NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 11/4/16
Here are Friday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the league:
10:30pm:
- The Celtics announced via press release that Kelly Olynyk and Demetrius Jackson were assigned to the Maine Red Claws for practice purposes earlier today and later recalled to Boston by the team. Jackson has yet to see any regular season action in his rookie campaign, while Olynyk is still making his way back from offseason shoulder surgery.
11:32am:
- That was fast. After announcing this morning that they had assigned former first-round pick Bruno Caboclo to the D-League, the Raptors confirmed a few hours later that Caboclo has been recalled (Twitter links). The 21-year-old was briefly sent to the Raptors 905 to participate in today’s practice.
- A day after assigning him to the Salt Lake City Stars, the Jazz have recalled rookie forward Joel Bolomboy for their game tonight against the Spurs, the team announced in a press release.
Jonathan Holmes To Play Overseas
Forward Jonathan Holmes is headed overseas, having agreed to a contract with FC Barcelona, the team announced (translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). The dollar amount of the arrangement is unknown, but the pact is for two months with an option for the remainder of the season, per the release.
Holmes spent the preseason with the Cavaliers, appearing in six contests and averaging 9.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 17.4 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .489/.333/1.000. The forward was waived by Cleveland on October 20th and was seemingly ticked for the Canton Charge of the NBA D-League after Cleveland named him as one of its affiliate players.
The 23-year-old, who played his college ball at Texas, went undrafted in 2015 after his final season with the Longhorns. He joined the Lakers for training camp, and suffered a dislocated right shoulder before the season began. While the injury sidelined him for the next several months, it did ensure that he earned his full salary for the 2015/16 from Los Angeles. Holmes’ minimum salary deal with the Cavs this season was non-guaranteed, so he’s not collecting any salary after being cut by the team.
Ex-Piston Lorenzo Brown Headed To Russia
Point guard Lorenzo Brown will sign with Russia’s Unics Kazan in the Euroleague, league sources informed Chris Reichert of The Step Back (Twitter links).
Brown was forced to consider other options after being a late training camp cut by the Pistons. He battled Ray McCallum for the third point guard spot behind Reggie Jackson and Ish Smith, a competition that McCallum won. It turned out to be a moot point when coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy opted to claim Beno Udrih off waivers from the Heat just before the season opener and waive McCallum.
Detroit signed Brown to a 10-day contract late last season and then decided to keep him during the postseason, when it was swept in the opening round by the Cavaliers. Brown, who had a non-guaranteed deal, never appeared in a game with the Pistons.
Brown’s last NBA action came in January, when he was on two 10-days with the Suns. He averaged 2.5 points, 1.4 assists and 1.1 turnovers in 7.6 minutes per game across eight appearances with Phoenix.
Brown spent much of the season with Detroit’s D-League affiliate in Grand Rapids, averaging 18.3 points, 5.8 assists and 2.9 turnovers in 33.3 minutes per game. The relationship between the Pistons and the former N.C. State standout, who was the 52nd pick in the 2013 draft, dates to the 2014 preseason, when Brown was on Detroit’s training camp roster.
Brown, 26, appeared in 29 games with the Timberwolves in 2014/15, including seven starts, and played 26 games for the Sixers in his rookie year.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 11/3/16
Here are today’s D-League assignments and recalls from across the NBA:
- The first D-League assignment of Dejounte Murray‘s young career was a brief one. The Spurs announced today that they’ve recalled Murray, just one day after assigning him to Austin, so the 2016 first-rounder will join the team on its road trip to Utah.
- The Suns have sent rookie forward Derrick Jones to their newly-relocated D-League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns, the team announced today in a press release. Jones has yet to see the floor for Phoenix during the regular season, so it makes sense to send him to Northern Arizona to get him some action.
- The Jazz have assigned 2016 second-rounder Joel Bolomboy to the Salt Lake City Stars, according to a team release. Bolomboy has played briefly in two games for Utah so far this season.
Jorge Gutierrez To Play In Turkey
Free agent guard Jorge Gutierrez will head overseas after being cut last month by the Nets, according to international basketball journalist David Pick, who reports (via Twitter) that Gutierrez is signing with Turkish team Trabzonspor.
