Pelicans Waive Shawne Williams
SUNDAY, 10:07am: The Pelicans have officially waived Williams, according to the team’s website. New Orleans’ roster now stands at 14 players.
4:36pm: New Orleans intends to waive Williams, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com confirms (Twitter link).
THURSDAY, 3:32pm: The Pelicans plan to work out a buyout arrangement with newly acquired Shawne Williams, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). Williams came to New Orleans as a part of the multi-team deal that sent Goran Dragic to Miami earlier today. The agreement is expected to be reached on Friday, Wojnarowski notes.
The 29-year-old forward is earning $1,227,985 this season, though it’s unclear just how much Williams will be willing to leave on the table in a buyout arrangement. Williams is under contract for next season, though the $1,356,146 he is scheduled to earn is non-guaranteed, which means that the Pelicans won’t be on the hook to Williams for any funds beyond this season.
Williams has appeared in 44 games for the Heat this season, and is averaging 6.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 21.0 minutes per game. His career numbers over seven seasons are 5.8 PPG and 3.1 RPG. His career shooting percentages are .407/.345/.848.
Sixers Waive Andrei Kirilenko
10:30pm: Kirilenko may play in Europe if he clears waivers, which is expected, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.
4:16pm:The Sixers have waived forward Andrei Kirilenko, the team has announced (Twitter link). It’s unclear if a buyout arrangement was reached or if the team simply waived the Russian outright. The veteran hasn’t played since November 13th and had been suspended by Philadelphia after he failed to report to the team after it had acquired him in a trade with the Nets on December 11th. Kirilenko had been away from the team tending to a medical issue involving his wife’s pregnancy, which was resolved last week when she gave birth to a baby boy.
Philadelphia’s GM Sam Hinkie had informed Kirilenko at the time of the trade that the team didn’t intend to waive him. Rumors before the trade had indicated that the Sixers were poised to release Kirilenko shortly after they obtained him, but instead Philadelphia held onto Kirilenko with the hope that he could be used as a trade chip, though no deal ever materialized. Releasing Kirilenko frees up a roster spot for the Sixers, who are now carrying 14 players.
In 12 NBA seasons, Kirilenko has averaged 11.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. His career slash line is .474/.310/.754. He appeared in just seven games for Brooklyn this season, logging just 0.4 points in 5.1 minutes per contest.
Bucks Waive Larry Sanders In Buyout Deal
9:38pm: Sanders was cleared to play by the NBA and is in full compliance with the league’s anti-drug policy, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (Twitter link).
6:47pm: The Bucks have waived Sanders, the team announced (Twitter link). “We believe this decision is in the best interest of our team,” GM John Hammond said. “We wish Larry well and remain excited about the future of the Bucks organization.” Not surprisingly, the team didn’t release any details about the terms of the buyout, but presumably Sanders is indeed giving up a significant chunk of salary in the arrangement.
SATURDAY, 6:33pm: The buyout deal is done, Wojnarowski reports, adding that the center is giving up approximately half of the original value of his $44MM deal (Twitter links). It’ll be a while before he plays again as he continues to deal with personal issues, Wojnarowski adds.
WEDNESDAY, 5:13pm: Sanders has no plans to pursue a deal with another team to play in the NBA this season, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports.
12:12pm: The buyout deal still isn’t final, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times (Twitter links).
10:58am: Sanders will be getting $14.5MM of the $33MM originally owed him after this season, a source tells Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, who reiterates that the Bucks will spread that amount via the stretch provision (Twitter link)
10:51am: The Bucks still haven’t received signed paperwork on the buyout from Sanders, as USA Today’s Sam Amick cautions (on Twitter).
10:38am: Sanders didn’t want to report to the Bucks following the end of his suspension, thus giving the Bucks leverage to extract as much as they did in the buyout, a source tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links). It’s unlikely Sanders will sign with another team this season, Kennedy’s source adds and as Kyler also tweets, which makes sense, given that it appears he won’t return to the court in 2014/15.
10:32am: Sanders will receive $15MM more from the Bucks on top of the team’s nearly $8MM payout to him so far this season, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders hears (Twitter links). Milwaukee will use the stretch provision to spread that $15MM over seven years instead of the three remaining on Sanders’ contract, Kyler also hears.
10:05am: The Bucks and Larry Sanders already have a deal on a buyout, reports Shams Charania of RealGM, who says the agreement has been in place for days. He’ll only receive $13MM of the money left on his four-year, $44MM contract, Charania adds. Sanders is in the first year of that pact. Charania seconds a report minutes earlier from Marc Stein of ESPN.com that Sanders will hit waivers no later than March 1st, so he’ll be eligible to play in the postseason for another team. However, it’s unlikely that he returns to the court this season as he continues to deal with personal issues, as Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher wrote overnight.
