Magic Re-Sign Adonis Thomas To 10-Day Pact
FRIDAY, 8:32am: The team has officially announced the deal, via press release.
TUESDAY, 12:26pm: The Magic will re-sign Adonis Thomas to a second 10-day contract, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (on Twitter). The first 10-day pact Thomas signed with the team expires at the end of Thursday. The team brought Thomas and Dewayne Dedmon aboard shortly after waiving Glen Davis.
The 20-year-old small forward has played a total of just 13 minutes over two games in his stint with the Magic so far, but it appears he did enough in the D-League this season to convince Orlando to hold on to him for a while longer. The former Memphis Tiger took 3.1 three-pointers per game and made 46.9% of them in 26 contests with the Springfield Armor, the affiliate of the Nets. Brooklyn retained his D-League rights after he spent a brief time with the big club in the preseason, but Thomas was free to sign with any NBA team after the Nets cut him from their NBA roster before opening night.
Dedmon is set to receive a second 10-day pact, too. Orlando is only carrying 12 guaranteed contracts, so unless the team wants to continue cycling through players on 10-day deals, either Dedmon or Thomas, and maybe both, are in line to receive contracts for the rest of the season once their second 10 days are up.
Kings Sign Royce White To 10-Day Contract
THURSDAY, 12:10pm: Sacramento has made the deal official, the team announced. The statement also notes that the team has assigned White to the D-League, as expected.
WEDNESDAY, 8:21pm: The Kings are expected to sign Royce White to a 10-day contract on Thursday, according to Marc. J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The team is giving him an NBA opportunity through their D-League affiliate, a source told Yahoo! Sports. The reported plan is to assign him to the Reno Big Horns, where he will be evaluated over four games. The former Iowa State star has battled an anxiety disorder and has a fear of flying. If White’s D-League stint goes well, the Kings will likely sign him to a second 10-day contract and add him to their active roster. The team has one open spot after waiving Jimmer Fredette.
White was taken 16th overall by the Rockets in the 2012 NBA draft. He had difficulties right off the bat because of his anxiety about flying. He missed the entire training camp and thought the Rockets weren’t treating his mental health issues effectively, according to the article. He was eventually suspended by the team for “refusal to provide services” stipulated by his contract.
White never ended up playing for the Rockets and was traded to the Sixers along with the rights to Turkish forward Furkan Aldemir and cash in July 2013, for a conditional second -round draft pick. White played for the Sixers this preseason, but was waived before the season’s start. The Sixers are on the hook for White’s $1,719,480 salary this season.
Thunder Sign Reggie Williams To 10-Day Deal
12:03pm: The Thunder has officially announced the signing, via press release.
7:58am: Four-year NBA veteran Reggie Williams is headed to the Thunder on a 10-day contract, reports Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. The 27-year-old swingman has been with the Thunder’s D-League affiliate since December following NBA interest from the Bulls and Grizzlies. The official announcement of the signing should take place this morning, according to Mayberry.
Williams spent the past four seasons in the NBA with the Warriors and Bobcats. His sophomore campaign, in which he shot 42.3% from three-point range, helped him earn a two-year, $5.1MM deal with Charlotte after the lockout in 2011. He nonetheless shot just 30.7% from behind the arc over the duration of that contract, and wound up on just a partially guaranteed minimum-salary deal this past summer with the Rockets, who cut him prior to opening night.
The 27-year-old rediscovered his stroke in the D-League, knocking down 38.2% of his three-pointers as he averaged 20.6 points per game over 20 appearances. The Interperformances client will fill Oklahoma City’s lone remaining open roster spot.
Nets Sign Jorge Gutierrez To 10-Day Deal
The Nets have signed Jorge Gutierrez to a 10-day contract, the team announced via Twitter. The move had appeared likely last night after Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported that the Nets preferred Gutierrez to Darius Johnson-Odom as they sought a 15th player. Brooklyn had been keeping an open roster spot, with 13 guaranteed contracts and Jason Collins on his second 10-day deal.
