Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today at 11 a.m. Central time (noon Eastern). Click here to read the transcript.
Between July 1 and July 30 of each NBA league year, a player signed using the second-round pick exception doesn’t count toward his team’s cap, but that changes as of July 31. Beginning on Wednesday, each of the second-rounders signed using that exception will begin carrying 2024/25 cap hits.
[RELATED: 2024 NBA Draft Pick Signings]
Twenty-eight of the NBA’s 30 teams are operating over the cap, so this change will really only affect two teams: Detroit and Utah.
The Pistons signed No. 37 overall pick Bobi Klintman on July 13 to a contract that will be worth $1,257,153 in 2024/25. His $1,257,153 salary hasn’t counted against Detroit’s cap up until today, but it will count starting on Wednesday. That means Detroit’s cap room will be reduced from $11,496,652 to $10,239,499.
The impact that change will have on the Pistons’ rest-of-summer plans is minimal, bordering on nonexistent. But it’s still worth noting since it slightly affects the kind of moves the team can make. For example, as of today, Detroit could accommodate a P.J. Tucker salary dump from the Clippers without sending back any salary. As of Wednesday, that wouldn’t be possible.
Interestingly, the Jazz have yet to sign No. 32 overall pick Kyle Filipowski, so their cap situation will remain unchanged on Wednesday. With reported deals for Drew Eubanks and Johnny Juzang still not official yet either, Utah could create up to about $35MM in space by renouncing various cap holds.
I expect the Jazz are waiting to resolve their Lauri Markkanen situation – either via trade or renegotiation-and-extension – before signing Filipowski and formally finalizing their other agreements. Trading Markkanen could mean taking on additional salary in a deal, while renegotiating his contract could require up to $24MM+ in cap room to bump his 2024/25 salary to the max.
Having resolution on Markkanen – which could happen in about a week when he becomes renegotiation-eligible – will give Utah’s front office a better sense of its cap situation going forward, allowing the team to move forward with its other business.
Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen will become eligible to renegotiate and extend his contract on August 6. Signing on that day would make him ineligible to be traded for six months, with the trade restriction lifting on the day of the 2025 trade deadline (February 6).
Making a Monday appearance on The Drive with Spence Checketts on ESPN 700 in Salt Lake City (audio link), Tony Jones of The Athletic explained why he’s not counting on an Aug. 6 announcement.
“I would expect him to sign on August 7th, or after August 6th,” Jones said (hat tip to HoopsHype). “Lauri doesn’t want to be traded, so if he signs the renegotiation and extension, which I expect him to do, I expect him to do it after August 6th so there’s no trade talk this year. I don’t even think him signing on August 6th is even that much of an option. We’re almost 100% trending towards him signing on August 7th.
“Lauri has really taken to Utah. His family has taken to Utah. Obviously the Jazz can trade him between now and August 6th, and Lauri knows that, but Lauri has forged a really close relationship with (head coach) Will Hardy. And Will Hardy has really found a way to unlock his career in a manner that hasn’t been accomplished before. Lauri really recognizes that, understands that, and appreciates that. He wants to be a part of the rebuild.”
Jones confirms that the Jazz explored making “win-now” transactions at the start of the offseason, including pursuing Mikal Bridges. After those moves didn’t come to fruition, the expectation was that Utah might pivot to a more full-fledged rebuild by trading Markkanen. But Jones says the Jazz believe the 27-year-old’s game will age well and that he should still be in his prime when the team is ready to contend again.
“The likely scenario is Lauri signs on August 7th, the Jazz prioritize the young guys during the season, and they try to enter the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes in the draft in 2025,” Jones said.
Here are a few more highlights from Jones’ ESPN 700 radio appearance:
- Later in his conversation with Checketts, Jones stressed that he doesn’t believe a Markkanen trade is likely to happen this offseason. Asked to rate the odds of a deal on a scale from one to 10, Jones said he’d “probably put it at a two” for the time being. “I think we’re trending toward the Jazz not trading Lauri,” he said. “I don’t think that there’s a package out there that they’re overly interested in.”
- Asked what it would look like for the Jazz to “prioritize the young guys” in 2024/25, Jones said he expects the team to start Walker Kessler over John Collins at center while also potentially starting Keyonte George at point guard and Taylor Hendricks at power forward (with Markkanen at the three). Jones added that he could see 2024 lottery pick Cody Williams playing double-digit minutes “from day one.”
