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The Washington Wizards announced today that they have traded guard/forward Sheldon Mac to Atlanta for a protected 2019 second round pick.
Mac, who underwent surgery to repair a torn left Achilles tendon in October, has not appeared in a game this season. He averaged 3.0 points and 1.1 rebounds in 30 games for the Wizards last season after signing as an undrafted free agent.
The Cavs have traded Dwyane Wade to the Heat in exchange for a protected 2024 second-round draft pick.
The trade also creates a traded player exception for the Cavaliers in the amount of approximately $1.5 million.
“We would like to thank Dwyane for everything he brought to this team and to the Cleveland community during his time in Northeast Ohio,” said Cavs General Manager Koby Altman. “A definite Hall of Famer when his playing career is complete, his basketball legacy is cemented by how he carries himself both on and off the floor. His work ethic and commitment to the game of basketball with such an illustrious career was greatly respected by his Cavs teammates and everyone in our front office. We wish Dwyane nothing but the best in his return to Miami, where he established himself as one the NBA’s all-time elite players.”
“We feel that Dwyane can help our team in so many ways,” said HEAT President Pat Riley. “It is a beautiful moment for us, for the city and for the fans. All of us embrace it in the manner that we want to win and that’s why we brought Dwyane back home. We look forward to having a great end of season run as we fight for the playoffs.”
Wade, a three-time NBA Champion with the HEAT, played 12 seasons in Miami, appearing in 855 regular season games (845 starts) averaging 23.7 points, 5.8 assists, 4.8 rebounds, 1.65 steals and 35.7 minutes while shooting 48.8 percent from the field. The 12-time NBA All-Star is the HEAT’s all-time leader in points (20,221), field goals made (7,325), free throws made (5,185), double-figure scoring efforts (816), assists (4,944), steals (1,414), starts, games played and minutes played (30,560). He also ranks among the HEAT’s all-time leaders in blocks (2nd, 759), total rebounds (4th, 4,126), defensive rebounds (4th, 3,051), offensive rebounds (5th, 1,076), double-doubles (5th, 121), field goal percentage (7th, .488) and three-point field goals made (7th, 386). Additionally, Wade, the 2006 NBA Finals MVP, has appeared in 166 career postseason games (all starts) with the HEAT averaging 22.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.57 steals, 1.00 blocks and 38.4 minutes while shooting 47.7 percent from the field.
Hammons, who was acquired on July 7, 2017, did not appear in a game with the HEAT this season. He did appear in 25 games (14 starts) with Miami’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, this season and averaged 8.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.96 blocks and 20.2 minutes while shooting 53.6 percent from the field.
The Brooklyn Nets have acquired forward Dante Cunningham from the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Rashad Vaughn.
Cunningham (6’8”, 230), currently in his ninth NBA season, has played in 51 games (24 starts) for the Pelicans this season, posting averages of 5.0 points and 3.8 rebounds in 21.9 minutes per game. Selected out of Villanova University by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 33rd overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, Cunningham holds career NBA averages of 6.0 points and 3.8 rebounds in 21.5 minutes per contest in 629 games with Portland, Charlotte, Memphis, Minnesota and New Orleans.
Vaughn appeared in one game for Brooklyn after being acquired on Feb. 5 from Milwaukee.
The Dallas Mavericks have signed guard Kyle Collinsworth.
Collinsworth (6-6, 210) has averaged 2.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 10.5 minutes per game in 11 games for Dallas this season. He originally signed a two-way contract with the Mavericks on Dec. 19 but was waived by the team on Jan. 10. He then signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the club on Jan. 13 and 24.
The former BYU guard has also played in 56 games (35 starts) for the Mavericks’ G-League affiliate, the Texas Legends, over the past two seasons (2016-18). In 20 games (19 starts) for the Legends in 2017-18, he averaged 11.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.8 steals in 35.6 minutes per game.