An undrafted point guard out of the University of California, Gutierrez has appeared in 47 total NBA games since 2014, debuting for the Nets and also spending time with the Bucks and Hornets. For his career, he has averaged 2.9 PPG, 1.5 APG, and 1.1 RPG, while shooting 50.0% from the field. Gutierrez has spent more time over the past several seasons in the D-League, playing 122 contests for the Canton Charge.
Gutierrez was one of a handful of players waived by the Nets during preseason roster cutdowns, joining Chase Budinger and a few other teammates on the waiver wire. Like Budinger, he’ll play professional ball internationally rather than heading to Brooklyn’s D-League affiliate with Beau Beech, Yogi Ferrell, and Egidijus Mockevicius.
The timing of the move is interesting, as the Nets may be in need of point guard help, having announced today that Jeremy Lin will miss at least the next two weeks with a strained hamstring. With Greivis Vasquez and Caris LeVert also ailing, the Nets’ backcourt is thin and Gutierrez is a player with whom the club is familiar.
Still, Brooklyn has 15 guaranteed contracts on its books, so the team is unlikely to make a roster move for a short-term fix. And in any case, it seems Gutierrez wouldn’t be an option, now that he has committed to Trabzonspor.
NBA D-League Assignments/Recalls: 11/2/16
Here are today’s D-League assignments and/or recalls:
- The Spurs have made their first D-League assignment of the season, announcing today in a press release that 2016 first-round pick Dejounte Murray will join the Austin Spurs. The D-League season hasn’t gotten underway yet, so Murray will participate in training camp with the team and perhaps see some preseason action when games begin.
Kings Re-Sign Jordan Farmar
The Kings are re-signing Jordan Farmar to their roster after waiving him last month, reports Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter links). Terms of the agreement aren’t known, but another non-guaranteed contract appears likely for the veteran point guard.
Sacramento is currently carrying the maximum allowable 15 players, but one of those 15 is point guard Darren Collison, who is serving an eight-game suspension. NBA rules allow for the Kings to move Collison to the suspended list after five games, meaning the team can add Farmar to its roster without waiving anyone. However, the club will need to cut someone when Collison becomes eligible to return, so Farmar’s second stint with the Kings figures to be even shorter than his first, unless they opt to waive another player when Collison returns.
Farmar, who will turn 30 later this month, has played more than 500 regular-season games over the course of his nine-year NBA career, though he appeared in just 12 games last season. Farmar joined the Grizzlies in March when Memphis’ roster was hit hardest by injuries, and was the club’s starting point guard down the stretch and in the postseason. Farmar played well in the regular season with the Grizzlies, averaging 9.2 PPG, 3.1 APG, 1.3 SPG, and 1.3 3PT. His production dipped in the playoffs, as he shot just 32.3% from the floor during the club’s first-round loss to San Antonio.
Although he appeared to have a decent shot to earn a roster spot in Sacramento this fall, Farmar ultimately lost out to Ty Lawson, another veteran point guard on a non-guaranteed deal.
Thunder Acquire Jerami Grant From Sixers
3:28pm: Both teams have issued press release confirming the deal. The Thunder’s announcement indicates that the team has gained a trade exception, as noted below, so for now OKC won’t renounce that TPE to gain cap room.
2:57pm: The first-round pick heading to Philadelphia in the swap will be top-20 protected, and will turn into two second-rounders if it doesn’t fall in that 21-30 range, tweets Bobby Marks of The Vertical. The Thunder already have a first-rounder going to Utah in 2018, so the pick involved in the deal with the Sixers will be a 2020 selection, as Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders tweets. If the Sixers don’t get a first-rounder, they’d get their pair of second-rounders in 2022 and 2023, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter).
2:43pm: The future pick the Sixers are receiving from the Thunder will be a first-rounder, reports Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (via Twitter). However, Zillgitt adds that the pick will have multiple protections, and Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical tweets that it may be a “fake first” of sorts. The Sixers hope to receive the first-rounder from the Thunder in 2020, tweets Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Meanwhile, Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link) says Philadelphia plans to keep Ilyasova rather than waiving him to open up a roster spot.
