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Wolves Waive A.J. Price

April 3rd, 2014 at 11:37am CST by Chuck Myron

The Wolves have waived A.J. Price, the team announced. The point guard was on a minimum-salary contract, which will remain on the team’s books. The timing is unusual, since there are fewer than two weeks remaining before the end of the season. It’s not tied to Dante Cunningham‘s arrest this morning on suspicion of domestic assault, tweets Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune, who notes that the team made its decision to cut ties with Price prior to the arrest. Price’s release brings the team down to 14 players, and presumably the Wolves will add someone before the season is through.

Price had an appendectomy in early March and hasn’t played since. He saw just 3.5 minutes per game this season in 28 appearances, but the Wolves nonetheless decided to keep him through December 8th, when his contract became fully guaranteed. The Excel Sports Management client inked the deal coming off of a career year with the Wizards, for whom he started 22 games, averaging 9.0 points and 4.7 assists in those starts.

The 27-year-old is ineligible to take part in the postseason this year if he ends up with a team that’s playoff-bound, since Minnesota waived him after March 1st. I imagine the Wolves have their eyes on a free agent prospect whom they’d like to sign to a contract that runs through the end of the season with a non-guaranteed year tacked on for 2014/15, though that’s just my speculation. Zgoda suggests that player would likely be a forward like Cunningham, whose absence, however long it might be, creates a more significant hole than Price’s.

Spurs Sign Damion James To 10-Day Deal

April 3rd, 2014 at 10:13am CST by Chuck Myron

THURSDAY, 10:13am: The deal is official, the team announced.

WEDNESDAY, 1:59pm: The Spurs are set to sign former first-round pick Damion James to a 10-day contract, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The Nuggets brought him to preseason camp on a non-guaranteed deal, and while he seemed to play Jordan Hamilton to a draw, Denver opted to cut him and keep Hamilton’s guaranteed contract instead. James has spent most of the season in the D-League, splitting time between the Bakersfield Jam and his current team, the Texas Legends, which is the one-to-one affiliate of the Mavs.

The Mark Bartelstein client reportedly drew interest from other NBA teams soon after the Nuggets let him go, but no team had been identified as a suitor. His last official NBA action came last season on a 10-day contract with the Nets, the only team for which he’s played a regular season game. He started nine games for the team as a rookie in 2010/11, but he broke his right foot, and persistent trouble with that foot derailed his career. He appeared in only 34 games on his rookie scale contract.

The Spurs have been carrying an open roster spot, so they don’t need to make a corresponding move before their deal with James becomes official. The 26-year-old has been averaging 21.1 points and 11.3 rebounds in 14 games since joining the Texas Legends, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get significant minutes in a couple of games for the Spurs as they rest players in preparation for the postseason.

Kings Sign Jared Cunningham To 10-Day Deal

March 31st, 2014 at 1:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

1:01pm: The signing is official, the team announced.

8:01am: The Kings will sign 2012 first-round pick Jared Cunningham to a 10-day contract, reports Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). The team is still high on Royce White, whom Sacramento has been considering for another contract, but a shortage of healthy guards has prompted GM Pete D’Alessandro and company to temporarily fill their final roster spot with Cunningham, Jones tweets.

Injuries had left rookies Ben McLemore and Ray McCallum as the only available guards for Sacramento, so Cunningham, a shooting guard, figures to see plenty of minutes. It’ll be a stark contrast from Cunningham’s experience on NBA rosters so far, as he’s played more games on D-League assignment than in the NBA in both seasons since turning pro. The Hawks waived him in late February to address their shortage of bodies in the frontcourt. Cunningham said shortly thereafter that he would sign with an NBA team within the week, but he wound up waiting almost a month for his return to the Association.

The Sam Goldfeder client was the 24th overall pick in 2012, but he’s seen action in just 13 NBA games so far between the Mavs and Hawks, putting up 18 points on 7 for 16 shooting in 48 total minutes. He’s played in 37 D-League games, averaging 16.1 points on 36.9% shooting from the field in 32.5 minutes per contest.

Cavs Sign Scotty Hopson

March 31st, 2014 at 12:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

12:11pm: Hopson’s salary will be about $1.44MM next season, rather than $2.5MM, Lloyd now says (Twitter link).

10:45am: The Cavs have signed Turkish league swingman Scotty Hopson, the team announced. The deal was originally reported by Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link). It’ll run through the rest of the season, and it’s non-guaranteed for 2014/15, Lloyd tweets.

