Dominic McGuire To Play In D-League
Six-year NBA veteran Dominic McGuire is set to join the D-League, according to Gino Pilato of D-League Digest. The 28-year-old swingman was in camp with the Jazz this fall. He’s still free to sign with any NBA team.
It’s not clear which D-League team McGuire will play for, since he’ll first have to go through the D-League’s waiver process before he lands with a club. It’ll be the first D-League stint for the former second-round pick who’s managed to play in the NBA every season since the Wizards made him the 47th overall selection in 2007. He’s averaged 2.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in 15.6 minutes per game over his career, and his most significant action came back in 2008/09 with Washington, when he started 57 games.
McGuire last appeared in the NBA with the Pacers in 2012/13 on a pair of 10-day contracts. A 10-day deal could be McGuire’s path back to the Association, since teams will once more be allowed to give out those short-term deals beginning Monday. The timing of McGuire’s move may also be tied to the D-League showcase, a five-day gathering of the league’s teams in front of scouts in Reno, Nevada, starting Sunday.
Knicks Sign Jeremy Tyler, Waive Chris Smith
TUESDAY, 10:18am: The Knicks have officially signed Tyler and waived Smith, the team announced today (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 3:32pm: The Knicks have yet to officially announce any roster moves, but the team has reached a contract agreement with Tyler, tweets Begley. According to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (Twitter link), Tyler is expected to ink his deal tomorrow morning.
1:39pm: The Knicks have decided to release J.R. Smith‘s younger brother Chris Smith, according to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. The move will open up a roster spot, allowing the team to sign Jeremy Tyler. Marc Berman of the New York Post reports (via Twitter) that Tyler left the Erie BayHawks for New York yesterday, and that the details of his contract with the Knicks are being “hammered out.”
Begley and Berman had both reported earlier that Smith was a candidate to be waived as New York prepared to make room for Tyler. The move won’t save the team any money, since Smith’s non-guaranteed salary became fully guaranteed when he made the Knicks’ opening night roster. Cole Aldrich and Toure’ Murry are still on non-guaranteed deals, and could have been cut, but both players have received more minutes this season than the younger Smith, who just made his NBA debut last Wednesday. According to Begley, the team considered waiving Aldrich but ultimately decided to part ways with Smith instead.
The Knicks’ signing of Smith, and the subsequent decision to carry him on the regular season roster, raised eyebrows around the NBA, as we’ve detailed. Given the club’s limited flexibility to sign J.R. Smith to a lucrative long-term contract this summer, some rival agents viewed the two signings as a package deal, and one GM referred to Chris Smith as “maybe the worst player in the history of the Summer League,” according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Once the release of Smith becomes official, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the 26-year-old rejoin the Erie BayHawks, New York’s D-League affiliate.
Warriors Waive Hilton Armstrong
Less than three weeks after adding him to the roster, the Warriors have released Hilton Armstrong, the team announced overnight in a press release. Armstrong had been on a non-guaranteed contract, so Golden State won’t be on the hook for his full-season salary.
Armstrong, 29, played sparingly in seven games for the Warriors this month, compiling six points and 16 rebounds overall in about 28 total minutes. It was the big man’s first NBA action since the 2010/11, but he held his own, recording a PER of 18.0 in the limited sample size.
The move reduces the Warriors’ roster count to 14 players, leaving them with an opening to add another player at some point. Teams can begin signing 10-day contracts next Monday, so perhaps the team will bring Armstrong back on a 10-day deal or two later in the season.
Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Williams, Brown
Knicks owner James Dolan told his team Thursday that no drastic moves are in the offing, but management apparently didn’t get the message, since the front office is reportedly still involved in trade talks and planning for a potential coaching change. Regardless of whether the Knicks pull off any moves, they seem destined to continue to make headlines all season long. There’s more news on another team that could be active at the trade deadline as we check the latest from the Atlantic Division:
- None of the Raptors appear to be off-limits for a trade, and Kyle Lowry might be the most likely to go. Still, he says he and his teammates aren’t letting the talk get to them, notes Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. Lowry tells Wolstat that he was flattered to hear Knicks fans in New York chanting his name on Christmas Day, but he remains committed to the Raptors.
