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Thunder Sign Isaiah Joe To Four-Year Contract

July 1st, 2024 at 8:14am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 7: The deal is now official, per a team press statement.

JULY 1: The Thunder and swingman Isaiah Joe have agreed to terms on a new four-year contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the deal will be worth $48MM.

Joe has spent the past two seasons in Oklahoma City after being waived by the Sixers in 2022. During that time, he has been one of the Thunder’s most reliable shooters off the bench, averaging 8.8 points per game with a .412 3PT% in 151 outings (11 starts; 18.8 MPG).

The Thunder held an extremely team-friendly option on Joe for the 2024/25 season. However, the club opted to decline that $2.165MM option in order to sign the sharpshooter to a longer-term contract.

While Oklahoma City could have exercised the option and then negotiated an extension with Joe, turning down the option – which technically allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent – ensured that he’ll receive a raise in ’24/25 and won’t compromise the Thunder’s offseason cap room. They can keep his minimum-salary cap hold on the books until they’ve used all that room, then go over the cap using his Early Bird rights to officially re-sign him to his new deal.

The maximum amount the Thunder could have given Joe on an Early Bird contract was about $58.2MM over four years, so this deal will come in a little lower than that.

The Thunder took a similar route with another rotation player, Aaron Wiggins, declining his minimum-salary team option for 2024/25, making him a restricted free agent, and agreeing to terms with him on a new five-year, $47MM deal.

Joe was the No. 23 free agent on our top-50 list.

Checking In On Where Things Stand In NBA Free Agency

July 1st, 2024 at 7:41am CST by Luke Adams

The first official day of NBA free agency on June 30 was certainly busy, but it wasn’t quite as hectic as usual. There are a few factors believed to be playing a part in the slower pace, including:

The new exclusive negotiating window open to team between the end of the NBA Finals and June 30 allowed several free agents to reach deals with their own teams ahead of the official start of free agency. Pascal Siakam (Pacers), OG Anunoby (Knicks), Immanuel Quickley (Raptors), and Nic Claxton (Nets) were among the notable players to line up massive paydays prior to June 30.
The NBA has made cracking down on tampering a priority, threatening significant penalties not just to teams but to agents who make free agent deals too early. That may be why it took an hour after free agency opened on Sunday evening to get our first report of a player switching teams (Andre Drummond to Philadelphia).
Teams are navigating a challenging new Collective Bargaining Agreement that has more ways than ever for a club to become hard-capped, ranging from sending out cash in a trade (hard-capped at the second apron) to using a trade exception generated before the offseason began (hard-capped at the first apron).
As teams grapple with those CBA changes, the salary cap increase for 2024/25 was just 3.36%, giving high-salary teams less wiggle room following increases of 10% in both 2022 and 2023.

While we didn’t get quite as much action on day one as expected, there were still a good deal of notable headlines, including Paul George‘s decision to leave the Clippers for the Sixers. George’s move prompted L.A. to put out a lengthy statement explaining why the star forward wouldn’t be back, which is – if not an entirely unprecedented move – a rarity.

Besides agreeing to terms with George, Philadelphia also reached deals with Andre Drummond, Kelly Oubre, and Eric Gordon during the early part of free agency, taking advantage of the fact that it’s one of the few contending teams with cap room this offseason.

The other Eastern Conference playoff team with cap room, the Magic, made one of the day’s biggest moves by agreeing to terms on a three-year deal with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, adding a talented three-and-D wing with championship experience to a young roster that struggled to make outside shots last season.

While they lost George, the Clippers did reach a new two-year deal with James Harden and are bringing in at least two outside free agents, striking agreements with swingman Derrick Jones and guard Kevin Porter.

Jones’ free agency was a curious one, since he agreed to terms with the Clippers just a couple hours after the Mavericks agreed to sign Naji Marshall to a pretty similar deal. Dallas head of basketball operations Nico Harrison referred last month to re-signing Jones as the team’s “priority 1A and 1B,” and while his 11th-hour agent change complicated his free agency to some extent, it was still surprising to see him leave Dallas for a contract they seemingly could’ve afforded. We’ll see if more details on those negotiations surface in the coming days.

