Pat Riley has recently met with both Dion Waiters and James Johnson and expressed the sentiment the franchise hopes for a fresh start with both players.
Miami has not closed the door on Waiters playing for them again, according to sources.
Waiters has been suspended three separate times by the Heat this season.
Waiters has one more season remaining on his contract with the Heat.
The Houston Rockets have agreed to sign William Howard to a Two-Way contract.
Howard is averaging 13.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 30.4 minutes per game in the G League for the Salt Lake City Stars. Howard is also shooting 44.3 percent on three-pointers.
The Rockets recently signed Chris Clemons to a three-year deal after he ran out of days on his Two-Way contract.
The Washington Wizards have signed forward Johnathan Williams.
Williams (6-9, 228) appeared in 18 games (12 starts) for Maccabi Rishon Lezion in Israel (I-BSL) this season, averaging 11.8 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. The second-year forward totaled eight double-doubles and reached double-figures in 13 games for Rishon, most recently posting 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists vs. Nahariya on December 22.
After going undrafted in the 2018 NBA Draft, Williams signed a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, averaging 6.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 24 games off the bench. The Gonzaga product also appeared in 26 games for the South Bay Lakers, posting averages of 15.2 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
The Houston Rockets have agreed to a three-year contract with Chris Clemons.
Clemons was previously on a Two-Way contract with the Rockets, but he had run out of his allotment of Two-Way days. Clemons has appeared in 20 games for the Rockets.
Clemons went undrafted out of Campbell in 2019.
Anthony Davis began thinking about requesting a trade from the New Orleans Pelicans around Christmas Day in 2018. The Pelicans were not on the NBA's lineup on Christmas Day last season and the team was 15-19.
“I think it was just the wins weren’t adding up, and it seemed like we weren’t making the playoffs," Davis told Yahoo Sports. "Everyone around me and everyone who knows me knows that I want to win. And I didn’t feel like we were going to be able to do that last year. I want to be able to win. We got off to a great start. We were 4-0. Then guys got hurt and little things started to go south. But my mindset at the time was to keep trying to lead my team.”
The Pelicans continued to struggled in January and requested a trade on January 28th.
"You don’t have a lot of time in this league. It goes by very fast," he told Yahoo Sports. "So for me, it was about putting myself in position where I can win before this career is over. And hopefully win several championships and have several winning seasons. That’s what was going through my head at that time. I’m not sure what the record was, but I felt like it was time for me to at least let the organization know where my head was at.”
The Los Angeles Lakers were always his preferred destination leaving the Pelicans, but Davis thought he might have to settle for another team due to the bad blood brewing between the two franchises.
“There were several teams in mind," Davis told Yahoo Sports. "My agent [Rich Paul] was doing a good job talking to the front office and management over there. He was the one communicating back and forth with them, and I was just trying to continue being a leader over there and still playing when they allowed me to. I’m not sure what was really being talked about, but the Pelicans didn’t do anything. So I still tried to lead that team, and when I got a chance to play, I played my heart out. It’s basketball. I’m still going to be a professional, and any time I’m on the floor with four other guys, I’m going to go out there and compete.”
The Utah Jazz are close to agreement on a multi-year deal with Rayjon Tucker.
Tucker was averaging 23.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 33.8 minutes per game in the G League this season for the Wisconsin Herd.
Tucker went undrafted out of Little Rock.
The Utah Jazz will waive Jeff Green.
Green agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Jazz in the offseason.
Green was averaging 7.8 points in 18.4 minutes per game this season with the Jazz.
Anthony Davis has yet to publicly commit his future, "the leaguewide expectation is that (he) will be in a Lakers uniform for the foreseeable future," according to Bobby Marks of ESPN.
Davis becomes eligible to sign an extension with the Lakers on Jan. 7 because he waived his trade bonus when dealt by the New Orleans Pelicans.
Davis is eligible for a four-year, $146 million extension starting Jan. 7 and a five-year, $202 million deal in July.
The Lakers are built to compete for titles while no teams with 2020 cap space can offer that same chance immediately.
Magic Johnson had planned to be part of the Los Angeles Lakers' meeting with Kawhi Leonard despite his resignation several months prior as president of basketball operations.
The NBA reminded Johnson that he would not be allowed at the meeting since he no longer was employed by the Lakers and had resumed his presence as a media personality.
Leonard and his camp had sought privacy in his free agency process, but Johnson spoke publicly about his involvement with the free agent.
The notion that Leonard's decision would be impacted by Johnson didn't add up since he was no longer involved with the team.
“We did exactly what (Robertson) asked us to do,” a Lakers official involved in the process said. “They never said anything about keeping Magic’s mouth shut.”
A source with knowledge of Toronto’s process said the Raptors never truly believed that the Lakers were an option for Leonard.
The Lakers continued to pursue Leonard because one of their players had been told that Leonard truly wanted to join their team, according to a source.
The NBA conducted a formal investigation of the Los Angeles Clippers last offseason, according to three sources with knowledge of the situation that spoke with Sam Amick of The Athletic. The investigation focused on complaints that Kawhi Leonard's uncle, Dennis Robertson, had asked for improper benefits during the free agency process.
Sources say the NBA investigation found no evidence that the Clippers granted Robertson any of the improper requests.
According to sources, Robertson asked for part ownership of the team, a private plane that would be available at all times, a house and a guaranteed amount of off-court endorsement money they could expect if Leonard signed with their team. Robertson made those requests repeatedly to Jeanie Buss over the course of three phone calls.
The discussions with Robertson led Buss to suspect the Lakers were being used for leverage to help him get what he wanted from the Clippers. Sources say Robertson made similar requests to the Raptors.
The NBA subsequently doubled their fines for tampering while also re-emphasizing its ability to conduct random audits.
“This is because of Dennis. He didn’t know the rules,” said one agent.
Said one owner: “This (league-wide discussion) is all because of Uncle Dennis.”
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