- According to Jones, making sure the Jazz keep their top-10 protected 2025 first-round pick and end up in the top half of the lottery figures to be a priority for management. “I think that the front office is going to go into this with the mindset of, ‘We have to do anything we can to get a top-five pick in this draft,'” Jones said. “I believe that if the Jazz accomplish that, I think any of the top five picks in next year’s draft is a guy with franchise-level talent. … I think the Jazz realize how good this draft is. And I think they are going to act accordingly, whether they have Lauri on the roster or not.”
- Jones thinks the Jazz would have liked to move Collins and/or Jordan Clarkson this offseason, but acknowledges that both veterans will probably open the season on the roster since they haven’t generated real interest on the trade market. “You can’t trade people if there aren’t people who want to trade for them,” Jones said. “John makes a little bit too much money. I don’t anticipate the Jazz being able to trade him until the last year of his contract. Jordan Clarkson is the one that surprises me because I thought he’d have a lot more of a market this summer, but it just hasn’t materialized.”
After spending his first six professional seasons in the NBA, free agent big man Chimezie Metu will continue his career overseas, having signed a one-year contract with Barcelona, the Spanish club announced in a press release.
The 49th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Metu began his career with the Spurs before signing with the Kings in 2020. He emerged as a regular rotation player in Sacramento, starting 20 of his 60 games in 2021/22 and averaging 8.9 points and 5.6 rebounds in 21.3 minutes per game.
After spending two years in San Antonio and three in Sacramento, Metu inked a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Suns last summer. However, the 27-year-old played sparingly for the club, averaging 12.1 MPG in 37 appearances before being sent to Memphis in the three-team deadline deal that saw Royce O’Neale and David Roddy land in Phoenix.
Metu, who was immediately waived by Memphis, signed a 10-day contract with the Pistons in March, then agreed to a two-year deal with the club when that contract expired. The former USC star appeared in 14 games for Detroit down the stretch, averaging 10.5 PPG and 6.0 RPG in 29.4 MPG, but the Pistons declined their minimum-salary team option on him for 2024/25, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Metu will join a Barcelona team that posted a 23-11 record in Spanish League (ACB) play and a 22-12 mark in EuroLeague play in 2023/24. Barca lost to eventual champion Real Madrid in the ACB postseason and was denied a spot in the EuroLeague Final Four by Olympiacos.
The Sixers have officially signed veteran guard Reggie Jackson, the team announced today in a press release. He received a one-year contract, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The move had been anticipated since last Tuesday, when word broke that Jackson would be cut by the Hornets and that he intended to join the 76ers after clearing waivers. The 34-year-old gave up approximately $3.3MM in a buyout agreement with Charlotte, which is the amount he’ll earn on his new minimum-salary deal with Philadelphia.
“Reggie is a playoff-tested veteran who brings leadership and experience to our backcourt,” Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said in a statement. “He’s been a dynamic offensive player throughout his 13 seasons in the league.”
Jackson spent the 2023/24 season in Denver, backing up Jamal Murray at the point. He averaged 10.2 points, 3.8 assists, and 1.9 rebounds in 22.2 minutes per game, posting a .431/.359/.806 shooting line in 82 outings (23 starts).
Jackson exercised a $5.25MM player option in June, but the Nuggets wanted to go in a different direction with their backup point guard spot and traded the 34-year-old to Charlotte along with multiple second-round picks in a salary-dump deal. Denver signed Russell Westbrook to fill the backcourt hole created by that trade. The Hornets, meanwhile, made that deal with Denver in order to acquire those future second-rounders rather than Jackson, who wasn’t in their plans for 2024/25.
Now that their addition of Jackson is official, the Sixers have 13 players on standard contracts — 12 are on fully guaranteed deals, while Ricky Council‘s salary is non-guaranteed. Philadelphia figures to add at least one more player on a standard contract at some point between now and opening night, though it remains to be seen if the team will fill both 15-man roster openings.
Jackson will provide additional depth in a Sixers backcourt that features rising star Tyrese Maxey, veterans Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon, and rookie Jared McCain.
The Hornets have largely done well for themselves this offseason, retaining some players, drafting Tidjane Salaun , and adding Josh Green for cheap.
They still have one standard roster spot open and Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer predicts that spot will remain open until closer to the start of the season. It would make sense for the Hornets to wait for roster cuts if there’s no one on the market they wish to reward with a standard deal and see if they can claim a talented young player on waivers. Boone thought summer league standout Mouhamadou Gueye might compete for a two-way deal, but the Hornets are reportedly filling their final such deal with Moussa Diabate.
Boone’s mailbag also checks in on the rest of the team, including the health of center Mark Williams. Boone opines that adding a power forward/center would be a wise option if Williams isn’t ready to go for the start of the season, since Nick Richards is the only true backup there, while Taj Gibson could fill in in an emergency.
