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Click here to read the transcript and join us next Tuesday afternoon for our next live chat, hosted by Dana Gauruder.
Noah Vonleh and Yogi Ferrell have signed with the Shanghai Sharks for the upcoming season, according to Dario Skerletic of Sportando.
Vonleh previously played for the Chinese Basketball Association team during the 2021/22 season before returning to the NBA with the Celtics last summer. He appeared in 23 games for Boston, averaging 1.1 points and 2.1 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per night. He was traded to the Spurs in early January before his contract became guaranteed, and San Antonio immediately waived him.
Vonleh was taken by Charlotte with the ninth pick in the 2014 draft, but other than three seasons in Portland, he never spent more than a year with any of his eight NBA teams.
Panathinaikos in Greece reportedly considered signing Vonleh in July, but he opted to return to Shanghai instead.
Ferrell has been out of the NBA since finishing the 2020/21 season with the Clippers. The 30-year-old guard played briefly with Panathinaikos, then moved on to Cedevita Olimpija, where he was named MVP of the Slovenian Basketball League Finals last season.
Ferrell played for five teams during his five NBA seasons.
New Rockets big man Jock Landale suffered a left ankle injury on Thursday while playing for the Australian national team in an exhibition game against South Sudan in Melbourne, reports Olgun Uluc of ESPN.
The severity of the injury isn’t yet known, but Australian head coach Brian Goorjian said after the game that he doesn’t expect Landale to be available for the World Cup, which tips off next week. According to Goorjian, the center will undergo an MRI on his ankle on Friday and won’t travel with the team to Japan (Twitter link via Uluc).
It’s an unfortunate turn of events for Landale, who enjoyed a mini-breakout season in 2022/23 in Phoenix. He appeared in 69 regular season games for the Suns, averaging 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per night, then posted 6.5 PPG and 4.3 RPG on 66.7% shooting in six contests (17.6 MPG) vs. Denver in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Landale’s strong showing as a reserve center behind Deandre Ayton earned him a four-year, $32MM offer from the Rockets in free agency. Only the first year of that contract is guaranteed, but it will still assure the 27-year-old of an $8MM salary in 2023/24 after he made the minimum in his first two NBA seasons.
Landale’s injury should open the door for Jack White of the Thunder to be part of Australia’s 12-man World Cup roster, as Uluc tweets. White had previously looked likely to be the odd man out of the 13-man group that the Boomers had been using in their pre-World Cup exhibitions.
With about a month-and-a-half until the Rockets’ training camp opens, there’s still plenty of time for Landale to recover in time to be available for the start of the regular season as long as the injury isn’t too significant. We should know more after he undergoes his MRI.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reported last week that the Raptors and All-Star forward Pascal Siakam have yet to seriously engage in negotiations on a possible contract extension.
Should Toronto offer him a max extension, which would start at 30% of the 2024/25 salary cap? Eric Koreen of The Athletic weighs the pros and cons of a new deal for Siakam, who is entering the final year of his contract.
While he believes Siakam is worthy of a max deal and that extending him makes more sense than losing him for nothing, Koreen wonders if a lengthy extension would leave the Raptors stuck in the middle again in the short term. However, if Siakam continues to play well, an extension could boost his trade value down the line, since he would be on a long-term contract instead of an expiring deal, Koreen adds.
Here’s more from the Atlantic:
- Jay King and Josh Robbins of The Athletic examine how Kristaps Porzingis will fit with the Celtics. Robbins points out that the Wizards had a good deal of success with a two-big lineup featuring Porzingis and Daniel Gafford, which could be beneficial for Boston’s frontcourt, since Al Horford and Robert Williams are more well-rounded players than Gafford is. Having Porzingis as another weapon alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could make the Celtics’ second-ranked offense even more potent in ’23/24, according to King. Both writers state that the biggest question mark surrounding the acquisition is Porzingis’ health — in case you missed it, the Latvian big man recently revealed he’s dealing with plantar fasciitis, though the Celtics expect him to be ready for training camp.
- Nets second-rounder Jalen Wilson was a star in college last season for Kansas, but he knows he won’t have the ball in his hands very often entering his rookie season, he tells Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News (subscriber link). “College for sure, was different,” said Wilson. “I had the ball in my hands a lot. I had to do a lot of things for my team. Take a lot of tough shots. Now, I think as I showed in Summer League and moving forward in the NBA, I won’t have to take those tough shots at the buzzer. I won’t have to take contested shots over double teams. This isn’t Kansas. This is the Brooklyn Nets. So I feel like the load being less, my numbers (efficiency) will increase. And I feel like I showed that in Summer League. And I’m excited to continue to show it.” The young forward, who is on a two-way deal, was named to the All-Summer League Second Team last month, Bondy notes.
