Month: September 2024

NBA 2024 Offseason Check-In: Houston Rockets

August 17th, 2024 at 2:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2024 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Houston Rockets.

Free agent signings

Aaron Holiday: Two years, $9,569,400. Second-year team option. Re-signed using bi-annual exception. Waived right to veto trade.
Nate Hinton: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
Jermaine Samuels: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Re-signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

Acquired the Suns’ 2027 first-round pick, either the Mavericks’ or the Suns’ 2029 first-round pick (whichever is more favorable), swap rights for the Suns’ 2025 first-round pick, and swap rights for either the Mavericks’ or Suns’ 2029 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable) from the Nets in exchange for the Nets’ own 2026 first-round pick and control of the Nets’ own 2025 first-round pick (negating the Rockets’ right to swap either their own 2025 first-rounder or the Thunder’s 2025 first-rounder for Brooklyn’s pick).
Acquired AJ Griffin from the Hawks in a three-team trade in exchange for the draft rights to Pelle Larsson (No. 44 pick; to Heat).

Draft picks

1-3: Reed Sheppard
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $45,853,024).

Two-way signings

Departed/unsigned free agents

Reggie Bullock (unsigned)
Boban Marjanovic (unsigned)

Other moves

Exercised Jeff Green‘s 2024/25 team option ($8,000,000).
Exercised Jae’Sean Tate‘s 2024/25 team option ($7,565,217).

Salary cap situation

Operating over the cap ($140.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($170.8MM).
Carrying approximately $163.9MM in salary.
Hard-capped at $178,132,000.
Full mid-level exception ($12.8MM) available.
One traded player exception available (worth $797,080).

The offseason so far

After making a major splash on the free agent market a year ago by signing several Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and a handful of other veterans, the Rockets had a much quieter summer in 2024.

Houston’s only real move of note in free agency was to bring back reserve point guard Aaron Holiday on a two-year contract that isn’t guaranteed beyond 2024/25. Holiday was solid in a rotation role last season, but he’s unlikely to play more than 15-18 minutes per game.

The team also made a minor move on the trade market by acquiring AJ Griffin from Atlanta in exchange for the No. 44 overall pick in this year’s draft. A 2022 first-round pick, Griffin had a promising rookie season, with 8.9 PPG and a .390 3PT%, then missed significant time in 2023/24 due to leg and ankle injuries, as well as personal issues. He wasn’t effective even when he did play, but Houston is betting on a bounce-back season for a player who will remain on his affordable rookie scale contract for two more seasons.

While the Rockets didn’t control their own first-round pick in 2024, one of the first-rounders they acquired from Brooklyn in the James Harden blockbuster paid off in a major way, moving up to No. 3 on lottery night. Houston used that selection to draft Reed Sheppard, who posted a .521 3PT% in his lone college season at Kentucky. Having added Griffin and Sheppard, it’s clear the Rockets made it an offseason priority to improve a three-point percentage (35.2%) that ranked 23rd in the NBA last season.

The rest of the Rockets’ moves are arguably more noteworthy for what they mean going forward than the impact they’ll have in the short term.

Houston picked up its team options on Jeff Green ($8MM) and Jae’Sean Tate ($7.6MM) while guaranteeing Jock Landale‘s $8MM salary for 2024/25, giving the team nearly $24MM in expendable expiring contracts that could come in handy at this season’s trade deadline. Green, Tate, and Landale figure to see some action during the regular season, but none are locks to spend all year in the rotation, especially if the club’s young players continue to improve — they may be more valuable as trade chips.

The Rockets also gave up control of the Nets’ first-round picks in 2025 (they had swap rights) and 2026 (they would’ve acquired Brooklyn’s pick outright) in exchange for two future first-rounders and two future swaps. Three of those four are Suns picks. It’s an interesting play for Houston, which is pushing its trade assets further into the future and betting against Phoenix’s longevity as a contending team, as most of those picks and swaps are for either 2027 or 2029.

