Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Rockets Sign Jordan Henriquez

July 31st, 2013 at 12:33pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets officially signed undrafted rookie Jordan Henriquez to a contract earlier this month, according to RealGM.com. Although the Rockets never officially announced the move, Henriquez now shows up on both ShamSports' and HoopsWorld's Rockets salary pages. He also tweeted earlier in July that he's looking forward to playing with James Harden in training camp.

Henriquez, 23, averaged 5.0 PPG and 5.0 RPG during his senior year at Kansas State before earning a spot on Houston's Summer League roster. The 6'11" big man is on a three-year deal, but it's fully non-guaranteed. As such, it's unlikely that he'll earn a spot on the roster, particularly since the Rockets have already signed or reached agreements with 17 players, exceeding the regular-season roster limit. Teams can carry up to 20 players in the offseason.

NBA teams are also allowed to hold D-League rights to up to three players who are on the roster in training camp. So the Rockets could ultimately end up cutting Henriquez from the NBA team in the fall, but adding him to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers' roster.

DaJuan Summers To Sign With Ukrainian Team

July 31st, 2013 at 8:42am CST by Luke Adams

After being released by the Clippers earlier this month, DaJuan Summers appears to be heading overseas for the coming season. Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports that Summers is expected to sign with Ukraine's Budivelnyk Kyiv.

Summers, 25, appeared in just a pair of contests for the Clippers last season. The BDA Sports client has previously spent time with the Pistons and Pelicans, averaging 3.3 PPG in 83 career games. His deal with the Clips included a non-guaranteed salary for 2013/14, but Los Angeles avoided taking a cap hit for that amount by releasing him before his guarantee date.

While he has yet to make a real impact at the NBA level, Summers played well in 29 games for the D-League's Maine Red Claws last season, averaging 18.0 PPG and 7.6 RPG in 33.1 minutes per contest.

Raptors Reach Agreement With Daye

July 30th, 2013 at 6:28pm CST by Michael Pina

The Raptors have reached agreement on a two-year deal worth $2MM with free agent forward Austin Daye, according to a tweet from Yahoo! NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski.

The 25-year-old has been a disappointment since entering the league as the 15th overall pick four years ago, averaging 5.6PPG on just 41% shooting from the floor. Last season, Daye was included as a throw-in piece in the three-team Rudy Gay trade, sending him from the Pistons to the Grizzlies. He averaged 4.5PPG in 55 total games last season.

Bucks Sign Gary Neal

July 30th, 2013 at 4:05pm CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 30TH, 4:05pm: The Bucks have officially signed Neal, the team announced today (Twitter link).

JULY 27TH, 4:31pm: Bonuses could push the value of Neal's contract to $7MM, TNT's David Aldridge reports (on Twitter).

3:42pm: Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com tweets that the full value of the deal is $6.5MM (hat tip to RealGM.com), which makes a little more sense, considering San Antonio's reluctance to re-sign Neal. If Arnovitz is correct, the Bucks will have to use cap room rather than their room exception.

2:53pm: The Bucks have agreed to sign Gary Neal to a two-year contract worth more than $3MM, a source tells Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported earlier today that the sides were nearing a deal. It appears that the Spurs withdrew their qualifying offer to Neal, so that allows Milwaukee to sign the combo guard outright without having to wait three days to find out whether the Spurs match. Neal's contract will be fully guaranteed, USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt tweets.

The David Falk client was reportedly likely to re-sign with the Spurs at one point this month, but a deal with San Antonio never materialized. The Bucks were one of four teams with interest in Neal, who was receiving offers that the Spurs were reluctant to match, prompting GM R.C. Buford and company to sign Marco Belinelli.

The Bucks can absorb Neal's contract into either their room exception, which allows a starting salary of $2.652MM, or their plentiful cap space. Bringing Neal aboard doesn't figure to have much affect on the team's negotiations with Brandon Jennings, since Milwaukee can go over the cap to re-sign him.

Nets Sign Alan Anderson

July 30th, 2013 at 3:39pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 30TH, 3:39pm: The Nets have officially signed Anderson, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 26TH, 6:05pm: The deal is for the minimum salary, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.

11:48am: The Nets and Alan Anderson have reached an agreement on a two-year contract, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Brooklyn has already committed its mini mid-level exception to Andrei Kirilenko, so Anderson figures to receive a minimum-salary contract. The second year will be a player option, according to HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Anderson, 30, is the latest addition to a Nets roster that has undergone a significant overhaul this offseason. So far this offseason, the team has added Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry, Kirilenko, Shaun Livingston, Mason Plumlee, and now Anderson to a core that already included Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez, Andray Blatche, and others.

In 65 games last season for the Raptors, Anderson scored a career-high 10.7 PPG, albeit with a shooting percentage of just 38.3%. The swingman also shot 33.3% on three-pointers and recorded a career-high 12.6 PER. When I spoke to Anderson in April, he expressed a desire to return to the Raptors, but it appears the club's new decision-makers didn't have a whole lot of interest in bringing him back.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports initially reported (via Twitter) that Anderson was in the process of finalizing an agreement to join the Nets, after reporting the team's interest earlier in the month.

Bucks Sign Giannis Antetokounmpo

July 30th, 2013 at 12:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 30TH: Antetokounmpo has officially signed his deal with the Bucks, as agent Giorgos Dimitropoulos tweets.

