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Sixers forward Arnett Moultrie out for months after ankle surgery

Philadelphia 76ers forward Arnett Moultrie suffered an injury to the medial malleolus of his left ankle last week and underwent surgery on Thursday, September 26. Moultrie is not expected to return until some time in the new year.

The Sixers are rebuilding, and while their rotation for upcoming new season wasn’t quite clear yet, it was expected that Moultrie was going to play a solid role.

Sixers center Kwame Brown suffered a right hamstring strain during off-season workouts and will receive a second opinion.

DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings agree to contract extension

DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings agrees to contract extension

The Kings have reached an agreement on a contract extension with center DeMarcus Cousins for four years worth approximately $62 million.

The most Cousins was eligible for under the collective bargaining agreement was five years and $80 million.

The contract takes effect for the 2014-15 season.

The deadline for first-round draft picks from 2010 to agree to contract extensions is Oct. 31. If the Kings had not reached an agreement, they could not sign Cousins until an agreement until after this season.

Reported by Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee

Cousins deal will include no early termination option, which could’ve been possible after the third year of the deal, a source said.

After resisting the idea of giving Cousins a max deal without conditions in the contract, the Kings finally relented and gave the talented, but tempermental young center the offer he and his agent, Dan Fegan, had sought in negotiations.

Reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports

Steve Mills returns, Grunwald out as Knicks GM

Steve Mills is returning to the New York Knicks as president and general manager, replacing Glen Grunwald in a front-office shake-up just days before the start of training camp.

Mills spent a decade as an executive at Madison Square Garden and before that worked at the NBA for 16 years. He left MSG in 2009 after the arrival of Donnie Walsh as Knicks president.

Grunwald took over when Walsh left in 2011 and constructed much of the roster that helped the Knicks win a playoff series last season for the first time since 2000. He will remain with the organization as an adviser, the Knicks said in a release Thursday.

Madison Square Garden Chairman James Dolan called Mills ”a well-respected sports executive with a strong background in basketball, as well as a familiarity with NBA operations and our company.”

”We look forward to his leadership and believe he is the right person to help us reach our ultimate goal of winning an NBA championship,” Dolan said.

Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Timberwolves sign Lorenzo Brown, Robbie Hummel, Othyus Jeffers

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has signed 2013 second-round pick Lorenzo Brown. The Wolves also today signed Robbie Hummel and Othyus Jeffers.

Brown, a 6-5 guard, was selected by the Wolves with the 52nd overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft and appeared on the team’s 2013 Las Vegas Summer League team, averaging 8.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists. At North Carolina State, Brown started 95 of the 101 games he played during his three-year career and averaged 11.6 points. He left the Wolfpack as one of only three players in school history to record over 500 career assists (589). Brown was selected Second Team All-ACC as a junior and a Third-Team All-ACC as a sophomore. In 2012-13, he averaged 12.4 points and led the ACC in assists (7.2 apg – 6th in the nation) and ranked second in the conference in steals (2.0 spg).

Hummel, originally selected with the 59th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by Minnesota, heads to training camp with the Wolves after appearing on the team’s 2013 Las Vegas Summer League team, averaging 8.6 points and 5.8 rebounds. The 6-8 forward also spent time on the Wolves’ 2012 Las Vegas Summer League entry. He spent the 2012-13 season with Obradoiro CAB in the Spanish League where he averaged 10.1 points and 7.2 rebounds in 30 games. Hummel averaged 14.0 points and 6.8 rebounds in 127 games over his four-year collegiate career for the Purdue Boilermakers.

Jeffers, a 6-5 guard, played for the Wolves in the 2013 Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 8.2 points and 3.8 rebounds. Jeffers played for the Iowa Energy of the NBADL in 2012-13, averaging 14.7 points, on .486 shooting, 5.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists. In 2010-11, he played 16 games with the Washington Wizards, averaging 5.7 points and 4.1 rebounds, and saw action in one game with the San Antonio Spurs. That year, Jeffers played in 38 games for the Iowa Energy, averaging 21.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists. Jeffers split 2009-10 between Cantu in the Greek League, Iowa and the Utah Jazz. He appeared in 14 games with the Jazz, averaging 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds. He played in 47 games with Iowa in 2008-09, averaging 21.0 points, on .535 shooting, 9.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists en route to earning Rookie of the Year honors. He appeared in the 2009 and 2011 NBADL All-Star Games.

Today’s transactions bring the Wolves training camp roster to 17 players.

Grizzlies owner Robert Pera will play Tony Allen 1-on-1, for charity

Memphis Grizzlies Chairman and Controlling Owner Robert Pera will play Grizzlies guard Tony Allen in an exhibition game of one-on-one in the Coventry Health Care Practice Facility at FedExForum on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 4 p.m. Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph will officiate.

