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Pre-Camp Roster Snapshot: Pacific Division

September 19th, 2023 at 4:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is in the process of taking a closer look at each NBA team’s current roster situation, evaluating which clubs still have some moves to make and which ones seem most prepared for training camp to begin.

This series is meant to provide a snapshot of each team’s roster right now, so these articles won’t be updated in the coming weeks as more signings, trades, and cuts are made. You can follow our roster counts page to keep tabs on teams’ open spots as opening night nears.

We’re continuing our pre-camp Roster Snapshot series today with the Pacific Division. Let’s dive in…

Golden State Warriors

The Warriors will likely open the season with 14 players on standard contracts rather than 15 in order to maintain roster flexibility and avoid a higher tax bill. That 14th man may end up being a veteran free agent — Golden State has been working out a number of them and is meeting this week with Dwight Howard.

Until Golden State signs a 14th non-two-way player, the team won’t be able to begin signing its training camp invitees to Exhibit 9 contracts. That’s likely the reason why so many of the Dubs’ reported camp deals haven’t yet been finalized. Once they’re officially under contract, those players could be in the mix for the team’s final two-way slot.

Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers’ roster could still undergo a partial overhaul if talks for Sixers guard James Harden are rekindled and result in a trade agreement, but nothing seems imminent – or even close – at this point.

If they don’t make a move for Harden, the Clippers’ biggest roster decision this fall might be whether or not to keep Preston around — his salary would become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through October 1, so L.A. will probably have to make that call before the preseason begins.

If Preston is cut and no trades are made, the Clippers can focus on filling out their 21-man roster with camp invitees and figuring out who will fill the third two-way slot.

Los Angeles Lakers

Like the Warriors, the Lakers appear likely to enter the season with an open spot on their 15-man roster for the sake of flexibility. If that’s the plan, they’re pretty much good to go, with 14 players on standard contracts and all three two-way spots filled.

Phoenix Suns

The fact that the Suns are only carrying 13 players on fully guaranteed salaries means they’re in position to make changes if need be. But Goodwin’s almost certainly not going anywhere — following the trade of Cameron Payne, he’s in line for a significant role at point guard.

Penciling Goodwin onto the opening night roster gives Phoenix 14 players and means the only real decision is whether or not to hang onto Wainright, whose salary is entirely non-guaranteed. Team owner Mat Ishbia has shown no desire to pinch pennies since assuming control earlier this year, so I’d expect Wainright to be on the roster to start the season.

The Suns also have a two-way opening, but they’re the only team without a G League affiliate, so they’re not as incentivized to fill that spot as other clubs would be.

Sacramento Kings

It looked like centers Nerlens Noel and Neemias Queta might be battling for the 15th and final spot on Sacramento’s standard roster. However, after the Kings signed McGee, they waived both Noel and Queta in order to give them an opportunity to catch on with new teams for training camp (Queta has since agreed to sign with Boston).

Unlike many of their division rivals, the Kings aren’t in the tax and could comfortably afford to fill that 15th spot with a minimum-salary player if they want to. I expect that to happen eventually, but it’s unclear whether or not they’ll do it for the start of the regular season.

If there’s no rush to add a 15th man, the Kings’ preseason roster business would consist primarily of bringing in camp invitees and lining up G League bonuses.

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Lakers Waive Bryce Hamilton

September 19th, 2023 at 7:32am CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers have waived guard Bryce Hamilton, the team announced (via Twitter). The move opens up a spot on Los Angeles’ 21-man offseason roster, which had been full.

Hamilton, who will turn 23 in November, spent his rookie season in 2022/23 with the South Bay Lakers – L.A.’s G League affiliate – after going undrafted out of UNLV. He averaged 14.1 points and 4.6 rebounds in 28.2 minutes per game across 29 regular season appearances (27 starts) for South Bay, posting a shooting line of .514/.385/.679.

After playing for L.A.’s Summer League team in July, Hamilton was one of four players who signed Exhibit 10 contracts with the Lakers earlier this month, but it appears the club didn’t plan to have him come to training camp.

His signing was about ensuring that he’ll receive an Exhibit 10 bonus of $75K if and when he reports back to the Lakers’ NBAGL affiliate, which holds his returning rights. He’ll have to spend at least 60 days with South Bay to earn that bonus.

