After reporting over the weekend that the Clippers used about $3.9MM of their taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Justise Winslow, ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Instagram video) confirmed today that the team used the leftover portion of that MLE to sign second-round picks Jason Preston and Brandon Boston Jr. to three-year deals, with Preston getting a little more than the rookie minimum.
Keith Smith of Spotrac shares those salary figures down to the dollar, tweeting that Winslow’s first-year salary is $3,902,439 while Preston’s is $1,062,303. Combined with Boston’s rookie minimum of $925,258, those three salaries add up to exactly $5.89MM, the amount of the taxpayer mid-level exception.
Here are a few more details on new contracts from around the NBA:
- While Talen Horton-Tucker‘s three-year deal with the Lakers was initially said to be worth $32MM, the year-by-year breakdown provided by Smith works out to a total of $30.78MM (Twitter link).
- Lonzo Ball‘s four-year deal with the Bulls also came in slightly lower than expected, according to Smith, who says it has a base value of $80MM, with $1MM in annual unlikely incentives (Twitter link).
- David Nwaba‘s three-year, $15MM contract with the Rockets has two fully guaranteed seasons followed by a third-year team option, according to Marks (Instagram video).
- DeAndre’ Bembry‘s minimum-salary deal with the Nets has a partial guarantee of $750K for now, tweets Smith. That number will increase to $1.25MM on December 15 before becoming fully guaranteed in January.
- Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter links) shares some Raptors contract details, reporting that Gary Trent Jr.‘s deal has a base value of $51.84MM, with $250K in annual unlikely incentives. Murphy adds that Ishmail Wainright got a $250K guarantee in 2021/22 – plus a $125K guarantee in ’22/23 – on his minimum-salary contract, while Yuta Watanabe‘s minimum-salary deal is now partially guaranteed for $375K. Watanabe would get his full guarantee if he makes the regular season roster.
It will be interesting to see how much Nwaba plays next season with the other vets in their rotation: Wood, Wall, Theis, Gordon, Tate, and House (Augustin won’t get regular minutes). Porter and KJ Martin will also be in the rotation along with Jalen Green. Sengun might also be in the rotation while Garuba and Christopher should split time with the Vipers developing their game in the G-League.
Houston needs to do something about Wall and Gordon. They’re good players but don’t fit the timeline of the team and are arguably just wasting time at the Rockets at the moment.
Nwaba might be trade bait together with Theis as well.
Agreed, Cile. They should trade them, but it’ll cost picks just to move them.
I don’t think they really HAVE TO or even NEED TO trade Wall nor Gordon right away.
The Rockets have FOUR talented incoming first round picks in Green, Sengun, Christopher, and Garuba, and TWO of those four picks are almost CERTAINLY going to be cornerstones of this franchise for the next decade or so in Green and Sengun.
These youngsters, especially Green and Sengun aren’t lacking in confidence whatsoever, they’re both extremely confident young men, but it certainly couldn’t hurt for them to learn all the inside and outs of being an All-Star, and just all the wealth of knowledge they can learn from the likes of Wall and Gordon.
Their veteran leadership could significantly help Green, Sengun, Christopher, and Garuba all successfully transition to the NBA. Having veterans around to lean on and learn from will allow these youngsters to maintain a level head through all the inevitable ups and downs players encounter when going through such a long season.
A player like Green, like Christopher, and a prospect like Sengun they likely have never experienced a 5 game losing streak. They likely haven’t gone three to four games without scoring 20+ points, or have just had bad shooting slumps a handful of games in a row. Wall and Gordon have experienced this all before, they’ve been through it all, ajd they can teach these young studs how to better prepare their bodies, new eating habits, better training regiments, introduce then to better personal trainers outside the organization for pffseasom workouts, and even just simply they can help them acclimate to the city of Houston.
These things are often overlooked when it comes to rebuilding a team, but it is paramount to keep around some quality veteran leaders to help mentor the new guys, and to help them learn how to grow THE RIGHT WAY!!
Side Note: I think the Rockets actually KILLED IT this draft!!
I think Christopher and Garuba cam be solid rotational players in their own rights, but I think Green and Sengun could actually become one of the best young duos in the NBA. It might very well take them two years, but these two are going to help Houston fast track their rebuild.
When they start to reach their potential WATCH OUY!! Houston is going to end up being one of the most fun teams to watch!! If they have another bad season, and they end up drafting another top 3 talent in next years draft, they could be scary good in 3 years or so…
Rockets GM should be patting himself on his back, he’s done one heck of a job, and I NEVER thought I’d saying that a year or so ago..If he keeps drafting this well, he will have the Rockets opening a new window of contending in no time!!!
Regardless of WHEN they do trade either of them, they’ll have to give up a draft pick just to do it. For now, Wall and Gordon can mentor KPJ and Green. I don’t know when their contracts end, but perhaps they’ll wait for their contracts to run out.
Basically they each have two years left on their contracts, even though Gordon has three but the final year is not guaranteed (barring some highly unlikely circumstances). Wall also has a player option for the 2022-23 season, so who knows what will happen there. Maybe he could do what Chris Paul did with Phoenix if he plays well (and stays healthy) next season. It’s still too early to give up on him completely. He will turn 31 next month, so Wall is still way younger than most of the players on the Lakers roster.
Actually neither are good players and both are super overpaid
There’s only been one team dumb enough to trade for John Wall in the history of the NBA
Nwaba, always a plus on-off for a reason. Has to fix that 3pt%.
That Lonzo Ball contract is awful lol. What is Chicago management thinking.
They are thinking this is not an awful context. They are thinking this because it is not an awful contract.
Zubac,Beverly,Kennard,Boston and pick for Siakam. would Raptors accept it?
Do pigs fly?
In other words, that offer doesn’t even get you Siakams shorts
Lol
Hi Luke,
Can you fix the spelling error of the word ‘innitially’? It should be ‘initially’ not ‘innitially’. Please & thank you.
“While Talen Horton-Tucker‘s three-year deal with the Lakers was ‘innitially’ said to be worth $32MM, the year-by-year breakdown provided by Smith works out to a total of $30.78MM (Twitter link)”.
Thanks, fixed.
You’re welcome, Luke!
Ball getting 20 mill a yr. Not really feeling that. Look at Schroeder stats last yr. They are a bit better. And Schroeder has had better yrs. There was a time I was high on Lonzo. But His upside has become nil, just don’t see it. Obviously NO didn’t see it either. Maybe he’ll finally wake up in Chicago. He’s still young.
SG Armoni Brooks 23
SG Josh Christopher 19
PF Usman Garuba 19
SG Jalen Green 19
C. Alperen Sengun 19
SF Kenyon Martin Jr. 20
SG Kevin Porter Jr. 21
SF Jae’Sean Tate 25
SG Khyri Thomas 25
C Christian Wood 25
And then they’ll have the likes of Augustin, Exum, Wall, Gordon, Theis, Nwaba, and House to surround these young up and coming players the Rockets’ GM has collected in Houston.
That’s one heck of a nucleus for these Roclets moving forward, but I’m actually rooting a bit against them this season, so they’re able to grab another top pick pr in next year’s draft!! Lol
They also added another 21-year old on a two-way contract, Matthew Hurt, who was one of the top undrafted players. Dante Exum is a free agent who won’t be returning next season.