Transactions Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Magic Sign Curry, Batts, Crawford For Camp

September 29th, 2014 at 10:40am CST by Chuck Myron

SEPTEMBER 29TH: All three deals are official, the team announced via press release.

SEPTEMBER 16TH: The Magic are bringing one-year veteran Seth Curry and the undrafted Kadeem Batts and Drew Crawford to camp, according to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). They’ll join fellow camp invitee Peyton Siva, who reportedly agreed to his deal in July. Orlando still has cap space available, but while it could give one or all of Curry, Batts and Crawford more than the minimum, it seems unlikely the team would do that. Siva received a partial guarantee in his pact, so it’s a distinct possibility that the other three will see at least nominal guarantees as part of their contracts.

Curry had reportedly been weighing overseas opportunities earlier this summer, but he’ll be in an NBA camp for the second straight autumn after joining his brother, Stephen Curry with the Warriors for the 2013 preseason. Seth Curry later resurfaced briefly with the Grizzlies and on a 10-day contract with the Cavs, but he saw action in just two NBA regular season games and spent most of the season in the D-League.

Batts, a 6’9″ power forward, spent the past four seasons playing at Providence, where he put up 12.3 points and 7.4 rebounds in 30.6 minutes per game as a senior before joining the Magic’s summer league team in July. He put up 9.3 PPG and 5.3 RPG in 19.8 MPG for the summer Magic.

Crawford, like Curry, has NBA bloodlines, since he’s the son of NBA referee Danny Crawford. The younger Crawford comes from Northwestern, where he put up 15.7 PPG and 6.4 RPG in 36.6 MPG as a senior. The 6’5″ shooting guard spent summer league with the Pelicans, averaging just 2.0 PPG and 1.8 RPG in 11.8 MPG.

The Magic had been carrying 16 deals, including 14 fully guaranteed pacts. That leaves Siva’s partially guaranteed arrangement and a non-guaranteed contract for Dewayne Dedmon that becomes partially guaranteed for $250K if he makes it to opening night.

Magic Sign Peyton Siva

September 29th, 2014 at 10:39am CST by Ryan Raroque

SEPTEMBER 29TH: The team followed up with a formal announcement via press release, finally making the deal official.

JULY 29TH: Free agent point guard Peyton Siva has agreed to a deal with the Magic, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The 23-year-old guard recently participated in NBA summer league competition for the Pistons before being waived two weeks ago. According to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, it appears that Siva will be brought to training camp on a partially-guaranteed contract before eventually being waived and sent to Orlando’s D-League affiliate in Erie. The money from the partial guarantee will be used to supplement his D-League salary (Twitter links).

With the ability of Victor Oladipo to play point guard and the addition of playmaker Elfrid Payton via the draft, there doesn’t appear to be much room left for another young point guard on Orlando’s roster. The team also added veterans Luke Ridnour and Ben Gordon via free agency and traded for shooting guard Evan Fournier, which more or less has the team set in their backcourt rotation. It seems likely that the Magic would look to keep Siva’s rights in the D-League, which would keep him away from the D-League draft if the former Louisville star indeed decided to sign an NBDL contract. The partial guarantee could be an incentive to entice Siva to play for the Bayhawks rather than head to Europe for a more lucrative salary.

After being drafted 56th overall in 2013, the Andy Miller client played out the 2013/14 season for Detroit on a partially guaranteed deal, appearing in a total of 24 games. Siva averaged 2.3 PPG and 1.4 APG in 9.3 MPG, shooting just 31.6% from the field and 28.0% from long range.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Wizards Officially Announce Six Camp Deals

September 29th, 2014 at 9:22am CST by Chuck Myron

The Wizards have officially announced the signings of Vander Blue, Xavier Silas, David Stockton, Rasual Butler, Damion James and Daniel Orton. The team statement is an acknowledgement of reports regarding all six, all of whom had already agreed to join the team for training camp.

They’re all non-guaranteed arrangements for the minimum salary. The length of Orton’s deal is unclear, but the rest are on one-year contracts, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, so that makes them eligible for Exhibit 9 Contracts that limit the team’s liability if they’re injured during training camp.

The group of six joins 13 Wizards with fully guaranteed pacts, along with Glen Rice Jr., whose minimum salary pact is partially guaranteed for $400K, roughly half its value. A report from J. Michael of CSNWashington last week seemed to indicate that James and Silas had an edge for the team’s 15th regular season roster spot, though Michael wrote earlier that there’s a decent chance the team won’t carry a full complement of players for opening night.

Earl Watson To Retire

September 29th, 2014 at 8:54am CST by Chuck Myron

Point guard Earl Watson is retiring as a player and will become a coach for the D-League affiliate of the Spurs, reports Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer. The 35-year-old spent 13 seasons in the NBA after the SuperSonics drafted him 39th overall in 2001, and the Mark Bartelstein client played out a one-year guaranteed contract for the minimum salary with the Trail Blazers last season.