- Fred Katz of The Athletic covers a number of Knicks-related topics in his latest mailbag, including where they might finish in the East during the regular season, their most likely trade candidates, and the team’s power forward depth. As far as trade candidates go, Katz believes Evan Fournier, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley are the top three options. Fournier is an obvious one since he doesn’t want to return after being benched most of last season, and his expiring deal could be useful for salary-matching purposes. Barrett is mostly included for financial reasons, particularly if the Knicks want to trade for a star. League sources tell The Athletic that Quickley’s name has popped up in trade discussions this summer, though the Knicks have placed a high value on the Sixth Man of the Year runner-up. Quickley is eligible for a rookie scale extension, Katz notes, but there doesn’t appear to be any rush to get a deal done.
According to Arale Weisberg of Israeli outlet Walla Sport (Twitter link), Spanish powerhouse FC Barcelona is keeping tabs on free agent wing Terence Davis, who spent the past two-and-a-half seasons with the Kings (hat tip to Dario Skerletic of Sportando).
In 64 regular season games (13.1 MPG) with Sacramento in 2022/23, Davis averaged 6.7 PPG and 2.2 RPG on .423/.366/.791 shooting. In total, the 26-year-old has appeared in 227 games over four seasons with the Raptors and Kings.
A handful of NBA teams were rumored to be interested in Davis once free agency got underway on June 30, but he has yet to find another club. The Kings renounced his rights in order to maximize their cap space this summer.
As Skerletic notes, Barcelona — which recently signed Jabari Parker — would likely have to give Davis a contract in the range of Parker’s deal to entice him to come to Europe. Parker will reportedly receive a one-year, $2MM contract that includes an NBA opt-out clause.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Earlier this week, Seth Partnow of The Athletic released his first two player tier rankings ahead of the 2023/24 season. Roughly ranking the top-125 players in the league, tier five consisted of 45 players, while tier four contained 41. His latest installment — tier three — includes 21 players, such as Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, and Kings guard De’Aaron Fox. Partnow’s top two tiers will feature 18 total players.
- Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype takes an early look at the potential 2025 free agent class, with Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo ranked No. 1 overall. Wizards guard Landry Shamet rounds out Gozlan’s top-65 list.
- Former Indiana forward Race Thompson, who went undrafted earlier this summer, recently revealed that he sustained a right tibia plateau fracture a couple months ago, as Kyler Staley of Hoosier Illustrated relays. Thompson had reached an agreement to play for the Knicks in Summer League action, but obviously the injury prevented that from happening.
The Knicks intend to fully guarantee Jericho Sims‘ $1.93MM salary for 2023/24, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Entering the offseason, the young center’s contract for the upcoming season was partially guaranteed for $600K. That guarantee increased to $1.2MM when New York kept him on the roster last month. Sims’ salary will officially be fully guaranteed if he remains on the Knicks’ roster past August 20.
The move was expected. The 24-year-old was a fill-in starter at times during his second NBA season in 2022/23, averaging 3.4 PPG and 4.7 RPG across 52 games (16 starts, 15.6 MPG).
The 58th pick of the 2021 draft, Sims initially signed a two-way deal with the Knicks, but received a promotion last summer to a multiyear standard contract after impressing the team. New York holds a team option on Sims’ contract for ’24/25 worth $2.1MM.
Sims is currently recovering from right shoulder surgery, which prevented him from participating during the Knicks’ playoff run. He’s expected to be fully recovered by training camp.
As our roster count shows, the Knicks are currently at the offseason maximum of 21 players under contract. They now have 12 players on guaranteed standard contracts, with all three two-way slots filled.
The Hawks have waived guard/forward Vit Krejci, the team confirmed in a press release. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) first reported the move.
As Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets, Krejci was on a non-guaranteed contract worth $1.84MM (the veteran’s minimum) in 2023/24. The Hawks, meanwhile, have 15 players on guaranteed standard contracts, making Krejci the odd man out, notes John Hollinger of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Hollinger believes Krejci could be a solid choice for a two-way contract if he clears the waiver wire. Several teams have open two-way slots, as shown by our tracker.