Up next

With plenty of expiring money on their books, a surplus of future draft assets, and a handful of talented young players on their roster, the Rockets are well positioned to make a bid for a star if one becomes available on the trade market.

Between now and the start of the regular season, however, the more pressing issue is whether to extend Alperen Sengun and/or Jalen Green. Both players are eligible for rookie scale extensions until October 21.

Sengun enjoyed a breakout year in 2023/24, finishing third in Most Improved Player voting after averaging 21.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG, and 5.0 APG. Green’s scoring average declined, but he continued to show flashes of stardom, including one 20-game stretch from February to April in which he put up 26.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 4.3 APG on .465/.381/.822 shooting.

Still, Green remains an inconsistent overall shooter and defender; Sengun, who was injured to finish the season, isn’t really a rim protector in the middle; and the Rockets had a higher net rating when each player was off the court than when he was on it. That’s not to say that Sengun and Green don’t deserve extensions, but neither case is a no-brainer for Houston, especially if those 2021 first-rounders are seeking maximum salaries or something close to it.

It’s also unclear whether the Rockets want to maintain the flexibility to potentially clear maximum-salary cap room in 2025. If so, it would certainly make sense to hold off on an extension for Sengun, at least. His cap hold as a restricted free agent would be just $16.3MM, far below his projected first-year salary on a new deal. Green’s cap hold would come in just above $31MM, so postponing an extension for him would only create additional cap flexibility if Houston expects to pay him more than that in 2025/26.

Hawks, Nets, Bulls Control Largest Trade Exceptions

August 17th, 2024 at 1:21pm CST by Luke Adams

As our list of traded player exceptions shows, six NBA teams currently control TPEs worth more than $10MM apiece. Those exceptions are as follows:

Atlanta Hawks: $25,266,266 (expires 7/7/25)
Brooklyn Nets: $23,300,000 (expires 7/7/25)
Chicago Bulls: $17,506,232 (expires 7/8/25)
Dallas Mavericks: $16,193,183 (expires 7/7/25)
Memphis Grizzlies: $12,600,000 (expires 2/3/25)
Washington Wizards: $12,402,000 (expires 2/10/25)

A trade exception allows a team to acquire a player’s contract without sending out matching salary in return. So in theory, the exceptions listed above could put these clubs in position to take on a sizable salary in a preseason or mid-season trade, perhaps acquiring a draft asset or two in the deal for their troubles.

In practice though, it will be difficult for any of these teams to make full use of their large TPEs in that sort of move. The Hawks, Nets, Bulls, Mavericks, and Wizards are all hard-capped at the first tax apron, while the Grizzlies would be if they were to use any portion of their exception.

Atlanta, Brooklyn, and Memphis also don’t have much breathing room below the luxury tax line, while Dallas is already in the tax, so they won’t be eager to take on much extra salary anyway.

Chicago could get about $6.6MM below the tax line by waiving Onuralp Bitim‘s non-guaranteed salary, while Washington could get about $11.9MM below that threshold by waiving their non-guaranteed players, so accommodating modest salary dumps could be in play for those clubs — especially the Wizards, whose big TPE will expire at the trade deadline. But generally speaking, these trade exceptions might not prove all that useful until the 2025 offseason.

Our TPE list uses italics to show which exceptions are currently ineligible to be used. As a reminder, teams operating above either tax apron can’t use trade exceptions generated during the previous regular season (2023/24) or the previous offseason (2023), while teams operating above the second tax apron can’t use new TPEs created from sign-and-trades.

That means, for example, that the Timberwolves are ineligible to use the $4MM exception they generated in February when they traded Troy Brown to the Pistons. They’re also ineligible to use the $8.8MM TPE they generated by signing-and-trading Kyle Anderson to Golden State last month. However, they could use the $2.5MM TPE created in July’s Wendell Moore deal, since it’s new since the season ended and wasn’t the result of a sign-and-trade.

