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Recap Of 2023/24 Salary Guarantee Decisions

January 8th, 2024 at 7:04am CST by Luke Adams

As of December 29, there were 35 players who were signed to standard, full-season contracts but whose salaries for the 2023/24 campaign weren’t fully guaranteed.

The deadline for teams to waive those players and avoid having their full ’23/24 salaries become guaranteed was on Sunday, January 7 at 4:00 p.m. CT.

Although their salaries won’t technically become guaranteed until January 10, those players would still receive their full-season guarantees if they’re cut today or tomorrow, since they wouldn’t clear waivers before Wednesday.

Here’s a roundup of the decisions teams made with those 35 players:

Players on standard contracts who will have their salaries guaranteed:

Each player’s salary is noted here. His cap hit is identical to his salary unless otherwise indicated.

(*) cap hit of $2,019,706
(^) cap hit of $1,845,593
(#) cap hit of $1,416,116

Of the 30 players on non-guaranteed contracts who were retained, 27 are earning the minimum salary, so the financial impact of keeping them is relatively minor.

Still, open roster spots are valuable at this time of year. A few of these players were fortunate not to be let go by a team prioritizing flexibility ahead of the trade deadline; many others have played regular rotation minutes during the first half and were never candidates to be cut.

Players on standard contracts who were waived before their salaries became guaranteed:

Each player’s cap hit is noted here. The team would no longer be on the hook for that cap charge if a player is claimed off waivers.

All five of these players were on minimum-salary contracts. Gibson and Toscano-Anderson were both signed on December 15, however, so their dead cap hits are relatively modest compared to the others.

Wainright and Jeffries each earned a prorated portion of a full-season minimum salary, while Mays was assured of an $850K partial guarantee when he was promoted to Portland’s standard roster from his two-way deal in November.

Jeffries has cleared waivers, leaving his dead money on the Knicks’ books, but the other four are still technically candidates to be claimed. Wainright and Mays are on track to clear waivers later on Monday, while Gibson and Toscano-Anderson would become free agents if they go unclaimed on Tuesday. A team that places a claim on one of those players would have to commit to guaranteeing his salary for the rest of the season.

There were a few other players with partially guaranteed salaries who were cut earlier in the season. That group consisted of Dylan Windler (Knicks), Filip Petrusev (Kings), and Danny Green (Sixers). Those moves didn’t go down to the wire like the others listed above, having occurred well in advance of the salary guarantee deadline.

Players on two-way contracts who were waived before their salaries became guaranteed:

For the first time, the league-wide salary guarantee date of January 10 also applies this season to players on two-way contracts. In the past, the guarantee date had been Jan. 20 for two-way salaries.

Two-way salaries are only worth half of the rookie minimum and don’t count against the salary cap, so many teams likely weren’t feeling a ton of pressure to make rest-of-season decisions on their two-way players by Sunday. Two-way contracts can be signed until March 4, so there will be clubs that make changes between now and then.

However, there were six players on two-way contracts at the start of January who were waived in advance of Sunday’s waiver deadline and won’t receive their full two-way salaries this season. Those players are as follows:

The Knicks (Duane Washington) and Lakers (Dylan Windler) have each signed a two-way player since the start of the month, so there are only four open slots around the NBA, belonging to the Bucks (two), Lakers, and Nets.

The full list of players who are still on two-way contracts and earned full guarantees can be found right here.

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Waiver Deadline Looms For Non-Guaranteed Contracts

January 5th, 2024 at 3:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Every player currently on an NBA roster whose 2023/24 salary is non-guaranteed will have his salary become guaranteed next Wednesday (January 10) if he’s still under contract at that point. However, this Sunday, January 7, is the real deadline to watch.

A player who is no longer on his team’s roster but who is still on waivers as of Jan. 10 will also have his salary guaranted. So if a team wants to avoid locking in a player’s full 2023/24 salary, he must be placed on waivers on or before this Sunday at 4:00 pm Central time — that would ensure that he clears waivers on or before Tuesday, Jan. 9.

