The Latest: Spurs' Preseason Schedule, Charles Bassey, David Duke Jr., and Chris Paul
Thursday morning the Spurs released their preseason schedule, and there's some updates on Charles Bassey, David Duke Jr., and Chris Paul.
Good afternoon, here are the four topics we’ll be exploring in a Thursday edition of The Latest:
Spurs release preseason schedule
Charles Bassey clears waivers
David Duke Jr. is back on the Summer League team
Chris Paul contract update
Spurs release preseason schedule
Let’s look at each team in the five-game preseason schedule and some notable additions they’ve made.
Monday, October 7 vs Oklahoma City Thunder, 7PM CT
The Thunder have had one of the best offseasons so far. They acquired Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey, and then they were able to sign one of the best free agent centers available in Isaiah Hartenstein. The Thunder also drafted Nikola Topic and Dillon Jones in the first round of the draft.
Topic will be undergoing surgery this summer, and there isn’t a timetable on when he’ll be available to play yet from OKC.
Wednesday, October 9 vs Orlando Magic, 7 PM CT
The Magic were able to sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope away from Denver this summer. The Magic also drafted Tristan da Silva out of Colorado.
Saturday, October 12 vs Utah Jazz, 7 PM CT
The Jazz have had a very quiet offseason. They’re sitting with $35 million in cap space, but have only agreed to sign former Spur Drew Eubanks. They appear to be waiting for August 6, when they can renegotiate-and-extend Lauri Markkanen’s contract with that cap space.
The Jazz did add two players in the draft in Cody Williams out of Colorado and Isaiah Collier out of USC.
Tuesday, October 15 at Miami Heat, 6:30 PM CT
With limited resources to upgrade their roster, the Heat have mostly made moderate moves this offseason. They re-signed Haywood Highsmith, Kevin Love, and Thomas Bryant, and drafted Kel’el Ware and Pelle Larsson.
Thursday, October 17 at Houston Rockets, 7 PM CT
The Rockets have most of their team from last season back. They acquired AJ Griffin in a trade and then drafted sharpshooting guard Reed Sheppard out of Kentucky. They also re-signed backup point guard Aaron Holiday.
Charles Bassey clears waivers
Wednesday came and went with no word of a team claiming Charles Bassey off the waiver list. Thursday morning, on their transaction log, RealGM.com also had Bassey as clearing waivers.
By clearing waivers, Bassey is now an unrestricted free agent with the option of signing with any team who has interest in him. On Monday when Bassey got waived, Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express News reported the Spurs would have interest in re-signing Bassey if he cleared waivers.
The Spurs have two open roster spots on their 15-player roster and two open two-way roster spots.
They have the room mid-level exception ($7.9 million) and veteran minimum contracts to fill out those last two spots.
Had Bassey not been waived, he would have earned $2.5 million this coming season if his contract guaranteed August 1. If he signs for the veteran minimum with the Spurs or another team, he’d earn $2.2 million.
David Duke Jr. is back on the Summer League team
After the Spurs’ Summer League game Tuesday, Sidy Cissoko said Duke Jr. would be joining the Spurs in Las Vegas. He was right, with the Spurs providing their updated SL roster for their Vegas schedule.
Duke Jr. is indeed back on the team.
Duke Jr. began free agency as a restricted free agent. Once the Spurs needed to open cap space to sign Chris Paul and trade for Harrison Barnes, they pulled his qualifying offer and renounced his free agent rights.
He’s now an unrestricted free agent.
Chris Paul contract update
Bobby Marks of ESPN had additional details about the bonuses in Paul’s contract and I wanted to dive into one of the bonuses:
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