With 14 players on guaranteed contracts and three on two-way deals, the Lakers are unlikely to make any more major roster additions before training camp starts — Hamilton’s spot seems likely to be filled with another Exhibit 10 signing.

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Lakers Sign Jarred Vanderbilt To Four-Year Extension

September 18th, 2023 at 1:05pm CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 18: The Lakers have put out a press release officially announcing Vanderbilt’s extension.

SEPTEMBER 15: The Lakers and forward Jarred Vanderbilt are in agreement on a four-year contract extension that will be worth $48MM, agents Rich Paul and Erika Ruiz tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, the deal will be fully guaranteed, with a fourth-year player option.

Vanderbilt, who became extension-eligible last week, was entering the final year of his current contract, a team-friendly deal that will pay him just shy of $4.7MM in 2023/24. The extension will keep him under club control through at least the 2026/27 season, with the player option applying to ’27/28.

The NBA’s veteran extension rules typically allow players to receive up to 140% of their previous salary in the first year of an extension. However, players like Vanderbilt who are earning less than the league’s estimated average salary are eligible to receive up to 140% of the average salary. That rule will allow him to receive an eight-digit starting salary in his extension, more than doubling his previous cap hit.

Vanderbilt, 24, has played for the Nuggets, Timberwolves, Jazz, and Lakers since being drafted 41st overall in 2018. He’s a relatively limited offensive player – his 7.9 points per game in 2022/23 represented a career high – but is a talented, versatile defender who rebounds well (7.5 RPG in 24.1 MPG last season).

Vanderbilt is expected to play a major rotation role for the Lakers again this season after being acquired along with D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley in the trade-deadline deal that sent Russell Westbrook to Utah. He started 24 of 26 regular season games for Los Angeles following that trade, averaging 24.0 minutes per night.

Having entered the offseason with only LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Vanderbilt, and Max Christie under contract for 2023/24, the Lakers have locked in several key players to multiyear deals this summer. Like Vanderbilt, Davis signed an extension that will be guaranteed through at least 2027, while Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves, and Gabe Vincent all signed free agent contracts that include three guaranteed seasons.

Including James and Russell, who both have players option decisions to make next summer, the Lakers now project to have seven players earning eight-figure salaries in 2024/25, notes Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Since Vanderbilt’s new deal will exceed the extend-and-trade limits, he’ll be ineligible to be traded for six months, meaning the Lakers won’t be able to move him during the 2023/24 season.

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And-Ones: Zagars, Sophomores, Super-Max, Best Offseason Deals

September 18th, 2023 at 9:19am CST by Luke Adams

World Cup standout Arturs Zagars has officially signed with Turkish club Fenerbahce and has been loaned to Lithuanian team BC Wolves, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net relays. A recent report suggested that was the likely outcome for Zagars, who attracted NBA interest based in part on his strong play for Latvia at this year’s World Cup.

Zagars averaged 12.4 points, 7.4 assists, and 2.6 rebounds in 25.2 minutes per game across his eight World Cup appearances, making 48.6% of his shots from the floor and 41.7% of his three-pointers. The 23-year-old, who spent last season playing in Lithuania, was named to the All-World Cup Second Team.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

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Christian Wood To Have Significant Role, Jalen Hood-Schifino Concentrates On Three-Point Shot

September 14th, 2023 at 10:58am CST by Arthur Hill
  • Christian Wood projects to play a significant role for the Lakers, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Wood will become the primary backup to Anthony Davis at center and can expect to see a lot of time at power forward as well. Buha adds that L.A. has a lot of interchangeable frontcourt players, with Wood, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt and Taurean Prince all capable of handling either forward spot, while Davis, Wood and Jaxson Hayes can play either the four or five.
  • Lakers rookie Jalen Hood-Schifino has been working to develop his three-point shot this summer, Buha adds in a separate story. The No. 17 pick connected at just 33% from beyond the arc at Indiana last season. “I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress,” he said. “Being in the gym every day, getting up a lot of reps, working on my footwork, my form, mechanics and everything. Getting everything sharp. That’s definitely been a strong point and something that I’ve been really attacking every day.”
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Teams Limited To Minimum Salary Contract Offers

September 13th, 2023 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

There won’t be many free agents who sign for more than the veteran’s minimum between now and the end of the NBA’s regular season. The majority of the players whose markets exceeded the minimum came off the board pretty quickly in July, and teams aren’t looking to spend big on the players who are still available.

