Ray McCallum Joins Pistons’ D-League Affiliate
Ray McCallum, who was waived Monday by the Pistons, has signed with their D-League affiliate in Grand Rapids, tweets international basketball writer David Pick. He will join Trey Freeman, Nikola Jovanovic and Mamadou N’Diaye as affiliate players, adds Keith Langlois of Pistons.com (Twitter link).
McCallum appeared to have earned a roster spot in Detroit, but was cut when the Pistons claimed veteran point guard Beno Udrih on waviers. Detroit needed depth at that position after an injury sidelined Reggie Jackson for the beginning of the season.
McCallum split last season with the Spurs and Grizzlies, averaging 3.3 points and 1.5 assists in 41 games. He joined the Pistons as a free agent in July, signing a one-year, minimum-salary contract.
Nets Pick Up Options On Hollis-Jefferson, McCullough
The Nets announced they have exercised team options on Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Chris McCullough for the 2017/18 season, Brian Lewis of The New York Post relays (on Twitter).
The decisions to pick up the options on both young forwards are not surprising. Hollis-Jefferson’s option is for $1.45MM and McCullough’s is for $1.24MM.
Hollis-Jefferson, selected with the 23rd pick in the 2015 draft by the Blazers and acquired by the Nets that night in a trade, has appeared in 32 career games, including 20 starts, averaging 5.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 21.4 minutes per game. McCullough, the 29th pick in the 2015 draft, has seen action in 25 career games, including four starts, with averages of 4.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game.
Hornets Exercise Option On Frank Kaminsky
The Hornets have exercised their third-year option on Frank Kaminsky, tweets Adi Joseph of The Sporting News. After Saturday’s game, Charlotte GM Rich Cho delivered the news to Kaminsky in the locker room in the form of a letter.
A 23-year-old center out of Wisconsin, Kaminsky appeared in 81 games for the Hornets during his rookie season. He averaged 7.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per night and shot 34% from 3-point range.
Kaminsky, who is making $2.73MM this season, will see his salary increased to $2,847,600 for 2017/18. The Hornets have now taken care of all their rookie-scale option decisions for this season.
Thunder Exercise Options On Huestis, Payne
The Thunder have exercised their third-year options on Josh Huestis and Cameron Payne, according to RealGM.
Huestis, a 6’7″ power forward, was the 29th pick in the 2014 draft. He spent almost the entire past two seasons in the D-League, appearing in just five games for the Thunder, averaging 2.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 11.0 minutes per night.
Oklahoma City drafted Payne with the 14th pick in 2015. The 6’3″ point guard played in 57 games for OKC during his rookie season, averaging 5.0 points and 1.9 rebounds in 12.2 minutes of action.
Huestis will make $1,242,840 in 2017/18, and Payne’s salary will be $2,203,440. They were the Thunder’s final two rookie scale option decisions for this season.
Bucks Exercise 2017/18 Option On Rashad Vaughn
The Bucks have picked up the third-year option on Rashad Vaughn‘s rookie-scale contract, the team announced. Vaughn will earn $1,889,040 in 2017/18 as a result of the move. Milwaukee will have another decision to make next season regarding his fourth-year option, which would pay the guard $2,901,565 if exercised.
Vaughn appeared in 70 contests a season ago for the Bucks, averaging 3.1 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 14.3 minutes per outing. His shooting line on the campaign was .305/.291/.800.
The 20-year-old was taken with the No. 17 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft after just one season at UNLV. Vaughn’s college stats were 17.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG and 1.6 APG in 32.2 minutes. His slash line was .439/.393/.694.
Nick Johnson To Play Overseas
Nick Johnson is headed overseas to play after signing a deal with the German club Bayern Munich, international journalist David Pick reports (via Twitter). The length and terms of the agreement are not yet known, nor if the pact includes and NBA-out clause.
The shooting guard was waived by the Magic last Saturday as Orlando pared down its roster to the regular season maximum of 15 players. Johnson appeared in four preseason games for the Magic, averaging 4.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 10.2 minutes per outing.
Johnson’s career NBA regular season numbers through 28 games, all with the Rockets, are 2.3 PPG, 1.4 RPG and 0.4 APG to accompany a shooting line of .347/.238/.680. The 23-year-old has a more extensive D-League résumé, appearing in 54 contests the past two seasons, averaging 13.3 PPG, 4.3 RPG and 3.7 APG to accompany a shooting line of .412/.303/.768.
Bulls Pick Up Options On McDermott, Portis, Grant
The Bulls announced via press release that they have exercised their fourth-year option on Doug McDermott and the third-year options for Jerian Grant and Bobby Portis. McDermott will earn $3,294,994 in 2017/18, Portis will be on the books for $1,516,320 and Grant will earn $1,713,840 as a result of their options being picked up by Chicago.
