Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Trail Blazers Waive Terrel Harris

September 23rd, 2013 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers have officially parted ways with Terrel Harris, announcing today that he has been released (Twitter link). The move comes as no surprise, since Joe Freeman of the Oregonian reported last month that Portland was expected to cut Harris before camp opened.

Harris never figured to have a great chance to stick with the Blazers since coming over in the Robin Lopez deal since he was just a throw-in to make the numbers work. When he was suspended for violating the NBA’s drug policy, his chances were even further diminished.

The 26-year-old spent time with New Orleans and Miami over the past two seasons, averaging 2.3 PPG and 1.8 RPG in 10.8 minutes per contest. The guard is represented by Brian Elfus of Impact Sports Basketball, according to the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Xavier Silas To Sign Camp Deal With Wizards

September 23rd, 2013 at 3:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Free agent guard Xavier Silas is set to join the Wizards for training camp, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.com (via Twitter). Silas will be Washington's camp invitee, joining Josh Childress, who reportedly reached an agreement with the team over the weekend.

Silas, 25, went undrafted out of Northern Illinois in 2011 after averaging 22.3 PPG in his senior year. Since then, he has had stints overseas and in the D-League, and briefly saw NBA action for the Sixers during the 2011/12 season, appearing in two games for Philadelphia.

As I noted on Friday, the Wizards are one of a handful of teams with 15 or more players on fully guaranteed contracts. That makes it unlikely that camp invitees like Childress or Silas will make the regular-season roster, but Washington has seen Chris Singleton and Emeka Okafor go down with injuries — if the team is concerned about depth, it could open the door for a small roster shakeup.

Pacers, Paul George Finalizing $90MM+ Deal

September 23rd, 2013 at 1:15pm CST by Zachary Links

MONDAY, 1:15pm: While George has been talking about his extension as if it's a done deal, Pacers president Larry Bird tells Michael Pointer of the Indianapolis Star that it's close, but not quite finished.

"That’s why I’m not playing golf today," Bird told Pointer, during an appearance before a Pacers Foundation golf outing at Brickyard Crossing. "I’m going back to the office to work on it."

Even as Bird pumps the brakes a little, it sounds to me as if it will just be a matter of days before we hear an official announcement from the team.

SUNDAY, 9:21pm: The Pacers and Paul George are finalizing a five-year deal worth more than $90MM, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. George is represented by Aaron Mintz of CAA Sports, according to the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.

George, 23, was scheduled to become a restricted free agent following the conclusion of the 2013/14 season. While there wasn't a ton of concern that George would flee the Pacers, fans were able to breathe even easier thanks to the star's comments over the summer. Last week, George said point blank that a contract extension was "going to get done" between him and the club.

The forward was named the NBA's Most Improved Player for 2012/13, when he set career-highs in PPG (17.4), RPG (7.6), PER (16.8), and several other categories. He also helped lead the Pacers to within one game of the NBA Finals, even without the services of Danny Granger.

George boosted his scoring average from 17.0 PPG in the regular season to 19.2 PPG during the Pacers' playoff run. He made himself a household name in the postseason and he could make himself known even more on a global scale if he's part of USA Basketball's 2014 team and the 2016 Olympic team in Brazil.

With George under contract for the forseeable future, the Pacers can now turn their focus to finishing what they started last season. George will spearhead an improved team this season that will feature a healthy Granger and an improved bench with offseason additions Luis Scola and Chris Copeland off the bench.

Indiana re-signed David West to a three-year, $36MM extension in July and locked up Roy Hibbert with a four-year, $58MM deal last summer. The Pacers had until October 31st to hammer something out with George, but it looks like they can use the next few weeks to go candy shopping instead.

Heat To Bring Larry Drew II To Camp

September 23rd, 2013 at 12:39pm CST by Luke Adams

Former Hawks head coach Larry Drew has a new job this season, taking over as the Bucks' new coach, and now his son will have an opportunity to compete for an NBA job of his own. The Heat announced today (via Twitter) that Larry Drew II has signed a contract with the team.

Drew, 23, manned the point at UCLA last season, averaging 7.5 PPG and 7.3 APG in 35 contests for the Bruins. A quad injury prevented him from participating in Summer League action in July, but the Heat still kept an eye on him in recent weeks.

Given Miami's payroll and roster situation, Drew's deal is almost certainly a non-guaranteed camp invite, and is likely a long shot for the club's regular season roster. It's possible that he eventually lands on the Heat's D-League squad — for the first time, the NBA club will have a one-to-one affiliation with the Sioux Falls Skyforce this season.

Ike Diogu To Join Knicks For Camp

September 23rd, 2013 at 10:42am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks will add veteran forward Ike Diogu to their training camp roster, according to Al Iannazzone of Newsday (Twitter link). Diogu will occupy one of the three remaining open spots on New York's offseason roster.

Diogu, 30, was one of several free agents who worked out for the Knicks last week in the hopes of landing a camp invitation. New York is also expected to bring another one of the participants in that audition, Josh Powell, to camp, as we heard over the weekend.

Diogu was drafted ninth overall in 2005 by the Warriors and had a solid rookie season, including 7.0 PPG and a 15.8 PER. However, early in his second NBA season, he was sent to Indiana in an eight-player swap that landed Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson in Golden State. Diogu was traded twice more in the next two years, and never had another season as productive as his rookie year. He last appeared in two games for the Spurs during the 2011/12 campaign.