As our tracker shows, there are 34 players on standard contracts who still don’t have fully guaranteed salaries for this season. Here are those players, who are on minimum-salary deals unless otherwise indicated:

Keith Smith of Spotrac took a player-by-player look through this list earlier today, examining which guys are at the greatest risk of being waived before their salaries become guaranteed.

Some of these decisions – like the Pelicans with Alvarado, or the Thunder with Joe and Wiggins – involve regular rotation players who are earning the minimum, making them no-brainers — those players obviously won’t be released. In fact, it’s safe to assume that the majority of the 34 players in this group will hang onto their roster spots.

But we’ll likely see at least a small handful of these players cut within the next couple days as teams opt to create a little extra roster and financial flexibility. Those teams could take advantage of the newly opened 10-day contract window to bring in a new player or to immediately re-sign a player they just waived.

In addition to these 34 players on standard non-guaranteed contracts, there are 90 more who will be keeping a close eye on that January 7 waiver deadline.

For the first time this season, the salary guarantee date for players on two-way contracts lines up with the date for players on standard deals, so the two-way players who remain under contract through Sunday will be assured of their full-season salaries, regardless of whether they actually spend the rest of the season on a roster.

The full list of players on two-way contracts can be found right here.

Although we’ll likely see some two-way roster moves in the coming days, it’s worth noting that those salaries don’t count against the salary cap, and the financial commitment is pretty minor relative to standard contracts (a two-way player’s full-season salary is $559,782). So we should expect to see some clubs continuing to move two-way players on and off their rosters after the salary guarantee deadline comes and goes.

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Salaries For 10-Day Contracts In 2023/24

January 5th, 2024 at 9:48am CST by Luke Adams

Friday is the first day this season that an NBA team can sign a player to a standard 10-day contract. As we explained earlier this week in a glossary entry, a 10-day deal allows a club to temporarily add a player to its 15-man roster without any commitments beyond those 10 days.

Under the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, all 10-day contracts are worth a player’s minimum salary. The minimum salary in a given season differs from player to player, based on his years of NBA service entering the season. For instance, in 2023/24, a rookie on a full-season minimum deal will earn $1,119,563, whereas a 10-year veteran who is earning the minimum will make $3,196,448.

[RELATED: NBA Minimum Salaries For 2023/24]

The same is true for 10-day deals. A rookie will earn significantly less over the course of his 10 days with a team than a tenured NBA veteran will.

Because the 2023/24 regular season is 174 days long, a player’s full-season minimum salary can be divided by 174 to calculate his daily salary. From there, it’s just a matter of multiplying by 10 to determine his salary on a 10-day contract.

Using that formula, here’s the full breakdown of what salaries for 10-day deals look like in ’23/24:

Years in NBA Salary
0 $64,343
1 $103,550
2 $116,075
3 $120,250
4 $124,425
5 $134,863
6 $145,301
7 $155,738
8 $166,176
9 $167,004
10+ $183,704

Because the NBA doesn’t want teams to avoid signing veteran players in favor of cheaper, younger options, the league reimburses clubs who sign veterans with three or more years of service to 10-day, minimum-salary contracts.

In those instances, teams are on the hook for $116,075, the minimum salary for a player with two years of experience, while the NBA covers the difference. So a team would pay the same amount ($116,075) whether they sign a player with three years under his belt or a player with 12 years of NBA experience.

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Hoops Rumors Glossary: 10-Day Contract

January 3rd, 2024 at 10:13am CST by Luke Adams

During the early part of an NBA season, a team that wants to sign a player to a short-term contract generally does so by agreeing to a non-guaranteed deal, giving the club the flexibility to waive him without paying his full-season salary. But non-guaranteed contracts are only an option until January 7 — any standard, rest-of-season deal signed after that date must be guaranteed for the season.

