Here's our team-by-team analysis of the major and minor personnel moves from late August.
All deals listed alphabetically by team.
Brooklyn Nets
Signed forward Jacob Wiley to a two-way contract
Wiley is a fascinating story. He stepped away from organized basketball entirely after his freshman season at Montana, running track for a year before making his way back to Division I at Eastern Washington and improbably emerging as a draft prospect. His high-percentage finishing and shot blocking from the wing make Wiley an intriguing two-way option.
Charlotte Hornets
Signed guard Julyan Stone
While he has been in training camp the past two seasons, Stone most recently played a regular-season NBA game in 2013-14 with the Toronto Raptors. Nonetheless, the Hornets guaranteed his 2017-18 salary to be their third point guard behind starter Kemba Walker and Michael Carter-Williams. Much like Carter-Williams, Stone brings good size and playmaking for a backup point guard, but his value has been limited by mediocre outside shooting.
Dallas Mavericks
Signed center Jeff Withey
During two seasons as a third center with the Utah Jazz, Withey was productive in his limited playing time. He's an elite shot blocker whose strength has been an issue at the NBA level. Despite the Mavericks having a pair of full-time centers in Nerlens Noel and Salah Mejri, plus other players capable of the position, the $350,000 they guaranteed Withey may make him the favorite to earn the 15th and final spot on the NBA roster in training camp.
Houston Rockets
Signed guard Demetrius Jackson to a two-way contract
The Boston Celtics waived Jackson to help clear cap space for Gordon Hayward. A 2016 second-round pick coming out of Notre Dame, Jackson was good but not great in the G League last season and didn't particularly impress for the Celtics in summer-league play. At this point, a two-way contract is probably appropriate for Jackson.
Indiana Pacers
Signed forwards Ben Moore and Damien Wilkins
Wilkins is 37 and most recently played in the NBA in 2012-13, making him an unlikely choice for a training camp invite. He has continued to play effectively in the G League, averaging 14.8 points per game last season with an impressive .632 true shooting percentage. Moore is a more conventional camp player, having gone undrafted out of SMU. With two open spots on the NBA roster, both players might have a chance to stick depending how the Pacers fill out their camp.
Miami Heat
Signed center Jordan Mickey
Being waived by the Celtics to make room for Hayward turned out better for Mickey than Jackson, as he signed a contract with the Heat that is fully guaranteed for 2017-18 with a 2018-19 team option. Mickey will battle rookie Bam Adebayo to back up Hassan Whiteside, though Kelly Olynyk might also be in the mix for minutes at center. I wouldn't be surprised if signing Mickey is also a sign Miami plans to waive A.J. Hammons, acquired from the Dallas Mavericks in the Josh McRoberts trade, despite the two guaranteed seasons remaining on Hammons' contract.
New Orleans Pelicans
Announced forward Solomon Hill underwent surgery to repair a torn hamstring
For Hill to undergo surgery, as ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski first reported Sunday, suggests his hamstring tear was likely a complete tear rather than the partial tearing described as a hamstring strain that typically heals on its own.
New Orleans described the injury as typically taking 6-8 months to heal, a timetable that would put Hill back at earliest on March 1 and could keep him out all season. That's an enormous blow to a Pelicans team that was thin at small forward even with Hill healthy. Whether Quincy Pondexter can get back on the court after missing the last two seasons due to multiple knee surgeries remains to be seen, leaving newcomer Darius Miller as the only healthy small forward on New Orleans' 15-man roster for now.
The Pelicans do have a pair of wings (Charles Cooke and Jalen Jones) signed to two-way contracts and could try to supplement their depth by skillfully managing the 45 days those two players are allowed to spend in the NBA to maximize the number of games they play. Still, expect New Orleans to sign another wing option.
The Pelicans have only the minimum salary to offer right now because they're hard-capped after using more than the taxpayer portion of their mid-level exception to sign Miller and Rajon Rondo. Re-signing Dante Cunningham would be a good option for New Orleans if he's unable to scare up an offer better than the minimum elsewhere. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Minnesota Timberwolves are the Pelicans' competition for Cunningham, and while they too are limited to the minimum, the Wolves could sweeten the deal by offering Cunningham a player option on a second season -- something New Orleans is unable to do because Cunningham would have a higher cap hit on a multi-year minimum deal.
