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Warriors’ Moses Moody Signs Three-Year Extension

October 21st, 2024 at 4:06pm CST by Dana Gauruder

OCTOBER 21: Moody’s extension is official, the Warriors confirmed in a press release (Twitter link).

OCTOBER 20: The Warriors and guard Moses Moody have agreed to a three-year, $39MM rookie scale contract extension, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul told ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).

A Friday report by Charania suggested that a Moody extension was more likely than one for teammate Jonathan Kuminga, who is seeking a more lucrative contract. The deadline for rookie scale extensions is Monday at 6 p.m. ET.

Moody hasn’t been able to crack the starting lineup during his three seasons, except as a fill-in, but he’s established himself as a reliable reserve. He has appeared in 181 regular season games (23 starts), averaging 5.9 points in 14.3 minutes.

Last season, he appeared in 66 games (nine starts), posting averages of 8.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 17.5 minutes per night. He shot 46.2% from the field and 36% on 3-point attempts.

The No. 14 pick of the 2021 draft, Moody is still just 22 years old and continues to develop his overall game. How Moody slots into the Warrriors’ rotation this season remains to be seen. He’ll be battling Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield and De’Anthony Melton for backcourt minutes, with Stephen Curry the only surefire starter.

Moody will make $5.8MM this season before the extension kicks in. He’ll be the fifth 2021 first-rounder to agree to an extension, joining Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Scottie Barnes and Franz Wagner, as our tracker shows.

The contract will be fully guaranteed, The Athletic’s Anthony Slater tweets. He’ll still be trade-eligible this season but his outgoing salary would count as $5.8MM (this season’s salary) while his incoming number for a new team would be $11.2MM, due to the poison pill provision.

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Rockets Sign Jalen Green To Three-Year Extension

October 21st, 2024 at 4:05pm CST by Luke Adams

4:05pm: The Rockets have officially signed Green to his extension, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

According to NBA reporter Jake Fischer (Twitter link), Green’s new deal features a 10% trade kicker. Meanwhile, the year-by-year breakdown provided by Marks (Twitter link) suggests the exact value of the contract is right around $105.3MM.

2:48pm: The Rockets and guard Jalen Green have agreed to terms on a three-year rookie scale extension worth $106MM, agents Aaron Mintz, Andrew Morrison, and Shakira Wardally tell Shams Charania and Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal will include a third-year player option.

The No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 draft, Green has averaged 19.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game in his 225 NBA outings (all starts).

Green’s shooting percentages during his first three seasons have been modest (.421/.337/.794) and his defense has been inconsistent, but he has shown tantalizing flashes of putting it all together, including during a 15-game stretch near the end of the 2023/24 season when he averaged 29.2 PPG on .488/.422/.782 shooting and led the Rockets to 13 wins in 15 games to keep them in the play-in hunt.

The terms of Green’s new deal are quite unusual for a few reasons. For one, most rookie scale extensions cover at least four seasons and those that don’t are typically far less lucrative contracts signed by role players.

Based on our research, the largest three-year rookie scale extension signed prior to this year was the $52.5MM contract Caris LeVert received in 2019. Green’s contract will more than double the annual average value of LeVert’s.

Green also received a player option, which has become a rarity for rookie scale extensions. Of the 31 rookie scale extensions completed since 2022 prior to this deal, just one featured a player option, and that contract (for Nuggets big man Zeke Nnaji) was for four years. Green’s option will be for the 2027/28 season, allowing him to potentially reach unrestricted free agency at age 25.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN observes (via Twitter), because Green’s new contract is for just three years instead of four or five seasons, he’ll also become eligible for his next extension earlier than most rookie scale extension recipients. He’ll be able to sign an extension worth up to a projected $227MM+ over four years as of October 26, per Marks.

