NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 4/9/2017
Here are Sunday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the league, as the NBADL postseason continues:
- The Rockets have recalled Chinanu Onuaku and Isaiah Taylor from the Rio Grand Valley Vipers, according to the team’s Twitter feed. Both players were sent to Houston’s D-League affiliate on Saturday for the team’s tilt against the Los Angeles D-Fenders.
Suns Sign Elijah Millsap To Multiyear Deal
1:55 PM: Phoenix will sign Millsap to a multiyear contract, according to the team’s website.
12:52 PM: The Suns will sign Elijah Millsap for the rest of the season, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical.
The 28-year-old shooting guard spent this season with the Northern Arizona Suns in the D-League, averaging 19.8 points per night in 50 games. He has previous NBA experience with the Jazz, spending parts of the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons in Utah. Millsap, the younger brother of the Hawks’ Paul Millsap, played in Israel and the Philippines after being waived in January of 2016.
The Suns have been carrying an open roster spot since the trade deadline, so they won’t have to make a corresponding move to add Millsap.
Cavaliers Waive DeAndre Liggins
Cleveland has waived DeAndre Liggins, according to the team’s website. The Cavs’ roster now sits at 14 players.
If another team claims Liggins off waivers, it would save the Cavs approximately $2.5MM in luxury tax payments, per Bobby Marks of The Vertical (Twitter links). If that happens, each of the 28 teams below the tax line would receive roughly $44K less from the tax distribution than they would if Liggins went unclaimed. Marks notes that each of the 28 franchises is currently slated to receive $552K from the distribution.
The team plans on adding another player, though it hasn’t made a decision on who it will be, Jason Lloyd of The Athletic tweets. They must sign someone by Wednesday for the player to be playoff-eligible.
Liggins played in 61 games this season, starting 19 of them. He saw 12.3 minutes per contest and averaged 2.4 points per game.
Pelicans Sign Quinn Cook To Two-Year Deal
4:08pm: The signing is official, the Pelicans announced on their website.
9:14am: The Pelicans will sign Quinn Cook to a two-year deal, Chris Haynes of ESPN tweets. The signing comes after the guard played out a second 10-day contract with the franchise.
In six games with the Pels, Cook has averaged just 2.7 points in 6.0 minutes per game but this latest stint with the franchise isn’t the undrafted rookie’s first in New Orleans. In September, Cook was signed by the team but ultimately released prior to the start of the regular season.
The 24-year-old had previously inked a 10-day contract with the Mavericks in February.
Earlier this week, Oleh Kosel of SB Nation’s The Bird Writes blog, wrote about how Cook could fill a role with the Pelicans similar to Patty Mills‘ with the Spurs.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 4/7/2017
Here are Friday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the league, as the NBADL postseason continues:
- In the wake of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers’ Game 1 win in the D-League playoffs on Thursday, the Rockets recalled Chinanu Onuaku, Isaiah Taylor, and Kyle Wiltjer to the NBA, the team announced today (Twitter link). The trio played a major role in Thursday’s victory, with Taylor scoring 24 points and dishing out nine assists, Wiltjer adding 17 points, and Onuaku snatching 18 rebounds.
- The Lakers have recalled rookie guard David Nwaba from the NBADL, the team announced today (Twitter link). The Lakers’ affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, was on the losing side in Thursday’s D-League playoff game, despite Nwaba’s team-high 22 points. The Vipers and D-Fenders will play Game 2 on Saturday, so Nwaba and the Rockets’ youngsters may be headed back to the NBADL within the next 24 hours.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 4/6/17
With the NBADL playoffs now underway, here are Thursday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Lakers assigned guard David Nwaba to their affiliate, the D-Fenders, according to the D-League team’s Twitter feed. Nwaba, who has become a rotation player for the Lakers, contributed 10 points, five rebounds and three assists in 29 minutes against the Spurs on Wednesday. The D-Fenders have a playoff game against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Thursday.