Western Notes: Mills, Booker, Mavericks

August 17th, 2024 at 11:58am CST by Tristan Tucker

New Jazz guard Patty Mills is a respected veteran who has been a key part of several contenders and championship winners across the span of his 15-year career. That’s what made him an appealing target for Utah, Tony Jones of The Athletic writes.

As Jones observes, Mills and Jazz coach Will Hardy crossed over in San Antonio and Hardy observed as Mills worked hard to become the player who helped the Spurs win a ring in 2014. Mills isn’t the player he was a decade ago, but his hard work and veteran guidance could help aid Cody Williams, Taylor Hendricks, Keyonte George and others in their professional development.

Jones notes that the Jazz have been interested in Mills for a while now and almost acquired him at the February trade deadline. The guard was eventually bought out from Atlanta and finished the 2023/24 season with Miami. While the Jazz won’t officially announce the signing quite yet as they continue exploring taking in salaries from trades, it says a lot about Mills that he was able to land a guaranteed deal with the team.

We have more from the Western Conference:

Stars like Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant rightfully dominated Olympic headlines as the U.S. brought home the gold, but there were impressive showings up and down the roster. One such “unsung” player is Devin Booker, Doug Haller of The Athletic writes. Haller ponders whether Booker will gain more respect as he enters his 10th NBA season, arguing that he isn’t as “strongly appreciated” as he should be outside of Arizona.
Bucks guard Damian Lillard praised Booker for his role on the Olympic team, saying he was able to put his head down and fill various team needs, Dana Scott of Arizona Republic writes. “Watching the games, I thought it was extremely obvious that he went into it with that mentality,” Lillard said of Booker. “Like, ‘I’m gonna pick guys up, I’m gonna get into the ball, make open shots, I’m gonna compete for the team.’ I think it takes a special type of person to take that role when there’s so many outside voices and people talking about every little thing, and he definitely did that.” Lillard sees the Suns superstar as holding a critical role on the 2028 iteration of Team USA.
The Mavericks are holding their training camp in Las Vegas this year, Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com relays. They’ll train on UNLV’s campus from Oct. 1-4 before returning to Dallas, where they play Memphis in their preseason opener on Oct. 7.

Bulls Sign Kenneth Lofton Jr. To Exhibit 10 Contract

August 17th, 2024 at 11:50am CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 17: Lofton’s deal with the Bulls is official, according to RealGM’s transaction log. It’s an Exhibit 10 contract, Hoops Rumors has confirmed.

AUGUST 16: Free agent forward Kenneth Lofton Jr. has agreed to a one-year contract with the Bulls, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

While Charania doesn’t provide any other details on the deal, he says Lofton will have the opportunity in training camp to compete for a spot on Chicago’s regular season roster. That suggests it’ll be a non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract.

Lofton, who turned 22 on Wednesday, began his professional career with the Grizzlies in 2022 after going undrafted out of Louisiana Tech. The bulky 6’6″ forward spent most of his rookie year on a two-way contract with Memphis, appearing in 24 NBA games.

After being converted to a standard contract in April 2023, Lofton began the 2023/24 season on the Grizzlies’ 15-man roster, but was waived in December when Ja Morant was activated from the suspended list. He spent a couple months on a two-way deal with Philadelphia, then was waived again in March and signed a rest-of-season contract with the Jazz, who cut him last month before his ’24/25 salary became partially guaranteed.

Although Lofton didn’t play much at the NBA level in ’23/24, he finished the year strong in Utah, averaging 13.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in 22.8 minutes per game across four April outings for the Jazz. He also had a big year in the G League, earning All-NBAGL First Team honors after putting up 25.1 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 4.4 APG, and 1.6 BPG in 19 regular season games (30.1 MPG) for the Delaware Blue Coats and the Salt Lake City Stars.

The Bulls currently have 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts, with Onuralp Bitim on a non-guaranteed deal, so if Lofton impresses in camp, he could become the team’s 15th man. Chicago also has a two-way spot available, though Lofton would only be eligible to have his contract converted to a two-way deal if it includes Exhibit 10 language.

