Sam Merrill Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Merrill, J. Hall, Micic, Suns

August 15th, 2022 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Sam Merrill‘s new two-year contract with the Kings is, as expected, worth the veteran’s minimum. Merrill received a $150K partial guarantee for the 2022/23 season, Hoops Rumors has learned.

Merrill’s full minimum salary for ’22/23 would become guaranteed if he remains under contract through the league-wide guarantee deadline in January. If the Kings forward plays out the full first year of his deal, his second-year minimum salary would become guaranteed on June 29, 2023.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Jordan Hall‘s two-way contract with the Spurs covers two seasons, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Hall is one of four players this offseason to have signed a multiyear two-way deal.
While there was a sense the asking price could have been brought down, the Thunder were believed to be seeking a first-round pick for Vasilije Micic‘s NBA rights before he decided to remain with Anadolu Efes, according to Sean Deveney of Heavy.com. “I think that was where it was a little too much for teams,” one Western Conference executive told Deveney. “No one wanted to give up a pick plus everything else it would take. The guy can play, I think he’d be good in the NBA. But no one wanted to give up picks and money for him.” Deveney suggests Micic would’ve sought a salary in the $6-7MM range and a sizable rotation role in order to make the move to the NBA.
Former Suns head of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo said he’d “love to see” Kevin Durant land in Phoenix, according to Doug Haller of The Athletic, who draws parallels between a possible Durant acquisition and Colangelo’s trade that brought Charles Barkley to the Suns back in 1992.

Western Notes: Barton, Merrill, Kings, Thunder

August 13th, 2022 at 3:32pm CST by JD Shaw

New Wizards swingman Will Barton was somewhat shocked when he got traded out of Denver this offseason, he told Mike Singer of the Denver Post. The Nuggets dealt Barton and Monte Morris to Washington in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith last month.

“It was just like a shock, but not too much of a shock,” Barton said when asked about the trade. “It was a shock in that, obviously, I had been there eight years, did so much there together, so it’s always shocking when you’ve been somewhere for so long and you’re moving on. But, at the same time, I embraced it, I’m welcoming a new chapter.”

Barton is expected to compete for a starting role with the Wizards, who finished just 35-47 last season. As Singer details, the veteran wing, who spent seven-and-a-half seasons with the Nuggets, is hoping to help his new team go from the lottery to the playoffs, like he did in Denver. When Barton joined the Nuggets, they were in the midst of a 30-52 season, but he left a team that looks like a legitimate contender.

“Just turning that whole thing around, that’s the biggest thing,” Barton said. “I came (to Denver), we were not good. We did not have a good culture. To see where it is now, and know that I played a heavy role in that, can’t be more rewarding. That’s the greatest achievement for me when I look back at it.”

Here are some other notes from the Western Conference:

Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee examines whether Sam Merrill will fit into the Kings’ plans once training camp begins on September 27. Merrill reportedly agreed to a two-year, partially guaranteed deal with the team. He’ll compete for a roster spot in camp.
Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman examines multiple Thunder-related topics in his mailbag, including notes related to Chet Holmgren and which players he’d protect in a hypothetical expansion draft. Oklahoma City is continuing a full-scale rebuild, having finished just 24-58 last season.

Kings Sign Sam Merrill

August 12th, 2022 at 9:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

9:00pm: The signing is now official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

4:39pm: The Kings are set to sign free agent shooting guard Sam Merrill, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Tony Jones of The Athletic reveals (via Twitter) that Merrill is signing a non-guaranteed two-year contract, meaning Merrill will be competing to join the team’s eventual 15-man roster in training camp. Sacramento currently has just 12 players inked to fully guaranteed deals, per our roster tracker.

Earlier this summer, Chima Moneke and Matthew Dellavedova were both also signed to non-guaranteed deals with a chance to make the opening night roster. Moneke’s contract includes a $250K partial guarantee.

The 6’4″ Merrill was selected with the final pick in the 2020 NBA draft out of Utah State by the Pelicans, then was dealt to the Bucks. He played in 30 games for the eventual champs, averaging 3.0 PPG and 1.0 RPG in 7.8 MPG during the regular season. During that rookie season, Merrill connected on 44.4% of his field goal attempts and 44.7% of his 1.6 triples a night.

The Bucks traded him to the Grizzlies during the 2021 offseason. He appeared in just six games for Memphis, averaging 9.7 MPG. The 26-year-old averaged 22.5 PPG, 5.5 APG and 5.5 RPG in two contests for the Grizzlies’ NBAGL affiliate, the Memphis Hustle.

Adding Merrill gives the Kings another potential long-distance shooting option as the team continues to retool its roster around its core of De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray and Davion Mitchell.