Elsewhere in free agency, the Celtics made deals to bring back a pair of reserve centers in Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta; the Heat reached a two-year agreement with Kevin Love; the Wizards lined up a new starting center by agreeing to a three-year contract with Jonas Valanciunas; and the Suns replaced outgoing reserve center Drew Eubanks by making a deal with veteran big man Mason Plumlee.

One of the day’s most interesting developments occurred on the Chris Paul front, where the Warriors decided to waive the veteran point guard after not finding a suitable trade for his expiring $30MM non-guaranteed contract. Paul had only been on waivers for a few hours when word broke that he had reached an agreement to sign with the Spurs upon reaching free agency. Within the last few years, Paul has helped young teams in both Oklahoma City and Phoenix exceed expectations. His impact on Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs will be a fun storyline to follow in 2024/25.

Restricted free agents Max Christie (Lakers) and Obi Toppin (Pacers) each reached four-year deals with their own teams on Sunday afternoon before free agency officially began, while the Pistons appear on track to keep Cade Cunningham out of 2025 restricted free agency by signing him to a lucrative new five-year extension. That deal’s not done yet, but it sounds like it’ll cross the finish line soon.

As our list of free agents shows, there are still plenty of intriguing names out there. While LeBron James is considered highly likely to return to the Lakers and Tyrese Maxey is a lock to stick with the Sixers, the futures of other top-15 free agents like DeMar DeRozan, Miles Bridges, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Klay Thompson remain less certain.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Sixers Re-Sign Kelly Oubre On Two-Year Contract

July 1st, 2024 at 12:51am CST by Luke Adams

JULY 7: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

“Kelly was one of our most important contributors last season, bringing physicality, energy, and toughness to the table on a nightly basis,” top executive Daryl Morey said. “We’re excited to have him back and believe he’ll play a key role in our pursuit of a championship.”

JULY 1: Kelly Oubre is returning to Philadelphia, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that the free agent forward is in agreement with the Sixers on a new two-year, $16.3MM deal. The contract will include a second-year player option, Wojnarowski adds.

After averaging 20.3 points per game with the Hornets in 2022/23, Oubre accepted a one-year, minimum-salary contract with Philadelphia last summer and played a significant role for the club this past season, averaging 15.4 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 1.5 APG in 68 games.

An athletic, versatile defender with good size, Oubre made 52 starts and averaged 30.2 minutes per night, logging more total minutes in ’23/24 than any Sixer besides Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris. He came in at No. 31 on our list of this year’s top 50 free agents.

The terms of Oubre’s new deal suggest he’ll be re-signed using Philadelphia’s room exception once the team has used up its cap space. As we outlined earlier, based on the $140.59MM salary cap for 2024/25, that exception for cap-room teams will start at just under $8MM and can be worth up to about $16.37MM over two years.

The 76ers have had a busy first day in free agency, reaching contract agreements with Andre Drummond (two years, $10MM), and Eric Gordon (veteran’s minimum) in addition to Oubre. Philadelphia is also the strong frontrunner to land star forward Paul George after the Clippers issued a statement on Sunday announcing that George will be signing with a new team.

Clippers Sign Derrick Jones To Three-Year Deal

June 30th, 2024 at 11:01pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 9: The Clippers have officially signed Jones, per the NBA’s transaction log.

JUNE 30: The Clippers are signing free agent forward Derrick Jones to a three-year, $30MM contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Sources tell Kelly Iko of The Athletic that the agreement is fully guaranteed with no player or team option. Jones will also receive a 5% trade kicker, Iko adds (via Twitter).

It’s possible that Jones could be acquired in a sign-and-trade, but if not, Los Angeles will use most of its non-taxpayer mid-level exception to complete the deal. Either scenario will hard cap the Clips at the first tax apron, which is set at $178.1MM.

