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Month: September 2024

20 Players Remain Eligible For Rookie Scale Extensions

August 12th, 2024 at 2:57pm CST by Rory Maher

Four players have signed rookie scale extensions so far this offseason.

Raptors forward Scottie Barnes was the first domino to fall, later being joined by Magic forward Franz Wagner, Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, and Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley. All four received five-year, maximum-salary deals containing Rose rule language.

[RELATED: 2024/25 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]

That leaves a total of 20 players who remain eligible for rookie scale extensions, which can be signed up until the day before the start of the regular season. Those 20 players are as follows:

Some players on this list almost certainly won’t sign new contracts this offseason. Guys like Hyland, Duarte, Mitchell, Springer and Williams, for instance, haven’t yet established themselves as reliable rotation players who are worth long-term investments, so it would be pretty surprising if they were extended.

There are plenty of other viable extension candidates on this list though. Of these 20 players, Sengun probably has the strongest case for a lucrative multiyear commitment. The Turkish big man has also publicly expressed his desire to sign a long-term deal. But there has been speculation the Rockets might preserve cap flexibility for 2025 by not extending Sengun or Green, and one report stated both were unlikely to get max offers before the season begins.

Kuminga and Johnson are reportedly looking for max deals, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. While both forwards have flashed tantalizing two-way upside, neither player has a long track record of NBA success. Still, they’re certainly possibilities for nine-figure commitments.

Suggs, Murphy, Thomas and Giddey are among the other players listed who could receive lucrative extensions this offseason — there have been multiple reports stating that extending Murphy is a priority for New Orleans, though the two sides had “differing viewpoints” on the sharpshooter’s value in July.

Kispert, Aldama, Grimes, Moody, Mann, Jackson and Sharpe fall somewhere in the middle. I’d expect at least a couple of them to receive new contracts, but they likely won’t be for as much money.

Typically, after the first wave of slam-dunk rookie scale extension candidates sign their deals in early July, there isn’t a ton of action on this front until we get much closer to the October deadline. But we should expect several more deals to be completed in the fall — in each of the last four offseasons, at least 10 players have inked rookie scale extensions. If that trend continues, at least six of the 20 players above will have new deals in hand by the time the regular season tips off.

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Tyrese Haliburton Had “Minor Leg Injury” During Olympics

August 12th, 2024 at 1:20pm CST by Rory Maher

Pacers star point guard Tyrese Haliburton dealt with a “minor leg injury” and underwent an MRI during the Olympics, sources tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN.

Haliburton was essentially Team USA’s 12th man during the Olympics in Paris, which concluded on Sunday. He averaged just 8.8 minutes per game in his three appearances; the Americans went 6-0 to claim the gold medal, so the 24-year-old didn’t play at all in three contests, including the semifinal and final.

Haliburton was hampered during the 2023/24 season with a hamstring strain he sustained in January. While he ultimately appeared in 69 games and made the All-NBA Third Team, securing an extension that starts at 30% (instead of 25%) of the salary cap, his effectiveness was clearly diminished post-injury. Haliburton wound up missing his final two postseason games vs. Boston with a hamstring injury as well.

There’s no indication that the leg issue Haliburton was managing during the Olympics is a cause for concern going forward, given Windhorst’s description. Still, it’s a noteworthy event when a player like Haliburton — one of Team USA’s top performers at the 2023 World Cup — undergoes an MRI.

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Knicks/Celtics, Wolves/Lakers To Play On Opening Night

August 12th, 2024 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s opening night schedule will feature home games for the league’s two most accomplished franchises, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the Celtics will host the Knicks in the early game, while the Lakers will host the Timberwolves in the late game.

The Celtics, who won their record 18th NBA title in June, will receive their championship rings on opening night, which will take place on Tuesday, October 22. That game will be the first for the new-look Knicks, featuring Mikal Bridges.

The game between the Lakers and Timberwolves will feature several stars who participated in Saturday’s gold medal game in Paris, including LeBron James and Anthony Davis of the Lakers and Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert of the Wolves.

Both games will air on TNT Sports, which will be distributing NBA games for one final year in 2024/25, assuming their lawsuit against the league doesn’t result in a new broadcast rights deal that begins in ’25/26.

