Tremont Waters

Tremont Waters Signs With French Team

Tremont Waters, who played briefly for both the Raptors and Wizards last season, has signed with a one-year deal with Metropolitans 92, the French team announced in a press release.

The 24-year-old point guard will spend a full season overseas for the first time in his career. He was with the Grizzlies’ squad in the Las Vegas Summer League, but appeared in just one game.

Waters played most of last season in the G League, but was able to land a pair of 10-day contracts during the height of the NBA’s COVID-19 outbreak. He signed a 10-day deal with Toronto on December 22 and another with Washington on January 1, getting into three total games.

A second-round pick by the Celtics in 2019, Waters spent his first two seasons in Boston on two-way contracts. He signed with the Bucks last September, but was waived before the start of the season.

With Metropolitans 92, Waters will team up with Victor Wembanyama, who is projected to be the top pick in the 2023 draft.

COVID-19 Updates: Gay, Hughes, Harrell, Hachimura, Winslow, Waters, Brooks

Jazz forwards Rudy Gay and Elijah Hughes have entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the team announced on social media (Twitter link). They join Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles as players in protocols for Utah.

All four players will miss the team’s game against the Pistons on Monday. Two-way player Malik Fitts will also be sidelined due to a right wrist injury, meaning Utah will be without five players for the contest. According to our tracker, nearly 50 players are currently in the NBA’s protocols.

Here are some other COVID-related notes from around the league:

COVID Updates: Towns, Russell, Tucker, Hyland, Robinson, Bryant, Neto

Players around the NBA continue to enter and exit the league’s health and safety protocols. Here’s the latest update:

  • Timberwolves stars Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell have exited the protocols but won’t play against the Clippers due to reconditioning, the team’s PR department tweets.
  • Heat forward P.J. Tucker has been upgraded to questionable to play on Monday against Golden State after exiting the protocols, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets.
  • Nuggets rookie Bones Hyland has exited the protocols and is expected to be available for Monday’s road game against Dallas, Mike Singer of the Denver Post tweets.
  • Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has cleared the protocols, the team’s PR department tweets.
  • Wizards center Thomas Bryant and guard Raul Neto have cleared the protocols, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets. However, Tremont Waters, who is on a 10-day hardship contract, has entered the protocols, Robbins adds in a separate tweet.
  • Bucks forward Jordan Nwora has entered the protocols and will miss Monday’s game against Detroit, Eric Nehm of The Athletic tweets.
  • Rockets big man Usman Garuba has entered the protocols, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets.

Wizards Sign Tremont Waters

JANUARY 1: Washington has announced the signing of Waters, who inked a 10-day hardship contract with the team.


DECEMBER 31: The Wizards plan to sign Tremont Waters to a 10-day deal via a hardship exception, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). Waters spent the past 10 days on a deal with the Raptors.

As Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca relays (Twitter link), Waters is technically under contract for Toronto’s game Friday against the Clippers, but he won’t dress after lining up a new opportunity with the Wizards. He appeared in two games with the Raptors, averaging 4.0 PPG, 2.o RPG, 3.5 APG, and 2.0 SPG in 21 MPG.

Waters, who will turn 24 next month, was selected by the Celtics with the 51st overall pick in the 2019 draft and spent his first two professional seasons as a two-way player in Boston. In 37 career games with the Celtics, Waters averaged 3.8 PPG, 0.9 RPG, and 2.1 APG in 9.6 MPG.

After the C’s opted not to bring him back for the 2021/22 season, he joined the Wisconsin Herd – Milwaukee’s G League affiliate – and has averaged 17.2 PPG, 6.0 APG, and 2.7 SPG on .421/.364/.714 shooting in 13 NBAGL games (31.5 MPG) this season.

The Wizards currently have seven players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, including guards Spencer Dinwiddie, Aaron Holiday, Raul Neto, and 10-day replacement player Brad Wanamaker. Waters will serve as a stopgap solution until some of those players return.

Raptors Complete Three 10-Day Signings

The Raptors have officially signed guard Tremont Waters and forwards D.J. Wilson and Juwan Morgan to 10-day contracts, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. The deals were completed on Wednesday, so they’ll run through December 31.

Toronto’s agreements with Waters, Wilson, and Morgan were all previously reported. The team, which currently has eight players in the health and safety protocols, is also expected to sign Nik Stauskas and Brandon Goodwin to 10-day deals via hardship exceptions, though there have been rumors that at least one of them tested positive for COVID-19.

The Raptors had their game on Wednesday in Chicago postponed and won’t resume play until December 26, so they theoretically could’ve gotten a couple extra games out of their new additions if they’d waited until Sunday to complete the signings. However, I suspect the NBA’s new roster rules required the team to finalize at least three of its hardship signings on Wednesday, even though the game in Chicago was postponed. The Bulls, who will also be off until Sunday, completed two 10-day deals on Wednesday too.

Waters, Wilson, and Morgan should be available for the Raptors’ next three scheduled games vs. Cleveland (Sunday), Philadelphia (next Tuesday), and the Clippers (next Friday).

Raptors To Sign Tremont Waters; VanVleet, Flynn In Protocols

The Raptors have placed point guards Fred VanVleet and Malachi Flynn in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Toronto now has five players in the protocols, including three starters.

In order to address the newly-created hole in their backcourt, the Raptors intend to sign G League guard Tremont Waters to a 10-day contract via the hardship exception, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Toronto also reportedly lined up hardship deals with Brandon Goodwin, Juwan Morgan, and Nik Stauskas on Monday, so Waters will be their fourth 10-day addition. None of those deals are official yet.