A drug-related suspension already cost Sanders $1.2MM of his $11MM salary for this season. That suspension ended for the final game before the All-Star break, but he didn’t appear in that contest, and he hasn’t played for the Bucks since December 23rd, long before the NBA handed down the ban. The 26-year-old denied a report amid his absence that he was contemplating retirement, but at this point it seems his career has taken a serious downturn following a breakout season in 2012/13.
Milwaukee rewarded him the following summer with the $44MM deal, which came in the form of a rookie scale extension. He broke his hand in a nightclub fight early last season, which touched off his woes, and he missed time again later in the 2013/14 campaign because of a fractured orbital bone. The league hit him with his first drug-related suspension in April. His production fell off amid the injuries, and trade rumors surfaced. There appeared to be serious interest from other teams as of draft time, but later in the summer, assistant GM David Morway affirmed that Sanders was a part of the club’s future. However, the level of his performance failed to bounce back this season, and it appears the relationship between the club and Sanders has soured.
Jazz, Kendrick Perkins Agree To Buyout Deal
3:53pm: Perkins has officially been waived, the Jazz announced.
3:27pm: A buyout arrangement has been reached, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Perkins intends to sign with the Cavaliers if he clears waivers, which he is expected to do, Wojnarowski adds.
1:48pm: Perkins has narrowed his choices to the Cavs and the Clippers, and the big man is expected to make his decision on Sunday, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group reports (Twitter link).
10:51am: The Clippers are not out of the running for Perkins, but are considered long shots to sign him, Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com reports (Twitter link).
SATURDAY, 10:28am: The Cavaliers have emerged as the frontrunners to sign Perkins if he is indeed waived by Utah, Wojnarowski reports. The Bulls, Rockets, and Hawks are also in the mix for the big man, Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal tweets.
FRIDAY, 9:24am: Perkins is interested in playing for the Mavs, Wojnarowski writes, but the team doesn’t share that interest, as Cuban said (below). Conflict in the past with Joakim Noah wouldn’t keep Perkins from joining the Bulls, a source tells K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
11:25pm: Mark Cuban said that Dallas is set in its frontcourt, and that the Mavs would not be interested in Perkins if he is waived, Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman tweets.
10:18pm: The Bulls and the Cavs are the frontrunners to sign Perkins when and if he clears waivers, David Aldridge of NBA.com reports (Twitter link).
6:08pm: The Mavericks have also expressed interest in Perkins, should he be waived, Wojnarowski tweets.
THURSDAY, 3:55pm: The Jazz and Kendrick Perkins are headed for a buyout, reports Royce Young of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Utah agreed to take on his expiring contract, worth more than $9.654MM, as part of a three-way deal with the Pistons and Thunder. The Cavs and Clippers are teams to watch should Perkins indeed hit free agency in the coming days, Young says, and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports calls those teams strong contenders to sign him (on Twitter). The Bulls will be very much in the mix for Perkins, too, Wojnarowski also tweets.
The 30-year-old Perkins is making $9.654MM this season on an expiring contract, and it’s not immediately clear how much he would give up in a buyout. He was much-maligned throughout his tenure in Oklahoma City after having been hailed as key to the Celtics’ 2008 championship and subsequent run to the Finals in 2010. He had a PER of 15.0 in 2009/10, but he never had a double-digit PER for the Thunder after a trade sent him there in the middle of the 2010/11 season.
His name was part of a proposal that would have sent him to the Nets for Brook Lopez, but that trade didn’t pan out. In any case, he’s an odd fit for Utah, a team focused on the future, so a quick parting of ways makes sense. The Jazz will have to waive him no later than March 1st for him to be eligible to play for another team in the postseason.
Heat Sign Henry Walker To 10-Day Deal
SATURDAY, 3:37pm: The deal is official, the Heat announced.
FRIDAY, 7:54am: The Heat will sign swingman Henry Walker to a 10-day contract, according to David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Walker is a four-year NBA veteran who went by the name Bill Walker when he played for the Celtics and Knicks between 2008/09 and 2011/12. He’s been with the Heat’s affiliate in the D-League this season.
Walker was part of the rotation for the Knicks in 2011/12, when he saw his last NBA action, averaging 5.8 points in 19.4 minutes per game across 32 appearances that year. He was an 11.9 PPG scorer in 27.4 MPG in 27 contests for the Knicks in the second half of the 2009/10 season. The now 27-year-old has spent part of each of the last three seasons in the D-League, with a short stint in Venezuela thrown in. He’s been on a shooting tear of late, nailing 44.8% of his three-point attempts in 17 D-League contests this season, as Pick points out.
Miami has a pair of open roster spots after Thursday’s three-way trade with the Suns and Pelicans that brought the Dragic brothers to town. The Heat signed Tyler Johnson to a two-year deal after inking him to a pair of 10-day contracts earlier this season, so surely Walker, a Mike Naiditch client, will hope for the same.