As for Green, Boone says he’s currently penciled in to play two-guard position, but coach Charles Lee doesn’t want to pigeonhole him into a specific role until he’s spent more time with the roster.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- The Heat‘s Bam Adebayo is participating in his second Olympics after winning gold in Tokyo in 2021. He played 20 minutes off the bench and recorded four points, two rebounds and two assists on Sunday vs. Serbia, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald observes. While he didn’t score much, Adebayo held the task of guarding Nikola Jokic in the team’s first Olympic outing. Adebayo’s found success off the bench alongside Anthony Davis for Team USA.
- The Heat had a second player in the Olympic opener, with Nikola Jovic suiting up for Serbia. The 21-year-old had five points and two rebounds in his first Olympic experience of his career, Chiang writes. He took a starting role for Miami and is expected to be a big part of their future moving forward. In his matchup against Team USA, his primary assignment was LeBron James on both ends.
- The Wizards signed Anthony Gill to a two-year, minimum-salary ($4.78MM) contract, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. The deal is fully guaranteed for 2024/25 and is non-guaranteed for ’25/26. Gill has appeared in 179 games with the Wizards since 2020 but only averages 9.9 minutes for the only team he’s called home in the league. The Wizards like Gill, signing Virginia product to three standard deals so far.
- Following the addition of Gill, it’s even more clear the Wizards aren’t done making moves this offseason. As Spotrac’s Keith Smith observes (Twitter link), the team has 17 players on standard contracts, with only Jared Butler and Eugene Omoruyi on non-guaranteed deals. While their decision-making could be as simple as waiving both players, they have a need at point guard, where Butler showed flashes last season and they value Omoruyi. Other players could be on the move as the offseason wears on.
Dillon Brooks is continuing his impressive FIBA streak, helping lead Canada to an 86-79 win over Greece in his team’s Olympic opener. Brooks, who made a trio of three-pointers in the win, also had an impressive 2023 World Cup, averaging 15.1 points per game en route to a bronze medal.
As Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews writes, Brooks pushes himself to another level in international play.
“I like to play for my country; it gives me a lot of passion to do so,” Brooks said. “For the game itself, you have to be 40 minutes attentive to detail. All those things add a lot more to a player, and I like the ball as well.”
Brooks also impressed on defense alongside Thunder wing Luguentz Dort. According to Urbonas, when that duo shared the floor, Canada outscored Greece by 23 points.
“I’m really proud of Dillon,” national team coach Jordi Fernandez said. “This is how it looks when they let Dillon Brooks play. And it’s just not about the defensive end. With Lu Dort, he’s the best perimeter in the World Cup. But he’s extremely efficient offensively.”
Brooks said he didn’t care if his international play changed how NBA fans felt about him.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic share the honor of having the same odds for Most Valuable Player next season, but Anthony Edwards is a dark horse, Jason Jones of The Athletic writes. Zach Edey is currently the favorite for Rookie of the Year over top-two picks Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr, but Cody Williams is a player Jones believes may be getting overlooked. Jones talks through all the major awards, as well as some teams he does or doesn’t believe in.
- Former NBAer Xavier Sneed signed with Bnei Herzliya Basket, a team in Israel, the club relays in a release (Twitter link). Sneed played 13 games across two seasons (2021-23) on two-way or 10-day contracts with the Hornets, Grizzlies and Jazz. He’s scored 22 points in 87 total minutes at the NBA level.
- As we relayed Sunday, Australian guard Dante Exum seemed to be nearing a return from a right index finger injury. Boomers coach Brian Goorjan confirmed as much, stating that he expects Exum to return on Tuesday vs. Canada, according to Fox Sports’ Matt Logue (Twitter link).
Rosters for the 2024/25 season are far from being set, but it’s never too early to try to predict some of next season’s happenings. When considering players who are primed for breakouts, draft picks who immediately became stars like Paolo Banchero and Victor Wembanyama come to mind, but several more players in a tier below that will emerge as rotation mainstays for the first time.
Think players like Sam Hauser of the Celtics. Hauser gradually crept up Boston’s rotation over the past three years, eventually becoming a part of the title core and earning himself an extension. Likewise, Miles McBride was a second-round pick who showed promise, but eventually broke out after the ’23/24 deadline for New York. Isaiah Joe of the Thunder is another example, while Vince Williams of the Grizzlies and Simone Fontecchio of the Pistons also broke onto the scene earlier this year.
With that said, here are four players I think could “break out” next season in the sense that they go from a fringe rotation piece to a reliable regular for a team.
