Already with the team? Wow, just signed him today I thought, but he's on a two-way deal now that Ilyasova and Muscy out?
Tyler Cavanaugh's debut with Atlanta Hawks: 5 flights, 30 hours, 1st NBA win
Syracuse, N.Y. -- In 30 absurd hours, Tyler Cavanaugh went from nearly playing a G League game against the Maine Red Claws to checking into a game against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"It was absolutely nuts!," Cavanaugh said in a text message this morning, after he finally was able to get some sleep.
Cavanaugh, the former Jamesville-DeWitt and George Washington basketball star, played the first NBA game of his career on Sunday. He logged three minutes and grabbed a defensive rebound. His injury-depleted Atlanta Hawks defeated the Cavaliers 117-115. Then Cavanaugh, a 6-foot-9 forward, flew with the Hawks back to Atlanta, where he awoke this morning to the idea that he is currently on an NBA roster.
"My first game in the NBA and we were able to get a win," Cavanaugh said. "A great experience that has left me hungry for more!"
His agent, Keith Glass, said Cavanaugh was the first NBA call-up from the G League this season. Cavanaugh, who went to training camp with the Hawks and was waived on Oct. 13, agreed to a two-way deal with Atlanta over the weekend. Two-way deals allow NBA rosters to expand to 17 players; those on two-way contracts play the majority of their minutes with the NBA team's G League affiliate, though players can be called up as many as 45 times. Each time Cavanaugh gets a call-up, he makes more money.
The Hawks are dealing with a roster of injured players, including Ersan Ilyasova, Miles Plumlee and Mike Muscala at the center/forward spots. Glass has been vocal about his wariness of two-way contracts, which bind players to NBA teams and don't allow them to sign with another team if they have break-out G League performances.
But Glass said the current construct of NBA rosters made him rethink his approach to two-way deals. Teams are filling all 15 roster spots and then supplementing their squad with two players on two-way deals. (NBA teams can only carry two two-way guys.) That configuration, Glass said, allows for little maneuverability for G League players.
"And look, Atlanta does like him," Glass said. "It's exciting for us. And it came a lot sooner than we anticipated."
Cavanaugh scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds in 35 minutes the Erie BayHawks' Friday night loss at the buzzer in their first G League game this season.
On Saturday, Cavanaugh and the BayHawks took two flights from Erie to reach Maine, where the Red Claws awaited. Cavanaugh was on the bus to the gym for a team practice when he got a phone call from Glass.
Glass was watching his grandson's baseball game that afternoon when the Hawks called. A deal was struck. A couple hours later, Cavanaugh was on a plane to Cleveland via a stopover in Charlotte. The next afternoon, he wore an Atlanta Hawks uniform and participated in a 3 p.m. game against the Cavaliers. Afterward, he boarded the team flight back to Atlanta.
"It's like an out-of-body thing," Glass said. "That's the way the league works and you gotta be ready for it."
http://www.syracuse.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/11/tyler_cavanaughs_debut_with_atlanta_hawks_5_flights_30_hours_1st_nba_win.html