JULY 27TH: Giannis Antetokounmpo, whom the Bucks drafted 15th overall in this year's draft, is headed to Milwaukee and will sign his rookie-scale contract soon, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times. The Athens native, dubbed the "Greek Freak," is in line for a first-year salary of nearly $1.8MM, as our salary chart for first-rounders shows, providing he signs for the standard 120% of his scale amount.

It seemed clear soon after the draft that the Bucks had no intention of stashing the raw, 18-year-old small forward overseas, so perhaps the monthlong holdup in signing his deal has been related to Milwaukee GM John Hammond's desire to maintain flexibility in the free agent market. The Bucks have been active in the past few days, signing Miroslav Raduljica and agreeing to a contract with Gary Neal, so it seems they're ready to use their ample cap room.

Antetokounmpo spent last season with a second-division club in Greece, so NBA competition will be a significant step up. He figures to be assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Milwaukee's D-League affiliate, though with five other NBA clubs sharing the Mad Ants, finding enough playing time could prove a challenge.

Erick Green To Sign With Italian Team

July 30th, 2013 at 11:11am CST by Luke Adams

Nuggets second-round pick Erick Green has agreed to terms on a deal with Italy's Mens Sana Siena, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Confirming the agreement, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets that it will be a one-year contract for this year's 46th overall pick.

Green, 22, was the leading scorer among Division I players in the 2012/13 season, pouring in 25.0 PPG as a senior for Virginia Tech. The 6'3" combo guard also threw in 3.8 APG and 4.0 RPG to go along with a shooting line of .475/.389/.816. He was selected on draft night by a pick that initially belonged to Utah. The Nuggets acquired the 46th overall pick and cash from the Jazz in exchange for the 27th pick, which was used on Rudy Gobert.

The Nuggets will retain the rights to Green, but his deal with Siena means Denver won't carry a cap hold for his salary in 2013/14. The Nuggets should have another opportunity to sign him next summer, if they so choose.

For the latest news on contracts for all 60 of this year's draftees, be sure to check out our complete list, which continues to be updated.

Bobcats Re-Sign Gerald Henderson

July 30th, 2013 at 11:01am CST by Chuck Myron

JULY 30TH, 11:01am: The Bobcats have officially re-signed Henderson, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 26TH, 8:04pm: Henderson and the Bobcats have reached an agreement, tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.

7:27pm: The Bobcats and restricted free agent Gerald Henderson are putting the finishing touches on a new three-year, $18MM deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The swingman and agent Arn Tellem turned down Charlotte's offer of $7MM per year to get the team to agree to a third-year player option, according to Wojnarowski.

The two sides are expected to formalize the deal early next week, Wojnarowski adds. The move has appeared likely over the past couple of weeks, though Henderson reportedly drew "heavy interest" from the Wolves before they acquired Kevin Martin. Negotiations between Henderson's camp and the Bobcats seemed to stall a couple of weeks ago, with the sides far apart on financial terms. While Wojnarowski reported then that the Bobcats were seeking sign-and-trade scenarios that would send Henderson elsewhere, his story today identifies the 25-year-old as the franchise's top priority.

Henderson was reportedly seeking a salary of about $8MM a year, but it looks like he'll settle for about $2MM less. The move will leave the Bobcats with less than $1MM worth of cap space, unless they backload Henderson's contract. Charlotte committed its room exception to Josh McRoberts, so re-signing Henderson is probably the club's final major offseason move.

The former 12th overall pick averaged 15.5 points per game last season, up only slightly from his 15.1 PPG in 2011/12. The career 27.2% three-point shooter showed improvement from behind the arc, nailing 33% of his three-point looks in 2012/13, and his 16.4 PER was also a career high by a wide margin.

Pelicans Sign Jeff Withey

July 30th, 2013 at 10:28am CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans have officially signed rookie big man Jeff Withey to a contract, the team announced today in a press release. Since Withey was a second-round pick, he won't receive a standard rookie-scale deal, so terms of the agreement aren't yet known.

Withey, 23, was selected 39th overall in last month's draft by the Trail Blazers. A couple weeks later, he was shipped to New Orleans in the three-team deal that saw the Pelicans also acquire Tyreke Evans while sending Greivis Vasquez to Sacramento and Robin Lopez to Portland.

Withey spent four seasons at Kansas, developing from a freshman who only played 45 total minutes into a senior who averaged 13.7 PPG and 8.5 RPG in 2012/13. With Lopez having been dealt to the Trail Blazers, Withey may earn some playing time in his rookie year. Withey, Greg Stiemsma, and Jason Smith represent the Pelicans' best options at center, unless the team is willing to have Anthony Davis spend time at the five.

Mavs Sign Shane Larkin

July 29th, 2013 at 5:21pm CST by Zachary Links

The Mavericks announced via press release that they have signed 18th overall pick Shane Larkin. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Mavs acquired the draft rights to the Miami point guard from the Hawks in exchange for Jared Cunningham, the draft rights to No. 44 overall pick Mike Muscala and the draft rights to No. 16 pick Lucas "Bebe" Nogueira. Noguiera, meanwhile, came to the Mavs with two 2014 second rounders from the C's in exchange for the draft rights to No. 13 pick Kelly Olynyk.

Larkin led the Hurricanes to the ACC regular season and postseason championships last season en route to being named the ACC Player of the Year, ACC Tournament MVP, Lute Olsen National Player of the Year, and Second Team All-American by Associated Press. The sophomore averaged 14.5 points, 4.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals in 36 games.

Larkin did not participate with the Mavericks at the Las Vegas Summer League after sustaining an injury to his right ankle in practice. Larkin underwent ankle surgery on July 16th, putting him in line for a comeback right around the start of the regular season.