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12 Two-Way Restricted Free Agents Remain Unsigned

July 18th, 2023 at 10:24am CST by Luke Adams

The action on the NBA’s free agent market has slowed since the start of July, but there are still many FAs seeking new deals, including a notable group of under-the-radar players whose situations will need to be resolved in the coming days, weeks, and months.

A total of 12 two-way restricted free agents are still available, as our up-to-date list shows. Those players are as follows:

That group doesn’t include a 13th player, Neemias Queta, who is also a restricted free agent after finishing last season on a two-way deal. Although he remains eligible to sign another two-way contract, Queta was ineligible for a two-way qualifying offer after having played on a two-way with the Kings for consecutive seasons — his QO is a one-year, minimum-salary contract with a small ($75K) partial guarantee.

For the rest of these players, their qualifying offer is simply another one-year, two-way deal, which limits their leverage to negotiate a more lucrative standard contract.

Some two-way RFAs have managed to earn standard deals this offseason. A.J. Green of the Bucks was one. Julian Champagnie of the Spurs was another. Ty Jerome (Warriors) and Jack White (Nuggets) received standard contract offers from the Cavaliers and Thunder, respectively, that their former teams were unwilling to match, so Golden State and Denver simply withdrew their respective qualifying offers, making Jerome and White unrestricted free agents.

Offer sheets for two-way restricted free agents essentially never happen though. And in general, unless a team has earmarked a 15-man roster spot for a two-way free agent, it’s an uphill battle for these players to earn offseason promotions.

As a result, the majority of the dozen restricted free agents listed above will likely end up accepting their qualifying offers and hoping that their play in 2023/24 forces their clubs to find 15-man roster spots for them later in the season.

Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on this group to see if any of them can do better than another two-way — and to see how long some of them might be willing to wait in the hope of earning that opportunity.

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Dalen Terry Finishes Strong After Rough Summer League

July 17th, 2023 at 7:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • Bulls second-year guard Dalen Terry admits he had a “tough summer league” but he finished strong, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic points out. He had 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting, including four 3-pointers, and added five rebounds and four assists in his last game. “Obviously, I haven’t had a great summer league. And, in this game, I just had to forget all about it and just keep going,” Terry said during an ESPN interview.
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Rockets’ Cam Whitmore Named Summer League MVP

July 17th, 2023 at 2:46pm CST by Rory Maher

Rockets forward Cam Whitmore has been named the Las Vegas Summer League Most Valuable Player, the NBA announced (via Twitter).

The NBA also announced its All-Summer League First and Second Teams, which are as follows (Twitter links):

First Team

Second Team

According to the NBA (Twitter link), Christie and Moon received the same amount of votes, which is why there is an additional backcourt player on the second team.

Whitmore, a projected lottery pick in last month’s draft who fell to Houston at No. 20, averaged 20.4 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.2 APG and 3.0 SPG on .465/.293/.625 shooting in his five Vegas Summer League games, per NBA.com.

Houston faces Cleveland at 8 p.m. CT tonight in the Summer League championship game. Both teams are undefeated, holding identical 5-0 records.

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Bulls Sign Torrey Craig

July 16th, 2023 at 10:11am CST by Rory Maher

JULY 16: The Bulls have officially signed Craig, the team announced today (via Twitter).

JULY 3: The Bulls are signing free agent forward Torrey Craig to a two-year contract that includes a player option, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

A six-year NBA veteran, Craig is a hard-nosed defensive player often tasked with defending opposing teams’ best players. He’s coming off a solid season with the Suns, averaging 7.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.5 APG and 0.8 BPG in 79 games, including 60 starts (24.7 MPG). All of those figures represented career highs.

Craig, who also shot a career-best 39.5% from deep in 2022/23, just completed a two-year, $10MM contract. It will be interesting to see what he signed for, as Wojnarowski did not initially report a salary figure.

Craig went undrafted in 2014 after four college seasons at the University of South Carolina Upstate. He spent his first three pro seasons playing in Australia before returning stateside in ’17/18, making his NBA debut as rookie for the Nuggets.

The 32-year-old has also had stints with Milwaukee and Indiana, in addition to Phoenix and Denver. Craig was No. 41 on our list of 2023’s top 50 free agents.