McDermott appeared in 81 games last season after appearing in only 36 contests during his rookie season. The forward out of Creighton owns career averages of 7.5 points and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 44.5% from the field overall, 41% from beyond the three-point line and 82.8% from the charity stripe. McDermott was selected with the No. 11 overall in the 2014 NBA Draft and came to the Bulls in a draft-night deal with the Nuggets.
Grant was the No. 19 overall pick in the 2015 Draft by the Knicks, who acquired the selection in a trade with the Hawks. In his rookie year, Grant played in 76 games and posted averages of 5.6 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 16.6 minutes per game. His 78% free-throw percentage ranked sixth among all rookies.
Portis appeared in 62 games during the 2015/16 season. In his rookie year, he became the first Bull to record 20 points and 10 rebounds in one of his first five career games since 1999. He averaged 7.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 17.8 minutes per game while shooting 42.7% from the field, 30.8% from behind the arc and 72.7% from the free-throw line.
Grizzlies Exercise 2017/18 Option On Jarell Martin
The Grizzlies have exercised their third-year team option on Jarell Martin, locking in his salary for the 2017/18 season, the team announced today in a press release. The move comes three days before the October 31 deadline for decisions on ’17/18 rookie-scale options.
Martin, 22, was the 25th overall pick in the 2015 draft, and appeared in just 27 games for the Grizzlies in his rookie season. The 6’10” power forward averaged 5.7 PPG and 3.2 RPG in 14.1 minutes per contest for the Grizzlies, upping those marks to 15.0 PPG and 6.0 RPG (in 28.9 MPG) in 10 games for the D-League’s Iowa Energy.
Despite Martin’s modest production in his rookie season, it makes sense for the Grizzlies to exercise his 2017/18 option, given its price. The LSU product will make just $1.342MM, after earning $1.286MM this season. He’ll have another team option for 2018/19, and would be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2019 if he plays out his rookie contract.
Martin’s option was one of two the Grizzlies had to exercise or decline this fall, but the team made its other decision early — Jordan Adams was waived by the club during its preseason cutdown, eliminating his 2017/18 option from his contract.
The full breakdown of this year’s rookie scale option decisions can be found right here.
D-League Notes: Brown, Magette, Patterson
- Point guard Josh Magette has signed an NBADL contract, the D-League Digest tweets. Magette was a late training-camp cut by the Hawks. The Lakers’ D-League affiliate, the D-Fenders, owns his rights. Magette, 26, made three preseason appearances for Atlanta, spanning 17 minutes. He averaged 11.5 points and 9.1 assists in 45 games last season for the D-Fenders, with whom he has played the past two seasons.
- Shooting guard Lamar Patterson has signed a D-League contract and will be an affiliate player for the Kings’ Reno Bighorns, according to another tweet from the D-League Digest. Patterson appeared in four preseason games for the Kings, averaging 5.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game, before he was waived. He spent much of the 2015/16 season playing in the D-League and the Hawks waived him in July.
- Yogi Ferrell plans to open the season with the D-League’s Long Island Nets, according to Jeff Rabjohns of Scout.com. The former Indiana University standout was Brooklyn’s final training-camp cut. He appeared in three exhibition games, logging 28 minutes.
- Forward C.J. Leslie has signed a contract with the Raptors’ D-League affiliate, the Raptors 905, Chris Reichert of The Step Back tweets.
NBA Vet Chase Budinger Headed To Europe
Forward Chase Budinger, the final training-camp cut by the Nets, has signed with Baskonia of Spain, international journalist David Pick tweets. The news was also reported by Sportando and Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Budinger will join two other former NBA players who previously signed with Baskonia in the Euroleague, center Andrea Bargnani and point guard Shane Larkin.
Budinger signed a non-guaranteed contract with Brooklyn just prior to camp. The 6’7” Budinger, who was originally drafted in 2009 by the Pistons and then immediately shipped to the Rockets, has bounced around the league in recent years. After playing three seasons in Houston, he was a reserve for the Timberwolves for three consecutive campaigns.
He appeared in 49 games with the Pacers last season before he was waived in early March. He was quickly snapped up by the Suns and came off the bench in 17 games for them as the season wound down.
Budinger averaged 7.9 points, 3.0 rebounds in 19.7 minutes over 407 NBA games. A career 35.2% shooter from 3-point range, Budinger shot under 30% from beyond the arc last year for both Indiana and Phoenix, which cooled interest in him on the free-agent market. It’s possible now that Budinger, 28, has played his last NBA game.