Kings Sign Isaiah Cousins
One of the final few unsigned picks from the 2016 draft has a new contract in place, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter). Charania reports that the Kings have signed 59th overall selection Isaiah Cousins to a partially guaranteed, one-year contract.
Cousins (no relation to DeMarcus) is a 6’6″ shooting guard out of Oklahoma who became the second-last player selected in this year’s draft. In his final year with the Sooners, Cousins averaged 12.6 PPG, 4.5 APG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.4 SPG in 37 contests. The senior also shot 41.1% on three-point attempts and made nearly two of them per game — his shooting percentage was better on three-pointers than on two-pointers for a second consecutive season.
With 14 guaranteed contracts on their books already, the Kings may not have room on their regular-season roster for Cousins. Unless the team waives another player, the 22-year-old rookie would have to beat out both Ty Lawson and Lamar Patterson – along with any other camp invitees – to grab a spot on the 15-man roster.
If Sacramento ultimately cuts Cousins before the regular season begins, the team would retain its D-League rights to him, and could assign him to the Reno Bighorns. However, if another NBA club wanted to sign Cousins to its 15-man roster, the Kings wouldn’t be able to stop that from happening.
With Cousins locked up, there are only two 2016 draftees – Daniel Hamilton of the Thunder and Tyrone Wallace of the Jazz – whose outlooks for 2016/17 remain uncertain. For a team to retain its NBA rights to a second-round pick, it must tender a one-year, minimum-salary contract offer by September 6, so it’s possible Hamilton and Wallace will have their situations resolved soon as well.
While Cousins’ contract will likely be a minimum-salary pact, the Kings still have their $2.898MM room exception available, so they could have offered more than the minimum.
Nuggets Sign Robbie Hummel
The Nuggets have signed Robbie Hummel to a two-year deal, according to GoldandBlack.com (Twitter link). It will be a partially guaranteed deal, likely for the minimum.
Hummel played in Italy last season for Emporio Armani Milano. He suffered a shoulder injury midseason and he was released by the team. The Wolves selected the former Purdue star with the No. 58 overall selection in the 2012 draft. He spent two season in Minnesota, averaging 3.9 points and 2.7 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game.
Entering the day, the Nuggets had 19 players under contract, as the team’s depth chart at Roster Resource indicates. Hummel will face stiff competition for a regular season roster spot.
Bucks To Sign Orlando Johnson
The Bucks have reached an agreement with Orlando Johnson, tweets Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops. The 6’5″ shooting guard will join Milwaukee in time for training camp.
Johnson, 27, has been with four teams in four seasons after being drafted in the second round by the Kings in 2012. He signed two 10-day contracts last season, one with the Suns in February and one with the Pelicans in March. He appeared in two games with Phoenix and five with New Orleans.
Milwaukee, which recently added free agent Jason Terry and re-signed Steve Novak, has 15 players with guaranteed contracts. However, Scotto says the Bucks are still looking for ways to improve their depth at the wing position.
Raptors Sign Masai Ujiri To Extension
The Raptors have locked up their team president and their primary basketball decision-maker for a few more years, the team announced today in a press release. Masai Ujiri, who had two years remaining on his previous contract, has signed a multiyear extension with Toronto, according to the announcement.
In addition to Ujiri’s extension, the Raptors also confirmed a couple other pieces of front-office news, announcing that Jeff Weltman has been promoted to general manager, while Bobby Webster will get a new title of assistant GM/VP basketball strategy.
“I am grateful to the Board and Mr. [Larry] Tanenbaum for the opportunity to continue our progress to build the Raptors into one of the top franchises in the NBA,” Ujiri said in a statement. “I’m also excited that Jeff and Bobby are being rewarded for their hard work and valuable contributions to our program. My family thanks the NBA, Raptors players and coaches, staff, Raptors fans, the city of Toronto and Canada for this opportunity. Toronto is home for us.”
