Jazz Exercise 2017/18 Options On Hood, Exum, Lyles
The Jazz have exercised three team options for 2017/18 well in advance of next Monday’s deadline, announcing today in a press release that they’ve picked up fourth-year options for Rodney Hood and Dante Exum, as well as Trey Lyles‘ third-year option.
Hood, who turned 24 last week, took a nice step forward in his second year with the Jazz, averaging 14.5 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.7 APG, and 2.0 3PG while starting 79 games for the team. He’s expected to continue playing a major role in the rotation, particularly with Gordon Hayward out to start the season. His fourth-year option is worth just $2.387MM.
Exum’s fourth-year option is more expensive, at $4.992MM, and he’s coming off a lost season, having missed the 2015/16 campaign due to a torn ACL. However, he’s still just 21 years old, and Utah has high hopes for his future. He’ll see time at point guard behind probable starter George Hill.
As for Lyles, he’s heading into his second year, so the Jazz will have one more team option decision to make on him next year, for the 2018/19 season. In his lone season with the Jazz, Lyles averaged 6.1 PPG and 3.7 RPG in 80 games. His third-year option for 2017/18 will pay him $2.441MM.
Check out the full list of team option decisions for 2017/18 right here.
Thunder Waive Mitch McGary, Ronnie Price, Others
1:25pm: The Thunder have issued a press release confirming their four cuts: McGary and Price, as reported, along with Wright and Tarczewski, as speculated below. OKC’s roster is now at 15 players, ready for the regular season.
1:20pm: The Thunder intend to waive a pair of players with guaranteed salaries, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical, who reports (via Twitter) that Mitch McGary and Ronnie Price will receive their walking papers from the team. With Price no longer in the mix, Oklahoma City will keep rookie Semaj Christon to provide depth at point guard, per Charania.
The decision to waive McGary doesn’t come as a shock. In addition to failing to produce much on the court during his first two seasons in OKC, McGary also got into more trouble off the court this offseason. The NBA suspended the former Michigan big man twice – first for five games and then for an additional 10 – for violations of the league’s drug policy.
As Bobby Marks of The Vertical tweets, that suspension will begin if and when McGary signs with a new NBA team. For now though, McGary is hoping to resume his career in China or somewhere in Europe, per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link).
The Thunder will still have to pay McGary’s guaranteed salary, but that figure is fairly modest compared to Price’s guaranteed money. The veteran point guard signed a two-year, fully-guaranteed deal worth $5MM this summer, so Oklahoma City will be on the hook for about $2.558MM in 2016/17, with the remainder coming later. The Thunder could choose to stretch out Price’s 2017/18 cap hit across multiple years.
With McGary and Price headed for the waiver wire, and Christon apparently safe, the Thunder will have to make two more cuts this afternoon. Chris Wright and Kaleb Tarczewski look like the clear candidates to be waived, perhaps with an eye toward a D-League assignment to OKC’s affiliate.
Lakers Cut Anthony Brown; Roster Down To 15
The Lakers have made a somewhat surprising move to reduce their roster to 15 players, announcing in a press release that they’ve waived forward Anthony Brown. The cut opens up room on the roster for Los Angeles to keep both Thomas Robinson and Metta World Peace, who were previously believed to be battling for the final spot.
[RELATED: Lakers waive Yi Jianlian at his request]
Brown, 24, was selected 34th overall in the 2015 draft by the Lakers, and appeared in 29 games for the team during his rookie season, starting 11 of them. In 20.7 MPG, he averaged 4.0 PPG and 2.4 RPG, shooting just 31.0% from the field. The Stanford product had a guaranteed $874,636 salary for 2016/17, but the Lakers decided to move on from him anyway, eating that guaranteed money.
Neither Robinson nor World Peace had a guaranteed salary, but it appears both veterans have earned spots on the Lakers’ roster, now that the team has parted with Brown and Yi Jianlian. Robinson, a former fifth overall pick, had a solid camp with the team and will compete for frontcourt minutes in the hopes of sticking in L.A. long enough for his salary to become fully guaranteed.
As for World Peace, the Lakers value his veteran leadership and reportedly had interest in keeping him around as an assistant coach if he didn’t make the team. Perhaps sensing that the veteran forward would be reluctant to call it a career if the Lakers asked him to join their coaching staff, it seems the club found room on its 15-man roster for him instead.
Lakers Waive Yi Jianlian At His Request
12:28pm: The Lakers have officially waived Yi, the team announced in a press release.