Around the same time the league-wide salary guarantee date arrives, the NBA gives teams the ability to sign players to 10-day contracts, which essentially replace non-guaranteed deals during the second half of the season.

Ten-day contracts can be signed each year beginning on January 5 and are exactly what they sound like — contracts that cover 10 days (including the day they’re signed). A player who signs a 10-day deal on January 5 would remain eligible to play for his team through January 14, but not on January 15, unless he signs a new contract.

A team can sign a player to as many as two 10-day contracts before committing to him for the rest of the season or, as in many cases, letting him go. A player can’t sign three standard 10-day contracts with the same team, but after signing two 10-day deals with one club, he’s allowed to sign another with a separate club.

The NBA tweaked this rule in recent years to allow three or more 10-day contracts with the same team for players who are signed via the hardship provision. In 2022, for instance, Drew Eubanks ended up signing five 10-day deals with the Trail Blazers. Eubanks was still limited to two standard 10-day contracts with Portland, but three of his deals came via a hardship exception, which the Blazers qualified for as a result of having four or more injured players.

However, that loophole was closed in the latest CBA as the NBA moved beyond its COVID era. Regardless of whether a player is signed to a standard or hardship 10-day contract, he’s no longer permitted to sign a third 10-day deal with the same club.

While a team signing a player to a standard 10-day contract must have an open spot on its 15-man roster to accommodate the signing, a player signed via a hardship exception doesn’t count against that 15-man limit.

Under the NBA’s newest Collective Bargaining Agreement, a 10-day deal must be worth a prorated portion of the player’s minimum salary. In the past, a player could technically earn more than the minimum on a 10-day contract, though that essentially never happened.

A 10-day contract for a rookie this season will be worth $64,343, which is 10/174ths of the full-season rookie minimum salary. A one-year veteran will earn $103,550, and a 10-day deal for any veteran with two or more years of NBA service would represent a cost of $116,075 to the team.

Veterans with more than two years of NBA service would earn more than $116,075 on a 10-day contract, but the league would pay the extra freight. However, teams gain no financial advantage if they pass on 10-day agreements with more experienced players in favor of rookies or one-year veterans in an effort to limit their end-of-season luxury tax penalty — those deals count the same as the ones for two-year veterans when the league calculates a team’s salary for tax purposes.

Teams would be on the hook for a slightly higher salary if they sign a player to a 10-day contract and they have fewer than three games on their schedule over that 10-day period. In those cases, the length of the 10-day contract is extended so that it covers three games for the team.

It’s rare that any team would have such a light schedule, since most play at least three games a week, but the rule generally comes into play for contracts signed just before the All-Star break. If the Celtics were to sign a player to a 10-day contract on February 14, for instance, his contract would actually cover 11 days, since Boston plays games on Feb. 14, Feb. 22, and Feb. 24.

Here are a few more rules related to 10-day contracts:

  • A team may terminate a 10-day contract before it runs to term if it wants to use the roster spot to accommodate a waiver claim, signing, or trade acquisition. A team that terminates a 10-day contract early isn’t permitted to re-sign the player before the full 10-day term is over.
  • Players whose 10-day contracts are terminated early don’t go on waivers, so they become free agents immediately. Still, those players receive their entire 10-day salaries — the contracts are fully guaranteed for the 10 days.
  • A team is permitted to carry up to three players on standard 10-day contracts as long as the team has a full 15-man roster. A team with an open spot on its standard 15-man roster can only carry up to two players on 10-day deals. If a team has just 13 players on standard contracts, only one of them can be on a 10-day pact.
  • A 10-day deal must be a standard NBA contract. In other words, a team can’t sign a player to a two-way, 10-day contract.
  • A standard 10-day contract can’t be signed with fewer than 10 days left in the regular season. However, a hardship 10-day deal can be signed during that time and would simply be prorated to cover the remaining days in the regular season. At the conclusion of the regular season, a player on a hardship 10-day deal would immediately become a free agent, with his team holding no form of Bird rights on him.