- Terrence Williams is headed to the D-League, a source tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest. Williams left his Turkish team last month to deal with a family matter. Williams has bounced around since the Nets made him the 11th overall pick in 2009 and spent part of last season with the Celtics.
- Williams also has experience playing in China, where Bobby Brown scored 74 points in his last outing for the Dongguan Leopards. Brown, who saw summer league action with the Raptors this year, seems destined to return to the NBA later this season when his Chinese deal is up, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
- Earlier tonight, we passed along a report that suggested head coach Jason Kidd may be losing support from the Nets.
Carlos Morais To Play In Angola
Raptors training camp invitee Carlos Morais will play for Recreativo Libolo in his native Angola, agent Adão Costa tells Angola’s Radio 5, according to Desporto (translation via Sportando). The deal is for two years, Costa said, though it’s not clear whether it includes an NBA out.
The 6’3″ guard appeared in three preseason games for Toronto and scored six points in a total of 21 minutes before the Raptors cut him prior to the start of the regular season. NBA teams passed him over when he was eligible for the draft in 2007, and Morais had never played in an NBA summer league, so it was surprising to see the Raptors bring him to camp. He led Angola to the gold medal in the FIBA Africa Championship this past summer.
It may not have worked out with Morais this fall, but his presence on the Raptors camp roster could signal a willingness on the part of Nigerian-born GM Masai Ujiri to tap the African market for talent. Morais played for Petroleos in Angola last season, as our International Player Movement Tracker shows.
Grizzlies Sign Seth Curry
TUESDAY, 12:16pm: The Grizzlies have officially announced the move, via press release.
SUNDAY, 7:59am: The Grizzlies are set to add guard Seth Curry, tweets Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. Curry will arrive in Memphis on Monday for a physical and a workout before the team makes the signing official, according to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal (Twitter links). The move would bring the Grizzlies roster to the 15-player maximum.
Curry performed well earlier this month in an audition with the Grizzlies, but it’s still somewhat surprising to see that the club is expected to sign him, since a report indicated that Memphis had shifted gears after setting up its auditions for Curry and others. The Grizzlies had apparently begun focusing on long-term replacements for Quincy Pondexter, who’s out for the season, but perhaps they circled back to Curry after finding no better fit on the market.
The deal figures to be for the minimum salary. There are only a couple of weeks left before the January 10th leaguewide guarantee date, so if the arrangement doesn’t include a full guarantee, the Grizzlies won’t have long to evaluate Curry before they must decide on picking up his salary for the entire season.
Curry, 23, went undrafted out of Duke this past June and spent training camp this fall with older brother Stephen Curry and the Warriors. He’s been playing with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the D-League since then, averaging 21.3 points and 7.8 assists in 12 games.
Odds & Ends: Jefferson, Carroll, Kobe
It’s a lighter-than-usual Friday night slate in the NBA, with only nine games this evening, but it’s been plenty eventful off the court the past couple of weeks. Hoops Rumors readers have pegged Kyle Lowry as the most likely centerpiece of the next major deal, and as we wait to see whether that will be the case, here’s more from the Association:
- Richard Jefferson wouldn’t retract Thursday’s comment that he’ll have “no loyalty” as he seeks to play for a contender, but he told reporters Friday that he’d be “more than ecstatic” to remain with the Jazz, notes Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune. Jefferson will be a free agent at season’s end.
- Hawks forward DeMarre Carroll was surprised that he and the Jazz couldn’t work out a way for him to return to Utah this summer, but he’s still fond of the organization, Falk observes in a separate piece.
- Kobe Bryant‘s latest injury has turned his extension into a disaster of a deal for the Lakers, who seem unlikely to have what it takes to lure LeBron James this summer, as Mark Heisler opines for Forbes.com.