8:18am: The Lakers are currently carrying 17 players, meaning they need to make two more cuts before Monday’s regular-season roster deadline, and Yi Jianlian made one of those decisions easy. According to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, the Chinese forward has asked the Lakers to waive him, and the team will formally grant that request, waiving him in advance of today’s deadline.
As Stein details, Yi and his representatives would like the chance to pursue other opportunities after the role he envisioned in Los Angeles didn’t pan out. That could mean seeking an NBA job, but there’s a good chance the former sixth overall pick heads back overseas — he’d have better odds of earning a significant role back in China than he would with another NBA club. At this point it’s not clear which way he’s leaning, per Stein.
The contract Yi signed with the Lakers this offseason could have been worth as much as $8MM if he’d stuck with the team all season and appeared in at least 59 games. However, at this point it was only guaranteed for $250K. The rolling guarantees and incentives made it a very trade-friendly deal, which was why L.A. was believed to be leaning toward keeping Yi.
Instead, the Lakers figure to turn to Metta World Peace or Thomas Robinson for their 15th and final roster spot, with the other player joining Yi on the waiver wire. The team reportedly wouldn’t mind keeping World Peace as an assistant rather than as a player, but if he’s not willing to retire quite yet, perhaps L.A. will be using to use that final roster opening on him.
Still, as Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times tweets, Robinson has “really impressed” the Lakers over the last few weeks, meaning he has a decent shot to win the roster battle. Robinson is nearly 12 years younger than World Peace, and – like Yi – was a high draft pick, having been selected fifth overall in 2012.
Sixers Sign Dionte Christmas
NBA teams have to reduce their rosters to 15 players in about four hours, but the Sixers aren’t quite ready to give up their 20-man preseason roster limit quite yet. According to a team release, Philadelphia has signed Dionte Christmas, bringing the club’s roster count back up to 20.
Christmas, who played his college ball at Temple, saw his only NBA action back in 2013/14 with the Suns. In 31 games for Phoenix, Christmas averaged 2.3 PPG and 1.2 RPG in 6.4 minutes per contest. He has played for various international teams in the years since then.
On the surface, Christmas looks like an unusual pickup for the Sixers. He’s unlikely to make the 15-man roster, so Philadelphia may intend to have him head to the D-League, but the 30-year-old isn’t the sort of developmental prospect the team would typically stash at Delaware. We’ll have to wait and see what the 76ers have in mind for the Philadelphia native.
Assuming Christmas’ deal isn’t fully guaranteed, the Sixers are currently carrying nine players on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed salaries. They’ll have to waive five players by 5:00pm eastern time today to get down to 15.
Blazers Pick Up 2017/18 Options On Vonleh, Napier
The Trail Blazers are exercising their 2017/18 team options on forward Noah Vonleh and guard Shabazz Napier, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter). That will put both players on track to play out their rookie contracts and potentially reach restricted free agency in 2018, if they’re not waived or extended before then. Portland has confirmed the moves in a press release.
The 2017/18 salaries for Vonleh ($3.505MM) and Napier ($2.361MM) aren’t exorbitant, and both players are still young, so it makes sense for the Blazers to exercise those options. Still, it wasn’t viewed as a lock in either case.
Vonleh, who turned 21 this summer, started 56 games during his first year in Portland, but only averaged 15.1 minutes per contest, and posted underwhelming numbers (3.6 PPG, 3.9 RPG, .421 FG%). The Blazers reportedly intend to use Al-Farouq Aminu exclusively at power forward – instead of small forward – this year, which could mean further reducing Vonleh’s minutes unless he shows major signs of improvement.
Napier, meanwhile, is playing on his third team in three years since being selected 24th overall in 2014. Traded to the Heat on draft night, the 25-year-old spent his rookie season with Miami, then played last season for the Magic before being dealt to the Blazers this summer in a salary dump by Orlando. Napier played just 10.9 minutes per game in 55 contests last season, averaging 3.7 PPG and 1.8 APG while shooting 33.8% from the field.
By exercising both options, the Blazers will push their overall guaranteed money for 2017/18 to nearly $130MM, the highest total in the NBA.
Rockets Waive Gary Payton II, P.J. Hairston
The Rockets are trimming their roster to 15 players in advance of today’s cutdown deadline, and have made three moves so far, according to various reports. Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle tweets that the team has waived rookie guard Gary Payton II, while Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News tweets that camp invitees P.J. Hairston and Le’Bryan Nash have also been cut.