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.

Earlier versions of this post were published in previous years by Luke Adams and Chuck Myron.

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NBA Players Who Can’t Be Traded This Season

January 2nd, 2024 at 12:48pm CST by Luke Adams

As we explained when we identified the players who will become trade-eligible on unique dates this season, there’s a small group of players whose trade restrictions won’t lift until sometime after the February 8 trade deadline. These players meet one of the following criteria:

  1. They signed a free agent contract or were promoted from a two-way contract after November 8.
    • A player who signs a free agent contract or is promoted from a two-way contract is ineligible to be traded for at least three months.
  2. They signed a veteran contract extension (meeting certain criteria) after August 8.
    • A player who signs a veteran extension that keeps him under contract for more than three total years (including his current contract) and/or includes a raise exceeding 5% is ineligible to be traded for six months.
  3. They signed a super-max contract.

We identified all the players who fell into these three categories in our previous story on unique trade dates, but they may have slipped through the cracks amid the larger list of players we discussed in that article.

With that in mind, we want to specifically single them out today to make sure it’s clear which players won’t become trade-eligible at all until sometime after the 2023/24 regular season.

Here are the players who fall into the three aforementioned groups and who can’t be traded this season:

Players who have signed free agent contracts since November 8:

There hasn’t been a ton of action on the free agent market since the regular season began, with most players who have signed with NBA teams receiving two-way contracts rather than standard deals. But the Knicks and Pacers reunited with old friends Gibson and Johnson, respectively; the Blazers promoted Mays from his two-way deal; the Clippers added Primo and Theis to their standard roster; and the Kings filled an open roster spot by signing Toscano-Anderson.

All of those players are ineligible to be moved this season, and this list will continue to grow if more free agents sign standard contracts between now and February 8.

Players who have signed veteran contract extensions meeting certain criteria since August 8:

While the Bucks never would have traded Antetokounmpo this season, the other four players might have emerged as viable candidates to be moved if they hadn’t signed new extensions. Now, they’re ineligible to be dealt until the 2024 offseason.

It’s not uncommon for some players who are eligible for in-season veteran extensions to sign new deals well into the season, as McBride did over the weekend, so it’s certainly possible more names will be added to this group before February’s trade deadline.

Players who have signed super-max contracts:

Brown signed his designated veteran extension on July 26, 2023, which means he won’t become trade-eligible until July 26, 2024.

No other players will join the Celtics wing on this list prior to next month’s trade deadline, since super-max deals can’t be signed during the season.

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NBA Dates, Deadlines To Watch In January

December 31st, 2023 at 1:32pm CST by Luke Adams

At the start of the 2023/24 campaign, we looked ahead and identified several dates and deadlines to watch on the NBA calendar this season. While that list covered the general highlights, it’s worth taking a closer look at some of those key dates to keep an eye out for in January, which should be a busy month.

Let’s dive in…

Non-guaranteed contracts become guaranteed

January 10 is the date that all non-guaranteed NBA contracts for 2023/24 will officially become guaranteed, but January 7 is really the day to watch.

If a team wants to avoid having a salary become guaranteed, the player must clear waivers before January 10, which means he needs to be cut by January 7 — at the latest.

Many players without fully guaranteed salaries are in no danger of being waived by next Sunday, but some teams will take the opportunity to save a little money and open up a roster spot.

It’s worth noting that players on two-way deals (which are non-guaranteed) are subject to that January 7 waiver deadline as well, and will have their salaries become fully guaranteed if they’re still under contract as of January 8.

In past seasons, the salary guarantee date for players on two-way contracts has been January 20, but that changed in the NBA’s latest Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Teams can begin signing players to 10-day contracts

As of January 5, clubs will be able to sign players to standard 10-day contracts, which count against team salary for cap and tax purposes and require an opening on the 15-man roster to complete.