After playing a fairly modest role off the bench with Chicago from 2021-23, the high-flying Jones was one of the NBA’s best bargains last season while on a minimum-salary contract with the Mavericks. He started 66 of his 76 regular games with Dallas in 2023/24, averaging 8.3 PPG and 3.3 RPG on .483/.343/.713 shooting.

Jones was a key role player as the Mavs advanced to the NBA Finals, averaging 9.1 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 1.0 BPG on .481/.369/.733 shooting in 22 postseason contests (29.4 MPG). He was frequently tasked with defending opposing teams’ top scorers.

A former undrafted free agent who played one year of college ball at UNLV, Jones has made previous stops with Phoenix, Miami and Portland in addition to Chicago and Dallas. The 27-year-old won the dunk contest back in 2020.

Jones’ free agency was supposed to be complicated by the fact that he recently changed agents, but evidently that didn’t stop him or his representatives from working out a deal with the Clips. The Mavericks reached a three-year, $27MM deal with free agent wing Naji Marshall before Jones’ deal with L.A. was reported.

Ironically, while Marshall was reportedly a fallback option in case Jones left Dallas, Jones himself is a consolation prize of sorts for the Clippers, who are losing Paul George. The nine-time All-Star is expected to sign a four-year max contract with the Sixers.

Magic Guaranteeing Caleb Houstan’s 2024/25 Salary

June 30th, 2024 at 11:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Magic are guaranteeing Caleb Houstan‘s $2.02MM salary for the 2024/25 season, according to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required).

Houstan’s contract included a salary guarantee deadline of June 30, meaning Orlando had to waive him on Sunday in order to avoid locking in his minimum salary. However, the decision to guarantee that money was long expected and had been accounted for in the club’s cap room projections for the summer, Beede writes.

Houston, 21, was the 32nd overall pick in the 2022 draft. He has played a modest role off Orlando’s bench in his first two NBA seasons, averaging 4.1 points and 1.7 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game across 110 total regular season appearances (17 starts).

The 6’8″ forward shoots almost exclusively from beyond the arc – he attempted 193 three-pointers and just 13 two-pointers in 2023/24 – and bumped his three-point percentage to 37.3% on 3.3 attempts per game in his second NBA season.

Houstan’s contract includes a $2.19MM team option for the 2025/26 season.

Four other players besides Houstan had June 30 salary guarantee dates in their contracts, as our tracker shows. Chris Paul (Warriors) and Troy Brown (Pistons) were waived prior to the deadline, while Alex Caruso (Thunder) was assured of his full guaranteed following the trade to Oklahoma City. There has been no specific reporting on Jaden Hardy‘s guarantee, but it’s safe to assume the Mavericks will lock in the $2.02MM salary for the promising young guard.

[Update: Michael Scotto of HoopsHype has confirmed (via Twitter) that Hardy’s salary for 2024/25 is now guaranteed.]

Western Notes: Edey, Canada, Spurs, Castle, Clippers

June 30th, 2024 at 10:45pm CST by Rory Maher

The Grizzlies selected back-to-back college Player of the Year Zach Edey with the No. 9 pick in the 2024 draft. The 7’4″ center, who is from Toronto, was on the preliminary roster for the Canadian national team, but he decided to withdraw from consideration for the 12-man roster ahead of the team’s training camp as it prepares for the Olympics in Paris next month, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Edey will be prioritizing his development with Memphis ahead of his rookie NBA season.

“Representing Canada in the Olympics remains a lifelong dream of mine, but for now, I look forward to being the team’s biggest fan from this side of the Atlantic,” Edey said as part of a larger statement (Twitter link via Grange).