While it remains to be seen whether or not the Rockets will try to become a cap-space team during the 2025 offseason, Green’s new contract won’t necessarily affect their ability to do so, since he would’ve had a significant cap hold (exceeding $37MM) as a restricted free agent. His first-year salary on his new deal will be $33.5MM, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link), which is a little more than $5MM below his projected max.

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Timberwolves Waive Keita Bates-Diop

October 21st, 2024 at 3:08pm CST by Rory Maher

The Timberwolves have set their 2024/25 regular season roster by waiving veteran forward Keita Bates-Diop, the team announced in a press release.

A report over the weekend stated Minnesota was looking to move off Bates-Diop’s $2,654,644 salary, which is fully guaranteed, but clearly the Wolves were unable to find a suitable trade. Assuming he goes unclaimed, Minnesota will now carry that figure as a dead-money cap hit for ’24/25.

According to Keith Smith of Sporac (Twitter link), Bates-Diop’s salary will cost the Wolves a projected $14.8MM when accounting for their luxury tax payment, though that’s a tentative figure that won’t be finalized until the season concludes.

The Wolves didn’t need to finalize their opening night roster until Monday evening. Bates-Diop wasn’t in attendance for Saturday’s practice, indicating that he was likely the odd man out. Removing him from the roster allows the club to hang onto PJ Dozier, whose salary is partially guaranteed.

A former second-round pick (No. 48 overall in 2018) who starred in college at Ohio State, Bates-Diop is a six-year veteran who holds career averages of 6.0 points and 3.0 rebounds on .474/.333/.751 shooting in 283 regular season games with Minnesota, Denver, San Antonio, Phoenix and Brooklyn. He signed a two-year, minimum-salary deal with the Suns last season before being traded to the Nets at the February deadline.

Bates-Diop was sent to New York in the Mikal Bridges trade and then was re-routed to Minnesota as a throw-in for salary-matching purposes in the Karl-Anthony Towns blockbuster, so it makes sense that he’s not in the Wolves’ plans.

The 28-year-old will become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday if he clears waivers.

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No Extension For Jonathan Kuminga, Warriors

October 21st, 2024 at 2:46pm CST by Luke Adams

Fourth-year forward Jonathan Kuminga won’t sign a rookie scale extension with the Warriors before Monday’s deadline, according to reports from Shams Charania and Kendra Andrews of ESPN and Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

The two sides have discussed a possible extension since Kuminga became eligible in July, but never gained traction, per ESPN. With no deal in place, the 22-year-old remains on track to become a restricted free agent in the summer of 2025.

The Warriors and the forward were “never all that close” in their negotiations, according to Slater, who says Kuminga might’ve accepted a deal below his maximum but that Golden State didn’t increase its offer beyond something close to $30MM per year. A max deal would’ve been worth in the neighborhood of $43-45MM annually.

Kuminga enjoyed a breakout season in 2023/24, averaging 16.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game on .529/.321/.746 shooting in 74 appearances (26.3 MPG).

Kuminga enjoyed his best stretch of the year shortly after a report in January indicated he had lost faith in head coach Steve Kerr. The two men reportedly met to clear the air and Kuminga began playing a more significant role. From January 12 through March 26, he averaged 20.0 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 2.7 APG on .547/.377/.778 shooting in 34 games before being hampered by knee tendinitis near the end of the season.

Charania reported last week that Kuminga is comfortable with the idea of betting on himself in a contract year. And while the Warriors have statistics that favorably compare his growth so far to that of stars like Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, and Jaylen Brown, they want to see how he continues to develop in 2024/25, sources tell ESPN. Golden State is also continuing to monitor his fit with Kerr, per Charania and Andrews.

After starting 46 of his 74 regular season outings last season, Kuminga is expected to be in the starting five for Wednesday’s opener vs. Portland, sources tell Slater. Team sources have described starting as “important” to the forward, according to Charania and Andrews, though he has told ESPN that he’d be OK with starting or coming off the bench.

