Three 2024 free agents – OG Anunoby, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey – signed contracts worth more than $200MM this offseason, and they weren’t the only members of the ’24 FA class who secured nine-digit paydays. However, the most lucrative deals signed since the new league year began weren’t free agent deals at all — they were contract extensions.
Extensions, of course, don’t involve adding a new player to the roster. By extending a contract, a team ensures that a current player will remain locked up for multiple years to come. Although a contract extension may not change the club’s short-term outlook on the court, it can have a major impact on that team’s salary cap situation for the next several seasons.
Rookie scale extensions are one form of contract extension. Former first-round picks who are entering the fourth and final year of their rookie deals are eligible to sign those up until the day before the 2024/25 regular season begins. Rookie scale extensions have become more common than ever in recent years — there were 11 signed in both 2021 and 2022, followed by a record 14 in 2023.
[RELATED: Players Eligible For Rookie Scale Extensions In 2024 Offseason]
While they used to be rarer than rookie scale extensions, veteran extensions are happening more frequently these days too. The league’s 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement expanded the rules for eligibility and created some additional incentives for star players to sign new deals before they reach free agency, and the 2023 CBA has further incentivized veteran extensions. During the 2023/24 league year, a total of 17 veteran extensions were signed.
The deadline for a veteran extension for a player who isn’t in the final year of his current contract is the day before the regular season tips off. However, a player eligible for a veteran extension who is on an expiring deal can sign a new contract throughout the league year, all the way up to June 30, the day before he becomes a free agent.
Listed below are the players who have finalized contract extensions so far in 2024/25. This list, which can be found on the right-hand sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” on our desktop site (or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu), will be kept up to date throughout the ’24/25 league year, with more extension details added as we learn them.
Note: Projected values for maximum-salary extensions are based on a $154,647,000 salary cap for 2025/26 and a $170,112,000 cap for 2026/27. Those contracts are based on a percentage of the cap, so their values would fluctuate depending on exactly where the ’25/26 and ’26/27 caps end up.
Rookie scale contract extensions:
- Scottie Barnes (Raptors): Five years, maximum salary (story). Projected value of $224,238,150. Projected value can increase to $269,085,780 if Barnes meets Rose Rule performance criteria. Includes 15% trade kicker. Starts in 2025/26.
- Cade Cunningham (Pistons): Five years, maximum salary (story). Projected value of $224,238,150. Projected value can increase to $269,085,780 if Cunningham meets Rose Rule performance criteria. Starts in 2025/26.
- Evan Mobley (Cavaliers): Five years, maximum salary (story). Projected value of $224,238,150. Projected value can increase to $246,661,965 or $269,085,780 if Mobley meets Rose Rule performance criteria. Includes 15% trade kicker. Starts in 2025/26.
- Franz Wagner (Magic): Five years, maximum salary (story). Projected value of $224,238,150. Projected value can increase to $246,661,965 or $269,085,780 if Wagner meets Rose Rule performance criteria. Starts in 2025/26.
Veteran contract extensions:
- Jayson Tatum (Celtics): Five years, maximum salary (story). Projected value of $313,933,410 (super-max). Fifth-year player option. Starts in 2025/26.
- Bam Adebayo (Heat): Three years, maximum salary (story). Projected value of $165,348,864. Third-year player option. Starts in 2026/27.
- Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers): Three years, maximum salary (story). Projected value of $150,316,884. Third-year player option. Starts in 2025/26.
- Jalen Brunson (Knicks): Four years, $156,549,124 (story). Fourth-year player option. Includes 15% trade kicker. Starts in 2025/26.
- Derrick White (Celtics): Four years, $118,048,000 (story). Fourth-year player option. Includes $7,840,000 in incentives. Includes 15% trade kicker. Starts in 2025/26.
- Jarrett Allen (Cavaliers): Three years, $90,720,000 (story). Starts in 2026/27.
- Note: Exact details still to be confirmed.
- Jonathan Isaac (Magic): Four years, $59,000,000 (story). Includes renegotiation (2024/25 salary increased from $17,400,000 to $25,000,000). $66,600,000 in total new money. Second year of extension partially guaranteed ($8MM); third and fourth years non-guaranteed. Extension starts in 2025/26.
- Andrew Nembhard (Pacers): Three years, $58,650,480 (story). Starts in 2025/26.
- Sam Hauser (Celtics): Four years, $45,000,000 (story). Starts in 2025/26.
Will you be adding articles on how teams used their mid-level and bi-annual exceptions?
Yeah. Those ones and the roster count tracker will likely be up within the next week.
Awesome, you guys put some great info out!