Here are a few more notes from around the Western Conference:

The Spurs intend to sign future Hall of Famer Chris Paul to a one-year, $11MM+ contract once he clears waivers. That one-year agreement isn’t a coincidence, according to Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News, who hears the team is prioritizing short-term contracts to maximize financial flexibility for the 2025 offseason (Twitter link). The list of free agents for next year can be found here. Of course, it’s possible the Spurs may be more focused on trade possibilities in 2025 than free agency, as they control several future first-round picks.
Spurs No. 4 overall pick Stephon Castle is thrilled to team up with reigning Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama, writes Andrew Lopez of ESPN. “Just the thought of playing with him, of course it circulates in your mind, but it really doesn’t feel real until it becomes reality,” Castle said. “So I mean, just to know that that’s going to be my future teammate now, I’m just really excited for what our future looks like.” Castle won a championship with UConn in his lone collegiate season.
With Mason Plumlee heading to Phoenix and Daniel Theis, Moussa Diabate and Kai Jones all unrestricted free agents, the Clippers are looking for a new backup big man, per Law Murray of The Athletic. The Clips expect to work out a new deal with Jones and there’s a chance Diabate could be back too, Murray says, but neither player has a proven track record in the NBA.

NBA Minimum Salaries For 2024/25

June 30th, 2024 at 10:02pm CST by Luke Adams

An NBA team that has spent all its cap space and doesn’t have any of its mid-level or bi-annual exception available still always has the ability to sign a player to a minimum-salary contract, unless that club is right up against its hard cap.

Teams with cap room or with access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception will have a little more flexibility to sign players to longer-term minimum-salary contracts. However, teams without cap room and without any other exceptions on hand can still use the minimum salary exception to add as many players as roster limits and the hard cap allow, for contracts of up to two years.

Undrafted free agents and second-round picks are often recipients of minimum-salary contracts, but there are plenty of veterans who end up settling for the minimum too. Because a player’s minimum salary is determined by how much NBA experience he has, many veterans will earn more than twice as much money as a rookie will in 2024/25 on a minimum-salary contract.

Listed below are 2024/25’s minimum salary figures, sorted by years of NBA experience. If a player spent any time on an NBA club’s active regular season roster in a given season, he earned one year of experience. So any player with zero years of experience has not yet made his NBA debut.

These figures represent approximately a 3.36% increase on last season’s minimum salaries, since that’s the amount of the NBA’s salary cap increase for 2024/25.

Here’s the full breakdown:

Years of Experience	Salary
0	$1,157,153
1	$1,862,265
2	$2,087,519
3	$2,162,606
4	$2,237,691
5	$2,425,403
6	$2,613,120
7	$2,800,834
8	$2,988,550
9	$3,003,427
10+	$3,303,771

Because the NBA doesn’t want teams to avoid signing veteran players in favor of cheaper, younger players, the league reimburses clubs who sign veterans with three or more years of experience to one-year, minimum-salary contracts. Those deals will only count against the cap – and against a team’s bank balance – for $2,087,519, the minimum salary for a player with two years of experience.

For instance, Eric Gordon, who has 16 seasons of NBA experience, will reportedly sign a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Sixers, who will only be charged $2,087,519 for Gordon’s contract. He’ll earn $3,303,771, but the NBA will make up the difference. This only applies to one-year contracts, not to multiyear deals.

If a player signs a minimum-salary contract after the regular season begins, he’ll earn a prorated portion of the amount listed above.

Those figures listed above also only apply to players who are signing new contracts in 2024/25. Players who are in the second, third, or fourth year of a minimum-salary deal will be earning a slightly different predetermined amount.

For example, Warriors big man Trayce Jackson-Davis – who signed a minimum-salary contract last offseason and now has one year of NBA experience – will earn a $1,891,857 salary in the second year of his contract, more than the $1,862,265 he would receive if he were signing a new minimum deal this fall. That’s because his second-year salary is based on a 5% raise over last season’s minimum salary for a player with one year of experience, whereas the cap rose by just 3.36%.