Still, that doesn’t mean every signing for the next seven months will be of the minimum-salary variety. In certain cases – especially on the buyout market in February – being able to offer a couple million dollars more than the minimum could be the difference between a team landing a free agent and missing out on him.

With that in mind, it’s worth checking in on which teams don’t currently have the ability to offer more than the minimum. By our count, about a third of the NBA is in this boat, though some of those clubs could generate some spending flexibility by making cost-cutting trades.

Here’s a breakdown of the teams currently limited to minimum-salary contract offers for free agents:

Teams above the second tax apron:

  • Golden State Warriors
  • Los Angeles Clippers
  • Miami Heat
  • Phoenix Suns

Beginning this offseason, the NBA added a second tax “apron” and introduced new restrictions for the teams whose salaries exceed that apron. In 2023/24, the second apron is set at $182,794,000 ($17.5MM above the tax line) — it will increase along with the cap in future years.

In addition to being prohibited from using the standard mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception, teams whose salaries are above the second apron aren’t permitted to make use of the taxpayer mid-level exception, which is worth $5MM. The Warriors, Clippers, Heat, and Suns all fall into that group and therefore don’t have any cap exceptions available to use on free agents besides the minimum exception.

Teams very close to the second tax apron:

  • Boston Celtics
  • Milwaukee Bucks

The Celtics and Bucks may be able to start the season with team salaries below the second apron, but from a practical standpoint, it will be extremely difficult for them to make use of the taxpayer mid-level exception, which would hard-cap them at that second apron.

Milwaukee, in particular, has several contract bonuses to account for and would find its team salary well above the second tax apron if certain players earn those unlikely incentives. Boston has slightly more cap flexibility, but will still almost certainly be limited to minimum-salary offers for the rest of 2023/24, barring a cost-cutting move.

Over-the-cap teams that have used all their cap exceptions:

  • Denver Nuggets
  • Oklahoma City Thunder
  • Toronto Raptors

The Nuggets are the only team this season to use the taxpayer mid-level exception. It’s the lone cap exception available to them in free agency, since their team salary is above the first apron, so they can’t offer more than the minimum to free agents.

The Thunder, meanwhile, used their entire room exception, while the Raptors used their non-taxpayer mid-level exception and bi-annual exception. Both teams are now over the cap and only have the minimum salary exception left to sign a free agent outright (a sign-and-trade remains possible, but is unlikely at this stage of the offseason).

Over-the-cap teams whose remaining exception money is less than the two-year veteran’s minimum:

  • Los Angeles Lakers
  • Sacramento Kings

The Lakers have $1,905,000 remaining on their non-taxpayer mid-level exception, while the Kings have $1,381,536 left on their room exception. Both figures fall short of the full-season minimum salary for a two-year veteran ($2,019,706), so neither club could offer more than the minimum to a veteran free agent at this time.

However, that leftover exception money isn’t useless. Los Angeles and Sacramento could each offer more than the minimum to a rookie free agent, for instance. And their remaining exception money won’t begin prorating downward until after the trade deadline. So if L.A. wants to sign a veteran free agent in December, it could use its MLE to offer more than the player’s prorated minimum salary at that point.

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Heat Notes: Lillard, Starters, Wood, Rebounding

September 10th, 2023 at 9:01am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat don’t have any reason to increase their offer for Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard unless they’re determined to have him when training camp opens, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes in a mailbag column. No other team has made a significant offer for Lillard, Chiang notes, so Miami would essentially be bidding against itself by giving more assets to Portland.

Chiang adds that the first step would be for the Heat and Blazers to resume trade discussions, which have been dormant for several weeks. Sources around the league tell Chiang that they expect the teams to start talking again some time before they both open camp in early October.

Chiang also speculates that things might get “messier” in Portland if Lillard is still on the roster at the start of camp, which would mark three months after he submitted his trade request. It’s not ideal for the Heat to start preparing for a new season amid so much uncertainty, so the time pressure could renew both teams’ interest in getting a trade completed.

