Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pelicans Waive Mirza Begić

October 16th, 2015 at 10:22am CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans have released center Mirza Begić just two days after signing him, the team announced. The 30-year-old practiced with the team, but New Orleans didn’t play any preseason games during his brief tenure. The move reduces the Pelicans roster to 19 players, 13 of whom have full guarantees, and it opens a spot beneath the 20-man preseason roster limit for New Orleans to formalize a deal with Nate Robinson, with whom the team reportedly has an agreement.

Begić, a native of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been with some of Europe’s most prominent teams, including Laboral Kuxta and Real Madrid of Spain and Olympiakos of Greece, but he’d never played with an NBA team before. He went undrafted when he was eligible in 2007.

New Orleans has made more roster moves than any other team in the past week as they deal with injuries to Omer Asik, Alexis Ajinca, Norris Cole and now Luke Babbitt, who’s out indefinitely with a left hamstring strain, as the team announced Thursday. The Pelicans signed Greg Smith and voided the contract after he failed a physical, signed Jerome Jordan, waived Corey Webster and signed Bo McCalebb in addition to their moves with Begić and Robinson.

Warriors Cut Juwan Staten

October 16th, 2015 at 8:55am CST by Chuck Myron

Golden State waived point guard Juwan Staten at the end of their preseason win over the Rockets late Thursday, the Warriors announced. The undrafted rookie from West Virginia was in camp on a non-guaranteed deal and made his preseason debut in that game against the Rockets, scoring two points in 10 minutes of action. The move drops the Warriors roster to 17 players, 13 of whom have fully guaranteed pacts.

Staten, 23, was one of many in Warriors camp with strong outside shooting capability, as he made three-pointers with 37% accuracy over the final two years of his college career. That covered a fairly small sample size of only 73 attempts, however. Many of his numbers fell from his junior season to his senior year. He put up 12.1 points, 5.8 assists and 2.1 turnovers in 37.3 minutes per game as a junior and 14.2 PPG, 4.6 APG and 2.0 TOPG in 31.3 MPG this past season.

The Warriors still have a few more decisions to make before opening night. They’re a taxpaying team and under no obligation to carry more than 13 players to start the season, though every team started last season with at least 14 players last year. Coach Steve Kerr likes James Michael McAdoo, who has a $100K partial guarantee, so he seems in strong position to stick. Ian Clark, Chris Babb and Jarell Eddie are the Warriors with non-guaranteed contracts.

Who do you think will get the last spot on the Warriors regular season roster, assuming they start the season with 15 players? Leave a comment to tell us.

Hornets Sign Damien Wilkins

October 16th, 2015 at 8:24am CST by Chuck Myron

OCTOBER 16TH, 8:24am: The deal is finally official, the team announced. That brings Charlotte’s roster to 19 players.

OCTOBER 6TH, 8:42am: The contract will be non-guaranteed, Wilkins says on his personal blog (hat tip to Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk). The blog entry recounts the events leading up to the Hornets deal for Wilkins, who very nearly left on a plane to join his Venezuelan team, and Wilkins notes that he had already signed a contract with the Venezuelan club, which evidently allowed him to break the pact.

1:43pm: Charlotte does plan to sign Wilkins, as Bonnell makes clear in a full story.

9:49am: The Hornets are indeed bringing in Wilkins for a “preseason look,” tweets Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. That presumably confirms that the team intends to sign him.

OCTOBER 5TH, 8:22am: Nine-year NBA veteran Damien Wilkins is headed to Charlotte for a chance to return to the league, as indicated by quotes attributed to him on the Twitter feed of the Venezuelan team Guaros de Lara (hat tip to Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com). Wilkins said he wouldn’t be joining Guaros de Lara as planned after receiving word of an opportunity with Charlotte (All five Twitter links here, in Spanish). Other tweets from the Venezuelan team indicate the same, so it would appear that the Hornets are either going to work him out, sign him, or both. It seems part of an effort to offset the loss of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who has a dislocated right shoulder. The Hornets have yet to release any timetable, but it’s an injury that typically costs players three to 12 weeks, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.

Wilkins, 35, was last on an NBA contract two years ago, when the Hawks brought him to camp and waived him before the start of the regular season. He’d spent 2012/13 season with the Sixers, for whom he put up 6.4 points in 18.0 minutes per game with 33.3% shooting in 61 appearances, numbers close to his NBA career averages. Wilkins has played overseas and in the D-League since, notching 20.2 PPG and 5.7 RPG in 37.8 MPG with 33.1% three-point shooting across 50 contests with the D-League affiliate of the Grizzlies this past season.

Kidd-Gilchrist and Wilkins are both perimeter players, lending credence to the idea that Kidd-Gilchrist’s injury precipitated Wilkins’ trip to Charlotte. The Hornets have been carrying 18 players, as our roster count shows. Coach Steve Clifford has opposed the idea of adding more, but that’s a stance that’s likely changed with the injury. Charlotte has its entire $5.464MM mid-level exception at its disposal, though few players receive more than the minimum this time of year. A more significant question likely involves how much, if any, guaranteed money Wilkins would receive. Charlotte already has 14 full guarantees.

