NBA training camps are right around the corner, but several pieces of offseason business remain unsettled around the league. Here are some leftover offseason storylines to watch, with regular season openers just a month away:
1. Who will sign contract extensions before opening night?
Two maximum salary extension offers are reportedly on the table at the moment — the Thunder are ready to sign Russell Westbrook to a Designated Veteran Extension, and the Timberwolves are prepared to lock up Andrew Wiggins to a five-year rookie scale extension. Since max contracts don’t require much negotiating, they often get finalized fairly early in the offseason, so it’s somewhat surprising that Westbrook and Wiggins have yet to put pen to paper, but they still have a few more weeks to do so.
Outside of those two players, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on several other candidates for rookie scale extensions in the coming weeks. Fourth-year players like Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Clint Capela, Gary Harris, Jusuf Nurkic, Marcus Smart, Zach LaVine, and Rodney Hood are eligible for new deals, and will be on track for restricted free agency in 2018 if they don’t re-up with their respective teams this year. Under the new CBA, the deadline for rookie scale extensions has been moved up to the day before opening night, so teams will have until October 16 to sign their extension-eligible players.
2. Who will be traded before opening night?
It appears increasingly likely that one of the summer’s primary subjects of trade speculation – Carmelo Anthony – will open training camp as a Knick. It should be fascinating to see if Anthony and the Knicks can bury the hatchet once camp begins, or if the two sides only become more motivated to get something done at that point.
Anthony is the most notable trade candidate out there, but other teams around the league figure to explore preseason deals after seeing their new-look rosters in action. Last year in September and October, for instance, the Bucks pulled off a pair of trades that had a major impact on their 2016/17 rotation, acquiring Michael Beasley from the Rockets and Tony Snell from the Bulls.
3. When – and where – will the remaining restricted free agents sign?
Four restricted free agents remain on the market, with Nikola Mirotic (Bulls), JaMychal Green (Grizzlies), Alex Len (Suns), and Mason Plumlee (Nuggets) all seeking out new deals. Given the lack of teams with cap room around the league, those players have limited leverage, and it’s possible that a couple of them will take the Nerlens Noel route and sign their one-year qualifying offers, hoping to cash in as unrestricted free agents in 2018.
October 1 looms as a key date for these restricted free agents — that’s the last day for an RFA to sign his qualifying offer, unless his team agrees to extend that deadline. If a player doesn’t sign his qualifying offer or work out a multiyear deal by October 1, he remains a restricted free agent, but no longer has that QO as a fallback option, further limiting his options.
[UPDATE: Plumlee has agreed to re-sign with the Nuggets.]
4. When – and where – will the remaining unsigned draft picks sign?
As our list of draft pick signings shows, there are two second-rounders whose 2017/18 outlook remains unclear. One is Grizzlies big man Ivan Rabb, the 35th overall pick, whose status may depend on what happens with restricted free agent JaMychal Green. If Green returns to Memphis, there may not be room on the roster this season for Rabb — the club already has 15 guaranteed salaries, and a Green signing would increase that total to 16. In that case, perhaps a deal overseas or a stint in the G League would be in Rabb’s future, though that outcome may not thrill his agent.
Meanwhile, the Rockets have yet to indicate a direction for 43rd overall pick Isaiah Hartenstein. International basketball reported David Pick suggested back in July (via Twitter) that Hartenstein is likely to start the year with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s G League affiliate, but there are a number of different ways that could happen. It remains to be seen whether the Rockets will sign Hartenstein to an NBA contract and assign him to the G League, ink him to a two-way contract (they have one open slot), or have him sign a straight G League contract.
5. Which players on rookie scale contracts will have third- or fourth-year team options declined?
This storyline figures to extend a couple weeks into the regular season, since NBA teams have until October 31 to decide whether to exercise or decline 2018/19 team options on rookie-scale players entering their second or third NBA seasons. We’ve listed those players here.
Of course, many of those will be no-brainers — D’Angelo Russell, Jamal Murray, and Karl-Anthony Towns aren’t about to have their options declined. But there are some trickier decisions worth keeping an eye on. For instance, will the Bulls pick up Cameron Payne‘s fourth-year option, guaranteeing his salary for the 2018/19 season? Considering they’re in rebuilding mode and gave up a considerable haul at the trade deadline to acquire Payne, the Bulls are probably a good bet to exercise that option. But it’s not a lock, given Payne’s injury history, not to mention how bad he looked down the stretch last season for the Bulls.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