There’s more from Miami:

  • Without a trade, the Heat’s most likely starting lineup appears to be Kyle Lowry, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Kevin Love and Bam Adebayo, Chiang adds in the same piece. Butler and Adebayo are the only full-time starters returning from a team that just reached the NBA Finals a few months ago, although Herro was sidelined with an injury and Lowry and Love both have extensive starting experience. Chiang speculates that Caleb Martin could take Love’s place on occasions when Miami wants to use a smaller starting five, and Herro could be used as a makeshift point guard with Josh Richardson starting alongside him in the backcourt.
  • The Heat were mentioned as a possible destination for Christian Wood before he signed with the Lakers this week, but Miami isn’t in position to make complementary roster moves until it knows what’s going to happen with Lillard, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Wood reportedly had been watching the trade requests involving Lillard and James Harden to see if a situation might open up that would offer him regular playing time, but he decided not to wait any longer to find his next team.
  • Erik Spoelstra’s experience as an assistant coach with Team USA during the World Cup provided him with another example of the need for size on the front line, Winderman adds. The Americans were routinely outrebounded by larger opponents, just as Miami was in losing to the Nuggets in the NBA Finals. The Heat finished 27th in the league in rebounding last season, which may affect Spoelstra’s decision on whom to start at power forward.
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Team USA Notes: Reaves, Haliburton, Anthony, Curry

September 9th, 2023 at 5:26pm CST by Arthur Hill

Team USA will leave the World Cup without a gold medal, but it may have developed a few players who will be useful in future international competitions, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. This version of the American squad was built around young talent than established stars, and many of them could return for future World Cup or Olympic tournaments.

Vardon points to Lakers guard Austin Reaves as one of those players. The 25-year-old is third in scoring for the U.S. at 12.4 PPG and second in steals at 1.3 per game. He has also regularly been on the court late in close games.

“I think I’ve been able to learn a lot from a lot of really good players, a lot of really good coaches, and basically just see that I belong,” Reaves said.

International play has often been the springboard for players to assert themselves as future stars, such as Kevin Durant in the 2010 World Championship, Vardon notes. Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards appears ready to move into that role, and Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton may be as well.

“I think being the point guard with other great scorers, other great players and understand that they want to be on the court at the same time as me, they want me to be in there to get them involved,” Haliburton said.

There’s more on Team USA:

  • Friday’s loss to Germany was among the topics addressed by global ambassadors Pau Gasol, Luis Scola and Carmelo Anthony during an appearance on a talk show, relays Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops. Anthony, one of the most accomplished international players in American history, considers the result an “upset,” but not a huge surprise. “You have to take your hat off to Germany, and for Serbia as well,” Anthony said. “That’s good for the sport, everybody has to think differently when approaching these competitions. The game has grown globally. Everybody has an opportunity to go there and win a gold medal.”
  • Lack of size was an issue for the U.S. not only against Germany but throughout the World Cup, observes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. He notes that in three games against larger European teams, the Americans gave up 53 offensive rebounds and 64 second-chance points.
  • Stephen Curry is Team USA’s “must-have guy” for the Paris Olympics, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Instead of turning to LeBron James and Durant again, Rankin would like to see the 2024 roster built around Curry with Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Devin Booker, De’Aaron Fox, Anthony Davis, Julius Randle, Bam Adebayo and Jarrett Allen all in prominent roles.
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Pacific Notes: Paul, Labissiere, Warriors Rookies, Lakers

September 9th, 2023 at 10:54am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Warriors made one of the splashiest moves of the offseason when they acquired Chris Paul from Washington after he was sent to the Wizards by Phoenix in the Bradley Beal trade. Even though the Warriors sent out Jordan Poole in the deal, lineup questions arose for Golden State, who return 2022/23 starters Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney — that could leave CP3 as the odd man out in the starting five.

However, appearing on a recent episode of Yahoo Sports’ Vince Goodwill’s “Good Word With Goodwill” podcast (Podcast link), Andscape’s Marc J. Spears said he expects the Warriors to start Paul.

“I do expect him to start. And I think it’s like five-minute spurts,” Spears said on the podcast. “I don’t know that they really want his minutes to be high, but I think they’re gonna try it. I could be wrong, but that’s the gist I’m getting. This isn’t an opinion that he’s expected to start; it’s what I’m hearing. He’s never not started in his career.”

