Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Suns Sign A.J. Price To 10-Day Contract

March 21st, 2015 at 6:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder

SATURDAY, 6:44pm: The Price signing is official, tweets Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Price will be on the Suns’ active roster for tonight’s game in Houston.

FRIDAY, 5:34pm: The Suns will release Seth Curry and sign A.J. Price to a 10-day contract, a league source told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Price played for the Pacers and Cavaliers this season. He appeared in 10 games with Indiana, averaging 10.5 points, 2.7 assists and 19.3 minutes, before the club waived him in late November. Cleveland claimed him off waivers and he appeared in 11 games with the Cavs, averaging just 2.0 points, 1.2 assists and 7.9 minutes, until they waived him in early January.

The former University of Connecticut guard played 28 games for the Timberwolves last season. He played 57 games, including 22 starts, with the Wizards during the 2012-13 season.

Curry appeared in just two games with the Suns after signing a 10-day contract earlier this month. The younger brother of Warriors star Stephen Curry had been playing for the Magic’s D-League affiliate. His first tie to the Suns came when he joined the team for summer league action this past July. Curry averaged 23.5 points in 37.0 minutes per game with the Erie BayHawks before joining Phoenix.

Lakers Sign Jabari Brown To Second 10-Day

March 21st, 2015 at 12:43pm CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 12:43pm: The signing is official, the Lakers have announced.

FRIDAY, 8:36am: The Lakers will re-sign Jabari Brown to a second 10-day contract on Saturday, reports Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Brown said he spoke with GM Mitch Kupchak and confirmed that’s the plan to reporters, including Mike Trudell of Lakers.com (Twitter link). Coach Byron Scott had said minutes earlier that he anticipated Brown would be back, according to Pincus (on Twitter). Scott expressed his desire on Thursday afternoon for the team to re-sign the shooting guard.

A second deal for Brown presumably means the NBA has granted the Lakers another 10-day hardship exception to carry a 16th man on the roster. That was the allowance the league provided when the Lakers inked Brown to his first 10-day contract even though they already had 15 players. Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Julius Randle are all out for the season and Ronnie Price is probably in the same situation, giving the Lakers enough injured players to qualify to apply for the extra roster spot. Nick Young also remains out with a small fracture in his left kneecap.

Brown’s initial contract expired after Thursday’s game. Waiting until Saturday to sign a second 10-day deal enables the Lakers to have him for their game on March 30th against the Sixers without having to sign him for the balance of the season. The rookie has played a prominent role, averaging 7.0 points in 20.0 minutes per contest over four games on his first 10-day contract.

Clippers Sign Jordan Hamilton To Multiyear Deal

March 20th, 2015 at 2:24pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:24pm: The deal also covers next season with non-guaranteed salary, Woike adds (on Twitter).

2:22pm: The signing is official, the Clippers announced via press release.

2:12pm: The Clippers will sign Jordan Hamilton for the rest of the season in a move that’s expected to take place today, reports Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers had told reporters Sunday that the move would take place, but it appeared as though the team changed course amid concern over Hamilton’s ankle injury. Now, it looks like the Clippers are once more ready to commit to the former 26th overall pick.

Hamilton earlier signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Clippers, the last of which expired Sunday night. The 24-year-old has averaged 4.0 points in 9.5 minutes per game across eight appearances with the team, draining eight of 14 three-point attempts. He was originally with the Raptors for training camp, earning a $25K partial guarantee, and he briefly spent time with the Jazz at the beginning of the season after Utah claimed him off waivers, though he didn’t see any action there.

The Clippers are limited to the prorated minimum salary for the Aaron Mintz client, though they have the flexibility to tack on an additional season. The move will give the Clippers a full 15-man roster, though the team will retain a modicum of flexibility since Nate Robinson is on a 10-day contract.

Sean Kilpatrick Signs 10-Day With Timberwolves

March 19th, 2015 at 4:38pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Sean Kilpatrick has been signed to a 10-day contract by the Timberwolves, the team’s public relations staff tweets. Minnesota had a full roster but was granted an NBA hardship exception for a 16th roster spot in order to add Kilpatrick, the tweet adds. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities reported the deal minutes before the announcement (Twitter link).

The Timberwolves applied for the hardship exception after a dealing with a number of injuries. Shabazz Muhammad required season-ending finger surgery last month and Robbie Hummel and Anthony Bennett have also been out for an extended period. The deadline to apply for a disabled player exception expired in January, so Minnesota did not receive any extra salary flexibility to replace the second-year swingman.