Pera and Allen agreed to the exhibition contest and to donate $100,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® to tip-off the 2013-14 season. The event will be streamed live at grizzlies.com and broadcast live on ESPN Radio 92.9 FM.

This event is closed to the public.

Atlanta Hawks will host open practice on October 5, 2013

The entire Atlanta Hawks roster and coaching staff will be tipping-off the 2013-14 season with an open practice on October 5, 2013 at Philips Arena. The event is free to the general public with doors at the CNN entrance opening at 4:00pm for a 5:00pm tip-off.

Open practice will consist of two teams of current Hawks players scrimmaging during three, 12-minute quarters. In-game elements for the day include a Q&A with Coach Budenholzer, play-by-play from the voice of the Hawks, Steve Holman, appearances by Atlanta Hawks cheerleaders and Harry the Hawk, and a 50/50 jackpot raffle benefitting the Atlanta Hawks Foundation.

The Hawks’ open Practice will also be streamed live on Hawks.com.

Lakers add Eric Boateng and Darius Johnson-Odom to training camp

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed center Eric Boateng and guard Darius Johnson-Odom, it was announced today.

Boateng, a free agent center out of Arizona State University, has split time over the last three seasons playing for the Idaho Stampede and the Austin Toros of the NBA’s Development League in addition to playing internationally for the Greek Basket League team Peristeri and the New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig in Germany. The 6-10 center, who played one year (2005-06) at Duke before transferring to Arizona State University (2007-10), finished his collegiate career averaging 4.3 points and 3.5 rebounds in 13.8 minutes over 116 games. Born in London, Boateng is also a member of the Great Britain national basketball team.

Johnson-Odom, the 55th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, was acquired by the Lakers from the Dallas Mavericks on draft night. The 6-2 guard out of Marquette appeared in four games for the Lakers last season, where he totaled four rebounds and one assist in six minutes. Johnson-Odom also played in 13 games for the Los Angeles D-Fenders where he averaged 21.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists in 39.8 minutes. After being waived by the Lakers in January, the Raleigh, North Carolina native spent the remainder of the 2012-13 season playing in Russia for BC Spartak Saint Petersburg.

Most recently, Johnson-Odom participated in the 2013 NBA Summer League games held in Orlando and Las Vegas. In three games as a member of the Boston Celtics summer league entry in Orlando, Johnson-Odom averaged 10.3 points and 1.3 assists in 23.7 minutes. In six games played as a member of Denver’s summer league team in Las Vegas, Johnson-Odom averaged 7.2 points and 3.0 assists in 15.8 minutes.

The Lakers training camp roster now stands at 18 players.

Utah Jazz waive guard Jerel McNeal

The Utah Jazz announced today that the team has waived guard Jerel McNeal. Following the move, Utah’s roster now stands at 13 players.

McNeal (6-3, 200, Marquette), whose first name is pronounced Jah-rell, was originally signed by the Jazz to a 10-day contract on March 27 from the NBA Development League’s Bakersfield Jam, then signed for the remainder of the 2012-13 season on April 6.

McNeal did not appear in a game for the Jazz.

Gerald Wallace yet to show himself as a Celtic

Back in July, when the Boston Celtics formally introduced the players acquired from the Brooklyn Nets as part of this summer’s nine-player blockbuster swap, small forward Gerald Wallace was absent, excused from the press conference to attend the start of his youth basketball camp in his native Alabama.

Seventy-three days later, with training camp less than a week away, the former All-Star still hasn’t made an appearance at his new basketball home. So when a reporter noted to Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge on Tuesday that Wallace remains an intriguing figure because he hasn’t spoken to the media, Ainge smiled and offered, “I’m right there with you. I’m anxious to meet Gerald.”

The two crossed paths briefly a lifetime ago, when Wallace was a fresh-faced rookie in Sacramento and Ainge was doing TV work. Now, Ainge is presiding over his second Boston rebuild and 31-year-old Wallace is the heftiest contract on his books (three years, $30.3 million).

Reported by Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston

Nick Young or Wesley Johnson may be starter at SF for Lakers

The former USC and Cleveland High of Reseda standout revealed D’Antoni’s intentions that both he and Wesley Johnson are spending part of training camp competing for the starting spot at small forward.

“I think it’s going to be a little bit of both,” Young said. “Wesley is young and athletic and could fit in that Shawn Marion type game. That’s what they like about him.”

They like Young, of course, because of his athleticism and scoring mentality. Meanwhile, the Lakers see potential in Johnson as a solid perimeter defender. Still, the fourth selection in the 2010 NBA Draft has only averaged 7.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 23.1 minutes in three uneventful seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns.

Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)