Grizzlies Give Two-Year Deal To Tillie, Waive Merrill, Sign Terry To Two-Way

January 1st, 2022 at 6:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

6:30pm: The moves are official, the Grizzlies announced (Twitter links).

6:10pm: Two-way player Killian Tillie will sign a standard contract with the Grizzlies, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The second-year big man will get a deal worth $4MM over two years.

Tillie signed a two-way contract after going undrafted out of Gonzaga in 2020, then inked another two-way deal in August. He’s averaging 3.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 22 games this season, but his playing time has increased recently with the Grizzlies short-handed due to health and safety protocols.

Memphis will open a roster spot by waiving injured guard Sam Merrill, Woj adds (Twitter link). Merrill will undergo a surgical procedure on his left ankle that will keep him out of action for three to four months, sources tell Wojnarowski.

A rookie with the Bucks last year, Merrill was acquired by the Grizzlies in an offseason trade. He only appeared in six games for Memphis, averaging 4.2 PPG in 9.7 minutes per night, and last played on November 18. The move will include a $1.5MM cap hit, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). Wojnarowski adds that the Grizzlies believe Merrill has potential and may consider bringing him back once he’s healed.

The open two-way slot will be filled by guard Tyrell Terry, who signed as a hardship player last week, adds Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Terry has made two brief appearances since coming to Memphis, playing a combined three minutes.

Bucks Acquire Grayson Allen From Grizzlies

August 7th, 2021 at 2:11pm CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 7: The trade is now official, the Grizzlies announced in a press release. While Merrill’s salary for 2021/22 is not yet fully guaranteed, Memphis intends to guarantee his deal and keep him on the roster, reports Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link).

AUGUST 6: The Grizzlies have agreed to deal guard Grayson Allen to the Bucks for guard Sam Merrill and two future second-round picks, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

Allen, who is entering his fourth NBA season, had a breakout year for Memphis in which he started 38 of 50 games and averaged 10.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 2.2 APG. The former Duke star has knocked down 38.1% of his 3-point attempts during his three-year career and will give the Bucks another perimeter option.

Milwaukee will absorb Allen’s contract using a $4.89MM traded player exception generated by a deal this past winter that sent guard D.J. Augustin to the Rockets, according to Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer (Twitter link).

Allen has an expiring $4.1MM contract and is eligible for a rookie scale extension. Merrill has a $500K guarantee on his contract and his $1.5MM deal will become fully guaranteed if he’s on Memphis’ roster through Sunday, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. It’s uncertain whether Memphis plans to keep Merrill, a 2020 second-pick who appeared in 30 regular season games with the Bucks.

Milwaukee’s projected luxury tax bill will jump via this acquisition. The team’s luxury tax penalty will increase from $36MM to $44MM, Marks notes in a separate tweet. Milwaukee is right at $200MM in salary and luxury tax, Marks adds.

Central Notes: Drummond, Love, Merrill, LaVine

February 21st, 2021 at 1:44pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

With veteran Cavaliers center Andre Drummond now benched for the express purpose of being preserved for a trade, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic examines his possible on-court value and most likely trade or buyout destinations.

“If [you] had a bad center situation, I understand going after him,” a rival executive opined. “But I wouldn’t give up anything real [in a trade].” The Raptors are cited as being able to theoretically construct a workable deal for Drummond. Clubs like the Nets, Clippers, Lakers, Trail Blazers, Mavericks and Rockets could be open to adding Drummond if he’s bought out of his $28.7MM contract.

There’s more out of the Central Division:

Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love practiced with Cleveland on Wednesday, per Kelsey Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). Russo tweets that Love did not practice with the club on Saturday, though head coach J.B. Bickerstaff would not officially term his absence a setback. “I’ll let our medical staff handle that,” Bickerstaff said. Love has appeared in just two games for Cleveland thus far this season.
Rookie Bucks guard Sam Merrill has been recalled from a stint with the Memphis Hustle in the G League bubble, the team announced Friday. Merrill is averaging 6.1 MPG across nine games for Milwaukee.
Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine appears to be cementing his case for his first All-Star berth with efficient scoring on a near-.500 Chicago squad that is currently the No. 9 seed in the East. LaVine’s play could put him in line for a lucrative contract extension this summer, writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “I try to let my game speak for itself,’’ LaVine said. “I let [the press] assess that and put the numbers behind it on the things I’ve done versus my contract and other players.” LaVine is averaging 28.9 PPG while shooting 51.8% from the floor and 42.9% from deep. He pulling down 5.4 RPG and dishing out 5.1 APG.