Ujiri, who was named the Raptors’ president and general manager back on May 31, 2013, has helped lead the franchise to three consecutive playoff berths, and has overseen the best stretch in franchise history. After failing to top 47 wins in their first 18 years of existence, the Raptors have established a new high in wins in a season for three straight years — the team won 48 games in 2013/14, 49 in 2014/15, and 56 last season. Toronto also earned a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals this past season, after having never previously won a seven-game playoff series.
Under Ujiri’s watch, the Raptors have turned into a contender in the East while also continuing to develop young talent. Bruno Caboclo, Lucas Nogueira, Delon Wright, Jakob Poeltl, and Pascal Siakam are all currently on rookie contracts. Toronto has also retained draftees such as DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas, and Terrence Ross with long-term deals, while adding players like DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph in free agency.
An ESPN report last month first indicated that the Raptors and Ujiri were discussing an extension.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Suns Guarantee Contract Of Alan Williams
The Suns kept power forward/center Alan Williams on their roster Thursday, guaranteeing his salary for the upcoming season, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Williams will receive a salary of $874,636.
GM Ryan McDonough called it an “easy decision” to retain the 6’8” Williams, who is the 14th player with a guaranteed contract on Phoenix’s roster.
“He’s played well at two summer leagues,” McDonough told Coro. “He’s really improved from the end of last season. He’s transformed his body. He’s developing his touch outside the paint and added a push shot.”
Williams appeared in 10 games with the Suns last season, averaging 2.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in 6.8 minutes. He had 14 points and 12 rebounds in the Suns’ season finale. The former Cal-Santa Barbara star played in China before joining Phoenix in March.
Williams continued to impress the Suns brass by averaging 11.8 points and 11.2 rebounds in six Summer League games. Williams’ likely role will be the No. 3 center behind Tyson Chandler and Alex Len, though Len could also start at power forward. Lottery picks Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss, as well as veteran acquisition Jared Dudley, are the other big men on the roster.
You can find the upcoming deadlines for other players with non-guaranteed salaries here.
Lakers Sign Julian Jacobs, Travis Wear
The Lakers issued a press release today announcing that they’ve officially added two more players to their offseason roster. In addition to confirming their previously-reported deal with Travis Wear, the Lakers also revealed that they’ve inked undrafted free agent guard Julian Jacobs to a contract.
Jacobs, a point guard who played his college ball at USC, left the Trojans after his junior year to declare for his NBA draft. In his final year at USC, he averaged 11.6 PPG and 5.4 APG in 31 contests, shooting 47.1% from the field.
Wear, a small forward, was out of the NBA last season after playing 61 games for the Knicks in 2014/15. The 25-year-old has a total of 51 NBA contests under his belt, all with New York, and has career averages of 3.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 13.2 minutes per night. His career NBA shooting line is .402/.367/.769.
Neither Jacobs nor Wear seems like a great bet to earn a regular-season roster spot for the Lakers, who now have 18 players under contract. The team has 14 fully guaranteed contracts on its books, plus Yi Jianlian‘s partially-guaranteed deal. If Nick Young is traded or released, a 15-man spot would open up, but Zach Auguste, who got a $60K guarantee from L.A., per Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), would be vying for that opening as well.
Sebastian Telfair’s Deal In Italy Falls Through
SEPTEMBER 1: Telfair’s deal with Auxilium Cus Torino has fallen through, with the team opting to sign former Georgetown point guard Chris Wright instead, per Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. As David Pick tweets, the team was willing to give Telfair an NBA opt-out until late January, but he also asked for a China opt-out, at which point the club balked.
AUGUST 29: Former NBA lottery pick Sebastian Telfair is headed overseas again, having agreed to sign a deal with the Italian team Auxilium Cus Torino, Orazio Cauchi of Sportando reports (on Twitter). The pact will pay Telfair in excess of $300K and includes an NBA out clause that he can exercise in late January, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link).
Telfair had also garnered interest from Pallacanestro Cantù and Cedevita Zagreb over the past few weeks, but Torino made the strongest push for him, Cauchi notes. He had worked out for both the Nets and the Spurs this offseason, though no NBA offer was made for his services, Pick also notes (Twitter link).