The full regular schedule for the 2024/25 NBA season is expected to be released later this week, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. In the meantime, here are a few more notable matchups, courtesy of Charania:

  • The new-look Sixers, led by former MVP Joel Embiid, reigning Most Improved Player Tyrese Maxey, and free agent addition Paul George, will host the Bucks on October 23 to open their regular season (Twitter link).
  • The first regular season game at the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood will be played on October 23, when the Clippers host the Suns (Twitter link).
  • Klay Thompson and the Mavericks will visit the Warriors on November 12 in Thompson’s first trip back to the Bay Area (Twitter link). That will also be the first game of the in-season tournament (NBA Cup) for both Dallas and Golden State (Twitter link).
  • The NBA Finals rematches between the Celtics and Mavericks will take place on January 25 in Dallas and February 6 in Boston (Twitter link).
  • In case you missed it, 2024’s Christmas Day matchups were reported last week.
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Jazz Sign Kyle Filipowski

August 12th, 2024 at 11:32am CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz have signed second-round pick Kyle Filipowski to his first NBA contract, the team announced today in a press release.

Filipowski, a 7’0″ forward/center, declared for the draft this spring as an early entrant after averaging 16.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.5 blocks in 30.4 minutes per game across 36 starts in his sophomore year at Duke.

He posted a shooting line of .505/.348/.671 in his final college season for the Blue Devils and was a consensus second-team All-American.

Although he was invited to the green room for the first night of the 2024 draft, Filipowski fell out of the first round and was selected by Utah with the 32nd overall pick on day two. He impressed last month at the Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 16.4 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 2.4 APG in five games (25.3 MPG).

While Filipowski’s contract details aren’t yet known, the Jazz’s announcement indicates he received a standard contract rather than a two-way deal, which was expected. Given his draft slot, a three- or four-year deal with at least a couple guaranteed seasons seems likely.

Filipowski was one of the last 2024 draftees to officially sign a contract, as the Jazz looked to maximize their cap room well into the offseason in case trade opportunities arose. They’ve been in the process of using up that cap space in recent days, renegotiating and extending Lauri Markkanen‘s contract, then officially signing Drew Eubanks and Svi Mykhailiuk.

Utah now has 13 players on standard contracts, with Johnny Juzang‘s reported four-year contract still to be finalized. The team has also filled all three of its two-way slots, so its roster could be almost ready for the regular season.

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Contract Details: Mykhailiuk, Eubanks, Swider, Two-Ways

August 12th, 2024 at 10:45am CST by Luke Adams

The four-year contract that veteran swingman Svi Mykhailiuk signed with the Jazz only includes $3.5MM in guaranteed money, Hoops Rumors has learned — that $3.5MM is the salary Mykhailiuk will earn in 2024/25.

The second and third years of Mykhailiuk’s deal, worth $3.675MM and $3.85MM respectively, are non-guaranteed, as is his $4.025MM team option for the 2027/28 season. The 27-year-old could earn up to a total of $15.05MM if he plays out the entire contract, but $11.55MM of that money is non-guaranteed.

June 30 represents Mykhailiuk’s annual salary guarantee date, so the Jazz would have to waive him by June 30, 2025 to avoid being on the hook for his full ’25/26 salary. That deadline also applies to each of the following two seasons.

Here are more details on recently signed contracts from around the NBA:

  • Drew Eubanks will earn a $5MM guaranteed salary from the Jazz this season, with a $4.75MM non-guaranteed salary for 2025/26, Hoops Rumors has learned. Both Mykahiliuk and Eubanks were signed using a portion of Utah’s leftover cap room.
  • Cole Swider‘s one-year, non-guaranteed contract with the Pacers is worth the minimum salary and includes Exhibit 9 language, Hoops Rumors has learned. It doesn’t feature Exhibit 10 language, which suggests the plan probably isn’t for Swider to join Indiana’s G League team if he’s waived during training camp. The third-year forward vie for a spot on the Pacers’ 15-man regular season roster.
  • The two-way contracts recently signed by Enrique Freeman with the Pacers and Anzejs Pasecniks with the Bucks are each one-year deals, so both players will be eligible for restricted free agency in 2025.
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Hoops Rumors Glossary: Designated Veteran Contract

August 12th, 2024 at 9:21am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s maximum salary is determined by a player’s years of NBA experience. Players with between zero and six seasons under their belts are eligible for a starting salary worth up to 25% of the salary cap. That figure increases to 30% for players with seven to nine years of NBA experience, and to 35% for players with 10+ years of service.

