NBA rumors

The Golden State Warriors have agreed to a deal with undrafted rookie Kaleb Wesson, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

Wesson spent three years at Ohio State.

The Toronto Raptors are signing free agents Henry Ellenson, Yuta Watanabe and Alize Johnson to bring them to training camp, per Blake Murphy of The Athletic.

Ellenson agreed to a two-year, minimum deal with $50,000 guaranteed, Murphy reports.

Watanabe and Johnson are likely to sign Exhibit 10 deals.

The Raptors also waived center Dewan Hernandez.

The New Orleans Pelicans are adding Australian big man Will Magnay and forward Naji Marshall on two-way contracts, as reported by Olgun Uluc and Matt Babcock.

Magnay, 22, was the Most Improved Player of the 2019-20 NBL season as he averaged 8.1 points, six rebounds and two blocks per game for the Brisbane Bullets.

Marshall is an undrafted rookie out of Xavier who was an All-Big East First Team in 2019-20.

The Utah Jazz are sending guard Rayjon Tucker and a future second-round pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers for cash considerations, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Tucker played 20 games for the Jazz last year, averaging 3.1 points in 8.1 minutes.

Cleveland has gathered three future second-round picks in the past 10 days in deals with the Bucks, Lakers and Jazz.

Free agent guard Zach Norvell has agreed to a one-year deal with the Chicago Bulls, agents Reggie Brown and Andy Shiffman of Priority Sports told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Norvell averaged 14.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game in the G League last season with the South Bay Lakers and Santa Cruz Warriors.

The Philadelphia 76ers agreed to a one-year deal with free agent guard Derrick Walton Jr., per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The deal is non-guaranteed, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Walton will be in training camp with a chance to make the final roster.

The Sacramento Kings have re-signed DeQuan Jeffries on a two-year, $3 million minimum deal that includes a team option in year two, according to James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area.

The Kings have also agreed to a deal with former Wisconsin big man Frank Kaminsky.

Free agent guard Kelan Martin has agreed to a two-year deal with the Indiana Pacers, agent Mike Lindeman of Excel Sports Management told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Martin played 31 games on a two-way contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves last season, averaging 6.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.

There are at least five teams behind free agent Glenn Robinson III: Lakers, Clippers, Nets, Rockets and Jazz, as reported by Mike Scotto of Hoopshype.

Per Hoopshype, In Los Angeles, the Clippers can offer as much as the $3.6 million bi-annual exception while the Lakers can offer the veteran’s minimum. The Rockets have around $8 million remaining with their mid-level exception, while the Nets have the $5.7 million mid-level exception. The Jazz has the $3.6 million bi-annual exception remaining.

Dwight Howard was introduced as new player of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The big man left the Lakers where he won his first NBA title to join Philadelphia.

Per ESPN, “Winning the championship was everything, and it made me realize I could have the best stats in the world and it don’t mean nothing,” Howard said in his introductory video call after signing a one-year deal for the minimum with Philadelphia in free agency. “Because here it was, I won a championship and there was games where I didn’t score a bucket, or get a field goal, or get minutes in a game. What really matters is just holding up that trophy.

“That would be my message to everybody on the team: What are you willing to give up to get that trophy? Sometimes you got to give up everything. Sometimes your role and what’s required of you [is] to give up the things you want to do the most. For me, I would have loved to be the guy to score all the points and rebounds, but my team needed me for a specific purpose, and that was to provide the spirit and energy on and off the court.

“I think I did a pretty good job at it, and whatever this team asks me to do, I’m willing to do it.”

Howard, who turns 35 next month, said that ultimately was what pushed him to join the team.

“The reason why I was super locked in on being here in Philly is that Doc was the only coach that called me during this free-agency process,” Howard said. “He was the first one to call me and he said we want you. We want you on our team. And then Daryl called. I said this is where I need to be right now. This is where my journey is calling me. To Philly. I’m super happy that Doc called me, that he gave me the opportunity, and I told him yes. I told him I would come.”

“There’s a lot of things,” Howard said when asked why he thinks the Sixers can win a title. “You have two great young stars in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, I’m going to start there.

“Then you look at the rest of the guys on our team, they’ve all been hungry, they just never knew how to win. And I think by adding a guy like Danny Green and myself, we just fresh off of winning a championship, and I think we all know what it takes to really get to the next level. And I think this is a really great opportunity. You have a coach always talking about winning, how important it is to win, and you have some players who just want it. I think this year with the focus this team will have and the drive that we have to be successful, this will be our year.”

The NBA denied Los Angeles Lakers’ application to exclude Luol Deng’s salary from team salary book.

Lakers owe Deng money through 2022.

The news was reported by Shams Charania.

Hassan Whiteside has reached a single-season deal with the Sacramento Kings.
The big man will pen a deal for the minimum.