Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Jordan McRae To Play In Spain

August 14th, 2017 at 12:05pm CST by Luke Adams

12:05pm: McRae will earn more than $700K on his new deal with Baskonia, according to Pick (Twitter link).

11:49am: Former Cavaliers guard Jordan McRae will play in Spain in 2017/18, according to international basketball journalist David Pick, who reports (via Twitter) that McRae has signed with Baskonia.

McRae, 26, spent most of the 2016/17 season in Cleveland after joining the Cavaliers down the stretch in 2015/16. In 37 games last season, the 6’6″ guard averaged 4.4 PPG and 1.1 RPG with a shooting line of .387/.353/.794. The club waived McRae shortly after the All-Star break in order to create room on the roster to sign Andrew Bogut, whose time in Cleveland was short-lived.

McRae is the second NBA free agent landed by Baskonia this offseason, as the team also signed point guard Marcelo Huertas. McRae and Huertas will help fill the backcourt void created when Shane Larkin departed to sign with the Celtics — Larkin was one of the Euroleague’s top point guards last season, and was Baskonia’s leading scorer in both Euroleague and Spanish League play.

According to Pick, McRae turned down offers from Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv before reaching an agreement with Baskonia. Maccabi continues to scour the NBA free agent market for backcourt help, having reportedly extended an offer to veteran guard Norris Cole, as we detailed earlier today.

Ex-Maverick Manny Harris Signs With Greek Team

August 13th, 2017 at 8:57am CST by Arthur Hill

Shooting guard Manny Harris, who played briefly for the Mavericks last season, has signed to play in Greece, according to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. Harris joins the AEK Basketball Club, based in Athens.

The 27-year-old signed a pair of 10-day contracts with Dallas in March and appeared in four games. He averaged 2.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in 6.3 minutes and was not retained when the second deal expired.

Harris signed with the Cavaliers after going undrafted out of Michigan in 2010. He played 80 games over two seasons in Cleveland before being waived after the 2011/12 season. Harris also had a nine-game stint with the Lakers in 2014.

Julyan Stone Expected To Sign With Hornets

August 12th, 2017 at 8:03am CST by Austin Kent

Expect Julyan Stone to finally sign a contract with the Hornets, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando writes. The guard is now expected to part ways with Italian club Reyer Venezia and return stateside for a second NBA stint.

As we wrote about last week, Stone had recently inked a two-year contract extension to stay in Italy but was adamantly seeking a way out in order to return to America and be closer to his ailing father.

While terms of Stone’s exit haven’t been made available, it’s worth noting that his contract didn’t include any formal opt out options. Last week, as discussed in our previous coverage of the story, Stone took to Instagram to express frustration with the EuroLeague team’s apparent reluctance to engage in a conversation about him leaving.

Per Carchia, when Stone officially becomes a free agent, he’ll sign a two-year guaranteed deal with Charlotte.

Prior to playing overseas, Stone played sparingly for the Nuggets and Raptors, logging 47 games across three seasons from 2011-2014.

Lakers Sign V.J. Beachem

August 11th, 2017 at 1:51pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 11: The Lakers have officially signed Beachem, the team announced today in a press release.

AUGUST 9: The Lakers continue to fill out their roster for training camp, reaching an agreement with undrafted free agent V.J. Beachem, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Wojnarowski reports that Beachem will sign a partially guaranteed contract with L.A.

Beachem, a 6’8″ forward who played his college ball at Notre Dame, averaged 14.5 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 1.1 BPG in his senior year last season. He also made 2.4 three-pointers per game, though his .361 3PT% in 2016/17 was down from his career rate of .413 in his first three college seasons.

Shortly after the 2017 draft concluded, a report indicated that Beachem would be signing with the Timberwolves. However, that agreement only applied to Summer League play. Beachem appeared in four games for the Wolves last month in Las Vegas, averaging just 9.5 minutes per contest.

Beachem is the fourth young player to join the Lakers on a partially guaranteed contract within the last week. The Lakers signed Vander Blue on Friday and have since agreed to terms with Briante Weber and Stephen Zimmerman.