The point guard last appeared in the NBA during the 2014/15 campaign, playing in 16 games for the Thunder and averaging 8.4 PPG, 2.8 APG, and 1.9 RPG in 20.4 minutes per contest. The 30-year-old then caught on with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of China, appearing in 22 contests and notching averages of 19.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 28.2 minutes per game. He sat out last season.
Sixers Sign Cat Barber
AUGUST 31: The Sixers, having opened up a couple roster spots earlier this afternoon, officially signed Barber more than a month after agreeing to a deal with him, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 21: The Sixers have agreed to terms with another undrafted rookie free agent, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical, who reports (via Twitter) that the team is signing former North Carolina State guard Cat Barber to a partially-guaranteed deal.
Barber left N.C. State after his junior year, and was viewed as the 55th-best prospect in this year’s draft class by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com. Per Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer, Barber’s agent told him he had a chance to be a first-round pick in June. However, the 21-year-old point guard went undrafted. Nearly a month later, he has secured an opportunity to attend a club’s training camp to compete for a roster spot.
In his final year at N.C. State, Barber averaged 23.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 4.5 APG, with a shooting line of .453/.361/.865. After not being selected last month, he caught on with the Pelicans for Summer League play, but only played 11.8 minutes per contest in four games for New Orleans.
Terms of Barber’s contract with the Sixers aren’t known, but Philadelphia has plenty of cap space, meaning the team could sign him to a three- or four-year pact rather than locking him up for just for two years.
Celtics Waive John Holland
The Celtics have made a roster move today, announcing (via Twitter) that they’ve waived guard John Holland. Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link) first reported the move before the team made it official.
Holland, 27, signed a two-year deal with the Celtics right at the end of last season, appearing briefly in one playoff game for the team in April. He spent most of the 2015/16 campaign playing for the Canton Charge in the D-League, averaging 16.0 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 1.2 SPG for the club, while shooting 52.0% from the field.
Holland was one of three players on the Celtics’ roster whose salary for 2016/17 was non-guaranteed, making him a long shot to earn a roster spot. It’s possible that Boston agreed to let him out of his contract early so he could explore overseas opportunities that would be more lucrative than another stint in the D-League. According to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando (via Twitter), Holland is already receiving interest in Europe.
After waiving Holland, the Celtics now have 18 players on their offseason roster, including 16 on fully guaranteed contracts.
Sixers Waive Carl Landry, Tibor Pleiss
The Sixers have created a couple open spots on their roster, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical, who reports (via Twitter) that the team has waived veteran big men Carl Landry and Tibor Pleiss. Both players will become free agents if and when they clear waivers.
A nine-year NBA veteran, Landry appeared in 36 games for the Sixers last season, averaging 9.8 PPG and 4.1 RPG while shooting 55.6% from the floor. He should draw interest from NBA teams in need of veteran frontcourt help. As for Pleiss, Philadelphia acquired the German big man last week in a salary-dump trade, and we heard yesterday that the team intended to part ways with him.
Landry had a salary of $6.5MM owed to him for the 2016/17 season, while Pleiss was set to make $3MM. Both figures were fully guaranteed, however, so the Sixers will still be on the hook for nearly $10MM in salary for the two players.
By waiving Landry and Pleiss in advance of today’s stretch provision deadline, Philadelphia will also have the option of stretching the two cap hits over the next three years. However, the Sixers currently sit well below the 2016/17 salary floor, so it would be a little surprising if the team added money to its cap in future seasons in order to reduce this year’s cap hits.
After waiving Landry and Pleiss, the Sixers will still have plenty of frontcourt depth on their roster, with young players like Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor, Ben Simmons, Dario Saric, and Joel Embiid leading the way at the forward and center positions. The club will also reduce its roster count to 18 players, meaning there will be two open spots on the 20-man offseason roster. Only 11 of those 18 contracts currently on the books are fully guaranteed.