However, there are certain scenarios in which a player can achieve a higher maximum salary than his years of service dictate. When a player who would normally qualify for the 30% max becomes eligible for a starting salary worth up to 35% of the cap before he gains 10+ years of NBA experience, he can sign a Designated Veteran contract, also known as a “super-max” deal.

A player who has seven or eight years of NBA service with one or two years left on his contract becomes eligible for a Designated Veteran contract extension if he meets the required performance criteria. A Designated Veteran contract can also be signed by a player who is a free agent if he has eight or nine years of service and meets the required performance criteria.

However, a player can’t sign a Designated Veteran deal with a new team — only his current team. Additionally, if he has been traded at any time since his first four years in the NBA or previously changed teams via free agency at any point in his career, he becomes ineligible for such a deal.

That means players like Donovan Mitchell, Lauri Markkanen, and Jalen Brunson would have had no path to becoming eligible for Designated Veteran deals with their current teams, but Brandon Ingram (who was traded during his first four seasons) could become eligible if he remains with the Pelicans and meets the performance criteria.

Speaking of that performance criteria, here’s what it looks like. At least one of the following must be a true for a player to be eligible to sign a Designated Veteran contract:

  • He was named to an All-NBA team in the most recent season, or in two of the last three seasons.
  • He was named NBA MVP in any of the three most recent seasons.
  • He was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season, or in two of the last three seasons.

Given the exclusivity of the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards, players who qualify for a Designated Veteran contract do so most often by earning All-NBA nods.

Celtics forward Jayson Tatum was the only player eligible to sign a Designated Veteran contract this offseason. Tatum actually met the performance criteria a year ago by making his second consecutive All-NBA team, but he only had six years of NBA service at the time. He was able to sign his super-max extension this offseason once he registered his seventh year of service.

Tatum was named an All-NBA first-teamer again in 2024, but would have been eligible even if he’d missed out on an All-NBA spot this year, since his nods in 2022 and 2023 ensured he’d made an All-NBA team in at least two of the past three seasons.

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Mavericks guard Luka Doncic are following in Tatum’s footsteps. Both players have made All-NBA teams in each of the past two seasons but still have just six years of service under their belts. They’ll meet the service time criteria next summer and will be eligible to sign Designated Veteran contract extensions in July 2025 whether or not they earn All-NBA honors in 2024/25.

As outlined above, if the Thunder were to trade Gilgeous-Alexander or the Mavericks were to trade Doncic, they would no longer be super-max eligible. But obviously those 2024 MVP finalists aren’t going anywhere in the next year.

While the Designated Veteran rule allows players with fewer than 10 years of NBA experience to qualify for contracts that begin at 35% of the cap instead of 30%, the “Rose Rule” allows players with fewer than seven years of service to qualify for contracts that begin at 30% of the cap instead of 25%.

Those are technically two separate rules, and we’ve discussed the Rose Rule at greater length in a separate glossary entry. However, they’re closely linked, and both types of contracts are sometimes referred to a “super-max” deals.

Here are a few other rules related to Designated Veteran contracts:

  • Even if a player qualifies for a Designated Veteran contract, his team isn’t obligated to start its extension offer at 35% of the cap. The player is eligible for a salary up to that amount, but the exact amount is still a matter for the two sides to negotiate. For example, after becoming super-max eligible in 2020, Rudy Gobert signed a contract with the Jazz that began at just over 31% of the cap.
  • A Designated Veteran extension can’t exceed six years, including the number of years left on the player’s contract. So if a player signs a Designated Veteran extension when he has two years left on his current contract, he could tack on four new years to that deal.
  • A player signing a Designated Veteran contract as a free agent can’t sign for more than five years.
  • A Designated Veteran extension can only be signed between the end of the July moratorium and the last day before the start of the regular season.
  • If a player signs a Designated Veteran contract, he is ineligible to be traded for one year.
  • Under the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement, a team wasn’t permitted to carry more than two players on Designated Veteran contracts at a time. However, that rule didn’t carry over to the 2023 CBA and that limit no longer applies.

Our list of the players who have signed Designated Veteran contracts since their inception in 2017 can be found right here.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Previous versions of this glossary entry were published in 2018 and 2023.