Day’Ron Sharpe
This might be cheating a bit, since Sharpe appeared in 61 games last season and averaged 6.8 points and 6.4 rebounds. However, he managed to record those numbers in just 15.1 minutes per night, improving across the board for the Nets. I expect Sharpe to play more this season even though he’s still behind Nic Claxton in the rotation.
For starters, the Nets pivoted toward a rebuild this offseason after trading away Mikal Bridges. With Bridges gone and players like Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Bojan Bogdanovic and Dennis Schröder set up to be potential trade pieces, there should be more minutes to go around at some point in the season, at least in theory. That would put Sharpe, the No. 29 overall pick in 2021, in prime position to play more and continue to show off his improvement.
Sharpe is set to be a restricted free agent next offseason and, if he manages to continue to show linear growth, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him draw a bevy of suitors. If the Nets didn’t want to pay Sharpe after handing a contract to Claxton this offseason, Sharpe could draw interest at the deadline for a playoff team needing size or another young team looking for a mainstay.
Given his contract status, youth (heturns 23 this season), and team positioning, Sharpe seems like a solid candidate to “break out” for next season.
Max Christie
The Lakers have had a quiet offseason, with their only external additions being 2024 draftees Dalton Knecht and Bronny James. One move that flew under the radar was the long-term extension of Christie, a player who only played 14.1 minutes last season. While the 2022 No. 35 pick saw his responsibilities increase last season from his rookie year, he holds a career average of 3.8 points per game.
Clearly, the Lakers liked what they saw from the 21-year-old Christie, as they rewarded him with a $32MM deal. While he hasn’t played a ton at the NBA level, he holds solid upside as a three-and-D prospect. It was somewhat surprising, for my money, that a team with cap space didn’t try to price Christie out of the Lakers’ range.
The Lakers getting Christie back could be a huge win for a team that needs three-and-D players in their rotation. Given that the Lakers might still make a trade before the year and players ahead of him last year either fell out of favor or simply left in free agency, Christie seems like a lock for more minutes and production next season. He could have a key role for the Lakers in the final couple years of his contract if things play right.
Craig Porter Jr./Ricky Council IV
While Porter and Council are distinctly different players, both could improve and continue to work their way into the rotations of playoff contenders in the Eastern Conference, which is why they’re grouped together here.
Porter played more on a two-way contract last season before being promoted to a standard deal. He’s a small guard but has played well above his size both in college and in the pros. He works well as a secondary ball-handler and a solid defensive guard. While the Cavaliers still have three open roster spots and could add a player or two who may overtake Porter in the guard room, I could see him winning the ninth or 10th spot in the rotation and potentially being the club’s top backup lead guard.
Council didn’t play as much for the Sixers until the end of the season, but his high efficiency impressed the organization and they rewarded him with a standard contract.
While Philadelphia eventually re-signed Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre, Kyle Lowry and KJ Martin, I find it telling that the Council was just one of two players from last year’s roster who stayed on the roster throughout the entire offseason. His contract for next season is non-guaranteed, so they easily could have waived him if they felt someone else better fit his role. Martin and draft picks Jared McCain and Adem Bona might not play much next season, which has Council and Eric Gordon looking like the team’s only true bench wings off the bench.
While it’s not a lock Porter or Council make an impact on the rotation this year — let alone make it through their contracts being guaranteed at the league-wide date in 2025 — their organizations have shown they value each respective player. To me, Porter and Council are some of the more likely candidates to follow Hauser’s footsteps of developing for a couple seasons before breaking into a rotation.
Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard could have waited longer before agreeing to his three-year extension worth about $59MM, Dustin Dopirak of IndyStar writes in a subscriber-only piece. In two years, Nembhard could have tested the market as an unrestricted free agent and seen if teams would have paid him to be a lead guard. However, Dopirak explains that the deal make sense for both sides.
Nembhard’s $2MM salary for 2024/25 is set to be the second-lowest on the team next season, only ahead of second-round rookie Johnny Furphy. By signing an extension now, Nembhard ensured he won’t have to earn a minimum salary in 2025/26 too, since his new deal replaced his team option for that year. His stock is also the highest it’s ever been after he averaged 14.9 points and 5.5 assists en route to a Pacers conference finals appearance.
Additionally, if staying with this group was an important factor for Nembhard, it made sense to sign now before Indiana gets too expensive. Myles Turner and T.J. McConnell are both set to become free agents next season and Bennedict Mathurin is soon to be extension-eligible.
