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NBA Teams That Still Have Open Roster Spots

March 6th, 2024 at 12:55pm CST by Luke Adams

As we detailed on Tuesday, 17 players that had been on two-way contracts received promotions to standard deals between last month’s trade deadline and Monday’s two-way signing deadline.

However, even though those 17 players filled standard roster spots around the NBA and no team currently has an open two-way slot, there are still several openings on 15-man rosters across the league.

[RELATED: 2023/24 NBA Roster Counts]

Here’s a rundown of the teams that still have at least one standard roster spot available, along with some brief observations on how they might fill those openings:

Teams with two open roster spots

Minnesota Timberwolves
New York Knicks
Philadelphia 76ers

Teams are permitted to dip below 14 players on standard contracts for up to 14 days at a time. Currently, there are three teams taking advantage of that rule: the Timberwolves, Knicks, and Sixers.

There’s no real urgency for any of these clubs to sign a player in the short term — Philadelphia doesn’t have to re-add a 14th man until March 15, while New York’s and Minnesota’s deadlines are March 16 and 17, respectively.

Still, I’m not sure any of the three will wait that long to make a move. The Sixers and Knicks have a crowded injury list and could use some additional depth, while the Timberwolves have already reportedly reached an agreement on a 10-day deal with T.J. Warren — it just hasn’t been officially finalized yet.

[Note: Warren officially signed with the Wolves shortly after the publication of this story.]

Philadelphia could still use another frontcourt body with Joel Embiid on the shelf. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Taj Gibson eventually makes his way back to the Knicks, though he’s under contract with Detroit for the next 10 days. Marcus Morris was linked to Minnesota last month, though it remains unclear whether a union for the two sides remains in play.

Teams with one open roster spot

Boston Celtics
Detroit Pistons
- Note: The Pistons’ 14th man (Gibson) is on a 10-day contract.
Golden State Warriors
Phoenix Suns
Utah Jazz

There’s no timeline for any of these teams to fill their 15th open roster spot. I’d expect the Pistons and Jazz to be a little more proactive about making a move though, since they’re both well below the luxury tax line and could potentially benefit from taking a look at some young players on 10-day deals for developmental purposes down the stretch.

The Celtics, Warriors, and Suns are all well above the tax threshold and aren’t in desperate need for depth pieces at the moment, so they’ll probably be patient when it comes to adding a 15th man.

Neemias Queta (Celtics) and Saben Lee (Suns) are candidates to be promoted from two-way contracts near the end of the season. The Warriors already elevated their most obvious candidate for a promotion (Lester Quinones), so it’s unclear what they may have in mind for their final roster move. Given how deep they are, it’s unlikely anyone the Dubs add would play at all in the postseason.

Teams whose 15th man is on a 10-day contract

Cleveland Cavaliers
New Orleans Pelicans
Toronto Raptors
Washington Wizards

The Cavaliers will open up a roster spot on Thursday when Sharife Cooper‘s 10-day contract expires. The Wizards (R.J. Hampton) and Pelicans (Izaiah Brockington) will follow suit next Wednesday, with the Raptors (Jahmi’us Ramsey) opening up their 15th roster spot next Thursday.

Each of those four players would be eligible for a second 10-day deal with his respective team. However, all four clubs seem to be rotating players in and out of that slot, so it’s possible that the Cavs, Pelicans, Raptors, and Wizards all finish the season with a different 15th man.

Toronto and Washington won’t make the playoffs and will likely eventually settle on a prospect who can be signed to a team-friendly multiyear contract. The Cavs and Pelicans could ultimately go the same route, though they’ll want to fully scour the buyout market in case there’s a veteran who could help in the postseason.

Patty Mills Signs With Heat

March 6th, 2024 at 11:55am CST by Luke Adams

MARCH 6: The Heat have officially signed Mills and waived Smith, the team announced today in a press release.

MARCH 5: Free agent point guard Patty Mills plans to sign with the Heat, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). It will be a rest-of-season deal, adds Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link).

A 15-year NBA veteran, Mills was traded three times during the 2023 offseason, from the Nets to the Rockets to the Thunder to the Hawks. Atlanta envisioned him as a player who could provide reliable veteran depth behind Trae Young and Dejounte Murray in the backcourt, but Mills didn’t end up playing much for his new club, averaging 2.7 points and 1.1 rebounds in 10.6 minutes per game across 19 appearances.

The Hawks opted to waive Mills last Thursday in order to open up a spot on the roster to promote two-way player Trent Forrest. The 35-year-old cleared waivers over the weekend and didn’t immediately catch on with a new team, but has reached an agreement a few days later with a veteran Heat club that appears playoff-bound.

