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The New Orleans Pelicans have signed guard Dereon Seabron to a two-way contract.
Seabron, 6-7, 180, appeared in five games off the bench this season with New Orleans. Originally signed to a two-way contract on September 9, Seabron appeared in 28 games (25 starts) with the Pelicans’ G League affiliate, the Birmingham Squadron. Seabron averaged 17.8 points, 5.1 assists, and 4.8 rebounds in 33.3 minutes per contest.
New Orleans’ roster now stands at 17 players, including two two-way players.
The Houston Rockets have signed free agent center Willie Cauley-Stein.
Cauley-Stein (7-0, 240) was briefly with the Rockets during the preseason before joining their NBA G League affiliate Rio Grande Valley. He signed a 10-day contract with Houston on Feb. 27 and rejoined the Vipers following that stint. Rio Grande Valley advanced to the G League Finals, which concluded on Thursday.
In 422 career NBA games with 256 starts, Cauley-Stein has averaged 8.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 22.0 minutes per game. He is shooting 54.4% from the floor for his career, including 59.0% over the past three seasons.
The Utah Jazz have signed forward/center Vernon Carey Jr.
Carey Jr. (6-9, 270, Duke) spent the 2022-23 season with the Washington Wizards and the Wizards’ G League affiliate, Capital City Go-Go, seeing action with the Wizards in 11 contests. With Capital City, the 22-year-old played in 14 games (all starts), averaging 20.7 points on 61.9 percent from the field, along with 8.3 boards, and 1.9 assists in 27.6 minutes per game.
Drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in the second round of the 2020 NBA Draft (32nd overall), the Miami, Fla., native has three years of NBA experience with Charlotte (2020-21) and Washington (2021-23), having appeared in 37 games (five starts), owning career averages of 1.9 points and 1.4 boards in 5.1 minutes per contest.
Carey Jr. played one collegiate season at Duke (2019-20), where he averaged 17.8 points on 57.7 percent from the field, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks in 31 games, earning 2019-20 Consensus All-America Second Team Honors, the NABC Freshman of the Year Award, ACC Rookie and Freshman of the Year honors, and was named to the All-ACC First Team.
The Memphis Grizzlies have signed forward/center Kenneth Lofton Jr. to a multi-year contract.
In related moves, the Grizzlies signed guard Jacob Gilyard to a two-way contract and waived guard Kennedy Chandler.
Lofton Jr. (6-8, 275) was named the 2022-23 NBA G League Rookie of the Year after averaging 20.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 steals in 28.5 minutes in 17 regular season games (15 starts) for the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies’ NBA G League affiliate. The 20-year-old, who originally signed a two-way contract on July 1 following his sophomore year at Louisiana Tech, has made 23 appearances as a reserve for the Grizzlies and has averaged 3.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 5.9 minutes.
Gilyard (5-9, 160) competed in 31 regular season games (25 starts) for the Memphis Hustle this season and averaged 8.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, a league-leading 9.6 assists and 1.8 steals in 30.4 minutes. The 24-year-old, who set an NCAA Division I record for steals during his collegiate career at Richmond, recorded double-digit assists 22 times and posted eight double-doubles for the Hustle.
Chandler (6-0, 171) made 36 appearances as a reserve for the Grizzlies this season. The 20-year-old was selected 38th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft following his freshman season at Tennessee.
The Brooklyn Nets have signed forward RaiQuan Gray to a two-way contract.
Gray (6’7″, 260) was selected by Brooklyn with the 59th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft and has spent his first two professional seasons with Brooklyn’s NBA G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets. In 44 games (22 starts), he holds career averages of 10.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 25.8 minutes per contest while shooting 52.1 percent from the field, 31.7 percent from 3-point range and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line. This season, the 23-year-old appeared in 18 regular season games (all starts) with Long Island and averaged 15.4 points on 57.8 percent shooting from the floor and 38.2 percent shooting from beyond the arc to go with 7.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals in 30.6 minutes per game. Gray also played in 12 NBA G League Showcase Cup games (11 starts) and averaged 14.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.7 steals over 28.8 minutes per contest. He appeared in both of Long Island’s playoff games this season and posted a team-leading 25 points and seven rebounds in 35 minutes against Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native played three collegiate seasons (2018-21) at Florida State University, where he appeared in 90 games (52 starts) and averaged 6.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.0 steals in 18.7 minutes per contest. Gray earned Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention and All-ACC Third Team honors as a junior and helped lead the Seminoles to their first ever regular season ACC Championship in 2020 as a sophomore.
Brooklyn’s roster now stands at 17 players.
The Brooklyn Nets have exercised the standard NBA contract conversion option for two-way guard David Duke Jr.