Kuminga will earn approximately $7.6MM in the final year of his rookie scale contract and will remain trade-eligible this season before reaching restricted free agency next July.

The Warriors reached a three-year, $39MM deal with their other rookie scale extension candidate, Moses Moody, on Sunday.

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Pistons Sign Cole Swider To Two-Way Contract

October 21st, 2024 at 9:49am CST by Luke Adams

As expected, the Pistons have filled one of their open two-way slots by signing forward Cole Swider to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link).

Reporting on Saturday indicated that Detroit planned to sign Swider and Alondes Williams to two-way deals after they were waived by the Pacers and Clippers, respectively. Swider cleared waivers on Sunday, while Williams will do so later today, assuming he goes unclaimed.

Swider, 25, played his college ball at Villanova and Syracuse before going undrafted in 2022. He spent his rookie season on a two-way contract with the Lakers and the 2023/24 campaign on a two-way deal with the Heat, appearing in 25 total NBA regular season games during that time.

Although the 6’8″ forward didn’t see much NBA action in his first two professional seasons, he excelled in the G League. In 21 outings last season for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, he averaged 24.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game on .485/.471/.846 shooting, knocking down an impressive 4.7 three-pointers per contest.

Swider was in camp with the Pacers this fall on a non-guaranteed deal and appeared to have a shot to make the team’s regular season roster. However, Indiana – without much breathing room below the luxury tax line – opted to keep its 15th roster spot open to begin the season, which freed up Swider to join the Pistons.

Swider and Williams will join Daniss Jenkins as Detroit’s two-way players to open the 2024/25 season.

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Contract, Roster Deadlines Loom For NBA Teams

October 21st, 2024 at 7:40am CST by Luke Adams

We’re one day away from the start of the NBA’s 2024/25 regular season, making Monday the last day of the 2024 offseason. Today serves as the deadline for a number of contract- and roster-related decisions around the league. Here are the most important ones:

Rookie Scale Extensions

A total of 24 players entered the offseason eligible for rookie scale extensions.

Four of those players – Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, and Franz Wagner – have already signed new deals, and a fifth (Moses Moody) has agreed to an extension that will be officially completed today.

That leaves the following 19 players eligible to sign rookie scale extensions on Monday:

The majority of these guys won’t sign new deals until the 2025 offseason, when they’re eligible for restricted free agency. But it would be a surprise if at least a couple more players from this list don’t finalize rookie scale extensions today.

Giddey, Green, Johnson, Kuminga, Murphy, Sengun, and Suggs are among the notable names in this group, but finding a price point that works for them and their respective teams may be a challenge. Some of the role players on this list who are willing to settle for more modest deals might also agree to terms today — Grimes is said to be a prime candidate for a new deal, for instance.

The deadline for rookie scale extensions is at 5:00 pm Central time.

Certain Veteran Contract Extensions

A veteran player who signed his current contract at least two years ago (or three years ago if it was a five-year deal) is eligible to sign an extension. That means many veterans around the NBA are eligible to sign contract extensions today, but that number will significantly drop as of tomorrow.

Once the regular season begins, only veterans in the final year of their contracts can sign extensions — a player who has multiple years remaining is no longer extension-eligible until the following offseason.

[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Veteran Contract Extension]

Let’s use the Hawks as an example. Trae Young, Clint Capela, Larry Nance Jr., and Garrison Mathews are all eligible for veteran extensions right now, but Capela, Nance, and Mathews are on expiring deals, whereas Young is not. That means Capela, Nance, and Mathews will be able to sign extensions anytime between now and June 30, 2025, but Young’s eligibility window will close after Monday and won’t reopen until next July.

An extension-eligible veteran who has a player option for 2025/26 could still sign a new deal later in the ’24/25 league year, but he’d have to eliminate that option to do so. Picking up the option would make him ineligible to complete an extension between Tuesday and the start of the ’25/26 league year, since it would turn his contract into a multiyear deal, not an expiring one.

