LDN - Sports

NBA notebook: Nuggets welcome Thomas to 'explosive core'

[July 17, 2018] The Denver Nuggets officially signed point guard Isaiah Thomas to a one-year deal Monday reported to be worth $2 million.

Thomas, 29, will join his sixth team as he enters his eighth NBA season. A two-time All-Star, he is coming off an injury-plagued 2017-18 season but has averaged more than 20.0 points in three different seasons.

"It's not every day you have the chance to add a player with the talent and pedigree of Isaiah Thomas," said Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly. "Isaiah is a player that we know will work extremely hard every single day he steps onto the basketball court and will do anything he can to help our team win. We are excited to add Isaiah to our already explosive core and we can't wait to get started."

After opening his NBA career with the Sacramento Kings in 2011-12 and subsequently playing for the Phoenix Suns, Thomas exploded into stardom with the Celtics. He was an All-Star in both 2015-16 and 2016-17, averaging 25.5 points and 6.1 assists in those seasons combined.

--The San Antonio Spurs have agreed to a one-year deal with free agent forward Dante Cunningham worth around $2.5 million, according to multiple reports.

The 6-foot-8 Cunningham reportedly considered the Spurs and the Brooklyn Nets after averaging 5.7 points and 4.1 rebounds in 73 games for Brooklyn and the New Orleans Pelicans last season.

The nine-year veteran has played previously for Portland, Charlotte, Memphis, Minnesota, New Orleans and Brooklyn.

--The Milwaukee Bucks officially welcomed back veteran forward Ersan Ilyasova on a reported three-year deal worth $21 million.

Ilyasova, 31, was drafted by the Bucks in 2005 and stayed with the franchise through the 2014-15 campaign. He spent the past three seasons with a handful of teams, most recently the Philadelphia 76ers, where he averaged 10.8 points and 6.7 rebounds in 23 games (three starts) last season.

"Ersan is a high-character, veteran player who gives our team an additional shooter to help spread the court," Bucks general manager Jon Horst said in a statement. "He has a team-first mentality and brings toughness and energy to both ends of the floor. We are very excited to have him and his family back in Milwaukee."

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--The 76ers announced that they have re-signed forward-center Amir Johnson to a deal reportedly worth $11 million for one season.

Johnson, 31, averaged 4.6 points and 4.5 rebounds in 74 games (18 starts) with Philadelphia last season. He has averaged 7.2 points and 5.5 rebounds across 819 career games with the Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Celtics and 76ers.

"Our experience with Amir last year confirms to us, on so many levels, that he is a perfect fit for our young and developing team," 76ers head coach Brett Brown said in a statement. "His work ethic, leadership and buy-in to team-first basketball all comes to mind when I think of his value to our ball club, and his acceptance of a backup role to All-Star Joel Embiid is priceless."

--The New York Knicks waived forward Troy Williams, getting the team down to 15 players under contract along with a pair of two-way contract players.

The 6-7 Williams signed the first of two 10-day contracts with the Knicks in February and was eventually signed for the remainder of the season in March. He averaged 7.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 17.1 minutes in 17 games, and scored in double figures seven times.

Williams, 23, has played for three teams since going undrafted out of Indiana in 2016. His contract included a partial guarantee for the 2018-19 season, and Williams played in five games for the Knicks' Summer League team in Las Vegas this month, averaging 11.8 points.

--Field Level Media

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