Suns Sign Earl Barron To 10-Day Deal
SATURDAY, 2:02pm: The deal is official, the Suns announced.
FRIDAY, 3:35pm: The Suns will sign eight-year veteran center Earl Barron to a 10-day contract, as league sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM and as agent Andre Buck confirms to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links). Barron, who was on the Suns roster during the preseason, had just returned to Phoenix’s D-League affiliate after a brief stint playing in China, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic notes (on Twitter).
Barron, 33, last saw regular season NBA action in 2012/13, when he split a dozen games between the Wizards and Knicks. He spent most of this season with the Suns’ D-League team, racking up 20.3 points and 10.7 rebounds in 32.5 minutes per game. He’s averaged 4.9 PPG and 3.7 RPG in 14.8 MPG over his NBA career.
Phoenix has only 13 players after Thursday’s trio of trades, and only 10 of them are available for tonight’s game, Coro notes (on Twitter). It’s unclear how quickly Barron will be able to suit up. Both Charania and Spears indicate that he’s already put pen to paper, though there’s been no official announcement from the team.
Mavericks Re-Sign Bernard James
SATURDAY, 11:17am: The second 10-day signing is official, Dallas announced in a press release.
11:21pm: Mavs owner Mark Cuban said the team intends to sign James to a second 10-day deal, and then for the remainder of the season once that pact expires, Dwain Price of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets.
THURSDAY, 1:15pm: The Mavericks have reached agreement on a second 10-day contract with center Bernard James, league sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). James’ current 10-day deal is scheduled to expire on Saturday.
James had been playing with the Yao Ming-owned Shanghai Sharks since shortly after the Mavs waived him at the end of the preseason, but the Sharks failed to make the Chinese Basketball Association playoffs, allowing the 30-year-old big man to become a free agent and circle back to Dallas.
James recently told Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News that the time he spent overseas with the Sharks made him a better player.
“It was huge,” James said. “It kind of got me back to feeling like myself again. I’m not hesitating. I’m believing in my game. It was good to play major minutes and having a team really rely on me.“
James appeared in one game for the Mavs before the All-Star break, scoring 9 points and grabbing 3 boards against the Jazz.
Pistons Sign Quincy Miller To 10-Day Deal
SATURDAY, 11:10am: The signing is official, the Pistons announced in a press release.
THURSDAY, 5:39pm: The Pistons agreed to sign Quincy Miller to a 10-day contract on Saturday, agent Jared Karnes tells Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Miller and the Kings had been set to talk after the All-Star break about a deal that would cover the rest of the season, but it appears there’s been a change of plans for the 38th overall pick in the 2012 draft. The Pistons are juggling their roster amid their deal to acquire Reggie Jackson.
The Pacers, Hawks, Spurs, Thunder and Clippers were all reportedly interested in Miller before he joined the Kings on a pair of 10-day deals, and he had a workout set with the Lakers earlier this season. He averaged 2.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in 10.2 minutes per game across six appearances with Sacramento.
Miller put up strong numbers in the D-League with Sacramento’s affiliate earlier this season, averaging 25.3 PPG and 7.6 RPG in 28.9 MPG across 15 appearances. That helped rehabilitate his value after the Nuggets cut him loose at the end of the preseason after failing to find a trade partner.
Sixers Sign Tim Frazier To 2nd 10-Day Deal
FRIDAY, 3:44pm: The signing is official, the team announced in a press release.
THURSDAY, 3:57pm: The Sixers intend to sign guard Tim Frazier to a second 10-day contract, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). The point guard appeared in three games with Philadelphia, averaging five points, 4.7 rebounds, and 8.7 assists per game during his first 10-day deal.
Frazier had been playing for the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics’ D-League affiliate, prior to inking his first 10-day deal with Philly. In 27 D-League games this season, Frazier averaged 15.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 8.9 assists in 35.8 minutes per contest. His slash line was .450/.271/.783.
The 24-year-old went undrafted out of Penn State in 2014, and had worked out for both the Wolves and the Celtics this past summer. The 6’1″ guard had attended training camp with Boston, but was waived before opening night.
Spurs Sign Reggie Williams For Rest Of Season
FRIDAY, 1:52pm: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
THURSDAY, 3:47pm: The Spurs have reached an agreement with guard Reggie Williams on a deal for him to remain in San Antonio for the remainder of the season, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). Williams recently completed his second 10-day contract with the Spurs.
The 28-year-old Williams was with the Heat on a training camp deal earlier this season, but he failed to make the opening night roster and then caught on with the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s D-League affiliate, last month. When initially signed by San Antonio, Williams had taken the place of JaMychal Green, with whom the Spurs failed to reach agreement on a new deal after his initial 10-day arrangement had expired.
In three appearances for the Spurs this season, Williams has averaged 0.7 points in 3.7 minutes of action per game. His career numbers are 8.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists. Williams’ career slash line is .459/.368/.745.