JT Thor Agrees To Two-Way Contract With Cavaliers

August 17th, 2024 at 11:39am CST by Tristan Tucker

Former Hornets forward JT Thor is signing a two-way contract with the Cavaliers, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (Twitter link).

Thor, the 37th overall pick in the 2021 draft, spent the first three years of his career with the Hornets. He didn’t play a major role with Charlotte, but earned a handful of spot starts across his tenure with the franchise. He averaged 3.2 points and 2.1 rebounds in 165 games (11 starts; 12.2 MPG) with the Hornets from 2021-24.

The former Auburn standout earned some first-round buzz in the 2021 draft after a freshman season that saw him average 9.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 0.8 steals while stretching out to the three-point line as a 6’10” forward. At 21 years old, he still has some untapped potential.

Thor most recently impressed in the Olympics, playing for South Sudan’s national team. He averaged about seven points and five rebounds for South Sudan.

Thor is the first reported two-way signing for the Cavs, giving them two other spots they can choose to fill. They have a two-way qualifying offer out for Emoni Bates, who finished last season on a two-way contract with the team.

Pete Nance and Isaiah Mobley also finished the 2023/24 season on two-way deals with Cleveland but are both unrestricted free agents, free to sign with any team.

Community Shootaround: Wizards Offseason

August 17th, 2024 at 9:59am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Wizards were one of the busiest teams of the offseason, bringing in first-round draftees in Alex Sarr, Carlton “Bub” Carrington and Kyshawn George. They also signed Jonas Valanciunas and Saddiq Bey in free agency while making other roster moves around the margins.

Last season marked the worst in Washington franchise history, with the team registering a .183 win percentage that was about four percentage points worse than their previous low in the 1961/62 season. While the Wizards didn’t become overnight contenders, the general sentiment is they did well to continue infusing young talent and serviceable veterans.

Sarr had a bit of a tough Summer League, but he was neck-and-neck with No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher in the eyes of most talent evaluators for best prospect in the draft. In my view, Washington did well to surround him with veterans with differing skill sets who can help him as he rises through the ranks. Carrington enters the league as one of the youngest and most explosive guards and should have a runway to minutes relatively early in his career. George similarly has an interesting upside and brings both ACC experience (Miami) and international expertise (Switzerland).

Bey was a free agent move that fell under the radar but should help the team massively. Bey’s efficiency fell off a bit this past season but he shot 36.1% on three-pointers on 6.5 attempts in the first three years of his career. Once he recovers from his ACL surgery, should help a Wizards team that ranked 25th in three-point efficiency last season improve in that regard.

Another major area to watch out for is how Washington’s young players continue to grow alongside one another. Corey Kispert is 25 now but has steadily improved over the course of his three-year career. Meanwhile, Bilal Coulibaly showed immense promise last season and should only continue to improve as a scorer and defender. His upside and development are key to this current build becoming competitive.

Jordan Poole had a tough start to last season but he quietly averaged 21.0 points while making 36.4% of 8.9 three-point attempts per night in his last 24 games of the season. Maybe he and Kyle Kuzma (22.2 PPG on .463/.336/.775 shooting) don’t build on those numbers, but they could both be used to help supplement this young team. For what it’s worth, Kuzma has seemed to enjoy being a focal point in Washington.

The Wizards aren’t done making moves this offseason. They have 17 players signed to standard contracts and are one of the only teams who have to deal with that sort of roster crunch. While the club may just end up cutting both Eugene Omoruyi and Jared Butler, the team’s only two non-guaranteed salaries, we explained in July why it might not be that simple.

The Wizards seem to like Omoruyi, and Butler played well last season while also fitting a positional need at point guard. They could just cut other players on small standard deals, but it’s hard to pinpoint who exactly would be on the chopping block. The team re-signed Anthony Gill to a third contract with the team and clearly values him. Patrick Baldwin could be another option, but he’s still young and may have untapped upside. Washington could also address its roster crunch on the trade market — perhaps the team gives Johnny Davis a change of scenery.

