Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat Sign Matt Williams

July 24th, 2017 at 4:27pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Heat have signed Matt Williams, according to the team’s website. Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel tweets that as of now, the agreement won’t be a two-way deal. He adds that as long as Williams’ guaranteed salary isn’t over $50K, the deal could eventually be converted into a two-way contract.

Williams played for Miami’s two summer league teams this offseason, where he averaged 9.9 points per game. The combo guard made 39% of his shots from behind the arc during the eight contests.

The University of Central Florida alum was not selected in the 2017 draft. He spent five seasons at the school, including one year where he was redshirted. During his senior campaign, he averaged 15.1 points per game while making 40.9% of his shots overall.

Pelicans Sign Darius Miller

July 24th, 2017 at 1:35pm CST by ChrisCrouse

JULY 24, 1:35pm: The Pelicans have officially signed Miller to a two-year deal with a second-year team option, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. David Pick adds (via Twitter) that – contrary to an earlier report – the deal is worth $4.3MM, which suggests New Orleans may have used a portion of its mid-level exception to complete the signing.

JULY 6, 3:19pm: Miller is expected to get a two-year deal worth more than $3MM, per Sportando (Twitter link). Of course, Miller’s minimum salary for 2017/18 is worth over $1.5MM, so this sounds like a minimum contract.

JULY 5, 5:23pm: The Pelicans have agreed to a deal with Darius Miller, according to international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it’s likely a minimum salary arrangement.

Miller, who won a championship at Kentucky alongside Anthony Davis, was selected in the second round of the 2012 draft by New Orleans. He spent three seasons with the team before being waived.

The small forward signed on with Brose Bamberg part way through the 2014/15 season and remained with German club through the end of last season. He thrived during his European opportunity, earning first-team honors this past season after winning the BBL Finals MVP during the 2016 postseason.

Knicks To Hire Gerald Madkins as Assistant GM

July 23rd, 2017 at 12:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks will hire Gerald Madkins as assistant GM, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times. The Kings and Bucks also expressed interest in him (Twitter link).

Madkins, 48, had been an assistant GM with the Clippers for the past two seasons. Since joining the organization in 2012, he also served as director of basketball operations and director of scouting.

Before joining the Clippers, Madkins held scouting positions with the SuperSonics and Rockets and was VP of player personnel for the Hornets.

A former NBA player, Madkins spent time with the Cavaliers and Warriors in the 1990s. He was named Continental Basketball Association Rookie of the Year in 1993.

Hawks Claim Nicolas Brussino Off Waivers

July 22nd, 2017 at 4:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Hawks have added Argentinian forward Nicolas Brussino on a waiver claim, tweets Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The-24-year-old was placed on waivers Thursday by the Mavericks, who parted ways with him before his $1.31MM salary for next season became guaranteed. Brussino was set to make $1.55MM in 2018/19, also non-guaranteed.

He signed with the Mavericks last summer and saw modest playing time during his rookie season. Brussino averaged 9.6 minutes in 54 games, scoring 2.8 points per night.

He played for six years in Argentina before coming to the NBA and was reportedly considering offers from Europe before the Hawks claimed him.

Thunder Sign Dakari Johnson To Two-Year Deal

July 22nd, 2017 at 1:00am CST by ChrisCrouse

JULY 22: The Thunder have made the signing of Johnson official via a press release.

JULY 20: The Thunder have signed Dakari Johnson to a two-year deal, sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Charania adds that Johnson’s salary will be guaranteed.

Johnson has played for the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s G-League affiliate, in each of the past two seasons. During the 2016/17 campaign, he averaged 18.5 points and 7.9 rebounds while shooting 55.6% from the field.

The center spent two seasons in the collegiate ranks at the University of Kentucky where he saw just 15.2 minutes per contest. He entered the 2015 draft and was selected by the Thunder with the No. 48 overall pick.

Dewayne Dedmon Signs With Hawks

July 21st, 2017 at 4:55pm CST by marksuleymanov

July 21: The Hawks have made their contract with Dedmon official, the team announced via press release on its website.

July 11: Free agent Dewayne Dedmon has agreed to a two-year, $14MM deal with the Hawks, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical. Dedmon’s deal includes a player option in the second year.

Dedmon, who turns 28 next month, hit free agency after opting out of the second year of his original two-year pact with the Spurs. As it turns out, Dedmon’s decision paid off as he was set to make just $3.028MM in 2017/18 under his player option. Now, he gets a significant raise and security for two seasons.