Hairston and Nash are likely ticketed for the Rockets’ D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, having been on non-guaranteed contracts. Payton could also ultimately land in Rio Grande, but his case isn’t quite as clear, since he had been on a guaranteed salary for 2016/17, giving him a little more flexibility for his next move.
With Payton, Hairston, and Nash out of the mix for a roster spots, the Rockets are now carrying 16 players, and will need to make one more cut. Tyler Ennis, recently acquired in a trade with Milwaukee, is probably safe, which would leave Bobby Brown and Kyle Wiltjer battling for the 15th and final roster spot. Neither player has a fully guaranteed deal, but Wiltjer received a sizable partial guarantee of $275K from Houston.
The Rockets figure to announce their final cut – and confirm their other moves – in a press release later today.
Pelicans Waive Alonzo Gee, Keep Lance Stephenson
The Pelicans have made their final cut, reducing their roster to 15 players by waiving Alonzo Gee, the team announced today in a press release. The move ensures that there’s room on the roster for Lance Stephenson, who was believed to be vying with Gee for that final opening.
While Gee was long viewed to be on the roster bubble in New Orleans, it’s still a slightly surprising decision, since his salary for 2016/17 was fully guaranteed, while Stephenson had only received a $100K guarantee so far. Unless Gee is claimed on waivers this week, the Pelicans will be on the hook for his full $1.4MM salary.
Interestingly, the Pelicans only would have owed Gee about $980K if they’d signed him to a minimum salary benefit contract, which still would have paid the veteran forward about $1.315MM (the minimum salary benefit rule calls for the NBA to make up the difference). As I wrote back in July, the Pelicans’ curious decision to pay Gee $1.4MM instead of the minimum salary appeared to be a result of his decision to decline a $1.379MM player option in June — by giving him a raise, New Orleans allowed him to save face on that decision.
Of course, it’s possible there was another explanation for the Pelicans, but at the time it cost them nearly $420K to give Gee an extra $85K or so. Now that he hasn’t even made the 15-man roster, the signing looks a little more costly.
In any case, the Pelicans appear poised to head into the season with Stephenson in the mix. The 26-year-old will look to build upon a second-half stint in Memphis that saw him averaged 14.2 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 2.8 APG in 26 regular season games. The ex-Pacer figures to get a decent amount of playing time to start the season, with Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans sidelined.
Celtics To Pick Up Terry Rozier’s 2017/18 Option
The Celtics will exercise the third-year option on Terry Rozier‘s rookie contract, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com, who tweets that the team will make it official soon. The move will lock in Rozier’s $1.989MM salary for the 2017/18 season.
[RELATED: Full list of rookie scale team option decisions]
Rozier, the 16th overall pick in the 2015 draft, played sparingly for the Celtics in his rookie season, averaging 8.0 minutes per contest in 39 games. He saw more action during his 14 games with the D-League’s Maine Red Claws, racking up 19.4 PPG, 8.0 APG, and 6.4 RPG in 33.7 minutes per contest.
When the Celtics do officially announce that they’ve exercised Rozier’s option, they’ll likely announce at least a couple more option decisions. Boston also has fourth-year options for Marcus Smart and James Young to exercise or decline, along with R.J. Hunter‘s third-year option.
Smart’s option will certainly be picked up, but the options for Young and Hunter remain up in the air, since they’re on the roster bubble. The C’s will likely trade or waive one of those two players, then perhaps pick up their option on the other one.
Pacers Waive Jeremy Evans, Julyan Stone
The Pacers have waived Jeremy Evans and Julyan Stone, tweets Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports. The moves get Indiana down to the roster limit of 15 ahead of Monday’s deadline.
Evans, a 6’9″ combo forward, was traded from the Mavericks to the Pacers in July, and Indiana will still be on the hook for his $1,227,286 salary for this season. Evans saw little action for the Pacers in the preseason, appearing in just two games with no points or rebounds. He was battling shoulder problems and tried to come back early from the injury to earn a roster spot (Twitter link).
Stone, a 27-year-old combo guard, was trying to find his way back onto an NBA roster after two seasons out of the league. He signed with the Pacers in late August, getting a $50K guarantee to come to camp. Stone’s NBA experience consists of 47 games over three seasons for the Nuggets and Raptors. He appeared in five preseason games for the Pacers, but averaged just 0.2 points per contest. If he clears waivers, Stone is expected to sign with Indiana’s D-League affiliate in Fort Wayne, tweets Nate Taylor of The Indianapolis Star.