Although Mills’ production has dropped off in the past couple years, his NBA résumé includes 95 postseason contests and a championship (in 2014 with San Antonio). He’s also not far removed from being a productive regular contributor — he averaged 11.4 PPG with a .400 3PT% across 81 games for the Nets in 2021/22.

Mills will join a Heat backcourt that has been impacted by injuries over the course of the season but features several intriguing options when everyone’s healthy, including Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Josh Richardson, and Delon Wright. The move will provide some insurance in the event that Richardson’s absence due to a shoulder injury extends into the spring, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link), guard Dru Smith, who is out for the season due to a torn ACL, will be waived to make room on the 15-man roster for Mills.

Mills will earn $18,370 per day on his prorated minimum-salary deal with the Heat. His exact salary will depend on when he officially signs, but if the deal were to be finalized before the end of the day on Tuesday, he’d make $753,186 and Miami would take on a cap hit of $475,908.

Cavs Notes: Mitchell, Wade, Mobley, 15th Man

March 6th, 2024 at 11:30am CST by Luke Adams

When they announced on Monday that Donovan Mitchell had received a platelet-rich plasma injection to treat his left knee injury, the Cavaliers ruled him out for their next three games. However, there’s no guarantee that Mitchell will be ready to return following those three games, as head coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters on Tuesday before his team faced the Celtics.

“I expect him to be back before a month,” Bickerstaff said, per Tom Withers of The Associated Press. “I don’t like to overstep my bounds, but at the end of the three games, they’ll reevaluate and then we’ll make a decision from there. I’m hopeful and do not expect this to be a long break, but we will always do what’s best by our guys to make sure they’re healthy.”

The Cavaliers have referred to Mitchell’s injury as a bone bruise, but Bickerstaff suggested that it’s an issue that has developed over time and got to the point where it didn’t make sense for the star guard to play through it.

“It’s more of a wear and tear thing,” the Cavs’ coach said. “It was like a tendinitis-type thing that kind of just flared up. So it’s not something that just happened, but something that just built over time.

“… He couldn’t move going certain directions because of the pain and how it was limited. I’m not a doctor, but from everything that I’m hearing, the time, the rest and the process should get him back to full strength.”

As we noted on Monday, while Mitchell has put up All-NBA numbers in Cleveland this season, leading the team with 28.0 points and a career-best 6.2 assists per game, he’s in danger of falling short of the 65-game minimum required to qualify for end-of-season awards. After Friday, he’ll have missed 16 games this season — he can’t miss more than 17 if he hopes to be eligible for All-NBA consideration, but getting him healthy for a playoff run figures to be the priority.

Here’s more on the Cavs:

An unlikely hero led the Cavaliers past Boston in a stunning comeback win on Tuesday, as Withers writes in a separate Associated Press story. Forward Dean Wade, who has been coming off the bench since January 26 after starting earlier in the season, made five three-pointers and scored 20 points in the fourth quarter as Cleveland erased a 22-point deficit and pulled out a one-point upset victory. “The rim looked like a swimming pool,” Wade told reporters after the game.
The good vibes in the locker room after Tuesday’s win were diminished somewhat by the fact that Evan Mobley exited the game in the third quarter due to a left ankle sprain, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. According to Fedor, Mobley was seen leaving the arena on crutches and likely won’t be available on Wednesday vs. Atlanta. It’s unclear how much more time the big man might miss beyond that.
The Cavaliers will open up a roster spot after Wednesday’s contest when Sharife Cooper‘s 10-day contract expires. It’s unclear if the Cavs intend to sign Cooper to a second 10-day deal — he has yet to appear in an NBA game through his first nine days under contract. The club wouldn’t necessarily have to fill that open 15-man roster spot immediately.

Trae Young Discusses Trade Rumors, Future With Hawks

March 6th, 2024 at 10:05am CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report in the latest episode of her podcast (YouTube link), Hawks guard Trae Young said that he’s not bothered by the fact that his name has popped up in trade rumors in the weeks since last month’s deadline.

“Some of the best players ever have been traded,” Young said. “So who am I to be here mad or feeling unwanted or feeling a certain way?”

It’s worth noting that those recent rumors haven’t stemmed from sources within the Hawks, but from rival executives who came away from their pre-deadline conversations with Atlanta believing that the club will explore trading Young this offseason.