With Diogu on board, the Knicks will have six players on partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed deals, to go along with their 12 guaranteed contracts. C.J. Leslie, who has a $200K guarantee, figures to be a lock for a regular-season roster spot, while Diogu, Powell, Chris Smith, Toure Murry, and Jeremy Tyler will compete for the last two openings.

Knicks Invite Powell To Training Camp

September 21st, 2013 at 5:29pm CST by Michael Pina

The Knicks will sign Josh Powell to a non-guaranteed training camp deal, according to a tweet from Bleacher Report's Jared Zwerling, who reports that the six-year NBA veteran has agreed to a deal with the team.

Powell worked out with the team last week, and has also recently auditioned for the Pelicans. The 30-year-old Powell has been out of the NBA for the past two seasons, and in 2011 he played for the Hawks.

Holding a career scoring average of 3.9PPG, Powell is best known for being a member of two championship winning Lakers teams in 2009 and 2010. He was waived by the Spurs last October, but didn't play a game for the team.

Josh Childress To Join Wizards For Training Camp

September 21st, 2013 at 1:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Wizards have landed 30-year-old swingman Josh Childress, who'll be with the team in camp, tweets Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype. Presumably it'll be a standard non-guaranteed camp deal for the Chris Emens client who appeared in just 14 NBA games last season before the Nets waived him in December.

This summer the former sixth overall pick turned down a lucrative offer from Olympiacos of Greece, the team that lured him away from a sixth-man role with the Hawks in 2008. The Cavs, Spurs and Pelicans all auditioned Childress over the past couple of months, and the Knicks were among several teams with which he had talks.

Childress is the first player the Wizards have invited to this year's camp outside of their exisiting 15 guaranteed contracts. He could push for playing time at small forward with Chris Singleton sidelined six to eight weeks with foot surgery. Still, Washington already has Martell Webster and rookies Otto Porter and Glen Rice Jr. at the position, so Childress figures to have an uphill battle to make the opening-night roster.

Lakers Sign Ryan Kelly

September 20th, 2013 at 5:49pm CST by Luke Adams

5:49pm: It'll be a non-guaranteed one-year contract for Kelly, tweets Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. That means he's essentially no more than a training camp invitee.

3:20pm: The Lakers have officially signed second-round pick Ryan Kelly to a contract, the team announced today in a press release. Kelly had been dealing with foot issues and it was unclear if he'd be healthy enough to join the team this fall, but it looks like he'll get a camp audition, at the very least.

Kelly, the 48th overall pick in this June's draft, played his senior year at Duke in 2012/13, averaging 12.9 PPG and 5.3 RPG in 23 contests. Since the Lakers only have 11 players on fully guaranteed contracts, the 6'11" forward should have a good chance to earn a regular-season roster spot, depending on his health and production in October. In addition to those 11 guys and Kelly, Los Angeles is also bringing Shawne Williams, Marcus Landry, Xavier Henry, and Elias Harris to camp.

Details of Kelly's deal with the Lakers aren't known, but since the team is into tax territory and has used its mid-level exception, it'll have to be a minimum salary contract of some sort for the rookie. It can be for either one or two years, and will likely only have a small partial guarantee.

Dominique Jones, Jonny Flynn To Play In China

September 20th, 2013 at 2:30pm CST by Luke Adams

With NBA opportunites drying up, two former first-round picks are set to play in China for the coming season. Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld reports (via Twitter) that Dominique Jones has decided to sign with a Chinese team, while Jonny Flynn's high school coach tells Mike Waters of The Post-Standard that the point guard will play for the Sichuan Blue Whales.

Jones spent three seasons with the Mavericks after being drafted 25th overall in 2010. The 24-year-old never saw significant minutes in Dallas, appearing in just 80 total games and averaging 3.1 PPG and 1.8 APG. Jones recorded a decent 11.9 PER for his career, but seemingly didn't show enough in his first three seasons to draw strong interest among NBA teams this summer.

Flynn, meanwhile, played for the Melbourne Tigers in Australia last season, and was reportedly hoping to break camp with an NBA team this fall. It's not clear if interest didn't materialize, or whether he simply received a more lucrative offer from Sichuan, but it seems he'll be spending the year in China, just four years removed from being selected sixth overall by the T-Wolves.

As our international player movement tracker shows, Jones will join a handful of other players who spent 2012/13 with an NBA team and have signed to play in China for '13/14. Donte Greene, Ivan Johnson, and Johan Petro are the others.

76ers To Sign Vander Blue

September 19th, 2013 at 7:44pm CST by Ryan Raroque

According to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, the 76ers have agreed to sign undrafted guard Vander Blue to a partially guaranteed contract (Twitter link). The 6'4" guard participated in both the Orlando and Las Vegas Summer League this year, averaging 23.5 MPG, 11.5 PPG and 5.5 RPG in two games for Houston and 21.2 MPG, 11.0 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 37.5% shooting from long distance in 6 games for the Grizzlies respectively.

Philadelphia's roster now stands at 17, though several of those players will be on partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed deals. Only 10 Sixers currently have fully guaranteed deals, though that number will increase by one when Michael Carter-Williams officially signs.

In addition to Blue, the 76ers have added a handful of guards this offseason (including Tony Wroten, James Anderson, Khalif Wyatt, and Darius Morris to name a few), which should make for an interesting and competitive camp as far as the back court is concerned. Also, Blue's partial guarantee might not be much of a surprise, as we discussed earlier today why it'd be in the team's best interests to find a way to remain above the salary cap this season.