Krejci, 23, was the 37th overall pick of the 2020 draft. The Czech native spent his first post-draft season rehabbing a torn ACL. He signed a multiyear contract with the Thunder prior to the 2021/22 season, playing 30 games for the club as a rookie.
Oklahoma City traded Krejci to Atlanta last September in a move that was mostly about finances for the Hawks. He appeared in 29 games this past season for Atlanta, averaging a modest 5.3 MPG.
The Hawks now have 17 players on their roster — the aforementioned 15 on standard deals, and a pair — Seth Lundy and Miles Norris — on two-way deals. They also have a two-way qualifying offer on the table for Trent Forrest, who remains a restricted free agent.
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), the Hawks are approximately $9.7MM below the luxury tax line and still have access to their non-taxpayer mid-level exception as well as their bi-annual exception.
Five players have signed rookie scale extensions so far this offseason.
Hornets guard LaMelo Ball, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, and Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton signed maximum-salary extensions in early July, while Desmond Bane joined them in that first wave on a deal worth a little less than the max.
Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart later became the fifth player to get a rookie scale extension this year, with an agreement more in the neighborhood of the mid-level.
[RELATED: 2023/24 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]
That leaves a total of 22 players who remain eligible for rookie scale extensions, which can be signed up until the day before the start of the regular season. Those 22 players are as follows:
- Precious Achiuwa (Raptors)
- Cole Anthony (Magic)
- Deni Avdija (Wizards)
Saddiq Bey (Hawks)
- Malachi Flynn (Raptors)
- Josh Green (Mavericks)
- Killian Hayes (Pistons)
- Kira Lewis (Pelicans)
- Tyrese Maxey (Sixers)
- Jaden McDaniels (Timberwolves)
- Aaron Nesmith (Pacers)
- Zeke Nnaji (Nuggets)
- Chuma Okeke (Magic)
- Onyeka Okongwu (Hawks)
- Isaac Okoro (Cavaliers)
- Aleksej Pokusevski (Thunder)
- Payton Pritchard (Celtics)
- Immanuel Quickley (Knicks)
- Obi Toppin (Pacers)
- Devin Vassell (Spurs)
- Patrick Williams (Bulls)
- James Wiseman (Pistons)
Some players on this list almost certainly won’t sign new contracts this offseason. Guys like Flynn, Hayes, Lewis, and Wiseman, for instance, haven’t yet established themselves as reliable rotation players who are worth long-term investments, so it would be pretty surprising if they were extended.
There are plenty of other viable extensions on this list though, including two players – Avdija and McDaniels – whose cases for new deals have been outlined by our Rory Maher since the offseason began.
Of these 22 players, Maxey probably has the strongest case for a lucrative multiyear commitment, potentially even a max deal. But the Sixers reportedly don’t plan to extend Maxey this offseason because they want to maintain cap flexibility for 2024.
By holding off on an extension, the 76ers will be able to keep Maxey’s cap hold (which will be worth much less than his first-year salary in an extension) on their books next offseason, maximizing their cap room. Once they use up their space in ’24, they can go over the cap to re-sign Maxey using his Bird rights.
Who else could sign an extension in the coming weeks or months? Bey, Green, Okongwu, Quickley, and Vassell are among those who appear most deserving.
Anthony, Nesmith, and Okoro are coming off solid seasons and are extension candidates too, whereas players like Nnaji, Pritchard, Toppin, and Williams may benefit from playing more significant roles in 2023/24 that would boost their value in advance of potential restricted free agency.
Typically, after the first wave of slam-dunk rookie scale extension candidates sign their deals in early July, there isn’t a ton of action on this front until we get much closer to the October deadline. But we should expect several more deals to be completed in the fall — in each of the last three offseasons, at least 10 players have inked rookie scale extensions. If that trend continues, at least five of the 22 players above will have new deals in hand by the time the regular season tips off.
When NBA teams are in the process of filling out their training camp rosters, the most common form of deal signed by players around the league is the Exhibit 10 contract. An Exhibit 10 contract can be converted into a two-way deal or puts a player in line to earn a bonus if he’s waived and then joins his team’s G League affiliate.
Many of those non-guaranteed training camps also include an Exhibit 9 clause in addition to – or in place of – Exhibit 10 language.