It was Dejounte Murray, rather than Young, who was the subject of frequent trade rumors in the days and weeks leading up to the deadline, but the Hawks opted not to make a move involving Murray, whose contract extends a year beyond Young’s and is far less lucrative. Young is owed $89MM over the next two years, with a $49MM player option for 2025/26, while Murray will make $82.6MM over the next three seasons and holds a $31.5MM player option for ’26/27.

Although there’s a sense that it may just be a matter of time before the club breaks up its star backcourt duo, Young told Rooks that he has no desire to leave Atlanta. Asked whether he believes he’ll still be a Hawk next season, he replied, “Hopefully,” before going on to link his NBA home with his decision on where to play college basketball.

“I could have went to Kentucky, I could have went to Kansas, but I chose to be different and went to Oklahoma to try to win a championship,” Young said. “I wanted to go there to win for my hometown, be different.

“They’ve never won a championship in Atlanta. Me getting drafted there felt like it was a match made in heaven. Like, this is something I wanna do. I can defeat the odds here too. So for me, my whole vision was to always be here. My whole goal is to win here. Win championships, bring people here with me and build this championship here and dynasty here.

“But who knows? It’s year six now and who knows? (But) for me, I want that.”

Young is currently on the mend after undergoing surgery to repair a tear of the radial collateral ligament (RCL) in the fifth finger of his left hand. An All-Star this season for the third time in his career, he was averaging 26.4 points and a career-high 10.8 assists this season in 51 games (36.5 MPG) prior to the injury, with a shooting line of .426/.371/.856.

With Young unavailable for the time being, the Hawks continue to battle for a spot in the play-in tournament. Atlanta is currently 10th in the East at 27-34, two games behind the No. 9 Bulls and 2.5 games ahead of the No. 11 Nets.

Pistons Sign Taj Gibson To 10-Day Deal

March 6th, 2024 at 10:01am CST by Luke Adams

10:01am: Gibson’s 10-day contract is now official, the Pistons confirmed in a press release (Twitter link). It will run through next Friday, March 15.

8:42am: The Pistons are set to sign veteran big man Taj Gibson to a 10-day contract, agent Mark Bartelstein tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Gibson, 38, spent a portion of this season with the Knicks, having signed a non-guaranteed contract with the team in December.

He was waived on January 7 before his full salary could become guaranteed, then returned to New York on a pair of 10-day deals in January and February. However, the club opted not to bring him back on a rest-of-season contract when the second of those deals expired.

At this point in his career, Gibson is most valued more for his veteran leadership and presence in the locker room, which is presumably why the Pistons want to add him to their young roster. However, he did appear in 16 games for the Knicks this season, averaging 1.0 PPG and 1.8 RPG in 10.3 MPG.

The Pistons recently opened up a pair of roster spots by waiving Mike Muscala and Shake Milton, so they’re only carrying 13 players on standard contracts. Even after signing Gibson, they’ll still have an opening on their 15-man roster.

Gibson will earn $183,704 over the course of his 10 days with Detroit, while the club carries a cap hit of $116,075.

Assuming the deal is finalized on Wednesday or Thursday, he’ll be under contract for the Pistons’ next five games before the team would have to decide whether to re-sign him or let him go.

Jakob Poeltl Undergoes Finger Surgery

March 6th, 2024 at 7:52am CST by Luke Adams

Raptors center Jakob Poeltl has undergone surgery to repair a ligament tear in the fifth finger of his left hand, the team announced late on Tuesday night in a press release. The injury occurred in the second quarter of Sunday’s victory over Charlotte.

The Raptors didn’t provide any sort of recovery timeline for Poeltl, simply stating that his status will be updated as appropriate.

Any type of finger surgery typically results in a multi-week absence, and while the big man could end up being healthy enough to play before the end of the season, Toronto is falling out of the postseason race and may simply decide to shut him down.

After getting blown out at home by the Pelicans on Tuesday, the Raptors are 4.5 games back of the No. 10 seed in the East. They’re also missing Scottie Barnes, who underwent a hand surgery of his own earlier this week and might not be back before the end of the regular season.

Poeltl, who was acquired from San Antonio by the Raptors at the 2023 trade deadline, signed a four-year, $78MM contract with the club during the offseason. In his first season back with the Toronto team that originally drafted him in 2016, the 28-year-old averaged 11.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 26.4 minutes per game across 50 appearances (all starts).

The Raptors traded for another veteran center – Kelly Olynyk – at this season’s deadline and extended him this week, but that deal shouldn’t have a real impact on Poeltl’s future in Toronto, since the two big men have different skill sets. While Olynyk excels at stretching the floor, Poeltl serves as a pick-and-roll partner for the team’s guards and is more of a rim protector on defense.