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NBA 2024 Offseason Check-In: Boston Celtics

August 12th, 2024 at 7:55am 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 Boston Celtics.

Free agent signings

  • Neemias Queta: Three years, minimum salary ($7,180,128). Second year partially guaranteed ($1,174,789). Third-year team option. Re-signed using Non-Bird rights.
  • Xavier Tillman: Two years, minimum salary ($4,784,366). Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Luke Kornet: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Tristan Enaruna: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Ron Harper Jr.: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

  • None

Draft picks

Two-way signings

Departed/unsigned free agents

Other moves

  • Signed Jayson Tatum to a five-year, super-max contract extension that begins in 2025/26. The deal includes a fifth-year player option and has a projected value of $313,933,410.
  • Signed Derrick White to a four-year, $118,048,000 contract extension that begins in 2025/26. The deal includes $7,840,000 in incentives and a 15% trade kicker.
  • Exercised Sam Hauser‘s 2024/25 team option ($2,092,344); signed Hauser to a four-year, $45,000,000 contract extension that begins in 2025/26.

Salary cap situation

  • Operating over the cap ($140.6MM), over the luxury tax line ($170.8MM), and above the second tax apron ($188.9MM).
  • Carrying approximately $196.6MM in salary.
  • No hard cap.
  • No form of mid-level or bi-annual exception available.
  • Two traded player exceptions frozen/unavailable (largest worth $2,019,706).

The offseason so far

The Celtics dominated the 2024/25 campaign, posting the NBA’s best regular season record (64-18) and net rating (+11.7) by a wide margin, then losing just three playoff games (no more than one in any series) en route to a league-record 18th championship.

It’s no surprise then that the front office’s strategy this offseason was simply to keep this group intact, especially since the team’s position relative to the tax aprons made it difficult to bring in outside help.

Of the seven Celtics players who reached free agency this offseason, five are back under contract with the team — big men Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman, and Neemias Queta each returned on minimum-salary contracts, while Drew Peterson and JD Davison signed new two-way deals.

Little-used wing Svi Mykhailiuk is the only free agent to join a new team (Utah), while another reserve wing, Oshae Brissett, is the only one who remains unsigned. The Celtics still have one open 15-man roster spot, so it’s not out of the question that Brissett returns, but it looks like the team will be happy adding a pair of draft picks (Baylor Scheierman and Anton Watson) to the back of the roster and entering the fall with that last spot still open.

Besides re-signing most of their own free agents, the Celtics agreed to long-term extensions with All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum, All-Defensive guard Derrick White, and sharpshooting reserve Sam Hauser. With the exception of 38-year-old big man Al Horford, the Celtics’ top eight rotation players are now under contract for multiple seasons, with five of them locked up for at least the next four years.

It hasn’t been a perfect offseason in Boston. Top assistant Charles Lee left Joe Mazzulla‘s staff to take the head coaching job in Charlotte, and the Celtics’ majority ownership group put control of the franchise up for sale, raising some questions about the long-term feasibility of maintaining one of the NBA’s most expensive rosters, which will only get pricier in 2025/26 as many of those aforementioned extensions take effect.

For now though, the outlook in Boston remains overwhelming positive, with the Celtics poised to enter the 2024/25 season as the favorites to repeat.

Up next

It’s possible the Celtics’ offseason business is over. The team has 14 players on standard guaranteed contracts and three on two-way deals, so the roster is regular-season-ready.

The only remaining extension-eligible player is fourth-year guard Jaden Springer, who probably hasn’t shown enough to warrant a long-term investment at this point. He logged just 7.6 minutes per game across 17 regular season appearances with the Celtics after being acquired from Philadelphia at the 2024 trade deadline, and only saw garbage-time action in four playoff contests.

With two open spot on Boston’s 21-man offseason roster, the team will probably bring in a couple more camp invitees on Exhibit 10 contracts. And maybe those players will even get the opportunity to compete for one of the two-way spots currently held by Davison or Peterson (I wouldn’t expect Watson, who holds the third two-way, to be cut before his rookie season).

But for the most part, a quiet fall should be in store for the Celtics, who will be eager to get their title defense underway this October.