The former UCLA Bruin mounted a darkhorse campaign to fill the Jazz’s head coaching vacancy this offseason, picking up an endorsement from Gordon Hayward, but it’s unclear if Watson received an interview for the job that went to Quin Snyder. In any case, Watson will join the reigning champs despite never having played for San Antonio. He instead appeared with the Grizzlies, Nuggets, Thunder, Pacers and Jazz in addition to his time with the Sonics and Blazers. His best performance came with the Sonics in 2007/08, Seattle’s final year of NBA basketball, when he averaged 10.7 points and 6.8 assists against 2.2 turnovers in 29.1 minutes per game while shooting 37.1% from behind the arc.

That was the only season in which he had a double-digit scoring average, and one of just two years in which he started more than half of his team’s games. Still, Watson racked up nearly $42.8MM over his playing career, according to Basketball-Reference.

Sixers Claim Chris Johnson Off Waivers

September 28th, 2014 at 9:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

9:11pm: The claim is official, according to the RealGM transactions log.

4:37pm: The Sixers have claimed Chris Johnson off of waivers, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Johnson, not to be confused with the player of the same name on the Heat, was waived by the Celtics on Thursday as Boston began paring down their roster to the maximum of 20 players. This move brings Philadelphia’s roster count to 21, so they will have to release someone in order to add Johnson.

This move continues the trend of the Sixers adding young, minimum salary players for their season-long quest for the No. 1 overall draft pick. Johnson will compete for minutes at small forward, and with a strong training camp it’s conceivable that Johnson could end up contributing as a rotation piece during the regular season.

In 48 career games Johnson’s numbers are 5.8 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 0.7 APG. His career slash line is .402/.338/.844.

Cavs Sign Chris Crawford, Shane Edwards

September 28th, 2014 at 11:00am CST by Chuck Myron

SUNDAY, 11:00am: The signings are official, the team announced.

SATURDAY, 6:22pm: The Cavs are set to sign Chris Crawford and Shane Edwards for training camp, reports Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Lloyd also confirms an earlier report that team will ink Stephen Holt. It’s a non-guaranteed one-year deal for Crawford, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. Crawford had a partial guarantee of $20K on his original two-year deal that Cleveland waived on Thursday amid the team’s acquisition of Keith Bogans, one that threatened to push the team into tax territory. With Bogans off to Philadelphia, it appears Cleveland is circling back to the undrafted guard from the University of Memphis. The team is limited to giving out only the minimum salary to any of its signees, but it’s unclear if there are any guarantees involved for Edwards and Holt.

Crawford, who’ll turn 22 next week, was with the Rockets in summer league after experiencing a dip in scoring in his senior year this season. He put up 10.4 points per game as a junior but just 8.7 PPG as a senior, despite seeing more minutes in his last year with Memphis. Edwards, 27, was briefly with the Cavs last season on a 10-day contract, and he made it into two games for about 12 minutes total. He spent most of last season with Cleveland’s D-League team, averaging 14.2 points and 5.4 rebounds in 28.9 minutes per game.

The Cavs had been carrying 15 players, so the additions of Holt, Crawford and Edwards will put them over the regular season roster limit. Each will face an uphill battle to make it to opening night, though Cleveland only has guaranteed money on the books with 13 players, not including the partial guarantee in Crawford’s old contract.

Hornets Sign Jason Maxiell

September 28th, 2014 at 10:02am CST by Chuck Myron

SUNDAY, 10:02am: The signing is official, the team announced via a press release.

FRIDAY, 7:55pm: The signing has been completed, as is shown in the RealGM transactions log.

THURSDAY, 2:13pm: The Hornets will sign big man Jason Maxiell to a non-guaranteed contract, reports Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter links). Charlotte has the capacity to give more than the minimum salary, though that seems unlikely if the nine-year vet isn’t receiving any guaranteed money.

The 31-year-old Andy Miller client has been a free agent since shortly after the Magic waived him in July rather than assure him of the $2.5MM non-guaranteed salary that was in his deal for the coming season. Maxiell saw significantly less playing time in Orlando than he had during most of his eight seasons with Detroit, and he didn’t seem to garner much attention on the market this summer, aside from a preliminary inquiry from the Heat.

I figured there was a decent chance that Maxiell would wind up looking overseas in search of guaranteed salary when I examined his free agent stock, but it looks like he’ll try to make the Hornets instead. Charlotte only has guaranteed money on the books for 14 players, so Maxiell appears to have a fairly clear path to opening night if he can beat out fellow camp invitees Justin Cobbs, Dallas Lauderdale and Brian Qvale.