Prior to January 5, teams were able to sign players to 10-day contracts only if they qualified for a hardship exception. As our 10-day contract tracker shows, only the Grizzlies have met that bill so far this season.

Rebuilding teams generally use 10-day contracts to audition G League standouts or other prospects to see if they might be worth investing in beyond this season. Contending clubs are more inclined to use 10-day contracts to bring in veterans who can step in right away to address a need or provide depth at a position hit hard by injuries.

Currently, nine teams have an open spot on their 15-man rosters, making them candidates to sign a player to a 10-day deal. That number could increase after next weekend’s salary guarantee deadline.

More players become trade-eligible

A significant portion of the NBA’s offseason signees became eligible to be traded on December 15, but there are still many players who can’t be dealt. By the end of January, that list of players ineligible to be traded will shrink further, since there are 24 players currently on track to have those restrictions lift between now and January 31.

January 15 is the key date, with 17 players becoming trade-eligible as of that Monday. That group includes some players who almost certainly aren’t going anywhere, but a handful of players on the list could be involved in trade rumors in 2024, including some who have already been popular subjects of speculation. Jerami Grant, Kyle Kuzma, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and Miles Bridges are some of the headliners.

A number of other offseason signees have unique trade-eligible dates in January, since they signed as free agents in October or inked a veteran extension in July. That list features names both big (like Domantas Sabonis) and small (such as Ish Smith). Notably, Jordan Clarkson and Dejounte Murray, who have each been at the center of some trade speculation, will become trade-eligible on January 7 and Jan. 9, respectively.

Last day to apply for a disabled player exception

January 15 is the last day that teams can apply for a disabled player exception to replace an injured player who is deemed unlikely to return this season.

A disabled player exception can give a club extra cap flexibility, but not an extra roster spot, so they often go unused. So far this season, the Bulls, Grizzlies, and Trail Blazers have been granted DPEs, while the Knicks have reportedly applied for one.

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Early Check-In On Traded 2024 First-Round Picks

December 29th, 2023 at 9:59am CST by Luke Adams

As our list of traded 2024 first-round picks shows, 14 teams have dealt their first-rounders in next year’s draft (either with protections or without) and another two clubs have surrendered swap rights to their picks. That means over half of 2024’s first-rounders could theoretically be changing hands, with more potentially on the move as a result of in-season trades.

In actuality, due to protections on several of those traded picks or the fact that certain swap rights won’t be exercised, several of the first-rounders that could change hands won’t do so. It’s still too early to say with certainty which picks will be on the move and which will stay put, but with the NBA season past the one-third mark, we’re starting to get a clearer picture.

Here’s an early look at the traded 2024 first-round picks:

Picks that will change hands

  • Nets‘ pick (unprotected) to Rockets
  • Lakers‘ pick (unprotected) to Pelicans
  • Clippers‘ pick (unprotected) to Thunder

These three picks don’t include any protections, meaning it’s a lock they’ll change hands. The only source of drama is where exactly they’ll land.

The Brooklyn pick looks like the best asset of the three — the Nets are currently tied for the 11th-worst record in the NBA, which means their pick would be in the lottery unless they earn a playoff spot via the play-in tournament.

The Lakers, currently eighth in the West, have the NBA’s 16th-best record, so their pick would come in around No. 15, though that could move in either direction if they end up in play-in territory. It’s also worth noting that the Pelicans have the option of deferring that pick to 2025 — if it stays around the middle of the first round, I expect New Orleans would have a hard time passing on it.

The Clippers are tied for the NBA’s eighth-best record, so their first-rounder would be at either No. 22 or 23 if the season ended today.

  • A Thunder pick (conditional) to Pacers

The Thunder owe the least favorable of their four first-round picks to Indiana, so it’s a sure thing that the Pacers will get a pick from Oklahoma City — we’ll just have to wait to find out which one it’ll be.