Waters, who will turn 24 next month, was selected by the Celtics with the 51st overall pick in the 2019 draft and spent his first two professional seasons as a two-way player in Boston. After the C’s opted not to bring him back for the 2021/22 season, he joined the Wisconsin Herd – Milwaukee’s G League affiliate – and has averaged 17.2 PPG, 6.0 APG, and 2.7 SPG on .421/.364/.714 shooting in 13 NBAGL games (31.5 MPG) this season.

Due to the NBA’s new temporary roster rules, Waters’ deal won’t count against Toronto’s team salary for cap or tax purposes.

Bucks Waive Four Players

The Bucks have trimmed their roster by waiving four players, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

Jalen Lecque, Tremont Waters and Javin DeLaurier were all let go, along with Wenyen Gabriel, who was signed and waived today. All four are candidates to join Milwaukee’s G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, after clearing waivers.

Lecque played four games with the Pacers last season after getting into five the previous year as a rookie with the Suns. He signed a training camp deal with the Bucks on Friday.

Waters was a second-round pick by the Celtics in 2019 and spent the past two years in Boston. DeLaurier played for the Hornets’ affiliate in the G League last season and was with the Hawks during Summer League. Gabriel has appeared in 51 combined games with the Kings, Trail Blazers and Pelicans.

Bucks Sign Tremont Waters To Training Camp Deal

10:00pm: The Bucks have officially signed Waters, according to RealGM’s transactions log.


6:10pm: The Bucks will sign free agent point guard Tremont Waters to a training camp deal, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Charania notes that Waters will have an opportunity to compete for a role on Milwaukee’s roster in camp. This agreement seems likely to be an Exhibit 10 contract, but details on the contract have yet to be divulged.

The reigning NBA champs have 13 players on guaranteed contracts, meaning they could have two open roster spots, though Georgios Kalaitzakis, Mamadi Diakite, and Elijah Bryant are also in the mix, and the Bucks may not carry a 15th man. The team also has a two-way slot open alongside Sandro Mamukelashvili.

The 5’10” Waters was selected by the Celtics with the No. 51 pick in 2019 out of LSU. The 23-year-old spent two years in college. He was named to the All-SEC First Team and honored as the Defensive Player of the Year during his final collegiate season in 2018/19.

He appeared in 11 games with Boston during his rookie season in 2019/20. He got significantly more run with Boston’s NBA G League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws. He averaged 18.0 PPG, 7.2 APG, 3.3 RPG, and 1.9 SPG in 36 games for the Red Claws, all starts. For his efforts, Waters was rewarded with an All-NBA G League Second Team inclusion, in addition to being named the NBA G League Rookie of the Year.

During his 2020/21 season with Boston, Waters averaged 3.8 PPG and 2.4 APG during 9.2 MPG across 26 games.

Celtics Re-Sign Tremont Waters To Two-Way Deal

NOVEMBER 24: Waters’ deal is now official, according to the NBA’s transactions log.


NOVEMBER 23: The Celtics are bringing back guard Tremont Waters on a two-way contract, Jared Weiss of The Athletic tweets.

Waters also played on a two-way contract last season. With center Tacko Fall also coming back on a two-way deal, Boston has reached agreements to fill both its slots.

A 2019 second-round pick out of LSU, Waters appeared in 11 regular-season games last season and averaged 3.6 PPG and 1.5 APG in 10.8 MPG. He also made a cameo appearance in the postseason.

Waters spent most of his rookie campaign with the Maine Red Claws and was named to the All-NBAGL Second Team. Waters averaged 18.0 PPG, 7.3 APG and 2.0 SPG in 33.8 MPG while starting 36 games for the Red Claws.

QO Updates: Wanamaker, Hernangomez, Fall, Chiozza, More

The Celtics won’t be making a qualifying offer to guard Brad Wanamaker, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). The decision will ensure that Wanamaker becomes an unrestricted free agent on Friday, rather than an RFA.

The decision is a little surprising, as Wanamaker’s QO would only have been worth about $1.82MM. And he was a fairly reliable bench contributor in Boston in 2019/20, averaging 6.9 PPG and 2.5 APG on .448/.363/.926 shooting in 71 games (19.3 MPG). However, with Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard entering the mix, the Celtics don’t have a ton of roster spots to go around.

There’s still a chance that Wanamaker could return to the Celtics, particularly if Gordon Hayward ends up elsewhere, tweets Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.

Here are several more updates on qualifying offer decisions from around the NBA:

  • The Timberwolves, as expected, tendered a qualifying offer to power forward Juan Hernangomez, making him a restricted free agent, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). That QO is worth about $4.6MM. Hernangomez could accept it, but is more likely to try to negotiate a new, longer-term deal with Minnesota.
  • The Celtics extended qualifying offers to both of their two-way players, Tacko Fall and Tremont Waters, the team announced in a press release. Those QOs are for new two-way deals with $50K guarantees.
  • The Pacers won’t extend qualifying offers to big man Alize Johnson or two-way players Brian Bowen and Naz Mitrou-Long, tweets Scotto. All three players will become unrestricted free agents.
  • Among other two-way players, Nets guard Chris Chiozza will receive a qualifying offer, but Pelicans guard Josh Gray won’t, according to Scotto (Twitter links). The Heat also won’t send a QO to two-way player Kyle Alexander, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.