Mychel Thompson Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Bane, D. Smith, Hawks, Wizards, Hornets

September 26th, 2025 at 7:50am CST by Luke Adams

New Magic swingman Desmond Bane feels good about how he’ll fit alongside star forwards Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, telling Mark Medina of Sportskeeda.com that he thinks his skill set “complements those guys very well” and will help “open up the floor for them to attack and do their thing.” Bane also pointed to Orlando’s roster versatility when asked why he’s confident about the team’s ability to be a contender in 2025/26.

“I think we can play so many different lineups,” he told Medina. “We have so many different handlers. We have so many different screeners. We have guys that can get baskets one-on-one when the game slows down and you get into crunch time. So we really have a lot of tools on this roster.

“It’s always easy to talk this highly at this time of the year. But once you get into December, some guys are playing well, some guys aren’t, some guys are in the rotation, some guys aren’t. That’s when teams really have a choice to come together or split. So we have a long way to go. It’s a long journey. But we got good people in the building and people that work hard and care. So I think that gives us a chance. That’s all you can ask for.”

Bane will be playing for a new team for the first time since entering the NBA in 2020 — he spent his first five professional seasons with the Grizzlies, who traded him to Orlando in June. Speaking to Medina, the 27-year-old made it clear he harbors no ill will toward his former team for ending their relationship over the summer.

“I’m rooting for Memphis 80 games out of the year,” Bane said. “I hope they do well. I got a lot of guys out of there that are up for contracts and things like that. So I want it to work out for them and that they get everything that they deserve. So I’m looking forward toward seeing how they do, and hoping for the best of them. There’s no bad blood at all.”

We have more from around the Southeast:

Heat guard Dru Smith, who tore his Achilles last December, has resumed five-on-five work, a league source tells Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required). Smith re-signed with Miami this summer on a three-year, minimum-salary deal, though only the first season is guaranteed.
The Hawks put out a press release this week announcing several hires and promotions in their basketball operations department. Most notably, Brittni Donaldson has moved from an assistant coaching role to the front office as Atlanta’s director of basketball development, methodology, and integration, while Mychel Thompson (Klay Thompson‘s brother) has been hired as a pro scout.
While Wizards general manager Will Dawkins assured fans on Wednesday that the front office has a “very clear vision” for its rebuild, he offered few specifics about the plan to turn the team from one of the league’s worst into a legitimate contender, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. With that in mind, Robbins reads between the lines of Dawkins’ comments in an effort to highlight the primary components of the Wizards’ approach to rebuilding, including casting a wide net for young talent, maintaining financial flexibility, and doing a good job scouting their own players.
In a mailbag for The Charlotte Observer (subscription required), Rod Boone explains why he views Collin Sexton and Mason Plumlee as strong candidates to start for the Hornets and evaluates whether an in-season Miles Bridges trade is likely, among other topics.

Pacific Notes: Johnson, Buss, James, Iguodala, Thompson

September 10th, 2022 at 8:48am CST by Dana Gauruder

Suns GM James Jones said there have been talks with Cameron Johnson‘s reps regarding a possible rookie scale extension, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets.

“We’re having discussions. Cam is a big part of what we do,” Jones said. “Really excited for the progress he’s shown over the last few years, especially last year. He’s primed to take some steps forward.”

We broke down a potential extension for Johnson this week, including what the numbers might look like.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Lakers owner Jeanie Buss told Howard Beck in a Clutch Points podcast that she wants LeBron James to retire as a Laker. “With LeBron we have a line of communication between the two of us, and he knows that he can reach me anytime and vice versa,” Buss said. “I think he feels appreciated. I know I appreciate that he signed an extension to stay here and continue to lead the Laker team. He’s a fantastic leader both on and off the court. I feel like we’re blessed to have him as a Laker. I want to see him retire as a Laker.”
A decision on whether Andre Iguodala will retire or return to the Warriors will be made in the coming days, coach Steve Kerr said in an interview with 95.7 The Game (Twitter link). “We’ll touch base in the next couple days. (GM Bob Myers) and I are giving him the space to make whatever decision he wants. We’ll support him either way, but we hope he comes back.” Iguodala said on his podcast hasn’t yet decided what he wants to do, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets.
Klay Thompson‘s brother Mychel Thompson has been named as video coordinator for the Warriors, according to a team press release. On the coaching staff, Hilton Armstrong and Anthony Vereen have been named player development coaches and Will Sheehey has been named player development analyst.

