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The Washington Wizards announced their opening night roster, with the season beginning Wednesday, Oct. 25, in Indiana against the Pacers.
Washington added John Butler Jr. in its final two-way spot and waived Xavier Cooks and Taj Gibson to bring the final roster to 18.
The Indiana Pacers have signed forward Aaron Nesmith to a contract extension.
Nesmith’s deal is reportedly a three-year, $33 million extension.
“Since Aaron Nesmith’s arrival a year and a half ago, he has continually and consistently grown to become a respected teammate and an important part of what we’re building here,” said President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard.
Per the Indianapolis Star, “Monday was the last day rookie scale contracts could be extended for players in the 2020 draft class heading into the final year of their four-year deals. The Pacers extended All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton’s deal, as soon as possible when the clock struck midnight on July 1 when he signed a five-year deal that could pay him up to $260 million.”
“Aaron continues to selflessly accept and succeed in every role that has been asked of him, all for the overall benefit of our team’s success, and given his trajectory to this point, we’re looking forward to a bright future with him.”
The New Orleans Pelicans yesterday waived Izaiah Brockington, Jalen Crutcher, Malcolm Hill, Trey Jemison and Tevian Jones.
Additionally, the Pelicans have been awarded the two-way contract of forward Matt Ryan off waivers.
Ryan, 6-7, has appeared in 35 career games with the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga product owns career averages of 3.6 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game while shooting .371 from deep.
The New Orleans roster now stands at 17, including three two-way players.
The Sacramento Kings yesterday exercised the third-year option on Keegan Murray and fourth-year options on Chris Duarte and Davion Mitchell, according to Kings General Manager Monte McNair.
The Kings acquired Duarte in July from the Indiana Pacers in exchange for a 2028 second-round pick and a 2030 second-round pick. Originally selected as the 13th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Duarte averaged 10.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists in two seasons with the Pacers.
Mitchell averaged 8.5 points and 3.2 assists shooting 42.9% from the field in his first two seasons in Sacramento. Selected by the Kings with the ninth overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Mitchell was named to the 2021-22 NBA Rising Stars team.
Selected fourth overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, Murray played 80 games (78 starts) during his rookie season with the Kings, averaging 12.2 points per game, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists through 29.8 minutes. Murray became the NBA’s All-Time Rookie 3-Point Leader with 206 3-pointers made.
The Atlanta Hawks yesterday exercised the fourth-year (2024-25) contract option on forward Jalen Johnson and the third-year (2024-25) option on guard AJ Griffin.
Johnson, the 20th overall selection in the 2021 NBA Draft by the Hawks, has appeared in 92 career games (six starts) tallying 4.9 points and 3.3 rebounds in 12.6 minutes (.496 FG%, .635 FT%). He has also appeared in eight playoff contests across two postseason runs with Atlanta, recording 3.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 8.1 minutes.
He saw action in 70 games (six starts) during the 2022-23 season, registering 5.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 14.9 minutes of play (.491 FG%, .628 FT%).
In his first career start on Dec. 2, 2022, against the Denver Nuggets, Johnson recorded his first career double-double, finishing with 10 points on 5-9 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds, four assists and one block in 33 minutes. He became the first Hawk to notch a point/rebound double-double in his first start with the club since John Collins did so on Nov. 22, 2017.
Griffin was selected by the Hawks with the No. 16 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. The second-year guard saw action in 72 games (12 starts) during his rookie campaign, notching 8.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 19.5 minutes (.465 FG%, .390 3FG%, .894 FT%). Griffin’s .390 mark from three-point range marked the second-highest clip amongst his rookie class (using same qualifiers for regular season leaders).
Named a 2023 Jordan Rising Star, Griffin connected on 101 total three-pointers during the 2022-23 season, the fifth-most by a member of his rookie class and the fourth-most by a Hawks rookie since the adoption of the three-point line. Griffin knocked down his 100th career triple in a win against Washington on April 5, 2023. At 19 years, 223 days, he became the third-youngest player in NBA history to bury 100 three-pointers, trailing only Kobe Bryant (19 years, 176 days) and Kevin Knox II (19 years, 218 days).
Griffin knocked down two buzzer-beating, game-winning shots during the 2022-23 campaign: Nov. 19 vs. Toronto and Dec. 11 vs. Chicago. Per Elias Sports, the 6-6 guard became the first Hawk over the last 25 seasons to have multiple buzzer-beating, game-winning shots in the same season.
The Boston Celtics have signed forward/center Nathan Knight to a two-way contract.
In a corresponding roster move the Celtics have waived guard Jay Scrubb.
Knight (6-10, 253) has appeared in 108 career games (two starts) with the Atlanta Hawks (2020-21) and Minnesota Timberwolves (2022-23). He owns career averages of 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per game while shooting 47.6 percent from the field.
The Syracuse, NY native was a three-time Lou Henson Mid-Major All-American (2018, 2019, 2020) during his four-year colligate career at William & Mary, where he averaged 17.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 125 games. During his senior year, Knight was named the Lou Henson National Player of the Year by CollegeInsider.com, which is presented annually to the nation’s top Division I mid-major player. He was also selected as the Basketball Times National Mid-Major Player of the Year and 2020 CAA Player of the Year.
Knight attended Nottingham High School in Syracuse, New York and finished his high school career at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire.
That’s your entire update in this blog entry!
Rest assured, future updates will be a bit more in-depth.
The Portland Trail Blazers have converted the contract of guard Justin Minaya to a two-way contract.
Minaya appeared in four games during the 2022-23 season for the Trail Blazers and averaged 4.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists in 22.3 minutes per game. Prior to joining the Trail Blazers, Minaya played in 27 games (25 starts) for the Mexico City Capitanes of the NBA G League, recording averages of 12.7 points (48.7% FG, 33.9% 3PT), 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.1 steals and 35.1 minutes during the 2022-23 season.
The Trail Blazers have also requested waivers on forward John Butler Jr., center George Conditt, forward Kevin Knox II and center Duop Reath.
The Utah Jazz have signed and subsequently waived guard Isaiah Miller.
Miller (6-0, 190, UNC Greensboro) spent the 2022-23 season with Utah’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, where he saw action in 29 games (four starts) and averaged 7.8 points and 4.2 rebounds during the regular season.
The Covington, Ga., native played with the Jazz entries at the 2022 Salt Lake City Summer League and NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, posting averages of 3.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.3 steals in four games.
The 25-year-old played four collegiate seasons at UNC Greensboro, where he saw action in 132 games (80 starts), tallying averages of 14.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 2.4 steals in 25.6 minutes per game. He earned Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors three times (2019-21), and the Southern Conference Player of the Year twice (2020-21).
The Portland Trail Blazers have claimed forward Ish Wainright off waivers.
During the 2022-23 season, Wainright appeared in 60 games (two starts) and averaged 4.2 points (37.0% FG, 32.9% 3-PT, 83.9% FT), 2.3 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 15.3 minutes per game for the Phoenix Suns. In two seasons, Wainright appeared in 105 games (two starts) and holds career averages of 3.4 points (37.8% FG, 32.8% 3-PT, 76.7% FT), 1.8 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.6 steals in 12.1 minutes per game for the Suns from 2021-23.