Taking into account their three unofficial NBA deals, the Lakers will have 18 players on NBA contracts, along with one player on a two-way contract. After finalizing the signings of Weber, Zimmerman, and Beachem, the Lakers will have one roster spot still available for a camp invitee or two-way player.

Sixers’ Mathias Lessort To Play In Serbia

August 11th, 2017 at 10:06am CST by Luke Adams

Another of the Sixers’ 2017 draftees has found a home for the coming season, as Serbian team KK Crvena Zvezda – also known as Red Star Belgrade – announced today (via Twitter) that it has signed second-rounder Mathias Lessort to a three-year contract.

Lessort, who was ranked as 2017’s 32nd-best prospect by DraftExpress, was viewed as a borderline first-round pick entering the draft, but ultimately slipped to Philadelphia at No. 50. The 6’9″ forward/center played for Nanterre 92 in France last season, averaging 10.2 PPG and 7.2 RPG in 36 French League contests.

The Sixers had four picks in this year’s draft, but after selecting Markelle Fultz with the No. 1 pick, the club focused on draft-and-stash prospects. Philadelphia used its second first-rounder – No. 25 overall – on Anzejs Pasecniks, who will spend the 2017/18 campaign with CB Gran Canaria in Spain. The team also had the No. 36 pick, and drafted Jonah Bolden, who will play in Israel for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

While Lessort’s deal with Red Star Belgrade was announced as a three-year pact, I’d be surprised if it doesn’t include NBA outs that will give the 21-year-old an opportunity to make the leap to the Sixers a year or two from now.

Knicks Exercise Kristaps Porzingis’ 2018/19 Option

August 11th, 2017 at 8:49am CST by Luke Adams

In an unsurprising move, the Knicks have exercised their 2018/19 team option on Kristaps Porzingis. While the team has yet to formally announce the move, RealGM’s transactions log lists it, suggesting that it’s now official.

Porzingis is the first player on a rookie contract to have a team option exercised for the 2018/19 season. Teams around the NBA will have to make these decisions by October 31 on players entering the second or third seasons of their respective rookie contracts. Assuming a player has his option picked up – like Porzingis did – his rookie contract will be extended through at least 2019. If an ’18/19 option is declined, that player would be on track to reach unrestricted free agency next summer.

In Porzingis’ case, that 2018/19 option will count against the cap for $5,697,054, per Basketball Insiders. That year represents the fourth and final season of Porzingis’ rookie deal, so the Knicks will soon be faced with a decision on the young forward/center. He’ll be extension-eligible as of July 2018, and if he’s not extended, he’ll become a restricted free agent in July 2019.

Porzingis, who turned 22 last week, averaged 18.1 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 2.0 BPG with a .450/.357/.786 shooting line for the Knicks in 66 games last season. Although he was mentioned in some trade rumors in June, that talk has quieted since Phil Jackson‘s exit from the franchise, and the former fourth overall pick appears to have mended fences with the club after skipping his exit meeting. Porzingis is viewed as a core piece for the Knicks to build around going forward.

Timberwolves Sign Marcus Georges-Hunt

August 11th, 2017 at 8:22am CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 11: Georges-Hunt’s deal with the Timberwolves has now been finalized, according to the NBA’s official transactions log.

AUGUST 8: A little over a week after being waived by the Magic, Marcus Georges-Hunt has found a new NBA home. According to Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter), Georges-Hunt and the Timberwolves have agreed to a contract. Exact terms of the deal aren’t yet known, but it will be a minimum salary pact.

Georges-Hunt, 23, joined the Celtics for training camp a year ago after going undrafted out of Georgia Tech, but didn’t earn a regular season roster spot with Boston. The 6’5″ shooting guard spent most of the 2016/17 season with the Maine Red Claws, averaging 15.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 4.4 APG, and being named to the All NBA D-League Third Team.