Here’s what multiyear minimum-salary contracts signed in 2024/25 will look like:

Experience	2024/25	2025/26	2026/27	2027/28
0	$1,157,153	$1,955,377	$2,296,271	$2,486,995
1	$1,862,265	$2,191,897	$2,378,864	$2,573,347
2	$2,087,519	$2,270,735	$2,461,462	$2,789,215
3	$2,162,606	$2,349,578	$2,667,944	$3,005,085
4	$2,237,691	$2,546,675	$2,874,429	$3,220,959
5	$2,425,403	$2,743,776	$3,080,918	$3,436,836
6	$2,613,120	$2,940,876	$3,287,406	$3,453,941
7	$2,800,834	$3,137,977	$3,303,770	$3,799,338
8	$2,988,550	$3,153,598	$3,634,150	$3,799,338
9	$3,003,427	$3,468,960	$3,634,150	$3,799,338
10+	$3,303,771	$3,468,960	$3,634,150	$3,799,338

Technically, a minimum-salary contract could cover five years for a player with full Bird rights, but in actuality, that never happens.

While some second-round picks and undrafted free agents will sign three- or four-year minimum-salary contracts, a minimum deal exceeding two years is rare for a player with more than a year or two of NBA experience under his belt.

Mavericks Sign Naji Marshall To Three-Year Deal

June 30th, 2024 at 9:04pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 6: Marshall has officially signed with the Mavericks, the team announced today (via Twitter).

JUNE 30: The Mavericks are signing free agent wing Naji Marshall to a three-year, $27MM contract, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter).

A former undrafted free agent who played college ball at Xavier, Marshall has spent his entire four-year NBA career with New Orleans, initially starting out on a two-way contract. Known for his energy and tenacious defense, the 26-year-old had a career year from deep in 2023/24, converting 38.7% of his three-point looks, though it was on very low volume (2.3 attempts per game).

Notably, Marshall was one of the Pelicans’ top performers in their first-round loss to the Thunder, averaging 9.0 points and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 40% from long distance in 21.0 minutes per contest. He averaged 7.1 points and 3.6 rebounds in 19.0 minutes across 66 regular season appearances last season, almost entirely off the bench (he made one start).

It’s a huge raise for Marshall, who finished last season on a minimum-salary contract. A report last month indicated New Orleans didn’t expect Marshall back next season due to financial reasons.

Marshall was considered a fallback option for Dallas if the team was unable to re-sign starting forward Derrick Jones, whose free agency was complicated by the fact that he recently switched agents. Veteran reporter Marc Stein confirms the Mavs are preparing to move on from Jones, citing league sources who say the team is still focused on landing Klay Thompson in a sign-and-trade with Golden State (Twitter links).

ESPN’s Tim MacMahon says (via Twitter) the Mavs are using a significant portion of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Marshall. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks has noted, there’s an expectation that Dallas will use its bi-annual exception to acquire Quentin Grimes from Detroit, creating a trade exception worth Tim Hardaway Jr.‘s full outgoing salary (nearly $16.2MM). If a deal comes to fruition, Thompson’s contract would fit into that new TPE.

The 2024 offseason is the first time that the MLE and BAE can be used to acquire players in trades or waiver claims, not just to sign free agents.

The first tax apron for the 2024/25 league year ($178,132,000) will be the hard cap for any team that acquires a player via sign-and-trade, signs a player using more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception, signs or acquires a player using a bi-annual exception, uses any portion of its mid-level exception to add a player via trade or waiver claim, acquires more than 100% of the outgoing salary in a trade, or uses a trade exception generated prior to the start of the 2024 offseason. The Mavs will meet several of those criteria, which means they cannot exceed the first apron salary threshold.

Marshall came in at No. 33 on our list of 2024’s top 50 free agents.

Chris Paul Intends To Join Spurs After Clearing Waivers

June 30th, 2024 at 7:37pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Chris Paul intends to sign with the Spurs once he clears waivers, Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report tweets.

Paul was waived by the Warriors at the start of free agency. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent once he goes through waivers but he didn’t wait that long to choose his new team.