With the help of information from Bobby Marks of ESPN (Insider link), here are the 24 players who have a Monday deadline to sign a veteran extension if they want to lock in a new deal before next July:

A few of these players who are prime candidates for extensions aren’t expected to sign this year because they would qualify for more years and more money if they wait until next offseason.

That group includes Bridges, who continues to face extend-and-trade limitations due to his recent move to the Knicks, and Fox, who would become eligible for a super-max (Designated Veteran) extension if he makes an All-NBA team in 2025. It also includes Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander, who have already met the performance criteria for super-max deals but won’t have enough years of service to sign them until after the 2024/25 season.

The deadline for veteran extensions for players on non-expiring contracts is at 10:59 pm CT tonight.

Regular Season Rosters

Nearly every NBA team finalized its roster cuts on Saturday for financial reasons, as we explained over the weekend. However, today is the official deadline to reduce offseason rosters to the regular season limit of 15 players on standard contracts (plus three on two-way contracts).

While there will could very well be some additional roster shuffling today as teams tweak their back-end roster spots or fill two-way openings, only one team – the Timberwolves – absolutely has to make a move, as we detailed on Sunday. Minnesota’s transaction appears likely to involve Keita Bates-Diop, though that’s not set in stone yet.

That roster move is due by 4:00 pm CT.

The final day of the offseason is also the last day for teams to convert Exhibit 10 contracts into two-way deals, but there are no candidates left after Kai Jones, Quincy Olivari, Liam Robbins, Yuki Kawamura, Mac McClung, Jamison Battle, Riley Minix, Tyrese Martin, E.J. Liddell, and Jazian Gortman were all converted on either Friday or Saturday.

The only player still on an Exhibit 10 deal is Bulls guard Talen Horton-Tucker, and he has too many years of NBA service to qualify for a two-way. The expectation is that Horton-Tucker will make Chicago’s standard opening night roster, meaning his Exhibit 10 contract will turn into a one-year, non-guaranteed deal and will begin counting against the salary cap.

Finally, Monday is the last day for a free agent to be signed-and-traded during the 2024/25 league year. However, there have been no indications that any sign-and-trades are in the works.

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Knicks’ Achiuwa Strains Hamstring, Will Be Reassessed in 2-4 Weeks

October 20th, 2024 at 1:04pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Knicks forward/center Precious Achiuwa has strained his left hamstring and will be sidelined for at least the next two-to-four weeks, New York has announced (Twitter link). At that point, the 6’8″ big man will have the injury reevalauted.

It’s a big blow for New York’s frontcourt depth, compounding the health issues the team was already facing in that department to kick off its 2024/25 season. New York is already expecting to be without center Mitchell Robinson until at least January.

Losing Robinson and now Achiuwa means the Knicks will have to lean on deeper-bench options behind All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns, with Jericho Sims seemingly the likeliest player to benefit from a major minutes uptick. Seven-foot rookie center Ariel Hukporti, the No. 58 pick in this year’s draft, could conceivably even get a look. Forwards such as OG Anunoby could also see action at the five in smaller lineups.

As James L. Edwards of The Athletic notes (via Twitter), the Knicks’ bench will be exceedingly green to start the year. Only three of the team’s healthy reserves have prior NBA playing experience.

New York first acquired Achiuwa as part of its trade for Anunoby midway through 2023/24. He proved his mettle as a talented two-way presence in the paint for a 50-win Knicks squad. Across his 49 contests with the team (18 starts), Achiuwa posted solid averages of 7.6 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.1 BPG and 0.6 SPG.

The Memphis alum earned a one-year, $6MM deal to stick with New York as a free agent this summer.