That group of first-rounders controlled by the Thunder includes their own selection, the Clippers’ pick (unprotected), the Rockets’ pick (top-four protected), and the Jazz’s pick (top-10 protected). If the season ended today, the Pacers would receive OKC’s own first-rounder at No. 25.

Picks expected to be protected

  • Pistons‘ pick (top-18 protected) to Knicks

While it’s not technically official yet, there’s no viable scenario in which the 2-29 Pistons will give up their first-round pick this season. They’ll keep that selection and will instead owe New York their 2025 first-rounder with top-13 protection. Based on how Detroit has looked this season, the Knicks probably won’t be holding their breath to get that pick before at least 2026 (when it’s top-11 protected) or 2027 (top-nine protected).

  • Wizards‘ pick (top-12 protected) to Knicks
  • Hornets‘ pick (top-14 protected) to Spurs
  • Trail Blazers‘ pick (top-14 protected) to Bulls

The Wizards, Hornets, and Trail Blazers haven’t been quite as bad as Detroit, but they’re each among the NBA’s bottom five teams so far and have shown little indication that a play-in push is around the corner.

Barring a huge surprise, the Wizards will keep their 2024 pick and owe the Knicks their top-10 protected first-rounder in 2025; the Hornets will keep their 2024 selection and owe San Antonio their top-14 protected first-rounder in 2025; and the Blazers will hang onto their pick in 2024 and owe Chicago their lottery-protected first-rounder in 2025.

Picks still up in the air

  • Raptors‘ pick (top-six protected) to Spurs

Toronto is tied for the seventh-worst record in the NBA right now, so the pick the Raptors owe to San Antonio could turn out to be a worst-case scenario for them by landing at No. 7 or No. 8. If the Raptors end up not making the playoffs, they’ll be rooting hard to move up into the top four on lottery night.

  • Jazz‘s pick (top-10 protected) to Thunder

The Jazz are currently the ninth-worst team in the league. If they finish the season that way, they’d hang onto their pick unless two teams below them in the lottery standings leapfrog them. It will be interesting to see how aggressively the front office sells off pieces this season in an effort to keep that first-rounder — or whether that will even be necessary.

  • Warriors‘ pick (top-four protected) to Trail Blazers
  • Rockets‘ pick (top-four protected) to Thunder
  • Mavericks‘ pick (top-10 protected) to Knicks
  • Kings‘ pick (top-14 protected) to Hawks

In all likelihood, the Houston, Golden State, Dallas, and Sacramento picks will change hands, but it’s not a lock yet. If the Warriors (currently at No. 11 or 12 in the draft order) and Rockets (No. 14) end up in the lottery, there’s always a chance they could jump into the top four.

The Mavs and Kings, meanwhile, look like probable playoff teams, but there are a lot of contenders in the West, so if those teams don’t secure a top-six seed, anything could happen in the play-in tournament. For now, Sacramento and Dallas hold the fifth and sixth seeds in the Western Conference standings.

  • Suns‘ swap rights to Wizards or Grizzlies
  • Bucks‘ swap rights to Pelicans

Assuming they keep their top-12 protected pick, which is a safe bet, the Wizards would have the opportunity to swap first-rounders with the Suns. And if Washington passes on that chance, the Grizzlies would get the same opportunity.

It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Wizards will get to exercise that right, and I would’ve said the same thing about Memphis a week or two ago. Suddenly though, the gap in the standings between the Suns (15-15) and Grizzlies (10-20) doesn’t look insurmountable — it’s not entirely out of the question that Memphis will catch Phoenix and take advantage of the chance to swap first-rounders.

The gap between the Suns and Grizzlies is actually smaller than the one between the 23-8 Bucks and the 18-14 Pelicans. While we can’t rule it out yet, it seems unlikely that New Orleans will surpass Milwaukee in the standings and get to use the ability to swap picks with the Bucks.

