amount of time to rehab the injury, but it’s possible he could be ready to play before the 2022 postseason begins in mid-April.

“In Kawhi’s case it will be a little less than a year, which is very doable,” said Alan Beyer, executive medical director and orthopedic surgeon at Orange County’s Hoag Orthopedic Institute. “No two players are alike, so some would take seven or eight months to come back. With the caliber of these players, I would not rush. But I certainly would give him the full nine to 10 months at least before I’d expect to see him back.”

Leonard recently signed a new four-year deal with the Clippers, cementing his long-term status with the franchise. He averaged 24.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 52 games last season, shooting 51% from the floor.

Here are some other notes from the Pacific:

Kings center Chimezie Metu swung at Mavericks two-way player Eugene Omoruyi during the team’s summer league game on Sunday, as relayed by ESPN (video link). Such a play typically warrants a suspension from the NBA. Metu’s frustration stemmed from Omoruyi’s hard foul, one that occurred as Metu was in mid-air. The 24-year-old Metu suffered a broken wrist last season after being fouled in mid-air by Jonas Valanciunas.
Nicolas Batum‘s new contract with the Clippers is a two-year, $6.49MM deal, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal, completed using his Non-Bird rights, includes a player option worth $3.3MM in the second season.
The Clippers are adding forward Malik Fitts to their summer league team, according to Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). Fitts signed a 10-day contract with the team back in April.

Clippers Ink Malik Fitts To 10-Day Deal

April 9th, 2021 at 12:33pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

APRIL 9: The signing is official, the Clippers announced on Twitter.

APRIL 8: The Clippers are set to ink 6’8″ rookie forward Malik Fitts to a 10-day deal, writes Law Murray of The Athletic.

Murray notes that Fitts showed promise on both sides of the ball, as both a shooter and defender for the Agua Caliente Clippers in this season’s NBAGL Orlando bubble.

The 23-year-old tweener forward went undrafted out of Saint Mary’s College in 2020. Across 14 games, Fitts averaged 11.1 PPG on .468/.348/.938 shooting splits in just 26.3 MPG for the club’s G League affiliate. As Murray observes, once Fitts became the starting power forward for the club’s final six contests, he averaged 18.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 2.7 APG, on .531/.435/1.00 shooting splits in 37.1 MPG.

Beyond the tantalizing shooting numbers, Fitts emphasized his focus on the other side of the floor in comments made after the Agua Caliente Clippers’ final game of the 2021 season last month.

“By the end of this (condensed G League season), I wanted to be known as a guy who really locks up on defense,” Fitts said. “That was the emphasis that I had prior to this season. I thought it played out pretty well.”

Adding Fitts will give the Clippers a full 15-man roster, with swingmen Amir Coffey and Jay Scrubb occupying the two-way slots.

Clippers Waive Ky Bowman, Malik Fitts, Jordan Ford

December 14th, 2020 at 4:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Clippers have cut three training camp invitees, announcing today that they’ve requested waivers on guard Ky Bowman, forward Malik Fitts, and guard Jordan Ford.

Bowman spent last season with the Warriors after going undrafted out of Boston College, averaging 7.4 points, 2.9 assists and 22.6 minutes in 45 games, including 12 starts. Bowman had his two-way contract converted into a multiyear standard deal in February, but only the 2019/20 salary was guaranteed. Golden State waived him last month.

Fitts is an undrafted rookie out of St. Mary’s. In 68 total games with the Gaels, Fitts averaged 15.9 PPG and 7.3 RPG.

Ford is also an undrafted rookie out of the same college. A two-time member of the All-WCC team, he was the second-leading scorer in the West Coast Conference in 2019/20, averaging 21.9 PPG.

Los Angeles now has 17 players under contract, including 14 on guaranteed deals and a pair on two-way pacts. Rayjon Tucker, the Clippers’ other player without a fully guaranteed salary, remains under contract for now, but could also be waived soon if the team doesn’t intend to open the regular season with a full roster.

Any of the waived players could eventually resurface with the Clippers’ G League team, Agua Caliente.

Malik Fitts Joins Clippers On Exhibit 10 Deal

November 21st, 2020 at 9:49am CST by marksuleymanov

NOVEMBER 29: Fitts’ Exhibit 10 contract with the Clippers has become official, per RealGM’s NBA transactions log.

NOVEMBER 21: The Clippers have agreed to sign Saint Mary’s forward Malik Fitts to an Exhibit 10 deal, according to Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Under his Exhibit 10 deal, Fitts will come to Clippers training camp on a non-guaranteed one-year, minimum salary contract. The deal allows a bonus of up to $50K if he is waived and remains on the franchise’s G League squad for at least 60 days.

After transferring from South Florida following the 2016/17 campaign, Fitts joined Saint Mary’s and displayed impressive scoring and shooting ability across two seasons. In 68 total games with the Gaels, Fitts averaged 15.9 PPG and 7.3 RPG while shooting 47.3% from the field and 40.7% beyond the arc.

“Clipper Nation let’s get it!” Fitts wrote in a tweet about joining the Clippers.