In his most recent appearance for Texas, Collinsworth recorded a triple-double with 10 points, a game-high 11 rebounds and a team-high 10 assists in the Legends’ 111-102 win over the Windy City Bulls on Feb. 2.
After going undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft, Collinsworth competed for Dallas at the 2016 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. He spent the 2016 preseason with the Mavericks before being waived by the team on Oct. 22, 2016.
A native of Provo, Utah, Collinsworth played four years at BYU and averaged 12.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.6 steals and 30.9 minutes per game in 140 games. He was a three-time First Team All-WCC selection (2014-16) and set the NCAA career triple-double record with 12.
Here’s the Miami Herald reporting on one veteran happy to have a longtime buddy back on the Heat:
Nobody might be happier about Dwyane Wade coming back to the Miami Heat than Udonis Haslem.
In fact, go ahead and mark it down. Nobody is happier about Wade, 36, heading home than his best friend.
“I bet you probably want to hear me say I knew it all the time, don’t you?” Haslem said through a grin Thursday outside the Heat’s locker room inside AmericanAirlines Arena. “No, it’s good, man. I’m happy for him. I’m happy to have the opportunity to play the game of basketball with him and compete with him, to lead with him. The guys are excited about the opportunity. Hank is still doing his job from above.”
The Boston Celtics’ signing of center Greg Monroe became official today.
Multiple reports say it’s a one-year contract worth $5 million.
Waived by the Suns on February 1 after being acquired by via a trade with the Bucks on Nov. 7, Monroe is averaging 10.4 points (60.1% FG), 7.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 21.8 minutes in 25 games (14 starts) this season. The New Orleans, LA native recorded 11.3 points on 62.6% shooting and 8.0 rebounds in addition to his six double-doubles in 20 games with the Suns.
Originally drafted by Detroit with the seventh overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, Monroe has produced career averages of 13.9 points (51.4% FG, 70.4% FT), 8.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 29.3 minutes in 563 games (415 starts) with the Pistons, Bucks and Suns.
Monroe recorded a scoring average of at least 15.0 points in five consecutive seasons from 2011-12 to 2015-16, making him one of five NBA centers to accomplish that feat during the same timeframe (Aldridge, Bosh, Cousins, B. Lopez). He has finished each of his last six seasons with a scoring average in double figures.
A two-year collegiate standout at Georgetown University, Monroe hauled in a career-best 10.2 rebounds in 69 games for Detroit in 2014-15 in what stands as his only NBA season with a double-double average (15.9 ppg).
Monroe will wear no. 55 for the Celtics.
The Chicago Bulls in a trade today acquired Willie Reed and the right to swap second-round picks in the 2022 NBA Draft from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Jameer Nelson.
In an immediate subsequent move, the Bulls waived Reed.
Nelson, 6-0, 190, has averaged 11.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 28.0 minutes in 871 career NBA games with Orlando, Dallas, Boston, Denver and New Orleans. A 13-year NBA veteran, he’s played in 44 career playoff games and averaged 15.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists. Selected 20th overall in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Nuggets, Nelson was part of a draft-day trade that sent him to the Magic where he played 10 seasons, including from 2007-12 for head coach Stan Van Gundy. A 2009 NBA All-Star, he averaged a career-best 16.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.2 steals during the 2008-09 season and helped the Magic reach the 2009 NBA Finals.
A native of Chester, PA., Nelson played collegiately at Saint Joseph’s University where he was named the Consensus National Player of the Year as a senior (2003-04) by earning the Associated Press, Wooden, Naismith, Rupp, Robertson and Chevrolet Player of the Year Awards, after leading the Hawks to a perfect regular season (27-0), the school’s first #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a trip to the Elite Eight. Nelson averaged 20.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 3.0 steals as a senior in 32 games. He was also chosen as Player of the Year by The Sporting News, ESPN.com, SI.com and Foxsports.com and garnered First Team All-America selection and Atlantic 10 Player of the Year.