And-Ones: Fizdale, Jefferson, Thompson

November 8th, 2016 at 10:09pm CST by Eddie Scarito

New Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale has drawn rave reviews from a number of his former players, including Mike Miller, who says Memphis hit the jackpot by hiring the former Heat assistant this offseason, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post relays. “He’ll do a great job because he can communicate,” Miller said. “At this level it’s becoming that, it’s communicating with your players and obviously being organized. He’s going to take that same culture that was in Miami. He’s from the Pat Riley [coaching] tree, you know he’s going to be organized and prepared. For him, the biggest challenge will be coaching the personnel and not the system. That’s going to be his challenge, but I think he’ll do a phenomenal job.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Cory Jefferson, who was in training camp with the Cavaliers this year, has signed a contract to join the D-League, Adam Johnson of D-League Digest reports (via Twitter). Jefferson’s rights are currently held by the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s affiliate, Johnson adds.
Also signing a D-League contract is Mychel Thompson, whose rights are held by the Santa Cruz Warriors, Johnson relays (via Twitter). Thompson has played parts of the last three seasons with the Warriors’ affiliate. He also appeared in 14 games with Pallacanestro Varese of Italy last season before rejoining Santa Cruz.
Former Relativity Sports executives Happy Walters and Josh Swartz are launching a new venture, Catalyst Sports & Media, an agency that will focus on representing athletes who play basketball, soccer and esports, Ian Thomas and Liz Mullen of The Sports Business Journal report.

Kings Notes: Arena, Thompson, Lawson

September 1st, 2016 at 9:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The estimated cost of the new Kings’ arena has risen by approximately $79MM to $556.6MM, Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee reports. The Golden 1 Center, which is scheduled to open in a month, was originally projected to cost $447MM, a figure that was revised to $477MM during groundbreaking in October 2014, Kasler continues. The latest estimate represents a $21.7MM increase in just the past month, though the additional costs must be paid by Kings chairman Vivek Ranadive and the other team owners, according to Kasler. The city’s subsidy for the arena was capped at $255MM. The construction of a downtown practice facility, and reconfiguring of the original design to create more lower bowl seats, were among the reasons for the additional costs, Kasler adds.

In other developments concerning the Kings:

The club will work out swingman Mychel Thompson, brother of Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson, international journalist David Pick tweets. Mychel Thompson has played parts of the last three seasons with the D-League Santa Cruz Warriors. He also appeared in 14 games with Pallacanestro Varese of Italy last season before rejoining Santa Cruz.
Point guard Ty Lawson made a foolhardy decision last summer when he consented to give up $13.2MM in salary non-guaranteed to facilitate a trade from the Nuggets to the Rockets, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders points out (Twitter links). Lawson was subsequently waived and wound up with the Pacers, where he played 13 games. He couldn’t find a team before he signed a $1.3MM summer contract with the Kings on Wednesday that offers him no salary protection, even if he’s injured.

Grant Jerrett Tops Field Of D-League Draftees

November 1st, 2013 at 8:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Thunder’s D-League affiliate used the No. 1 overall pick in tonight’s D-League draft on Grant Jerrett, allowing the Thunder to closely monitor a player whose NBA rights also belong to them. Oklahoma City traded for Jerrett shortly after the Blazers took him 40th overall in June’s NBA draft. A report in September indicated Jerrett had signed with the Thunder-owned Tulsa 66ers, but as I pointed out at the time, he’d have to enter the D-League draft rather than sign with Tulsa outright. The 66ers pulled off a trade yesterday to acquire the No. 1 pick in the D-League draft, positioning themselves to secure Jerrett’s D-League rights.

The Pelicans didn’t do the same with the second-rounder they picked up in the Jrue Holiday/Nerlens Noel trade. Pierre Jackson, the 42nd overall pick in the NBA draft, went fourth overall in the D-League draft to the Idaho Stampede, the affiliate of the Blazers.