Kilpatrick, an undrafted rookie guard out of Cincinnati, was playing for the D-League’s Delaware 87ers and could give the Timberwolves a perimeter boost. He was averaging 15.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals for the 87ers in a 20-game stint while shooting 48.7% from the field and 42.1% on 3-point attempts. Kilpatrick told HoopsRumors.com during the draft process that he could defend as well as score.

Kilpatrick passed through two other organizations before the Timberwolves signed him. He was on the Sixers’ summer-league team, then was signed by the Warriors during training camp. He was released before the start of the season and hooked on with Golden State’s D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz, where he remained until he was traded to the 87ers in January.

Knicks Sign Ricky Ledo To 10-Day Deal

March 19th, 2015 at 9:26am CST by Charlie Adams

THURSDAY, 9:26am: The deal is official, the team announced.

WEDNESDAY, 10:08pm: The Knicks are set to sign Ricky Ledo to a 10-day deal, reports Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com (Twitter link; hat tip to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com). New York won’t need to make a corresponding move to accommodate Ledo’s arrival since they’re only carrying 14 guaranteed contracts at the moment, as our list of roster counts shows.

Ledo was waived by the Mavs around the trade deadline to make room for Amar’e Stoudemire. He only appeared in five games with Dallas this season, spending the lion’s share of his time with the Texas Legends, the club’s D-League affiliate. The 22-year-old guard was the 43rd pick in the 2013 draft but hasn’t been given much of a chance to display his skills at the NBA level. Joining the league-worst Knicks might give him a better platform to demonstrate his abilities than he had with the title-hopeful Mavs.

Should Ledo stick around in New York, there’s little chance Thanasis Antetokounmpo makes the roster in 2014/15, as Begley points out (on Twitter). The Knicks were reportedly considering bringing aboard Thanasis, the older brother of Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Ledo’s presence might indicate they’ve moved on from that idea.

Clippers Sign Nate Robinson To Second 10-Day

March 17th, 2015 at 2:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

TUESDAY, 2:33pm: The deal is official, the Clippers announced via press release (hat tip to Dan Woike of the Orange County Register).

MONDAY, 3:35pm: The Clippers will sign Nate Robinson to a second 10-day contract, reports Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link). Coach/executive Doc Rivers said earlier to reporters, including Markazi, that the move was likely (Twitter link), but Markazi hears that the signing will indeed take place because of an injury to Jamal Crawford that will keep him out at least 10 more days. Robinson’s first 10-day deal expires after tonight. Rivers also reiterated that he plans to sign Jordan Hamilton to a deal that covers the rest of the season, Markazi notes, so put together, the moves would give the team a full 15-man roster.

Robinson has averaged 4.0 points in 14.6 minutes per game in five appearances for the Clippers on his initial 10-day deal. It seemed the guard’s arrival on the roster would come much sooner, as the team was reportedly the front-runner for him in mid-January, shortly after he bought his way off the Celtics, but Rivers and company decided to pursue other options before circling back to the 30-year-old. The Bulls and Robinson engaged in exploratory talks following Derrick Rose‘s injury, but the discussion didn’t appear to progress any further.

The 10th-year veteran is set to become the only Clipper without a deal that carries at least through season’s end if he and Hamilton sign this week. Rivers had earlier spoken of a desire to pursue the post-deadline buyout market, but Robinson is the lone player to have engineered a buyout this season before joining the Clippers.

Bucks Sign Chris Johnson To Second 10-Day

March 16th, 2015 at 12:16pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Bucks have signed small forward Chris Johnson to a second 10-day contract, the team announced. The move is no surprise, since Bucks coach Jason Kidd said this weekend that a another deal for the 24-year-old was likely. Johnson’s first 10-day contract with Milwaukee expired overnight.

Johnson averaged 20.0 minutes per game in five contests for the Bucks on his initial deal with the team, notching 4.6 points per game. He also saw action with the Jazz on a 10-day contract earlier this year, and he was briefly with the Sixers as the season began after they claimed him off waivers from the Celtics in September.

The signing bumps Milwaukee back up to a full 15-man roster. Johnson and the Bucks would have to commit through season’s end if they want to continue their partnership at the end of their latest deal. Johnson is not to be confused with the three-year veteran NBA center by the same name.