- The Rockets assigned point guard Isaiah Taylor and forward Kyle Wiltjer to Rio Grande, its D-League affiliate, according to the Rockets’ Twitter feed. Taylor and Wiltjer were sent down for the Valley Vipers’ playoff game against the Los Angeles D-Fenders. Taylor, a rookie out of Texas, made his NBA debut on Sunday, playing 15 minutes against the Suns. Wiltjer, who attended Gonzaga, has appeared in 13 games with Houston but none of his outings lasted more than six minutes.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 4/5/17
With the NBADL playoffs now underway, here are Wednesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Cavaliers assigned Larry Sanders to the D-League on Tuesday, presumably intending to have him play for the Canton Charge in their first playoff game tonight. However, Cleveland has since recalled Sanders to the NBA roster. With Tristan Thompson out for at least the next two games, the Cavs may need Sanders on their active roster for frontcourt depth purposes.
- The Celtics have recalled Jordan Mickey from the D-League, according to the team (Twitter link). Mickey played a major role for the Maine Red Claws’ on Tuesday night, racking up 26 points and 16 rebounds in a Game 1 overtime win over Fort Wayne. I’d expect Mickey to return to the Red Claws in time for Game 2.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 4/4/17
Here are Tuesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Cavaliers have assigned Larry Sanders to the Canton Charge, according to the team’s website. Cleveland’s D-League affiliate is in the playoffs and Sanders will be available for Wednesday’s game.
Nets Signed, Waived Cliff Alexander, Prince Ibeh
Before signing Archie Goodwin to a rest-of-season contract to fill their 15th roster spot, the Nets made a series of moves designed to honor commitments made to a pair of players this season. As Ben Nadeau of Basketball Insiders tweets, the club signed and waived Cliff Alexander, then did the same thing with Prince Ibeh.
[RELATED: Nets re-sign Archie Goodwin]
According to Bobby Marks of The Vertical, a former Nets executive, the team made commitments to both Alexander and Ibeh at some point this season to sign them to 10-day contracts (Twitter links). However, injuries on the Nets’ roster forced the team to change its plans. Although Brooklyn wasn’t able to carry Alexander or Ibeh on its roster this season, the club wanted to honor its commitments.
As Marks observes (via Twitter), the Warriors made a similar move earlier this season with Jose Calderon. Golden State had reached an agreement to sign Calderon, but when Kevin Durant went down with a knee injury, the team opted to sign Matt Barnes instead. Before finalizing their deal with Barnes, the Warriors signed and waived Calderon, ensuring that he’d receive the rest-of-season salary he was promised. Alexander and Ibeh will receive full 10-day salaries from the Nets.
While the moves were not announced by the Nets and will go unnoticed by many fans, there’s little downside from the team’s perspective. Making good on those commitments will help strengthen the Nets’ relationships with agents and players, and won’t cost the team any extra money — Brooklyn remains under the salary floor for 2016/17, so the club will have to pay the difference at season’s end anyway. The deals for Alexander and Ibeh simply moved the Nets a little closer to the floor, slightly reducing their year-end bill.
Alexander and Ibeh both spent time this season with the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s D-League affiliate.
Nets Re-Sign Archie Goodwin
APRIL 4, 7:57am: The Nets have officially re-signed Goodwin, the team announced today in a press release.
APRIL 3, 10:34am: Archie Goodwin is finalizing a deal to remain with the Nets, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical. The contract will run through the rest of this season, with several guarantee dates for 2017/18.
Goodwin’s second 10-day contract with Brooklyn will expire today. He has played seven games for the Nets, averaging 6.6 points and 1.9 assists in about 12 minutes per night.
“[Goodwin] has an enthusiasm for the game, and we need his speed and athleticism,” Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson said recently.
The 22-year-old combo guard spent his first three NBA seasons in Phoenix and was a surprise cut in the preseason. He signed briefly with New Orleans in November, but played just three games before being waived. Goodwin spent most of this season with Greensboro in the D-League.