Spurs Sign Brown To 10-Day, Release Jeffers
The Spurs have signed Shannon Brown to a 10-day contract, per a team press release. Othyus Jeffers has been let go in conjunction with the addition of Brown. Brown figures to add depth to their depleted guard rotation. The Spurs have suffered a litany of injuries lately, with Kawhi Leonard, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green, and Tiago Splitter all missing extended time. Brown has played for five teams over his nine-year career, and hadn’t played anywhere this year after being traded to the Wizards from the Suns, and promptly released. He was reportedly considering joining a team in China over continuing his NBA career, but has opted for this route in San Antonio, where coach Gregg Popovich has consistently given role players opportunities to maximize their skills and contribute.
Jeffers’ 10-day contract wasn’t set to expire until this coming Sunday night, as our 10-day contract tracker shows. The 28-year-old shooting guard has struggled to stay in the league, spending more time in the D-League over his six-year career than on NBA teams.
Hawks Sign Cartier Martin To 10-Day Contract
5:11pm: The Hawks have officially announced the signing, via Twitter.
9:51am: After letting go of James Nunnally at the end of his second 10-day contract, the Hawks are now adding small forward Cartier Martin on a short-term deal, according Shams Charania of RealGM. Martin recently played out consecutive 10-day contracts with the Bulls, who declined to extend him for the rest of the year.
Martin was released by the Hawks earlier this season, then performed well in his limited time with the Bulls, shooting over 60% from both the three and the floor overall. In his six seasons, the Andrew Vye client has career averages of 5.4 points and 2.0 rebounds on 14.4 minutes per game.
Pacers Sign Andrew Bynum
UPDATE, 10:26am: Bynum’s contract is worth $1MM and will run through the rest of the season, per a tweet from USA TODAY’s Sam Amick. Indiana is using part of its mid-level exception to accommodate this salary, since $1MM is more than a prorated minimum salary would allow for Bynum.
Team president Larry Bird and head coach Frank Vogel both spoke with reporters about the deal. Bird said the idea that the perception that the move was to keep Bynum away from the Heat is “about the dumbest thing I ever heard. We dont have money like that,” according to a tweet from Stefan Bondy of New York Daily News. Vogel said he believes it will be weeks before Bynum actually plays, per another tweet from Candace Buckner of the Indy Star.
9:22am: Andrew Bynum has officially joined the Pacers, per the team’s press release this morning. The contract covers the remainder of the season. Larry Bird is quoted as saying, “He gives us added size, he is a skilled big man and he has championship experience. With the minutes he gets, he should be a valuable addition.” News of his meeting with the team broke yesterday, and the move is perceived by many to be as much about keeping Bynum off of a competitor’s roster as it is about improving Indiana’s.
The Pacers had been rumored as a potential landing spot for Bynum, but weren’t seen as the favorites until yesterday. Bynum will back up all-star center Roy Hibbert.
After winning two championships with the Lakers, the supremely talented 7-footer’s career has turned into a whirlwind. He was dealt to Philadelphia in the Dwight Howard blockbuster of 2012, but he never played a minute for the Sixers due to chronic knee issues and setbacks. The client of agent David Lee signed a unique, partially guaranteed contract with the Cavs this offseason, and had limited success in a small dose of minutes. His frustration with that situation led to his suspension and trade to the Bulls for Luol Deng. Chicago immediately cut him as a cap-saving maneuver to duck under the tax.
Since then, lukewarm interest has come from many rumored teams, but concerns over Bynum’s commitment to the game and his reported preferences — to make more than the minimum veteran’s salary, and compete for a title, and receive plenty of playing time — kept him a free agent for nearly a month.
Daequan Cook Signs To Play In Germany
Six-year NBA veteran Daequan Cook has signed a deal with Walter Tigers Tübingen of Germany, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). It’s not clear whether the contract includes an escape clause in case an NBA team comes calling. The 26-year-old has appeared in at least part of every NBA season since he was drafted 21st overall in 2007, but that streak is in jeopardy.