An Exhibit 9 clause protects an NBA team in the event that a player suffers a significant injury in training camp.
If a player on a standard non-guaranteed contract without an Exhibit 9 clause suffered such an injury, his club would be required to pay him his salary until he’s healthy enough to play or until the end of that season, whichever comes first. For example, a player on a non-guaranteed rookie minimum deal who sustained a season-ending ACL tear would be owed his full $1,119,563 salary.
If the injured player’s contract includes Exhibit 9 language, however, his team could waive him and only be on the hook for a one-time payment of $15K. That amount has increased from $6K in the NBA’s previous Collective Bargaining Agreement.
An Exhibit 9 contract, which is non-guaranteed and doesn’t count against the salary cap until the start of the regular season, can only be a one-year, minimum-salary deal. A team can carry up to six players on Exhibit 9 deals, but can’t sign a player to such a contract unless it has at least 14 players already under contract (not including two-way deals).
In most cases, if a team plans to have a player on a non-guaranteed contract participate in training camp and/or the preseason, his contract will include an Exhibit 9 clause in order to limit the club’s liability.
Earlier this offseason, for example, the Rockets wanted to begin signing their training camp invitees, but only had 13 players on standard contracts. Houston signed Joshua Obiesie to an Exhibit 10 pact, making him their 14th man and meeting the roster minimum required to begin completing Exhibit 9 deals. Because the Rockets don’t have injury protection for Obiesie, they reportedly have no intention of having him take part in camp.
The Heat took a similar approach, signing Brandon McCoy as their 14th man to an Exhibit 10 contract that didn’t include an Exhibit 9 clause. With 14 players on standard contracts, Miami subsequently signed several players to Exhibit 9 deals, waiving McCoy in the process — he won’t be on the Heat’s camp roster.
An Exhibit 9 contract that also includes Exhibit 10 language can be converted into a two-way deal. In that scenario, the Exhibit 9 clause would become null and void, so the team would no longer have injury protection.
In the event that a player with Exhibit 9 language in his contract makes his team’s regular season roster, his deal would be converted to a standard non-guaranteed contract. The Exhibit 9 protection wouldn’t carry over into the regular season.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
An earlier version of this article was published in 2014.
Bucks big man Bobby Portis is one of 12 players suiting up for the USA Basketball team that will compete in the 2023 World Cup that tips off next week.
Speaking to Sam Yip of HoopsHype, Portis said that it has been “pretty great” representing his country in international competition so far and that the team is still focused on building chemistry and adjusting to the FIBA rules as it gears up for group play.
In his conversation with Yip, Portis also addressed his role as Team USA’s de facto veteran leader, the Bucks’ new head coach, and a handful of other topics. Here are a few highlights:
On what’s expected of him as Team USA’s elder statesman at age 28:
“Man, I just come in every day and be Bobby Portis. That’s all I know how to be, since day one, in my time in the league, man. I’ve never changed who I am, stay true to myself, work on my game each and every year and get better. And try to be a leader working on my leadership qualities over the last three, four years in the league, especially when I got to the Bucks being around great savvy vets like Giannis [Antetokounmpo], Brook Lopez, Jrue [Holiday], Khris [Middleton], all my guys. The core group of guys, those guys, let me kind of be myself. Let me have a voice. And it’s been cool, man. So, my role on this team is to be Bobby, man. It’s all I know how to be.”
On whether signing a four-year, $48.6MM contract in 2022 gave him a sense of validation:
“I mean, yeah, but every year is a prove-it year, man. Just because you got a deal doesn’t mean you got to stop working and keep building brick by brick. Keep chopping wood and carrying water, that’s the motto. Can’t get complacent, can’t get comfortable in the league.
“There are 40, 50, 60 guys that want to have a guaranteed spot every year on a new team. And there’s gonna be 40, 50, 60 guys that are going to get pushed out. So gotta keep getting better each and every year. Can’t be satisfied with whatever you need to be. Whether it is $20 million, $100 million, $200 million. Gotta keep going. Gotta keep chopping wood and getting better.”
On what he hopes new head coach Adrian Griffin brings to Milwaukee:
“I don’t like to compare the past and the future, but I just hope he lets us be us, and be the player-driven team. We have a lot of guys on our team that’s done this before, so we kind of know what it takes to get to that next level. Our biggest thing on the Bucks is just staying healthy. No matter who it is that’s coaching whatever it is, we got to be healthy.”