As for the Pacers, locking up Nembhard to a deal worth just under $20MM per year could be a savvy move if the team believes in his postseason production. He looked like a legitimate lead guard in the last two games of the Celtics series, averaging 28.0 points. Immanuel Quickley could be a reference point for what Nembhard may have been able to get if the Pacers had held off, since he became a feature guard recently and earned a deal worth about $175MM. In other words, it made sense to sign Nembhard to a deal that runs through 2028 to prevent other teams from outbidding them in a couple years.
We have more from the Pacers:
- Nembhard’s agent Todd Ramasar expects the guard to have a big summer for Team Canada in the Olympics after signing his extension, Mark Medina of Sportskeeda relays in an exclusive interview. Ramasar raved about the Pacers’ care for Nembhard through his career in the interview and stated that the trust they’ve shown in him is what led to the extension getting done now. “I think it’s good for both sides,” Ramasar said. “I think in a year or two that people are going to say it’s a bargain for the Pacers and maybe even after next season. … It takes pressure off him so he can focus purely on his game and help contribute to winning basketball with the Pacers.“
- Ramasar is also Pascal Siakam‘s agent, and he said the two-time All-Star feels at peace this offseason after spending the last year worrying about his contract extension, according to Medina. Siakam signed a four-year extension worth $189.5MM. “There’s just a focus [on basketball this offseason],” Ramasar said. “There are no distractions.“
- James Johnson‘s $3.3MM minimum-salary contract with the Pacers is partially guaranteed for $750K, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto (Twitter link). The full amount would become guaranteed if he remains under contract through January 7. Johnson has served as a locker-room presence for a young Indy team over the past two seasons, appearing in 27 games for the organization.
- It’s somewhat possible that Johnson doesn’t make the opening-day roster if the Pacers decide they want to keep reigning G League Rookie of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe and sign 2024 second-rounder Enrique Freeman. Indiana only has one open two-way roster spot and no standard 15-man spots available. However, Johnson, Kendall Brown, and James Wiseman don’t have fully guaranteed salaries.
On paper, the U.S. Olympic men’s team looks like one of the best collections of talent since 1992, The Athletic’s Joe Vardon writes while pondering the team’s upside.
“I don’t know if Magic, Michael and Larry, if they coined that [nickname] themselves and walked around calling themselves the Dream Team or if that was the nickname that fans and media gave them, [but] I feel like we’re going to have the same vibe,” Stephen Curry said of how this year’s team compares to the Dream Team.
The Americans certainly looked the part in their blowout win over Serbia on Sunday, but it wasn’t smooth sailing up to that point. The U.S. almost lost to Germany and South Sudan in consecutive exhibition games. As Vardon writes, it’s a testament to how the talent around the world has grown. When the 1992 team competed, only nine other players outside of the U.S. team were in the NBA. This year, an Olympic-record 47 athletes are in the NBA and 35 more have at least some league experience.
“It’s the strongest field ever,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “The game gets better and better globally, more and more NBA players, but also teams are more and more comfortable playing against us, and so we know that every game’s going to be difficult and we have to prepare for that and be ready because these teams are coming after us.”
While the Americans look like the favorite for the gold medal, Vardon cautions that it’s far from a guarantee. In a similar piece, The Ringer’s Michael Pina writes that Team USA’s low three-point rate is seemingly one of the team’s only weaknesses.
We have more from the U.S. Olympic team:
- Kevin Durant‘s near-perfect game against Serbia highlighted their 110-84 win. LeBron James‘ 23-point, nine-assist and seven-rebound game showed that the U.S. team should continue to rely on its older guys, Jason Jones of The Athletic writes in a takeaways piece from the first game. Jones also contemplates whether Joel Embiid should continue to start, writing that Kerr may simply just like the effective frontcourt pairing of Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis off the bench. Jones also observes Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton picking up DNPs in the first game and ponders if Kerr’s rotation choices will be consistent or fluctuate on a matchup basis.
- Embiid had a rough showing in his first official Team USA outing, Mike Sielski of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. He finished with four points and two rebounds in just over 11 minutes and didn’t seem 100%. His decision to play for Team USA over France earned him boos from the crowd in Paris and Sielski wonders — even if he was hampered with an injury or illness — if adapting his game benefits either him or his team. Embiid is one of the best players in the world but he has always been the featured player on his teams and may be taking more of a backseat on the Olympic squad, Sielski writes.
- Jrue Holiday and Derrick White played similar roles in the team’s first game as they do for the reigning-champion Celtics, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes. Both players complement star-filled rosters on either team and often take the task of guarding the opposing team’s best player. “It makes it easy for me and Jrue,” White said. “We just try to go out there and do what we do and try to help us impact winning whenever we can. I know we’ve got a lot of talented guys on the team.”