Rockets Sign Isaiah Taylor
FEBRUARY 28: The Rockets have officially signed Taylor and assigned him to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, per Watkins. Houston now has one opening on its 15-man roster.
FEBRUARY 27: The Rockets are signing D-League guard Isaiah Taylor to their NBA roster, reports Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. According to Watkins, Taylor will receive a three-year, non-guaranteed contract, and figures to remain assigned to Houston’s D-League affiliate for now.
Taylor, who went undrafted out of Texas last summer, signed a partially guaranteed contract with the Rockets and was with the club for training camp and the preseason. However, he didn’t earn a spot on the club’s regular-season roster, and joined the Rio Grande Valley Vipers as an affiliate player.
In 12 games for the Vipers, Taylor has averaged 21.1 PPG and 6.1 APG, showing an ability to get the free throw line (7.3 attempts per game) and to make outside shots (41.3% on threes).
Having traded away K.J. McDaniels and Tyler Ennis at the trade deadline, the Rockets had two open roster spots available — the team acquired Marcelo Huertas from the Lakers for Ennis, but waived Huertas shortly after trading for him. Taylor will fill one of those two roster openings as a developmental player, while the club figures to focus on adding a veteran with its other open spot.
According to Watkins (via Twitter), the Rockets don’t have serious interest in Andrew Bogut, who is expected to join the Cavaliers if he’s bought out by Philadelphia. Houston is looking to add a wing or another big man, says Watkins.
Cavs Announce Deron Williams Signing
The Cavs have made their signing of Deron Williams official, announcing the deal through a press release (link). Williams cleared waivers on Saturday, and is likely to debut Wednesday against the Celtics. The signing will cost Cleveland $908,431, bringing the team’s payroll to over $126.9MM.
According to Darren Rovell of ESPN, Williams will wear the number 31 (Twitter link). Williams discussed the signing with media outlets, saying “At the end of the day I felt like this was the best team for me. I felt like I would have a significant role here” (Source).
Our original story on the Cavs’ agreement with Williams can be found right here.
Andrew Bogut, Jose Calderon Finalize Buyouts
Andrew Bogut and Jose Calderon have completed their buyouts, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter links). Per Marc Stein of ESPN, neither player can sign with a team until clearing waivers Wednesday. While Bogut is likely to join the Cavs, he will hold talks with the Spurs, Rockets, and Celtics before reaching a decision (Twitter links).
Both the Lakers and Sixers have announced the transactions via press release. Now presumed to join the Warriors, Calderon and his agent released a statement commending the Lakers’ accommodation.
“I’m very appreciative of the Lakers doing this,” Mark Bartelstein told Mark Medina of the L.A. Daily News. “This is something we had gone to them and talked about since Jose wasn’t playing much…I’m very appreciative of Magic [Johnson] doing this. Jose’s got a lot of basketball left in him and can play at a high level. But with the Lakers being in a rebuilding state, it didn’t make sense from a playing perspective.”
Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com discussed obstacles in Bogut’s path to Cleveland, noting Houston’s interest in the Australian big man. Following their signing of Isaiah Taylor, the Rockets should have more than $3MM of cap space to offer Bogut.
Knicks Cut Brandon Jennings, Sign Chasson Randle
11:50am: The Knicks have officially confirmed Jennings’ release and Randle’s new deal, tweeting a photo of the rookie guard signing his contract.
7:23am: The Knicks are set to cut ties with veteran guard Brandon Jennings, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter). After waiving Jennings, the club will use its open roster spot to sign free agent guard Chasson Randle, Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter).
Randle, who went undrafted in 2015, appeared headed toward a roster spot with the Knicks in October, but was waived after suffering an orbital bone fracture. Randle subsequently joined New York’s D-League squad as an affiliate player, and a solid showing in Westchester earned him an audition with the Sixers, which in turn led to two 10-day contracts and a rest-of-season deal. However, he lost his roster spot last week when the club needed to clear a spot to complete its Nerlens Noel trade with Dallas.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Randle will ink a multiyear deal with the Knicks that features a partial guarantee for the 2017/18 season.
As for Jennings, the former 10th overall pick signed a one-year, $5MM contract with the Knicks last summer, and has averaged 8.6 PPG and 4.9 APG in 58 games for the club, with a .380/.340/.756 shooting line. Per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (via Twitter), Jennings recently informed the Knicks that he’d like to join a playoff team, so the Knicks will release him to potentially give him that opportunity.
If Jennings clears waivers, he’ll be free to sign with any team, but as Bobby Marks of The Vertical observes (via Twitter), that $5MM contract could be appealing to teams below the salary floor, since there’s only about $1.2MM left to pay on it. We identified the teams below the floor over the weekend, including the Jazz ($4.23MM below) and Wolves ($3.24MM below).
Hornets Sign Briante Weber To 10-Day Deal
FEBRUARY 27: The Hornets have officially signed Weber to a 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release. Charlotte now has a full 15-man roster.