The Cavs used their room exception to accommodate the contract, which is worth $2.5MM next season, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). He’ll receive a prorated portion of the room exception this year. The room exception actually allows for a salary of up to $2,743,125 next season, but it’s unclear if he’s receiving that much. In any case, the inflated contract creates some trade flexibility for the summer, as Lloyd explains in a full piece. Hopson’s contract can be used as trade ballast to allow the Cavs to acquire a larger contract, and since the deal is non-guaranteed, Hopson’s new team could simply waive him in that scenario.

The 6’6″ Hopson went undrafted out of Tennessee in 2011, and he’s conducted his pro career almost entirely overseas. He hooked on with the Heat’s summer league team this past offseason, but he didn’t wind up in an NBA preseason camp. He’s averaged 10.9 points and 3.3 rebounds in 24.9 minutes per game with Anadolu Efes in Turkey this season.

The signing fills what had been Cleveland’s final open roster spot. The team cycled through three players on 10-day contracts before settling on Hopson, as our 10-Day Tracker shows. Seth Curry‘s 10-day deal with the team ended just last night, and Lloyd reported that the team didn’t intend to re-sign him.

Bobcats Re-Sign DJ White To 10-Day Contract

March 31st, 2014 at 10:18am CST by Chuck Myron

The Bobcats have re-signed power forward DJ White to a second 10-day contract, the team announced via press release. White’s first 10-day deal with the team expired last night.

The team brought him aboard to shore up its depth inside, but the Bobcats have had little use for him so far, putting him in just one game for a total of four minutes. Still, the front office is familiar with his game, having had him during the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons. The Jeff Wechsler client has spent most of the season in China, where he averaged 20.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game for the Sichuan Blue Whales.

Charlotte’s move fills the team’s final open roster spot once more. The Bobcats will have to decide whether to keep White for the rest of the season or part ways at the end of his second 10-day contract. Last year, Boston picked him up out of China and gave him a pair of 10-day contracts before keeping him for the season. The Celtics also included a non-guaranteed season for 2013/14 in his deal, but they traded him to the Nets, who waived him over the summer.

Warriors Sign Armstrong To 10-Day Contract

March 30th, 2014 at 4:38pm CST by Eddie Scarito

4:38pm: The Warriors have officially announced the signing.

11:20am: The Warriors have signed Santa Cruz center Hilton Armstrong to a 10-day contract, bringing him back to the team at a time when they are short on big men heading into today’s game against the Knicks, reports Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group. Armstrong, 29, played in eight games for Golden State this season and will be on his third stint with the team. He previously was signed in December before being waived later that month. In February, he signed a 10-day contract with the Warriors and returned to Santa Cruz after it expired and the team chose not to re-sign him.

Starting center Andrew Bogut was scheduled to undergo an MRI exam Saturday after suffering a pelvic contusion the previous night in a win against Memphis. and power forward David Lee is also questionable to face New York due to a strained right hamstring suffered eight days ago in a loss to the Spurs.

Armstrong averaged 12 PPG and 7.4 RPG in 32 appearances for Santa Cruz and had 19 points and 13 rebounds in a loss at Los Angeles on Saturday. For the year, Armstrong has averaged 0.8 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 4.4 minutes per contest with Golden State.

Nets Re-Sign Jorge Gutierrez To Two-Year Deal

March 29th, 2014 at 5:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 5:45pm: Gutierrez said Friday that his two-year contract isn’t guaranteed for next season, but a source tells Tim Bontemps of The New York Post that there is a “very nominal” guarantee involved (Twitter link).

9:22am: Gutierrez tells Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News that next season isn’t guaranteed, as I suspected (Twitter link).

FRIDAY, 8:51am: The Nets have re-signed Jorge Gutierrez to a deal that covers the rest of this season and beyond, the team announced via press release. The terms of the contract are unclear, but since Brooklyn is without cap space and possesses no exceptions that allow for a deal longer than two seasons, it has to be a pact for the minimum salary for the balance of 2013/14 and 2014/15. Next season is most likely not fully guaranteed.

Gutierrez had been on a pair of 10-day contracts with the club, the last of which expired Wednesday night. Earlier that evening he was ejected from Brooklyn’s overtime loss to the Bobcats for committing a flagrant-two foul. Still, the 6’3″ point guard saw more than 19 minutes in that contest, his most during his five-game stint. He’s averaged 3.4 points, 1.4 assists and 0.2 turnovers in 13.4 minutes per game for the Nets.

Brooklyn brought the Arn Tellem client to camp in the fall, but the team released him before opening night, and he spent most of this season with the D-League affiliate of the Cavs. The Nets circled back to him earlier this month when he beat Darius Johnson-Odom in an audition for a roster spot.

