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Pistons Release Aaron Gray

October 26th, 2014 at 5:48pm CST by Zachary Links

5:48pm: Detroit has officially waived Gray, the team has announced.

4:39pm: The Pistons will release Aaron Gray to get down to a 15-man roster, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). Gray signed a two-year deal with Detroit in August that included a player option on the final season. The deal was guaranteed for the minimum salary in both years so the Pistons will be on the hook for both seasons, presuming he clears waivers.

With a 16-man roster, the Pistons were put in a position in which they had to either cut or trade a player, with Gray, Tony Mitchell, and Luigi Datome seemingly the likeliest candidates to hit the waiver wire. With all 16 players on guaranteed deals, Detroit had to eat someone’s salary no matter what if it couldn’t find a trade partner. As David Mayo of MLive.com wrote earlier this month, Stan Van Gundy has been high on Mitchell, even though he would have been the most painless cut with a $816K salary.

“He works in the weight room,” Van Gundy said of Mitchell. “He works on his game out here. He simply has a lot to learn and he has to play the game smarter. He picks up some bad fouls. He has some wild turnovers, things like that. But his effort is not a problem at all, either in games or trying to work on his game. We’ve been very, very pleased with that. And he’s a great athlete.”

Gray, a former Pittsburgh standout, averaged 1.8 PPG and 3.0 RPG across 36 games for the Raptors and Kings last season.

Magic Pick Up 2015/16 Options On Four

October 26th, 2014 at 2:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

OCTOBER 26TH: The Magic confirmed that they have exercised the options via press release.

OCTOBER 20TH: The Magic will exercise their team options to keep Victor Oladipo, Evan Fournier, Maurice Harkless and Andrew Nicholson on their rookie scale contracts through 2015/16, tweets Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. The moves have been widely expected, as Robbins suggests. Oladipo’s nearly $5.2MM salary for that season is the most expensive of the bunch. Harkless will make nearly $2.9MM, Nicholson almost $2.4MM, and Fournier close to $2.3MM, as our Rookie Scale Team Option Tracker shows.

Oladipo, the No. 2 overall pick in 2013, earned an All-Rookie First Team selection last season even as the Magic experimented with having the shooting guard play point guard. Fournier spent the past two seasons with the Nuggets and saw his minutes jump to 19.8 per game last season before Denver shipped him to Orlando in the Arron Afflalo trade. Harkless also came to Orlando via trade as part of the package the team sent out for Dwight Howard, though the production of the small forward took a step back last year. Nicholson also saw a dip in his scoring output as an NBA sophomore in 2013/14, though he, like Harkless, was a rotation mainstay.

Picking up the options on all four will give Orlando nearly $12.755MM on top of the meager $14.87MM in commitments the team already had on the books for 2015/16. That leaves plenty of room for extensions with Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris, deals that the team is working toward, though the preponderance of rookie scale contracts on the Magic’s ledger will force GM Rob Hennigan to be cautious as he commits long-term money.

Knicks To Waive Travis Outlaw, Keep Wear?

October 26th, 2014 at 12:36pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Knicks will waive forward Travis Outlaw, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. The move will bring the Knicks‘ preseason roster to 15 players and is likely an indication that Travis Wear has made the team, notes Zagoria. The Knicks would be on the hook for Outlaw’s $3MM contract, which is the last year of a fully guaranteed four year, $12MM deal. Wear is signed to a minimum-salary arrangement of which only $62K is guaranteed.

“Travis [Wear] ia a really good player,” Knicks coach Derek Fisher said last weekend, notes Zagoria. “He works hard every single day. He has some natural talents and some natural gifts that you can’t coach. He’s extremely athletic and he has a feel for the game of basketball. He’s helped us in the minutes that he has gotten out on the floor. We have a lot of veteran guys that are already on our roster and it might be tough for him to break through that but he has definitely proven in a short segment that he has some potential so we’re excited about it and we’ll try to make the best decision for him and the team going forward.”

The move to release Outlaw is likely an indication that Knicks believe Ware, who is shooting 45% in the preseason, is a better fit than Outlaw for the triangle offense. Outlaw has averaged 8.5 PPG while shooting 42.3% from the floor for his career.

Sixers Waive Lee, Gordon, Roberts Jr.

October 25th, 2014 at 6:51pm CST by Cray Allred

6:51pm: Philadelphia has officially waived all three players, the team announced via press release.

6:14pm: Although no team announcement has been made, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets that the Sixers have waived Drew Gordon, Malcolm Lee, and Ronald Roberts Jr. All three were on low-risk, four-year contracts with Philadelphia.

The Sixers will be on the hook for partial guarantees of $35K, $40K, and $50K for Roberts Jr., Gordon and Lee, respectively. Coach Brett Brown has mentioned the D-League as a possibility for Roberts Jr., who broke off an overseas deal to join the Sixers in camp. The team is allowed to retain the D-League rights for up to four players cut before the season.

The cuts bring the Sixers roster down to 17, two above the maximum they can carry into the regular season. The team has plenty of flexibility as it approaches the deadline to trim the roster, with seven remaining contracts that aren’t guaranteed, as well as plenty of cap room to eat guaranteed salary if they choose to do so.

Heat Waive Khem Birch

October 25th, 2014 at 6:39pm CST by Cray Allred

The Heat have waived Khem Birch along with the trio of cuts made earlier this evening, according to a team release. Miami will be on the hook for $50K in partially guaranteed money from his contract, unless another team claims him.

Birch was in the running for one of the Heat’s 15 final roster spots, but ultimately wasn’t preserved for the 2014/15 season. If Birch clears waivers, the Heat will hold his D-League rights, and they are expected to invite him to join their D-League affiliate, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.

