Thunder Sign Semaj Christon
The Thunder have signed Semaj Christon, the team announced via press release. The length and terms of the deal were not relayed. OKC is currently under the salary cap, so the team isn’t restricted to paying Christon the league-minimum.
The 23-year-old was originally selected with the No. 55 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. Christon spent the 2014/15 campaign with the Thunder’s D-League affiliate, appearing in 44 games and averaging 18.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.6 steals in 35.3 minutes. With Oklahoma City already having 15 players with fully guaranteed deals, there’s a better than average chance Christon begins this season with the Blue as an affiliate player.
Christon spent last season playing in Italy with VL Pesaro where he appeared in 30 games and averaged 14.3 points, 3.7 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 33.2 minutes. In his two seasons at Xavier, Christon averaged 16.2 points, 4.4 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 64 contests.
Celtics To Sign Marcus Georges-Hunt
The Celtics have agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent Marcus Georges-Hunt, Keith Smith of RealGM reports (via Twitter). The scribe terms it a training camp arrangement, so it’s likely for the league-minimum and includes little or no guaranteed salary.
The addition of the undrafted forward out of Georgia Tech will give Boston 19 players on its roster, which is one below the preseason maximum, but four over the regular season limit. So the 22-year-old will certainly have his work cut out for him if he hopes to remain on the roster through tip-off on opening night, especially considering 16 of those players I mentioned possess fully guaranteed deals. In all likelihood, if Georges-Hunt manages to impress the coaching staff, he’ll be ticked for Maine and the team’s D-League affiliate.
Georges-Hunt appeared in 36 games as a senior for the Yellowjackets, logging averages of 16.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 32.4 minutes per outing. His slash line on the campaign was .454/.342/.823. He played for Brooklyn’s squad in the Las Vegas Summer League this year, averaging 2.8 points and 1.0 rebound in 13.2 minutes per contest over four appearances.
Bucks To Re-Sign Steve Novak
The Bucks are planning to re-sign unrestricted free agent Steve Novak, according to Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The details of the proposed arrangement are unknown, but with Milwaukee over the cap, it is more than likely for the veteran’s minimum. The team does still have the Room Exception available, but it would be surprising if it was used in this instance. The addition of Novak would give the team 15 players under contract, which is the regular season maximum.
Milwaukee is seeking to add veteran leadership to its bench, which also prompted the reported signing of Jason Terry, notes Gardner. The Bucks currently have the youngest roster in the league and the additions of the 38-year-old Terry and 33-year-old Novak would bring some balance and leadership to the locker room, Gardner adds. Novak has worked with the Bucks medical and training staff this summer to rehab the sprained left MCL that prematurely ended his season and his deal would be finalized after receiving medical clearance, a team source told Gardner.
Novak has garnered some interest around the league, per his agent Mark Bartelstein, but the veteran has been holding off on making a decision because his clear preference is to remain in Milwaukee. “There have been a few teams that we’ve talked to; you always got to keep your doors open,’’ Bartelstein had said earlier this week. “But we’re still talking with the Bucks and, hopefully, we’ll make a deal with them. Steve would love to stay in Milwaukee. It’s a very special place for him.’’
The forward was the No. 32 overall pick in 2006. He has appeared in 459 career regular season games, averaging 4.7 points and 1.3 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per outing. He owns a career shooting line of .438/.431/.877.
Heat Re-Sign Beno Udrih
11:38am: The signing is official, the Heat announced.
10:10am: The Heat have agreed to a deal to re-sign unrestricted free agent point guard Beno Udrih, Shams Charania of The Vertical reports (via Twitter). It’s a one-year, fully guaranteed pact, notes Charania. The scribe didn’t relay the dollar value of the arrangement, but with the Heat well over the cap with $102,872,092 in salary already committed for next season and having used the room exception to ink Dion Waiters, it would have to be for the league minimum.
Miami reportedly had a “standing invitation” for Udrih to join them in training camp if he was unable to land a better deal elsewhere. Udrih played 36 games with Miami last season before agreeing to a buyout in February to help the team avoid the luxury tax, which certainly gained him some fans within the organization. Udrih’s addition now gives the Heat 15 fully guaranteed pacts.
In those 36 games for the Heat last season, Udrih averaged 4.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 16.3 minutes per outing. He shot .434/.333/.882 from the field.
Blazers Sign Grant Jerrett
AUGUST 17th: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
AUGUST 16th: The Trail Blazers have agreed to a deal with unrestricted free agent Grant Jerrett, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (via Twitter). The scribe classifies it as a training camp pact, so it’s almost assuredly for the league minimum and likely includes little or no guaranteed salary.
Portland currently has 16 players on its roster, including 14 with fully guaranteed deals. So, unless Jerrett truly impresses the coaching staff during the preseason, he’s likely ticketed for the D-League to begin the year.
Jerrett last appeared in an NBA regular season contest during the 2014/15 campaign, when he played in a combined eight games for the Jazz and the Thunder. The power forward averaged 2.0 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.4 minutes while shooting .269/.067/1.000.