Do you think Wilkins can help the Hornets? Leave a comment to tell us.

Kings Waive Marshall Henderson, Vince Hunter

October 15th, 2015 at 5:22pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Kings have waived point guard Marshall Henderson and combo forward Vince Hunter, the team announced. Both players were signed to partially guaranteed deals, so Sacramento will be on the hook to each for $35K this season if they clear waivers. These moves reduce the Kings’ roster count to 16 players.

Henderson, 24, went undrafted out of Mississippi in 2014 after a number of incidents involving narcotics, the string of which began during his Senior year of high school. During his final season at Mississippi back in 2013/14, Henderson averaged 19.0 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 31.1 minutes per contest. His slash line was .353/.342/.817. The 6’2″ guard played overseas last season for both Al Rayyan of the Qatari Basketball League and the Iraqi club Nift Al-Janoub.

The 21-year old Hunter made 33 appearances for UTEP during the 2014/15 campaign, averaging 14.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 28.5 minutes per contest, and he owned a slash line of .526/.400/.602. Hunter played for the Sixers’ squad in the Las Vegas Summer League, logging averages of 7.0 PPG and 5.5 RPG in four appearances after going undrafted this year.

Suns Waive Terrico White, Kyle Casey

October 15th, 2015 at 4:13pm CST by Eddie Scarito

4:13pm: The moves are official, the team announced.

3:20pm: The Suns have waived shooting guard Terrico White and small forward Kyle Casey, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic reports (Twitter link). Both players were inked to non-guaranteed pacts, so Phoenix won’t be responsible for any funds as a result of these moves. The Suns’ roster count now stands at 15 players, the regular season limit, putting Henry Sims and Cory Jefferson, the team’s two remaining players with non-guaranteed salaries, in a strong position to stick for opening night.

White, 25, last season with Enisey Krasnoyarsk of Russia, where he averaged 11.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in 28.3 minutes per game, with 37.2% three-point shooting. He’s also played in Israel, Serbia and Turkey.

Casey, 25, spent the past season playing for Helios Domzale of Slovenia, averaging 12.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in 28.5 minutes per game. That was more playing time than he saw as a senior for Harvard in 2013/14, when he put up 9.7 PPG and 5.6 RPG in 22.0 MPG. At 6’7″, he averaged 1.2 blocks per game as a college senior but fewer than one block per contest in Slovenia last year, and he shot less than 30% from three-point range in both seasons. Casey played for the Nets summer league team in 2014 but didn’t take part in NBA summer league this year.

Lakers Pick Up 2016/17 Option On Julius Randle

October 15th, 2015 at 2:19pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers have exercised their team option for the 2016/17 season on Julius Randle‘s rookie scale contract, the team announced (Twitter link). The move is largely procedural, as Randle was in no real danger of seeing the option declined. It locks in a $3,267,120 salary for what will be the third year of Randle’s deal.

The power forward is the team’s third leading scorer so far in the preseason with 12.8 points in 24.5 minutes per game. GM Mitch Kupchak sees Randle as a long-term starter, and the team has made an effort to surround him with veteran mentors, signing Brandon Bass and Metta World Peace in part because of what they can teach the former Kentucky Wildcat who doesn’t turn 21 until next month. Randle missed almost all of last season after breaking his right leg in the opening game.

He was the only member of the Lakers with a decision pending on a rookie scale team option before leaguewide deadline of November 2nd this year. The team is still poised to enter next summer with loads of flexibility beneath a projected $89MM cap, with only about $23MM in guaranteed salary on the books for 2016/17.

Nuggets Waive Matt Janning

October 15th, 2015 at 12:27pm CST by Chuck Myron

12:27pm: The Nuggets have released Janning, the team announced via press release.

12:11pm: Janning has signed with Hapoel Jerusalem, the Israeli Winner League says via Twitter (hat tip to Sportando’s Orazio Cauchi). It’s a one-year deal with an option for a second, Pick tweets. The Nuggets haven’t announced anything about releasing Janning yet, and he’d have to clear waivers before any overseas deal could become official.

8:34am: The Nuggets will waive Matt Janning and his non-guaranteed deal, and the 27-year-old swingman is already in talks with Israel’s Hapoel Jerusalem, reports international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). Janning scored two points in about nine minutes of preseason action spread over a pair of games this month. The move will bring the Nuggets down to 18 players, including 15 with fully guaranteed pacts, as our roster count shows.