As Spears notes, Paul has started in all 1,214 of his NBA appearances. If that streak continues, it means one of the Warriors’ entrenched starters would have to move to the bench. Looney is a natural candidate, but the Warriors are lacking size and going that route would put them at a disadvantage in that regard, since it would make 6’6″ Green and 6’7″ Wiggins the tallest players in the lineup.

We have more notes from the Pacific Division:

  • The Kings plan to sign and then waive Skal Labissiere on the same day, meaning he won’t report to the team’s training camp The Kings Beat’s James Ham tweets. This was always the expected outcome for Labissiere, especially after the team secured his G League rights in a trade on Friday. Labissiere, 27, played for the Kings from 2016-19 after being drafted by the team with the No. 28 overall pick in the 2016 draft. He holds career averages of 7.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 148 NBA appearances between the Kings and the Trail Blazers.
  • Warriors rookies Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis are becoming closer throughout the offseason, recently touring several attractions in San Francisco, Shayna Rubin of The Mercury News writes. Podziemski and Jackson-Davis, who could both play rotational roles for a Warriors team seeking to contend, are becoming acclimated to the city and the franchise, according to Rubin. Rubin reports that the two were part of a players-only mini-camp hosted by Curry at the end of August, and the entire team grew closer as a result of the event.
  • Signing Christian Wood is the latest in a series of flashy Lakers moves this offseason, but Heavy’s Sean Deveney writes that rival executives believe coach Darvin Ham is going to have his hands full with developing and sticking to a rotation. “They’re deep,” the executive said, per Deveney. “They’re 12 deep. That’s great when you look at it on paper. But when happens when the ball goes up and you’re playing nine guys, and one of those guys is playing eight minutes? That gets sticky for a coach. [Ham] is as good as anyone at relating to players, but a depth chart like that can be a coach’s nightmare.” Deveney suggests that Wood wouldn’t have joined the Lakers if his role wasn’t going to be big. Los Angeles also brought in a handful of players in free agency, including Gabe Vincent and Taurean Prince, while retaining Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell. Second-year player Max Christie is also in line for more playing time.
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Eastern Notes: Giles, Nets, Harden, Bucks Prospects

September 8th, 2023 at 7:07pm CST by Rory Maher

Harry Giles‘ one-year, non-guaranteed contract with the Nets includes an Exhibit 9 clause, but not an Exhibit 10, Hoops Rumors has learned. That means Giles likely won’t be a candidate to join the Long Island Nets in the G League if he’s waived by Brooklyn before the season, since he wouldn’t be eligible for an Exhibit 10 bonus (worth up to $75K). He also can’t have the deal converted into a two-way.

A former first-round pick (20th overall in 2017), Giles was once one of the highest-rated prospects in his class, but sustained a couple of serious knee injuries. The 25-year-old has been out of the league the past two seasons.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Trade talks involving Sixers guard James Harden are reportedly on ice. The team failed to gain traction in negotiations with the Clippers — Harden’s preferred landing spot — and then took him off the market. Still, given his comments about president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, it seems inevitable that Harden will eventually be moved. Which teams might be motivated to pursue Harden if things go awry during the season? Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype cites the Bulls, Rockets, Mavericks and Lakers as possible destinations that could make some sense.
  • Instead of prioritizing veterans like they have the past handful of seasons, the Bucks instead have filled out the back end of their roster with young players. Over at The Athletic, Eric Nehm spoke to draft expert Sam Vecenie to see how MarJon Beauchamp, Andre Jackson and Chris Livingston might fit with Milwaukee in 2023/24. Vecenie likes the defensive potential of second-year wing Beauchamp and 2023 second-rounder Jackson, but writes that both players will have to improve their jump shots to have a shot at regular minutes alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo. As for Livingston, who was the final pick of 2023, Vecenie believes the former Kentucky wing is a long-term developmental project who is unlikely to make much of an impact in the NBA, particularly early on.
  • In part two of their conversation about the Bucks‘ youngsters, Vecenie says he’s high on TyTy Washington‘s offensive upside and believes the 21-year-old guard has a legitimate shot at being converted to a standard contract. A first-round pick last year, Washington was released by Oklahoma City in August after spending his rookie season with the Rockets, later signing a two-way deal with Milwaukee. Nehm and Vecenie also discuss the potential of second-year sharpshooter A.J. Green, who is on a standard deal, and rookie Omari Moore, who is on a two-way contract.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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