Contract Details: Lawson, K. Brown, Forrest, Barlow, Bouyea, More

March 6th, 2024 at 6:54am CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks used a portion of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception to give A.J. Lawson a $1MM rest-of-season salary and a four-year contract when they promoted him to their standard roster, Hoops Rumors has learned.

While Lawson’s 2023/24 salary of $1MM – which is well above his prorated minimum – is guaranteed, he’s not necessarily assured of any money beyond this season. His minimum salaries for the following three years are fully non-guaranteed. If he plays out the full contract, the Mavericks wing would earn approximately $7.91MM.

Here are more details on recently signed contracts around the NBA:

The three-year contract that Kendall Brown signed with the Pacers features a starting salary of $1.1MM, which came out of the team’s room exception. This season is the first year that the room exception can be used to sign players for up to three years instead of just two, and Indiana took advantage of that flexibility to give Brown non-guaranteed minimum salaries in 2024/25 and ’25/26, with a team option on that final year. He’ll receive a partial guarantee of $250K if he makes the Pacers’ regular season roster in the fall.
The new contracts for Hawks guard Trent Forrest and Spurs forward Dominick Barlow are just rest-of-season, minimum-salary deals, which suggests that those two players just got standard conversions from their two-way contracts rather than negotiating new terms. Forrest will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, while Barlow will be eligible for restricted free agency.
As expected, both Shake Milton (Knicks) and Mike Muscala (Thunder) signed rest-of-season, minimum-salary contracts with their new clubs.
Like fellow San Antonio newcomer RaiQuan Gray, Jamaree Bouyea signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Spurs, so his new contract runs through the 2024/25 season.
The two-way deals recently signed by Jeff Dowtin (Sixers), Jacob Gilyard (Nets), Jacob Toppin (Knicks), Ish Wainright (Suns), Quenton Jackson (Pacers), Harry Giles (Lakers), and Dylan Windler (Hawks) are all one-year (rest-of-season) contracts, so those players will be eligible to become restricted free agents this summer.

Pacific Notes: Vincent, Reaves, Green, Beal

March 5th, 2024 at 10:52pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lakers guard Gabe Vincent should be back sometime this month, Shams Charania said on FanDuel’s Run It Back program (video link).

“Gabe Vincent is doing more and more on the court. … Barring any setbacks, his hope is still mid-to-late March to get back in the lineup for the Lakers,” Charania said, adding, “(With) Gabe, you’d want to kind of change the tempo, change the pace. That’s why they signed him from Miami.”

Vincent underwent left knee surgery in late December. He was signed to a three-year, $33MM contract last summer but has only appeared in five games.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Austin Reaves is taking on more essential defensive responsibilites with Taurean Prince and Cam Reddish no longer in the Lakers’ starting lineup. Reaves shadowed Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Los Angeles’ victory on Monday, Khobi Price of the Orange County Register notes. “He just took the challenge,” LeBron James said of Reaves. “Obviously, Shai is one of the best players that we have in our league, so it’s just trying not to put him at the free-throw line because that’s where he gets a lot of his points from too. Austin was sensational from the start to the finish, whenever he was out on the floor just trying to play the ball and making Shai and making [Jalen Williams] take tough shots and we’d just try to protect him on the back end.”
Warriors forward Draymond Green wants to finish his career on a positive note, which is why he’s continuing to go through therapy even after his league-imposed suspension ended, he told Howard Beck of The Ringer. “I’m far closer to the end than I am the beginning,” Green said. “Do you want the end to look like complete s–t? Or do you want the end to look closer to how it looked in the beginning? Do you want to leave gracefully? Or do you want to leave like a f–ing a–hole? Do you want your legacy to be a guy who couldn’t contain himself, a guy who couldn’t finish the job? Or do you want your legacy to be a guy who did it his way, yes, but did it the right way? I think that’s what it boils down to.”
Bradley Beal was instructed to wear a mask after suffering a broken nose in late January but he hasn’t done so since returning this month from a hamstring injury. He’s not done with nasal procedures, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. “Still have to get my septum realigned. Think I’ll do it after the season,” the Suns guard said. “Still having a little trouble breathing out my right nostril.”

Raptors Notes: Olynyk, Carton, Gueye, Barnes

March 5th, 2024 at 10:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The contract extension that Kelly Olynyk reached with the Raptors had an added bonus: It clears the way for the longtime member of the Canadian Olympic team to play in the Paris Olympics, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports notes.