Gutierrez becomes the 15th player on the Nets with a guaranteed contract for this season, meaning the team is likely done making moves in 2013/14. They have a disabled player exception worth $5.15MM for Brook Lopez, but it looks like that will go unused. That exception would cover a contract that runs only through the end of the season, so for Gutierrez the Nets are instead using the minimum-salary exception, which provides for deals of up to two years.

Kings Sign Willie Reed

March 28th, 2014 at 11:26am CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 11:26am: The Kings have signed Reed to a deal for the rest of the season, the team announced. The team’s statement doesn’t make mention of it being a multiyear arrangement, as had previously been reported, so perhaps it only covers the balance of 2013/14. In any case, the team has also assigned Reed to the D-League, as Pilato reported they would.

THURSDAY, 6:24pm: The move was made in part to help the Reno Bighorns (Sacramento’s NBDL affiliate) as they make a late season push for the playoffs, reports Gino Pilato of DLeagueDigest. As Pilato explains, there is a rule that states that if an NBA team assigns any player called up within 21 days of the end of the NBA regular season or at any subsequent point during the NBDL regular season or playoffs, the player will return to the D-League team that he was previously playing for.

The Kings barely made the deadline to sign Reed with the option of sending him to their own affiliate, and that’s exactly what the team plans on doing, a source tells Pilato.

9:08am: The Kings are signing D-Leaguer Willie Reed for the rest of the season, agent Joel Bell tells Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The team has yet to make an official announcement. Charania’s full story indicates that the deal includes a team option for 2014/15, though I suspect that’s simply a non-guaranteed season, since team options are rare outside of rookie scale contracts.

Reed also inked a multiyear deal with Memphis in mid-April last year, but he never made it into a game, and the Grizzlies cut him and his non-guaranteed contract in training camp this past autumn. Reed appears to represent Plan B for the Kings, who were reportedly set to sign Chris Johnson on Wednesday before the deal fell through.

The 6’9″ Reed has been playing with the D-League affiliate of the Nets this season, averaging 14.8 points and 10.1 rebounds in 31.8 minutes per contest. Rebounding is his most significant area of improvement over last year, when he averaged 7.8 per contest in similar minutes for the same D-League club.

The Kings gave Reed his first NBA contract in 2012, but he failed to make the team out of camp. Still, Sacramento is high on his activity and athleticism, Charania notes, though most of the team’s management has changed since Reed’s first stint with the Kings.

Thunder Re-Sign Reggie Williams To 10-Day Deal

March 28th, 2014 at 9:56am CST by Chuck Myron

The Thunder have signed Reggie Williams to a second 10-day contract, the team announced. Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman first reported the news via Twitter. Williams was with Oklahoma City earlier this month, but when his first 10-day contract expired, the team gave his roster spot to Mustafa Shakur, who signed a 10-day contract of his own, as our tracker shows. Shakur’s deal expired Tuesday, and it looks like the club has turned back to Williams, at least for now.

The 27-year-old Williams saw just five minutes of action in his first stint with Oklahoma City, his only NBA burn this year after having been a part of the league for the previous four seasons. The Rockets cut him before opening night even though his minimum-salary contract was 50% guaranteed, and the Bulls and the Grizzlies had interest in him earlier in the season. The swingman has spent most of 2013/14 with the Thunder’s D-League affiliate, and he returned to the Tulsa 66ers after his first 10-day deal expired. He averaged 20.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game with 35.5% three-point shooting in the D-League this year.

The return of the Interperformances client gives the Thunder a full 15-man roster, though bringing Williams back on another 10-day affords the club a bit of flexibility between now and the end of the season.

Sixers Re-Sign James Nunnally To 10-Day Pact

March 27th, 2014 at 12:08pm CST by Chuck Myron

THURSDAY, 12:08pm: The deal is official, the team announced (Twitter link).

WEDNESDAY, 11:44am: The Sixers are set to sign James Nunnally to a second 10-day contract, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The small forward’s first 10-day deal expires tonight. Nunnally also went through a pair of 10-day stints with the Hawks this year, and his goal at this point is presumably to convince Philadelphia to sign him for the season, which Atlanta decided not to do.

The 6’7″ Nunnally went undrafted out of UC Santa Barbara in 2012 and played last season in the D-League, but he was a sought-after camp invitee after a strong summer league performance with the Heat in 2013. He joined the Suns for the preseason but failed to make the opening-night roster and returned to the D-League, where he’s spent the bulk of this season aside from his brief time with the Hawks and Sixers. He’s averaging 12.4 minutes per game in five contests for Philadelphia, putting up 2.2 points and 1.0 rebounds a night.

The Sixers also have Casper Ware on a 10-day contract that runs until a week from tonight. A new deal with Nunnally would keep the team at the 15-man roster limit. Philadelphia has given 10-day contracts to five players this season, as our 10-Day Tracker shows.