The undrafted power forward was projected as a potential second-rounder out of UNLV, and he has impressed in stints with the Wizards summer league team and as a member of Miami’s preseason squad. Birch averaged 10.2 rebounds in his junior year, opting to declare for the draft rather than stay for his senior year.

Jeremy Tyler Signs To Play In China

October 25th, 2014 at 6:19pm CST by Chuck Myron

Center Jeremy Tyler has signed with the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association, his agents at Octagon Sports tell Enea Trapani of Sportando and confirm on their website. Adrian Wojnarowski reported a few days ago that Tyler had reached a deal to play in China and that he’d asked for the Lakers to release him from his non-guaranteed contract, a wish the team granted, but the identity of his Chinese team was unknown. It’s unclear how long Tyler’s contract runs or just how much he’ll earn, but with the short length of the Chinese season, he’ll likely have a chance to hook on with an NBA team for the stretch run of 2014/15.

Tyler spent the past month with the Lakers after the Kings let him go shortly following the trade that brought him to Sacramento from the Knicks. He played in 41 games for New York after signing December 31st, averaging 3.6 points in 9.7 minutes per night. The now 23-year-old has appeared in the NBA in each of the past three seasons after the then-Bobcats made him the 39th overall pick in 2011.

The Dragons signed center Daniel Orton earlier this month, but they also have fellow NBA veteran Von Wafer, and the league’s rules on international players prohibit the team from playing three Americans, as Trapani points out. So, that suggests a corresponding move is in order, though the Dragons’ plans are unclear.

Mavs Sign, Waive Renaldo Balkman

October 25th, 2014 at 5:38pm CST by Cray Allred

The Mavs have signed and waived Renaldo Balkman today, as indicated by Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter). The swift moves were almost surely made to secure D-League rights to the 30-year-old forward, as teams around the league are utilizing the provision to do so in the days leading up to the regular season.

Balkman hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2011/12 season, and spent time with Dallas in training camp last year before being cut prior to the season. He has career averages of 4.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per contest over six seasons.

Clippers Waive Joe Ingles

October 25th, 2014 at 5:12pm CST by Arthur Hill

Guard Joe Ingles has been waived by the Clippers, according to a team release. Dan Woike of the Orange County Register was the first to tweet news that Ingles would be let go. The move cuts the Clippers’ roster to the league maximum of 15. It isn’t clear if the team intends to sign Ingles to their D-League affiliate, but they do have the inside track if so, as teams can retain the rights for up to four players waived before the regular season.

The Clippers won’t be on the hook for any money because Ingles’ minimum-salary contract was non-guaranteed. Ingles was reportedly in a battle for the final roster sport with guard Jared Cunningham.

The 6’8″ Australian boosted his NBA chances with a strong performance during this year’s FIBA World Cup. The 26-year-old played last season at Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, where he averaged 6.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.

Heat Cut Drew, Johnson, Jones

October 25th, 2014 at 4:56pm CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 4:56pm: All three players have been officially waived, the team announced.

8:47pm: All three players have been waived, according to the RealGM transactions log. No announcement from the team has been made yet.

THURSDAY, 11:58am: The Heat are waiving Larry Drew II, Tyler Johnson and Shawn Jones, as coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters today, including Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). The team has yet to make a formal announcement, but Miami hopes that all three will sign with its D-League affiliate, tweets Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post. The Heat has a $75K partial guarantee with Johnson and $25K with Drew, so the team will be on the hook for those amounts assuming they clear waivers. Jones has been on a non-guaranteed pact.

The athletic Johnson appeared in only one preseason game, but he performed well, scoring 17 points and coming up with four steals in more than 36 minutes of action. Jones averaged 3.0 points in 16.5 minutes per game in four preseason contests, while Drew, who signed on Monday, hasn’t played in any of the team’s exhibitions. Johnson and Jones went undrafted this summer, while Drew spent much of last season with the Heat’s D-League affiliate after joining Miami for camp last year.

The moves will leave Miami with 16 players, including 11 with fully guaranteed contracts. Three others have partial guarantees, while Shannon Brown and Andre Dawkins are on non-guaranteed deals.

Knicks Cut Galloway, Vandenberg

October 25th, 2014 at 4:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

4:46pm: The moves are official, the team announced (Twitter link).

1:53pm: The Knicks have waived Langston Galloway and Jordan Vandenberg, Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork is reporting (Twitter link). Both players are likely headed to New York’s D-League affiliate, notes Begley. These moves reduce the Knicks’ preseason roster count to 16, and the team is considering waiving forward Travis Outlaw as well, tweets Begley, which would get them down to the regular season maximum of 15 players.

Vandenberg’s contract came with a partial guarantee of $27K, and Galloway’s deal was also partially guaranteed for $31K. If Outlaw is in fact waived, the Knicks will still have to pay his fully guaranteed amount of $3MM, unless they reach some type of buyout arrangement with the player.

The 24-year-old Vandenberg played just 10 minutes total in a pair of summer league games, and he only averaged more than 12 minutes a night once during his five seasons at N.C. State, where he received a medical redshirt in his third year despite appearing in seven games. Vandenberg averaged 4.6 PPG, 4.7 RPG and 1.4 BPG in 22.3 minutes per game as a senior this past season.

Galloway averaged 17.7 points and 4.3 rebounds with a 44.3% three-point accuracy in 36.2 minutes per game this past season with St. Joseph’s, then played for New York’s summer league entry. The Knicks coaches praised him for picking up the triangle offense quickly, but the team is especially deep with swingmen, so Galloway was a longshot to make the team.