Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Clippers Sign C.J. Williams To Camp Deal

September 14th, 2017 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 14: The Clippers have officially signed Williams, according to RealGM’s log of NBA transactions.

SEPTEMBER 5: Free agent shooting guard C.J. Williams has signed a training camp deal with the Clippers, according to Chris Reichert of 2 Ways & 10 Days (Twitter link). The team has yet to officially announce the signing, but if and when L.A. completes its reported agreements with Williams and LaDontae Henton, the club’s 20-man offseason roster will be full.

Williams, 27, signed a training camp deal with the Mavericks a year ago, and while he didn’t earn a spot on Dallas’ regular season roster, he did end up joining the Texas Legends, the Mavs’ G League affiliate. The N.C. State alum appeared in 50 games for the Legends, averaging 12.8 PPG and 4.1 RPG with a shooting line of .441/.386/.789.

More recently, Williams was part of the Team USA squad that brought home gold at last week’s AmeriCup. In five games in that tournament, the 6’5″ guard averaged 8.8 PPG, making 51.4% of his shots from the floor.

The Clippers currently have 14 players on fully guaranteed contracts for 2017/18, with Marshall Plumlee, DeAndre Liggins, and Tyrone Wallace among the non-guaranteed players vying for a roster spot, so Williams will have an uphill battle to make the 15-man roster. He may end up back in the G League for the ’17/18 season.

Bulls Sign Diamond Stone

September 14th, 2017 at 10:02am CST by Luke Adams

10:02am: The Bulls have made it official, issuing a press release to announce Stone’s deal.

8:02am: The Bulls are bringing former Maryland center Diamond Stone to training camp, according to Chris Reichert of 2 Ways & 10 Days, who reports (via Twitter) that Stone has agreed to a two-year, partially guaranteed deal with the club.

According to Reichert (via Twitter), Stone’s guarantee doesn’t exceed $50K, making him eligible to become an affiliate player for the Windy City Bulls this season if he doesn’t make Chicago’s regular season roster.

Stone, 20, was the 40th overall pick in 2016, acquired on draft night by the Clippers, who sent the No. 33 pick to New Orleans for Nos. 39 and 40. However, the young center barely played during his rookie season, appearing briefly in seven games for L.A. Stone saw a little more action in the G League, averaging 16.2 PPG and 7.0 RPG in 13 total games for the Santa Cruz Warriors and Salt Lake City Stars.

The Clippers sent Stone to Atlanta in the three-way July trade that landed Danilo Gallinari in L.A. However, like Jamal Crawford, who also went from the Clips to the Hawks in the deal, Stone was subsequently waived by Atlanta, despite his guaranteed salary for 2017/18.

The Bulls currently only have 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts, so it’s possible Stone will be given the opportunity to win a regular season roster spot. However, Nikola Mirotic figures to fill the club’s 14th roster spot if and when he re-signs, and Stone will face competition from other non-guaranteed players – such as David Nwaba – for the final opening, if Chicago even carries a full 15-man roster. Stone currently seems more likely to land in the G League after he spends the preseason with the Bulls.

Jazz Sign Nate Wolters To Two-Way Deal

September 13th, 2017 at 4:35pm CST by Arthur Hill

SEPTEMBER 13: The Jazz have officially announced Wolters’ two-way contract. Having also signed Naz Mitrou-Long today, Utah now has 19 players on its roster.

SEPTEMBER 12: Nate Wolters is close to signing a two-way contract with the Jazz, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune.

The 26-year-old point guard was a second-round pick in 2013 and began his career in Milwaukee. He started 31 games as a rookie, but was waived by the Bucks the following season and caught on briefly with the Pelicans. Wolters was in training camp with the Nuggets last year before spending the season in Serbia.

Wolters would fill the second two-way slot in Utah and would give the team 18 players in camp. The Jazz already have 15 guaranteed contracts, so the odds are against Wolters earning a roster spot.

Jazz Sign Naz Mitrou-Long

September 13th, 2017 at 2:45pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have signed rookie free agent Naz Mitrou-Long to their 20-man offseason roster, according to RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions. While details of the agreement haven’t been reported, it figures to be a non-guaranteed camp deal.

A 6’4″ guard out of Iowa State, Mitrou-Long appeared in 35 games during his senior year in 2016/17, averaging 15.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 2.7 APG. More than half his shot attempts came from beyond the three-point line, and he was effective from outside the arc, making 2.8 threes per game at a 38.4% clip.

Although he went undrafted in June, Mitrou-Long caught on with a pair of NBA teams in July, playing for the Pacers in the Orlando Summer League and the Kings in Las Vegas.

Mitrou-Long isn’t likely to crack the regular season roster for the Jazz, since the club already has 15 players on guaranteed salaries. However, there’s a good chance the Canadian-born guard will end up as an affiliate player for the Salt Lake City Stars, Utah’s G League squad.

Grizzlies Sign Vince Hunter To Two-Way Contract

September 12th, 2017 at 3:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

SEPTEMBER 12: As Ridiculous Upside (Twitter link) reported on Monday night, Hunter’s contract with the Grizzlies is officially in the books as a two-way deal, according to RealGM’s log of NBA transactions. Memphis has now filled both its two-way openings, with Kobi Simmons occupying the other spot.

SEPTEMBER 11: The Grizzlies have signed forward Vince Hunter, the team announced in a press release. It’s apparently a two-way contract, Chris Herrington of the Memphis Commercial Appeal tweets.

The 6’8” Hunter played in Russia last season, appearing in 26 games for Avtodor Saratov in the VTB United League and averaging 14.7 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 1.35 SPG and 1.31 BPG in 26.0 MPG.