If he had been a free agent, it would have been difficult to secure insurance ahead of Canada’s training camp, which opens in Toronto in late June.

“That was definitely a big part of it, as well, getting this out of the way,” he said. “To not have [the contract situation] on your plate and your mind, just be able to play free and easy, and then obviously in the summer just be able to work out, train, and be present right at the start with no complications was a big factor. That also played a huge part in the decision.”

Olynyk, acquired from Utah, signed a two-year, $26.25MM extension. The Toronto native hopes to remain with the Raptors the remainder of his career.

“They traded for me, they wanted me here,” Olynyk said. “Just to reciprocate that love and show that I do want to be here, too – I’ve wanted to be here since I was four years old. It’s special, to create that trust and that bond. Hopefully I’ll be here for the rest of my career.”

We have more on the Raptors:

Securing Olynyk’s services on a reasonable contract was a savvy move by the franchise, according to The Athletic’s Eric Koreen. Olynyk’s first year salary of approximately $12.8MM is less than the $18.3MM cap hold he would have had as a free agent. That potentially will give Toronto $5.3MM in extra cap room. On the court, Olynyk’s skill set will help head coach Darko Rajakovic continue to build his movement-heavy offense, Koreen adds.
The two-way contracts for D.J. Carton and Mouhamadou Gueye are both two-year deals, Blake Murphy of Sportsnet tweets. They’ll get the full guarantee allowable (50% of a 2024/25 two-way contract) if they remain with the team on two-way deals next season. The Raptors also have option to convert their contracts to standard deals at any time over the two-year period.
Scottie Barnes hasn’t formally been ruled out for the season after he underwent hand surgery on Monday, Lewenberg tweets. “Everybody would like him to come back and finish the season,” Rajakovic said. “I know he’s eager but we just don’t have enough information at this time.”

And-Ones: Officiating, Stewart, Eubanks, Ntilikina, Bronny

March 5th, 2024 at 8:25pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr once again lamented the way that NBA games are called, suggesting that offensive players get the benefit of the doubt too often, according to Eric Koreen of The Athletic.

“I think there just needs to be a general rule: No bulls–t allowed. Really. It’s the truth,” Kerr said. “And I could go through a tape with you and show you: A guy dribbles off a high ball screen and the defender tries to fight over (the screen) and the guy (with the ball) jumps backwards and the ref calls a foul. Like, what are we doing? Can you imagine calling that in the pickup game? It would start a fight. We just have to get back to (determining) what’s basketball.”

With scoring numbers reaching record heights, NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars confirmed last month that the league has formally launched a review into whether rule changes are necessary to slow that trend and restore the offense/defense balance. Kerr believes that tweaking the way fouls are called would be a good start.

“Let’s make players create an advantage in order to call a foul,” Kerr said. “But we have these exact phrases — ‘illegal guarding position.’ Sometimes a guy will just slam right through the defender and the ref will call a foul on the defender. (The referee will) say, ‘It’s an illegal guarding position.’ The refs have to call that. That’s how they’re judged and taught.

“Like I said, the officials are great. It’s just that we have to recognize what’s happening. I think it’s been about a decade where the offensive players are so smart, they see what’s happening and they’re just completely manipulating the rules to let them go.”

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

TMZ Sports has obtained the Phoenix Police Department incident report on the altercation between Pistons forward/center Isaiah Stewart and Suns center Drew Eubanks. According to the report, Eubanks told police that Stewart confronted him while he was entering the arena due to physical play between the two big men in a previous game. Stewart, who punched Eubanks in the face, was arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge and issued a citation, but Eubanks later told police he wanted the charges dropped, per TMZ.
Frank Ntilikina is reportedly looking to return to his home country after being waived by the Hornets last month. Alessandro Maggi of Sportando, relaying a report from French outlet BeBasket, says Ntilikina has been linked to ASVEL and Paris Basketball but would need to be signed as an injury replacement to be eligible suit up for either team down the stretch. The guard is said to be hoping to use the rest of this season to make his case for a spot on the French national team for the Paris Olympics this summer.
As he considers whether to enter the 2024 NBA draft or remain at USC, Bronny James is expected to weigh specific team interest more heavily than draft position, agent Rich Paul told Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN over the weekend. That would mean seeking out the best developmental fit rather than trying to get drafted as high as possible. Paul added that getting Bronny on the same team as father LeBron James isn’t a top priority, though LeBron would be “head over heels excited if that were to happen organically.”