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Jazz Sign Svi Mykhailiuk To Four-Year Deal

August 12th, 2024 at 6:37am CST by Rory Maher

AUGUST 12: The Jazz officially signed Mykhailiuk over the weekend, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

AUGUST 9: The Jazz plan to sign free agent swingman Svi Mykhailiuk to a four-year, $15MM contract, agent Michael Lelchitski tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

A 27-year-old from Ukraine, Mykhailiuk was the No. 47 overall pick of the 2018 draft after playing four years of college ball at Kansas. He has bounced around the NBA over the course of his six seasons, playing for the Lakers, Pistons, Thunder, Raptors, Knicks and Hornets. He spent the 2023/24 campaign with the Celtics, winning an NBA championship as a role player.

In 41 appearances with Boston last season, Mykhailiuk averaged 4.0 PPG and 1.2 RPG while shooting 38.9% from three-point range (10.1 MPG). In 293 career regular season games, including 56 starts (15.8 MPG), Mykhailiuk has averaged 6.3 PPG, 1.7 RPG and 1.3 APG while shooting 36.3% from deep.

Based on the reported terms, Mykhailiuk may have received more than the veteran’s minimum, which would have been worth about $12.3MM over four years for a player with six years of experience. If that’s the case, the Jazz will have to use a portion of their cap room to complete the transaction.

While Mykhailiuk is signing a four-year deal, I’d be a little surprised if more than one year is fully guaranteed, given his previous team history. Still, he could be given a real opportunity to earn minutes with Utah, which only has 10 players on guaranteed standard contracts, plus the reported but not yet official deals for Drew Eubanks and Johnny Juzang. The Jazz also have an unsigned draft pick, former Duke big man Kyle Filipowski, who was selected 32nd overall in June.

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Drew Eubanks Signs Two-Year Deal With Jazz

August 12th, 2024 at 6:36am CST by Arthur Hill

AUGUST 12: Well over a month after the Jazz and Eubanks reached an agreement, they officially finalized their deal over the weekend, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

JULY 1: The Jazz will add free agent center Drew Eubanks on a two-year, $10MM contract, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Eubanks, 27, spent last season as a backup in Phoenix, where he averaged 5.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 75 games. He became an unrestricted free agent after turning down a $2.65MM player option for next season.

Eubanks broke into the league in 2018 on a two-way contract with the Spurs. He spent three-and-a-half seasons in San Antonio before being traded to Toronto, then signed with Portland after the Raptors waived him. He joined the Suns as a free agent last summer.

Eubanks will compete for minutes on Utah’s front line with third-year center Walker Kessler and veteran John Collins. The Jazz also selected Duke big man Kyle Filipowski in last week’s draft.

Because his salary for 2024/25 will come in under $8MM, the Jazz have the option of adding Eubanks with their room mid-level exception and keeping their $38MM in cap space, notes Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype (via Twitter).

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Bucks Sign Anzejs Pasecniks To Two-Way Contract

August 12th, 2024 at 6:35am CST by Rory Maher

AUGUST 12: Pasecniks officially signed his two-way contract over the weekend, according to the transaction log at NBA.com.

AUGUST 1: The Bucks are signing free agent big man Anzejs Pasecniks to a two-way contract, agent Arturs Kalnitis tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

A 7’1″ center from Latvia, Pasecniks was a first-round pick (25th overall) back in 2017, but he never signed a rookie scale contract and his draft rights were renounced in 2019. He eventually landed with the Wizards, spending parts of two seasons with the club from 2019-21.

The 28-year-old holds career averages of 5.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in 28 NBA games, all with Washington (15.8 minutes per contest).

Pasecniks has spent the past three seasons in Europe, playing for Real Betis (Spain), Metropolitans 92 (France) and Palencia (Spain). While his team struggled mightily in 2023/24 (Palencia finished 6-28 and was relegated to the second-tier division), Pasecniks was productive individually, averaging 13.0 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 60.4% from the floor in 34 games (21.9 minutes).

Pasecniks, who played for the Latvian national team at last year’s World Cup, has spent most of his professional career in Europe, playing for VEF Riga (Latvia) and Gran Carania (Spain) from 2012-19.

Milwaukee’s three-two way spots are currently occupied by Ryan Rollins, Jaylin Galloway and Stanley Umude, which means one of those players will need to be cut to make roster space for Pasecniks, who will provide some frontcourt depth for the Bucks.

[Update: Galloway has been waived.]

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