Warriors Sign Matt Barnes
MARCH 2: The Warriors have officially signed Barnes to fill their 15th and final roster spot, the club announced today in a press release.
MARCH 1: The Warriors intend to sign free agent forward Matt Barnes to a contract, sources tell ESPN’s Marc Stein and Chris Haynes (Twitter link). Barnes will fill the 15th slot on Golden State’s roster and will receive a rest-of-season contract rather than a 10-day deal, per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com (via Twitter).
Jose Calderon, who will clear waivers on Wednesday, had been set to sign with the Warriors, having reached an agreement with the team over the weekend. As Stein explains (via Twitter), Golden State still plans to sign Calderon as promised. However, the team will then waive him in order to sign Barnes.
The Dubs’ change of direction – from Calderon to Barnes – comes on the heels of Kevin Durant leaving Tuesday night’s game against the Wizards with a hyperextended left knee. The severity of that injury won’t be confirmed until Durant undergoes an MRI, but the fact that the Warriors are adding Barnes suggests that the club may view the injury as more than just a day-to-day issue.
Barnes, who will turn 37 next Thursday, signed a two-year deal with the Kings last summer and appeared in 54 games for the team this season. In 25.3 minutes per contest, Barnes recorded 7.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 2.8 APG. However, he lost his roster spot last week when Sacramento needed to cut a player in order to complete the DeMarcus Cousins trade. The Kings waived Barnes despite the fact that he had a $6.4MM player option for 2017/18.
Barnes, a Warrior from 2006 to 2008, will come with some baggage as he begins his second stint in Golden State. The UCLA product was allegedly involved in an altercation at a Chelsea nightclub in early December, and was recently booked for misdemeanor assault. He’ll have to appear in a Manhattan courtroom at a later date as a result of the charge.
Because he was waived prior to March 1, Barnes will be playoff-eligible for Golden State. Calderon will also retain his postseason eligibility as long as he’s signed and waived by the Warriors before the end of the day on Wednesday.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Warriors Sign, Release Jose Calderon
7:13 p.m.: Golden State has officially released Calderon, the team tweeted.
5:28pm: The Warriors have signed former Laker Jose Calderon, filling a promise to the veteran point guard, but he’s not expected to be with the team by the end of the day.
Golden State tweeted an announcement about the signing, which it pledged to Calderon when he agreed to a buyout with L.A. on Monday. However, after Kevin Durant suffered a knee injury Tuesday night that may keep him out for the rest of the season, the Warriors felt they needed a bigger player to take his place, so that roster spot will eventually go to Matt Barnes.
Golden State will waive Calderon later today to allow him to sign with another organization and still be eligible for the postseason. He will receive the guaranteed rest-of-the-season contract that he was originally promised and will go back on waivers for 48 hours. The Hawks are reportedly among the teams interested in signing Calderon once he clears waivers again.
Brandon Jennings Signs With Wizards
6:10pm: Jennings will receive $1.2MM for the rest of the season, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. However, because the Knicks will save half of any amount over $875K, Jennings will wind up with a net of about $1MM, notes cap expert Albert Nahmad (Twitter link).
5:45pm: Former Knicks guard Brandon Jennings has cleared waivers and signed with the Wizards, the team announced. As expected, rookie guard Danuel House was waived to clear a roster spot.
Washington is Jennings’ fourth team in the past two seasons. He signed a free agent deal with the Knicks last summer and averaged 8.6 points and 4.9 rebounds over 58 games before agreeing to a buyout on Monday. He is expected to be the new backup to John Wall in Washington.
“Brandon gives us playmaking ability and experience at the guard position while adding another scoring option as well,” said Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld. “His presence, along with the recent acquisition of Bojan Bogdanovic and the continued progression of Ian Mahinmi, will help our team as we continue our push towards the playoffs.”
Wizards To Waive Danuel House
Rookie shooting guard Danuel House will be in the odd man out in D.C. with Brandon Jennings close to finalizing a deal with the Wizards, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that the club will waive House to open up a spot on the roster for Jennings.
Earlier today, word broke that Trey Burke didn’t made the trip to Toronto with the rest of the Wizards due to a personal matter, creating speculation about whether Burke would be the roster casualty. As I noted at the time, the former lottery pick has averaged a career-low 12.4 minutes per contest and was reportedly being shopped prior to the deadline. However, the Wizards will hang onto Burke, opting to part ways with House instead.
An undrafted rookie out of Texas A&M, House received a partial guarantee from the Wizards last summer and earned a spot on the club’s regular-season roster. However, after appearing in just one NBA game, House suffered a fractured wrist, which has essentially wiped out his rookie year. In addition to the very brief action he saw with the Wizards, House has also played in seven D-League games for the Delaware 87ers, averaging 13.3 PPG and 5.7 RPG.
House’s contract with the Wizards ran through the 2017/18 season, but next year’s salary was fully non-guaranteed, so the team won’t be on the hook for any money beyond this season after waiving him.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 3/1/17
Here are Wednesday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- Pistons rookies Henry Ellenson and Michael Gbinije are headed back to the D-League, tweets Rod Beard of The Detroit News. Both players should have the opportunity to play significant minutes tonight for the Grand Rapids Drive, Detroit’s NBADL affiliate.
- The Kings sent rookie big man Georgios Papagiannis to the D-League today, per Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). Playing for the Reno Bighorns this afternoon, Papagiannis chipped in 19 points and four rebounds in a loss to Windy City.