Gutierrez, who’s set to become the fourth Mexican-born player to take part in an official NBA game, was with the Nets during the preseason. Though he saw limited action in exhibition games, his performance during camp was key in the team’s decision to bring him back. The 25-year-old has spent time the past two seasons with the D-League affiliate of the Cavs, and he’s averaged 13.9 points and 6.9 assists in 32.7 minutes per game so far this year.
The 6’3″ Gutierrez went undrafted in 2012 out of Cal, where he received Pac-12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors. He’s seen short minutes in summer league with the Nuggets and Kings the past two offseasons.
Nets Re-Sign Jason Collins To 10-Day Contract
WEDNESDAY, 9:12am: The Nets have officially signed Collins to a second 10-day deal, the team announced.
MARCH 3RD: The Nets will sign Collins to a second 10-day contract, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The signing will take place Wednesday, the day after his first deal ends.
FEBRUARY 27TH: Jason Collins is only four days and a pair of games into his first 10-day contract with the Nets, but it appears the team is ready to make a fuller commitment to the 35-year-old center. Brooklyn is “all but certain” to re-sign Collins for the rest of the season, writes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. It’s not clear whether a contract for the balance of 2013/14 would come at the expiration of his current 10-day deal, or after the team issues him a second 10-day contract.
Collins made history shortly after signing Sunday when he entered Brooklyn’s game against the Lakers, becoming the first openly gay athlete to play in one of the four major North American professional sports. He’s had much less of an impact in box scores, having yet to tally a single point while grabbing just two rebounds in 18 total minutes. Still, Collins has long been known mostly for his inside presence and screen-setting, and has yet to reach 100 total points in any season since 2007/08.
The Nets still have an open roster spot even after the addition of Collins, so keeping him for the season won’t do much to hamper the team’s flexibility. Brooklyn is more than $30MM over the tax line, meaning the team is in line to pay $4.75 in tax for each dollar it spends. That didn’t stop the Nets from pursuing Jordan Hill and his $3.5MM salary before the trade deadline, so they probably won’t blink at what would likely be a minimum-salary arrangement for Collins that covers the rest of the season.
Knicks D-League Affiliate Waives Chris Smith
1:48pm: Smith was upset over his playing time and left the team several days ago, a source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
1:22pm: Smith had several run-ins with Erie’s coaches, precipitating the decision to let him go, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com.
1:00pm: The BayHawks have officially waived Smith, the team announced.
8:42am: The D-League affiliate of the Knicks has decided to waive former Knicks guard Chris Smith, a source tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest. The Erie BayHawks have yet to make an official announcement, but it appears one of the most controversial additions to an NBA roster this season is about to find himself without a home in the D-League, much less the NBA.
The Knicks signed Smith, the brother of J.R. Smith, in the offseason to a minimum-salary contract that became fully guaranteed if he made the team out of camp, and he did so, sticking with New York for the first two months of the season. This was despite the reported belief of some Knicks coaches who thought Chris Smith wasn’t even qualified to play in the the D-League. The Knicks waived him in December, irking his brother, and Chris Smith wound up heading to play in the D-League, where the BayHawks grabbed his rights.
Chris Smith averaged 8.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 20.8 minutes per game for Erie, though some of his 23 appearances came on assignment while still under contract with the Knicks. The 26-year-old hasn’t played since a five-minute cameo on February 22nd. The Knicks are still on the hook for the Leon Rose client‘s full NBA salary for this season, which is compounded because of luxury tax penalties.
Both Smith brothers signed new contracts with the Knicks this summer, though it appeared that the one the team gave to Chris was in deference to J.R., who won the Sixth Man of the Year award last season. Rose, the agent for both Smiths, is with the Creative Artists Agency, which has close ties to Knicks management. Rose also represents Carmelo Anthony, who plans to opt out of his deal with New York and become a free agent this summer.