Regardless of what other moves the Wizards make for the rest of the offseason, their young core is undeniably in a better place than where it was last season.

That brings us to our question of the day. How do you evaluate the Wizards’ offseason? Are you intrigued by their young players? What moves should they make to trim the roster? What’s next?

Take to the comments to let us know what you think. We look forward to reading your input.

Pacific Notes: Curry, James, Davis, Clippers

August 17th, 2024 at 8:31am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Warriors‘ biggest offseason priority was to bring in a high-level, established scorer next to Stephen Curry, according to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater. That’s why Golden State targeted both Paul George and Lauri Markkanen, though the team came away with neither. While the general sentiment is that the Warriors did well for itself to bring in players like Buddy Hield, De’Anthony Melton and Kyle Anderson, Slater ponders whether the team is failing Curry.

Slater acknowledges that striking out on Markkanen may not have been management’s fault. According to Slater, Markkanen’s availability felt more like a mirage and him extending with Utah always seemed like the intended outcome.

Curry hasn’t shown any signs of unease or unrest with the roster, Slater adds. The two-time MVP is extension-eligible, and there has been no indication that either side feels less than optimistic about getting a deal done, though it won’t happen in the near future as Curry unwinds after the Paris Olympics.

While Curry could choose to sign a one-year extension by the October 21 deadline for the sake of security, it’s possible he’ll prefer to play out the season to see if the young players develop and if the new veterans fit in well. It would also be helpful to see if Draymond Green stays out of the league’s spotlight this season and if Andrew Wiggins bounces back, Slater writes. If Curry doesn’t sign an extension by Oct. 21, he’ll be eligible again next summer.

The Warriors themselves believe they improved this season, with internal team models providing a positive outlook for their veteran additions. One rival’s metric model projects the club to finish fourth in the West, Slater notes. Still, Curry’s decision on an extension before the deadline of Oct. 21 may provide a hint of his confidence level in the roster.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

The Paris Olympics are another major reason the Lakers should continue to be aggressive in looking for roster upgrades, Jovan Buha of The Athletic reports. LeBron James and Anthony Davis played major roles in the gold medal run, with James earning Olympics MVP honors. In Buha’s view, Davis has established himself as a top-10 NBA player and James remains firmly in that conversation too, so the tandem remains more than capable of contending for championships. Two-way wings are still a need for the team, Buha writes, but they could look to get creative in optimizing their stars with the talent on board, perhaps by playing Davis alongside another big more often or using their young shooters like Dalton Knecht and Max Christie.
In a similar piece, Michael Pina of The Ringer opines that the Lakers needed to bring in more veteran talent around James this offseason. The only players currently on Los Angeles’s standard roster who weren’t on last year’s team are Knecht and Bronny James. For my money though, I’ll be curious to see how they deploy their young talent this season. While the team didn’t make major veteran moves, Knecht was widely regarded as one of the biggest draft steals and players like Christie, Maxwell Lewis or Jalen Hood-Schifino could play themselves into the rotation or show enough promise to be used to trade for vets.
The new Clippers arena, Intuit Dome, had its grand opening on Thursday, Law Murray of The Athletic relays. The arena’s features, like the halo board, have gone viral through the last year and it marks the first time since 1998 that the Clippers won’t shares Staples Center/Crypto.com Arena with their rival Lakers. The 2024/25 regular season home opener for L.A. is against Phoenix on Oct. 23.

Central Notes: Bulls’ Odds, Tominaga, Verden

August 16th, 2024 at 10:38pm CST by Dana Gauruder

According to VegasInsider.com, the opening odds for the Bulls’ projected win total sit at 30.5. In order to exceed that figure, the Bulls will need a few breakout seasons, The Athletic’s Darnell Mayberry writes.