The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the one-to-one affiliate of the Rockets, took four-year NBA vet James Johnson second overall tonight, while Quincy Douby, who has three years of NBA experience, went at No. 3 to the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the affiliate of the Heat. The Texas Legends, who are affiliated with the Mavs, rounded out the top five with their selection of C.J. Aiken, who was in an NBA camp with the Kings last month after leaving St. Joseph’s in the spring.

Ricky Davis was perhaps the most well-known figure selected, as the Erie BayHawks, the affiliate of the Knicks, drafted him in the sixth round, signaling that the Knicks liked what they saw when the 34-year-old worked out for them in September. Other notable picks include former Magic and Thunder swingman DeAndre Liggins, who went to the Skyforce at seventh overall. Thanasis Antetokounmpo, the brother of Bucks rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo, went at No. 9 to the Delaware 87ers. Check out the entire list of draftees right here.

Some D-League clubs were involved in draft day trades. The Santa Cruz Warriors came into the draft already stocked with Stephen Curry‘s brother Seth Curry, whose D-League rights Golden State had protected after cutting him at the end of camp. Santa Cruz swapped a second-round pick for Mychel Thompson, brother of Golden State sharpshooter Klay Thompson, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports writes, giving the Warriors’ affiliate their own version of the big club’s “Splash Brothers” duo.

Players with prior D-League experience who were cut from NBA camps can re-enter the D-League and go back to their old teams without entering the draft. That’s what James Nunnally, fresh off a camp appearance with the Suns, has decided to do, as he’ll return to the Bakersfield Jam, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.com. The Suns are one of five NBA teams affiliated with the Jam, as our list of NBA/D-League affiliations shows.

Knicks Waive Bellfield, Shurna, Thompson, Sims

October 27th, 2012 at 1:53pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Knicks waived four players to get down to the 15-man roster limit today, cutting ties with Oscar Bellfield, John Shurna, Mychel Thompson and Henry Sims, as Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports (Twitter link). Shurna and Sims had partial guaranteed of $50K, while Bellfield's and Thompson's contracts were non-guaranteed. The moves likely mean Chris Copeland, who has a non-guaranteed deal, will be on the Knicks opening-night roster.

Knicks Sign Sims, Bellfield, Thompson

September 11th, 2012 at 12:23pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have officially signed four players to contracts that include training camp invites, according to a team press release. We heard yesterday about the team's deal with John Shurna, but the other three names are new — the Knicks have added center Henry Sims, guard Oscar Bellfield, and forward Mychel Thompson.

Sims, a seven-footer out of Georgetown, was ranked as the seventh-best center in this year's draft by ESPN.com's Chad Ford after averaging 11.6 PPG and 6.0 RPG in his senior year, but went undrafted. Bellfield, a senior out of UNLV, also went undrafted in 2012.

Thompson, meanwhile, is the only player of the four with any NBA experience, after a brief stint with the Cavaliers in 2011/12. Klay Thompson's older brother appeared in five games for Cleveland last season, starting three. He's a year removed from going undrafted out of Pepperdine, where he averaged 14.6 PPG in his senior year (2010/11).

According to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter), all four players worked out for the Knicks in the spring, and will be fighting to earn one of the team's final roster spots. The Knicks now have 19 players under contract heading into camp, including up to seven believed to be on non-guaranteed deals. For the players that don't earn an NBA roster spot, a place on the Erie BayHawks, New York's D-League affiliate, could be in the cards.

Cavaliers Waive Mychel Thompson

February 6th, 2012 at 1:26pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers have officially waived Mychel Thompson, according to the team. Tom Reid and Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Cleveland Plain Dealer first reported (via Twitter) that the Cavs intended to waive the 23-year-old.

Thompson signed with the Cavs as an undrafted rookie out of Pepperdine, and worked his way into the starting lineup in the last week. He struggled in his three starts, making just five of 21 shots from the field (23.8%) and averaging 4.7 points in just under 27 minutes per game.

Thompson's contract would have become guaranteed for the rest of the season on Friday had he remained on the roster, so the move gives the Cavs some extra flexibility. Their roster now stands at 14.