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Community Shootaround: Orlando Magic

December 26th, 2023 at 10:21am CST by Luke Adams

Among the Eastern Conference’s top six seeds so far in 2023/24, four teams (Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, and New York) made it to the second round of last season’s playoffs, while a fifth (Milwaukee) has been a perennial top seed in recent years.

The one outlier sits at fourth place in the conference with a 17-11 record: the Magic.

Orlando hasn’t won more than 42 games in a season since 2010/11 and wasn’t considered a strong bet to make the postseason entering training camp this fall. But Jamahl Mosley‘s club has gotten off to a good start, fueled by a defense that’s currently the fourth-best in the NBA (110.5 defensive rating).

The Magic are one of the NBA’s worst shooting teams, ranking narrowly ahead of the last-place Pistons in three-pointers made per game (10.0) and three-point percentage (33.5%). However, they’re far more efficient on two-point shots and they benefit from playing a physical game, leading the league in personal fouls drawn per contest (23.1) and placing behind only Philadelphia in free throw attempts per night (27.3).

A pair of young forwards, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, lead the Magic in points per game with 21.2 and 20.3, respectively. The secondary scoring comes primarily from guards Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony, as well as bigs Moritz Wagner and Wendell Carter, with Gary Harris, Anthony Black, Goga Bitadze, Joe Ingles, and Jonathan Isaac also playing regular roles.

The Magic have spent most of the season playing without their starting point guard – Markelle Fultz, who has been out since early November due to a knee issue – and their starting center (Carter only recently returned from a hand injury that has limited him to eight appearances so far this season). Black and Bitadze have capably filled those spots, but it will be interesting to see how Mosley adjusts his rotation if and when everyone’s healthy and available.

It’s hard to know exactly what to make of these Magic, whose offensive firepower is so limited and who have had an up-and-down year so far — a nine-game winning streak from November 15 to December 1 has been sandwiched by a 5-5 start and a 3-6 stretch as of late.

Orlando has racked up wins against some of the league’s worst teams, including Washington (twice), Detroit, Charlotte, Portland, and Utah, but also has registered impressive victories against the Bucks, Nuggets, and Celtics.

We want to know what you think. Are the Magic a legitimate playoff team? A play-in club? Are they a good candidate to upgrade their roster at the trade deadline, or is it in their best interest to let their young players continue developing this season and wait until the offseason to focus on roster changes?

Head to the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts!

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Community Shootaround: Christmas Day Games

December 25th, 2023 at 9:32am CST by Luke Adams

Merry Christmas from the Hoops Rumors staff!

As usual, the NBA has an impressive slate of five games on tap for Christmas Day, with many of the league’s top teams and biggest stars in action on December 25. Here’s today’s schedule:

  • 11:00 am CT: Milwaukee Bucks (22-7) at New York Knicks (16-12)
  • 1:30 pm CT: Golden State Warriors (15-14) at Denver Nuggets (21-10)
  • 4:00 pm CT: Boston Celtics (22-6) at Los Angeles Lakers (16-14)
  • 7:00 pm CT: Philadelphia 76ers (20-8) at Miami Heat (17-12)
  • 9:30 pm CT: Dallas Mavericks (17-12) at Phoenix Suns (14-14)

Some of these teams have underachieved to some extent so far – the Warriors, Lakers, and Suns, in particular, aren’t where they want to be in the standings – and reigning MVP Joel Embiid won’t be available for the Sixers. But each matchup still has something going for it.

We’ve got Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard visiting Madison Square Garden; former MVPs Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic starring in a showdown between the two most recent NBA champions; Jayson Tatum and the Celtics facing LeBron James and the Lakers in a battle between the league’s two most storied franchises; Jimmy Butler and the defending Eastern Conference champions hosting Butler’s former team; and perennial MVP candidates Luka Doncic and Kevin Durant squaring off in Phoenix.

