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Raptors Waive Bruno Fernando

January 7th, 2025 at 10:11am CST by Luke Adams

10:11 am: The Raptors have officially waived Fernando, tweets Murphy.

7:25 am: The Raptors are waiving big man Bruno Fernando, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet (Twitter link). Fernando is on a non-guaranteed contract, so cutting him on Tuesday will ensure Toronto isn’t on the hook for his full-season salary.

Fernando, who signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Raptors in August after previously suiting up for the Hawks, Celtics, and Rockets, was sparingly used during the first half of this season even though centers Kelly Olynyk and Jakob Poeltl both missed some time due to injuries.

Fernando appeared in 17 games for Toronto, making two starts. He averaged 3.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 8.6 minutes per contest.

The language in Fernando’s non-guaranteed contract initially called for his full $2,425,403 salary to be locked in if he made the Raptors’ opening night roster. However, the two sides agreed to amend the deal, pushing back the salary guarantee date to the league-wide deadline of January 7.

If Fernando hadn’t agreed to adjust the terms of his deal, he likely would’ve been released before earning any of his $2.43MM salary. Instead, he’ll end up making $1,115,128, a prorated portion of his minimum deal.

That’s also the cap charge the Raptors will carry on their books for the 26-year-old, assuming he’s not claimed on waivers. A waiver claim would ensure Fernando’s full salary becomes guaranteed and would take Toronto off the hook for his cap hit, but it’s an unlikely outcome.

According to Grange, the expectation is that the Raptors will maintain some flexibility with their 15th roster spot for now, perhaps auditioning players on 10-day contracts. That opening could come in handy at the trade deadline to accommodate certain deals. As Blake Murphy of Sportsnet observes (via Twitter), it could also potentially be used later in the season to promote two-way player Jamison Battle to the standard roster.

As for Fernando’s next step, the veteran center is considered a potential target for the Turkish club Fenerbahce, which has been in the market for frontcourt help, notes Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. Exploring a deal with the EuroLeague powerhouse could be an appealing option for Fernando if he doesn’t get an offer from an NBA team right away.

Thunder Cut Branden Carlson

January 7th, 2025 at 10:06am CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder have placed center Branden Carlson on waivers, the team announced today. The move ensures that Oklahoma City won’t be on the hook for Carlson’s full-season salary, since his deal was non-guaranteed.

Carlson, who opened the season with the Raptors 905 in the G League, signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Thunder in mid-November.

Carlson only saw garbage-time action with Oklahoma City at the NBA level, logging 25 total minutes across seven outings. He also appeared in five Tip-Off Tournament and regular season games for the OKC Blue, averaging 15.2 points and 8.6 rebounds in 25.6 minutes per contest.

A team that wants to avoid locking in a player’s non-guaranteed salary for the rest of the season must waive him by January 7, which is why the Thunder are making this move today. Although Carlson won’t earn his full $990,895 salary, he’ll be credited for 55 days of service, resulting in a salary (and dead-money cap hit) of $365,767.

The Thunder will open up a roster spot as a result of the transaction. I’d expect them to keep it open or use it for 10-day signings until they get a sense of whether it will be useful for trade purposes.

As Blake Murphy of Sportsnet tweets, the Raptors 905 still control Carlson’s G League rights, so if he ends up returning to the NBAGL, Toronto’s affiliate would have the option of bringing him back to the team.

Pistons Sign Ron Harper Jr., Tolu Smith To Two-Way Deals

January 6th, 2025 at 4:03pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JANUARY 6, 4:03pm: The Pistons have officially signed Smith and Harper and placed Williams and Swider on waivers, the team confirmed in a press release (Twitter link).

JANUARY 5, 8:30pm: The Pistons are also signing Tolu Smith to a two-way deal, according to Jake Fischer (Twitter link).

Smith, a 6’11” rookie forward, was waived by Detroit in training camp and has been playing for the G League’s Motor City Cruise. He’s averaging 20.2 points and 14.8 rebounds in four regular season NBAGL games and also made five appearances with the Cruise in the G League Showcase Cup.

Smith spent his freshman season at Western Kentucky before transferring and playing the final four years of his collegiate career at Mississippi State. He went undrafted in 2024 and made three preseason appearances with Detroit.

To make room for Harper and Smith, the Pistons are waiving Alondes Williams and Cole Swider, according to Fischer.

Detroit signed Williams to a two-way deal just before the start of the season after he was cut loose by the Clippers. Similarly, the Pistons signed Swider after he was waived during the latter stages of training camp by the Pacers.