New York’s starting unit of Towns, Anunoby, All-NBA point guard Jalen Brunson, three-and-D shooting guard Josh Hart, and newly acquired All-Defensive forward Mikal Bridges is shaping up to be one of the most fearsome in the entire league. With health-related challenges emerging early on, it remains to be seen how head coach Tom Thibodeau will balance a desire to lean heavily on his starters for early wins with the team’s bigger postseason aspirations.

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Pistons Plan To Sign Alondes Williams, Cole Swider

October 19th, 2024 at 5:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pistons plan to sign Alondes Williams and Cole Swider, who were both placed on waivers this weekend, to two-way contracts, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter links).

Williams, a 25-year-old shooting guard, was released by the Clippers earlier today. He signed a two-way contract with Miami in February and made brief appearances in seven games. He also got into one game with Brooklyn during the 2022/23 season.

Swider, a 25-year-old small forward, was let go by the Pacers on Friday. He spent all of last season on a two-way deal with Miami, averaging 2.3 PPG in 18 games. He played seven games with the Lakers in 2022/23.

Williams and Swider will have to clear waivers before they can sign with Detroit. The 48-hour waiting period means Swider will become a free agent on Sunday and Williams will be available on Monday if they don’t get claimed.

The Pistons currently have 13 players with fully guaranteed contracts, along with Paul Reed, whose $7.7MM salary is non-guaranteed. Daniss Jenkins currently holds the team’s lone two-way deal.

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Wizards Waive Jared Butler

October 19th, 2024 at 4:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards have waived guard Jared Butler, according to a press release from the club. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype first reported (via Twitter) that Butler was being cut by Washington.

The 40th overall pick in the 2021 draft, Butler spent time with Utah and Oklahoma City before playing for the Wizards in 2023/24. He was on a two-way contract for most of the season before being converted to a multiyear standard contract in April.

Butler appeared in a total of 40 NBA games last season, averaging 6.3 points, 3.2 assists, and 1.5 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per night, with a .488 FG%. He also had a strong preseason this month, with averages of 6.8 PPG and 4.2 APG on .536/.400/.667 shooting in five games (14.3 MPG).

Reporting leading up to the roster cut-down deadline indicated that the Wizards wanted to find a way to keep Butler, but he was on a non-guaranteed contract and the team is carrying 15 players on fully guaranteed deals. Hanging onto Butler would’ve meant trading or waiving a player with a guaranteed salary.

The front office explored the market to try to find a trade involving a player like Johnny Davis or Patrick Baldwin Jr., tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac, but wasn’t willing to give up a draft pick to move off either player or to eat money this early in the season by cutting one of them. That made Butler the victim of the roster crunch in D.C.

Butler is a candidate to be claimed on waivers, but if he becomes a free agent, he could return to the Wizards on a two-way contract. He’ll likely draw interest from other teams as a two-way target too.

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Cavs’ Strus Expected To Miss At Least Six Weeks With Ankle Sprain

October 19th, 2024 at 4:22pm CST by Luke Adams

Max Strus sprained his right ankle during individual workouts on Thursday, according to the Cavaliers, who announced in a press release that the veteran swingman underwent an X-ray and an MRI to confirm the severity of the sprain.

The plan is for Strus to be reevaluated after going through six weeks of treatment and rehabilitation, per the team. That timeline suggests he’ll remain sidelined for all of November in addition to the rest of this month. The Cavaliers will play 20 games during that time.

Strus had missed some time this preseason due to a right hip contusion, but appeared to be on the verge of making it back for the team’s regular season opener, so this is a disappointing setback for him and for the Cavs, who had the 28-year-old in their starting lineup for 70 regular season games and 12 more playoff contests last season.

Strus was a solid contributor in his first year in Cleveland after signing a four-year, $62MM contract in free agency. He averaged 12.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game with a .351 3PT%.

With Strus on the shelf, the Cavs will likely lean more on sixth man Caris LeVert, who could move into the starting lineup. Sam Merrill, Dean Wade, Georges Niang, and Ty Jerome are among the other candidates for increased roles.

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