Georges-Hunt’s performance earned him another NBA shot — he signed a deal with the Magic in April and appeared in five games for the team down the stretch last season. That contract included a second year, but Georges-Hunt’s minimum salary for 2017/18 was non-guaranteed until the fall, so Orlando waived him last week.

The Timberwolves currently have 11 players on guaranteed NBA contracts. In addition to reaching a deal with Georges-Hunt, the club also recently agreed to terms with Melo Trimble, which will bring the roster count to 13, not counting Anthony Brown, who has a two-way contract. For now, it looks like both Georges-Hunt and Trimble should have a good shot to earn a spot on the regular season squad, but that may hinge on the other moves Minnesota makes to fill out its roster.

Hollis Thompson To Play In Greece

August 10th, 2017 at 11:16am CST by Luke Adams

Free agent swingman Hollis Thompson is headed overseas, having formally signed with Greek team Olympiacos, per the Euroleague’s official site. Details of Thompson’s new deal aren’t yet known.

Thompson, 26, spent the first three and a half seasons of his NBA career in Philadelphia, appearing in 256 games for the Sixers and posting respectable numbers, including 7.7 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and a .386 3PT%. However, the 76ers opted to waive Thompson in January before his 2016/17 salary became fully guaranteed.

After reaching the free agent market, Thompson spent some time in the G League and with the Pelicans, inking a pair of 10-day contracts with New Orleans. The former Georgetown standout struggled in his short run with the Pelicans, compiling a shooting line of .268/.250/.667 in nine games with the franchise.

In Greece, Thompson will join an Olympiacos squad that finished as the runner-up in this year’s Euroleague Final Four, losing the championship game to Turkey’s Fenerbahce. Thompson is the second NBA free agent to sign with Olympiacos this offseason — the club added former Hornets point guard Brian Roberts last month.

Hawks Sign Luke Babbitt To One-Year Deal

August 9th, 2017 at 3:53pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 9: The Hawks have officially signed Babbitt, the team confirmed today in a press release.

AUGUST 4: The Hawks have reached an agreement to sign free agent forward Luke Babbitt, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, Babbitt will receive a one-year contract from Atlanta.

Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders reports (via Twitter) that Babbitt’s one-year deal will be worth $1.9MM. The minimum salary in 2017/18 for a player with Babbitt’s experience is $1,974,159, so it sounds like it’ll be a minimum pact.

Babbitt, 28, spent last season with another Southeast team, averaging 4.8 PPG and 2.1 RPG in 68 games for Miami. Although Babbitt’s numbers were modest, he started 55 games for Miami and knocked down 41.4% of his three-point attempts, playing a role for the club during its 30-11 second-half run.

Few players have been as reliable from outside in recent years as Babbitt, who has made an impressive 43.8% of his long-distance attempts since the start of the 2014/15 season. He’ll bring that shooting touch to an Atlanta team that waived Mike Dunleavy Jr. earlier this summer.

Babbitt was one of five notable free agent forwards we identified as potentially intriguing investments earlier this week. The other four, including Dunleavy, remain on the open market.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Blazers Sign C.J. Wilcox To Two-Way Contract

August 9th, 2017 at 3:39pm CST by marksuleymanov

AUGUST 9: The Blazers have officially signed Wilcox to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.

AUGUST 8: The Trail Blazers have agreed to a two-way deal with former Washington standout C.J. Wilcox, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter). Just yesterday, basketball journalist David Pick tweeted Wilcox was reportedly drawing interest overseas interest for Baskonia Vitoria, but the former first-rounder will instead remain in the United States.

Wilcox, 26, appeared in 22 games with the Magic last season, averaging a mere 1.0 PPG. Selected 28th overall by the Clippers in 2014, Wilcox has failed to transition his collegiate success to the professional level. In 66 career NBA contests, Wilcox has posted averages of 2.0 PPG, 0.5 RPG, and 0.5 APG while suiting up for the Clippers and Magic.

Portland will hope that Wilcox, entering his fourth professional season, can rediscover his once productive form as he resumes his career domestically.