Duke Jr. (6’4″, 207) originally signed as a free agent with the Nets on Aug. 8, 2021, and had his contract converted to a two-way deal on Oct. 16, 2021. He then re-signed a two-way contract with Brooklyn on Sept. 16, 2022. In 43 games (seven starts) over two NBA seasons, Duke Jr. holds career averages of 4.0 points and 2.0 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per game. The Providence, R.I., native has appeared in 21 games off the bench for Brooklyn this season and is averaging 3.1 points and 1.0 rebounds in 8.6 minutes per contest.
The 23-year-old has also played in 35 career regular season games (all starts) for Brooklyn’s NBA G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, posting averages of 20.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.7 steals in 32.5 minutes per game. In 22 games with Long Island this season, Duke Jr. notched a team-leading 22.9 points (fifth in the NBA G League) on 47.8 percent shooting from the field, 32.1 percent shooting from 3-point range and 80.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line, to go with 6.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.9 steals (10th in the NBA G League) in a team-high 34.2 minutes per game. He earned a selection to the 2023 NBA G League Next Up Game during NBA All-Star Weekend, which featured this season’s top NBA G League performers, and finished third in the 2022-23 Kia NBA G League Most Valuable Player award voting. Duke Jr. also appeared in seven NBA G League Showcase games and played in two postseason games for Long Island this season, averaging 21.6 and 16.0 points per game, respectively.
Prior to joining Brooklyn, Duke Jr. played three collegiate seasons (2018-21) in his hometown at Providence College, where he featured in 91 games (all starts) and was an All-Big East Second Team and Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention selection as a junior.
Brooklyn’s roster now stands at 16 players.
The Boston Celtics have signed forward Justin Champagnie from the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the G League affiliate of the Miami Heat.
Champagnie, a 6’6” forward, appeared in 39 games over two seasons with the Toronto Raptors from 2021-23, where he averaged 2.2 points and 1.9 rebounds in 7.5 minutes per game, while shooting 48.6 percent from the field.
The Brooklyn native averaged 18.2 points and 8.0 rebounds in 31.3 minutes through 23 games (15 starts) with the Skyforce this season.
The University of Pittsburgh product averaged 14.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 1.1 steals in 53 games (46 starts) before declaring for the 2021 NBA Draft after his sophomore season. Champagnie was named to the 2020-21 All-ACC First Team after averaging 18.4 points, 11.1 rebounds and leading the conference with 13 double-doubles.
Champagnie was the first Pitt player to earn First Team All-ACC accolades, and became the first Panther to claim first team all-league honors since Ashton Gibbs (2011).
New Orleans Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin announced the following update on forward Zion Williamson:
“After further evaluation, it has been determined that Zion Williamson will continue his rehabilitation and conditioning regimen. We will continue to monitor his progression and updates will be provided as warranted.”
The Pelicans are 41-39 this season, which ties them with the Lakers for the 7th best record in the Western conference.
Williamson has played in 29 games, averaging a very impressive 26.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists per outing. He’s a big-time star. When healthy.
The NBA today denied the Dallas Mavericks’ protest of their 127-125 loss to the Golden State Warriors on March 22, 2023.
FROM THE LEAGUE:
The Mavericks’ protest asserted that, with approximately two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the officials did not properly administer an out-of-bounds call and a subsequent throw-in that was followed by an uncontested basket by Golden State. But the incident occurred with nearly 14 minutes remaining in the game, and Dallas thereafter took the lead twice in the final four minutes. Under these circumstances, Dallas was not able to show — as required under the standard for NBA game protests — that it was deprived of a fair opportunity to win the game, and the protest failed on that basis alone.
Following the game, Dallas Governor Mark Cuban posted on Twitter that the officials had originally awarded possession to Dallas on the play and then during the timeout changed the call. Those public statements were inaccurate, and in its written submission in support of its protest, Dallas agreed that the referee signaled possession to Golden State.
The NBA concluded that although the game officials could have taken steps to better manage this particular situation, that did not provide a basis for the extraordinary remedy of upholding a game protest.
The Brooklyn Nets have unveiled their 2023-24 Nike NBA City Edition Uniform, created with renowned Brooklyn-based artist KAWS. The uniform was designed as part of a two-year partnership between the Nets and the artist, making this the first-time KAWS has collaborated with a professional sports team.
PER THE TEAM:
The Nets’ newest City Edition uniform mixes authentic details and some of the most notable elements of KAWS’ work, including:
Taking inspiration from KAWS’ 10-part artwork, “TENSION,” the overall uniform design is evocative of the artist’s signature eye-catching abstract paintings, accented by a bold color palette.
KAWS’ signature “XX” design motif is prominently featured on the waistband of the shorts.
The NETS lettering across the chest of the jersey is inspired by the artist’s graphic style with the remixed Nets logo on the shorts given the same treatment.
KAWS’ autograph is woven into the jersey directly above the jock tag.
The Brooklyn Nets have unveiled their 2023-24 NBA City Edition Uniform, created with Brooklyn-based artist KAWS: pic.twitter.com/lr3ZdbNeib
— InsideHoops (@InsideHoops) April 6, 2023