Janning’s contract with Denver is his first formal NBA deal since the 2010/11 season, when he was briefly on the Suns roster but didn’t manage to make it into a regular season game. He’s nonetheless been a frequent summer league participant, appearing on squads for the Suns, Celtics, Grizzlies, Pacers, Bulls, Nets and Timberwolves, though he didn’t play in an NBA summer league this year. Much of his career has taken place overseas, and he played for Anadolu Efes of Turkey last season.

He was a long shot to stick with the Nuggets for opening night, given the presence of those 15 guaranteed deals plus Erick Green, a holdover from last season who has a $100K partial guarantee. Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post opined recently that Green, and not Nick Johnson, who has a fully guaranteed one-year veteran’s minimum salary, is in the lead for the final regular season roster spot. Oleksiy Pecherov is also in Nuggets camp on a non-guaranteed contract as he attempts an NBA comeback, and Denver has summer-leaguer Devin Sweetney on a non-guaranteed deal, too.

Who do you think will end up on the Nuggets regular season roster? Leave a comment to give your thoughts.

Pelicans Sign Bo McCalebb

October 15th, 2015 at 11:34am CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans have signed Bo McCalebb, the team announced. Andrew Lopez of The Times Picayune reported Wednesday that the sides were having serious discussions. The New Orleans native and former University of New Orleans point guard goes into the roster spot vacated when the team waived Corey Webster just minutes ago, so the Pelicans are again at the 20-man preseason roster limit. The deal includes a partial guarantee, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune (Twitter link).

McCalebb, 30, has played overseas since going undrafted in 2008, save for a summer league stint with the Kings in July of that year. He was the top scorer in the Euroleague in 2011/12, notching 16.9 points per game for Siena of Italy. His assists were up last season with FC Bayern Muenchen of Germany, when he averaged 4.8 per game to go along with 12.4 PPG in 25.7 MPG. That will be key for a Pelicans team without Norris Cole for six weeks, especially with Jrue Holiday still on a minutes limit. Tyreke Evans is the team’s only other logical option at the point.

Injuries to Cole, Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca have thrown the Pelicans into flux. The team has 13 full guarantees plus partial guarantees to McCalebb and Bryce Dejean-Jones, but if they keep all of them for opening night on October 27th, the Pelicans will have only Kendrick Perkins and Anthony Davis to play center unless Asik and Ajinca are healthy again by that time. Centers Jerome Jordan and Mirza Begić are in camp with the Pelicans, as is power forward Jeff Adrien.

Where do the Pelicans go from here? Who do you think they’ll keep for the regular season? Let us know with a comment.

Pelicans Waive Corey Webster

October 15th, 2015 at 10:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Pelicans have waived Corey Webster, the team announced. The shooting guard from New Zealand was in camp on a non-guaranteed deal. The team is reportedly close to a deal with former University of New Orleans point guard Bo McCalebb, and the release of Webster drops the Pelicans roster to 19 players, giving them an open spot beneath the 20-man preseason roster maximum.

Webster, who turns 27 next month, scored four points in close to 22 total minutes of action across three preseason games for the Pelicans. He dished out six assists and committed just two turnovers, but it appears the Pelicans are focused on other options to handle their ball-distribution duties. Starting point guard Jrue Holiday remains on a minutes limit until January and backup Norris Cole is out six weeks with a high ankle sprain, as Andrew Lopez of The Times Picayune noted in his report about the team’s interest in McCalebb.

New Orleans has had a tough go of it with injuries so far, and already the team has made a series of moves to offset the loss of its top two centers, Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca. The Pelicans have 13 full guarantees and a partial guarantee for rookie Bryce Dejean-Jones, as our roster count shows.

Jazz Waive Grant Jerrett

October 15th, 2015 at 10:30am CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz have waived Grant Jerrett, the team announced. Jerrett’s salary for this season is a fully guaranteed $947,276, so Utah will be on the hook for that unless another team claims him off waivers. The move brings Utah down to 17 players, only 12 of whom have fully guaranteed deals.

The power forward’s contract, which he signed in the summer of 2014, is for the minimum salary but it covers four seasons, so a team would have to have cap space or an exception other than the minimum salary exception to snag him off waivers, limiting the chances a team claims him. This season is the last guaranteed year.

It’s no surprise to see the Jazz make this move, despite the salary implications, since Jerrett is still recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered in the first game of summer league, notes Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). He only appeared in three games for Utah last season after he was part of the three-team Enes Kanter/Reggie Jackson trade at the deadline, and he’d only made his way into five games for the Thunder prior to the swap. That’s in spite of his pedigree as the 40th overall pick from the 2013 draft.

The move further opens the competition in Jazz camp. Jeff Withey has a team-high $200K partial guarantee and Treveon Graham is assured of at least $75K, while Bryce Cotton, Chris Johnson and Elijah Millsap have no guaranteed money. Utah can keep no more than three of them without waiving another fully guaranteed deal, which seems unlikely.

Do you think Jerrett would prove worthy of an NBA roster spot if given playing time? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.