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Central Notes: Beauchamp, Freeman-Liberty, Bulls, Haliburton

July 15th, 2023 at 8:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

After spending much of his rookie season getting used to the NBA, the Bucks‘ MarJon Beauchamp appears ready to make a bigger impact, writes Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Beauchamp reported to Summer League noticeably stronger than he was last season, and his teammates have seen a different approach to the game.

“His confidence and feeling comfortable out there, and kind of understanding what he does best and how he can do that and execute that and kind of just like putting his impact on the game, on both ends of the floor, getting to the rim, making plays defensively,” A.J. Green said. “He just looks so much more like ‘I’m here. I belong here’ comfortable out there.”

Beauchamp took a lead role in Milwaukee’s offense during Summer League, scoring 23 and 20 points in the first two games. He plans to spend part of the offseason working out in Greece with Giannis Antetokounmpo and hopes to carry his newfound aggressiveness into the upcoming season.

“Going into camp, I just want to show my ability where I’ve grown and I read the game better,” Beauchamp said. “I’m here to take that leap. I am. It starts Day 1 of training camp so I can’t wait.”

There’s more from the Central Division:

  • Javon Freeman-Liberty was impressive enough during Summer League to warrant an NBA contract, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago states in an overview of the Bulls‘ performance in Las Vegas. Freeman-Liberty averaged 21.2 PPG in five games while shooting 49.3% from the field and 46.2% from beyond the arc. Johnson suggests the Bulls might give him their last open two-way spot if he doesn’t get offered a standard deal by another team.
  • The Bulls‘ front office hasn’t shown an ability to identify talent in recent drafts, contends Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Second-year guard Dalen Terry might be the latest disappointment after a lackluster Summer League showing in which he shot 33.8%. Cowley rates Chicago’s last four drafts, giving the team grades of C, C-minus, D and C-plus.
  • Tyrese Haliburton believes the Pacers are ready to take another step forward after signing Bruce Brown and trading for Obi Toppin, per The Indianapolis Star. “I think we have a lot of guys that fit the right way and fit our style of basketball,” Haliburton said. “Bruce, Obi, on top of the guys that we already have there with the way we played last year, those are two guys who just add to that. That’s going to help us keep playing fast.”
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Central Notes: Bucks, Siakam, Pacers, Carter, LaVine

July 13th, 2023 at 10:29pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After opting to retain their core free agents this summer and also make some cheap veteran signings, the Bucks are deftly navigating their present while trying to maintain some longer-term flexibility, writes Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“There is, without a doubt, an intentionality to try make sure that we maximize where we’re at right now with this team and always having an eye toward the future to try to figure out what the next version of this team looks like,” Milwaukee GM Jon Horst told Owczarski.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s major changes to the roster [upcoming] or there is or there isn’t, it just means that we gotta have an eye toward that and continue to look at how we’re going to build this two, three, four, five years down the road because the whole goal has always been to sustain our success over a long period of time,” Horst continued.

There’s more out of the Central Division:

  • The rebuilding Pacers theoretically have the attributes to trade for Raptors All-Star power forward Pascal Siakam, but Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star wonders if the negatives of such a move would outweigh the positives, specifically with regard to how much the team would possibly need to surrender to Toronto.
  • Chicago native Jevon Carter is hoping to help elevate his new team, his hometown Bulls, both on the hardwood and beyond it this season, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. To wit, Carter is already prepping to host a local youth camp this weekend. “Anytime I dreamed about going to the NBA as a kid, it was always in a Chicago Bulls uniform,” Carter told Johnson. “So getting that call and hearing, ‘Congratulations, you’re going to be a Chicago Bull,’ like, I don’t even know what to say. My feelings are all over the place.”
  • Maximum-salaried Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine does not believe he will be traded by Chicago in the near future, per Ryan Taylor of NBC Sports Chicago. “I always rep my city whichever team I’m playing for to the best,” LaVine said. “And Chicago’s loved me and called me one of their own since I’ve been there. I don’t see anything happening anytime soon. But if it does, Chicago always has my love.”
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NBA OKs Disabled Player Exception For Bulls

July 13th, 2023 at 7:32pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA has approved the Bulls‘ request for a disabled player exception as a result of point guard Lonzo Ball‘s knee injury, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The ailment has kept Ball shelved since January of 2022 and has required three surgeries to date. Earlier this summer, team president Arturas Karnisovas indicated that Chicago expects the point guard to miss all of the 2023/24 NBA season.