Coby White, Josh Giddey, Patrick Williams and Jalen Smith are some of the players in line for a statistical jump, given the state of current roster. The Bulls could get even younger as the season unfolds. They have been looking to deal Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic without success but that could change prior to next season’s trade deadline.

We have more from the Central Division:

Pacers training camp invitee Keisei Tominaga will play for G League United at the Fall Invitational next month, the league’s PR department tweets. Tominaga, a member of Japan’s national team at the Paris Olympics, reportedly agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract with Indiana after going undrafted out of Nebraska.
The Pistons are hiring Matthew Verden as their director of grassroots scouting and intelligence, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto (Twitter link). Verden was previously the senior manager of player personnel and strategy for the development program Overtime Elite.
In case you missed it, the Bulls are signing Kenneth Lofton Jr. to a one-year contract. Get the details here.

Damian Lillard: ‘I’m Not A Player That’s Breaking Down’

August 16th, 2024 at 9:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Perennial All-Star Damian Lillard insists he’s still the same player that carved out a Hall of Fame career in Portland despite a disappointing first season with the Bucks.

“I’m not a player that’s breaking down,” Lillard told Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in a subscriber-only story. “I live a clean, good, healthy life, so I can do it. I can do the same (expletive) I did two, three years ago. I can do it right now.”

The uncertainty surrounding Lillard was the biggest story of last offseason. Lillard was expected to be traded to his preferred destination, Miami. Instead, the Trail Blazers dealt him to Milwaukee.

After averaging a career-best 32.2 points per game in 2022/23, his scoring output dropped to 24.3 PPG in his first season with the Bucks. That was to be expected, considering he was teaming up with another superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo but his shooting percentage was just 42.4%, including 35.4% on 3-point tries, well below his career averages.

“I think when the trade happened everybody was like, ‘Well, Milwaukee’s gonna win it,’ and I think when it didn’t always look the way they wanted it to look or thought it was gonna look, and I wasn’t looking how I looked in Portland, it was like, oh, what’s going on with Dame? Why is Dame not doing this?” he said. “But when for a greater part of the season I was still averaging about 26 points. Like, if you really think about that – what standard do y’all hold me to if I’m scoring 26 points and averaging seven assists and I’m not feeling great? I’m going through a lot of stuff. That’s just the truth.”

Injuries took a toll. During various points of the season, Liullard was dealing with calf, ankle, groin, adductor and Achilles issues. He was also going through a divorce and had to deal with playing and living in a new city after the trade finally came to fruition.

“There was a lot of change, a lot of stress, you know?” he said. “I think now, having an opportunity to get myself in order and kind of start pushing forward to next season.”

The oddsmakers peg the Bucks fourth among Eastern Conference teams heading into 2024/25, behind the defending champion Celtics, Sixers and Knicks. That’s just fine by Lillard as he continues to chase his first ring.

“The fact that we’re there and we’re under the radar is perfect because they’re gonna think nothing of us and then they’re gonna be like…You gotta face the truth, eventually. That’s how that usually works,” he said.

Knicks To Guarantee Jericho Sims’ Full Salary

August 16th, 2024 at 7:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Knicks center Jericho Sims will have his $2,092,344 salary fully guaranteed for the upcoming season, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports (Twitter link).

Friday represented the deadline for the Knicks to decide whether to fully guarantee the contract. Sims, who had a partial guarantee of $1,302,359, would have had to be waived today if New York wanted to avoid being on the hook for the rest of his salary.

Sims, a 2021 second-round pick, has appeared in 138 games during his first three NBA seasons, including 32 starts. Last season, he saw action in 45 regular-season games, including 11 starts. He averaged 2.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 13.0 minutes per contest.

Sims projects as the Knicks’ third-string center behind starter Mitchell Robinson and primary backup Precious Achiuwa. The team lost Isaiah Hartenstein to Oklahoma City in free agency.

Sims should come into training camp in better shape than the past two years. He underwent thumb surgery two summers ago, followed by shoulder surgery last offseason.

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