Cavs Trade Keith Bogans To Sixers

September 27th, 2014 at 2:07pm CST by Eddie Scarito

2:07pm: The trade is official, the Cavs announced. The terms of the deal are that the Cavs send Bogans and their 2018 second round pick to the Sixers for Philly’s 2015 second-rounder (protected for picks 31-50 and 56-60), though Cleveland won’t see the pick if the Sixers have to give it to the Celtics to satisfy an existing debt from previous trades. Cleveland also announced the creation of a traded player exception worth approximately $5.3MM. It’ll be precisely $5,285,817, equivalent to the value of Bogans’ salary.

1:52pm: The second-rounder headed to Philadelphia is Cleveland’s 2018 pick, Lloyd writes. There is no mention of any protections being attached, though the second round pick headed the Cavs most likely will have heavy enough protections that Cleveland is unlikely to ever make that pick.

1:11pm: The Cavs will receive a future second-rounder from the Sixers with protections attached, Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal reports (Twitter link).

12:50pm: The Cavaliers have reached an agreement to trade newly acquired Keith Bogans to the Sixers, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports. The deal will send Bogans along with a future second-rounder to Philly and create a $5.3MM trade exception for the Cavs in the process. It’s unclear what Cleveland will receive in return, and it may just be the exception that they essentially net from this deal.

Cavs GM David Griffin had said yesterday that acquiring Bogans was about “contract flexibility,” and it didn’t take long for him to cash in the chip that Bogans’ non-guaranteed deal provided him. On Thursday Cleveland had traded the non-guaranteed contracts of Erik Murphy, John Lucas III and Malcolm Thomas, along with Cavs’ 2016 and 2017 second round picks, for Bogans and the Kings’ 2015 and 2017 second-rounders, both of which are top-55 protected.

Assuming the Cavs don’t have to take back a player from the Sixers in order to close the deal, this will leave Cleveland with 15 players on their roster, with 11 carrying full guarantees, and two with partials. Ray Allen is still a possibility to end up with the Cavaliers, though he has numerous other opportunities for work, and hasn’t stated whether or not he intends to play this coming season yet.

As for the Sixers, they get a veteran shooting guard who is capable of starting for them, along with more draft picks, something Philly places high value on. Since Bogans is on a non-guaranteed deal there is little to no risk at giving him a shot at a rotation spot this season. He shouldn’t complicate the Sixers’ quest to nab the top pick in next year’s draft. This move will max out Philadelphia’s roster count at 20.

Suns Sign Joe Jackson

September 27th, 2014 at 11:36am CST by Zachary Links

SEPTEMBER 27TH, 11:36am: The signing is official, the team has announced.

SEPTEMBER 25TH, 11:02pm: The signing has taken place, as the RealGM transactions log indicates.

SEPTEMBER 8TH, 4:55pm: Joe Jackson, an undrafted point guard out of Memphis, is finalizing a free agent deal with the Suns, a league source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (via Twitter). Terms of the deal are not yet known.

Jackson worked out for the Wolves, Kings, Suns, Knicks, Rockets, Mavs, Grizzlies, and Jazz, but didn’t hear his name called in the 2014 Draft. Apparently, Jackson was able to step out in his June 3rd audition in front of Phoenix brass where he worked out alongside Jerami Grant, Ronald Roberts Jr. and Cam Bairstow.

The 6’0″ guard was ranked as the 49th best senior in his NCAA class by DraftExpreess. In 2013/14, Jackson averaged 14.4 PPG, 4.5 APG, and 3.6 RPG in 33.6 minutes per contest.

Suns Sign Barron, Prather

September 27th, 2014 at 11:34am CST by Chuck Myron

SEPTEMBER 27TH, 11:34am: The signings are official, the team has announced.

SEPTEMBER 25TH, 11:05pm: The signings have taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log.

AUGUST 26TH, 8:21am: The Suns have agreed to non-guaranteed deals with eight-year NBA veteran Earl Barron and undrafted rookie Casey Prather that will allow the pair to join the team for camp, reports Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. They’re almost certainly on minimum-salary arrangements in spite of Phoenix’s ample cap flexibility.

The deal is Barron’s first in the NBA after he signed with the Knicks for the final game of the regular season and the playoffs in 2013. He didn’t see any postseason action that year, appearing in just that lone regular season game, and while the Knicks were reportedly split on bringing him back for last year’s camp, they decided against it, and he spent the season playing in China and Lebanon instead.

Prather made his first contact with the Suns through a predraft workout, though he spent summer league with the Hawks. The small forward from Florida entered the draft as the 83rd-best prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and No. 95 on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com board after a breakout senior season with the Gators. His 13.8 points in 27.9 minutes per game represented the first double-digit scoring average of his college career.

Barron and Prather will join 13 other Suns, all of whom have guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show. That doesn’t include Eric Bledsoe or second-round pick Alec Brown, though the Suns could make room for them if they cut Barron, Prather or both before opening night.