- Stephen Graham has signed with the Venezuelan team Guaros de Lara, the club announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Francisco Vega of El Impulso first reported the story (on Twitter). The six-year NBA veteran was in camp this fall with the Bucks.
- The Warriors have sent Nemanja Nedovic to the D-League, the team announced. It’s the third assignment to Santa Cruz this season for the 30th overall pick this past June.
Pelicans Sign Alexis Ajinca
FRIDAY, 5:21pm: The Pelicans officially announced the signing, via press release.
TUESDAY, 4:48pm: Former first-round pick Alexis Ajinca is on his way back to the NBA, according to Gabriel Pantel-Jouve of Catch-and-Shoot (French link). Pantel-Jouve writes that Ajinca’s club in France announced that the 25-year-old will be leaving Strasbourg to sign with the Pelicans.
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com confirms with league sources that Ajinca is in the process of finalizing a buyout with Strasbourg and will ink a two-year deal with the Pelicans. According to Berger, the deal is expected to be fully guaranteed, and will be worth the minimum. New Orleans will also pay $575K to Ajinca’s team in France, the standard buyout amount under NBA rules.
Ajinca, who was selected 20th overall by the Bobcats in 2008, appeared in just 71 NBA games for the Bobcats, Mavericks, and Raptors, and hasn’t played in the NBA since 2010/11. However, the big man has been playing well in France this season, averaging 13.9 PPG and 6.9 RPG in just 24.2 MPG (12 contests) for Strasbourg.
The Pelicans opened up a roster spot on Friday by releasing Josh Childress, so no corresponding roster move will be necessary to officially add Ajinca.
Lakers Sign Kendall Marshall
2:00pm: Marshall’s deal with the Lakers is a two-year pact, tweets Pincus. That doesn’t necessarily mean Marshall will have a multiyear stint in Los Angeles, since the contract is non-guaranteed, but it gives the team the flexibility to keep him around if he impresses.
FRIDAY, 12:58pm: The Lakers have officially signed Marshall, who inked his contract after shootaround today, says Mike Trudell of Lakers.com (via Twitter).
THURSDAY, 9:00pm: As expected, Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times reports the deal is non-guaranteed.
7:54pm: Marshall’s agent Jeff Austin has confirmed the signing via text message, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.
7:37pm: The Lakers have agreed to sign former Suns point guard Kendall Marshall, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. This signing comes following news that Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash both expect to miss extended time for a team that was already without guards Steve Blake and Jordan Farmar.
Marshall, 22, has yet to see NBA action this season. He was acquired by the Wizards in October as part of the deal that sent Marcin Gortat to Washington, but he was promptly waived and signed on with Delaware 87ers of the D-League. Mike D’Antoni acknowledged earlier today that the club would need to sign a point guard, and the Lakers opted to take a flier on the former lottery pick out of the University of North Carolina.
In seven games for the 87ers this season, Marshall posted 19.4 PPG and 9.6 APG in 37.6 MPG. The deal figures to be non-guaranteed, as Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak suggested might be the case earlier today. The Lakers will have the option to waive Marshall’s contract before it becomes fully guaranteed, but in the meantime, his presence will help aid the ailing backcourt in Los Angeles.
Minor Moves: McNeal, Oriakhi, Landry
NBA teams aren’t making a whole lot of changes to their rosters these days, but plenty of recognizable names are on the move overseas and in the D-League. Here are the latest international and D-League transactions worth tracking:
- Jerel McNeal was released by the Jazz just before the regular season began because he received a lucrative offer from China’s Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls. However, McNeal may be returning stateside, as Zhejiang is prepared to cut him, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
- Suns 2013 draftee Alex Oriakhi has landed with the Erie BayHawks in the NBA D-League, tweets Sportando contributor David Pick. The Knicks‘ affiliate now holds Oriakhi’s D-League rights, but the Suns are the only NBA team eligible to sign him.
- Marcus Landry, who was waived by the Lakers in October, has signed in Spain with Cajasol Sevilla, the team announced today (hat tip to Sportando). Carl Landry‘s younger brother last played an NBA regular season game back in 2009/10.