Cook didn’t draw significant NBA interest in the summer and wasn’t on a preseason roster. The client of BDA Sports Management latched on with Budivelnyk Kyiv of Ukraine in November, but the club let him go in December after he averaged 6.9 points per game and shot just 28.6% from three-point range in a total of eight appearances. That’s the same percentage of three-pointers the one-time long-range marksman hit in the NBA last season, which he split between the Rockets and the Bulls. His long-range shooting was once his calling card, as he drained 42.2% of his three-point attempts in 2010/11 with the Thunder, two seasons after winning the three-point contest during All-Star Weekend.
The 6’5″ swingman started 22 games for the 2011/12 Thunder, a team that went to the NBA Finals, so it’s been a precipitous decline. Still, if he can rediscover his outside shot while in Germany, it seems he has a decent shot of returning to the NBA, if not this season, then next.
Tyshawn Taylor Acquired By Maine Red Claws
After being waived recently by the Pelicans, Tyshawn Taylor has been claimed off waivers by the Maine Red Claws, according to Gino Pilato of D-League Digest.com. Taylor will play in the NBA D-League with the Celtics’ affiliate. Taylor has averaged 21.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 6.8 assists in 10 career NBA D-League games (two games this season and eight games last season). He had also spent time with the Nets this season, where he appeared in 29 games, averaging 3.9 points and 1.6 assists in 11.7 minutes per game.
The D-League will probably be a better place for the Jeff Schwartz client than heading overseas to play, since it might be his best chance to try and showcase what he has to offer, especially if Taylor hopes to land a 10-day contract this season. Taylor is also still collecting his NBA paychecks, as his salary of $788,872 was fully guaranteed for the year.
Royal Ivey To Sign With Chinese Team
TUESDAY, 9:02am: Ivey will play with the Guangdong Southern Tigers, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia.
MONDAY, 8:58am: The Thunder’s reunion with guard Royal Ivey was brief, as the 32-year-old is accepting an offer from a Chinese team and won’t sign another 10-day contract with Oklahoma City, reports Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman. The 10-day deal he signed with the Thunder on January 16th expired after Saturday’s win against the 76ers.
Ivey appeared in only two games for a total of five minutes in his latest stint with Oklahoma City. The Harlem native also played for the Thunder during the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons. The Thunder had ostensibly brought back Ivey to provide depth in the wake of Russell Westbrook‘s injury, though it doesn’t appear they needed to call on Ivey for any significant playing time. It’s unclear whether Oklahoma City had any interest in bringing him back on a second 10-day deal.
Slater doesn’t say which Chinese team Ivey is joining, but he could be eligible to return to the NBA as early as next month if his team in China fails to make the playoffs. Regardless of which Chinese team he signs with, the Jim Tanner client will have a shot at returning to American soil before the NBA regular season is over.
Suns Sign Leandro Barbosa For Season
TUESDAY, 1:16pm: The Suns have officially announced their signing of the Excel Sports Management client.
MONDAY, 9:54pm: We learned last week that the Suns planned on keeping guard Leandro Barbosa for the rest of the season. After tonight’s win, President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby and Coach Jeff Hornacek informed the veteran that he will in fact be with the club for the remainder of the 2013/14 campaign, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
The veteran guard admitted to being nervous over being in contract limbo, but he’s breathing a sigh of relief after hearing the good news.
“My shoulder is not 100 percent but I’m trying to help the team,” Barbosa said. “It’s a great, talented team. Very fun. I’m happy that I found out I’m going to stay. I’m going to pray and thank God because it was a hard time for me when I did the surgery. If I look back and see what I’ve been through, many people didn’t believe I could come back and play for the NBA again. Now, they say they want to stay with me for the rest of the year. It’s a great thing. There are more things for me to do. It’s not like I’m going to get the contract and chill. Now I’m going to work really hard because I really want to help the team and I know I can. But, for now, thank you Phoenix.”