The NBA’s schedule makers did especially well on the Eastern Conference side of things — the East’s top three teams, and five of its top six squads, are all in action today, with the fourth-seeded Magic representing the only exception.

Over in the West, things are a little more hit and miss, given that the Lakers, Warriors, and Suns currently rank ninth, 10th, and 11th in the conference. The No. 2 Nuggets and the No. 6 Mavericks are the only two Western Conference teams in action today that currently hold a playoff spot.

While the NBA couldn’t have realistically expected that either team would be quite this good this season, it’s too bad the 22-6 Timberwolves, who are in a tie for the league’s best record, and the exciting young Thunder (18-9) aren’t part of today’s schedule.

We want to know what you think. Are there any teams you wish were (or weren’t) involved in today’s games? Which of these five contests are you most looking forward to? Which five teams are you picking to win this year’s Christmas Day matchups?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in, and feel free to use it as an open thread to discuss today’s games.

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Poll: When Will The Pistons Get Their Next Win?

December 22nd, 2023 at 2:45pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons are on the verge of making the wrong kind of history after losing their 25th consecutive game on Thursday vs. Utah.

Last night’s matchup looked like a prime opportunity for Detroit to snap its lengthy winless streak, which began way back in October. The team was playing at home against a shorthanded Jazz squad that was missing top scorers Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson and point guards Keyonte George and Talen Horton-Tucker, among others. But the Jazz – who got a season-high 27 points from Kelly Olynyk and at least 13 from all five starters – pulled out the victory.

The Pistons are now nearing two ignominious NBA records. Losing a 26th game in a row on Saturday would put them in a tie for the longest single-season losing streak in league history. If they lose three more in a row, they’d tie the record for the longest total losing streak (including across multiple seasons): 28 games. A total of four more consecutive losses would put them in sole position of both records.

Over the course of the 25-game losing streak, there haven’t even been many close calls for the Pistons — they haven’t lost by five points or fewer since November 20, and they only have two such losses during the entire streak. The other 23 losses have been by at least six points, and many have been far more one-sided than that.

Detroit has been the NBA’s worst three-point shooting team this season, ranking dead last in makes per game (9.7) and percentage (33.0%). Protecting the ball on offense and taking it away on defense have also been major issues. The Pistons’ 16.6 turnovers per game rank 29th in the NBA, as do their 6.3 steals per night. On top of that, no team commits more fouls per game (22.8) than Detroit.

Put it all together and it’s perhaps no surprise that Cade Cunningham‘s assertion on Thursday that there’s “no way” the Pistons are “2-26 bad” elicited eye-rolls from many fans. But he might have a point — the team’s -11.4 net rating is in the same ballpark as that of the 7-19 Hornets (-10.8) and it’s actually ahead of the mark that the 4-23 Spurs have posted (-11.6).

Still, it’s safe to assume that the Pistons aren’t going to enter a game as a betting favorite until perhaps January 10 at home vs. San Antonio, so if they’re going to avoid setting a new NBA record for futility, they’re going to have to pull off an upset.

Here’s the Pistons’ upcoming slate:

  • Dec. 23: at Brooklyn
  • Dec. 26: vs. Brooklyn
  • Dec. 28: at Boston
  • Dec. 30: vs. Toronto
  • Jan. 1: at Houston
  • Jan. 3: at Utah
  • Jan. 5: at Golden State
  • Jan. 7: at Denver
  • Jan. 9: vs. Sacramento
  • Jan. 10: vs. San Antonio
  • Jan. 12: vs. Houston
  • Jan. 15: at Washington

We want to know what you think. Will the Pistons win one of those games against the Nets to avoid setting the NBA record for most consecutive losses in a single season? Will they win at least one of the next four and avoid entering the history brooks for the longest NBA losing streak of any kind? If not, when exactly is this streak going to end?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!

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