Central Notes: Nwora, Merrill, Turner, Pistons, Bucks

February 3rd, 2021 at 2:43pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bucks have assigned 2020 draftees Jordan Nwora and Sam Merrill to the G League bubble and transferred two-way player Mamadi Diakite there as well, the team announced today in a press release.

Because the Wisconsin Herd are inactive this season, the three Bucks rookies will be split up, with Nwora joining the Salt Lake City Stars, Merrill reporting to the Memphis Hustle, and Diakite heading to the Lakeland Magic. While any of the three could be recalled to the NBA roster in the coming weeks, we don’t expect to see a ton of the usual back-and-forth this season, given the coronavirus-related complications.

Here’s more from around the Central:

In a conversation with Eric Woodyard of ESPN, Pacers center Myles Turner discusses playing through a hand fracture, as well as his desire to win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award. Indiana’s defensive anchor currently leads the league with an eye-popping 3.9 blocks per game.
Despite being in the midst of a tough road trip and having had Monday’s game vs. Denver postponed, the Pistons have no interest in the idea of finishing the season in a bubble or regional bubbles, writes Rod Beard of The Detroit News. “Honestly, any type of bubble is not very appealing,” Wayne Ellington said. “Prayerfully, we can we can get through the season as regularly as possible and keep things as normal as possible without having to enter a bubble or do anything too drastic.”
The Bucks have submitted a plan to the City of Milwaukee in the hopes of receiving approval to fill Fiserv Forum to 25% capacity for games starting later this month (Twitter link via Eric Nehm of The Athletic). So far this season, there have been no fans permitted at Bucks home games.

Four-Team Jrue Holiday, Steven Adams Trade Officially Complete

November 24th, 2020 at 9:15am CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans, Thunder, Bucks, and Nuggets have officially completed the four-team trade that will send Jrue Holiday to Milwaukee and Steven Adams to New Orleans, the Pelicans announced today in a press release.

In total, the mega-deal involves 10 players, five draft picks, and two future pick swaps. The trade breaks down as follows:

Bucks acquire Holiday and the draft rights to Sam Merrill (No. 60 pick; from Pelicans).
Pelicans acquire Adams, Eric Bledsoe, the Bucks’ 2025 first-round pick (unprotected), the Bucks’ 2027 first-round pick (unprotected), and the right to swap first-round picks with the Bucks in 2024 and 2026.
Thunder acquire George Hill, Darius Miller, Kenrich Williams (sign-and-trade), Josh Gray (sign-and-trade), Zylan Cheatham (sign-and-trade), the Nuggets’ 2023 first-round pick (top-14 protected), the Wizards’ 2023 second-round pick (from Pelicans), and the Hornets’ 2024 second-round pick (from Pelicans).
Nuggets acquire the draft rights to RJ Hampton (No. 24 pick; from Bucks).

The deal began when the Bucks and Pelicans reached an agreement on a trade sending Holiday to Milwaukee last week. From there, the Thunder got involved when New Orleans agreed to flip Hill to Oklahoma City in a trade for Adams.

A draft-night deal between the Nuggets and Pelicans that involved the Nuggets’ 2023 first-rounder and the Bucks’ No. 24 pick (sent to New Orleans as part of the original Holiday agreement) was folded in to make it a four-team trade when the Pels agreed to flip Denver’s ’23 pick to OKC as part of the Adams package.

As cap expert Albert Nahmad has pointed out (via Twitter), it’s an intricate, complex transaction that had to make use of a slew of CBA rules. The Pelicans, who are signing Adams to a two-year extension as part of the trade, needed to sign-and-trade Williams, Gray, and Cheatham to Oklahoma City and guarantee most or all of Miller’s $7MM salary in order to abide by salary-matching rules.

Meanwhile, Adams gets a trade bonus worth a little over $2MM as part of the deal, while the Thunder create the largest trade exception in NBA history, worth $27.5MM, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).

Unfortunately, as Nahmad observes (via Twitter), Oklahoma City will likely have to use that massive TPE immediately to accommodate the acquisition of Al Horford. Still, as John Hollinger of The Athletic writes, the Thunder should come out of their series of transactions with a handful of usable trade exceptions, including one worth $15.4MM.

A full breakdown of this offseason’s trades – including the ones not yet made official – can be found right here.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bucks Sign No. 60 Pick Sam Merrill To Two-Year Deal

November 19th, 2020 at 7:36am CST by Luke Adams

DECEMBER 1: Merrill’s contract is now official, according to the NBA’s transactions log.

NOVEMBER 19: The last pick in the 2020 draft has become one of the first players to agree to a contract, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the Bucks are signing No. 60 selection Sam Merrill to a two-year deal.