The 31-year-old returned to the NBA following some tough injury rehab and a successful stint playing in his native Brazil. While filling in for the injured Eric Bledsoe, Barbosa has put up 8.6 PPG and 2.0 APG with a PER of 10.6 in 21.5 minutes per contest.
Celtics Re-Sign Chris Johnson
The Celtics have officially announced the signing of Chris Johnson to a second 10-day deal. A source told Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald on Sunday that the small forward from Dayton was likely to stick with the team once his deal expired. Johnson is not to be confused with the LSU center by the same name who played for the C’s in 2010/11.
The 6’6″ 23-year-old fit right into the Boston rotation on his first 10-day contract, averaging 10.0 points in 26.8 minutes per game with a 15.7 PER. He’s already logged more minutes than he received over the course of two 10-day contracts with the Grizzlies last season. Johnson, a client of Pinnacle Management Corp., spent camp this fall with the Nets and was playing with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the D-League when the Celtics brought him in for a workout earlier this month. Boston signed him to his first 10-day deal shortly thereafter.
When his latest 10-day contract expires, the Celtics will have to decide whether to sign Johnson for the season or let him walk. They also have Vander Blue on a 15-day deal that expires Friday night, but with just 13 guaranteed contracts, they have room to keep both for the rest of the season if they so desire.
Shawne Williams Signs With D-League
3:34pm: The team officially announced the move via Twitter, moments after Wojnarowski broke the story.
JANUARY 27TH, 2:27pm: Williams will play for the Los Angeles D-Fenders, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The D-Fenders are the affiliate of the Lakers.
JANUARY 23RD: Gino Pilato of DLeagueDigest.com reports that former Lakers forward Shawne Williams is heading to the NBDL. Williams had been waived by Los Angeles earlier this month, and likely figures that showcasing himself in the D-League will help him eventually land another 10-day contract with an NBA team.
Initially, I thought Williams would find a way to replicate some of the success he displayed with Mike D’Antoni in New York two seasons ago, especially considering his 20.2 MPG this season were pretty much on par with the 20.7 MPG he received back then. With that being said, his shooting percentages from the field overall and from distance this year (.377 and .327) were noticeably less efficient than his numbers were in 2010/11 (.426 and .401).
Williams appeared in 32 games with 11 starts this season, averaging 5.2 PPG and 4.5 RPG. As Pilato notes, this will be Williams’ first stint in the NBDL.
Celtics To Re-Sign Chris Johnson
JANUARY 26th: A source tells Mark Murphy (via Twitter) that Johnson will probably get a second 10-day deal.
JANUARY 17th, 11:19am: The team announced the signing, via press release. Having waited an extra day to make the deal official means the club gets to squeeze in an extra game for Johnson, whose contract won’t expire until after Boston’s game against the Nets on January 26th, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald points out (Twitter link).
THURSDAY, 12:44pm: The Celtics plan to sign Johnson on Friday, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
11:14am: Chris Johnson and the Celtics are finalizing a deal, and the expectation is that he’ll sign a 10-day contract, tweets Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com. Adrian Wojnarowski reported overnight that Johnson was in town for a workout with the club. The small forward from Dayton is not to be confused with the Chris Johnson from LSU who played with the Celtics during the 2010/11 season. The move brings Boston’s roster to 14 players.
Johnson has been averaging 19.4 points and 6.8 rebounds in 37.2 minutes per game for the D-League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers this season, after spending training camp with the Nets. His only official NBA action came on a pair of 10-day contracts with the Grizzlies last season, when his averages were 3.6 PPG, 1.4 RPG and 12.8 MPG.
The Celtics traded away Jordan Crawford and MarShon Brooks yesterday, and they’ve excused Keith Bogans from the team, so Johnson will bolster the team’s dwindling wing depth. Boston will have an open roster spot even after adding Johnson, and Wojnarowski’s report seemed to suggest the team might be working out other players.
Johnson is a client of Pinnacle Management Corp., as our Agency Database shows.