Houston Rockets Release 3 Players Before NBA Season
The concluded the preseason on Thursday evening when they beat the San Antonio Spurs by a score of 129-107.
They finished with a 3-1 record in four games.
On Saturday, the Rockets waived three players to finalize their roster for the 2024-25 season.
The Rockets waived Matt Bradley, and Jermaine Samuels Jr. They currently have 14 players on their roster plus three guys on two-way contracts”
Hinton is coming off a season where he appeared in 15 games with the Rockets.
He averaged 2.2 points and 1.5 rebounds per contest while shooting 42.3% from the field in 15 games.
The 25-year-old has spent part of three seasons in the NBA with the Rockets, Pacers and Mavs.
Samuels spent part of his rookie season with the Rockets.
He averaged 1.4 points per contest while shooting 64.3% from the field in 14 games.
This article first appeared on and was syndicated with permission.
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The Kings have waived guard Antoine Davis and forwards Shareef O’Neal and Drew Timme, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. All three players signed with Sacramento on Friday so the Kings could obtain their G League rights. They will all be eligible for bonuses worth up to $77.5K if they spend at least 60 days with the team’s affiliate in Stockton. Davis played last season for Portland’s G League team, the Rip City Remix, and had his rights traded to the Kings earlier this month. He averaged 14.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 44 Showcase Cup and regular season games for the Remix. O’Neal, the son of Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, played for the G League Ignite last season after going undrafted out of LSU. He participated in the Next Up Game at All-Star Weekend. Timme is a former standout at Gonzaga who played for the G League Wisconsin Herd last season. The Kings also recently acquired his returning player rights in a trade. Sacramento has 12 players with fully guaranteed contracts, along with Orlando Robinson, who has a $500K guarantee on his $2.09M deal, so the team has the flexibility to adjust the roster before opening night. All three two-way slots are filled.
Auburn coach Hugh Freeze was struggling to come up with answers Saturday after his team threw away another lead late. Auburn led Missouri 17-3 at one point in the third quarter, but Mizzou rallied and went ahead for good on a four-yard touchdown run with 46 seconds left in the fourth quarter. It marked the second time in three weeks Auburn let a fourth-quarter lead slip, having done so against Oklahoma on Sept. 28 as well. After the game, Freeze took his share of the blame, but he offered a fairly brutal assessment of his staff’s performance. “We seem to not make the right call as coaches or the right play from time to time in critical moments and that’s kind of been the story the whole year,” Freeze told reporters. It’s not exactly a quote that Auburn fans can take heart in. After a 2-1 start, Auburn has lost four in a row and is winless in SEC play with five games to go in its season. The Tigers would have to win four of those games to become bowl-eligible, meaning they would have to beat either Alabama or Texas A M while running the table against everyone else. Freeze is in his second year at Auburn, and things do not appear to be improving for him. The team will struggle to reach last season’s tally of six wins, and Freeze himself appears to be alienating people with his responses to this string of defeats.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reported on Saturday that sources close to Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson believe Hutchinson will have a “realistic chance” to return for the Super Bowl should the team make it that far. One source even reportedly believes that it will be more surprising if Hutchinson does not make it back for a potential Super Bowl appearance than if he does. Schefter further adds that Hutchinson doesn’t consider his current injury to be as severe as the fractured right ankle that he suffered as a junior at Michigan in 2020. The 24-year-old Pro Bowler Hutchinson is recovering from a fractured left tibia and fibula that he suffered last Sunday in a win over the Detroit Lions (video here). Hutchinson has already undergone surgery to repair the fractures and has been placed on injured reserve by the Lions. The injury suffered by Hutchinson was about as gruesome as can be, and his absence (as the leading pass rusher) will directly impact the Lions’ ability to make the Super Bowl (something they have never done in franchise history). But Detroit did just make the NFC Championship Game last season for the first time since 1991, and Hutchinson seems to think that he has a shot at making it back for a possible run to the Super Bowl, which is set for three-and-a-half months from now on Feb. 9, 2025.
As the 2024 NFL trade deadline continues to draw closer, the Cleveland Browns are becoming a more and more intriguing team to watch. They have already shipped out star wide receiver Amari Cooper and there are many more players on the roster that they could consider moving. Of course, the fans want to see the Browns make a change at quarterback. They might actually see one happen over the next few weeks, but it isn’t likely to be the one that they want. Brandon Little of AtoZ Sports has named Jameis Winston as a player that Cleveland could very well trade. However, he did note that it would take an offer the Browns couldn’t refuse to make the move. At this point in the year, it’s clear that Kevin Stefanski isn’t going to bench Deshaun Watson. Even though he has played very poorly through the first six games of the year, Cleveland has been adamant about sticking with their starting quarterback. If the Browns can get good value for Winston, they should take it and run with it. Winston is not going to be a long-term piece for t he team. Cleveland also has a lot of faith in young quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who would still give them a solid backup behind Watson. Looking around the NFL, there are quite a few teams that could use a quarterback. Whether it’s a team that could use a potential starter or simply a better backup, the Browns might be able to get a fifth or sixth-round pick for Winston. Making a move at quarterback now would make sense for Cleveland. They aren’t going to be a playoff contender this season barring a magical turnaround. Winston isn’t likely to be a part of that turnaround even if they did make one. Going out and acquiring more draft capital would be a wise move for the Browns. Due to the Watson trade, Cleveland has missed out on a lot of young talent. They need to bring in quite a few young players in the 2025 NFL Draft. Exploring the market for Winston and pulling the trigger on anything that brings in decent value would be a very smart move by Andrew Berry and the Browns’ front office.