Spurs to waive former lottery pick after acquiring him from Celtics

The Celtics are trading big man Noah Vonleh and cash considerations to the Spurs, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The Spurs are waiving center Gorgui Dieng to create a roster spot for Vonleh, who will also be waived, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

It’s a salary dump move for Boston, as Vonleh’s contract is non-guaranteed and would have been fully guaranteed on Saturday. The Celtics will free up a roster spot and save $7.15M toward the luxury tax, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

The Celtics will also generate a small $1.16M traded player exception in the transaction, Marks notes (via Twitter).

San Antonio has plenty of cap room available — $27.1M, per Marks — to waive Dieng’s guaranteed salary without worrying about the financial implications. He was on a veteran’s minimum deal and rarely saw the court this season, appearing in just 13 games with averages of 4.1 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 2.0 APG in 11.6 MPG.

Like Dieng, the 27-year-old Vonleh was a deep-bench reserve for Boston. In 23 games, he averaged just 7.4 minutes per contest. The ninth overall pick of the 2014 draft, Vonleh has played for eight different teams in as many NBA seasons. He played in China in 2021-22.

As John Hollinger of The Athletic tweets, it’s possible that a couple more players with non-guaranteed contracts could be traded in advance of the Jan. 7 deadline with an eye on savings toward the luxury tax.