2:23pm: The Sixers and Thunder have completed a trade, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter links), who reports that Ersan Ilyasova is heading to Philadelphia along with a conditional future draft pick. Oklahoma City will receive Jerami Grant in return.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the Thunder have been pursuing a potential trade involving Grant for “several months.” The 22-year-old, a second-round pick back in 2014, spent the last two seasons with Philadelphia. In 144 total contests for the franchise, he averaged 8.2 PPG and 3.9 RPG, shooting just 39.4% from the floor. While Grant has shown some promise, the Sixers had a crowded frontcourt, making him somewhat expendable.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, will land Ilyasova, a stretch four who could add some much-needed outside shooting to the Sixers’ roster. The Turkish big man was one of three players Oklahoma City received from the Magic in exchange for Serge Ibaka this summer, along with Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. Ilyasova was the least-important piece in that deal, but has been a solid scorer and rebounder over the course of his NBA career, putting up 10.6 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and a .369 3PT% in 530 career contests with the Bucks, Pistons, Magic, and Thunder.
The Sixers’ huge chunk of cap room will come in handy when completing this move. The club is well below the salary floor, entering the day with only about $70MM in 2016/17 salary on its books. Ilyasova ($8.4MM) makes significantly more money than Grant ($980K), so Philadelphia will take on some salary in the deal, which likely explains why the Thunder are surrendering a draft pick in the swap.
Additionally, Grant – unlike Ilyasova – is under team control beyond this season. The young forward is earning the minimum salary this season and has a team option on his contract for the 2017/18 worth the minimum as well.
The Thunder entered the day ever so slightly over the cap, so they’ll have some flexibility after completing the deal — the team could technically remain an over-the-cap club, with a traded player exception worth Ilyasova’s salary. However, if OKC wants to forfeit that TPE, the team would have more than $7MM in cap room at its disposal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Jazz Sign Rudy Gobert To Contract Extension
NOVEMBER 1, 10:26am: Only $90MM of Gobert’s $102MM extension is fully guaranteed, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, who tweets that the deal features $3MM annually in incentives.
OCTOBER 31, 6:20pm: The signing is official, the team announced.
4:21pm: The Jazz and Rudy Gobert have reached an agreement in principle on a four-year, $102MM contract extension, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports. The projected average annual salary of $25.5MM is quite a leap from the $2,121,287 Gobert is earning this season. There is no word yet on whether the new pact contains any options, player or team.
By locking up Gobert now, Utah will avoid the player hitting restricted free agency next July, where he would have likely been able to land an offer sheet in the $110MM range, Wojnarowski notes. The deal is for slightly less than the max, which will save the Jazz approximately $8MM-$10MM over the life of the pact, the scribe adds. While Gobert almost assuredly preferred to reach an agreement on an extension, he would have been willing to test the waters as a restricted free agent next offseason if no deal was struck, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein (Twitter link).
Gobert was selected with the No. 27 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft and has quickly developed into one of the most intimidating rim-protectors in the game. The 24-year-old appeared in 61 games a season ago for the Jazz, averaging 9.1 points, 11.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.5 blocks in 31.7 minutes per outing. His slash line was .559/.000/.569. In three contests this season, Gobert has notched 11.0 PPG, 12.0 RPG and 2.7 BPG.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Ray Allen Formally Announces Retirement
There were rumblings this offseason that longtime NBA sharpshooter Ray Allen was considering making a comeback, perhaps for a team like the Warriors, Celtics, or Bucks. However, in a piece for The Players’ Tribune today, Allen confirmed that he’ll officially retire rather than attempting to return to the court for an NBA franchise.
“I write this to you today as a 41-year-old man who is retiring from the game,” Allen wrote in the piece, which was framed as a letter to his 13-year-old self. “I write to you as a man who is completely at peace with himself.”
Allen, who turned 41 in July, last played for the Heat, helping the team win a championship in 2012/13 and get back to the NBA Finals in 2013/14. By the end of his final year in Miami, he was averaging well below his career mark of 18.9 PPG, but he still shot an impressive 39.8% on three-pointers during those two seasons with the Heat.
Over the course of his 18-year NBA career, Allen spent time with the Bucks, SuperSonics, Celtics, and Heat, earning 10 total All-Star nods with three separate clubs. He left the game as a 40.0% career three-point shooter, having set the record for most career threes.
Allen’s 2,973 total three-pointers separated him from second place (Reggie Miller) by more than 400 and from third place (Jason Terry) by more than 800. Still, considering the way the game has evolved in recent years, perhaps the idea of a comeback had some appeal as a way to allow him to stretch that lead, keeping it safe for a little longer. Instead, the former UConn standout will call it career, putting him on track for a Hall of Fame induction sooner rather than later.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.