- The Jazz have recalled rookie forward Joel Bolomboy from the Salt Lake City Stars, according to a press release issued by the team. Although he has barely seen any action for Utah this season, Bolomboy has been a double-double machine in the D-League, averaging 16.1 PPG and 13.3 RPG in 20 games.
Cavaliers Waive Jordan McRae
Andrew Bogut will clear waivers today and is expected to sign with the Cavaliers shortly thereafter, meaning the team has to clear a spot on its 15-man roster. According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (via Twitter), Cleveland will create that opening by waiving Jordan McRae. The Cavs have since confirmed the transaction in a press release.
McRae, who will turn 26 later this month, appeared in 37 games for the Cavs this season, averaging 4.4 PPG in 10.4 minutes per contest. Although the club guaranteed McRae’s full-season salary by keeping him on the roster through January’s guarantee deadline, the 6’6″ guard was mentioned in multiple trade rumors in recent weeks, suggesting he may not finish the season in Cleveland.
After initially joining the Cavs down the stretch in 2015/16, McRae earned a minimum salary (about $875K) for the team this season. Assuming McRae goes unclaimed on waivers, the Cavs will remain on the hook for that cap hit, but won’t carry any dead money beyond the current league year — the former second-round pick had been on track for restricted free agency this summer.
If McRae does catch on with another NBA team, he’ll retain his playoff eligibility, having been waived before the end of the day on March 1.
Thunder Sign Norris Cole
MARCH 1: The Thunder have officially signed Cole, the team announced today in a press release.
FEBRUARY 28: The Thunder have reached an agreement on a rest-of-season deal with free agent point guard Norris Cole, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical. Oklahoma City had opened up a spot on its roster at the trade deadline when the club sent three players to Chicago and received just two in return, so no corresponding move will be required.
[RELATED: Thunder acquire Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott from Bulls]
Cole averaged a career-high 10.6 PPG and 3.7 APG last season in 45 games for the Pelicans, but was unable to land a deal with an NBA team as a free agent during the 2016 offseason. The 28-year-old ended up signing with a Chinese team, the Shandong Golden Stars, and averaged 19.1 PPG and 4.3 APG in nine CBA games before being released due to an injury.
A report in January suggested that Cole was nearing a return to full health after battling hamstring problems, so he should be good to go for for the Thunder. According to Charania, Cole recently received clearance from the CBA to sign with an NBA club.
Although there had been some rumblings that the Thunder might use their newly-opener roster spot to bring back former OKC big man Kendrick Perkins, it made more sense for the club to add a point guard. The deal with the Bulls sent Cameron Payne to Chicago, creating some potential depth issues at the position behind Russell Westbrook.
The Thunder could technically create approximately $3MM in cap room by renouncing a trade exception, but a minimum-salary contract for Cole is likely, in which case cap space would be unnecessary. Assuming the veteran guard formally signs a minimum deal with Oklahoma City today, his cap hit for the remainder of the season would be just under $254K.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 2/28/17
Here are the D-League transactions from the day:
- The Nuggets have assigned Malik Beasley to the D-League, the team reports on its official website. Beasley has averaged 17.7 points per game in seven contests with the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
- The Cavaliers have assigned Kay Felder to their D-League affiliate, the team writes on its official site. Felder has averaged 30.5 points per game in four games with the Canton Charge.
Brandon Jennings, Wizards Reach Verbal Agreement
Though he won’t be able to officially sign until waivers clear on Wednesday, Brandon Jennings is on his way to Washington intent on signing with the Wizards. Chris Haynes of ESPN tweeted that the two parties have come to a verbal agreement, while Mike Wise of ESPN initially reported that such a deal was likely. It was Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical who wrote that the guard is already arranging travel plans to be in D.C. tomorrow.
Jennings and other recently bought out players Andrew Bogut and Jose Calderon won’t be able to sign with new clubs until they clear waivers at 5 PM EST on March 1, as ESPN’s Marc Stein reminds us. At that point, Jennings will be eligible to sign with the Wizards and be a part of their playoff run. Washington had previously been linked to Lakers guard Lou Williams but he was ultimately dealt to the Rockets just prior to the deadline. In Jennings, however, the Wiz gets their prolific reserve scorer at the point guard position.
The Wizards currently have a full 15-man roster, so they’ll need to waive a player to open up a roster spot before Jennings’ signing can become official. It also remains to be seen how much Jennings’ deal will be worth — most free agents signing new deals at this point ink minimum salary contracts, but Washington still has a prorated portion of its room exception available. A minimum salary pact would mean a salary worth about $325K for Jennings, while a deal with the room exception could be worth up to about $2MM.
In 58 games with the Knicks, Jennings averaged 8.6 points and 4.9 assists per game.
Lakers Sign David Nwaba To 10-Day Deal
FEBRUARY 28: The Lakers have officially signed Nwaba to a 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release. The team now has a full 15-man roster.
FEBRUARY 27: The Lakers will sign David Nwaba to a 10-day contract, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical. Nwaba is a 6’4″ swingman who’s been playing for Los Angeles’ D-League affiliate. The franchise entered the day with an open roster spot, as the team’s depth chart at Roster Resource indicates, so no corresponding move will be necessary.
In 38 games with the D-Fenders this season, Nwaba is averaging 13.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per contest. He’s shooting 64.3% from the field, but just 26.7% from behind the arc. Nwaba’s calling card is his defense. He’s added 1.2 blocks and 1.4 steals per game this season, but his D-League coach believes the stats don’t tell the whole story.
“David Nwaba is probably the best defender in our league,” coach Coby Karl said earlier in the season (via Harrison Faigen of SB Nation). “Defensively he really puts up a stand against guys. He’s just showing that he belongs.”