Reed, 27, was acquired from the L.A. Clippers on January 29, 2018. He saw action in three games with the Pistons and averaged 0.7 points and 0.3 rebounds. The 6-foot-11 center has career averages of 4.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in 152 games with Brooklyn, Miami and Detroit. The former Saint Louis University product averaged 5.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 0.66 blocks and 14.5 minutes in 71 games with the Miami HEAT last season while shooting 56.8 percent from the field.
The Miami Heat have traded Okaro White to the Atlanta Hawks for Luke Babbitt.
Babbitt, who was originally acquired by the HEAT on July 10, 2016, has appeared in 37 games (nine starts) with the Hawks this season averaging 6.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 15.4 minutes while shooting 47.6 percent from the field, 44.1 percent from three-point range and 77.3 percent from the foul line. He led Atlanta in three-point field goal percentage (minimum 50 attempts) and shot at least 50 percent from beyond the arc in 17 games this season. In his lone season in Miami during the 2016-17 campaign, he made a single-season career-high 87 three-point field goals and hit multiple treys in a game 23 times, also a single-season career best.
Babbitt has appeared in 368 career NBA regular season games (102 starts) during his eight-year career averaging 4.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 14.1 minutes while shooting 41.3 percent from the floor, 41 percent from three-point range and 74.7 percent from the foul line. Including this season, Babbitt has shot at least 40 percent from downtown in four consecutive seasons.
White, who was originally signed by the HEAT as a free agent on July 15, 2016, has appeared in 41 career games with Miami (four starts) averaging 2.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 13.4 minutes while shooting 38.8 percent from the field. He appeared in six games with the HEAT this season before having surgery on November 16 to repair a fifth metatarsal fracture in his left foot.
UPDATE: The Atlanta Hawks, after the above trade, requested waivers on forward Okaro White.
The Los Angeles Lakers have acquired guard Isaiah Thomas, forward Channing Frye and a top-three-protected 2018 first round draft pick from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for guard Jordan Clarkson and forward Larry Nance Jr., it was announced today by General Manager Rob Pelinka.
Thomas appeared in 15 games (14 starts) for Cleveland this season, averaging 14.7 points, 4.5 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 27.1 minutes. The two-time NBA All-Star (2015-17) owns career averages of 19.0 points (.441 FG%), 5.1 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 456 career games (323 starts). In 2016-17, Thomas earned All-NBA Second Team honors when he averaged a career-high 28.9 points (.463 FG%) per game.
Drafted eighth overall by New York in 2005, Frye has played in 845 career games (439 starts) for New York, Portland, Phoenix, Orlando and Cleveland, with averages of 9.0 points (.442 FG%, .387 3FG), 4.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. The 2016 NBA Champion appeared in 44 games (one start) for the Cavaliers this season, notching 4.8 points (.497 FG%) and 2.5 rebounds in 12.4 minutes.
Clarkson (6-5, 194) has appeared in 53 games (two starts) for Los Angeles this season, averaging 14.5 points on .448 shooting from the field, 3.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 23.7 minutes per game. He ranks second in the NBA in points per game off the bench (14.4) and has scored in double figures 39 times in 2017-18, including 12 games with 20 points or more. The 6-5 guard has averaged double figures in scoring in each of his four seasons, owning career averages of 14.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 28.1 minutes over 273 games (138 starts). The fourth-year guard from Missouri was the 46th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by Washington before being traded on draft night to the Lakers, where he went on to earn NBA All-Rookie First Team honors.
Nance Jr. (6-9, 230) has played in 42 contests (17 starts) for the Lakers in 2017-18, averaging career highs in points per game (8.6), field goal percentage (.601), rebounds per game (6.8) and steals per game (1.40) in 22.0 minutes. He has six double-doubles and has scored in double figures on 17 occasions this season. The Akron, Ohio native was the 27th overall pick out of Wyoming by Los Angeles in the 2015 NBA Draft and owns career averages of 6.9 points on .547 shooting, 5.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.16 steals in 21.6 minutes per game.