JANUARY 5, 7:17pm: The Pistons have agreed to a two-way deal with Ron Harper Jr., ESPN’s Tim Bontemps tweets.

Harper was waived in training camp by the Celtics and has been playing for the Maine Celtics in the G League. He has averaged 22.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in four regular season G League games and also played 11 games in the NBAGL’s Tip-Off Tournament.

Harper went undrafted out of Rutgers in 2022 and signed to a two-way deal shortly after the draft by the Raptors. He only appeared in six games in the G League last season. He suffered a season-ending shoulder injury after playing in just one NBA game in ’23/24 and was waived by the Raptors in December of last year.

Detroit has all of its two-way spots filled, so it will have to make a corresponding move to bring in Harper.

With Jaden Ivey sidelined indefinitely with a fractured fibula, Harper will give Detroit more depth at the guard spots.

Timberwolves Claim Tristen Newton, Waive Daishen Nix

January 3rd, 2025 at 4:20pm CST by Luke Adams

JANUARY 3: The Timberwolves have officially confirmed the moves in a press release.

JANUARY 2: The Timberwolves have claimed shooting guard Tristen Newton off waivers, cutting guard Daishen Nix to create room on their roster for the newcomer, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype first reported (via Twitter) that Minnesota was claiming Newton, who was waived on Wednesday by the Pacers. At the time of Newton’s release, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files indicated that the rookie guard had asked Indiana to let him go.

The 49th overall pick in the 2024 draft out of UConn, Newton logged just eight total minutes across five appearances for the Pacers this season after signing a two-way contract with the club in July.

He has spent most of his rookie year to date with the Indiana Mad Ants, the Pacers’ G League affiliate, averaging 16.4 points, 6.7 assists, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 35.8 minutes per game across 14 total Tip-Off Tournament and regular season outings. His shooting line for the Mad Ants was .401/.396/.692.

Newton will remain on his two-way contract with the Timberwolves, who now control his NBA rights and could convert him to the 15-man roster or negotiate a longer-term standard deal with him later in the season, if they so choose. If he plays out the rest of the 2024/25 campaign on his two-way pact, he’ll be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer.

As for Nix, he’s in his final year of two-way eligibility after having spent four seasons with the Rockets and Timberwolves from 2021-25. He has appeared in just three games for Minnesota so far this season after making 96 total NBA appearances across his first three seasons.

Like Newton, Nix has seen more action in the G League, averaging 22.1 PPG, 7.3 APG, 5.0 RPG, and 2.9 SPG in 10 games in the Tip-Off Tournament. He recently missed time due to an ankle sprain.

Pacers Waive Tristen Newton, Sign RayJ Dennis To Two-Way Deal

January 3rd, 2025 at 11:32am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JANUARY 3: Dennis’ two-way deal with the Pacers is now official, according to a press release. He will be eligible to play in up to 29 games with the NBA team between now and the end of the regular season.

JANUARY 1: The Pacers have waived two-way player Tristen Newton, the team announced in a press release. Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files reports that the move was believed to be Newton’s preference.

Indiana selected the 6’5″ guard out of the University of Connecticut with the No. 49 overall pick in this summer’s draft, and ultimately signed him to a two-way deal. He appeared in just five games for the Pacers at the NBA level, averaging just 1.6 minutes per night.

Across 10 games for the Pacers’ NBAGL affiliate, the Indiana Mad Ants, Newton averaged 17.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.3 steals per contest, with a shooting line of .424/.414/.688.

Newton was a core player on a pair of consecutive NCAA champions with the Huskies. Last year, he was honored as the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player and a consensus All-American First Teamer.

Sources inform Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter) that the Pacers are signing free agent guard RayJ Dennis to a new two-way deal to replace Newton. Dennis has been plying his trade as an affiliate player for the Clippers’ G League affiliate, the San Diego Clippers.

In 16 bouts with San Diego, Dennis has averaged 16.4 points, 6.1 dimes, 3.4 boards and 1.3 swipes per game on .461/.346/.810 shooting. The 6’2″ guard went undrafted out of Baylor following an All-Big 12 Second Team stint with the Bears.

Jazz Sign Elijah Harkless To Two-Way Contract

January 1st, 2025 at 3:47pm CST by Luke Adams

JANUARY 1: The Jazz have officially signed Harkless and waived Jones, according to a team press release.

DECEMBER 31: The Jazz have agreed to sign guard Elijah Harkless to a two-way contract, according to reports from Ian Begley of SNY.tv and Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter links).