A disabled player exception is granted when an NBA-appointed physician rules that a player is more likely than not to be sidelined through June 15 of that league year.

Ball will earn $20.46MM this season, meaning the Bulls’ DPE will be worth $10.23MM. It could be used to add a new free agent, bring in a player off waivers, or acquire someone as part of a trade. A free agent could only be signed to a one-year deal, while a player acquired via waivers or trade would have to be in the final year of his contract.

As K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago notes, the Bulls are currently only about $8MM below the luxury tax line. Should Chicago be inclined to make bigger moves beyond adding a veteran’s minimum signing or two and retaining restricted free agent Ayo Dosunmu, the disabled player exception could be a powerful mechanism, though using most or all of it would likely push team salary into the tax.

Ball underwent a cartilage transplant surgery in March to correct his knee issues, in what Johnson suggests was generally thought to be a final bid to salvage his pro career.

Since joining the Bulls on a four-year, $80MM contract in a sign-and-trade with the Pelicans, the former No. 2 overall pick has appeared in just 35 contests. He was a highly effective perimeter defender, passer and three-point shooter (42.3% on 7.4 attempts) for Chicago when healthy, and a big part of the club’s surprise success through the first half of the 2021/22 season.

The Bulls have underwhelmed while trying to replace Ball’s production at the position in a piecemeal fashion.

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Contract Details For Julian Phillips

July 13th, 2023 at 7:51am CST by Luke Adams
  • Julian Phillips‘ first NBA contract is a four-year deal, according to Marks (Twitter link), who says the Bulls second-round pick will earn $1.6MM in year one and the minimum in the following three seasons. The deal, which was completed using the NBA’s new second-round pick exception, will include a fourth-year team option but is guaranteed for the first three years. As Marks observes, Phillips will receive the second-most guaranteed money of any 2023 second-rounders who have signed so far, behind only No. 32 pick Jalen Pickett.
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Karnisovas On Carter, Craig Additions

July 12th, 2023 at 5:39pm CST by Rory Maher
  • The Bulls‘ top basketball executive, Arturas Karnisovas, explained the decision to sign Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig in free agency, as K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago relays. Karnisovas reiterated that the team expects to be without Lonzo Ball for the entire 2023/24 season, providing context for the additions. “Unfortunately, we’re going to miss ‘Zo,” Karnišovas said on ESPN2. “He’s the player that pushes the ball, pushes the tempo, gives you 3-point shooting. So we tried to address this this offseason. And I think we got toughness, some shooting and some guys who play with energy and a motor.” Craig’s deal isn’t official yet, Johnson notes.
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Bulls Sign Second-Round Pick Julian Phillips

July 12th, 2023 at 2:47pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls have officially signed second-round pick Julian Phillips to his first NBA contract, the team announced today (via Twitter).

There’s no word yet on the terms of Phillips’ deal, but players drafted as high as he was (No. 35) typically sign standard contracts, and the Bulls’ announcement doesn’t say anything about it being a two-way pact. I imagine the club used the new second-round pick exception to sign him to a three- or four-year contract that includes at least one or two guaranteed seasons.

[RELATED: 2023 NBA Draft Pick Signings]

A 6’8″ forward, Phillips spent just one year in college before declaring for the draft as an early entrant. As a freshman at Tennessee in 2022/23, he averaged 8.3 points, 4.7 points, and 1.4 assists in 24.1 minutes per contest (32 games), earning SEC All-Freshman honors.

Phillips ‘ shot needs work (he made just 11-of-46 three-pointers at Tennessee), but he possesses intriguing length and athleticism.

Assuming Phillips signed a standard contract, the Bulls will have 13 players on their 15-man roster once Torrey Craig officially completes his reported deal with the team. That roster count includes Carlik Jones‘ non-guaranteed contract, but doesn’t include Ayo Dosunmu, who is still a restricted free agent.

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