Bobcats Sign Justin Hamilton To 10-Day Pact
TUESDAY, 11:31am: Hamilton’s signing is official, the team announced via press release.
SUNDAY, 12:59pm: The Bobcats intend to sign 7-footer Justin Hamilton to a 10-day contract on Tuesday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Hamilton is currently playing for the Sioux Fall Skyforce in the NBA D-League. Hamilton was profiled here as the next possible candidate to be signed from the D-League.
Hamilton’s stats in 37 games with the Skyforce were averages of 19.3 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 1.5 APG, and 2 BPG in 35.2 MPG.
Hamilton was drafted in the second-round in 2012 by the Sixers. He was subsequently traded to the Heat for the rights to Arnett Moultrie. The Heat then waived Hamilton back in October of 2013.
Bucks Sign Tony Mitchell To 10-Day Contract
TUESDAY, 10:58am: The team officially announced the move, via Twitter.
MONDAY, 5:30pm: The Bucks are set to sign forward Tony Mitchell to a 10-day contract, sources tell Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). Mitchell has been with the D-League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
Mitchell is putting up averages of 19.4 points and 5.4 rebounds in 21 games with Fort Wayne this season. It’s an encore of his 2012/13 campaign in which he put up 21.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per contest over 48 games. Mitchell, 24, was in camp with the Kings over the offseason but was unable to survive the final cut.
The 6’6″ forward is not to be confused with the Pistons’ 6’9″ forward of the same name. The Bucks’ Mitchell was a standout at Alabama while the Pistons forward made his name at North Texas.
Cavs Sign Arinze Onuaku To Second 10-Day
TUESDAY, 10:40am: Cleveland has made the signing official, the team announced on its website.
MONDAY, 9:48pm: The Cavaliers will sign forward Arinze Onuaku to a second 10-day contract, a league source told Shams Charania of RealGM. Onuaku’s first 10-day deal expired on Monday.
Before hooking on with Cleveland, the undrafted 6’9″ forward also found his way to a deal with the Pelicans. In four games this season for the Cavs and Pelicans, Onuaku has scored three points and grabbed seven rebounds in 26 minutes.
The 26-year-old spent parts of the past two seasons with the Canton Charge, Cleveland’s D-League affiliate. This season, he has appeared in 27 games for Canton with averages of 14.4 PPG, 9.7 RPG and 1.0 BPG in 24.2 MPG.
Bobcats Waive Ben Gordon
12:09pm: With Gordon being waived after the date to be playoff eligible, he’ll have to choose between going to a non-postseason team or sitting out until he hits free agency this summer, tweets Adrian Wojnarowksi of Yahoo! Sports.
10:55am: The Bobcats have announced via press release that they have officially requested waivers on guard Ben Gordon. This move comes a day after the cutoff for players to be eligible to appear in the postseason when signing with a new team. The announcement was made by President of Basketball Operations Rod Higgins. Higgins stated, “With the recent acquisition of additional backcourt depth to our roster, we believe this is in the best interests of both parties. We want to thank Ben for his contributions over the past two seasons and wish him the best as he moves on in his career.”
Gordon was originally acquired from the Pistons along with a future first-round draft pick on June 26th, 2012, in exchange for Corey Maggette. Gordon appeared in 94 games for the Bobcats and averaged 10.0 PPG, 1.7 RPG, and 1.7 APG over 19.6 minutes per contest. Gordon played in 19 games this season, averaging 5.2 PPG, 1.4 RPG, and 1.1 APG in 14.7 minutes.
The Raymond Brothers client doesn’t want to hook up with any team that wouldn’t allow him to hit free agency this summer, as he’s currently scheduled to do. The Bulls, Clippers and Rockets had apparently been dangling two-year offers (Twitter links), but with the Bulls signing Jimmer Fredette, and with the Clippers’ recent signings of Danny Granger and Glen Davis, it is unknown if they would still have any interest. The Thunder have also been mentioned as a possibility for Gordon’s services.