Kings Waive Lamar Patterson
The Kings have waived Lamar Patterson, according to a team press release. Sacramento entered the day with 18 players under contract, as the team’s depth chart at Roster Resource indicates, so the franchise has at least two more cuts to make before it can set its opening night roster,
The swingman out of the University of Pittsburg played in four preseason games with the Kings, averaging 5.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. He shot 45.5% from the field, including 33.3% from behind the arc.
The Bucks drafted Patterson with the 48th overall selection in the 2014 draft and dealt his rights to the Hawks on draft night. He played overseas during the 2014/15 season before signing with Atlanta during the 2015 offseason. He spent much of the 2015/16 season playing in the D-League and the Hawks waived him in July.
Bucks Pick Up Jabari Parker’s 2017/18 Option
The Bucks have exercised the fourth-year option on Jabari Parker‘s contract, per the team’s website. Parker will make slightly more than $6.78MM next season.
The decision to pick up Parker’s option was always expected. He projects to play a huge role for the team this season and he will be eligible for an extension with Milwaukee next summer.
The 2014 No. 2 overall pick has averaged 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds in 31.1 minutes per game over the first two years of his career. He’s appeared in 101 games over those seasons, starting 97 of those contests. During five preseason games this season, he is averaging a team-high 16.8 points.
Knicks Pick Up Kristaps Porzingis’ 2017/18 Option
The Knicks have taken care of some 2017/18 business, officially exercising their team option on the third year of Kristaps Porzingis‘ rookie contract, as Ian Begley of ESPN.com tweets. The move guarantees Porzingis a salary of $4,503,600 for the ’17/18 season.
Most third-year options around the NBA are picked up even for players who didn’t excel in their rookie seasons, since teams don’t want to give up on first-round draft picks too soon. In Porzingis’ case though, the decision was even easier than usual.
While Karl-Anthony Towns took home the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award in 2015/16, Porzingis finished second in voting, and generated plenty of buzz and excitement in New York after being selected with the fourth overall pick. The Latvian big man averaged 14.3 PPG, 7.3 RPG, and 1.9 BPG in 72 contests (all starts) during his rookie season.
Porzingis joins Justise Winslow (Heat), Myles Turner (Pacers), and Justin Anderson (Mavericks) as 2015 first-rounders who have had their third-year options for 2017/18 exercised so far this week. Teams must make their final decisions on third- and fourth-year options by October 31. You can check out our tracker for those decisions right here.
Hawks Waive Ryan Kelly
The Hawks continue to slowly pare down their roster in advance of the regular season, waiving Ryan Kelly late on Tuesday night, according to Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Kelly is the second Atlanta player to be cut this week, along with Matt Costello, and his release reduces the team’s roster count to 18 players.
[RELATED: Hawks waive Matt Costello]
Kelly, 25, spent his first three seasons in the NBA as a member of the Lakers after being selected 48th overall in the 2013 draft. After averaging 22.9 minutes per contest during his first two seasons in Los Angeles, Kelly saw his playing time reduced last season, playing just 13.1 MPG in 36 contests. He averaged 4.2 PPG and 3.4 RPG in those games, shooting just 36.9% from the floor, 13.5% from beyond the arc, and 68.5% from the line.
With Kelly now on waivers, the Hawks have three more cuts to make to get down to the regular-season roster limit of 15 players. Josh Magette and Will Bynum, who are on non-guaranteed summer contracts, are most at risk. Mike Muscala also has a partially guaranteed deal, while Atlanta’s other 15 players have fully guaranteed 2016/17 salaries.
You can check out the full salary cap breakdown for the 2016/17 Hawks right here.
Heat Sign Luis Montero, Waive Keith Benson
The Heat continue to cycle through camp invitees, announcing today in a press release that they’ve waived center Keith Benson, replacing him on their roster with guard Luis Montero. The Blazers just waived Montero on Saturday, so Miami didn’t waste much time in snatching him up once he cleared waivers.
A 6’7″ swingman from the Dominican Republic, Montero signed with the Blazers last summer. He appeared in 12 games as a rookie last season, averaging 1.2 points and 0.3 rebounds per night in limited playing time. Montero played just one game this preseason for Portland before he was cut, scoring three points against Utah on October 3.
Benson’s deal with the Heat was only partially guaranteed, with the big man getting $75K from the Heat. The details on Montero’s contract aren’t yet known, but he’ll likely receive little to no guaranteed money as well. Both players are candidates to end up with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s D-League affiliate.
Miami continues to carry 20 players on its roster after waiving one and adding another. The team will have to make five cuts before opening night.
Knicks Re-Sign Cleanthony Early
OCTOBER 18: The Knicks have officially re-signed Early, the team announced today (Twitter link).
OCTOBER 13: The Knicks will re-sign forward Cleanthony Early, sources told Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Early will likely start his season in the D-League as he continues his rehab from a hamstring injury, Charania adds.
The 6’8″ Early, 25, has played both of his NBA seasons with New York. He appeared in 17 games last season, including two starts, and averaged 1.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 9.1 minutes. During the 2014/15 campaign, he appeared in 39 games, including seven starts, and averaged 5.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in 16.6 minutes.