For now, projecting Hill to miss 60 games and replacing his minutes with a combination of Cooke, Jones, Pondexter and more playing time for centers (since Hill also figured to play regularly at power forward when either DeMarcus Cousins or Anthony Davis was on the bench) causes the Pelicans' projection using ESPN's real plus-minus to drop more than three wins. New Orleans' 41.1-win projection is now good for 10th-best in the Western Conference, falling behind the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz.
It's certainly still possible for the Pelicans to reach the playoffs, but Hill's injury makes their path substantially more difficult. With Cousins in the final season of his contract, that could have important ramifications for the future of the franchise.
New York Knicks
Signed guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes and forwards Jamel Artis and Nigel Hayes
While the Knicks have an open roster spot if they waive guard Chasson Randle, odds are these three rookies are all ticketed for their G League affiliate in Westchester.
Philadelphia 76ers
Signed forward James Michael McAdoo to a two-way contract
With his spot on the Warriors' roster filled by rookie Jordan Bell, McAdoo was forced to settle for a two-way contract. I'm a little surprised the Sixers were the team to sign him to that deal, given their depth in the frontcourt. But that could change if Philadelphia suffers injuries to big men -- always a possibility -- and/or finds a taker for Jahlil Okafor via trade.
Phoenix Suns
Announced guard Davon Reed underwent a left meniscus repair
The second pick of this year's second round, Reed will miss an extended portion of his rookie season after suffering a torn left meniscus. Doctors opted to perform a meniscus repair rather than a removal, which has a much longer rehab time -- the Suns gave a timetable of four to six months -- but lessens the chance of long-term wear and tear. The absence of Reed as a 3-and-D option should open up more minutes for second-year wing Derrick Jones, Phoenix's best perimeter defender.
San Antonio Spurs
Re-signed guard Manu Ginobili
After Ginobili announced his intention to return at age 40, it was just a matter of what San Antonio was going to pay him. We got our answer last week after he officially re-signed: $2.5 million each of the next two seasons. We'll see whether Ginobili really plans to play two more years or the Spurs are giving him a parting gift as they did with Tim Duncan when he retired after picking up a $5.6 million player option. Either way, the second year takes another small chunk out of San Antonio's dwindling 2018-19 cap space.
Toronto Raptors
Signed forwards K.J. McDaniels and Kyle Wiltjer
Despite a solid 20-game stretch with the Brooklyn Nets after a midseason trade, McDaniels had his $3.3 million team option declined and couldn't come close to matching that as an unrestricted free agent. In fact, he's guaranteed only $100,000 from the Raptors on a one-year, minimum deal. If McDaniels makes the roster, he could fill a void for Toronto, which lost its only real combo forward with the DeMarre Carroll trade. At 6-foot-6, McDaniels gives up size to stretch 4s but can hold his own at the position as a shot blocker. Wiltjer, a more traditional stretch 4, was a dangerous 3-point threat last season in the G League. However, he probably can't defend well enough to stick in the NBA.
Utah Jazz
Named Mike Elliott vice president of performance health care and Eric Waters head athletic trainer
The Jazz have been hit hard by injuries in recent seasons, ranking fourth in minutes lost to injury in 2016-17 (based on the number of games missed and the minutes per game for the injured players) and eighth in that metric the previous season. While there's far too much noise to attribute that specifically to a team's training and performance staff, Utah's difficulty keeping players on the court due to recurring injuries could have precipitated these sweeping changes.
Elliott comes to the Jazz from the Phoenix Suns, whose training and performance staff is regarded as the league's best. The numbers support that lofty assessment, as Phoenix has lost the third-fewest games and minutes to injury since 2009-10. He'll oversee Waters, who had been the head athletic trainer for the Washington Wizards. The Wizards' long-term track record was checkered in terms of keeping players on the court, but they lost a league-low 1,595 minutes to injury last season -- 60 percent fewer than Utah.