Nine players signed rookie scale extensions before last week’s deadline, but the Magic’s four-year, $48MM arrangement with Nikola Vucevic stands out among them as the best deal from the perspective of the team, according to a plurality of Hoops Rumors readers. Not surprisingly, the Jazz’s four-year, $42MM extension with Alec Burks picked up the least amount of votes in that poll, with Ricky Rubio‘s four-year, $55MM pact with the Timberwolves finishing next to last. Time will tell on each of those extensions, especially since they don’t kick in until 2015/16, just a year before the league’s $24 billion TV deal takes hold. Here’s more from around the NBA:
- Rajon Rondo made a quick return from left hand surgery to join the Celtics for the start of the regular season and he’s leading the league with 11.7 assists per game, but Boston isn’t budging and appears in no hurry to trade the star point guard, as Chris Mannix of SI.com hears (video link; hat tip to Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com).
- An independent physician’s opinion that Anthony Morrow will return sooner than expected from injury is holding up league approval of a 16th roster spot for the injury-depleted Thunder, reports Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. Still, Oklahoma City is expected to qualify for that provision after tonight’s game, Mayberry writes.
- Mike Scott‘s versatility helped him come away with a new three-year, $10MM deal from the Hawks in free agency during the summer, and he’s paying dividends in the early going, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution examines.