Nets Expected To Sign Trevor Cooney
The Nets intend to sign undrafted free agent guard Trevor Cooney, international journalist David Pick reports (via Twitter). Brooklyn is inking Cooney with an eye on him joining the team’s D-League squad as an affiliate player, Pick adds. No further details on the potential arrangement were relayed by Pick, but it is almost assuredly a minimum salary deal with little or no guarantee. Cooney will attend training camp with the Nets, then, once waived, would join the Long Island Nets as a designated affiliate player, Chris Reichert of Upside and Motor speculates (On Twitter).
For those unfamiliar, an affiliate player is someone who was under contract with an NBA team, was released and cleared waivers, and whose NBA team unilaterally claimed his D-League rights. NBA teams can retain the D-League rights to as many as four players they release, thus keeping them out of the D-League draft or the waiver system that the D-League uses during the season to determine which of its teams get newly signed players. You can read a more in-depth explanation of affiliate players in the Hoops Rumors Glossary.
As for Cooney, he went undrafted this year after completing his collegiate career at Syracuse. In 37 games this past season as a fifth-year senior, Cooney averaged 13.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 36.4 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .348/.354/.806.
Thunder Sign Ronnie Price
AUGUST 14: The deal is official, the team announced today.
AUGUST 11: The Thunder have finalized a guaranteed two-year, $5MM deal with Price, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter). Although Oklahoma City could use its room exception to accommodate the move, the team still has cap room available as well.
JULY 31: Veteran point guard Ronnie Price is set to join the Thunder, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Price is expected to receive a two-year deal, but the exact terms are not certain.
The 33-year-old free agent had the highest scoring average of his career last season in Phoenix at 5.3 points per game to go with 2.4 assists. However, a report came out July 13th that the Suns weren’t going to re-sign Price and he had a deal in place with an unidentified team.
Oklahoma City still has more than $20MM in cap room remaining, so fitting Price in will be no problem. The Thunder are hoping to convince Russell Westbrook to take about $9MM of that cap space in a renegotiated and extended deal.
OKC will be the seventh NBA stop for Price, who has changed teams every season since 2011.
Thunder Sign Domantas Sabonis
The Thunder have signed forward Domantas Sabonis to a rookie scale contract, the team announced via press release. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is likely for standard 120% of the rookie scale, meaning Sabonis should be in line to earn $2,440,200 this season, $2,550,000 in 2017/18, $2,659,800 in 2018/19 and $3,529,555 in the final year, provided the team exercises its option on the player for the final two seasons.
Sabonis was the No. 11 overall selection this past June. The 6’11” forward was acquired on draft night by Oklahoma City along with Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova in exchange for Serge Ibaka.
The 20-year-old earned All-WCC First Team honors as a sophomore after averaging 17.6 points on .611 shooting from the field, 11.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 31.8 minutes in 36 games with the Bulldogs. Sabonis was named to the All-WCC Second Team, All-WCC Freshman Team, NIT All-Tournament Team and NCAA South Regional All-Tournament Team as a freshman, per the release. He also appeared in 35 games in 2013/14 for Unicaja Malaga in the Spanish ACB league.
Pacers To Sign Alex Poythress
The Pacers have agreed to a deal with undrafted free agent Alex Poythress, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports. The exact length and terms of the arrangement are unknown, but the scribe does note that the pact includes a partial guarantee. The 22-year-old will likely be ticketed to spend the 2016/17 campaign in the NBA D-League with Indiana’s affiliate in Fort Wayne, Wojnarowski notes.
Poythress had missed the bulk of the 2014/15 campaign due to a torn left ACL. Returning to Kentucky as a senior, Poythress made 31 appearances and averaged 10.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 0.6 steals in 23.6 minutes per contest. His shooting line for the Wildcats was .601/.304/.706.
The forward appeared in five contests for the Magic’s summer league squad in Orlando, averaging 5.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.8 steals in 10.6 minutes per outing.
Pelicans To Sign Shawn Dawson
FRIDAY, 2:12pm: The signing is official, the team announced today.
THURSDAY, 8:47am: Israeli wing Shawn Dawson will be heading stateside this fall, according to Maccabi Rishon, his team overseas. The Israeli club announced (via Twitter) that Dawson has accepted a camp invite from the Pelicans. Roey Gladstone of Channel 5 TV confirms (via Twitter) that Dawson is joining New Orleans on a non-guaranteed contract.
Dawson, 22, averaged 15.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.8 APG, and 1.1 BPG in 39 Israeli League contests last season, shooting 58.7% from the floor and helping lead Maccabi Rishon to a title. Dawson is the second player from the club to reach an agreement with an NBA team this month — we heard yesterday that former Dayton forward Chris Wright, who played in Israel last season, has a deal with the Thunder.
According to one recent report, Dawson turned down a camp invite from the Wizards after playing for Washington in Summer League action last month. If the Pelicans’ offer doesn’t include any guaranteed money, then that decision seems a little curious. It’s possible that Dawson felt he’d have a better chance at earning a regular-season roster spot in New Orleans than he would have in Washington, but the Pelicans are currently carrying 15 players on fully guaranteed contracts, while the Wizards have just 12.