Harkless, who went undrafted out of UNLV in 2023, has spent most of his professional career so far playing for the Clippers’ G League affiliate. He also had a stint in the Canadian Elite Basketball League with the Saskatchewan Rattlers this past spring.

In 18 Tip-Off Tournament and regular season games for the San Diego Clippers in 2024/25, Harkless has averaged 16.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.3 steals in 27.1 minutes per contest. The 6’3″ guard has posted a shooting line of .438/.362/.810.

The Jazz don’t currently have an open two-way slot on their roster, so they’ll have to waive one of their current two-way players – Micah Potter, Oscar Tshiebwe, or David Jones – in order to make room for Harkless.

A two-way player is typically limited to no more than 50 NBA appearances in a season, but that figure will be prorated for Harkless, since he’s signing well into the season. Assuming his deal is finalized on Tuesday on Wednesday, his rest-of-season limit will be 30 NBA games.

Nets Sign Tosan Evbuomwan To Two-Way Deal

January 1st, 2025 at 11:00am CST by Rory Maher

11:00am: The signing is official, per a press release from the Nets. As expected, Jaylen Martin has been waived to open the two-way slot for Evbuomwan.

9:42am: The Nets are signing free agent forward Tosan Evbuomwan to a two-way contract, agent George S. Langberg tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

A native of the United Kingdom, Evbuomwan went undrafted in 2023 after starring in college at Princeton. He initially signed an Exhibit 10 deal with Detroit and was waived before the 2023/24 season began.

After spending the early portion of his rookie campaign in the NBA G League with the Motor City Cruise, Evbuomwan signed a 10-day hardship deal with Memphis at the end of January 2024. Shortly after that contract expired, he caught on with Detroit, signing a 10-day deal and then re-signing with the Pistons on two-way deal that covered two seasons.

Evbuomwan averaged 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds in 21.6 minutes per game in 17 total NBA appearances (eight starts) with Memphis and Detroit, posting a shooting line of .507/.375/.680. In 34 G League outings with the Cruise in ’23/24, he put up averages of 15.1 PPG, 8.6 RPG, and 3.8 APG on .554/.361/.754 shooting in 34.2 MPG.

The 23-year-old was released by Detroit in October, then signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Clippers, was waived, and had his NBAGL rights acquired by the San Diego Clippers. In 18 total games with San Diego this season, the 6’8″ combo forward has averaged 19.0 PPG, 6.8 RPG and 1.8 APG on .519/.338/.726 shooting in 32.5 MPG.

A report on Tuesday indicated that Clippers forward Jordan Miller is a strong candidate to be promoted from his two-way deal to a standard contract, but the team needs to open up a roster standard spot for that to happen. Evbuomwan was mentioned as a candidate to replace Miller’s two-way spot if he were promoted, but instead he’ll be heading to the Nets.

As our tracker shows, Brooklyn’s three two-way spots are currently occupied by Jaylen Martin, Tyrese Martin and Reece Beekman. One of those players will have to be released to make room for Evbuomwan.

It would be surprising if Tyrese Martin is the one who gets cut, considering he’s been playing regular minutes for the Nets of late. Brooklyn also just acquired Beekman a couple weeks ago in a trade with Golden State. Perhaps that will leave Jaylen Martin as the odd man out.

Nets Waive Jaylen Martin

January 1st, 2025 at 10:56am CST by Rory Maher

In order to sign Tosan Evbuomwan to a two-way contract, the Nets have decided to release guard/forward Jaylen Martin, sources tell Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link). Michael Scotto of HoopsHype confirms the news (via Twitter).

Martin, who turns 21 years old later this month, went undrafted in 2023 out of the Overtime Elite league. He signed a two-way contract with New York in the summer of 2023, but he was waived before the 2023/24 season began.

Martin signed another two-way deal with the Knicks in late November 2023, then was cut again in December. He didn’t make any NBA appearances during his month with the Knicks.

Known for his athleticism, Martin signed a two-way contract with the Nets last February. The deal covered two years.

Martin didn’t play in any NBA games with Brooklyn during his rookie season and has only played five garbage-time minutes over three appearances in ’24/25. He scored his first NBA points when he made a three-pointer on October 27.

While Martin’s NBA contributions have been very limited, he has played pretty well for Brooklyn’s NBA G League affiliate in Long Island this season, averaging 14.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.6 SPG and 0.9 BPG on .500/.375/.750 shooting in 11 total games (27.3 MPG). He sustained a scary-looking knee injury in late November, but thankfully it turned out to be a bone contusion instead of something more serious, and he was able to return after missing a couple weeks.