Memphis is quite familiar with Hunter, a Texas-El Paso product who went undrafted in 2015. He was on its training camp roster last season, appearing in four games and averaging 8.8 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 1.0 BPG in 19.4 MPG. He also played for the Grizzlies’ summer-league team in Las Vegas the last two seasons. He saw action in six summer-league games this season, averaging 8.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG and 1.5 SPG in 17.7 MPG.

Hunter has also played professionally in Greece, Romania and the G League.

Kings Sign Matt Jones

September 12th, 2017 at 3:10pm CST by Arthur Hill

SEPTEMBER 12: The Kings have officially signed Jones, per RealGM’s transactions log.

SEPTEMBER 10: Former Duke guard Matt Jones has agreed to a training camp deal with the Kings, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee.

Sacramento already has 15 players with guaranteed contracts, and both of its two-way slots are filled. That means Jones is likely to wind up with the team’s G League affiliate in Reno if he gets waived before the season and no one claims him.

Jones wasn’t taken in this year’s draft after putting up 7.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game as a senior with the Blue Devils.

Nets Sign Tyler Zeller To Two-Year Deal

September 12th, 2017 at 2:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

SEPTEMBER 12, 2:43pm: The deal is official, the team announced on its website.

SEPTEMBER 11, 6:31pm: The Nets and center Tyler Zeller are finalizing a two-year contract, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com tweets. Zeller will join the Nets, a league source informs NetsDaily.com, but the second-year is not guaranteed (Twitter link).

Brooklyn’s interest in Zeller doesn’t come as a total surprise, since Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders recently reported that the Nets had worked him out.

Zeller didn’t draw much interest on the free agent market after he was waived by the Celtics in July in order to free up cap space. The 27-year-old center had a non-guaranteed $8MM salary for 2017/18 that needed to be cleared from Boston’s books in order to sign prized free agent forward Gordon Hayward.

Brooklyn was seeking frontcourt depth after a variety of deals left it a little thin at those spots. The Nets dealt Brook Lopez, Andrew Nicholson, and Justin Hamilton, while adding Timofey Mozgov in a trade and drafting Jarrett Allen in the first round. He’ll compete with Mozgov and Allen for minutes.

Zeller, the 17th overall pick in the 2012 draft, spent the last three seasons in Boston, but played a career-low 10.3 minutes per game in 2016/17. In 340 career games with the Cavs and Celtics, the UNC product has averaged 7.0 PPG and 4.4 RPG.

Ryan Kelly To Play In Spain

September 12th, 2017 at 8:15am CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 12, 8:15am: Kelly’s deal is official, according to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando.

SEPTEMBER 7, 8:53am: Free agent power forward Ryan Kelly is poised to head overseas for the coming season, according to international basketball reporter David Pick, who tweets that Kelly has struck a deal with Spanish team Real Betis.

Kelly, 26, has spent the majority of the last four years with NBA teams, appearing in 147 games for the Lakers in his first three seasons before joining the Hawks for 16 games last season. In total, the Duke alum has averaged 6.0 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 163 regular season contests (19.2 MPG) since being drafted 48th overall in 2013.

Kelly, whose salary for 2017/18 was non-guaranteed, was traded from Atlanta to Houston in late June when the Rockets were collecting non-guaranteed contracts. However, his salary would have become fully guaranteed if he’d remained under contract through July 7, so the Rockets waived him on that day.

Real Betis, also known as CB Sevilla, is coming off a season in which it posted a 9-23 record, so Kelly will be tasked with helping turn the club’s fortunes around in 2017/18.

Spurs Sign Darrun Hilliard To Two-Way Contract

September 11th, 2017 at 3:42pm CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs have filled the second two-way player opening on their roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed free agent swingman Darrun Hilliard to a two-way contract. San Antonio previously signed big man Matt Costello to the club’s first-ever two-way deal.

Hilliard, 24, was involved in several NBA roster moves this summer, including being included in one of the biggest trades of the offseason. A Piston to end the 2016/17 campaign, Hilliard was sent to the Rockets in a June swap, then flipped to the Clippers as part of the package Houston traded for Chris Paul. The Clippers waived Hilliard to avoid having his salary for 2017/18 become guaranteed.

A former 38th overall pick, Hilliard appeared in 77 games for the Pistons over the last two seasons, playing sparingly. He also appeared in seven total games for the Grand Rapids Drive, Detroit’s G League affiliate, averaging 24.4 PPG in those contests. The Villanova alum added some national experience to his professional résumé this summer, earning a spot on the Team USA squad that won a gold medal at the FIBA AmeriCup earlier this month.

With Hilliard officially locked up, the Spurs now have 18 players under contract — 16 on NBA deals and a pair of two-way players. That leaves two openings on San Antonio’s 20-man offseason roster.

Trail Blazers Sign Archie Goodwin

September 11th, 2017 at 2:00pm CST by Austin Kent

SEPTEMBER 11: The Blazers have officially announced their deal with Goodwin, issuing a press release to confirm the signing.

SEPTEMBER 7: The Trail Blazers have agreed to a training camp deal with guard Archie Goodwin, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The 23-year-old last played for the Nets prior to being waived over the summer.

While Goodwin has shown flashes of modest potential at various points throughout his career, he hasn’t been able to thrive with a big league club just yet.

With one roster spot available, however, Goodwin stands a chance of sticking with the the Blazers into the regular season.

If he does, expect to see the combo guard in direct competition with reserves Shabazz Napier and Pat Connaughton for reps behind the team’s All-Star backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.