Strong play for the Spurs last season allowed Dedmon to opt out and pursue a larger deal. In 76 games (37 starts), Dedmon posted totals of 5.1 PPG and 6.5 RPG in 17.5 minutes per game. Now, the 7’0″ center will provide the Hawks with valuable rim protection and defense next season.

Atlanta general manager Travis Schlenk promised his team would seek help at center earlier this week, and if those comments stand, the team is not done adding.

“We’ll sign a third point guard. We are deciding to we get a veteran guy or do we get a young guy that we think has upside,” Schlenk said. “Do we bring in a couple guys and let them battle it out? We are going to sign a power forward for sure. We’ll sign a center for sure. Probably sign three more big guys so we end up with six.”

Dedmon figures to split time with Mike Muscala, who the Hawks signed last week. With Howard shipped out to the Hornets and Millsap heading to Denver, the Hawks will continue to scour the market for size and skill vacated by those departures.

The departures of Dwight Howard, Paul Millsap, and Tim Hardaway Jr. have created the cap space for the Hawks to pursue Dedmon and other free agents.

Thunder Agree To Deal With Yannis Morin

July 21st, 2017 at 4:52pm CST by Austin Kent

The Thunder have agreed to a deal with 23-year-old international center Yannis Morin, Erik Horne of the Oklahoman writes, confirming a report previously relayed by Sportando.

The French big man played with Oklahoma City’s summer league team and will join the franchise for training camp on a non-guaranteed deal. In five games in the Orlando league, he averaged 2.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per game for OKC.

Morin has previously played in France’s Pro A and Pro B leagues.

Hawks Re-Sign Ersan Ilyasova

July 21st, 2017 at 3:52pm CST by Luke Adams

July 21: The Hawks have officially re-signed Ilyasova, the team announced via a press release on its website.

July 12: The Hawks have reached an agreement to bring back free agent power forward Ersan Ilyasova, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). According to Charania, Ilyasova will sign a one-year deal worth $6MM to return to Atlanta.

Few players have bounced around the NBA more in the last two years than Ilyasova, who has appeared in multiple regular season games for the Pistons, Magic, Thunder, Sixers, and Hawks since the 2015/16 season began. Last season, he was traded from Oklahoma City to Philadelphia early on, then flipped to Atlanta prior to the trade deadline.

Although he hasn’t found a permanent NBA home since leaving Milwaukee in 2015, Ilyasova continues to be an effective stretch four. For his career, the 6’10” big man has averaged 11.0 PPG and 5.9 RPG, converting 36.6% of his three-point attempts.

The Hawks renounced Ilyasova last week in the process of creating cap space, but they still have plenty of room to bring him back without using any form of Bird rights. Their deal with Ilyasova is the third move the Hawks have made to address their lack of frontcourt depth in recent days. The team also agreed to bring back Mike Muscala, and struck a deal with Dewayne Dedmon.

Nick Collison Re-Signs With Thunder, Will Retire In 2018

July 21st, 2017 at 2:40pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 21st, 2:40pm: The signing is official, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe tweets.

JULY 14th, 11:31am: The Thunder and Nick Collison have reached an agreement on a one-year contract, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). According to Charania, the one-year deal will “end” Collison’s long NBA career with the franchise, so it sounds like he’ll retire at the end of the 2017/18 season.

Collison, who will turn 37 in October, has appeared in 895 total regular season games for Seattle and Oklahoma City, but has an extremely limited role at this stage of his career. In 2016/17, he played just 128 total minutes in 20 games for the Thunder, averaging 1.7 PPG and 1.6 RPG. In what figures to be his final season, he’ll serve more as a veteran mentor on the bench than as a key on-court contributor for the club.

While terms of the deal weren’t reported, the Thunder have used their taxpayer mid-level exception, and won’t use their bi-annual exception to avoid becoming hard-capped. So Collison will be in line for a one-year, minimum salary contract.

That deal will pay Collison about $2.329MM, but will only count for $1.471MM for OKC’s team salary and tax purposes. Our story on this year’s minimum salaries explains the details on those numbers.

Nets Sign Guard Yakuba Ouattara To Two-Way Contract

July 21st, 2017 at 1:23pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nets have signed guard Yakuba Ouattara to a two-way contract, according to a team press release.

The 6’3” Ouattara played for AS Monaco Basketball in the French LNB Pro A League last season. He appeared in 32 games and averaged 11.8 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 23.9 MPG. Ouattara is a prolific 3-point shooter, as he shot 40% from long range and 51.4% overall.

Ouattara, 25, is a Ghana native but a member of the French national team. He has spent his entire professional career, which began in 2012, in France.

Teams are allowed to dole out a pair of two-way contracts per season and the Nets reportedly gave their other two-way deal to forward Jacob Wiley.