Assuming he clears waivers, Martin will be an unrestricted free agent two days after he’s officially cut loose.

Jazz Waive David Jones

December 31st, 2024 at 5:42pm CST by Arthur Hill

JANUARY 1: Jones has officially been waived, according to a team press release.

DECEMBER 31: The Jazz will open a two-way spot for Elijah Harkless by waiving David Jones, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Scotto reported earlier today that Harkless will be signed out of the G League.

Jones, a 23-year-old small forward, inked a two-way deal with Philadelphia in July after going undrafted out of Memphis. He played for the Sixers’ Summer League teams in both Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, but was waived in late September.

Jones signed with Utah on November 22, but he hasn’t appeared in any NBA games. He spent time with both the Salt Lake City Stars and Mexico City Capitanes in the G League, where he is averaging 15.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

He will likely remain in the G League as he awaits another NBA opportunity.

Jones was a first-team All-AAC selection last season at Memphis, where he averaged 21.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.2 steals in 32 games. He spent two years at DePaul and one at St. John’s before joining the Tigers.

Lakers Acquire Dorian Finney-Smith In Four-Player Deal

December 29th, 2024 at 3:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

3:33pm: The trade is official, according to press releases from both clubs.

11:20am: The Lakers will trade D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks to the Nets in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

The second-rounders heading to Brooklyn will be Los Angeles’ own selections in 2027, 2030 and 2031, sources tell Charania. The ’27 pick being conveyed to Brooklyn is contingent on the ’27 first-round pick (top-four protected) L.A. owes Utah, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link), as the Lakers will send the Jazz their ’27 second-round pick if the ’27 first-rounder lands in the top four.

Finney-Smith had been one of the most sought-after three-and-D players on this year’s market and will bring versatility to a team that has been looking to improve its defense. He’s having one of the best shooting seasons of his career, connecting at 45.9% from the floor and 43.5% from three-point range while averaging 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per night through 20 games.

The 31-year-old forward is earning $14.9MM this season and has a $15.4MM player option for 2025/26 that he may be more likely to exercise if he’s part of a contending team in L.A. He could also decline the option in order to sign a longer-term deal with the Lakers or to test the free agent market.

Milton is signed through 2026/27, but only this season is guaranteed at $2.875MM. His salaries of $3MM for next season and $3.3MM for the following year won’t become fully guaranteed until the summer before each season.

Russell has an $18.7MM expiring contract, along with $700K in unlikely bonuses that will count toward the apron, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). Lewis is making $1.9MM this year and has a $100K guarantee on his $2.2MM salary for 2025/26.

Russell spent time with Brooklyn early in his career and reportedly didn’t part on great terms when he was traded to Golden State in 2019. While he may be a buyout candidate, Russell’s $18MM+ salary would make him ineligible to join any team operating above either tax apron if he’s waived.

The Lakers were able to save some money in the deal and give themselves more flexibility under the second apron, Marks adds (Twitter links). They are currently within $30K of the second apron, but that number will rise to about $3.5MM once the deal is finalized and their projected tax bill will drop by about $11MM. Because they won’t have to aggregate their two outgoing salaries, the Lakers also still won’t be hard-capped at the second apron.

The trade will cost the Lakers three of the five second-round picks they had available to move, but they still have a pair of 2025 second-rounders, first-rounders in 2029 and 2031, and first-round pick swaps in 2026, 2028, and 2030 to offer in any future deals.

The Nets will continue their rebuilding process after sending Dennis Schröder to Golden State two weeks ago. They now project to have $65MM in cap space this summer, according to cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link), which gives them more ammunition to pursue high-level free agents and still re-sign Cam Thomas. Their cap room had previously been projected at around $50MM due to Finney-Smith’s player option.

Brooklyn will have 16 second-round picks and 15 first-rounders over the next seven years, Gozlan adds (Twitter link), giving them more draft equity than any other team. Taking on the extra salary leaves the Nets about $677K below the luxury tax for this season.

A report on Saturday night from Marc Stein indicated that the Nets and Grizzlies were actively involved in discussions that would send Finney-Smith to Memphis in exchange for a package centered around John Konchar and Luke Kennard.

The Grizzlies may have been willing to part with a first-round pick for Finney-Smith, but reportedly wanted to heavily protect that selection and sought second-round compensation in return. Stein states that the Lakers were able to top that offer by giving Brooklyn three second-round picks (Twitter link).