Jazz Sign Jack Cooley To Second 10-Day Pact

March 16th, 2015 at 11:27am CST by Zachary Links

MONDAY, 11:27am: The deal is official, the team announced.

SUNDAY, 2:52pm: The Jazz are set to sign Jack Cooley to another 10-day deal, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein (via Twitter). The rebounding specialist first joined Utah on February 24th and returned back to the D-League after that pact expired.

The 23-year-old (24 in early April) played a whopping two minutes during his time in Utah with his lone appearance coming on February 27th against the Nuggets. Cooley spent the bulk of the season playing Utah’s D-League affiliate and he attracted the attention of the varsity squad with his performance there.

The 6’9″ forward has averaged 16.8 points and 12.4 rebounds in 30.8 minutes per game in his first season of D-League action after having played in Turkey last season. He’s been especially impressive in his latest stint with Idaho, including a 29 rebound performance against the Los Angeles D-Fenders last week. Cooley went undrafted out of Notre Dame in 2013, but he’s remained on NBA radars, having participated in both the Orlando and Las Vegas summer leagues the past two years.

Jazz Sign Bryce Cotton To Multiyear Deal

March 16th, 2015 at 11:19am CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz have signed Bryce Cotton to a multiyear deal, the team announced. Shams Charania of RealGM reported earlier that the sides were making progress as they spoke about a deal that covered the rest of the season. I speculated then that Utah and the Passing Lane Sports Management client were probably haggling over the existence of additional seasons on such a contract and the details thereof. It’s unclear just how long the deal stretches and whether there’s any guaranteed salary beyond this year.

Jazz coaches have liked what they’ve seen from Cotton in practice and the limited time he’s seen in games, tweets Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune. The 22-year-old point guard saw only 12 total minutes of action on a pair of 10-day contracts with the Jazz, but Utah has nonetheless committed to him for at least the balance of the season. He saw a ton of playing time in 34 games with San Antonio’s D-League affiliate earlier this season, averaging 40.3 minutes per game. Cotton was also on San Antonio’s NBA roster for the preseason and joined the Spurs for summer league this past offseason after going undrafted out of Providence.

Utah filled its open roster spots in quick succession with announcements separated by a few minutes of Cotton’s deal and a new 10-day contract with Jack Cooley. The Jazz have signed a half dozen players to at least one 10-day deal this season, as our 10-Day Contract Tracker shows, but Cotton and Elijah Millsap, who received a three-year deal, are the only ones to have been re-signed for the balance of the season.

Pistons Sign Quincy Miller To Two-Year Deal

March 15th, 2015 at 11:02pm CST by Eddie Scarito

SUNDAY, 11:02pm: The Pistons still haven’t made a formal public announcement of the move, but the RealGM transactions log shows the signing as having taken place Friday.

10:34am: There’s been no formal announcement from the team, but Miller took to Twitter to declare that he is “officially a Piston,” and Keith Langlois of Pistons.com retweeted Miller’s dispatch. Charania indicates in a follow-up story that the figure approaching $1MM represents Miller’s full salary and not the amount of his partial guarantee, and he’s followed up with a tweet that confirms that’s the case. Miller is receiving a minimum-salary deal, as Charania clarifies, rather than one via the room exception.

THURSDAY, 7:45am: The deal is for two years and is partially guaranteed for nearly $1MM next season, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Since Miller would make $981,348 next season on a minimum-salary deal, it sounds like the Pistons are using a portion of their room exception to accommodate the signing, though that’s not entirely clear.

WEDNESDAY, 8:37pm: The Pistons intend to sign Quincy Miller for the remainder of the season, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). The deal also includes a training camp invite for next season, but there doesn’t appear to be any guaranteed money for 2015/16 included, though that is just my speculation since training camp deals usually carry little or no guaranteed cash.

Miller, 22, has not appeared in a game for Detroit thus far, despite being on his second 10-deal with the club. The forward did notch six appearances for the Kings while on two 10-day contracts earlier this season. Miller averaged 2.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in 10.2 minutes per game for Sacramento, who had reportedly discussed inking him for the rest of the season, but no deal came to fruition.

The forward put up strong numbers in the D-League with Sacramento’s affiliate in Reno earlier this season, averaging 25.3 PPG and 7.6 RPG in 28.9 MPG across 15 appearances. Those stats served to rebuild Miller’s value after the Nuggets cut him at the end of the preseason after failing to find a taker for him in the trade market.