The Knicks have mulled bringing back Early for quite some time and ultimately decided to give the former second-round pick another chance. They renounced their rights to him in early July in order to sign high-profile free agents, including Joakim Noah.
Early’s 2015/16 season was marred by an incident in late December which he was shot in the right knee and robbed. He did not return to action until the beginning of April.
Early’s hamstring injury occurred prior to the summer league, preventing him from participating with the Knicks’ entry in Orlando in July, and is apparently still affecting him. He’ll eventually give new coach Jeff Hornacek another option at the small forward spot.
Nets Waive Chase Budinger, Three Others
The Nets have reduced their roster from 20 players to 16 today, announcing in a press release that they’ve requested waivers on four players. Chase Budinger, Jorge Gutierrez, Beau Beech, and Egidijus Mockevicius are the roster casualties in Brooklyn.
Budinger and Gutierrez are the most notable names in the Nets’ list of Tuesday cuts. Budinger has logged more than 400 NBA regular season games over the course of his seven-year career, while Gutierrez has appeared in regular-season contests with three different teams in the last three seasons. Both players were on non-guaranteed contracts, however, and it seems neither will earn a spot on Brooklyn’s 15-man roster.
Beech and Mockevicius were also camp invitees, though they each received modest guarantees on their minimum salary deals — Mockevicius got $100K from the Nets, while Beech received $45K. Still, both players were viewed as long shots to make the club’s regular season roster as undrafted free agents, and seem like good bets to join the D-League’s Long Island Nets.
With 16 players still in the mix, the Nets have to make one more cut before opening night. The most likely candidate to be waived is Yogi Ferrell, the only other player on the roster who doesn’t have a fully guaranteed salary for 2016/17.
Mavs Pick Up Justin Anderson’s 2017/18 Option
The Mavericks have locked in Justin Anderson‘s salary for the 2017/18 season, exercising their team option on the third year of his rookie contract, per RealGM’s transactions log. The move guarantees Anderson’s $1,579,440 salary for the ’17/18 campaign.
[RELATED: Offseason In Review: Dallas Mavericks]
The deadline for teams to make 2017/18 option decisions on rookie contracts is October 31, but the Mavs didn’t exactly need to take their call on Anderson down to the wire. Although the Virginia product didn’t make a huge impact in his rookie season in Dallas, averaging 3.8 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 55 regular-season contests (11.8 MPG), he appears poised to take on a bigger role as he continues to develop his game.
Anderson’s salary also represents a very small fraction of what the Mavericks will spend on player salaries for the next few seasons. Assuming the cap for 2017/18 rises to at least $102MM, as expected, Anderson’s salary would only represent about 1.5% of that figure.
The 6’6″ forward, who will turn 23 next month, would get another salary bump to about $2.52MM in 2018/19, assuming the Mavs exercise that option next fall. That would put Anderson on track for a contract extension in 2018 or potential restricted free agency in 2019.
Pacers Exercise 2017/18 Option On Myles Turner
The Pacers have formally exercised their 2017/18 team option on Myles Turner‘s contract, according to RealGM.com’s transactions log. The move comes as no surprise, but it ensures that Turner’s salary for the ’17/18 season is now fully guaranteed.
[RELATED: 2016 rookie scale team option decisions]
Turner, the 11th overall pick in last year’s draft, appeared in 60 games during his rookie season in Indiana, starting 30 games at center during the regular season and four more in the playoffs. After averaging 10.3 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 1.4 BPG during the season, Turner posted similar scoring and rebounding numbers in the Pacers’ first-round series against Toronto, while also contributing an impressive 3.3 BPG in those seven contests.
Turner’s rookie-scale contract calls for a salary worth about $2.46MM in 2016/17, while the option picked up by the Pacers for the following season comes in at about $2.57MM. The Pacers will have another option decision to make on Turner next year — assuming the club picks up his 2018/19 option ($3.41MM), he would eventually be eligible for a contract extension in 2018 or restricted free agency in the summer of 2019.
Thunder Sign Reggie Williams, Waive Alex Caruso
The Thunder shuffled guards on their roster today, announcing via press release that Reggie Williams has been signed and Alex Caruso was waived. The details of Williams’ deal were not relayed, though it is almost assuredly a minimum salary arrangement that may include a small partial guarantee. Caruso’s minimum salary pact included a partial guarantee of $50K, which will remain on OKC’s salary cap unless he is claimed off waivers by another club.
Williams spent the 2015/16 campaign overseas with the Russian club Avtodor Saratov. He appeared in 16 contests and averaged 13.6 points on 58.8% shooting overall. The guard has appeared in 200 career NBA games (32 starts) with the Thunder, Spurs, Hornets and Warriors. He owns career averages of 7.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 18.3 minutes
Caruso, who went undrafted in June, played his college ball at Texas A&M, averaging 8.1 PPG, 5.0 APG, 3.6 RPG, and 2.1 SPG in his senior year, while shooting 36.8% from three-point range. The 22-year-old was also named to the SEC’s All-Defensive Team. He did not log a single minute of action during preseason play for the Thunder.