FEBRUARY 26: Briante Weber, whose 10-day contract with the Warriors expired Saturday, will sign a similar deal with the Hornets, tweets Chris Haynes of ESPN.com.
Weber appeared in seven games during his two 10-day stints in Golden State, averaging 1.7 points in 6.6 minutes per night. The Warriors elected not to sign him for the rest of the season, reportedly to open up a roster spot to add Jose Calderon, who is discussing buyout options with the Lakers.
The Hornets had two roster spots to fill after 10-day contracts for Ray McCallum and Mike Tobey expired Friday. Both players have returned to the D-League. Charlotte signed power forward Johnny O’Bryant to a 10-day contract Friday afternoon.
The Hornets will be the fourth stop for Weber in his brief NBA career. He played six games for the Grizzlies and one for the Heat last season.
Nets Waive Luis Scola
The Nets have waived veteran big man Luis Scola, the team announced today in a press release. The move, which opens up a spot on Brooklyn’s roster, will allow Scola to retain playoff eligibility if he joins a new team, since he was waived prior to March 1.
“We appreciate everything Luis has done for our team this year,” GM Sean Marks said in a statement (Twitter link). “His approach and dedication to the game will continue to serve as lasting models for our young players. While we would have loved for Luis to be with us for the remainder of the season, we felt that he deserved the opportunity to contribute to a playoff contender.”
Scola, who will turn 37 in April, inked a one-year, $5.5MM deal with the Nets last summer. In 36 games this season, his numbers are not far off his career averages on a per-minute basis. However, he has played a career-low 12.8 minutes per contest, resulting in career worsts in several other categories, including PPG (5.1) and RPG (3.9).
As Bobby Marks of The Vertical explains (via Twitter), Scola’s $5.5MM contract featured $500K in incentives which will be removed from his cap charge. Assuming Scola clears waivers, he’ll be free to sign with any team, while the Nets will be on the hook for his salary.
It remains to be seen how Brooklyn will use its newly-opened roster spot, but adding a young player on a 10-day contract would make sense.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 2/26/17
Here are the D-League transactions for Sunday:
- The Raptors have recalled Bruno Caboclo from their D-League affiliate, the team announced via Twitter. The forward has seen action in just seven games for Toronto this season, the last coming on January 13.
- The Cavaliers have assigned Kay Felder to their D-League affiliate, the team said in a press release on its official website. Felder has averaged over 30 points per game in three games with the Canton Charge this season.
- The Knicks assigned Ron Baker, Maurice Ndour and Marshall Plumlee to their affiliate in the D-League, the team said on Twitter.
- The Nuggets have recalled Malik Beasley from the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the team said in a press release on their website. Beasley has played in 17 games for Denver so far this season.
- The Thunder recalled Josh Huestis from their D-League affiliate, the team revealed in a press release. Huestis has only seen the court in one game for the Thunder this season.
Hawks Waive Lamar Patterson
The Hawks have waived Lamar Patterson, according to a team press release. Atlanta and Patterson agreed to the release in order to allow Patterson to tend to a personal matter.
The team recently signed Patterson to a two-year deal, though his contract only was partially guaranteed. The team also signed Ryan Kelly, a move which brought the team’s roster count to 15 players, as the team’s depth chart at Roster Resource indicates. After waiving, Patterson, the team’s roster is at 14 players, which means Atlanta has the ability to examine the buyout market in search of a possible contributor.
Patterson played 40 games for the Hawks over the last two seasons. He’s averaging 2.3 points in 10.9 minutes per game.
Mavs Sign Quinn Cook To 10-Day Contract
FEBRUARY 26: The Mavericks have formally signed Cook to a 10-day deal, the team announced today in a press release. With Ben Bentil‘s signing also official, the club now has a full 15-man roster.
FEBRUARY 24: The Mavericks are expected to sign Quinn Cook to a 10-day contract, Chris Reichert of The Step Back reports. The development was foreshadowed by Eddie Sefko of Dallas News, who reported that Cook was on a list of possible 10-day contract candidates.
Cook, 23, has yet to make his NBA debut but excelled with the Canton Charge this season- averaging 26.1 points on 47.7% shooting through 35 games. The former Blue Devil signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Pelicans entering training camp, and was waived in October despite an impressive preseason.
It remains to be seen when Dallas will formally announce the signing.
Mavs Sign Ben Bentil To 10-Day Contract
FEBRUARY 26: The signing is official, tweets Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com.
FEBRUARY 24: The Mavericks have signed Ben Bentil to a 10-day contract, according to Marc Stein of ESPN (Twitter link). Bentil, 21, had recently rejoined the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League after playing 11 games in China.
According to Stein, Dallas plans to have completed deals with Bentil and Quinn Cook by Sunday. Bentil, who can fill in at the 3 or 4, was selected over fellow D-League standouts Manny Harris and Pierre Jackson (Twitter links). Jackson had already signed two 10-day contracts with Dallas this year, and would have needed to be signed through the season.
This has been the second contract agreement with a D-League player today for Dallas, as the team also struck a deal with Cook to a 10-day contract this afternoon.