Jones says Merrill’s two-year pact will feature about $1.4MM in guaranteed money, including a fully guaranteed first year. It seems safe to assume the former Utah State guard will sign for the minimum, as Milwaukee attempts to keep costs down to fill out the rest of its roster. That’d mean a fully guaranteed $898K salary in year one with a partially guaranteed $1.52MM salary in 2021/22.

Merrill, who spent all four years of his college career at Utah State, averaged 19.7 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 3.9 APG in 32 games (35.0 MPG) as a senior, posting an impressive shooting line of .461/.410/.893.

The Bucks are acquiring Merrill’s rights in their Jrue Holiday deal with the Pelicans, which is not yet official. Once the deal is completed and the new league year begins, Merrill will be able to officially sign his first NBA contract.

LaMelo Ball Headlines List Of Draft Combine Participants

September 28th, 2020 at 9:11am CST by Luke Adams

Potential No. 1 overall pick LaMelo Ball will be among the prospects participating in the revamped virtual draft combine this week, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. Ball is scheduled to take part in team interviews and a media session this week, but may not participate in any other portion, Jeremy Woo of SI.com cautions (via Twitter).

While Ball’s participation might be limited, many of this year’s other top prospects aren’t taking part in the event at all. As Woo points out (via Twitter), Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman, Obi Toppin, Onyeka Okongwu, Cole Anthony, Aaron Nesmith, Devin Vassell, and Saddiq Bey are among the players who don’t appear on the list of participants sent out by the NBA.

The list of top prospects besides Ball who will be participating in the event includes Precious Achiuwa, Deni Avdija, Tyrese Haliburton, RJ Hampton, Killian Hayes, Theo Maledon, and Isaac Okoro, among others.

Here’s the full list of combine participants, via Charania:

Precious Achiuwa, F, Memphis
Ty-Shon Alexander, G, Creighton
Deni Avdija, F, Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Udoka Azubuike, C, Kansas
LaMelo Ball, G, Illawarra Hawks (Australia)
Desmond Bane, G, TCU
Tyler Bey, F, Colorado
Vernon Carey Jr., C, Duke
Yoeli Childs, F, BYU
Mamadi Diakite, F, Virginia
Devon Dotson, G, Kansas
Paul Eboua, F, VL Pesaro (Italy)
CJ Elleby, F, Washington State
Malachi Flynn, G, San Diego State
Trent Forrest, G, Florida State
Josh Green, G/F, Arizona
Ashton Hagans, G, Kentucky
Tyrese Haliburton, G, Iowa State
Josh Hall, F, Moravian Prep
RJ Hampton, G, New Zealand Breakers (New Zealand)
Jalen Harris, G, Nevada
Killian Hayes, G, Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany)
Markus Howard, G, Marquette
Elijah Hughes, G/F, Syracuse
Isaiah Joe, G, Arkansas
Mason Jones, G, Arkansas
Tre Jones, G, Duke
Nathan Knight, F/C, William & Mary
Kira Lewis, G, Alabama
Theo Maledon, G, ASVEL (France)
Karim Mane, G, Vanier College (Canada)
Nico Mannion, G, Arizona
Naji Marshall, F, Xavier
Kenyon Martin Jr., F, IMG Academy
Skylar Mays, G, LSU
Jaden McDaniels, F, Washington
Sam Merrill, G, Utah State
Zeke Nnaji, F, Arizona
Jordan Nwora, F, Louisville
Isaac Okoro, F, Auburn
Daniel Oturu, C, Minnesota
Reggie Perry, F, Mississippi State
Myles Powell, G, Seton Hall
Payton Pritchard, G, Oregon
Immanuel Quickley, G, Kentucky
Jahmi’us Ramsey, G, Texas Tech
Paul Reed, F, DePaul
Nick Richards, F/C, Kentucky
Grant Riller, G, Charleston
Jay Scrubb, G, John A. Logan College
Jalen Smith, F, Maryland
Cassius Stanley, G, Duke
Lamar Stevens, F, Penn State
Isaiah Stewart, F/C, Washington
Tyrell Terry, G, Stanford
Xavier Tillman, F/C, Michigan State
Kaleb Wesson, F/C, Ohio State
Kahlil Whitney, F, Kentucky
Cassius Winston, G, Michigan State
Robert Woodard II, F, Mississippi State

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NBA is unable to hold its typical in-person draft combine this year, but the league has put together an alternative combine that will feature interviews through videoconferencing as well as the making of “pro day” videos, which will include strength and agility testing, anthropometric measurements, and shooting drills. Participants will also undergo medical testing and exams.

For more details on this year’s combine, be sure to check out our full story on the changes.