He’ll sign a one-year deal worth more than $11MM, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

Earlier on Sunday, Marc Stein (Twitter link) reported that San Antonio has “strong” interest. The 12-time All-Star figures to be a natural, if short-term, pick-and-roll partner for Victor Wembanyama.

It’s unclear whether the Spurs intend to use Paul as their starting point guard or if they’ll have him coming off the bench, as he did a majority of this past season in his one year with the Warriors.

San Antonio used a variety of players to initiate the offense in Wembanyama’s rookie season with Tre Jones getting a majority of the starts at that position. Still, given that the Spurs seemed reluctant to make Jones their starter and didn’t do so until January, it seems unlikely that he would get the nod in next year’s starting five over the veteran Paul.

San Antonio’s cap space gave it an advantage over some other potential suitors for Paul. The Spurs could sign him without waiving Devonte’ Graham, whose guarantee date was pushed back to July 8.

Graham’s contract is already partially guaranteed for $2.85MM for next season, but it will increase to $12.65MM if the Spurs retain him. If they waive Graham and their other non-guaranteed players, they would still have a $16MM in cap space at their disposal to sign Paul, cap expert Yossi Gozlan tweets.

At the moment, the Spurs are considered an over-the-cap team. If they stay that way, they could instead sign Paul by using a majority of their $12.8MM mid-level exception, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets.

Golden State had to make a decision today whether to guarantee Paul’s $30MM salary for the 2024/25 season. Both the Warriors and Paul agreed to push back the guarantee date from Friday to Sunday. The Warriors had attempted to include Paul’s contract in a blockbuster deal, including a potential swap with the Clippers for Paul George. However, they were unable to pull anything off.

Paul, who turned 39 in May, remained productive in 2023/24, averaging 9.2 points, 6.8 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in 26.4 minutes per game in 58 appearances (18 starts) for the Warriors. He posted a shooting line of .441/.371/.827.

Paul George To Leave Clippers, Likely Headed To Sixers

June 30th, 2024 at 7:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Clippers were unable to gain any traction in negotiations with Paul George‘s representative and the veteran forward will sign elsewhere, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link)

Aaron Mintz of CAA, George’s agent, and Clippers president Lawrence Frank spoke a short time ago, Woj reports, but there was no new movement on a contract and George is prepared to join a new team. The Clippers have released a lengthy statement confirming the news, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN relays (via Twitter).

“Paul has informed us that he is signing his next contract with another team,” the Clippers announced. “… We negotiated for months with Paul and his representative on a contract that would make sense for both sides, and we were left far apart. The gap was significant. We understand and respect Paul’s decision to look elsewhere for his next contract. We explored an opt-in and trade scenario, but it would have left us in a similar position under the new CBA, with very little asset value to justify the restrictions.

“We will miss Paul. At the same time, we’re excited by the opportunities we’ve now been afforded, including greater flexibility under the new CBA.”

The Clippers now project to operate well below the first tax apron, so they’ll have the $12.9MM mid-level exception and a $4.7M bi-annual exception at their disposal. However, they won’t have the cap room necessary to sign a player capable of replicating George’s production.

Meanwhile, the Sixers will meet with George in California this evening and are the strong frontrunners to sign him, Wojnarowski confirms (Twitter links).

A report earlier on Sunday expressed optimism on the 76ers’ front that they’d land their top free agent target. The Athletic’s Law Murray now reports that George will likely make a decision tonight and no other teams besides Philadelphia are in the running for his services (Twitter link).

Philadelphia is armed with ample cap room to sign a max-level free agent and is reportedly prepared to offer George the four-year, maximum-salary contract the Clippers were unwilling to put on the table. Throughout their negotiations with George, the Clippers remained steadfast on a three-year deal, similar to Kawhi Leonard’s contract extension. Leonard signed a three-year, $152.4MM contract in January.

Another potential suitor, the Magic, essentially took themselves out of the picture by reaching a three-year agreement with another high-level wing, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

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