NBA teams have until Monday to cut their rosters down to the maximum of 15 (plus two two-way contracts), but most of the action is expected to fall on Saturday (allowing released players to clear waivers by Monday).
Here is a roundup of who is in and who is out around the league. This list is not inclusive, for more details, check out the player news at NBC Sports Edge.
• Matt Ryan has made the cut and the Los Angeles Lakers roster. He was on the bubble (and was not an Exhibit 10 contract, so Los Angeles couldn’t just send him to the G-League), but he looked like an NBA player in the preseason and shot 37.5% from 3. That’s what matters for a Lakers team that shot 28.6% as a team from 3 in the preseason and 39.8% overall — both in the bottom 3 of the NBA. The question for the Lakers is somewhat money. As John Hollinger of The Athletic notes, both Ryan and Wenyen Gabriel are on non-guaranteed deals, likely will not play a lot, and it costs the franchise roughly $60,000 a day in salary and tax to keep them both. The Lakers can cut either up until Jan. 10, at which point their contracts become fully guaranteed.
To make room for them, the Lakers waived Shaquille Harrison, Jay Huff, and Nate Pierre-Louis.
• The Celtics have kept veteran big man Noah Vonleh on the regular season roster to start the season, which was not a surprise considering he had a strong preseason (and the Celtics need frontcourt depth until Robert Williams returns from surgery). The Celtics also are keeping forward Justin Jackson on the roster to start the season.
• The Knicks will keep Ryan Arcidiacono and Svi Mykhailiuk on the roster to start the season, although neither is on a fully guaranteed contract. That means the team has waived James Akinjo, Jalen Harris and DaQuan Jeffries.
• The Hornets waived LiAngelo Ball, which was not a surprise. Also let go in Charlotte were Jalen Crutcher, Xavier Sneed and Ty-Shon Alexander.
• As expected, the Rockets waived veteran center Willie Cauley-Stein, as well as guard Pierria Henry. This comes a day after the Rockets waived Derrick Favors.
• The Kings waived Sam Merrill, which means the trip of KZ Okpala, Matthew Dellavedova, and Chima Moneke have made the roster to start the season.
• The Grizzlies waived Killian Tillie, who had a fully guaranteed $1.9 million salary this season.
• The Oklahoma City Thunder are signing Isaiah Joe to a multi-year deal and will waive David Nwaba to create space. The Thunder also waived Devon Dotson, Quenton Jackson, Craig Sword and Jaime Echenique, and signed Jordan Goodwin to a two-way contract.
• The Nuggets have waived Chasson Randle and Grant Golden, both of whom are likely headed to the Grand Rapids Gold of the G-League.
• The Clippers signed Moses Brown to a two-way contract.
• The Timberwolves waived Matt Lewis, Emmanuel Mudiay and Phillip Wheeler.
• The Jazz waived Cody Zeller and Jared Butler.
